CU Mission Week, “Free” – Part 1
Part 1 | Part 2
Well, over the course of the last week, Warwick University Christian Union ran a series of events trying to spread the word that the only way to truly be “free,” is to become a Christian. They had talks every lunch time an
d movie showings in the evenings, all with the purpose of recruiting you into their ranks. While I never attended the films myself, I am told by Atheist and Christian alike that they simply and flimsily linked the film to Jesus. How they did it with Fight Club I’ll have no idea.
The talks on the other hand I did attend to every day of the previous week. Not only because of the free lunch they offered, but also for a chance to ask some very awkward questions and get into some interesting debates. Now all this may seem all good and well, except logic, reasoning and critical-thinking seemed to have been thrown out the window during the talks.
Monday: “Are You There God?”
The first talk, unsurprisingly, was addressing the general issue that is there a god or not. The arguments were pretty typical but some were incredibly unreasonable. Circular reasoning was being used left right and centre. Plus they couldn’t even describe what an Atheist is like. “Someone who blindly states that there is no God,” is probably what sums up the rest of the week really, no matter how many times we (Warwick Atheist members who attended all the talks) corrected the speakers, they never seemed to be able to grasp at what Atheism is all about.
A lot of the talks, including this one just started off with the (always incorrect and incomplete description) so called “Atheist View Point.” Exactly what they got wrong varied with each talk, but let us clear up what an Atheist actually is:
An Atheist is basically someone who has no belief in the existence of god(s). We weigh up the evidence and come to the conclusion that there is no god, it isn’t a blind leap, it is arrived at through logic and reasoning. There are no atheists who 100% believe in no god, that would be foolish, since we don’t know everything in the universe yet, of course there could be a god somewhere in it. Just that the chance is very very small (say 0.01%), but if evidence was brought up tomorrow that irrefutably and scientifically proved in the existence of god, beyond any doubt, then Richard Dawkins himself will turn around and admit to being a theist. It is worth noting that an Atheist is not an agnostic as it was misconstrued by the speaker when I corrected him.
The rest of the arguments for this talk were pretty basic and easily defeated. Arguments such as cause of a cause. Read the rest of this entry »
Review – Guitar Hero: World Tour – Part 2
Bass Experience
In previous Guitar Hero games, I was always under the impression that the Bass was always an after thought, it was there but simply never felt as finished as the lead guitar was. It was only there so if you felt like working together as opposed to playing competitively, you could. World Tour does a much better job of with the Bass than last time.
First of all, the single-player is excellent. It works in practically the same way as the guitar one, but it doesn’t have the battle parts where you take on a supposed legend like you did in GH III. I should mention something here as I forgot to do so in part 1. Each single-player section starts with a short animation and ends with another one after you become a star. I wish they would include many more of these 2D animations like they did in GH III. They helped to break up the single-player monotony and actually provided some-kind of story line and laughs.
Back to the Bass playing, World Tour has added so called ‘open notes,’ which require the player to strum with none of the fret buttons pushed down. This may sound like a very simple addition and not actually that revolutionary, but it has a real effect to the game-play. It’s is very difficult to expect to strum a regular note, then an open one and back to a regular note again, it needs an extra level of concentration. This addition is really needed for Bass, otherwise the game would be too easy and too boring. If it wasn’t for these ‘open notes,’ Bass would have sucked.
Best peripheral of the year 2009? Let's see Rock Band 2 first.
Drums Experience
So, onto what is probably the best instrument in the game. While guitar is great (and practically a game on it’s own), the drums makes World Tour worth so much more. Then again, they had better because of the price tag. The design of the peripheral is pretty simple, but it works. The cymbals are elevated, like in a real drum kit and the bass pedal is practically identical to a real drum kit. They are made from hardy plastic, so if you miss the actual pad, no worries, they shouldn’t break on you.
OK, so there are some problems which let you know that they are not real. Things such as the spacing between the pads, the foot pedal being made of plastic (Rock Band had a plastic one, kept breaking, the new one will be made from metal) and the horrid sound when striking. But they are still a damn good design. Minus the fact my green pad has decided to start working intermittently (worked fine when I initially got them), which is strange as songs barely use it gets used the most navigating menu screens. Hopefully this is just a one off problem and I can get a replacement.
The game part is superb. The developers always start by mapping a song note for note, which can make the song too difficult, even for an pro player. So what they so is simplify it until it is suitable for expert, then simplify it some more until it is suitable for hard and so on for the other difficulty levels. This means that on expert levels, most of the time you are playing the exact same way as the real drummer would be, only that you may not have as many drums as they do. This gives a really authentic experience (that felt wrong), unlike the guitar which is pretty far from authentic.
Finally, having experience with actual drums before meant that pretty quickly I recognised the patterns and actually getting to jam along to songs is very enjoyable. The peripheral can also be used as a set of electronic drums via a MIDI connection. All in all, they are a fantastic peripheral. Shame the bloody green pad of mine is being a real bastard about working.
