The Three Rs is a primarily British viral entertainment site, with standings in many niche interests and involved in a variety of different groups. Topics range from gaming to adulthood to the latest fashion.
A nice, solid month for the Three Rs. Starting with our 2nd birthday and continuing the steady and good growth of the Three Rs. Oh and happy Halloween for everyone from the Three Rs N3twork!
Changes
This months only major change are:
-The Three Rs got a new look! What do you think?
Poll Results
On the 1st of October we asked you "Internet Browsers... Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari?" You have been voting over at the Res3 Forums and you decided that... Firefox is the best browser.
Comments include: "I was very impressed when chrome came out and considered staying on it forever. But Firefox just feels like home to me, ever since I switched to it from IE. Plus, Add-Ons." by Reload92.
Poll of the Month will be posted tomorrow like the usual, you'll be able to vote and discuss the topic until the end of the month but this time it's being hosted at The Long Distance Forums. The nights are getting darker and that means more computer usage! We've got Leeds Comic Con and Next Top Model events next month! And what's a Monthly round up without a mention of Not3s? I mean R3cord! It's got a new name but still no launch date...
Put down your copy of New Scientist for a moment. There's a new magazine out and about telling us what's going on in science - specifically, transhuman science. It's called H+ and it's only available online. Best of all, you don't even have to pay for it. It's completely free. They say the best things in life are free...but is H+'s foray into the deep, dark world of pimping human bodies with microchips?
The H+ logo doesn't look very techy - but then, the webzine does emphasise humanity
First, let me tell you just what H+ is. The awkward title means "humanity plus", even if it does look like it should be all about hydrogen (how dull that would be!). That is a very succinct way of summarising the webzine's core. It is, in their own terms, "transhumanist". This means they want some self-directed evolution. If you've ever wondered if the future of humanity does not lie with random genetic mutation, but cybernetic implants and the like, then transhumanism may very well interest you. It's not so much science-fiction as it is science-faction; imagining what our current technology will develop into.
The magazine is all about detailing new, and potentially very exciting, ways of enhancing humanity through our amazing technologies. The possibilities within are fascinating and innovative; in just their first issue, they're talking about phones you can implant under your skin, like a tattoo; contact lenses with virtual reality overlays (the iEye, anyone?); the possibility of uploading and downloading memories to and from your brain. It's a brave new world of geekery, and the guys at H+ are embracing it fully.
One day we'll all have circuits in our contact lenses, providing us with Google Maps directions, pixellating ugly people in the street, making us feel like Terminators and letting us see the latest posts in The Three Rs RSS feed.
Perhaps they're too embracing. They adore such concepts as a nanotech world where everything is available on demand, but rarely does the 'zine pause and consider the potentially horrendous effects of such new technology - that should be the realm of journalism, not just the Daily Mail. It's rather like the old view of cars: they're wonderful! Now, we look at them with some disdain, because they have ravaged our environment. H+ is not worried with such things, because it seems filled with a schoolboy glee. But even schoolboys are aware of how evil the Borg got with their obsession with controlling their evolution.
However, prophesising the future is always a bit of a risky business. We're promised flying cars, and yet we're still stuck with wheels on roads. It's all the promise of what one day might be, but is there much scientific truth to it? Yes, you can interview people who are researching the possibility of downloading your memories onto your PC, but is it really a probable outcome or eventuality? You can show me all the funky conceptual ideas for the next generation of mobile phones, but until somebody starts producing them, I'll stick with what I've got.
Then there's H+'s inherent publication problem - I have a sort of trepidation when it comes to e-publications. I firmly believe that when producing a book, it must be done for print. E-books just don't have the same feel. Perhaps it's such encounters as The Story Of Egmothat make me think this, or maybe it's because I like the smell of old books.
Magazines are less constrained by this problem. They work well in print, of course. But if you just take all the text and put it online, in a format more like a website, that works equally well. You can choose the traditional option, or the modern option with homepages, hyperlinks, embedded video clips and much more. Wired is a perfect example of this. The Gawker network of blogs are practically online magazines with no offline counterparts. So where does H+ stand in all of this?
Well, this brand new magazine is produced slickly with spot-on pictures, nice typography and a general standard of good quality. Yet, it distributes this in a print form, but only online. To read its articles, you download the PDF. Yes, it's free, but it's also a bit of an anachronism. Why publish a new magazine on the web, only to inflict printing standards on it? The web offers an unshackled approach to publishing, yet H+ stays in its chains. That said, it would be an impressive - if a little short - magazine if it got the funding for a printed version. However, a printed version, I think, would suffer from a very small circulation. Transhumanism is a bit of a niche market, and magazines that call Michael Jackson "a pioneer of human transformation" tend to be dismissed as ramblings of lunatics. Perhaps, then, H+ is consigned to a virtual life.
Brilliant! What other magazine gives you adverts for cryonics?
In summary, H+ just seems a bit optimistic, hopeful and idealistic - fantasising about what it wants, and not what it's likely to get. While it's not accessible to the general public, its content, however, is a good read if you are interested in such topics and ideas of technologically-aided evolution. And that should be you - because who doesn't want a robotic suit that lets you lift really heavy stuff and fly away like Iron Man?
It's been in the news pretty much everywhere. I'm sure most of us know of the incident already, but for those living under a rock somewhere in Outer Mongolia, I'll briefly summarise what happened.
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand have been suspended from the BBC pending an investigation into the lewd comments they left on the answerphone of 78-year old veteran actor, Andrew Sachs, who you may recognise from Fawlty Towers. One of the most horrific comments made was Jonathan Ross' claim that Brand had slept with the actor's Granddaughter, which had been alluded to during Brand's Radio 2 show. This was then broadcast on the radio, prompting a record-breaking 18,000 complaints from the public. Sachs has also been described as "very distressed" over the incident, which Brand has since apologised for, but called "funny". The BBC are investigating the incident, but Ofcom are launching their own investigation as well.
In case you can't tell what way this is heading, I'll warn you that this is neither a review nor randomness. It's rant time.
I personally find the incident sickening. Brand and Ross make millions of pounds a year, out of our license fees, so they can leave abusive answerphone messages on the phones of pensionners in the name of "comedy". I've never been one for unnecessary censorship, but surely common sense should have kicked in and warned them that it is simply not right to act in such a way. I hate to think that my money is contributing to the distress of OAPs, by way of "celebrities" with more mansions than braincells. And I certainly hate to think that this action is setting the standard for future generations to become increasingly crude and offensive.
As a nation, we seldom stop whining about the state of the youths in this country; loud, abusive, disrespectful and threatening. But when you compare the two, you'll see how little difference there is. Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are no better than these kids on our street corners throwing rocks at cars and shouting abuse at passers-by. It just so happens that Ross and Brand are being paid to do it. What does that say to the children of this country? When Brand can, in light of the mass of complaints, proceed to declare his actions were "funny", what message does that give to our kids? We're effectively condoning this kind of action by broadcasting it as humorous. I'm a fan of crude humour, but this is not humorous by any stretch of the imagination. It's just offensive, and proof that we, as a nation, are effectively f*cked.
Should this be a perfect world, Ross and Brand would lose their jobs and be given a criminal record for their foolish actions. They can't even claim to have shown remorse for it, making the entire mess even more disgusting. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world, and it's almost a formality that these two morons will be back in their £5m a year jobs and cushy mansions before you can cry "Humanity".
If you're reading this, I urge you to isolate yourself with nothing but stacks of baked beans in a bomb shelter a mile into the earth's crust whilst you still can. It seems stupidity is becoming airborne.
Interestingly, a year ago the girl above was the PR manager for Activison - the same blokes who still develop the Guitar Hero franchise. Ain't it a damn miracle what some blusher and Photoshop can do under the right lighting? What's even more impressive is that this new Playgirl only lists Rock Band being on her top six games, not Guitar Hero. Is it too far-fetched of me to claim that only hot girls play Rock Band, and only lifeless, self-absorbed show-offs go for Guitar Hero? Oh yes, but I'll do it anyway.
Again, I come to you - our loyal audience - with offers of nifty little competitions and suchlike, brought to you by our sponsors. One such potential deal is that of The Long Distance - a forum originally set up to be entirely dedicated to the open discussion of Internet (amongst other methods of communication) relationships.
Aside from the altruistic spirit that fuels about ninety percent of humanity giving you motivation to post, how about some prizes? Indeed, a series of competitions has been promised to keep contributors to the site coming back time after time. The first, currently in progress, consists of the most active member who has made the most genuine posts by the 1st of December being given the chance at a choice of one out of three rather sweet prizes: Video edition of an iPod Nano, 1.3 megapixel webcamera for both PC and Mac and a USB phone for Skype. For a first stab at getting new members in, these rewards are rather special (we haven't even put on a proper competition yet, heh!) and are definitely worth going after.
Head on over to the site and start posting to be in for a chance to win!
The neighbourhood Scot-in-America Mark Day blags his way into an art show about LOLcats. I love how the artists try to analyse the deeper meanings of their work, although they do make some very good points; especially the first girl interviewed. The quality of the work is quite outstanding.
As the days wind down on the United States presidential election we're all left hoping nothing disastrous happens in the voting booths. Namely, voter fraud. There has been a big scare lately attributed to voter fraud. Many articles have been written on the subject, afraid for the giant clusterf**k that lies ahead on November 4th.
