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Jennacide

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My sordid love affair with Dragon Age.

Who am I?

I am Jenntly, a human noble turned Grey Warden sent to defeat the evil Darkspawn. In a past life I was Jennatalia, an elf who shared the same future. However my past self came into a rather unfortunate bout of suicidal depression when her beloved left, and thus Jenntly was created to take her place and do things right.

My tale is long, and it is arduous, but what people should take into account is that my tale is over. It is completed, and has been done so not once, but twice.

So what do I do, exactly?

As a Grey Warden, my number one priority is to defeat the arch demon and save the world. Or it’s meant to be, according to pretty much everybody else in the whole of Ferelden.
“Oh you’re a Grey Warden? How goes the Blight then?”
“Killed that archdemon yet, Warden?”
Never a “How’s your day been?” or “Would you like a drink that’s actually given to you rather than implied?”

Just because my main concern is meant to be the arch demon, doesn’t make it so. In fact, my number one priority didn’t have anything to do with demons (til he gets inside your tent anyway). His name: Alistair. Reason as to why he’s my number one: because he’s just so damn cute!

However, even without the added eroticism the world of Ferelden is lovely to experience. The elves homeland is lush and mystical, and the dwarf city is one drenched in lore. Caverns and temples have surprises at every turn and the wide range of enemies forever keeps me on my toes.

The sounds of Ferelden in particular are quite breathtaking. Each step crunches gravel and leaves under your feet and the wind whistles past you as you run to your next destination. Cities are filled with the chatter of townspeople and temples crumble and groan with each opened door. And that’s not to mention the lyrical magnificence of little miss Leliana as she serenades you.

Of course, all of us gaming vets know that any good RPG game can boast these things. Final Fantasy has been known for its beautiful landscapes and accompanying soundtrack and the worlds seen in World of Warcraft are just about as weird and colourful as they come. So what makes Dragon Age: Origins different?

You get to have sex.

Finally, the good bit.

As soon as it became apparent that Grey Wardens could save the world and fall in love, my tale got a lot steamier and sickeningly sweet than any other story I’ve ploughed a character through.

My time at camp slowly stopped being about outfitting my team with the best weapons and began being spent lavishing attention on Alistair so he’d pay attention to me. As Jenntly as I could (haha get it?) I began coercing Alistair into falling in love with me, and soon enough, he was there. However, to my dismay (more like pleasure, but anyway) many other characters began to feel the same way.




This led to many talks around the campfire about ‘that grey warden slut’ but those words didn’t bother me. I knew who my heart belonged to and the owner of said heart knew it too. Eventually I let the other contenders down lightly, informing them that I had made my choice and it was indeed, Alistair. Luckily for me they understood and didn’t come to my tent in the middle of the night wielding knives and pitchforks.

Just like a crush on a real person, my sordid love affair with the only other remaining Grey Warden produced a variety of emotions. There were butterflies, there was warmth, there were countless nights spent together in a stuffy tent making love to the cries of the darkspawn hoard that slowly surrounded us.

Of course, where there is sex, there is gossip, and boy did my party members do a lot of that. Well, not so much Sten, as he didn’t really do much of anything except shit all over my ideas. But everybody else raised questions, poked fun and gazed longingly at a love they wish they could possess.

Everybody needs something beautiful to gaze upon in times of trouble. Thankfully you’ve got me.



And then what?
In my past life, the romance with Alistair was cut short well before its time. In the end, Alistair decided that he couldn’t be with me any longer, and the spiral into depression began. It was like someone had taken the beautiful fire that burned inside me and struck it out without warning. For the remaining hours of playthrough I fought tooth and nail to bring Alistair back to me, but he wanted nothing of it. I was tempted to end it all then and there, but a little voice inside kept me going, saying that a sad ending is better than none at all.

Finally the story was over, and my romance with Alistair never resumed.

Jennatalia was then doomed to a life in stasis, never to be restored again. Not even to access special features or gain a 100% completion rating.

But now this tale belongs to Jenntly. And as this is being written, Alistair still very much belongs to me. I hope with every fibre in my Warden body that it will remain that way, but even if it doesn’t, I will always have the beautiful memories.

