Team fortress 2, Another Favorite Game (cont.)

Sentry in the left, Engineer in the middle and dispenser to the right.

               Welcome back to the topic of Team Fortress 2. Next of we have the engineer. This class is such a useful class, probably the most useful. Just by his name we know that he builds stuff but what? Engineers build things that help his team mates survive. These buildings are the dispenser which provides teammates ammo plus it heals them. Another building is the teleporters which takes the team mates from place to place so they don’t have to walk as much. Not only that but they can build defense buildings like sentries! Everyone wants to build sentries. These sentries can kill absolutely anyone they see within their range of fire. When made into level 3, sentries can turn into a massive killing weapon that can rack up to 100 kills! Meanwhile shooting the enemies down, sentries shoots rockets which can be a one hit kill, so lethal. Unfortunately, everything has its weakness and sentries’ weaknesses are the spies, and demo mans. Demo mans can spam sticky bombs into the place where the sentry is built and once they detonate it, the sentry is gone for good. The spies have an ability which they can sap the buildings of engineers, making the buildings not useful unless repaired. If the engineers take too long, the building might break apart. Another weakness is that if the engineer leaves the sentry alone, snipers can shoot it down. Other than that, good engineers are always aware of spies and use their shotgun to shoot sticky bombs. They are so important that one paragraph was all about them.

Sniper with his scope

Medic with his medic gun

                Medics are the heart for the team. Dispensers take too long to heal players and are not portable so team fortress has a medic class. Medics carries a medic gun which heals players meanwhile walking and if they charge for a while, they can get an ubercharge which keeps them and the one being healed invincible for some minutes. Snipers are the far ranged class which uses a scoped gun (sniper). They are fun to use but very frustrating when others use it. One shot in the head kills the enemy automatically giving a hard time for anyone who passes by a good sniper. Lasts but not least, Spies is the class which can be useful for checking out what the other team is doing. Spies have the ability to cloak themselves and hide from the enemies. Also as mentioned before, spies can sap buildings from engineers, making engineers frustrated to have to repair their building over and over again. Spies are also real backstabbers, one backstab with their knife and the enemies die.

Spy with his knife

                That’s it for this topic; it might have been long but worth it. Overall, Team fortress 2 is a great game to play and have fun with friends. This blog’s question of the day is: How did the chicken cross the road? Leave your comment our questions on the comment section below. Don’t forget to follow this blog, I am StevenYQM and I will see you later.

-StevenYQM

Team fortress 2, Another Favorite Game

Since the day I became a gamer (around 10 years old), first person shooter games were my favorite. The reason why I like first person shooters is because it makes me feel like I am controlling myself. Same for books, my favorite books are first person books like the Hunger games. Some of the first person games that I played are: Crossfire, A.V.A. and Combat Arms. But all of those games were surpassed by the game that I play now, Team Fortress 2. This caricature drawn characters makes the players have a laugh meanwhile playing. Team fortress 2 is a unique game because it isn’t like other game where you are only one person but in Team fortress, you have a choice of nine characters and all of them have different functions. Not only that but instead of buying your weapons, you can make it or just obtain them meanwhile playing! Now you won’t need to play to get money but you must play for weapons.

This image includes all nine characters for you to see.
(from left to right): Pyro, engineer, sniper, spy, heavy, demo man, medic, scout and soldier

The nine characters that can be played in Team Fortress 2 are: The scout, soldier, pyro, demo man, heavy, engineer, medic, sniper and spy. The scout is the fastest class. Not only that, but the scout can also double jump and they are so fast that snipers have a hard time trying to shoot them down. Soldiers are rocket launcher carriers. Soldiers’ rocket launchers are crucial in attacking since it deals a great amount of damage to the opponents.  Pyros use flamethrowers which can repel some projectiles like rockets, grenades and arrows. Pyros are very affective in weakening the opponent since it inflicts fire damage to the opponent. Demo mans are what they are called, demolition man. They use grenades and sticky bombs to kill people. Smart demo man hides their sticky bombs so no one knows where it is, and when the opponents get close to it, the demolition man will detonate it. Next comes the Heavy, the slowest class but the one with most health and he is really fat! Heavies are deadly when paired up with a medic since the medic can heal it meanwhile the heavy shoots at the enemy. Heavies use mini guns (fast shooting guns); therefore, they have a lot of ammo, in total of 200. They are part of the defense class and since their gun shoots so fast, it can kill enemies really quickly.