It turns out that an estimated 1/3 of all voters on Nov. 4th will vote on touch screen computers. The same computers that have been proven to fail, and worse, there is no way to recount them. If the computer fails, the votes are thrown out. I'm not saying this election will be close considering Barack Obama has about a 10-point lead and is campaigning will millions of dollars in swing states that are starting to swing his way. But if stuff starts to go down on election day, and some states are disputed, there are definately going to be some legal things thrown around.
Now, I'm not trying to scare you or anything, its not like our next president will be dealing with two wars, a failing econmy, and other international crises. No, nothing like that at all.
So thats it. I'm not gonna write about the election anymore, it would kill me. Ah who am I kidding, expect a post right after election day celebrating Obama's victory! Not that I support him or anything... ;)
Ta da; worth taking a look solely because it has Kieron Gillen with beard as the starting image.
The RAM Raider Awards take place every year around the whole 'Look! We're Journalists! Give Us Awards!' season and aim to highlight the dire need of revolution that the videogame media is in need of. At the same time, it brings the real stars in the industry into focus. You can contribute through Facebook, sending RAM an e-mail or commenting on the post itself. Here are some of my specific picks. Don't read ahead if you're easily offended by er... foul language*.
Most Ridiculous Statement Masquerading As Games Journalism 2008 IGN's GTAIV review includes such eyebrow-raising lines as:
"Helicopters are also very tough to control in this fashion -- it's as if Rockstar thought they were making a game about dragons."
What?
"The dialogue in GTA IV is rich, funny, brilliant, insightful, and engaging. So many times your reward for beating a mission isn't a new weapon or an elaborate cinematic cut-scene -- it's just dialogue. That is often reward enough."
Jacob: 'Yeah bitch nig, we be goin' down on the pigs, bacon in here, y'all.' Niko (in that atrociously loud and condescending voice he performs for every other sentence): 'YES JACOB WE WILL SHOW THEM OUR WAY.'
So rewarding!
"There are two worthwhile endings to uncover and are incentive for playing through a second time just to see how much more depressing life in Liberty City can get."
Yeah. Don't do the deal. Kate dies. She ain't worth it.
"go to location, kill people to get to target, chase target, kill target -- it never feels repetitive."
Not at all! Even if it is simply the same formula repeated from its predecessors.
Unwankiest Blog / Personal Website 2008 Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Please note that this is about the World of Warcraft3.0.2 patch. For other zombie-orientated madness, check out Valve's upcoming Left 4 Dead, the Half Life 2 modification Zombie Panic: Source or even the next Call of Duty title.
Hi, I'm Melaisis and for the next twenty minutes I'm going to show you how to make the most out of the undead madness that has taken over Azeroth and beyond. Please note that becoming a zombie (at the time of writing) does not hold any real benefits, aside from being able to infest towns, infect other people and being able to turn them into your kin. Its a great way of making new friends about both factions, however.
You will need:
- An active World of Warcraft subscription.
- A patched client.
- A willingness to die repeatedly.
- A hatred for all living things.
Optional:
- Friends.
- A level 70 (you keep your level and general HP when infected).
1. Getting Infected
- The easiest part of the entire process.
- Find infected NPCs (easily noticeable by their green aura) and, when they turn into a zombie, let them hit you a few times and run off.
- Roaches and rats are an alternative to this; you'll spot them in most major cities and simply hit them once to become infected.
- Hordes of zombies are also a prime place to get infected, but beware; if you are a low level you'll often be killed before you actually get the disease.
- Suspicious crates littered the harbors of Azeroth during the opening stages of the invasion and are probably the easiest place to get infected, if you can find them.
2. Being Infected
- After becoming infected, you'll have up to two minutes to decide where you're going to go.
- It is very important you make use of your time wisely as an infected. You cannot mount or use flight masters (they turn hostile) as a zombie, so think strategically.
- Unless you plan to go to a empty district or one which is definitely in the hands of a zombie group, cities are a bad idea. You'll be healed (often by altruistic Paladins or Argent healers) if you enter any of the major parts of most capitals and you'll have to get infected again.
- Alternatively, if you have somewhere secretive to go where you know NPCs will be, then go for it. See the example of the Mage Quarter (and specifically, Blue Recluse or Slaughtered Lamb) of Stormwind.
- If you know that a large pack of fellow undead are in your area, then it is generally a good idea to stick with them (see Stage 4).
- Don't head somewhere too remote (like outside of Karazhan) as it'll take hours to get back out of the bloody place when your work is done.
- In writing this guide, I've picked Nethergarde Keep; due to the lack of 'civilian-like' NPCs (won't call for help from level 65s) and its remoteness. However, there are a number of ideal locations for the solo zombie to go; see the end list for examples.
- Interestingly, if you ride/sprint past an Argent Healer on your way out they'll be too slow to cure your disease.
3. Being A Zombie Arsehole
- Don't attack flight masters upon landing at a location if you turned into a zombie during the flight; they'll call gryphons/bats and instantly kill you. Even if you manage to infect them, their pets will kill their zombified version, heh.
- Make use of all your abilities as described below. Zombies take attrition damage naturally, so remember to heal (either use 'Retch!' or attack something)!
- If you're at a Scourge hotspot, notice that you are now friendly to their cause. I recommend getting zombified in the Plaguelands especially (although flying in will get you instantly killed during flight).
- At Sanctuary locations, such as the Stair of Destiny or Shattrath, restrictions are put on a lot of NPCs so they cannot become undead. However, vomiting will still affect player characters and entire units of Draenei patrols can be infected if you explode nearby.
- Avoid areas that will appear to be easy targets, specifically Goldshire, Brill and so on. During the Halloween event they'll have many level 70s in the area who are hoping to bag some cash from quick dailies. Even in the days following the event these small towns may be too close to the capital cities and not very far from help.
3.1. Abilities
1 - Mangle; instant. Increased attack power and shaves away at your enemy's armour.
2 - Retch; an Area of Effect attack that slows your adversaries, as well as infecting them if they stay in the radius for a few seconds. Also provides zombies in the area (including yourself and NPC ones) with healing to negate the natural attrition.
3 - Beckoning groan; calls 4 NPC zombies towards you, but has limited effect.
4 - Lurch; works a lot like sprint, giving a short speed increase (useful, because zombies usually move at walking speed) to both yourself and nearby zombies. If used tactically, a large group can be forever sprinting.
5 - Explosion! Basically causes yourself to explode, kamikaze style. Anyone around you will be infected, and is useful if you realise that you're going to die.
4. Getting A Party Started
- Zombies communicate using their own special language and both Horde and Alliance undead can /s to one another (to normal characters it'll just appear as a mixture of '...' and 'Braaaains'). This means that neutral towns are a prime target for cross-faction assaults.
- If there's only a small group of you then tackling settlements that have a steady stream of players (for instance, Westfall and Tarren Mill on active servers) may be the best idea. In general, a lot of old school World PVP mechanics apply when picking locations; you don't want to under or overestimate a place lest you risk total defeat or boredom.
- For bigger groups, city raids are certainly achievable. Argent Healers should be your primary takedowns, followed by higher level NPCs; without these, players tend to be buggered.
- Its important to keep down a lot of vomit puddles to ensure healing across the entire group for all the time.
- If you die, don't worry! As covered in Stage One, its simple to get infected again!
- Certain NPCs cannot be infected. These include all children and certain faction leaders (at time of writing, Vol'Jin and Makkatroque are still killable).
- It is recommended that you strip your armour if becoming zombified for a long period of time, as dying will still affect durability (unless killed by a player character).
4.1. Recommended Solo Targets (Average Level 70)
- Mage Quarter of Stormwind
- Nethergarde Keep
- Shattrath (explosion is killer!)
- Deeprun Tram (easy to escape from large packs of hunters)
- The Great Lift (awesome place to tackle travelling lowbies and spread it up and down Kalimdor)
- Eastern Plaguelands (lots of Scourge here, anyway)
- The outskirts of Theramore (Jania occasionally spawns out there, and the guards are humanoids around level 35)
- Many Outland towns that are otherwise deserted (Stonebreaker Hold, etc.)
4.2. Recommended Group Targets
- Wizards' Sanctum, Stormwind
- Hammerfall, Arathi Highlands (lots of mobs that are tightly packed together; its the guard spawn which is a problem)
- Light's Hope Chapel (show those Argent guys the might of the Scourge!)
- Sen'Jin Village
This has been Melaisis for The Three Rs; good luck my zombie brethren!
RetroReview, a slightly more viable regular section for me to use. And seeing that most of my games, DVDs and music are old, it will work well for me. Hopefully I'll get a lovely banner for this section so all you RetroReviewers know when the next dosage of old pills is ready.
This week it's F-Zero X, the hovercraft racing game set in the 26th Century. IGN.com said, back in 1998, you will "easily fall in love with the smooth gameplay, insane speed and great four-player mode."
What Makes It Worth Reviewing Again?
-The Gameplay: The term "Gameplay" is defined in F-Zero X. The controls are tuned down to a tee and the framerate makes sure those controls are used all the time. Add to that the high speeds and the chance for destructive mayhem... you've got a recipe for an amazing game.
-The Soundtrack: The wailing speed guitars solos matching the hypothetical 1000mph in the game leaves you in a state of awe. I've got it on my iPod and is slowly but surely making it's way to the top of my most played list.
-The Fact You have To Blow into The Cartridge: It's an Nintendo 64 game so if it stops working, pull it our and give it a blow. It's like Auto fellatio but has a better sense of gratification when it finally works!
What Should We Forget?
-The Graphics: Yeah, O.K, the graphics are sub-par even for a fifth generation but I don't care!