Dragon Age Origins: the game that broke my dry spell. Thankyou for 160 fantastic hours.

6 Comments

Tales from the Otherside

WOOO!!

So, I have been graced with the wonderful thing called a guest article for my blog today! I demand you all pop over here http://bit.ly/h4uMcp to read it and show Mark the love that the beautiful GB people always show me :D

If you ever wanna be a guest writer and instantly gain internet fame (because that's totally how it works) just send me a message and it will totally happen!!

Thankyou beautiful GB-ers! 

3 Comments

Normies: The new red meat

In December I was a Christmas Casual at a store called Tree of Life. If you’ve never heard of the store, it’s pretty much a place where hippie gypsies go to sell hippie gypsy stuff. It smells like incense, is covered in glitter and everybody who works there jingles when they move. It was also one of the only places in the world I have ever been where nobody knew anything about video games. This caused me to realise that there is a whole other species of human out there which I have never known about. I call them normies, and they are humans who have never had contact with video games, nor do they ever wish to. And since I fear what I do not understand, I have trekked far and wide across the interwebs to uncover what little information there is about these odd creatures.

In order to understand the average ‘normal’ person, first we must understand what they do in their natural habitat. Unlike ours, which consists of mainly online chatrooms, video game worlds or our couch, the normies' natural habitat is often a large area surrounded by vast amounts of alcohol or caffeine. Be it a sporting ground, a night club, a concert hall or a cafe, normies will more than often be seen outside. Though my exploits outside my gaming cocoon haven't yielded many opportunities to meet these normies of which I speak, I am aware that they do exist out there. So when we come across one… what the hell do we do?

Firstly we must remember that normal people have friends too, although their friends are mostly made through real life encounters than over the internet. And when normal people socialise they will always leave their house to do so, unlike us gamers who have perfected the social encounter without even having to leave our couches.

Key point: Though the normies may not own an xbox or a playstation, they more than likely own an electronic device of some sort. Music is universal, so perhaps they own an ipod. Or since they seem to be quite social creatures, there’s a good chance they’re on facebook. Both these things are a medium for playing casual games, which means there is hope that they may not be as different as we think. Maybe.

After extensive study trying to figure out how these creatures spend their time, I decided to grow some balls (an impressive feat since I’m a woman, and also a total coward) and talk to one of them. But that was a lot harder than I originally thought.

Back when I was working at the Tree, I decided to engage the girls in conversation. Which went well for the first few minutes. We bitched about customers, spoke about the weather outside, chatted about what we were doing on the weekend and five minutes later the conversation had dried up.

We never have this problem with our friends because we choose them due to our common interests, but when we interact with a new species it’s a whole other board game. Start dropping words like ‘playstation’ or ‘final fantasy’ and the normies will think you’re some kind of crazy sex addict and bail immediately.

Key point: Use your surroundings to think up a conversational point. For example, if you’re at a bus stop and there’s a man walking a ferret (not too uncommon in Sydney) perhaps remark to the person next to you ‘Now would you look at that. It’s a ferret!’. Or if you’re at work and somebody buys 17 X-Box 360’s (it’s happened before) strike up a conversation by asking the most obvious question “Why?”

Finally we come to the inevitable crossroads where we must decide whether we should adopt the normies as a pet and eventual friend, or if they’re just too exotic and different for any such partnership to exist.

As with any new species introduce to our life, it is important to understand them so we can figure out whether they will be an asset or a hindrance.  My experience with ‘normies’ is that they require a lot of upkeep. Each conversation, outing and general memory must be met and created with a whopping load of effort. Striking up new conversation ideas and finding places to socialise that don’t have video games behind the bar isn’t an easy feat. You will often find that as soon as your brain reaches its limit it sinks back into habit and various game titles, moves and storyline plots will fall out of your mouth without any warning. Such an outburst often scares normies off, so if you’re in doubt always have them micro chipped so you can track them down later.

