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SHERIDAN — The Sheridan High School girls 1,600-meter relay team has a knack for besting its own school record. On more than one occasion this season, Piper Carrol, Kelly Moodry, Riley Rafferty and Pippin Robison put an authoritative exclamation point on a meet with a record-breaking performance.
All four have proven themselves on the track, and three of them have also made names for themselves in the pool. Carrol, Moodry and Robison all competed on the Lady Broncs' swim team this past season that came up just shy of the school's first state title in over three decades.
And it's no coincidence that these tracksters or swimmers — however they identify — have found a high level of success in both arenas. Very similar to peanut butter and jelly, but with perhaps not as much notoriety, swimming and track go together near seamlessly.
According to Swimmingworldmagazine.com, swimming freestyle for 30 minutes will burn about the same number of calories as a 30-minute run at 6.5 mph. Results vary based on the person's weight, skill level and overall health.
The muscle groups used in each exercise overlap some, but swimming uses many more than running. A typical running motion works five muscle groups, four of which reside from the waist down. The glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves along with one's core undergo stress in a common running motion.
Swimming, on the other hand, is a full-body exercise. Freestyle will train 24 different muscles from the sternocleidomastoid in the neck to the flexor digitorum brevis in the foot.
"Running just targets your legs and your lungs, but swimming, it's like everything," Carroll said with a laugh.
Carroll, a junior, has made the transition from swimming to running at the high school level the last three years. Moodry, a senior, has also tackled the transition three times in high school as she didn't swim during her sophomore year.
In that one year away from the pool, Moodry — who's a better runner than swimmer and admitted she enjoys when swimming season is finally over — didn't see time drops on the track. Upon retuning to the pool as a junior, Moodry experienced improvement on the track.
Robison, a senior, competed in both sports all four years of high school. She has even combined the two, along with bicycling, and participated in various triathlons. Robison is still flirting with the idea of competing collegiately in triathlons at the Naval Academy next fall. She loves swimming and track and has gotten asked which sport she prefers on more than one occasion.
It's no accident that Robison has carved her name into multiple record books. She not only lays claim to the 1,600-meter relay record but also claims a spot on the swimming record board in both the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay.
Robison's body is quite used to transitioning from the pool to the track, but the switch can prove difficult to many. Swimming is a non-weight bearing sport that applies less pressure on the joints than running.
Having swimmers hop right out of the pool and into an intensive running workout can have negative effects. While the athletes lungs and aerobic capacity remain in top shape from pool workouts, the stress on the lower body from running can lead to injuries.
Sheridan track and field head coach Taylor Kelting has heard of some small early-season injuries from his swimmer-runners but nothing serious. And while Kelting doesn't know if those little ailments are swimming related, he does know that he wouldn't trade the positive effects swimming in the fall has on his runners in the winter and spring.
The transition from the track to the pool can also prove difficult. Again, the athletes boast good aerobic shape from running; however, working 19 more muscles comes with challenges.
Swimmers that also run battle shoulder soreness early on, and Moore understands this and gives those athletes an acclamation period.
"We just give them time and say, 'Hey, if you're feeling like your arms aren't carrying you, sit one out,'" Moore said. "It's a little bit frustrating for them. They think they should be able to do this because they're not out of shape.
While both sports come with their fair share of challenges when transitioning, they blend and benefit one another quite a bit.
But which sport is more difficult?
Kelting — who ran collegiately at the University of Wyoming — has heard both sides of the debate, and while his answer isn't definitive, it provides some clarity.
Moodry — who will run collegiately at Boise State University in the fall — wholeheartedly views swimming as more difficult, while Carroll and Robison remain firmly on the fence.
It's a hard question to quantify and it may never have a clear-cut answer. But no matter which is more difficult, there's no denying the benefits they have on each other.


Aquaponics and STEM education together make the perfect symbiosis.
If you didn't know – aquaponics and STEM education is all the rage in schools right now. And it's likely to stay that way. Yet, as an educator pondering the idea, you may be wondering what exactly the experience might be like. Maybe you have young and energetic students.What should you expect and what type of success is actually possible?
Well we already have teachers who are successfully using aquaponics as a STEM education tool in their classrooms year after year. They are finding that aquaponics provides students with an engaging way to learn. It simplifies complicated topics and due to the hands on learning the students are mastering their subjects better than ever.
But what does this actually look like? It's one thing to hear that teachers are using this great STEM teaching tool. It is another to see first hand how are they actually using it to teach the various subjects. Well let's take a closer look at each subject and see how some teachers are utilizing their systems for success in the classroom.
For this example we are going to take a look at a 6th grade classroom in New Britain being taught by Jane Callery.
In class workshop on water testing the aquaponics system.
Jane has a two media bed classroom aquaponics system and uses it to teach her kids about many different subjects. One subject she utilizes the system to great effect for is Chemistry.
Jane teaches her students about pH and general water chemistry. All the while, through aquaponics, she's giving them real experience to put with these concepts. In the picture here we see a student from her classroom learning how to do various tests to check the water chemistry of the system. Later they will gain insights into the health of their ecosystem based on the results.
The students are all responsible for testing their system. Every day someone else will test the system, so they are all gaining knowledge and experience in these areas. So much is happening by having a living ecosystem in your classroom. There's no limit to how many ways you can use aquaponics to teach your science lessons!
For our technology example, we take a look at how a Windsor, CT grammar school is using aquaponics as part of their school system. This is a really cool example. In this case, the aquaponics system is being used in a STEM classroom where there is a hybrid mix of students from third through fifth grade. In this hybrid class the students are given a scenario to investigate all year.
This year, they are sending a human mission to mars for a very long stay. So they are researching advanced technologies like 3D printing, aquaponics, and LED lighting to create a way that they can feed and shelter their astronauts on their mission.
The students are learning how to grow their own food anywhere in the universe! They are using a vertical aquaponics system lit with high-tech LED lights. By the end of the year they will decide if they think aquaponics could provide astronauts with a source of food on a planet void of water and soil to grow in!
Sometimes it seems like I'm walking into the future when I'm in that classroom. It's a joy to see the kids experiment with their system and learn how they could use aquaponics to set up a Mars Colony! Who knows one of these kids may actually go to Mars and bring an aquaponics system along for the ride!
One of our favorite parts about teaching STEM education via aquaponics is engaging their imaginations and critical thinking skills through this technology. Once students have a fundamental understanding of aquaponics we like to get them really thinking about what it takes to create an aquaponics system and then actually have them design their own. Some of the ideas we see come out of these activities are truly mind-blowing!
This can be done with elementary school kids all the way to high school kids. In elementary school we may have the students draw where they would put a system in their home, based on what they know about aquaponics. By the time they reach high school they have advanced to using 3D models to render advanced systems that could be put on rooftops, in warehouses, or be part of a living building!
Engineering a self-contained ecosystem is no small feat. It requires students to take principles from many cross-cutting disciplines and synthesize all that knowledge in order to design a workable system. It's a great way to ensure that everyone has a foundational understanding of aquaponics.
Unfortunately, I was that student in math class. I asked that question multiple times throughout my educational career. Whether graphing data points or using graphs to analyze the data, or learning geometry; I never could see the point. I could never conceptualize a future where I needed to know more than a few basic arithmetic skills.
Wouldn't you know it, now I'm using math everyday! Sometimes it's figuring out a successive planting schedule, analyzing past yields for trends and averages, or determining a formula to anticipate water loss at various times throughout the season. As a result, I am constantly putting my basic skills to test.
It's these same exercises that we bring to the classroom and have kids run on their own systems. There's no denying that you will use math in real life. Especially when you have the real life example sitting in front of you that you engage with daily!
These examples are just a few of the different ways FRESH Farm Aquaponics is helping educators utilize a classroom aquaponics and STEM education for classroom success year after year. These are real examples from schools we working with. Aquaponics is a natural and practical way to teach all the STEM fields in schools. If you are interested in learning more about our programming and how you can bring this experience to a classroom near you, click here or call me at 860-531-2782.
If you like this post check out some of our other posts about using aquaponics as an educational teaching tool.
Finally, if you haven't already, please join our education email list. Here we share our latest content on using aquaponics in schools and more case studies on teachers are using aquaponics and STEM education.


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Fall River Public Schools Complaint
In June 2012, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project of UCLA filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR), against the Fall River Public Schools (FRPS). The complaint charged that the district's frequent use of out-of-school suspension disproportionately harms students of color and students with disabilities, violating the U.S. Department of Education's regulations interpreting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
In December 2012, the OCR announced that it would follow up on this complaint and investigate out-of-school suspension practices.
The complaint cited OCR data from the 2009-2010 school year, which showed that FRPS suspended 25.9% of Black students, 23.1% of Latino students and 13.4% of White students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The complaint highlights unusually high rates in FRPS for all students, suggesting that the district's policies and practices around discipline are generally unsound, but harm some groups much more than others.
