Staying Socially Relevant & Other Stuff ...

Socially relevant, I shall stay socially relevant. That's what I keep telling myself. Honestly, though my coverage of gaming is fading due to several different factors. For one thing I find that games worth reviewing, or talking about are becoming fewer, and further between. Most games are half-assed pieces of shite that never live up to the hype. Some are even blatant rip-offs meant solely for cheating gamers out of their hard earned money. In light of these blasphemous gaming developments my review requesting has waned, and rightfully so. I've found my passion for covering such games, and gaming topics dwindling. Gaming in general has become aggravating for me on so many levels. The online multiplayer experience that I once loved is being snuffed the f**k out by hackers, and is leaving a lot to be desired in it's wake. Even the offline only games are leaving a lot to be desired with their half-baked delivery. Seeing as new-gen consoles are mostly built for the online experience the consoles themselves are also posing a potentially threatening problem for the future of gaming. Where does a passionate journalist go from here? What does one do when they've reached a realization of what is truly happening to one of their most beloved hobbies? It's a question that I'm going to have to answer for myself before the new year comes into light as I may, or may not continue on this journalistic path due to the oppressing factors that weigh so heavily on me now. Heck I might even go retro before it's all over.

On a side note I know most of you grow tired of my ranting, and raving about hackers. I can understand your frustration at seeing my tweets, and articles on such. At the same time though hacking is becoming a true threat to the future of gaming. As Fox5 news so rightfully said we are in the midst of a cyber war. Our information, and our entertainment options are at stake. There's no doubt about it, and there's no denying it. The fact that gaming consoles have been wholly tethered to the online environment only serves to make it a hotspot for hackers looking to dominate, demand, and exploit. Make no mistake that hacking through gaming consoles can also leak over into other aspects of your digital life. We've seen PSN accounts breached, and stolen. We've even seen Xbox LIVE accounts fall victim to similar attacks as well. I try my best as a journalist, and as a friend to warn all of you about the threat that is hacking. Some of you understand while others actually defend the hackers. People who do the latter only serve to fuel the fire, and make things worse for all of us legit gamers. If we are to survive this cyber war we must acknowledge the fact as a community that there is a problem. The game developers, and console creators must also be willing to take the necessary steps to make sure their paying customers do not become victims, and must also acknowledge the issue at hand. There can be no blind eyes turned to the situation, nor any deaf ears. If we do so then all we've come to love in the gaming industry will be for naught.

I urge console creators, and game developers to think outside of the box, and figure out a viable combatant strategy that will work against the hacker plague. I think actually getting online with your games, and consoles in the same way as a normal gamer does would enlighten you as to what is going on. It would help you to better understand why legit gamers like me spam reports on certain other gamers. I know for certain that banning is not the solution, but there is a way to teach hackers, modders, and cheaters a proper lesson. I've mentioned to Bungie that by knocking a cheater's level down to zero as well as taking back all of their weapon and armor upgrades would serve as a proper punishment. Also if they continued to cheat in any form or fashion just keep doing the same previously mentioned thing over, and over again until they get it through their thick f**king skulls. Similar methods of punishment could be applied to all online games, especially those with player stats, and earnings.

Another thing that needs to be done on the game developers', and console creators' behalf is that you need to stop feeding the f**king trolls. Stop making in-game content, and features that cater to hackers, modders, cheaters, and the like. As a gamer nothing disgusts me worst than seeing Sony offer up thug life, and anarchy based avatars in the PSN store. I mean seriously, WTF were you thinking!? All you are doing is promoting the worst of society's trends. The thug life is not cool. Yolo is not cool, and chaos through anarchy is not cool. Sledgehammer Games, and all you CoD developers you are guilty of the same exact BS. You keep building up a game to promote the goings on of the scum of the earth, and legit gamers will turn from your sorry ass products. Plain, and simple. Not all of us are anarchist thugs who walk around saying "YOLO". Get your sh*t together gaming industry giants. SoBs.

I think I'm going to close on that note. I've got a lot to consider as does the leaders of the gaming industry. I just hope one day people will wake the f**k up, and do what needs to be done. Seriously.

Your Last Samurai,
Brad Carver (OtakuDante)