The method above means adapting to the normie lifestyle, which entails inevitable change to our comfortable gaming habits. And if you’re any sort of real gamer, this will present a problem for you. Yet our love of things new and shiny is still ever present in the back of our minds.

If you wish to possess a normie in your life, and yet not change your lifestyle in the slightest, there is only one way to go about it. You must destroy the normie, and re-create them with the mind of a gamer. Some would argue that this is like destroying a dog and rebuilding it as a cat, but at least you will know the true history of your new friend/pet/slave boy.

Key point: Acquiring a normie in your life is a big responsibility. Remember that you are introducing them to a world they have never before been a part of. Therefore, bringing them into a sea of video game websites, podcasts, networks, tweets and blogs then getting sick of them and leaving them to drown is a definite no.

Normies are different, and depending on your social circle (or lack thereof) you may encounter them regularly or never at all. It is important to remember, that like a pet or small child, normies must be treated with the same love and respect we would give all members of our gaming community. Except the trolls. And the jerks. And the people that trawl the internet for porn.

Normies aren’t a species that can be loved fleetingly and then left on their own. They’re a commitment, they’re a change and they’re a lot of work. They’re not my pet of choice, as I’d rather own a cat or some seamonkeys, but should you choose to bring one into your life, just remember to always be wary of their progress. Playing Black Ops for 15hours straight does not a gamer make, no matter how much the normie claims otherwise.

8 Comments

Tetris Mondays

I’ve said it once (or twice or fifty times) and I’ll say it again; games are amazing things. Even the ones that don’t try to be amazing, are amazing.  There are games out there that have no plot, no characters, games that have not tried to be anything but entertaining, that bring up more good memories than anything else I’ve played. And one of these games is Tetris.

Tetris is not just a classic. It’s not just a video game. It’s something that possesses the ability to bring waves of nostalgia crashing down on me, and it’s a game about falling blocks. But it’s also a game I played every Monday night on the way home from uni, with 4 of my closest friends.

Tetris Mondays started in semester 2 of my first year of university. The year was 2008, I was 18 years old obtaining my Bachelor of Primary Education, whilst my other friends were going on to become computer scientists developing video games for a living.

The university I went to was Wollongong, which is about a 1.5 hour trip south from Sydney. On a Monday evening the four of us didn’t finish until 530pm, which meant catching the 6pm train home and not getting there until around 8pm. The nights were freezing, and we’d all been awake since about 5am that morning. We were tired,  we were stressed out, and we didn’t even have the energy to carry on a conversation with one another. What we did instead, was play Tetris.

Each of us had a DS, and each of us owned Tetris. So for the entire two hour train ride we would verse one another over and over again. Each time the results usually ended up the same; there was always the friend who  would kick our asses, the friend who would lose abysmally (usually me) and the one who would silently rage when they screwed up. Mondays were a flurry of falling blocks and hilarious “that’s what she said” jokes that tied us all together in a neat little bundle of friendship. And if Tetris hadn’t been our game of choice, it probably wouldn’t have happened that way.

Recently it was announced that Tetris was being re-released on the PSN in glorious 1080p. Not only is this amazing because it’s Tetris in HD with online multiplayer, but for me it means that I can recreate Tetris Mondays from the comfort of my couch.  There’s also going to be a co-op mode, which means not only can I recreate this fond memory, but I can do it with my friends without having to worry about getting my ass kicked. Sweet!

20 Comments

What Grand Theft Auto Has Taught Me Pt 2

  Nobody likes working the old 9-5 grind, but for most of us it’s just an unavoidable fact of life that we have to deal with. We get up early every Monday-Friday morning and work our asses off for people who don’t notice or appreciate it. And unless you’re a video game tester for a company of chocolate making models, chances are you spend most of the eight hours wishing you were somewhere else.

When I find myself staring at the clock waiting for it to tick over to 5pm, I remind myself that I have chosen to be here. I could be sitting at home unemployed happily playing video games. I could be a stripper, or a drug dealer (you know... as a last resort). OR I could put into practice the work lessons that my age old teacher Grand Theft Auto has been inspiring in me all along.

And thus we come to the beginning of Part Two of the things GTA has taught me, this time focusing on the laborious task that is work.

