San Diego Comic Con 2009

Last week I ventured to San Diego, California for a little event known as Comic Con International or San Diego Comic Con. Now I had never been to any type of comic convention before New York Comic Con this past February so I didn’t know what to really expect.

The coverage you see on G4 and around the interwebs doesn’t do the Con justice to be honest. This is something you need to see with your own two eyes because it is absolutely mind blowing about how many people can come together for something they love.

For four days every July the comic, video game, and movie industries descend on downtown San Diego for an all out nerdfest. People of all shapes, sizes, and colors roam the streets in cos-play or just talking about everything and anything nerdy or geeky with no one looking down, making fun, or criticizing them.

Now like I said before I attended New York Comic Con in February so I thought I had a handle on what to expect. Well that handle wasn’t enough to carry me through what went down in San Diego. Not only is the Convention Center about three times as big, but everything is so scattered through out the entire building. You have to run or use teleportation in order to make it to some panels because they can be on opposite sides of the building. Yet even those won’t help you because San Diego Comic Con has about five times the attendance as New York.

With so many people you were lucky if you even made into any of the panels you wanted to attend and forget it if said panel was in Hall H. The lines for Hall H would stretch far and wide in order to gain attendance. People would spend the entire day there and sit through some panels they did not want to see just for an hour with something they love. Of course, Hall H also gave you some of the most anticipated footage for a few movies (Iron Man 2, Avatar, District 9).

Honestly I can go on and go about experience at Comic Con, but for now I am just going to leave you with that.

Things To Come?

Over the past few months I have kind of given up on finding a job that I love and allows me to do what I do best (write/produce). After countless failed interviews and leads that lead to no where I think that the east coast has nothing left.

Most of the people I work with on The Nerdiest Kids and The Start Screen are in Cali so that is where I am going. Hopefully everything will work out and I shall be there by Summer or just after.

I’m Digital and So Are You

We all know that in today’s world everything revolves around computers. They play a HUGE part in our daily lives even in the slightest way. So today I decided to take a look at all the things I need and/or check daily in this digital age. Hit the jump to see how F’ed I am when robots take over.

They’re Back!!!!!

Over the weekend we were treated to some of the best news I have heard in awhile. One of the bands I grew up listening to and shaped the way of music today are finally getting back together.

The Blink boys posted on their official site the following

Hi. We’re Blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We’re back. We mean, really back. Picking off where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep  in our legacy.

Summer 2009.

Thanks and get ready…

Words can not express how excitied I am about this.

New York Comic Con

So this past weekend I had the chance to cover New York Comic Con for The Nerdiest Kids and The Start Screen. Now this was my first time ever going to Comic Con and I really didn’t know what to expect. Well besides from what you gather from people who go and what the news likes to so.

In my mind all I could think of was how many people are going to be dressed up, is there anything that will really hold my interest for the entire day, and if I really wanted to go to some panels. It’s funny how people make such a big deal about Comic Con and I never really under stood why until now.

So I get into NYC Friday afternoon and walk my way down to the Javits center (bad idea BTW because it was freezing out). Once I got my ticket it was straight into the Con with no stopping until I got what I needed. Now the floor with the exhibits is huge and I honestly never made it to one side. I can only imagine how big Comic Con San Diego is going to be (and I can not wait to go).

Everything was set up in a basic order. Video games go here, toy makers there, comic dealers and publishers set up over yonder. With that you always knew where you were and what you were looking at. Since there was so much going on upstairs you could head down and relax in the IGN Theater or hit up any of the different panels going on.

This is where I built up most of my frustration. The people working and volunteering had no idea how to set up a line. They had people going every which way when everyone wanted into a specific panel. I will give them credit because on Sunday it seemed like they got it right.

Now like I said I am not really big into comics or manga so it was very interesting to see how big of a following it really has. I mean most of those lines were longer then the ones for comics. It was also the biggest thing to dress up as.

