Rant on PR Speak (Sparked by comments by EA CEO RE: "Online Pass")

NOTE:  Major expletive filled rant here, so consider yourself forewarned. Also, please note that this was written quite some time ago, as you would have ascertained yourself. Just thought I'd fill you in. It's still relevant, but a couple of the things mentioned are now in the past. D'oh!                                                                                                                          

Typical Discussion with a Christian

I received two private messages on youtube regarding the first ever video I ever uploaded to the site. Said video is based on the following blog post:

Eternal Torment and a Just God

The thesis of said blog post basically being that the christian god punishes every sin in the same way, even though (apparently) not all sins are equal. I ask in the video/blog if this is fair, and whether or not we are more just than god, since "in the criminal justice system, differing crimes are given differing sentences. But not in hell. An atheist gets the same treatment as a serial rapist or a murderer. Hell, under this system, I would get the same punishment as Hitler. Is this fair? Is this behaviour indicitave of an omnibenevolent being?'

Myth: Albert Einstein Believed in God

Claim: Albert Einstein Believed in God

I see this claim being propagated by some in the religious community (including, surprise, surprise, my old friend Ray Comfort). It's quite popular amongst apologists, especially ones of the Christian persuasion. It's also one that could so easily be discovered to be false by these people if they did 5 minutes of homework, assuming of course they don't already know and are just lying to lend some credence to their cause (not that it actually would, but appeals to authority are very popular amongst the religious crowd).

So, what's the real story?

Temp Saves and Controls

There are two features that should have been included in every single game released in the last, well....ever, but I will forgive you your trespasses, AS LONG AS YOU START INCLUDING THESE GOING FORWARD:

Gaming Conventions That Need to Go! Pt. 3

1) Hey, you made it!! It's been 12 hours, you finally get to fight the boss that has been eluding and tormenting you the whole time (likely after killing or kidnapping someone close to you). This should be AWESOME! You have all those fancy skills now..............oh wait. No no no. The boss is impervious to all but one of your attacks. Figure out which one it is and then spam it for 2 minutes to win. GOOD LUCK!

2) That mysterious voice that tells you where to go/what to do.......I don't see a headset or earpiece anywhere on my character....so how the hell am I hearing you exactly?

3) Unskippable dialogue. Man, when a game has bad dialogue, or you have already played through it and just want to get to the game, not being able to skip lengthy dialogue sucks, especailly if it's text and it displays slowly. Really bad when you die and reolad and have to sit through it all again.

4) Unskippable cutscenes. Same concept as unskippable dialogue. They suck when you just don't care about the story, or if you have seen it already and just want to get to the game. This, just like with the unskippable dialogue, is especially bad when you die and relad and have to sit through it all again.

5) AI temmates in shooters being able to do things I cannot; this even happens when I am supposed to be the leader of the sqaud and they are my subordinates. An example of what I mean is in some games , the AI can take cover, but the player cannot. This makes no sense, unless there's an explanation for it in the story....which there never is.

6) Escort missions. Enough said.

7) Timed missions. See above.

The End

Thanks for reading part 3 of this series.

Through the Eyes of a Fighter

The theme of this story is:

Persistence and Sacrifice

To get in the mood for this, please watch the following 24 second video clip:



Now THAT'S exactly what this is going to be about. This blog is going to take you on a journey. A journey through the mind of an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter during an MMA bout. I will be using fictionalized characters, but the Persistence and Sacrifice will be anything but fiction....if I do my job right, that is.

I apologize to anyone out there who knows MMA (or competes in it) if I don't do my job as a writer, and fail to capture the true essence of the qualities needed to compete in the gruelling sport that is mixed martial arts.

And so, all of the preamble now behind us, let's join our two fighters in the cage. The referee, 'Big' John McCarthy, is about to signal the start of the bout with his famous line:

Gentlemen! Are You Ready? Are You Ready? Let's Get It On, Guys!

3DS price drops to $170 on August 12; Ambassador Program Announced

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/28/3ds-price-drops-to-170-on-august-12/

http://www.gametrailers.com/news/nintendo-3ds-price-drop-ambassador/3675

Looks like I am MUCH more likely to get a 3DS now (at some point, not anytime soon):


Well, this is interesting. After what can only be described as a less than stellar initial launch, Nintendo of America today announced plans to drop the suggested retail price of its portable Nintendo 3DS system to $169.99 in the United States.

