When people think about the gaming community there are few general views those people usually get right away. One of them is all the little kids they hear on xbox live, screaming and being immature. Which in all honesty is such a small part of the community that it should not be used to judge the whole community. Then there are the people you see complaining up a storm on the forums and those people don't really give a bad name to the community but they make people think that the community is full of people with no lives.
When in reality you have to look much deeper than that, the online gaming community is probably one of the most diverse places that does not discriminate against anyone. Anyone is accepted and all it requires is an internet connection. I have been a part of a few large gaming communities set up by the users in my day and have played with people young and old (oldest person i met was 77), any race you can think of, both genders and even the third one.
The gaming community is full of elitists, and casual players. It's where people that might be shy or might not be very social in the real world can go to escape from all of that and be whoever they want. There are people that want to regulate the gaming community, but what they don't realize is how large it is. If they were to do something like that they would have million, if not a billion or 2 people turn against them. I personally do not think they would want that.
Overall I love being a part of the gaming community. It is probably the coolest thing I have been a part of, and I have met some of the most interesting people that I still talk to today because of the gaming community and I would have it no other way.
Friday, December 9, 2011
What is gaming to you?
Gaming to me, when asked that question by other people my answer tends to be "a hobby." When in reality gaming is a lot more than just a hobby to me. I have been gaming since 1999-2000. I was roughly 10 years old and my dad really got me in to gaming. We liked to play games on the computer, not on consoles such as N64 and Playstation 1 which were out back then. Back then gaming was me coming home from school and having something fun to do with my dad! We played a lot of the Battlefield series and MoHAA(Medal of Honor Allied Assault) which actually happens to be my favorite FPS of all time.
We played primarily these games for about 2 or 3 years. While playing these games I had a few friends that lived by me that would come over and game with me and my dad, we all had a blast. All this gaming helped me build a lot of respect and love for the gaming community and its developers. It was pretty early on that I had decided that I wanted to become a game developer and create my own video games. It is a dream that I am still today working on making happen. I am well on my way to becoming a game developer, and hopefully within the next three years it will no longer be a dream but a reality.
So when people ask me this question of what gaming is to me, my true answer would have to be "a passion." It is a lot more than just a hobby, it is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to create those games and cinematic feelings within games that give people that "WHOAH" effect. That effect that makes you feel like you are really in the game. What most people don't realize is that there is a lot more to gaming than playing a sports game, or running around shooting people. There are story lines behind a lot of games, and those go way to highly unrecognized. Those stories when played through are like reading a book just way more interactive. Game development is an art form.
I hope to spend my life contributing to the art form of game development and have a huge impact on the community for the better, because it is my life's passion and it is what I want to do.
We played primarily these games for about 2 or 3 years. While playing these games I had a few friends that lived by me that would come over and game with me and my dad, we all had a blast. All this gaming helped me build a lot of respect and love for the gaming community and its developers. It was pretty early on that I had decided that I wanted to become a game developer and create my own video games. It is a dream that I am still today working on making happen. I am well on my way to becoming a game developer, and hopefully within the next three years it will no longer be a dream but a reality.
So when people ask me this question of what gaming is to me, my true answer would have to be "a passion." It is a lot more than just a hobby, it is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to create those games and cinematic feelings within games that give people that "WHOAH" effect. That effect that makes you feel like you are really in the game. What most people don't realize is that there is a lot more to gaming than playing a sports game, or running around shooting people. There are story lines behind a lot of games, and those go way to highly unrecognized. Those stories when played through are like reading a book just way more interactive. Game development is an art form.
I hope to spend my life contributing to the art form of game development and have a huge impact on the community for the better, because it is my life's passion and it is what I want to do.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Gaming and Procrastination!
So gaming is an awesome hobby. It allows you to emerge yourself in to a world where nothing else matters and you lose track of time. Everyone needs something that allows them to lose track of time and just have fun. It allows you to just sit back enjoy yourself and unwind. You can pop your favorite game in to the disk tray and turn up your favorite type of music or just turn on pandora, kick back and just enjoy yourself.