Most of my time was spent around the video game booths and watching the Marvel Superhero Debates. Since you would never be able to tell this is only the 4^th NYCC (yea I just found that out) I felt like this con had been going on for years.

All in all I am glad that I was able to attend New York Comic Con because it was a great experience and got me ready for what I am going to face in July in San Diego. However I do have some little notes I want to get off my chest.

1. To the three girls dress as Salve Leia who should have been. No Bad! Why would you ruin that image for me WHY?!?!?!?!!
2. I know the exhibits, demos, videos, and everything else they are showing are great to look at, but YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF A TIGHT CROWED WALKWAY TO LOOK AT IT. GTFO of the way!
3. If you see someone taking a picture don’t be a duch and walk in front of my camera.
4. To the little kid who kept barking orders to the people playing the Ghostbusters: The Video Game demo. STFU no one likes you.
5. To the PR girl working the Ghostbusters: The Video Game booth you are extremely cute and I would love to take you out for dinner one night. You have my card.

T-Mobile and RIMM can suck it

The title basically says it all.

For the past few weeks I have had nothing, but trouble with T-Mobile’s serive and my Blackberry. Why the F*%$ does my phone keep searching for service when I am sitting my a place that has it. Honestly are you trying to push me away as a customer?

Every time that happens I am getting a step closer to getting an iPhone and once they announce a 30 + gig model (finger crossed for WWDC) I will get it. Until then maybe you should do something about it instead of telling me to just to restart my phone.

The ignorant get more ignorant Part 3: Video Game Addiction

Monday the internetz learned of 17-year-old Daniel Petric who shot a killed his mother and wounded his father because they took his copy of Halo 3 away from him. Now today his Attorney is claiming insanity due to video game addiction.

It seems like these day that is the excuse when something happens involving video games. Now I am one to use excuses when it comes to MANY things, but I never used a video game as one or cause harm to someone or something because of a video game. Hey when those kids perm-a-borrowed my copy of  Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge I didn’t run over to their house an bust a cap to get it back. Honestly I felt that if they wanted to keep it they could because that game was HORRIBLE so it was kind of a win win situation for me because I never had to look at or play that game again. Hell I even had to sneak playing the original Mortal Kombat because my mom didn’t want me to play (Thanks Dad for not knowing anything about video games) because of the violence.

Any way I am still trying to understand the whole aspect of video game addiction. Yes I have played games that I couldn’t stop playing, but I realized that I need to take a break and do something constructive. I totally understand losing track of time. We all have had those moment s, but after a certain amount of time don’t go you feel lazy and like a waste of life (if you say well my character is achieving something I will slap you in the face).

Then their is the aspect of this case with Mr. Petric, Brandon Crisp, and many others who parents have banned them from playing or taken away games because they see how they are affecting their child’s life. Only having the well being of their kid the parent’s do what they think is best and then the kid goes and does something drastic.  I mean god forbid your character isn’t up to the highest level or someone is a higher prestige then you. Kids and even adults need to realize that those don’t translate to anything in the real world and are only for show. Yes, I will give you credit for achieving something, but you need to realize that it means nothing.

Maybe instead of wondering how you are ranked on a leaderboard or how long it will take to max out your character you should think about where your life is going. If you parent’s take your game away understand where they are coming from and go Holy Sh!t they are right (if you need to think about that then I feel sorry for you). Again they are only doing what they think is best for you and yet you are going to kill them because your afraid to deal with real life (and I know it can suck) or run away to teach them a lesson.  By any chance those thoughts or ideas come across you mind then you should find the nearest shovel and slam it as hard as you can into your skull or come find me and I will kick you in the face and maybe then you will gain some sense.

What I am basically saying is video game addiction is ify to beleive in (that’s how I feel). People just need to realize their is more to offer else where.

“Online Murder” was the case that they gave me WTF?

