Video Games are the Devil

I had the unfortunate displeasure of coming across a blog labeled Video Games are the devil written by person by the name of Maria Jo.  Never in my life have I read such meaningless drivel.  She declared in her piece that games turned otherwise normal kids into drooling glassy eyed zombie. Seriously! you are kidding me, Right?   

On a personal level have 2 children, whom both play games. They have been raised around them, since I have been a gamer long before they were even born. Neither of them are drooling glassy eyed zombies and enjoy many things this world has to offer. 

The woman is verbose to say the least, This is a direct word for word dictation of a piece of her article. "Here’s my question: When do kids ever think these days? When do they ever have brains free from electronics long enough to ponder the universe? To think of things that might someday lead them to a cure for cancer?

If Sir Isaac Newton had been playing a DS, I’m sure he never would have noticed the apple falling from the tree, so he never would have formulated the theory of gravity." also stating "Video games are educational? Sorry, people, I do not believe for one second you are learning quantum physics while you are shooting down zombies. Or that you got your scholarship to MIT by using the skills you learned shooting guerrillas."

This is my personal rebuttal to what she had to say:

First I need to just point in the direction of the epic fail on the writers behalf. I hope you meant to write Newton's Law of Gravity. Unless you were confused in your mind and where thinking of Einstien's theory of Relativity. Some how you just botched it up. Any who all of my sarcasm but honesty aside.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but please base you opinions in reality.

Sept. 19 2011 Science news was "VIDEO GAMERS CRACK THE ENZYME RIDDLE THAT COULD HELP FIND A CURE FOR AIDS. The problem-solving skills of a gamer is a beautiful and unique thing. What stumped scientists for decades only took gamers 10 days of concentration to crack."  

There was also a study done that shows the many benefits of the popular games the make users jump, dance and exert themselves. Proving they  offer the same benefits as traditional exercise.

Other benefits of gaming are as follows, enhanced manual dexterity, PBS supports video game learning and launched 40 educational games. Both the U.S defense intelligence and the US Army Intelligence centers use video games for training personnel in critical thinking.

Creative games like minecraft and sims are great cognitive learning tools. Even World of Warcraft you have 11 year olds on there learning to delegate responsibility, promote teamwork and steer groups of people towards a common goal.

I could go on forever and I will admit some people take there gaming far beyond the point it should be taken. There are addicts out there. But if you play in your spare time after the required things in life are completed there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, what so ever.

I feel you are doing a great injustice to your children by forbidden them to have video games. Mostly everything in moderation is a good moto to live by for mostly everything life has to offer.   Food Addictions and many other addictions are just as bad as any video game addiction. So I suppose everything is the Devil Miss Mama Boucher.

Random Pics

Tonight I stumbled upon a secret animal revolution, I barely managed to escape their wrath.. ALL BE WARNED! and do not venture into Azeroth alone.

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My Daughter Stole my Murloc UGH

Ultima Online

Began thinking about the game I loved more than the world at one point in time in my life. The oldest subscription based MMORPG released in 1997, which set the stage  for games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. One of the reasons I adore skyrim is it is much like UO in the way that it is skill based rather then class based.  This was the game that caused me to become a massive gamer. As well as this being my first experience with an RPG outside of old school pen and paper D&D. My awesome brother is the person that introduced me to the game that has ever since changed my life. I had many different characters my favorite being Admiranda which was a mix between mage and animal tamer. I had a massive home and my vendors on my front porch. YES a game where you can own/and customize your own living quarters as well as own a shop outside of them. You also had to make sure you banked your items often or if you where PVPed they could be stolen from you. It is really hard to explain the entire awesomeness of this game to people that have never experienced it for themselves. But I am so very hopeful that they will at some point in time and revive this game by making a new and updated graphic version of my once beloved Ultima Online.

2012 Video Game Spot Light

I fully understand that we all have a different point of view on what we deem as a terrific gaming experience. So my personal views may not reflect what you personally are looking forward to. With that said here is my list of what to be on the look out for in 2012 there is a pretty good line up ahead of us this year.

