Life of Pi the aftermath

Everyday an endless battle goes through my mind, trying to prove creationism, the purpose of life and ultimately God. Everyone goes through something similar in their minds, I don't know how often but it is evident as a human being. To ignore such thoughts as meaningless would be an ignorance, abandoning all efforts to determine the true purpose of life is in all honesty pathetic. Rants aside, the ripple to silence the chaos in the sea of my mind was the Life of Pi.
                           The movie made a terrific metaphor between atheism and faith - Pi's incredibly adventurous survival in the pacific ocean sounded lively and unfathomable, it is a journey people refuse to believe even though it is true, we live in a world where proof is the fulcrum, the judge and the jury. People's questions won't digest irrational answers that was why Pi had to come up with a story though incidentally accurate subtle nuances made it more believable. By the end of it the movie questioned what story did you like the most? the first or the second. This is a question that eliminates rationality from the equation introducing an opinion and on this stance the first story takes the prize. Finally the film ends with the statement in response to the opinion "And so it goes with God". It took a moment but I managed to fathom the depth in that statement. Mind you the ending differs with perspective due to its depth. My perspective however was a creationist view in that the truth may be unbelievable or irrational but it ultimately is the truth. This really silenced the chaos in my mind, it may be temporary but it is not under appreciated.

Video games under utilized: Simulation

Video games have been around for quite a while but it still remains vastly under utilized due to various reasons. Its potential however is being well exploited in the entertainment industry as far as the technical aspects are concerned (mostly), this has paved way to simulation, a genre most gamers are synonymous with.
                              The most realistic implementation of simulation has to be in the racing genre, four wheelers to be specific. I found out about it not a very long time ago, I was sucked into the immaculate implementation of racing physics and tight control scheme. I didn't play the game on a racing wheel though, it was on my PlayStation Portable, it may not racing wheel realism but the analog stick and the shoulder buttons were quite effective. The game I am speaking about is Gran Turismo - *tagline* the real driving simulator ( I concur). I had also been able to play Need for Speed Shift on PC thanks to my Logitech Gamepad F510, the controller was not simulation friendly and it was built for people with large hands but I got to play through half of the game until I hands started aching. The game had options to adjust the controller's sensitivity but the controller just didn't get along with my hands (the trigger buttons were slightly out of reach). Revving Lamborghini's accelerator in Shift was as close as I could get to actual race car driving, it's a tall claim but I was pretty gratified with the experience. But how close would it have been if I did have a racing wheel full with manual transmission rather than a controller, close enough? assuming it is, would it be possible for me to drive an actual car on road afterwards? maybe, how about taking part in a professional race? sounds unlikely and what about winning the race further becoming a professional race car driver?! I should get my feet back on earth and think through my words. Jann Mardenborough from UK begs to differ, he managed to get his GT racing skills on to the real track, went against 90,000 other gamers and won a week long race camp. Easily a quintessential example of how the effective the medium is. Keep in mind that there were 90,000 other gamers who have taken part in the event solely by Gran Turismo driving experience and none of them had actual driving experience. I have had a first hand experience of something similar when riding a gear-less scooter, it was during the time I played Gran Turismo, the driving mechanics in GT were pretty influential in the real world despite it being a car simulator and me playing it on the PSP.

Gran Turismo 5 teenage player becomes real life racing driver
                        
                                      Here's a thought, if it had been so effective on grounds of racing won't it be an economical and safer solution to play the game rather than actually feel the thrill of the ride on a real racing car or a bike. Many would disagree on this, I don't blame them nor do I insist on reverting to my suggestion but I'd just like everyone to think about it. I don't want to intimidate/demotivate anybody talking about how risky racing at high speeds can be but it would prove to be a terrific practice ground for those who are hell bent on experiencing the thrill of driving at-least. To support my theory, I'd like to point out an unfortunate event that had occurred in my hometown not a long time ago, the unfortunate death of former Indian cricket captain Azharuddin's son. He was a victim of a road accident which had occurred as a result of high speed riding. He was young and had a thirst for thrill which is obviously normal for someone his age but he didn't have to go through such great lengths for it. I find it disturbing to read the news let alone speak about it but if you still happen to disagree I'm just going to say that I'd be better safe than dead. This is but one of many cases of death caused by unsafe driving practices in my hometown.

