Those small things

     I am an avid tech user and as such I like to make my experience as comfortable as possible. One thing that I have found essential to this is a good mouse. For years I used a Microsoft brand optical mouse and I loved it but the became to loose to use in games so I went on a search for the best budget mouse. I spent days on amazon and forums looking for the best. Eventually I found the Anker 2000 dpi Gaming mouse. This mouse is phenomenal, the rise on the palm rest was perfect, it had cool lights, and even had an option for on the fly sensitivity switching. The best thing was that it was only 25$. Unfortunately the wheel went out after a couple of months, I couldn't find anything on it so I assumed it was just my unit.

     Soon after I was on the hunt again. This time I found the Perixx 5000 dpi dual mode mouse, and to be honest I liked it. It was wireless to a degree but it also cost 55$. Not bad but it left something to be desired. The drivers were glitchy and ugly and often didn't take effect, not to mention the mouse is low to the desk, poor rise and was generally uncomfortable. I soon returned that for my current mouse.

     I recently used the return funds to purchase the Anker 8000 dpi laser gaming mouse and to be honest. I love it! The rise on the palm rest is perfect it has great color control, on the fly macro recording and playback(a macro is a string of keys, e.g. If I want to be able to press 5 keys on a keyboard with one press i can make a macro to activate all those keys.), 9 buttons and that on the fly sensitivity switch. It has served me well for a 40$ mouse. Well worth the value.

    What I am getting at here is that the right mouse can completely change how you use your computer, and it might take a couple of tries but when you find the "one", it will be well worth the wait.

Not my usual musings.

     When we stand up for the pledge of negligence or the national anthem we are stating our patriotic pride. Or is more happening? See, when someone sings at a sporting event or something like that we are expected to stand. But why? As Americans we have created this unspoken social law that states that we have to show ultimate pride for our country and if we don't then we are seen as anti American, your neighbor will look at you with a condescending look in his eye.

    

     This is propaganda being fueled by the community. Think about it, WW1 propaganda had many purposes but one major purpose was aimed at the people, the every day citizen. It aimed to create ultimate pride for their country, it was a subtle way to instill patriotism without seeming abrasive. Often it was combined with positive reinforcement, but today it is expected.

 

      I am not particularly proud of the things my country has done yet I stand. A lot of people feel the same way but yet they stand. I want to understand why this hasn't stopped. Don't get me wrong I love America, I have more freedom here than pretty much anywhere else, but what my country has done to get to where it is I do not like. I don't want to get political on this blog but I refuse to buy into this propaganda. I hope that I have enlightened you.

1000 posts, Yay.

     Me and the co-owner of this blog have been watching eagerly to see when we get 1000 page views. After 4 months and four days we are going strong. For this post I will talk about something that has stewed in my mind for a while, the Xbox one launch announcement.

   We all know about the Xbox one's "colossal failure" at its announcement. All the DRM policies and such were a massive turn off, but! but, but, but, but. Consoles (and anything really) always has a massive following And people WILL buy it. Now lets say that one one side we have the people who Had the 360 and will FOR SURE buy the one despite its flaws. Now on the other side we have people who have been looking into the one, they are people who are new to gaming or people who have owned other consoles that aren't Microsoft's. These people will likely(more will than not ) buy it. Now when the news of its flaws from its debut reaches these two group of people, The die hard's will argue and buy it no matter what. The Others will be turned off, some of them will buy it, but a large number of them will just say "no". Now, when Microsoft changed a lot of things, supposedly "taking into consideration what the fans think" All of the peoples views change and a third party emerges. Group 1 stays the same. Group 2 will have more people considering buying it and more who WILL buy it than ever before. And on to the third party, These are every day people, not really gamers or against it. Just normal people. These people see what kind of reforms that Microsoft is pushing and suddenly the One seems a lot more attractive. This may be a stretch but I don't think so, Microsoft has too much money and is too large to make a move like that and think it will work.

    Been working on that one for a while so, yeah. tl;dr

I AM FIRE: The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug

   The other night, I went to the midnight premier of what I believe was the most enjoyable movie screening I have ever been to. People were dressed up, everyone had a good time, and (of course) we all got to see the insanely amazing new movie "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug". Right off of the bat, I would like to point out I am a die-hard Tolkien-ite, so my review will be somewhat...biased. And as you might expect WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS. 

Movie Review #3: The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug

The Movie On Fire: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire

    Hello everybody, it's me again with another one of my quaint little movie reviews. This one will be on the (somehwat) newly relesed "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire". And as before WARNING: SPOILER TERRITORY AHEAD.

                                Movie Review #2: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Here it Comes: The New "Amazing Spider-man 2" Trailer

     First off, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts in the last week...month...2 months. I have been awfully busy with schoolwork and haven't had much time to post. But hey, I'm back!

     Anyway, as the title suggests, this article is about the brand new, explosive, downright freaking awesome new "The Amazing Spider-man 2" trailer, which was just released yesterday. After having watched it about 4 or 5 times, this has really solidified my opinion that this Andrew Garfield Spider-

man reboot is FAR superior to the original Toby Maguire trilogy. I mean, we haven't been forced to watch Garfield break down and sob like a moron yet, so that's good right? I'm sorry, I just think Maguire has a dumb face. And Emma Stone is infinitely better than the ever screaming Kirsten Dunst.

     Another thing I enjoy in the reboot that was fairly absent in the original trilogy, was the arrogant cockiness of Peter Parker/Spider-man. This is something I think Andrew Garfield pulls of very well, while it was mostly nonexistent in the original trilogy.

     Last but not least, my absoloute favorite thing about the trailer is the Easter eggs that hint at the coming of the "Sinister Six", a sort of anti-Spiderman Avengers, you might say. Anyway, here is the trailer and enjoy!The Amazing Spider-man 2 Trailer

Longevity of games and how platforms affect it.

       I am a heavy gamer and thus spend a lot of time online. Online multiplayer spans many types from competitive to cooperative and they both play differently to the longevity of the game. One game I would like to highlight is Halo. Not 4,3, reach, odst, or even 2. Just Halo CE, a game that launched on the xbox in 2001 and changed the gaming world forever. The game had an along side launch for the PC and even had exclusive maps. This makes the game nearly 13 years old now and you would think that that's it right? No. While the Xbox Live service for the xbox was shut down many moons ago people still play it online, lots of people. The last time I logged on to play an online match of halo ce there was more than 450 servers. 450! We have seen console games abandon and shooters thrown to the side for the sequel that comes out a year later later, but for a nearly 13 year old game to have more than 450 active servers? That should speak to the longevity of the games on pc. I have witnessed console gamers exclaim at how amazed they are that a game that is more than a year old still has an active community. that is nothing to sneeze at. I believe that the console, if it wishes to survive, needs to allow user created servers. It is what keeps a game alive once the publisher/developer forgets about it.