Jobs are everywhere, you’ve just gotta look harder
It’s coming up to Christmas, and this is usually the time where everybody starts looking for employment to see them through the season. It’s also the time that people start complaining about being too poor, blaming Christmas for their unemployment. But it’s not the season’s fault they can’t find a job. There are jobs all around us if you look closely.

None of the GTA characters ever complained about being poor or unemployed, and that’s because they knew how to look for opportunity. In the lands of Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City etc there are jobs for the taking, all you have to do is pluck them from the air.

Lost for a way to get home? Steal a taxi and do some fares on the way. Feeling a little ill? Hijack an ambulance and pick up some other sickly people since you’re heading that way anyway. Or maybe you have a cousin who owns a taxi company you can help out? A hooker friend you can borrow money off? A killing spree you can go on that’ll earn some reward money?

The options are endless.

Think outside the box. And the law
If GTA has taught me anything at all its that sometimes, it’s ok to think outside the law when it comes to work. For example, if your best friend knows somebody in the mob, or is in the mob, or has any sort of connection at all to the mob, then you can work for them. Nothing bad will come of it (except maybe a little blood on your hands) and the money is wonderful. In fact the money is so wonderful that you’ll probably never need to work another 9-5 job again.

If you don’t know anybody in the mob then your employment path is not at an end. But I do have to ask you... how comfortable are you with the act of murder? Because, well, there’s a lot of money to be had if it’s not a problem to you. But if you’re a little bit squeamish, or have any qualms with a criminal record, then I’d probably just skip straight to the next point.

Ok, so I’m going to go ahead and assume everybody reading this part of the article has no problems with doing a little dirty work, so I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Killing people is ok. It’s totally cool. Plus it’s also entirely justified if you legitimately need the money in your victims pockets. This lesson was one I learnt when playing my brother’s save of GTA: Vice City. He wanted me to earn him some money, but I didn’t want to wreck his save by doing any of the missions. Instead I headed down to the beach and massacred everybody I saw, stealing what little cash they had. Using that method I was able to buy the apartment on the second island that had the helipad, so don’t you tell me it isn’t a tried and true method. And if it works in GTA, it’s gotta work in real life too. Right?

Desperate times call for stand up measures
So if for some reason none of my other helpful handy dandy tips worked (because you’re an adult without a driver’s license who doesn’t know anybody in the mob and flat out refuses to kill people [wuss]) then here’s the last piece of advice I can offer you; robbery. Sure it’s only slightly less criminal than murder, but the rewards are worth it.



Be warned though, if you hold up a store they’re not going to be very willing to serve you again for at least 24 hours (you’ve gotta give them some breathing room). So if I were you, I’d plan ahead. Say you have a snazzy date on Saturday night, and you need money to buy an outfit. Hold up the clothing store on the Thursday then return on the Friday afternoon to purchase your outfit without a hitch. And if money is really tight, you can always just hold up the store again after you buy your items for an immediate refund and bonus. It’s genius really.

Blink 182 once said “work sucks, I know”.  And though the majority of us might tend to agree with them when we have a job (and even when we don’t) that doesn’t mean work has to suck forever. Following the age old advice of Grand Theft Auto will be sure to reap rewards and career opportunities like you’ve never seen before. Plus it’ll give you some extraordinary things to put on your resume for the next job you apply for. Who’s going to turn away the guy with the CV that says “bought apartment with murder victims’ cash”? Nobody I know, that’s for sure.

So this Christmas season, don’t fret about being unemployed, and definitely don’t stress out about not being able to pull enough money together before the 25. Just hijack the next taxi you see, or smack somebody with a baseball bat. It’ll be alright, you’ll see.

Please note, Jennacide Inc does not in any way shape or form condone the murdering of or stealing from other people. Unless it’s really really necessary.

