Entertaining Information

Hello and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres.

Today I want to share a few of videos by Youtuber CGP Grey that I found to be extremely informative.
The world is a chaotic place right now, and the first video, The Rules for Rulers is really good. Certain recent happenings and the reactions by politicians are more understandable after watching the video. At least it was to me.

The second video is a bit of a follow up and explains why dynasties are what they are. Watch it after the Rules video.

Then there are two videos on old timey pirates and how they worked. Funny and interesting.

And that is that. I have to cut it short today, but join me again next time for more and until then stay safe and have a great week! (wash your hands)

Rules for Rulers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs&list=RDrStL7niR7gs&index=1

Death & Dynasties:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig_qpNfXHIU&list=RDrStL7niR7gs&index=7

How to be a Pirate: Captain Edition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YFeE1eDlD0&list=RDrStL7niR7gs&index=25

How to be a Pirate. Quartermaster Edition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0fAznO1wA8&list=RDrStL7niR7gs&index=20

Who are they trying to fool?

A couple of weeks ago I talked about how Sony and Naughty Dog were illegally copyright striking Youtube channels who were even talking about the leaked spoilers concerning The Last of Us 2.

Now that the game is out, there is a brand new sort of controversy.

As with all highly anticipated releases all the major gaming news outlets raced to get their reviews out as soon as possible. The vast majority gave the game 10/10 with statements like “Game of the Year”, “Best game of this console generation”, etc. etc.

Then the user reviews started to pop up and they tell a very different story. The vast majority of gamers (at least the ones that bother to write reviews) hold negative views of The Last of Us 2. Very negative views in fact.

A quick look at Metacritic shows that the professional critic score is a whopping 95/100 while the user score is a paltry 3.7/10 as I'm writing this. So how is this possible? Speculations started to fly immediately that Sony and Naughty Dog had bribed the outlets to get good reviews, but there is no actual evidence of that.

No, the sad fact is that the major outlets are terrified of being blacklisted by Studios and Publishers. To them, being blacklisted means being thrown out into the cold, and not getting preview copies. In order to stay on the Publishers good side, they kowtow and bend over to every whim thrown their way, instead of doing their jobs and being journalists. It has come to light that Sony and/or Naughty Dog had “requested” only positive comments about The Last of Us 2 and forbade the “journalists” from mentioning the second half of the game at all! With these caveats there is no earthly way to write a real review. Might as well have the marketing department write it for them.

I'm old enough to remember the time before the internet, when you got all your gaming news from magazines. These gaming mags were the only way to not only find out if a game was good, but to learn it was being made in the first place. You could trust that the magazines were reasonably honest since the gaming companies needed the magazines, and the magazines needed their reputation to remain intact.

But now... it is a sad state of affairs, and it doesn't have to be this way either. If even a small number of these outlets put their feet down and said, “No, we're going to make up our own minds and tell it like we see it” things would get much better. Sure, they might get blacklisted, but so what? All they really need to do then is publish that fact, and their integrity and redership could rise over night. People respond to that. And if enough outlets follow suit, what are the game companies going to do about it? Not tell anyone about their upcoming games? Stand on the street corner with a sandwich board and yell “New game is coming out next fall!” Or maybe hire some old fashioned paper boys? “Extra extra, Sony to publish new game next year! Read all about it!”

But as with all cases where an authority is abusing their influence, it takes someone to make that brave first move in order to motivate others to follow suit, and I don't see that happening.

At least gamers have other means to discover the truth about a new game. It just takes a little longer and a bit more work than reading an article. Do your research, people.

Whew, rant over. Join me again next time and until then, wash your hands and have a great week!

Game News

Both of the next gen gaming consoles have been revealed and predictably, the console war immediately kicked off again.

If you are not in the know, the console war is the pointless argument between (mainly) Playstation and Xbox fans who argue on and on about which console is better and why the other person is an idiot for supporting the other system.

The new specs are incredibly similar this time though. I mean crazy similar. If anything, the Xbox Series X looks slightly stronger, but some tech people speculate that the Xbox specs don't take into account the machines operating system, which could make the two machines practically identical inside. The biggest difference I can see so far is in backwards compatibility, where Xbox reaches back further. But as always the big selling point is the game catalog. Sony will continue to put their games on their console, because of course they are.

The prices haven't been announced as I'm writing this, so do not believe any prices you see. They are place holders at best or just speculation. There is still plenty of time, as the planned release for both machines is the holiday season 2020.

This is all pretty academic to me personally as I'm a PC player. But for the first time in ages (or indeed ever) Sony is putting some of their titles on PC. Horizon Zero Dawn, the game both fans and critics loved is already on the Steam store as coming Summer 20, and a sequel is in the works for Playstation.

For years now, there has been a rumor that Bloodborne, the Dark Souls like game of gothic horror would come to PC, but it has always been just that: a rumor based on wishful thinking. Now, the rumor is stronger than ever, and man do I wish it would come true. But we do not yet know.

One announcement that made pretty much everyone scoff in unison is that GTAV is coming to the next gen consoles. This game was released in 2013 to Xbox360 and Playstation 3! Then it moved over to PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4 – and now to the new generation.

Look, everyone knows that GTA Online, which is a part of GTAV has made over a billion dollars, but come on, how about GTAVI? No? Okay.

It been tricky to follow game news this year as everything in meatspace has been canceled, but here at Eccentric Spheres we keep trying. This is all I had this week, but join me again next time. Until then have a great week and stay safe!

What is it really like?

Hollywood. Tinseltown. The Dream Factory. Accurate names as the projects they produce do not reflect reality.

At least most movies don't and nor should they. Movies and shows are about entertainment and reality is mostly pretty boring. Imagine a film about an archaeologist slowly and painstakingly digging a hole and gently, gingerly even, brushing away sand and debris from shards of ancient pottery. Go on, imagine it.

Now compare that to Indiana Jones. Not hard to see why Indy's adventures are a bit more fun to watch, eh?

That said, it is really fascinating to learn what reality is like compared to what movies show us. Lately I have been consuming a lot of videos where experts critique elements of different movies and shows. Navy Seals, fighter pilots, archaeologists, fencing masters, police officers, even pole dancers and astrobiologists chime in on what entertainment gets right and what is wrong or even impossible.

Here is one list from the Insider channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9tM_YHvhuA&list=PLKfWL8IXgKBuonEBHu-lhO28bCinSqNv4

And one from GQ:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L7o6HtX8Vg&list=PL0hKMB1-xkc8bPJ_N9BoGNnPBOFG1ZSZf

So with that I'll urge you to stay safe, wash your hands and have a great week!

Okay, here is a video to get you started:

Culture!

Okay, it's culture time!

With the still ongoing lockdown, we have to keep being careful and so on...

To make the time pass a bit faster many play games or binge TV shows, read books etc. All good choices, but how about going to a museum?

Yeah, I know you can't actually go, but a few world class museums have virtual tours available for free!

All you need is the internet browser you are reading this on to visit:

The Smithsonian: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour

The Anne Frank House: https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/secret-annex/

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: https://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssenmultimedia/virtual-tours

The Vatican Museums: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html

The National Gallery, London: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours

There are probably many other museums around the world offering the same thing, but here is a small sample to get on with.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see some art. Join me again next time and until then stay safe and have a great week!