Azharuddin's son laid to rest

                                     I have heard BMW had its own simulator for their cars which was meant to teach people on road (not a race track) driving and I'm pretty sure everyone's aware of a flight simulator which is something any airline pilot has to experience before he gets to navigate a real plane, similarly video games can be very helpful on grounds of on-road safety. Driving simulators have been around for quite a while but they are under utilized or they may be having low production values, as a result this still remains a vastly untapped potential among many of the video-game medium's attributes. In conclusion, I hope this post brings light to the under valued simulation genre and its real world applications that could possibly save lives.
Here's a fun online driving simulator to light up the moment: Driving Simulator

Grand Theft Auto V - a rant and an adoration

About five years have passed since one of the greatest pc games was released - Grand Theft Auto IV; it's a name almost everyone who has done some pc gaming is synonymous with. Agreed that the game has a violent and considerably aggressive theme to it but one has to admit that the series have shown what a video game sandbox's potential is. As a result open world has become a feature endorsed and appreciated in video games to this day. GTA IV was special as is every other GTA game but it was different which by no means was a bad thing. It's different nature was criticized by hardcore fans of the series but that didn't stop any one from playing it or loving it. For starters it had improved visuals as per the "current gen" console hardware standards and simply put, it was amazing, memorable if not mind blowing. Apart from that, it had an improved combat system, a gripping story line and some terrific characters. Now, I will stop writing a miniature review of the game and get to the point which would be me adoring the amazing GTA V trailer 2 and some thoughts on the game
                                                             
                         It seemed a little too early for a GTA V but then five years is a long time, also Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption and China town wars have been keeping me busy in the mean time. Now that the grand daddy of open world games is going to be here, it does deserve a moment in the lime light of my blog. First off, the trailer featured three new protagonists - Franklin, Trevor and Michael who happen to be as quirky and impressive as any GTA protagonist in the city of San Andreas, I hope nostalgia strikes hard when I surf around the city. The visual end again has shown considerable improvements with detailed facial animations and some noticeable improvements in the environment but more importantly the trailer has promised some explosive missions which was something that GTA IV lacked by a little but noticeable amount; I surely don't doubt Rockstar's performance and promises, not one bit. But what I long for in the upcoming iteration is not a 10 on 10 game but a proper PC port! I am forced to explicitly mention this because of GTA IV, it was more of a pain than a video game solely because they(Rockstar) failed to optimize it for PC properly. It really pains me to even think about the troubles I've had to go through just to make sure the game was playable. I finished the game but it could have been a lot more of a pleasant experience if it weren't for the poor job in optimization, I don't understand what Rockstar had done delaying the game for months and delaying it again for a month only to release a broken, troublesome game. As for GTA V Rockstar decided to do the unthinkable, forget about releasing a poor pc port, it decided to skip the platform entirely! rather they said they were contemplating about a pc and a Wii U port. Thinking/contemplating about what?! what in God's name is that supposed to mean? We're talking about a platform with which they actually make the game, they wouldn't be what they are today without it. Agreed that making a PC port is not as easy and convenient as a console but c'mon! we're not talking about just some developer, Rockstar is an experienced developer and publisher, it isn't as though games properly optimized for pc don't exist. They do, some do a marvelous job at it at that (Capcom, Square Enix, EA etc.). This is a long rant but a rant worth the lime light, Rockstar could've been on the top my favorite developers list if it weren't for the GTA IV PC disaster. Thanks to a petition signed by thousands of people, the PC port has been confirmed and will be out some time this year, all's well that ends well I guess.
                                    To wrap up this messy little post, I do believe that Rockstar can deliver but my only worry is about the game's PC port, I suppose that's enough said.

A memoir to laugh over

After a quite a while I caught up with a couple of my friends, we've known each other ever since the first grade or the second grade I think. Well we were certainly not a notorious bunch but we've had our moments, most of which I have little memory of but one hilarious memory stands out from the rest, it would be only right that I share it. We, the three of us laugh over events of that day but this hilarity did not pertain to us on that day, rather we had this petulant form of anger in our faces and some regret. Well, regret mostly by the end of it.
                                                
