Generatormagazine

April 2013

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Generator Staff

Music EditorRob Whitaker

President, Editor-in-ChiefJohn Paul Welsh

Secretary, Television EditorRebecca Murphy

Fashion EditorGina Rose Sirico

Video Games EditorJoe Corato

Faculty AdvisorDr. Richard Grinnell

Treasurer, Movies EditorAndrea Capobianco

Vice President, Literature EditorSophia Todeasa

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Table of ContentsFASHIONThis Season’s Hottest Trend: Stripes, p. 8A sneak peek into this season’s striking new style... By Erika Thompson

LITERATUREAnother One Bites the Dust: Batman Edition, p. 10The beloved Batman comic franchise kills off another Robin, and we’re not gonna take it anymore... By Joseph Kuhn

MISC.Alumni Networking Event,p. 13-14Communications students meet up with alumni in New York City... By Gina Rose Sirico

MOVIESArgo’s Big Win, p. 4Did Argo deserve its success at the 2013 Acad-emy Awards? Even if it did, is it a good thing that it won?... By Joseph Kuhn

SPORTSMichael Jordan Tribute, p. 3A sentimental retrospective of the sports legend, recently turned 50... By Lucas Scharf

TELEVISIONGravity Falls Review, p. 7A Disney Channel cartoon that’s mature, dark, and wonderul... By Sophia Todeasa

VIDEO GAMES AND TECHNOLOGYBrutal Doom Review, p. 11-12An exciting new mod for an old classic

... By David Zeppieri

Crysis 3 Review, p. 9The newest game in the Crysis series exceeds the expectations set by its predecessors... By Joe Corato

Playstation 4 Preview, p. 6The latest details about the exciting new gam-ing system from Sony... by Joe Corato

Pokémon Retrospective, p. 5A look back at the last few Pokémon games, and an excited look to the future of the fran-chise... By John Paul Welsh

PHOTO CONTRIBUTIONSFront and Back Covers: John Paul WelshPage 3: basketballphoto.comPages 3, 4, 6, 8, 10: various users on FlickrPages 11, 12: David ZeppieriPages 13, 14: Al Nowak from On Location Studios

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In the spring of 2003, I remember tuning into ESPN one day to see that they were running a replay of an old basketball game. Even though I was only nine years old at the time, I was able to make out that two participating teams were the Bulls and the Jazz. I started watching in the middle of the second quarter and gradually became sucked in by the back-and-forth struggle between two teams, and the relatively high level of play that only continued to get bet-ter as the game wore on. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was one player on the Bulls who was real-ly good. And I mean scary good – he was making almost every shot from the floor despite a pained look in his eyes. When there were a few seconds left, number 23 had possession of the ball. He had been on fire the whole game, so I fully expect-ed him to take the final shot. But instead, he passed it to number 25, who took the shot and scored. Marv Albert’s ecstatic commentary in the seconds that followed is perhaps something that will always be a part of my memory.

There was little time for a newcomer to the Michael Jordan fan club, because he re-tired not long after. However, I was lucky enough to have a neighbor whose dad was a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls, and he had recorded every single championship game in which Jordan had played. There were 34 of them in total, so I was able to watch the games over a long period of time. I always thought that there was something about his playing style that made him so much more fun to watch than any other player. However, as passionate of a fan of #23 as I once was, I am now only a casual fan of the NBA at best. A few weeks ago, almost 10 years to the date after I first saw Jordan in action, I tuned in to ESPN once again and found that they were running a montage of Jordan’s career in celebration of the superstar’s 50th birthday. I felt a rush of nostalgia pass through me as I fondly remembered the nights where I would stay up late with my friends and watch the very same games that were being summarized in the birthday highlight reel. After about a five minute

documentary on the first three-peat, the anchors eventually reached Game 6 of the 1996 NBA finals. Just as I had witnessed nearly a decade ago, Steve Kerr sunk a 17-footer off a pass from #23 to put the Bulls up by two. Then I watched as Scottie Pippen stole the inbounds pass and rolled it to Tony Kucoc, who then iced the victory for the Bulls. Congratulations on turning 50, Michael. You are an inspiration to me and so many others. Do you think it’s too late for a third comeback?

