FREE: >:O

It does what it says.

Rage, a recent ID Software and Bethesda game, sucks.  Now, I don't mean the gameplay sucks, nor the graphics suck, or even the story sucks.  I mean the technical aspect of the game sucks.  Enough with the sucking, Rage is released with a SHIT-ton of graphical glitches, bugs, and poor optimization.  In fact, it's not even playable in the state it is right now.  Although it is using a new game engine, the id Tech 5, that's no excuse to release this game in an unplayable manner.  There have been many reports of problems with the game, but I'm only going to cover a portion of them.

Such detailed settings!

The first is the video settings menu.  Look at it.  What do you see?  Like, 4 options?  Seriously, I know id is trying to implement a system where the game automatically sets the setting for you, for optimum frame rates, but give the users a choice.  If we can't even fix our problems in the setting menu, how can we fix it outside of it?

Madness!

Is this how the game is supposed to look like?  For people telling me to install new video drivers, yes I did.  I also installed the hotfix released from AMD, my video card manufacturer, and it still did not help at all, let alone fix my problem.  This jumbled up world is all I got from it.

Whoa, I can see!

Another prominent problem in the game, that has been pestering everyone that has been playing, is the new "megatexture" implementation.  Supposedly, Rage has very big texture sizes.  If you were to keep them loaded in the game, it would require tremendous graphical and computing power.  That's why, whenever you are not looking at the world, the game de-texturizes any unseen textures.  The problem with that, is it results in the screenshot above.  The computer cannot instantaneously load and de-texturize fast enough, producing a blurry world.  Why would they implement this? No idea, though this is the first game to utilize the id Teach 5 engine.

I, for one, am not saying this game is bad, in terms of gameplay.  I'm "raging" on the fact that the company should've produced a game that can actually play smoothly and with minor errors.  Why should consumers pay for the game, then be left with an unplayable game?  Hopefully there will be a patch to resolve all these errors, but until then, do not get this game.

RE: Technically...

"When I was little, I used to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and other things parents tell 

 their children." -Andrew Fan 

I guess I'm a little bit different then.  Since I was old enough to comprehend words, I never believed in the stories of Tooth Fairies or Santa Claus.  I actually thought about the stories and how they would work out.  For example, in the story of Santa Claus, he's supposed to deliver presents to every child in the world, in one night.  Assuming a night means 12 hours, he would never make it around the earth because they earth's circumference is about 26,000 miles.  The record time set for a non-stop around the world flight was in a military B-52 in 1980 at 42 hours 23 minutes.  It would take him at least the speed of 2166 miles per hour to make it around the world, excluding the time it takes for him to actually get the presents under the Christmas Tree without being noticed.  Note that this is the Earth's circumference, as it is in a linear line.  To factor in traveling to every country, state, and city, makes it nearly impossible.


The Easter Bunny, however, may be possible in the near future.  Today's technology allows us to peek in the world that shapes all living things.  What I'm talking about is DNA, and it's no gimmick.  We can already change the colors of a living animal, clone them, and even biologically engineer them to be resistant to disease.  With further improvements in modifying DNA, we could possibly take the egg of a bunny.  Then, we could extract its DNA, code for it to produce multi-colored eggs, and then reinsert them.  It may be ethically incorrect in the eyes of animal lovers, but in reality, money is power, and if they decide to engineer one, they will. 


I think being a realist attributes to the disbelief in stories.  I'm always looking for any errors that might not make sense in the real world.  This can be both beneficial or hindering.  It makes for writing a realistic-fiction book easier, but writing fantasy novels more difficult.  In this case, I believe, although the stories are not real, you should continue to enjoy the spirit and culture passed down for many generations.  Happy (Pre)Columbus Day!

CE: AHHH THE END OF THE WORLD!

Breaking news today, Thailand has been hit by the worst monsoon in 50 years!  More than 2 million people have been affected in what is known as the worst monsoon season in Thailand.  Everyone has been evacuated from the vincinity, especially the people near rivers and dykes.  Now, there has been many natural disasters occuring this year, including Hurricane Irene, typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, and dead fish appearing in all parts around the world.

This leads me to believe that something is definitely going on.  There has been many natural disasters before, but somehow, I feel this year is different.  First, the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan were enormous, with a 8.9 magnitude earthquake.  This disaster caused the shutdown of nuclear power plants, as well as some manufacturing factories as well.  It is pretty like for earthquakes to occur in Japan though, since it's located  near three tectonic plates. Secondly, Hurricane Irene devasted the East coast, causing the shutdown of the New York subway and many other areas.  There have been many reports on the appearance of dead fish as well.  At King Harbor in Redondo Beach, millions of dead fish, including anchovies, sardines and mackerel were floating lifeless.