5 Comments

My Not So Secret Shame

 E verybody has a thing; a little quirk that helps people define who they are,  an unusual trait that people can identify with.  For example, a friend of mine can’t touch recycled plastic bags without crying. Another one is completely and utterly obsessed with unicorns, whilst one of my guy friends drinks coffee like the world is ending. When it comes to me, there are a large number of little nuances that make me who I am. Just to name a few off the top of my head, I’m obsessed with clocks, zippers, polkadots, have a serious phobia of getting stuff on my hands and strongly believe with all of my being that zombies will reign one day. But the ‘thing’ I’m writing about today is my complete lack of ability to finish anything, ever. But most importantly (and heart breakingly) for the past few years I haven’t been able to finish a video game. And I believe this may pose a problem given my chosen career path.

The very first game I played that I actually got into was called Kings Quest IV, a point and click (and type) adventure game that told the tale of Princess Rosella who is sent to the world of Tamir in search of a magical fruit that can heal her father’s sickness.  The story line isn’t anything flash, but it was a game made in the 80’s, so what do you expect.

As a 6yr old playing this game I found it fascinating. I loved that Rosella had to listen to everything I typed, and as a little kid that feature alone kept me entertained for hours. “Drown yourself,” “Punch the bard,” “Kill that guy,” “Shutup bard,” “Steal his harp,” “Shank the bard,” “Smack his face in,” etc, were just a few of the many many things my Amiga keyboard had to convey for me.

However, though I found that game incredibly entertaining, I still haven’t seen the ending, because not only was it the first game I ever played, it’s also the first game I never finished. And I’ve owned that title for 15 years.

I wish I could blame this annoying problem on a short attention span, but I’ve finishedFinal Fantasy 8 too many times to count, and that game was damn long. I suppose the real problem is that game developers can’t design a game to cater towards people like me, who are probably ADD but just don’t know it. (That’s right Jenn, blame someone else. Good work.)

Maybe it’s that I keep buying games before I’m done with the ones I own. Maybe it’s that I’m obsessed with The Sims (the one game in the entire world that just never ends), or maybe it’s because the last game I finished was Final Fantasy X-2 and that game was so bad it destroyed me for life. Whatever the cause, all I know is I haven’t finished a game in at least five years.

The amount of games I’ve gotten to the end of and then abandoned is staggering. I currently have saved games out front of end bosses/levels for at least 10 different titles, none of which I see myself finishing any time soon.

Currently my list of shame includes:

Final Fantasy 12
Final Fantasy 13
Heavy Rain
Burnout Paradise
GTA IV
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare
Dragon Quest 4
Dragon Quest 9
Pokemon Soul Silver
Drawn to Life
Broken Sword 1
Broken Sword 2
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider Underworld
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Uncharted 2
Little Big Planet
Oblivion

And that’s just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

I find this problem increasingly hard to comprehend sometimes, especially as I am the daughter of a rather big game nerd. A rather big game nerd who has no unfinished game on his list. Whilst I struggle to make it to end game in most titles, my father doesn’t consider himself ‘done’ with a game until he has finished it at least three times. And usually that’s three times in a row.

I’m hoping that one day my problem will just resolve itself, and I’ll be hit with the urge to finish every game in my cupboard, then dig out my old consoles so I can finish those titles too. But if on the off chance that doesn’t happen, then I just might seek professional help. And then never turn up.

30 Comments

Tofu Never Dies. Sigh

 Anybody who has been keeping up to date on the latest games has heard about Super Meat Boy. And anybody who has been keeping up to date on the latest games newscan’t have missed the story about how much PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) absolutely positively hate Super Meat Boy.

Super Meat Boy is a game currently on X-Box and PC, which tells the tale of a small cube of meat named Meat Boy who must save his girlfriend Bandage Girl from the diabolical Dr Fetus. In response to this, PETA created their version of the game ‘Super Tofu Boy’.

“Meat Boy is a vengeful, bloody cube of rotting animal flesh. And he smells,” were the extremely mature words featured on the PETA website.  In the PETA version of the game, Meat Boy is the bad guy, who goes on a rampage once Bandage Girl dumps him for Tofu Boy.  PETA explains “o nce Bandage Girl slept with Tofu Boy and saw all that he had to offer, it was bye-bye beef, hello bean curd."

