WHAT?!?! PS4 Signs Contract With Activision!

Warning: This post may contain some personal bias about the topic above. This isn’t meant to start a console war/argument in any way, shape, or form.

Yesterday, it was announced at E3 by Mark Lamia that Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 would be the beginning of a new era for PlayStation. This being that PlayStation users will now have access to DLC(Downloadable Content) for Black Ops 3 earlier than Xbox users and PC. Now for the past few years Xbox has been known to get all Call of Duty DLC before PlayStation Users, the latter party having to wait a month before they receive the same DLC. Now basically the roles are reversed. PlayStation will get the DLC early and Xbox users will have to wait a month. This contract is a three year contract meaning this will last through Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Infinity Ward’s Ghosts 2 and maybe even the sequel to Advanced Warfare.

Now I don’t necessarily agree with Activision’s decision. I don’t really care about the exclusivity deal, but it disturbs me that they didn’t make the DLC exclusive to all consoles(PS3,PS4,X360,Xbox One,PC). If they’d made the DLC available for everyone that would mean we the consumer would be happy and they’d rake in millions of dollars. I also don’t agree with this move because now we Xbox users have to wait a month to get content thats practically a month old. Ok that was the inner xbox fanboy coming out. The main reason I don’t like the idea of exclusivity deals period is because someone is always losing at the end of the day. This is how Exclusivity Deals work. One party gains access to special content a month before everyone else. They get to play,watch,review it as much as they want. The release date for the other consoles arrives so they can also receive the same updates and add-ons. By the the time these consoles receive the special add-ons and what not the next batch of content is about to drop for the company that has the exclusivity deal.

Now being a member of the Xbox Community of course I was upset about the decision. I mean I was heated, but I also got to see the perks of receiving content and add-ons later than everyone on PlayStation. For example if the DLC isn’t the best and doesn’t live up to my standards I don’t have to buy it. I mean no one is forced to buy DLC but we do. If the DLC is bad and I don’t buy it that means I have more money in my pocket for other things I’d like to spend money on. Also since Xbox no longer has the Exclusivity Deal this means they can now improve and invest in their own console. Time can be invested into connecting the Xbox One and Xbox 360 servers, as well as bug fixes and patches. Xbox also just announced backwards compatibility coming to the Xbox One, but that’s a topic for another day. Below is the video confirming Sony’s Exclusivity with Activision. The video was made by TmarTn and all credits in the video go to him.

My Return and Gaming

I’ve been away for awhile. I decided to see what’s out there and try new things. Nothing special really. I have returned for good now. Oh yea that’s right! I’m supposed to be talking about games and stuff. Let’s jump right into that then! 

Ok so one of the biggest pieces of info released was that Treyarch’s Black Ops 3 would in fact be released on current gen consoles as well as last gen consoles (Xbox 360/PS3). Now as great as that sounds some people are for it and others against it. I’d like to see myself as a neutral party member for this decision. 

Now the reason some people are against this move is because it will hold the game back. An example of this would be Sledgehammer Games’s Advanced Warfare on the previous gen consoles. On the Xbox One game modes like Ground Wars and other things were not available on the Xbox 360. This is mainly due to there not being enough space or mememory on the X-360 or PS3. This is where the upset comes in. Individuals who are against this move by Treyarch believe that the game will have potential(like advanced warfare) that’ll go untapped because of the previous gen consoles. 

One of the downfalls of this game coming out on previous gen consoles is the campaign will only be two player instead of four for the Xbox One. Now I can understand why the game is coming out on last gen consoles. People may not have the money at the time to convert to the newest consoles, myself being one of those individuals, but at the same time I understand why people don’t want it on the previous gen consoles. The graphics for the previous gen won’t be as smooth nor will they have as many game modes or special features that the current gen consoles will gain access to. 

