Now I'm not the first Call of Duty fan, and I certainly won't be the last, but I am one of the few that realize that video games based on historical timelines can actually teach you stuff. Now why come up with a blog like this? It's simple, because of the knuckleheads who think that video games rot the brains of youths. Wake up America, video games can be as educational as any textbook, and it's actually better than reading useless text in a book. One of my examples is the Call Of Duty franchise (before COD 4: Modern Warfare, MW2, and MW3), and I include World At War and Black Ops in these examples because they revisit the past.




In the beginning, the Call of Duty franchise revolved around fictional/non-fictional events during World War II. It would look at different squads which included the Americans, the Soviets, the Brits/French, the Poles, and even the Canadians. Though they didn't take a direct approach of WW II, they made the time-period work, with fictional plots, but centered the game around what scenarios were happening, and in COD 2, short videos from The Military Channel were included.

You would be tasked with providing cover, holding off the German reinforcements, using mortars and other time-eraed weapons like the BAR (Browning Assault Rifle), MP40, Gewehr 43, and the Thompson, and COD 3 even has tank missions for the Polish brigade, and has instances during the British scenarios where you can actually drive vehicles. Historically, the weapons and locations were dead on, all while making a historical fictional story work.

Another example of a historical fictional video game is the Medal of Honor franchise.



These games were primarily based off of the OSS, an American agency that functioned during World War II. Various spinoffs like MOH: Airborne, MOH: European Assault, and MOH: Vanguard have been made over the 10 plus years, and have actually been good, and I never really had a problem with any of them, because of their gripping stories.

What pissed most people off with the rebirth of the franchise is now they're going into the modern-day warfare, and even decided to set in in Afghanistan, with the tension of the war at the time at its peak, I had an indication that this would taint MOH's legacy of awesome games, and would take the educational aspect of military type games out, and just try to crank out first person shooters every year.

Feel free to share your thoughts....

Even though I've had it for a few years, I never got the chance to review the last band-specific Rock Band game that was released, and that is Green Day Rock Band. I got the "plus" version, and for the 10 extra dollars I had to pay, it was definitely worth it to get it.

The game takes you (the player/players) through three of Green Day's most influential and popular albums; Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown, with some singles like "Nice Guys Finish Last" and "Time of Your Life". Here's the entire setlist of songs, in order of the game and location.



The Warehouse
-Burnout
-Chump
-Coming Clean
-When I Come Around
-Basket Case
-Welcome To Paradise
-She
-Longview
-Emenius Sleepus
-In The End
-Having A Blast
-F.O.D
-Pulling Teeth
-Sassafras Roots




Milton Keynes
-American Idiot
-Jesus Of Suburbia
-Holiday
-Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
-Are We The Waiting/St. Jimmy
-Give Me Novocaine/She's A Rebel
-Letterbomb
-Homecoming
-Whatsername
-Wake Me Up When September Ends
-Extraordinary Girl
-Minority
-Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
-Warning
-Nice Guys Finish Last
-Brain Stew/Jaded
-Geek Stink Breath
-Hitchin' A Ride




The Fox Theater: Oakland
-Song Of The Century
-The Static Age
-Viva La Gloria (Little Girl)
-Restless Heart Syndrome
-Peacemaker
-American Eulogy
-21st Century Breakdown
-Before The Lobotomy
-Horseshoes And Handgrenades
-Last Night On Earth
-Murder City
-See The Light
-21 Guns (DLC)
-Viva La Gloria (DLC)
-Christian's Inferno (DLC)
-East Jesus Nowhere (DLC)
-Know Your Enemy (DLC)
-Last Of The American Girls (DLC)

Pros: Main songs are included with some good single hits; Great graphics and presentation; Extra DLC includes rest of 21st Century Breakdown (Plus version)

Cons: Where are the more extra songs like "Working Class Hero" "We Are The Champions (cover)"?; Some chords felt repetitive while playing at the Fox Theater

Final Grade: A

Now even though I'm just converting over from the PS3 to the XBox 360, I'm learning a lot about my new system. Thankfully, I haven't gotten the RROD yet (Red Ring of Death, for people who didn't previously know). With the current generation, we've had our share of problems with the systems, and heading into the new generation, we ask the question: "Will we have any problems with the new generation of consoles?"

Now as to the future, I think Microsoft has the best chance to pull ahead in the next generation of gaming with its rumored XBox 720. My reasoning for such comes from an article I read on Tech Radar's website. It's rumored to be released around Christmas of 2013, and for the first time in Microsoft's history of gaming, it will support blu-rays. Finally, Microsoft will support blu-rays, so it has my interest automatically.

Now the one thing I know I don't want in Microsoft's next-gen console, and most gamers could probably agree with me, is the Red Ring of Death, or some other faulty hardware malfunction. Yes the PS3 has free networking, which makes it the more obvious choice, but to me, the PS3 has been a bit stale, because I think there will be games on the 360 exclusively that you can't get on another system, and I like that. With this current generation, I can think of one (even though it's on the PC, but I don't game on my computer) that isn't on either the Wii or PS3 and that is Splinter Cell Conviction.

But I'm getting off topic here. Microsoft in my opinion will be on top of the heap in the next generation because it's bringing new things to the table, that I know the Wii won't do, like introducing blu-rays to its system, having better games, and despite having to pay for online services, it's worth it to support Microsoft, in my opinion.