A special message

 With the war happening in Ukraine right now, I'm seeing a disturbing amount of young men and women itching to head over there and blast some Russians. I find myself in need of sharing this special message...

War isn't like in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. When you get shot, it'll hurt like hell. Unlike in video games, one bullet will be more than enough to kill you if you get shot in certain parts of your body. There'll be no respawning for anybody. Combat armor is heavy, gunshots and explosions are very loud, and having debris flying everywhere is detrimental to your breathing.

War isn't a game, and I can't stress that enough. War is war, it's hell on Earth. You don't WANT to be in a war, trust me. The Ukrainians and the Russians are in a war, and I promise you, they hate it. The only people who like war are the people who know they won't have to fight in one.

If you've got the luxury of  staying home, do so. If you have a family, consider your duty to be taking care of them. Pray for a swift end to this war, and to all wars.

If they Win- Stormcloacks of Skyrim

Two sides in a civil war: neither is truly good nor truly evil. Both have their strong points and their weaknesses, their heroes and their bastards. In Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, we are presented with a civil war of such magnitude between the Empire of Tamriel and the rebel Stormcloacks. Today though, no analysis of this situation; only a hypothetical look into the implications of a Stormcloack victory.

Regarding the N-word

He said it, that Swede said one of the worst words in the English language. The N-word, a word with a harsh and cruel history of violence towards Africans and people of African descent, all because of their skin color. It is a word that does not belong in the vocabulary of good, decent folk. I am of course referring to a recent event where PewDiePie, the most subscribed and most watched Youtuber in the world, had uttered the word during a livestream. His usage of that word has rightly invited criticism against him, and what I hope to be a mature discussion of said word.

"Will Wheaton: Anonymous trolls are destroying online gaming."- A rebuttal.

On November 11 of 2014, actor Will Wheaton, whom you might know as the voice of Aqualad from the 2002-2006 Teen Titans cartoon and as a recurring self parody on the Big Bang Theory, has recently written an article on the Washington Post, titled "Anonymous Trolls are destroying online gaming. Here's how to stop them." As I am a firm believer in freedom of speech, the respectful exchange of ideas, and the individual freedom to believe what we wish, I offer my own rebuttal to his work. His original words will be left uncensored (save for one video that I shall not link, I'll explain why below) and will be written in bold, while my words will be written beneath his, unboldened. As the purpose of this entry is to educate and criticize, it is protected by Copyright law. His original work can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/11/anonymous-trolls-are-destroying-online-games-heres-how-to-stop-them/?tid=sm_fb

On Lies and Propaganda

I just came out of reading a Dr Nerdlove blog, titled "What we talk about when we talk about Gamergate", yet another piece from the Anti Gamergate propaganda machine set out to convince anyone willing to lend an ear that Gamergate is not about ethics, it's not about consumer dissatisfaction, and it's not about the feeling of betrayal that millions of gamers feel when they are told by the people that they had given their support  that their identity is irrelevant, that they don't matter as consumers, that they are misogynists, and well, you know the rest. The Anti Gamergate side keeps repeating the same lies over and over again and again: that this is about Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, and an attempt by the "gatekeepers of gaming culture to evict women from their club house", quoted from Dr Nerdlove. His blog entry is propaganda. But what is propaganda?

An Analysis of Suikoden 2

It's no secret that Suikoden is one of my all time favorite video game series, and that it disappoints me greatly that Konami has all but canceled the series. Still, every now and then it is a good idea to revisit the series. It is in my opinion that every RPG has a main theme, an element that drives the story. Suikoden is no different. And today, I analyze the element that drives the story behind the one entry that is generally regarded to be the best in the series, Suikoden 2.

Available on Ebay for about $130 because Konami can't be arsed to put this title on the PSN Store. Also available for the PSP in Japan because Konami can't be arsed to translate the game and ship it anywhere else.