Even though I own the Xbox 360 I won’t be buying Black Ops 3 until I get an Xbox One. I’ve experienced first hand the flaws of having these current gen games played on a last gen console. With Advanced Warfare I’ve been in games carrying my team to victory and all of a sudden the screen will freeze or I’ll get a message saying the disc is unreadable. There are no scratches on the disc and every other game I own reads perfectly. This is the only game where this happens. Either way the argument made for both sides is logical and totally understandable. Until next time, I’m off


Today I was able to stop two of my friends from taking a certain situation to the next level. The argument was over a simple game of Battlefield 4. It sounds silly, but the two of them take the game seriously. Today while in class they exchanged invectives and continued to argue. The topic was simple and childish to argue over, but this was the first time the argument got out of hand. I simply suggested to the both of them that they should try calming down and actually talking the situation through instead of insulting and yelling at one another. The two of actually worked out the situation on their own afterwards. I was glad that I could help not only them, but the rest of the class by stopping the argument. The misunderstanding was that they were both great players in the game. They always competed against each other and each day they’d argue about something in the game. This was the first time it took a turn fr the worst.

I think my advice was simple but helpful. Since the two of them had the same class the following period they could talk it out then. I usually try my best to give good advice to people who may need or want it. So yes I do believe that my actions were rather helpful. Unfortunately in today’s day and age video games does this to people. Hopefully when the situation ever gets out of control they can remember the advice I gave them and attempt to get along more while having fun online.

School Sends the Wrong Message on How to Handle Bullying

Zeman Elementary School in Lincoln,Nebraska recently received backlash after pamphlets were passed out on bullying. The message in the pamphlets were sending the wrong message to bullies while secretly shaming the victim. Some of the rules in the pamphlet were “Do Not Tell On Bullies:” stating the bullies would want to retaliate of being told on. Another rule that sent the wrong message was “If Someone Physically Hurts You, Just Show You Are Hurt; Do Not get Angry”. The explanations behind the rules didn’t do any justice to either. The school did eventually issue a online apology and now the students are learning how to prevent bullying in class.

The issue I see with the advice that had been given was that the pamphlet made it look like the students should agree with the bully when they are insulted while telling the students to keep quiet when attacked or hurt. This can be applied to The Kite Runner with Amir,the protagonist, not defending his life long friend Hassan. This also represents the way Amir kept quiet about what happened to Hassan. The students are being told to help the bullies in hurting and insulting themselves. Some of the explains range from “If someone hurts you, you want them to feel sorry and apologize.” to even things such as “The number one reason bullies hate their victims, is because the victims tell on them.” The explanations are very clear as we see students staying silent and not telling about being bullied or attacked. If this continues not only at the school, but nationwide then our efforts to put an end to bullying will be in vain.

The Kite Runner reflects many of these rules and gives a ideal example of why keeping quiet and never speaking up is never a good thing. For example Amir has a birthday party and the bully Assef was invited by Amir’s father. Now of course in front of Amir’s father and Assef’s parents the two pretend to get along. However this isn’t the case when Assef and his friends mock and taunt both Amir and Hassan.As the story continues on the bullying gets worse and worse, mainly for Hassan due to his ethnicity. Amir is a prime witness of the horrid events that befall Hassan after the kite tournament, but doesn’t speak up. This is a common thing that occurs to people who are bullied or have been. People that are bullied may say they’re fine, but usually are not because they fear what might happen to them.


School Stabbing Leaves Twenty Wounded

A recent story has been all over the news lately. Alex Hribal ran throughout the halls of his school stabbing students and teachers in the stomach. The motive for his actions are unknown. Approximately twenty-one people were stabbed. Alex will be prosecuted on four counts of attempted homicide and twenty- one different accounts of aggravated assault. Classmates and teachers stated the boy as “shy and quiet”. Furthermore his teachers stated he was never seen with group of friends. Police officers did look into a threatening phone aimed at another student the night before the stabbing. Hribal has stated that he is confused and scared.

