Really aggravate me. I know piracy of any digital goods is a huge hot topic issue on the Internets today, and it really isnt going to be easily analyzed without massive blocks of text. Ill try to avoid that, as its not really the point of this post.

So Ive got this friend who I know to be a frequent pirate. Today he just mentioned to me that ARMA III is coming out Q4 2012, and we had a little chat about how were eagerly anticipating the game. He also stated that theres a lot of pressure to buy these games because of how great they are. I could already see where he was going with this Of course he goes on to complain about how the game will cost $50.

He honestly drives me crazy. Seriously. $50 is not that much for a piece of entertainment that I know hell play for hundreds of hours. I reasoned that even if you play for 50 hours, thats a single dollar per each hour of gameplay which strikes me as great value. There might not be a better interactive experience for that kind of money. Of course, to a pirate why pay for something when you can get it for free?

In response, he rebut that its just a game, lol. To this Im not sure what he meant. Is he trying to demean games as an entertainment form, saying that games arent worth that sum of money because theyre games? Maybe I just read it wrong. Thats definitely possible, but it just struck me as him reasoning that games are of lesser value, therefore not worth spending money on. But where does it stop? If you were to reason, its just a game, couldnt you also do the same with books, movies, etc.? Where does it stop for crying out loud.

I didnt really feel like talking to the guy after that, because I knew itd just devolve into a pointless debate which would accomplish nothing. In my mind, piracy = stealing. I sound like a pretentious, stuck-up, and arrogant person for branding people like that, but in essence thats what piracy is. A pirate takes something of which they have no right to.Whether its justfiable, thats arguable.

Its a big piss off for me when pirates can afford something, yet they pirate anyways. How about you support the people who made the thing you enjoy, rather than get it for free just because you can. Simply unjustifiable. That aforementioned friend really annoys me, because I KNOW he can afford it. With frequent Steam or other such digital sales where the prices are markedly reduced after a while, I find it hard to believe that at the most $50 is unreasonable to him.

Theres the whole point with those who cant afford games and software suites like Photoshop, and how piracy for them is justifiable. In certain senses, yeah I can agree. But thats a topic for another day. Im dead tired. Just a little something I felt like I had to get off of me.

-FPS_Gamer123

P.S. Feel free to comment on how ironic it is that I wished to avoid a large wall of text, yet here it is anyways . This is also from my Wordpress. Check it here.

I moved to Wordpress for my blog. Not sure of what it'll mean for this blog here, but I will probably use my Wordpress more often. Check it out: thegaminginsomniac.wordpress.com.

School is tomorrow. At times I dread it because I won't have free time to spend with friends and to do things I really want to do. At times, I'm fearing I won't do as well because this is Grade 12 and I need to make it into the University that I desperately want. But all that aside I'm going in confident. I'm gonna tackle it head on and hopefully this year will be truly amazing and memorable. Wish me luck guys .

P.S: I'm still going to be a regular on here, so have no fear about that .

Moved up from Level 54 to Level 63 . Will be curious about what the ranks of the levels I missed were but ah well. Anyways I prepared a lot for the return of school today. Bring it on .

Got up to 7 videos made by me and a buddy up on YouTube now . Expect much more to come as I try to get this thing of the ground. If you guys want to support me, then you can subscribe or follow on Twitter .

Well this is my final year of high school and there's a lot riding on it. I'm an aspiring computer programmer or maybe even engineer (I really want to be both, as hard as it may be xD) so my aim is one of the top CS universities in Canada, the University of Waterloo. I know I have the marks to get in for the most part, just that my Math really lets me down . I am a chronic procrastinator too, but we'll see if I can quit it for maybe the next 5 years . Just got my courses today and I'm not really afraid of much, since I've been breezing through high school for the last 3 years (except for math..). Wish me luck (probably being a little overdramatic about this xD)!

I'm also working away on trying to find employment somewhere, a position at Future Shop opened up so I'm going to try to apply there. I think that I'm pretty overqualified for the job since I'm the resident tech-wiz around my group of friends . Or maybe I'm not, since I lack job experience... It'll finally be a relief to get some cashflow so I don't have to be over reliant on my parents when it comes to finances. Waterloo will prove to be an expensive endeavour to say the least .

Plus I'm at that age where everyone wants to get their damn driver's license. I haven't even gone for my basic yet, because I know I'll have no car to drive anyways . But I need to get that sorted soon, the sooner the better. It'll be a useful piece of ID I suppose.

Anyways thanks for reading guys! I've bought GW2 today from EB Games so I'm planning another couple of videos for my channel. The latest one on the channel right now is the one where I talk about PC gaming elitism, so please check it out if you have the time . A like or dare I ask, a subscribe, would be greatly appreciated! I'm just trying to get this thing up and running with some regular content so any support would be a great boost for the group and I .

