College Essay Question 4

     For this last English assignment on college essay, I will be writing about college essay topic number four. The question is, "Describe a fictional character. Be sure to point out what you do or do not like about the character and relate these attributes to yourself."

     The fictional character I will describe is a protagonist from the famous anime and manga, Death Note, Yagami Light. In the story, Light is a normal japanese highschool boy, who dislikes and disgusts the world and the society he is living in. Since his father is a captain police, he have a special hatred towards murdering and crime in the society. However, he knows that he cannot change or correct anything about these crimes, therefore, he decides to just ignore it, even if he sees someone getting robbed in front of him, he would just ignore it. This is the first point of Light's personality that is like me and also one of his attributes that I do not like. We know ourselves that we are powerless; we think that we cannot change or comment on anything we dislke, whether it is someone's personality, event, or status, therefore, the best way to continue ourlives among these things is to ignore it. I do not like this attribute even thought I have it and I am sure that Light also hates it, because if I hate something and that I have to live with it, I will want to change it, no matter how difficult it is; however, since I am incapable, ignoring it is my only option and I hate doing so.

     One day, Light finds a note book lying on the floor in his school, it prints "Death Note". Inside the book, it says that those that their names are written in this notebook will die. Light throws this notebook away almost immidiately, because he thinks that it is just some kind of joke, however, after a few steps away form the book, he changes his mind and takes the book. He tests the book, and its power is real; those people that Light wrote their names on the book died exactly as Light wrote. The first thing that Light does after he knows that the book's power is real is laught; there goes the second similarity between us. Since we think that we are powerless, we ignore everything that we dislike, however, as I state before, we hate to do so, therefore, we look for any glimpse of hope to help us change the way things are right now. Even though, out side, we deny it, deep down, no matter how stupid, fake, and hilarious that power sounds, we will be attracted to it; the same way as Light returns for the book. Now, once we posess the power that allows us to change things, we feel free; we feel as if we are no longer bound by the things that we dislike. We will test it, use it, improve it, and master it. Light goes on and kills every single criminal on the run that he sees on the news, the ones that laws cannot harm.

     The third thing that me and Light have in common is the sense of pride. After the police starts to realize that hundreds of people that die within the past few weeks are all criminals, and that they have no possible way to track down the killer, due to that Light kills people simply by writting their names, they hand the case to their best detective, L. One day, Light turns on his television and finds L making announcements world wide to Kira(Light is known to the outside world as Kira). L says that he was chosen to solve this case and that he will find Kira. He also declares offensively that what Kira is doing is wrong and that he will be brought to justice. Light, listening to these speeches, gets angry and writes L's name; the following minute, L dies in front of the camera world wide. This is the sense of pride I mention. Once we have that power, we will think that what we are doing is the right thing no matter how obvious it seems wrong. This is one of few personalities that we have in common that I like. L offensively attack that idea and makes our dreams and our freedom sounds stupid and meaningless. We will never take things like this easy, we are too arrogant and pride for that. We will never stay still while factors, people, or objects that we value are being disgraced and humiliated. In my personal opinion, if I do not stand up for something or someone I love, and I let him or her gets humiliated and demeaned, no matter how true those words are, then I will be among the lowest and foulest type of human.

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Metro 2033: Another Outstanding Post-Apocalyptic Game

     This time, I will be talking about another post-apocalyptic game called Metro 2033, which was developed by 4A Games. Metro 2033 was originally a Russian novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky. The book talks about the adventure of a man named Artyom, who lives in the post-apocalyptic world where the surface of the earth is now inhabitable and people in Moscow are now living in the underground metro. Only after a few months of living underground, people in Moscow have begun to realize that the city they have left is no longer abandoned. Mysterious creatures with unknown origin started appearing on the surface of Moscow and attacked any human on sight. After they have taken almost full control of the surface, they have begun to, slowly, move down underground. After many years of fighting and protecting their last territory, mankind under Moscow are beginning to lose.