This story can be applied to that of Things Fall Apart(T.F.A) in a few ways. When Ikemefuna is lied to about being taken home and slain by Okonkwo this can resemble the way Alex Hribal’s teachers and classmates may have felt and still feel about the stabbing incident. Hribal resembles that of Okonkwo. Okonkwo knew Ikemefuna was going to be executed and couldn’t do much of anything to change that. Alex Hribal knew he was going to stab students and staff for reasons the public as a whole still don’t know. Now that his actions are sinking in and he realized what he’d done he learns that he couldn’t do much to change it. Now, like Okonkwo after slaying Ikemefuna Alex Hribal feels confused scared and depressed. Fortunately where Okonkwo and Alex Hribal differ from one another is that Ikemefuna was killed and the victims wounded were not.

I compare the suspect to Okonkwo the way I have because even though he committed the crimes he did, he’s still a kid. Okonkwo didn’t want to kill him nor did he want to send him away, but due to their customs there wasn’t much he could do. The realities of the world and everything that could happen to Hribal are finally becoming clear, scaring him a bit. He might’ve noticed he’s thrown his life away and can’t do what he’s wanted. I might not know him personally, but he is a year younger than me. Any teen or young adult would be worried once their actions begin to sink in all while putting their goals and future at stake. I wish him the best and I hope we can all learn from his mistakes.


When Your Child Becomes a Suicide Bomber

Andrew Ibrahim is a 19 year old who was arrested for making and owning a half completed suicide bomber vest as well as homemade explosives. Ibrahim when on trial said he did these things because his mother was trying to kill him. Now even if his mother were trying to do so, making explosives is not the way to go. Ibrahim eventually began using drugs and narcotics, starting with Cannabis also known as Marijuana. In 2006 Ibrahim became a muslim and studied the religion of Islam. This was also around the same time when he began looking for topics on Osama Bin Laden as well as recipes for numerous explosives.
His story is similar to that of the Vicario Brothers in The Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The brothers stated they were going to kill Santiago Nasar for what he did to their sister. Ibrahim stated his mother would kill him. He even tests one of the explosives in his apartment burning his hands in the process. The Vicario brothers tell everyone their going to kill Santiago but no one listens. Ibrahim has no friends and does this because it makes him feel like less of a loser. Ibrahim said he “I thought it would occupy my time, the same reasons I made explosives. I wanted it to look good because I was going to film it like I did with the explosives and put it on youtube.”
Both Ibrahim and the Vicario brothers have different scenarios. The Vicario Brothers want honor brought to their family. To achieve this they all attack and kill Santiago. The man who is believed to have taken Angela Vicarios’ chastity. Ibrahim is doing this out of pure boredom and fun. The two stories differ greatly but they share the similar issue. he is now doing alot better, and does his best to ensure that other young men don’t make the same mistakes he made. The instructions that were used for some of the test explosives were the exact same ones used by Tamerlan Tsarneav at the Boston Marathon. The way Ibrahim regrets his actions is phenomenal. The Vicario brothers try their best to tell everyone about their plot. Everyone does not head their cry for help. Hoping someone can stop them they are disappointed and continue onward. Ibrahim now hopes that his story can be a lesson on what to stay away from.

Crimea Besieged by Ukraine Control of Power and Water

Recently after the Russian government made Crimea an official part of their country, the Crimean people witnessed power outages and a shortage of water as well. The peninsula obtained 80% of its water and power from the Ukraine. The Crimean Prime Minister recently sent out a tweet stating the Ukraine is trying to blackmail the Russia through Crimea. Although the Ukraine says that its due to technical maintenance Russian officials have already begun brewing ideas to connect their electrical grid to that of Crimea. This situation reminds me the early stages of the Khmer Rouge takeover. In the story “First They Killed My Father” the people are happy their country won the civil war that’d taken place. However after the takeover began and people were evacuated from their homes and forced to work in the fields they soon realized their country turned against them. Proceeding to feed them lies about the Vietnamese army. if the current relationship between Russia and the Ukraine continue, they could soon face the exact same penalty. They’ve already begun to constantly argue over certain topics such as this one. The Crimean people are angered by this act, while the Russian government is trying to do everything they can to stop the situation.

