The information generation

I grew up in a society were I’ve lived to see the computer become as common a household item as a telephone. When you’ve had access to the web from such a young age, It is a strange, and often unnerving concept to think that once upon a time, we lived in a world without the wonders of the world wide web.

Back in the day, information was channelled primarily through newspapers, televisions and books. The library was of cause our internet, before it evolved into he digital realms. The problem is, it’s neon impossible to keep books up to date on a daily basis, so up to date information was left in the hands of television producers and news corporations.

The masses, even now, have grown quite passive of this fact, and often don’t stop to think about who controls the flow of information, and the power this responsibility encompasses. The media (controllers of information) have a huge impact on how the population of a country thinks and holds it’s values. The way to control a nation perceptions, is to control the information in which they consume.

Now this is a very dangerous game we are playing. Especially when you consider that every person has there own belief systems and ideologies. These grouped with the responsibility of controlling what the masses are exposed to, often breed agendas. These agendas are especially questionable when you take into consideration that the ones controlling the information, are high up in society with an innate drive to maintain wealth and stature. Therefore, with our only mainstream sources of understanding the world around us having questionable intentions, another generation was doomed to idly perceive the world, the way that the powers that be want them to.

In comes the internet.

Now we have a wealth of endless information from a range of varied sources at out fingertips. No longer are we bound by the pre-conceptualized opinions of the mainstream media. It’s un-regulated and uncensored, anyone from a fascist to a patriot can publish there spin on the happenings of society to the entire world. This is a beautiful era we live in, were the people control the information in which they consume.

Sadly… It’s clear that the powers that be are growing increasingly nervous, as they lose there steely grips on the control of information. We are seeing more and more desperate efforts to infiltrate the unregulated nature of the web, with the likes of NET NEUTRALITY and other methods of blatant censorship.

Of cause… we could have seen this coming, after all history repeats itself. Any movement that breeds a generation of free-thinkers, is often stamped out. Look at the counter-culture of the 60’s. Thousands of citizens take this strange new hallucinogenic drug and decide they don’t want a war in Vietnam. Instead, they want love and peace. It’s the same now, except our mind-altering substance is the internet rather than LSD, and the war were fighting? The information war. The final  decision of who controls our perceptions. The people, or the government.

The problem with past counter-cultures, is that they remained as the ‘counter’ of cultures. The media controlled the way we saw these groups people. The internet on the other hand, regulates itself, by the entire worlds varied perceptions of society. With the decentralized nature of the network, we stand a very good chance of winning this battle, and with groups like anonymous popping up it is clear that the people can have the power.

Of cause, it’s not all good times, like with any great power there is responsibilities, and negative consequences if we do not fulfil these responsibilities.

Like anything, there’s a dark side.

With society and technology getting more and more fast paced, the demand for more condensed and precise information is growing. Were starting to live in a world of instant gratification. High speed porn, encyclopaedia of encyclopaedia of information, flying at us at an unfathomable amount of terabyte’s a second. Again and again were beginning to skip straight to the reward.

The way motivation works is that a human being is rewarded for his hard work by feel good chemicals blasting around the rewards centre of the brain. With the the way the internet’s heading, we are increasingly bypassing straight to the reward as a society. The need for hard work is unnecessary.

Yes, consuming more information at once can be good, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed and as humans we will eventually grow comfortable with skipping straight to the gratification. This could land us in an even bigger trap of never progressing, and having our attention cnsumed by companies with agenda’s such as Facebook. Thus making the internet, nothing more than a method of advertisement consumption. We need to be very careful how we approach this new influx of information, or we might find our selves in an even more darker system of perception control, flawed by it’s own design.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Avengers: Age of Ultron – A prime example of everything wrong with the film industry

With everyone on the planet seemingly becoming a marvel fan following an impulsive influx of superhero films, it was clear that at some point I would be exposed to this film. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with superhero movies, but with the current state of cinema, is it really necessary? I mean, it feels like a sickeningly large majority of Hollywood films in past few years have been sequels, remakes or a slight variation on an overdone selection of superhero related action. The avengers series is yet another boring and dull spectacle type film, bred by lazy writers who don’t care because they know you’ll buy it anyway. It’s time to stop vigorously masturbating over the trailer for next spider man film and listen, because this reproduction of done and done again films has to stop.

