I'm the type of person that never checks his junk folder.  A couple of days ago, I had the sudden urge to do just that. And well, there it was, a beta key sitting in my folder from the 11th.  I applied for the beta right after E3, and I saw people get in and play it last month, and I guess I figured I just never got in.  Well, I finally got it, downloaded the client and played it for the first time yesterday. To my agony, that day was also the end of phase three.  I'll have to wait until around August 8th for the fourth phase to begin. 

I never played the original Final Fantasy XIV, since it was only available on the PC and my laptop's about as good as running games as a sieve is for holding water.  So, I'm going to be basing my impressions from what I knew of Final Fantasy XI. I'm a seven time recovering FFXI addict, so honestly, I shouldn't even be playing this game, but play I did, and I have to say, the number one most important improvement for me is that quest-related NPCs are now marked on the map. Of course, you could say that MMORPGs have been doing that for years, so FFXIV is just playing catch up.  Well, catch up they did, and it makes questing so much more fun.

I will say I'm not that impressed by the races.  The same five races in FFXI are here in FFXIV. just with different names. You have the Hume-like Hyur (seriously, Hyur? HYUR DYUR!), the Elvan Elezen, the Mithra-type Miqo'te which now have male genders, Galkan-like Roegadyn which now have female genders and the adorable Tarutaru-type Lalafells.  I spent a good portion of two years as a Mithra in Final Fantasy XI, so I went with Miqo'te, this time picking a male race as I was constantly hit on for being a Mithra in FFXI. I understand girl gamers' plights a bit better thanks to FFXI. 

Anywho, I'm rather impressed with the character creation.  It's far, far deeper than Final Fantasy XI's, which pretty much just let you pick height, hair color and style.  Of course, you can still pick those here, but you can also choose from several different faces, add tattoos, face paint, eyebrows, irises and many more. I could even choose tail style for my Miqo'te and even decide on its length. You also choose from many different voice types, and I'm pretty sure if people are inventive enough, you may never see a character just like your own. By the way, I ended up calling my character Waffle Breakfast, because I went with the first thing that popped in my head as my initial name was already taken.

The game starts you off with the basic six classes.  There's the white mage Conjuers, Thaumaturges which act as black mages, polearm-wielding Lancers, tank-like Gladiators, barefisted Pugilists and the class I chose, Archer.  Anarcist from my understanding will be introduced into the next phase, and they appear to be the summoner class.  What's cool about the class system is that it can instantly be changed by equipping different weapons. No longer do you have to go to a mog house to change your class. If your party's short a Conjurer and you have a wand, equip it and go right back to battling. Also, there's an armor chest that lets you save different sets of gear, so it makes changing equipment easy. Also, equip any tool and instantly become a craftsman!

I started in the green land of Gridania, which can best be described as Final Fantasy XIV's Windurst.  It's a natural setting where the roads are hilly, intertwining with creeks and dotted with bridges. Buildings are wooden and share the landcape with the earth instead of replacing it. The exterior land of the Shroud is full of trees, with a river running from north to south, and it's populated by squirrels, bugs, and birdmen known as the Ixali. All monsters from the lowliest of bugs to the mighty giant birds have their levels clearly displayed atop of them.  I never did venture too far from the Shroud, though.

On to the combat, I have to say that as an archer, not having to worry about stocking up on arrows is freaking awesome.  So, I just shoot and shoot and shoot away! I do love the new combat system, primarily because your special actions that require TP have such a low a cool down rate. Instead of just standing there waiting for your character to attack and fill up a TP bar like in Final Fantasy XI, you can line up attacks in quick succession. Venom Bite -> Raging Strikes -> Straight Shot -> Heavy Shot -> Misery's End.  That all happens in a matter of seconds.  The combat is fast and exciting.  I can't wait to see what it's like with other jobs. 

More on the combat, I can see a lot of instances where chaos takes over.  Mobs are grouped together quite closely, and I have a feeling that whoever takes upon the job of puller in a party will have to be extra cautious. From my observations, though, it doesn't seem like aggressive monsters link, so that might be a non-issue. There are also events called Full Active Time Events, or FATE for short. Now, when a notorious monster spawns, it becomes a battle that anyone can join in on.  There are also FATEs that will dispense wave after wave of enemies, and both types of FATEs need to be won in a given time limit.  They do have level requirements, though, and there's a level sync option that lets you instantly drop down to the appropriate level if you want to join in.  All who participate get ia cut in the XP (which is considerable) and loot. 

Speaking of XP, it's now much easier to earn it thanks in part to quests finally giving out XP.  I know, I know, "But other MMORPGs have been doing that for years!" Well, it's good that FFXIV finally does that, too.  There are also hunting logs that offer up challenges of killing a certain number of specific creatures.  Each time you fulfill a category, you get more XP.  Chains are also back, too, but this time they're accompanied by a convenient timer so you know exactly when your chain bonus is up and whether or not it's worth it to push for one more mob.

