Controversy

Platts Provides Valuable Information in Competitive Markets

In today’s economy, virtually all of the markets are very competitive. This is particularly true in the spot markets where commodities are sold. Goods such as oil and rice are the same no matter where you buy them. Consequently, you always want to buy those high-demand goods for the lowest price, because if you don’t, someone else will.

This is where a company like Platts can have a large impact on how efficiently your organization or even your government operates. Platts was founded in 1909 and started out as a company dedicated to providing "reliable market-based price information" on the oil industry. Thanks to the information provided by Platts, benchmark price assessments could be made on the oil industry. The industry oil prices barrel form of measurement owes much of its success to Platts, which currently has a website at platts.com.

Over the course of time, Platts has expanded to provide information based on natural gas, electric power, coal, petrochemical, shipping, and metals. The reason for this is because all of these industries are associated with one another in various ways. For example, if prices associated with oil and natural gas rise, you will obviously feel an impact on jet fuel prices somewhere down the line. Platts.com monitors these prices in a way that can help influence when and how you buy these commodities.

Many large corporations, industries, and even governments are influenced by these basic elements of trade and investment. Should a shipping industry stock up on bunker fuel while prices appear to be lower than usual? Or should the shipping industry wait until prices reach a lower point, taking the risk that prices will be at a higher point when the supply of bunker fuel has run low? Decisions like this can be very complex, time consuming, and expensive if you don’t know what you’re doing. This is why platts.com monitors these situations in real-time, providing high-quality information at reasonable prices for subscribers.

Platts.com offers services so impressive that even the high density polyethylene price can be monitored just as easily as the stock market. I’ve learned that over 10,000 companies, organizations, universities, and governments in 150 different countries subscribe to the valuable information services provided by Platts. The reason for this is because Platts is a company with a reputation for honesty, providing information openly at all times to clients.

If your business needs to operate efficiently in a competitive spot market associated with the commodities Platts is devoted to analyzing, I believe it definitely is a wise investment to subscribe to the services offered at platts.com. This is an excellent website providing a great deal of information to existing clients. The website also clearly explains the multitude of services and resources you will have access to if you become a subscriber. If you currently subscribe to services offered by Platts, feel free to share your thoughts about the services offered based on your experience.

Gray’s Anatomy Isn’t Just a TV Show – It’s a Textbook in a Growing Industry

One of the famous textbooks in history is called Gray’s Anatomy. Dr. Henry Gray approached Dr. H.V. Carter with an idea to produce an easily accessible anatomy textbook for medical students seeking knowledge. This book was first published in 1858 with the specific goal of being an inexpensive anatomy textbook for medical students. Human anatomy books such as Gray’s Anatomy 40th edition represent reliable sources of information that medical students will need to remember for the rest of their lives. I've noticed one of the best publishers of health science books like this is Elsevier Health, particularly because they also offer books in online and handheld formats.

Students studying medicine and biology need to realize that anatomy represents studies and thoughts associated with the structure of living things. Over the course of time, this broad subject has been mapped out into many categories and subcategories in order to make learning and specialization easier. One of the best books a student should consider studying is called Atlas of Human Anatomy. The 5th edition of this book, available from Elsevier Health, helps students understand anatomy and how it applies to medicine, including newer forms of radiologic technology such as x-ray radiography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imagine (MRI).

Radiology is an area of education many medical students will need to invest quite a bit of time and effort studying in the 21st century. I've noticed Elsevier Health has published a wide variety of radiology books focused on nuclear medicine, computerized tomography, and positron emission tomography (PET), each representing areas of study in growing industries. Your career is virtually unlimited in these areas due to the fact that each career path pays so well and continuously allows for career advancement. The whole time you are being educated and/or trained in radiology, you are part of a team that pays you well as an intern or as a participant in a training program.

Pathology is another area medical students will need to invest time studying. The Elsevier Health  pathology books used to study this area of medicine explain that pathology is focused on the diagnosis of disease. Pathology is primarily divided into four areas that study the etiologic cause of disease, pathogenic methods of cellular growth and expansion, morphologic changes associated with the structural alteration of cells, and the clinical consequences of change.

Pathology is also divided into subcategories, each based on a specific area of study. For example, veterinary pathologists are specialists that use animal tissue and fluids to diagnose and treat disease. Veterinary pathology is branched into analytical and clinical areas in the same way as medical pathology, but the focus is on animals. Veterinary pathologists play a key role in the process of drug development.

Forensic pathology allows a forensic pathologist to conduct an autopsy on a dead body in order to determine the cause of death. Psychopathology is aimed at the study of mental illness and unusual behavior. Phytopathology is devoted to the study of plant diseases and infections caused by pathogens and other environmental conditions. Molecular pathology is a newer area of study associated with genetic forms of identifying and treating problems such as tumors and cancer.

In today’s economy, most industries are shrinking in ways that result in loss of jobs and pay cuts. But jobs associated with medicine and health care are the exact opposite. The entire medical industry has continued to see large growth, even during the recent economic recession. This has motivated many people to go back to college in order to study areas associated with health care and medicine.

One of the reasons why unemployed workers have decided to study several areas of health care is because you can achieve excellent results in a relatively short period of time. For example, you can easily become a nurse by attending a two-year trade school. While going to school, you will probably be involved in some form of training program that pays well. This is also the reason why you will probably be able to easily find employment after graduating.

In fact, you will often keep the job that you have been working at during your internship. The only difference is that you will receive a large boost in pay once you are classified as an official employee rather than an intern. I know a girl that was earning $18 per hour while being trained to be a nurse. This industry pays so well most of the time that my friend was told “I’m sorry this pays only $18 an hour.”

Believe it or not, there actually are many people involved in the medical industry for reasons other than money or ease of finding employment. Since I was diagnosed with epilepsy 12 years ago, I can tell you there are people who love their jobs and value the lessons they’ve learned. I’ve seen doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and many others enjoy what they are doing and try to offer sincere help. Several times, doctors even used their textbooks to visually explain what was happening in my body.

This reminded me of the way I saved quite a few of my textbooks teaching valuable lessons in writing, management, and marketing. If I could step back in time and live my life over again, I would study one of the medical areas I listed above. I currently possess plenty of degrees and certificates in business and management right now, yet my career has seen absolutely no benefit in today’s tough economy. But medicine is a growing industry with an excellent rate of pay.

I believe one of the best career choices possible is the medical industry. The areas of medicine and anatomy I’ve described here are some of the best areas for students to consider when making a career choice. Carefully think about which areas of medicine you are interested in. Your reward will be a lifelong career that pays well because of a high demand for services. In addition, you will enjoy the work you are a part of and know you contributed to society in a positive way.  

Schwarzenegger’s True Lies Terminate His Marriage – Now, Arnold is a Running Man

Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger easily became governor of California, a state filled with a majority of voters labeling themselves as Democrats. The reason Schwarzenegger was able to become governor is because the people of California trusted him. Arnold had apparently been successfully married for a long time while simultaneously maintaining a successful career in acting. But we now know Schwarzenegger’s marriage, career, and understanding of the word “responsibility” involve a lot of controversy.

