The Blog Needs Some Motivation

We are sorely lacking people....just a personal inference on the blog's situation. Then again I guess I have more spare time than everyone else.

Saints Row: The Third MikeMelloD's Review and Series Synopsis

Ah, Saints Row: The Third. Nothing is better than killing hookers, dressed in a monkey mascot costume, setting innocent pedestrians ablaze from an over-stretched limo with four flamer thrower spouts as side mirrors (or if you got the pre-ordered edition you got the REAL Genki-Mobile). Saints Row brought the world of gaming a legitimate sand-box game that has culminated into a fantastic-MURDER TIME FUN TIME-surreal, gaming experience that any subtle, psychopathic, overly-imaginative, super-caffeinated, single/multi-player enthusiast, sexual-innuendo demagogue...you get the gist of it kind of player would love.

Dr. Genki knows best!

For most of you, Saints Row started off as you basic generic GTA with a kick. Instead of doing every mission at one time, Volition brought on the Respect System. Earning respect through side activities unlocked story missions. These side activities or as I liked to call them "Extra Murder Time" involved either killing someone on foot with a gun, killing someone in a car with a gun, killing someone on foot or in a car besides a gun, or killing someone in a good ole fashioned tussle. Earning respect gained you levels with more abilities. Aside from that, back to the history. You are a basic punk off the streets of Stillwater. 3 Gangs rule the city, you got the Vice Kings who run protection for most of the brothels and other small businesses and make up the 1st half of the 2 greater powers in Stillwater. The Westside Rollerz are the Asian-American and Caucasian speed freaks and finally the Los Carnales, the Hispanic drug cartel that makes up the other half of superiority in Stillwater (though they hold most of the influence). Like I said before you are picked off the streets by Julius who creates the 3rd Street Saints in response to the growing instability of the 3 gangs that are ruining the city. You take them all out and eventually you are betrayed and put into a coma (you killed Alderman Hughes and the mayor in a fiery explosion ;D) leading to Saints Row 2. You awake after from a 2 year coma and escape prison. You revive the saints and lead them to take on the new 3 gangs that have taken control in your absence. The Brotherhood are a bunch of hick metal heads that drive huge ass trucks, the Sons of Samedi are drug addicted hippies that sell most of the yayo in town, and the modern day Yakuza dubbed Ronin. Along with Gat as your right man you find new lieutenants to rebuild the saints. Shaundi, a modern hippie with dreads and a beanie who is always high, Carlos who helps you escape, and the enigmatic Pierce who is the whiny black bitch of the group. Together you slowly take back Stillwater, but a new threat emerges...ULTOR. In the first game Ultor was a basic clothing factory, but with some lucrative investments in R&D research and cheap labor...Ultor reigns supreme in the heart of Saints territory. Taking on Ultor in the end eventually the Saints incorporate them and fully control Stillwater.

Did I mention Tera Patrick was a DLC and became a homie you could call to help you? ^^^^^^^^^
ANyways, the Saints ruled supreme rising from a modest gang to help cleanse the city into a dominant crime organization at the top of the world....but your character's ego gets the best of him and this finally brings us to Saints Row: The Third :D

After a few years living in the spotlight, you lead Gat, Shaundi, and a pussy-bitch male actor named Josh Birk to a bank heist at a very luxurious bank. Everything is going smoothly until...Josh pulls a gun on a teller and in return the teller (which is an old, ugly ass lady) pulls on Josh and the other tellers follow her example and a fire-fight breaks out. Gat launches some poor slob into a statue (awesome-sauce).

(Yes Jonhnny Gat is wearing a mask of himself) Eventually you get busted (after a crazy gunfight with an attack helicopter and are captured by your new enemy over the new city...referred as 'Bangkok's abusive father by Shaundi' Steelport. The Syndicate is composed of 3 new gangs under one banner. In the airplane Phillipe Loren, head of the Syndicate. He personally leads the Morning Star who controls the prostitution rings in Steelport and is the largest gang. The other gangs are the Luchadores headed by Killbane a wrestling champion turned entrepreneur and cyper-punk nerds, called the Deckers, led by an English teenager named Matt Miller. The Luchadores are the muscle and the Deckers are the cyber-division that controls all sectors of businesss. Well Loren wants to be part of Stillwater and offers a shitty deal with the Saints. Well of course you, Shaundi (who is now a complete hotty and TV personality) and Gat say "Fuck off you French fuck...yada yada yada I'm Belgian...yada go make some fucking waffles..yada yada...[Loren draws a gun and Gat using his mighty Asian, ancestral powers, breaks loose and pummels the Belgian fucker.]) Now you and Shaundi escape from the plane and well......not to spoil the rest of the game.....