Soloing is easier, I think, due in part to the fact that you no longer have to take a knee in order to recover your HP and MP.  It will replenish itself automatically the moment you're out of battle, meaning you can move right into the next mob getting some HP and MP back in just those few seconds.  This makes chaining much easier when you're just starting out.  Now, there's one feature that has a positive and negative side to it. Mobs have their own zones they cannot stray from.  So, say you get aggroed or you're losing a fight, all  you need to do is run away long enough for the mob tailing you to lose interest, and he heads back to where you first found him. For that, it's great, but it also grants the mob invulnerability and replenishes his HP on the way back, meaning no one else can finish the mob off. 

Another double-edged sword is that you no longer lose XP when you die.  This means no more leveling down, which is awesome, but the trade off is that every time you die, your equipment from your weapons to your boots takes damage.  If it takes enough damage, it becomes broken and unusable.  Now, I know some people really enjoy this, but I'd rather have my time wasted trying to get my XP back than waste gil on repairing critical gear.  I'm hoping they do away with this by the time the game launches. 

I haven't spent much time with the marketplace, and no time with the crafting, so I can't really comment on the actual economy.  All I know is that it will be much, much different when the game launches and everyone gets to play it. I did struggle with making money at the beginning, until I realized that the game has plenty of quests for you do for quick cash.  By the time I hit 10, I had enough gil to outfit myself from head to toe.

There's so much more that I can talk about with the game, but this is already becoming too long as it is. My experience with MMORPGs doesn't go much beyond Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI, so I can't say whether or not this will be a shining experience for hardcore MMORPGs, but I can say from someone who played the hell out of Final Fantasy XI that this has the potential to be infinitely better.  I really, really hate how I just got started the day the third phase ended, because I'm itching to go set foot back in Eorzea once again.  I guess it will give me time to finish up Red Dead Redemption.

So lets continue on a venture we started in Part 1 of this analytical blog series of WWE as a gaming franchise.If you haven't read Blog 1,please do so right away.

Okay,so I was simply overwhelmed by the response I got for my Blog 1.I came across gamers all the way from hardcore-WWE fans to people in their early 30s who had once been big-time fans of WWE.Most of these once-been-hardcore-fans  had outgrown WWE and yes,many even claimed the storylines were getting lamer every Monday.

So lets once again come back to our timeline(Not that lame WCW vs. RAW timeline of WWE 13) but to where we left last time.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 was a game changer in more than one way.Arcade-like features were done away with and the game launched for the PS2 and the PSP.However,it was the very last WWE game that would be launched exclusively for the Sony consoles.The game had matches like Buried Alive and Casket Match which are no longer their.And yes,I still remember the Eddie Guerrero controversy that surrounded the game.So yes,it was a game changer in ways more than one and the success followed.It sold quite well and got reviews ranging from 8.5-9.6 in leading game websites.

And then came along WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 and it has been by far the funniest game I've played till date.I still remember the countless hours me and my cousin spent laughing our ummm........behinds off to some of the glitches.For example,a chair shot was called a Stone Cold Stunner by the commentators.Sometimes,commentators said about superstars that weren't even participating in the match.I also remember good old Tony Chimel introducing superstars in Lilian Garcia's voice.Seriously,it was big-time fun.But jokes aside,the game also got good reviews(though,comparatively bad) and sold decently well.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 came featuring ECW and promised good gameplay mechanics and graphics(like always) but couldn't quite deliver.It received mixed to negative reviews with most calling it a recycled version of WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007.

While all these games released,there was something in the gameplay that felt quite missing.While writing my last blog,I realized it was fluidity in matches which I think that WWE games are a far way from delivering even now.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 was yet another milestone for the franchise.It introduced Road-To-WresteMania which I've always liked more than the Attitude Era jazz.The gameplay now had things like cooperative play.Another reason why I liked the game was for the various new superstars it featured.For the first time,DX featured in the cover of the game.By the time this game came to the market,reviewers were continuously accusing the franchises gameplay of becoming stale with every installment.Websites like IGN and GameSpot criticized the franchise by applauding the graphics but calling the gameplay recycled and stale.What felt missing to all the gamers were considerable improvements to the installments.Things like Road-To-WrestleMania did come,but weren't executed to their full potential.This,in turn,led to a continuous fall in game sales.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 hit store shelves on 20th October 2009 and was the first game to be available as an iPhone App.This game also introduced custom storylines which everyone knew would find a way into the franchise sooner or later.The game was a success and finally broke out through the downfall.Video Gamer called the game an 'ultimate wrestling gamers sandbox.'

The next year saw the final installment in the WWE Raw vs. Smackdown series.This was WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011.This game has been one of my favourites despite the fact that it did not score a good aggregate score on websites like Metacritic.The best thing about this game were better gameplay dynamics.Tables now broke depending on the impact and fallen ladders could break or fall on ropes.In the word's true meaning,the franchise delivered yet another game-changer after 5 years of repetitive installments.

 Despite opening to good reviews,Ive always hated WWE 12 mostly because it couldn't quite deliver on the expectations I had set after WWE Raw vs. Smackdown 2011.Plus,despite boasting so much about a major improvement in graphics,there weren't any so-called major(emphasis) improvements.Neither did it live up to its slogan,'Bigger,Badder,Better.'