Among the most notable concerns is the exclusion of students with disabilities on disciplinary grounds. Specifically, FRPS suspended 23.8% of all students with disabilities. Suspension rates were even higher when race and disability overlapped. The district suspended over 42% of all Black students with disabilities and 50% or more of Black and Latino middle school students with disabilities.
More than six years after the initial report was filed, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) shared a determination letter concerning Fall River Public Schools. In its September 2018 letter, OCR notes that data reviewed for school years 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 showed disparate treatment of black and Hispanic high school students and students with disabilities. In September 2018, Fall River Public Schools adopted a new code of conduct.
The Center for Civil Rights Remedies is an initiative of the Civil Rights Project (CRP) at UCLA, which has been national in scope since its inception at Harvard Law School by Professors Christopher Edley Jr., and Gary Orfield. CRP brings high levels of research scholarship to bear on issues of racial injustice in education, and has filed amicus briefs in the past regarding funding inequity in Massachusetts. For more information, go to: http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/
For more information about how the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights handles complaints, go to: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaints-how.html Photo by SteveCof00
Matthew Segal (ACLU of Massachusetts); Dan Losen (Director, Center for Civil Rights Remedies The Civil Rights Project at UCLA)
pdf Sept. 2018 - Resolution Agreement
pdfSept. 2018 - Decision
pdfDec. 2012 OCR Letter
pdfJune 2012 Complaint
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Ancient Indian notions of sexuality are very fluid: Devdutt Pattanaik
Author and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, whose new book, 'Shikhandi: And Other Tales They Don't Tell You' has just released, says that ancient Indian notions of sexuality and sexual identity are very fluid and transcend gender boundaries. 'Shikhandi' deals with tales covering queer themes in Hindu mythology – tales that do not generally form part of mainstream discourse or are dealt with cursorily in various treatments of the epics.
The book highlights the fact that queerness was not an alien concept to ancient Indian storytellers, who dealt with the topic sensitively and as an accepted part of the way of life. With current right wing thought in India decrying homosexuality, Devdutt feels that a major part of this is due to ignorance. He says, "We give too much value to men who claim to be celibate and wear saffron robes and sport beards…it is time for us to grow up. Our essential understanding of Hinduism is weak primarily because for the past 200 years we have tried to see Hinduism through the Western framework with a rather defensive and apologetic attitude. This is understandable as we were ruled by the British for nearly 200 years and they had a condescending attitude towards the religion of their subjects that made little or no sense to them. Also, we do not realize how vast our country is and how many data sources we have. Sanskrit, for example, is a tiny fragment of our textual heritage yet it is given great importance despite being restricted to the Brahmin community. Knowledge widens with time and that impacts attitude." Devdutt adds that even the Left wing in India has not been very kind to queer themes. "Our secular and socialist leaning founding fathers of the Indian Nation State did not bother with queer thought as it was conveniently rendered invisible. Queers were an inconvenient minority," he says.
Devdutt contends that most queer themes in Hindu mythology deal with gender variance, with biology and costumes being interchanged. Queerness seeks to question what constitutes male and female, and same-sex love largely speaks of the minds of the people involved. The thought of shifting, fluid and porous boundaries is what is communicated through the tales, rather than the physicality of the characters.
Devdutt refuses to ascribe any 'original' text as the source for his work. He says, "The concept of 'original' is a Western academic framework. We suffer from colonial hangover when we yearn for 'pure' texts and stories. The same idea (let's call it a Vedic idea) manifests in different ways across history and geography and communities. The Right-wing refuses to see these variants. The Left-wing assumes that these variants have no common underlying theme and are in conflict with each other by harping on 'non-Brahmanical subversive traditions'. Both suffer from a colonial hangover, unable to see the fluidity of thoughts and traditions and the complexities of diversity."
He believes that Indian mythology cannot be taken to be prescriptive in nature. "Communication of moral behaviour is the job of parables like Hitopadesha and Panchatantra. Mythological tales establish frameworks of thought – Biblical mythology establishes a one Life and God-prophet-rule framework, while Hindu mythology establishes rebirth and avatar framework. Morality and ethics function within this framework. To use mythology as prescriptions is to miss the point. They are neither instructive nor directive. They simply provoke the mind to see the world different and expand our horizons. The rest is up to individual choices. We want to turn mythology into propaganda – and in doing so we turn into control-freaks and do great disservice to the next generation."
In the same vein, he adds that the fluidity of thoughts in Hindu tradition make it difficult to classify any one as progressive or regressive. He says, "I notice many academic approaches to Indology. One is the 'everything is awesome and wonderful in India', favoured by the Right and early Orientalists of the 18th century. The other is 'everything is horrible and terrible in India', favoured by later Orientalists of the 19th century, and then the Left-wing scholars. The latter gets much academic funding from European and American universities which assume the framework of 'justice and fairness' is a timeless and universal one, not a post-World War one. In the 19th century, the favourite framework was the 'racial superiority' one. Words like 'contradictory' and 'progressive' and 'regressive' are all based on a 'linear framework' that forms the foundation of Greek and Biblical mythologies, not Hindu mythology. Indian thought is very very fluid. It is fixed functionally to suit the needs of history (kala), geography (sthana) and community (patra). The axis of Western thought is morality and ethics: right or wrong, good or bad. It comes from a one-life one-truth framework. The axis of Indic thought is fear: are we indulging fear, amplifying fear, or outgrowing fear. Fear causes the mind to shift away from atma towards aham. This axis comes from the many lives, many truths framework."
"The fluidity and contextual nature of Indian thought can thus be quite exasperating to the uninitiated who want to neatly fix the fluid in a box. We want heroes and victims and villains and martyrs for our stories and academic research papers. Life, unfortunately, produces none," he tells.
Dharmarajan M
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August 13, 2014 Sopan Muller
Do Come for the launch of Devdutt Pattanaik's book "Shikhandi And Other Tales They Don't Tell You", on 17th August 2014, 5pm, at Sheila Raheja Hall, Rotary Club Bombay, Juhu Tara Road Santacruz West.
For more details check http://www.gaybombay.org. Do come for his talk and discussion.
You can also buy the book and get it signed by him.
August 17, 2014 Raj


text:
Double Date
by submission | Mar 6, 2019 | Story | 4 comments
Author: Thomas Tilton
Their date had gone fabulously well, which was why Simon was so depressed. Invariably, dates ended badly for him. Par for the course when you had a softball-sized parasite attached to your left flank.
"I should go," Simon said, poised to leave Alice on her front doorstep.
"Please don't," she said, and her eyes shone with a bright pleading, though Simon detected a hint of reservation at the downturned side of her half-smile.
"I really can't–" Simon started to explain.
"But you can. Please. Try it." Alice's words were insistent, but her tone bespoke hesitation and reluctance.
If Simon's self-esteem were any lower, he might think Alice was trying to lure him inside to rob him or something equally sinister.
He sighed. "I suppose I could, but there's something I should tell you first."
She cut him off. "I have something to tell you, too. But first, come inside."
Inside the foyer, neither one moved to take off their heavy coats, though it was stifling inside Alice's apartment.
They stood there, awkwardly, for maybe a minute.
"Aren't you warm?" Alice asked.
"Aren't you?" Simon said.
Alice nodded, lowered her head in what seemed to be a gesture of weary resignation, and started to shrug herself out of her large purple coat.
Once decloaked, there was no mistaking the round protrusion on her right flank.
"You've got…" Simon began excitedly, though Alice must have mistaken it for disgust, because she crossed her hands over her right flank and looked away from him.
"No, don't," Simon said, shrugging out of his own heavy coat. "Look at this."
He took off his shirt too, and he displayed himself proudly to her, was half-naked in front of someone for the first time in years and felt no shame.
"I picked him — it? — up on a mining colony off-world, when I was overseeing a dig," Simon said, unselfconsciously stroking the parasite, which began to grow red, seemed to be sprouting orifices — yes, there were nostrils now, and a small gaping mouth.
"He gets hungry," Simon laughed.
"Why don't you feed him?" Alice said, and she removed her blouse.
Hours later, their bodies entwined in the sheets on Alice's bed, Simon tickled Alice's feet with his tongue and Alice stroked Simon's calf tenderly with her fingers.
"I don't ever want to be apart from you," said Alice dreamily.
"I'm not sure we'll have a choice in the matter," Simon opined.
Between them, their two parasites clung together in an embrace, a glowing red furnace between their naked bodies, conjoining them.
SimonJM on March 10, 2019 at 10:13 am
Is this the advent of the patter of tiny tentacles?
xdhz8 on March 6, 2019 at 5:54 pm
I love it when an ending I didn't see coming seems inevitable after I've read it. Very good.
Hari Navarro on March 6, 2019 at 1:27 pm
They are going to need a bigger bed. I kept getting flashes of Kuato from Total Recall when I read this, twisted but very cool 🙂
Jae on March 6, 2019 at 12:28 pm
That's not going to end well, I suspect.
A good story with disturbing ramifications.
A Mother Knows


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Why arrange for a Rochester dumpster rental? Because with some projects, trash bags just won't cut it! If you're working on a demolition, remodeling, or major cleaning project for your home or on a worksite, you're going to need a dumpster.
