Star Wars Battlefront II is a Disgrace

Where do I even begin? (I will only touch on a few issues in detail here considering this blog post would be extremely lengthy to cover everything that has come out about the game in the past few weeks.)

Star Wars is my favorite franchise. Star Wars games make up a large portion of my video game collection. The future of Star Wars games no longer seems promising. I hope Disney will seriously consider pulling EA's license for the Star Wars franchise. This is the problem with monopolies. They have too much power and can get away with absurd business practices because they have no competition. (If you also support the idea that Disney should cut ties with EA, consider signing this petition.)

Battlefront II (EA, 2017) is full of a lot of empty promises and greedy business practices to accompany its beautiful facade. I have been following the development of the game for a long time now and it seems that for every promise that has been kept there are 2-3 promises that were empty or led to underwhelming results.

Who is to blame, EA or Dice? A little of both? EA pushes for all the micro-transactions and disgusting business model, while Dice gives in and plays ball? Dice has done an incredible job with the aesthetics of this franchise, hands down. I don't think many people would argue that point. However, they really missed the bar with content.

I don't play online multiplayer for multiple reasons. I don't have a subscription to Xbox Live or Playstation Plus, internet speed and connection are unreliable, etc. My preference has always been (and probably always will be) offline, single-player content. EA/Dice have been talking up the single player content for a long time now, promising it would be an improvement over Battlefront (EA, 2015). To their credit, we are getting a single player campaign that does seem very intriguing. Yet many reports this week are indicating the campaign is rather predictable and lackluster overall. A one-and-done experience? Perhaps. Hard to say until I play it or hear more from someone who has finished it.

Skirmish mode was added as an update to Battlefront (EA, 2015) several months after launch. This mode was reportedly a pet project put together by just two developers at Dice in their spare time. Skirmish was what I was looking for along. Only disappointment was that you could only play Walker Assault or Fighter Squadron on a handful of maps. Battlefront II (EA, 2017) has been in development for at least 2 years (since the last game was released) and "Arcade" mode is more bare bones than Skirmish mode in Battlefront (EA, 2015). When the developers were asked about this mode in today's Reddit AMA their response was as follows:

As for more Arcade, just like every mode in our game, we want to look for ways to expand it going forward. Unfortunately at this point we don't have anything to share right now, but know that we care about Offline modes.

(To see the original comment and full response, click here. Another related non-answer here.)

Yeah, right. Bottom-line is EA's bottom-line. Offline players likely make them little to no money beyond the initial sale of the game so it gets pushed off to the side.

Quick history to know before reading on: Battlefront 2 (released in 2005) was developed by Pandemic Studios. They were later acquired by EA and shut down in 2009. EA has a history of doing this and its latest victim was Visceral Games who was working on a single player Star Wars game that had a lot of potential and promise. Rumors are they were shut down when EA was displeased with the lack of micro-transactions and related money-making features currently included in the game. Greed really does seem to be the modus operandi of that company.

The gaming community (and more specifically the community interested in single player content) have essentially been asking for Skirmish mode as currently found in Battlefront (EA, 2015) to carry over into Battlefront II (EA, 2017) and then get updated to make use of the new locations and game modes designed for the new game. Is that really too much to ask?

Battlefront 2 (Pandemic, 2005) is still beloved by fans and had this available day one, at launch. I have owned the game since it first came out and in that time I played maybe 2 matches online. Meanwhile I have spent hours and hours of time (more than I probably care to admit) playing that game by myself or with family and friends offline. The current state of Battlefront II's (EA, 2017) offline content hardly compares to what I can get out of a game I already own which is 12 years old.

Improved and more abundant offline content could still come out in the future as part of an update, I know. But I'm not holding my breath any more. If they really cared about "listening to feedback" and implementing what I'm seeing in dozens of posts and comments all over various parts of the Internet, I would expect them to have included a meatier offline experience at launch, or at the very least release some kind of statement saying something to the effect of, "Rest assured, we're working on it. It will be released in the near future once we have completed its development." That would appease my concerns and get me more excited about the future prospects of the game as a whole. So far it's just been non-answer after non-answer.

The loot box controversy is probably the biggest story surrounding the game right now. I think it is a terrible business practice that seeks to monetize the impatience and frustration of gamers. Some countries are reportedly investigating the situation to classify the concept of, and interaction with, loot boxes as gambling and I am fully on board with that position.

I really want to be able to praise this game and love it as much, if not more than Battlefront 2 (Pandemic, 2005). Sadly the stars are not aligning. I rarely buy video games at full price any more, but I was willing to make an exception for this game and have been setting money aside for the past few months in anticipation of its release. But enough is enough. EA's grubby fingerprints are all over this game and I want no part of it anymore. The fact they have the exclusive rights to making videos games for the Star Wars franchise is incredibly disappointing.

Unless improvements are made, I'll stick to playing Battlefront (and sadly, Star Wars games in general) when it was (they were) good, "before the dark times, before the [EA] empire".

America Reacts to the 2016 Election Results

Upon hearing the news that Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States, half of the country is reacting like this:



The other half:





(Here's the video I used to make the first GIF in this post. Worth your time to watch the full video. Enjoy!)

I Love Donald Trump! (Though not for reasons you might expect)

Changing The World Starts With You
Jay Shetty explains why changing the world begins with us.
Posted by The Huffington Post on Friday, February 26, 2016

I never thought I would say this, but I actually learned to love Donald Trump tonight. And not because I love how crazy he is or because I found something he said extremely funny. The love I discovered for him tonight is Christlike love.

The video above sums up many of my of the thoughts I have had over the past few years really well. And it addresses one of the questions I believe the most difficult to answer: How do we change the world? The answer is: by starting with ourselves!

The greatest debate in America right now is easily the presidential race, and the majority of the comments I hear/read on the topic are about how terrible Donald Trump is as an individual, businessman, and/or potential president. Before I say anything else, let me be clear that in no way am I intending to express support for Donald Trump as president by this post. However, as much as I may disagree with some (OK, a lot) of the things he says, Donald Trump is not a perfect human being (and neither are any of the other remaining candidates for that matter).

Have we all forgotten what the ONLY PERFECT INDIVIDUAL to walk this earth taught us? In Matthew 7:1-5 (as well as 3 Nephi 14:1-5), the Savior of mankind taught us that we are all hypocrites when we judge others. Believe it or not, the Son of God sacrificed Himself for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders just as much as He did for you. As soon as I realized the undeniable truthfulness of this fact, I felt the love of Christ for each of these individuals in a powerful way which certainly surprised me! 

So next time you feel the urge to bash on one of them, please remember this post and "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye" (Matthew 7:3; see also 3 Nephi 14:3). You may be surprised what happens...

Media as a Tool in the LDS Church

Like many others, I watched the Face2Face event with Elder Holland this past Tuesday. It only took me a few minutes to realize that I should definitely take notes and write down thoughts that came to mind. I really enjoyed watching it and greatly appreciated the advice and wisdom shared by Elder Holland, Elder Hallstrom and Sister Stephens!

After it ended, I found myself reflecting on the use of media involved with the event. Technology truly is incredible and it affords us so many great opportunities! I am grateful that the Brethren are so in touch with modern technology and that they utilize it so effectively. I have no doubt that technology advances (such as the ability to broadcast internationally via satellites and the Internet) develop for the benefit of the Church and to further its purposes. The prospect of how the media will be used in the Church in the future excites me, especially when thinking of the idea that people all over the world will have opportunities (in more ways than are currently available) to communicate so personally with Apostles of the Lord.

Back in My Day...

Technology changes so quickly that it becomes really easy to take it for granted. Over the past week I have been reflecting on how media has evolved over time, especially over the past 10-15 years. More specifically I have been thinking about the amazing advances we have experienced in "the Internet age".

Long gone are the days of dial-up Internet. (For a trip down memory lane, click here) And don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're gone! Remember what a pain it was when you were online and someone needed to make a phone call? Not only has the way we access the Internet changed (Thank you Google Fiber!), but the Internet really has revolutionized the world and the way we live our lives.

