An MSN conversation recorded between me and a friend of mine, let me know what you think.
ME (6:37 PM):
are you fantastically religious?
FRIEND (6:38 PM):
God, Heaven, Hell, Satan?
ME (6:39 PM):
Well if you are, ill stop right here.. but if you aren’t i can proceeded without offending you.
FRIEND (6:39 PM):
I'm not religious lol
ME (6:41 PM):
ok.. do you agree with this -
God was made as a super psychological product handed down through the generations that acts as training wheels for a developing sentient species.
ME (6:42 PM):
Going by this... Mankind isnt mature
dosent this make sense?
FRIEND (6:43 PM):
if the first statement is deemed true then the second statement would be logical, yes
ME (6:44 PM):
Its seems true because if happens to fit the picture of mankind’s history
ME (6:45 PM):
The ultimate mission for any philosopher imo is to mature mankind
or to at least help iot mature
ME (6:46 PM):
Teaching religion to children.. today... is like handing down the earliest form of the periodic table
ME (6:47 PM):
Id also like to point out that this view is of todays religions, religion in the past thousand two two thousand years has helped mankind in some of the most critical parts in history, not so much God has helped but the belief was enough to change things for the better, that being said there are today very few revolutionary changes that need to be made in our world.
that relgion can deal with
FRIEND (6:48 PM):
but does religion not continue to shape and define most of our ideals? certainly it has defined "good" and "evil"
in fact, many of our laws are based on religious beliefs that have evolved into societal norms
FRIEND (6:49 PM):
for example, y do u think gays are always ridiculed in most western societies?
ME (6:49 PM):
Religion
yes
but its also against nature and the whole purpose of sex.. pro-creation
we can evolve our understandings all we like but in the end its purpose
ME (6:50 PM):
whatever love, emotion or thought after is irrelevant i think
ME(6:51 PM):
What where the people at a young age taught who made those laws
religion..
i think religion is reaching its end of life or close to it
Now im one to accept that there are times when lies need to be told for the greater when compared to the alternative, but the negatives are too great with religion. Now i understand that it will take time if ever for the religion to be weeded out but you can already see a difference when compared to 100 years ago, its slowly happening because each generation is more self aware.
ME (6:52 PM):
each generation is becoming more mature
Will you teach your children religion + its good values or JUST its good values and the truth?
ME (6:53 PM):
We hardly see these kind of things... all we hear about is god save us and religion this and religion that.. we cna keep the good things dark but we dont have to keep the lies
FRIEND (6:55 PM):
well I'm not religious so I won't choose to teach my kids religion
ME (6:55 PM):
Parents are responsible for the next generations advancement and achievements, why are they still lying to children.. every generation does but slowly with each passing generation they seem to not believe anymore and the ones that do are merely confused because they think the religion is good but the ideals of religion are good not the religion itself
FRIEND (6:56 PM):
I think it's more of a personal choice, whether they buy into it or not, I personally believe in God but no particular religion can, atm, make me believe fully in it
well, can it not be argued that the good that religion brings is ultimately tied into religion itself?
FRIEND (6:57 PM):
the belief in religion is the method in which those positive values are taught and excercised
ME (6:57 PM):
yes... but theres a better way
ME (6:58 PM):
the truth.. we have many things the old world didn’t..
ME (6:59 PM):
the person who created religion was probably a Philosopher who saw his race at each others throats and decided to act by creating an ultimate religion
this all is speculation.. i know
but religion is getting older and older
ME (7:00 PM):
eventually its going to be replaced... at is already has been semi replaced by other things
ME (7:02 PM):
A lie is no way to teach anyone about good values and proper behavior...
FRIEND (7:07 PM):
I'm not one to defend religion as I'm not a religious person but I do not disbelieve it either
who's to say that religion is not fully correct? perhaps it was based on truth, perhaps not?
FRIEND (7:08 PM):
I do not think that based on pure speculation alone is enough to deem thousands of years of belief into a lie ?
what do u believe?
ME (7:09 PM):
Its is and man created it and a man.. this particluar man is calling it a lie
religion vs science
ME (7:10 PM):
i have a religion dark
I went to Melbourne last year
i took an elevator to the observation deck
ME (7:11 PM):
and as i looked across the city
i saw everything created or influenced by man...