                                                Right from the top, the names of my friends being Yashwanth and Abhishek; revealing their names would ease up my job. So just as any group of school friends would follow their ritual of having their lunch together so did we, we were very particular about it at that. It so happened that Abhishek did what was supposedly unthinkable, he was off having lunch with another group of people and he'd been doing it for days. Obviously we were getting pissed off over it, we knew he was going to have lunch with us again some day but we just didn't find his actions to be justified. We were planning on how his treatment should be the next time we meet up so I muttered "we ought to give him a tight slap the next time we meet up". What happened afterwards had me flabbergasted, Yashwanth had displayed the highest level of loyalty towards a friend by actually confronting Abhishek and hitting him the next minute I said it, in a matter of moments Abhishek began crying (we were 8 or 9 years old) and fearing the consequences, Yashwanth's loyalty towards me deflated instantaneously and I was speechless over his actions. In no time he began to blame me of Abhishek's predicament; there was hatred and blame ensuing from the entire class room. As if things weren't bad enough, the matter unfortunately had moved on to the teachers, our class teacher questioned Yashwanth on the authenticity of his loyalty asking "would you jump in a well if he asked you to?" to which he had no answer; it was an obvious response though. After sometime we somehow managed to recuperate the situation amongst ourselves and went back to being the friends we were. More than 10 years later we are head over heels about it but I wonder if Abhishek is holding a grudge against us, better watch my back!

Dishonored impressions

Back in E3 2012 Dishonored's trailer showcased by Bethesda managed to get my attention with its gameplay style, fast paced and fun but I didn't place much faith in Bethesda's IPs considering how Brink turned out, it almost seemed like a hit or miss game. But much to my surprise, reviews turned out to be positive most of them giving it a superb 9.0/10, casting a wide smile on my face, what's more is that the game has a steampunk theme so it's all the more reason I had to check it out. Much later, I managed to acquire the game motivated by listening to praises, particularly about its narration and stealth implementation.
             So steampunk: the only other game that comes to my mind is Bioshock, my first moments in dishonored were quite reminiscent of the former as a result it didn't seem unique in its own accord. But then dual wielding weapons has been a real delight along with the melee combat mechanics. Apart from that the platforming elements of the game play a pivotal role in stealth, it is implemented in mirrors edge fashion which by no means is a bad thing. At the very beginning of the game, I was as brash as the game would allow me to be, brutally taking down anyone I see, the guards i.e. It was as bloody fun as it was messy. But as soon as I ended the mission, a gratifying experience turned into a guilty pleasure, in that the game had consequences for killing to an extent that it would even effect the story, not surprising at this day and age though. I get a chance to witness the number of killings I did, alarms raised and overall chaos caused through out the game at the end of every mission, it had become clear that killing is only an option. Funny how morality of life has become a part of videogames, a virtual, purely imaginative life. Employing stealth is nothing short of amazing either, in normal difficulty it won't be surprising to get past an entire mission with out having to kill a being or even remain undetected. I have played through a lot of missions making use of stealth but I hate to admit that most of the fun was in the killing/chaotic approach and I wouldn't mind replaying the game for that.
                                    Dishonored was designed using the unreal engine, it is showing its age but it has nonetheless been used to its full potential. If you're hoping get some eye candy of any sort, prepare to be disappointed, this was a little let down for me but it is hardly a bother for what the game offers, graphics is last on my check list.
                        It's another one of those games that make use of key aspects of various other games to produce something great if not better. As an added note I use the controller despite the game being in first person because it doesn't demand much precision and is noticeably more convenient than the keyboard and mouse.
Edit: While the controller worked well for stealth, when I wanted to raise the stakes and get into the game's fast paced action the controller wasn't the most ideal choice. The keyboard and mouse will help manifest the immense fun in the game's fast paced action to the fullest.

My review just won Tech2's write up contest!

My review on Sennheiser's MX270 i.e. what's more is that they're giving me a 16GB Corsair Voyager SanDisk Extreme USB3.0 flash drive and it is on their website - Sennheiser MX270 User review
Go ahead and check it out soaring with the big leagues.

Life Update v2

It's been quite a while since I've posted around here but here goes, given that the post is titled Life Update, I've got a lot things in mind, most of them being good. First off, I've finally acquired an android smart phone - the SE Xperia Mini! It is pretty much the perfect package for those looking for a decent smart phone. And considering how my previous phone was (Moto Rokr E8) this is a huge upgrade and slightly overwhelming. Rest assured, smart phone is no misnomer, the device has been engineered having the user's convenience in mind in pretty much every possible predicament. Add an app store to it and it has attained "epic"status. On top of this, the phone also boasts an epic camera, a 5MP along with an LED flash and 720p recording woot! this means that my blog will no longer have any low quality pictures hanging around and hopefully I will be posting a couple of videos should the need arise. But enough about that, due to various reasons I've been compelled to step into the world of twitter after over an year of absence, my id is blurr_warun; do feel free follow me or just check out my updates. But unfortunately for me, all this chaotic happiness has to end now that my external exams are fast approaching (in a week) so don't expect any blog posts any time soon. I will be sure to post once my exams are up.