The Sims

The Sims. Ive had very little experience playing the game. But I know plenty of what it's about. The article makes a good point about the player feeling god-like as the wife controls her sims characters. Of course that could either be a good thing or bad. What had me thinking is the influence the game had to cause the wife to vent out to her husband because of what his sims character did in her world. Video game and reality can almost easily blend together depending how deep the bond between the player and avatar is. The things you can do in the game is unbelievable but more incredible how it affects the player.

Star Trek

This episode of Star Trek was strong and effective in relations to race. It made it more intriguing to watch two beings of the same race hostile to one another and have the viewer wonder if they would establish peace by the end of the episode. Lokai, symbolized as a leader of freedom with a tortured past, is black on his left side and white on the right. Belle, Commissioner who views Lokai as a loathsome pig responsible for countless deaths, is black on his right side and white on the left. It's interesting how this episode is a reflection how blacks and white treated eachother in the past and how racism is still lingers today. But it's the end of the episode that made me think more of the relations to race. As the enterprise reaches their planet, Cheron, Lokai and Belle fight over their hate for one another once they hear reports their species have been annihalated to extinction because of their strong hostility over race. This ignites rage and hatred among both men. Lokai transports himself back to his planet with Belle behind him. Captain Kirk tells his crew all that is left of them is hate. With so much loath filled into their heart and mind, not even the most provocative speech of peace could eliminate such strong emotion among both men.

Batman Arkam Asylum

When I first heard about this game, I was not so thrilled. Actually, I cared less about it because I thought it was just another ordinary batman game. But after reader the reviews and watching gameplay videos, I paid more attention to it. Other gamers would talk about how amazing and unique its refreshing storyline is. The combat system is fluid and cohesive and the graphics are realistic. Another thing that makes the game stand out is its brillian voice acting. What I like about the game is as you progress through the story, batman's suit gets damaged and clearly shows cuts and bruises. It makes batman appear more human. Another thing is how smooth the combat animation is when batman perform counter attacks. With a strong plot, great gameplay and incredible graphics, Batman Arkam Asylum is worth your money

Video Game as a Medium

It took quite some time for video games to attain the status of an artistic medium. It has been around for 40 years with 30 years as a commerical industry. With early simple graphics, it video games were not widespread on pop culture until the latter half of the 1970s. According to Wolf, the elements of a game are defined as conflict, rules, player abilityy and valued outcome. In the 21st century, society has given video games more attention to its potential and impact on gamers. Tvs have come a long way from cathode-ray tube (CRT) that produce raster-based imagery to high definition flat screen tvs that deliver clear, sharp 720 and 1080p resolution that heightens the realism of the gaming worlds and characters. Computer games have been mostly seen as a subset of video games because of shared technologies such as the microprocessor and the cathode-ray tube. Today, computer games share the same high definition resolution as console games, yet they are not given as much recognition. Imaging technology has developed from the use of floppy disks, compact disc and DVD-ROM to Blu rays that provides more than double the data than a DVD. Games created on a giant mainframe computer of the 1960s were the earliest versions of video games and were only found in laboratories and research centers. These games were niether sole commerically nor available to the public. Today, video games has become a huge factor in our culture of entertainment where the majority of families own a game console in their living room. With todays technology, game consoles as become the main entertainment system the not only provides gaming but also delivers best visual quality to watch movies and browse the internet.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is a stunning, remarkable masterpiece. With sharp visuals, fluid gameplay, gripping plot and cinematic focus, it rivals hollywood blockbusters. The game centers on Nathan Drake who ventures off to find the truth behind the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the hidden path to Shambhala. Along the way, he runs into old friends, love interests and new characters. Gaming vet, Nolan North did a brilliant job to voice Nathan. With snappy dialogue, the comic timing is spot on, often bringing big laughs. What I found striking is the refreshing mix of ethnic background not commonly seen in video game history: English, Australian and Serbian. Uncharted 2 has become the first exclusive blockbuster Playstation 3 title to rival the behemoth multiplatform game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Hollywood is currently working with writers to bring a satisfying script of Uncharted to the big screen to please the fan base. This game truly blurs the line between video games and film with incredible voice acting, character performance, strong plot and cinematic visuals that propels the game to a thrilling adventure.

Hyperidentities

MMORG- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. The most incredible phenomena to appear in recent years of interactive entertainment. In MMORG, there's no need for strict diets, exhausting exercise programs or cosmetic surgeries. The article elaborates on EverQuest where the action takes places in a land called Norrath. The game allows you to customize your avatar's appearance, class and personality traits. Throughout the game, you interact with other gamers' avatars and level up your character so he/she can become stronger and explore more of the game's environment. It's easy to notice that the MMORPG user situation is an idealized image of the situation of the postmodern human creature, in which the user can freely shape his own "self." According to Edward Castronova, the process of developing avatar capital seems to invoke the same risk and reward structures in the brain that are invoked by personal development in real life. The article accurately states that role-playing is one of the social life's rudimentary elements, and used in our everyday functioning.

The author mentions that identity is described as a rhizome. This model is a centerless universe that rejects any form of hierarchy and centralization while tending toward anarchy. Current games such as Final Fantasy 11 have continued to evolve MMORPGS by presenting detailed avatars with specific personalities, ethnicity, class, interaction with other characters and the amount of sidequest to icrease their combat stats. Other games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have perfected FPS with MMORPG by allowing players to interact with one another in numerous maps, level up by killing other players to earn points to unlock and customize weapons and perks, earning trophies for acting out specific things in the game and countless hours of competition.

Archtypes on Acid

This article discusses the evolution of video games and its effect on players'. The author, Rebecca Tews, points out that the home market has outstripped the arcade market. Men and women feel more comfortable playing video games in their home rather than wait in line to put quarters in the machine just to enjoy the game for several minutes. Gamers dont have to feel rushed to reach the end when playing a game at home. Early research in the 1980s observed video games as a youth phenomenon. At the time, this may have been true but many adults play video games and share the experience with their children as a family fun interactive entertainment. B.F. Skinner demonstrated that most organisms will perform repetitive behaviors for little reinforcement. This theory parallels with gaming because the game environments reinforce the player for improving responses with additional points or to move up on a higher level. With violent, aggressive or antisocial games, we are reinforced for aggressive, quick thinking, blood thirsty behavior. Nowadays, games have reached new levels to bring out strong reactions from gamers that play violent, thrilling scary games.

Carl Jung argues that all societies share primitive and basic understanding of the world through archtypes that appear in our arts, dreams, and metaphors. Video games bring out particular behaviors from the player that reflects how engaged the player is to game environment. These behaviors include cursing at a failure, berating their poor choice of solutions, praising themselves for their success or acting out frustration on the equipment when progress is slow. This is common for players whom have broken their controllers or directed their frustration to people around them. Games that date back from the 1980s continue to present the same archtype where the conflict between the "good" characters seek fulfillment from the environment and avoiding evil characters.