Technology

Today during class Nate, Josh, and I were talking to me about a new game that came out at 12:01. From there we started watching some videos, instead of during our homework, and I found out it was something I want to spend my money on. The only problem with that is my checking account is running low and I’m going to have to buy something expensive before my next paycheck, therefore I won’t be able to get it at least until Friday. The game is called Red Dead Redemption and I would come out with a review of the game if I had it, but since this will probably be my last blog post that’s not going to happen.

From the videos we watched in class today the game looked very interesting and it’s much different than Call of Duty, so I can add a new type of game to my arsenal. The game is set in the Wild West and consists of a fantastic storyline and amazing multiplayer. Since the game play is in the Wild West the gamers control outlaws on the backs of horses and also shoot weapons of that era, such as revolvers, sniper rifles, lever action shotguns, Gatling guns, and much more. The game is viewed from the third person and every part of this game seems very realistic, almost as if I’m actually in it.

The graphics in this game are amazing; they’re probably the best of our time. From the videos I saw it seems much like Grand Theft Auto (one of my favorite games of all time), the single player as the same attributes but with different people, setting, and plot line. Not only will the single player be amazing, the multiplayer will be the heart of this game, consisting of many different game modes. The most famous will probably be free roam, but it will also have team deathmatch and other new game types. All the while playing this game, the user will be leveling up and constantly achieving upgrades and such. I can’t wait to play this game, hopefully it lives up to all the hype!

I just found out a few days ago that Infinity Ward, the creators of Call of Duty, is coming out with a new map pack. Once again Xbox is buying an earlier release date so their gamers can play the new maps a month before anyone else. I really hate this, why would Microsoft waste their money like this just to have their gamers play overly priced maps before PS3. It’s not as if they’re going to gain more Xbox users because they can buy a map pack. This doesn’t affect the fact that the PS3 is better than Xbox, no matter what Xbox does. Anyway the new downloadable content is going to be insane and the new maps are even better than the first ones.

Infinity Ward is calling this DLC the “resurgence pack” and it’s once again consisting of three brand new maps and two that IW is bringing back from the first Modern Warfare. The two maps that their bringing back are Vacant and Strike. If it were up to me they should just bring back every single map from CoD 4 and have forty or more maps to play on. Vacant was a map with indoor and outside action, it had a building with a connected garage, long hallways, and an opening in the middle; this was definitely one of my favorites. The second map, Strike, is set in a dusty Arabian landscape with many different long range sniping spots. These old maps will be revamped and enjoyable to the maximum.

IW is also creating three more completely different maps known as, trailer park, fuel, and carnival. From what I’ve listened to on youtube.com, from the creator, the Carnival map sounds like the most fun, it’s just a straight up carnival, not rundown or anything, gamers shooting out of a clowns mouth and on top of rollercoaster’s. The creator also said that trailer park is going to be basically just like a maze; making the gamer search around the map for opponents. I didn’t hear much about the last map, fuel, mostly because if was angry that it was being released to Xbox users again and didn’t want to hear anymore from the guy. These maps will be a little overpriced but definitely worth it they’re expected to come out for Xbox on June 4th and for PS3 about 30 days after.

Photos from: http://www.perezstart.com/sony/ps3/new-mw2-resurgence-pack-screenshots/10339/

Man do I miss playing Call of Duty, all I’ve been doing lately is working and studying for school. I was scheduled to work eight days in a row, which really sucks because I basically go to work instantly after school gets out. School is a full time job and on top of learning I have a part time job, therefore I have no time to do anything until eight at night. I never seem to be able to have enough time to play anymore.

I remember back when Call of Duty 4 came out, I played that too much. I believe that I logged 24 days of online play in a matter of six months to a year and that’s a lot, believe me. I was tenth prestige aka the gold cross; prestige mode is a way to up your status online in CoD, what happens is that you lose everything you earned in 55 levels to get a new symbol and start over with a fresh slate. That may sound lame and you might ask why anyone would to that. Well, the only answers are boredom and also to get a super cool symbol. I did that ten times, it took me maybe 15 days of being in actual game play to achieve this prestigious symbol. I was also able to achieve golden camo weapons that could only be unlocked if you completed everything for a certain class of weapons. I was clearly addicted to that game and since I didn’t want to do my homework back then and had nothing else to do outside of school I resorted to this amazing game. I don’t regret it at all it gave me bragging rights to all my friends, but since I have matured I have logged less and less time on these games.

This brings me to the next Call of Duty game, known as World at War. The creators, although they were different, copied the format from CoD 4, but added some twists in, such as some different perks, weapons, attachments, and Nazi zombies. Even though it sounds different, the basic concept was the same, but set in World War 2. In this game, since I didn’t play it as much, I only got to 7th prestige, and I mostly used my time to beat my last Nazi zombie level. Call of Duty has been known for its online play and compelling story line, CoD 5 had both the Nazi killing was something that stood out and made the game that much better. Therefore I didn’t spend 24 days online, I cut it to about half of that and focused a lot of time on massacring zombies.

This then led to the most recent Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2. I’m also addicted to this, but since I have no time to sooth my addiction I’m not able to play as much as I did in the past. This is definitely the best one by far, they revamped the online by overhauling the perk system and also giving me a better choice of what to put on my gun. I love this game and lately I’ve been suffering with withdrawals because school, AP tests, and work keep getting in the way. I can’t wait until this summer when I can play for however long I want and almost whenever I want.

