January 6th
Counter-Strike was one of the first multi-player team-based realistic FPS and games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Battlefield 2 is based on that. Being a realistic shooter in 1999, this was the first time the recoil of a weapon factored into the game. So there had to be a to way to shoot accurately. In real life, one shoots more accurately when they are still. But in gaming, precision mouses make that an unwise move for the most part.
Enter the shimmy. This is done by strafing left and right repeatedly while keep your aim at the targets. This makes shooting practitioners of this FPS dance move more difficult. Even the shortest strafe will make things difficult due to, from the opponent’s perspective, instantaneous shifting of the target back and forth.
In the 10 years (10 years!) since Counter-strike, the WASD system of movement has changed very little, so it remains a popular tactic among FPS games. In real life, I have yet to see anyone shoot accurately while shaking their hips back and forth. And yet in gaming, I am still astound getting shot by someone doing a belly dance. It’s a move embedded into every gamer since Counter-strike, even I found myself abusing it.
To me, even if the games looked prettier today than 10 years ago, FPS as we know it hasn’t changed much. That annoys me.
Bonus Peeve: Another Counter-Strike relic is the Desert Eagle. It’s in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare even though no military adopted it due to its impracticality. Plus, they must have super strong wrists since they can also empty the entire 7 round clip in a few seconds. If Call of Duty wants to take from Counter-Strike, why not the Glock? The handgun used by oh… everyone.
January 5th
Some musicians love being political. Outside of country music, political songs are almost always about progressive talking points. Flobots, whose entire album might as well be written by International A.N.S.W.E.R., is one much group.
Lyrically, they are typical “the world sucks. if only people listen to me” bs. Musically, however, they are so talented that I could care less about their politics. I believe I should separate the message from the message machine (though the musicians who write these songs may object).
If they rock, I will rock to their tune. Flobots most definitely rock.
January 5th
(Cross-posted in Are You NKay?, my blog on North Korean Human Rights. Email me if you would like to contribute.)
I just went to Starbuck and learned that the purchase of my Expresso Truffle sent $.05 to (RED). I take no issue of corporations taking part of charitable courses. Having taken part in non-profit organizations, any help is appreciated. But I cannot help but notice that it is a ploy to steer people towards certain high-end products.
My expresso, like almost every Starbucks coffees, tasted like a combination of burning and sweetness. It also costs $3.65 for a Tall (small in Starbuckese).
Dell’s Product (RED) steers me towards their high end XPS desktops and their mid-range Studio 15 and Studio 17 Laptops (which has a 75 premium for some pretty cool designs). I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting a Product (RED) Mini9 anytime soon.
It’s like corporations are putting the onus on their customers to help, (RED)’s case, HIV victims in Africa. What if we don’t buy Product (RED)? Will they not send the money?
I reiterate. Whatever it takes to get money to worthy causes is okay in my book. But it would be nice for corporation to use cheaper high-volume products.
