Hitman Absolution… A take on a game that needs to be called out!

Agent 47 is back with a vengeance, although it’s taken him a six year vacation to do that. This silent killing machine has been with us since 2000 and has given us a unique take on stealth game genre. Now, in Hitman: Absolution, he’s looking for a more personal endeavor to underpin his violence. This time around Agent 47 will use both new and old tools to eliminate targets, but do these tools turn Absolution into a grand return for Agent 47, or should our favorite shadowy assassin consider retirement?

Unlike its predecessors, Hitman: Absolution’s plot is one of protection and one of personal deliverance. He won’t be uncovering more of his dark clone-filled past, nor saving his priest mentor, or going through flashbacks. This time Agent 47’s goal is to protect a young girl from his former agency – and along the way lay waste to bodyguards and key individuals to uncover a dark conspiracy. Agent 47 is a shady yet likeable character from the very beginning, but in Absolution you see that he’s willing to sacrifice his very life to protect that of the young girl. While the story in itself isn’t emotional – and sometimes utter nonsense – you do get to see a lighter side of Agent 47. A side that is completely unlike him.
Gameplay wise this one hits it out of the park. First off, Absolution has refined the series controls, which after a 6 year long hiatus is very understandable. With a new cover system IO interactive has finally put the stealth back into this stealth game, allowing players to fluidly sneak around their environment, taking cover around corners, behind counters and even behind a stack of vegetable crates as they patiently wait to pull an unsuspecting victim to their demise while remaining undetected. Also among agent 47’s newly acquired skills is the all new Instincts mode, which allows players to reveal enemy patrol routes, hints to hidden items and possible costumes to don as a disguise. But, my favorite improvement in absolution is the ability to mark multiple targets for execution while in Instincts mode and then watch as he eliminates his targets in spectacular action packed cinematic fashion.
But what makes this game a champion in its own rights is its incredible soundscapes that brings these virtual environments, to life. Hear the echo of your footsteps walking down the empty hospital hallway, hear the city traffic and mandarin speaking patrons while strolling through Chinatown and listen closely as you go to the club for the muffled wub wub of the bass heavy music playing behind the closed doors outside the club then hear the sound swell as you open the doors. In all, Hitman: Absolution goes above and beyond expectations and has been well worth the 6 year wait.

The Great Podcast list of 2012

You listen to them to kill time on your 2 hour bus ride to-and-from work, you listen to them at work, you listen to them at the dinner table. I am talking about podcasts. There is such a huge variety of podcasts out there that it’s incredibly hard to filter through the trash to find those golden nuggets of pure entertainment. There is no quick easy way to filtering other than to listen to it for yourself, so instead of wasting your precious bandwidth and time, I will be your filterer for good podcasts about anything and everything. Almost all of these podcasts have found their way to my earbuds and should find their way to yours.
Sports:

The Dan Patrick Show-

Great sports podcast that gives you quality sports radio without those annoying commercials.

[This comment was brought to you by A take with Jake]

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Into the Night with Tony Bruno

Yet another great sports podcast that keeps you from sleeping at night cause its soo funny and just entertaining. A true sports podcast that is true to itself.

http://tunein.com/radio/Into-the-Night-with-Tony-Bruno-p11622/
Video games & Entertainment:

Vic’s Basement:

This quality podcast is hosted by the same guys who host Reviews on the Run and EP Daily from City TV or G4 Tech TV. The chemistry between Victor Lucas and Scott Jones is just unmatched anywhere else and this chemistry really makes this podcast fantastic and plenty of fun. The guys talk video games, movies, gadgets or what ever they might be reviewing this week on their show.  You’ll be having a blast to hear what goes on in Vic’s Basement.

http://epdaily.tv/vics-basement/

That video game Podcast

no seriously that’s the title…It’s also a great podcast that deserves at least a listen or even a visit to their website.

http://tvgp.tv/

Music:

Music podcasts are redundant, why download a podcast of music if you listen to podcasts to take a break from listening to music?
OTHER:

WDW RADIO:

This is the creme de la creme, the power house, the game ender, the CHAMP of CHAMPS… Lou Mongello brings to you the best podcast you can listen to about Walt Disney World (past, present & future). Learn to appreciate the minor details all around you at the parks and everywhere else. It’s beyond entertaining, it’s beyond fun and educational like you would not believe. And for once in your life, that doesn’t mean boring ! It’s no wonder that this podcast has claimed 6 consecutive travel podcast of the year awards. Think about downloading this podcast!