-The Powersliding: This I do care about. With there being a possible 30 player on screen at the same time it's inevitable that you will bash into another player and when you do... turning dies. It becomes a powerslide which doesn't turn you at all!
What Else Can Be Said About This?
-Nintendo! Please release this game for the Wii but with online play. That's a WiiWare game people really want.
-RetroReview Score: 5/5 - Buy it now.
Basically every week I'm posting more on the serious news or rantings, and I don't know why. I just wish to post more on important world-wide news. So let's start. What's the serious issue that's going on now? Well, for China, it's the contaminated milk.
Here's an article quoted from the AFP site:
"China debates tighter food safety law spurred by milk scandal
BEIJING (AFP) — China's parliament began debating a bill Thursday aimed at improving food safety, as the government said more than 3,600 babies made sick in the country's tainted milk scandal remained in hospital.
The draft law before the National People's Congress aims to prevent any cover-ups by health authorities and would make them directly responsible for approving additives in processed foods, Xinhua news agency reported.
It would also prevent food safety authorities from issuing inspection exemptions to major food producers, as happened in the milk scandal -- the most recent of many health scares to hit Chinese-made goods in recent years.
The scandal broke last month, when it emerged that melamine , an industrial chemical normally used to make plastics and glues, had been added to baby milk formula and other dairy products to make them appear richer in protein.
Although at least one Chinese dairy firm knew of the scam for months, it did not immediately report it to local government officials, who in turn delayed passing on the news for nearly a month until after the August Beijing Olympics.
The draft law would require health authorities to immediately conduct investigations as soon as they receive consumer complaints, Xinhua said.
It acknowledged consumers began complaining about milk products in March of this year, but local health departments failed to respond until September.
"No organisations, institutions or individuals should cover up, lie about or delay reporting food safety incidents. Destroying evidence is strictly forbidden," it cited the draft law as saying.
It was not immediately clear if the parliament, which is widely seen as a rubber stamp for ruling Communist Party, would pass the draft law during its ongoing session, which ends on October 28.
The health ministry, meanwhile, said that 3,654 infants were still in hospital as a result of the contamination -- three of them in serious conditions.
A further 46,700 others had recovered and been released from clinics as of Wednesday, the health ministry said in a short statement.
The ministry did not report any new fatalities, but said that the four infant deaths so far attributed to drinking contaminated milk all occurred between May and August before the scandal was made public.
The government had previously reported that more than 53,000 children had fallen ill after drinking tainted milk, with many of them suffering kidney stones.
In the former Portuguese enclave of Macau, three more children were found to be ill after drinking milk tainted with melamine, taking the total number of affected children there to seven.
The scandal has hit China's dairy industry hard, and continues to escalate around the world as multinationals and countries recall Chinese milk products.
In another development on Thursday, six people were arrested in northern China for allegedly mixing melamine and milk products, Xinhua said.
The six were all arrested in Inner Mongolia on suspicion of putting the industrial chemical melamine into milk products destined for the factories of major dairy producer Mengniu, it said.
At least 36 people have so far been arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam in Hebei province, which lies just south of Inner Mongolia and is another major dairy region, it added."
After reading this article, I definitely have my own views regarding this issue. Honestly, I was displeased with China. After a relatively successful Beijing Olympics, this matter delivered a big blow to both China's reputation and economy. The news was late, nearly a month after the Beijing Olympics. Can we actually imagine how many children, babies drank those contaminated milk in just a month? This will cause the babies to have kidney stones, and the babies will suffer a lot of pain! This is because normal people can just discharge those smaller kidney stones through body wastes. However, those kidney stones still cause a lot of pain to adults. Definitely, babies and children are smaller in size, they will suffer more pain!
Not only did the contaminated milk cause a lot of trouble to the parents of those babies and children, it had cause trouble to a lot of countries. Take my country, Singapore for example. Out of 10 products, more than 5 of these products are "Made in China". As the days go by, more and more foods are found to contain those substances that are in the contaminated milk. The first thing that people do when they want to eat something is to check the country it was imported from and the ingredients. Even me and my family are so cautious of what we are eating everyday, every small little item.
Thus, I was quite disappointed in China, especially the dairy firms that did not report to the authorities of the scam. If they had, many trouble would have been reduced to their own citizens, and those countries that import their foods from them.
Yesterday, you may have seen my blog post about iTunes 8. Essentially, it was the usual mixed bag of great and appalling. However, it seems that with a new day comes a new reason to hate the Apple-tastic, DRM-happy behemoth that is the iTunes Store.
A screenshot of the iTunes Store - where you can buy films, TV episodes, iPod games and even music.
For once, I shall glance over its criticisms. Instead, I'll let you know a few facts. Users have bought over five billion songs, two million feature-length films and 200 million TV episodes. That is, to be fair, astonishing - and it's only been around for five years! It is the number one retailer of music, also behind 88% of legal music downloading in America.
Which makes it all the more astonishing when you find out it's been hit by a massive flamingo-up*. Today, it would seem, the iTunes Store has either been hit by a glitch or has turned into a fan of Jimmy Kimmel's "Unnecessary Censorship". Why? Because it's started over-acting and censoring bits of song or band names that actually don't need censoring. Just take or look, or try the words "killer", "hot" or "Johnny"...
Maybe Steve Jobs just doesn't like Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers or The Killers...
Keeping with the local theme, The Three Rs is proud to plug the next large-scale community project on the scene; Leeds Next Top Model. It is an ambitious experiment into bringing the town's community together into doing something fun but competitive. It incorporates many local businesses which appear to be proud to sponsor the scheme, from everything like the local gym (encouraging fitness!) to the local trendy bars such as Browns. We at The Three Rs know how difficult it is to gain sponsorship, so already the organisers are due kudos for putting together such a successful expedition.
It is currently headed by Arts Photography, who seem to have a great grasp over the situation. Today is the final day of entry, so unless you've pre-booked an appointment head on over to the great venue of the Light and get your picture taken for a chance at some fabulous prizes (As well as a modelling contract). Final pictures and voting goes in from tomorrow and on 17th of November the final 10 applicants will be announced and taken down to the local studio for some more professional images. The 'catwork finale' takes place on 4th of December - something that we hope to cover along with our friends over Leeds Guide.
Magician/illusionist/endurance artist/daredevil/most boring man in show business David Blaine gave a thoroughly unimpressive performance last week in which he hung upside-down for 60 hours and then took an uneventful "Dive of Death" to the platform below.
However, I guess all is relative in the world of magic because Blaine began taking hourly coffee breaks near the end of his three day stunt and then didn't even dive, but merely repelled to the ground while safely secured in a harness. Onlookers were amazed at the overall pathetic-nature of this "stunt" and booed Blaine's pitiable finale.
Thankfully, top notch street-journalist extraordinaire Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was on hand to record Blaine's disappointing feat.
I swear it's just a matter of time until Blaine fakes his own death to get some real notice.
Final verdict: David Blaine is a pathetic excuse for a showman and is uninteresting an unexciting.
Early this month I picked up a free copy of KBW's 'HousExclusive', which is basically a huge mixtap of pop-dance tracks turned into new house tunes. As you'll already probably know, I love trance. House is usually an out-of-bounds area for usual listening for me, unless its of the doctor-drama kind. At parties and lower-end clubs, attempts at 'house' are bloody everywhere, mashed up by DJs who know as much about music combinations as I do about pseudo-science. Seriously, there's only so many times I can tolerate listening to Soulja Boy and Pendulum following one another.
Fortunately, HousExclusive breaks the stereotype. Not only does this unique series of albums successfully incorporate decent recent releases, but fits the whole thing together in a wonderful 3 hour medley. That spans two main compilations (with one upcoming) which are available here. I sampled HousExclusive two and was genuinely impressed by the quality that has been put into making the whole thing. There's some particular classics there, like a track that puts the Pussycat Doll's 'When I Grow Up' against Ida Corr's 'Let Me Think About It' (aptly named 'Let Me Think About When I Grow Up'). It sounds like a strange mix, but it really works effectively, especially when the songs change flawlessly and it breaks into a 2008 remix of 'I Found You'. The perfect (albeit random) transitions are reprised throughout and you'll find yourself dancing along to songs that you may not have even heard before.
Besides, any collection that includes 'Delirious' is an automatic winner in my books. Without any further ado, here's our interview with KBW to tell us more about the future of HousExclusive:
What, in simple terms, is HousExclusive? HousExclusive is simple sexy house music. A play on the words “House, How & sexy “work well at setting the ambiance for a real unique sound experience. the Free Monthly CD Collection was first created in autumn 2008 as a mix down of the best in classic, indie, underground and fresh club tracks, these are usually mashed into a “Sexy House .vs. electro” style vibe only heard from the likes of housExcluive.
How'd you get into compiling music? I myself have always been one of them guys to download popular programs with cracks & hacks just to learn how to use them, be it design & editing, programming & coding or even music mastering. So after downloading “Tractor Dj Studio 3” in the same way, I took a shine to its versatile platform, mixing anything from Hip Hop & RnB to fast trance, as dreadful as I was back in the day I started a private online radio stream. It was broadcasted one night a week, and purely used to practice and gain feedback, it streamed live across the web to users as far as Australia. Nowadays I use the same programs to mix effect & process housExclusive… and would recommend it to any new and advanced DJ’s.
