Black hawk down

the film itself has beautiful backdrops and scenery. the attention to detail in the equipment and vehicles is spectacular which helps amerce the audience and increases the level of realism which is a very important aspect in this type of film. although this film follows a similar plot line to Saving Private Ryan, the relationship between the audience and the characters involved is significantly weaker. i think the reason behind this is that the film is focused more on the situation itself rather than the characters involved which as a result, makes the character's personalities less developed. however there is still a slight relationship development with a select few of the characters. Ewan Mcgregors character in particular, shows more development than the others from my point of view, because he is a seemingly normal person who ends up being thrown into combat. he is shown at the beginning, behind a desk emphasizing the fact that he is a normal man. once he is thrown into combat he continuously avoids death and injury despite having less combat experience than the other soldiers and ends up generating a lot of respect for himself from the higher ranking members of the army because of this. I liked how the length of the mission extends because this shows how much more dangerous it is than previously anticipated. the mission is explained to be expected to last roughly 30 minutes but ends up spanning nearly 24 hours. this 'against all odds' plot theme gives the audience a sense of accomplishment despite not developing much of a relationship with the characters involved. by the end of the film, the audience is left feeling a sense of loss for those killed or injured but at the same time a sense of accomplishment for the people involved.

saving private ryan

In my opinion, this film is one of the most skilfully and accurately done war films of my generation. I think the first time I watched this film I was actually moving my head every time a bullet wizzed past of a mortar round hit the ground. The attention to detail in the set design is astounding, I have visited Normandy as well as other land marks of the first and second world wars and the bunkers on the beach that still remain are almost identical to those that were recreated for the film and I found it amazing how the tank traps can still be seen on some parts of the beach. As the film continues and the men travel further into France, the audience develops a bond with each character, usually one in particular. For this reason, each time a character dies (the medic in particular as the relationship between the characters and the audience is more advanced by this point), the feeling that is evoked within the audience is far greater. By the end of the film the audience is really rooting for the squad and although most of them lost their lives, we are filled with a sense of relief that they completed the mission.

(If you liked Saving Private Ryan you will seriously love Band of brothers… Watch it!)

The mist

Although the plot for this film was a little bit loose (the gate to another dimension in particular) it was extremely powerful and compelling. The film had a lord of the flies feel to it which I find fascinating to watch. I think that I must find it entertaining to see the human mind break down and revert to a more instinct driven mode of function (which is quite worrying :/..). I also liked how illusive the creatures were which is how all films of that genre should be done… it worked for Cloverfield, it worked for silent hill and it definitely worked for the mist. Its always scarier to be against something if you cant tell what it is than if you can, it must have something to do with the fact that when faced by an unknown creature or enemy, we fall prey to our own overactive imaginations and at least if you know what it is, you can make some kind of preparation or take some kind of action. The ending, although tragic and controversial was bloody genius. A lot of people thought it was awful but it really gave an insight as to how we react when we have no more options left and was a brilliant twist.

I think I have to be one of the only people for miles around that owns an Xbox 360 but doesn't actually have Xbox live. I did used to have it a few years ago however, but I simply never renewed it and have kept away from it ever since. There were a few reasons I had for doing this such as schedule conflicts, lack of variety (I only really played halo 2), a little bit of addiction, but it was primarily due to the sheer amount of sore losers, back chat, and slagging matches that sort of took the fun away for me.

One of my first experiences online was whilst playing odd ball or rather after it, in the lobby. I one the game by getting the most points with the ball which is the objective of that particular mode. but some one found the need to start calling me all the names under the sun because he thought that he should have one because he got more kills (the most annoying thing was that he sounded about 8 years old). i had many more similar experiences such as complaints about lagging or "noobs" and it just irritated the hell out of me. the straw that broke the camels back and caused me to stay away from online play until present day was an incident during a game with some americans. One of the players (on my own team) decided to start hurling abuse at another player because they weren't as good and kept getting killed. I decided to try and calm the situation by saying "calm down its just a game". The player then began to mock the way I pronounced the word game, saying that it sounded stupid. I told him that as I was from England and the language we were both speaking was English that it was more likely that he was pronouncing it incorrectly (not quite as politely as that though).

Don't get me wrong, I can give and take smack talk as well as the next guy (just ask your mom ;D) but being called an F-ing C word by a 10 year old child you have never even met just seemed a little Unnecessary to me and it was frustrating that I couldn't show them the back of my hand to teach them some manners.

Nowadays I prefer the company of friends and maybe a few beers or something for multiplayer. I still get the back chat but its more like friendly banter because we know each other. If I called a person on the street an F-ing C word, I would get the snot kicked out of me by everyone in a 5 meter radius.

I think if I were to go back online, I would probably have to stick to playing with my mates rather than randoms. its just more fun that way if you ask me. It's only a once a moth or so kind of deal though as we usually go out to a night club somewhere instead plus I don't really see them that much while I'm at Uni.

MSN is the same sort of deal. It started out great, say hi to your mates and see how they are doing etc but again I decided to pack it in after a while. One: people you don't like always talk to you the most and when you block them, their mates tell them which makes things rather awkward. Two, the majority of conversations are extremely dull and go something like this:

: hi
: Hi
: How are you?
: Im good thanx, you?
: im good
: What you been up to?
: Not much really, you?
: same
: g2g now
: k, cya
: bye xxx

Three: the abbreviations became so ridiculous, you needed to literally ask what they mean which defeats the whole object. A few of my favorite examples include; wuu2, lol, lmao, lmfao, rofl, g2g. the list goes on, there is a website somewhere that gives a list of hundreds of them but I cant remember it. And four: those god damned Emoticon things that people download along with every virus under the sun and then the instant they use it in a conversation, they transmit them to you. So yea, I stick to my phone if I need to speak to someone.

The game industry today is just like all other industries. Everyone is facing the sharp end of the stick with all this talk about economic recession. I admit that things are getting tough and its probably not going to stop anytime soon but has anyone considered the fact that this has happened several times before in the past century and it hasn't been an issue until now? rubbish!

Heres how I think the problem should be resolved: people should stop worrying, spend less/save more money rather than buying rubbish like that £300 dress or a new exhaust for your Ford shit-box and get on with there lives. And for god's sake, stop borrowing money that you cant F-ing pay back! It wont go away if everyone gets a loan and then doesn't pay it back because they see an advert on TV about a legislation that negates the money they owe.

Now that I'm done ranting I suppose I need to look into how this has affected the game industry and as a result, will affect me. First of all, the obvious fact is there will be some cuts. Cuts in jobs and cuts in pay. It just cant be helped. But like I said, this has happened before and it may take a few years but things will eventually get better.

we haven't seen it yet but this decline in the economy will eventually start to show in the quality of games which is an unfortunate probability. either that or the industry will suffer more because people haven't been able to afford the games on the shelves that they would have bought 5 or so years ago. To be honest, the only thing I am worried about is getting the job in the first place. I wouldn't be too bothered about working for a fairly low wage. I think i would just be grateful that i got the job in the first place and that I'm not stacking shelves in my local Tesco metro (no offense to anyone that works in Tesco metro, someone has to do it). if the people in industry are upset about any set backs, i would be glad i have a job that i enjoy and i can show my creativity through if i was them.

My own personal definition of creativity is this: Creativity is making something, not because you have to, but because you want to.

creativity is picking up a paintbrush and painting the scene in front of you just because you feel like it. it manifests itself in many forms such as painting, sculpture, film, music, literature and many more. our creativity is one of our fundamental traits of being a human. it separates us from other animals and is what makes life, living rather than existing.

As far as games like halo and Half life are concerned, the Creativity begins at the very beginning with the plot. Details such as why is the world in this state are explored and ideas develop. Artists try their best to depict what is described to them in a visually pleasing manner in the form of concept art. the visual style of the game is decided and level and character design begins. It might be a narrow minded way of thinking and am probably wrong but once this process is complete the creativity is minimal as the artwork dictates what will be modeled and programmed into the game.

In order to show off my own creativity I think i need to find a particular genre that I enjoy working with. Im particularly fond of the survival horror genre and i have so many ideas that haven't been explored yet. I also really like the way the Art work is stylized. I love the dark eerie caverns with limited vision or the foggy forests with surprises around every corner. lighting is another thing that interests me in this genre. I want to show how the atmosphere can drastically change just by changing something as simple as lighting.

Gameplay is like a set of questions. What obstacles are in your way?(enemies, tasks, quests) how do you overcome those obstacles? (kill, complete, unlock) why do you need to overcome those obsticles?(the goal) Where is the goal?

I think Gameplay is the way those questions are answered. But answering them in a way that is interesting and possibly unexpected. driving a car around a circular circuit is not very fun as far as games go so why not add some obstacles? other drivers, debris, weapons, turns, chicanes even a loop and you have a the starting point of a game (sounds like mario Kart) Gameplay is making the journey from the start of the story to the end of the story as interesting and original as possible so that just as you get comfortable, you find out you need to unlock a door or kill a boss and it is important because it is what stops people from putting down the controller and keeps them going to the game shop for more.