I've never come to like WWE 13 despite all the positive reception and hype mostly because now I've really started to look back at the starting years of the franchise as the 'Golden Period' of it.Plus,I really got pissed off with the the fact that WWE did not approve of THQs decision to have CM Punk as the cover superstar which is completely lame.So what would you have liked instead WWE?Your good old John Cena which all of us are sick and tired of?Come on WWE,you have to CHANGE!!!!

But yes,we expect future installments to add something to the franchise rather than take something away from it.That's the exact reason none of us liked Hitman:Absolution.It was a good game but it didnt give us the same old feel and that kills the whole fun of playing a sequel.We really want to see things like Casket Match and Panties and Bra match come back.

Plus,most of the hindrance is being caused by the fact that WWE has simply refused to change.WWE 2K14 was supposed to start an entire new era for the franchise and what to they do?They make 'The Rock' as the cover superstar.The same person that was the cover superstar in the starting installments of the franchise.It sets the wrong example.It's almost like taking a step back.

Why not make someone else have the spotlight?I,for one,would loved to have seen Dolph Ziggler as the cover superstar.He has the looks,the talent and the attitude.So why not?

I don't know where the game franchise is heading,though I'm sure the brand is still as good as ever.I've still not come across anything in the boasting list of WWE 2K14 that appeals to me.I've started hating the franchise,I really have.WWE really needs to work something magical out and things need to change.How long will people continue to buy games with minor improvements,3-4 superstars more and stale gameplay?If major changes don't find their way in the upcoming installments,you can take it from me that another downfall would be underway.And this time,it would be much more damaging.I don't know where the franchise is headed,but the way things look right now,Id cast my vote for an uDraw sequel rather than buy yet another dull WWE game.

Every now and then I opt to talk about something besdies video games and this was something I wanted to write about for a while.

Whose Line is it Anyway? was, for many years, one of my favorite shows. I first discovered it on Comedy Central back in it's early days before South Park. Yes I was familiar with the UK show long before it came to ABC and was hosted by Drew Carey. And in fact it was one of the first internet fandoms I got in on. Ah yes. Early 21st century internet when I was logging on with dial up and there was no youtube or video streaming or what video you could watch took ages to load.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about. Whose Line is it Anyway? was a comedy improvisation show that originated on Channel 4 in the UK (some sites mistakenly cite it as BBC4 but this is wrong). The UK version was hosted by Clive Anderson and featured 4 improv comics doing sketches based on either items the host had written on cards or audience suggestions. The UK show had a rotating cast of 4 for the majority of the run though in the last three seasons Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles permanent seats. After the last season of the UK show, ABC made an American version with Drew Carey as host. And OMG did UK show fans have a fit about Clive Anderson not hosting the US version which I found funny when the reboot was announced with Aisha Tyler hosting and everyone made that Drew wasn't hosting it. (he's busy doing the Price is Right now) For those who don't know Aisha Tyler is LANAAAAA!!! on Archer (another one of my favorite shows). Given I had been through that belly aching the first time around I just roll my eyes.

The US show had a much more rigid format than the UK show especially in the second season when Wayne Brady was made a permanent seat alongside Colin and Ryan. Also with Wayne being the great singer he was, this led to ALOT more musical games in each episode and at times, that got old fast for me. And in the later seasons they started bringing in these weird D-list celebrity guests like David Hasselhoff, Hugh Heffner and Richard Simmons and while some of these guests led to some of the shows funniest moments, I didn't care for it. For me it sort of "cheapened" the show. Most notably on the US series, Robin Williams came in as a "4th seater" and while some complained, I thought he did a good job and actually shared the stage with the others pretty well.

Another personality who was on in the second season was a little known Daily Show correspondent named Stephen Colbert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BGuOUOHcQ Wonder what happened to that poor guy? Probably homeless now. (that was sarcasm) But at lot of UK show fans kept hoping UK staples like Tony Slattery or Mike McShane would have shown up for a guest spot though Josie Lawrence possibly the only standout female performer of the entirety of the show did appear in season 2. No I never found Kathy Greenwood funny and I felt like she was just there to fill the female quota.

The show ended mainly because ABC put it on Thursday nights at 8pm alongside both Friends and Survivor when they were at the height of their populairity. And one of the reasons ABC put it there was because the show was cheap to produce. So it was safe for that timeslot that they knew they were going to lose ratings in anyway. Several unaired episodes found their way to DVD and were rerun on ABC Family though supposedly 3 more episodes from Robin William's taping exist that as far as I know have never aired.

Drew Carey and the gang did improv after the series ended. They often did live shows in between tapings as well as Ryan, Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Jeff Davis did a comedy tour that came to my area and I sadly didnt' get tickets. There were also short lived follow up shows like Drew Carey's Green Screen which I tried to watch but everyone performing with badly done flash animation going on just felt uneeded and distracting.

Since I have to mention it. Wayne's appearance on Chapelle's Show was comedy gold. And I recall Wayne taking flack from some Mad TV comic accusing him for not being "black enough" and I think that skit was basically a response to that. "Is Wayne Brady going to have to choke a b*tch?"