I have decided to keep this blog short because I am trying to keep all my blog entries around 400. Last blog entry was past 600 so I apologize for making you guys read so much. Next blog I am going to continue with the topic of Team fortress 2 since it’s such a big game and topic. The comment question of the day is: Who ate your last piece of chocolate pie? Leave your comments or queries on the comment question below. And don’t forget to follow this blog, I am StevenYQM and see you later!

-StevenYQM

P.S. for more Team Fortress 2 information, go to http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Main_Page or another blog which is http://jacobkilax.wordpress.com/.

Minecraft was RELEASED! Minecon in Las Vegas!

Mandalay Bay... It's Big

              About a month ago, I've mentioned the multi-award-winning game, Minecraft. The relate that I over exaggerated has finally been release on Friday November 18, about 17 days ago. Not only was the update finally released but the entire Mojang Team (the programmers) decided to make a celebration party. In Las Vegas, 5,000 Minecrafters reunite to meet the creator of a life-changing game, Markus “notch” Persson. Every Minecraft believe that Minecon has just ended yesterday since it was such a huge event and fun time. As well as the PC version of Minecraft being released, Mojang has also released the IOS version (apple) and the X-Box 360. Not only that but Minecon guests also had a chance to try out the soon-to-be-released-in-alpha game, Scrolls. Scrolls is an online collective card game where players “summon” the scrolls into the battlefield and fight their opponents.

Left: Enchantment Table
Right: Brewing cauldron and rack

                Minecon had a huge area, filled with computers for the guests to try out the fully released game. The updates which were added can be found in www.minecraftwiki.net (it contains everything you possibly need to know for Minecraft). One of the updates which have really stood out was the new realm, The End. Minecraft finally has an ending to the non-stop gameplay. The End is basically a ##### ##### ## ###### #### ######## and players have to fight the ###########. After ####### ### ######, the players have to go through ####### ###### ##### ##### ## ### #######. If the players accomplish their task, they will be sent back to their original world and play as usual. Another major updates will are the enchantment system and brewing system. Players have the chance to enchant their weapon so that it improves or to add tools other properties. Such properties may be the silk touch, where players can get blocks which are impossible to get without an enchanted tool. The brewing system gives the players buffs (effects) which may improve or decrease their skills. Not only that, but Minecrafters can make splash potions which can be thrown at other NPC or players, either dealing them damage or buffing them negatively.

The Entire Mojang Team (From left to right):
Notch, Jeb, Kappische, Jnkboy, Jahkob, Carlmanneh, Mollstam, Aron, Daniel, Mattis, MincraftChick and Carnalizer.

                 Overall, Minecon was so big that even CNN news reporters interviewed Notch. Minecraft has made Markus so famous and popular that there was a 3-hour line to get his photograph. It was so long that he had to have another photograph time the next day which was an additional 1 hour or 2. Many other people interviewed Notch, leaving him exhausted every day and only wishing for more sleep. After Minecon, Minecrafters leave Las Vegas with a frown since the two days has passed so fast. The Mojang Team, however, was really excited because after Minecon they had more vacation. 3-4 Mojangsters got lost (as Jnkboy said that it was like Hangover 3) but found their way out back to Sweden. Now they are all back in the Mojang Office ready to work and continue programming their game as jolly as always.

Minecon Official Logo

                Overall Minecraft is still one of my favorite games of all time and I am glad that Notch has reached this milestone. I think I’ve mentioned this before but Notch started programming alone in the first million sales and later decided to make a company to help him. I hope the next games Mojang is coming up with will be as fun as Minecraft. Today’s blog question of the day is: Who knocked on the door? Leave your comments or queries on the comment section below. Don’t forget to follow this blog, I am StevenYQM and I will see you later.

  -StevenYQM

P.S. People who went to Minecon got a Minecraft kit (supplies like mouse pads and stickers) and in-game capes (which I didn't get).

P.S.S. About 2 days ago Notch decided to stop programming Minecraft and let Jeb (Jens) continue programming. After that day, Jeb’s mail peaked to 500 unread mails.

Youtube and Kevin Wu

YouTube's Logo

                    YouTube! One of the world’s largest community of videos, with a variety of subjects and new videos every day. This website has influenced me from the start because it’s such a pleasure to watch people making videos because they love doing it and not only for fun but because some of the channels get money from the videos. One of the channels that I have subscribed to and wins money by making videos is JumbaFund, which protagonist is called Kevin Wu. Kevin is a unique YouTube vlogger because he gains money not for his own use but for charity. He has another main channel (KevJumba) where he has videos of him fooling around but in JumbaFund, all the money that he gets from that channel; he sends it to a charity that needs that money. His videos are very funny and it’s worth to see, I was so impressed of his work that I watched all his videos and I want more.