So, what’s wrong with Avengers: Age of Ultron? Well nothing particularly, I mean as far as films go it’s got a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not a ‘bad’ film, it’s just basic. If one was to watch this with the volume down, it would not matter as the plot-line is excruciatingly boring, and the prime source of entertainment is the visuals. To be fair in terms of spectacle, it is pretty fantastic visually, but you just end up zoning out at the relentless and seemingly pointless action. It’s predictable and every scene just seemed to be leading up to another cringe-worthy one liner by characters that have the emotional capacity of a tomato that’s been left out in the sun too long. So yeah, in terms of a movie, it’s just boring and doesn’t leave much to the imagination. There’s this guy called Ultron that wants to destroy the world, and all these people in strangely erotic costumes stop him from doing it. That’s about it. What I did find amusing, is that Ultron decided to destroy earth after having one look at the internet. Maybe he saw the trailer for Avengers 3.

I guess I don’t hold a grudge against this specific film itself, more the way in which the industry pumps out this repetitive trash. All I see on social media is people is people in euphoric states over the next superhero film. Why? In my opinion, there all pretty much the same deal. The public continues to consume these products because it’s easy watching and the companies have a huge budget for marketing. Hollywood just produces what makes money. I mean, you don’t HAVE to go see these films, but if we continue to buy into these overdone genres, nothing new will ever come of it. We progress in any creative outlet by experimenting. The mainstream, isn’t necessarily what’s good, it’s just what makes money. So if you want to continue filling the pockets of boring writers and watch repetitive dumb films, then be my guest. However, all this does is put huge budgets on sequels and uncreative feature films. Do you wan’t something new? Or will be doomed to watch computer generated explosions and Megan Fox’s tits juggling about in slow motion for the hundredth time this millennium. It’s your choice.

–THE LONELY WEST–

The Silk Road Ideology: A simulation of a free market economy

In February 2011, Ross Ulbricht opened a black market website known as the Silk Road. Little did he know, it would soon facilitate the selling of $8million worth of narcotics each month. With high quality drugs being shipped around the world 24/7, this multi-million dollar enterprise sent shock waves through the media. It thrived and it’s customer base got larger, along with it’s huge middle finger pointed at drug regulation and law enforcement.

Better known under his pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Ross was seen by many as a hero, constantly preaching his libertarian values to his loyal users.

“Silk Road was founded on libertarian principles and continues to be operated on them. It is a great idea and a great practical system…It is not a utopia. It is regulated by market forces, not a central power (even I am subject to market forces by my competition. No one is forced to be here). The same principles that have allowed Silk Road to flourish can and do work anywhere human beings come together. The only difference is that the State is unable to get its thieving murderous mitts on it.” –  Dread Pirate Roberts

The way I see it, Ulbricht was trying to change the perception of how we see our government and economics system. He created virtual space were a simulation of a free market economy can flourish. The effects this had on the black market, used as evidence for how a free market economy could benefit society.

“Ross Ulbricht’s Linked-in bio”

What a better way to put this simulation into practice than the drug trade. An unregulated market with HUGE demand. As long as there is a demand for drugs there will ALWAYS be a supplier, regardless of how much the government try to intervene. If there is no way of stopping drug supply, then why not allow the supply of it to be safe and regulated? After all, the drug trade will never cease… People like taking drugs. As it stands, the drug trade is a risky and un-regulated business. Mindless violence caused by criminal gangs for the sake of untaxed revenue.

The silk road bypassed all of this and allowed the consumer to be safe. Away from the dangerous streets, we the people acted as it’s self regulator through the use of the sites feedback system. This forced vendors to sell un-adulterated they could get sales. As if they weren’t up to scratch it would be reported by the consumer.

These are the basic concepts of a free market economy. A decentralised economic system (Bitcoin) were the consumer acts as the products regulator. Ross Ulbricht and many people using and regulating the site believed in this libertarian philosophy. What better way to show people that it works, than creating a free market economy for people to use in a huge public sphere such as the internet.  With the amount of users and lack of violent crimes through the use of these sites, it’s clear that it did work.

It took them two years from the sites creation, but the FBI finally managed to shut it down. Now that’s a story in itself. I remember vigilantly watching various forums as the drama un-folded. Feeling some what part of a collective revolution as the people tried fighting back against the government. Here’s the kicker. We won. Just a mere month after it’s closure, a Silk Road 2.0 launched, lead by and equally as self-righteous “Defcon.”

The middle finger to law enforcement only got bigger and bigger as more sites started spawning from no where, all offering the same black market services. The problem was that the FBI shot themselves in the foot. By seizing the Silk Road it only added more media attention to these sites, bringing in more customers and more demand. It also gave people the incentive to fight back against the government in a sort of digital “V for Vendatta.”

It took another year, but just yesterday the second silk road was taken down, along with a few other darknet sites. ALREADY, just hours later, a Silk Road 3.0 has spawned. You only need to look at this list, to see the sheer amount of black market websites being created regularly.