Tune in again in a few days for the final part!
The Problem With Linux
For me, Linux is mostly a positive thing. I am highly in support of it, the idea of an open source, freely available, customizable, flexible and secure operating system is fantastic. Linux is all of these things and more. I’ve seen how versatile it is, from being able to be the solid foundations of servers to a simple clean system in a PS3 or hand-held device.
So then, what is my problem with Linux. Well, some of its greatest strengths end up becoming some of its greatest downfalls and so will never become as popular or as widely used as Windows or Mac OS. Read the rest of this entry »
Review – Ratchet And Clank: Quest For Booty
Ratchet and Clank games have always caught my attention. I enjoy the return to the days of good ol’ fashioned platforming action. Sure, playing FPS games is fun, but nothing can beat a good Ratchet and Clank game. Quest for Booty is a short ‘episode,’ much shorter than a full game, but still gives around 4 hours of gameplay. With the wacky weapons we have come to love and more of the humour and story expected in a Ratchet and Clank game.
Quest for Booty is probably the only episodic game that will be made. It was made to just alleviate the wait between the previous full game and the next one, full games unfortunately take years to develop and so always have a large gap between them. Quest For Booty has been out for a while now and if you haven’t played it yet and are a fan of the Ratchet and Clank series, stop reading this now and go get it! The story seems slightly contrived, but it isn’t necessary to understand, or even know it, to maintain continuity between the story of the major releases. You end the story pretty much from exactly where you started. However, to fully appreciate the story in Quest for Booty, you need to have played the previous instalment.
Graphics are, as always, gorgeous. You simply don’t see games today that don’t look damn good. It is an expectation now, gamers want to see fantastic graphics and do not care to be disappointed. While this could be a problem for smaller developers. For Insomniac Games, this isn’t really a problem and with already having a game engine in place from the previous instalment, they took their time and improved the lighting a bit and went for improved texturing. Other small graphical improvements add up to give the game that extra bit of polish over Tools of Destruction.
The gameplay is well balanced, levels are paced well, much better so than the previous game. It is a real joy to play and you don’t have to have experience with other Ratchet and Clank games either. You do suffer the old Metroid problem of starting with all your weapons and kit, then lose them all and slowly get them back as the game progresses. The difficulty curve is intended for newcomers and yet can still provide a challenge to veteran players. At the start of a new game, you get to choose your difficulty level, which may not seem like anything new, but to have one in a Ratchet and Clank game, it certainly is.
Quest for Booty brings back some of the much loved weapons from Tools of Destruction, but not the whole collection and doesn’t include anything new. While not a problem seeing as all the weapons included are a sort of best hits album. The Cumbustor, Predator Launcher, Nano Swarmers and Tornado Launcher are just some of the weapons available. Each upgradable like last time through experience, but no purchasable upgrades are available this time round.
Basically, if you like Ratchet and Clank, but can’t wait until the next installment (around Christmas 2009 I should think), then this should tide you over. However, if you are new to the Ratchet and Clank series, then start with Tools of Destruction moving onto Quest for Booty when that is complete. All in all a great addition to an already great series and has certainly wet my appeite for the next game.
Linger In Shadows
A rather strange ‘game’ appeared on the PS3 store a while ago. Well actually, ‘game’ is probably the least accurate description of it. A demo, or better yet, a demoscene appeared and went by the name “Linger in Shadows.” From Wikipedia:
“The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer. The main goal of a demo is to show off programming, artistic, and musical skills”
Review – Guitar Hero: World Tour – Part 1
Introduction
So, a few weeks ago (at least time of this post being published), I popped down to the local games shop and bought a little game called Guitar Hero: World Tour. I was incredibly excited, I never had a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game before (nor have I even played Rock Band, so I’ve only been able to play the guitar element) and just couldn’t wait to get it home. Even though having to look like a plank carrying the massive box with huge pictures of plastic-y instruments on it and promises of rocking out. Plus injuring myself several times trying to get the damn box home, I finally got a chance to see if the game lived up to the promises made by friends and the internet.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Review – Call of Duty: World At War
Cod 5, or Call of Duty: World at War is yet another in a long line of WW II games. As someone who has played through this war about a dozen times now, anything that does so again really needs to bring something new to the table. Unfortunately COD5 isn’t it.
Unlike COD4, World at War isn’t developed by Infinity Ward, but by their lesser other, Treyarch. It is an interesting cycle. Infinity Ward produce a new engine and an absolutely fantastic game. COD2 and COD4 have both been excellent games, yet COD3 somehow lets it down. COD3 and World at War have both been produced on the game engine that preceeded it, so in a way, two games are produced for the same engine, saving money and development time.
However, this system may sound like a good idea, but the odd games (Treyarch) always seems to be a slight disappointment. They seem rushed and just lacking compared to their predecessors. After having COD4 based in the modern era, going back to the Second World War was a disappointment. This is the main problem with the game, which is a shame seeing as all the other aspects are rather solid.
