gen

So it's been a month with no update. I did think about posting to the blog - it's the thought that counts right? ...Yeah, I guess not. So anyway, many GTA IV sessions have passed, I'm now back home in the ATL with summer classes in session. It's actually not so bad (I say this in retrospect because whenever I'm actually in class, it really is bad, but I'll get to that in a bit). I originally thought I had classes everyday (which I will eventually) but it turns out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes are for the short summer session which starts in mid-June. THUS! I have 4-day weekends until then! It's quite amazing - 2 days of classes out of 7.

The only problem with summer classes is that they're SO FRICKIN LONG (insert "that's what she said" here). I can handle interesting subjects for 1hr 45min, but monotonous and uninteresting subjects are just that - monotonous and uninteresting... for an hour and 45 minutes. Take for example my math class Applied Combinatorics. I thought this would be an interesting class because of its description:

Elementary combinatorial techniques used in discrete problem solving: counting methods, solving linear recurrences, graph and network models, related algorithms, and combinatorial designs.

That sounds pretty interesting right? At least for a math class, right? No? I'm just a dork? Ok. You're right. The other day we spend half an hour on proving the existence and the uniqueness of a "Division Algorithm" aka we learned how to divide. Needless to say I lost interest 5 minutes in. I'm still hoping, however, that the course will become more interesting. Which leads me to the class following: History. This class has no hope of becoming more interesting. The prof talks for an 1hr45min non-stop. I kid you not. No breaks, starts on time, ends on time. It's unbelievably sleep-inducing.

Now that you've read about my school life, let's move on to the more interesting stuff? Like that kid and his male guardian figure I mentioned... a month ago. So I was at GameStop pre-ordering GTAIV and while waiting in line I overheard this conversation going on between this kid and this dude. It went a little something like this:

Dad: ....but you already have a two-hundred and fifty dollar gaming machine at home, you don't need this
Kid: but...
Dad: Do you see this price tag? It says one-hundred and thirty dollars . This is not as good as your two-hundred and fifty dollar one you have at home.

At first I was wondering what they were going on about, but then as soon as he stated $130 I knew what he was talking about. He was puttin' down my DS, my and our beloved DS, as inferior to the PSP on the basis of price alone. I felt like walking up and saying: If you're going to lecture a child, do it properly and with your facts straight. While it's good you're teaching the kid he doesn't need two portable gaming toys, the reasoning behind your logic is ultimately flawed. But I supposed I'm biased and partial towards the DS. BUT!, my partiality has logic behind it. By the following table, I shall support my reasons for knowing that DS > PSP.So there you have it, DS clearly is better than PSP. Even though the PSP is two-hundred and fifty dollars it is ousted by the one-hundred and thirty dollar gaming machine. Take that two-hundred and fifty dollar gaming machine! And take that Mr. Swayed-By-Price-Of-Unit. People who think they know things that they don't annoy me. You are distorting that child's mind! He shall never know the joys of a DS! But whatever, you bought him a PSP in the first place. He better be happy with that.

Onto the next subject! What's up with all these game journalists using the term 'next-gen' to describe the 360, PS3, and even Wii. This very much annoys me whenever I see it used to reference one/all of these consoles. The term is blatantly inaccurate.

next [nekst] Pronunciation Key
–adjective
1. immediately following in time, order, importance, etc.: the next day; the next person in line.
5. on the first occasion to follow: when next we meet.
Courtesy of Dictionary.com

What's this? 'Next' means coming up? What a concept! Wait, how are our consoles 'next-gen' if they're already here! This term may have been fine when the consoles were in development, but why has the term stuck? I dislike things that are inaccurate but become trendy.

Aside: Back in my Guild Wars days, there was a team build that was named IWAY. The build name was coined because its cornerstone key skill was called '"I Will Avenge You!"' Thus the name fit appropriately. Its amazing success however, had many other builds INACCURATELY mimicking the name. Builds such as Flare-way, Monk-way, hell, I even saw some people have the audacity to call Necro spikes SS-way (for the skill Shadow Strike) and many others (of which I've forgotten names, it's been a while...) that I didn't care to remember since they were so lamely copied.

Get a clue people, these consoles are no longer 'next-gen', they are 'current-gen'. I suppose describing the graphics in a new fangled game as current-gen-graphics doesn't have the same luster to it ("The graphics in [insert game] are very current-gen~!" vs. "The graphics in [insert game] are very next-gen~!") but next-gen-graphics falsely implies that the graphics are of quality that can't be seen today. I'm sorry for being picky, but the term annoys me. I suppose stating that the technically correct way of referencing this current generation of video game machines as 7th generation wouldn't get the same message across either... *sigh.

That is all for this time. Until the next, enjoy life!