This was the first time I learned of internet fandom as Whose Line was one of the first things I ever searched for fun on the internet and learned that WL fans were called "Whosers" not to be confused with "Whovians" (Dr. Who fans). And if you thought fanfiction was messed up, you haven't seen anything until you realize Colin Mochrie/Ryan Stiles slash fanfiction exists.

But as a fan of the UK show first, I did grow tired of the rigid predictable format of the US version. It had plenty of funny moments but of course US TV at that time was really strict with censorship and many jokes couldn't make it to air though sometimes they'd air special 10pm episodes titled "Too hot for 8:00." So when I heard it was coming back on the CW I got excited because when you see the stuff airing at 8pm now (name a crime drama you like) I figured they can get away with more risque stuff. I had also hoped that since Ryan and Colin were getting on in their years that maybe it would go back to the UK format and have four rotating seats instead of one. But then I found out that Colin, Ryan and Wayne were all returning so I was like *sigh" back to the US format I guess.

So here's a preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2BNMuKaums

So a few things. Ryan looks about the same as he did at the end of the series.

Colin's hair is completely white now. I heard he dyed it but I don't know.

Wayne's shaved his head now so I guess Colin won't be the bald joke magnet anymore. Also I think Wayne's toned it back a bit. I'll probably take some flaming for this but there were times where I felt like Wayne was hogging the stage a bit and for a while he was a big deal. ABC gave him a short lived Variety Comedy show that lasted five episodes. Then there was his daytime talk show that actually lasted 2 years and these days he's the host of Let's Make a Deal. Also the fourth guy in the clip is Wayne's sidekick on Let's Make a Deal.

I'll probably watch the premeire. IGN has a review up and I'm interested to see how Aisha does though according to their review, they had 2 different guests as well as they do the celebrity guest thing again *ugh* but I really hope some of my favorite 4th seaters like Brad Sherwood, Greg Proops (who had done the UK show as long as Ryan and Colin), Chip Esten and Jeff Davis come back.

(click on it for full size)

http://www.gamespot.com/news/us-government-recognizes-league-of-legends-players-as-pro-athletes-6411377

The United States of America has officially recognized pro gamers as athletes, at least in the sense of granting visas to international competitors. Even though a government body has given the label athlete to gamers, I simply cannot call them that. 

Merriam-Webster defines the term athlete as: 

a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina

I've heard the debate before, with people who cling to the first half of the definition.  People can be trained in video games and be highly skilled in them, but competiting doesn't necessarily make them athletes.  You have to apply the second half of the defintion to them as well. "Games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina".  Video games require none of those.  Now, before you say, "But, it requires stamina to game for extended periods of time!" No, it doesn't, at least not in the sense of the defintion.  Staying awake and focused is a mental exertion, not even requiring an ounce of muscle from the person's body. 

Then, I also hear the argument that golfers aren't athletes.  Got to love this one. Yeah, you may not see many golfers as athletic as, say, basketball players, but they're still using their bodies. They have to use several different muscles from wrist, to arms, shoulders and back, to drive that ball exactly where they want it.  It takes mental AND physical fitness to be a great golf player. 

Also heard the one about NASCAR drivers not being athletes.  I guess you have no idea what it's like being a 150mph moving furnace while trying to keep the wheel where you want it.  Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you saw a fat NASCAR driver?  You need to be physically fit to be a NASCAR driver just so you can in the car, and get out of when you crash. Sitting in a car driving around a track is far, far more taxing on the body than sitting a gaming chair with a headset on. Oh, and there's that whole risk factor as well.  You can hurt yourself or die in NASCAR. If you crash in Forza, you just reset.  In fact, athletes can hurt themselves in any sport, even training for one.  When was the last time you hear of a gamer injuring himself during competition?

Even chess, where the Olympics recognizas the game as a sport, I can't call chess players athletes.  This does bring up an interesting question, though. What would you call them if they played in the Olympics? I'd simply call them a competitor. Mind games, games of chance (poker, dice, etc) and video games just simply don't involve enough of the body to warrant those players to be called athletes. 

I'm not trying to be disrespectful here.  I am happy that these League of Legend players can now have visas to come over here and compete internationally.  I just simply can't call them athletes knowing what it takes to actually become one.  I'm cool if they want to call themselves e-athletes. Pro gamers, I have absolutely no problems with. But athlete? Athlete is a term for someone who conditions their body as well as mind, and gaming, whether it be on a board or computer monitor does not require any conditioning of the body whatsoever. 

Athletes?

Or athletes?

What makes more sense to you?

For those of you who dont know who he is, Ryan Davis is a former Gamespot staff member and founding member of Giant Bomb who sadly died last week at the young age of just 34. There have been many blogs/posts/comments about him in that time, but I wanted to offer just a small taste of how the man affected me from thousands of miles away and having never met me, and that is something quite special. 

I first encountered Ryan when I started listening to the old Gamespot podcast, The Hotspot. I found him hilarious at times, but also very deep about the subjects he was interested in, and he always gave me food for thought in those times when he had something serious to say, whether about games or any other subject. 