Up to this point, we thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was the father of four children, currently ranging in age from 14 to 21 years old. But we now know that Schwarzenegger is the father of a fifth child that is 10 years old. The mother of this child is a member of the staff employed at Schwarzenegger’s home known as the Brentwood mansion. This means that when Schwarzenegger had young children ranging in age from 4 to 11 years old, he was cheating on his loyal wife, Maria Shriver.

Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement to the media:

“After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago. I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.”

The statement made by Schwarzenegger concluded when he said, “I ask that the media respect my wife and children through this extremely difficult time. While I deserve your attention and criticism, my family does not.”

The fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger refers to this adulterous personal incident as an “event” proves he is only looking at the situation from a selfish political point of view. Arnold makes it clear that the timing of this revelation to his family was dependent on the announcement being made after he left the governor’s office! This is further confirmation that Schwarzenegger is a very selfish man, looking at things only from a political point of view.

Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that he takes “full responsibility” for the hurt he has caused. Some of this actually seems true, since we know Arnold has financially provided for his fifth child. This was a very responsible action, showing that Schwarzenegger is a far more responsible man than many others. But there is a big difference between responsibility and accountability. By using the word “responsibility” in place of the word “accountability,” Arnold Schwarzenegger is able to avoid negative publicity and put a positive spin on much of what he has done over the last ten years.

For the last ten years, eight of which were governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has not been willing to accept any form of accountability for his actions. From the moment Schwarzenegger was running for governor, he was keeping this awful situation a secret from his family and the media. Schwarzenegger knew that he would not be able to achieve his political goals if this information was revealed to the public, since the California voters would hold him accountable for his actions. As a result, Schwarzenegger’s lovely wife and children now suffer.

I’m particularly disappointed by the way Schwarzenegger’s statement concludes by saying “I deserve your attention and criticism.” This suggests Arnold wants the spotlight back on himself, as he once again becomes a Hollywood actor. We know that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s true lies have terminated his 25-year marriage. But it now seems Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t mind being seen as a running man, trying to put on the image of a predator seeking employment as a commando.

Personally, I think Schwarzenegger needs a total recall about some basic things in life. When you enter a marriage with someone, you are supposed to remain loyal. And if you do make a mistake in marriage, you shouldn’t allow a false image based on political status to prevent you from telling your loyal wife what happened. Each day that Arnold kept this secret, he must have been thinking to himself “I wonder how long it will be until I’m labeled as a destroyer and my marriage is erased.”

What are your thoughts about this situation? Do you believe the way Schwarzenegger kept this situation secret from California voters was a raw deal? In my opinion, Arnold was acting like a selfish barbarian.

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Mick Foley is the TNA Impact Executive!

On May 12, 2011, we learned Mick Foley is the TNA Impact management executive that has been making life difficult for Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. We also learned that Mick Foley plans on making some major changes to TNA and the way its brand is marketed. For example, Foley made it clear that the business would be re-branded as “Impact Wrestling.” However, Mick was not clear whether or not the letters TNA would be completely eliminated. 

Many people believe it would be a mistake for management executives at TNA to completely remove the letters of “TNA” that they spent eight years building as a brand. However, a lack of pay-per-view sales seems to be the motive for management executives making these changes. Hulk Hogan is a TNA executive that recently appeared on a radio show called The Law. Hogan was asked why the TNA Impact audience does not order pay-per-views. Hogan was also asked why Spike TV is not available in as many homes as competition such as the WWE, which is offered on channels such as USA and SyFy.

Hulk Hogan made the following statements regarding these topics:

“A lot of it has to do with awareness and the fact that we can get to the people. If I go into my hotel room in Chicago there are certain cable networks that are on like USA Network – there is no Spike TV. I mean a lot of it depends on who you can get to and who you can reach there is a lot more than ‘the fans aren’t buying it’ there is more to the equation and that’s a very shallow statement and that’s not a fact. The people that see it are buying it, there just aren’t enough people seeing it.”

Hulk Hogan then went on to say:

“That’s what it is – it’s creating awareness, a marketing plan we have to work with Spike TV and boost them up the ladder. I don’t know how many cable networks there are in the States if it’s 25 or 35 but in the paper it shows you who the top ten are so if we can get Spike up to that number one position the whole equation would change on how many people are buying it and change the equation and someone wouldn’t say ‘no one is buying it’ well the people that are seeing it are buying it so it’s creating that awareness to make people more aware that the product is there and that they can get it and when they walk into a hotel in Brantford that Spike is available.”

These statements made by Hulk Hogan may sound like intelligent forms of reasoning to someone listening and taking his word for what is being said. But when you do some research to investigate the statistical facts for yourself, you realize that Hulk Hogan is just making bogus excuses. The USA Network used by the WWE is in 86.2% of homes in the country – approximately 99.95 million homes.  However, the Spike TV network used by TNA is in 85.8% of homes in the country – approximately 99.49 million homes.

With that in mind, Hulk Hogan needs a much better excuse for determining the reasons why TNA pay-per-view programs are not being purchased by viewers of TNA Impact. Perhaps this is the reason why TNA is changing their brand to “Impact Wrestling.” Mick Foley has made it clear that TNA wants to place an emphasis on “wrestling.” This is different from the way the WWE places an emphasis on “entertainment.”

My family and friends enjoy the real-life wrestling point of view presented by TNA Impact far more than the entertainment point of view presented by the WWE. The way Hulk Hogan, Dixie Carter, Eric Bischoff, and Mick Foley present themselves as management executives involved in real-life legal battles with genuine personal grudges is far more enjoyable than the way WWE admits everything you see is fake.

The same can be said about Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, and Kurt Angle. The fact is, Kurt and Karen really were married and really were divorced. This is an excellent environment for a plot that TNA takes excellent advantage of! Yeah, I realize that there are soap opera style plots and storylines in TNA just as much as in WWE. However, the simple fact that TNA tries to present it with an element of realism is what makes TNA better than the competition.

This Thursday we learned that Chyna is the woman Kurt Angle has been talking about for the last several weeks. I like the way Chyna tossed Jeff Jarrett out of the ring at the end of the 25-man Battle Royal. However, Chyna was not a participant in the Battle Royal when it started. I now wonder if Jeff Jarrett will use this as an excuse to cheat Mr. Anderson – the winner of the Battle Royal – out of being the #1 contender for the TNA heavyweight championship.

I’d like to compliment Mick Foley on the “Impact” style of wrestling he bought with him Thursday night! I literally don’t remember the last time I saw a Battle Royal. This Battle Royal was action-packed and intense! Keep up the great work, Mick!

