#4 Menu Use: Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 (PlayStation 2, RPG)

Use of the Velvet Room Persona book and Fusion Menu

Positives:

+ Navigating the menu options is simple and easy to figure out. But for those that need it, there is a walk through the first time you use it and anytime something is added.

+ Everything is easy to read and when a player selects an option there is a summary of what it can do.

+ As gamers play new options are opened to choose from. They are more advanced fusions that the original one that was open. When fused Personas can have abilities from one or all of the cards used to fuse them that they wouldn’t normally have.

+ One option is the Persona book where players can look to see what Personas they have captured and what their last save status was in the book. Players can purchase the Personas back with the book if they have open slots.

Negatives:

- The stronger the Persona the more expensive it is to purchase back. Strong fusions or strong abilities add up the money.

- The button usage is a bit odd in the book. If players aren’t careful then they might look at history of the creature or save over a powerful version with a weaker one.

- Players have to remember to save the Personas as they use them. Any experience, new abilities or skills are lost if the player doesn’t save their progress in the book before fusing or dismissing.

- The new abilities of fusion can take a while to open for the players to use. So they are stuck with basic fusions.

Thoughts

~Tutorials should be optional; the menu is easy enough to navigate without help.

~ There should be a fusion table to let players know what they have mixed and the results or what is needed to be mixed for each fusion.

~The only way to make space for more Personas is for the player to dismiss them, fuse them or level up to certain levels. There should be a menu option that will allow players to put their current Personas in a holding book.

~ There should be an option in the menu to look at team member’s Personas and use experience or items to build them up.

Would Like:

* Optional tutorials.

* Personas should be able to be placed in a holding book.

* Persona’s statuses and build-ups to automatically saved as progress is made.

* To be able to look at team member’s Personas in the menu area and possibly build them up.

#3 Manga: Gundam Wing A/C (anime/ manga)

In the year A.C. (After Colony) 195 five freedom fighters use Mobile Suits called “Gundams” to strike back against the oppressive secret society called OZ. The Pilots are:

Gundam Pilot 01 Herro Yuy. “The Perfect Soldier”

Gundam: Wing, later Wing Zero

Gundam Pilot 02 Duo Maxwell “Shinigami”

Gundam: Deathscythe, later Deathscythe Hell

Gundam Pilot: 03 Trowa Barton

Gundam: Heavyarms

Gundam Pilot 04 Quatre Reberbe Winner

Gundam: Sandrock

Gundam Pilot 05 Chang Wufei

Gundam: Shen-Long Nataku, later Alto-Long Nataku

Positives:

+ Gundam Wing shows people that no matter what your age you can achieve your goal as long as you fight for it. Never give up and always look towards the future. And when your back is against the wall, your friends will be there to help you.

+It teaches people that no matter what race you are or where you come from, you can still become the strongest of friends.

+ The design on the anime is very detailed and encourages viewers to pay attention so they don’t miss anything.

+ The action, adventure and storyline all surround the 5 Pilots. It tells their stories, goals and purpose for being where they are and doing what they do.

Negatives:

- Some of the background information is never mentioned and viewers have to go to the website in hopes of learning what they are looking for.

- Being Freedom Fighters, the Pilots only answer to the ‘Doctors’ that created the suit they use. This being said several times in the series they are on opposite sides of the war and the others don’t know if it’s for good or if it’s undercover.

- Unless teamed together or staying together, the Pilots often didn’t know where each other were, their status or which side they were on. To begin with they didn’t know who each other were either.

- In the end, to show good faith the Gundams are destroyed. But the mobile suits they fought against remained.

Thoughts

~ Some bits are left to the viewers’ imagination, such as what happened to Triton, Catherine from the Circus’s brother? This should be explained.

~ The pilots should have destroyed decoy suits instead of the real ones. There is always the chance of another uprising or war on the horizon and they would not be prepared.

~ Certain interactions between Pilots leave the viewers and yaoi lovers, with hints of possible relationships. This wasn’t built upon in the series.

~ Thinking about my post I realize I’m basing it off the Americanized version of the anime. Content, certain relationships and certain amounts of violence are edited out when brought to American TV.

Would Like:

* Un edited anime. There are more violent shows out there, gay relationships are real and people should get over it and it’s a war anime so there should be violence and possible torture.

* The background to be filled out more. This would give the viewers a better understanding of the characters and the situation they are in.

* The Pilots should have been better informed of their fellow Pilots. Yes ignorance leaves no witness but then again it also leaves one defenseless.

* Development of the relationships that are hinted at. It would add to the story and bring in a wider audience.

http://www.animemetro.com/gundamwing/default.asp

#2 Non-Video Game: UNO (card game)

#2 Non-Video Game: UNO (card game)

Positives:

+ Uno can be seen as an educational game. It can teach colors, numbers and matching.

+ Uno is a great game for families and friends to play for hours on end.

+ Most cards have multiple uses.

+ Players can team up or create a strategy to keep opponents from going out and instead making them pick up the maximum number of cards possible to be given the most points at the end.

Negatives:

- Each card is word a certain number of points and the first to a certain number, usually between 100-500, loses.

-Even when not in teams, some players will gang up on a single player to prevent them from getting a turn or making them pick up cards.

- As long as the card matches the number of the last one played or is a wild, the color of the card can be changed at will causing some players to draw for several rounds before they get a turn and racking up points.