When can we expect the next HousExclusive CD? “HousExclusive – Volume 3 – The Electro Playgrounds “is due for Free Release on Friday 7th November and as usual is more advanced and professional than the previous volumes. With everything from the latest RnB & Indie mix’s back to them lovable 90’s Candy Anthems. Expect brand new CD’s monthly as well as special one of exclusive CD’s to celebrate certain Genres & Generations that shaped Dance music as we know it today!
Does this signal the beginning of a DJ-focused career? I can never imagine myself been a DJ, as I simply lack the confidence surprisingly. But I love the nightlife scene, literally getting involved in every aspect of it at one point or another. I can however say that you should expect to see the housExclusive brand hitting the high streets as an event in summer 2009.With a selection of Exclusive sexy events in Leeds, UK. So keep your ears peeled for that good news.
What are you doing in the meantime between sexy, sexy music?
I’m a full time student in north Leeds, currently working towards the end of my A-Level in Art; Design, Drama; Advanced ICT, and planning to later move onto University to master Architecture as a Degree. So as you can imagine my education takes up a large mass of my time at this current stage in life. But other than that I am normally to be found socializing in Leeds city centre on weekends. As well as Designing, Mixing; socializing with friends through the week.
The House scene in the North; dead, alive or simply dormant?
I personally think House & Electro are at their peak in 2008, they are a both deep underground sounds which are going very commercial. Last year the buzz was all around the more chart dance music, commercialized and purpose made dance music; this was even the case with the baseline scene in the north due to such releases as heartbroken etc. But with Chart dance flopping in 2008 in my opinion, House & Electro are now remixing and re-releasing songs that have never been related to dance as well as the good old classics. Rock music is making an appearance in club nights, and 90’s classics still keep the discos alive. House & Electro is the re-newer of Dance music; so long live the love for House. Be it northern clubs or the dance charts on TV and Radio.
Despite my prior post about hating MP3 players, I recently got an iPod. This means all my music is now at the mercy of Apple and Steve Jobs. Soon after buying my iPod, Apple released a brand new version of iTunes - iTunes 8. I already had iTunes 7.7, but I upgraded anyway. During its lengthy install, I wrote down my first thoughts about it, and now here they are, for The Three Rs.
Its main new features, it says, are Genius Playlists, the Genius Sidebar, Grid View, HDTV shows, enhanced accessibility, and the new visualiser. This is a brand new version so I'd be looking for loads of new, cool features - this list seems a little lacklustre.
Quite apart from the infuriating lowercase i nonsense, I have been overly unimpressed with iTunes 7. The visualiser is awful, podcast management a muddled mess in places, and the fact you have to get an iTunes Store Account before you can even browse for album artwork. Thank the Lord for the well-hidden means to get album artwork yourself, though, because iTunes can find more album covers for KMFDM than The Beatles. Surely the premier music management software from the makers of the revolutionary music device the iPod should be able to find the famous cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? No. Actually, it can't. But can it find the cover of XTORT, an album from a German industrial rock band which will probably never sell 30 million copies.
Anyway, the install. After a 65Mb(!) download, it guides me through the installation of iTunes (and Quicktime - because you can't have one without the other!). The box for auto-updating iTunes is pre-ticked, presumably meaning that why v9 comes around, I won't have to go looking for it like I did with 8.
On my computer - which was running Firefox, Notepad and Windows Live Messenger at the time - it took iTunes 8 38 and a half minutes to install! Which was very tedious, I can tell you. It then took a few minutes to create artwork thumbnails, so there was yet more waiting to actually use the software. Eventually, it was done.
As I understand, Genius Playlists create playlists based on songs in your library. You give it one song you like, and it'll output more songs it thinks you like. The Genius Sidebar will recommend songs you haven't got - in a move to get you to buy them from iTunes. You need a Store Account for Genius to work - obvious for the Sidebar, but really not that obvious for getting matching songs. Alas, Apple's aggresive actions are regrettable.
Now Genius has to gather info about my library, which took a few minutes. All your library data is sent back to Apple to improve Genius' functions - which raises questions about privacy, but I'm not especially bothered.
The first song I try - The Other Side, by Pendulum - defies the "Genius". It doesn't work - though the sidebar is swift to bombard me with music. Even though it's just a new way to sell us music, it tells you Pendulum's Top Albums, with "buy" links; then the top Pendulum songs I don't have, and then "similar" recommendations.
The new Grid View UI is very nice - but only if you've got decent album artwork! All the songs I want on my iPod have artwork, so you can spot which ones I don't want syncing quickly. It rather ruins the idea.
A Genius playlist for Bloodhound Gang's Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo comes up with an ecclectic mix of songs - most of which I like. It includes some Madness, The Clash, Bloodhound Gang (clever, that), Meat Loaf and The Who. When Genius comes across a song it doesn't know - like the Beatles - it doesn't make a playlist and the sidebar just displays the current top songs and albums.
Genius is stumped by a famous song, and so tries to sell me the best-sellers of the iTunes Store.
On to "grid view". This new mode of looking at music groups songs by artist, album, genre - etc. It then displays this in a square using a piece of album artwork relevant to, say, that group. Yet again, this heavy dependency on album artwork - like the flashy Cover Flow - is Apple pushing you into getting a Store Account. This way of looking at music is a funky way to do it, but you have to wonder why the hell it's taken so long to implement! The old view - list with album artwork - is also available, but not as prominently, despite being a nice compromise between views.
The new visualiser looks very, very impressive. It doesn't look as if it responds to the music as much as Windows Media Player's visualisers do, but it looks gorgeous. A swirling array of ribbons and orbs dance across the screen - even when, err, the music is paused. The "classic" visualiser is still available, though.
iTunes 8 features a new pretty visualiser - shame Apple just nicked it from the Magnetosphere plugin
That's it for the new features I can test. The rest of iTunes is pretty much as it ever was. In places, it's great. In others, it's a terrible mess and you wonder how this ever became the leader of its type.
FAIRFAX, Va. - Oct. 10, 2008 Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that 750,000 players have registered for the critically acclaimed fantasy MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR) in North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories. WAR topped the PC sales charts around the world at launch, and is on track to be one of the best-selling PC games of 2008.
"Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace," said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "The battlefields are alive with three quarters of a million players fighting for the forces of Order and Destruction in truly epic and unparalleled Realm vs. Realm battles!"
Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ conflict that will provide an engaging battleground for years to come. Available for PC and rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB, WAR is now in stores everywhere at an MSRP of $49.99. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/
Mel's note: So bloody what? A million players by the end of the year? I love PVP, but only in a less buggy environment.
Oh no. I didn't abandon this feature... I came to tell you news! Five have released a new look so I'm going to claim that as a victory for me.
Here are the similarities, we both changed the logo to block capitals and it's shows are now available on BT Vision. Yeah, not much. FIVER did slightly change their logo but nothing substantial, however FiveUS is still using the old logo so that must mean a rebrand is in order. Might I suggest FIVE3?
I'll keep you updated on the status of Five and possibly do more posts regarding what I would change. But let's face it... They are not interesting!
Its a strange, early-90s mash-up of the cast of upcoming the newest C and C game set to an up-tempo dancy-sorta-thing. I think its supposed to be promotional material.
Looking good, huh? Even though we unveiled a new look on our birthday, we already have a new look ready and active for you to enjoy. Currently we are on layout version 3.2 over 2 years... not bad.
Changes
-The background now has an ounce of colour!
-The main sections of the layout has ever so slightly increased in size. Eagle eyes needed.
-The N3twork bar has been updated to include the name change of Not3s and Atomic Spark to Not3book and L3mon Cloud respectively.
-Each post on the home page is better split up. A line basically.
-However there is a down side... adverts... oh well.
So mostly small changes but definitely worth a post about it.
Unfortunately, Kokatu picked up on this joy-filled bit of animation before we did. Its basically a simple Flash animation demonstrating Nintendo CEO and lead designer travelling around a world of his own and being helped get back to the real world by characters from his most popular franchises. Its a nice little piece of film and the quality (and lack of violence) certainly defies the usual NewGrounds stereotype. It does, however, include a Fatboy Silm tune from years ago, so don't bother turning your speakers on if you're at work (on a Saturday!?).
PS: Also, according to a recent Escapist article (Can't think which one) Miyamoto was compared to Einstein. Does that mean the latter re-released the Laws of Physics every two-to-three years under a different title? Hah!
The question and discussion is : Should drugs be legalised? People have been taking drugs, no matter if they're legalised or not. So do you think that all drugs should be legalised, or some drugs? Do you agree with the current-mind-altering-substance laws?
What if drugs are legalised in the States/Other countries, what would be the pros and cons?
Well, I think that drugs shouldn't be legalised - for some. People take drugs for the sake of the few moments of "happiness". They feel that taking it can bring you away from reality for some time. My point is, so what? So what if it gives you happiness? You still have to fall back hard into the cruel reality that you're trying to escape from.
Some people may take drugs because they want to try new things. However, there are just things in life that we cannot try - at all. They should be well-aware that drugs will get you hooked up on it, for a long period of time. It doesn't kills you once and for all, the deadly part is the period of time you're suffering without drugs and you just have to go on and on with it.
Thus, I emphasize that I, personally, wish that drugs will not be legalised. In my opinion, drugs not only harm the person who is taking it, it affects the people around the person too. The family, friends etc etc. That is because drugs needs money to maintain, and if a person doesn't have anything in his/her pocket anymore, he/she will just have to borrow from the people around them. If not, they'll have to control their own will and stop taking drugs.
I hope that I can get more opinions from the others who have comments on the topic if drugs should be legalised. With this, I shall end my post.