For the record, I believe there is still an excellent chance Bill Goldberg will be coming to TNA. Hulk Hogan has talked about Bill Goldberg on his Twitter account, telling everyone how Bill Goldberg would blow the roof off of TNA with his popularity. The name Bill Goldberg has even been mentioned multiple times on episodes of TNA Impact! I believe Bill Goldberg truly is an untapped wrestling resource that TNA should take advantage of.

I’d also like to let the TNA executives know I am very disappointed that Jay Lethal has not seen a contract extension with TNA. The way Jay Lethal has the ability to imitate Randy Savage and Ric Flair is absolutely incredible – truly entertaining! The whole reason why I purchased tickets for my family to attend a TNA event in Port Huron, Michigan is because my sister loves Jay Lethal! When we saw Jay Lethal imitate Ric Flair, we laughed so hard it literally brought tears to our eyes!

What are your thoughts about Mick Foley being the TNA executive? How do you feel about TNA being rebranded as Impact Wrestling? And do you think the rumors about Bill Goldberg coming to TNA are true?

Make a Wish Using This Dual Rainbow!

Yesterday I looked out the window at the exact moment needed to see an incredibly bright dual rainbow! I grabbed my camera as fast as I could so all of my loyal Followers could see this wonderful rainbow. I'm sure you will want to tell all of your family members and friends about this, because it really is a beautiful thing to see. You might want to use this rainbow to make a wish! (Note: I am disabled with epilepsy, so it might be nice if everyone wished for me to get better.) ;)

Isn't this a beautiful double rainbow! Look to the right, and you see two rainbows!

 

Here is the other side of this giant rainbow:

 

By the time I took seven pictures, I realized the second rainbow was disappearing very quickly! Here is the video that shows the rainbow from one side to the other:

Why is Sony Hiding PS3 Sales Figures?

NPD Sales results for the month of April were just released. For the second month in a row, Sony has asked the NPD not to publicly release the actual number of PS3 units sold. Sony has commented on the sales figures, saying these results show year-to-year sales of the PS3 are up 13% for the month of April, 2011 compared to April, 2010. But for the second month in a row, Sony has asked the NPD not to publicly release the exact sales figures for the PS3 console. The controversial questions is, what would Sony’s motive be for doing such a thing?

Although the year-to-year sales for the PS3 are improved by 13% for the month of April, the same apparently could not be said for the month of March. If the PS3 had produced impressive sales figures or seen a year-to-year rise in sales, Sony would have wanted to announce this publicly, as they did this month. But we will never know for sure, since Sony did not allow those numbers to be released publicly.

Now that it seems reasonable that the PS3 did not see a year-to-year improvement for the month of March, it means there was apparently a year-to-year decline for March. This seems like a logical motive for Sony to ask the NPD not to release sales figures to the public. This seems particularly true when you take into consideration that Xbox 360 sales in March saw a year-to-year improvement of 28% and sold a whopping 433,000 units! The Nintendo Wii sold an impressive 290,000 units this March.

For the month of April, both Microsoft and Nintendo allowed the NPD to release sales figures, as usual. The Xbox 360 sold 297,000 units, which was a 60% year-to-year gain compared to April of 2010. Only 172,000 Wii units were sold for April 2011, which is a large year-to-year decline in sales. For 10 of the last 11 months, the Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console, while the Wii has continuously seen declines in year-to-year sales.

Several websites online have been listing an April sales figure of 204,000 for the PS3. However, this is not based on anything that the NPD publicly released with Sony’s permission. The only reason this number of 204,000 exists is because Sony has said there was a 13% year-to-year increase in sales. We know that the PS3 sold 180,800 units in April, 2010, which would put April, 2011, at 204,304 units sold.

The controversial question many people want answered is why Sony is no longer willing to allow NPD to publicly release sales information based on exact numbers. Although a year-to-year sales increase of 13% for the PS3 is not as good as the 60% year-to-year sales increase seen by the Xbox 360, it is still something to be proud of.

As I said before, Microsoft recently announced that the Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console 10 of the last 11 months. But if you investigate and look at the sales figures during those 11 months, you see that the PS3 finished in last place each of those months, except this month! This month the PS3 was apparently able to finish in second place, outselling the Wii for the first time in years!

With that in mind, we need to ask ourselves why Sony isn’t willing to put a spotlight on their exact sales figures anymore. Some people have speculated that the recent problems experienced with the PSN outage is Sony’s motive for apparently not wanting publicity. But what about Sony’s motive for not sharing exact sales data for the month of March? Was Sony’s only motive for not wanting to release March sales figures the fact that the PS3 finished so far behind its direct competitor, the Xbox 360?

Statements made by Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Jack Tretton, indicate that Sony uses a far more forgiving method of defining what a “sale” is than Nintendo and Microsoft. We know that Microsoft and Nintendo consider a unit sold when it has “Been shipped to a retailer or wholesaler that has made a purchase.” This doesn’t necessarily mean consumers purchased the units in stores, but it does mean retailers and wholesalers have purchased the units and have them sitting in stores waiting to be purchased by consumers.

Statements made by Sony executive, Jack Tretton, clearly show that Sony’s definition of a sale is very different. Sony considers a PS3 unit “sold” the instant it is “Produced and placed into inventory.” This means even if a retailer or wholesaler has not purchased the unit, Sony still classifies PS3 units as “sold,” even though they are collecting dust in inventory warehouses. This is a method of cheating – telling the public a unit is sold, even though it hasn’t been shipped to a retailer or wholesaler yet.

Using this form of definition to define the word “sold,” Sony can take credit for millions of units being sold in a very deceptive manner that produces inaccurate results. The best example of this situation occurred in 2006 at the E3 show, and was then proven in 2007 during an interview that Sony executive, Jack Tretton, was a part of. I will briefly describe what happened.

At the 2006 E3 show, Jack Tretton predicted that the PS3 would sell 6 million units by the spring of 2007. But when the spring of 2007 arrived, only 1.4 million consumers worldwide had purchased the PS3. In fact, the PS3 never had a chance of selling 6 million units, since Sony was only able to produce 5.5 million units in factories. In this interview, you see a chart clearly showing that the PS3 had seen disappointing sales of only 1.4 million units worldwide, yet Jack Tretton is claiming that the PS3 was only “a half million” units behind Sony’s goal of 6 million units.

When you subtract a half-million (500,000) from 6 million, you end up with 5.5 million. This is the exact number of units that Sony says had been “produced” by the spring of 2007. Not even close to 5.5 million units had been shipped to retailers and wholesalers by the spring of 2007. This obviously means that Sony’s executives were claiming that all 5.5 million units that had been produced and placed into inventory warehouses were classified as “sold,” even though 4.1 million of them were still sitting in warehouses collecting dust.

Most people believe that the reason Sony started classifying sales in this inaccurate manner is because the PS3 saw such disappointing sales when it launched. Even in Japan, the PS3 has not sold well – even being outsold by the Xbox 360 several months during the first couple years of its life. Each time the Xbox 360 saw an exclusive launch of an RPG game like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, or Tales of Vesperia, it would produce a spike in sales that resulted in the Xbox 360 outselling the PS3 in Japan that month.