So was Ross Ulbricht a hero? What about Defcon? If you believe in libertarian philosophies then Ross Ulbricht is definitely a pioneer in getting the message of a free market economy out there. Regardless of how many sites they take down, the message is still there. The ideas left behind by Ross are still ingrained into the people who supported the cause. A domino effect has started. Maybe one day we will live in a free market economy and we’ll look back at these times fondly as the start of a revolution.

Here is a video made by Ross Ulbricht’s mother during the Silk Road case in 2013.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Technology as a weapon

There have been many predictions of the future all throughout history. Many ridiculous, others terrifyingly accurate. What I don’t think anybody could have predicted, is the alarming rate in which technology has progressed in the past decade or so.

If you told somebody in the 1920’s that you can connect to somebody on the other side of the planet, through an imaginary space called the internet, they’d probably lock you away. Damn, if you told them that mental illness was real and people weren’t locked away for it, they’d probably think you were crazy.

Technology is a catalyst in an ever-changing world were we are evolving and seeing large amounts of worldwide, economic and societal change. However, the sheer speed this technology has progressed has left us all dumbfounded, with not enough time to face the potential and unknown repercussions of these changes

George Orwell predicted a world were this seamless connectivity backfired on us and created a hellish reality of corrupt aristocracy and constant government surveillance.

This is frightening when you think about recent controversy with the NSA. A huge government agency using technology as a weapon for relentless surveillance.

Oh but it’s okay “You shouldn’t worry if you have nothing to hide.” Like the slogan in Orwell’s novel for Big Brother…

Ignorance is surrender. When you ignore the fact that we are heading towards a dystopian society where we are simply cogs in the ever turning economic machine, you can rest easy. You can just ignore the fact that our freedom of expression is being taken from us by the likes of net neutrality and censorship.

The technology which initially was meant to benefit our society is slowly being contaminated by a dogmatic government who use it negatively, to reap the benefits in our very primitive economic system.

Any use of this technology that takes you away from government control and helps you be free is often attempted to be destroyed. Bitcoin, Tor even the internet in general. The powers above don’t like it when they don’t have control over what we do with these powerful new digital aids.

Technology has pierced through the very seams of our society at a speed we couldn’t even fathom. We had no time to understand the potential dangers. It can be used for good. Or it can be used for evil. It can level cities to a pile of dust and update twitter, all at the same time.

What we do with this technology is up to us. It is time NOW for discussion. We need to work out exactly how we can use it  beneficially, and what adverse affects it can cause when in the wrong hands. Otherwise, we may end up living in a world were privacy, freedom and happiness are just fictional concepts, on your watered down and censored television set.

How close are we to reaching George Orwell or Aldous Huxley’s brave new world?

Well, the FBI have recently finished their facial recognition system. A system holding a database of at least 52 million faces, making it even more easy to infringe privacy and find the identity of every human on the planet. How far away from dystopia are we? This happened last week So I’ll let you be the judge.

If we stand up against the powers above, like Orwell, I predict we will be looking at astronomic social change. The abandonment of  hierarchical government, a better thought out economic system and the evolution and disembodiment of the mind, body and soul.

–THE LONELY WEST–

What is god? Consciousness and the observer effect

I’m an atheist. As an atheist there is nothing worse than a Christian who relentlessly tries to force their beliefs upon you. As someone who prides himself in (hopefully) not being an asshole, there’s nothing worse than an atheist doing the same thing.

It’s easy to discredit someone beliefs just because they seem ludicrous to you. But, you’ll never learn anything if you stay stuck in the mental prison of your own stubborn ideology. Truth be told, I used to be one of those atheist who preached about the narrow-mindedness of religious types which ironically makes you more narrow minded. This is because, like I said, you get trapped in your own beliefs and don’t accept any other opinions. Well, I’ve been given this some thought and although I remain an atheist you really can’t blame people for believing in a higher power.

I mean the universe makes no sense but complete sense at the same time. Back in the day, we didn’t have science. A higher being or deity seemed the only logical explanation for the reality in which we perceive. Of cause, as we evolved we began finding patterns. That’s all science is. The study of regularly occurring patterns. Humans like patterns because they help us make sense of seemingly chaotic events beyond our control. We like control. It eats away at us when we can’t categorise, analyse and neatly label things in the world. This is what science is for. Science found that our universe is governed by certain laws. These laws neatly fit into various equations and calculations which when worked out again and again always give the same result. Gravity, velocity or density it can all be calculated. It’s almost like a computer program with physics equations as it’s code.