Whether yours is a small or large project, our company supplies a variety of different sized dumpsters for you to help you clean up and leave no trace of the mess you're about to make. We're known to have the best prices in town and we pride ourselves in the quality of our rentals. We're constantly running different discounts and deals to save you even more money, and the closer you live to Rochester, the less you'll pay.
One of the most stressful parts of working on a home improvement project is the clean up. Who wants an unsightly dumpster taking up space in their driveway for weeks? Our team works fast, so when you say you want that dumpster gone, we'll get it out of there quickly. Plus, our specially-designed rubber-wheeled dumpsters leave no trace behind on your driveway surface.
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When you're ready to get to work give us a call at 678-807-9328. We look forward to teaming up with you and lending a hand to every mess you make.


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Maiden é um documentário estadunidense de 2018, dirigido por Alex Holmes. O filme conta a história real da primeira tripulação feminina a entrar na corrida de iates Whitbread Round the World.

Lançamento
Maiden foi produzido pela New Black Films e estreou no Festival Internacional de Cinema de Toronto de 2018, posteriormente lançado pela Sony Pictures Classics em Nova York e Los Angeles em 28 de junho de 2019.

Ligações externas
Maiden na Sony Pictures Classics.

Filmes dos Estados Unidos de 2018
Documentários dos Estados Unidos
Filmes da Sony Pictures Classics
Filmes em língua inglesa

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Top 5 impossible E3 games
By Stealthmaster86 June 7, 2014 0 Comments
E3 is just days away and the game announcements have been rolling by. Games include Far Cry 3, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Persona Q, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and more are expected to be at E3 this year. And while all those games seems like it's going to be sure fire hits, what about games that I would love to see at E3 that seems impossible?
I am not talking about games that we know is coming, but know little about like Persona 5 or Kingdom Hearts III. Games like The Last Guardian and Half Life 3 will not be on the list also because we know they are coming, maybe, most likely coming. For now, it is too soon to tell if they will make an appearance. I would love to see these games being made, but I know that they will not be made unless developers know we want them.
DINO CRISIS REBOOT
In its final few years, the PlayStation came out with Dino Crisis. Dino Crisis was a game created by Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil franchise. Dino Crisis was a big hit when it was released back in 1999, so much so that it spawned two sequels. Dino Crisis 2 took what Dino Crisis had, but made it more action packed. Personally, the movement the characters had in Dino Crisis was too slow for a game like that. It might have worked better with zombies, but when you put fast moving dinosaurs in the mix, you would need to move fast. Then there was Dino Crisis 3 from 2003 for the Xbox. The game was set in space and it did not have real dinosaurs, but mutated lizards. The game was so bad that it killed the franchise. Two years later Mikami would release Resident Evil 4 and changed the way third person shooters are played. The over the shoulder camera Resident Evil 4 introduced would have been perfect for a Dino Crisis game. You can move quicker, your aim was better, and its close up camera would keep the tension going. I would love to see Dino Crisis come back in a big way.
NEW IP FROM NAUGHTY DOG
Naughty Dog has gone on the record to say that they are in the very early stages of making a new IP for the PlayStation 4, but the chances of releasing information about the game is near impossible. Naughty Dog has a good track record of keeping things close to the chest until they are ready to show off the new game. In the past, Naughty Dog had Crash Bandicoot for the original PlayStation, Jak and Daxter for the PlayStation 2, and the Uncharted series for the PlayStation 3. When The Last of Us came out last year for the PlayStation 3, it broke the mold of what they used to do when there was a new console. Uncharted 4 is expected to be shown off this year at E3, and there are talks of a The Last of Us 2 being announced. Considering their track record, I have no doubt that those games will be less than amazing, but something new from Naughty Dog would shake E3. I do not expect that to happen. There have been rumors of a Jak 4 game, but the chance of seeing a new Jak and Daxter game, if it is happening, will not be revealed until next E3.
As Remedy works on their new IP for Xbox One, Quantum Break, I hope there is a small group of artists working on a sequel to one of my most favorite games of the last generation, Alan Wake. While it would make sense for Remedy to focus primarily on Quantum Break, just something about Alan Wake 2 would make me happy. The thing about Remedy this year for E3 is that they had recently said that Quantum Break would not be shown at this year's E3; instead, they are going to show off more about Quantum Break at Gamescom this August. Remedy may not put out many games, but the games they have released have all been fantastic. Max Payne to Alan Wake, Remedy is one of my favorite developers right now. I am looking forward to Quantum Break, but an Alan Wake 2 would make me ecstatic.
WAYFORWARD DARKWING DUCK GAME.
WayForward had made the great DuckTales: Re-mastered last year, and I hope they do the same with the Darkwing Duck game. I did try not to put a possible Darkwing Duck game in here because it seems so easy for me to pick a Darkwing Duck game. I just want a Darkwing Duck game, and WayForward seems to be the one to create one. If they put all the effort to a Darkwing Duck game like the one they did with DuckTales, then I would happy. Great animation movement, new puzzles, a bigger story, and if at all possible the original cast would return. Having Jim Cummings returning as Darkwing Duck and Negaduck would have sold me on the game alone. A new Darkwing Duck game would definitely be a highlight of the show for me.
A 24 GAME MADE BY ROCKSTAR
What better way to have a good 24 game than having Rockstar making one. I thought the old 24 game for the PlayStation 2 was OK, but I knew that given to the right developers, they could do something special. Rockstar seems that they can do something special with 24. Rockstar has been known to get Grade A talent for their Grand Theft Auto games like Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, and James Woods. It would be easy for them to use the cast of 24, like Keifer Sutherland, to come back to play their respective roles. They can either create a non-canon story or have a story based before the events of Season One. The only time Jack Bauer worked for CTU between seasons was between Day 2 and Day 3, and that was covered in the 24: The Game for the PlayStation 2. I would like to see a non-canon story written by Rockstar. The game can be set in real time just like the show and you would have 24 hours, in real world time, to stop terrorist threats.
Those are five games where I would love to see at E3, but I know that is not possible. E3 is going to be an exciting time this year as the new consoles have been released and the new games are coming in. If 2007 has shown us, 2015 will be an absolute monster when it comes to the new games. Early 2015 alone make this Year of the Next Generation of gaming.
Yes, another The Darkness II Demo Impressions (Demo Spoilers)
By Stealthmaster86 January 25, 2012 1 Comments
The Sequel to 2007's hidden gem returns Jackie Estacado back in control of the Darkness. Based on a Top Cow comic series, The Darkness is about a mob hit man who takes control of The Darkness. The Darkness are these black tentacle beings that will do what Jackie wills. The Darkness II is set a few years after the events of the original Darkness and Jackie is now a mob boss.
THE VOICE INSIDE
The first thing I noticed was the visuals. Instead of a gritty real look that the first one had, this has a comic book like cell shading. It's striking and it keeps it being distinctive. The story, as from the demo presented it, is about this man who wants the Darkness all to himself. He nails Jackie into a cross and asked Jackie to give him the Darkness. There is a new voice actor providing the voice of Jackie. He's not bad, but having the original voice actor would make me feel more sympathy for Jackie. I guess it will have to do. The voices for everyone else does a sold job. The one actor that has come back is Mike Patton. It's a very welcome to see Mike Patton as The Darkness once again.
Once some dialogue is exchanged by Jackie and the new Bad guy the loading screen comes up. It's white instead of Jackie talking about his life. I hope this is just for the demo because The Darkness had great loading times that will give you a little bit of information about Jackie. Once the loading ends we are at a restaurant and you are following someone that Jackie knows. Predictably, the man is named Vinnie. After walking and sitting down you are meant with two woman talking about the last time they've seen you. Before they talked to Jackie one of the girl's head exploded into a red pulp as a van crashes through the window where are are sitting. The hit kills the other girl and sends you flying with a severely messed up leg. Vinnie sees you and starts to drag you to safety. This is where the first part of the gameplay starts.
AND THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT
Shooting feels as shooting should feel like. There is zoom, loading, and duel welding. It's pretty standard. Even though it's all standard it feels just right. You shoot, they fall, the end. While the shooting is a big point in this game, it's not the reason we play it. That will come up in a few minutes. After this section of the game we are back to the room were we began. The guy continues to talk about the responsibility the Darkness is giving Jackie and all that it did in return. I'm very glad that Jenny is not ignored. It seems that her death, like in the first one, plays a bit role in this new one. Once that cutscene is finished it returns to the restaurant. This is where the demo starts to get good. After a bit more shooting you are in a dark alleyway. This is what the darkness wanted. The it forces itself out in Jackie, which has not used it in years, and it excitedly executes a man. Wishbone is my personal favorite. This is also where the point system comes into play. The point system gives points to nearly everything you do. Then it's used for upgrades. The upgrades can range from The Darkness, Health, and Ammo. There are a surprising number of upgrades at your disposal.