     The story starts with a man named Artyom, who is living in the station VDNKh. He wakes up one day and finds his friend, Hunter, returning from the surface to spread news. Hunter says that he learn that the creatures have leaders which he called them, the Dark Ones, and that he have a plan to destroy these Dark Ones and force away all the creatures. However, the leaders of VDNKh Station refuse to give any aid to this plan, due to that they cannot risk losing anymore men than they already have. Hunter, then, before leaving VDNKh, asks Artyom a promise that should he not return to VDNKh, then Artyom must go to Polis Station and inform the council about the Dark Ones. As expected, Hunter does not return, thus begins Artyom's adventure to Polis Station.

     4A Games did an impressive job on a very oppressive atmosphere and, in my opinion, a very stressful game experience. Not all enemies are the creatures, bandits and the Reds will open fire at the player on sight. Most of the time, the player will be travelling alone in the dark railway stations, therefore flash light is not an option. The player will need to be very careful on how he or she decide to venture through the railway; he or she must choose when to use night vision goggles, when to use lighters, when to use flash light, when to use gas masks, and many other considerations including avoiding traps and breakables, because one mistake and the player will be swarmed with enemies. Night vision goggles, flash light, and other equipment have limited batteries, therefore, the player will have to keep charging these tools using the universal charger, which requires time and effort. Currency used in this place is bullets, therefore, the player will have to be specially careful with conserving ammunition. Looting dead bodies is also not an option, even with your dead companion, for supplies are very scarce outside of each stations and every single bullet or oxygen canister counts.

     Equipment, such as gas mask, can be damaged through gun fights, therefore, choosing between stealth and non-stealth along with types of guns play a huge role of surviving in Metro 2033. A straight forward shotgun or machine gun seems to be a good way to waste ammunition on all enemies the player encounters, thus more and easier way to loot and collect valuables. However, a silent sniper rifle or a crossbow would seems, in my opinion, a much better way to pass enemies without emptying out all of your ammunition, thus your money, thought picking up valuables near living enemies appears to be much harder. Through all these factors and considerations, 4A Games makes Metro 2033 a very intense and stressful game to play, however, it forces the player to think carefully on every actions that the player will carry, thus making the game very realistic and interesting.

(post before new assignment announcement)
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Journey: An Unique Experience

     This time, I will be talking about one indie game called Journey. Journey is a very unique desert-exploring game, which is develop by ThatGameCompany exclusively for Playstation 3 console(hail to Playstation!!). Unlike common games, Journey ignores many conventional games traditions, such as, scorekeeping, lives, and statistics.

     The game starts off with you as a lone red-robed figure in a middle of a desert. The game provides no quest nor objective to the player; the player will have to explore the desert through purely their own instinct. Initially, the player can heads toward the mountain, landmarks, or any bright lights that he or she catches a glimpse of; it is entirely and purely up to the player to choose how and when they explore each part of the desert. ThatGameCompany did an outstanding job on graphics and details, such as the movements of the sands as the player step or slide on them and the affects of winds on the player's robe and sand as they blow by and as the storm is approaching. As the player explores the ruins and mountains, he or she will encounter fragments of cloths, scraps of the luminous scarf that allows him or her to fly.

" Journey is more an emotional investment than a game." (Ryan Clements)

     The game also consists of many emotional driven factors. Within each ruins, the player will encounter a statue which will tells the speechless terrible story about what happen to the place and, as the player explores more ruins, the player will get the implication that he or she might be the last one that is left. This makes Journey, somewhat, a very lonely type of game, however, that loneliness is what makes Journey intriguing. The multiplayer mode allows the player to, randomly and unexpectedly, meet with one other player who is in the same progress level as the player. The joined player is anonymous; the game will hide the ID name of both players and they will not be able to chat; he or she can be anyone from anywhere across the globe(our globe not the game's), and the only communication allows in the game is music that both players can chirp at each other. By withholding another player's identification, Journey makes the companion a complete stranger, however, simultaneously, Journey allows the player to experience the emotion of meeting with someone who is, same as the player, might be the last of what is left in the post-apocalyptic world. The player have no idea who his or her companion is, what he or she is capable of, and even how to communicate with him or her properly, however, due to both of them are left alone with tiny hope of ever find their own place, they will be attracted to each other through loneliness and melancholy. Exploring the desert with a companion is a powerful contrast to the loneliness of traveling alone through a mostly empty desert, and when one player decides to quit the game, they are drift apart forever, which is curiously but understandably sad.