WDW Radio – Disney Parks, Movies, and More!

I hope this podcastlist has given you a proper idea of the best podcasts to listen to when you decide to bus to work/school. My list is short for the perpose to allow you to add the podcasts you enjoy so comment below telling us what is your favorite podcast and why i should download it. This is a global community but do remember post a link so i can find it.

Rise above hate and depression ANXIETY

So if you couldn’t already tell I have been feeling quite down lately. I am currently gaining back my self-confidence that I lost due to my situation. Having surrounded myself with good friends and isolating myself with my music in my incredibly loud ear-buds on the bus, I have reconquered my self-confidence and am glad to say I have not let this defeat me and put my future in jeopardy. Inspiring yourself to do greater things in life is possibly the hardest things you’ll do in your life, but by believing in yourself you can overcome any challenge or obstacle life will throw your way. I am in no way a motivational speaker but i do intend to help motivate the unmotivated, the uninspired, the depressed and the underdogs. So grab a seat and cue the motivational music.

There are many ways to become motivated after you lost your self-confidence…Some ways work, others dont. So hopefully these tips will help you become the best you can be.

First things first, to truly regain your self-confidence you must spend some time truly alone. Now I am not saying a month and i am not saying a week either. Just a couple of hours completely alone, away from any interactions (so turn off that cell phone, that laptop and that ipad). During this time you can do anything really, you can play music (if your a musician), you can play video games (single player) or even you can just watch your favorite show.  Just do something you enjoy doing alone and just breathe and reflect on what you’ve been through and where you are psychologically. What do i mean by “reflect on where you are psychologically”? Well it means to think about how you have changed as a person after going through all this. You can ask yourself if you are as motivated as you were before the incident? Or maybe have you been angry recently, or even depressive ? Do you feel like you hate yourself or everyone around you ? Maybe even you feel like your not yourself anymore. By asking yourself these questions, you’ll begin to understand where you are psychologically and that means you’ll begin to understand how you changed in the past few days, weeks, months. Now from there you can do one of two things, you can either to be this person you know you aren’t or you can revert back to the person you were before shit hit the fan (pardon the expression). To do this you must cleanse yourself from all the emotions that are stopping you from doing these changes. This is where the alone time comes in handy,  at this time put away the controller, pencil, guitar or whatever you were doing and stand up. Now standing, breathe deep breaths and hold them for a couple of seconds and then release (3-5 seconds is good). Now take a really deep breathe and this time scream as loud as you can, releasing all this anger, sorrow and depression. Now, do it again but this time scream longer. Finally do it once more making sure you scream out all your frustrations out of your system.

As you finish the screaming exercise, you should grab a drink of water to ensure you don’t lose your voice the next day. At this time grab a nice and tasty snack. Maybe its your favorite snack or maybe it’s the first thing you could grab, doesn’t matter really just as long as you eat something to get the energy you need. From here resume what you were doing before for how long you feel necessary, to help you return to the person you were before you lost all motivation or drive in your life. This means you must fight yourself and ignore all that has happened and move on in your life. If there is someone who can push through this it is you! So let go and have no regret for anything for you are a phoenix and you will rise from the ashes of hate, depression and sorrow and emerge the better person you know you are. Listen to empowering songs like Simple Plan-Last One Standing or even Eminem’s Till I Collapse. These songs are among many songs about rising above hate and not giving up. So don’t give up and be the strongest you can be. You are strong! You are powerful and not weak! Use your strength to walk by them and not even give them the time to even listen to them.

That sums up my self-motivation speech, i hope you have found this helpful or will find it helpful when you’ll need it (hopefully you won’t need it). Click the speech bubble beside the title of this article to add your comments and thoughts about my methods and let me know if you tried this how it helped you. I would love to know if it helped you at all and if you have become stronger let me know! ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU HAVE SOMEBODY LOOKING OUT FOR YOU OUT THERE NO MATTER WHAT!

Music Anxiety – Songs for life : Break ups

 

 

Alright soo ive been going through break up anxiety (aka: Stockholm Syndrome).  Yeah! It’s been bad but i’m slowly getting better as I move forward I start to not care really anymore. So in honor of the music that has saved me from suicide or anything else i may have done to myself, here is the first of the songs for life series, where i list the best songs for certain situations in life to help you feel better comming out of these situations.