THE HEART IS WHERE IT LIES
The Darkness is just as fun as ever. You can grab, throw, impale, rip, and everything that comes along with it. Although it's not in the demo the two darkness fighting over the heart is not in this one. Eating a heart will give you a bit of life back and yes I do see what they did there. The Darkness is the main star once again and the new developers knows it. You go through the city's streets taking out bad guys you unleash hell to the poor saps. You pick them up and rip them apart. It's all very satisfying. I'm sure that there will be more in the final game. Shooting out lights is still a big strategy in the game. During the massive chaotic shoot outs you start seeing visions of Jenny. Then there was one more cutscene and then just as I was starting to get really into it The Darkness II demo ended.
The Darkness II seems to be worthy sequel to the original game. It's new anesthetics and new upgrade mode keeps it from being exactly like the first Darkness. I'm definitely going to be checking this out when it comes out. I hope the rest of the game can keep this level of fun. The Darkness is coming out on February 7, 2012 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. The demo was played on the Playstation 3.
What makes Survival Horror Work?
CORRELATE ALL OF ITS CONTENTS
Survival Horror is becoming hard to find. While the recent Resident Evil 6 trailer does show promise of Survival Horror to be back, at least for Leon's Storyline, The Survival Horror is becoming a niche genre while Action Horror is on the rise. This Action Horror first came about with Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil 4 had all the makings of a survival horror, but with it's light RPG element and the amount of Ammo that is given it turned into an action game. Don't get me wrong, there are moments of Resident Evil 4 that is scary and it makes me nervous, but when looking over the entire game there's probably a good 10 to 15 percent of it that is actually horror. In Resident Evil 5, that survival horror is stripped away for a more action focus. While Resident Evil 5 isn't as good as Resident Evil 4, it's still worth playing. What makes survival horror work though? Is it the atmosphere, the unknown, the music, or the design of the games. There are a ton of things that can make survival horror scary. This goes beyond the camera and controls of the past Resident Evil games. It's not the controls and camera that makes a game scary. It's something else. Something unknown and dark. A little warning though, I'm going to talk a lot about the Original Silent Hill as an example to most of these.
LOST BEYOND NOISE
I'm currently playing the Original Silent Hill and it's got me thinking. Sure, being alone in the middle of the Unknown is scary. Not seeing what's ahead of you and you can either run or fight. But what makes it truly terrifying is the lack of anything at all. You go to a room with your weapon drawn at all times. Whither it's a gun or a pipe. Once you stand there and there is no static you let your guard down. Normally this is when a monster comes up and attacks you. Instead for Silent Hill you are given a radio early in the game. When ever enemies are near the radio would static. This makes encounters more suspenseful. In Resident Evil, been awhile since I've played it so I could be wrong, you hear something and you know exactly where that zombie or monster is at. What makes the dogs jumping through the window such a great scare is the suddenness of the attack. You walk in a hall and then crash. Dogs are all up on you trying to bite your face off. In Silent Hill you know there is something out there. You are not sure where or when they will attack. The way I do it is I just stand there ready to attack as whatever is about to attack me come at me. My arsenal so far includes a pipe, knife, and a gun. My main weapon is a pipe. It never damages and break. I tend to keep that with me at all times. If you think about it, it can be a great strategy or it kills the horror aspect. While I do tend to attack my attackers I don't do that to everything I see. It just depends of the enemies. If I'm dealing with the small kids I just stand back and beat them with a pipe. When dealing with the dogs and the pink flying things, I'm just going to call them Flying Polyp for now on, I run away. We meet these things outside, for the time being, anyway so it's easy to out run them. Though it could be a bit difficult with the Flying Polyp seeing that you don't know which way they are coming or going and how many they are.
CRESCENDOS OF FEAR
Atmosphere is everything for a horror. If there is no sense of loss and despair when it comes to the atmosphere, then it fails as a horror game. Sure, the game could be good but for an entire different reasons than the developers wanted to convey. In Alan Wake it makes great use of atmosphere. It's trees, wind, and that ambiance makes it feel like Alan Wake is a survival horror. I love Alan Wake, I've probably mention it a few times before, however, I just don't consider it as a survival horror. Action Horror is more like it. It's got a lot of action, and it's got a bit of horror when walking alone in the dark in the woods. The unknown part is the lake itself. What gives this lake that kind of power? Why is it Thomas Zane can write something about Alan's past? And what is the dark presence? While Alan Wake have it's great atmosphere, Silent Hill does something even better. No matter where you are at, you can only see a little in front of you. You can see behind or not that much of the side. It's well known that this was because of the limitations of the Original Playstation's hardware, so what Team Silent did at Konami was to make the limitation greatest strength. It turned Silent Hill in to a lost snowy town. When you are in the dark the flashlight shows less than what is shown during the day at Silent Hill. It makes light feel more safe and the dark more ominous and terrifying. You can't see much during these sections of the game where you are walking around outside. You see even less than that when you are in a building, in my case a school.
FRAGMENTED VISIONS OF A NIGHTMARE CITY
Horror does not only do for survival or action horror. Horror comes from other types of games. In Fallout 3 you can enter these vaults. Inside the vaults is experiments that went awry. These sections can be scary. It's dark, you don't know what's going on, and your next step could be your last. It leaves you wide eyed and clinching the controller wanting to get out. It may no be as scary to other people, but for me it works. That dead unknown silence. Max Payne is a straight up action game. You play as a detective in New York City on the city's worst snow storm in years. What makes this game scary? it's dream sequences. In the game they drugged you and you begin to have nightmares. Nightmares of your past. In one moment you are following a blood maze and that is all that is there. Just you, the blackness, and that red line. Then as you continue on you start hearing a baby crying. Then the baby gets louder and louder until it screeches. It does this repeatedly and it never stops till you end the nightmare. That baby screech is frighting and one of the most memorable parts of the game. It does not help that walking that line is not easy to do. Sound is everything for a horror game. The Suffering, another action game, had phenomenal sound. You hear movement nearly everywhere you go and it never stops. It feels like the monsters are waiting for you to let your guard down. When they do attack they each has the unique look to them that was designed by the late great Stan Winston. The sound matches what the enemies looked like so if you hear something you knew what it was.
THE SOUNDTRACK TO NIGHTMARES
Music plays a bit part of what makes a game scary. In Silent Hill there are no music most of the time. It's just you and your static radio whenever it kicks on. In a few instances where you are in a small area the music will kick in. It's not normal music though. There's no percussion, no medley, pretty much nothing. What it does do however is to make you feel uneasy. Uneasy that something will happen soon and there is nothing you can do about it. The music can get so intense that I felt that there is a monster bigger than anything I've faced before waiting to attack me. This is what the most loud music in Silent Hill can do. It makes me freak out and run past anything that is in front of me. Just to escape at nothing. When it's at it's lowest it makes me want to stand there and not move. Music can be a powerful thing and Silent Hill can prove that.
Overall, what makes Survival Horror work? Despite what others have said, it's not the controls or the camera. You can still make a frighting game using Gears Of War like controls. Dead Space is a testament to that. While I consider it as an Action Horror, it does do what games like Resident Evil does. It's got great sound, music, and atmosphere. To me it's all those things that makes Survival Horror work. If developers want to make more Survival horror game they need to know that less is more. Maybe it's better to be kept in the dark than knowing what's out there.
Do we REALLY need a new generation of game consoles?
By Stealthmaster86 January 3, 2012 43 Comments
THIS IS THE PART WHERE I MAKE A LOST REFERENCE
Nintendo first announced the Wii in 2004 and I'm sure that is what lead the race to the new Generation of Consoles. A year later, not only did the Wii was officially shown, but Sony showed of the Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. 2005 was the year the 360 came out and it was released with one of the worst things that could happen to a new system. The breaking down of consoles, Something that is currently happening with the Playstation Vita, once the 360 becomes too hot it will break. This forced Microsoft loosing a lot of money in damages. It wasn't until a year later where they made another model of the system. Even with the new model the failure rate was still pretty high.
Sony, on the other hand, released the PS3 a year after the 360 with an unbelievable price point. $600. That is way to high for a console. The other problem Sony had with the PS3 was that the PS2 was still selling like crazy. The library the PS2 has was phenomenal and they still had games coming out for it. Persona and God of War II being the last games it had. Sony killed the PS2 almost 3 years after the PS3 was released. Now, after some time has passed, you can buy it less than half the original price. Not only that, along with the 360, it's been better built. Some mistakes was corrected and the price is just right.
When it came to HD Nintendo was dead last. They were just using a slightly updated version of the Gamecube's graphic chip. The games looked better, yeah, but it didn't look like anything the 360 and PS3 was doing. So instead of focusing on that, they looked at the way to play the game. Hence forth, the Wii-Mote. Motion control was on it's way, but will it last?
That was a resounding yes. I don't think anybody, outside of Nintendo, had any idea that this would change gaming. The way it handled and the way it allowed other people to join in on the fun. At it's peak the Wii was everywhere. You could not escape from it. But there was something missing. Besides Zelda and Mario, it didn't have that third party support to reward all the hardcore gamers that has been with them from the very beginning. It did have No More Heroes, MadWorld, House Of The Dead: Overkill, and the Resident Evil lightgun games. But it wasn't enough. Where are the Halos, Gears of Wars, Uncharteds, and Metal Gear Solids? This is something that I hope the Wii-U can do.
