Hybrid Essay Revised

Jared Gonzalez

Sean Pessin

English 114B

30 April 2013

Hybrid Essay

            Talking about the gaming culture was definitely one of my favorite things to do. The gaming culture is a very entertaining subject to touch on. There are many ideas to branch out too such as general gaming news, or specific news, and even talk about the arguments against video games. The arguments are people who think video games are a bad influence for children.

            Some people in this world, actually a lot of people, think video games are not a good impact for children. They think it teaches them to practice that violence is a good thing. That you get rewarded for killing somebody or severely hurting someone within a game. I was not against this, as I too think some video games are not good for young children to play. However that is just it, young children should not be allowed to play a violent game at such a young age. The parents should have control over that and limit what their children can play. I would say age fourteen would be the ideal age when you can start playing video games. By then you can distinguish what is real and what is fantasy.

            I was shocked when I read that this topic was actually taken to court to regulate how it practices violence for children. All the court said however is similarly the same thing I said. They said they do not really have control over that because the gaming companies do rate their violent games M for mature or T for teen audiences only. Mature rated games are for people who are seventeen and older. Teen rated games are for thirteen and older. So it generally up to the parents to restrict/limit or monitor what their kids play.

            There is so much about the gaming culture that it would take a long time for somebody to completely know everything about it. There are brand new news everyday in this culture. In my blog, I touched on some news that I thought were important and wanted my readers to know about. One of those included how big name gaming companies are laying off employees to get ready for the next-generation console gaming. Another was stating how a well known big game company has recently shut down. The big company was LucasArts. This was the famous company for making all the Star Wars video games. It was also the video game department branch of LucasFilms, the company who made the Star Wars movies.

            Disney had acquired LucasArts and finally shut it down. They laid off about a hundred fifty people and cancelled all projects that were in progress. It was also confirmed that two new Star Wars video games were cancelled. This was devastating for me to hear because I am a fan of the Star Wars series, and I found most of the Star Wars video games to be very entertaining. They gave you the feeling that you wanted when you watched the Star Wars film for the first time. That feeling was "oh man, I would love to be in that movie". In the video games, you actually get to go through it and see how everything is, such as having an awesome space battle to fighting with a lightsaber. I guess the saying is right, "All good things must come to an end".

            Electronic Arts (EA) was the company I mentioned that laid off employees in order to get ready for the next-generation. EA's idea behind laying these people off was to "streamline" its operations to make sure the company is ready for transition. An EA senior director stated "EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile. In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization". For me this was not a good move to make. Not only are those people now jobless, but the company itself has lost people who probably have contributed greatly to it in the past. There are more strategic ways to approach this instead of laying them off. I think one would be to just move them into sub-category groups/divisions within the actual main group/department.

            These are just some important topics I touched on. There is plenty of more topics to research on that I would have loved to touch on. I wanted to talk about some specific news towards specific games. Learning more about the gaming culture has become a daily thing for me. I grew up with video games, so I have seen how much they have evolved. It is such an amazing thing to see, since they were flat 2D games to now becoming lifelike 3D games. I find this culture to be so interesting and entertaining. There is always something new to learn about in the gaming culture.

Works Cited

"Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault." Kotaku.             N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-         468473749>.

"Layoffs at Electronic Arts." Gamespot. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 April 2013.             <http://www.gamespot.com/news/layoffs-at-electronic-arts-6406823>.

Metacognitive Essay

Jared Gonzalez

Sean Pessin

English 114B

23 April 2013

Metacongnitive Essay

 

            This was my first time writing and maintaining a blog. I was completely new to this, however I also thought it would be fun. The blog was made to talk about a specific topic of our choosing. Our focus was to provide a way of communicating electronically with the aid of multimedia components. It consisted of using photos, videos, and articles to discuss our topic to the audience. For my blog, I chose to write about the gaming culture. I would state latest news about what was going on and I would also talk about how some people think video games itself is a bad impact for our children.

            Throughout all my life, I had grown up with video games. I was not and currently am not a hardcore video game player. I simply just play them recreationally when I have free time. That does not mean I cannot love the gaming culture as much as I do. I guess I can say I am more into the gaming scene compared to the average teenager. Actually that is comparing it to most of my friends. They are gamers too however I play more than they do. As much as I am into the gaming culture, that does not mean that I know everything about it. There are other people who know way more than I do. Those people are called the 'super hardcore' gamers.

            I learned more about the gaming culture by maintaining this blog. I also learned that there are people in the world that do not support the gaming culture and think video games are bad for the society. They think some video games create a bad example for children. Such as how violent games taint the young mind of a child and thus makes them believe that bad things are a good thing.

            For example: shooting and killing a person in the game as part of a mission, or fighting people for the fun of it. If children experience this at such a young age, it will be implanted in their mind that it is okay to do these things. I think that is probably why games are T for Teen or M for mature. T is for 13 years or older and M is for 17 years or older. This is a good thing because kids shouldn't be playing such violent games at a young age when their imaginations are running wild. They should play it when they are able to distinguish fantasy and reality.

            For me, yes I do think some video games are a bad influence for children. However, they were not rated T or M for no reason. Stores will not sell games to children who are below the age requirement of the game. That does not stop someone older from buying it and then the child can then play it. Parents should regulate and know what their child is playing. Especially at a young age. I would say by the time they are thirteen or fourteen, the parents can lay off and let the child play on their own. At that age, they should be able to tell what is fake and not reality.

            The other posts in on my blog are just about the latest news in the gaming culture. They range from big gaming company news, news about a new game coming out, or just news relating to the game systems. Such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, or the Sony Playstation 3. One post I have however, was different from the rest of my posts. It was not necessarily news but it was a video. The video was a timeline of gaming history. It was a straight three minute video of the first video games all the way to the present. From 1958 to the present, the video showed the evolution of video games. It went from 2D (two-dimensional) pixilated graphics to 3D (three-dimensional) high definition graphics.