What the future holds for the relationship between Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia is unknown, but the actions of each country affect us all greatly. Both countries need to reach an agreement together to avoid any further conflicts that could potentially lead them to war. The Khmer Rouge and the situation in the Ukraine and Russia are different in many ways, yes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen to them either. Rioting had began when the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed a deal with Vladimir Putin that guaranteed the Ukraine Russian power and protection, even though the people of Ukraine wanted to sign with America, and the rest of Europe for Democracy. During the 2014 Winter Olympics most of the rioting took place. The President of the Ukraine had been kicked out for signing the deal with Russia’s leader. Now Crimea has become a part of Russia. As of right now many things can occur in the situation with the two countries. It could lead to peace or as time progresses forward it could lead to war or more riots.

Mother Returns Adopted Son.

Mrs. Conner and her husband wanted to adopt children and have them. They planned to adopt two children, ages five and one, but because of the long process she eventually gave birth to a son of her own. once the paperwork was finally finished and the couple brought home the children everything seemed normal. Her son was outgoing and loved people. However the problem came whenever she would try to gain control or state regular things any parent would. He would kick and scream and hit the other children. Stacey and her husband decided to find an alternative home for their adopted son. As they began to search for potential couples to be his new parents, Stacey realized that she didn’t even like her adopted child.

Now I don’t agree with not loving the child, but I believe that they didn’t think the entire process through properly. The mother at the time would breakdown and not really take control. The hate comes in when she stated in the original article “Forget Love. Right then, I didn’t even J”. This isn’t right because it contradicts the very reason people adopt children. When adopting a child it out of love and wanting to help others. The mother of this family adopted him to try and help, but she states she doesn’t even love, or like him. This matters because we have so many children in areas of the world that aren’t fortunate enough to have parents and this is ho they are treated. The problem couldv’e been avoided if they took their time with him and taught him right from wrong, and the difference between “yes” and “no”.

This can be compared with that of Schindler’s List. Not because of the numerous killings, but because of what Oskar Schindler was trying to do. Toward the end of the movie he realized that had he owned more gold or silver he’d have saved an additional life. Oskar broke down, but he wanted to help and truly didn’t realize that until the very end. The couple that adopted this boy should have thought the same way. They adopt children to give them a chance at life, but they broke that promise. They shouldn’t have given up on him. The two examples are similar in the sense that this couple and Oskar Schindler wanted to help others and give them a new chance at life. The couple and Oskar differ from one another because of the way the couple decided to do things. They gave up on that boy. Oskar wanted t o do more. At the end of the war there were 1200 Jews that were all saved by him. They are named the Schindler Jews. People shouldn’t give up on a child they’ve fought so hard to finally have.

MitiS: A New Sound & Wonderful Quality

Hello everyone!! Today’s discussion is based on the talent and success of Joe Torre. Many of my readers may wonder to themselves “Who is Joe Torre?”, well he is the musical master-mind better known by his stage name MitiS. Many DJ’s everywhere started somewhere and Joe’s starting point is Pennsylvania. He started off with playing classical piano pieces in New York’s own Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia’s own Kimmel Center. MitiS has, without a doubt, brought a new element to the table of EDM. His talent of incorporating original piano pieces together with tremendous bass drops and kicks has given birth to a new genre of music. I’m shocked that I’ve only posted two of his songs so to make up for that here’s MitiS’s Life of Sin Pt.4 :). In the comment section below let me know what you think.


EDM is Here to Stay!!

Hey :), School is rather stressful with homework and tests. Anyhow for some of the readers who may or not know what EDM is it stands for Electronic Dance Music. I’ve been testing out and playing around with ACID Pro and Mixcraft 6 recently and I must say they are pretty amazing the two of them. How have you all been anyway? Its been truly a long time since I’ve last posted and for that I am sorry. Anyway I’ve been diving into hardstyle and hardcore recently and its amazing honestly. Hardcore and Hardstyle as well as rave music is here to stay and its rising to the surface of our music realm very fast. I’ll stop talking for now 🙂 Anyway here’s a song I’ve been listening  to over and over!!