The only problem with gaming is that it can be slightly addictive. You go home and you want to turn the console or the PC on and just kick back and play. ALWAYS. When you know you should be doing homework or studying but instead you would rather just play games.
This is something that I feel can be fixed early on. The only way to make this not happen is to force yourself when starting (or if you are already at this point stop playing for a while) to take breaks and study or read or study.
You know when people are a bit to addicted when you are sitting in class, as I currently am, and you see them browsing the internet for the games they like to play instead of paying attention in class or studying. This is something that just needs to be self regulated or procrastination will take hold and it will be difficult to catch up on what you fell behind with.
The only problem with gaming is that it can be slightly addictive. You go home and you want to turn the console or the PC on and just kick back and play. ALWAYS. When you know you should be doing homework or studying but instead you would rather just play games.
This is something that I feel can be fixed early on. The only way to make this not happen is to force yourself when starting (or if you are already at this point stop playing for a while) to take breaks and study or read or study.
You know when people are a bit to addicted when you are sitting in class, as I currently am, and you see them browsing the internet for the games they like to play instead of paying attention in class or studying. This is something that just needs to be self regulated or procrastination will take hold and it will be difficult to catch up on what you fell behind with.
MMORPG's
So possibly one of the most played genres of video games in the world right now are MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Which is basically an RPG with millions of people online. This genre is made up of many different games, but there are a few popular ones that make up most of the community.
This genre of video game seems to be highly looked down upon in general culture in current day. The people that play the games love them, the people that do not play the games think they are the devil. These games have many upsides and downsides to them, and can be good and bad for the person playing it.
A lot of these games require a monthly subscription on top of the initial fee that you pay for the game. The initial fee for the game usually runs about 40-60 dollars and can have many expansion packs that run in that same price range that are released during the life of the game. Then on top of those fee's the games also have the monthly subscriptions. Most MMORPG's have the monthly subscriptions although there are a few that are moving away from them. The ones that do have the monthly subscriptions usually run about $14.99 a month or a few dollars less. Where as the ones that are moving away from monthly subscriptions are moving towards new payment models. The most popular payment model they are moving toward is called "micro-transactions." Which is allowing the player to play for free, although they can buy gear, armor and other things from an online store that you might not be able to obtain otherwise.
Also a lot of these games are very time consuming. A lot of normal action, or story games you buy that are single player might take 6-8 hours to complete the game, maybe a few more on the hardest difficulties. Where as the common player for an MMORPG will spend hundreds if not thousands of hours a year playing said game. Whether this is just a hobby or if you play professionally could decide how much you play. People that play for hobby will average 2 - 6 hours a day at a minimum usually. People that play a little bit more than as a hobby or professionally can play anywhere from 4-12 hours a day, and have even been heard to play up to 18 or 19 hours a day.
A lot of people think the people that play these games are just "lazy" and have no-life. Where as some people do let these games consume to much of their life. But I feel this community is to often judged due to this small group of people. The majority of the people playing this game are well rounded people living normal lives and that have a job.
Overall MMORPG's are the game genre of the future and probably is and will be the most successful genre ever to be.
This genre of video game seems to be highly looked down upon in general culture in current day. The people that play the games love them, the people that do not play the games think they are the devil. These games have many upsides and downsides to them, and can be good and bad for the person playing it.
A lot of these games require a monthly subscription on top of the initial fee that you pay for the game. The initial fee for the game usually runs about 40-60 dollars and can have many expansion packs that run in that same price range that are released during the life of the game. Then on top of those fee's the games also have the monthly subscriptions. Most MMORPG's have the monthly subscriptions although there are a few that are moving away from them. The ones that do have the monthly subscriptions usually run about $14.99 a month or a few dollars less. Where as the ones that are moving away from monthly subscriptions are moving towards new payment models. The most popular payment model they are moving toward is called "micro-transactions." Which is allowing the player to play for free, although they can buy gear, armor and other things from an online store that you might not be able to obtain otherwise.
