Binder

Call of Duty v. Battlefield: By The Numbers

2011-08-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

As you all know, the two biggest names in FPS franchises are both releasing a brand new, revolutionary game to the world in the next upcoming months. Battlefield hits the shelves on October 25th, while November 8th for Call of Duty. They will both be available for $60 on console. These games will ultimately compete for total sales, because more total sales means more moooolah baby. Isn't that the point in selling a product? There are many things that go into how a game sells. Now these aren't any ground rules, but the first factor is of course the game. If the game is bad, it gets taken back to the store. If the game is good, then it receives media coverage, experts recommend it, friends push friends to get it. That brings us to factor number 2. People buy games to play with their friends, whether it be on splitscreen or with your online buddies. The third factor is brand cliche. Think about it in car terms, why do so many people buy Hondas? Well, because Honda has proven itself for decades to be one of the most reliable and cost efficient car brands in the world. Would you take a gamble on a game from a new developer, or buy one from one you've enjoyed in the past?

Call of Duty's most recent games have sold more exponentially, but Battlefield has had some blockbuster games, like Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.

Here are some numbers:

NBA lockout..

2011-08-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

Whats with this NBA lockout for next year? Is it just the not-so famous teams complaining that they don't have enough fans and money. Like seriously if they wanted more fans and money wouldn't they just try and become better?

Heres an article:

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/06/30/aschburner-lockout/index.html

Terraria

2011-06-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

I been currently playing this game on steam. It is currently $10.00. It is Minecraft combined with Maplestory.
I was playing with my friend the other day it was really fun. Time passed very quickly. I really enjoy playing with friends but it is not very fun playing by mine self. Overall it is a great game and is worth the buy.

Crabs

2011-05-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

there are many different types of crab i recently cooked at home a mud crab and i think a blue swimmer crab. the swimmer crab has small claws unlike the mud crab which has big claws. I prefered the mud because it had juicer meat and had more :P.

From Dust - game

2011-04-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

This game look really good and interest me. You like play the creator and mold the surroundings to help your villagers to the exit. the Graphics look really really good.

Here is a couple of site:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/03/from-dust-still-looks-out-of-this-world

http://www.fromdustgame.com/

Swallowing pills

2011-04-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well I for some weird reason haven't been able to ever swallow a pill. I know it sounds weird i just can't. So i just like mash the pill with a spoon until it dust I then put it in my mouth and it taste like really bad medicine.

Any tips on swallowing drugs?

Black ops Call of Duty

2011-04-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

Well i recently been play black ops zombies with by friends it been fun voice chatting and shouting when the zombies swamp you from behind. There is one thing i don't like about black ops zombies is that it is like impossible to "finish" unlike left for dead 2 it lacks a goal to finish or get to the end.

Black ops Multiplayer is not fun if you don't play with some RL friends. I play with my friends clan they are always online and are pretty good it is fun to play with them. Multi player isn't the best because the weapons and everything else looks pretty ugly and stuff. i personally use ak47/commando with ghost, slight of hand pro and hacker pro i am not very good at this game though.

Black ops single player had good graphics it was a fun to play through 1 time but i am not playing to play it again though.

Summary: Black ops is a good addition to my collection of games and is quite fun :)

PS3 vs XBOX360

2011-04-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone at school seems to argue about which one is better and stuff, like the games, hardware, online, stuff like that.

These are some specs

Console		hacks and cheats
Release Date	November 2005	Spring 2006
Backwards Compatibility	Most Xbox games	All PS2 and PSone games
CPU - Main Processor	Custom IBM PowerPC CPU with 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each	Cell Processor with 7 SPEs, at 3.2 GHz
L2 Cache	1 MB	512 KB + 256 KB per SPE (7 SPE’s in the PS3)
GPU - Graphics Processor	Custom ATI Processor, at 500 MHz	Custom NVidia Processor calledRSX “Reality Synthesizer”, at 550 MHz
Memory	512 MB UMA (shared access for CPU and GPU), 10MB eDRAM embedded video memory	256 MB XDR, 256 MB video memory
System Performance	1 TeraFlops	2 TeraFlops
Controllers	Wireless, 2.4 GHz technology, up to 4 wireless controllers	Wireless, Bluetooth technology, up to wireless 7 controllers - extra controllers via 4 front USB ports
Game Media	Dual-Layer DVD-ROM, up to 17 GB of data	Blu-ray BD-ROM, up to 54 GB of data
Video Output Resolution	480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i	480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, two outputs for two separate displays simultaneously
Wireless connectivity	802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi-ready (needs extra adapter)	802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0
I/O ports	3 USB 2.0, Ethernet (RJ45)	6 USB 2.0, Ethernet (RJ45), CF Slot (Type I, II), SD Slot (Regular, Compact), Memory Stick (+Duo), Optical Audio
Removable Storage Media	20 GB Removable Hard Drive, 2 ports for 64 MB memory cards	2.5″ Removable Hard Drive (storage space unknown - possibly varying)
Digital Media Formats	CR-ROM, CDR+W, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R	CD, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
Special features	Interchangable Face Plates, Xbox LIVE, Media Center Extender, Eye-Toy like camera for video chat	Improved Eye-Toy camera available

Summary: its all about peoples opinion I personally have a PS3 but i also want a Xbox because of some games but prefer not to pay monthly.