A few months ago I was talking to my younger brother (age 9) about "the world before YouTube". He loves to go on YouTube and watch videos uploaded by YouTubers of themselves playing Minecraft. Studio C sketches are also among his favorite videos to watch. The conversation went something like this:

"You don't even know how spoiled you are to have shows and videos available whenever you want. When I was your age, if we wanted to watch a show any time we felt like it, we first had to record it. We had to make sure the Satellite box was set to record the show at the right time, that the VCR was set up properly so it would record, and that a VHS tape was in the VCR. We also had to make sure the tape was set to the right spot so we didn't record over something that was already on there."

My sister (now age 19) and I used to record a number of the shows that were on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network in the late 90s and early 2000s (e.g., Jimmy Neutron, Rugrats, Even Stevens, Recess, Doug, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd & Eddy, etc.). We still have a few of these tapes, but they do little more than collect dust now. A quick search for any of these shows on YouTube will bring up thousands upon thousands of results! Plenty of clips are available on there, but even full episodes are available in some cases. Nowadays, if my younger siblings want to watch a show that currently airs on one of these channels they can open the channel's app on a tablet and have access to full episodes of a dozen different shows.

Earlier this week I looked up the Republican debates on YouTube since I have not watched any of the more recent ones. Later in the week I remembered the conversation I had with my brother about recording shows back in the day. I realized how I had taken for granted the fact that any of the debates I wanted to watch would be available online, and so easily accessible. Twenty years ago if I had missed the debate when it originally aired and did not record it I would have been out of luck. We really do live in an incredible time!

When I stop and think about how technology has changed in my lifetime alone I can only imagine what it will be like for my own children. I remember asking my sister (now age 8) to put a VHS tape in the VCR (before they were all donated to Deseret Industries about a year ago), and though I can not recall what she asked at the time, I do remember that she had no clue how the VCR worked. This did not necessarily come as a surprise, but it was certainly a testament to just how much the times have changed!

Movie Hype in the 21st Century

Remember when you had to stand in line for 2 hours to get tickets for the next big blockbuster only to be sorely disappointed when you finally got to the window and learned that all showings had been sold out for the weekend? Yeah, me neither.

We are so spoiled when it comes to buying movie tickets these days! The scenario I described to open this post was inspired by the stories I have heard in documentaries about the initial release of Star Wars in 1977. I remember someone saying they saw the movie for the first time during opening weekend and immediately got back in line and waited 2 hours to buy tickets to see it a second time. When I was younger I recall standing in line to get tickets to a few movies here and there, but none of my experiences were anything like those of moviegoers when Star Wars first came out. Nowadays, we can order our tickets well in advance and even reserve the exact seats we will be in to enjoy the movie (rather than taking our chances in the "first come, first serve" battle for good seats). 

Fast forward to the year 2015 and chances are you knew about Star Wars: The Force Awakens long before it was released. Whether you knew a lot about it (i.e., the plot, names of the new characters, etc.), or only a little, you still knew it was coming. The hype that builds up before modern blockbusters is amazing to think about when you compare it to the hype that preceded older movies. Believe it or not, Star Wars (1977) was not very well known by the public at the time of its release. Its success was due in large part to word of mouth after the premiere. 

Unlike moviegoers who had to wait hours to see the original Star Wars, I purchased tickets for my family and I to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on October 19th, 2015, almost a full 2 months before it was even released! I knew that if we waited any longer than opening weekend to see the movie that spoilers would be all over Facebook and YouTube, so I made it a point to get tickets as early as possible. The night I went to get tickets was the same night they were first made available. Even then, all the "good" seats for the showing we ended up going to were already claimed by the time I got to the theater. I had initially hoped to get tickets for the "Tightwad Tuesday" after release, but that particular showing was already sold out!

I have been interested in seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for some time now and the latest trailer got me fairly excited about it. Yesterday I was going to make the trip over to the Megaplex at Geneva to buy a ticket for a showing on the first "Tightwad Tuesday" after the movie is released. Before I left to go to the theater, I decided I should probably check the theater's website to see if tickets were available yet. When I saw that advanced tickets are scheduled to go on sale starting Monday, the 29th, I was actually disappointed. The movie will not even be released for another month! After feeling disappointed for a minute, I realized how silly it was for me to even think that way. This experience made me reflect on just how much the times have changed and how different the movie-going experience is now compared to what it was like for our parents and grandparents. 