He was a man who's sense of humour shined through everything he did, with an infectious giggle that had me smiling ear to ear on more than one occasion in a single viewing/listening of something he was involved in, and I can only imagine what that must of been like for the people who were actually in the room with him. 

He was part of a small group of people that inspired me to start writing about games, and giving a dam about what happenned in the industry I had become so involved in. While the last couple of years had seen his writing taper off as more video work came to the fore on GB, those pieces he wrote before then showed how easy it was to write naturally, without listing the bullet points of a game in reviews and things like that. 

My closet contact with Mr Davis came from him reading my letters out on the bombcast - there were only a couple - and I hope at those times I gave him something to think about, at least for a few moments. I did send a satchet of something called 'Angel Delight' to the GB offices one time but never heard anything about it, but I hope that he and the rest of the team enjoyed it. 

Ryan showed me that it was ok to like something other people found really dumb, be it movies, games or music. He was one of the people who taught me to not like everything had I spent most of my youth doing, because thats just how I was, and Ryan and the rest of the GB and GS teams gave me the hints and tips I needed to start writing game reviews and articles on the industry as a whole, sharing my opinions and having fun along with it. 

The one thing I will always remember of Ryan Davis though, happened during the last PAX panel Giant Bomb hosted. I am sure some of you will remember, but for those who dont know a reader produced a bottle of his wifes breast milk and placed it on the counter. Thus ensured a good five to ten minutes of laughter, summed up by the fact that Ryan just drunk some with very little hesitation. The thing that had me rolling on the floor though was about 2 minutes later when he just looked to the sky and said:

"I feel like I crossed a line.."

It might not seem so funny writing it back, but trust me watch the video. Watch all his videos, and look at the legacy the man has left on video game journalism. I wished I could have met him, I used to dream about getting a job at GB and what I would say at the interview which would go something like this: 

"Gamespot have a british guy, so so should you guys!" and then hearing that infectious giggle. 

It was a daft dream I know, but that was the influence that Ryan and the close family that the GB crew had become had on me and I for one am going to miss his presence deeply. Words cannot express my condolences to his family and friends, but I hope this post along with the many others will show just how special Ryan Davies really was to so many fans. 

Thank you for indulging me in this, and most important of all, Thank You Ryan Davis.

"I can't take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. The things I saw done, the things I did, they weren't things to be proud of."

- Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

In part one of The Pacific (2010), Colonel 'Chesty' Puller, alludes to a notion that Marines fighting in the pacific theatre of World War II were isolated from the rest of the conflict, being unable to engage what has become the symbolic enemy of the allied forces. "The Marines will do battle with the Japs on tiny specks of turf that we have never heard of. Never mind the Nazis, Mussolini - Hitler is not going to be our job" he explains.

His point appears validated as nearly 70 years later many of these 'specks of turf' are still generally unheard of and have remained unrecognised as the sights of some of the most horrendous fighting the world has ever seen. It has only been recently that some of these arenas are now finally emerging with the apparent new objective of depicting the pacific as the war's 'uglier side'. According to The Guardian's Peter Beaumont, these islands represent "a story so little told because, for years, the public has preferred to turn away from its dark undertone of savagery" - a preference represented by the traditional celebratory tributes of late 40s and 50s war films. Now that modern filmmaking has created shifting terrain as the theatre's identity has changed over the years, one of the most glaring contrasts between classical and modern depictions of the pacific to emerge has been the representation of heroism. As a new willingness to portray increasingly negative imagery has arisen, there has been little opportunity for the classical heroic ideology of a wartime soldier to remain intact. Instead it has found itself buried under the grime of realistic depictions of combat in what have become the forgotten battles of the war.

Cinema is saturated with films about World War II and even though many exist to comment on the pacific, they are largely isolated to the battles of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima - battles perhaps thought to overshadow the unedifying engagements on neighboring islands. For many years following the war, Hollywood was drawn to sights like Guadalcanal for films such as The Gallant Hours (1960), a film celebrating admirals on both sides of the battle, for the heroically symbolic imagery on offer. Iwo Jima in particular was immortalised by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the stars and stripes being raised on the summit of Mount Suribachi. One of the most blatant examples of classical Hollywood's sensationalist approach to such an event remains Allan Dwan's Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) starring staunch Republican John Wayne as Sergeant Stryker leading the charge up Suribachi with Japanese troops existing only to provide him and his men with cannon fodder. The film was highly regarded by the USMC for its patriotism and became required viewing for new recruits indicating its potential use as propaganda. Meanwhile, many members of the public who watched the film were rumored to have shed tears at Waynes death scene.

Rosenthal's famous photograph and inspiration for he heroic deeds of Sergeant Stryker.

After the debacle of the Vietnam War and Hollywood's numerous attempts to exercise the ghosts of that conflict in the shapes of Michael Cimino, Oliver Stone and Stanley Kubrick, depictions of the pacific theatre also become more sensitive. Following on from a new wave of ultra-realistic representations of warfare in Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Band of Brothers (2001) he helped create, Steven Spielberg produced Clint Eastwood's double bill of films depicting the effects of combat on Iwo Jima with Flags of our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). In contrast to Dwan, Eastwood illustrated combat as ugly and unglamorous - His decision to sympathies with the hopeless situation of the Japanese defenders in Letters from Iwo Jima opposes the rigid anti-Japanese stance of Sands of Iwo Jima while a scene in Flags of our Fathers sees a cake made in the shape of the Suribachi flag raising being covered in blood red sauce, reducing Rosenthal's photograph to a metaphor for post traumatic stress.