THE FUTURE PRETTY MUCH LOOKS THE SAME
The Wii-U could come late this year. It's doing what a next generation game console should do.Upgraded graphics, new accessories, and a new way to play the game. While a new way to play the game is certainly is new, everything else however is not. Sure, they showed off the controller on last year's E3. Yes, everything from that video was impressive, but is it enough to call it a Real Next Gen system?
Last year's E3 showed off a video showcasing what the Wii-U's controller can do. From the demo alone it looks fantastic. Using it as a second screen for menus, maps, and even as something for aiming. The other cool thing that can do is the ability to use the screen as a main screen away from the TV. As someone you know watches TV you can use the controller to continue playing the game.
Even when they are showing off the Controller's capabilities, they even showed off some of the big title games they will have. And unlike the first Wii this system will support 1080p HD graphics. To show this off they used footage from the PS3 and 360 games. Games include Batman: Arkham City, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Darksiders II, and Metro: Last Light. To keep that WiiU twist each game will, theoretically, allow the use the controller in exciting ways. It's all very exciting. So, why do I want Sony and Microsoft ignore all of this?
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEW AND OLD
Because they are still trying to capture that audience the Wii has had for years. The WiiU is just a HD gaming platform. Is that a bad thing? No. I would love to see a Mario and Zelda HD game. I think games like that would make the game feel more alive than ever before. The Wii U, to me, is just away to capture that "hardcore" crowd. It's Nintendo's way of coming full circle. They started the motion controller craze. Sony and Microsoft used it. One half, Nintendo is following the footsteps of the other companies. The other, Apple and what they are doing to the iPhone.
Then it raises another question, should Microsoft and Sony start a new Generation of consoles because Nintendo is coming out with a new console?
WHEN IT'S PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING
I don't think so. As I have said before the WiiU is just a HD gaming platform. Besides the controller they aren't doing anything new. Even Reggie Fils-Aime has said that they are not trying to up the PS3 and 360. So why should Sony and Microsoft? It would be pretty useless to release the Move and Kinect when it would be more cheaper to release it with the new generation of consoles. When Nintendo released the Wii they didn't have a motion controller for the Gamecube. While I don't think Move and Kinect are really impressive, giving the right amount of time and more practice with the hardware Sony and Microsoft really doesn't have to release a new console right now. Just let Nintendo do what they do. If Sony and Microsoft does decide to make a new console, it will just take the cues that Nintendo does and do stuff of their own. It's all a See and Copy. Microsoft and Sony is copying Nintendo with their motion control with the Kincet and Move, Nintendo is copying Sony and Microsoft with their HD and Online. Fair trade.
I'M NOT READY
I don't think that anyone is ready. Naughty Dog, the developer of the Uncharted and Jak & Daxter series, have came out and said that they are afraid of the Playstation 4. During their initial time with the PS3, they have said that they had the darkest days the company has had since. It payed off at the end, but it took years to figure out all the quirks the system had. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune looks great. Uncharted 2 and 3 looks even better. It took years to figure that system out and it would not make much sense to have to start all over. The same can be said with the 360. The 360 is just a more advance version of the original xbox, but teams like Bethesda and Epic knows how to make use of the system and make use of it amazingly well. They are pushing that system to the max and I still believe that both system's potential have not been fully reached. Any multiplatform game that will be in the Wii U is also coming for the PS3 and 360. It may take longer to release the game at first to incorporate the new controller's pad, but graphics wise. It won't be the same.
I'm not saying that Sony and Microsoft shouldn't make a next gen system if they want to make them, let them. I just want them to do it at the right time and it's good enough for all of us. If they have to wait a year or two to make the best console they can make without overheating and stupidly high prices, I'm willing to wait. I have a console developers can improve upon. Doing so will make the transition between a PS3 and PS4 easier. What ever Nintendo has planed for the Wii-U is sure it's going to be to be awesome. It's too early to really tell, I just think that Microsoft and Sony needs to take their time when it comes to the releases of the next set of consoles.
RAGE Review PS3
By Stealthmaster86 January 1, 2012 1 Comments
They said that the wasteland is a dangerous place. With Bandits, The Authority, Jackals, and Mutants. It's dangerous, but if you plan right and do your best to survive, it's a good way to kill a couple of days. ID Software the Legendary developer that created the First Person Shooter genre returns with a brand new game, RAGE. It starts out promising enough and by the end of it I wonder if it was worth it at the end. Not even a minute after you step out of the Ark, you are attacked by a Bandit. He pins you down and before he and his buddy kills you, a bullet pierces through his head as the body falls so does his partner. With the two bandits dead you meet the first character.
ID OF THE NEXT GENERATION
What follows is an adventure with a near plotless narrative. You meet with people that has very little impact of the world around you. All you do is do jobs for them. It's pretty much the same either kill this or retrieve that. Even if you don't know what to do next during a mission, just keep walking and shooting. Eventually you will do or get what you need to complete the mission.
Just when you think the story is getting somewhere, it ends. That last cutscene is all you get. What makes matters worse is that when you beat the game, you can't come back to the world to do many of the side missions. This game requires you to do all the side jobs, racing, minigames, collectibles before finishing the last mission.
It's not all bad, this is ID software and if there is one thing they are known for, it's gameplay. The gameplay is the best part. For being a developer that's known for FPS games this should come to no surprise. However, unlike past games they did a few various things they never did before.
First, they put in a LIGHT RPG element in the game. I use that term loosely. There is no dialogue trees Bioware style. What does pass as an RPG is the store. You go in and restock in supplies or upgrade your armor. You get money by doing quests, minigames, and looting dead bodies. The price of ammo and health packs does not change between difficulty. So if you get or sell a $1000 you can get quite a lot of ammo on most of your weapons of choice. On a normal AK for $1000 can get you 999 rounds, basically maxing out the ammo count. I still got enough to get hundreds of shells for my shotgun. Besides a gun, which you can also buy the most expensive thing is a wingstick. A wingstick is a boomerang weapon. If it survives the hit or doesn't hit anything else it will come back to you. You can kill up to five enemies before it breaks. Even if it get stuck on a body you can still use it again. It's the most dynamic weapon of the game and it's a lot of fun to use along with an AK.
Next, is the side quests. It seems like everyone wants you do do something for them. There is also races. This is where the car combat begins. Both outside the cities and inside a race track someone wants you dead. Driving is easy enough, it's more archaic than in recent years. In a time where everyone wants to make cares feel as real as possible, Grand Theft Auto IV being the worst, it's happy to see that if someone wanted to play a game with real car physics they can play a racing game. No, this is leaning towards Twisted Metal and I'm thankful for that. You have your weapons on the car that is ready for combat. The minigun, rockets, and mine traps. What I think is the best part about the car combat is that it's all auto aimed. You don't need to worry about lining your shots. Just drive and shoot. It's immensely satisfying to drive past a car that has exploded.
Lastly, is the building of supplies. Through out the world you will find parts to make various stuff. From bandages to RC cars. If you have the parts, you can build it.
SHOOTING THINGS LIKE A PRO
Weapons is a lot of fun to play with. While this is not a lot of variation of the weapons. It's the ammo that makes up for it. One shotgun shell makes the enemy explode into red dust, be careful though, doing that will not result of you getting their loot. It's a lot of fun to use different ammo in situations. The best weapon is the Wingstick. The Wingstick can buy you that extra time to reload. This generation has given the rise to the rise of Iron Sights. Just push the aim button and you are good to go, I don't have a problem with it, but with this game it's actually more fun NOT to use it. Run and shoot old school style. If your enemy is in that cross hair there is a good chance that is where that bullet is going. It reminded me of the last generation of games.
WHAT YOU SEE AND WHAT YOU HEAR
The Sound is all pretty standard. You got the decent voice acting, ambient sounds, music, sound effects. It's nothing that really stands out, but it's not terrible. Despite having decent voice work and great animation, it's does not include one thing that is important. Life. Yes, they move. Yes, they speak, but they all have that dead look. The sounds of the guns feels weaker than it should be. Shooting is fun in RAGE, but they don't have that punch that most games have like Call Of Duty. When firing your vehical weapon the sound don't register sometimes.
The graphics can range from amazing to mediocre. When driving around you will notice that you are in a boxed canyon. It's extremely leaner of where to go. It may seem that it's big, but that is because of the scope ID gave the environment. Unless you are at The Dead City, it's disappointingly narrow. The only time you see any flat land is near the end of the game, there is also texture pop in that will happen quite often. The most amazing thing in all of this is that the framerate never drops. It hits 60 FPS and it never faulters. There is some minor screen tearing though. Even so, it's hardly noticeable unless you look for it.
