"GRAND THEFT AUTO SAN ANDREAS!"

On my quest to find a video game that peaked my interest I decided to take up my old “Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas"  video game, pop it into my play station 2 and make some observations about my game of choice.   For those of you who are unfamiliar about this game, it is about a man called Carl Johnson (CJ) who escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas... a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where film stars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gang bangers.

Now, it's the early 90s and Carl's got to go home because his mother was murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster.

On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

I chose this game because of my very adventurous and outgoing personality and found it of course without reason of a doubt to be very interesting and although the game is one of a violent nature, I was intrigued by the adrenalin pumping through my blood while completing adventurous tasks and escaping the crooked cops.  

The game is a two and/or one player game that encourages socialization among peers and family members.  The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open world environment in which to move around. 

On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, eating, running, sprinting, swimming, climbing and jumping as well as using weapons and various forms of hand to hand combat. Players can drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, buses, semis, boats, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes. You can even change car colors and add spoilers and other accessories to it. They may also import vehicles rather than steal them; players can also go shopping with the avatar and choose from a wide variety of available clothing and weapons. Cool right? The character even puts on weight when he over eats and can even run the risk of getting a heart attack and when he exercises, the pudgy character loses weight and becomes muscular pretty much like real life, won’t you say? You can use crazy things like the jetpack and parachute. 

 It’s such an interesting game and although it was introduced since 2004, it is still a very fun game for the adventurous mind and although the missions seem endless I enjoyed it! After all no one wants a video game they can beat in a week? No?

So how does this tie in to social networking? A video game is an avenue of social networking it encourages the development of social learning skills, including empathy, friendliness, teamwork, and much more.   

UNO

My first encounter with the game Uno was back in Primary school where the game was religiously played for hours at a time in the weeks that followed the completion of my Common Entrance exam. Those were indeed GOOD times!

Created in 1971 by Merle Robbins, a Hungarian barber, the card decks were developed in Robbins’ kitchen and sold out of his barber shop. As fortune would have it he spent eight thousand dollars ($8,000.00) to create five thousand decks and eventually sold the rights to the game, ten years later, for fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) --- in addition to royalties of ten cents per each copy sold --- to International Games. The game has since been acquired and is now produced by Mattel who has sold over one hundred and fifty-one million copies worldwide!

A standard one hundred and eight card-Uno pack comprises colourful cards --- numbered zero to nine --- and a number of “special” cards which include “Skip”, “Reverse”, “Draw two”, “Draw four” and “Wild” cards. The rules of the game are very simple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_(card_game)  with the desired end being that you discard all of your cards before your opponent(s). Should you remain with one card in your hand (of course on your way to an almost foolproof victory) you have to shout “Uno!”

Today, even though the card game is thriving with many versions available --- inclusive of Disney Pixar Cars Uno, Spongebob Uno and Disney Princess Uno --- the game has become a much sought after one on popular social networking site Facebook. Of course, one of the two or three versions available on Facebook is not content with simply allowing you to play with people you already know, but gives you the opportunity to be “matched” with three other players from anywhere in the world who share your taste for this classical game. For the game to be hosted in an online environment such as that of Facebook some of the rules have changed. For example, each player has a ten-second window in which they can play a card and when this period elapses with no activity from the player an extra card is added to that player’s “hand”. Also, unlike the Uno Boost version --- also available on Facebook --- players are not allowed to “pile up” Draw twos or Draw fours on other players. 

All in all, Uno makes for an interesting family game when played in its original card-game form. It is a great way to teach younger children numbers and colours in a fun, family environment. On Facebook, it serves as an amazing way to spend what may have started out as a few extra minutes to kill battling randomly selected persons from across the globe to become, at least for that game session, the all time supreme UNO King/Queen.

This video demonstrates how to play uno.

Recovering Farmville Addict

For anyone who has a Facebook profile Farmville is a game that you must have come across at some time.

Farmville which was developed by Zynga in 2009 and is a farm simulation game where players undertake the various a roles of a farmer.

I like some 'addicts' was introduce to Farmville through a friend who sent me a link on Facebook. At first I was resistant, but when it became popular I tried it just to be part of my crowd of friends who were playing. I found myself constantly looking for an excuse to log into my Facebook account just so that I can either water my plants or tend to my animals.