The song is Sia's 'Breathe Me' - something I had on one of my playlists ages before this trailer was produced. The above video really makes the game look nothing less than epic.
As many of you may already know: I have a thing for post-apocalyptic settings. Whether it be in works of written fiction (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream), movies ('ello Resident Evil trilogy!) or games. As for the latter, there really isn't much of it about. Sure, the upcoming titles Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 both feature these sorts of settings, but it is realised in a very... typical and samey way. People want to gain some escapism and thrill from playing these games, but unfortunately must relate somehow back to the player's own lifestyle, hence the lack of risks with such games. Besides, the only post-apocalyptic MMO I really know of is the browser-based 'Urban Dead', and even their playercounts are dwindling.
So, what better time for an independent MMORPG to come along and surprise the market: filling this gap? This is basically what Apokalypsos hopes to accomplish. To quote the website: 'Apokalypsos™ is a 3D FPS and Vehicular MMORPG set in post-apocalyptic North America, spanning southern Canada to northern Mexico.'
Wow guys; that's a bloody great amount of land to realise in a game. The project may be a little over-ambitious, but it seems to have some definite potential. It has already inspired a small, but loyal, community following, and why wouldn't it? Apokalypsos is an experience where 'Players are wrapped in a realistic survival adventure, with a deep storyline that challenges and rewards both passive and aggressive wasteland survival methodology', apparently. Sure, the pitch seems a little similar to STALKER, but imagine being able to play that game with real people, each fighting for survival? Hell, it would beat the shit out of anything the AI in Clear Sky can throw at you. On top of the adult themes which are going to be evident throughout the geography (brothels, narcotics) and gameplay elements ('mature' PVE), Apokalypsos certainly hopes to appeal to an audience that has been waiting for a saviour for a very long time.
Apokalypos is still in the planning and concept stages at the moment, so what better time than to get on board and join up to the project? Go do something productive, damn it!
Yes its old, but so what? The more videogames I review, the more like this guy I feel myself become. Hell, its almost as if I was editing 3scapism again.
As many of you should already know, I freelance for the .co.uk aspect of Honest Gamers. This alone should be enough to make you check it out, especially if you're the kind of guy who sits around all day and talks about how fake or bought-out game reviews are on bigger sites. Cough. As if this wasn't enough to cause you to check out the site, then I suggest you head on over to their competitions section. This is something I've been meaning to plug for quite a while but has only really recently hit close to my heart due to my own fascination with online contests. Honest Gamers does things a little differently than to what you may be used to, though: The more a user contributes to the site, the more 'points' they gain, and then these points are exchanged for lottery tickets in each of the contests mentioned above. The greatest thing about the competition which is currently running? Its only open to people with PAL consoles, so our long-alienated British audience can finally have something to participate in.
What are you waiting for!? Head over, sign up and start earning points so you can earn some booty. Oh, and read the staff reviews whilst you're over there, eh?
Alright, I won't pretend we've had a 'Site of the Moment' feature before, but I come across one which simply really stands out to me. The same happened when I was up on Kokatu and a Gawker Artist banner caught my eye: One of Myke's pieces was on it: 'The Rescue'.
I used to draw and paint alot myself (before moving my creative focus to writing). A lot of the time, I'd like to tell a story through my pictures because, above all, it would at least make it more interesting to look at for long periods of time. In 'The Rescue' and Myke's other works, he has accomplished something greater than I ever could have hoped to achieve in my mediocre artist days. Thus, I implore you to visit his online studio of sorts; his blog also apparently appreciates Tiny Dragon songs. Good taste, Myke!
Amend's pieces are really the epitome of dark horror and sci-fi fantasy and I encourage anyone with a likeness for either to take a look.
We all know the embarrassment of slowly peeling ourselves away from a saliva-stained pillows after a long, liquor-fueled evening out with some friend, only to find our phone's recent call list sprawled with 4 a.m. calls. Thankfully, the understanding people over at Google apparently can relate to the discomfort caused by late-night drunk-dialing mishaps, so they created a new Gmail filter called Mail Goggles. Mail Goggles is your virtual wingman after a night on the town. Although he can't stop you from calling or texting your ex and blabbering on about what could've been, the program does question your sobriety with basic math questions when you attempt to send an email in the late weekend hours.
This may make you feel slightly adolescent, but it's markedly better than waking up and seeing a message in the "Sent Mail" folder to an unlikable coworker entitled "I RULe YoU SUxz ROFLc0pteR!!!!!!11"
Mail Goggles is only available on the weekends so drink responsibly.
Also, if you actually need Mail Goggles, seek professional help now.
Date of birth: August 23rd, 1936. Age when in operation: Late 20’s- early 50’s. Age of Death: March 13th 2001. Cause of Death: Heart failure, in prison. Number of known victims: 11. Number of possible victims: 213. Modus Operandi: Random killings, beginning with his mother. Knives, firearms and his bare hands were used to kill. Possible motives behind killings: When he was growing up, his Mother was violent towards Lucas and his Father, who was disabled. Viola Lucas once hit Henry Lee so hard, that he remained in a coma for 3 days. Lucas was also forced to watch his mother have sex with random men. Lucas claimed that he had been introduced to Bestiality and Zoosadism as a teenager. Conviction: Lucas was arrested in June 1983, initially on a firearms charge, but was later charged with the murders of two women. He then confessed to more murders, but changed his story when convicted. He told police that he had confessed so to get better treatment. However, he was still charged, eventually with 11 murders. Trial: At first, Lucas was given the death penalty, but the court changed this to life imprisonment, on President George W Bush’s request.
As common sense tells us anything that can kill thousands, even millions of people is a bad thing, right? Well although I think that I also take into consideration a couple of other things. To me, nuclear weapons have changed the world in many different ways, some bad, some good.
Well first off as we all know pretty much all of the world's civilized countries at least have a couple of nukes. And all of them have the power to launch them, at all times of the day/month/year. So that means if a country were to absolutely bonkers and fire a missile, we might have the end of the world upon us.
But my point is, so what? Assuming most of the world's leaders are sane no one in their right mind would launch one of those things and assure the end of the world. Which basically puts every single nation that owns a nuke in a deadlock, not wanting to piss each other off. Which in turn has caused more democratic solutions and less wars.
Don't get me wrong, if say a group of individuals without a "nation" or land (a.k.a a terrorist group) were to get their hands on a nuke (even a small one) the results would be devastating. Luckily we have not come to that point in history, and here's to many more.
Since none of the major countries of the world want to directly fight each other anymore they now go through other third world countries to get at their enemies (ex: Cold War). This could become a major problem since Russia is so ramped up on giving away military supply's to some certain countries...
All in all I think Nuclear weapons have done more bad than good, but not by a landslide, not at all. Our near future is a scary one, one filled with terrorist attacks a the possibility of world war. But hopefully by then we can find a way to cooperate as a planet to get things done.
For those who might be wondering, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is an actual game set to release early next year on Xbox 360 and PS3. However, don't be surprised if you've never heard of the purportedly time-worn franchise that dates back to the early 1980s; it doesn't really exist.
In a hilarious rogue publicity maneuver, D3Publisher has spent quite some time weaving an elaborate back story for its latest gaming endeavor. The company's guerrilla ad campaign revolving around the fictional Matt Hazard borders on absurdity - in a genius sort of way. It lampoons classic videogame franchises and the gaming industry itself in a pleasantly tongue-in-cheek manner.
The intentionally horrendous fansite detailing the entire "history" of the Matt Hazard back catalogue is nearly indistinguishable from any of the slapdash Geocities fansites that cropped up to worship gaming franchises in the not-too-distant past. Followed by a bizarre blog and now a Matt Hazard Facebook page, the strange sequence of stunts finally resulted in actual game announcement.
Fortunately, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is not a complete fabrication, like the marketing blitz surrounding it. In a recent GameSpot interview, D3Publisher's marketing manager Sam Guilloud shed some light on their odd homage to the last 25 years of gaming's history.
"The back catalogue of Matt Hazard assets we've released, including some eyebrow-raising box art, screenshots, websites, and other marketing materials, are here to remind us all of some of the most infamous moments in gaming history," said Guilloud. "As gamers ourselves, our intention has never been to flay sacred cows, but we also know that we're ready for some direct parody of the games and past marketing campaigns we all grew up with. Gaming's a lifelong hobby, so we want to tap into everyone who fondly remembers the milestones we've referenced."
Mission accomplished. The game itself appears to be as wacky and humorously-minded as the promotion efforts behind it. Stay tuned for more Matt Hazard shenanigans next spring.
Rainiee; says: hey Melaisis says: raaaaaaaihaaaaaan Melaisis says: do some more posts about loving your best friend. our analytics love it :P Rainiee; says: hahahaa whaat
such a bad influence.
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I typed my previous title into google and my article came up first in all its glory :) (i know it's probably 90% chance that it would, but still - newbie here, cut some slack!) The article that follows it is; "How to fall in love with your best friend". Contradiction or whaat?! Anyways why would you want to do that? WHY WHY WHYYY. You're just going to get hurt. Silly people obviously didn't read my previous article...
Actually, I'm really annoyed with that article now. It's quite short. So I'm going to briefly explain why it's just wrong... In general. And I'll apologise in advance that the rebuttals might get a little, well, personal... But hey, experience counts for everything right?
