Human Angle is an ongoing series done by Polygon that focuses on the people on the periphery of the video game scene. The focus of the latest one was on the queer demographic of game developers. While I found the subject interesting, there was something else that stuck out to me. The comments and likes were disabled by Polygon. One can assume that this was done to avoid a homophobic firestorm of comments. It's times like this where I feel disappointed about the tendencies of anonymous internet jerks. I applaud the leg work done by Polygon to track down the folks behind the games and give some exposure to things other than triple-a blockbusters and its a shame to see that they have to eliminate the possibility of discussion and feedback because of the tendency for comments on the internet to devolve into nonsense. The sad part is that I know that the gaming community is rad by evidence of things like PAX. In person, there’s a really dope atmosphere that feels friendly but online, legions of obnoxious folks swarm over everything and just bum me out with childish antics. Time and time again, a certain vocal minority makes all video game players look immature, sexist, homophobic. I hope that one day I can say I play video games without feeling ashamed or having associations with flagrant 12 year olds on Xbox Live but maybe I’m fooling myself on that one.

Human Angle is an ongoing series done by Polygon that focuses on the people on the periphery of the video game scene. The focus of the latest one was on the queer demographic of game developers. While I found the subject interesting, there was something else that stuck out to me. The comments and likes were disabled by Polygon. One can assume that this was done to avoid a homophobic firestorm of comments. It's times like this where I feel disappointed about the tendencies of anonymous internet jerks. I applaud the leg work done by Polygon to track down the folks behind the games and give some exposure to things other than triple-a blockbusters and its a shame to see that they have to eliminate the possibility of discussion and feedback because of the tendency for comments on the internet to devolve into nonsense. The sad part is that I know that the gaming community is rad by evidence of things like PAX. In person, there’s a really dope atmosphere that feels friendly but online, legions of obnoxious folks swarm over everything and just bum me out with childish antics. Time and time again, a certain vocal minority makes all video game players look immature, sexist, homophobic. I hope that one day I can say I play video games without feeling ashamed or having associations with flagrant 12 year olds on Xbox Live but maybe I’m fooling myself on that one.

Walking out of the theater after watching this movie was a unique experience. I can’t remember anything as of late that has confused me as much as this movie. The film had strung me along for an hour and a half and afterwards I felt empty and befuddled. It was a string of seemingly related tangents that blended some flat humor, middling action, and sub par effects. The “plot” was riddled with holes that had no context and went nowhere. I kept trying to put the pieces together but I think that’s against the point. The eclectic examples of plot points include some sort of clairvoyant wizard in a suit, reanimated meat carcass, and a hallucinogen called soy sauce; and that's all in the first ten minutes. The director of this movie clearly tried to do something novel and whatever his purpose was failed to resonate with me at all. It was the definition of a stream of consciousness movie. As a movie I don't think it worked very well but knowing that this has literary origins makes me curious on how it would work in that context.

It's very difficult for me to recommend this movie for anyone because the movie felt so scatter shot and all of the positive elements are spread so thin that asking someone to sit through the whole thing seems tough.

With the internet it's easier then ever to put off things for work or school. Oh I'm just gonna check one thing before I get down to business. One site leads to links and links lead to links. Now 12 hours have passed and I'm no closer to completing my school work. This addiction is the thing my parents have warned me about and that my teachers have pleaded that I steer clear of. It's too late, I've made the unfortunate mistake of making the internet the portal to a majority of my entertainment. FaceBook, Youtube and GiantBomb are the time vampires that haunt my nights. Drifting through the internet is an easy way to lose a night of your life. Why does it have to so much more entertaining than my math homework?  
 
I know it's not wise to make excuses but weaning myself off of the internet is a hard thing to do. It's time for me to make school my priority. So my question is what do when you're procrastinating? Video games? Surfin the web? Asking anonymous people on the internet what they do for fun? 

I don't know how to do it. Everyone keeps asking me, what are you gonna do? Where you gonna go? I have no idea. I don't know what to tell them. I wish I could just live life and become some kind of roaming layabout and discover my dream while backpacking across some distant land. However it seems that is not a choice I can make.  I know it's probably not correct to say that I am not an interesting person but I just don't feel like one. I haven't explored space, mastered the art of taming beasts, or learned to juggle. Nothing about my life is extraordinary. I'm a suburban kid, in a modest home, with decent grades. What's there to sell? No one could have lived a more mundane existence. 
 
Some would argue that there are big choices before deciding what you'll do after high school. From what I've seen so far, I would disagree. Life so far has been a very linear track. Go to school, meet people, drive around, and generally fuck about. Now I have some significant ability to determine how my future plays out and I'm scared and confused. I feel like every passion I've devoted myself to has no way of helping me out in the practical pursuit of wealth. Video games, movies, and guitar all happen to be the industries that are impossible to extract a steady job from. I'm at a loss. I'll just pick a career that I can stand and hope that one day I'm in a position where I can tackle my dream.

