DC Universe Online, WoW, and Online Role Playing Games (10th Post)

I apologize for having such a large hiatus. A bunch of things have been happening in my life. School, friends, voice acting... and of course this blog's topic: Gaming. Online RPGs (Role Playing Games) to be exact.

Now at this point, a thought may have come into your head that I am a World of Warcraft freak, (World of Warcraft being the most successful Massive Multiplayer Online RPG of all time.) I can assure you, I have never been addicted in any way, shape, or form to World of Warcraft. Of course I had an account at a time, but I never got as into the game as I would have hoped before I stopped playing, the reason for that being my account was hacked, not of my own will. No, I could have gotten much more into WoW had some criminal nerd with no life not stolen my account. Sucks for him/her though: I was at level 10 out of 100+ and I cancelled the account immediately. But I'm bouncing around the real subject here. World of Warcraft is not the game I've been playing.

The game I've been playing is a game called DC Universe Online. DC, as you probably guessed, is the company that produces comic books, cartoons, and other merchandise off of well known creations of theirs such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And of course, DC has made their fair share of video games off of these iconic superheroes. But never before has there been a game quite as amazing as this one. The full process to make this game took more than 5 years, being that they developed for 2 years before releasing the first concept art and trailers in July 14th, 2008. That being said, you can imagine how vast and amazing the possibilities for this game are.

DC Universe Online allows you to create your own superhero. That's right. You can now become a superhero through this game. And they've made the process extremely customizable. Every power you can have, every detail of your costume, almost every inch of matter on your hero is customizable. ...Ok, so it's not that customizable... but it's still pretty damn customizable. Though my only 2 complaints about their choices are that you can only have about 6 major powers: Control over fire, ice, nature (plants), psychic ability (That's the one I do), advanced gadgets, and sorcery. But of course, you can still have the old ideas for superpowers: flight, super speed, heat vision, ice breath, sonic yells, etc. Overall, it's a pretty good customization system.

Now here's the amazing part. There are over 20 different servers, each with 10 super-sized cities to explore, and over 5,000 users and rising on each server everyday, and it is not slow in the slightest. The speed is almost similar to real movement, even with all the background processes going on. That's part of what makes it so fun to play, it actually keeps up with your movement without any slowness or laggy-ness. AND with each of those cities comes over 300 missions to occupy yourself with within them. That should keep you busy for a while.

We all knew this was coming though... here's the bad news. The game is still kinda buggy in it's online chatting systems and stability. That's why every morning at 4:00 AM, they shut the whole system down for 3 hours to rest and open back up at 7:00 AM. That means you can't pull an all-nighter with this one folks... yet. Also, the game costs $50 to purchase, and $15 per month to play. It doesn't come cheap, but it is worth even more money than that.

Overall, I give it a 9/10, making it the best game I've ever played in my existence on this Earth. It's easy and fun, I never get frustrated, I can do so much on it... plus, I can shoot beams out of my hands and fly around cities saving people! Yeah. Much better than WoW in my opinion. And in a lot of other people's opinions too. I asked around about DC Universe or WoW, and they all said they canceled their WoW accounts to play this. This just might be the new WoW!

...PS: If anyone wants to add me, I'm Shot on the Public Enemies PvE server. Cya there!

Celebrity Bashing

Celebrities entertain us, make us laugh, make us cry, make some... horny is the best way to put it... but the point I'm getting to is, all celebrities live for is to fill our lives with things we can enjoy and tell our friends about. "Hey Jenny, did you hear the new Eminem song?" "Oh yeah! That's my new fav!" - (Fav being the new word for "Favorite." Look it up, the times have changed.) Celebrities make us this happy, but why is it that we seek to make their lives miserable by seeking out their weaknesses and exploiting them for our own pleasure? Gossip, tabloids, whatever you want to call it. All we do is bash the people that got to the top of the music/film industries showing what they can do, hoping for our approval. Sure, we enjoy their talents at first. Hell, some of us still do! But eventually, people have seen the celebs at their best, and they want to see them at their worst. So they force the stars into corruption and exploit their private moments for the world to see. Celebrity bashing is despicable from my point of view, but admit it. It's hard to resist knowing the latest gossip. Do you remember the whole Constitution? No. Do you remember when Brad Pitt left Jennifer Anniston for Angelina Jolie? Of course! See?