How to Fall in Love With Your Best Friend The best romantic partner is also your best friend: someone you can talk to about anything, someone you can trust entirely (so if you fall out with them you lose your boyfriend AND your best friend? whooo that's gonna be funnn), and someone whose company you will enjoy for every second of your relationship (which will probably limit you to one person, and you'll be one of those really annoying couples that hates anyone who gets near their partner regardless of the sex, just cos they're "taking them away"). Most people already have such a person in their lives - their best friend! (Actually, several - but it won't be for long if that one person has a double role in your life) But if you want to take that a level further, especially if your best friend is already in love with you, it may be worth taking the chance! (If they were already in love with you, you'd have sorted this out by now, instead of trying to make yourself fall in love with them. You were either in love or you weren't at the time you found out. DUH) The problem is, sometimes people have a mental barrier set for seeing their best friend as only a friend and nothing more. (Really? Just sometimes? Golly I didn't know that) This article will try to give you some tips for breaking that barrier and falling in love with your best friend! (Jesus... Yeah i'd like to see you try) By the way I'd like to dedicate this article to my best friend, whom I love with all my heart and wouldn't be able to live without. =) Oh fuck off...
1. Don't be afraid to ruin the friendship. You're already best friends and you know how to work out your problems and stop fighting. If you really are close and a further relationship doesn't work out, you can go back to being just friends. Yes, it may be painful and it may take some time - consider this as a test of true friendship. (Actually if the break up is really bad you won't still be friends at the other end. And the break up will have to be bad, cos youre BEST FRIENDS, who wants to fall out with one of those?)
2. Talk to your best friend both about your current relationship and about the possibilities, and you may find out that you're both interested in each other. (Been there, done that. The most awkward thing ever. A month later and it's hardly recovered. Possibly screwed up our friendship for life)
3. Make a list of all of your best friend's qualities that you really like and respect. Now, make a list of all the things you want from a romantic relationship. Finally, grab a highlighter and highlight the qualities that match: it may surprise you! (Well that's just stupid. Obviously you're going to have many qualities that match. They're your best friend after all - you're bound to be like-minded otherwise you wouldn't have gone this deep. It's always been that way and you don't have to be 'in love' to know it)
4. Use your imagination: think what it would be like to be closer to your best friend, and it may give you a hint to how much you would enjoy it. (No no no no nooo. As a general rule; dreams/fantasies seldomly come true. They were probably wayy more romantic/responsive/PERFECT in your dream for a start...)
5. Set a romantic mood and do something together as friends, such as going to the beach, doing a dance, or having a candlelight dinner alone. You may find that new feelings surface when the atmosphere is right. (LOLLL candlelight dinner alone? You do that with friends?? God, I'm so behind with the times...)
6. Share your dreams together. Often, talking together about the future makes you realize that you want to spend the future together. (Actually, we always do that. It's what best friends do. And of course you're gonna spend the future together in some way, you're supposed to be friends forever... Does this person even know what a best friend is? I have a slight feeling that they their boyfriend became their best friend... Instead of the other way round)
7. Take your time. Falling in love is not a quick process, and you should make sure that you are fully ready to take your relationship with your best friend further before you do so. Good luck! (And lastly, you don't MAKE YOURSELF FALL IN LOVE. It's an involuntary thing. If you do, it's so obviously fake. So yeah, I'm going to wish you luck too...)
Sorry, was I bitter?
In conclusion, you can do (most - excluding the candlelit dinner) of those things just as best friends, don't underestimate how deep friendships get if you try. And for godssakes if you're falling in love with your best friend, at least have some class and don't do it because you think it's the only way to save them since they like you! Or because it's convenient. (Both of which are stated) That's just.... Wrong.
We don't often report on videogames, but John Funk over at Warcry is at this year's panel and has reported back with some very useful information about the future of WoW:
The tone of the panel was wholly casual, with the panelists joking amongst themselves and with the crowd - and not being above tossing out a jab or two at their own expense. Many of the questions covered well-treaded ground, with attendees often bringing up specific concerns pertaining to the specific class (or classes) that they played themselves.
The developers discussed the difficulties they faced in trying to walk a fine line when balancing classes and different talent trees within those classes - while they didn't want certain specs to feel like entirely separate classes that mandated a player spend all their talents in one tree, they were wary of making it absolutely essential for players to spend points in multiple trees if they didn't want to.
Of course, this isn't to say that the panel was wholly without a surprise or two. In response to a question about whether or not players would be able to use mounts indoors or in caves, Jeff Kaplan revealed that in the first content patch after Lich King - Patch 3.1, presumably - players will no longer be dismounted when entering water, because their mounts have learned how to swim.
Some of the most interesting responses came from WarCraft lore-master, Chris Metzen. While J. Allen Brack confirmed that their relationship with China and their Chinese players - a very significant portion of WoW's million-strong userbase - made it problematic to introduce the Pandaren race into the game, Metzen softened the blow. The Pandaren were near and dear to Blizzard, according to him, and they were very interested in fleshing out their lore and story at some point in the future.
When asked about where the WarCraft story would go next after Northrend and Wrath, Metzen was understandably evasive, joking that if he said too much "[he] would be shot." He did hint, however, that players shouldn't just think in terms of continents - and that whatever was coming next would be "bold."
Personally, my money's on the Emerald Dream.
Mel's Opinion: I assume we won't keep the speed increase when we enter water? Or maybe we will - after all, managing the buffing and debuffing of a complex mechanic like that could prove an unnecessarily complex problem.
You say Emerald Dream; I say Maelstrom (between us we probably represent all of the possibilities left for expansions anyway). Metzen said 'shouldn't just think of continents', then surely what about hundreds of smaller islands or an a quasi-underwater setting (kinda like lots of SerpentShrine Caverns, I guess) also makes logical sense? That being said, the odds are for an 'archdruid' hero class next, and the portals to the Emerald Dream have already been firmly established across Azeroth anyway. Plus, they can make the Nightmare within as powerful as they want for another endgame boss; after all, there's not much left after Arthas.
I've made it though the fire and flames all the way to here to write this review of DragonForce live. In August I reviewed latest album Ultra Beatdown to an average response, could DragonForce live be better?
The Support
With DragonForce were the unique Turisas. Before continuing with this review I must state that before entering the show I had no knowledge of Turisas' music. Though I was aware of their look and stage presence, something they literally oozed during their performance. Despite a large percentage of the crowd unaware of their songs the atmosphere grew to levels usually seen from the main act. The show was littered with pauses in which a voice spoke to the crowd like he was reading from a Norse Myth, in which mocking the idea of "Guitar Heroes" (...DragonForce) and claiming the Violin is the past, present and future. This was followed by a image I never thought I would see... an electric violin solo! The sounds and skill seen in this solo was good enough to say that this warm up act had melted the faces of the audience.
Turisas Live: 3.5/5 - Great performance for a support act.
One question remained... Could DragonForce top this?
DragonForce Live.
...Yes. They could. Beginning with Heroes of our Time (See Video Below.) the night started and ended with the same electric pace DragonForce are known for. Though the middle section did seem to drag with the large selection of album songs the atmosphere it's self never slowed. The moshpits were jam packed and in fully active order throughout the night, this reporter taking the plunge many of times. Unlike many YouTube Videos Hermon Li and Sam Totman being slightly out of tune or too slow/fast that night they were spot on the dot. Personal highlight was keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov playing the keyboard with his teeth. The night ended on a high playing everyone's favourite Guitar Hero song... Through the Fire and Flames. So did they save the best for last? Well, I would say the night was good enough anyway!
DragonForce Live: 4.2 - If not for the middle section...
I was hoping this feature would be ready for our 2nd birthday but that cruel unforgiving bitch that is Time ran out of juice. (Maybe we should go to war with it?) Basically do any of you remember me saying that I would be implementing a new feature in the left Navigation Menu?
Well you should because that's exactly what I've done. Check out the writers they now have their very own Three Rs N3twork profiles. Forget MySpace and Facebook, TheN3twork.net is the place to be!
Heya guys! Just a quick post today: Next month we'll be reporting on the Leeds Thought Bubble Festival; an enterprising convention focused on alternate culture and comics. I'll be in attendence during the 15th on November (possibly with a photographer) to take some shots of the event. I've been talking with the organisers, and they've really shown an aire of optimism about the whole thing: It features panels and a whole host of different exhibitors, so I'm really looking forward to going. You can find more information on the site below (click the banner). Hope to see you Yorkshire... ians there!
My sister recently turned vegetarian. The reason? It wasn't morals. It wasn't even that bunnies look cute. No, it was because she saw a raw chicken and thought it looked "gross". So she decided meat-eating was the off the menu. I was incredulous, but knew this bizarre idea would wear off next time we went past a McDonald's.
How wrong I was. She resisted the chicken McNuggets (even though they're about as chicken as Marty McFly). So she continues to be vegetarian, and I continue to loathe the idea.
I'm not sure why I'm so vehemently anti-vegetarian, if I'm honest. I just don't think it's quite right.
If you look at it from a purely scientific level, it's nonsensical. The body needs the nutrition it gets from meat to survive. Yes, we've been able to dodge this cleverly with meat substitutes in recent times, but can you imagine if the caveman who invented the wheel decided that eating animals was cruel? He wouldn't have survived. We wouldn't have wheels. That, my friends, would suck. Thankfully, it's all hypothetical.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it's also just a little strange. Is this survival of the fittest? Or is it survival of the most empathetic? In case you're utterly mad, it's the former. It's against our very nature to reject food on the grounds that maybe the provider might be a little unhappy with it. To be honest, I don't really care that much about my food's origins. So long as you can get food, eat it and not die from any nasty diseases in it...what more do you require? The rest is just being fussy.