            That video was such an amazing thing to see. As much as I love the gaming culture, I had never really explored about the history and past of video games. To be able to see how much it has evolved over time was a wonderful thing. It is always great learning about the history of something that you are interested in.

            My posts are not just simply information on something. I research beforehand more about what I am posting. By doing that, I become more familiar with the topic I am talking about, and therefore I can talk more in depth about it. I can also give my opinion but also still appeal to the audience that is reading. In other words, it would not be a one-sided opinion. I always learn more about the topic before I post it. Not only is that filling me with knowledge, it also keeps those people on the internet who criticize everything and say that you have false information away.

            There were plenty of more ideas I wanted to cover on my blog. I wanted to talk more about old video games that created the foundation for most of the video games today. I also wanted to talk about what I think might be the best games to play for certain systems. Due to time constraints and a busy life, I never really got around to doing it. I am willing to bet that if I did talk about these topics, people may have found my blog more exciting to read and entertaining. I would have included videos of gameplay and photos that depict what I am trying to state.

            In the end, I can say that I have enjoyed writing and maintaining a blog. It was a learning and a lifetime experience. I now know what it feels like to be the one behind the scenes when I read an article or post from another website. They put in so much effort and time to do research and learn the topic they are talking about. Having a blog has taught me how to appeal to readers of all kind without just stating your own personal opinion. I would like to be able to write another blog or continue my blog sometime in the future.

Conclusion

Hey everyone! I am sorry to say that my blog is sadly coming to an end. This started as an English assignment, however after everything, I have learned a lot about how running a blog works. I have never had a blog before so this was all new to me. I hope all of you enjoyed hearing about gaming news and such. As of right now, I have no plans to continue this because I have a real busy life outside of the internet. So there wouldn't be much time for me to be able to post things here. If you guys are really interested in seeing more gaming news, I suggest taking a look at Gamespot or Kotaku. Those two websites were basically my background for most of the news I posted. Anyway, I think blog writing was a great new experience for me. It taught me that with what you post, it can't be just your opinion because then people won't care for it. You need to appeal to readers of all kind.

I don't know yet if maybe in the future I will start to pick up and continue this blog, but as of right now there are no plans. So see you all later everyone! -Jared Gonzalez

Nintendo Decides to Shut Down Some Wii Channels

The Nintendo Wii came with many different 'channels' when it launched. Channels in this case are basically like apps you can download. Like how we download apps for our smart phones. Some of these included a weather channel, a news channel, a everybody votes channel, and many more. These small channels after so long are going to be shut down because Nintendo has stated that these are rarely used compared to other channels. So they are thinking they should shut down those servers. I personally liked these channels. I found myself sometimes randomly checking the weather for the next day, and also took a look at the news channel to see what is going on throughout the world. It will be a little sad to see them go, but I think Nintendo is doing the right thing. They were not being as used as other channels anyways. It was just nice to be able to view the weather and check news if you don't normally watch the news on tv.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/12/wii-news-weather-other-channels-being-shut-down

The Famous LucasArts Has Shut Down

One of the most known companies in the world "LucasArts" has shut down. LucasArts is known for making  all the Star Wars video games. It is the video game department of LucasFilm, which made the Star Wars movies. Disney has laid off the staff and cancelled all of the current projects. About 150 people were laid off. It was also confirmed that two new Star Wars video games were cancelled: Star Wars First Assault and Star Wars: 1313. Star Wars: 1313 was supposed to be about the bounty hunter named Boba Fett. It was going to be a side story based on him. Star Wars First Assault was supposed to be an FPS (first-person shooter). It may have actually been the next 'Star Wars Battlefront'. Battlefront was a highly rated game that everyone loved. It could be said that it was the "Star Wars version of Call of Duty." LucasArts made two battlefront games but sadly never made a third. Many people were waiting for a third, including me. So hearing that this new game that might've been Battlefront 3 was cancelled, I got a little upset. I would have loved to play a new Battlefront again.

LucasArts had a good run, I guess the saying is right: "All good things must come to an end".

Here is the link to the article: http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749

Next-Gen Console 'Xbox 720' Rumored to be 'Always Online'

The next-generation console the Xbox 720 is supposedly rumored to be 'Always Online'. For the people who do not know what that means, it means that you are required to always be connected to the internet in order to use the console. You cannot play games unless you are connected to the internet. Many people think this is a bad move to do. There are positives and negatives to having an always online console.

Some positives are that your system can automatically be updated to the newest version when released, you can get notified while you are playing a game that a new DLC (downloadable content) is coming out. Patches can be downloaded and applied automatically, and you can also be notified about new contests that are going on for the game you are playing.

The negatives about this are that a lot of people hate this idea. They hate this idea because some PC games are ran with an 'Always Online' engine, and it always crashes because servers get too busy. It crashes to the point where in some cases you cannot even play the game itself. Also many people don't have a really stable internet connection, some don't even have internet at all. So what are these people going to do if they just want to enjoy playing a game at their home without having to worry about any trouble dealing with the internet connection.

I've been a supporter of Xbox over PS3 since 2008, but if this is the case, and it does have always online; I don't know whether to buy it and stay loyal to Xbox or switch over to the PS4 because that console is confirmed to not have always online. However I can for sure say that Microsoft is going to lose many customers if they do in fact make the new Xbox 720 always online.

What do you guys think? Do you like the idea of 'Always Online'?

Here's a link to an article: http://www.inquisitr.com/605052/always-online-consoles-good-or-bad/