YTF members. By order from left to right: JR Aquino, D-Trix,
Victor Kim, Kevin Wu and Ryan Higa

                    YouTube has made so many channels famous that from posting videos to the public, YouTubers have made their own concerts from all the money that they have been rewarded. Kevin is one of them. All the money that he gets from KevJumba and with other YouTubers such as NigaHiga, Chestersee and WongFuProductions, they have made concerts called YTF (Yesterday Today Forever) and ISA (International Secret Agents). The channels which host these concerts are so famous that all their fans appear in their concerts but unfortunately me. I have learned from these YouTubers that if you try hard and don’t give up, you can get to something big even though it takes long to accomplish. All these channels have started vlogging from the start when YouTube has been open and five years from then is when they could turn into stars which have enough money to make their own concerts. This inspiration gave me confidence in every project that I do, I will always tell myself that if I try hard and not give up, then it won’t be bad and hopefully good.

                    All in all, YouTube has music videos, how-to-do-this videos and so many lesson videos that people can learn things at home without needing to go outside. Today’s blog question will be: If you had one million dollars to use on anything, what will you use it for? Leave your comment or answers in the comment section below. Don’t forget to follow this blog, I am StevenYQM and I approve this message.

  -StevenYQM

Fall Break, My Own Game and Blog Questions

The pool area in my hotel: Hyatt Regency

            Welcome everyone to Completely off Topic and today I am going to talk about more random stuff that just comes up in my mind. Fall Break has started last two weeks and I must say it was a great experience. My family and I have taken a trip to One Happy Island, Aruba (I always see that around Aruba so I decided to add One Happy Island). Aruba was, although hot and humid, a really peaceful and nice island and really relaxing. I have been waiting for years to re-unite with my family over there and this trip convinced me that I was right about coming back. The hotel fit in with the tropical environment, the pools refreshed everyone from the heat and humidity and the beach was salty as always but a pleasure to visit. The food there was great, we ate steak and mostly in my cousin’s restaurant, I ate ice cream every other day which was a balm to the heat that Aruba had and cup noodles when I was not full. The bad thing about Aruba is that it’s so small that apart from the hotel and its pool, there were no more attractions, but I really enjoyed the stay and wish to come back and visit.

            In my first post, I mentioned how I loved both games and art/manga. Two of my friends and I have started to design our first and hopefully not the last RPG game in flash. The game is viewed in bird eye view to make our life easier but apart from that, the gameplay is great and we hope it would be a great game for our entire school to admire and try out. I am the artist in the game, designing the characters, weapons and NPC’s (non-playable characters). Take note that I don’t really take classes on art except those classes that were mandatory in middle school. The way I have started drawing was by my own will and wish to learn by myself but for some reason my art is a little bit better than some of the people who take art classes. A lot of people like my drawings and I really appreciate the compliments, this gave me more courage to continue drawing and learning meanwhile doing so. The art that I love to draw more are the weapons, I was inspired by a lot of games and manga where all the weapons have awesome designs, from basic to epic and I have started to sketch my own. The bad thing about my weapons is that it’s too decorated so drawing things for RPG games (where starting weapons are simple and not supposed to look good) will be a challenge for me. What I appreciate about this role is that I get to learn from my mistakes since this is my first RPG game so in the future I can make my own and know what is right and what isn’t.

Swords like this... Epic right?

This is him.. Ray William Johnson

            As you may see in the title of this blog, I am going to start to ask you question every blog. I don’t know if this is going to work since this is a fairly new blog and maybe a blog where no one will check but for the fun of it I am going to do it. The question is: Who is Chuck Norris? Leave your comments our answers on the comment section below and don’t forget to follow this blog. To conclude, thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed this post. Nevertheless, I am StevenYQM and I approve this message.

P.S. The blog question and last paragraph was inspired from Ray William Johnson, a Youtuber that I have subscribed to. Go check him out; he will make your day.

  -StevenYQM

The Wonderful World of Minecraft and its Official Release Date!

Markus "Notch" Persson, such a lucky programmer,
won millions so fast, he is my new idol.

Every single fan of this specific game are waiting for this great event and are excited to their fullest for the official release date that is supposedly incredibly "exciting" of Minecraft. Minecraft, one of the most well-known games of the worldwide gaming community, is going to release the official game in November 18 including new monsters, incredible new features and a secret project that Markus “notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, mentioned in twitter.