News broke yesterday of a woman in Japan that was arrested for “killing” her online husbands “Maple Story” character/avatar. Apparently the woman and a co-worker we married in the game and then he suddenly divorced her with no warning. So being traumatized that her fictitious character would have to live the rest of her life wondering the internetz alone the woman hacked the guys account and deleted his account. Now I love how deleting his account is considered “internet murder” and not by actually killing him in the game…o wait maybe he has some extra lives or like WoW you have to wait a few seconds before you come back to life.

Were they the only two people playing “Maple Story” that she couldn’t wonder around some town or village or whatever they have in the game and whore herself around till she found a suitable suitor? I mean in all honesty this is pretty ridiculous because they are calling this suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data. Now here’s a question what if the guy gave her the information? Did you ever think about that Tokyo police?

So remember kids 1) Do Not share your user name and password with anyone because the world is filled with crazies 2) Make sure you aren’t marrying one of those crazies because you never know what they will do 3) All you FPS and GTA players be ready because you could be next. Online murder is murder!

The ignorant get more ignorant part. 2 Cheating

After writing my first post about the language that is used while playing games online I decided I would continue my little ignorant series if you will even call it that.

With the popularity of online gaming growing more and more each day I figured that with today’s little rant I would go on to the topic of cheating. Now I’m not talking about a simple A, B, A, C, A, B, B code. More along to lines of wall hacks, auto-aim, map glitches, and the most recent “cheat” if you will Modded Controllers. *Please note that PC gaming is easier to cheat on then Console gaming*

Growing up everyone and their mother at one point in time used a cheat code wither it be for unlimited health, unlimited lives, or unlimited ammo. Everyone has hit that little snag when you can’t beat that one boss or figure out a certain puzzle (I’m talking to you Resident Evil 1). However since a majority of games are now played online against people around the world everyone is looking for a way to be the best. The #1 mentality is in all of us, but for some it’s bragging rights for others it’s a way to show how dominant they are. What ever happened to playing video games for fun?

My first in-counter with “live-gaming” (if you will call it that) was like with team-speak in Counter-Strike. This was before the Stream days for all the new kids playing that amazing game. See you would be talking down a hall in Dust or camping (I will get to that in another post) in the Hostage room in Militia when all of a sudden BAM some kid just AK-47ed you ass. That left you wondering if you made a noise or if someone saw you go in there. So you would follow that person while in Ghost mode (another way I cheated back in the day. Man it was good living in the same town as you cousin because local calls are free) and see that they were picking people off through walls. Once you made that little gem of a discovery hopefully you were friends with a mod and help them push the Ban Hammer down. After that all went back to normal until it was time for Aztec Fight Club.

From there the CS world (because that and Command & Conquer were my games of choice) was introduced to everyone’s favorite friend the auto-aim/ head shot cheat. This beauty could allow the most horrible player to ever touch a mouse and keyboard to dominate the server rankings. One by one the other team would fall because all you had to do was hit the fire button and let the script do the rest. Plus who doesn’t want to get 7 AWP head shots in a row? This cheat was a little easier to pick up on and the Ban Hammer crashed like never before.

Now I give Valve so much credit for working through this and developing what would become Stream. See Valve knew what cheating would do to their ever so popular Half-Life mod and decided to take action. They developed a little program for server host to install that would detect cheats while a person was connecting to their server and not allow them to enter. Bishop’s CS Server never looked cleaner. However my little problem with it was that you had to delete all your skins because they saw them as cheats. So I departed with my golden guns and Rambo knife. Then for some reason I stopped playing CS, but from what I hear it seems like all the ever so popular MMORPG’s out there have gold farming (are you serious paying real money for FAKE internet money), auto-run bots (hey some people don’t like having their character sit around while they work or go to school), and that’s all I think there is.

Today with Xbox Live (XBL) and the Playstation Network (PSN) over taking the globe it was only a matter of time before someone found a way to cheat. Now these aren’t as bad as the ones for PC games because you can’t alter the code or insert your own, but they still take away from the meaning of playing. These days it is all about finding ways to glitch on a map so you can wonder around the outside and pick people off or have the time of your life under the map (:cough:Roundhouse:cough:) while going 15-0 because no one knows where you are. This can become a problem because unlike PC gaming servers the only way to get rid of this is if your the host you can kick people or leave what can be a fun game because someone has to exploit a little glitch.

