Buzzkill Podcast

Well by now all of you xbox gamers should have the brand spanking new Xbox dashboard. If you don’t you either haven’t downloaded it or something has gone terribly wrong. But what’s changed? Well don’t you worry your pretty little heads about finding out for yourself, because I’m here to spoon-feed you all the information right here on Buzzkill.

The new dashboard… Isn’t it beautiful?

So, lets start at the beginning shall we? As soon as you sign in you’ll notice that the home page seems bigger, it seems to take up more of the screen. There are a lot more things to click on and interact with, more things to read and interact with. And of course the advert in the bottom left corner is still there. Also there is a new tab called “My pins” In which you can now add apps or downloaded games too. This seems a bit redundant to me as anything that you go on enough to want to pin will surely be in recent. I know that’s where I always accessed Netflix from on the old dashboard and I’m pretty sure nothing is going to change there.

Moving on, The social tab remains pretty, as does Bing (although bing has supposedly been improved ) and the Settings tab. The games tab has now become bigger like the Home. My games, browse games and search games on the left. Three large tabs for certain games in the middle (Right now in the UK it’s Nike+ Training, Happy Wars and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13) followed by a further advertisement in the fourth tab. And down the left what appears to be a recomendation bar. (For me It’s SSX and Prototype 2) followed by a tab at the bottom which offers me a chance to look at all my recommendations. If you open this you can hover over all the games you’re recommended and see which games that you play or “showed interest in” caused you to be recommended that game.

The TV and Movies tabs are now gone, replaced with one TV & Movies  tab. Once again there is a recommendation bar down the right hand side. The music tab hasn’t really altered at all, they’ve just made it wider in order to coincide with all the other tabs. There seems to be the exact same content as there was before. Flick over to the  apps page and there you will see the big glowing ‘e’ of internet explorer. That’s right, Xbox has a browser baby!!! It may be internet explorer, but still. However, before you judge it too soon, download it and try it. It’s actually very slick and smooth and works pretty well. However, most people will use their xbox whilst having their laptop open next to them, and the whole one finger punch typing thing does get pretty tedious very quickly, so if I was you, I wouldn’t use it for all of your surfing the web. (Does anyone actually use the term surfing the web anymore?) P.s Yes, you can watch porn, Enjoy you horny fuckers.

That’s about it… OH WAIT!!! The most exciting thing about this new dashboard!!!! SmartGlass!!!  Using your phone or tablet in sync with your xbox. I’ll let the professional explain this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NBGkSuaqWEE
Until next time gamers.
As always your thoughts and comments are welcome.

In early 2000 Maxis and EA released a game that would become part of the best-selling PC franchise in PC history; The Sims. Looking back at it you might wonder why, but the franchise has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide – that’s got to mean something, right?

Never heard of the Sims? Well, it’s a strategic life simulation series and I would say it’s also a sandbox game. You create virtual people, called Sims, choose how they look and dress. Then you put them into a house, or build them a house if you’re adventurous enough, and begin to play. You have your little kitchen and bathroom and bedroom, and your Sim will use the areas accordingly.

Over the years they have released 3 games. The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3.

Each game has expansion packs which fill the games with new content, gameplay options, activities and skills. The Sims had seven expansions: Livin’ Large, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation / On Holiday, Unleashed, Superstar and Makin’ Magic. Each added new features, careers, items and clothing relating to the title, as well as celebrities, music and community lots.

(All expansion packs since The Sims have been of similar nature: University, Nightlife, Open of Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life in The Sims 2, and World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Show Time, Supernatural, Seasons in The Sims 3.)

I think the main reason The Sims is so popular, and has been continually popular, is because of the freedom of play. As I said before, it’s a sandbox game, which means there are no goals. The only goals are ones you set for yourself. Some people like to argue that building houses and creating Sims is the best part, and some like the gameplay more. But that doesn’t really matter; the community between players has grown vastly since it’s release, The Sims 3 website enabled you to upload Sims, textures, furniture, houses and custom neighbourhoods to the community. This allows other people to download and use something you have made.

Each game is wonderful to play, for me it’s like watching your sibling age and grow asyou do, I was 8 when it came out and have been playing it since. I’ll always love The Sims because it was the first, it’s outdated graphics and blocky people charm me, and it had the Goth family. Everything about it was basic but fun.

The Sims 2 was amazing. “Oh man, look how close I can get to their faces!” was one of my first reactions. The graphics were improved dramatically, the glitches and cheats were hilarious. So many options for Sims, loads of clothes, shiny new items, fuck! It was all a bit too much. Then the expansions came and I cooed over the dogs and sent my Sims to University to face pregnancy, with cheats, and yet some how they’d still get A’s? Cheats.

Then, to my delight, The Sims 3 was announced in March 2008. I squealed for well over a year until it was released. I remember, vividly, waiting outside Game before school. Proudly, I was the first person in my town to buy it. I was licking EA’s butt that day. I thought it would be a joy to have it with me all day at school. Turns out, I had it with me all day and was unable to play it. I had never been so happy to get home. The new computer I bought ran it perfectly, like a dream, like roses in a slight breeze. Bliss. The customization was mind-blowing, the items were stunning, the music was perfection, the build mode – inspiring! Gay, I know, but I was young.