Also a lot of these games are very time consuming. A lot of normal action, or story games you buy that are single player might take 6-8 hours to complete the game, maybe a few more on the hardest difficulties. Where as the common player for an MMORPG will spend hundreds if not thousands of hours a year playing said game. Whether this is just a hobby or if you play professionally could decide how much you play. People that play for hobby will average 2 - 6 hours a day at a minimum usually. People that play a little bit more than as a hobby or professionally can play anywhere from 4-12 hours a day, and have even been heard to play up to 18 or 19 hours a day.
A lot of people think the people that play these games are just "lazy" and have no-life. Where as some people do let these games consume to much of their life. But I feel this community is to often judged due to this small group of people. The majority of the people playing this game are well rounded people living normal lives and that have a job.
Overall MMORPG's are the game genre of the future and probably is and will be the most successful genre ever to be.
Portal 1 and 2
Portal is quite possibly the best puzzle game series ever created. Portal 1 was created as basically a test to see if people liked it, and let me tell you from my personal experience, it was AMAZING! Being possibly one of the most addicting games ever, people just could not get enough of it.
The concept of the game is extremely unique. The game is running on valves Source Engine. Which handles the game amazingly. The game is based around portals! Everyone loves the idea of portals right!? Well you get a friggin portal gun! Thats right a gun that shoots portals. You can shoot a blue portal and an orange portal, and when you run through one of these portals you come out of the other one. You basically have to shoot portals to find your way through a puzzle/maze/insane crazy prison. Sounds easy enough right? Yeah, you wish. There are many different factors that get thrown in, like having to launch yourself or not being able to put a portal somewhere and so on. The game was very challenging and people loved it, although the first one was extremely short and left everyone wanting more! MOAR!
After the end of the first game not much was heard from valve on whether or not there would be a second game. People were anticipating it though, and the community for the game had grown to huge proportions that valve was not expecting. So when announcing the second game late last year many people were happy to hear about it.
The second game is built off of many of the same concepts as the first but it comes with hundreds of new puzzles, and tricks. It was way more fun and difficult than the first and possibly the most fun I had ever had in a puzzle game. We can only hope that they make a third portal. Overall the portal series is probably one of my highest recommended buys out there. I have played many games and these 2 are near the top of the list. I rate both of them 10/10 and both are a must play!
The concept of the game is extremely unique. The game is running on valves Source Engine. Which handles the game amazingly. The game is based around portals! Everyone loves the idea of portals right!? Well you get a friggin portal gun! Thats right a gun that shoots portals. You can shoot a blue portal and an orange portal, and when you run through one of these portals you come out of the other one. You basically have to shoot portals to find your way through a puzzle/maze/insane crazy prison. Sounds easy enough right? Yeah, you wish. There are many different factors that get thrown in, like having to launch yourself or not being able to put a portal somewhere and so on. The game was very challenging and people loved it, although the first one was extremely short and left everyone wanting more! MOAR!
After the end of the first game not much was heard from valve on whether or not there would be a second game. People were anticipating it though, and the community for the game had grown to huge proportions that valve was not expecting. So when announcing the second game late last year many people were happy to hear about it.
The second game is built off of many of the same concepts as the first but it comes with hundreds of new puzzles, and tricks. It was way more fun and difficult than the first and possibly the most fun I had ever had in a puzzle game. We can only hope that they make a third portal. Overall the portal series is probably one of my highest recommended buys out there. I have played many games and these 2 are near the top of the list. I rate both of them 10/10 and both are a must play!
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a cartoony arcade style first person shooter and possibly one of the most fun games you will ever play. It is overall just a fun game with fun concepts. It is free to play now, but it originally came with the Orange Box. It is arguably the most popular f2p fps in the world. With the addition of discovering of new items and the store which allows you to buy items, it is becoming way more dynamic and adding a lot of replay-ability monthly.
The game consists of 9 unique different player classes and those include:
The game consists of 9 unique different player classes and those include:
- Scout - fast moving scatter gunner and melee class. Quickest and most agile class in game.
- Soldier - Slower moving soldier class with a shovel for melee, shotgun for secondary and a rocket launcher for a main weapon. Your average high damage offensive player.