Eastwood's interpretation of Rosenthal's photograph.

In 2010, Tom Hanks, together with Spielberg, executive produced The Pacific, a miniseries with the apparent intention to remove the heroic ideology of the 1940s from a theatre where barbarity and atrocity seemed overwhelming to any such notion. Commenting to Time magazine, Hanks said of his father, who was a veteran of the pacific; "He had nothing nice to say, no glorious stories to tell about it." It was a comment that suggested a determined focus to depart from the attitudes of past titles like They Were Expendable (1945) which had portrayed those serving in the pacific as enthusiastic and war ready soldiers; "Well get all the soaking we need on our way up to hit he Japs, sir!" proclaims Seaman Jones (Arthur Walsh). Cementing the miniseries' solemn approach to the theatre's depiction is the immediate introduction of its three central characters who are far more stoic than their classical counterparts. Before leaving for war, John Basilone (Jon Seda) exchanges nervous looks with his father at the family dinner table while Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale) is seen silently praying at Saint Mary's church. Finally, Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazello) does not depart at all having been denied permission by his concerned father, a veteran of World War I. Beginning with the first frame, there exists a foreboding atmosphere where anxiety, rather than enthusiasm is the defining emotion.

Parts five, six and seven focus on Eugene Sledge in his eventual participation in the Battle of Peleliu, a tiny and strategically questionable coral island in the Palau chain - an island referred to in Sledge's own memoir, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (1981), as a "terrible place" and representative of precisely Beaumont's description of a little told story of savagery oppositional to classical Hollywood war films.

Peleliu

Five deals with the initial landings on Orange Beach II in what is surely one of the most terrifying portrayals of combat ever captured on screen, easily outdoing Saving Private Ryan in terms of sheer ferocity. The cinematography for the sequence seems determined to create a grinding atmosphere of utter panic for maximum distress as camera shots follow Eugene from his departure from the Navy fleet in a realistically slow approach towards the shoreline, followed by his slow crawl up the beach filmed in one long tracking shot. The soundtrack is perforated by the screaming of wounded Marines while rapid, continuous artillery strikes shower Eugene in sand, dirt and debris.

Part six immediately follows the landings with the subsequent battle for the nearby airfield. In contrast to the slow cutting of part five, six portrays Marines making a dash across open terrain rapidly edited to convey the speed of their accumulating casualties. The quick cutting reduces the sequence to a montage of dismemberment rather than an event of strategic execution as each shot seems focused on violent loss of life while apparently ignoring the Marines objective of securing the airfield. When watched back to back, the impression offered to the spectator of combat on Peleliu is one of hopelessness. With soldiers objectives buried under the camera's relentless focus on gunfire, blood and dust, the result is a depiction of atrocity so overpowering as to leave only a 'one step forward, two steps back' sensation making any notion of heroism impossible to attain.

A terrified Sledge crawls up Orange Beach II.

In part seven, Eugene's company moves into Peleliu's Umurbrogol Pocket - a labyrinth of mountainous limestone rocks honeycombed with Japanese fortifications. Faced with rooting out each hidden bunker one by one, the Marines enter a proverbial meat grinder where the determining factor of survival is reduced to pure luck. Unlike parts five and six which rely on the power of impact alone, seven has specific points where the opportunity for heroic status is forcibly denied. When Lieutenant 'Hillbilly' is wounded, Sledge is sent from cover with a stretcher to carry him back to relative safety, braving a chaotic sprint through the canyons where men to his left and right are swiftly cut down. After transporting him a mere few feet, Hillbilly is shot a second time through the chest killing him and thereby denying Sledge the ability to care for wounded buddies and signifying the loss of the most basic method of compassion representative of a heroic soldier.

Historically, the Battle of Peleliu was largely ignored by the wider aspect of the war receiving little attention by war correspondents and being overshadowed by General MacArther's return to the Philippines. Perhaps in keeping with this lonely status, none of the eight Medal of Honor awards given to Marines on the island are mentioned in any of the three parts adding weight to what author Gordon Rottman called "the forgotten corner of hell" and allowing the miniseries an accurate portrayal of a battle where heroes went ignored and unknown.

The Pacific's own portrayal of Iwo Jima marks the miniseries' most potent example of the systematic erasing of heroic imagery. Having been awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal, John Basilone is sent back to the United States to take part in a war bond drive earning him celebrity status and becoming the embodiment of heroism for the American public. Part eight focuses on his return to the front lines as the gunnery sergeant of his own platoon. Troops under his command comment on his legendary status; "He killed like a thousand Japs on the 'canal. The guy's a hero!" says one of his men in admiration while female personnel swoon at his close proximity. Upon reaching the beaches of Iwo Jima, Basilone lives up to his heroic status by single-handedly destroying a Japanese garrison and aiding a tank trapped in a nearby minefield. While rounding the airfield, he is struck through the chest and left arm by Japanese mortal shrapnel while his shocked men look on helplessly. The scene ends with an overhead zoom out of Basilone lying among the bodies of Marines killed alongside him. Ceasing to be a heroic celebrity, his fragility is now exposed as he becomes indistinguishable from the other 7,000 Marines killed.