This is a surprise, because foreign products like the Xbox 360 usually sell very poorly in Japan – a market that always does its best to stay away from American products. If executives at Sony Computer Entertainment would have told Sony shareholders that only 1.4 million PS3 units had been shipped to retailers due to a lack of consumer demand, it would have caused management executives to be fired. This is probably why Sony executives started reporting the number of units “sold” in a way that was synonymous with the number of units “produced.”

In fact, Ken Kutaragi, the designer of the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP was asked to step down and instead take up the roll of Honorary Chairman. This is the Japanese cultural way of getting fired, since Japanese companies have a tradition of hiring an employee for life. The PS2 and PS3 were both criticized by developers for being difficult to program. As a result, Ken Kutaragi is no longer involved with the Playstation products.

Most people don’t realize that Sony still uses this form of deception when publicly announcing sales figures such as 50 million PS3 hardware units sold worldwide. Sony can get away with this because most of the world doesn’t accurately keep track of sales the way we do in North America. But in North America, Sony can’t get away with deception like this because the NPD sales data is so accurate. According to NPD sales figures, the Xbox 360 is outselling the PS3 at a large rate.

This is very important because North America is the largest videogame market in the world. This expanding sales gap between the Xbox 360 and PS3 is the reason why popular multiplatform games such as Crysis 2, Portal 2, and many others continuously see sales figures significantly higher on Xbox 360 – a console that has sold 53 million units. If the Xbox 360 has sold 53 million units while the PS3 has sold 50 million units, it is a difference of only 6%. With a difference of only 6%, it would not be possible for Xbox 360 versions of software to continuously outsell PS3 versions by such a wide margin.

For example, Crysis 2 is a highly rated game resistant to statistical outliers. Crysis 2 recently launched on both the PS3 and Xbox 360. But we saw the Xbox 360 version outsell the PS3 version by a ratio of 1.7:1. This would not have happened if the Xbox 360 had only a 3 million unit hardware sales advantage over the PS3. Thus, we can logically conclude there is obviously a bigger gap than 3 million units between the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I believe this is why Sony no longer wants sales data from NPD and other sales organizations released to the public.

I really do recommend you take a look at that interview here. This will help you to see what I’m talking about. Thankfully, the person on CNBC interviewing Sony executive, Jack Tretton, was not fooled or deceived, as you will see in this interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFIDsTsWJHw

Please share your thoughts about why Sony is no longer allowing NPD to publicly release exact sales figures of the Playstation 3, even though the PS3 has done several impressive things this month.

ABC Cancels V – But Were Controversial Political Reasons Involved?

As a kid growing up in the 1980’s, one of my favorite TV shows was V. The program called V started out as a 1983 sci-fi miniseries based on aliens known as Visitors that were invading Earth. This miniseries expanded to a one-hour TV show airing weekly from 1984 through 1985. Over the years, the V reruns helped gather a very loyal group of followers. This motivated ABC to start a new V series, which first aired in 2009.

When ABC first announced this new series, fans of the original series (including me) were very happy! Unfortunately, the new HD version of V has been cancelled by ABC after just two seasons. Personally, I think this is very disappointing and may involve controversial motives associated with politics. The audience of V was growing and ABC has left a lot of cliffhanger questions in the plot unanswered.

ABC claims that low ratings are the reason why V will not be renewed for a third season. I question if this is the true motive, though. No Ordinary Family and Detroit 1-8-7 also air on Tuesday nights, but V has higher ratings than those two programs which were also cancelled on this Friday the 13th. Although Detroit 1-8-7 started out with impressive ratings, the ratings dropped significantly. But the year-to-year ratings of V clearly showed that the V program had ratings that were increasing as the audience became larger.

One of the really cool things that the new V series did during the second season was bring back Jane Badler to play the role of Diane – the same role she played in 1983. In the new V series, Diane played the mother of the character known as Anna – the Visitor High Commander. Diane had once been Queen but was imprisoned for 15 years because she proposed living in peace with the humans. Although Diane apparently died in the last episode of the second season, you would tend to think that if she survived 15 years and two different shows it would mean the writers could have found a way to bring her back again in the third season. Sadly, we will never know thanks to ABC.

One controversial element that has me wondering if there were underhanded motives for V being cancelled by executives at ABC is the recent death of Osama Bin Laden. Many politicians have always said they noticed parallels between the premise of the show and the Obama administration.

For example, in her review of the V series, Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post made a relatively big deal about the fact that the series was debuting on the first anniversary of President Obama’s election. In an article titled “ABC Executives Sound Coy About New TV Series Political Edge” she says that phrases in the series (such as “hope” and “change”) made it seem as though “Lou Dobbs had taken over the network, as those things only became popular with the current administration.”

I believe words such as “hope” and “change” are simply common words in the world of politics. And the reason why the Visitors were concerned with offering healthcare to all humans (interpreted as President Obama’s “Universal Healthcare” by Republicans watching the program) is because humans need that type of healthcare system! If this parallels what President Obama is trying to do, it proves that President Obama is aiming high while shooting for the stars and achieving impressive results that are out of this world!

Another example can be found in a review of V that was written by Glenn Garvin of the Chicago Tribune. In an article titled “‘V’ aims at Obamamania,” Garvin called V “controversial,” saying the series was "a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors.”

This statement proves that many people believe the script of V was mixed with real-world politics in a controversial way. With that in mind, we need to ask ourselves if President Obama’s recent triumphs over Osama Bin Laden and Pakistan have anything to do with the cancellation of V – a series with a growing market of viewers.

All of the cast and crew of V have repeatedly denied charges of political bias associated with real-world politics. Morena Baccarin is the actress that plays Anna – the leader of the alien Visitors. Baccarin says that she is very surprised by all the controversy, acknowledging that she did model her character after politicians but nobody in particular. This is what makes me wonder if somebody at ABC was motivated to cancel V for political reasons.

Think about this for a moment. If the writers at ABC really were writing scripts based on what was happening with the Obama administration, it would mean the third season of V would be filled with praise and respect for the excellent accomplishments of President Barack Obama. If there were Republican executives at ABC, this would generate a motive for the cancellation of V. Either way, I am very disappointed that ABC cancelled V without giving it the ending it deserved.

I just want to remind the political-minded executives at ABC of one thing. Although the V series may have been cancelled, even though the plot left a lot of questions unanswered and a lot of promises unfulfilled, the same cannot be said of the Obama administration. President Obama has fulfilled the promises he made while running for President of the United States of America!

President Obama has restored the stock market, bailed the entire auto industry out of bankruptcy, passed a universal healthcare coverage plan, won the Nobel Peace Prize honor, and invaded Pakistan without permission in order to kill the most wanted criminal in the world, Osama Bin Laden. If there would have been a third season of V, it would have involved some form of new leader being introduced that had all the abilities of Captain America, Superman, and Professor X all rolled into one!

ABC executives knew this, which may be why they cancelled V. But that won’t stop me from voting for Barack Obama! Please share your thoughts on this subject, especially if you are angry at the way ABC failed to give V the ending it deserved.

Is myhosting.com Your Answer for Web Design and VPS?

In the online era we currently live in, it is very easy for entrepreneurs to start a business online. Similarly, it is very easy for small businesses and medium-sized businesses to target a much larger audience of consumers online. But in order to do so, you need to make sure your website is designed in a satisfactory way and operated efficiently. This is where an online web hosting service such as myhosting.com enters your life.

Recently, I decided to do some research on what forms of service myhosting.com offers and at what price. Based on what I learned online, I can say that myhosting.com appears to offer a high-quality service for a very competitive price. Regardless of what size your business is or what type of website you plan on designing, it seems as if myhosting.com can help you out.

I run a business called  Résumé Design Service at www.resumedesignservice.com. I personally designed that website because I possess the skills needed to do so. But there are other people that may not possess that level of skill. This is where myhosting.com appears to have a fundamental advantage over the competition.

The myhosting.com service gives you the opportunity to work with a Web Designer for a low price. This Web Designer assists in the custom design of your website in a way that helps you effectively target the market you want to reach. I was very impressed when I learned that myhosting.com even offers a form of software that helps you create a logo for your business that can be applied to your website. This is quite a bit better than my current web host, which forced me to create a logo in Microsoft Office and then transform it into a JPEG picture in order to insert the logo into the web design template.

The other area of service I think myhosting.com may be particularly useful to people is the area called VPS, which stands for Virtual Private Server. The VPS provides all of the dedicated server functions you need, but at a much lower cost. The reason the price is so much lower while still maintaining all the features such as online performance and security is because you will be tapping into a significantly greater hardware resource.

Regardless of whether you prefer to use Windows or Linux operating systems, it seems as if myhosting.com has what consumers are looking for. If you prefer to use the Windows operating system, myhosting.com offers a service known as Windows VPS. Similarly, myhosting.com realizes there are consumers strictly interested in Windows Server 2008, which is why they provide a great deal of information that is easy to understand.

From what I have learned online, I am actually tempted to switch to myhosting.com as my new web hosting service. The value is greater in several areas and it looks as if the quality of the service may be better, as well. Please feel free to share your thoughts about myhosting.com with everyone else, especially if you have experience working with myhosting.com.

Will You Be Left Behind May 21, 2011 When and If the Rapture Happens, as Predicted?

 

The Rapture is a topic debated amongst Christians. Many Christians believe that since they have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ they will not be forced to live through seven years of apocalyptic tribulation before the Lord returns. Other Christians believe that since God's people were forced to live through tribulation in the Old Testament era under leaders such as Moses, it means they will be forced to live through tribulation in this New Testament era we currently live in. But one thing is clear, the majority of Christians never put an exact time on the moment the Rapture will take place or the moment we will see the return of Jesus Christ.

However, once in a while we do see a group of Christians put a date on when these so-called Judgment Day events will take place. May 21, 2011 is the day that Christians at wecanknow.com have said they believe Jesus Christ will return to save His followers, taking all of those born-again followers with Him. The Rapture will cause everyone else who was not born-again to be left behind, wondering how millions of people could have just magically disappeared right before their eyes. This prediction has generated a lot of publicity with the media and also given atheists something new to target as evidence that there is no god.

The term atheist is often confused with the term agnostic. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an agnostic person is "One who is not committed to believing in either the existence or nonexistence of God or a god. A person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something." But an atheist is more hardcore in beliefs, which is why the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term atheist as "One who believes that there is no deity." In other words, an atheist knows exactly what he or she believes and acts on those beliefs -- similar to the ways religious people such as Christians act on beliefs and call it faith.

A group of atheists that host a radio show on KLAY AM 1180 have said they are hosting a party for those "Left Behind." These atheists are referring to everyone on the planet, since they believe nobody will be taken during any form of Rapture on May 21, 2011. Put differently, this is the atheists way of saying everyone is invited to the party. There is an official invite from these radio hosts that says:

"The night that we’re all Left Behind, May 21st, 2011 at 8:00 PM, the producers and crew of Ask An Atheist would love to see you at Dorky’s Arcade in Tacoma. We’re throwing an awesome party in Tacoma’s new retro arcade and bringing in our favorite Seattle bands to rock the place as we celebrate the END… of the countdown to backpedaling."

What are your thoughts on this subject? ... Do you believe there will be a Rapture on May 21, 2011?

 

Soul Calibur 5 Coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 - And Possibly the Wii 2?

Namco has officially announced that Soul Calibur 5 will be released for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in 2012. The game takes place 17 years after Soul Calibur 4. Namco – a company that recently returned to profitability – has said that more information about Soul Calibur 5 will be revealed at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Up to this point, the best version of Soul Calibur ever released is the Xbox 360 version of Soul Calibur 4. The Xbox 360 version runs at a resolution of 1365x960p, which is 40% higher than the resolution of 1280x720p used in the PS3 version. This is because the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) of the Xbox 360 is so much more powerful than the PS3 GPU. The Xbox 360 GPU can display up to 500,000,000 polygons per second, compared to only 275,000,000 polygons per second for the PS3 GPU.

My controversial question has to do with the release date of Soul Calibur 5 and if it will be released for the Wii 2. If the Soul Calibur 5 game is scheduled to be released in 2012, will it also be released for the Wii 2 – which is supposedly going to be released in 2012? The Wii 2 version may be able to run at a resolution of 1920x1080p, since its GPU is slightly more powerful than the Xbox 360 GPU.

This also seems to suggest that Soul Calibur will not be available on a next-generation console such as the third Xbox or the PS4 for quite a while. You would tend to think that the soonest Soul Calibur 6 would be available is for the third Xbox at least two years after the release of Soul Calibur 5. But in all probability, we would not see a next-generation Soul Calibur game until three years after the release of Soul Calibur 5. This means the earliest we would see Soul Calibur 6 on a next-gen console would be 2014, but probably 2015.

Share your thoughts on Soul Calibur 5 and the Wii 2. Do you think Soul Calibur 5 will also be released for the Wii 2? How about Soul Calibur 6 and the clues it offers regarding when next-generation consoles will be here?

Should We Keep Giving Pakistan Money? - Does America Help Fund Terrorism?

Last night I was watching CNN and I saw a detailed report on what children in Pakistan are taught in schools. The report I saw was very devastating for a variety of controversial reasons. Once you learn each of the things I’m going to talk about, we need to ask ourselves another question: Why does the United States of American continue to literally “give” money to Pakistan to “help” their nation. Perhaps if the United States of America were to stop supporting Pakistan financially, the politicians of Pakistan would be motivated to stop false teachings that motivate hatred against Americans.