Out of all the games, out of all the different things you can do, it’s easy to say what I loved most about each. I loved The Sims because it was the first and when I think about it nostalgia takes over. I loved The Sims 2 for it’s expansions and cheats; it gave me a lot of laughs. What I love most about The Sims 3? Customization – you can create every building with any style you desire, and cheats are there to help you with that. But I can’t forget the Gameplay – the most rich and full experience yet. And the traits, the personality you mould. The Skills! Oh, I just can’t choose.

I love The Sims 3.

Hello to anyone and everyone reading! My name is Laura and I will be writing blogs for Buzzkill on, hopefully, a regular basis. One Monday a month will be dedicated to Minecraft, and that’s how I intend to start off this month’s blogging.

Minecraft is a sandbox building adventure game developed by Mojang. In Minecraft, the focus of play is breaking and placing blocks, which allows you to build a shelter, mine and craft items. You start in a world that is made of blocks – trees trunks, dirt, stone, sand and even gravel. So you look around. Sky is blue, sun is shining, cows are mooing. You walk across the land, just looking, you might come across a snowy area, desert, jungle, perhaps even a swamp.

You find a good spot and build tools; you’ll use these to dig up blocks so you can build a sturdy house. You might find some resource along the way, like coal or iron. But the sun starts to set. The night creeps in. And you see the dark, scary side of Minecraft. The reason you’ve built a shelter is because during the night you will be plagued with hostile mobs that spawn in darkness. Skeletons with bows and arrows, zombies that groan and bang on your door, spiders that leap at you, creepers – tall, green fuckers that creep up behind you and explode.

As you explore the world you will find caves, ravines, dungeons and more. All the while being followed and watched by hostile mobs. What makes Minecraft so playable is that each time you play a different world is generated. You find yourself looking for the same things; coal, iron, diamond, but every world is unique. You build extravagant houses (and keep them tidy), cook yourself dinners (consisting of fruit, bread, cakes and meat, sounds like the 1940′s) and you sleep in a simple bed at night.

Why do I love it so much? Well, everyone I’ve met, who plays it, has a different reason for loving it. It has so many endearing qualities it’s hard to decide why. I love it for the design, the blocks, the mobs, the mining, the crafting. Everything. Don’t get me wrong, fuck, I get so pissed when mobs kill me. Or when I jump from a height and die. Or when I open my front door and the creeper outside comes in for tea and blows up. Usually all these scenarios end up with me deleting the world in a fit of rage. If I ragequit a game I won’t touch it for a while, the taste of bitterness too sour, but that’s the great thing with Minecraft. I don’t stop playing. I just make a new world and everything is okay again. For me, that’s what I love most.

Finally, another good thing that has come from Minecraft is the Lets Play videos that have sprung into action – the most famous being the Yogscast, where two men film their adventures with live commentary. It is entertaining to watch, it allows you to see how other people play, which can help you improve your rates of survival, and it can teach you crafting recipes you didn’t know. These videos, along with the Minecraft forums, helped cement a community for the people who play. On the forums you can find Skins for your character, Texture packs, fan art and help when you are having issues with the game.

I think my point has been made; I love Minecraft, I wish everyone played it.

Because I love Minecraft so much I started my own Lets Play Minecraft series. It’s not very successful but it can be amusing. If anyone is interested you can find more of my videos about Minecraft and other games on my youtube channel: Clysmcast.

Growing up, I was surrounded by video games and by people who loved playing them. I spent hours on end watching my uncle fight battle after battle on Final Fantasy, sucking blood on Soul Reaver or unleashing rounds into demonic monsters on Parasite Eve. I remember stealing the controller if ever he left the screen on pause.

Games engrossed me, intrigued me. Dialogue, story-lines and amazing action battles entertained me for as long as I can remember.  This continued into my young teen years while more and more multiplayer games started to captivate me. Stepping into the live multiplayer world I quickly realized it wasn’t the same. Suddenly there were multitudes of people who made it clear that I should not be playing games but be doing other things because I was a girl. Wait, what? Never in my life did it matter whether I was male or female in order to enjoy games. In fact, most games allow you to choose whether you want to be a male character or female character. This only worsened when I joined the Xbox Live community.

I met some amazingly fun people, people I’m friends with to this day but for the few good apples there were A LOT of bad ones. Sexism is clearly prominent when gaming in a multiplayer universe, and such is to be expected in a male-dominated hobby. Even in a, “what starts as”  friendly COD match, quickly becomes a female degrading rant when they realize they have been beaten by a girl. But why? If a gamer can prove their worth and skill by simply playing the game, why would it matter what sex they are? It shouldn’t.

Proof of a good gamer isn’t in their pants but in their scores and attitude. I have since learned in my time on the internet to never take offense to degrading slurs that are thrown my way. If I can prove my worth behind my talk, then it will never matter what people assume I should or shouldn’t be doing, especially when gaming. Of course the flip side being there are many girl “gamers” who use their sex to seek massive attention and receive it with welcoming arms. How many times I have been in a lobby to hear a girl voice announce she is a female and deserves instant respect and attention. You earn respect, and as for attention I guess there are many who thrive on that. I’m not looking for attention, just a chance to prove I can play alongside comrades, and show I enjoy the game just as much as any fellow gamer.

So whether you’re male or female, keep shooting, slashing, hacking and parkouring my friends, I’m certainly not stopping any time soon.

- Liz