Video Games, brainpower, and the economy. Let me give you some facts in regards to gaming.
Growth – From 2003 to 2006, the entertainment software industry's annual growth rate exceeded 17 percent. Over the same period, the entire U.S. economy grew at a less than four percent rate.

GDP – In 2006, the entertainment software industry's value added to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $3.8 billion. The industry also makes a disproportionate contribution to the real growth of the nation as whole. For example, in 2005-06 the industry's contribution to real growth exceeded its share of GDP by more than four to one.

Employment – The entertainment software industry also continues to grow as a source of employment. For the four-year period 2002-06, direct employment for the industry grew at an annual rate of 4.4 percent. Currently, computer and video game companies directly and indirectly employ more than 80,000 people in 31 states. By 2009, it is projected that the industry will support over a quarter of a million American jobs. The average salary for direct employees is $92,300, resulting in total national compensation of $2.2 billion.

* Top 5 States – California, Washington, Texas, New York and Massachusetts currently have the highest concentration of video game jobs. Collectively, these areas directly employ 16,604 workers and post 70 percent of the industry's total indirect employment.

* California – California is the largest employer of computer and video game personnel in the nation, accounting for approximately 40 percent of total industry employment nationwide. These companies provided over $1.8 million in direct and indirect compensation to Californians last year. California's computer and video game industry grew by 12.3 percent last year, nearly three times faster than the state's overall growth and added $1.7 billion to the state economy.

* Other States – New Jersey witnessed a boom in industry growth in recent years as computer and video game companies have expanded beyond New York City. Virginia's entertainment software industry, meanwhile, grew by 552 percent in 2006, with computer and video game companies adding $28.7 million to the Commonwealth's economy.

As you can see gaming goes beyond the pixel layered UI. The gaming industry can actually help economies. My fellow state is #1 in the gaming scene. The industry is growing beyond the west coast even reaching NJ. People think that with the economy going down that gamers will leave their console. I'll tell you this. Modern Warfare 2 budget was 45 million dollars but at the same time it had the highest opening sales. It's quite interesting that perception vs reality is big. By perception I mean, 'hey, leave that console alone. Every time you play you get dumber.' The reality of it is you're using your brain.
A cutaway image shows four brain structures studied in the video-game research. the caudate nucleus (blue), putamen (red), nucleus accumbens (orange spot) and hippocampus (green). Researchers found linkages between game performance and the first three structures, but no linkage involving the hippocampus. - MSNBC

It's been two years since we last met. :( During that two year span I moved out of DC for a better job. I found it in Cali and I currently reside in LA. It's a long way from home. I've totally changed my outlook in life now. For once, I got myself an Xbox 360 and my PS3 let's say was 'taken.' Having all my consoles helps me appreciate the benefits for each system.Yes, I used to be a PS3 fangirl but now I'm like...whatever. When I moved to LA I couldn't bring my dog because he's too big for the apartments here. lol. What do you expect for a 100lb dog. My hair is much longer now and darker but the Cali sun is turning it into a brown. Family has changed too. My dad was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. He also had a heart attack this past weekend. It's been rough. My friends back home couldn't find a job. One my buddies is a developer in Canada. Reminds me, my primary job is a developer and analyst. 48 hrs of straight coding ftl. Full-time job and a recently repaired laptop yesterday I think we're good :)

Yeah. Yeah. I could come up 1001 excuses for not posting a blog in so long but I'm not going to. Life caught up and so did my gaming. It's pretty sad when you still have a stack of sealed games waiting to be played with. xD I'm heading up to Seattle for an interview with Boeing. It'll be fun and exciting. I hope I don't get lost, I was never good with directions growing up. Actually, I've been working on a secret side project of mine. It deals with Fallout 3. If anyone is from the DC metro area, they'll probably know what I'm going to do. If you played Fallout 3 there are various sites in the DC area. Have you ever wondered if they existed or were they a sugar coated name for the site? Well, I'm going to take some pics for you in my next blog and show you what they actually look like. Don't worry they're mutant and ghoul free for your entertainment. It's going to be an editorial for you btw. Don't worry GS I'm not leaving yet. I have so much to do on this site. Reminds me I better hop on to FXN so I don't get in trouble. lol. Take care and enjoy your weekend.

Well. As I told you I do play WoW, and the servers went through some upgrades to accompany the expansion. Talent points were reset, mounts, pets, etc were reset. But people were complaining about the new interfaces and adds..to my dismay I knew that the live servers wouldn't be happy. lol. I'm trying to quell the many questions which were provided via the patch notes, which is pretty sad that people don't read.
Old Siggies:

Well. I'm glad everyone missed me in my previous blog and understood where I am today. Today I had a joyous surprise of meeting up with my old friend Gabriel from FXN. We were one of the original members of the site, it was heartwarming seeing him there. I still miss Kairi. Wish I had a ticket to England so I can visit her xD. I mean we started off as a small site but we're getting bigger. When we were small it felt like a small family (not to say a large site is bad or anything :P), it's just I miss my old buddies. I'll be working on more graphics to polish my skills. Guess I'll blow the dust off my tablet and start doodling again. ~V