First, children in Pakistan attend elementary schools where only boys are allowed to attend and learn. Young girls are forced to stay at home or attend a different school while covering themselves up. This immediately proves the bias involved in Pakistani schools. If the Pakistani men do not have the ability to control their lustful hormones, it is obviously not fair to cause female children to receive an inferior education.

Second, the Pakistani teacher taught all of the young boys that it was Americans that are responsible for the terrorist bombings in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This teacher went on to tell the children that Americans enjoy watching the Arabs suffer. The children then told the interviewer that the TV shows they watch say that Americans try to blame Osama Bin Laden for all of these terrorist attacks in order to try and get Pakistan and the Taliban to fight each other. What is even worse is that these kids said they didn’t believe the lies from the Americans, saying that they look to Osama Bin Laden as their hero – someone that motivates them to fight against the Americans with hatred.

Third, I was absolutely stunned when I saw what sort of cartoons the Pakistani children watch. In one of the scenes shown on TV, there are American vehicles traveling along a road below a large cliff. An Arab citizen has bombs strapped to his chest and decides it is best to kill the Americans, even if he has to kill himself to do it! In other words, the children of nations such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq are taught from a young age that it is a good thing to die a martyr if it means killing Americans walking on their self-proclaimed holy land.

Fourth, children attending schools like this obviously have parents that approve of their children receiving that type of education in that type of culture. This is the fundamental reason why it is obvious that Osama Bin Laden had support in the Pakistani government. There is no way in the world that the Pakistani government was not aware of the fact that Osama Bin Laden was living in that huge building with large walls filled with barbed wire! This is the reason why President Barack Obama made the intelligent decision not to notify the Pakistani government that our counterterrorist military unit was on the way.

Fifth, if President Obama would have notified the Pakistani government that our counterterrorist military unit was on the way, the Pakistani government would have given Osama Bin Laden an early warning and told him to leave. Actions speak louder than words; if President Obama believed otherwise, he would have contacted the Pakistani government to let them know what was going on. In fact, in an interview on 60 Minutes, President Obama said he believes the Pakistani government did have connections with Osama Bin Laden. This makes sense, since the Pakistani government allows young males to be taught lies that inspire them to hate the United States of America and look to Osama Bin Laden as a hero.

Sixth, according to the Congressional Research Service, Pakistan has received over $20 billion from the United States since 2002! This literally means that Pakistani children wouldn’t be receiving the education they are today if it wasn’t for the funding provided by the United States of America. This also means that the United States of America helped fund a Pakistani government the whole time period that Osama Bin Laden lived in that country.

This makes you wonder why the United States of America continues to help Pakistan at all. The Arabs in Pakistan have made it clear they don’t want any American citizens walking on their land, not even military soldiers going in to get Osama Bin Laden. However, it isn’t surprising to see that the self-proclaimed “holy” Pakistani Arabs are willing to accept billions of dollars from the supposedly “unholy” American citizens living in the United States of America. But let’s examine why the United States may be motivated to continue offering money to Pakistan.

Security is one of the main reasons why the United States probably helps fund Pakistan. Even though Pakistan does a terrible job with terrorists, we need to realize that Pakistan is a nuclear nation. CNN said that Pakistan has approximately 100 nuclear warheads that are kept in secret locations. Why do I have a feeling that if the United States of America didn’t offer billions of dollars to Pakistan, those nuclear warheads would find their way into the hands of terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden and dictators such as Saddam Hussein?

Stupidity is another one of the main reasons why Pakistan needs financial help from the United States of America. Pakistan had the world’s most wanted criminal living close to a military installation for a very long time, which means the Pakistani government was supporting him or the Pakistani government is incredibly stupid. The Pakistani government claims they were not supporting Osama Bin Ladan, essentially admitting to their own stupidity and irresponsibility. With that in mind, it seems reasonable that very poisonous radioactive materials such as Uranium and Plutonium could be mishandled or misplaced – given to terrorists – at nuclear power locations if it wasn’t for help and/or funding from the United States of America.

Honesty is another one of the main reasons why the United States probably helps fund Pakistan. Believe it or not, there probably are quite a few Pakistani government officials that want to work with the United States of America and put an end to terrorism. Pakistani teachers telling kids lies about America always seem to forget to tell the kids they teach that Osama Bin Laden had officially declared war on the nation of Pakistan. This small hope is like a seed that the United States is trying to help grow, which is why we help fund it and try to gain as much information as possible along the way.

In conclusion, I would just like to say that whatever President Barack Obama and his staff decide to do is something I will trust as a citizen of the United States of America. From the moment he decided to run for president, Barack Obama has made it clear that he was going to be strict with Pakistan. President Obama has lived up to this promise, which is why we can now say the coward terrorist Osama Bin Laden has been killed. I feel like I can trust a man like Barack Obama who proactively brings unity to our country in a way that we haven’t seen since 9/11/2001 when we achieved unity as a reaction to terrorist attacks.

Please share your thoughts by writing a comment. I am unemployed and I have a problem with epilepsy, which makes employment difficult. Please consider making a Tip donation. If you enjoyed this article, please Follow me.

Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.5 Billion! - How Will This Help Xbox 360?

Microsoft has acquired Skype for $8.5 billion, outbidding both Google and Facebook. Reports say that Google and Facebook were bidding between $3 billion to $4 billion. This shows that Microsoft was definitely willing to pay a premium price in order to keep those competitors at bay. Some financial investors have questioned why Microsoft would be willing to pay $8.5 billion for a company that was recently valued at less than $3 billion. This is where the element of controversy starts to reveal itself.

I believe Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is a perfect match for technology currently used in areas of software and communication. Skype has done an excellent job making sure that products such as TV sets, PSP portable game devices, PCs, and cell phones can use their technology for Internet calls and video conferencing. Windows Live Messenger and Outlook are perfect technological matches for Skype. The same can be said for the Xbox 360 game console and the Xbox Live online gaming service.

Of all the products available in the world, Microsoft’s Kinect may be the one that matches with Skype best of all. The Kinect motion-control accessory for the Xbox 360 has sold over 10 million units in a record time period – appearing in the Guinness Book of World Records for its amazing sales success. This means there are over 10 million Microsoft video cameras staring people in the face. This is the perfect environment for Skype to exist.

Microsoft may have overpaid for Skype, according to financial analysts on Wall Street, but the acquisition of Skype has helped Microsoft achieve all of its goals. Microsoft would have needed to bid at least $4.5 billion for Skype in order to acquire them. This means that for an additional $4 billion, which isn’t much to cash-rich Microsoft, they get to stop Google and Facebook from dominating this industry. Thanks to this acquisition, Microsoft now has significantly greater access to all of Skype’s 145 million subscribers in an industry that is growing across a world that is trying to lower communication costs, particularly in the area of business.