A Celebration of Michael JordanBy Lucas Scharf

Top: Photo by Steve Lipofsky on basketballphoto.comLeft: Photo by Jason H. Smith on FlickrRight: Photo by jmassel on Flickr

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If you had to describe the Academy of motion pictures arts and sciences in a sin-gle word your best choice would be predi-cable. For all the secrecy, all the suspense all the “buzz” generated during the Oscar season the results of the ceremony are rare-ly ever a surprise. In fact, the academy has been awarding the same types of movies over and over since 1932. At least that’s the case when it comes to the main event, the Best Picture category. Every year without fail the grand prize is awarded to a historical drama, a romantic drama, a regular drama, a dramatic char-acter study or some combination thereof. This is barely an exaggeration. In the past 20 years, 12 of the best picture winners have been drama films, seven of them were historical and three of them were about someone with a disability. There have also been three romantic drama wins as well as two wins for films where racism was a ma-jor theme of the movie. Are you starting to see a pattern? The best picture category by all rights should be renamed the “best mov-ie about a serious/depressing/artsy/mature/subject. It has gotten to the point where there is now a clear punch list for making a best picture winner, a sort of blue print for making an Oscar winning movie. Emotionally crippled/depressed protag-onist trying to reconnect with the world? Check. Story about a character who has to overcome a disability/adversity in order to succeed at something? Check. Accurate historical background featuring elaborate costumes and authentic dialogue, prefer-ably takes place in the mid to early 20th century? Check. Not animated, comedic, original, or, god forbid, even vaguely re-sembling science fiction? Check. This year’s best picture winner is al-most a perfect example of the punch list in action. The main protagonist of Argo is separated from his wife and struggles with raising his son while living in a different state. The movie is set in the 70s and fea-tures language, costumes and technology appropriate for the era. The movie focus on tense dramatic situations as it recalls the story of the Iranian Hostage crisis. The film

even takes the blueprint an extra step far-ther by telling a story that glamorizes Hol-lywood and shows its role in saving patriot-ic Americans from an awful fate. Literally every take in this movie is kissing major academy butt. This movie is a perfect case study for every stereotype about the biases present in the Academy Awards. And yet... it still deserved to win. Argo is good! Argo was really, really good! Probably the best movie that was made all year! Argo features brilliant actors, is well written and expertly directed, and emo-tionally appeals to its audience the way a lot of other movies can’t. Sitting down to watch the flick is a truly satisfying and ex-citing experience. And the fact that the film managed to grab the big prize without also netting the best director award (poor Ben Affleck wasn’t even nominated) makes its accomplishment even more impressive; fewer than 10 other films in the history of cinema have managed to achieve the same feat. After Affleck’s brutal snubbing it was truly gratifying to see the director take the stage with his crew and claim his right-ful prize. Too often the academy decides

to award movies that really don’t deserve the title (I’m looking at you, Shakespeare in Love) but this year they really did make the right choice. And yet, the film clearly appeals to almost every single preference the Oscar voters have. I sincerely doubt it was the filmmakers’ intention but Argo is almost a perfect piece of Oscar bait. The academy is just rewarding the same kind of movie again! So that’s the dilemma. Argo is a won-derful movie that obviously deserved this highest honor. But it also the living em-bodiment of everything that is wrong with the Oscar system. It is a movie that proves almost every stereotype about the academy to be woefully true. Whether or not to be happy for the movie is, for me, a genuine paradox.

Argo’s Big WinOne of the most satisfying and disappointing moments

in recent Oscar historyBy Joseph Kuhn

Photo by Intemporelle | Erin Las-sahn Photography on Flickr

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Pokémon is one of the universal con-stants in this world. Everybody knows about it, mostly everybody loves it, and it’s one of the most consistently successful series of video games of all time. The past three years have been particularly import-ant for the franchise, with the release of Black and White versions, followed by the first pair of direct-sequel games, Black 2 and White 2, and the recent announcement of Pokémon X and Y, the first games in Generation 6 and the first to be native to the Nintendo 3DS. Personally, I grew up with the first two generations, Red and Blue version and Gold and Silver version. These games took up entirely too much of my child-hood, and I had such a fondness for them that I completely ignored Generations 3 and 4 (Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, and Pearl). I was wary of getting involved in newer versions of the game because, in my mind, nothing could live up to the perfection of Gen 2, which was always my favorite set of Pokémon games. But when the Gen 2 remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, came out, I decided to get back into actively playing Pokémon. Since this was a more technically advanced version of my favorite games in the series, I need-ed to try them out. They were, in a word, fantastic. These games single-handedly brought me back into the Pokémon fold, so when Black and White were released in May of 2011 I decided to by myself the first new game in about ten years. Honestly, Gen-eration 5 blew my mind. It was designed to be a fair introduction for new players, so they forced the player to build a team and complete the primary storyline with only brand-new Pokémon species, which I thought was an amazing idea. It made me reevaluate the ways I wanted to build my team (instead of just throwing in a Drago-nite as soon as I found one and destroying the rest of the gym leaders), and I thought the story in Black and White was the best in the series. Sure, some of the new species were pretty dumb, but Gen 5 was a