Lakers coaches looking for maximum effort in Game 3 against New Orleans

2011-04-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

Assistant coach Jim Cleamons says the Lakers must play hard, defend against the pick-and-roll and Hornets guard Chris Paul, and pound the ball inside to big men Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

Reporting from New Orleans — The biggest adjustmentLakers assistant coach Jim Cleamons wants from his players in Game 3 against the New Orleans Hornets is basically the same thing the coaching staff has been pleading for all season.

They want the Lakers to give a maximum effort at all times, figuring the rest will take care of itself as the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Hornets continues Friday night at New Orleans Arena.

Cleamons, who is in charge of the team's game plan against the Hornets for this series, said it took an energized effort by the Lakers to win Game 2 to tie the series at 1-1.

It wasn't a pretty game and, Cleamons said, it may not be pretty the rest of the way.

"Now the chess match is in play," Cleamons said. "We have to realize this is going to be a long series, an extended series, obviously. We need to take care of our business each time."

Cleamons broke down a few things he'd like to see the Lakers accomplish in Game 3 for them to have an opportunity to win.

Play hard

Cleamons said he's not sure whether the Lakers' energy can get any better than it was in Game 2.

"So that means we have to sustain it in Game 3," Cleamons said. "We have to sustain our level of play the rest of this series, and I think that will help determine our destiny for this year."

Now that the playoffs are here, Cleamons said the Lakers have to give their all.

Pick-and-roll and Chris Paul

Cleamons said the Lakers still have to figure out a way to "put up our shield" against the Hornets' pick-and-roll plays orchestrated by All-Star point guard Chris Paul.

As in Game 2, expect a rotation of Lakers taking their turns defending Paul, including Kobe Bryant,Derek Fisher, Steve Blake and perhaps even Ron Artest. The Lakers also want to push Paul even farther out on the court before he starts the Hornets' offense.

"The [Hornets] are going to see what their advantage is, and Chris with the ball in his hands is an advantage," Cleamons said.

Think big on offense

The Lakers have a size advantage over the Hornets' rotation players, so Cleamons wants his team to keep pounding the ball inside to their 7-footers Andrew bynum and Pau Gasol, and to Lamar Odom, who is 6 feet 10.

That plan worked better in Game 2 as the Lakers outscored the Hornets, 50-32, in the paint.

"If we want to take advantage of our bigs," Cleamons said, "then we've got to find a way to get our bigs the ball so they can be more effective."

With new TV deal, Lakers are taking the little guy out of the picture

2011-02-16T00:42:00.000-08:00

Starting with the 2012-13 NBA season, the team's games apparently will no longer be available on free TV. Think only a small number of viewers will be disenfranchised? Think again — try 1.6 million.

Slowly, forcefully, chillingly, like Ron Artest leaning on Paul Pierce in the paint, the Lakers have been pushing their average fans into irrelevance.

First, they nudged them from Staples Center courtside. Then they dragged them out of the lower level. Soon, even the price of nosebleed seats required the opening of a vein, and the heart of Laker Nation was dumped into the street.

Well, the thinking was, at least they can still watch them for free on television.

Not so fast, as the long, cold arms of the Lakers are now preparing to shove their average fans out of their own homes.

In striking a 20-year agreement with Time Warner Cable that begins in 2012, the Lakers are removing themselves from free TV for all but the occasional national network telecasts, a stunning move by a team whose popularity was built by the of sort of grass-roots fans on whom they are pulling the plug.

Beginning in 2012, only those rare Lakers games found onABC will be free, as most of the schedule will be accessible only through a pay-TV service — cable or satellite providers such as Time Warner, DirecTV, Charter and Cox. For the several million in town who have such services, this will probably mean a small monthly increase in their bill, but it shouldn't dramatically change their viewing habits.

But did you know that about 620,000 homes in this area do not have a pay-TV service? Based on the 2000 U.S. census average of 2.59 people per household, that's roughly 1.6 million people, or a city roughly the size of Phoenix, and imagine if none of those people could ever watch the Suns on television? How long do you think the Suns would continue to exist?

The Lakers have no such worries, apparently, viewing a mere 1.6 million people as no more important than a scratch onLamar Odom's head.

"They became the Los Angeles Lakers on the backs of average Los Angeles fans who loyally built their brand," said Steve Fisher. "Now they've forgotten about Los Angeles and become the Time-Warner Lakers."

Fisher, a middle-aged Montrose marketing executive, does not have cable television, preferring instead to work with a roof antenna, Netflix, and about a $75-a-month savings.

He has enjoyed watching the Lakers this season on Channel 9 — the free channel will show 41 games — and in a couple of other games on national network television. He is able to follow the team and talk about the team without having to spend the big money to actually watch the team in person, which is not only good for his wallet, but good for that Lakers brand.

And in less than two seasons, his home team will voluntarily become dead to him.

"I don't know how you continue to build a brand by continuing to eliminate your audience," Fisher said. "What does it mean for a team to be part of a city? Can that team really lock out anyone in that city that doesn't want to pay to watch any kind of game?"

