Sunday, November 7, 2010
The NFL's Outreach To Outside/Foreign Markets
Who does'nt love watching football, the spectrum of emotions that are on display by the players, fans in the stadiums and if your like me in the living room. It is easy to imagine how much money the NFL makes annually from merchandise, to advertising contracts, to game tickets. How could they possibly make more...Outside Markets of course, the NFL has officially been considering adding an outside of the United States football franchise. This has been prompted by the incredible respons by fans of the European Football League which is now disbanded and the NFL games played at Wimbley Stadium in London, and now the Buffalo Bills seem to be winning over the Canadian crowd in the Rodgers Centre in Toronto. Canadian fans have always migrated to the Bills games over the border in Buffalo, NY but now there is a buzz every game that feels mre and more like a REAL NFL GAME. Comissioner Goodell has said that he could see an out of US ball club join the league sooner rather than later, but first they need to get the NFLPA and Owners/League to create a new Bargaining contract so there isnt a lockout in 2011, we will see but with the talk of out of state clubs and an 18 game season, whats not to love. Give me your Opinion in the comments.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Triple A Titles: Halo Series Review
Halo... This Video Game series evokes two kinds of emotions from the general video game circuit, One of Fandom and one of Hatred, There are very few gamers who interweave into varied states of both emotions but they exist. In this article we will look at both viewpoints and I will give my opinion on the game.
Hatred: Many people who hate the Halo franchise state that their hatred is fueled by a Story/ Campaign that is void of a plausible storyline, that every plot twist and point are too chaoutic and hard to follow, some believe it is too shallow. The other main point of Contention is a Multiplayer mode that is chaotic, and void of any kind of "true skill" and tactical gameplay. These opinions have merits, ever since the original Halo: Combat Evolved helped make the Xbox name what it is today the story has been convoluted and decently sketchy leaving gamers to either fill in the blanks themselves or look for further reading on the subject such as the halo novels, comics and short movies, Halo 3 did a good jb of tying up loose ends but it rings hollow to gamers who love a deep engrossing story. As for the Multiplayer, it is chaotic, it doesnt have many points of tactics other than outnumbering your opponent and it is easy to feel cheated when getting the jump on an enemy only to have him/her still kill you when you obviously should have won. That aside we will look at the other side of the coin.
Fandom: Halo is loved because it is a bright, vibrant game with beautiful designs and awesome setpieces. Fans of the series say that Halo says enough during its story to keep your attention and that the characters steal the show, and that Multiplayer though chaotic is a great break from games such as Call of Duty which sometimes overpower players without detailed knowledge of a maps choke points, spawn points, and hiding spots/strategic areas. They say that there are so many that take that formula in multiplayer why not let a game have chaos if the players love it. They also point out that just because there arent subtle tactics it doesnt mean a player who thinks is not any better than a trigger happy lunatic, baiting players to tight areas to kill with shotguns/grenades or hiding with a sniper rifle is tactical enough in their eyes.
My Opinion: The Halo series has done incredible things, especialy for online gaming. The Forge mode that allows players to create their own maps...although done before by games such as Farcry and Little Big Planet...gives players amazing control to create their visions, Theatre mode allows players to view old matches and relive glory moments by editing clips and taking still frames to send to friends, The graphics are always impressive, the Campaign for the most part is solid and the Multiplayer is always the biggest draw of the serious, while I enjoy the game variants and explosive moments, I myself enjoy more tactical games, such as a Command and Conquer or Call of Duty or Gears of War, I do appreciate Bungies effort in putting great quality forward. In a standard 1-10 format, 1 being terrible and 10 being perfect I would give the series a fantastic rating of 9. Halo 2 is the best of the series multiplayer and Halo 3 is best for story. I URGE ANY GAMER TO PLAY THE HALO SERIES, if you don't you truly are missing out, you don't have to love it but at least appreciate how solid a series of game it truly is.
Hatred: Many people who hate the Halo franchise state that their hatred is fueled by a Story/ Campaign that is void of a plausible storyline, that every plot twist and point are too chaoutic and hard to follow, some believe it is too shallow. The other main point of Contention is a Multiplayer mode that is chaotic, and void of any kind of "true skill" and tactical gameplay. These opinions have merits, ever since the original Halo: Combat Evolved helped make the Xbox name what it is today the story has been convoluted and decently sketchy leaving gamers to either fill in the blanks themselves or look for further reading on the subject such as the halo novels, comics and short movies, Halo 3 did a good jb of tying up loose ends but it rings hollow to gamers who love a deep engrossing story. As for the Multiplayer, it is chaotic, it doesnt have many points of tactics other than outnumbering your opponent and it is easy to feel cheated when getting the jump on an enemy only to have him/her still kill you when you obviously should have won. That aside we will look at the other side of the coin.
Fandom: Halo is loved because it is a bright, vibrant game with beautiful designs and awesome setpieces. Fans of the series say that Halo says enough during its story to keep your attention and that the characters steal the show, and that Multiplayer though chaotic is a great break from games such as Call of Duty which sometimes overpower players without detailed knowledge of a maps choke points, spawn points, and hiding spots/strategic areas. They say that there are so many that take that formula in multiplayer why not let a game have chaos if the players love it. They also point out that just because there arent subtle tactics it doesnt mean a player who thinks is not any better than a trigger happy lunatic, baiting players to tight areas to kill with shotguns/grenades or hiding with a sniper rifle is tactical enough in their eyes.
My Opinion: The Halo series has done incredible things, especialy for online gaming. The Forge mode that allows players to create their own maps...although done before by games such as Farcry and Little Big Planet...gives players amazing control to create their visions, Theatre mode allows players to view old matches and relive glory moments by editing clips and taking still frames to send to friends, The graphics are always impressive, the Campaign for the most part is solid and the Multiplayer is always the biggest draw of the serious, while I enjoy the game variants and explosive moments, I myself enjoy more tactical games, such as a Command and Conquer or Call of Duty or Gears of War, I do appreciate Bungies effort in putting great quality forward. In a standard 1-10 format, 1 being terrible and 10 being perfect I would give the series a fantastic rating of 9. Halo 2 is the best of the series multiplayer and Halo 3 is best for story. I URGE ANY GAMER TO PLAY THE HALO SERIES, if you don't you truly are missing out, you don't have to love it but at least appreciate how solid a series of game it truly is.
The NFL's Crackdown On Violent Plays
The NFL has recently cracked down on the hit's against offensive players this year. Most notably James Harrisons twin tackles on Joshua Cribbs and Mohammad Massaquoi that both resulted in concussions to each respective player. There were no flags thrown on either play but the league later fined Harrison for the hit on Massaquoi. The league imposed a 75,000 dollar fine on the hit but not on the Cribbs hit because a running back is not given the same protection as a reciever due to the fact that he is not in a compromising position. Harrison being disgusted with the leagues increased activity in repremanding defensive players threatened to retire, but he did not and has vowed to play by the leagues rules. On the other side of the coin was Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson's hit on the Eagles DeSean Jackson, which even though drew a flag gave both players a concussion, Robinson was also fined by the league but it was evident in the play that he led to the chest of the reciever and not the head which begs the question, is the league taking the toughness out of Football. Many say that it is just a way for the league to protect its players which is admirable but at the same time, the Defense is paid to make plays and these new rules truly stunt the abilities of defensive players, I personally believe that the league does need to safeguard its players but at the same time cant over police the league, To quote Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Raven's...THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY RULES MAN...leave a comment and we will discuss our viewpoints.
The Self Proclaimed Know It All
The Self Proclaimed Know It All
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