Month: August 2011

First Person Shooters

I don’t talk about video games very often on my site because I don’t play them nearly as often as I used to. Part of the reason for this is a lack of new games that I find appealing. Once in a while I come across a gem like Red Dead Redemption or Bulletstorm but most games have little appeal to me (unless it’s a MegaMan title, I’ll play any game with that label on it at least once).

First person shooters are a genre I used to love but become disenfranchised with over time. Part of the reason for this is the games have become more “realistic” in some ways and far too easy in others. For the most part shooters that let you carry every damned gun in the game are gone and instead restrict the player to carrying a measly two weapons. Is this more realistic? Sure. Is it more fun? No. It almost broke my heart when I first played Duke Nukem Forever only find that since his previous adventure 12 years ago Duke somehow forgot the skill of storing 10 guns on his person.

The other trend in shooters that has created boredom for me is the concept of magically regenerating health. Like restricting the player to two weapons, regenerating health is part of what I call Halo syndrome. No matter how many bullets your body has been riddled by if you can manage to hide behind cover for 10 seconds all will be fine again. Two problems arise with such a system; first it removes 90% of the challenge once found in first person shooters and second it removes any consequences from using poor tactics. I like knowing if I did something overly stupid I’m going to be punished for it which will better ensure I’ll learn my lesson.

During the start of this dumbing down phase of first person shooters one title was released that I absolutely fell in love with, Serious Sam. Serious Sam can be best summed up as Doom with far larger battles and better graphics. It was not uncommon in Serious Sam to have single battles last for minutes on end with, literally, hundreds of monsters being tossed at you. Best of all you could carry every gun in the game at all times (which you needed as you started running out of ammo for any single gun during common battles) and your health didn’t magically regenerate after finding cover for ten seconds.

It should go without saying that I’m completely psyched for Serious Sam 3 which a writer at Ars Technica was able to play a pre-release copy of. His report on the game makes me realize I’ll probably have to upgrade my graphics card so I can play this when it’s released. The game seems to be nothing more than a clone of Serious Sam 2 which was a clone of Serious Sam which is exactly what I want (I’m a huge fan of the MegaMan series, needless to say I’m completely OK with games that are basically clones of previous titles).

If more shooters were like this I’d probably still find time to play video games more often than I currently do. I never enjoyed the titles like Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, and their ilk as they tried to be somewhat realistic (I said somewhat, I know they’re not realistic overall). I don’t play video games because I want a realistic portrayal of combat, I play video games because I want to pilot at 30 meter tall walking robot with fucking guns for arms. I can’t do that in real life because, sadly, our scientists fail to see the need for 30 meter tall walking robots. Likewise I can’t fly a spaceship, carry 10 guns, or deploy and orbital ion cannon on an enemies construction yard in real life so I have to relegate such desires to video games.

Here’s to titles like Serious Sam who give the finger to realism and focus instead on pure fun and enjoyment. I would love to see such titles flood the market but alas I’m doubting that will happen again anytime soon.

Practicing Your Self-Defense Skills

People in the firearms community like to talk tactics and create bizarre scenarios that can only be solved by the application of a rocket launcher mounted on the back of a dinosaur. Meanwhile Robb Allen walks us through the self-defense situation a person is most likely to encounter:

Go to the food court at your local mall. Make sure you are carrying extra magazines for your heater which is well concealed or, if you live in a freer state and you feel inclined, wear it out in the open proudly. Grab a slice of pizza or a chicken sandwich and have a seat at a table that faces the main entry way to the mall. Consume your meal at a leisurely pace. Make sure you place your trash in the receptacles provided and leave the area.

You have now been trained on how to handle the most common, civilian self defense scenario known to man.

9,999 times out of 10,000 your visit to your venue of choice is going to be uneventful thus it’s wise to practice your skills at simply going about your life as your normally would. On the scale of threats a random mugger would be the most likely defensive situation which is where carrying a means of self-defense comes into play. But the chances of angry fire-breathing ninja-raptors from Io descending onto your venue of choice to reign death and destruction while you’re there is pretty slim.

Keep the scenarios you practice for realistic and practical. Knowing how to chew your food without choking is going to serve you far more often then knowing how deploy an orbital ion cannon (although granted not as fun).

Only in Switzerland My Ass

Via Reddit I cam across a picture of a man carrying a rifle in the Apple Store:

At first glance I was assuming this picture was taken in Switzerland as that is a Swiss militia rifle but it took a while for anybody commenting to give the source of the picture. The post where this pictured originated from is titled “Only in Switzerland” which I feel insults various state in the United States.

This picture certainly isn’t a possibility exclusive to Switzerland, as a Minnesota resident with a carry permit I could toss my SR-25 over my back and walk into an Apple Store without fear of legal repercussions. As I’m a man who loves accuracy I would change the title to something like “Sadly, Only in a Few States” (state meaning either a country or a state in the United States).