Pokémon: Still Catching ‘em AllBy John Paul Welsh

huge success in my eyes. Black 2 and White 2 took what made its predecessors good and improved it again. Now, the player can find Pokémon from any generation right out of the gate, giving us back the dynamic we got used to starting with Gold and Silver. By making it set in the same region of the Pokémon world, it hearkens back to Gen 2 where the player gets to visit Kanto after beating the story in Johto. Some things are familiar and some have changed, and it is really satisfying to learn more about Unova in the frame of a new game. Now, it is confirmed that Pokémon X and Y will be released in October 2013. These games will be the first series from Generation 6, and will feature three-di-mensional graphics on the Nintendo 3DS. This is a huge change for the franchise, because by now everybody has taken for granted the flat and mostly immobile ap-pearance of gameplay. The trailer features unique camera angles and much more dynamic battle animations, and it looks really great. As of this writing, there is news of six new Pokémon: the starters, the legend-aries, and a new Eevee evolution. So far, there is not much confirmed news about new game mechanics, but seeing as the se-ries is named after genetic chromosomes, I would not be surprised if Pokémon breed-ing were taken to a whole new level in Pokémon X and Y. Since Eevee evolves in unique ways (using an evolutionary stone, making it happy during a certain part of the day, or leveling it up in a certain part of the Pokémon world), some have speculated that the new Eeveelution, Sylveon, which is of unknown type, will be obtained by a brand-new gameplay concept. If so, then Generation 6 promises to bring a massive amount of changes to the franchise. It is clear that the past few years have seen Pokémon reach a new level of suc-cess. Generation 5 felt like Game Freak, the masthead company for the franchise, found a new breath of life and was able to

make something more than just another Pokémon game. Black and White began a trend of relentless innovation that was continued with its sequels, and they seem to show no signs of stopping. The gaps between these three sets of games have been almost non-existent, proving that Game Freak has been working extraor-dinarily hard on how to make the most beloved series of video games even better. It is natural to look forward with excitement in the realm of Pokémon, but it is also important to look back at what the series has done. These games have proven to be outstandingly successful and universally adored. Take what you will from Generation 5, but in the grand scheme of things, it represented a new direction for Pokémon. Instead of simply adding new species and making the game prettier to look at, Black and White and their sequels revamped the idea of what a Pokémon game should be. Pokémon X and Y promise to be an even more won-drous achievement. Therefore, I salute the Pokémon franchise for its impressive amount of creativity and innovation over the past few years, and I wish them many more years of entertaining us and making us love Pokémon.

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On February 22, Sony held a press conference in New York City promis-ing to show the future of the Playstation brand. In the weeks leading up to the event, there was much speculation about what was going to be announced. Was it going to be a redesigned PS Vita? Was it going to be a new game? Or could it be…just maybe…possibly, the Playstation 4. SPOILERS: it was the PS4. They showed a lot of mind-bogglingly awesome stuff at the conference, ranging from the new controller, a new Killzone game, and other works in progress that made me very, very excited. Back in 2005 when the current console generation started, the industry made a huge leap: the transition from standard definition to high definition graphics and sound. That was essentially the main sell-ing point for these consoles. So, does that mean that the PS4 is even higher defini-tion? Well…no. What these consoles will allow for is exponentially greater graph-ical detail, lighting effects, and physics. Moreover, I read in another article from outside the conference that the PS4 is capable of running games at 240 frames

The Playstation 4 is Coming!By Joe Corato

per second. That’s simply disgusting. So much so, in fact, that our eyes can’t even process how smooth it is. The maximum frame rate the human eye can process is hard to determine, but most people agree that 60 FPS is about the maximum. But is four times that number really necessary? Although the console is capable of 240 FPS, we probably won’t ever see games with that frame rate. What that means, instead, is that the console is incredibly powerful. Being able to run anything at that speed requires some serious hardware, which, according to Sony, the PS4 does indeed have. The PS4 will pack an 8-core AMD Jaguar processor, 8 GB GDDR5 RAM (the fastest kind), and a beefed up AMD 7650 HD graphics card, or at least that’s what I’ve heard. In fact, Sony didn’t even show the physical console at the conference. Regardless, the potential for this console is huge, and I can’t wait to see what it brings. Sony also boasted a whole range of new features for the console. These included social network integration, video capturing from the console itself with instantaneous YouTube upload capabilities, and even

game streaming from GaiKai, a new game streaming company that streams games like Netflix streams movies. The new controller is similar in appearance to its predecessors, but it’s basically just a thin-ner, more responsive version of the PS3 controller, with added built-in Playstation move functionality. They didn’t say much more about it at the conference. Other than demoing some games that are still being developed and giving a glimpse of the new controller, Sony didn’t show much else. However, there’s a reason for that. This conference was most likely an attempt to create a hype-storm for the PS4 weeks before Micro-soft decides to get up off their asses and announce the next Xbox console. Sony wet our appetites with the snippets from this conference, but will most likely give a full blown demo, including a look at the box and its pricing (something they didn’t even mention at the conference) at E3 in a few months.