To me that says, “PETA doesn’t like people eating meat, but being a hussy is a-ok.” And that’s really not a-ok in my books. Also, to view the game on their website takes you to a violently blood splattered page which looks something like this:

Nothing like a page splattered with gore to make me want to listen to something someone has to say.

Also, PETA make  numerous references to tofu being tasty, meaning that they have created this allegedly lovable character, who is going to do all these things and become deemed “super”, and then devour him. NOT VERY ETHICAL PETA. Think of all the little Vegan children you’ve just scarred for life.
“But Mummy, I don’t WANNA eat Tofu Boy!”
“Shutup Timmy and eat your beans!”

Animals are life. PETA wants to protect life. But plants are living. And beans are plants. Therefore, aren’t PETA forcing a diet choice on everybody that causes them to eat something that technically goes against what they stand for anyway? Hmmm

I respect PETA and everything they stand for. But it just seems to me that they’ve taken a fantastic idealogy and belief, and completely ruined all their good work by making the general public hate them with stunts like this. Making the population hate you by pushing your diets on them and making them feel guilty for not conforming to your ideals isn’t any way to win fans.

And with that said and done, I think I’m gonna go and grab myself a steak for dinner.

34 Comments

What GTA has taught me Pt 1

Grand Theft Auto is a game everybody in Generation X and Y has heard of. Whether it’s because we’ve played them ourselves and loved them, or been told ‘never to touch them’ by our concerned and overbearing mothers, there’s no denying that this title has created a name for itself both in and out of the gaming community.

With each new release comes a brand new controversy, and yet despite how many people despise them and petition for them to cease being made, Rockstar keeps churning them out. Though the changes are minimal with each new game, the company is making millions off them. Now I don’t know about you, but that tells me that somewhere in this game has to be a fibre of truth. There has to be a lesson to be learned, a fact to take from it that can help us in our daily lives. So I have put together what I believe to be, a completely factual, true and helpful list of all the life lessons we can learn from the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Part one focuses on the ever elusive feeling: love.

Love
Love does not discriminate, it does not pick and choose, and it does not forget. However, it also is not kind, or forgiving. Love is one of the most complicated things out there, but whether we like it or not, eventually we’re going to fall into it. Thankfully, Grand Theft Auto protagonists also dabble in the art of love, and if we learn from their experiences we will surely be as successful as they are.

Dressing nice=getting laid

Most people don’t struggle with the art of sex (most people) however, for many of us, finding someone to get into the backseat of our car is near impossible. Possibly because we do things like turn to Grand Theft Auto for love advice, or meet all potential partners on WoW, but just because we’re slightly different than other swinging singles, doesn’t mean we deserve fun any less.

What GTA has taught me about the act of mating, is that if you dress to style, your chances of getting laid increase dramatically. For example, Niko Bellic changes his outfit for every woman he beds. The upper class city girl doesn’t sleep with him when he’s wearing trackies and a hoody, but dressed up in a suit and tie she simply can’t get enough. Therefore, if it worked that one time in a video game, it has to work in real life too. Dress to impress the lady you’re with and she will bed you. Simple. Easy. Done (much like the women this will work on).

Hookers have feelings, too

Yes they may sell their body for sex, but that doesn’t make them any less of a human being. Hookers are the ones who comfort us for fifty bucks when we’re lonely . When our partners are being bitches, hookers are the ones to make us feel better. When we’re driving down the street at 3am with nothing better to do with our time and a spare 20 in our pocket, hookers provide us with five minutes of entertainment. They’re a useful asset to us lonely people, so we should treat them right, just like the people in GTA do.

When you’re lucky enough to have a hooker grace you with her presence, make sure you take her somewhere nice and secluded. Simply parking on the edge of a deserted street isn’t enough. This woman is a working girl and she has standards (probably…deep down). A park, shady alcove or even a dark beach is more fitting to a woman of such class, so take her somewhere appropriate. And when it’s all over, remember, this girl is someone’s daughter. She is probably half the town’s mother. So running her over to get your money back isn’t appropriate.