With all this seamlessly perfect data we can extract from our universe, it becomes apparent that it is very possible there could well be a creator. Our world is intelligently designed as if someone meant it all to fit together and consistently work again and again. It’s insane when you think that, every small calculation of these laws is so neatly perfect that out universe just works. I mean, take one piece of the code away and it all just falls apart. So, if there is a creator or what us humans refer to as “God” what is it. What is god?

Well, when people think of god I personally think that they are going about the completely wrong way. When you envision God you will normally picture some almighty deity in the sky that must be worshipped. In my opinion, this approach is lazy and disregards science. A way of simply filling in the gaps we don’t understand. The idea that we have to worship this creator also seems silly. A fallacy I personally think has been carried through the ages. A way of invoking fear in large populations so they don’t “Sin.” So what is the other way of looking at God? Well first lets take away the label of God as that already puts an image of a deity in peoples mind. The belief that we have a creator dictates that something is consciously aware of the universe in which it creates. The idea that our reality was created by conscious thought rather than pure randomness.

The Double Slit Experiment

This is where it gets mind-bendingly difficult to fully comprehend, so I will try and break it down into it’s simplest and most relevant form. In a nutshell, the double slit experiment was a study conducted in which scientist fired electrons through two tiny slits. Quantum physics dictates that the particle should act as… Well, a particle and when they collide with the wall, land as two bands in correspondence with the slits. The issue was, this did not happen. As you can see above the particles did not create two bands, rather they acted as a wave would. Completely unlike how we know particles to work, which obviously completely BAFFLED scientists. To get a better idea of what was happening they decided to use a small device to examine exactly which slits the electrons went through. Keep in mind this is on a quantum level, so up until this point nobody was observing the electrons. Rather, they were just seeing the end result. When they actually observed these particles. Well… this is when things got really strange. When scientists observed the particles, they began acting like particles again and produced two bands based of their collision with the wall. They tried again and again, observing and not observing, each time producing the same results. What does this mean? Well, it basically means the particles may be aware that they were being watched. As if they acted as we expect them too when we actually observed them. This is crazy when you think that our whole universe is made up of matter. Various particles that make up EVERYTHING we perceive, those of which their number we couldn’t even fathom. So if the variables of particles change based on our observations… Could this mean we are architects of our own reality?

When the electrons were unaware of observation they acted as a wave. Does this not dictate that the model of a wave could be their true form? If you begin reading about string theory, you will start to realise it is becoming apparent that the fundamental form of matter in our universe is countless amounts of vibrational waves.

It’s getting pretty deep now but hear me out.

Every thought you create produces a wave. That’s why they are called brain waves. Observation is formed by thought. You perceive something and your mind acknowledges it’s existence. If this is the case, than could it not be possible that we are creating our own reality whilst we live it. Our collective perception is dictating how the universe plays out and how the laws are set. Darting back to the initial question, what is God ?

Well… Maybe WE are God.

I’ll let you all collect your blown minds and you can be on your way.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Addicted to distraction

The internet is a wonderful thing isn’t it? I mean seriously. It is a WONDERFUL thing. It’s a lot like many other inventions created in the past few decades. You lived fine without it before, but now it exists you could not possibly imagine a life without. How on earth could you survive without millions of cute kitten pictures at you disposal. How could you EVER think that you could live on oxygen, food and water alone without seeing that fat kid fall over for the 50th time this shift. We are never far away from a virtual world were you can get consumed. Then left wondering were in the hell the night went and why on earth am I watching videos on how to build a greenhouse (“Related” YouTube video binge anyone ?) With all of this new technology available 24/7 and in such a short amount of time, are we really ready for it ? Is it possible that we may just all be obsessed ? Addicted. To distraction.

“How did I get here ?”

I grew up in the age of the internet and the explosion of computers. By the time I was thirteen every room in my school had a computer and internet connection. A mere one year later near enough every household in the UK could access porn. I mean the internet. Well the internet practically IS just a gigantic porn database but lets not get into that. A few more years passed and technology progressed to a point were you could access and endless sea of information simply by pressing a few buttons on a small black box you kept in your pocket. That’s pretty crazy isn’t it ? No. It’s FUCKING INSANE. Near enough every development in human history was a progressive one. Our bodies and mind had time to adjust to the changes happening around us. But I can’t help thinking the smart phone and internet era happened far too rapid. We all jumped in blindly like a pack of wild dogs, draining our last sheds of dopamine in front of an LCD screen.