SONGS FOR LIFE – BREAK UPS:
This is the songs for life series premiere, I kick off the series with songs that make you feel better after a break up…

With lyrics like “And when you wake up on your own, you know I’ll feel better. And when you sit there on your own, you know that its over.” Jet Black Stare-It’s Over…Is a powerfull song about not feeling resent following the break up. It’s about how your Ex has left you feeling cheated, lied and betrayed. This song is the perfect angry break up song to help you vent your feelings through the entire song before things get out of hand and you do something you do something you would regret. From It’s Over, we transition to an amazing cover of GOTYE-Somebody that i used to know. Mayday Parade’s cover of Somebody that I used to know helps bring you back to normal after being fired up by Jet Black Stare, it also brings you into a deeper emotion of a sense of guilt for everything you might have done because of the breakup. The song actually is about how its their fault you are here and that is exactly what this is. So take in this song and listen to it and feel your emotions dont let them bottle up and get the best of you! Next on the breakup playlist is a song from Sugarcult – Memory, which conveys a message of that feeling you felt when they broke up with you. It talks about how breaking up you’ll be nothing more than just memory. This song has many powerful lyrics that just make me feel like there may still be hope. One lyric that really puts that into mind is “Losing half a year\Waiting for you here\I’d be your anything” Let’s take a moment to really analyze this lyric. You wasted all this time waiting for them only to still end up alone, but you would still be ready to be part of their lives… So to sum it all up, Memory is a great song that can make you feel like there is still hope. The next song in my playlist is the song Appologize-One Republic is such an impressive play on emotions that it made me feel sad and upset but its alright. Its a great song that can help you get through this rough patch in your life.

 

Where does this list list go from here ? It all depends on you…comment  below on a song that you think makes your list and why i am an idiot for not putting on mine. If I agree ill give you a mention on air live on the radio… So just comment and give me hell for the best break up songs.

 

 

Video Game Anxiety

If you are a major gamer like me, then you already know this month is probably the most anticipated month in video games in a very long time. This month two video game heavy weights are being released…Assassin’s Creed III hit stores on October 30th and Halo 4 hits stores midnight tonight (as in November 5th 2012). I told myself i wouldn’t play favorites but what ever, i doubt you would care if i did…SO HERE IT GOES…Favorite time…Assassin’s Creed III is by far the must buy of the month…Not even gonna mention Call of Duty Blackops 2…The reason is simple Assassin’s Creed III makes easy victims of its rivals on many fronts including gameplay, visual appeal, multiplayer and story. Yes I know i haven’t played any of these games yet but still, there is no denying the fact that the game’s story is solid from start to finish because you know it’s guaranteed to be solid due to the success of its predecessors. Each game of the series is carefully embedded with history that, whether you like it or not, you end up learning and actually remembering. Good Job Ubisoft…your educating the world on the rich american history by embedding some of your own creative stories into it as well. Halo 4 teaches us what exactly ? That when Microsoft says the series is done, it isn’t ?  Or maybe it’s that no matter what you do, you cant truly bring an end to the war going on in this world ? Anyways, Halo 4 isn’t a bad game at all and I do look forward to playing it too,  but when it comes to which game i will be buying if i could only choose one, would easily, hands down go to Assassin’s Creed III. It’s not a game being released because Ubisoft fears it’s competition, it’s a game being released because Ubisoft plans to continue the series and will continue to do so for years to come.

Let’s address that Black Ops 2, it looks like a fun game but only for like the first couple of hours and then you really have to torture yourself to just finish the game to be done with it. It has neat features like the wingsuit and the jet pack but honestly it still doesn’t look like a game that can satisfy my military tactical shooter cravings. Ghost Recon Future Soldier did a fantastic job on doing that and for that it’s an easy must buy/try when you can find it. But as for Black Ops 2, it doesn’t look different from its predecessor, other than the new features, and that’s what bothers me. If I’m gonna buy a game that is part of a series, I’m looking for improvements to give me a reason to buy the game other than the fact it’s the next game of the series. Look at NHL 13, it is a perfect example of that fact. It has a whole new skating engine, it’s graphics got an overhaul, it had many features that would have been synced with the current NHL season but there is no season to sync to. But still the game has enough improvements to make me decide to buy it. So instead of being the push over consumer I know you all are, demand more from your video game developers and show them you wont just buy the game cause it’s new. Your buying it cause its the best game between other options and that their game really deserves the 60$ you pay to buy it. I hope this post has given you an incite on gamer consumerism and hopefully because of it you will be a more informed buyer, instead of the “this looks good” buyer you probably are.