- It doesn’t matter who is playing 9 times out of 10 there will be a poor sport that ruins the game for everyone.

Thoughts

~ UNO is a game to bring people together. It should be used more in school to encourage working together and playing fair.

~It’s a fun way to teach kids and they don’t realize they are learning. We taught my 6-year-old niece to play to help her with colors and numbers.

~ Teams make the game interesting. Depending on the rules used, usually the rules used are both members get a turn before the next team goes. If one plays a Draw cards of either sort then it affects the next team and their teammate can stack another on top. Or teams only get one play per round so members alternate. The second strategy is friendlier and the first is more for hard-core players.

~ UNO could create other versions of the game using animals, letters or shapes. It would keep the game family focused and team young ones as well.

Would Like:

* New versions on UNO to encourage family play while teaching younger kids.

* Stricter team rules. They are loose and tend to leave much to question.

* A deck created for teams up to 4 players each. It would hold more cards.

* Schools to encourage playing UNO in class breaks to encourage interaction and fair play.

#1 Films/TV: Cyberbully (ABC Family Movie, released 2011)

The movie Cyberbully is about a teen girl named Taylor who is given new freedom on the Internet when she is given a laptop for her birthday. She goes online and joins a social site much like Facebook and soon starts to learn what it is to be bullied online and that once it’s online you can’t take it back. Things go from bad to worse when her best friends drop her to safe their own reputations and she breaks. Her mother has to watch has her daughter spirals out of control and almost loses her. When she goes to the school and local police station she learns there are no laws to against cyber bullying. This movie is very realistic and at the ends tells of the results of a real parents’ efforts to get laws passed to convict cyberbullies against minors.

Positives:

+ The movie is very realistic and helps the viewers relate with the victims and other characters in the movie.

+ Viewers see and in some ways experience the effects cyberbullying causes its victims. They learn the hard way as they watch that the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’ is so far from the truth.

+ The issues in this movie led a mother and father to fight for the victims of cyberbullying after the death of their daughter. When this movie aired there were laws in 34 states against cyberbullies.

+ People can grasp that cyberbullying is real and it affects so many people. They are now aware that there are support groups and websites cyberbullies can be reported to and accounts can be deleted. They also learn that they aren’t alone in their battle against their bullies, there is help they just need to speak up.

Negatives:

- As viewers watch the movie they learn that the three key players in the starting of the cyberbullying that occurs against Taylor. The first is her younger brother who, with the help of a friend, hacks her account and changes her status to a dirty one so people start to post nasty comments on Taylor’s page. The second is a mysterious guy named James who starts off nice only to start posting lies that he slept with Taylor and got an STD from her. The third is a school bully named Lindsay. She eggs on anything insulting and adds her own comments to add fuel to the fire.

- As viewers watch they learn that the mysterious James is actually a false account created by one of Taylor’s best friends Samantha. She created the account with the intent to protect Taylor from a guy she thought was bad for her and instead she sends Taylor on a downward spiral as she starts nasty rumors about Taylor.

- This movie shows the lack of protection people; mainly minors have on the Internet. Anyone could be bullying them and for a while nothing was being done.

- Viewers learn that the most common cyberbullies for minors are other minors. They also learn that often times the bully’s own parents won’t do anything to punish their child as they see them having done nothing wrong.

Thoughts

~ Some Parents and some of the older generation still have problems understanding the depths and dangers that cyberbullying presents. Most times these cyberbullies are also attacking the victims at school, work, clubs etc. If it’s something a person is being told constantly then eventually they are going to start believing it.

~ Adults get in on the bullying of minors as well but often times its with their child who was associated with the victim at one time as occurred in the Megan Meier story that fought for the Cyberbully prevention laws. Adults, better than kids, know right from wrong and what is good graces and what isn’t so why do they get in on the bullying of children? Some children fight back yes but only in defense of self.

~ Why is it bullies keep saying they didn’t cause the dead of a victim that committed suicide? No they didn’t hand them the rope, knife, pills etc but they used words that would trigger a break in the victim. Yet at the same time why don’t victims ask for help? Someone will be there to help them they just have to seek it out.

~ Sometimes parents are too trusting of their kids activates online. While they don’t need to hover or stalk their kids actions they need to be aware of what they are up too, especially on social sites. In the movie it too Taylor’s friend’s dad calling her mom before she new what was happening and to what extent.

Would Like:

* Better laws against Cyberbullying and them to actually be enforced.

* People to stop saying you can’t prove who was on the Cyberbully account. Only partly true, all events and clicks are tracked with a computer IP address and time stamp leading right to the user’s home. The bully is the user that was on during that time.

* Better awareness on cyberbullying. Not enough is being done in the schools, libraries or open Internet areas to raise awareness and warn people of the laws and punishment if they partake in cyberbullying.

* The older generation to realize this is the technology age; everything is done through the Internet. Avoiding bullies isn’t as simple as ignoring them or turning off the computer or phone. It follows victims everywhere.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/cyberbully

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html

http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/megansStory.php

Design and Development Analysis class

This blog is for my Design and Development class. There will be 30 or more posts in the end as required by the assignment. These are topics given and my chosen match to it to do  an analysis on. These are the ways I see things and how I dig into them.
I warn you now there may be some spoilers to movies, games or shows.