Why Are Video Games so Popular Today?

Video gaming is one of America's favorite pastimes. There are more video game stores in New York City than there are books stores. And there are enough games out there to satisfy the taste of any gamer alive. Why is it so popular today? Why do people of all ages find themselves so fascinated with the games? Video gaming has come a long way since Mario Brothers. Games of all genres and types are available for any age group. There is interactive, fun to play and informative games available for the youngest audiences, designed to be both educational and fun. Favorite cartoon characters, such as Nemo, Chicken Little, Sponge Bob and Mickey Mouse, come alive in the video games to keep children company. Action heroes like Superman and Spiderman make appearances again with new missions to accomplish and more tricks up their sleeves. Racing games, action games, shooter games and arcade games keep coming out for audiences to enjoy. The reason for this fascination is simple. Everyone wants to be part of the story, or do something that they would not ordinarily be able to do. Not many people can make it in a car racing world and even less can afford to try. But it takes a game console, a TV and a racing game to feel like you are sitting behind the wheel of a gadget packed racing car. There are no limits to what you can do behind that wheel; there are no real bills to pay and no injuries that can maim you. All there is is the excitement of the race, the rush of victory and loads of fun. Many men, no age limits, get fascinated with the first person shooters because it makes them feel all powerful and able to do anything. Hardly anyone will want to run around with a real gun, hunting for enemies and risking to be shot from the back. But games like Halo provide a safe way to explore your talents as a soldier and give a new insight on the art of warfare. How many of us would not like to be the hero and save the world? RPG's provide just the opportunity. Turn the Playstation on and put in the disk and you will be carried off into a distant land where humankind's last hope for survival rests with you. Life can be ordinary and not very interesting and can lack the excitement that will make your heart race. Daily tasks are dull and the roles all of us act out at work and at home do not allow us to get out of the boundaries of every day routine. Problems can overwhelm and get the best of anyone. Sometimes the need to dive into a world where every day problems do not exist is alluring and exciting. The ability to become someone else, someone you will never be, to live out a life full of danger and mystery, is offered by video games to all people. But even if it's just for one hour or a few minutes it makes feel alive and able to do absolutely anything.

Secret Aircraft

Stupid Recognition Critical Theories on Facebook

My facebook friends follow my Linkedin Pinterest and that's stupid. They can't take down my other social networks, but they would if they could. Facebook Friends like Robert Haggerty and Liz Birch want this blog, my Fb22strikeraptor Instagram and Pinterest to disappear. Why? They're betting against me or they're using Axel Honneth Critical Theory on Facebook of all things. I always thought the 2003 class reads Struggle for Recognition, The I of We, and Freedom's Right The Social Foundations of Democratic Life and screwing me over online. Rasmussen College was using recognition critical theory on campus, it appears & announced when getting my Dean's List / Honor Role. Liz Birch belongs to the Catholic church which is close to mainline Lutheran. Robert is using Axel Honneth critical theory to destroy Jueto-Christian values as an athiest. Nobody talks on Facebook because they read Axel honneth or watch Axel Honneth on Youtube. Axel Honneth is in the ELCA. Axel Honneth is in the Catholic church. They also developed Julian Habermas safe spaces on Facebook in the 2000s and I don't belong to any safe space. That's what's really going on. They want to destroy mono culture. Most listen to the Frankfurt School, not the Republican Party. They would kill themselves before voting Republican.

Buy RARE LCMS books before LCMS defuncts

In 2017 the Lutheran church in North America will observe the Reformation by closing hundreds of its congregations and preaching stations. We love the purity of our pulpits and quiet of our sanctuaries, which grow every quieter. I am writing this because of something I saw the other day. Recently, Concordia Publishing House introduced an easy to use Outreach Kit, which some Lutheran congregations have picked up. Most congregations are taking one copy of the kit, which equips them to reach out to 50 households. What struck me yesterday was when I saw members of another conservative protestant church snap up twelve copies of the kit, intending to reach out to 600 households—shocking contrast in behavior and an indictment of our passive, Lutheran culture. Some reasons other conservative Protestants are growing while Lutherans are not can be explained as simply as follows: (1) Outreach is an on-going priority for them. They build it into their members’ thinking while Lutherans do not. (2) They plan for it and budget for it while we plan for the best sausage supper. (3) They will work with all the messy, confused, needy people who respond to the outreach. We find such people annoying. Our congregations tend to be slower or even totally negligent on these points. This is perhaps because we are a 500 year old church and they are more spry by comparison. Be we have got to address this cultural issue.