Photo by Alan Klim on Flickr

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Falling in Love with Gravity FallsBy: Sophia Todeasa

We’ve all seen some really good kid shows, and we’ve all encountered some really, REALLY bad kid shows. Unfortu-nately, Disney Channel seems to produce the latter kind, not really escaping their safe, dumbed-down, cliché model of the standard daytime children’s show. (The exception being Phineas and Ferb, a su-perbly smart show that I am not going to review in this article). However, last sum-mer Disney released a new show seemed to be geared towards an older crowd, aired in a later time slot and full of fast-paced dialogue and subtle references. The show quickly became one of my favorite things on television, and I thought that I had final-ly outgrown Disney Channel. I was proven wrong by this new show, Gravity Falls, cre-ated by Alex Hirsch, who previously had written for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, another show that makes you wonder how this became a cartoon made for children. And Gravity Falls definite-ly does not feel dumbed down or cheesy or anything else that is typical of a show aired on Disney Channel. It has an intrigu-ing story arc, lovable characters, amazing animation, and a cheeky sense of humor. Yet to finish its first season, I can only hope that the show is picked up for the next and many more seasons to come. The series follows a set of twins, Dip-per and Mabel Pines, over the course of their summer staying with their Grunkle (great-uncle) Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This grumpy old miser (complete with eye patch and fez) owns the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap filled with phony attractions, ironically juxtaposed with the true bizarre happenings all around the town. During their stay they encounter paranormal hap-penings and secret conspiracies hidden within the little town. You might compare the show to Scooby Doo meets Twin Peaks, with an element of the X-Files thrown in. And yet it’s a children’s cartoon. The series revels in the supernatural and is unafraid of depicting real danger and frightening monsters. It all begins when Dipper Pines finds a mysterious book in the woods that is a guide to all the unusual creatures that

can be found in Gravity Falls. The symbol on the front of the book is a six fingered hand embossed with the number three. This book warns the reader of a danger within Gravity Falls, which launches an investi-gative spirit in the twins. The appearance of another book later on in the hands of a rival, Lil’ Gideon, labeled with the number two establishes it as part of a set, which raises the question of what the first book in the series has to offer. Other little mysteries solve themselves as the series progresses and you can’t help but be stunned at the cohesiveness of the whole. The appearance of woodpeckers throughout the show culminates in an im-portant plot device for one of the conspir-acies that the children uncover. Then, the presence of an unexplained character in the background of several scenes since the beginning of the show is explained by a time traveler trying to fix time anomalies. The presence of all these little clues and background subplots make viewing fun for those who like to speculate and figure out the little mysteries along the way. There is already an incredible following of theorist fans that propose new hypotheses about the show with each new episode. The best part is how the writers feed into the mystery of it all. Each show ends with an encoded message with hints about the show, includ-ing a message that suggests that there are more secret and sinister details about the kids’ beloved Grunkle Stan than meets the eye. On the whole, it’s a very smart show with careful plotting and witty dialogue. The jokes range from stupid to subtle, with everything in between. The show has ref-erenced Twin Peaks and the movie Spirit-ed Away in ways that are obvious to those who have seen the referenced works and yet does not detract from the enjoyment of those who haven’t. Sure, the show is funny and exciting, but what really nabs me as a viewer are the character development and strong re-lationships seen throughout the series. The show is really about a family, in the most nontraditional sense of the word. The re-lationship between the twins is precious

and believable. They have their sibling squabbles but they also have a fun, playful relationship that show how much they re-spect each other. Their Grunkle Stan is the perfect example of the inattentive guardian, which is needed in a show where young people wander around and get in trouble, yet there is an interesting relationship there as well of an old man that needs and enjoys the love of his young charges. My person-al favorite character in the series is Mabel Pines, the sister twin of the duo. Her char-acter is superbly written. She is portrayed as a silly, scatterbrained, girly sister that wears big fluffy sweaters and is boy crazy, and this is all true of her character, but she proves to have an inner strength and sense of self-worth, as well as a way of viewing the world that is indispensable to the twins more than once. She escapes the trope of the ditzy adolescent girl without sacrificing any of the spunk and fun that makes her character so lovable. I think that this can be lost in a lot of shows that feature young female characters. The interaction between the characters is the foundation of the show and a basis for all the fun adventures they get to have. In a town like Gravity Falls that has so many weird occurrences and strange happenstances, there is a need for strong relationships and characters. I recommend this show to anyone and everyone—I’ve been showing it to every single one of my friends since I found out about it. Now I extend the courtesy to you.