Alan Wake is my first experience with a Remedy game. After hearing Ryan and Brad vehemently defend Remedy's long development time I got the feeling that this game was something to keep on my mind. After seeing the quick look I was sold. The creepy atmosphere that this game forces you to traverse is awesome. It really captures that Blair Witch Project vibe.  I'm also getting a whole lot of Twin Peaks in the mix. It might just be the logging town motif and coffee but it feels so close to being a direct steal as opposed to an homage. The environments are very obviously linear but that never really crosses my mind when I'm frantically running through it. 
 
The game play of Alan Wake is nothing extraordinary. Now I understand why Brad said that the game play ran out of steam. Even after two episodes I can easily see myself growing tired of the get axed in the back, spinning around, waiting, shooting, waiting, and some more shooting. Though I can understand that creepy shadowy gentlemen don't hide behind chest high walls and wait for me to shoot them in the face.
 
 This game is doing a great job of engaging my collector nature. I have a feeling that I'll have to roam through this game on Nightmare and retrieve all of those damn thermoses. It's a sickness that I just can't cure no matter what I try.   

I purchased the latest DLC for Mass Effect 2 yesterday. I played it through in about one sitting in about 45 minutes. I will admit that some of the reason behind buying it was for the S-Rank but the other reason I bought it was because I loved the original game so much. I played through the whole game in a few days. I haven't had so much fun playing a RPG in quite some time. The classic space opera story combined with the entertaining gun play made Mass Effect 2 one of my favorite games of all time. 
 
Even though the game itself is completely awesome, the DLC is another story. Yesterday I downloaded the new guns, armors, and vehicle expecting to get sucked into the wonderful game all over again. The weapons were pretty lackluster and the missions with the hammerhead was really shallow. My bout with disappointment continued with the Kasumi DLC as well. Kasumi is one the same level as Zaeed because of the fact that you can easily tell that there was not as much time spent polishing the back story of these two in comparison to the rest of the Normandy Crew. 
 
I still love ME2 but as of late, I've not been satisfied with the DLC offerings. I'm still waiting for the "far reaching content" that supposed to show up some time next year. I know its asking a lot but I want the Dragon Age treatment for Mass Effect. Expanding the character with more skills and diverse weaponry would go a great deal to enhance the game. Another addition to the already colorful cast is not necessary. I hope that one day I can play an expansion pack for Mass Effect 2.

I finished playing Heavy Rain yesterday and I gotta say that after playing it I'm amazed at how much of my time is spent thinking about that game. I've talked to a few of my other friends who are playing and or beat the game and I keep getting totally blow away. The variety of endings are completely insane. For example one friend had a character die within the first 90 minutes. I can't wrap my hand around how the game would be different without the presence of this character. There are so many things about that game that don't feel so developed. Some of the writing is pretty bad, for example, "Take these pain killers, they will take away the pain." Except for those few choice lines the rest was believable. The voice acting was lacking in some spots as well. I though the children sounded absolutely horrible. There are some people who thought that there was an overt amount of "frenchiness" in the speech but I didn't notice all that much. 
 
In my book the game is totally forgiven by the fact that the story was so good. There were hints of Se7en in there and a little Saw as well. I played through that game in two sessions because it was really hard to stop. The pacing is frantic enough to the point where I was constantly on the edge of my chair wondering what was going to happen next. I'm sad that it's still to early to talk any major spoilers but there is so much to think and discuss.  
 
Throughout the whole game I was wondering, how many other ways could this play out? Judging by the wide variety of endings there are many ways the story could go. Whether or not you should buy it is a different question. I would recommend renting or borrowing it. I bought it because I really appreciate the fact that Quantum Dream is taking a chance with something as different as this. It's refreshing to see something new.

Since I live on the east coast, more specifically Philadelphia, there has been a constant buzz about when the next snow day will be. If you have not been keepin up apparently this year has been "one of the snowiest winters ever." Just as the four feet of snow outside has been melted away by rain another two feet is apparently going to show up over night. Now don't get me wrong, days off school are always appreciated but, this is a little ridiculous. What else am I gonna do except play more MW2 and eat terribly? That kind of routine is only entertaining for so long. Being trapped in your home is not my first idea of fun.  
 
Does this mean I'm a jaded person at the ripe old age of 17? 

Macs are everywhere 
Starbucks are on basically every block 
People have no problem running you over 
College is way better than High School 
I had no idea what real traffic was 
All stores are very small for some reason 
Uggs are everywhere, but are still dumb