The internet, and all the people on it, hate you

The internet is an amazing wondrous thing, and in Grand Theft Auto IV we have the ability to browse the internet in game. All the most entertaining aspects of the internet have been incorporated into the game, including ridiculously slow email servers filled with junk mail, flashy ads for over-priced ring tones and of course, internet dating websites. And just like real life, internet dating doesn’t work in GTA either.

No matter what you look like, what your interests are or how nice of a person you may be, everybody on the internet is better than you, and they know it. Women who are the size of an elephant will dismiss you because you play video games as a hobby. Men who are balding will hate you because your hair is curly. Old women on their deathbed will disregard you because you haven’t showered in three months.

Niko Bellic receives countless rejection emails from the women he pursues online. It doesn’t matter how many nice clothes he has, or how much money he’s acquired or how many times he has outrun the law, the women online simply don’t care. So take it from Niko, a skilled player of the internet, and give up now. Nobody online is going to love you, because somehow in their deluded little minds, they think they deserve better and thus, are all going to die alone.

Love can be a cruel mistress, torturing you until you’re broken and alone, or it can be a wonderful and joyous thing that holds you and keeps you warm at night. Heed the words of wisdom spoken from the heart of the GTA franchise and your experience will most definitely be a fulfilling one. Choose to take advice from other areas such as books, magazines or your imaginary friends and well, I just can’t be blamed for how many years you spend alone.

1 Comments

Dear Playstation 3, I hate you

Dear Playstation 3, I hate you.

For almost two years now you and I have been in a serious relationship with one another. Our relationship was like none other I had with my previous playstations. You met my every media need. When I wanted to watch blu-ray movies, you were there. When I wanted to play my games in HD, you were there. When I wanted to stream media from my hard-drive, you were there. And when I wanted to surf the internet on my big screen TV and play games online, you were there. Until you weren’t.

Last week I got out of bed with only one thought in my mind; to see whether or not the new Lara Croft game was out on the PSN. I switched you on, and tried to sign into the network. And that was when our trouble started. Selfishly you refused to sign me in, stating that there was a network error and demanding I check my settings. Appalled that you could suggest such a thing after working perfectly for me last night, I irritably did as you said. But it only got worse from there.

You forced me against my will to set up my network connection over and over again. And over and over again you told me that there was an error setting up my connection, that my WPA key was wrong. At first I thought that maybe this was all some elaborate joke; that I’d made a simple mistake and it would all be over soon. But no, it was no sort of rouse, or joke or prank. You were deliberately insulting my intelligence, telling me I had entered the wrong WPA key when I knew that I hadn’t.

Then, for one brief moment, you gave me a ray of hope to cling onto. You told me my settings had worked! For a split second I was filled with so much joy; my faithful Playstation had come back to me. I was so ecstatic that all thoughts of our immediate hardships left my mind. All that mattered was that you had allowed my settings to pass, and we were going to get back to normal again. In my happiness I tapped X to Test Connection and watched as you ran my settings through your standards.

And failed them.

All of them.

“Bastard fucking thing!” I screamed. How could you do this to me? How could you turn your back on the only one who was always supportive of you? When you’d failed me before I was the one who picked you up and fixed you. I was the one who restored everybody’s faith in you when it was lost. I was the one who sat by you for hours and hours on end to make sure you were working fine, and I was the only one who cleaned all your dust off you when everybody forgot you were there. And this is how you repay me? THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO ME?

WELL FINE! BE THAT WAY THEN!

I NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY!



I’m sorry. I love you, I truly do. Please come back to me Playstation. I sincerely miss you. And I know that technically you’re working fine, but restricting me from getting online is not on. You can’t begin this relationship with freedom and then slowly start to take it away from me. I think I deserve to do everything you offered to me, or I don’t want to do anything at all. I only hope you can see that I am right, and you, dear Playstation, with your error codes that don’t mean anything and your belief that I can’t type my own key properly, are wrong.

Open your eyes Playstation. Open your eyes to your mistakes and I promise I’ll come back. Until then, I’ll be here, waiting for you.