- Pyro - medium speed, flame thrower as main weapon, shotgun as secondary, and an axe as melee. The pyro lights people on fire for damage over time, and can reflect rockets and other projectiles back at the target. Also the pyro is a girl???
- Demoman - which uses a pill (grenade) launcher as its main weapon and a sticky grenade launcher as its secondary (which must be detonated by the user). The demo also uses a bottle as its melee weapon.
- Heavy - A big man with a LOT of health that moves very slowly but has very high fire power. He uses a chain gun as his main weapon, and a shotgun as his secondary. His melee weapons are his fists and he can even eat a sammich to heal himself!
- Engineer - Arguably one of the more difficult classes to master the engineer builds stuff. He can build turrets, tele porters and resupply machines. He can also melee kill things with his wrench and shoot things with a shotgun.
- Medic - The medic likes to keep people alive by healing them while they are in action. He also uses a needle gun to take his foes out and can hack away at his enemies with a bone saw.
- Spy - The spy can disguise himself as anyone on the enemy team to blend in. He can also go invisible if he needs to sneak in somewhere or run for his life. His main weapon of choice is usually his knife which he uses to backstab people and take them down in 1 hit. He also has a revolver which does a high amount of damage and a sapper tool to kill devices built by engineers.
- Sniper - The sniper is a sniper. His main weapon of choice is the high powered sniper rifle, he likes to take his enemies out cleanly with 1 shot to the head. He also gets a nice sized machete if things get to melee range and a machine pistol for when he is running from a pyro.
All the weapons that the classes use can be switched out for different variations of those weapons that can either be found while playing the game, bought from the online store or traded for from other players. This game has a lot of replay ability and if played with some friends is tons of fun!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
God of War
The God of War series, is a series that currently has 3 main installments out. (God of War 1, 2, and 3) These installments have always been exclusive to the Sony Entertainment Gaming Systems. The God of War series is an action-adventure role playing game based on ancient Greek mythology. The games themselves are developed by Sony's Santa Monica Studios with help from Ready at Dawn Studios. The series debut in 2005 on the PS2 with Kratos as its main character and quickly moved to the PS3.
The central theme of the game is vengeance, with Kratos the main character going on to kill all of the gods in the greek pantheon. Kratos is a spartan warrior who is also the God of War. Each game gives more information on Kratos's origins in life and what his past looks like (to learn more about this either read up on the game or play it. I'm trying not to spoil a great series.)
Overall the series is full of amazing games that are all graphically thrilling, and suspenseful along the story line. If you are in to action based story adventure games I highly recommend the whole series.
It has been rumored although that the series was finished after the third installment, although there have been trailers released for a 4th game, which makes a lot of us excited. Although no one is exactly sure when the 4th game will be released. The videos say "Coming Soon 2012" and that is as far in detail as they will go. I have heard some people say September 2012 others say October, but no one knows for sure until there has been an official announcement.
Overall I give the series a 9/10, a great series with some amazing gameplay. The only reason it doesn't get a 10/10 is because the control feel similar to every other action based story adventure game. If they were to change things up a bit for GoW4 then I might rethink my rating but until then. Happy Fragging!
The central theme of the game is vengeance, with Kratos the main character going on to kill all of the gods in the greek pantheon. Kratos is a spartan warrior who is also the God of War. Each game gives more information on Kratos's origins in life and what his past looks like (to learn more about this either read up on the game or play it. I'm trying not to spoil a great series.)
Overall the series is full of amazing games that are all graphically thrilling, and suspenseful along the story line. If you are in to action based story adventure games I highly recommend the whole series.
It has been rumored although that the series was finished after the third installment, although there have been trailers released for a 4th game, which makes a lot of us excited. Although no one is exactly sure when the 4th game will be released. The videos say "Coming Soon 2012" and that is as far in detail as they will go. I have heard some people say September 2012 others say October, but no one knows for sure until there has been an official announcement.
Overall I give the series a 9/10, a great series with some amazing gameplay. The only reason it doesn't get a 10/10 is because the control feel similar to every other action based story adventure game. If they were to change things up a bit for GoW4 then I might rethink my rating but until then. Happy Fragging!
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