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This Season’s Hottest Trend: StripesBy: Erika Thompson

If there was one trend seen at Mer-cedes Benz Fashion Week this year, it was stripes. On every runway, there were thin stripes, thick stripes, horizontal stripes and vertical ones. The stripes came in a variety of colors and fabrics. Oscar De La Renta’s looks included a stunning striped ball gown, while Tommy Hilfiger decided his stripes were better suited in a doubled breasted pantsuit! Just because these looks were featured on cou-ture runways doesn’t mean it is impossible for any woman to incorporate them into their own wardrobe. Stripes are essential in preppy closets, as well as funky ones; it’s all about what the wearer pairs the stripes with! Do you believe that horizontal stripes make a body look larger? It’s actually a false claim. Successfully wearing stripes is all about wearing an appropriate cut for one’s body type, buying the right size, and wearing the right weight of stripes. Stripes can actually be one of the more slimming patterns in women’s fashion. Vertical stripes elongate a body because of their length, while horizontal stripes have the potential to slim the body down. Any woman trying to add a few inches to her frame should focus on incorporating hor-izontal stripes into their everyday outfits. Meanwhile, wearing a horizontally striped shirt that is too small will make the wearer look heavier than they really are. To avoid this, a woman should try to focus on stripes that are on the thicker side that hug her in all the right places. This can make her look about a size smaller than she really is! Fo-cus on the cut of the garment as well as the weight of the stripes, and you can have a very successful striped look. Now, how exactly does a woman add these trendy stripes into an everyday look? Simple. A striped blouse or tee shirt goes great with a dark wash pair of jeans, solid loafers, and a fabulous necklace. Depend-ing on the weather, a blazer or scarf can be added, and the loafers can be substituted out for boots. Feeling daring? Try a striped dress for a more formal occasion with heels that complement the color you are wearing. The key to wearing stripes is confidence. The only way to pull off a bold print is to be bold.

Photos by CastawayVintage on Flickr

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If you’ve ever played a Crysis game, you know that the series is known for two main principles. The first is the game’s absolute-ly stunning visuals. The first Crysis was released back in 2008, and believe it or not, it looks better than some games from today by leaps and bounds. Now, in 2013, Crysis 3 sets a new benchmark for the industry in terms of graphical fidelity and color depth. Besides the stupidly good visuals, Cry-sis has always been known for giving the player the ability to choose how they will engage a combat situation. Whether it’s using your light-refracting cloak on your Nanosuit (more on that later), or going in guns blazing using your suit’s armor mode, or even a combination of the two, you get to choose. Let’s talk story. Crysis has never re-ally ever been known for its story, but it has been known for its set pieces. Set pieces, for those of you who don’t know, are usually large pieces of the environ-ment that go boom or get destroyed, and usually occur during scripted events or cut scenes. As I was saying, Crysis 1’s story was… eh. Crysis 2’s story was… a little less eh. Crysis 3’s story, while not the most innovative thing in the world, manages to create some legitimately interesting drama and emotion, making it much better than its predecessors. The story isn’t exactly cliché, but it isn’t too original either. The main character, Prophet, is tasked with two things: erad-icating the C.E.L.L. mercenary group, and defeating the Alpha Ceph, the leader of the alien enemy from the series. CELL is trying to use Ceph technology to enslave the pop-ulation of New York City. Prophet doesn’t like that at all, so he uses his brand-spank-ing new compound bow to shove pointy projectiles into their faces. Ceph don’t like humans, so they shoot at Prophet and the CELL with shiny blue lasers. The first two Crysis games had lengthy campaigns for the genre, each taking 10 or more hours to complete. Crysis 3 clocks in at about 6 hours, depending on the difficulty set-ting, but despite the shorter runtime, what you’re doing for those 6 hours is a lot of