"But they treat animals cruelly!" shriek those in favour of us all shunning ham in favour of Quorn. "They have feelings!" we're told. Even if they do have feelings, we're the dominant species here. What's wrong with taking a little advantage of that? That's how nature works. If we tried to help everyone and everything, then we'd all have been enslaved by apes millennia ago.
We weren't enslaved, though. So I say we hand over the world's vegetarians to those damn dirty apes and see how they fare for themselves there. Meanwhile, we can stand at the sidelines, chewing bacon and laughing at them cruelly. If this doesn't sound particularly fun to you, then you can go in with the dolphins.
That's another thing. "Animals are clever!" they shout. They like to tell us dolphins are practically Einstein. Well they're obviously not that clever, or they wouldn't be swimming around and getting caught in nets. Although they have one intellectual edge: they don't go against their nature by deciding to be really fussy with their food.
A while back, I received a gift certificate from Game Revolution of $25 dollars for Amazon.com. Originally, I'd planned to buy the epic dystopian novella I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream with the money, but instead opted for The Hold Steady's new album, Stay Positive (named after its title track). I've mentioned the disc before on N3twork; its namesake being featured as an Angsty Me post a few weeks back. I've also heard most of the songs live during their promotional UK tour last summer, but obviously having the music at studio quality, to hand and not forced to listen to it whilst being surrounded by sweaty, middle-aged, moshing Irishmen makes all the difference.
As to be expected from The Hold Steady, most of the tracks tell short stories of rebellious adolescents overdosing on drugs and making sweet, passionate love (often the latter is a result of the former). Such themes were obvious in their last album, Boys and Girls In America - often presented in an artsy, romantic kind of way (Chillout Tent, anyone?). Usually I'd be put off (or [Lord I'm] Discouraged, haha!) by an alternative rock band discussing each issues in their music; after all, it isn't as if the subjects radiate originality. Still, the mature, wizened tones of THS' tunes (aided by those damn mellow vocals) makes the band's inclusion of such topics definitely more bearable than someone my own age whining (or, more likely attention whoring) about how may pills they took at the weekend, or how their lover went off with another man. The Hold Steady offers up a kind of retrospective, wise angle on these experiences, which is why I find it so easy to let my inhibitions slide.
I won't bother with going through every track on the album, but I will pick out some highlights: As with their last major release, Stay Positive is a schizophrenic affair. It presents the listener with slow-burning ballads about reluctant women (Lord I'm Discouraged) alongside slightly more up-tempo but still relatively down-beat songs with elements of blues and a sprinkling of improvised percussion with matching lyrics banging on about religious figures (Both Crosses). These are the songs I'm particularly fond of, as they nicely reflect the more peaceful moments in life, uncannily like the better half of Bruce Springsteen's Magic.
In contrast, there's a lot of pseudo-indie tunes echoing horribly throughout. Whilst the more jolly songs have real spirit to them and indeed provide an uplifting feeling (Constructive Summer, Stay Positive; easily parallelled with Stuck Betweeen Stations - my ringtone - and You Can Make Him Like You of old) the trendy vibes aren't really connoted that well through a lot of the other songs. Whilst their last record only had on real track I found painful (Same Kooks), there's a few on Stay Positive that sound rushed, lacking rhythm and melody. Sometimes they throw in sluggish, metal riffs to appeal to their heavier audience - Joke About Jamaica being a prime example. On other occasions it seems they've just recorded the lead singer reading from some strange scripture over the sound if a bull rampaging around in an instrument shop (I'm looking at you, Navy Sheets!).
I've always loved The Hold Steady for their variety in their music but they must draw a line when they begin to cobble together tracks using zoo animals as backing band members. In their defense, however, the randomness of the components used to create such music adds to the strange, drug-like atmosphere of the album. Plus, sometimes the use of multiple instruments is used really effectively - such as the 11-minute epic ending song, Slapped Actress.
Don't let my negativity put you off too much; Stay Positive is a genuinely great piece of rock and roll. Well, the term 'rock and roll' is used loosely, as the album is really a Frankenstein's monster of all genres proceeding rock and roll and even includes some of the newer elements of music. It is a highly recommended buy if you like anything from Meatloaf, to Chapman, or just need something relative to listen to whilst you get high.
Well as many of may not know (yesterday) marks a passing of time within myself. A time where many things have come to pass but many more lie ahead. In other words, today's my 16th birthday.
As you may know The Three Rs birthday is only 1 day after mine, what a coincidence.
I'm not writing this post for me to try and predict what The Three Rs will look like in 2 or 3 years, I'm simply writing it in order to tell the world that I'm serious. You see, I've been looking the past year for something I can stick to, something I can not just do for a couple of months off and on and then just quit. Most off all I want to assure you that I'll be sticking around for a while.
What gave me the confidence to do this? The simple fact that Dee4leeds and Melaisis are both very serious about this, so I will be too. I'll do the best I can do to get The Three Rs straight to the top!
Wow, this was a little too serious. Oh well, here's a lolcat.
Today is, as you probably already know, The Three Rs 2nd birthday. Which is a rather big thing... for us. But why should Reload92 get a special mention? Well, Scott told me his birthday was today but unfortunately it was yesterday. So instead we'll just say happy birthday a day late and claim their to be more to this post...
Happy Birthday Josh! Have a good one (yesterday) from everyone at the Three Rs!
What's a birthday without lots of presents? Not a very interesting one is the answer. Last year we unveiled a "new" look. Basically it was just updates to the website that sound of been done a year before hand! So what are we doing this year?
A new look! But this time we got the big guns in! Artists Nephthus and Jesus2nd collaborated to give this the current piece of art you can now see!
What do you think? Tell us at the Res3 forums which is also sporting a new look!
Dee4leeds: 2 years have gone fast. To say we started out as a blog that was basically a test ground for basic forum posts we have evolved and evolved beyond expectation until now where we can have several writers commenting about out 2nd birthday! Thank you to everyone, especially you... you know who you are! And let's make our 3rd birthday the best one yet!
Melaisis: Once upon a time we got three views a day. Now we're on three hundred. Million. Trillion[citation needed]. This year we've had a domain name change, a sponsor drive, two fights with Wikipedia, one misunderstanding with PC Gamer, recruitment of tonnes of new talent, acquisition of a budding machinima studio and much, much more. We continue to be a great success, slowly taking the Internet by storm thanks to our friends over at Digg and other such sites whilst most of the people we know in real life remain totally oblivious to our so-called 'fame', heh. Kudos and congratulations to all our writing staff over the past 24 months (young and old) as well as our supporting teams of artists and finally, a huge thanks to Google for hosting Blogger!
Thor: I've only joined the Three Rs recently, so I can't claim to look back fondly at its roots and look at the behemoth it's becoming. However, I can say that I'm proud to be a part of the blog and its periphery blogs. Really, I owe it all to the general incompetence of Temple Moor. Without them, Templar Truths wouldn't have started and my "talents" wouldn't have been spotted. And then where would you be? Without awesome posts on Thursdays, that's where. So on this birthday, stay tuned for more brilliance (and not just on Thursdays!).
October 6th is the day which should become International Three Rs day... unfortunately it has yet to take off but you can still celebrate by having a green filled day! If you do have a celebration send us pictures at info@theThreeRs.co.uk.
Why, I've got to make a little rant about yesterday. Oh well, I had a big event that popped up, and prevented me from posting for the readers. Sorry! Thus, here's a post to make up for the missing post yesterday.
Let me start off seriously - Recession, World Economy's going way down.
Currently I'm having my End of Year Examinations, of course TV will be lowest priority on my to-do list. It was one day when I decided to turn on that TV of mine and watch some news.
I almost wish I didn't.
The first thing I saw was about US Five Biggest banks that closed down. Followed by the biggest Insurance company going down too. It came as quite a big shock to me. The next thing I did was asking my mum if her insurance company would be affected - thats what a young kid always ask right?
Now, US economy has slowed down in year 2008, and is poised to move into a recessionary period. It would mainly have been caused by tighter policies,contracting liquidity and a peak in corporate profits.
Khuram Chaudhry, chief European quantitative strategist said that in the future months, the direction of interest rates will diverge mainly between the developed and developing countries, as the spot light shifts to Asia and Middle East.
Arjun Murti, managing director of Goldman Sachs investment research, had also gave his views on an important factor and object in the world, oil. Oil prices have gone up very quickly, causing many car-holders to empty their pockets everytime they drive into the petrol stations. Murti said that the global oil market will rebound by the fourth quarter of 2009, as the world is yet to sort out its supply side.
Now, after going through the research that I've made, lets dump in some personal views for that.
As a young kid, what can I think of? Of course I'm afraid. I've heard many times about the recession that happened years ago, and how many countries went through underhand means to bring the country back on the track again. However, this time, it seems to be more serious. Five biggest banks in US have collapsed, and that surely meant more collapse in the other countries.
It was then when I turned on the TV the other day, when I saw AIG going down. That came as quite a shock, I didn't expect this big company is going to collapse. So I asked my mum is Great Eastern will be affected.
Definitely it will, without the buyers to buy insurance from the agents and managers, how are they going to earn money? Thus, not being fired and being fired seem to just have a little difference. However, a few days later, it seems that the Asia stocks have came up again. Is it really true that Asia countries won't be affected as much as the others? The situation seems to show that, however it might not be, since US is the biggest country that seems to supply all the money and everything.