“A  useful diagram I made to illustrate the ratio of information on the world wide web”

As I have stated I grew up in the internet age. I remember spending hours in front of my parents state of the art COMPUTER (Probably worth about 50 pence now.) Sitting there on Newgrounds, Youtube, getting traumatized by 4chan all from such a young tender age. We don’t know if excessive internet usage is damaging because it is so new and fresh in our minds. There is no control group. All you reading who grew up on the internet. You are the experiment. You are the guinea pigs. For all we know the radiation from computer screens could make gigantic horse penis’s grow out of your armpits. We won’t know if it’s damaging until our generation gets older and becomes some sort of mutated creature who can do nothing but read emails and live on a steady diet of pixels and Facebook likes for sustenance.

“Don’t  check your Facebook too much kids !”

These topics nether would have crossed my mind until the unspeakable happened last week. A pain no man should ever undergo. My smart-phone broke. It had become so natural for me; The second I get in to rush upstairs, load up my dopamine receptors and mindlessly browse for a few hours. I was unusually distraught by the fact it had broken. I had a perfectly good laptop to use and the Ipod had seen its days. However, it was more the fact that I could access the internet QUICKER on my Phone than the laptop which resulted in INSTANT gratification. This is the issue I think. There is no need for working toward or achieving anything now as we can swiftly satisfy ourselves with something digital. Google truly is turning us into idiots. Can’t remember something ? Google it. FUCK LEARNING. Don’t have a partner ? Watch some of the sickest pornography you can find and overload you mind with happy chemicals until there’s no need for anybody else other than you. Just you and your FUCKING CANDY CRUSH (Sorry I just don’t get the hype.) Don’t get me wrong. The internet is a beautiful and great part of our society. It is completely decentralised so anyone in the world can read other people’s opinions away from censorship and the mind warping machine that is the media. You can connect with people around the globe simultaneously. Isn’t that what we want ? To be connected too every other human on the planet. Maybe so. At the end of the day, There is no getting away from this digital revolution. Whether you like it or not the internet is hear to stay. Thanks for reading and remember. Browse responsibly. –THE LONELY WEST–

Prepare for the future or be left behind

Still being of a young age, I grew up in the glorious era that the internet rose to power. When I was a kid, many had home computers but it wasn’t uncommon not to own one. Nowadays, if you tell someone you don’t own a computer or use the internet, they’ll look at you as if you just walked out of a burning orphanage bearing a swastika across your face. It wasn’t until I got to year six that things started to really kick off and computers became a normal part of every school in the country. We learnt all the basics. Which, let’s be honest… is just Microsoft office and bypassing the schools pathetic firewalls so you can play flash games.

“Come on we all did it”

I absolutely loved toying around with computers and tried to learn everything from Flash to Dreamweaver. Being so young, it was incredibly difficult to do without any guidance and I ended up giving up on my endeavours. Year 9 of secondary school came and I chose I.T as a subject in the hope of learning something a little more in-depth. Boy was I wrong. I had whole Thursday of I.C.T every week. Or as I used to call it back then… “Sitting on Microsoft Powerpoint baked out of my mind for six hours, while the obviously hungover teacher murmurs at you too get some work done every now and again.” Don’t get me wrong it was damn fun. All of my best friends took that course. I passed with flying colours. Not because I am a computer whizz. But because I know how to use Google. I had an acquired skill of wording together nonsensical ramblings until they look remotely like something in the curriculum. The cold truth is guys. I.C.T sucks. You don’t learn anything of value or in-depth. You’d be better of choosing art. Either that or just eating your own shit. At least with that, you might actually learn something (like not to eat your own shit.)

“More productive than any I.C.T lesson”

Technology is briskly moving at such a rapid rate that we can’t keep up with it. Times are changing and employers don’t care how well you can use Microsoft office anymore. Everyone and their mother can shit out a Powerpoint presentation. This constant changing technology may sound bad. It may sound like it’s leaving huge gaping holes in an already bleak looking job market. Don’t threat though. A whole new world has opened up. You just need the right skills.

C++. JavaScript. Java. Python HTML and CSS. Just to name a few of the many programming languages that now make up the majority of the world we live in. From the car you drove to work in, to the machine you got your coffee from in the afternoon. Coding is everywhere. In this day in age, whether you like it or not… Coding makes up the very framework of our society, and it’s here to stay. Employers won’t want word jockeys anymore. Stuff like that these days is just an expected standard in the average human being. It’s a basic requirement like reading and writing. Soon, it will be the same with coding and if you don’t get learning it now you could be left behind.

A recent article by the BBC stated that they’re going to start the big push towards children learning coding. Soon countless children’s T.V shows will be teaching  and bringing awareness to kids about programming. With a business as huge and influential as the BBC, this is bound to spread like an infection throughout every school in the country. This generation will grow up learning how to create software and machines. Skills that will be needed in the modern digital world. A world which we are slowly beginning to find ourselves living in. All the ones of our generation who never learnt code? They’ll be just as useless as someone who can’t use Microsoft office in 2014.