My journey to soberity has been a very long and challenging one since the internet has become an integral part of life today, but everyday I try my best to resist the urge to "water" my garden and it is working because I have not been on farmville for over a year now.

PES 2013 was well worth the wait

I finally got my hands on a copy of PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) 2013 to continue my quest on "becoming a legend". For the past for years I have been playing this game and in particular the game mode "Become a Legend".

For those of you reading this blog that have not played the game here is some brief info on the game :

"Pro Evolution Soccer (officially abbreviated as PES and known as World Soccer: Winning Eleven in Japan and South Korea) is a series of football video games developed and published by Konami. The series has been produced under the guidance of Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka.
Every year, the game is released around late September and/or early October with two different titles: World Soccer: Winning Eleven in Japan, and Pro Evolution Soccer in other countries. The Japanese version is a localized version that features local leagues. In 2007, the franchise began to use the name "Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer" for the American market, which was later changed to "Pro Evolution Soccer" in 2008, dropping the "Winning Eleven" moniker entirely for that region.
Partially as a result of EA Sports' affinity to purchasing exclusive rights for their FIFA series, the games have historically lacked the sheer volume of licenses present in EA's offerings, with the most notable absences being the Premier League and Bundesliga. As such, team jerseys, names, and players may be inaccurate.
Currently, Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo the face of the franchise, appearing on front cover of every game being released in the series and in promotional campaigns and advertisements in the media.
As of December 2011, the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise has been localized into 19 languages and available in 62 countries. The series has sold more than 75.43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling videos games in history."

I am not a football fan, however I like this game because it makes me feel as if can become the  next Messi or Ronaldo.

For most person who play this mode their aim is a to play for a Barcelona FC or Spain who are some of the top teams in the world at this point in time, but  my goal was to play for Liverpool and "represent" Trinidad and Tobago. However Trinidad and Tobago is not one of the national teams available which in my opinion was the only bad part in my playing experience.

PES 2013 did not disappoint me as the graphics was even better than the previous installment  which I also played on my Playstation 2. Also game play is a bit more easier and the players look more realistic  which will help in making you feel as if you are actually playing the game

To anyone reading this post I encourage you to purchase PES 2013 because it is money well spent.

IS IMITATION REALLY THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY?

Charles Colton Caleb once said that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" while I normally agree with this statement, I just can't in this case because it is so not true of this Angry Birds imitator, Revenge of the Pigs, a free game for blackberry devices.

To me when you imitate something you add to it, you make it different from its predecessor, take for instance Micheal Jackson, although he is an imitation of the "godfather of soul" James Brown he made his style distinguishable from James Brown's, he set himself apart, he added Micheal into the mix and in so doing created something unique that people still try to imitate to this day; making the imitator the imitated.

I wanted this game to do that, to set itself apart, to up the ante but it didn't instead it firmly cast itself in the shadow of its well loved predecessor. While there were changes made they were minor, I really shouldn't call them changes since they just exchanged one thing for another, for instance instead of angry birds it is angry pigs. In Angry Birds the aim of the game is to get back the eggs that were stolen by the pigs whereas in Revenge of the Pigs the aim of the game is to get back the houses and land stolen from the piglets by the big bad wolves. In order to conquer the wolves the piglets enlist the help of warrior pigs, yes you saw right warrior pigs *shaking my head* Could this game any worse? Yes it can. 

In the features section of the game description it states that you can have "endless hours of fun [and] can repeatedly play it without getting bored" I, however beg to differ, I played the ten levels that are available for free in less than an hour and I was quite bored while doing so.

My fellow Basted Gamer Ewan wrote in his Angry Birds post about how addictive and stimulating the game is and the fact that you need to come up with a strategy to beat certain levels, none of that was present in Revenge of the Pigs. It was neither stimulating nor addictive. It was not challenging either so I most certainly did not need to come up with a strategy.

Despite all of that there was a tiny ray of hope, a little spot of sunlight shining through this game's blandness and that was the controls which worked superbly. If you have a touch screen blackberry like I do all you have to do is place your finger on the screen, pull back the slingshot and watch that pig fly through the air and hit that target seamlessly. While it is also possible to play this game using the trackpad  I didn't so I don't know if it works as smoothly as the touch screen.