Aye, many terrible things are happening, including China Products being contaminated, causing me to starve as some of my foods are being taken away.
Hence, with all the ranting and researching above, I shall end this serious post.
I'll just add an item about the news you can't seem to avoid... The Nintendo DSi.
Nintendo unveiled the third incarnation of the DS, the DSi, at a press conference in Japan today. The DSi will launch in Japan on November 1, at a cost of 18,900 Yen (£100). The European version will launch next year, with the price yet to be confirmed. The DSi will feature a three megapixel camera, with a built-in photo channel and a built-in web browser. The browser will grant direct access to the DSi shop, where additional programs and games can be purchased. With no GBA cartridge slot the DSi will be 12% thinner, at 2.6mm, but will feature two slightly larger 3.25 inch touch screens. The speaker quality has also been improved and an SD card slot added for more storage capabilities and for transferring items between the DSi and the Wii.
I can't make my mind up about it. It does introduce two cameras, a SD slot, improved Wi-Fi capabilities, bigger screens and a built in web browser. As well as being 12% smaller than it's Lite counterpart and having a small bank of flash memory. But as humans we like to complain... So here's my complaints.
For all it's snazzy new additions, we are losing something pretty big. The Game Boy Advance slot. I'm sticking with my (ultra-sexy) DS Lite simply so that when Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades comes out I can actually play the game! (The Guitar Grip controller uses the Game Boy Advance slot.)
Then there is two cameras, of course that's what you need on a gaming device. As much as the EyeToy did work and prove to be successful, the idea of playing this on the go sounds unappealing. Surely part of the fun of the EyeToy was the ability to see your self on your television. What fun is there being able to see yourself and the stranger sat next to you on the bus on your DSi screen? Madness!
An SD Slot is a good idea. But that all depends on the availability of the SD cards. What do I mean? Basically can you only use it for pictures? Or can you place games on it and run it off the card? Similar to a PSP. But I think we can all agree that the SD slot is a God send for all homebrewers. It allows for some pretty interesting hacks in the future! Watching Lost on your DS? I can't wait. (Though you'll probably be able to do that now anyway. I aren't really on the bleeding edge of homebrewing.)
All Nintendo needed to do was announce F-Zero Wii for the (You Guessed it!) Wii and it would of been deemed a great Tokyo show!
The tallest man in the world became a father this week. Bao Xishun, who stands at 7ft 9in, and his wife Xia Shujuan welcomed a baby boy at a hospital in China on Thursday.
The couple were married after Xishun conducted a worldwide search for a bride, although he found regular-sized Shujuan in his hometown of Chifeng.
While it is unclear whether their son will reach the lofty height of his father, he was weighted at 4.2kg after his birth.
Must resist "World's Tallest Baby" Joke!
It's not exactly news to me so I'm not sure why I am sharing this with you... Maybe it's because of other people... maybe.
You've probably used BabelFish or a similarservice on the Internet. Basically, BabelFish takes some text and will translate it from one language to another. However, it only works on single words. Try sentences, phrases or whole paragraphs of text it delivers results - just not accurate ones. So imagine the linguistic carnage that arises when you translate it into French and back, and then German and back, and so on and so forth until it's been translated a total of 10 times. All these translations are as bad as each other, because they're pretty much all powered by SYSTRAN software. But you can spare yourself the hard work and get one "Multi-Babel" site to do it all for you!
For example, this post's title was originally "Thor's Day - Lost In Translation", which was suitable mangled. Here's some more quirky translations for you...
"Three RS - Summaries, & of Rants; Occasional function" was originally "The Three Rs - Reviews, Rants & Randomness". What do they mean "occasional function"? The cheek!
"Here little safeguard for her everything!" is actually the first sentence of this post. But you'll find no safeguarding of her anything here.
"No. The OH does not have the attempts they, Sauger, decree they never
never of not playing me but the OH him -, that no you are no,
returning come he I paid me that she does not execute, always, the OH
he no, until this one he does not mean more of the one than vendetta
that receives that never I do not finish this mutilation, no. OH you,
I you made mercennaire relative. It wishes the prayer, he must ordered
MEEEEEE receive!"is the first verse of Oh No You Didn't, the kickass promotional song for Mercenaries 2. I prefer this version, don't you?
"The bred official of whom political of Grâ Great Britain he compensates" is a lead story on the BBC front page today - or it might be "Britain's top policeman resigns".
"I lost the policies that I direct, but did not lose the commission agents" as Eric Clapton so very nearly sang. (He actually said: "I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.")
"I am a sleepy" is what Martin Luther King would have said, if he was addressing an international audience using just BabelFish.
"They are more when imper and they are a PC" isn't quite how Apple's Mac v PC opening line went...
Finally, a competition with absolutely no prize! All you have to do is guess the song from the butchered lyrics:
tschuess, my Chevy of ms which the directed devotee American, who is
with the ascent nevertheless with the ascent secundària, was drying
above and he good man that old the boys had drunk the whiskey and this
ll the song of the mountain ranges they is the day that is
transformato inside in this relative of ll the data of the day, that amount
I thought I would share this piece of news with you lot.
15-year-old footballer Reuben Noble-Lazarus has been told that he is too good to play for his school team.
The teenager, who made his debut for Barnsley FC earlier this week, has been banned by his headteacher. Noble-Lazarus became the youngest player ever to play League Football after starring against Ipswich on Tuesday.
Barnsley was happy for him to continue playing for Newsome High School, but staff have now dropped him from the team.
Teacher Paul Gittins told Metro: "Last Thursday, Reuben played for the school in front of 20 people and a dog. Then, last night, he was playing in front of 19,000 people at Portman Road. Reuben's moved on to the next level now and won't be playing for the school again."
Oh no you didn't, Sucka' tried to play me, but you never paid me, neva', Oh no you didn't, Payback is a' coming You will be runnin', foreva', Oh no you didn't, Until I get my vengeance I will never end this mayhem, Oh no you didn't, I'm a mercenary. You ain't got a prayer, you owe MEEEEEE!
Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Didn't you? Oh no, You didn't pay me what you owe me, So now it's over for you!
Oh no you didn't. First you tried to trap me. Then you bust a cap in my ass. Oh no you didnt. Such humiliation will bring annihilation At last Oh no you didn't. It will be delicious when I get vicious tomorrow. Oh no you didn't. There's no second chances. You will do the dance of SORROOOOW!
Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Didn't you? Oh no. You didn't pay me what you owe me. So now it's over for you.
Oh no you didn't! Better watch your back boy. Keep running. This ain't just a game. I never stop comin' I got my arsenal. I put out the call. And when I'm finished ya'll. You'll be a rag doll.
Fool tried to diss me. Now you're gonna wish you were dead. Oh no you didn't. After I deliver, your blood will be a river of red! Oh no you didn't. Better be aware when No one's there to defend you. Oh no you didn't. So many ways to kill, it's gonna be a thrill to end YOOUUU!
Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Didn't you? Oh no. You didn't pay me what you owe me. So now it's over for YOOOUUUUUU.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.... Oh no you didn't!
Thankfully, it went a little better than their other attempts at PR: A stunt to give away gasoline in London to promote EA's new Mercenaries 2 has, predictably, been roundly criticized by authorities and local residents.
The giveaway was put on by Electronic Arts in support of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, a near-future shooter in which the player takes on a treacherous Venezuelan dictator who seizes the country's oil supplies. Beginning at 6:30 a.m. local time and running for four hours, drivers who could make it to the Last Stop garage in north London were given roughly 70 bucks worth of free gas.
The utterly unsurprising result, according to the BBC, was chaos. "Whilst a lucky few might have got free petrol, hundreds of residents have faced misery," said Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone. "Trying to recreate Venezuelan-style fuel riots on the streets of London is completely irresponsible and downright dangerous. Hundreds of residents have faced misery on their daily journeys this morning. They deserve an apology for being the victims of such an ill-thought-out media stunt."
Security personnel had to be brought in to deal with the mess, including not just people looking for free gas but also local residents who had difficulty just getting out of their driveways. One local woman described it as "totally irresponsible," adding, "What an extraordinary thing to do. I can't believe they've been allowed to do it. This area is usually very quiet but look at it now, there's cars queuing everywhere. It's just creating unnecessary problems."
Of course, people who were actually able to get free gas weren't quite so irritated with the scheme; Prince Davis, for one, described it as a "genius idea" and said he would "definitely be buying the game." And EA's Louise Marchant seemed to be taking a page from the "any publicity is good publicity" book, saying only that the lineups were similar to some scenes in the game. "It's set in Venezuela, you play a mercenary and fuel is used as a currency," she said.
From where I sit, the only thing surprising about any of this is that anyone is surprised about this. Offering free gas on a first-come, first-served basis in a high-density urban area - what could possibly go wrong? EA is tremendously lucky this didn't turn out far worse than it did, and while the company is probably slapping itself on the back for a job well-done, this kind of boneheaded stunt ranks right up there with throwing turkeys out of helicopters: It's just a bad idea.
This month's question... It was released last month so by now you should now how to use it and decided your opinion about it; I am of course talking about Google Chrome. This month is all about browsers... something you all have or you wouldn't be reading this! It's a 4 way!
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Arabic
Japanese
Korean
Chinese
Russian
FAIRFAX, Va. - Oct. 10, 2008 Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that 750,000 players have registered for the critically acclaimed fantasy MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR) in North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories. WAR topped the PC sales charts around the world at launch, and is on track to be one of the best-selling PC games of 2008.