First YT video up and running. Now all of you guys get to hear how awkward I am in front of a microphone . Sorry for the lack of blogging going on, been rather busy as of late. Will get a quality post on soon .

Really fun. As a Counter-Strike beginner, I find it extremely enjoyable. That is all.

Looks like I've become sort of a Dota addict over the past few days . Finally played my first matchmaking round and did okay with Kunkka (0 kills, 2 deaths, 14 assists). There was a Pudge player on my team who went 36 and 1, no doubt an experienced player thrashing some newbs . Second game I did well against a sub-par team, going 13-4, and third game I went 7-1 (these with Kunkka too). Fourth game didn't end up too well, the matchmaking threw me into a game where everyone had around 200 wins or more . It's probably understating it, but I got owned . Went 2-11 in the game and pretty much couldn't do a single thing right - my spell timing was awful. Obviously I got a little flack from the team, less than I expected I'd get however . More practice is needed!

I've been watching the Olympics like crazy too, especially the swimming and cycling events. It's great that the Brits finally have some medals after a slow start - they truly owned track cycling and cycling altogether. Canada's doing great by our standards too! We beat the Brits in women's footy today to get to the semis, so there's some excitement for us there. If we could somehow make the final, that'd be great. But we play the Americans at Old Trafford next so it's going to be a huge challenge. Watched some tennis too, missed that marathon Federer vs Del Potro match but did catch Murray vs Djokovic. I'm happy for Murray since he beat Djokovic for a chance at gold in a Wimbledon final rematch against Federer. These Games have been immensely entertaining so far, here's hoping for more .

And on a sidenote, I starting up some Folding@Home since I figured I could chip in with my new computer. Not aiming to win any competitions, just helping out a great cause . I fold for the Overclock.net team.

Hey guys, checking in once again! No real update on the YouTube because my friend is still away on vacation and I've gotten super lazy. What I can say is that 3D modelling and After Effects is tough.

What I have been up to is playing a hell lot of Dota 2. I got a beta key a while ago and now I'm using it . Unfortunately I'm still a MOBA newbie, so I've been learning how to play the game through web resources and bot games. I played a little bit of the original Dota back in the WC3 days and some League of Legends, but the latter really pales in complexity to Dota. Not saying it's a bad thing, just that Dota is harder to learn at first. Anyways I've worked my way up to the Unfair difficulty of bots and I'm doing really well against them (not really sure how they stack up against real people, probably not well ). My favourite heroes are Kunkka, Lina, and the Crystal Maiden with Kunkka probably being my preferred and strongest. I think I'll hit up matchmaking with Kunkka soon, just not too comfortable with it because really I don't have anyone I know with the beta to team with. If any of you guys are Dota 2 players and you wouldn't mind playing with a newb like me, I'd really appreciate it.

Also the Olympics have started and I'm really into watching it. I don't know most of the sports or the competitors, but damn it, it's the Olympics and I just feel compelled to watch it. I guess it's the fact that many of these athletes don't get this level of exposure outside of the Olympics and they deserve their spot in the limelight - after all they train hard for four years to compete on this level . I'm a Canadian so we don't get too many medals but I cheer on the team anyways . Aside from them I'm partial to the Brits . Since the last Winter games were in Vancouver, I know it feels great as a fan to see your fellow countrymen win in your own backyard. So I want the British to have a great Olympics because that feeling is pretty special for the fan and the athlete (not that I would know but yeah ). That and being a Manchester United fan leaves me pretty exposed to a few Brits, and they're good folks that deserve it. If you guys are watching the Olympics, what have you thought of it so far?

That's all for me today, I've got to head out to work tomorrow. Saving up for maybe Guild Wars 2 and a new headset (looking at a Razer Electra Black Edition for $45, need some feedback though). Tough to find a job as a high school student sometimes .

-FPS.

Hey guys, just checking in again to give an update about what Ive been up to for United Insomniacs. I think Im gonna make this sort of like a developer diary because I like sharing : ). So lets get started with the first update! Ive already created the logo (above) using Adobe Photoshop and a couple of stock images. Its pretty simple, pretty much because I cant really draw to create something a little more creative : P. Basically I just took a picture of a pillow and crosshair from Google Images and threw it into Photoshop. I think it captures the idea of screwing over sleep for gaming : P. Ive designed this logo in mind with being the avatar of the channel so Ive also created a logo that includes some text:

I kept it fairly simple as well owing to keep it similar to the first logo. The font is just Orator Standard with some stroke and shadow added on. Plus theres a little texture that I added behind the logo. So what do you guys think of them? I know theyre not the greatest around, but Im proud that I made them on my own : ). I gotta really consider learning how to draw one of these days though, itll definitely be a helpful skill: P. After finishing the two logos I moved onto creating a YouTube channel background and ended up with this (right click + view for a bigger image):