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Bibliography -

"Journey Review". Clements Ryan. IGN.com

     <http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1219641p1.html>

"Journey Review". Douglas Jane. GameSpot.com

     <http://asia.gamespot.com/journey/reviews/journey-review-6363693/>

College Essay Question 2

     Now for the third time, as part of my English homework, I will be talking about college essay topic number three. The question is "Tell us about a conversation you’ve had that changed your perspective or was otherwise meaningful to you." by the University of Stanford.

     I think the conversation that changes my perspective on my life is the one I had with my Dad a couple of years ago.It was the time when I was having an important exam coming up. This exam in my country is suppose to evaluate all of my abilities and skills in both academic and physical. It  is one of the most important examination that all schools and universities in my country will look at and will have a significant impact on their decision to accept me.

     I was just a kid back then; I thought that study hard and be a nerd is not cool (like most of all children think). I did not pay attention in my class, I did not prepare for any tests or final exams, and I got into many fights with my friends. Back then, I lived with my Mom; my Dad lived in another place because of his work, which resulted in him not knowing anything much about my personal life. However, after my carelessness toward education and social was told by my Mom to my Dad, he took me and my Mom out for a dinner on my birthday, which is what he usually did, come to see me and my Mom only a couple of times in a year. My birthday was only a few weeks away from the exam.

     After a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant, he began to talk to me about all the things that I did and about my carelessness. He asked me questions that I did not understand the point of it, such as, what did I expect to gain from my actions and didn't I feel guilty toward my Mom, whom has been protecting me from all the bad consequences of my actions. My mind was blanked; I did not know why my Dad was saying these things to me but I could not answer either. Toward the end of the conversation and arguments, my Dad said a sentence that has changed my point of view forever. He said, "Do you want be "cool" like those people you see on the side of the streets, or do you want to be "cool" like those people that drives Porsche and Ducati?" I was stunned by this sentence. I have never thought about these things before; all the confusions from his previous questions and conversation have come together and began to make sense for me. Then my Dad went on saying that it was my choice to choose the kind of "cool" I wanted to be. It is my choice to choose what kind of a person I want to be, the cool that have nothing in his life other than friends whom are as empty as himself, or the cool that have everything he needs along with caring family and the means and abilities to support them. He did not speak much after that sentence; I think it was because that he knew that his words are very effective to me through my guilty face. After we have arrived back at my house, my Dad, somehow, knew that I have changed my self perspective completely and that I wanted to become the "cool that drives Porsche and Ducati."  He, then, told me what he has been trying to tell me in the beginning. He said that the way to become that "cool", for now, was to study hard. Along the path of study, I will gain, not only knowledge, but self responsibility and care towards things that I love.

     I changed after that day. I began to realize that being "cool" alone was not a good thing, it has to be "cool" along with self responsibility and care. I got a pretty good score on the exam, which my Dad was very happy with the score. After that day, I have become more responsible toward my life and aware of consequences of my actions toward all the people that I love. Right now, even thought, I do not own any car or bike yet, I am beginning to see the days that I ride those bikes clearer.

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Games Vs Cultures

     This time, I will be sharing a news article about games that their contents have had conflicts with culture from various places. This article is from IGN website by Craig Pearson.

Here is the link - http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1223127p1.html

     Eventhough games' story lines, characters, and settings are interesting, it is very hard for developers to both avoid the culture conflict with specific places and developing a good piece of art. There are games that some of its contents are conflicting with culture or belief of groups of people, which results in developers have to remove or alter the conflicting contents for the games to be sold in the conflicting areas. These are some of the games that have conflicts with certain places. I have chosen only some of the games from the original article that are interesting.