fun, and is well worth the playthrough. The emotion in the story, surprisingly, doesn’t come from the ongoing battle be-tween man and alien. Instead, most of the emotion comes from Prophet’s partner, Psycho. Psycho was your partner in Crysis 1, and sported a Nanosuit just like yours. Recently, however, he was “peeled,” as the game refers to it, from his suit. The emotional arc Psycho follows is one of a man, once essentially superhuman, being reduced to nothing more than your run of the mill solider. At first he is angry at the world for it, but then he comes to accept it, and realizes that being human is what separates him from the Ceph. It’s slight-ly heartfelt throughout the game, and it’s a welcomed addition to the series’ history of less-than-great storytelling. I guess now would be a good time to explain what a Nanosuit is. The Nanosuit is a totally badass piece of futuristic mili-tary technology. It’s a sleek suit of armor that is essentially bound to your body by your own skin. It sends “nanites,” micro-scopic organisms that enhance your body’s core functions, blazing through the user’s veins. This makes healing wounds much faster, among other things. The more fun, less squishy parts of the suit come from its combat abilities. It allows the user to run incredibly fast, deflect bullets, absorb the energy of an explosion, jump off of tall objects without taking falling damage, and go invisible. Remember when I said ba-dass? Anyway, the suit uses pseudo-mus-cle fibers on the outside to make all of the physical stuff happen. The cloak isn’t real-ly explained, rather than it just refracts light around the suit, making it appear invisible, but isn’t that good enough? It is for me! Combat in Crysis 3, as it has been from the beginning of the series, is very fun, and above all, satisfying as hell. Hunting your enemies with the cloak and sneaking up on them to literally turn their head all the way around to break their neck is a crunchy, sat-isfying kill. Pinning an enemy to a wall by shooting his head with an arrow is equally crunchy. Using armor mode to laugh in the face of a grenade-launcher wielding giant

Crysis 3: Maximum AwesomeBy Joe Corato

alien is also very satisfying. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that Crysis 3 is crunchy and satisfying. Along with the suit’s powers, the gun mechanics are great as well. Every gun has a unique recoil pattern, making each one feel different. It actually feels like you’re firing a weapon, rather than a BB gun like in Call of Duty games. Moreover, you can customize your weapon on the fly. With the press of a button, Prophet holds the gun sideways, allowing you to see all the attachments you have available for that weapon. You can choose any attachment at any time, allow your gun to perfectly fit the combat situation you’re in. Finally, Crysis 3 has multiplayer, and while very similar to most shooter games, it is still very fun. It plays like Battlefield on the surface, but draws added depth from the use of the Nanosuit at any time during play. It can get a little frustrating, though, as many players end up camping corners in cloak mode only to pop out and stealth-kill you. Admittedly, the game induced any a rage quit on my part, but that’s probably because I suck at the game. All in all, Crysis 3 is a streamlined ver-sion of Crysis 2, with more attention to its roots in Crysis 1. The combat is fluid, satisfying, and most importantly, crunchy. For the first time in the series (in my opin-ion), the story is enjoyable, and the multi-player is more robust than it ever has been. If you need a break from the Call of Duty grind, pick this one up. And if you’re a fan of the Crysis series, you probably have it already. Either way, you’ll enjoy this one. Pick it up. 9/10.

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Another One Bites the Dust:The Third Death of Robin

By Joseph Kuhn Anyone who is familiar with Batman (which is everyone on the planet worth talking to) is probably familiar with his sidekick Robin, the boy teen wonder. Anyone familiar with Robin would identify him as that kid in pixie boots and bright colored spandex who follows Batman around, generating some weird pedophilia vibes that make some people uncomfortable. Anyone with a deeper understanding of the character, or the comics from which he springs, will tell you that Robin is actually a pretty cool character, and his existence is not nearly as creepy or homoerotic as it would seem at first glance. Anyone with a slightly more in depth knowledge of the comics (a sweaty nerd) will tell you that Robin is not actually one character, but a costumed identity taken on by 5 different, distinct characters. Anyone with a slightly more in depth knowledge of comics, and a fond-ness for statistics, will tell you that these teenagers, and in some cases small chil-dren, face a mortality rate of 60%. To put that in perspective, you would have better odds of surviving the assault on Omaha beach than on surviving a tour of duty as Batman’s sidekick. Damn. The latest victim of this senseless carnage was Batman’s actual biological son, Damien Wayne. He was beaten to death by an evil clone of himself, techni-cally rendering his cause of death suicide. His predecessors have been crowbarred to death by an angry clown and shot dead by a mafia don (Mr. Jason Todd and Miss Stephaney Brown respectively). It’s turn-ing into somewhat of a recurring motif in the Batman lore. While the death of a character should come across as shocking most of these stories come off as shallow and manipulative, Jason being the notable exception. Everyone familiar with the medium knows that the superhero nether world has a revolving door, no comic char-acter (expect Uncle Ben) stays dead for long. But even so character death can be

deep and meaningful (see the “death” of superman arc). But this is defiantly not the case with the Robins. These poor souls seem to exist as cannon fodder to be thrown to the hounds every time a writer wants to characterize Batman as a darker, more bru-tal hero fueled by grief. In death, the Rob-ins can highlight Batman’s edgy side. The problem is they kill him/her too often and at all the wrong times! Aside from the original death of the family arc, the stories involving dead sidekicks come off as hol-low stunts designed to push more books. It’s also now coincidence that the victims always seem to be characters that don’t sell as well (D.C. actually let its fans vote on whether or not poor Mr. Todd would pull through). To sum it up, killing Batman’s beloved sidekicks has become an easy way to move merchandise and clear out disliked char-acters (because why waste effort trying to write them better?). This most recent case is especially upsetting because Damien

represented something we see very rarely in comics nowadays, growth! Damien was a character who went from a dickish con-niving assassin to a virtuous hero. He grew and changed over the course of seven years of publication the way that so few charac-ters do. He also forced his father: the God-damned Batman, to change and develop. The dude was a father now, who knows how that could have made him grow and become more interesting? We, the readers, sure don’t. And we won’t until they finally resurrect one of my personal favorite teen wonders.