These are all questions I needed to ask Tim Harris, the Lakers' senior vice president of business operations and chief marketing officer. In the past, he's been viewed as a community-minded guy and is usually very accessible, but on Tuesday he wasn't available, so spokesman John Black emerged to take the heat.

Under the new deal, are there any plans to make any games available on free TV?

"No plans," said Black. "But we fully expect Time Warner to come up with a distribution plan to make our games available to the largest number of people."

But how can you ignore 1.6 million people?

"As technology changes the world, the number of people who only have over-the-air television is getting smaller and smaller," Black said. ''We have to look at the big picture, and how that one disadvantage is being outweighed by other advantages."

Black argued that the Lakers are one of the last teams to have a significant number of games on free TV, and, indeed, several other NBA teams have already eliminated free TV.

"In a lot of ways, we're a dinosaur," he said.

Yeah, but they're also the Lakers, a professional team as closely tied to a community as any team outside of Green Bay, Wis. Is it really worth it to exclude a sizeable portion of that community simply because their interest is no longer profitable?

"It's a bad move if the Lakers don't put at least some of their games on free TV," said Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based Sportscorp Limited consultant group. "Basketball games on free TV can be looked at as a free three-hour commercial. To ignore that opportunity is to make a big mistake."

Ganis, noting that even the super-rich New York Yankees show a spate of games on free TV, said the Lakers need to air about a dozen marquee games per season on free TV to keep the average fan interested.

"If you cut it down to zero, you are hurting the brand," he said. "I don't blame the Lakers for making the deal, but they are shortsighted if it doesn't include some free TV, and teams like that will invariably pay a price."

Oh, yeah, speaking of price, this deal could be worth as much as $3 billion to the Lakers, and good for them, as it will allow the continued building of championships that can be shared by folks throughout the Los Angeles community.

Well, all but about 1.6 million of them.

Manchester City held to goalless draw in Greece

2011-02-15T21:54:00.001-08:00

City had the lion's share of the game but Salonika's defence held meaning Roberto Mancini's side must finish the job in the return leg.

New signing from Wolfsburg Edin Dzeko might have struck first blood before the break but he could not convert from Aleksandar Kolarov's low cross, the Bosnian's header well saved by home keeper Michalis Sifakis.

Mario Balotelli, on as a late substitute, then sent an overhead kick wide in the closing stages as the Greek side's record of never having lost in 24 European matches at its Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium remained intact.

Even so, the history books show that previous English visitors Chelsea and Ipswich were similarly unable to score a success at the venue - but then landed the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970 and the Uefa Cup in 1981 respectively.

Nike Controversy

2011-02-15T21:51:00.001-08:00

Nike has long been known for their commercials, and the new Tiger Woods Nike commercial is no exception. Unlike almost every other commercial that has come out the Nike/Woods marriage, or either of those participants, this new Nike Tiger Woods commercial has generated a mixed bag of reactions. Some even say it goes beyond controversial because it was made for the wrong reasons, but who is to know for sure?

For those who haven’t seen the commercial, it appears mundane at first as it is a straight ahead shot of Tiger Woods from the chest up. The expression on his face is a sullen mix of anguish, shame, and maybe a hint of remorse. Adding to that dark vibe is that the commercial was shot in black and white. There is no fist pumping Tiger Woods in his red shirt, no smiles, just pain.

A voice enters, and lo and behold it is the voice of Earl Woods, Tiger’s late father. The message it conveys is something important he must heed:

“Tiger, I am prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. Did you learn anything?”

Did Tiger learn anything?

Some people see this as a way of conveying the universally felt concern a father has for his son whenever they are faced with overwhelming issues that could change the course of their life. Then there is of course another camp that believes that Woods is using the spot to buy sympathy for himself and not have to open his mouth to get it. Some have even gone so far he is using the ad to capitalize on his infidelity and make a few bucks. While things are getting better for Tiger Woods to some degree, corporate sponsors aren’t exactly fighting with each other in heated bidding wars to win his endorsement right now.

There is still another theory that Nike perhaps pressured Woods to do this commercial as rebuilding his image in the eyes of the public improves their bottom line financially. It is no secret that Nike has made a lot of money from their business relationship with Tiger Woods and basically centered their entire line of golf products around him. While the general public may never know if that is true or just rumor gone wild, it wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened, so it is a legitimate possibility.

Whatever the reasons for the ad are, or how people feel about the words of the late Earl Woods being played in the 30 second clip, it is for each person to decide what they feel about it. Is this a genuine Tiger Woods reaching out, or is it just business as usual playing the only logical angle to get his face and name back on the TV screen with a pair of Nike logos on display?

No matter what anyone takes from the Tiger Woods Nike commercial, people are talking about. Whether they like it or dislike they are tracking it down on Youtube, searching for answers as to why this particular type of ad was made, and wondering at least a little bit if maybe it is time to forgive and move on. Personally. I’d like to believe this is the final chapter and Tiger can go back to golf and his life, and the rest of us can let him do just that keeping in mind he’s human and that humans will always make mistakes.