New Game Mechanics
The system for shooting has improved greatly from the previous games with a better cover system. Driving is a little easier (power slide is greatly pushed by Volition as car chases demand it). A whole new leveling system with perks that can be allocated to different styles and upgrades gives the game a RPG feel with each character being different than the other. Activities to increase respect (which coincides with leveling up perks) is still the same, with revamped activities from the second game. Helicopters are far more easier to maneuver along with bikes, ATV's, etc. Overall the new upgrades put the finishing touches on waht makes this the best game in terms of mechanics out of the entire series (DUH).

(Can someone say Escort...whoa, who stole Mike Tyson's tiger!?)


Multi-player and Co-Op
Fantastic....co-op was a must have and Volition delivered. The co-op transitioned smoothly and did very well. It's fucking good guys, get to it...DO IT TO IT.

Weapons and Customization
A new array of weapons, each upgradable to a final and more devastating final form, gives the Saints leader all he needs to take out an entire city of bad guys (or mascots). From an AK variant that leads to a box-drum and grenade launcher, to a .45 magnum pistol with extended clip and explosive rounds (probably the only thin you'll need when you can dual-wield), to the all mighty Penetrator.....

New clothing is decent, but the costumes is what takes the cake. Wanna run around naked with a censor looking like a Jap porno gone wild, DONE. Feeling like being a super hero wielding tripled-barrel shotgun, YOU GOT IT. And how can we forget...kneecappers baby! WOOT

Plot, Choices, and DLC
The plot is reminiscent of the other games: You fight 3 gangs and take control while following a pretty linear story with a twist...heart wrenching, mass murder, dildo smacking twists that make the linear story...not quite linear. Volition brings in event choices that determine future paths through the story (which only increases replay values besides the fact of creating new character with different voices {each with their own unique dialogue}) Anyway new characters are brought in to support the old and bring new spice to a already hot tamale. Even better, the DLC Volition has offered (I highly recommend Season Pass to get them free) continues beyond the story adding bit by bit to the game that takes hold of you inner gangbanger, rough-edged business persona. Flying pandas, bee-shooting guns, and alien fighters are just the beginning as Volition promises to bring a few more mission driven DLC along with weapon and clothing packs .

Final Thought
Saints Row: The Third is the best the series has to offer and brings to the table more raunchyness than a half eaten burrito left in the miceowave for a couple days because your roommate is a lazy sack of shit...ummm anyway, the game overall was explosive from the beginning to the end and brought some well needed comic relief (well the entire game was sort of a comic relief) throughout the game. Aside from the loading of terrain and often glitches that comes with the territory of of sandbox games, it is a great side step from the serious and moody GTA IV, bro infested Call of Duty 3/Battlefield 3 death zone, over-saturated RPG land, and the run in the mill Indie gaming. Saints Row: The Third is a fresh breath of new air in this new age of gaming to the extreme.

Graphics: 8/10
Story: 8/10
DLC: 10/10
Mechanics: 9/10
Multi-Player: 9/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Customization: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

(MURDER TIME FUN TIME!)

Human Goodness

SO! After having conversations with peeps around campus, I've begun to notice a trend among them, that I believe could be applied to the American (and probably human) population as a whole. When it comes to political philosophy, specifically modern, there are a ton of different groups that are bickering back and forth. One of the first is Hobbes, who said that in nature human life would be a constant war of everything against everything, and that because of this, we naturally want to form communities that provide a certain level of security in exchange for certain freedoms. Then there is Locke, who said that while there would be struggles among humans in nature, that it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as what Hobbes described.

When it comes to the world of today, there aren't many Hobbsian thinkers, philosophers generally go along with Locke's theory. My question to all of you is this. Do you really think that the more peaceful existence for humans is the more likely path? Or do you think that once it gets to the point where we need to fight and kill for survival, all of our higher levels of thinking (Morality, Ethics) will go out the window?

I bring this up, because as I've been watching the republican debates, and really just been getting more interested in national politics as a whole, it seems to me that there are far too many people out there who believe that everyone else is as naturally good as them. This is generally seen whenever people complain about too much government interference. Why doesn't wall street need big brother breathing down their neck? Because brokers will act responsibly on their own. Why does trickle down economics work? Because "job creators" will pass the money they make, down to their employees by giving them raises, better benefits etc.

Now, when you look at other aspects of the republican platform (no gun laws, no abortions, abstinence only sex ed) it becomes fairly obvious that people DON'T believe everyone else is as good as themselves. So why is it that people blindly swallow some inflammatory ideas (Obama is a socialist, also a muslim who hates all religion) but can't seem to apply that information to the rich? Why is it that we as a nation, truly want to believe that money makes people better (in a moral sense), when there is all the evidence in the world to suggest that the more money you have, the more opportunities you have to break the law, and the bigger the chances of you getting away with breaking the law?