     The very first example of games that their contents has been altered is the well-known Fallout 3. Towards the end of one of the side-quests, you are required to trigger a nuke and destroy the entire city, leaving an irradiated ruin behind. This seems like a good way to loose karma and benefits to those playing as a bad person, however, Japan did not like this issue. Japanese required the publisher, Bethesda, to remove the mission before it was allowed to be published in Japan. Also, one of the game's weapon, the Fat Man, was censored by the Japanese. Fat Man is a mini nuke launcher which its original name mimics the nuclear detonator that United States detonated on Nagasaki in World War II.


     The second example is the game called Team Fortress 2, developed by Valve. The game mainly consists of multiplayer battles with violence actions and scenes, such as rocket death, head lopping, etc. This has caused the German censors to require the developer to remove these scenes before being able to publish in Germany. However, instead of properly remove scenes, Valve, naughtily, decided to replace the bloodied scenes with funny toys and springs falling out out the dead bodies.

     The third example is the game called Left 4 Dead 2, also developed by Valve. The game is about zombie-crisis survivors that have to fight through bloodied zombies to survive. The problem for UK was not the bloodied part, it was the cover image of the game. The first Left 4 Dead's cover for UK was not a problem, since to emphasize the "4" of the title, which means the four characters that the player gets to play as, the cover image is the hand with the thumb cut off to show four fingers. However this time, to emphasize the come back of the second game or "2", the cover image is the same hand with two fingers folded, leaving two fingers. Here was the problem, the hand showing off two fingers is colloquially known as "the vicky", which is very offensive to people in UK; this result in UK required the developer to change the cover. Valve, then, again naughtily, switched the hand around showing the peace sign in UK version cover.

     The last example is the well-known game for violence, GTA: San Andreas, developed by Rockstar Games. In the game, there was scene with a mini game where the player have to control the character as he switches his sexual positions with his girlfriend. This mini game was hidden within the code, which can only be unlocked through modifications. Following rumors about this mini game, the American rating board, ESRB, investigated the game and, after discovered the mini game, re-rated the game from M(mature) to AO(adults only). This resulted in Rockstar Games releasing a patch which removed this part of the game.

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Alice Madness Returns: The Spin Off Story and Interpretations (New Set)

     This time, I will be talking about the game called Alice Madness Returns, a spin-off from the well-known Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrolls. This game features a different story about Alice and her Wonderland and an entirely different attitudes and themes of her Wonderland.

     The game takes place after Alice Liddell is released from a mental asylum and lives peacefully in Victorian London with a psychiatrist, Dr. Angus Bumby; however, memories of her lost family still hunts her and constantly drives her insane. One day, she gets into a trouble with Nurse Witless, who blackmails Alice for money. After an argument Alice sees Nurse Witless transforms into a Jabberwock and falls into the Wonderland. After she arrived in Wonderland, she finds her wonderland in chaos from the destruction of the Infernal Train. Alice, then, have to fight her way to the train in order to save herself and everyone in the Wonderland. Towards the end of the game, Alice learns that the Infernal Train is a result from Dr. Bumby's plan. Dr. Bumby feels that if he cannot fix Alice's mental problem, his reputations will fall, therefore, he decides to erase Alice's memory about her family, thus fixing her insanity. Alice, then, might kills Dr. Bumby.

     I know that my above summary might sounds a little confusing; this is because there are many interpretations on the situations and many metaphoric elements which can describe the story differently.