Love, Jenn      

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Damnit, now I'm hungry


Advertisements are something I don’t think we’re ever going to escape. They bombard our television screens and our favourite websites. They are present before every movie, and now at the beginning of every DVD. Ads lurk on the radio, in magazines, and even catch us before YouTube videos. And now they’re in our video games too. Advertisements and cockroaches are going to be the only things that survive a nuclear war, so it makes sense to me that we learn to live with them somehow. But that’s all well and good for me to say, since I am one of the very small percentage that ads actually work on.

The other day I took a tub of ice-cream out of the fridge, and on the lid was an ad for a different type of ice-cream. And even though I had an entire tub of the stuff sitting in front of me, I suddenly felt dissatisfied with the flavour. I wanted chocolate mousse ice-cream, and I wasn’t going to be happy until I got it.

Admittedly, the advertising that works best on me is usually ones to do with food, because I am always hungry. I can be halfway through dinner, see an ad on TV for fast food, and then begin to crave it, despite the fact that I am at that very moment, shovelling food into my face. Ads for things like phones and gadgets don’t do much for me. I have a phone, I have an iPod and I have a computer and a laptop. All of them work and all of them are pretty up to date, so I never feel the need to replace them just because an advertisement says so. But food… Food I always feel the need for. It’s just something I have to live with. And if there were more food advertisements in video games, then I would definitely be a sucker for them.

Way back in the 90’s there was a Lucozade ad for TV that featured the very lovely Miss Lara Croft. Though this wasn’t an ‘in game’ ad, it still featured a video game character, which was all I needed to tie those two things together. Seeing Lara’s face next to that bottle of Lucozade was enough for me to bug my mother to buy me that drink. And so for the next few weeks, Lucozade was the only thing young Jenn drank. And for the next few years, older Jenn never wanted to see another bottle of Lucozade ever again.
Another thing I get easily (possibly too easily) influenced by is MMO’s. A few years back I sadly wasted the better part of my summer in Azeroth and stacked on the kilos. However, it could have been a lot worse. I could have been playing Everquest II and eaten myself into oblivion. Know why? Because you can order pizza from Pizza hut, in game. By simply typing /pizza, you are transported to the Pizza Hut website where you can order your delicious pizzas from your computer chair, without even having to Alt Tab. For someone as food obsessed as me, this seems like a great idea. It makes me love Sony, for providing me with this new found means of acquiring Pizza, and it also makes me love Pizza Hut for incorporating their company into an MMO. Pizza plus video games is win. And that’s all they had to establish for that to be a good idea.

Pizza Hut isn’t the only company who has incorporated their tasty goods into a video game. Chupa Chups also included their products in the 1992 game Zool. The delicious lollipops were seen in the background of the game, and even had a whole level dedicated to them. Now, I haven’t played that game, but I’ve played others where non-branded sweet things have been included, and those worked on me without a brand name to back them up. For example, in Rugrats: Search for Reptar you pick up Reptar bars. Now, from watching the show I know that Reptar bars are chocolate, so therefore, I want chocolate. In The Simpsons Game the very first level is a land of sweets, which made me crave a chocolate éclair like nothing else. Hell, even in Final Fantasy VIII when Zell keeps talking about hotdogs; that worked on me too. Now, if Zell had been bitching he couldn’t have a hotdog from his favourite cafeteria ‘Wendy’s’ I would have gone to the nearest Wendy’s and bought about seven of them. Because advertising companies don’t even have to make an impressive ad to get me hooked. They just have to repeat the name of their food product over and over again.

And that’s easy to do, especially if you use in-game advertising. Seeing that product on game billboards, or printed on character’s clothing or even plastered across a vending machine on a busy in-game street… That’s all that needs to be done for them to pull me in. No wonder it’s growing into a billion dollar industry.

Though gamers don’t particularly like advertising in games, I can see it as something that’s only going to get more prominent as time goes on. I think that if companies carefully choose which game to put their ads in, we should be ok. For example, the Barrack Obama billboard in Burnout Paradise= ok. Putting a coke ad in World of Warcraft= not ok.



So, can you think of a game that’s had advertising in it? Or one that should? Or ones that definitely shouldn’t? Let me know!    
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