Basilone merges into the Iwo Jima killing fields.

Returning once again to Peter Beaumont's comment, places like Peleliu and part four's New Britain received their first dramatization for the screen in The Pacific at a time where the majority of past directors and writers had deliberately avoided war zones where the lines between heroism and atrocity faded. Part of the defining atmosphere of the war in the pacific is a nation bent on preserving civil freedoms clashing with a warrior culture believing suicide to be preferable to surrender. With both sides regarding themselves as more righteous than the other, there existed a lack of tolerance for any form of acceptable culture existing on the same stretch of ground. Films like Sands of Iwo Jima are indicative of many Americans during the war who believed the Japanese soldier was little more than a cruel and vicious killer. Referring to representations of the classical period, The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter commented "Our filmmakers, enraged over Pear Harbor, seemingly always included a scene where Japanese perfidy expressed itself only to be wiped out most satisfyingly by the righteousness of our soldiers." While war crimes in Nanking and Bataan remain some of the most appalling of the period, The Pacific and Letters from Iwo Jima now nevertheless go out of their way to illustrate the Japanese soldier himself as a fierce but humanistic opponent serving as an enemy combatant, rather than the perpetrators of war crimes against civilians so readily employed by classical Hollywood to give Japan the role of the villainous opposition. This is reinforced by the miniseries' unflinching desire to focus on the lesser known engagements of the theatre where barbarity existed on both sides from the Japanese banzai charge to the cynical and uncompassionate American advance through the mud of Okinawa.

With such an approach ensuring that heroism becomes virtually impossible to find and solidifying islands such as Peleliu as battle sights where the hero is absent from our screens, The Pacific has ensured the current generations' first impression of the theatre is a barbaric and negative one as opposed to the superficial black and white (both literal and figurative) imagery of heroes and villains personified by John Wayne, Allan Dwan and John Ford. In doing so, it has emerged as one of the most substantial and important entries in the war genre of recent times.

It is hard to ignore the news completely, but as a sports fan, I generally watch EPSN over the regular news channels. Several weeks ago, after a body and car rented to Aaron Hernandez were found, the star tight end for the New England Patriots was arrested. That same day, the team released him. On the surface, and based on countless other recent arrests, I thought that was a rather knee-jerk reaction. The evidence continues to mount and now I find myself applauding the Patriots for taking a major financial hit, to the tune of about $3M, not counting a $10M bonus that's been paid over several years. The salary cap hit also has implications as they move forward. The fact that Hernandez was arrested may allow them to void the contract in its entirety, but only time will tell and the legal system isn't timely, to say the least.

What was more interesting for me, as a gamer, was when I saw at the bottom of the screen on the ESPN ticker that EA would be removing Aaron Hernandez from Madden NFL 25 and NCAA Football 14. This took me by surprise, more so when I read this article from the Daily Mail with the number of NFL players that had been arrested since the SuperBowl. That number is twenty-seven. In that time, I don't believe any other league has that number of players in criminal trouble. Some of the charges are not as heinous as other. Let me be clear, murder isn't the same as a DUI, but none are good. I could take a side-step and talk about what terrible role models athletes are and how society has made us idolise both athletes and celebrities for living in excess, but that isn't what I set out to do here.

EA did the right thing, but did they do enough? I look at the list and I see another player who was charged with attempted murder. I grant you, he didn't succeed, but does that make it better? What about sexual assault? Should we have Ben Roethlisberger removed as well? Where is the line that EA is drawing? Where is the line that the NFL is drawing? Roger Goodell will never be a popular commissioner, and it isn't for our approval that he gets paid. His job is to ensure that the NFL can sell itself, the question is, what are they selling right now.

The Patriots organisation is one that doesn't tolerate players that create distractions. To call Odin Lloyd's death a distraction would be doing him a disservice, not to mention the other two people Hernandez is charged with killing in 2010. NFL players have been continuing this downward spiral and while this is hardly the venue for this, but sports and fame are two areas that we, as a society are fascinated by, simply by the fact that they have so much and in comparison, we have so little. I have embarked on the annual holy month of fasting, I'm Muslim, and I can't help, but reflect on the teachings from all our religions, highlighting being thankful for what you have and not living in excess.

Aaron Hernandez is a rare case, perhaps. If you look at the trend, it seems to me like every professional sport is filled with thugs. Those thugs are trained at an early age that their physical superiority gives them a right to carry handguns, use weapons and drugs at leisure because they are better than the rest of us. What EA has done is made a stand on a bit of a non-issue, following the Patriots, in distancing themselves from a young man who made some very bad choices. But what about all the other young men in football that are making choices that are little better? I may be taking this to an extreme, if EA removes every player with a criminal past, there would be no one to play in the game, but isn't that saying something profound right there? Football needs to clean up their act, and being in EA's game should be an honour, a privilege, not a right. If EA wanted to play hardball, they'd remove all the players that have issues, making the game impossible to sell or enjoy. In the end, EA is going to make an insane amount of money off of a few players that deserve to be in jail. If ever I needed a reason not to buy any EA sports game again, this is it.