     Alice's Wonderland can be either a real magical land like in the original story, or hallucinations resulted from the mental breakdown due to the loss of her family. Her event with Nurse Witless might triggers a hallucination of a Jabberwock, thus creates a mental breakdown, which, to Alice, is returning to the Wonderland. The Infernal Train that tries to destroy the Wonderland is the result from Dr. Bumby's plan to destroys Alice's memories, which symbolizes that Wonderland is the representation of her sadness towards the death of her family. It can also means that the Wonderland symbolizes Alice's insanity and that Dr. Bumby's plan is actually fixing Alice's madness. In the last sentence of my summary paragraph, I said Alice "might" kills Dr. Bumby because the ending of the game is left unexplained by the developer. In the last scene, after Alice learnt about Dr. Bumby's plan, she meets with him in the underground train station. She, then, turns into her Wonderland dress and pushes Dr. Bumby in front of an incoming train, thus killing him. After she walked out of the station (with her Wonderland dress), she finds herself in the Londerland, the place where London and Wonderland have come together as one existence. This can be interpreted as two meanings. Alice might be having another enormous mental breakdown, creating hallucinations of her killing Dr. Bumby, which the Londerland might be an evident of her madness getting worse. Due to Dr. Bumby's surprise reaction when Alice turns into her Wonderland dress and many connections of the Wonderland and the real world, such as when Mad Hatter warns Alice about the fire in the asylum, might suggests that Wonderland is influencing the outside world and Dr.Bumby's death and Londerland are real and physical.

     I personally like this game because of it changes all the characters' looks and attitudes from the original Alice in the Wonderland. I also like this game because it takes the fairy-tales-like story and turns it into a horrifying story and theme. Here is the example of the new version of Cheshire Cat and the Card Guards.

     Here is the concept arts of Red Queen and her castle.

Bibliography: http://alice.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_Wiki

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College Essay Question 3

     Once again as part of my English homework, this will be an entry on college essay topic. This time the question is "What is the best advice you ever received? Why? And did you follow it?" from the University of Pennsylvania.

     Now that I think about it, I think that the best advise that was given to me was from my Dad; he said, "You don't have the choice. I'm not giving it to you." I know it does not sound like advice at all, but ever since I  have known my Dad, I can say that he is not the type of man that would give a soft and straight forward advice. His advice are always through harsh actions, lectures, and criticisms. This one was from when I was new to my current school. It is a boarding school in a different country, therefore I left almost everything I have known my entire life to get here, including my friends, families, and most of my possessions that I have grown up with. The first semester was not bad; I met a math teacher who understand my ability and skill in math, so he pushed me to Calculus within a semester of my ninth grade. The dorm I was living in the first semester was a temporary dorm; the dorm I supposed to be living in was under renovation, therefore rules were not very strict. I lived my ninth grade life in this school peacefully, until the second semester. The math teacher was expelled from the school because his teaching style dis not match the school's curriculum. I got thrown back down to ninth grade level math like everything that I have accomplished with my math teacher were meant for nothing. Not only that, but the renovation for the dorm was completed, the 10th to 12th graders will live in there, and the ninth graders will live somewhere else in the proper dorm. Life in the dorm for me was different, I suddenly have even less freedom in my own life than before. Gaming time, hot water time, sleeping time, and study time; they were even thinking about having movie time for us. I have fallen into deep depression that one day, a dorm parent almost confiscated my laptop for copying my homework into my pendrive three minutes after sleeping time. Depressed and angry, I threw a chair straight at him, which, though unexpected, he realized that what he did was not right and gave me back my laptop. These depressions and angers have given me the strong will to get out of this school. However, after I have talked to my Dad about everything that had happened, he said, "No, I will not let you change school. You don't have the choice to quit this school. I'm not giving it to you. You will live in that place until you graduate." in a calm but demanding voice; I went blanked for almost one entire day, I did not feel sad or angry, just simply blanked. After I felt better, I came to realize that my Dad's intentions for keeping me here is to train me to be able to live with anything in the world, even if it is something that I hated the most; therefore, those things that my Dad said to me are advice for me to stay strong and live through anything that come to my life. I followed it.

     I am in second semester of 11th grade now and my life is, so far, peaceful. I am still in the same school but, since I follow my Dad's advice, I was able to live through every bad things that come to my life and got used to it. I stayed strong and fought with my new math teacher (not literally) until he admitted that I can really skip levels of math; I skipped Algebra and Geometry that were meant for me in 10th grade and studied Pre-Calculus; now I am where I started, Calculus. This advice is the best advice in my life because it teaches me to stay strong and live through bad situations; therefore, after I lived through it and if I had not broken down and gave up, then I can fight back, like I have fought to get back to Calculus again, even though it is not a huge jump like I did in ninth grade, I can say that I have won over this school.

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