SOMEBODY UP THERE STILL LIKES YOU
The AI is quite smart, they know what you are doing, using and plan accordingly. Some will run away in fear and some will call in for more reinforcements. They are fast and they will use their surrounding accordingly. The enemy can take a lot of damage. Sometimes it takes three to four shotgun shells point blank to take the down. The authority takes much more. Just keep moving and use different tactics to keep them on their toes. If you just stand behind cover they will come after you and gang up beating you to death. This is where it's defibrillator minigame comes in. Complete the minigame and any enemy that is nearby dies. This even works in nightmare mode. It does have a long recharge time though.
ID software have a modest hit with this game. There is a few things to like about it. overall though, it's not amazing as they tried out to be. Sound glitches, Inconsistent graphics and, and story downplays this game. This story feels like a prolong to an even bigger story. If ID makes RAGE 2 I hope they learn from the past mistakes and build from there. Everything is here, now all they have to do is to make it better. And no, I did not find the Breaking Bad Easter Egg.
Resident Evil 4 HD Review
By Stealthmaster86 December 31, 2011 3 Comments
Released in 2005 for the Gamecube Resident Evil 4 was met with critical acclaim. Not only did it refreshed a series that was on the verge of death, it also changed gaming forever. You can't play a third person game without the camera being over the shoulder. Even in the earliest builds of the game it had the over the shoulder aiming.
You play as Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2. After the destruction of Raccoon City and the end of Umbrella, Leon now works for the government and his first task was to rescue the presidents daughter. If this game was made to day it would be a six hours to get to story point A to Story Point B. Instead it drags the story into a snails pace and that is one of the greatest strengths. The variety here is amazing. Where you go and what you do is not the same as you did an hour before. The story is strong and the characters are memorable if cliche. Instead of the Zombies and T-Virus you come across an ancient parasite called the Las Plagas. Where Zombies was dumb and slow moving, the infected can be smart and fast. They will give everything they have to kill you. Fire, Pitchforks, Dynamite, crossbows, chainsaws, and a few more. They will surround on you and will, in every opportunity arrives, slice your head off. Along with the main story of Leon protecting Ashley, The President's Daughter, there are a few more storylines. Most notably from a Woman in Red working for Albert Wesker.
Another Variety you have is the enemies. From the lone villagers that will choke you, to a frighting monster called The Regenerators. Each stage has it's own set of things to shoot. And shooting you will. Unlike past games where ammo is scarce, this took a controversial chose to make it a Action game. While it's an action game, it still has fantastic atmosphere and the scares from games past. Unlike Resident Evil 5 where the atmosphere is gone and the action is just that, Action. This is what the game has Variety. From the characters you meet, to the granados, to the monsters, to even the weapons you have.
The weapons are the star of the show. Each has there own handle and stats. My personal weapon of choice is the Blacktail. A handgun you get during the second stage of the game. You can upgrade your weapons from the money and treasures you find and use them at the Merchant. The Merchant will sell, buy, and upgrade your weapons. This leads to a light RPG element to series for the first time. Another thing that can be upgrade for the first time is your attache case.. It's in a grid based inventory where how much you can carry is based of how many more boxes you have left. By the end of the game you will have a case big enough to carry all your stuff like guns, ammo, health, and still have plenty to room left. Another thing unlike past games is the ammo. Ammo is high in this game, but it is possible to run out. When this happens it becomes a panic race to find ammo. The enemies can fill up a room and you will need to quick to finish everyone off as well as protecting Ashley. Ashley is smart enough to stay behind you and never really lag behind. You can tell her to stay behind or hide. Most of the game is an escort mission, but Ashley makes it easier. There will be a few times where you have to cover her, but as long as you keep your cool and makes the shots count, that to is easier. The gameplay is classic Resident Evil with a new camera. You walk or run around the area. When you shoot you stand in place. You don't shoot and move at the same time and it adds to the tension. This is, and should, be a practice where every Resident Evil game should have.
When the lengthy game is over, 15-20 hours, there still much more to do. There is The Mercenaries, where you are set in a stage and you try to kill as much as you can in a time frame. Assignment Ada, a non canonical story with Ada Wong as the playable character. Separate Way, A canonical story of Ada Wong and her doings in the events during Resident Evil 4. Along with the game modes you can start the game again with all your upgrades and pick ups from the last game. This makes replayability to high levels.
The sound is a mix bag. The voice acting can rage from pretty good to OK. The writing can also range from good to downright bad. Sometimes the sounds will sound muffled and mute and other times it can be clean and crisp. The so called "HD" is a lie. This is Capcom's way to sucking people into buying the game. It's a lazy port, but damn it the game is worth it. But, is it worth the 20 bucks they ask for this? Some would say "Yes", some would say "No". I'm split on it. I say "Yes" just the fact that you get so much for 20 bucks. 4 game modes including singleplayer with ton of replayability. And "No" just the fact that it's lazy. There is no HD upgrades whatsoever. The only thing that is new is the Leaderboards. The game didn't change, the graphics really didn't change, not even the sound is changed. It's the same game you played before. And for some inexcusable reason. I'm OK with it. It should be cheaper and I won't blame you if you didn't get it because of the price. If you have the systems it came out on, pick those up instead. They are cheaper than this. If you don't, I have no qualm about you getting this, just wait for the price to come down, if Capcom decides to. If you decide to get it, it's a reminder of the past generation of games. From gameplay from level design. It's all expertly crafted by one of gamings greatest name and the Godfather of Survival Horror, Shinji Mikami.
Quick Run: Cancelled Games.
By Stealthmaster86 December 22, 2011 15 Comments
That one news. That one headline that can ruin your whole day. The game that you have been waiting on has been cancelled. It's not uncommon for a game to get cancelled. There are several reasons why. It's getting too expensive, internal problems, or just as simply as "it's not good enough" As of this writing it was revealed that The Last Guardian has been cancelled, and while Sony has said it is not cancelled, it did remind me of a few games that did had the misfortune to get cancelled. Here is a few that has been cancelled.
First announced when the PS3, it was about two cops looking for a huge mob boss across America. One cop had his daughter kidnapped, and the other wanted revenge from the killing of his partner. It was being developed by the same team that made The Getaway, SCE London Studios. The gameplay that was shown looked amazing for being an early demo. It was more of a tech demo of the PS3, but the story and what the gameplay would have looked like would have been awesome. While Sony said it has not been cancelled, it is simply 'on hold'.
FAITH AND A .45
Not much was known about this game when it got cancelled. All we know that it would have been a Gears Of War/Army of Two hybrid. It was about 2 outlaws in The Great Depression. I haven't seen any videos about it, but the setting would have been interesting to see.
SIX DAYS IN FALLUJAH
This was going to be about a true story about one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq War. Konami was going to publish the game, but once the controversy about the game's setting and content came out Konami backed away leaving a finished game just sit in the desks of Atomic Games.
COMMAND & CONQUER: TIBERIUM
While Command & Conquer is primarily a RTS, EA tried to branch out the franchise with a first person shooter game with Tiberium. Major hype surrounded this game including a full blown special on GTTV and Cover art for Game Informer.
This was the one that hurt the most for fans of the series. And I don't blame them. Capcom even had this whole thing down for the promotion including a Demo/Prequel game. Sort of like how Dead Rising: Case Zero was. I would have been a big hit for Capcom, Suddenly, without warning the game was cancelled. Even with countless petitions for the game's return, it was not to be.
There is still hope
Those are the ones that I could think of. Would these games be good? Would these games have sucked? Who knows. All is not lost though. The first time I've heard of Alan Wake was actually in a episode of Cinematech on G4. I saw the trailer and was blown away by it. I loved the setting and story, so I was bummed out to find that it said Cancelled on the side. It turned out that the episode was showing cancelled games. Thankfully, the game came out 4 years later and it was worth the wait. I still hold Alan Wake as one of the absolute best games of this generation. Even as my second 360 broke and traded all my 360 games, I still kept the Alan Wake Collector's Edition.
Another game that almost got cancelled was actually a recently announced game; Metal Gear Rising. Metal Gear Rising was original called Metal Gear Solid: Rising, but internal difficulties to make the game work caused that version of the game to get cancelled. Instead of letting all that work go to waste. Kojima Productions turned to Platinum games, the developer that made Bayonetta, to make their own version of the game.
I hope that The Last Guardian didn't get cancelled. It would have been a blow to not only the PS3, but into gaming in general. Releasing this would have been the most refreshing game to come out in a long time.
Replay Rewind: Resident Evil 3 DEMO
In 1999 after the success of Resident Evil 2 Capcom quickly went to production of a sequel. What came out of it was two games. Resident Evil: Code Veronica and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Because Capcom had a contract with Sony Nemesis, which is a spin off, had to become Resident Evil 3. The true canon after Resident Evil 2 was supposed to be Code Veronica. Nemesis became the third game of the franchise. What follows is my playthrough of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis DEMO. I got the demo when I got Dino Crisis a few months ago. I will play this game on the Playstation 3 with soothing turned on and the difficulty on HARD.
After putting the disk in that old playstation intro logo came on rushing my memories of the games I played. Then after a message appeared; This game contains explicit Violence and Gore" what follows after that was the Capcom logo and then a video.