 

Another phenomenon is the occurrence of birds falling out of the sky, although National Geographic has explained it already.  It says that the loud noises and human-built structures interfere with the birds ability to fly correctly.  The loud noises scare the birds and disorients them, while the human structures block their flight path, and creates a possible hazard for them.

The many events happening this year troubles me.  I don't believe in the "2012-end-of-the-world" thing, but I do believe in science, and so far, it's been saying that the world is starting to change dramatically.  For better, or for worse.

But mostly for the worst.

ESSAY: Don't be a square, care!

There is an abundance of evidence on what defines a human.  I will be focusing on one aspect, and that is the ability to care.  Caring is a very vague word.  It could mean that you are taking care of someone or that you actually are paying attention to someone.  Doing things that help another person or just being a nice person in gerneral, are other examples of caring.  Although everyone has the ability to care, it's the magnitude of caring that counts.  Without care, everyone would be isolated and distraught.  No one would help each other and, ultimately, make their own lives worst.  There is a quote that specifically expresses that situation:

"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

This quote is to be interpreted literally, not  philosophically.  It is saying that the person never spoke out to anyone, just because he didn't care, so when it was his turn, no one spoke for him because, why should they care?  Humans should be more compassionate and empathetic for other beings, not because they have to, but because they want to. Caring is like leading a horse to water, if it doesn't want to go, it will not go.  However, if you give it motivation, like a carrot, then the horse considers moving.  If you force someone to care, they won't be able to do it because it is against their determination, but if you give an incentive for the someone, then they might start to care.  For example, you needed an object that is located far beyond your reach.  A person passes by that can reach, but you have a decision to make.  If you say forcefully, "Hey, you.  Get me that object.", he couldn't care less and walk away.  In a different scenario, you ask politely, "Mr. So and so, can you please retrieve the object to me? I would be very grateful".  Your politeness triggers the care in him and therefore, he gets the object for you.

Caring can also be an instinctive feeling.  Sometimes, you care for something, but just for the sake of the situation.  I feel that the reason of having an instinct dedicated to care, adds to the fact that we are human.  An example of this reasoning plays out like this: You are walking on the way to your house.  Suddenly, as you turn a corner, you spot a person lying on the ground.  Our natural instincts tell us to go forward and assist that person, which proves that caring is linked to being human.  Of course, other animals have those feelings as well, since mothers care for their child, but are their feelings comparable to us?  You don't see a pigeon helping another pigeon when it is in trouble.  Us humans have our own way of caring, whether it is secretly or publicly.  We protect and help others, without having a reason to.

Of course, there is an opposite to everything, as shown in a ying and yang.  What is the opposite of caring?  Ignoring.  Though ignoring might sound easier than caring, I feel that it is not so.  To ignore, you have to concentrate on the fact that you will not response to a certain situation.  This requires various amount of brain power, but generally, it is slightly harder to do.  Caring on the other hand, is a natural process.  You don't need to have a reason to care, nor do you need to put your mind on it, it just happens.  People don't need a reason to rescue someone in danger.  They don't need a reason to help countries devastated by a natural disaster.  Humans assist each other regardless. 

"By not caring too much about what people think, I'm able to think for myself and propagate ideas which are very often unpopular. And I succeed." -Albert Ellis

There are times when ignoring benefits you more that caring.  Caring is like a double-edged sword, it can make you soar, or chain you down.  You have to learn to use it depending on the situation.  For example, a random person compliments you on your new look.  You can show that you care about his/her opinion and reply.  Another example, a person on the internet tells you that you look ugly, and so does your mom.  This is the time NOT to care.  Just simply trudge through the hurtful comments and hope that they stop pestering you.  Never, and I urge, ever respond to the person with another spiteful comment.  That will simply anger and bring more trouble upon you.  Just simply ignore them.

"I bought a seven-dollar pen because I always lose pens and I got sick of not caring." -Mitch Hedberg

Sometimes, people force themselves to care, because it is more beneficial for them to care, rather than to not.  Though that might not seem as really "caring", if you look deep inside, it really is.  The person above bought a more expensive pen, so he would not have to buy new ones.  However, this shows that he cares about the situation of losing pens and decides to take action on it.  This shows that caring isn't always so obvious.  In fact, care is mostly shown in many hidden situations, where you take them for granted.  No matter how oblivious, you have to take the care with great appreciation and importance.  Otherwise, by the time you start to respond, the other person just might not care anymore.

