Media Meditation #4 Super Tony Hawk Racer

Hey gang I’m back this time to rate 3 more games for the worlds greatest videogame system, N64. These next 3 are actually some of my favorites. But first how about an old n64 commercial?

I put this in because while I was writing this I realized I don’t remember seeing any N64 commercials back in the day. But apparently there were. Anyway lets move on.

First I’ll start out with probably the most popular N64 game ever. Super Smash Brothers is possibly the most well know type of game. The game is now in its third part (Super Smash Brothers Brawl) released for the Wii, but back to the N64 version. This game is fun. It’s probably the best game to play with a group of friends. The game also has a story mode in which you have to pick a character too fight off all of the other characters. The games graphics don’t show off much but are very well done. I’d give it a 9/10. The music for the game gets a 10/10. Not because it’s the a collection of the greatest songs but because the songs do their job by adding interesting music while you and your friends brawl it out. As for fun the game obviously gets a 10/10. Final verdict is a 29/30, you should really play this game if you never have.

The next game is Tony Hawk Pro Skater (I realize that the image is for Play Station but I couldn't find much else.)

This is probably my favorite N64 game. It’s a game that allows you to skateboard around different levels that range from a skate park to area 51.The game also allows you to pull of moves that take lifetimes to learn and your character does it like they were born to. But onto the rating, first off the graphics in this game are pretty bad, I know a weird thing to say about my favorite game, I’d say they’re about a 6/10 because it’s hard to tell what everything is. Also just about every characters face is the same, even the girls. As for music it’s a hands down 10/10. This game has some really good and classic songs. I mean there are actually only about 10 songs in the game but they are all great. As for fun of course I’m going to give my favorite game a 10/10. So it’s a 26/30. This means you may not like it but you should still try it in my opinion, you just may love it too.

The last game I’m going to rate today is Star Wars Pod Racing. It’s a game by the popular Star Wars franchise in which you are a racer from Star Wars Episode 1. You get behind the controls of the crazy racing machines also known as Pod Racers. This is a real fast paced race that anyone who likes speed should play. Now for the game’s rating. The graphics in this game are about as good as Tony Hawk, and for the same reasons, you cannot tell what things are (this becomes a big problem in the game because you constantly crash into things you don’t see until the last second) 6/10. The music is also pretty bad. Sure it’s got the Classic Star Wars music but it also has a lot of, well, crap. It can’t be said any other way, the music just sucks, and it does nothing to benefit the game. 3/10. Thankfully the game is a lot of fun. This is another I would play with friends not only to see who’s better but because when you get to see if you can ram the other person off the track. Overall rating 19/30. You won’t be able to stand it for long but it will provide some fun.

All Images were found at each games Wikipedia page.

Waste of an Activity

Paranormal Activity may be one of my least favorite movies.

For my third media meditation I will be talking about a movie I just watched recently. The other night some people stopped by and asked if we wanted to watch a movie. We all agreed and somebody decided they wanted to watch a scary movie. We ended up with Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity is a movie about a couple that is trying to capture, you guessed it, paranormal activity on a camera. The movie is shot in a very interesting way. The camera the couple is using is the only point of view we get for the whole movie. I find this so interesting because it almost adds a sense of helplessness to the movie because you literally can only sit and watch, as compared to other movies where you feel like you’re moving around a bit more. That said that’s about all this movie had going for it. For starters it’s a suspense movie…that’s it. I don’t mind a scary movie that has suspense, in fact I love those movies, but Paranormal activity is just suspense. I mean you sit there for two hours of suspense watching this movie, waiting for there to be a couple seconds of something happening, followed by the credits.

Photo Found Here

Also the parts that aren’t suspenseful are the same thing over and over again. Here is who the characters are: Guy, he is happy to have camera and thinks what’s going on is cool. Girl doesn’t like what’s going on and doesn’t thinks it cool, also she hates guy’s camera. I mean come on if I went to the theaters and saw this I would be pissed that it was just wasted time.. Now also to be fair I realize that seeing it in theaters where people are screaming adds a bit of fun to it but I really don’t know if it would have been enough for me. So as a test I’m actually going to go see paranormal activity 2 with some friends once we all have enough money. I just hope that this one isn’t as bad.

The 2nd movie's trailer.

Midterm For Peter

1. The biggest most important thing I personally have learned from our class is that the media is such a big and influential part of our lives today we need to know how it works. This means that by studying our media we are educating ourselves to tell sense from nonsense. We learn to understand how our media goes about working, so in turn we know what’s going on with the world and we are not fooled by anything that may be falsely presented to us via our media.
2. Critical Reader- I feel I have learned to read a bit more into my readings now. I want to know the why behind the writing now, and I actually try to use the power tools to figure it out. Critical Writer- As a writer I’ve definitely gotten better. Having to write blogs all of the time has actually forced me to become better. Critical Thinker- As a thinker I try now to think of how people are affected by medias differently. For example the Reel Bad Arabs is one of the things that really made me think.
3. I probably would have studied my power tools a little harder in the beginning because I had some trouble later on because I didn’t know them as well as I though I did.
4. I would actually like it if you had us bring in examples of media that is controversial because I feel that this way people are fully interested in their topic while at the same time people can share / debate their point of view.
5. The power tools are very helpful because we use them in class all of the time. Plus they can be used to break down just about any form of media to figure out what the real purpose of it is. The course blog is also useful because it got me involved with blogging while learning about our media. Also very helpful for funding homework. The personal blog is useful because it allows us to expand our own styles of blogging and conveying ideas we have. The quizzes are good because they reinforces the power tools for me and also are a nice way to keep your grade up. As for the films and books they are a good way of providing real world examples. Also a nice change of pace.

A link to Reel Bad Arabs a movie I found interesting in class.

Camp Champ Radio Spot: Why to come to Champlain!

20 Reasons to Come to Champlain

1-Audeamus

2-Champlain makes you awesome

3-Champlain is sexy

4-Ranked a top tier college by U.S. News

5-Lots of free t-shirts

6-Everyone is applying here

7-We have a smaller campus than UVM

8-UVM is overrated

9-UVM spent money on anti drinking campaigns; we used it to expand living space.

10-UVM has business, but we have BYOBiz

11-You probably learned to ski here

12-Come to Champlain and gain superior knowledge

13-Why wouldn’t you want to come to Champlain?

14- We have over 75 student clubs

15-We have the dirtiest hippies around

16-You could graduate with a job

17-Gov. Dubie speaks on behalf of Champlain

18-We are the Beavers

19- We’re the nicest people in the world

20- Either come to Champlain or don’t go to college.

Nintendo 64 Life!

Recently my roommates and me received a Nintendo 64 with 3 games. After calming down with our dignities mostly intact we started to play. It was life changing. We were all teleported back to our childhood, which was also N64’s heyday. So I figured I’d write almost a review on the 3 games we have been playing for a while now.

Picture Provided By Wiki Link Below

The first game is Rush 2. It’s a racing game that lacks any reason. You can go off a ramp at 60, do 20 front flips land and be fine. So far this has been our favorite game. Because of the N64’s Simplicity the game itself is addicting. As far as graphics go id’ give it an 8 (out of 10). They’re not bad and you know what’s going on. The games music I would give a 10. Yes, there is just something about the poly tones of Rush 2 that get me and my roommates excited every time. As for fun level I give it a 9. Yes I know I said it’s our favorite game, but come on we only have 3 and this one is only really fun if you play with others. Overall Rating: 27/30 (Very Good Game)

Picture Provided By Wiki Link Below

The second game on our list is Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. This is a power player. This game is one of the most well know and most respected in the gaming community still to this day. AS for graphics I give it a 10. These are amazing graphics for the time of N64. Beautiful landscapes and textures were the best of its time back in the day. As for sounds it’s also a 10 the game is based around a little ocarina that you play to use magic and unlock puzzles. Why this is so cool is because you are only given 4 notes to play but the game designers made like about 20 really good songs using just those notes in different orders and at different tempos. Ok lastly fun level. This sadly is a 9, thus robbing it of a perfect score. It’s a 9 because although the game Is fun it can seem repetitive and it can get a little frustrating at times. Overall Rating: 29/30 (Must Play)

Picture Provided By Wiki Link Below

The final game on our list is 007 Goldeneye. You play as James Bond. This game is also very respected in the gaming community because it really set up how shooting games would be played from then on out. AS for graphics it’s a 9. They are very good for the time and there is a lot of detail put into the characters for the time it was made. Sounds is an 7, the classic James Bond music gets old after a short time and so does all the gunshots. But as for fun ill give it a 10. Yes, I know its not our favorite game but still it’s the best to play. This is because it actually has a really well organized story that takes you from jumping off dams to the jungles of Cuba to the frozen world of Siberia. Overall Rating: 26 (Try it out if you can!)

Well that’s all for now I hope you all enjoyed my first blog post about videogames. And feel free to post any questions or if you just want to come over and play some time.

Stumbling Around

This is a post about an amazing websites and here is just a taste of the crazy places it takes you.

Video bleongs to youtube user Inspired Bicycles

A while back my brother was kind enough to send me a link. Little did I know this link would occupy hours of my life. The link led to a site called Stumble Upon (Link provided at bottom). Now this is a very special site, it is the ultimate convergence of websites. It takes you to some of the best sites on the Internet. It starts with you creating an account and checking off boxes of interests, things that range from photography, to games, cooking, movies, and so on, I select everything. Then the stumble bar loads. This is your guide on your quest to find the most amazing websites according to your previously selected interests, this is why I selected everything because you can find so many different and amazing things that stumble has to show you. Here are just some of my favorites.

A Sad Reality.

Amazing Photo Study.

Altered Painting.

Photo Found Here

Stumble is also a very cool site in my opinion because it can link to Facebook. Now yes, I do know that a lot of sites allow you to link to Facebook but stumble is very interesting about it. Because you are connected to Facebook you find all of your friend’s accounts. This allows you to see what pages they like and you can send messages to one another. It’s not on par with Facebook or twitter but it’s a nice feature and a step in the right direction.

Another cool video found on stumble!

This video belongs to youtube user Dc Shoes

Over all Stumble Upon is one of my favorite sites. It is a new and creative style of surfing the web and in my opinion is a great way to see the best that our web 2.0 has to offer.

START STUMBLING!