I had planned on playing Dead Space 3 next but my friend decided to play it so I made a last minute decision to borrow Alice: Madness Returns. It doesn't look to be a particularly high budget or well publicised game but it seems to be seen in a good light by those that have played it. It's the kind of game I needed to play as it isn't a shooter and although has some combat elements to it, it's a platformer first and foremost. I can't remember the last proper run and jump I played. Thinking back it was probably the new Prince of Persia game which I also loved.

Getting used to a game that doesn't stay completely grounded took a bit of getting used to. 10 years ago I'd probably have been getting bored of this type of game but now it was a breath of fresh air. It took a long time for me to get used to the physics of the game and how to time jumps and double jumps etc to move round the world. I was probably halfway through when I finally nailed it and rather than getting harder, the game seemed to get easier.

Each area had a distinctive look and feel and felt different enough to warrant being in the game. It did seem apparent though that a lot of the rooms/puzzles were being recycled in slightly different ways in each area, but just had different skins on them to make them seem different. I was getting very frustrated at times that it was getting a bit repetitive but once I got through the middle of the game where it seemed to be dragging on, I started to enjoy it again. The house of cards chapter was probably my favourite. The 'bridge' to the opening building where it just appears in front of you was pretty and pretty impressive!

The weapons in the game had plenty of variety and I'm glad the game didn't throw too many different weapons into the mix as I wasn't fussed about what I using. I did enjoy upgrading them to see what the array of colours would be. It doesn't sound like anything special but it was a nice touch to get a paint job as an additional reward to increased power.

The biggest thing the game excels at is the excellent array of characters that the world has to offer. Granted it's based on a world full of the weird and the wonderful but the devs have done a great job of bringing them to life. They all look pretty impressive and the voice acting was top notch.

To reduce the amount of monotony a platformer has on offer, the devs hit gold with the addition of alternate areas that played out different to the main game. The first mini-game puts you in a 2D world where the physics are the same but laid out in a whole new way. I though the art style and the change of pace with it being more thought out and less hectic made for a good breakaway. The second sees you in a weird scrolling pinball type game where you control a rolling head through obstacles. It was pretty infuriating at times but ultimately enjoyable.

On the whole it had more good bits than bad. The enemies, whilst not overly tough to beat, provided a welcome break from the endless jumping. The story was told in a great way but didn't intrude much on the game play. I gave this a 7.5 overall. Not as high as I could've given it but it but I loved in all the same.

In between playing retail games I decided to squeeze in The Walking Dead: 400 Days and it turns out I didn't have to squeeze a lot as it was over before I knew it! I guess I probably expected too much for what I paid. My biggest problem was it was very fragmented and each bit seemed to be over before I could get into it. If this is the cast for season 2 it was a decent introduction to them and the devs only included the good bits from the original game. There was no faffing around as each chapter got straight into it and to the point.

As ever I got frustrated in reading that your actions still don't make any real changes to how the game plays out. Ok, so you might get a different character that stays alive but ultimately the game knows where it's heading and will do it whatever option you pick. All you can influence is what happens in the bit leading up to the end of a chapter.

It does look like it has replay value though as playing the chapters in differing orders looks like it will give you a different perspective on things and what choices you make. I think I'll play it again before season 2 comes out if it does carry on from this.

Whilst some may argue this was just a teaser and a cheap price, it's still the weakest DLC so far in my opinion. I gave it a 7.0 because it was so short but the art style and character development is always spot on from these guys.

Lastly, I finally got round to installing Windows 8 a couple of weeks ago. I'm really not sure what all the fuss is about as it seems exactly the same as Windows 7 once you tweak a few settings so I quite like it. The main benefit to it is the ability to install game apps that tie into the Xbox universe with achievements. The annoying thing for me is that my gamertag is linked to a different Microsoft account so I have to keep switching between users to play games. Doesn't seem to matter what I try I can't get the accounts sorted so it's on the right one.

So far I've only played the free and easy games. I installed the three Microsoft games Minesweeper, Solitaire Collection, and Mahjong. These three took me about half hour to get full completion on so was worth the time. None of them were difficult but was nice to go seemingly back in time to when these games were common time wasters on PCs. I also had a go on Wordament which I've already played on iOS. The PC version is no different but it's just on a bigger scale. Some of the achievements look damn hard to get and I don't have a lot of patience for word games. The last two I tried out were Jetpack Joyride and Shuffle Party. Jetpack is my favourite game on iOS but unfortunately it doesn't translate so well onto mouse or keyboard. I've not got to grips with it yet but I'll give it a go. Shuffle Party suffers the same fate in that it's accurate enough with the mouse I have so can't really play it.

Next up is Batman: Arkham City and I might play a bit of Doritos Crash Course which I picked up off Live as it was a freebie.