New AP system

I have to say I'm a bit confused over the new AP/IB system at school. From what I've been told, you can take an AP course, but opting out of the exam (which is stated as being optional, mind you) will negate the fact that you are taking an AP course. So my understanding is that AP is the new IB, and since Comprehensive has merged with Accelerated, my only options for classes are IB or Comp. There's no middle ground? What if I find IB a bit too challenging, but find that Accelerated doesn't challenge me enough? What exactly am I supposed to do in that situation?

Resting among old video games

I've been reminded quite a bit lately that, quite frankly, next-generation video games are all vastly inferior to older generations. It seems that gone are the days of "let's make a game that fun," replaced with "lets make a game that looks pretty and has lots of guns." Not to say there aren't old games that are bad, and also that there aren't new games that are good, but let's make a comparison here:

The Electronics Entertainment Expo is where most of the most popular games are revealed. If you look at the Expo a few years ago, it was laden with new and original titles that people were excited about. Now some of the games revealed more recently go something like this: "Modern Warfare 2", "Assassin's Creed 2", "Bioshock 2", "Fallout 3", "Resident Evil 5", and so on. Seeing a pattern here?

It seems that nowadays, people are afraid of trying something new, and are content with simply playing polished versions of games that they have already played.

Sonic 4

About time Sega does something right. After failures galore, they are following the example of Megaman 9 and making a new Sonic the Hedgehog game in the style of the original. No more Adventure Fields, no more horrible voice acting. Just 2-dimensional platforming at its finest.

BUT, I'm not getting my hopes up too high yet. If anyone on Earth can mess up something like this, it's Sonic Team. All we can really do is pray and wait for more info to be released...

Classic Video Games = REALLY difficult

I've been playing a lot of classic video games, and have re-discovered some of the most difficult moments in all of gaming. I don't blame you if you have no idea what any of these are.

1. "Joust" - The Pterodactyl: The "Unbeatable?" pterodactyl in Joust needed to be hit at a perfect 0 degree angle while his mouth was open to defeat him. One of the most annoying things was having to beat multiple pterodactyls to continue on.

2. "Sinistar" - The Void Wave: If the rest of "Sinistar" wasn't hard enough, try taking away 99% of the planetoids and letting the player wander space endlessly searching for them while the workers still have no problem building Sinistar.

3. "Defender" - The end of the world: Say you're playing "Defender", and all the Earthlings get abducted. Now you're in trouble. The planet will explode sending you into space where dozens of enemies wait for you to meet your demise. Have fun.

4. "King's Quest 5" - Cat and Mouse: You better stop that cat from eating the mouse at the beginning of the game. If you don't, it won't be there 30 minutes later to save you from your death, and you'll have to start the whole game over.

5. "Grandia" - Evil Gaia: A boss battle that's your 4 party members versus one person? Easy, right? Until he spawns infinite hordes of tentacles to bring you to your doom.

6. "Gauntlet" - The later waves: Being outnumbered 100 to 1 is discouraging. Tack on the fact that food and potions are scarce and someone always accidentally shoots the food, and you're ready for a fun time.

7. "Robotron" - The entire game: Nowadays game devs are too focused on being "noob friendly" rather than making games that actually involve some amount of skill. This doesn't mean all games should be like "Robotron." This is quite possibly one of the hardest games ever made, with enemies on all sides, mazes of obstacles, and other perils awaiting your soft, squishy flesh.

Simple Warnings...

1. Remember, don't shoot food.
2. Save keys to open doors.
3. Avoid Death
4. Save Potions for later use.
5. Punish those who shoot the food.

+10 points if you know what I'm talking about...