What’s most telling about this photo is the reactions of those around the man, that is to say they’re not reacting. Nobody seems to notice or give a shit that somebody is carrying a rifle around on their back and that’s how it should be.

Anti-Gunners Proven Wrong Yet Again

This is why anti-gunners aren’t taken seriously anymore, every statement they make has been proven wrong. A year ago Virginia passed a law that allowed those carrying firearms to do so in restaurants serving alcohol. As usual the anti-gunners decried the passage of this law as some kind of harbinger of death that would unleash gunfire into every restaurant in the state. So what was the net effect after a year of this law being on the books? Not surprisingly crime in restaurants has dropped:

Virginia’s bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.

The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper’s request.

Any logical person would admit their error after being proven wrong as many times as anti-gunners have. Sadly anti-gunners aren’t logical people which leads them to continue claiming that the sky is falling even though all evidence has proven otherwise.

A tip of the old hat goes to Uncle for this story.

Google Acquires Motorola Mobility

When I woke up this morning I wasn’t expecting to see a story about Google acquiring Motorola Mobility but that’s exactly what they’ve done:

Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users. Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide—with over 550,000 devices now lit up every day—through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries. Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

I think this was a very smart move on behalf of Google. Motorola has been producing some great phones as of late and Google really needs to start manufacturing their own line of mobile handsets. The biggest problem with Android in my opinion is carrier and handset manufacturer customizations to the operating system. These customizations make the user experience different from handset to handset but more importantly they require additional work when a new version of Android is released. In order to update their phones manufacturers have to waste time customizing the new version of Android to their likings. I would be more willing to purchase a handset made by Google as it would likely come installed with vanilla Android and updates would be released frequently.

Ron Paul Introduces Legislation to Abolish Federal “Gun-Free Zones”

I have no idea how this news passed me by but Ron Paul once again demonstrates his awesomeness; this time by introducing H.R. 2613, the Citizens Protection Act of 2011. The legislation, if passed (which it never will be sadly), would abolish federal “gun-free zones” (more accurately known as victim disarmament zones) at K-12 schools. This would allow teachers and faculty to carry while performing their jobs as teachers which could greatly reduce the damage psychopaths would be able to inflict should they decide to shoot up another school.

One of the reasons schools are targets of shootings is because the shooters know that their victims will be disarmed due to federal mandate. It’s apparent that they select their targets based on the defenseless nation of their victims because they quickly commit suicide at the first sign of resistance (usually 10 to 15 minutes after they start, which is how long is usually takes the police to respond). Having teachers and faculty on campus able to provide resistance would likely make many people with malicious intent in their minds consider a different target, or if not that, would provide quick responding resistance which would likely end the event much sooner.

Sadly this bill will likely never pass but it does demonstrate that Ron Paul really intents to reduce the power government has over our lives, unlike his competition for the Republican presidential nominee.

One Crazy Minnesota Presidential Wannabe Down, One More to Go

Pawlenty is either a sore loser or smart enough to know when he’s been beat. After news came out that he took a distant third place in the Ames straw poll on Saturday, Pawlenty announced that he’s dropping out of the presidential race. That’s one crazy Minnesota presidential wannabe done, now we just have to get the other one to drop out.

Pawlenty has always been worthless. Although he liked to tout small government is took many opportunities to ensure government involved itself in the lives of Minnesotans. One of the most obvious examples of this is when he signed a law making the wearing of seat belts mandatory in Minnesota (punishable by a fine of course). I’m glad he’s no longer Minnesota’s governor and even happier that he’s dropped out of the race entirely.

Ron Paul Takes Second Place at Ames Straw Poll

Here’s some goods new for a change, Ron Paul ended up taking second place in the straw poll on Saturday. Bachmann had 4,832 votes while Ron Pall fell just 152 votes shy of her with 4,671 votes. The real loser in this battle was Pawlenty who garnered only 2,293 votes.

It’s concerned to me to see Bachmann gaining so much support. Although she portrays herself as wanting to rid out lives of government control what she really advocates is ridding our lives of government control unless it’s a subject she feels needs control. For example she supports a federal law defining marriage as being between one man and one woman while Ron Paul, a devout Christian who believes marriage should consists of a man and woman, supports removing the federal government completely from the marriage equation. Bachmann is also a supporter of war in the Middle East while I have no worried about Paul trying to engage us in yet another unnecessary conflict. The only thing I can really say about Bachmann that is nice is she’s also an opponent of the Federal Reserve.

Either way the race for the Republican nominee looks to be an interesting and tight race. Here’s hoping Paul gets the ticket and wins the Oval Office.