Now, just in case we have a guest reader on the blog, or if one of you are conservative. While I definitely do not agree with most things the Republican party has to say, that is simply because I do not trust humans to do the right thing. Integrity is in short supply these days. At heart, I'm an anarchist, but I know deep down, that we can't live in peace with one another, without the threat of force should we break the law. At heart I believe the world would be better if there was less government control, but only if people could learn to live in peace with one another. So please don't take this as an attack against you. That is not what I am striving for. I just really want to know why it is you feel the way you do about the rich (job creators, whatever you want to call them)

There goes 4 years of Roleplaying history...(Pending)

About a month ago my external hard drive would not connect to my PC or anyone that I knew. I had a somewhat tech friend take a look and concluded it had to be the connection and not the overall device. Well I'm pretty pissed because there maybe a chance of all my information being corrupted. Well I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes because well...my campaign for this summer was gonna be EPIC...but if I lose all that information..well lets just say goodbye 4 years of roleplaying data and a ton of my movies and TV shows T_T

Thoughts Part II

What are your guys' thoughts on Social Security and Medicare (or the overall health-system)? I have general knowledge on both, just wondering where you all stand and how you feel about them. Personally, Social Security needs to be reformed or something else to take its place and the health0care system needs to be reformed as well. How to do it, I'm not sure yet, but you can bet that I'll be researching this over the course of this semester. Happy Valentines Day, eat some chocolate.

Views on the Palestinian-Israeli Affair

First off the P/I affair is a political/social/geographical failure in its own right. The drawing of lines after World War II displacing many of the Palestinians by European Jewish refugees.
1) Aftermath of World War II, hasty solution
Adding to my intro, after world war II, the displacement of the Palestinians because of the wave of Jewish refugees has ruined the cultural entrance all must go through in a foreign land. These fake borders has caused a lot of animosity and strife for the Palestinians that their hatred has contributed to the Revolution of Rising Expectations. This gives root to legitimacy to their influence over the youth.
2)Western Foreign Policy: Years and years of stagnation
I know you're well aware of the poor policies made in the middle east, specifically with the Gaza strip and such. Even worse, talks between the two leaders of Israel and the Palestinians have always ended in small-gains of peace and stability or a compromise that only helps Israel. AIPAC and other Jewish interest groups (other MNC contributors) have funded several "sponsored" trips for wealthy individuals, politicians, and other notable figures of power. Though the intentions of the trips are never revealed, it's somewhat conclusive of these interest groups' agenda for the powerful. Lets not forget all the media hype for "Support Israel" and the whole "Terrorist Psychology" of 9/11, it has shifted our policy to support Israel for an even lucrative purpose...not just oil but a route to Tehran.

Speculation of Encirclement of Syria and Lebanon isn't too far fetched as these past events have all involved the I/P affair. What I am actually saying is that Washington and the EU have (mostly America) have planned out a route to Tehran (since the Embassy crisis). Why Tehran? Well world war III, that's why. The US are placing troops and military bases back in the south pacific to contain the influence of China and North Korea (South Chin Sea oil). With Iraq taken care of, the US and EU won't have to worry about their rears from a wild dictator. Afghanistan is a crucial area as it is a link between China, Russia, and Iran (China and Russia encompass most of Iran's oil export). But the fight is getting thick and harder for America. Now the EU has placed oil sanctions on Iran which means the EU will be going to war soon.

Going back to Syria and Lebanon, the I/P affair is a terrible political sacrifice with the notion of a strong military foothold in the middle east, along with Iraq and Afghanistan. Now Syria has to bleed and Lebanon has to retaliate for their neighbors creation of chaos, if a US/NATO force could squeeze a through a narrow corridor straight to Damascus and then Tehran. This brings Turkey into play (committing the most troops to the UN peace keeping forces around the world and is a growing power (not to mention Obama has done a decent job with relations with Turkey) and will launch their attack with the support of more NATO/UN forces in the Mediterranean. Then yada yada world war III and so on...

The I/A affair is a sad policy and geographical error that should not have happened. But the ancient ties of the land and the people are so integrated (control of the city, border disputes, Palestinian sovereignty, etc.) But that's just 3/4's the cake I'll have to say about that haha

Please comment and annotate, whatever, just edit haha

I'll be posting some of my philosophical ideas/interpretations. Nothing too in depth or awe inspiring, just some key philosophical perceptions that are affecting and/or will affect our race and future. Sorry, I know this blog is mainly used to connect with one another (or attempt), but the majority of us are good writers and intellectual people and I know you guys could really help me on this.
Thanks and Cheers!