Photo by kevin dooley on Flickr

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Retrogaming Review: Brutal DoomBy David Zeppieri

It’s been nearly thirteen years since id Software released the revolutionary first person shooter, Doom, upon an unwitting world, changing the gaming world with its action-packed gameplay and innovative design. It speaks volumes for it that the Doom series still maintains a sizable cult following even to this day. Doom has attracted a large modding community ever since its release, with thousands of level packs and modifications released since 1994. Although there have been many great levels and mods over the years, one recent mod has caused a great deal of excitement (and controversy) with-in the Doom community: Brutal Doom. Brutal Doom is the work of modder, Sgt_Mark_IV, who has also been aided by a small team of talented individuals. This mod for Doom and Doom II replaces all of the original weaponry with a redesigned, high-power arsenal; all of the weapons re-main powerful and useful, even up against powerful enemies late in the game. As the name suggests, it also adds an incredible amount of explosive carnage, with fire-fights leaving walls splattered in varying shades of crimson, and hallways filled with

the limbs and peices of slain hellspawn. While violence mods and weapon re-placements are nothing new to the Doom community, this mod goes above and be-yond by changing and updating the game-play for a modern audience. It now plays faster, with demons moving at alarming speed and attacking with higher frequency and greater power than before. The weap-on changes also force the player to use dif-ferent tactics when clearing demonic foes out of deserted military bases, as there is no single weapon that outclasses the others (the BFG-9000 notwithstanding). Other small changes have added up to create a unique atmosphere and play style. Liquid pools—such as water or toxic waste—now look much better than they did back in the nineties, with realistic splashing when waded through. Torches, floodlights, and barrels of nuclear waste now glow appropriately, and trees can be set aflame by enemies’ plasma attacks (or even felled with the chainsaw). Plus, the invisibility sphere powerup has been re-placed by hostage space marines. When freed, your comrades in arms will fight the demonic menace alongside you, equipped

with random weaponry. While the artificial intelligence for them could use some im-provement, it’s still a nice addition. One of the major additions in Brutal Doom is added carnage when using the Berzerker Pack. In the original Doom, this powerup turns the player’s fists into har-bingers of destruction, atomizing low-lev-el foes in only one or two punches. While that is still the case in Brutal Doom, there is now an option to perform Mortal Kom-bat-style fatalities on vanquished demons, earning the mod’s title. The game camera shifts to a third-person view to show the intrepid space marine literally rip enemies in half, and other such pleasant scenes of carnage. Much of the revised gameplay was in-spired by a now-infamous comic book based on the original Doom games, which featured a plotline consisting entirely of a lone, potentially steroid-abusing space ma-rine uttering insane one-liners to himself while massacring the forces of evil. Clas-sic lines such as “Who’s a man and a half? I’m a man and a half!” and “You are huge! That means you have huge guts! Rip and tear!” are among countless other random

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one-liners and taunts that the player can chose to shout by the press of a key during gameplay, further adding to the ridiculous, over-the-top nature of the mod. Plus, by (rather appropriately) pressing the “F” key, the player can at any time flip-off the forces of hell, all while shouting obscenities. This is actually quite useful, as it allows the player to lure demons into traps… or, of course, to taunt downed foes. But, watch out if you decide to flip-off big bads, such as the Cyberdemon or Mancu-bus; they’ll become enraged and fight you harder and faster than before!

In short, Brutal Doom adds a great deal of new gameplay (and brutal violence) to an all-time classic computer game. Those familiar with Doom may appreciate the many changes and additions, and first time players will be sure to be impressed by how much work has been put into revamping a game older than some of our peers. If you want to check out Brutal Doom, first get a copy of Doom or Doom II (avail-able from Steam for about five dollars each, or from Amazon as a collector’s pack), in-stall it, and then download either GZDoom or Zandronum. These programs allow

Doom to be played on a modern computer, and add greater functionally as well. Then, download the mod from moddb.com/mods/brutal-doom, and follow the tips on how to get it running. You’ll soon be well on your way to a Doom experience unlike any you’ve had before!