Some of you may think it was mean of me to attack this game but this is just my opinion. I have no doubt that there are lots of persons who love this game but to me it was not anything special or different, it just was...Now this does not mean that I don't acknowledge the hard work and effort that went into developing this game because I do...just wish that the powers that be behind this effort took it a little further into the realm of this game is the shit!

          

Angry Birds Star Wars

Intro to angry birds

   Angry birds is a widely known smart phone application and since the birth of androids I have hear a lot about this game. I often saw people playing the game and thought it was senseless and time consuming. However, I recently played angry birds star wars because I love the Star Wars saga. I searched and found angry birds stars and I became very interested. The game’s aim is simple. The goal in each level is to illuminate the pigs with the angry birds .These pigs are blocked by material arranged in structures. By hitting the structures at the right places one can be rewarded by moving on to the next level.

I eventually learnt after playing this game that it is actually stimulating. As I proceeded to higher levels it challenged my ability of patients, remembrance and it made me strategize at times. This game can become very addictive. There is a somewhat thrive to win all my levels and keep playing and playing. Also, I learnt the names of some of these birds. The black bird is socko, the blue bird which can split into three is called splitter, the red bird is called big red, the yellow bird is called speedy and finally the white bird is called tiny.

The game has become a growing phenomenon worldwide from Iphones to online usage and angry birds is now available on PS3 consoles, XBOX 360 consoles and 3DS. 

Images from the game

Angry birds has become loved by billions

For more info on angry birds visit these links

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8303173/Angry-Birds-the-story-behind-iPhones-gaming-phenomenon.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds_Star_Wars

Also like and check out our facebook page 

http://www.facebook.com/BastedGamers?fref=ts

Bubble Safari

On my hunt to discover entertaining games on Facebook I stumbled upon Bubble Safari. Bubble Safari is originally a Zynga game. What is Zynga?  Zynga is basically a website that provides social media games. Bubble Safari focuses on a monkey named Bubbles who wants to find his friends who were  taken. Furthermore, Bubbles makes his way to the jungle and players help him collect fruit for his journey.

Zynga games link http://company.zynga.com/games/bubble-safari

How to play

·         Use your mouse to aim and fire from the shooter
·         Match three or more of the same colour bubble to pop them and get fruit
·       Pop ten bubbles in the top row to clear the level

I began from level one and made my way to level 6 where I can’t seem to go any further because I kept running out of bubbles in the shooter. Levels one to three were extremely easy. In many of my rows there were lots of bubbles already in similar colours which made it easier for me to shoot them down into my barrels. In my first three games I got three stars which meant I’m was mega star player. At level three I        dropped fruits three times in a row into the barrel, so my next three shots were fire bubbles which were very powerful.

As I progressed from levels four to six the bubbles became more random coloured and a little harder to shoot down. From levels four to five I was named a rock star because I attained two stars. However, I played level six three times in a row and just kept running out of bubbles in my shooter. At level six I attained two sets of fire bubbles but it still wasn't enough to win the game.


As you can see i still have a long way to go again.This game allows players to ask friends for extra bubbles and help each other.Also, players can engage in weekly tournaments.

images

this here is fire bubbles

i like this game because it is not time bound.Therefore it allows me to take my time and play.

Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2

Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2

Today’s game focuses on dragon ball raging blast 2 played on a play station three console (PS3). The last time I played any video game on a play station console was about 2 years ago. However as I remembered, when I was younger I always liked playing any action packed fighting game such as dragon ball Z. This video game was created from the Dragon Ball Z cartoon.

I never really gave much attention to the TV series but as I remembered, Goku’s goal was to obtain the legendary Dragon balls scattered all over the world and protected them from the evil guys such as Frieza, cell and aliens. To find out more about Dragon ball Z click this link. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z

Holding the controller again brought back so many memories of pain, happiness, anger and sadness. This game consists of different categories one can choose to battle such as Single battle, Battle, online battle and world tournament. I first played single battle to learn some of the combos before I started the stage of battling. Within minutes I was ready for battle! I lost a few games at the beginning but then I was winning almost all my games.

This is the screen that will appear when choosing characters for battle.