I settled for a Skyrim theme because both my friend (who is working on the channel with me) and I enjoy Skyrim a lot : P. Plus the render I found for Skyrim (Dovahkiin as you can see) was absolutely awesome! Only problem I had about using it was that it took me forever to find a matching render to go along with it because none seemed suitable. I found this pretty awesome render of Lich King Arthas maybe even one of the best Ive ever seen. But unfortunately I couldnt use it, it just wasnt suitable . If you guys have any suggestions as to how I can improve anything, do tell Im all ears : ) . Thats it for the first update, heres a link to the channel if any of you guys are interested in checking it out. Its still very much a work in progress right now as Im busy working on a video intro. More on that in next update.

-FPS_Gamer123

Hey guys, I'm back yet again. The summer's been treating me very well in most regards *ahem, $100 dollars spent on the Steam Summer Sale*. But there's a bit of sad business to announce; if you guys have been reading my blog for a long time (not sure how many of you guys still check this thing, with me being "dead" for long stretches of time ), you may have heard of my exploits on YouTube. A few weeks ago, my brother and I closed our account - Canuck Films. 180 subscribers, 40000 views, and a few years gone with the click of a button. These numbers aren't impressive by any means, but hey - someone out there was enjoying the stuff we made and that's what counted .

It kinda sucks how this all happened. We had another channel before this recent one - XPS15 Films. It had gained 300 subscribers before being taken down by a copyright troll. As a result, we created Canuck Films to build off the remains of the first channel. At first we worked pretty hard to produce some content and it paid off too which was really awesome. At one point, an agreement was made with some Machinima folks to maybe get our stuff on there too! But it all went downhill after a while; the agreement never really materialized and we got extremely lazy . For a few months we didn't produce anything. We tried a few revivals - channel redesigns, series reboots, etc - but ultimately they failed.

I loved making machinimas with my brother simply because it was great fun during the filming and production. It was great that people loved the stuff we made too, but it just wasn't worth it anymore. It was way too time consuming to produce and the voice casts kept on screwing us over with last minute cancellations. These problems made machinima something that wasn't fun anymore or viable to do. My brother decided to call it quits because of that.

A few days ago, a friend of mine who worked with us on our Canuck Films projects wanted to start something new, and I thought why not? So we've decided to make a new gaming YouTube channel, and yeah - we know there's a billion of 'em . I guess the goal is really just to have fun, since making machinima was getting extremely frustrating. I view this new project as kind of a training ground. I want to get better at using Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Vegas, etc. and this project is a perfect way to do just that. I want to see just how far I can get.

We've decided to call it United Insomniacs since we share the habits of late night gaming . I've worked on a logo and a background for the last few days but it hasn't been working out that well because I'm not the greatest artist around. But we've got the channel up for now and we're still working away on the basic frameworks and logistics of how we're gonna do this. We have many ideas that we're currently building off of, just working on the execution .

I would appreciate it a lot if you guys could go and have a look at the background and logos, to see what you think of them (Linky). If you guys are interested in supporting us in the long run, content will begin to roll out in early August. This would mean a lot to me guys .

-FPS_Gamer123.

Who's still active around here? I know I've been gone for an extremely long time, but I think I'm back xD

Hey guys, just finished my new build last night and man is it awesome! Pictures and video will be up soon.

Also, the next episode of my Halo machinima series is up on YouTube! This one we've been working on for months on and off, so it's finally good to see it done and uploaded! If you guys could watch it and tell me what you think, that'd be greatly appreciated!

Epicness.

Seriously.

They promised a free copy of Battlefield 3 for any pre-orders of Mass Effect 3 before March 5th but being EA, of course they cancel it WAY before the end date. I was going to gift that copy to my brother too

No way am I buying Mass Effect 3 at $60, just no way. Sick and tired of EA screwing the customer over.

/rant.

Anyways, new PC is almost here guys

My new computer! Can't wait, so excited!

SPECS:

Sapphire 7970
i7 2700k
P8Z68-V Pro
Patriot G2 8GB
Noctua NH-D14
ASUS VE228H
Corsair 850W
Crucial M4 128GB
Razer DeathAdder
Razer BlackWidow
Samsung DVD Drive

Some highlights include a 7970, i7 2600K, 8GB of RAM and an extra monitor! Pretty excited if this actually goes through! I'll post full specs and other stuff as well as pictures/video if I get it done soon

Hey guys, back again. Things starting to get busy but I managed to have time to make the second episode of this machinima series I have on YouTube. Check it out here if you guys have time and tell me what you guys think