Now I'm in the menu. In it is a picture of the Nemesis holding a dead STARS member. Like I said, I shall play this game in HARD mode so now lets begin.
Jill Valentine, one of the main characters of the original Resident Evil game, is now explaining the story.
PART 1: MEETING OLD FRIENDS
I'm in a alleyway on a side of a a building. I'm left with two books, a handgun, and a reloading tool. The gun has fifteen bullets in it. I better make this last. The books tells you how to play the game.
It took a second, but I managed to control Jill the right way. The secret is the D-Pad. As I run away from the zombies behind me, I fired at the one zombie in front of me. It took six rounds to put him down. I didn't even other to see if it was still alive. after escaping a cutscene took place.
Now I'm at what appears to be a loading bay. I looked around as the man that took refuge inside a truck is now making some noise. As I ran around I found some ammo. I found a box with 30 handgun rounds. I now have 39 rounds.
I'm ow in the first safe room,. I love these themes. In it I find a key, gunpowder, a trunk and a typewriter. Seeing how this is a demo I can't save. In the trunk was only a knife. So after some mixing and rearranging I have in my eight slot inventory is a handgun that's loaded, 59 rounds, a knife, and a warehouse key. At least if I run out of ammo I'll have my knife.
Out of the warehouse and into the city. The loudest thing around is my boots. Sounds of the wind and moaning permeates the air. My plan to avoid zombies have failed horribly. Instead of going forward the street I went down the street and I came across a small alleyway as someone bursts through the door. After killing a few zombies I found a lighter fluid and a shotgun with seven shells. My trek through Raccoon City continues.
As I ran away from a few Zombies, I manage to pick up a bit of health. I was nearly surrounded when I noticed an opening. I darted to the side as a zombie pukes up poison missing me by mere inches. I ran towards the safe place which was near a fire escape with a few more health.
I checked my ammo count and learn the sad truth. Ammo goes by fast. I really need to be careful. After providing a few zombies, I gotten a bit a few times and enter the caution phase. This phase has Jill holding her stomach. I enter a bar and find Brad getting bitten. He manages to escape the clutches of the zombie and both Brad and I killed the zombie. He warns me something. Something large and is targeting STARS members. Brad, while injured, heads back outside and into the city. In the bar, before I head out myself, I found a few more rounds of handgun ammo and a liter. With the oil I picked up earlier I know have a working lighter. I head out again.
PART 2: WILD PACK OF FAMILY DOGS
I got turned around and done a complete circle around the bar. Once I found my way, I made right and enter a place with zombies being blocked. I had to use my mixed health because of the danger phase. Now Jill is limping slowly. After using the health, it's back to fine and Jill is walking properly once again. The door near the end of the alleyway is tied, but soaked in oil. Just then the wall falls and the zombies began to pour in. I ran back and try to fire at the oil drum. Seeing I can see the drum itself It took a few shots, but when I finally did most of the zombies was killed. The two that survived was blocking my path and I had to kill them. I now have only 15 rounds left and I didn't even touch the Shotgun yet.
Remember when I said yet? I just had to use it on a couple of dogs. It took two shells each. Now I'm in the second safe room. I picked up some gunpowder and made 15 pistol rounds and 6 shotgun shells. Back to the handgun for me.
Out of the room, through the dead town and now I'm in the police station. In a CG cutscene I meet with Brad once again. He loo- Then all of a sudden Nemesis comes out of nowhere and kills Brad. It's now a choice. Do I fight the monster or enter the station? I enter the station as Nemesis tries to break the door open. In the police station I picked ups some rounds of pistol ammo and I enter the office and killed the first Zombie I see.
As I continue on the office I fired at zombie till it fell down. I ran past and enter the police chief's office and the zombie that fell down followed me. I fired again and as soon as it hit the ground it grabbed me. I kicked the head off and I when ahead and killed the other zombies. Luckily I had only 38 rounds left, but I need to be careful.
PART 3: "MAKES ME NOSTALGIC FOR A CARD KEY"
Third safe room found. In it is more gunpowder which means more pistol rounds. I was was forced to shoot a few zombies to come here and now I have 30 rounds left. I press on the police station and now I'm in the second floor. I don't know if it because I'm playing it in hard mode, but these zombies move pretty fast. Because of that I am now, finally, out of Pistol ammo. Shotgun it is for the time being. I'm also in the caution state now.
I can't enter the STARS room because I don't have a STARS key. Back to the first floor I go. The good thing about killing these zombies is that they don't come back. I enter the conference room and running away from zombies. In the room I found more ammo. I head out again to go back to the lobby to use my card. I would have to say that walking around the station gives me memories of Resident Evil 2.
I eventually got there and head towards the computer. It asked me if I wanted to use the STARS card and I accepted. The STARS key was in the evidence room and the password was 0131. The number is always different. So I back tracked back to the conference room. Sorry, you can't carry that STARS key seeing that you fare carrying too much. I head back to the safe room and put some stuff away. Now that is out of the way, I head back to the evidence room and picked up the key. Shortly after I head back up stares. The second floor was empty and I didn't have to deal with zombies anymore.
PART 4: FASTEST THING ALIVE
I'm now at the STARS office and it's a mess. As I looked around I found a lock pick and more ammo. I started to leave the room until I heard a message. I turned and faced the radio. It barley works, but I heard a name. Carlos. He is asking for help. From the sound of it it seems that he is the only survivor. As I left the room, unable to answer back, I heard a crash down stares. I walk down unknown of what's down there.
RUNNING! RUNNING! RUNNING! The Nemesis burst through the window as I jumped. I'm now running as I always forget how fast this thing is. More running as it nearly hits me. Then it began to fire it's rocket launcher. I made it past several rooms and finally into the lobby. I didn't even pause. I got out of the station as fast as I could. Then I still ran.
Out of the Police station and the end of the demo.
I honestly didn't think that I would write this much, but I did. Between a lot of pausing and hand cramps (this was written on paper first) this was a bit of fun. I might do this to other games. It's up in the air if I will or not.
That was the Resident Evil 3 demo. It takes time to learn the controls and the Nemesis is FAST.
FUN FACT: I didn't die in this playthrough :)
Top 3 reasons why Metal Gear Rising doesn't have to have Stealth
As a child solder he was known as Jack The Ripper. Before he was 10 he earned that nickname. He was brutal on his tactics. He spent most of his childhood in the barrel of a gun. And now as a cyborg Raiden can do what he needs to do to survive. At the Spike VGAs, this past weekend, Hideo Kojima announced that Metal Gear Rising will be developed by Platinum Games, the developer of Bayonetta, Mad World, and Vanquish. From the gameplay we've seen it seems to be a hack and slash game. It's unknown if the game will have stealth elements or not. So I'll list three reasons why it's alright for Metal Gear Rising NOT to have Stealth Elements.
1. SONS OF LIBERTY AND SNAKE EATER HAD A HACK AND SLASH MOMENTS
You've woken up in a dark room and you have no idea of where you are at. Then you realize that you, Raiden, is naked and defenseless. After crazy codecs and the escape from your captives you meet up with Solid Snake and he gives you back the stuff that was taken away. In the pile of stuff he also gives you Olga's sword. It becomes fast apparent that Raiden knows how to handle a sword. Towards the end of the game you fight waves of enemies besides Snake. Do you use the sword or use a gun? If you choose a gun, it becomes a shooter. Use the sword, it becomes a hack and slash. Even your final fight with Solidus is a sword fight.
You've woken up in a dark room and you have no idea of where you are at. Then you realize that you are at a garage. You are playing as a total stranger that looks strangely like Para-Medic. This is a hidden mode on which you hack and slash your way through vampires in a city parking lot. You get two large hooks and you rip the vampires into shreds. This was in Snake Eater after the torture sequence. It doesn't last long, but it was a blast to play. In fact that sequence was to be said to be a cancelled project Konami was working on. Instead of ditching it forever, they put part of the gameplay into Snake Eater.
2. ADMIT IT, YOU WANTED TO PLAY AS RAIDEN IN METAL GEAR SOLID 4
At the end of Metal Gear Solid 2 Raiden is with Rose with a sword in his hand. Jump five years later and he is a cyborg dealing death to the Gekkos. It was ironic that this happened because people complained about playing as Raiden in MGS2, but now that he's a badass people wanted to play as him. He looks far more powerful than he did in MGS2. If we had the chance to play as Raiden, as the cutscenes implied, it would have been hack and slash.
3. THIS IS NOT SOLID ANYMORE
Dropping the "Solid" from this title means two things, this will be a new franchise based on the Metal Gear Universe or there won't be any stealth in this game. Dropping "Solid" is the best idea for them to do what ever they want. It shows that this won't be like the past games of seeking around. And we know this wont be canonical so we won't see how Raiden rescued Sunny from the Patriots. Dropping Solid also implies that Solid Snake is not in the game. By Metal Gear Solid 4, both Snake and Raiden has different ways to destroy gekkos and Metal Gears. Snake by weapons and hiding, Raiden by going head first with a sword. The gameplay would have been entirely different.