It isn't our fault our synod is decreasing.  It's Max Weber's fault. A thumbnail version goes like this. There appears to be lots more Protestant capitalists than there are Catholic ones. Also, Protestant countries tend to be more economically developed than Catholic ones - so why? Marxism would say that people's ideas are a manifestation of the economic structure they find themselves in, but Weber believes this is only partly true, although he starts off strongly opposed to Marxism, in the end he is much less certain of the limits of the role of economics in providing the base for these ideas to flourish.. All the same, he believes that there is something in Protestantism that makes Capitalism more or less inevitable and that is not present in Catholicism. Now, given the countries picked - Italy and Spain on the Catholic side, Northern Europe and England on the Protestant side, you could possibly argue that living in a country with an incredibly bad cuisine is the problem. But Weber focuses on religion. In the last chapter he says that extreme Protestant views run something like this - God has a perfect plan which he worked out at the dawn of time. There is nothing you can do to change this plan. You don't deserve to be saved - no one does (we are all contemptible sinners and it is only God's grace which saves us in any sense). You cannot know you are saved. The only way you might 'guess' is if God rewards you. So, if you work hard and gain riches you are obviously in God's favour and therefore you might also be saved. Spending money is a sin. So, Calvinism and other extreme sects encouraged people to work hard and not to spend - prerequisites for the growth of Capitalism. Now, that bit is the bit this book is mostly known for. But what I found interesting was the idea at the very end that becoming increasingly wealthy - like Silus Marner - also leads one to become increasingly obsessed with secular interests, not least in increasing ones own wealth to the point of a fetish and to become obsessed with worldly goods, rather than heavenly ones. So, while Protestantism is seen as a kind of prerequisite for the early development of Capitalism, ironically enough, Capitalism does not return the favour and works to undermine the extreme forms of this faith that assisted its own development. Protestant Ethnic and Spirit of Capitalism PDF download  

Top 50 Developers

50: Midway (Mortal Kombat, Cruis'n USA)
49: Westwood Studios (Command and Conquer, Eye of the Beholder)
48: Treasure (Guardian Heroes, Ikaruga)
47: SCE Japan Studio (ICO, Shadow of the Collosus)
46: Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War)
45: Black Isle Studios (Fallout, Planescape)
44: SNK (King of Figthers, Metal Slug)
43: Origin Systems (Wing Commander, Ultima Online)
42: thatgamecompany (Flower, Journey)
41: PopCap Games (Bejeweled, Peggle)
40: SCE Santa Monica Studio (God of War)
39: EA Canada (SSX, Need for Speed)
38: Neversoft (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Gun)
37: Sonic Team (Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights Into Dreams)
36: Rare (Goldeneye, Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country)
35: Harmonix (Rock Band, Dance Central)
34: DICE (Battlefield, Mirror's Edge)
33: Sierra (King's Quest, Space Quest)
32: Retro Studios (Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country Returns)
31: Broderbund (Prince of Persia, Galatic Empire)
30: Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem, Paper Mario)
29: Sega AM2 (Virtua Fighter, Out Run)
28: GameFreak (Pokemon)
27: Bungie (Halo, Myth)
26: Irrational Games (System Shock 2, Bioshock)
25: Infinity Ward (Call of Duty)
24: Polyphony Digital (Gran Turismo)
23: Epic Games (Unreal Tournament, Gears of War)
22: Level-5 (Dark Cloud, Ni No Kuni)
21: Namco (Ridge Racer, Pac-Man)
20: Insomniac Games (Rachet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon)
19: MicroProse (Civilization, Pirates!)
18: Enix (Dragon Quest, Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia)
17: Ubisoft Montreal (Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)
16: Naughty Dogs (Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot)
15: HAL Laboratory (Earthbound, Super Smash Bros., Kibry's Dream Land)
14: BioWare (Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, KOTOR)
13: Bethesda Game Studios (Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls IV and V)
12: Looking Glass Studios (Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief)
11: LucasArts (X-wing, Monkey Island, Star Wars: Dark Forces)
10: Id Software (Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D)
09: Maxis (The Sims, SimCity, Spore)
08: Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo, StarCraft, WoW)
07: Valve (Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead)
06: SquareSoft (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears)
05: Atari (Asteroids, Gauntlet, Centipede)
04: Konami (Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Silent Hill)
03: Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto III and IV, Red Dead Redemption)
02: Capcom (Street Fighter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil)
01: Nintendo EAD (Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid)