Hi, my name’s Will and I’m a first year journalism student.

I’ll be posting various things about films, games and other media I’m interested in consuming and talking about, along with any assignments I’m given (which will hopefully be the only reason I ever talk politics on here).

I hope you like what you read and maybe stick around for more rambling in the future!

You spend hours writing/filming/editing a review, publish it, and within minutes have people in comment sections telling you, you have no idea what you’re on about because you put a number at the end that isn’t what that reader/viewer had in mind, even if they agreed with everything you said.

‘You say all these positives and it still gets an 8.7?! What earns a 10 then???’ is a typical comment I see on various film or video game reviews and I really don’t get why people care.

You watch the review, you listen to the points, you decide if you agree or disagree with them and by the end of the video you’ll decide if your opinions line up with the reviewer or if they don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s the logical process of consuming a review of any type.

Some people seem to have added another step to this however, that goes something like: ‘check the final score, and if it isn’t exactly what I think it should be; despite how much I’ve agreed with the reviewer up until now, disregard everything they said and leave an angry comment with “fuck” included at least 3 times’.

The comment below is a typical example of another attitude to scores, being that they are all reviews exist for. This guy simply skips to the end, sees the score with absolutely zero context or meaning, puts it in the comments and gets a huge 2,300 upvotes for it.

But not only do review scores not add to any interesting discussion, they can also be confusing.

With so many outlets with so many different scoring systems, a 7/10 means seriously different things depending on where you go.

With IGN, a 7/10 is a fairly bad score, with them rarely going lower unless the subject of the review is particularly awful, whereas if someone like Youtube reviewer AngryJoe gives a product a 7/10, that means that, that game/film is in his opinion good, almost great even.

Aggregate sites such as Rotten Tomatoes don’t help either. If you see that ‘based on critics’ reviews’ Black Panther received a 97%, you’d assume that, that film is damn near perfect, with almost perfect scores across the board.

However what this actually means is that 97% of critics scored the film more than a 60% ‘Fresh’ rating, meaning that the film could be just pretty good, and if all reviewers are in agreement on that it gets a 100% (Black Panther mainly received 4 star ratings from mainstream sites).

Additionally, large media corporations like IGN have dozens of reviewers on the go at once, with opinions varying from person to person. This leads to more Mensa IQ level comments like ‘IGN gave the Last Jedi a 9.7, so I don’t trust anything they say anymore’, which equates to ‘One reviewer at IGN put a number I don’t like on one review so now none of you have any credibility in my eyes but for some reason I’m still in the comment section of your videos’.

Anyhoo, for those of you who skipped to the end of the article looking for a number, I give review scores a 1.79287/13.

Red Dead Redepmtion 2 is a very rare kind of game. It’s one of rare quality, beauty and inconsistency. It is a game I adore, that was my favourite game released in the whole of last year, and yet it’s also one that I can completely understand someone putting down 3 hours in.

I cannot think of another game where I have cared as much for it’s main and supporting characters, nor where such a surprising amount of it’s missions felt so restrictive and dated in contrast.

You follow Arthur Morgan, a trusted member of the Van Der Linde Gang; able to switch from a caring and compassionate father figure to a terrifying brute who doesn’t think twice about beating a man half to death in front of his family to collect a debt, in a world where they are less welcome by the day, chased across the country as civilisation spreads across America and the West at the end of the 19th century.

Every member of the gang has an impressive amount of characterisation, and I was amazed by how much I cared for characters that ended up as villains in the first game (RDR2 being a prequel), where you play as another member of the gang, John Marston, as the government force him to hunt down his former family.

The leader of the gang; Dutch Van Der Linde, is just as interesting and important to the plot. Having played the first game, I saw how barbaric and insane he ended up after his gang collapsed, and his descent from charismatic leader to a desperate, selfish and brutal madman is enthralling, with the player constantly guessing whether he ever truly was the caring father figure he seemed in the early parts of the game, or if it has just been an act used to charm his followers for personal gain.

Pretty much all the activities found in the first game return improved, with bounty targets receiving more characterisation  and hunting and gathering being much more complicated, with different qualities of pelt and certain weapons required for certain creatures.

However this is where the most contentious part of RDR2 comes up; its obsession with detail. Horses must be fed, brushed and cleaned, guns must be maintained, and Arthur must also stay clean, fed and warm.

I enjoy this, it makes the game feel more realistic and adds hugely to the wild west fantasy, however, plenty of players don’t want this baggage in their games, especially with every little action having an animation you have to watch (picking up every item separately when looting boxes and houses leaps to mind).

Additionally, Rockstar has left in their trademark slogs to the start of every mission, where you go to the ‘starting point’, only to have to ride for another five minutes to where it actually starts, as Arthur converses with his accompanying gang members on how they’ll end up holding off against hundreds of policemen for the hundredth time.

These repetitive missions (along with their absurdity, with your final kill count in the thousands) and overly restrictive mission boundaries that force you to reset every time you put one foot out of place can cause tedium, however the narrative motivation and satisfying shooting kept me engaged.

I have disagreed with scoring games for a while, feeling like it cheapens the worth of a review when many readers (myself included at times) simply scroll to the bottom to see the number given rather than checking the reasons, and I feel that with this game more than ever.