Two weeks from now we know that Xbox Live will be briefly shutting down for an update. We know that when Xbox Live receives this upgrade it will be fully compatible with PayPal in order to increase security and prevent hackers from having access to bank information. This is especially worth noting since Sony and their PSN has experienced such awful online hacking over the last month. But it’s worth noting that Skype already uses PayPal. Perhaps the reason why Xbox Live is going to gain this form of access is because we will see compatibility with Skype sooner rather than later!

Gears of War 3 beta - Update - Week 3

Previously, I wrote a very detailed five-page article about my impressions of the Gears of War 3 beta. You can read that article by clicking here.

Now I’m going to give a further update on the Gears of War 3 beta. It appears several things have changed and/or been modified by Epic in some way. Based on my observations, I will explain everything in detail one subject at a time.

* Independent Online Servers: One of the things Epic promised from the beginning was independent servers online. Gears of War 3 is scheduled to be the first Xbox 360 game to offer this feature. During the first week the Gears of War 3 beta was available to everyone who preordered the game from Gamestop, I saw for myself that independent servers have the ability to work fine in a way that puts everyone on equal ground. Everybody is playing fairly in an environment where there is no form of host advantage. When independent servers are being used by Epic, I rate Gears of War 3 a 10 out of 10.

Unfortunately, news reports surfaced a couple weeks ago that the independent servers had gone down. From that point on, Gears of War 3 has used the same form of server setup used by other games. This is very disappointing and very frustrating because of host-server advantages. Games just aren’t as fun as they used to be with the Gears of War 3 beta, simply because all of the gamers are no longer competing on equal ground.

The best example of what I’m referring to can be described very easily by telling you about something I personally experienced. My teammates and I had filled an enemy with enough bullets to put that enemy down. But the enemy was behind an area where the bullets of my teammates could no longer reach the enemy. This meant the kill was going to be mind, since I was the only person on the team that had the ability to hit the fallen foe.

While this fallen enemy was crawling around on the floor, I had my Gnasher Shotgun armed. I used the Left Trigger to target the enemy and I used the Right Trigger to shoot the gun. I expected the enemy to die from that one shot at close range. I was surprised when the enemy did not die, so I targeted the enemy again and shot again. Once again, the enemy did not die! I repeated this process two more times, and yet the enemy would NOT die!

By the time I had hit the fallen enemy four times, he was able to tap the A-button enough times to stand up again. When the enemy got up, he just turned around and killed me with one close-range shot of his own Gnasher Shotgun. Can you say, “Not Fair?” This was the most unfair situation I have ever been involved with in any Gears of War game, and I instantly started telling people that if the final version of Gears of War 3 was going to be like that, I would be sticking with Call of Duty games. Unfair host advantages like that are why I stopped playing multiplayer in Gears of War 2.

The bottom line is that Epic needs to make sure Gears of War 3 uses independent servers. The host-advantage has too much of a negative affect on Gears of War game play. Please, Epic, make sure Gears of War 3 keeps your promise of independent servers.

* Glitches: Since the end of the first week, I have only encountered one glitch. This glitch was on May 8, 2011. Two friends and I simultaneously joined a match in progress. My two friends joined and I was watching them without any problem. But I was never able to join. I’m not even sure if my character joined at all. If my character did join, he was just standing there doing nothing. The only thing I could see was the Ghost Camera viewpoint. Epic, this needs to be fixed. The map it occurred on was The Trenches.

This was similar, but worse, than a glitch I experienced during the first week. During that week, I was in the Thrashball stadium. I was able to join the game and I could see the point of view of my character. But my character was stuck in the same spot. The only reason the match ended was because my teammate killed me with a grenade. Epic needs to fix this type of glitch.

* Grenades: In my last article, I promised that I would talk about grenades in my next article. I have kept my promise, and my analysis can be very simple. I think Epic got the grenades just right. The smoke grenades don’t do any damage; however they play a very important role in strategy. You can also use smoke grenades in the Capture the Leader mode, since a smoke grenade will cause the captured leader to be set free.

Frag grenades are just as powerful as ever. You can use them to kill multiple enemies at a time by throwing them or by tagging them to a wall or an enemy. The cool thing in Gears of War 3 is that if you are tagged by an enemy you can actually try and take that enemy out so that at least both of you die. This means if you tag an enemy with a grenade, you need to get away fast.

Ink grenades emit a very powerful gas of poisonous smoke. This can kill multiple people, including your own teammates. In fact, you can even potentially kill yourself with the ink grenade. The use of the Ink grenade is excellent and I think Epic has it right. It seems like the strength of the Ink grenade has been slightly lowered from the first week of the beta up to this point. This is probably a good thing because the ink grenade is supposed to cause people to evacuate, not necessarily die.

Incendiary grenades are a very powerful form of flame grenade. I feel very confident that these grenades have lost a lot of power from the first week compared to right now. During the first week of the beta, I lost count of the number of times I saw people dying from the incendiary grenade explosions that caused people to burn to death. Now, you need to stay in the lava flame for quite a while before you are in danger of dying; I never see people die from this anymore. Epic might want to make it so the strength is slightly increased, or possibly so the lava stays in the same spot for a long time. This would add a strategy element that makes it so you take away part of a map, since lava is there for a while.

* Gorgon Pistol: During the first week, it seemed like the Gorgon needed to be a lot more powerful. The reason for this is because the Gorgon needed to be a lot more powerful! It seems like Epic may have added some power to the Gorgon since the first week. Now it is actually possible to put an enemy down with the Gorgon, if you put an entire clip of ammo into him. But it is very common to have kills stolen from you while firing the Gorgon. You need to use a whole clip just to put an enemy down, regardless of range. By the time you reload your Gorgon pistol, someone else has already killed the enemy.

In my opinion there is absolutely no reason to waste time picking up a Gorgon pistol in Gears of War 3. Epic needs to increase the power of this pistol and make sure it has more ammunition in each clip. The simple fact is, if there is no reason to pick up a weapon, why bother picking it up? With that in mind, you need to ask the question if the Gorgon pistol really belongs in the game. It is a very cool weapon with a lot of potential, but it simply needs more ammo and more power.

* Boltok Pistol: During the first week I thought it was awful the way the Boltok was so week. I once got two headshots and a third shot to the chest on an enemy and the enemy did not die! Epic appears to have increased the power of the Boltok, but not enough. This week I fired a perfect headshot on an enemy, and it still did not kill the enemy. Although, I was once killed with a single shot to the head. This makes me wonder if the reason why that headshot did not kill the enemy is because of the host-server advantage.

My advice to Epic would be to make it so the Boltok is more powerful. It doesn’t shoot very fast, and it takes relatively long to reload. With that in mind, it is alright if the Boltok pistol is a powerful weapon, especially at close range. C’mon Epic, make it so this pistol is powerful the way it should be! If the Boltok pistol were more powerful, more people would pick up the weapon and be motivated to use shields.