The new price, down from the suggested launch price of $249.99 and effective Aug. 12, takes place just a few months after the hardware hit store shelves in the US and is undoubtedly Nintendo’s attempt to set up a strong holiday season for the system. Japanese gamers will also be seeing a price drop on the handheld device effective August 11 that will see the units MSRP go from 25,000 Yen to 15,000 Yen. Meanwhile, details of a price drop throughout European markets are expected soon, but online reports suggest that the the cost of the 3DS will go down “about a third” throughout Europe.

”For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games.”



My Own Religion- An Atheist Creates His Own Religion

My Own Religion- An Atheist Creates His Own Religion

So, if an atheist were to start a religion, what would this religion be like?

This is a question I have been thinking about on and off for some time. Sure, this wouldn't ever really happen, as a religion without a god is not a religion, but it's an interesting thought experiment that I think brings up some valid points and demonstrates how lacking the existing religions really are (not that there are not good ideas contained within; there are). So, what would my religion be like, exactly, if I were to create one?

Let's find out!

Milestone: We Have Reached 50K (50,000) Views!!!

            
That's right, as of this posting, The Thoughtful Gamers Blog has 50,518 total page views!!!!!!!

In lieu of receiving an award and financial compensation, I will accept congratulatory comments below. It's the least you could do.

XD.

My Dream Video Game Console

If I were to design the ideal video game console.....

If I were to design the ideal video game console.....it would have the following features:

Is there free will in heaven?

Is there free will in heaven?

If yes:

Are there bad deeds done in heaven?

If no, why not? Is it that no one chooses to sin because heaven is so amazingly awesome that they have no need/desire to commit evil? If there is free will in heaven, but no one acts on it (to do sin/bad works) because heaven is so amazing, then that means god has the ability to create a perfect place devoid of evil, without violating our free will. If that's the case, why was Earth not created in such a way, or what's the point of Earth at all?

If yes, bad deeds are done in heaven, then doesn't that mean heaven is, well, no longer heavenly? Some might say that the difference would still be that in heaven, you're with god, but if god is omnipresent, he's with you on Earth anyways (usually in people's aortic valves, if the christians are correct) which means that heaven is no different than Earth (unless of course you do not attribute omnipresence to god). Also, what happens to those people who do sin in heaven? Do they get sent to hell?

If no, there is no free will in heaven, then that means god has no qualms with us being devoid of free will, which means the free will defense for the problem of evil goes bye bye, since god clearly has no problem violating our free will.

Thoughts? Am I missing something?

1984 Becoming a Reality?

Okay, I freely admit that the title of this post was purposely sensationalistic, but in all seriousness, is America becoming more and more Orwellian as time goes on, or am I crazy? Let's examine a couple of news stories:

Christians embarrassed about/ashamed of Satan? (Silence on the Satan(ic) front).

Christians embarrassed about/ashamed of Satan? (Silence on the Satan(ic) front).

I'm Canadian, and here in Canada there's not a whole lot of public god talk. Some, sure, but it's sparse and mostly negligible. Down south however, in the good ol' US of A, it's ubiquitous. It's just god god god. Politicians, athletes, celebrities, televangelists, news anchors, radio hosts, television personalities, basically everyone pimps their god in public. And of course, the majority of them are referring to Yahweh, the god of the Bible, when they speak about this god character.

Interestingly however, very few of them ever mention Satan.

Ever notice that? If so, ever wonder why?

Ripoff Report: Volume 1

Ripoff Report: Volume 1

This is a new blog series in which I illuminate total and utter ripoffs in the world of downloadable content, aka DLC. The focus is on the bullshit that is DLC, on a game by game basis.

This week's game is:

Dante's Inferno

Are Outspoken Atheists Fundamentalist? What about Militant?

“Atheists are as fundamentalist as those they rally against!” “Militant atheism on the rise.” Sentiments like these are heard on a daily basis now, in response to the “rise of the new atheism,” a concept I have some issue with, but will let fall by the wayside for the purpose of this particular post. So what do these words mean, and does their usage as applied to atheists constitute a fair charge, or are they charges falsely levied?