“Just some generic stock photography for you”

It’s easy to ignore and try to deny this fact, but it will happen. So if you want to prepare for the future and not be left behind I highly recommend you get some coding knowledge under your belt. It is a highly valued skill and you’d be surprised how useful it is. Or… you could just not bother. I mean, eventually we’ll build robots that can program themselves. Then they’ll be no need for humans at all.

–THE LONELY WEST–

 

 

Websites

Code academy – A great little interactive site for learning coding

Code school – Offers courses for coding

Udacity – A website by Stanford University that offers a range of courses

Video games are terrible. Who will save us?

I remember the first time I ever played my very own games console. It was a Nintendo 64 to be exact. I was captivated with with awe as I climbed mountains, dodged bullets and saved the world from the comfort of my own home. And so began a sometimes unhealthy obsession with the video games. I honestly can’t think of anything more satisfying as a kid than a new game. The sound and feeling as you tear apart the sealed plastic. Tossing the instruction manual aside and claiming your prize. Then the sweet distinct “click” of the cartridge as it enters your console and you become immersed in a world unlike your own. Mario, Banjo Kazooie, Resident evil, ZELDA! so many great games. So many good excuses to become a solitary being, living on a diet of yogurts and cheese strings. Truly the golden age of gaming (at least in my generation.) Things were looking up and they could only get better from here right?

At the time, games were seemingly on an upwards spiral to greatness. With them becoming much more noticed in mainstream media and increasingly more technologically advanced, a bright future was ahead. However, somewhere along the line something changed. They finally truly hit the mainstream market. Bigger budgets, better technology, MORE GAMES! Unfortunately, this all came at a price. Developers began marketing to the mass audience and games became less and less like games, and more like a cinematic, testosterone filled gore orgy. Gameplay value began to be discarded for hard hitting stories and  hyper realistic graphics. There was no more fun, no more item collecting and with Rareware selling their soul to Microsoft it seemed nobody could save us. We’d reached the pinnacle of great games and fell flat on our face at the hands of larger demographics and more money.

R.I.P Banjo

Now, all were left with is constant sequels and remakes of old games. Nothing original. Fifa 14, Halo 5, Call of duty whatever the hell we’re up too and countless others. There all built on huge budgets with no attention to detail, often with dull storylines and generic un-game like gameplay. In a way, I am saying we should go back to the basics. Although Nintendo often stick to the basics, just look all their games. It’s  just Mario in a variety of different situations. Come on guys think of something new. I think developers these days are too scared to go out of the norm. Due to the money being pumped into and earned on these new games it is too risky to experiment so we end up with the same recycled crap time and time again. Things look bleak. Is their anybody out there who can save us from this graveyard of disappointing games and wasted potential?

Well maybe there is. In recent years we’ve seen a surge of indie game developers beginning to surface and make breakthroughs in the industry. Some notable ones would be of cause Minecraft, Super Meat boy and Fez. All of these great games, created by individuals or small groups much like yourselves on a generally dirt cheap budget. And you know what? As far as games go they are much better than the majority of the ones hitting the market from huge companies such as EA. Why? Because all of them have one thing in common. They’re original. They pay attention to detail and recover the long lost art of subtle and interesting subtext to create something truly brilliant and artistic.

The great thing about indie games is that generally there are no limits to what can be done. The truth is, there never has never been limits in games. However, what makes  indie developers different is that they aren’t afraid to go outside of the norms and try something new. Why? Because there’s not millions invested in it, there not trying to entertain a mass audience and rush there game out for Christmas. Many indie games will make us question what a game truly is by completely going against the conventional means of playing a game. When developers experiment, stop catering to a mass audience and think for themselves. At times we get something beautiful. In these brief moments of free-thinking, video games can seem more like an art form than anything else.

–THE LONELY CROWDED WEST–

The internet is the key to our evolution.

In a society where freedom of speech seems to be a privilege rather than a right, the internet is a god send. Back in the day, you would have to watch the news or god forbid, read a newspaper or book for information. This is all well and good, however back then you were stuck to whatever sources the government allowed or thought was suitable. We like to think we have freedom of speech in terms of things like books, but that’s far from the truth. I mean if you wrote a book entitled “David Cameron is a cunt.” I’m pretty sure they would have something to say about it. After all, it never matters what you have to say, rather what the rich and powerful have to say.