But what drives us to exploit our entertainers' weak spots for more entertainment? Are we so tired of seeing their routines that we have to create new ones out of them by making them more "interesting"? Are we so ashamed that we can't do the things these people can that we have to drag them down to our level? Do we care about ourselves so much that we'd ruin our entertainers to make a few bucks? Why must these people suffer while they're only trying to gain our approval? Personally, I think it's different reasons for different people. But no matter what reason someone has for sabotaging the people we look up to, it's not the best reason. 

New Gaming Consoles

You all know the new gaming consoles that have come out such as the Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect and the PlayStation 3 Move, but did you know that there are other new gaming "consoles"?

It's true! While these big name companies, known for producing great video games and video game consoles, have made new motion-activated improvements to their already released consoles, Apple has slipped under the radar and has converted it's popular products such as iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and iMac into video game consoles as well!

You may be telling yourself, "This guy's lying through his teeth. I can play video games on my iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and iMac..." See the contradiction there? You've always played video games on your Apple gadgets, you've just never seen them as the same video games as you play on your Xbox or PS3. And people have payed good money for all the games they put on their devices. Apple has made such a profit off of these people.

And now, Apple is finally unveiling it's products as video game consoles. If you would direct your attention to this link: http://www.backtothefuturegame.com, you'll see something you've likely never seen before. The "iPad" logo on a video game. That's right. Telltale Games is releasing a Back to the Future game for PC, PlayStation products, iMac, and iPad. But that's beside the point. The point is, this is revolutionary. Apple has now been recognized as a real gaming console company!

And who knows what the future will bring for this? Could more of our favorite titles be released on Apple devices? Would you be able to play as Master Chief from Halo 3 on an iPod Touch? Will new companies we've never expected to go into gaming... well... go into gaming? Video games are now a relatively big part of the economy when it comes to what kids want. Maybe there will be more video games instead of physical toys by Christmas 2012? Only time will tell. Great Scott!

New Stars

It's said that many new movie and TV stars are developing and are developed, but does one generation see the next generation of stars as new stars?

I guess that would be up to them, but I know that when I walk into the living room and see Disney Channel on the TV screen, I think, "Who is this Demi Lavato person, and why is she praised when she's not as good at acting as Gwyneth Paltrow?" I'm not saying I'm right, that's just an opinion. But still, why're big movie parts going out to actresses like Miranda Cosgrove when they could go out to an experienced actresses like Jennifer Anniston?

There are many reasons, and I will list some.

There's always the factor of what the current kid generation wants. If they have a Barney toy in stock at Toys R Us and it catches little Timmy's eye, he's going to ask his mommy if they can get it and not stop until he does. Why? Barney is on TV. Barney is what he loves. Barney is the definition of entertainment for him at this age. Therefore, if 8-year-old Lucy sees Hanna Montana on TV and Miley Cyrus is casted in a movie, guess what? Lucy's going to beg and plead until they see that movie. And if millions of little girls beg their parents to see the movie just like Lucy did, the profit for that movie will skyrocket, and the movie will end up making way more than they spent. Which is just what the makers of the movie planned, of course.

Then we have the fact that these legendary actors and actresses aren't going to live forever. The entertainment industry has to expose these "rising" stars to as much show business as they can so they get the experience they need to replace the old generation. Robert Downey Jr. wasn't always a big star. No, he rose to stardom just like all stars do. Before him, there was Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Clark Gable. That's who Grandma and Grandpa considered, "A Big Star." And Mommy and Daddy liked Farrah Fawcett, Sean Connery, and James Dean. And now this generation likes some people I couldn't name unless I googled who was popular nowadays.

Finally, we have the fact that most older people think the stars of their time are the best ever because they were who's popular during their time. The time you're born in is the time you start experiencing everything. What you need to live, what you want, and who's popular at the time are most likely going to be how you define survival, wanting, and the best actors/actresses/music stars/etc. for the rest of your life.

So if you see that some kid is enjoying watching the actors you think are horrible in comparison to what you define is good, remember that your definition of good acting is different from theirs'. It's all about what you experience.