Let's find out, shall we? We'll start with fundamentalist atheism.

RANT: Religion and Masturbation

I recently watched a movie entitled 'Teeth.' The movie (which wasn't very good but I digress), an indie horror with some comedic elements (it mostly failed on both fronts....some of it was amusing, none of it was scary, but again, digressing...), is about a very religious teenage girl who has taken a vow of 'purity' (aka abstinence) and goes around to other schools prattling on to younger kids and other teens about the 'evils' of sex and how it's only right to save your 'gift' until marriage, and blah blah.

Gaming Conventions That Need to Go! Pt. 2

1) Ammo pickups.........who's leaving all this ammo behind? Hell, Robocop for xbox (HORRIBLE GAME) had ammo pickups....yet his gun is the only one of its kind in existence!

2) Nonsensical Puzzles: Hey, I'm a diabolical bad guy, and I'm being chased by the hero......what to do, what to do.....OH, I KNOW!!!! I'll hide this key to the door in a magical box that can only be opened when you put this picture that's been broken into 9 pieces back together. That'll slow him down! Of course, I could just hide/destroy the key...

Gaming Conventions That Need to Go! Pt. 1

This is the first of a series I will be doing in which I look at gaming trends/conventions/just little things in games that either don't make sense, are annoying, outdated, need to be done away with, or all of the above. Not all are big deals, some are very minor, so don't take this too seriously.

1) Dying in games. I was playing Dead Space, and what should have been a terrible moment (literally being ripped apart by a very fierce enemy) didn't really matter because I knew I'd be back 10 seconds later as though it didn't happen. I'm not sure what could take the place of deaths in games, but they just don't make any sense. You die dozens of times during the course of some games.....and it never really matters. Except in one game I can think of: Steel Battalion. In this game, if you die, your SAVE GAME GETS ERASED.

2) Pressing start at the title screen. Um, why? Flash the title then go to the menu or have the title imposed on the menu screen. Not a big deal just makes me chuckle.Especially when some games literally force you to press the START button. The A button won't even work.

3) QTE's. Hey, you just worked hard to get to this awesome looking boss. You could use the skills you have learned to take it out in some epic fashion......OOORRRR you could play Simon Says and see you kick it's ass out of the corner of your eye while you pay attention to the button prompts.

4) Exploding barrels everywhere. Hey guys, we're hding out here where the good guys are coming with guns and grenades. We should stock this place with explosive barrels, and stand near them!

DUR, OKAY!

And finally:

5) Locked doors. Let's see, I have a chainsaw, grenades, a rocket launcher, and an assault rifle....but I think I'll find the long way around........WHY NOT BLOW THE DAMN DOOR DOWN!

Alright, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more to come.

Christopher Hitchens Letter to the AAI

Dear fellow-unbelievers,

Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.

That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit...) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson's wall of separation. And don't keep the faith.

Sincerely,

Christopher Hitchens

Japan’s government, threatened with more haarp attacks, pays 60 trillion yen to feds. HAARP Causes Earthquakes? Oh, Really?!

Japan’s government, threatened with more haarp attacks, pays 60 trillion yen to feds.

HAARP Causes Earthquakes?

Oh, Really? 

Benjamin Fulford, a 'journalist' and huge proponent of conspiracy theories (Illuminati, bankers, world domination, starvation and mass killings, HAARP, 9/11, etc) has stated that the Japanese government has paid 60 trillion yen (around 680 Billion Cdn.) (lol!) to the American Federal reserve Board 'crime syndicate' (lol!) in response to threats that if they did not pay, they would be again attacked.

Yes, attacked, because the Japanese natural disaster...was actually, according to him (and others) coordinated and perpetrated by HAARP. Yes, the Japanese natural disaster of 2011 was, according to Mr. Fulford, a terrorist attack! Here's the link:

http://eclinik.wordpress.com/vital-issues/ben-fulford/japan%E2%80%99s-government-threatened-with-more-haarp-attacks-pays-60-trillion-yen-to-feds/

(Yes, that's a wordpress blog, and yes, that ad at the top by the author, Mr. Fulford, does say that you can 'Defeat AIDS and cancer in 90 Days.' Kind of sets this blog up nicely, doesn't it?)

Now, before we get into this, let’s have a look at some of the other claims this gentleman has made.