Previous Page: You’d better have the guts to back it up if you flip off the Cyberdemon.Left: Snipe enemies using the new battle rifle’s iron sights.Below: Perform Mortal Kom-bat-style fatalities using the Ber-zerker Pack.

Screenshots by David Zeppieri

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On Monday, February 11, Communica-tion students had the opportunity to net-work with Marist alumni in NYC. This event was financed by the Mary Louise Bopp Communication Internship Fund, created by the late Prof. Mary Louise Bopp, who taught at Marist in the late 1980s, fol-lowing a long career in NYC. The networking event was hosted by the Communication Internship Department at the offices of Taylor, a marketing commu-nications company, which is located in the Empire State Building. “I thought this event was the best one yet (we’ve run three in NYC) in terms of energy, engagement and participation. The students were very active and the alumni never took a break – a sign that things were humming and everyone was engaged,” Prof. Gerry McNulty, Director of Commu-nication & Media Arts Internships, said. The turnout for this year’s event was 34 students and 13 alumni. The alumni sat at tables designated by industry (TV, Sports Comm, PR, and Ad-vertising) and the students had the oppor-tunity to mingle with them. The event was structured so that every 15 minutes or so students would switch tables to get in as much networking as possible. McNulty and Deborah Porter, the intern-ship coordinators, began planning this net-working event immediately after last year’s event. “We review the exit surveys done by stu-dents and collect comments from the alum-ni guest speakers. We distill that into two or three key suggestions for improving the next year’s event,” McNulty said. The Communication Advisory Board came to campus over the summer and dis-cussed plans for the event with McNulty and Porter. “Fast forward to November, when we picked up on making arrangements for the bus, caterer and began drawing up a list of potential guest speakers. The Advisory Board gets the first invitation to participate,

Marist Alumni Networking Conference 2013By Gina Rose Sirico

Photos courtesy of Al Nowak from On Location Studios

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and then we send invitations in December to additional alums. By late January, every-thing was in place,” McNulty said. The bus full of students was a little late arriving to the city due to fog and city traf-fic. Besides that, McNulty said he thought the event went very well. “The networking event was perfect be-cause it was a great way to meet very ac-complished professionals, while still stay-ing in the comfort of our wonderful Marist family,” Kelsey Odom, a senior Journalism major, said. Odom’s advice for younger students is to attend these networking events, and to be yourself. “All of those people we met were in our position once too and there’s no sense in trying to act like you have all the answers. This event was to our benefit, so use it to the fullest advantage and ask any and all questions,” Odom said. One of the alums, Kristen Spirko, ’09, is an Account Executive at Taylor and is currently enrolled in the Marist Integrated Marketing Communications Graduate Pro-gram (expected to graduate summer 2014). Spirko was pleased with the turnout of the event and how prepared the students were. “I’m always impressed by Marist stu-dents, and this was no exception. Students came prepared with printed resumes and business cards, and most importantly, lots of questions. You could really appreci-

ate the strength of the internship program at Marist in speaking with these students, who were eager, professional and enthusi-astic about the opportunity,” Spirko said. Spirko said that networking is very im-portant in communications fields, especial-ly for college graduates. “Marist has a really unique alumni net-work that is so important to tap into. It is great that Marist is guiding students in making these connections, and it is the re-sponsibility of those in attendance to fol-low-up with alumni to build the relation-ship further,” Spirko said. After collecting anonymous surveys from the participating students, McNulty said that most of them found the event to be very helpful. “We received a grumble or two about the late bus, but most alumni said they thought the students were serious and well-pre-pared. Most students said they connect-ed directly with specific alum and plan to stay in touch – and that’s what we want,” McNulty said. Networking events like this one will oc-cur annually. Spirko’s advice that she gave to students at the event was: “1. Create your elevator pitch; be able to market yourself in 30-seconds or less. Sometimes that’s all the time you’ll have. 2. Create a professional profile to bring on informational interviews: The top half should be an abbreviated resume, and the

bottom half should be a list of companies/agencies you are interested in working for. Present that, along with your full resume, at informational interviews to give a bet-ter idea of the industries you’re interested in and prompt introductions to additional professionals. I learned this tip from Marist alum, Stan Phelps, and it works like a charm! 3. Use LinkedIn: If you see a job post online that you’re interested in, check to see if you have any LinkedIn connections. Chances are you do, and then you can ask your closest connection to do a formal in-troduction. This opens up the opportunity to submit your resume through a current employee, which is likely to get much more attention that one sent along with a hundred others online.” Personally, I find networking events the perfect opportunity to introduce myself face-to-face with alumni who I admire. I keep in touch with all of my connections because you never know when one of them might think of you when a position opens, or who else they can introduce you to.

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Generator Staff