Kid Franchises

How many times have you looked at a new installment of a cartoon that was on when you were younger, and you think to yourself, "This isn't as good as I remembered..." and you wondered how that franchise has stayed alive so damn long when it's not good anymore?


The answer is simple. You may think that the new installment of this cartoon saga sucks, but kids don't. Kids from 3-12 are set to think that this series is just as good as the original, just like you thought the original was good. This is the original to them. And when they're older, they'll experience the same mindset as you, and remember the good old days when they watched their cartoon, then compare it to the current installment. And you know what they'll say? You guessed it. "This crap sucks!"


That's how Transformers has been around since 1984. They keep making new series's with new animation styles and new characters and especially new plots. The new generation of viewers (kids)  - and in some cases, die-hard fans who will follow the series and buy the products no matter what - are the main source of "keeping the fire burning."


Speaking of products, that's the other main source of income for the series's. Action figures, DVDs, video games, and even accessories to make you look more like the main characters: they all make the money. How're you going to pay everyone? Product sales money. How're you going to get money yourself? The rest of the product sales money... after you give a percentage to taxes... *grumble* *murmur*


Of course there are other sources of income. Advertising space during commercial time pays good. Companies might even pay you to put their products in the show! "Quick Optimus! Use your McDonald's Happy Meal® to gain the strength to beat the Decepticons!" "Thanks, Bumblebee! I'll also use my Happy Meal toy to defeat Megatron with friendship!" "Hahaha, not a chance, Prime! I don't believe in friend sh-- OOH! Is that the Megatron toy? I love these!" "Optimus you've saved the day again!" "Don't thank me, Bumblebee! Thank McDonalds! Badabababa, I'm Lovin' It!™®™®™®™®" ...Ok, so that didn't happen... but it might as well have.


So in conclusion, the reasons that these certain franchises are still alive are:

1. New Generations of Children
2. Die-Hard Fans
3. Advertising
4. Products
5. Nothing else good was on.

Mobile Blogging

I just got an app on my phone that lets me blog.

The typing is a pain on an iPhone, but the idea of blogging on the go is pretty appealing, don't you think? It makes one wonder, is this the future of blogging? Will people in the future blog with their mobile devices instead of on their computers? Will a tourist want to blog about seeing the Eiffel Tower while they're still there and they wtill have the inspiration to do it? Will mobile blogging become a new way to share what you're doing, while you're doing it?

My answer is yes and no. Yes, because some people actually like to share their full thoughts on the subject and not be limited to 140 characters. Therefore, this will be a major part of the "intended audience" so to speak. But also, No, because people these days have shrinking attention spans and want to say what happened to them as quick as they can, then go on to the next thing they'll tweet. That being said, they won't take the time to actually write about the whole situation if they can help it. They'll just say what they did, then get on with their "exciting" lives.

So I'm going to have to call it a mix, depending on who you are. If you like telling people about what you did in detail and really get into how you felt and your experience as a whole, blog about it. Or if you want to tell people what you did, but make it quick because the next exciting thing is starting soon, stick to Twitter or Facebook or whatever you use. I, personally, will take both roads. I'll blog if I have the time, but if I'm in a hurry, I'll just tweet it. I think it's the best of both worlds.

By the way, I typed this whole thing on my phone in 18 minutes.

Troubled Souls

Some people confuse me.

Disclaimer: This post has no back story behind it's meaning, I just wanted to get it into words.

Some people are just plain bad news. Say I try and ask a question about what homework there was in a class. They would probably accuse me of cheating. Or say that I asked about what some girl thought of me. They would accuse me of being a stalker. They'll just go out of their way to make the other person's life as hellish as they can. But one has to wonder why... why would they want to make a person's life who has done nothing to them hellish? The answer, usually, is that they're compensating for their own sadness. Whether their parents treat them bad, they're poor, they're ugly, or even they get bullied, the troublemaker is sad... and wants to compensate for his/her sadness by making other peoples' live as bad as his/hers. I wish there was a way to stop it, but it's pretty much like a really strong virus. No matter how much you get rid of them, they will always regenerate. I, for one, pity these unfortunate people. Pushed to schadenfreude to make their lives better? They'll never know true happiness if they keep going down that path, that's for sure.