FRIEND (7:13 PM):
ok
FRIEND (7:13 PM):
i did not see a god... and on that day i stopped thinking that god existed... and you know it felt lonely it felt somewhat empty... but you know dark.. after awhile i realized that if i wanted to talk about it i could still do it, if i wanted to hold someone i could still do it, i f i wanted to play a game i could still do it
infact the only difference between a life with god and without is exactly that
FRIEND (7:14 PM):
but did your belief in God not strengthen your resolve? make u feel more comfotable? as if there was someone looking out for u, less lonely persay?
FRIEND (7:15 PM):
perhaps the city that u saw was God's work, perhaps he allowed man kind to evolve into what it is today, perhaps science is his method of teaching us his vast knowledge?
ME (7:15 PM):
yes.. and thats its most attractive and insidious quality
ME (7:21 PM):
this is why its popular and that coupled with the good values etc etc.. well its hard to argue against a very good thing i mean you end up looking like a prick
FRIEND (7:22 PM):
mmhmm
well....not all of religion's values are good
some are more extreme
ME (7:23 PM):
Look im not saying its values are bad.. im just saying its a lie
ME (7:24 PM):
God made universe and all this divine shit is fiction.. fantasy
and its hard to prove THAT if your intent is to tell the truth
FRIEND (7:25 PM):
but there is no proof against God and religious history
that's y it's so tempting
what do u base this belief on? how do u no God is fiction?
that's my Q\
ME (7:27 PM):
Good question
and the answer is
i believe in mankind and not god
ME (7:28 PM):
Mankind... at least i can call that truth
Religion.. well who knows right
ME (7:29 PM):
Everyone wants to be sure about their decisions.. whether to buy that certain house or car, whether to place this here or there
or even on the correct diagnosis
FRIEND (7:31 PM):
hmmm
so ur saying u believe what u see
and trust in what is tangible?
ME (7:33 PM):
thats not fair... as a doctor you will trust those reports you see from hospitals patients charts and so on
ME (7:34 PM):
thats tangible thats what you can see
i do believe in those things aswell as you
FRIEND (7:35 PM):
of course I do
but I believe in so much more, seeing is believing but there are things we can't see yet we believe in them all the same, at least I do
ME (7:35 PM):
that’s called faith
and i do have faith
FRIEND (7:36 PM):
while away at uni, I didn't see my best frd for 4 months yet I still believed that she would keep our friendship strong in her heart :)
ME (7:36 PM):
its just a matter of where you put your faith
ME (7:37 PM):
Scientists and common people alike dont put their faiths into someday finding a secret chocolate factory with an enthusiastic sweet crazed diabetic who appears to run the facility
FRIEND (7:39 PM):
that is true
but I choose to beleive in the intangible, it makes life so much more interesting and full filling, u don't have to though
FRIEND (7:40 PM):
perhaps if your life is perfect the way u like it, then certainly somethings are not required
ME (7:42 PM):
Thats fine... but when it has an effect on the whole world.. Law and the big decisions that are made.. its a problem i think
ME (7:44 PM):
Let the good values and common sense make the decision, not religion, if religion is needed so much to archive this then there is a problem.. it means that if we lose religion we'll lose the good things.. but this isn’t the case
FRIEND (7:45 PM):
only time will tell of the future hm?
ME (7:46 PM):
The fiction is all i have against it, its a book... read it again dark as if your reading one of the best selling books in 2,000 -3,000 years
I mean we know what people do when they believe in fiction
ME (7:48 PM):
fantastical... suicide bombers... granted these are isolated and confined but something so good as religion being corrupted is a terrible sign that god can be defeated and sadly that’s not the picture most people think about
if they did i think they would find despair but then freedom
as for the events
in the bible
ME (7:49 PM):
i cant year out each page and prove to you that’s it didn’t happen
it could have
but so many of our ancestors used story and fiction to describe things they couldn’t explain
ME (7:50 PM):
the ten commandments where like a code of conduct
FRIEND (7:51 PM):
I agree that not all the things the bible says can be proved, in fact, most can not, and since I'm not religious, idk wut the bible says
but I'm simply saying, it COULD be true and what I don't know for sure, I don't want to place judgement on
ME (7:52 PM):
fair enough... we shouldn’t judge times back then
but we can when there are records in other places
ME (7:53 PM):
we can even go as far as asking why God hasn’t kept visiting...
