Firstly, I would like to thank everybody who has stuck with the series and sat down to read it. Makes me feel great as a writer knowing people are looking at what I’ve been doing. Secondly, the finale is now up on Zombie Coffee Press, and is ready to be read. If you haven’t read parts any of the first three parts left, I recommend that you do before you read the final episode by clicking on the links below. Again, thank you all for reading the entries, and I hope to make some more stories in the future. Enjoy the finale!

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Dim and Departed series.

Happy Halloween everybody!! I hope everyone who has been reading my weekly short stories this past month have enjoyed them. Today, part three is out for the world to see. If you haven’t read parts one or two yet, I highly recommend that you do. I hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far, and will continue to read. Please leave a comment, like it, re-post it, and above all else, enjoy it. Don’t be afraid to look around the site for some more horror treats. Thanks everybody, and have a great Halloween.

Hey Everybody!! As I put on a review a couple of weeks ago, my four-part short story “The Dim and Departed” is now published on Zombie Coffee Press. This four part zombie-horror-humor story will be getting published for the next four Mondays, until it’s dramatic (and rather amusing) finale. I’ve worked really hard on this, and I hope you all will read and enjoy it, and hopefully keep reading the four part series in it’s entirety. Thanks!!

For many people, video games are a getaway from all of your worries and problems. They transport you to different worlds, and tell magnificent interactive stories that entangle the viewer(s) into place of unforeseen wonder and beauty. Not only have they introduced main media to such characters as Mario, Master Chief, and Donkey Kong, but they have also become the fastest growing media of all time, with games selling up to and past one billion dollars worldwide.

But in some people’s eyes, including Kathy Lee Gifford of the Today Show, this love of gaming is just “weird.” When a viewer sent in a letter asking for advice about her 30 year old…I’m assuming husband…and if it’s ok that he (and millions of others) to play video games when they reach that age, Gifford’s response was priceless…and I quote, “That’s weird. Xbox.” Firstly, I would like to congratulate her on knowing what an Xbox is. For the fact that people who work Teleprompters RARELY have a one word sentence, she must’ve come up with that fun fact all on her own.

The three personalities go on to explain that it is ok to play with their children, but other than that, they need to be doing something more than just that. I do agree to that last statement, but most men play games for a recreational use, and don’t devote their entire lives to shooting pixels at other pixels.

Secondly, according to a recent study, 53% of gamers are between the ages of 18-49, while 29% are 50 and older. You can find more fun and interesting facts about the video game industry in the link above.

More and more, talk shows and television personalities have expressed their opinions on how awful video games are, including an infamous interview on CNN where a personality verbally dismissed a game (Mass Effect) for being too sexual, then saying that she has never played the game. A lot of members of the media believe that games also create terrorists, or uncivilized lunatics. However, in another study, violent video games are shown to help stop evildoers from going out and committing these horrendous crimes.

Based Kathy Lee’s comment it’s not reaching to say that The Today’s Show members probably don’t know exactly what they are talking about when it comes to gaming. I’ve never seen the Today Show, but from the clip I saw, it reminded me of the Finding Nemo seagulls, always yapping and repeating whatever someone else on the show has said. I think that makes this playing field pretty even.

Let me make one thing clear: I am a twenty year old male, who has been playing video games since I was around 7. When I was little, I played the games just for recreation. In middle school, they were an escape from all of the people who messed with me because I was “weird.” In high school and to today, I play not only for fun, but for completion. More so, I use it to release some stress, and to keep communication with good friends. I am a gamer, but i do not lock myself in a basement, day in and day out, with no social interactions with anyone besides the characters that I am playing with. I do plan on continuing to play when I’m older, and I hope by then I can be classified as “semi normal.”

Lastly, I would like to give a personal example. My father is a hard-working man, works 9-5, and brings home money to help support his family. But some nights, he would go in out basement, and play some Call of Duty or Portal 2, not because he’s devoted to playing these games, but simply because he enjoys playing them and helps release stress. Real people play video games for a multitude of reasons, so pigeonholing the majority of a multibillion dollar community is incredibly irresponsible and ignorant. I think video game mogul Shigeru Miyamoto said it best during a 2005 interview, “Most people think video games are all about a child staring at a TV with a joystick in his hands. I don’t. They should belong to the entire family.”

Of course, these are completely my opinions, and if you have your own, please leave them below. Thanks for reading.

An awesome 8-Bit Apocalypse! Give this guy a job already.

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. – Discover more animation and arts videos.

Spike Jonze’s latest film, a short film that premiered at Sundance this year, is finally avaialable online as promised this past January and you can watch here.

Here is the catch, only so many people are allowed to watch it everyday so good luck trying to view it.  I say bookmark and try everyday.  Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guilory star as the robot lovers and the running time is 30 minutes so prepare accordingly if you are going to watch it.

Pretty good, star studded stuff.

And make sure to tune in every Friday night on HBO!  Your life will be a bit brighter now that Karl Pilkington is in it.
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So true. And it is Ok to use the word retard because it is on a satirical program.
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I like this, its true in every way. Samberg rocks here by the way.
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