Soul Calibur - the upcoming 6th installment of this awesome fighting game series. Set to release at the end of this month :o) 

Kingdom of Amalur: the Reckoning. - The must have game for me in February is with out a doubt. The new single player RPG with the lead designer being Ken Rolston  who was also the lead designer on The Elder Scrolls  III Morrowind and The Elder scrolls IV Oblivion. The well known fantasy author R.A. Salvatore created the game universe and the lore. Also Todd McFarlane creator of Spawn worked on the artwork design. It will offer 4 playable races, 3 class trees with 22 abilities per tree. This is the one I am looking forward to most of all. This is due to release Feb. 10, 2012

Mass Effect 3 - in the tradition of excellence comes the newest addition to the M. E. Series. Players with files from Mass Effect 1 or 2 will be given the option of importuning them into the Mass Effect 3  and will have three pre-set campaign modes: action, story and RPG.  Release date is March 6th 2012

Mario Party 9 - Just looking to have fun with family or friends this is one of the games to do it with four players take part in the game composed of a virtual board and move around various themed lands to collect coins and stars while avoiding certain spaces.  As well as it having the typical mini-games.  March 11, 2012 is the release for this title.

BioShock Infinite - the upcoming FPS and third game in the series. The events of the game take place in 1912. The player assumes the identity of Booker DeWitt, a disgraced former agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, who was dismissed for behavior not acceptable to the agency. it will have the same RPG elements similar to the previous two games. The exact release date has been yet to be announced  I am guessing the 3rd or 4th quarter of the year. 

Fable: The Journey the forth game in the series that I am personally a huge fan of. This story is set to take place 5 years after the events of Fable 3 and focuses on the journey across Albion to reach the spire, in order to escape and entity know as The Corruption. I am slightly worried about this one however it is labeled as a FPS instead of the normal RPG. As well as the fact that players use the kinect to manipulate magic in order to defeat enemies. I suppose I will just have to wait and see how this one plays out. Set to release 4th quarter of 2012

Diablo 3 - The second must have on my list. I adore blizzard games and have played WoW since release as well as Diablo 2 and the starcraft series. It should be an amazing hack and slash, dungeon crawl. As far as release it should be soon but I am hesitant to add any estimated time due to blizzard's well know delays on releases. 

Other games to look forward to are as follows:

Torchlight II

Minecraft for the XBOX 360

Halo 4

Assassin's Creed III

Borderlands 2 

Ninja Gaiden 3

Resident Evil Operations Raccoon City 

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Once again sorry if your favorite is missing off this list.

Skyrim

WOW!!! Where to begin with this one, Being a avid fan of Bethesda in the first place due to the past Elder Scroll titles and the Fallout series. It seems like they nailed this one off into left field for being hands down the best game ever developed. I have barely yet touched the surface of this epic fantasy playground and it is already made true on its promise to entrall me to endless hours of being an all conquering hero.

You can go where you want, when you want, how you want and do what you want once you get there. There is a very strong central story, but you are free to blow it off completely in the beginning. It is possible to spend dozens of hours exploring Skyrim and making your character more powerful before you even touch the main story line. You can join the Mage Guild, infiltrate the Thieves Guild, take sides in a civil war or just roam the wilderness, delving into dungeons and slay dragons.  There are very few games that deliver Skyrim’s level of immersion and empowerment. As an MMORPG player as well, I have yet to see an open ended world like UO, FFXI, or WoW on a console game until this point.  Plus as much as I enjoy playing online with all my friends. Sometimes I feel like doing my own thing and getting lost somewhere in the world. I can get on Skyrim and do just that. Everything that I would want to do in an RPG with out the tools that populated trade or Barrens chat. Skyrim It's one of the biggest, most content rich games I've had the pleasure of playing. If you do not own this Run do not walk to the nearest game store and Buy it immediately. 

Skyrim is a Solid 10+ hands down in my eyes.

Quick and Easy Dinner Idea

I have made this before and I shall be making it tonight for dinner as well.

My personal preference is Campbell's Chunky Soup Sirlion Burger with Country veggies Make the soup and pour over potatoes. Very simple and is a huge hit with my kids. You may use any soup you prefer.