Minecraft is a sandbox game (but it’s not intended to be) in which the player gets to place/destroy blocks and go survive, stranded alone in a random new world. Everything goes on peacefully and tranquil in the first day in the minecraft worlds, but don’t get fooled easily. It might seem really calm and pacific but at night, you better hurry and finish your house or cavern that you are going to stay on and make sure you light it pretty well because fear will approach. Minecraft, as mentioned by notch, is supposed to be an adventure MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in which the player must survive-and-thrive in their life in minecraft. At night, monsters spawn in the dark and creep up on the least expected areas. These monsters are undead, mythical and totally random (like my blog) such as zombies that slash you with their claws, skeletons that shoot unlimited arrows with their wooden bow, giant spiders that are faster and jump higher than the player, creepers that stalk you even when you are sleeping and right when you leave your door they blow up with you and the most scariest monster in minecraft, the enderman, just don’t stare at them. As the moon falls and the sun rises, some of the monsters fortunately burn into ashes except for the creepers and spiders, but if you manage to escape from them, you will be free.

Throughout the game, Minecrafters will adapt to their environment and make up other ideas to survive more successfully such as making traps for any interfering monsters. Also, Notch added a multiplayer into this game where all the players of Minecraft can reunite and build, survive and explore together. All in all, Minecraft is a game full of creativity and survival which no one will regret from buying. You better buy it! Just because it looks all pixelated and 8-bit doesn’t mean the gameplay sucks. The game is designed so players can place and recollect their blocks. It’s just $15 , fully worth it believe me and buy it now before the official release date or else the price is going to go up to $20. Call now a 999-not-a-real-number! Or buy it directly in www.minecraft.net.

This is the Minecraft Logo :D

P.S. I mean it, buy it now, it will support Notch 100%

  -StevenYQM

A Newborn Star (blog) has Awoken

                Welcome to the blog “Topic of Off Topic”. You (yes you) might be wondering why is my blog called “Completely Off Topic” and my URL: “TopicofOffTopic”. Let me tell you why, I don’t know either but what I know is that it is made to confuse you (I bet you are confused now, told you it works). To begin with another topic, I am StevenYQM (Steven for short). I am a freshman at an International School and it’s a great start to a new life in high school for me. To be honest, I am a very sleepy guy but that has some pros and cons. Pros are that I have a more creative and imaginative mind since I daydream a lot. The cons are that if I daydream while I study, I am screwed and I don’t pay attention. What I have decided to do is to forget about dreaming and concentrate on academics. Nonetheless let’s get right in to the point, this blog will be random and whatever comes up in my mind when I decide to write this will be in the post. So like it or not, that’s me.

One of my favorite manga/anime: Naruto

                More about me, manga and games, you must love them. I have been obsessed with manga since I was in 3^rd grade (9 years old)  and have started drawing when I was 11 years old (5^th grade). It’s not the best but it is good enough for a newbie. Next in the queue, gaming. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know about games online until 2^nd grade (8 years old). After that, I’ve been obsessed with them and still am same with manga. Next on, music, something I can’t live without. My favorite band is either Linkin Park or Nickelback but I am still not sure on which was is number one in my list of favorites since both of them are good. I know haters are gonna hate, but it’s my own opinion so any haters of Linkin Park or Nickelback or both of them, take a chill pill cause not everyone hears your Justin Bieber songs either.

7 Red Roses

                Even more about me, (I bet you are tired of reading that but that is a topic sentence, isn’t it?). Favorites! Red is my favorite color, the brightness in flames, red for honor of the blood of the deaths of soldiers who sacrifice their lives for a better world, red, the first color that comes up in my mind. 7 my favorite number, the lucky number in casinos, and 7 just sounds cool don’t you think? (se – ven)? My favorite food and drink is the tasty seafood flavor of the marvelous sushi. That combination of seaweed and rice and some fish inside it (or whatever the filling is) is such a great combination that it’s my favorite food. And to end this, my favorite and most preferred drink is the floats. The gassy and sweet taste of Coca-Cola in a cup with a nice scoop of a creamy vanilla flavored ice cream. The ice cream floating in the soft drink making the taste of the drink so creamy, cold and sweet. As the vanilla ice cream melts in the drink, the vanilla w/ milk combines with the wonderful taste of Coca-Cola giving it a milky flavor, how much would I want one right now. I think that is enough to share with the public or else I might feel as if I were being stalked but this was my first time blogging and it seems to be a really fun and exciting thing to do. I look forward to my future posts and hope that you have enjoyed my blog “so far” and hope you can read this blog sooner or later, until next time.

                               -StevenYQM