The online battle was unavailable because internet connections were unavailable. The world tournament was easier than I thought it would have been, I won three out of four times in the world tournament. Some of the characters I won the tournament with were Goku, Goten and Vegta Majin. Some of the characters I didn't like were Trunks and piccolo.

                                           Goku

This video is an example of a battle between two characters, super Janemba vs Gotega 

MYTHOLOGY, SPARTANS AND GODS...OH MY!

Today's BASTED Gamers post focuses on one of my absolute favorite game sagas of all time, God of War. God of War is so much more than a game, it has become a way of life to many.  Numerous fan fiction sites have been spawned off of this game and its main character, Kratos but that's not all that has been spawned off of this game, there's also a God of War Wiki and a God of War Facebook Community page. The links below will take you to the aforementioned sites.

http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/God_of_War_Wiki

http://www.fanfiction.net/God-of-War-Crossovers/2213/0/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/godofwar?fref=ts

Now on to the topic at hand. This game is EPIC, there are millions of fans worldwide but I'm getting ahead of myself I should start at the beginning so you all can understand why this game is so beloved by many and also so you all can get caught up to where I am at, God of War III.

God of War is a third-person, single player action game. However it is not all hack and slash as you do have to use your brain to solve puzzles to be able to advance to other levels. You also need to have sharp reflexes to press the buttons when prompted. It is based on Greek mythology so you will find the likes of Athena, Ares, Zeus, Poseidon etc in the game. It will take some time for me to tell the story so instead I've posted a video below that tells the beginning of this epic tale. Viewer discretion is advised, the clip contains violence, some nudity and more violence.

So now that you know the beginning I'll fill you in from here, at the end of God of War Kratos becomes the God of War. The second game takes up where the first left off, it shows Kratos as the God of War and also how he loses his throne. The third game starts where the second one ended; Kratos on the back of Gaia (a Titan) as she and the other Titans climb Mount Olympus to seek revenge against Zeus.

The game play is fast paced and is interspersed with mini movies that advance the story/game play. I went from fighting on Gaia's back to fighting in her, to battling through the streets of Olympus, to brutally killing Poseidon, to swimming through the streets of Olympus after Gaia betrays Kratos, to being flung into the depths of Hades where Kratos has to battle his way back to Mount Olympus to seek his revenge against Zeus. I had a great time playing God of War III, hopefully I'll get to finish playing it soon.

 Just a few things before I go into how it felt holding a control again. There is no co-op mode in God of War nor is there any multi-player online, these features are supposed to be incorporated into the new game, God of War Ascension which will be released in March 2013.

God of War is an intimate experience, meaning it's just you and the game no social interaction whatsoever  unless you call screaming at the television screen social interaction.

Holding the PlayStation control in my hand, for the first time in a long while felt like what I imagine an addict feels when they get a fix, high and euphoric; it also felt like that feeling you get when you put something so delicious in your mouth that you shut down your other senses, close your eyes and just let your mouth savour the flavour without interruption, of course I did not close my eyes because I'd die if I did but you get the idea.

Holding that control was kind of like getting one of Phoebe from Charmed premonitions, except the images that flashed before my eyes weren't of an innocent who needs saving but were images of my gaming past. I have to say the flashes of my former glory were nothing like my game play today. Today I was uncoordinated, my reflexes were off and I died a lot but as I continued to play it all came back to me, kind of like riding a bike except I did not remember it all at first but when I did I kicked butt!

I might not have remembered gaming 101 but I remembered the man, the legend, the savage beast, the tortured hero that is Kratos. He was everything I remembered and so much more; he has definitely gotten more ruthless but that's how you have to be when seeking revenge against Gods. I look forward to playing the next chapter in this saga, God of War Ascension, but enough of that. I'll leave you all with a few pictures of my favourite game hero, Kratos in all of bad attitude/badass glory!

    

Family Feud

LETS PLAY                          

Family Feud is an entertaining American game show where two groups of families compete against each other by gaining points values; if members in the team respond to the top survey questions.

Objectives of the Game

To gain the most amount of points value and to steal away the opponents’ value by answering up to one question the other team might not be able to answer. Whichever family holds the highest points, they get a chance to enter the bullseye /bankroll round. Points values are started off as single then double then triple.The captain of team would choose the two quickest and smartest personto answer the bullseye/bankroll questions in order to win the top prize once they make up 200 points altogether.

History of Family Feud

According to Wikipedia, “the original version premiered on ABC and was hosted by Richard Dawson from 1976 until it was canceled in 1985, by which point it had been popular on both the network and in syndication. The series was revived by CBS in 1988 with Ray Combs hosting it until its cancellation in 1993 and its accompanying syndicated series until 1994, when he was replaced by Dawson for one season. The series was activated again in 1999 and continues to air with the 14th season, which began on September 10, 2012, and also marked the show's first season in HD. During that time, it has been hosted by Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O'Hurley and Steve Harvey, who became the host at the start of the 2010–2011 seasons”

On Trinidad and Tobago’s local TV station now known as CCN TV6, Family Feud  was my favourite game show. Every day in the week, before noon and at 5pm, my family would sit in front of the television and shout out answers. Today, a single player could sit behind their computer and play without their supposed “family.”

There is an application on facebook that allows members to play the game of Family Feud by themselves. Members have the option to invite other friends to play the game as well as challenge.

 Family Feud is also on other social media such as Youtube. Information/articles/images /events about Family Feud can be followed on blogs, Twitter, Digg, Google+, Twitter and Picasa. People are using iphones, ipod touch and ipads to play the game of Family Feud.

Images

REAL PRIME-TIME GAME OF FAMILY FEUD

DIFFERENT HOST ON FAMILY FEUD OVER THE YEARS

A family introducing themselves to the game show host.

ELECTRONIC GAME OF FAMILY FEUD

FACEBOOK FORM OF FAMILY FEUD VIA THE APPLICATION

Here 's a taste of family feud.

Aftermath

I really like this game because it is like an icebreaker. It allows me to think spontaneously. But of all types of Family Feud, I enjoy playing the application on facebook because it involves interaction and I could see my weakness and strengths in certain type of questions. When Family Feud is played on facebook, there is no interaction with anyone else except the application. This game is not a 30 minute game show like the television version. The facebook application is faster. It runs for 15 minutes depending if you were successful to enter another round. It is a very challenging game. In fact, I’m going to play Family Feud right now!

Introduction

Six individuals from the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) were very fascinated by  the evolutionary  changes of video games  as a medium but never played  a great deal of them. Due to this fascination, We 'the group' started this blog as a Class Project to explore the realm of video games as a medium, to comment briefly on our experiences and to view the progression of various games and game consoles. Our first blog is an introduction to video games and its significant changes as a medium.

A brief history of Video Games

For years video games have been a source of entertainment for many. No longer enjoyed only by a particular generation, many people in the world today take pleasure in the recreational joys of video games. With the advent of social media sites such as Facebook, Google+ and a cornucopia of others, video games have gone from being a means of entertaining and socialising with a few friends to entertaining and socialising with many, in real time in some instances, all over the world.

The video game was born somewhere between the late 1950s and early 1960s in the form of “SpaceWar!” which was developed by a group of MIT students. This game was the first digital computer game and marked the beginning of the video game empire. From “Pong” to “Super Mario Bros.”; Magnavox Odessey console to the, most recent, Nintendo Wii, video games and their platforms have evolved during the half century of their existence --- from their conception to implementation. 

Video games have evolved from the clunky, coin-operated arcade games to a cartridge type game played on a specially designed console. Over the years, as science and technology improved, so too did the video game. Soon, better graphics (e.g. Playstaion 3, Xbox 360), more mobile game devices (e.g. Gameboy, Nintendo DS) and a higher level of interactivity was the rule of the day. Today, the level at which an individual can connect with other persons --- not necessarily within the same area or country --- partaking in a particular game can boggle the mind. Through social media platforms, such as Facebook, several online games, such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, Cityville, etc.  have claimed quite a following; allowing people to connect with friends, friends of friends and, in other cases, complete strangers in different regions of the world.

It is this wide reaching level of connectivity that exhibits video games’ power as a form of social media --- far-reaching, connection-oriented and interaction based.

These are the aspects of video games, as a form of social media, that will be explored via our Blog titled, “BASTED”. 

Evolution of video games