Photo From: http://www.product-reviews.net/2007/12/24/now-at-prestige-on-call-of-duty-4-cod4-what-next/

At 11:33 my final AP test was over and that means that there are no more high stress tests, finally! These high stress level tests make me feel as though my brain is going to explode. AP tests suck horribly and I’m extremely happy that they’re all over; now I can focus on my other school work. NOT! Since these AP tests are over the curriculum in the classes has decreased in strenuous studying for instance in Physics we’re only working on projects while in AP Lit were reading “100 Years of Solitude”. The major I’m going into at UMD, which I posted earlier, is computer engineering. I found a great website with a teacher from Harvard who teaches computer science; so I think I’m going to watch all of his lectures before my first computer science class next year. I would much rather learn about computers than take AP tests or any class at all.

For those of you interested in computer programming I suggest you visit his site and maybe do what I’m going to do, here it is, http://academicearth.org/courses/introduction-to-computer-science-i. From this website you can basically complete an entire semester of computer programming from a professor at Harvard; how sweet is that! I hope to take a lot of information from this guy and hope that this betters my future career.

The professor is a pretty good teacher and tries to make his lectures fun, so far I only watched his first two about binary code and algorithms. These lectures were interesting and I intend on watching all 32 of them and increasing my knowledge in the field of computer programming.

Next year almost all of you will need a laptop and there are only two choices to choose from, Mac or PC. Both these types of computers are pretty equal, it’s just how much you’re willing to take out of your wallet. I would much rather prefer a PC over a Mac, but that’s just me. I’ll let you decide which one you will like better.

A Mac is definitely a very nice computer and most of these users are extremely happy with they’re performance. There are both positives and negatives to these computers though. I’ll start with the positives, no matter what type of Mac a buyer gets they always look sleek and sexy. There’s not much of a selection for apple computers because they’re the only supporters of Mac, but they do make up for it in the long run. You could just get the MacBook and upgrade the specs from there or you could get the MacBook Pro (the one I would get) which is a little better than the regular MacBook, plus it has a different look to it. You could also get the MacBook Air, one of the thinnest laptops in the computer industry. All of these Macs have a different look to them, but they all have great battery life and you can also choose how big of hard drive and RAM you want. An apple computer is widely known for its video and photo editing system; this is very sophisticated and extremely useful if you’re into that. Another great thing about a Mac is that they are NOT prone to viruses. There are things that set the Mac back and those are the price; Mac’s usually run two times more expensive than a good PC. They’re operating system, known as Snow Leopard is not as good as Windows 7. Plus a crucial part they are missing is the installed games on the hard drive; it doesn’t even come with solitaire. LAME!

PC’s are way better and much easier to buy and there practically compatible with every single program out there. If I were to buy a top of the line MacBook, which would never happen, I could get a PC of the same cost and ten times better. If I could spend $1200 on a computer I would probably get a top of the line gaming laptop with twice the RAM and five times the amount of memory. The one part about a PC that isn’t the best is the amount of battery life they have, but that’s alright. Plus, the selection of laptops running on windows is much larger than that of Apple, there’s about seven different computer companies and each of these has probably 20 different makes. PC’s are much more customizable, everything about them is just better; the processor, the memory, the operating system, the choices, the programs, and even the graphics.

If I were reading this blog I would definitely listen to the author and go with a PC, it’s extremely worth it. You may be drawn to a Mac, but don’t fall ill to them it’s just a waste of money, look around and do your research on what you need and then you can decide which PC best fits you!

Yesterday was the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 stimulus package. The package or DLC, as the modern gamer calls it, which is short for downloadable content consists of 5 multiplayer maps and nothing else. Guess what that costs? Maybe $5 or $10, NO! It was $15!

Let’s say that you need a bottle of pop and it’s your favorite pop that you drink all the time and the company suddenly raised the price. You have to get it because it’s the only thing that tastes good, but you know that their charging way too high of a price. Yes I compared CoD to pop and that’s exactly how I felt about this stimulus package, I had to get it because I knew it was going to be awesome, but I was shocked by the price. The map packs for the other Call of Duty’s were only $10 and I believe that those were much more worth the money. Why did you do this Infinity Ward? You just knew that most people are like me; it’s a necessity to have this upgrade and you understood that the gamers were more that likely to disregard the price.

The creators didn’t even construct much of a map pack. They brought back two maps that were from the first Modern Warfare, not anything creative, but they were my two favorites, Crash and Overgrown for those of you who know what I’m talking about. Therefore it was a good choice, but it definitely didn’t need to cost $15 and the other three maps are actually stunning. They each have a completely different feel, one of them is called Salvage, it’s a smaller map set in a junk yard in the dead of winter. Another is called Bailout, this map takes place in an urban area with both short and long range combat. The last map of the bunch is known as Storm, set in a rundown power plant gamers get tons of cross fire from rooftops and also from soldiers on the ground

The Stimulus package is definitely a success and it was 34 days ago when it was released to Xbox owners. Microsoft paid extra money for the map pack to come out for Xbox users earlier, why couldn’t we both get it at the same time? Who knows? I do know that I will enjoy this map pack as long as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 stays around and that Xbox is LAME!!