"From caring comes courage." - Lao Tzu

More often then not, care leads to many new emotions.  It's one of the main reasons why caring is so important in playing a role of human traits.  Sadness can come from caring.  By caring about someone, you inadvertently attach yourself to the person.  If the person is suffering, and you care about that person, it causes you to feel sadness.  This is not a weakness, it is merely a sign that you care enough to express other emotions.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." -Leo Buscaglia

Caring is a simple thing to do. You might not think it does anything, but realistically, it offers the person a sense of comfort. It shows that you understand the person and allows them to know you are someone they can depend on. It also gives a sense of righteousness, like picking up trash next to the garbage can or motivating your team. I don't see a reason why anyone should not care, and probably will never see one. So, grab your best personality, put on your game face, and dress to impress, because there is a whole world out there, waiting for someone to care.

RE: To Infinity and Beyond!

"Wow I really can't believe it... How can something even be able to out-speed "light"? I mean first of all, how can they even MEASURE light." -Ken Phan

My guess on how to measure light is that they first have a starting point.  The starting point shoots out light particles (or waves) called "photons".  Then, they set up an ending point, which detects the photons when passed through.  Using the time it takes for it to travel a set distance, they calculate it using the "distance x rate over time" formula.  The approximate speed of light is 3.00x10^8 m/s.  Now, it takes a very strong machine to detect the instant that light is passed through, since it's traveling at the speed of light.  If you think light is fast, think about the stars that we look up to at night.  That light may be from thousands of years ago.  That gives a new perspective in the vastness of space. 

To travel faster than light, you have to have almost no mass.  As we get closer and closer to the speed of light, our mass increases with it.  Therefore, we can get close to it, but never reach it.  However, you can travel ahead of the speed of light, by using "wormholes" or "distorted space time".  Wormholes can transport from one place to another, sort of like teleportation.  Distorted space time is when space and time gets all mixed up.  That can enable you to "fast-forward", but not speed up.  The time in the distortion area is faster than the area around it, so it seems like you move faster, but you are still traveling at the same speed.

There is a way to travel faster than the speed of light, however, you need infinite energy with an endless amount of time and finite acceleration, or infinite acceleration and a finite amount of time.  That is not possible because we do not have "infinite" energy.  Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only changed or transferred.  To travel faster than light, means the possibility of "time-travel", which begs the question, has anyone in the future manage to go faster than the speed of light and, therefore, travel back in time to change events?  Who knows...

FREE: Diablo 3

Finally! After waiting for several years, the ARPG Diablo 3 is finally coming out!  For those new to the game, Diablo 3 is an upcoming action role-playing game (ARPG) developed by Blizzard.  It is the third installment in the Diablo franchise and sets the storyline 20 years after the second installment.  The world is called Sanctuary, although the name is completely opposite of what you're going to encounter in this game.  You can choose to play one of the five available classes: the Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard.  The game includes the option to play with 4 friends, making it an extremely fun and social game to play.  The general objective of this game is to progress through the storyline and collect the best "loot", or items that are picked up by the character.  In the sections below, I will briefly describe the available classes in the game.

The Barbarian:

 The Barbarian is a melee-based character.  He excels in hacking and slashing enemies with his weapons.  He also has a high constitution and defense.  He can wear heavier armor than the other classes, and has more strength.  His powers, or skills, use the resource called "Fury".  Fury is gained when you attack enemies, and in turn you use the fury to kill even more enemies.  The barbarian's Fury, however, decreases while out of combat.  These attributes are perfect for the people that want non-stop slicing and dicing.


The Demon Hunter:

The Demon Hunter is a ranged character, wielding crossbows.  She relies on assassination and quick executions.  She has various traps and tools to aid her in the purge of demons.  She is known to be excellent at elimination large clusters of enemies and snipe down far-away targets.  However, the use of a ranged weapon has a disadvantage, getting cornered and surrounded renders the weapon useless.  To make up for that, she has a wide range of escape abilities.  There are two resources for the Demon Hunter, "Hatred" and "Discipline".  Hatred regenerates quickly, an is used for offensive abilities.  Discipline, on the other hand, regenerates slowly and is used for defensive maneuvers.  Those who enjoy precision and strategy, will enjoy play as a Demon Hunter.