ME (7:54 PM):
He can show things like burning talking trees and power even today that seems awesome but what’s different
God... if there is a god would know that hes not a god if hes not present and has no witnesses
ME (7:56 PM):
whats the plan??? what leave us for 5,000 years then come back and destroy us because we never kept believing in him???
ME (7:57 PM):
how stupid is that, he'd know more than anyone that we are human, hes the one that gave us eyes, ears, nose these small pathetic sense that only sense a fraction of the universe around us... and he did this when he created us long before we had a chance to make the first mistake.. to choose knowledge over eden
ME (7:58 PM):
he gave us these senses to know when something’s close, far, or not here. Well my senses (and im not alone) are telling me that there is no presence of god here.
and i suppose its a "test"
because he gave us imagination
and the ability to have faith????
That’s a cruel test
and an evil God
ME (8:00 PM):
to torture his creations by giving us these inferior senses and to come back suddenly and judge us based on our shortcomings/handicaps compared to the almighty God..
thats like making someone a paraplegic and then asking them to make you a cup of coffee and it better be done before you get back form the shops!!?
FRIEND (8:02 PM):
I understand what you're getting at but truly, because I don't fully believe in religion, I don't have the prefer explanation for u, however, I can say this, IF I were to believe fully in a particular religion, I'm sure I would focus more on the virtuous teachings of that religion rather than questioning it at every point, for true faith is to believe even when not all questions are answered
do u no every answer to every question? of course u don't, yet I'm sure u are content to keep living regardless of these uncertainties because the void that these questions leave u with is not as great as the pleasure that life itself gives u
ME (8:09 PM):
Following someone or something to somewhere without a doubt or second thought?
It sounds like true faith already has a word to describe it mate – Submission.
Thankyou for reading through the debate sesh i had with a mate, please feel free to leave any comment constructive or otherwise.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Game: Need For Speed Undercover
As i write this dear reader I cannot begin to convey my satisfaction and frustration at one of EA’s latest titles Need For Speed Undercover.
The story line and cut scenes, actors ect are ok and the attention to detail on the cars graphics are nicely done but on the subject of graphics that’s as far as attention to detail goes as the environment looks out of step when compared to the car, I guess they compensate for that by simply blurring the background when your doing anything.
I think of on the developers said in an interview on the game before it was released that he had spent 6 years or something on the mechanics of the games specifically on the cars themselves, how they move about and react to certain things ect.
After a few days playing this game I can probably say that this guys either wasted 6 years of his life or EA as usual don’t allow time for proper bug tests and so on, id say a bit of both.
This game is fantastic don’t get me wrong, they’ve gotten rid of that shitty Battle Machine crap in Pro Street, brought back the cops, and added more ways to customize your car but at the same time, like they did with Most Wanted they took some customizability away, and when you win important races now you don’t get to actually keep the pink slips for yourself to do whatever you want, even sell the cars to get money… ohh o you just get a list of cars in the pink slip section to simple “add” to your garage and mod them.. but you cant sell the pink slip cars, even if you do them up!
There is something to be said about all this “make it real” crap in games, and that is that if you want to make a game “real” or as close to real life as possible you have to make the entire game as close to real life as possible, you cant just make the car and the player at a level which is confined by the “real life” design and then make the rest of the game with little to no limitations in regards to what it can do.
Strange Car Corner Behavior
Sometimes in races and this does happen often enough to notice, you would be taking a tight corner or a bouncy tight one and your car could jump gears and go spastic all the while sending your speed from as low as 60km then shooting it way up to 250km before you even leave the bloody corner, that’s 200 – 60 – 250 all in a second, and I have played a fare few car games in my time and to be honest I have never seen anything like it.
Civilian Traffic
When your coming head on to them seem to make an effort to not avoid you but to HIT you, of which im sure is a dirty cheap trick to “try” and make the game that much more exciting and probably harder, of course some people might argue that its to not only do the above but to test your reaction time... When your coming down a straight at 330 odd in a Shelby and there has to be at least 300m distance from you and this civilian car and only just before you pass it the civilian seems hell bent on swerving into you rather than avoid, hmm lets reflect on this for a second.
Lets say im in my Ford Focus, at the speed limit on a highway and I see a Shelby Mustang on the wrong side of the road traveling at speeds that my car can only dream of, would I:
A) Get the fuck out of its way or
B) Swerve madly into it
Minimap
In some areas of the city and country side you can hardly see where your going with the sun and tight corners ect and its hard enough with that going on and having a minimap that often than not you can hardly see or I should say make out.
All in all this game in reality whilst I like it enough to play it and on some occasion I have fun with; this game is just a mix of every NFS game before it, I mean I can easily see Underground, Most wanted, Carbon and probably saddest of all Pro Street, This further proves just how unoriginal EA are, and the Devlopers cant explore their imagination and creativity enough to make a unique NFS title, they have to cut, paste and molester other titles to create one before the deadline!
I feel sorry for the the guys who sit there pouring they’re talent into a game that’s not going to be appreciated as much as they would have liked all because they had a deadline to keep.
For the guys who make games I have to say that EA is a sinking ship, they’re quality is becoming stupid and laughable and pretty soon if not already is going to inspire more people to download EA games rather than buy them, and you the game dev might be thinking well screw them but please understand our positions, we go out buy a game for 70 – 100 bucks (AUS) and it is crap, we feel we’ve been ripped off and EA seems to improve upon this every year which is hardly an imporvment.
I understand EA want to win the war on piracy.. well they cant… switch it to consoles and i guarantee you the piracy sector will shift, its all about demand and if all the games are on console then consoles wont be a safe harbor for long now will it?
Make good quality games and you might actually encourage people to buy them rather than to download them, For years EA has kept cutting corners and setting deadlines all to meet that marked date on the calendar…
Ill be giving this game the flick however as im not enjoy it as much as I want to, it sometimes feels like work and when your nto having fun with a game its time to play something else. I might also mention that with my purchase of Pro Street of which was a disappointment, not only the game itself but the entire thing even graphics… it was all a waste of 80 bucks and with that fearing that id be ripped off again I simply downloaded NFS Undercover… and im glad I didn’t buy it.
For the record ill be buying Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Empire Total War, DOW2 and Battlestations Pacific, note that neither one of these titles has an EA affiliation.
…and im not the only one thinking like this.
Devs! Jump ship to Activision – Blizzard at least they give you ample time to let you have fun making fun.
The story line and cut scenes, actors ect are ok and the attention to detail on the cars graphics are nicely done but on the subject of graphics that’s as far as attention to detail goes as the environment looks out of step when compared to the car, I guess they compensate for that by simply blurring the background when your doing anything.
I think of on the developers said in an interview on the game before it was released that he had spent 6 years or something on the mechanics of the games specifically on the cars themselves, how they move about and react to certain things ect.
After a few days playing this game I can probably say that this guys either wasted 6 years of his life or EA as usual don’t allow time for proper bug tests and so on, id say a bit of both.
This game is fantastic don’t get me wrong, they’ve gotten rid of that shitty Battle Machine crap in Pro Street, brought back the cops, and added more ways to customize your car but at the same time, like they did with Most Wanted they took some customizability away, and when you win important races now you don’t get to actually keep the pink slips for yourself to do whatever you want, even sell the cars to get money… ohh o you just get a list of cars in the pink slip section to simple “add” to your garage and mod them.. but you cant sell the pink slip cars, even if you do them up!
There is something to be said about all this “make it real” crap in games, and that is that if you want to make a game “real” or as close to real life as possible you have to make the entire game as close to real life as possible, you cant just make the car and the player at a level which is confined by the “real life” design and then make the rest of the game with little to no limitations in regards to what it can do.
Strange Car Corner Behavior
Sometimes in races and this does happen often enough to notice, you would be taking a tight corner or a bouncy tight one and your car could jump gears and go spastic all the while sending your speed from as low as 60km then shooting it way up to 250km before you even leave the bloody corner, that’s 200 – 60 – 250 all in a second, and I have played a fare few car games in my time and to be honest I have never seen anything like it.
Civilian Traffic
When your coming head on to them seem to make an effort to not avoid you but to HIT you, of which im sure is a dirty cheap trick to “try” and make the game that much more exciting and probably harder, of course some people might argue that its to not only do the above but to test your reaction time... When your coming down a straight at 330 odd in a Shelby and there has to be at least 300m distance from you and this civilian car and only just before you pass it the civilian seems hell bent on swerving into you rather than avoid, hmm lets reflect on this for a second.