It's too early to tell what the gameplay will be like. So far the trailer is just showing a little bit of the story and some of the stuff that Raiden can do.
Batman: Arkham City Playstation 3 Review
By Stealthmaster86 October 18, 2011 1 Comments
TIME TO SUIT UP
We are finally at that time where comic book games are great. Sure, there was a few decent games here and there through out the years, but nothing has come close to what Rocksteady has done to the Batman franchise. Batman: Arkham City is a sequel to the 2009 hit Arkham Asylum. Without giving too much away it revolves around Batman going place to place trying to uncover what Hugo Strange is doing and why Arkham City appears to be in ruins. He runs into The Penguin voiced by Nolan North, Two Face voiced by Troy Baker, The Joker voiced, once again, by Mark Hamill, and Harley Quinn voiced by Tara Strong. Don't worry Tara Strong did a great job as Harley Quinn. There are a few others like Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, and others that I don't want to spoil.
The Story is set in one night at Arkham City and Hugo Strange has something sinister in mind. He starts kidnapping reporters and politicians. Batman is sent in and try to work on what is going on. It leads him to all over the city and to all the villains you could want,
I'M... WELL, YOU KNOW
The gameplay is the bread and butter of this game and that thing is good. The controls are tight and you felt like you are punching some one as Batman takes cares of foes. Once you got a handle on things the game sends you through a loop as the enemies becomes smarter and use more fatal weapons. The bosses in this game is the best I've seen in a long time. This is Metal Gear Solid level boss battles. All of them worthy of remembrance. But, it's not about the combat. The predator gameplay has greatly improved. You still go from one vantage point to another, but its not all gargoyles this time. It's anywhere Batman can go. And go you shall, Jumping off rooftops has never been this fun. Not even Assassin's Creed can have this fluidity. You jump from a building and you can fall to the ground or quickly press the L1 as your batclaw shoots out a claw to the nearest edge.
The difficulty is perfect. One minute you are BATMAN beating the pulp off some of the goons that the main villain has for you. And the next you are surrounded with only 2 bars left and a desperate need to finish off the remainder of the goons you have left. Thankfully, it's not all fighting. There are a few puzzles here and there. And I do mean Here and There. The Riddler has left you to find over 400 challenges to complete. Most of it's the question mark figure that was in Asylum, but instead of it just lying there. There are quite a bit of puzzles to solve to get them. Then there's the combat challenges, They will test how good you are in fighting. Sometimes you do something and then a message will inform you that you have completed a challenge, with out knowing it was challenge in the first place. There are a few challenges that is locked out and as of this writing, I have not gotten them yet.
SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TO SEE
Arkham City itself is massive, but don't think of it as Grand Theft Auto. It's much better than that.You come across some side quests and if you don't want to do them yet the location will be located in your map for future use. The world is big, but not the biggest you will ever see, but because of that it's rich with detail and the atmosphere that follows it is spot on to the world of Batman.
The entire cast is top notch. Like I said earlier, Tara Strong did a great Harley Quinn. Nolan North did a wonderful job as The Penguin. It almost made me forget that he is also Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are amazing as The Joker and Batman respectfully once again. While there were a few cheesy lines spoken by Catwoman the voice actor, Grey Delisle, also did a great job. The music is one of the best around. From low sound of the city streets to the dashing escape from goons, the music knows the best way to present itself and does it in such a way I won't be surprise if it wins a few Best Original Score awards.
RIDDLE ME THIS, RIDDLE ME THAT
But, just beating the story does not mean you are finished. Oh, no there is a lot more things to do in this game. There's Riddler's Challenges where you have combat arenas to test your skill as either Batman or Catwoman. In the four options you can choose from is Regular Arenas where can fight wave of enemies, Another Regular arena where it will test your Predator ability as you pick off a goon one by one. The next option is called campaign where they will give you a mixture of the two. You could have 2 combat challenges and one predator challenge in the middle for visa versa. It's immensely satisfying if you can get a least one metal on it. The final option you have is Custom where you pick out a room and then you can pick modifiers where it changes the style of for you. Want it easy or do you want it hard. Maybe a mixture of both. This was a lot of fun to mix and match.
This much awesome does have it's downside. Catwoman, while is a blast to play, is a little weak compered to Batman. It's a small gripe I have, but it's not that big. The textures would pop in sometimes. and there is a few slowdowns here and there. But the negatives is no match of the amount of positive this game has. Think of Arkham Asylum and if you liked that game, think of this game a massive improvement on a game that was already great.
Batman Arkham City is great game to have. It's got an excellent lengthy Story mode and plus many hours more on side quests, Riddler's trophies, and challenges. This is a worthy game to carry on the Batman name and what ever Rocksteady has planned next, Batman or not, I am sure it will be another great game.
Batman Arkham City is for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The PC version is coming out next month, and the Wii-U sometime next year.
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The diocese of Comayagua in these times of local and national consternation directs itself to the deeply distressed family members of the prisoners who perished in the Central Jail of Comayagua, to those who were wounded and affected during the fatal fire that began at 10:50 pm last night, Tuesday, March 14. We also direct ourselves to the whole Honduran people.
First, we profoundly lament what occurred during the worst tragedy in the history of the jails of our country and we are greatly in solidarity with the family members and those affected by the disaster who took the lives of a large number of prisoners in the Comayagua prison which according to initial data added up to 356 persons who died out of a prison population of 852.
Second, we invite our brothers and to unite with us in a common effort to respond, in the short and medium term, to the most urgent needs of the survivors of the disaster and the affected families.
Third, we lament that this is the third disaster which has happened in a decade in the prisons of Honduras, an aggravating factor being that the penal institution in the city of Comayagua was considered the prison with a higher level of security on the national level.
Fourth: we consider lamentable the inhuman conditions of stacking up [the prisoners] and insecurity in which our country's prison population lives. Specifically in the Prison of Comayagua, constructed to house 250 prisons, the prison population was reaching 852 persons deprived of liberty.
Fifth, we ask the live groups [literally, the forces that are alive] of the Honduran society so that, united, we demand that our authorities improve the conditions of imprisonment and the means of human security in the prisons in order to safeguard the integrity and dignity of those deprived of liberty and in order that such a lamentable tragedy is not repeated, a tragedy which has brought grief to so many Honduran families and saddens all of us.
Sixth, we ask the Christian community to lift up prayers to the God of life, so that welcome in his kind hands and welcome into his glory our brothers who have died and that he strengthen their relatives with the certainty that they are not alone, that God keeps watch over them and accompanies them in these difficult moments. May God quickly heal those wounded during this disaster and may our civil authorities act decisively and quickly to improve the conditions of our prisons and of the judicial system in general.
The original Spanish can be found on my Spanish blog, here.


Christina's Bunion Surgery Experience | Day Two | Next Step Foot & Ankle Clinic Christina checks in on day two of her bunion surgery recovery. For more info about treatment for bunions contact the Next Step Foot and Ankle Clinic.
Christina checks in with us on day two of her bunion surgery recovery.


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Big Whiskey Bar Finally Has a Vegan Menu in Las Vegas
Meat-heavy restaurant chain Big Whiskey's American Restaurant & Bar has introduced a vegan menu at its new location in Las Vegas.
Alongside more than 150 different whiskeys, the restaurant will now offer the "bleeding" Impossible Burger (a plant-based patty served with with vegan cheese, dairy-free aioli, and a vegan pretzel bun), a meatless bolognese made with Impossible meat, and a vegan BBQ bacon chicken sandwich. The new options were specially created for the Las Vegas location.
"We're the first Big Whiskey's franchise to offer a vegan menu and we couldn't be more excited," Tony DePasquale, owner of Big Whiskey's Las Vegas, told the local blog Vegans Baby. "We chose the Las Vegas market to debut the vegan menu because of the diverse needs and desires of the community."
He added, "[we] really took our time in creating the menu, as the goal was to produce something as unique and special as this city. Las Vegans deserve the best and that is what we've worked hard at creating for them."
DePasquale isn't stopping there – he also aims to source his ingredients from more environmentally-conscious suppliers and find solutions to traditional harvesting ethics.
"We want our vegan customers to know we care about them and the issues important to the vegan community," he said. "We didn't just want to throw meatless and animal-free products on the menu and call it vegan."
Vegan Food in Las Vegas
Big Whiskey's joins a huge range of restaurants that are offering vegan food to Las Vegas locals and tourists alike.
The city is adept at catering for those looking for plant-based options; from global street food – like that served at VegeNation's two locations – to unique fine dining experiences. At Black Out, the entire plant-based menu isn't revealed until after customers have finished eating…in the pitch black.
The city is also home to Nevada's first all-vegan drive through, VegeWay Burger, which opened in 2016. Created by Kenny Chye, owner of Veggie House in Chinatown, the restaurant offers vegan Asian-inspired fish tacos and Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwiches, as well as an extensive menu of burgers.
Big Whiskey's is located at 6587 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
LIVEKINDLY


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