So before the internet we were only exposed to information that the government and media  allowed. Most opinionated content was and still is watered down as to not be controversial. The media support what ever views are in their best interest and makes them money. As a result we are left with biased information and restricting censorship. Whether we like it or not, we are conditioned to believe and perceive thing the way our country wants us to.

In comes the internet. Suddenly, an endless sea of uncensored and raw information at our fingertips. Generally speaking, the internet is anonymous. People posting content were unlike the media. They weren’t scared of how the public view them or what politicians ass their kissing. It’s an open playing field. Anything goes. Finally, people weren’t limited to society pre-conceived notions and views. They had a place to bask in unregulated knowledge and vent their controversial views.

Of cause, the powerful couldn’t stomach this. Citizens with their own opinions? There’s nothing worse. A lack of information breeds narrow-minded and stupid people. The government likes stupid people because they comply and don’t question how fucked up the system is.

You can almost sense it in the air. Politicians are scared. No longer are peopled forced to be force fed the same biased shit day in and day out. Lead to believe their own lives are so miserable, the only thing to make it better is to buy and consume. We are evolving intellectually due to the internet. The rich and powerful stay in power within this corrupt system due to a lack of intellect and self proclaimed freewill. However, if you look for it you will notice people are getting smarter. Their realizing that they’re living in a prison. You only need to browse message boards such as Reddit to see the sheer number of people beginning to take a more libertarian stance against society. Times are changing. Views are changing.

Like I said, the powers above don’t like our new found intellectual and creative freedom. We are currently treading on a digital battlefield. Governments are trying to censor the internet through various tactics such as David Camerons pornography block. Some countries such as Egypt will just out right abolish it. However, for once people are fighting back. Their are many movements and a general negative census towards regulation. People are waking up, and soon enough politicians may be fighting a losing battle. If you want the human race to evolve, I urge you. Turn of the television, Fight back against censorship, don’t buy into consumerism, learn, question and discover. If we give our all against this blatant control of perception then maybe one day, we will live in a utopia rather than dystopia. A world free of censorship and consumerism where the human race can evolve and flourish.

–THE LONELY CROWDED WEST–

Destiny: A worthy replacement for a dead franchise

After somewhat losing hope in the gaming industry, I stopped religiously playing games a long time ago. I tried to rekindle my love by buying Halo 4. This just increased my cynicism further. It wasn’t the same as it was back in the golden days. Halo 4 lacked the fun, excitement and just general epicness of it’s predecessors. After realizing Bungie  had not developed this particular Halo, I was very eager to try the Destiny beta when it came out. After all, this may be what we sacrificed the Halo franchise for.

Oh how I miss these days…

First Impressions

Okay, so once the game loads up you are presented with the character creation screen. Which, lets be honest, is pretty limited. Don’t get me wrong the textures look pretty great and I am already loving the color pallet, but there just isn’t much choice. Hopefully when the game is completed we will have more options.

You get a choice of three different races. Awoken, which are these weird blue avatar looking people, humans and Exo. Exo’s are probably the most bad ass looking of the classes. With their almost terminator like looks and piercing eyes their hard to resist. You aren’t really given any description or information about these races which I feel would of added a nice touch.

To be honest the classes are pretty standard, cliche and unimaginative. They way they look is great, and I feel they paid a lot of attention to detail. However, I couldn’t help but get that generic RPG feel from it.

First you get your tanked up power house. You know, shoot first ask questions later. The titan, although slow is all about taking damage and giving damage. Overall, this is a pretty bog-standard and boring class with nothing really that notable about it. If I were you, I would go for the Hunter or Warlock.

Next up is the Hunter. Yep you guessed it. A stealthy character who uses long range weapons. I like being a sneaky little bastard so I chose this guy. However, I found that their was little option for stealth in this game. It’s like halo in a sense that if you piss one enemy of, they all will come to eat your face. The hunter has a sub class called blade dancer which specializes in using his knife. I found great joy in lunging at enemies faces from half a mile away with my blade. A really nice and effective feature. One thing I did find however is that the Hunters special ability is way overpowered. When you activate it you are giving a hand cannon, which is generally speaking, a one hit kill. This can get extremely annoying in PVP (It didn’t stop me from using it though…)

Finally you get your standard magic sort of guy, who in destiny, is the warlock. This is a VERY fun class to use. The design is pretty nice and you get to glide around. You just feel genuinely powerful when using this character and I honestly think it is one of the best mage-like classes in a game like this to date.

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 Truth be told I was not expecting much after character creation. However, as soon as I heard the Halo-esque music and saw that shuttle hurdling through space, I just knew. Somehow, I just knew that this would be a game of epic proportion. The first cut-scene is extremely beautiful and cinematic. It brings back that nostalgia and wonder from the first time you ever played the long awaited Halo 3. I’m not a fan of cut-scenes you can’t skip, but why would you want to skip this. It is truly epic and a perfect start to the game.

The first mission starts classic Bungie style. Guy falls from the sky, dosen’t know who or what he his, time to shoot at some shit. Simple, but it works. This game dosen’t really let you in on much back story or plot-line, which I guess is good as it prevents exposition. However, all I really got is that I’m this guy in the future and I have to shoot at ugly stuff. FPS’s are known for weak story-lines so I’ll let Bungie of on this one.

The first mission is surprisingly pretty fun and intense. There’s no long winded tutorial, you can get straight into the action. I loved the scenery of post-apocalyptic old Russia. Also the desolate buildings you enter feel pretty sinister. The game is great at creating an atmosphere. There is darkened corridors with shadows of enemies flying past which really put you on edge.

When you bump into some enemies it can get pretty hectic. However, I found the controls and mechanics very fluid which added a well needed flow to the firefights, which many games don’t have. Aiming down the sights is quick and efficient, which puts an emphasize on accuracy and strives you to try and get good precise shots. The only initial qualm I had was that there was no real consequence for dying, and the game itself was pretty easy. However, in the missions there are parts with no respawn sections which can get pretty chaotic and frustrating. This adds a much need level of difficulty and skill to the game. The later missions also start to get pretty difficult as you progress, and their is the option to increase the difficulty which rewards you more XP.

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Multiplayer – 9/10

After completing the first mission you now have access to you “hub” if you like. This is the place where you decide where you want to go, whether it is a mission, the social zone or PVP. I straight away went to “The tower” which is the social zone with all the other players on the server. After an epic cut scene to make up for long loading times you arrive in the MMO world.

The tower is a pretty picturesque place with beautiful scenery. You can do expressions to other players, so it is not uncommon to see various dance offs happening between users. These sort of social features bring back the fun factor which Halo 4 was severely missing. There’s not much to do in the tower at the moment other then mess around and buy items. However, I can see the MMO aspects becoming probably one of the funnest parts of the full game.

The co-op is just as fast-paced as the single player and with the option to play with other random players it can get pretty fun. I really think this is a game meant to be played with friends. With things such as loot Destiny reminds me a little of Borderlands, which too, is best played co-op. However, I was itching for more loot as so far there isn’t really much. I hope Bungie makes loot a more central part of the game later on.

Once you reach level 5 you can enter PVP known in Detiny as “The Crucible.” I found the multiplayer challenging, extremely competitive yet fair. You need to be a certain level to enter different game modes and many level advantages are removed for PVP so people don’t get an unfair advantage. The objective games are very competitive and the maps are well thought out, making people actually focus on the objective, and not just kills. I really loved the PVP and although hard, it keeps less skilled players interested by still being fun and fair.

Overall, it seems Bungie has tried to cram every type of multiplayer they could into this game. Surprisingly, they have tied it all up well, with neither too much or too little in each feature. I hope to see some more development of the MMO aspects within the tower and maybe some events and custom games to increase the fun factor.

Mechanics – 10/10

The controls and mechanics of this game, like I said are just so fluid. When in a firefight, you never really lose your flow and can really get immersed in the intensity. The health system is fair, but challenging and navigation, skill sets and just general getting around is simple and intuitive. Oh and I forgot to mention, the vehicles on this game are unbelievably fast and fun to drive.

Gameplay – 7/10

It acts like a pretty basic FPS with a very borderland-esque touch to it. The gunfights can get extremely hectic and difficult, which is fun, but can get frustrating at times. Especially when you are in a no respawn zone. The missions did start getting pretty samey with pretty much identical scenery. However, I am keeping in mind it is not complete, and I hope to see more variety in the full game. Also, playing on your own isn’t near enough as fun as multiplayer so I would recommend getting some friends before you buy it. 

Presentation – 9/10

Wow. Truly beautiful. The scenery at times is breathtaking and the graphics and color pallet used are just perfect and enticing. With a truly epic soundtrack to accompany it, the designers should really be proud of themselves.

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Final Verdict

I think Bungie really nailed it this time. What I find remarkable is how they have managed to gather everything that makes a decent game and put it into one nice neat little package. If the beta is the pinnacle of the games greatness, then sure, it’s going to be a good game. However, if this is just a taster of whats to come then I have a feeling we have an iconic and incredible game in our midst.

The halo franchise may be dead and gone, but we have been offered destiny in it’s place. In my opinion it’s not that bad of a trade of. Halo was getting old anyway.

8/10

–THE LONELY CROWDED WEST–