Lets say im in my Ford Focus, at the speed limit on a highway and I see a Shelby Mustang on the wrong side of the road traveling at speeds that my car can only dream of, would I:
A) Get the fuck out of its way or
B) Swerve madly into it
Minimap
In some areas of the city and country side you can hardly see where your going with the sun and tight corners ect and its hard enough with that going on and having a minimap that often than not you can hardly see or I should say make out.
All in all this game in reality whilst I like it enough to play it and on some occasion I have fun with; this game is just a mix of every NFS game before it, I mean I can easily see Underground, Most wanted, Carbon and probably saddest of all Pro Street, This further proves just how unoriginal EA are, and the Devlopers cant explore their imagination and creativity enough to make a unique NFS title, they have to cut, paste and molester other titles to create one before the deadline!
I feel sorry for the the guys who sit there pouring they’re talent into a game that’s not going to be appreciated as much as they would have liked all because they had a deadline to keep.
For the guys who make games I have to say that EA is a sinking ship, they’re quality is becoming stupid and laughable and pretty soon if not already is going to inspire more people to download EA games rather than buy them, and you the game dev might be thinking well screw them but please understand our positions, we go out buy a game for 70 – 100 bucks (AUS) and it is crap, we feel we’ve been ripped off and EA seems to improve upon this every year which is hardly an imporvment.
I understand EA want to win the war on piracy.. well they cant… switch it to consoles and i guarantee you the piracy sector will shift, its all about demand and if all the games are on console then consoles wont be a safe harbor for long now will it?
Make good quality games and you might actually encourage people to buy them rather than to download them, For years EA has kept cutting corners and setting deadlines all to meet that marked date on the calendar…
Ill be giving this game the flick however as im not enjoy it as much as I want to, it sometimes feels like work and when your nto having fun with a game its time to play something else. I might also mention that with my purchase of Pro Street of which was a disappointment, not only the game itself but the entire thing even graphics… it was all a waste of 80 bucks and with that fearing that id be ripped off again I simply downloaded NFS Undercover… and im glad I didn’t buy it.
For the record ill be buying Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Empire Total War, DOW2 and Battlestations Pacific, note that neither one of these titles has an EA affiliation.
…and im not the only one thinking like this.
Devs! Jump ship to Activision – Blizzard at least they give you ample time to let you have fun making fun.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Game: Left 4 Dead
Highly anticipated by me (and my mates) this game was to be the ultimate Co op pastime over Christmas, i personally own a few PC's which all have gfx cards and CPUs in them that can easily handle the current hardware requirement of todays games ect and Left 4 Dead was no exception.
I found the games pace to be as fast or as slow as you want it to be, except when you come face to face with a swarm of fast moving zombies then i guess your have to get into gear... dont misunderstand this is a good thing :)
The Graphics i have to say aren't the latest and greatest in my opinion but i found it to be pleasing enough not to notice any lacking of any kind, however aside from the graphics i have to say everything else about the game at its core really made me feel like things where more fluid and dynamic, even compared with todays latest FPS's and thats saying something.
The Weapons are a little bit meh but the random element in the game is something i like, i love-hate surprises!
Everything else about the game is fine i love the zombie crowding action and the level designs but its too bad that there is only an Online Co op element as we have had our hopes up for awhile about this game and its LAN Co Op and although there are workarounds to that, i feel that not so tech savvy people will just be disappointed and write it off.
All in all ill rate this a good 7.9
I found the games pace to be as fast or as slow as you want it to be, except when you come face to face with a swarm of fast moving zombies then i guess your have to get into gear... dont misunderstand this is a good thing :)
The Graphics i have to say aren't the latest and greatest in my opinion but i found it to be pleasing enough not to notice any lacking of any kind, however aside from the graphics i have to say everything else about the game at its core really made me feel like things where more fluid and dynamic, even compared with todays latest FPS's and thats saying something.
The Weapons are a little bit meh but the random element in the game is something i like, i love-hate surprises!
Everything else about the game is fine i love the zombie crowding action and the level designs but its too bad that there is only an Online Co op element as we have had our hopes up for awhile about this game and its LAN Co Op and although there are workarounds to that, i feel that not so tech savvy people will just be disappointed and write it off.
All in all ill rate this a good 7.9
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