So next time you go see a blockbuster movie with a pre-purchased ticket (and there will be a number of them this year alone), take a minute to think about how awesome it is that your seats were reserved so you did not have to sit up in the miserable front row, or how you were able to walk right in and not wait in line for an hour or 2. And as advantageous as technology has become in revolutionizing the theater industry and our experience as viewers, PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! (Haha, just thought I would throw that out there.) Enjoy the movie!

#BeingThirteen

When Dr. Marion Underwood mentioned the CNN special report with Anderson Cooper, #BeingThirteen, I knew right then that I wanted to watch it and use it for a blog post. I found some of the information in the report to be a repeat of what she shared in her lecture at BYU the other night, but there were also a number of interesting points brought up during the special that she did not mention.

Here's my breakdown of the points that intrigued me:

• One girl said, "I don't like dealing with things face to face because it's really easy to hide behind your phone. [And in] face to face you have to deal with the other person. I don't like dealing with people that cry, or get really mad, and they say something mean back to me, and I'll lose, and I don't like losing." 
• Though I can completely understand why this girl would feel this way, I find this somewhat alarming. This quote makes me think of all the talk surrounding the issue of "losing touch with reality" and how personal communication/interactions have suffered because of digital media.
• When discussing cyberbullying: "Their biggest source of pain is from those closest to them."
• Cyberbullying is certainly becoming a bigger issue as time goes on, and if left unchecked I see no reason for it to slow down anytime soon.
• "57% of kids in this study said they'd rather be grounded than lose their phone, meaning if they had to choose they'd rather be cut off from the real world than the cyberworld."
• Are individuals (especially teens and young adults) becoming compulsive/heavily dependent on social media? Food for thought.
• Dr. Underwood emphasized a great distinction toward the end of the report about addiction when she discussed that she does not believe children are addicted to their phones/social media ("not the screens, not the devices"). However, many do seem to become addicted to the access that social media gives them (whether that results in positive or negative experiences) with their peers.
• Anderson at one point said, "Parents were way out of touch with what their kids were feeling. About 60% underestimated how lonely, worried and depressed their kids were." Later, Dr. Robert Faris (who was the other primary researcher involved in this study) said, "The other thing that's going on is that kids, by and large, don't talk about the kinds of conflicts they're experiencing because they feel like adults can't help."
• Though "way out of touch" might be exaggerating the point, I do think this should be a red flag for parents. I strongly believe that most parents never get to a point of communicating with their children too much, especially during adolescence.
• When parents at least make an effort to monitor what their kids are doing online it can really help to mitigate the conflicts their children experience online with their peers.
• The report spent some time discussing the idea of kids adopting a different persona online compared with who they are in real life, which granted was due to the nature of the study. However, I think this issue goes well beyond 13 year-olds and adolescents. Many people seem to do this on social media, and I think it begs the question how it affects society in general.
• Anderson gathered a number of parents in the studio and asked them about their children's use of social media. When he asked them, "Does it drive you all nuts how much they use the phone?" and "Do you think your kids are addicted?" all of the parents responded with a unanimous "Yes!"
• When a couple of the parents were shown some of the specific posts and videos from their own children, it was very interesting to see each one of them raise their eyebrows in surprise at what their own children were saying online.
• Bright spot amid this issue: At one point, Dr. Underwood said, "Nothing about the technology means it has to be bad." 
• Over the course of the study, thousands of positive/prosocial posts were recorded, which is a great finding. Social media can really be a great tool when it is used in positive ways.

Social media is a phenomenon that I definitely find intriguing. I have often thought that I grew up just ahead of the "social media boom". Facebook was big when I was in high school, but Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, and countless others did not really become as big as they are now until I was on my mission. Since I came home I have never really bothered to get involved with any of the newer platforms and just stick with Facebook. 

I hope the findings from this study spread and really catch the attention of the public eye. It will certainly be interesting to see how social media continues to evolve over time. Towards the very end of the report, Dr. Underwood shared what I believe to be the most important take-away: "I think parents can help kids remember that it's possible to have fun in other ways, that there are other things that are important and interesting." Well said.