is it not?  First, there is the initial meeting via Twitter, Facebook, mutual XBL friends, or maybe even in real life.  A conversation ensues about gaming experiences and preferences.  Sometimes during these conversations one might ask, “What’s your GT? I’ll add you!”  However all endeavors do not occur this way.  Occasionally, someone may drop their GT or you see it from their Raptr feed and you think “maybe I’ll Friend Request them and see if they’ll accept.”  You will login to XBL and send the request and then wait with anxiety to see if they accept.  What if they don’t accept? Does this mean they don’t like me? Will they think, “Why is he sending me a request?” What if they don’t think I’m cool?  After a near panic attack or a couple of days worth of waiting you find your new friend accepted the request.  Crap! now what? Ah, let’s check their gamerscore!  You’ll likely skim through their games comparing achievements and hoping you have scored more on most of the games.  This also gives you the oppurtunity to see what games you play in common.  After that you may move on to their multiplayer stats where you will see if they have won more matches, what rank they are, and what their K/D ratio is.  If they appear much better you may feel a little intimidated and if they are much worse, you’ll be a little cocky. About this time, Wam! ah ha, now they are on line…what are they doing? Are they sizing me up now? Should I invite them to a party? Let’s see if they’ll invite me…. *nothing happens* oh well they’re playing with other friends, maybe next time.  Eventually you muster enough courage to send them a game or party invite.  Sometimes they don’t respond and you feel rejected, but most of the time they join.  Now, hearts-a-fluttering you two are in a party and here comes the first conversation without hiding behind a keyboard.  Through your mind races, I hope I’m entertaining; I hope I’m not offensive; and…I hope I don’t suck at this game today!  After the initial “Hellos” or in my case “Whaz up!?!” the conversation starts flowing and the gaming starts going.  Soon you will realize that this friend isn’t intimidating, even when they have better stats, and is actually a normal and rather cool person. 

I’ll be spending some time today revamping my tumblr blog.  I have some new ideas and stories flying around in my head and I want to throw them out for you guys to see.

It all started with Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo.  My mother and I would play all  night until we beat Bowser.  She knew all the tricks to get infinite lives.  It was our little secret because dad worked at night so I could stay up until he got off at midnight. Back in those days we only had one game; it seemed to me that the games were rather costly.  It didn’t matter how many times we beat Mario, it was always entertaining.  Eventually we received a few more games from my cousin to expand our gaming library. Well, I lost interest in the Nintendo and sold it to my uncle for $50.  A year or so went by and one day I came home from school to find a Sega Genesis sitting in the living room.  Sonic the Hedgehog was my new poison; I played frequently.  Eventually we ended up selling the Sega because we needed money but i eventually ended up saving my allowance and buying another with NFL’95 and Eternal Champions.  At this time I wasn’t in to football so I spent most of my time with what I thought was a cheesier version of hot title of the time Mortal Kombat, Eternal Champions.  My cousin, who lived next door, had a SuperNintendo with an array of games including my favorite, Super Mario Bros. Yoshi’s Island  My next purchase a few years down the road was a SagaSaturn for $70.  This system came with a load of games of different varieties.  My dad also purchased me a Sega GameGear that had an arsenal of games, but I found that the batteries died too often to enjoy it. Eventually my brother brought a PlayStation over for Christmas and got me hooked.  Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil 2, Suikoden2, Madden, and Tomb Raider soon engulfed all my free time.  I purchased my playstation through a magazine and was surprised to find that I received a DualShock version (when they first came out).  I played the PSone until it was no longer playable.  And then Microsoft released the Xbox…
I bought a game (Amped) before I even owned an Xbox.  My dad bought it for me for my birthday.  My GF at the time bought me the well acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved.  This game was incredible and I played the hell out of it.  In fact, I purchased over 50 titles for the xbox and still have most of them…time passed and the Xbox360 came along.  Unwilling to shell out the money I  passed until a friend offered me his RedRinged rig last July. I figured I’d try to fix it…turns out it was under warranty so they sent me a new Xbox360. So here we are in the middle of a journey that started well over 20 years ago…

I’m back after a long hiatus from tumblr…

So here we go…violent video games they turn people into violent raging killers. Really? Not Really! Over 70% of Americans play video games while less than 3% are criminals. Do those numbers add up? No! The video game industry is under constant scrutiny about providing violent actions in their games that drive people to inappropriate behaviors. These behaviors include killing, shooting, and raping other characters often other people’s characters through multiplayer interaction. Throughout my life I’ve played game that are deemed violent and I have never had an urge to commit a crime against fellow man…I agree that these games may be inappropriate for certain ages, but even if people in that group play these games, they do not necessarily portray negative behaviors. I would like to shine some positive light on the Video Game Industry.

1) If you are tied up with a video game you are less likely to be going outside causing trouble.

2) Most violent multiplayer games require team work promoting communication and working together.

3) These games are often played with friends and family.