The Monk:

 The Monk is a character with versatile roles.  You could choose to be the healer, support, or damage-dealer.  He is also a melee-based character, and has high maneuverability.  The monk uses a resource called "Spirit".  Spirit can be obtained by executing specific abilities.  It can be regenerated, but it does so very slowly.  The upside of being a monk, is that there are few to none cooldowns.  Cooldown refers to the time that it takes for a skill to be available again.  Having few cooldowns allow the monk to chain a combo of ferocious and deadly attacks.  This is currently the character I want to try out first.

The Witch Doctor:

Witch Doctors are more of the summoning type and his attacks primarily deals poison damage.  He also has a variety of "debuffs", which are skills that inhibit the enemy in some way, and ranged attacks.  Although he relies on summons and debuffs, he can also be a deadly melee character.  His resource is "Mana".  Mana is a vast, but slowly regenerating resource.  Players have to manage their mana efficiently, or suffer the lack of use of abilities.  Summons can help reduce mana problems, as once they are summoned, no additional mana is needed, and can last for many battles.  This class is obviously for the more "safe" players out there, since summons can do the work for you, while you can stay out of the range of an enemy.

 The Wizard:

The last class is the Wizard.  Wizards are spellcasters who use their bodies as a vessel for arcane energy.  They have a wide selection of elemental attacks, and can be quite deadly.  Wizards rely on long-ranged destructive power, which are conducted at a safe range from enemies.  Their resource is "Arcane".  Arcane is regenerated quickly, but the maximum Arcane a Wizard can have is limited.  Also, the spells casted by the Wizards have a cooldown period, so the player must be careful of how many spells to unleashed.  The Wizard is suited for players that want tremendous damage, at a safe range.

I guess this wraps up all of the classes.  I hope this introduction to Diablo 3 is sufficient for all the newcomers out there.  Hope to see you in-game!

BC: One man, One room.

It was dark, and by dark, I mean REAL dark.  I literally couldn't see my hands in the pitch-black darkness, even though I placed them right in front of my eyes.  The temperature of the room was surprisingly chilly, as the cold sent shivers down my spine.  The air was stale, as if it was trapped there for a very long period of time.  The smell of the room was overwhelming and putrid.  I felt suffocated in there.  The first thing that came to my mind was to find light.  I squinted my eyes to try to locate any source of light, but there wasn't any, so I felt my pockets.  I felt a hard, rectangular object inside my right pants pocket, and I reached my hands inside.  I felt cold object in my hands as I tried to figure out what it was.  I was hoping for it to be a lighter, but it turns out it was my flash drive, since the cap fell off when I tried to "light" it.

Bending over, I searched for the approximate location of where I dropped the cap.  As my hands scoured the cold smooth stone, I felt a tiny object and picked it up.  Recognizing it was my cap, I put in on my flash drive, then I stood up.  As I searched all over my body, I couldn't find a source of light to use, so I gave up.  I took a step forward, to examine the immediate area around me, but I stepped on something.  The round smooth object made an eerie cracking noise, and I froze in my steps.  My heart skipped a little because of the sudden noise, and I waited for a few moments to see if anything had happened.  Silence.

I continued walking in a straight line, with my hands reaching out in front of me.  I felt the cool touch of the wall and I stopped.  From that point, I moved my hands all over the wall, looking to find anything that could be a potential source of light.  My hands grazed the wall, and found a recess in the wall.  I also felt some handles and more recesses as I continued to move my hand over the wall.  Curious by the handles, I pulled on it, and it slid open, like a file cabinet.  I reached in to feel what was inside, but I only felt cloth.  I guess it was a dresser.  I pushed the handle back into its original position.

I turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction, with my hands in front.  I was just walking, when I felt a rectangular object hit me on the stomach.  I immediately stopped and felt the rectangular object.  It felt like a long thin table, with a cylindrical base.  I walked around it and continued with my hands in front of me.  I hit a wall again, only this time there wasn't anything on it, just a plain wall.  I decided to check out the right wall, so I followed the wall I was on, with my hands.  This wall was also plain, albeit a rectangular protrusion on the wall.  I felt the object and immediately knew it was a light switch, since a knob was sticking out.  I was a little apprehensive on turning on the lights, since I didn't know where I was, but in the end, I'll have to turn it on anyways.

Guess where I was?