The game revolves around two main characters, fighting on two different fronts of the war. Either you take on the Japanese as the Americans in the Pacific, or you are on the Eastern Front fighting as the Russians. Like COD4, you jump back and forth between playing these two different tales, developing the story a bit more each time. Many famous battle are included, such as the Battle for Peleliu and the Battle of Stalingrad.
Mandatory vehicle, or mounted, levels are included in World at War and are probably the most interesting parts of the whole game. I also liked the short videos included before each chapter to give you a grasp of what was happening in the War up to that point. Little touches like this are an improvement over previous WWII based games, but not enough to truly make this one stand out.
Graphics are great and the game feels rather authentic. There is a rather high level of gore, especially when compared to the previous games. Peoples limbs get blown off, the wounded ragdolls, the screams; it’s all there. Just don’t play if your a little girl and have a weak stomach. Gameplay is good, though it does get a little rediculous at times, especially with taking down multiple tanks single-handedly. Veteran difficulty will give people a real challenge, but is still within the realms of possibility.
On-line is a disappointment, it’s simply the same as COD4, but just not nearly as refined. I would still keep COD4 just for the on-line as opposed to upgrading to COD5. Even the “NAZI ZOMBIE MODE,” doesn’t give on-line much to celebrate about.
Basically, if you fancy another whack at WW II, then by all means get your hands on this game. However, if you’ve done this damned war so many times now, it has nothing really new beyond that of a graphical upgrade. Just wait for Call of Duty 6, whenever Infinity Ward finish and release it.
So, Why Is There No God Again? – Part 1
Well, being an atheist with a blog, it would be almost criminal of me to not express my views on it. Like the several other hundred of us… So, here we go with generic atheist postings. Well, actually this is just going to be a series on Atheism and the various arguments that have appeared over the existence of god. (keeping it as concise as possible). I’ll probably start each article with a typical argument for the existence of a god/gods (at least for now) and will just go from there. So without further ado, let’s see what the first generic argument it:
“The Watchmakers Argument,” for the existence of god;
“Imagine walking through a forest and you come across a pocket watch. Picking it up you examine it and consider how brilliantly the device keeps time. It is accurate, light weight, small, needs little maintenance and is very complex in its construction. Seeing as it is very complex, it must need an intelligent designer, that would be the watch maker. Something like this cannot have happened by chance, it must have had this creator. Now look at the world (or human beings, or something else), it is incredibly complex, even more so than the pocket watch. The universe in it’s totality is even more complex than just the planet. It must have had an intelligent designer too, it must have had a creator. This creator is God.”
While this may not be the perfect example of the argument, it is enough for our purpose.
Is this proof that there is a god?
The Counter-Argument;
The first part of the argument against this is to point out that if there is a god, then god must be incredibly complex in order to be able to create a the universe and the Earth. So, god must have had a creator, BY THEIR OWN LOGIC. So thus, what created god and then what created the creator of god? This response usually gets something about god not needing a creator, or that god created himself, or that god has always been. Usually some completely illogical argument, at which point you may as well abandon your attempt at counter arguing as they will simply never listen to your reasoning (since they don’t seem to understand logic) and change their view.
If you are inclined to continue after establishing that the argument is fundamentally flawed, you have to then move onto explaining how a mechanical human made device differs from a biological organism. The biological organism comes from it’s parents, a human is ‘made,’ by sexual reproduction through evolution (more on this later and you may need to explain this here). The universe was ‘made,’ by the Big Bang event. While the watch is ‘made,’ by a watchmaker, who has had years of experience and knowledge in order to do so. The watch started off as a simple device, inaccurate, large and over the years each new watch maker improved the design slightly. These improvements are handed down the generations as knowledge. These tiny improvements made by each watchmaker add up to the final product that is the watch as we know it today.
Remember, I’m pretty un-knowledgeable about these different arguments and their counters so I’m not going to provide a model answer. You can read Richard Dawkins ‘The Blind Watchmaker,” for more information or a whole host of other books by multiple authors.
The Problem With Game Sequels
So, as we should all know by know, the gaming industry is practically built on copying each other and whoever manages to copy the other, the best, wins! Every now and again, something new and fresh comes along, such as Mirror’s Edge, but this is a real risk. The cost of producing a game for consoles is now so high, a new company can’t take risks. Only the big and bloated can do so. Granted there are always the bedroom programmers.
However, it seems that now copying each other is no longer enough, even when they make small changes to them. There needs to be something brand new in that game to separate it from the pack of mediocrity. Seriously, how much difference is there between Halo and Resistance? Not much, you shoot aliens, fighting for your species survival with a range of weapons in a multitude of environments. Yet they continue to sell well.
GTFO Bush!
Well, today is the day. A million and one blogs lit up with congratulations for Obama, expressing their hopes, dreams and how Obama will be the greatest president ever. Only time will tell if he can keep his promises and make America a decent country again. I just wonder if everyone in America is excited as everyone else in the world?