Finally as annoying as glitching can be I don’t think anything takes away from Console gaming more then the recent addition of Modded (Rapped Fire) Controllers. From anywhere between $50 (if you want to mail someone your controller) – $100+ on eBay you can gain an advantage by being able to empty single round weapons like they were fully automatic. I mean is getting a sick Kill:Death ratio that important that you need to pay for a special controller? Usually I am not one to let this bother me that much, but since I have been playing CoD 5 online and know those WWII rifles don’t fire that fast it can get very annoying.

In closing when did bragging rights about being so “awesome” at a game corrupt the youth into trying to exploit the rules so they can fit in? Sooner or later (I hope) they will realize that there is more to life then having a spot on a leader board (unless you are getting paid to have it there). Video games are meant to be fun and even if you think your so cool because you can empty a clip in no time or “it’s just a little glitch” it ruins the fun. Maybe it’s just me.

The ignorant get more ignorant

I know this topic has been talked about and brought up a lot, but this weekend took it to a whole new level. After picking up a new car! I decided to relax a bit before taking out on the road to see what it is made of. So I decided that I would continue my exploration of Call of Duty 5: World At War Online. Now I must say that I have heard it all when it comes to bigotry and racism while playing video games (I was playing CS when they first introduced Team Speak). Over the years I have heard the words and terms to describe people grow more and more harsh and the Maturity level of the common video game player diminish.

Now I am not preaching or standing on my soap box here, I am just trying to figure out why this is a common practice. It seems like when someone calls another player out for not being good, cheating (and there’s A LOT of the going on in this beta), or just messing around the only quick response is to call the person who is calling you out a f*g, p*ssy, n*gger (which is just RIDIC), and anything else they can think of. What gets worse is that when someone of African American decent comes in the racial slurs are the only think you can hear until the match starts and HOPEFULLY they won’t be on your team (I don’t think I have ever excerised the mute button more then I have this past year). Of course there is always the option of unplugging my headset (then the voices come over the surround sound and if I turn it down I can’t here people creeping on me) or not wearing it (but then how am I going to ask for a UAV or yell behind you).

It is really disgusting that this is a growing trend with Online, XBL, and PS Online and the young kids playing these games think its cool. When I was young my parents had only one computer in the house and that was in the living room so they could keep an eye on what I was playing and when I said anything offensive they would yell at me. Also my consoles didn’t have the ability to play online back then.

As I was saying about this past Friday. When I signed online and joined an on going Team Deathmatch match (does that work?) I bared witness to some of the most hateful speech I have ever heard. I was in all about the things being said and the fact that these kids and adults mind you were proud of what they were saying. Which reminds me of a time I was playing XBL months ago and heard a group of people that sounded like young adults demean this young kid who was trying to be cool and annoy the server by playing music, screaming into his mic, and trying to going in on the bigotry.

This brings me to another topic and that is the use of the word RAPE by little kids while playing games online. In all honesty when I was younger I would use that word all the time when describing being killed an unrepresented amount of times by the other team or getting blown out of a match. That was before I knew the meaning of the word and became something that can be heard on the news just about every night.

Today you will here kids just casually say “I am going to rape you guys this round like its my job.” I’m sorry, but what did you just day kid?

With that being said I am in NO WAY asking for speech while playing online to be limited, modded, or in anyway oppressed because I am a firm believer in the First Amendment (hell I wouldn’t be able to write this blog or have my degree if it weren’t for it). All I am trying to do is figure out when it became cool to demean other people and corrupt today’s youth by making them think those words are cool and alright to use when you have a mic to your mouth and no one can see your face. Just think before you speak.

:Writing this blog as made me think that I might post some points from my Senior thesis on aggression while playing video games if I can find and maybe talk about some other things that can make playing online less fun: