Blog Posts from "Serious Business" - Gameriot.com

How To Be a Girl On The Internet

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:50:16 -0400

I see the same **** time and time again with this. Are you a girl? Do you use the internet? Well you're probably doing it wrong. Yes, I mean using the internet. You are doing it wrong.

Where's my authority on this, you ask? I may not be a girl, but I watch a ****-ton of girly anime.

****, do you see this ****? I sat through 24 episodes of this bull****. Girls talking about food, or what kind of clothing they like to wear in the winter, or, ****, I don't even know. And I loved every god-damned second of it. You practically have to grow a ****** to like this stuff. So I know some **** about being a girl.

So girls, ladies, gentlewomen, or whatever else you like to imagine yourself as, lemme teach you the ropes before you ride this hard whale of a **** called the internet.

If you want some god damn dick in your dick-orifice (and ******* jesus I know you do), go find it in real life. Seriously, ****. This one baffles me the most. You're born as the gender that's created for *******, and you somehow can't get someone to **** you unless you look on the god damn internet for someone that lives 12 ******* states away. Holy ******* grandma on a stick. I don't know how you ****** that up. Just stop by your nearest high school if you want to rub your tits on something god damn. And if you don't live anywhere near civilization (which you probably don't, you fat animal ****) find a tree or a squirrel or something **** I don't know.

This post is becoming TLDR so I'll just stop here.

A Hero's Journal #3: Winning In Wintergrasp

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:42:45 -0400

Winning in Wintergrasp means different things to different people. For some, it's the difference between three Wintergrasp marks of honor and one. For me, Winning in Wintergrasp is subjecting the alliance to the maximum amount of annoyance possible.

While in wintergrasp the other day, the regular whining started up.

"SHARE YOUR QUESTS!"

Ok. So I decided to share my quests. All of them. Everything in my quest log. Needless to say, my fellow alliance faction members were not amused.

On problem I came across was that many people had the same quests I did. So I headed out to squidface palace to pick up some quests that most level 80's had not bothered with.

I found the perfect quest...named "Talk To The Hand" and headed back to Dalaran to await the next Lake Wintergrasp battle.

Once the battle started, I made use of my newfound quest...jamming the share button rapidly....over and over as if it were a mystical button that could cause pain to strangers over the internet.

Hilarity ensued when Lousoul asked the raid leader to kick me, only to find the raid leader was Sharlee, my old guildmate from Merciless.

After wintergrasp was over, I checked out MMO Champion to see what happened at blizzcon. Except for the fact that a homosexual paladin with a lazy eye and gaybrows who ***** cats winning some tournament for a game that requires no skill, there wasn't any interesting news. By in large, cataclysm looks like it will be failaclysm.

One thing did jump out at me.

The horde...have taken over...SOUTHSHORE.

What a crock of **** that is. First off, the Alliance always won Southshore vs Tauren Mill (or whatever) on every server. Secondly, cataclysm would have been the perfect time to turn that little section of land into a World PvP battleground for old school players.

In the mood for some vengance, I headed out to southshore.

I made my way to the Yeti cave and harassed some poor lowbie warlock for awhile.

After that I went to Tauren Mill (**** you, that is what I call it) and ran through some lowbies.

After killing everyone (including NPC's) in all the huts, and the flight master I start getting messages like crazy from illiterate kids in the guild "solidarity" about some warlock I killed two or three times named Patianna.

I mostly ignored them. What am I, some kind of virtual hitman for retards? Yet, the whipers kept pouring in.

I left Tauren Mill to continue my crusade to avenge Southshore elsewhere in the zone.

After riding around for awhile, I headed over to Hillsbrad fields where the whordlings often quest. Sure enough I came across Patianna again. This time I decided to just kill his pet (he's a lock) and have the mobs kill him so he'd get the repair cost.

Each time after killing Patianna I'd ride away like I was going somewhere else and then kill him again. I must have killed him three or four times when I started getting tells from his friends again saying "LEAVE HIM ALONE!".

The funny part is they wanted me to kill their friend "once" like I'm their personal ******* virtual army to command around.   The lowbie horde warlock signed on to his Alliance deathknight main and sent me some tears via whisper:

It was almost time for another Wintergrasp, so I hearthed back to Dalaran and did some finger stretches to get my index finger prepared to push the "Share Quest" button 500 times in a half an hour.

The Alliance was a lot less amused with my generous sharing of quests this time around.

Quite shockingly they kicked me from the raid group! How dare they...I'm the Hero of Dethecus!

So I thought to myself "Vir, how can you screw up their game if you aren't in the raid?"

and then the answer came to me:

Catapults. I would build Catapults. Lots of Catapults...and hide them where ever I could so the alliance couldn't make seige engines or destroyers!

I hid them on each side of the building:

Eventually the Alliance caught on, mostly because I was telling them to enjoy their catapults in general chat.   I took to hiding the Catapults in back of the shop.

Eventually, all of my catapult construction paid off, and the Alliance lost Lake Wintergrasp. I may have 2 less Wintergrasp Marks of Honor, but I enhanced my gameplay experence.

Dalaran was a lot of fun after the match as well!

Until next time, enjoy your "Share Quest" button!

The secret behind successful anime / Anime for REAL MEN

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:34:25 -0400

There are some truly great animes that go completely unnoticed by the masses. They might have the story, the animation quality, and production values, but can't seem to get the popularity they deserve. Similarily, some animes will reach the lofty heights of success, but not achieve the same level of quality. And others truly earn their success.

But what's the cause of this? Why do some rise, some fall, and others match up? Is there a specific cause behind this?

Here's a secret:

It's the Characters.

Contrary to popular belief, we don't want to see awesome fighting and GUNS and ROBOTS and SWORDS so much as we want to see cool, interesting characters fight with GUNS and ROBOTS and SWORDS. A

I watch anime. Some of you might too. But do you watch manly anime? Residental manliness expert Arcturas is here to show you the good stuff.

You're not a man if you're not watching cute girls and their daily high school shenannigens. This is most greatly exemplefied by the ultra-cult hit K-ON. Four high school girls aspire to be successful musicians through fluffy pop-rock music. But music isn't all they're concerned with. They're also out there to have a good time, and in the cutest way possible.

Are you man enough to handle Tsumugi's pleasant demeanor?

Often, many stories will contain allies, villans, harsh trials for the hero, and a lesson learned. These are inferior American plot devices. K-ON kicks it straight to the curb and overwhelms its audience with its brazen cutesy demeanor and relentlessly lovable characters. Man rating: 100%. I highly recommend everyone to watch this series.

A Hero's Journal #2: The Hunted Hero

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:41:54 -0400

When deciding if I should renew my subscription to the digital crack known as world of warcraft, two things influenced my decision:

1. Retribution Paladins were no longer a joke.

and

2. I missed being e-famous.

The problem with e-fame however is there is always someone hunting you. People on the other faction try to gank you, embarrass you, and grief you in any way so they can get a little tiny fraction of your e-fame. Then of course there are those on your own faction, who will try to ninja loot you, swindle you, and just be dicks in general in an attempt to enhance their own e-peens.

The last time I left off, I talked about how the main problem I have when leveling Vir are distractions. It's so easy to get caught up doing something other than the boring, repetitive quests. My guildmate Biglight was skeptical that I'd make level 80 before the end of June:

The quests in Wrath Of The Lich King really don't help matters. It got to the point where I refused to help annoying NPC's.

You want me to rescue your bunny? **** YOU *****, I let your bunny DIE.   Life sucks, get used to it you whiney little *****.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Blizzard and little girls in Wrath of the Lich King. This one thought I was going to "eat" her. I was looking for the molest button on my action bar, when her mother came running up to save her.

What kind of mother leaves her little girl alone in a cave with a Retribution Paladin?

I always make time to reply to the gold farmers as well:

To break up the drudgery of questing I decided to do some instances. Most of them went as well as you can expect with the typical dysfunctional actions of pick up groups. That is, until I ran Halls of Lightning with two people from the guild "Overcharged" on Dethecus.

Our group was made up of a druid tank (harren), a paladin healer from Overcharged (Destinity) as the group leader, a DPS paladin (Monster Pally) from Overcharged, a DPS Deathknight and myself.

Everything ran smoothly for the most part, with all of us rolling and looting honestly up until the last boss. The last boss, Loken drops some DPS plate gloves.   MonsterPally indicated he wants the gloves, the Deathknight says he's going to roll on them.   Then Destinity decides to turn on "Master Looter" and start the encounter quickly before anyone notices. Obviously she wanted to hand the gloves to her guild mate, and probably make a post bragging about how she ninja'ed Vir.

The gloves really weren't important to me, since they weren't that much better for leveling than my season 4 gloves. I just didn't like the idea of them ripping off the Death Knight.

So the Mangina and her guild mate ignore me and start the encounter with the druid tanking for them.    I'm annoyed that the shemale ignored me, so I decide it's my mission to wipe this group.    I throw Blessing of Protection on the tank.

This didn't cut it, mostly because Loken like all other "Normal" instance bosses is retardly easy. I figured I had to step up my sabotage efforts, so I used divine intervention on our tank.

That did the trick. It's too bad for Harren and the Deathknight, but someone had to dish out some justice to those bastard ninja looters in Overcharged.   Not to mention, I'm not letting those ******* run back to the forums and brag about ninja looting me.

After the wipe, hilarity ensued.

The other thing I had to deal with while leveling was constantly being hunted by horde players I had camped before. Holycry was a victim of my "Blood Elf Genocide" policy during The Burning Crusade, and thus he had alliance friends telling him where I was and flying out to every zone I was in just for a chance to gank me.

Fortunately paladins have a built in solution to this. The Bubble-Hearth!   I strongly disagree with this fortune:

Nothing could be more heroic than escaping from embarrasing screenshots!

Another level 80 I had following me as I leveled up was hazerdous.   Hazerdous has less skill than Holycry, but he was certainly more persistent.

In the end, none of the dirty whordlings could stop me from my goal. Reaching level 80!

Upon hitting level 80, I had Biglight make me a Titansteel Destroyer and some blue saronite plate gear.   With that, I decided it was time to get down to business!

Should I go instance and pick up some better gear? No.
Should I grind some battlegrounds for better gear? Nah.

Should I go corpse camp some lowbies in STV? **** YEAH.

As I'm having my fun terrorizing level 30's, a level 80 rogue tries to jump me.   He's fairly horrible, but I decide to run away since I've got crap gear and he might have friends around.

Then I get a message from someone on the alliance who I figured was in vent with him:

So I look up in my combat log, and it was Hazardous, the rogue who had been trying so hard to gank me while I was leveling. No wonder he was so persistent, I had camped him as a lowbie! Haha.

A few days later I'm in Stormwind and I get a message from a level 75 Deathknight asking me to duel. I figured he probably wanted to try something new out, so I road outside and accepted. I beat him pretty easly.   I didn't notice that he had the same name as the guy who was whispering me a few days before in STV for Hazerdous!

So I finally got it, this guy Hazerdous . He messaged me a few days ago on his alt, acted like it wasn't him, then tried to duel me on the same deathknight because he figured he'd beat me but he lost badly.

On one hand, it's pretty cool that I've griefed so many people on my server that they come gunning for me. On the other hand, hazardous is a pathetic failure.

Later that night I decided to grind some Athari Basin with Biglight since it was AB weekend. We were winning all of our matches fairly quickly.    After one of the matches, I told biglight to check out my score. Even though we had won in 9 minutes, I was 0-11!     He cracked up. The whole match I had six guys camping me at the starting gate. When more than one person rezzed they just attacked me. Biglight attributed this to my charm.

After logging out for the night, I checked the Dethecus forums and I came across this thread.

It turns out the guys on the other team figured it was worth losing in 9 minutes because the true objective of AB is to kill Vir as many times as possible and then brag about it on the forums.

I love being e-famous! Until next time!

More Introspection: Useless Thoughts

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:20:50 -0400

These days you can't post, say, or do anything over the internet that's mildly interesting, without being accused of trying to be cool over the internet by other people trying to be cool over the internet (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE).

Although, I suppose real life is just the same. I usually keep this to myself, but if the topic of fighting or martial arts in general come up, I sometimes mention how I actually take some. While most of the responses are pleasant, there is always one guy who feels threatened, and quickly follows up with some stupid comment like "oh yea well what if I had a gun?" or "oh yea well I could just poke you in the eye". My natural human nature of wanting to talk and socialize with others is being countered by the insecure jerks who take offense to everything.

So I'm having some trouble cutting weight because I'm a huge gluttonous fatass, and I've been looking into some popular (effective) diets. Many are vegetarian-styled, even for heavyweight fighters. This got me thinking. With other sources of protein, meat is largely unnecessary today. Now, I'm no vegetarian, but I am familiar with many of the reasons why PETA or liberal teenage girls try to tell us to stop eating meat. Morals, animal cruelty, stuff like that. None of that is very convincing.

However, while being healthier, cutting out the consumption of meat is also a lot more economic. A cow that is used for slaughter will consume 10 times the amount of food it will produce when killed, in its lifetime. If America suddenly stopped slaughtering cows, we would have an enourmous amount of food leftover, much of which could probably help feed other countries (ok I'm getting a bit idealistic now). But the point remains: why haven't vegetarians used this argument to promote their diet choice? It seems a lot more convincing to me. Now, I do eat meat, and I'm not trying to convince anyone to become a vegetarian...but there are still very good reasons to support that decision. I don't want to impose my opinion on anyone, but I do hope in the future we find some less-costly way to satisfy our craving for meat.

As I'm sure everyone knows, the one constant of life is to preserve itself. However, some life is more content to coexist with others. If multiple types of bacteria are placed in a petri dish, they will prey on each other until one type of bacteria consumes the rest. From that point on it will continue to multiply and grow until it drowns in its own feces. Humans are very much like bacteria. If there is some other tribe or type of humans out there, we will find some reason to dislike them, and eventually develop the urge to overcome them. We are not satisfied unless our particular clan has total control. History is only backing me up on this. Animals, for the most part, coexist nonchalantly. It seems that both the most and least intelligent organisms on this planet are not satisfied until they have conquered all else, only to be left with the inevitability of self destruction.

Often times, I think our intelligence is more of a burden than a blessing.

Remembering Michael Jackson The Molester

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:29:32 -0400

Many people are memorializing Michael Jackson today. In fact, there were five Gameriot blogs dedicated to the "King of Pop" before the admin delete hammer hit four of them.

Since this is a topic of interest to the community, it's only appropriate that I memorialize Michael properly. Not for his numerous pop hits, but for his unquenchable thirst for boy butt. It's a topic that no news network will mention today, but that is what blogs are for.

So without further ado, here are the three grosses Michael Jackson stories I could dig up.

Former Jackson security guard Ralph Chacon says that at Neverland he saw Jackson putting Chandler's penis in his mouth on one occasion, and touching Chandler's crotch with his hand on another occasion

Another Security Guard told jurors that he saw Jackson and Jordie Chandler frolicking in a Jacuzzi and sharing a lingering embrace under a Peter Pan display. He also claimed he delivered a jar of Vaseline to the sweaty, naked pop star, who was entertaining Chandler in his bedroom.

Jackson was served with a warrant for a strip search of his body, as police wanted to verify Jordan Chandler's description of Jackson's genitals, and details of patches of vitiligo (ie, his ****** up skin) on the singer's body.

Jackson wisely paid off the boy's family before it could go to trial.

2. Jason Fancia

Jason Franica is the son of Michael Jackson's former maid Blanka Francia, who moved from El Salvador to the US in 1975 after participating in the second street fighter tournament. She was Jacko's maid from 1986-1991 and she often brought her son along with her to work.

Jason claimed Jackson would touch his penis and testicles during tickling games while watching cartoons. He was between 7 and 10 years of age when this happened. After the first two occasions, Jackson paid him $100 not to tell his mother! Jackson turned little Jason into a man *****!

Jackson eventually paid Jason Franica 2.5 million dollars to go away, which makes him even more expensive than Elliot Spitzer's *****.

3. Gavin Arviso

Gavin's story is probably the most disgusting in the "King of Pop" collection. Gavin was a very sick boy. In 2000 at the age of 11 he was diagnosed with cancer, and had his spleen and a kidney removed. Michael Jackson paid for his medical expenses and for his chemo treatments. Much like with Jason Francia, nothing comes for free from Michael.

Gavin began sleeping over Michael's ranch. Like any responsible adult, Michael gave the child with no spleen and one kidney some Vodka mixed with soda and told him it was "Jesus Juice".

He then started showing Gavin porn, telling Gavin that he must masturbate and relating a story of a boy who did not masturbate, went crazy and had sex with a dog (Perhaps Zilea is an equal opportunity animal rapist).

Gavin later told investigators that Jackson masturbated him on succeeding nights when his younger brother was not sleeping in Jackson's bedroom. The boy claimed that after he ejaculated in his pants, Jackson directed him to place his soiled underwear into Jackson's hamper before showering.

There are a few things we can learn from this:

1. Don't let your kids sleep with strangers (duh).

2. If you can afford top notch lawyers you can stay out of jail even when you commit ridiculously horrible crimes.

3. The media always likes to deify someone, then tear them down, then deify them again after they die.

4. You can always expect Vir to write a blog where you reply "Too Soon".

Gems of the Internet

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:18:46 -0400

Everything we observe or encounter has some form of impact on our lives, no matter how minutely. Some things we perceive have more impact than others, and that's why I'm creating this blog today.

Among the mountains of useless crap on the internet (including this blog), sometimes we stumble upon things or ideas that change the way we think. Here is a small collection of significant findings I have found, and I encourage others to share theirs.

#1 Pokemon Explained

If any of you are cool enough to have watched any pokemon, then this [over]explanation will grab your lips and yank as hard as it can. To sum up some of the finer points:

-After being struck by lightning in the (3rd?) episode, Ash went into a coma. The rest of the series takes place within his mind as he is in the coma.
-The reason why the pokemon of each season become progressively more unrealistic is because Ash is losing his grip on reality
-Team Rocket represents everything he finds 'bad' in the real world. Jessie represents vanity, James represents homosexuality, and Meowth represents greed.
-However, these are all traits that Ash has experimented with in his life. The leader of Team Rocket is Giovanni, who represents Ash's dad. Just as Jessie, James, and Meowth try to please Giovanni, Ash made similar attempts to please his dad in real life.

In summary, the entire show is about how Ash is striving to be "the very best", yet never achieving that goal. I know this analysis is largely for entertainment, but I now view the show as a terribly depressing depiction of the average big-dreaming child.

#2 Don't Look Back

It's a game. A flash based one, and apparently this guy's first creation. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to play, but it definitely leaves an impression. There's no dialogue or text, but it's saying something, and that something feels important. I'm not one to look too into the meaning behind things, yet I can't help but ponder the ending, and where I fit in it.

#3 909sickle, Dinosaur comics

Unlike the plethora of online web comics which try to be funny and smart, I believe this one actually is. Commentary on life, work, relationships and society doesn't sound too original anymore, but I've found some individuals who thought of points that I haven't, and I'm glad I read them. This particular strip from Dinosaur Comics completely blew me away in its sounds-wrong-at-first-but-I-can't-exactly-fault-it logic:

Alright, this took me a lot longer to write than I thought, so that's all for now!

P.S. Here's a gem in it's own right, Obama and Hilary Clinton hentai. Original site here. NSFW.

My IRL PvP Trailer (TOPLESS)

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:42:24 -0400

So, as some of you might know, I PVP IRL.

I transferred to Bloodlust in season 4, but after hitting 2200 there with priest-warrior (lol), I decided the competition wasn't good enough and transferred to RL to own scrubs there. Here's been the day in the life of me for the past while:

A special dedication to all my friends that have't seen me in a while - hi guys!

A Hero's Journal #1: Death To The DeathKnight

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:45:07 -0400

Vir Is Back!: Level 70 Ret Paladin Kills Level 80 Mage, Rogue

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:40:53 -0400

Random Thoughts: 6/12/09. WoWRiot's Decline In Quality, Ming and Diversity, Retribution Leveling, TNA Wrestling, Major US Bond Bust.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:33:38 -0400

-Has WoWRiot declined in quality over the last year? Three of the top Five bloggers to date this month aren't from WoWRiot. The top blogger is getting all of his traffic from a Diabo 3 post written in 2008.   It's time to step it up WoWRiot bloggers. Especially you Xaeranth. I'm thinking if you can increase your output from two posts a day to five posts a day, you might move into third place which would be a glorious victory for the WoWRiot portal.

-While I'm on the topic of WoWRiot, what's up with Ming's new "Diverse" staff? Bodi is a welcome addition so far, but I have to wonder...Does anyone care about what a "GIRLS POINT OF VIEW" is on World of Warcraft other than .0001% of traffic that is made up of girls that come to gameriot?

-After playing Vir for years, I decided to level my rogue to 70 during The Burning Crusade.   During that time, I noted how much easier it was to level a rogue than a retribution paladin.   Upon purchacing Wrath Of The Lich King a few weeks ago I considered leveling my rogue, until I noticed my Paladin was tearing through mobs at a much faster pace. It's funny how a few minor tweaks can make a class so much more enjoyable to play.

-As I was flipping through channels last night, I came across TNA wrestling. Scott Steiner was wrestling a guy named Samoa Joe.   I love how utterly unbelievable wresting is, that they can have a fat shmuck in the ring with a pro bodybuilder.

-Italian police seized 134.5 BILLION dollars in US bonds from two Japanse Nationals who were trying to cross into Switzerland from Italy. If they're real, the Italian government will get to keep 40% of the cash, which is an amazing take.    This is a pretty huge story. If the bonds were counterfeit, it's one of the biggest attempted heists of all time. Much larger than Madoff. If the bonds were legit, then Japan or some other country was looking to get out of US Bonds without disrupting the bond market which is a very bad sign for the US.   Of course, all of this gets little coverage in the US media but there are plenty of stories about how Cher's daughter is getting a sex change.

->

-I've got some great material to post from what little leveling I've done with my paladin.   You can expect a return of some exclusive WoW related posts, complete with cropped screenshots of me ganking people.   I might have to renew my second account just so I can message horde players.

Want to Live Longer? Start Smoking.

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:06:01 -0400

That is, pipe smoking to be exact.

Although many people are unaware of this, the Surgeon General of the United States (the same one that warns you about the risks of smoking cigarettes) actually concluded in 1979 that pipe smokers lived on average of 3 years longer than non pipe smokers.

Unlike cigarettes or cigars, the smoking pipe is the best option to give a smoker a lasting sense of relaxation and pleasure. Since the shot of tobacco is stronger, it is also considered less addictive. Whereas with cigarettes many smokers will frequently get cravings throughout the day, pipe smokers are able to comfortably smoke infrequently.

This information was actually really surprising to me when I first heard it. When my friends came back from A&M for the summer, I found out that many of them picked up pipe smoking, and the supporting reasons why. I always figured that if/when I became old I would pick up pipe smoking to look cool (since I would be close to death anyways), but now I might actually try acquiring a pipe sooner. Besides, all the greats did it. Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Gandalf.

Whatever the case, laying back and smoking a pipe looks *way* classier than huddling over and sucking a cigarette.

More info here:http://www.meerschaumstore.com/health.htm

Sex!? In Video Games!??

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:29:15 -0400

Alright, whatever country you belong to, third world or first, you can't deny how huge the role of sex, sexual appeal, and pr0n are.
America? It's in our advertisement. Ethiopia? You do it at age 9. Japan? Aw hell, Japan practically runs on it.

Which brings me to my main point: Rapelay and rape games were banned in Japan, omg.

When I heard about this large feminist upset a few months ago, it made me think of a few things:

a. why are American moms worried about their children acquiring aadult-only age limit game, which can only be installed on your pc if you can understand Japanese.
b. I am SO getting this game.
c. Wait a second...I consider killing a bit worse than rape...and we kill people in video games. A LOT. In a LOT of video games. Why is so much attention being brought to THIS video game, which is substantially LESS worse than everything else out there?

The violence in many popular vidja games range from bare-knuckle beatings, to blunt and bladed weapons, automatic guns and high powered explosives. In most games now you can dismember your opponent if you shoot or slash at the right point. Stab the corpse and blood keeps splashing out!

I dunno, when put in perspective, that seems a LOT worse than rape. I really haven't been killed or raped though, so take my opinion for what it's worth. Out of all the things Americans have to be worried and concerned over, this one obscure game didn't seem very important, or even worthy of concern.

Damn Protestants / I have a glasses fetish

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:35:04 -0400

Not gonna lie, the main reason I'm posting this is to show up Gib with my superior pictures of anime chicks. However, the event below was funny enough that I thought I'd share it.

Ok. So I was doing wrestling at my gym and I landed on my head pretty badly. I wasn't knocked out but it hurt hella bad. My doctor was closed just then and so I went to Prima Care, or Care Now, or whatever that thing is called.

When I was called into the waiting room and the nurse was asking me about my injury, I told her that I landed on the side/back of my head pretty violently at my ma gym. At that point she told me that I couldn't be helped because since Care Now was a Christian establishment, and they refuse to give care to anyone involved in a martial arts or fighting related accident because it is deemed un-Christian.

WOW. I was pretty shocked when I heard that. I felt like saying " you damned protestants!" but just laughed and smiled like I always do when something bad happens.

Then as I was on my way home, I drove past a Baptist church with "FREE KICKBOXING CLASS: JUNE 3RD" written on its billboard.

"DAMN PROTESTANTS!"

Story the second: I think I have a glasses fetish.

I never really noticed it, but I tend to like nerdy girls, or at least the hot nerdy-girl look. In anime I never find the glasses girl attractive but in RL it sure does the trick.

Why I Love Playing Street Fighter 2 HD on XBoxLive.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:10:01 -0400

It turns out playing Street Fighter 2 HD is a better way to get my griefing fill than world of warcraft! Look at some of the messages I've gotten in the last week:

Aftermath of WoW: One Year Later

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:33:57 -0400

Myself, Vir, and perhaps half of the gameriot community. What do those things have in common?

Aside from dashingly good looks and a silver tongue, most of us don't play WoW anymore. But we used to. And we liked it. It's been nearly one year since I stopped truly playing WoW, yet I can still feel its effects.

When outside, do I still try to right click pretty flowers for herbs?
Sometimes.

I find myself still using words like "skirmish," "easymode," "train," and, "stupid ******* warlocks." Even to this day, I identify myself as a gladiator. Hey mister, I'm not some punk kid, I'm a gladiator. Am I liscenced Ph.D. of medicine? **** no, I'm a gladiator, *****.

Filling the gap of WoW was hard. I was alone, confused. Then I found anime to fill my troubles. Reality wasn't playing out as well as the reivews made it to be.

I still go out of my house to train for muaythai, but that's just travelling from one insular location to another. I don't actually see the sun that much. I think most humans are like this.

The term "getting out" doesn't actually mean going outside and seeing the sunlight, although some may think that. Getting out just refers to...going to another interior location and spending some time there. That stops you from becoming a cave dweller and getting pale skin. I swear.

Hilariously, ever since I stopped playing WoW, I've actually spent less time socializing with women. I'm spending a lot more time with men now...and sweating with them. Looking at it empirically, my life is actually a lot gayer without WoW. Thinking about it now, I think playing WoW is one of the least-gay or feminine envoirnments. You're either conquering your enemies, or conquering enemies and pillaging them. That's got to be the most masculine way to spend your time ever. Stealing and fighting? It's like I'm growing up in ancient Sparta. WoW is for real men.

Occasionally I'll be reminded of WoW and have the whim to play, but then I remember how unbalanced it is now and say it's alright.

Really, probably, I'm just sucking my thumb and fooling myself, trying to believe in these lies such as life without WoW is better, exercise is good, or speed reading isn't completely made up.

Do I miss WoW? Hmm, probably not as much as the people. Did I at least enjoy my time with it? Hell yes. Will I play it again? Probably not, but that's ok. After a while you eventually stop going to those old instances you've run a thousand times. Do we appreciate them? Of course. But you don't hang around the same old place for long. When a new instance or opportunity comes up, you use all that gear you've accumulated, and move on. Just like life.

World of Warcraft Gaming Pod - Now You Never Have To Type "AFK BIO" Again!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:36:17 -0400

A few MIT'ers have come up with the ultimate World of Warcraft gaming experience....The WoW Pod!

The pod features a chair (throne), pre-cooked meals, and of course a computer.

If you lift the seat of the chair, it becomes...A TOILET! You'll never have to miss part of a raid again!

CNET has a good description of the cooking process:

When a player gets hungry playing inside the hut, he or she just selects one of the pre-packaged food packs on the wall (labelled "Soothing Turtle Bisque" and "Beer Basted Ribs" to further the fantasy), holds the printed semacode under a scanner, and places it on the hotplate. From here, the hardware takes over and physically adjusts the hotplate to cook the food for the right amount of time while the player's corresponding avatar pauses the game and loudly announces the progress to others in the realm: "Vorcon's meal is about to be done!" and "Better eat the ribs while they're hot!"

I'm thinking if we ever wanted to invade South Korea, we could give them a couple million of these rigged up with Starcraft 2 and half the population would gamercide within a year.

Vir Blogs, Blizzard Listens. You Worship Me.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:40:50 -0400

I'm sure by now, some of the extra chromosome carrying Gameriot crowd has figured out that my insightful writing from yesterday "Whining Warriors Can't Stop Crying About Retribution Paladins" convinced Blizzard to nerf warriors immediately.

This should not come as a surprise to long time regular readers of Serious Business, who realize that I have considerable pull with the programmers and class designers at Blizzard.

Some of the new readers of Serious Business however do not comprehend how privileged they are to possess the opportunity to read my insightful musings on World of Warcraft class balance.

They reply with trifling comments such as:

<2k
Vir Day
Retscrub
Retard
Troll

But the truth is, these new casual readers of Serious Business are just serfs in the Then maybe Gameriot will get on the ball and start featuring all of my posts instead of keeping the same stories in rotation for five days straight.

Whining Warriors Can't Stop Crying About Retribution Paladins

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:24:48 -0400

I've been reading the blizzard forums, trying to catch up on the state of retribution paladins. It seems as much as things change, they still stay the same.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm thinking about leveling up to 80. If I do, I'm still considering what class to level. The topic of Retribution Paladins are all the rage here on Gameriot and on the forums lately. An unprecedented amount of tears are being shed over an underachieving off-spec. Put simply, there are still more Arms Warriors ranked over 2000 in 2v2 than Retribution Paladins.

Despite this fact the whining warriors are the ones leading the charge against the perceived over- poweredness of Paladins. Amusingly enough blizzard seems to agree with the communities endless trail of tears about paladin "Burst Damage" and "FCFS" combat system. The whiners don't want Retribution paladins to get any kind of new utility, nor more damage. For the most part, the crying children just want retribution nerfed back into the oblivion of low DPS/arena comic relief from which it came.

Overall, Blizzards attiude regarding Retribution really hasn't changed. Lets compare two buffs recently recieved by Warriors and Paladins.

Paladins had their exorcism spell modified so it could hit hunter pets (in addition to undead/warlock pets) and it would always crit. This spell is on 15 second cooldown.

Warriors were given a talent (JUGGERNAUT) that would allow them to use charge in combat. Anyone who has ever tried to kite a warrior understands how powerful this new talent is.

There has been a public outcry on the forums about both recent changes. So how did blizzard react?

So basically the response was:

"Hey, Warriors got a cool talent that allows them to own any class. Everyone thinks it is overpowered, but we're going to wait a season or two to see how it works out"

"Hey Paladins got a cool modification to a spell that allowed them to kill someones pet once in the arena. Pet classes think it's overpowered, so we're going to nerf it into the ground and make it worse than before it was buffed"

Forget the hard facts about which spec is more arena viable, just keep buffing the crybaby whining warriors, and nerf paladins!

It's nice to see nothing has changed in my absense.

Some Introspection: The Human Condition

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:46:27 -0400

So recently, I was assigned to give a presentation in my Humanities class over the human condition. The criteria for this was that the student must pick a location in his/her community that he/she believed represented the human condition, giving pictures and other tidbits of info.

Most of the students in my class picked things like museums, charity centers, and other similar topics. I chose a bridge.

I thought I'd share the essay here. These are 100% my thoughts, and a pretty accurate portrayal of how I think. It might be a tad lengthy for a quick read; it's about ~500 words.

The Bridge

I take one step across the bridge. I have done this thousands of times. When I was in high school, there was not a single day that I did not cross this bridge. Although I am not in high school anymore, I still cross it by car. I walk across it today simply because I feel like it.

It would be safe to say that, if this bridge were not here, I and the thousands of others that cross it daily would not be able to. Of course, people would get to their destinations by other routes, but this bridge allows them to travel more quickly and directly, and without getting wet. A bridge is the very definition of opportunity. My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted to be. I was told I had great potential; I am opportunity.

How many opportunities has this bridge allowed? How many fates, good and bad, has this bridge sent people off to? It is likely that if one person did not cross this bridge, they would not be alive today. It is likely that this bridge delivered another person to their death, perhaps by accident of a car, somewhere in their day, where if they did not cross this bridge, the incident would have been avoided entirely. This bridge is truly opportunity, but not only that, but the will as well. A bridge comes into existence because someone, or many people, willed it to be. Opportunity coupled with a will results in progress. This bridge is not only opportunity, but its very existence represents purpose and growth. I find myself to be more and more like this bridge the more I examine it.

I take my first step. How long has it been since I tread here last? How long has it been since I tread here for the first time? Where was I going then? What was my purpose? What is my purpose now? It almost feels like talking with an old friend, after not seeing each other for a very long time. We both have changed. I intensely focus on the surface of the road, the condition of the walkway, the concrete guard rails, looking for new markings and details of aging. In many ways, I am like this bridge. Over the years we both have accumulated scrapes and scars, each with a story to tell. The amount of weight this bridge has carried in its life must be staggering, yet still it stands, and still it functions. People are like this too. When I look at a person, I can only see the tiniest fraction of his or her existence; I can only see them as they are right then, in the present, for as long as I am observing them. When I look at a person, I am not just seeing their physical form, I am seeing the culmination of their entire being, the years of aging and personal experiences which led up to who and exactly what they are now. How can I possibly judge someone, with such a staggering lack of information? Just as I know so little of the many people it has aided, I know just as little of someone’s existence when I look at them. Like a person, this bridge is a culmination of will, purpose, and opportunity. It has a history, and it has a future, full of both good and bad. Over time, this bridge will change, deteriorate, and may even collapse. But until that day, this bridge will continue what it does, rain or shine, seven days a week. Just like people.

It is in this bridge that I truly see the human condition.

I Miss World Of Warcraft

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:07:59 -0400

I write to you my friends, on the eve of my potential relapse.

It has been six long months since I've entered the world of Azeroth. My last session was a spree of righteous retribution, spent ganking newbie death knights at the entrance of Hellfire Citadel right after Wrath Of The Lich King was released.

This one jumped rather than face my divine storm:

Since then I haven't missed World Of Warcraft much. Certainly I do not miss the grinds, but I do miss handing out grief. The recent posts by some here at Gameriot were chock full of candy tears, extracted by of all things Retribution Paladins other than myself.

I should be the one causing the cries of "NERF" to ring out both here and in the world of warcraft forums.

Then there is the issue of Death Knights.

I originally wanted to play a Death Knight, but there was no Death Knight class. I considered a warlock, but pet classes are inherantly for homosexuals who can't get their pets to like them in real life. Thus I settled for a Paladin, which was probably the only wrong choice I made in my life.

So I pose three questions to the elite gaming community here at Gameriot:

1. Is Retribution actually a good arena spec?
2. Are Deathknighs both enjoyable in game and competitive in the arenas?
3. Should I start playing World of Warcraft again?

BONUS QUESTION: If I do play again, should it be a Deathknight, Retribution Paladin or Rogue?

Man Doesn't Want 10-inch Wang, future RL pvp video

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:32:20 -0400

A 40 year old man in with a 15 cm penis (about six inches) underwent surgery to enhance it to a hilarious 25 centimeters (ten inches). Doctors strongly tried to persuade him against the operation, even going so far as to show him a replica of a 25 cm organ. But the man was adamant about his ample appendage.

Within a month he returned to doctors lamenting that "no woman wants to be with him anymore."

The doctors commented, “He came here several times, begged us for new surgery, swore he would never be so stupid again.” Although the effects are reversable, it will take six to eight months before the reduction surgery can be safely performed.

“If there was a surgery to enlarge brains, we would offer him a free trial,” the doctor said.

I don't knew why it took so long to hit me in my fabulously attractive head, but I recently realized that Gib and I are not only the two consistent bloggers to mention anime (gets shot), but also are both professed MMartists (note: neither of us are physically active, above 110 pounds, or have any MMA experience whatsoever). We're like the Kohaku and Hisui of gameriot, Gib with his happy-yet-homicidal attitude towards blogging, and me with my steady obscurity.

Speaking of MMA, the sport neither of us probably take, I plan on releasing a RL pvp video soon of myself. It will be muaythai. Expect Dragonforce, over the top editing, crit strings, and a massive gear imbalance in my opponents (if I can cut weight enough).

Obama's Buddies Want To Ban My Blog.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:41:12 -0400

Recently the house introduced a bill that would make posting blogs containing "severe, repeated, and hostile behavior" a federal felony that would carry a two year jail sentence.

The bill which is titled the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was proposed by Linda Sanchez of California. Here is the key part:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

So if you were to try to coerce your local congressman to vote one way or another on a bill, and made a blog post calling him a hypocrite and a liar, you could easily find yourself in jail for two years if the congressman felt "Substantial Emotional Distress".

Or, if you were to write a rant about Kalgan on the general world of warcraft forum, about how he screwed your class, he was a bad designer, and an all around c-sucker then you could theoretically face felony charges if he felt "Substantial Emotional Distress".

In fact, the language is so non-specific, I'm betting half of Gameriot's user base could be brought up on charges based on previous posts.

You can go here and tell Senoritia Sanchez what you think of her blogging bill. You'd better hurry though, before your opinions become a felony.

Legendary Drop - 4/26/09 - Professional Pole Dancing, Street Fighter IV Patch Drops, Neuroenhancing Drugs, and the KILLER SWINE FLU!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:24:40 -0400

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Spanish Flu is back!   H1N1 which caused the 1918 flu pandemic is suspected in the deaths of about 70 people in Mexico. People have been diagnosed with the infection in the US, Europe, Israel and New Zealand. This map gives a nice overview of the outbreak.

Unlike the normal flu, this one also kills people from the ages of 25-44 by inducing a cytokine storm, which basically means your immune system goes bonkers. In the end, it attacks the patients lungs and causes them to suffocate. People with AIDS are at less of a risk than healthy people, since they have comprimised immune systems.   So at least we know Zilea is safe.

BBC has published comments from a doctor in Mexico who says the flu is worse than the media is reporting. Los Alamos has a pretty cool pandemic simulation page up complete with a quick time movie and the flu trackers forum has some pretty good information about the situation.

The only good that could come out of this would be if Capcom made a new patch for street fighter IV and killed off El Fuerte due to the flu.

Breast Physics Workout Dvd Complete Success

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:21:27 -0400

The highly anticipated cartoon pedophile oriented workout Dvd mentioned last week was released just yesterday, and has proven to be a resounding success. Featuring the latest breast-physics engine coupled with our fearless heroin Hinako, Issho ni Training (Training with Hinako) has hit the ground running and doesn't look to stop! Remember to +1 if you like anime, dislike anime, are a cartoon pedophile, flame cartoon pedophiles over the internet, workout, don't work out, work at a gas station, prefer coconuts to pineapples, or enjoy the video!

The otaku demographic has proven once again that it is one of the most powerful forces on earth, next to Korean gaming community, bumping Training with Hinako up to the #1 sales ranking on Amazon.com on its first day of release. We have yet to recieve Gib's official review of said dvd, but users unanimously claim it does not diappoint. I anticipate immediate production of sequels and a game adaptation.

In other moe news, I could watch Yui play the castanetts all freakin day.

Anime Fitness Program

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:40:06 -0400

Are you the horrendously inaccurately stereotyped gamer/computer geek/anime fan who does nothing but sit in an eerily darkened room doing nothing but playing wow/watching anime? This is wowriot, of course you are.

As you devote 90% of your life to the virtual world, it is only natural your body deteriorates. To combat this, certain individuals have created gamer-oriented exercises to help gamers out. While this is appreciated, there has never been anything of this sort aimed specifically at the anime/cartoon-pedophile crowd.

Until now.

Meet Hinako! She's a busty 16 year old who loves to exercise and watch anime! This instructive 30 minute dvd (titled "Training with Hinako") offers otaku the chance to keep in shape with the aid of an appealingly cute anime girl. To help you on your quest for fitness, Hinako offers a variety of exercises, as well as cosplay costumes, appealing camera angles, and a progressive decrease in clothing as the video continues!

The dvd will soon be for sale on amazon.com

Legendary Drop 4/18/09 - High Level SFIV Videos, All Female Company Goes Bust, Bomb Shelter Business Booming, Welfare Phones, You Tube Is Doomed, and JAPANESE CYBORG SUITS FOR SALE!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:46:28 -0400

It's time for another edition of the government assistance. This is a good thing, because every citizen is entitled to Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happyness and Roll Over Minutes.

So what would happen if a company were made up of all women? Would it put to an end the evil, cruel corporate world that Men created? Or would it go out of business in two years due to cash flow problems, vicious internal infighting and a culture that revolved around what the women were wearing to work? Read the gory details here, and score one for the "Stay barefoot and pregnant" crowd.

Cyberdine corporation in Japan has created a robo-suit that you can wear which will increase your strength tenfold. I'm thinking we should buy one for Qlimax, that way he could possibly get laid by some anime crazed japanese school girl. It would be the first time he managed to get some ass without having to give a 15 year old rave girl a roofie. Clearly Japan has done something wonderful for the citizens of Australia.

Street Fighter IV: Championship Edition on 4/24, Marvel vs Capcom 2 coming to X-Box Live?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:21:08 -0400

Capcom has announced a new content patch for Street Fighter IV that will be available on 4/24. The patch is called "Championship Mode".

The major addition is a tournament mode which will be for new types of points Grade Points (GP) and Championship Points (CP).

There are five levels of tournaments, with the top level being restricted by a minimum requirement of CP to get in. GP's are basically your 'rating' which can go up or down depending on if you win or lose. High level tournaments require a higher rating. CP are kind of like 'gold' in that they're just points you win for winning a tournament, but the amount you win depends on the GP's of the other players in the tournament.

Or at least that is what it sounds like according to Street Fighter Dev/Pro S-Kill, but it seems like a cluster**** to me. Still, it has to be better than the current BP system, which is ******* trash. Plus, I'm psyched to get a tournament mode, which to me was the most enjoyable mode in SF-HD.

Also included in tournament mode is a double-blind character select, which I'm sure some SF IV pro's were looking forward to.

In other news, Shoryuken.com is reporting that an exclusive Marvel vs Capcom controller was seen on a website for sale, but quickly taken down. In addition a list of achievments is up here, which probably means we'll have some MvC2 goodness soon!

The Top 5 Anime Openings

no.spam@gameriot.com (ARCTURAS) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:58:33 -0400

I know the community at gameriot is just DYING for more anime-related posts, and coupled with the monstrous obsession with top 5 lists, I decided to make this list. If you are not a fan of anime, don't worry, I assure you the following openings can be appreciated 100% on artistic value alone. So, if you're bored at work, waiting for your raid to start, or, god forbid, actually enjoy anime, then please, enjoy the following.

I have compiled a list of (what I found to be) the best 5 anime opening sequences, with criteria based on song quality, animation quality, and originality.

#5: Death Note (second opening)
Description: Cool, freaky.
Japan can really produce some quality hard rock and metal music when they want to, and it is well used in this opening. My favorite parts in particular were the bits showing Misa-Misa, and L doing the hook kick. This opening is fast, slow, dark, and exciting throughout. Seeing L spinning in his char and the reaper Ryu chasing an apple are appealing tidbits to watch. The sequence at the end where the music breaks down with overlapping images completes this opening as a very satisfying watch with a lot to see. You won't get bored of this opening just by the first or second viewing.

#4: To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index)
Description: cool. Really cool.
The strength of this opening is split 50/50 between its great musical selection, as well as the quality animation used. This opening is fascinating from the very beginning. A futuristic city, a small child riding the train alone, another girl disappears randomly while talking to her friends, a shrine maiden, and a boy using physically throwing girders at another? How does it all add up! Even if you have never watched the show, you can tell simply by this opening that there is a LOT to it. For some of you confused with the mainly teen/adolescent cast: the plot takes place somewhat in the future, and in a particular city where 80% of the populous consists of students. Many of these students possess and cultivate psionic powers in school. In addition, magic exists, and is presided over largely by the Anglican Church of England. Interesting! Cool! This introduction captures and conveys all the intrigue of its remarkably original story premise. This introduction alone sucked me into watching the anime – a worthwhile watch.

#3 Blood+ (season 3)
Description: Artistic.
The value of this opening is carried by the intriguing and varying artwork, editing styles, and great use of a broad range of colors. Admittedly, this is the one show on this list I have no watched, but this opening has certainly sparked my interest. The whole thing is dripping out the ass with artistic originality and unique screenplay. In particular, I enjoyed the scene where the man is walking across the bridge, peering at an uncolored city against the pastel sky. The scene with the marbles falling on the ground is also nicely animated. I also liked the profile shot of the woman in the subway station, with her shadow appearing before her resembling a man walking backwards, watching her. What could it mean? I don't know! But it certainly is interesting. The song isn't the main feature of this opening, but its slightly melancholy-yet-still-upbeat tone really compliments the drawing, editing, and images of this opening.

#2 Rosario x Vampire Capu2
Description: KAWAII DESU ^________^
This introduction is bright, happy, catchy, and all around fantastic eye-candy. The concept is simple but the execution is extremely enjoyable. All the main female characters of this show are so wonderfully and lively animated that it just makes you want to get up and... not dance like this, but at least think of doing it. I'll give it points for originality considering that the characters dancing are: a vampire, a succubus, an ice-sorceress, a witch, and another vampire. Seeing them all dance to trendy pop music is just amusing as hell. The Japanese artists have done an extremely good job of using pop/jazz elements within this song, both in universal catchiness and technical jazz ability. Many people I've showed it to have, at first, laughed at the absurd girliness of it, but after a couple minutes they have all come to realize, it is impossible to dislike, because it is catchy as hell.

#1 Elfin Lied
Description: Haunting.
Stop what you're doing and turn your speakers up, because this is probably the prettiest sound produced by human vocal chords you will ever hear. Without fail, this song has always managed to immediately enthrall everyone that listens to it. This relatively unknown Japanese opera singer does such a good job of not only speaking Latin, but of conveying so much emotion and beauty with her voice. Accompanying the brilliant music is a series of anime-styled imitations of Gustav Klimt's incredibly well-received oil paintings. Nothing much is happening in this opening, animation/movement-wise, but it doesn’t have too. The series of gorgeous looking still-images do just enough to capture our eyes without distracting our ears. I consider something relatively perfect when there's nothing to reasonably criticize, and thus I consider this opening pretty much a flawless 1 minute 30 second piece of visual/audio artwork. Despite the relatively small niche of opera music, I believe this opening (particularly the song) is so beautiful that everyone can appreciate it.

If enough people liked this entry, and/or if Gibb doesn't steal my opportunity, I'll write a top5 ending list which I have some ideas in mind for.

P.S. After reading comments with some great choices, I'm going to list other openings that I consider to be serious contenders for this list:
-XAMD opening "Shut Up and Explode
-Baccano "Guns & Roses"
-Any of the Toradora openings
-Black Lagoon "Red Fraction"

Being "In The Zone"

no.spam@gameriot.com (Vir) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:47:32 -0500

I'm playing Street Fighter.

Something is different, in a familiar way.

I'm playing against a very good player, but I'm completely dominating him.

Rather than thinking and analyzing my opponent I am reacting. The right response is ready regardless of my opponents strategy.   Their tick throws are easily defended, their zones are dodged, and their characters defeated.   I instinctively force them into mistakes that my subconscious mind is ready to exploit.

My opponent is putty in my hands, defeated with minimal effort and thought.

My controller is simply an extension of my body, I am not playing any one style or strategy.

I can not lose.

No opponent is impossible to beat, I am unconquerable.

I am in what athletes call "The Zone".

I've felt like I was "In The Zone" when playing various games, and sometimes while programming.    I didn't realize there was an actual psychological term for being "In the Zone" until I sat down to write this article. Psychologists call this feeling "Flow"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

I typically associate this feeling with gaming or programming, and simply thought it came from a mastery of methods used to provide a desired result. Reading this article however makes me think there are other times I've been "In The Zone", perhaps when taking a test, writing, or playing Basketball/Football with friends.

When have you found yourself "In The Zone"?