* Boomshot: This weapon works exactly as it is supposed to. If you get hit with it, you die! It normally comes with only two or three rounds, so make sure you use it carefully. Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Boomshot.

* Torque Bow: This weapon is a powerful weapon that takes a bit of practice firing. Anyone familiar with this weapon already will be fine with Gears of War 3. It takes a second or two to aim, and then if you hit the enemy they are blasted with a powerful shot. I think Epic has things just right with this weapon.

* Longshot Sniper: This weapon functions exactly as it did in previous Gears of Wars games. If you use the scope and get a headshot the enemy always dies. If you hit them in the chest it usually requires two shots to get a kill. If you miss the head, you feel guilty and accept responsibility. The Longshot sniper weapon makes it so headshots become particularly important, and it allows the graphics to look fantastic. You can literally see the teeth of the enemy with that scope! Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Longshot sniper rifle.

* Oneshot Sniper: This new weapon has an incredibly long range – far longer than the Longshot. The other big difference is the power of the weapon. The Oneshot usually has only three rounds of ammo, but they are powerful! The Oneshot sends out a beam of light, similar to the Torque Bow so that an aware enemy knows they are being targeted. But if you can shoot someone with the Oneshot, they will be killed in one shot! In my opinion, Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Oneshot.

* Digger Launcher: This new weapon adds a lot of new strategy to the game. The Digger Launcher usually has about three rounds of ammunition when you pick it up. But each of these three rounds is capable of killing multiple opponents with one shot – similar to a grenade. In fact, the aiming of this weapon is virtually identical to a grenade, even though you hold it as a gun.

When you shoot the Digger Launcher weapon, it sends out a big tunnel being ripped through the ground. If you are near that explosive tunnel being sent in your direction, you will die if you don’t get out of the way. You can see it coming, so you need to hop to the side in order to get away. I believe Epic has done a great job with the Digger Launcher and should keep everything as it is.

* Flame Scorcher: This weapon desperately needs more power! Of all the weapons in Gears of War 3, the one that is the least useful is this flame thrower weapon. Regardless of where this flame thrower is available for people to pick up, I never see people take the time to pick it up. I presume the reason I don’t see other people pick this weapon up is the same reason I don’t pick it up – it is absolutely worthless as a weapon!

Epic needs to make some huge changes with this particular weapon and the flames it throws. When you shoot someone with flames for three seconds while they are running at you through the flames, and then they kill you with one close-range Sawed-Off Shotgun blast, it means the game loses one full point in my book! In other words, Gears of War 3 goes from a 10 to a 9 in my book, simply because of that one huge problem! Epic, I am telling you on behalf of gamers everywhere: Make the Flame Scorcher weapon more powerful!

* Hammerburst: Last time I wrote a detailed report about how the Hammerburst rifle needs more power. I still want to make it 100% clear that the Hammerburst rifle needs more power. It is very common for people to unload an entire clip of Hammerburst ammo at enemies, and yet the enemy will not even fall! Epic, this needs to be changed for obvious reasons.

The simple fact of life in videogames is that if you shoot someone to the point where you need to reload a weapon, you expect that enemy to die! For goodness sake, if you unload an entire clip in an enemy, you at least expect the enemy to fall down! But when you unload an entire clip in an enemy while he is running directly at you, only to get blown into pieces with a single shot from his shotgun, it means gamers are motivated to play a different game. Epic, make it so the Hammerburst and Flame Scorcher weapons are more powerful!

* Conclusion: Overall, I believe Gears of War 3 has the potential to be the best game released in 2011. However, there are still some fundamental flaws that prevent this from happening. Several weapons such as the Hammerburst and Flame Scorcher desperately need more power. If the Flame Scorcher isn’t given that power, Epic should remove it from the game to avoid embarrassing themselves. Why bother picking up a weapon if it has no use or puts you at an obvious disadvantage.

I really hope Epic takes the time to read this four-page article, along with my previous five-page article. I really did take an incredible amount of time to try and help Epic. I hope my blog Followers enjoyed reading this. Please feel free to share your thoughts on my blog.

Also, if you have suggestions for Epic regarding the Gears of War 3 beta, visit this website in order to let them know what you’d like to see in the final version of Gears of War 3 or what problems you have found in the beta version: http://forums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=400

Finally, I'd like to mention a couple really cool things Epic did with the beta of Gears of War 3. On the weekend of Easter, the characters had heads with bunnies! And last weekend the characters had oversized heads with very high-pitched voices similar to what a person sounds like if they breath helium! This was very funny!

Take a look for yourself here:

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Gears of War 3

 

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Sony Targets May 31st for Full Restoration of PSN

On April 20, 2011 the Sony PSN online service went down with over 74 Million users affected in a negative way by online hackers taking advantage of Sony's weak security system. A short time after, the service went down again with another batch of over 20 Million users affected in a way that involved a breach of credit security and financial records that would allow identity theft to occur. Sony recently announced that May 31st is the date currently being targeted for the return of full functionality to the PSN. The Playstation Blog says that Sony has a goal of restoring online game play prior to May 31st.

No other problem in the history of the videogame industry has ever produced such an impact on so many millions of people – approximately 100 million people. As an industry analyst, I believe next months NPD sales figures will confirm just how angry consumers are with Sony. Senators, congressman, and other politicians in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and all across Europe have criticized Sony for their lack of responsibility and selfishness. Consumers do not appreciate it that Sony was not willing to inform users within a reasonable time period in an effort to avoid negative publicity.

Guardian Heroes Coming Exclusively to Xbox Live Arcade!

One of the best games ever released by Sega for the Saturn game console in the 1990's was a game called Guardian Heroes. On May 5, 2011 Sega announced Guardian Heroes would be released exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade this fall. Sega says Guardian Heroes will feature enhanced high-definition graphics and online co-op when it is released for Xbox Live Arcade!

Guardian Heroes is a multiplayer 2D side-scrolling game. Enemies fill the screen, battle after battle, similar to a Golden Axe type of game. However, Guardian Heroes has moves far more complex -- with motion controls similar to Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter. The RPG elements of the game are excellent, particularly the way experience points are earned throughout the game. The plot in Guardian Heroes is very detailed and it helps you get to know the characters very well.

In addition to the side-scrolling co-op mode, there is also a battle mode where up to six players can participate simultaneously. Characters that you met throughout the story mode of the game are available to play as in this battle mode. One of my favorite parts of the battle mode is that absolutely nothing is left out.

For example, in the story mode there is a character named Randy that has a tiny pet rabbit named Nando. In the story mode, Nando is actually a part of several of Randy's moves and makes very funny karate-style noises and movements. In the battle mode, you can actually play as Nando!

Guardian Heroes is considered one of the best games ever released for the Sega Saturn by game critics and fans. Everything from the 2D graphics to the music with catchy tunes is praised by gamers. I really hope Sega releases Guardian Heroes sooner rather than later, and at an affordable price -- preferably 800 points or less. By the way, I've got dibs on Nando!