I haven't been here since July damn. Yeah. I know it's been a very LONG time. RL is pretty serious right now with the stock market and politics (which I totally dread). I lost my job with the government two weeks ago and I'm still getting over it as well as my fellow classmates who graduated with me May 08. I went to the job fair last week to begin my search AGAIN. It's been hectic trying to apply right now. I guess I'm just killing time with hobbies. I've been playing my Wii right now and entering Mii contests which is pretty fun. I've also been in the Wotlk beta since July so it's been killing my time there. I know bad me. :( FXN I still moderate for under the alias of Dies Irae. I still haven't bought my Xbox yet, just everything seems time consuming working retail and gaming. My social life has gone up since I met these gamers in my area. So we're always doing game night. It's so much fun. We do everything from FPS to party games like Rock Band. It's something to take my mind off of. I'm thinking about buying the limited bundle for Dissidia. It looks so good right now. I really want it. lol. Anyways, enough of my ranting and enjoy the TGS. ~Versus Here's a little siggie I made:

Sorry for not replying to everyone sooner. Actually, I'm writing a blog from my iTouch. It's a pain in the kisser. :( Bringing more moolah to both consoles...wait..I mean Square Enix..*cough* I heard the story about Square Enix going multi platform with the supposedly exclusive Final Fantasy XIII. It's really ironic that Square Enix a few months ago stated that the XIII series would be exclusive only. It's pretty sad to see the fanboys of the both of aisles: Xbox and PS3 duke it out. My personal opinion: This does not surprise me.
Sorry PS3...your XIII ain't exclusive anymore. :evil:
I've seen PS3 fanboys yell bloody murder, "Xbox won't get it!" Just to turn around and it bites you in the back. Now the Xbox fanboys are saying, "LOL in their faces." If one part of the XIII series heads to the Xbox then the rest of the series will. Think about it. Square Enix maybe a video game developer but they are also a business. I've been faithful to the Square franchise. It's gone cross platform before but I think what really makes PS3 users angry is the amount of $ invested into a system; then only to find out you can get the same game on a cheaper console with more selections and better games. This puts another dagger into Sony. They may have won the Blu-ray war but they also lost one of their greatest allies in the process. It's a loss for Sony unless they can pull something amazing during their conference. May the best console win...:) ....!@#$%^....Vive' Le PS3 :? Caution: Don't try to believe in what a company says. I can picture the backlash from some PS3 users. I want my REFUND! With that said...I must buy an Xbox 360. :P

I'm hitting the big 22. My friend is coming back from Italy. He became a Priest and grew a beard. His head is shaved. I also noticed for the 5 years he was away he lost his American accent. Now he sounds Italian. I'm taking him out tonight on my B-day. I guess the more the merrier. Let's see what have I learned from being 21: -Don't assume people will think you're 21, always bring the ID -You will still be mistaken for a teenager (I still do!) -Your gamer girlfriends will be sticking with you till the end -Don't dye your hair a Japanese red while applying to jobs. :? -Procrastination is not good..actually it gets you in trouble alot. -When sleeping over at a friend's house, remind their parents you sleep with your eyes open -You can only shop at "Forever 21" - j/k. -Enjoy life as you live life only once.

It's me again! :P Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for their input in the previous blog. It was very heartwarming with all the advice and comments. ;) I beat Metal Gear Solid 4 this past Sunday and it was marvelous. I enjoyed the game so much. Too bad there won't be a MGS5. lol. I do believe Snake deserves a rest though. Well. Right now I'm awaiting the results of my background investigation from the government so they can process me through to get a job. It's driving me insane. I want to escape retail plus manual labor kills the body. O.o I'm doing some graphics to relieve the mind and body..so here it is!

Yeah. Yeah. Sue me for not writing a blog. LOL. I've been busy searching for a job still. It's been hard but I'm sure I'll find one. Friends and family are taking a majority of my time. Not to mention my work...manual labor is hard on the body. Work Still searching. However, I'm still keeping my other one. How the heck do you expect me to pay for my games!? lol. Tomorrow I have to call up the Navy recruiter before 0800 hours (notice the pun there). Relationships Is this a trick question? Nah. I'm kidding. Actually, one of my co-workers asked me out on a date. It was a romantic setting. Meaning, he asked me out in the rain and the bad part was that I declined his offer. Man. I feel really bad. I'm not that type of girl to break a guy's heart. Circumstances prevent me from dating. My parents are so strict, clanish (who I marry), and I might be moving out of state in August. It is possible I may get a job that will relocate me. I believe that I should not break someone's heart after 3 months. That's messed up. I'm helping ff-xiii.net with their online RPG in terms of the Latin translations. Give a game a Latin feel....;) Entertainment I've been reading a book called "Utopia" by Thomas More. I like to read about theology and other intellectually stimulating materials *sarcasm*. I also bought the DVD Wasabi. It's an old movie. I haven't watched it since I was 17 years old. That was like many years ago. I first watched it on my flight to Tokyo and darn the DVD was on sale. :) I'm hoping to get my graphics tablet this week or next week. I'm trying to refrain from using my typical pencil and paper due to my niece crayola-vising my entire sketchbook and portfolio. Gaming Well. I'm officially done with GTA IV. It was great and completed everything. I killed, maimed, stolen, beat,....etc....on people. Um. I'm going back to Oblivion and I have Mass Effect for the PC. I like that because I can play around with MODS! :D MGS4 is being released this week and I'm going to the opening at midnight. I can picture the insanity. I'm pretty sure I'll either be pushed or trampled on. If you do not hear from me by Saturday...it's either I'm dead from the stampede or I'm playing MGS4 til my hearts content. Yours, Crazy V