Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 3

The day Modern Warfare 3 came out, my brother went to the midnight release. For the next 3 days, he played it as often as possible. This is easily the most fun-filled (funnest isn't a word?) games in the Call of Duty franchise. It gets rid of most of the stupid frustrating things from the last Modern Warfare and Black Ops. The Kill Streaks are better balanced, and aren't entirely game-breaking this time (chopper gunner and the nuke). Well, there's still osprey gunner, but its not used as much. It actually shows you how many kills you are into you're current streak, so you don't have to keep track yourself. Its very convenient, and its about time they added it to the series.

 I also like the fact that there's support kill streaks now, so it continues to add kills to the streak even after you've died. Some of them are useful, but some like ballistic vest are entirely useless. You last one extra second against gunfire, and then you're dead. My favourite is Juggernaut, which basically makes you invincible and gives you a riot shield. Its so much fun to just around absorbing gunfire as the other team panics and tries to figure out how to kill you, as your own team guns them down.

However, most of the time I just you use the regular "strike" package. Since I suck horribly at this game, and can't stay alive for more than a minute, I use the smallest possible streaks. I also use Hardline, since it means I need one less kill per streak. I use UAV, Care Package and Predator Missile, which are 2, 3 and 4 kills respectively. If I have a good game, it means I'm constantly getting UAVs which really makes the game easier. I also like that it cycles through after 4 kills, so if I get another 2 kills I get another UAV. I don't have to die to get more rewards!

My favourite class is one that uses any SMG, although I really like the PP90M1since it has the fastest firing rate ever. Squeeze the trigger and whatever is in front of you dies in a hail of bullets. I use it with:

a Stinger ( Helicopters are annoying)
Sleight of Hand Pro (reloading just takes fooooorever without it)
Hardline Pro ( because I suck)
Steady Aim ( Spray N' Pray is the best. I also don't have the reflexes to do anything but pull the trigger)

This class was specifically designed for my play style of not actually being good at this game. Reloading after every kill is a habit I've picked up from other games, and without sleight of hand its ridiculously slow and tedious. Also due to Halo, instead of looking down my sights, I just fire in their general direction. The kills are still so satisfying.

The Campaign is nothing to write home about. After playing it once, I haven't had the urge to go back to it, which should speak for itself. Its so average. I also don't get shiny numbers popping up every time I do anything, which just isn't as satisfying. If I'm not constantly getting rewarded for something simple, I get so bored of it in this game. I do like the survival mode though. Reminds me of Horde on Gears of War and Firefight in Halo.

Dexter

I'm really enjoying the 6th season of Dexter. I just watched the sixth episode of this season. While the entire show has always been top notch, Season six is a real improvement so far over the weird and bad fifth season. While it’s still not as good as seasons 1, 2 and 4, I'm still enjoying it. Its back to having one central villain, instead of the whole rape and murder conspiracy thing with multiple people it had going. While the killer hasn't actually contributed much to Dexter's current story arc with Brother Sam, they're clearly building something up. I think he'll matter more in the next half of the season. I can't wait to see how the rest of the season turns out.

This season also doesn’t have Lumen to be an unlikeable replacement.  She didn’t really have anything that made her stand out, and unlike everyone else who’s ever had an important role on the show, she didn’t really have an effect on Dexter’s character. All other villains/friends in Dexter have had call-backs to their plots. So far Lumen hasn’t made a difference. She was so pointless.

I really like the way Quinn is turning out this season. It’s nice to see his slow mental breakdown as he screws his life up. He can’t do anything right this season. His life is slowly collapsing around him, and he doesn’t seem to realize. I’m betting he’ll get fired for being a complete douche and ruining some investigation. I’m surprised he hasn’t already. Considering I’ve never really liked him, I’m enjoying it.

Immanuel Kant

Instead of playing video games or something productive, I did a school project on Immanuel Kant, a 18th century philosopher who lived in Prussia, or modern day Germany. Here's my rough draft.

Categorical Imperative

The idea that something is only moral if you would be fine with it being a universal.

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law. - Immanuel Kant

i.e.  You don’t have any money and approach a friend for help. He agrees to give you a loan if you repay it in a week. You know you can’t repay it in a week, but consider lying in order to get the loan.

Kant says that you should imagine a world where everyone lies in order to receive loans. Everyone in this world would not trust each other enough to loan money. So, lying to receive money is morally bad.

Another part is that consequences do not matter in determining morality, only intentions.

Two drunk drivers go home one night. One hits and kills a person, while the other doesn’t. Both are still wrong to do so, even though one didn’t hit and kill anyone.

If you donate food to a charity in order to help orphans, it doesn’t matter if they all later die of poisoning because the food was bad. Your intentions were good, so you are morally correct.

This is the most important idea because it changed the way philosophers thought about morality. Before, everyone was much more utilitarian, saying murder is wrong because it doesn’t help the greater good. Kant argued it was flawed, since it didn’t address people who did things to maximise their own personal gain.  

Opinion

I’m in agreement with Kant about morality. If everyone followed Kantian ethics, then the world would be a better place.  Kant doesn’t believe that you act in order to create happiness. You act out of a universal duty.  It is wrong to exploit the few for the benefit of the many. I also liked that his morality is based off a logical system, which by definition doesn’t allow for any conditions. Its either Universal or its not.               

Pokemon FireRed

I found a copy of Pokemon FireRed in my house, and luckily it only had a game that had just started saved on it. So I've decided to erase that and start a brand new game so I can transfer all the first generation Pokemon I want and need over to my White. The problem is, you can only transfer Pokemon over after the sixth gym, which is a bit less then three quarters of the way into the game (depending on if you count stuff that's after the Elite 4, and all those Team Rocket Shenanigans). So, depending on if I can find a link cable, I'll need to play through the game to that point at least 3 times so I can get each starter. Which would be quite time consuming. I hope i can trade using the DS wireless trading thing, that'd make it so much simpler.

Pokemon

Today, I started playing Pokemon again. I played my copy of Pokemon White.  It really is a fun game. The only problem is, you just run out of things to do after you beat the Elite 4. I could level up my team to level 100, except there wouldn't really be a point to that. Who would I fight with them? The Elite 4 again? If you're playing Pokemon, you need to have friends who play it too, otherwise you'll get bored of it after a week. At least with friends you can battle each other, or trade Pokemon to complete the pokedex. battling with friends really adds value to the game, since you can actually test your skills against someone who isn't a computer. the battles get a lot more intense.

The problem in White and Black is that the Pokemon are all automatically put to level 50. So, once you get them to their top evolution and all the moves you want them to learn, there's really no point in levelling them up further. At least its balanced that way.

My favourite team to use against friends:

Emboar               Haxorus               Snorlax        

-Scald                       -Sword Dance            -Crunch  

-Sunny Day           -Earthquake                  -Curse       

-Flamethrower    -Dragon Claw             -Body Slam   

-Brick Breaker     -Dragon Dance            -Rest    


Metagross          Tyrannitar           Gigalith
-Meteor Mash      -Crunch                       -Rockslide
-Agility                    -Rockslide                   -Earthquake
-Zen Headbutt     -thunderbolt               -Stealth Rock
-Earthquake        -Earthquake                -Stone Edge

 
I'm not really sure why four of them know Earthquake. It seems redundant. I'm sure it made sense at the time I gave them those moves. The real heart of the team is Haxorus. If he gets a Sword Dance off, he can usually one shot everything with Dragon Claw. He has a really high Speed too, so no one ever gets to attack before him. He can usually take out half of their team before they find some way to counter him. I think this was the team that was capable of resisting every single type, but I don't really remember at this point.