The entertainment and emotional impact it had on me is something truly special, but whether you are willing to put up with all the baggage is completely up to you as a player.

I give Red Dead Redemption 2 a ‘I really, really loved this game but there’s a fair chance you won’t’ out of 10.

 

With festival season fast approaching I thought I would reminisce on my time at Reading 2018.

Until last year I never thought of myself as a festival person, with all the camping and waking up before 1pm, but after seeing how much fun some of my friends had at Reading the previous year, I thought I’d try it.

We arrived on the Wednesday afternoon two days before the actual music started to get a good camping spot.

I was pretty skeptical about how necessary this was, but when we arrived at about 12pm it felt like the festival had been underway for days.

Seemingly any half space had been occupied and we had to build a pile of rubbish in the center of our circle of tents to stop anyone from setting up there. By Saturday, half the paths around the site were hidden by desperate festival-goers looking for any kind of space to stay.

The first two days were just about exploring the festival and the town center, until the first act was on Thursday night, and my first taste of proper live music was utter shit.

Despite this being a really low-key performance, it was absolutely rammed due to it being the only act on. This meant the crowd was huge and only a quarter of it actually got to hear the music since the levels were all wrong, with most of us just hearing bass.

Luckily the music really picked up on the Friday and Saturday, with headliners like Post Malone, Dua Lipa and Travis Scott all bringing great performances.

Kendrick Lamar also headlined on the Saturday night, but me and most of my friends prioritised getting a good spot for a trio of drum and bass DJs called Jauz, Netsky and Slushi who were on after Pendulum.

It was one of the best and most exhausting nights of my life, and I was able to head home the next day feeling like I had the full experience, despite not seeing any acts on the Sunday.

This year I’m hoping to go to NASS festival with some friends from home and uni, but after last year I hope I’ll return to Reading in the future.

Borderlands 1 and 2 are some of the highest rated shooters of the previous console generation, and with the third installment coming thick and fast, it’s time you caught up with everything necessary to be ready for its release.

When and where can I play it?

Gearbox announced that the game will be released worldwide on September 13th on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and (controversially) the Epic Games store on PC, despite previous entries being on Steam.

What kind of game is it?

The Borderlands series is the originator of the ‘shooter-looter’ genre, which basically involves exploring various environments, blowing up anything that moves, picking up any weapons those things drop, and doing it again. This is all while a story is happening, and you are improving your character with various abilities and moves.

 

Story? What story?

Borderlands’ universe revolves around the search for loot, and more specifically, Vaults. These Vaults are sought after by Vault hunters (you, and the protagonists of the previous games) and various bandits and evil corporations. At the end of the previous game we discover that there are hundreds of Vaults on various planets (we previously only got to explore Pandora) and in this game we are on a quest to discover the locations of these Vaults and take whatever we can find, all before a cult called the Children of the Vault beat us to it.

Who can I play as?

Borderlands 3 will have four playable characters like the last two games (ignoring additional ones added after release). Amara the Siren who focuses on close quarter combat, Moze the Gunner who has a giant robot that assists her in battle, FL4K the Beastmaster has a number of animal friends to give him a hand, and Zane the Operative who has multiple abilities from previous games, such as going invisible or drones that attack enemies.

So now you’re up to speed with whats going on with Borderlands 3, you’re ready to jump right in when the game releases in September and get to creating explosions!

A survey carried out during Wednesday morning rush hour saw a potential £3000 worth of fines earned as a total of 50 cars went through the Boot’s Corner closure within 50 minutes. One delivery driver was even seen going through the closure twice in the space of 20 minutes.

The road was closed to the general public on the 26th of June only allowing buses and taxis access. Any unauthorized vehicles are faced with a £30 fine that doubles to £60 if it is not paid within two weeks. The whole reason for closing this section of road to the public on a trial period was to reduce emissions and encourage more sustainable methods of transport.

This survey comes as a petition was launched on Tuesday evening for Boots Corner to be closed permanently by Vision 21, a sustainability charity based in Gloucestershire. So far this petition has gained 201 signatures.

Vision 21’s chief executive Dave Entwistle told Gloucestershire Live; “We want the council to develop a coherent strategy that will make the town centre more people-focused, ease traffic congestion elsewhere in the town and encourage greater use of non-motorised transport in general.”

Disappointed to hear that the meeting of the Gloucestershire County Council Traffic Regulation Committee due to take place on 11 February 2019 to receive an update on the #BootsCorner, Cheltenham trial has been cancelled. More details on my Facebook page https://t.co/zws05i4reY

— Klara Sudbury (@KlaraChelt) 31 January 2019

While many support the closure, the lack of signage has caught many drivers out. One visitor to the town named Chris described the ruling and directions as ‘unclear’, while another said they were ‘confused’ when they received notice that they  had been fined.

One supporter of the trial is Lib Dem MP Dennis Parsons, who says that it is helping maintain the retail success of Cheltenham’s high street, stating ‘There’s no doubt it has significant benefits for many local retailers’.

Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk’s petition to reopen the road to the public was rejected on the 21st of January, despite gaining nearly 6,000 signatures, so the possibility of it to remaining closed after the 10 month trial period is looking likely.

 

Notorious games publisher Electronic Arts has released a statement announcing the removal of in-game purchases in it’s FIFA series in Belgium after months of ‘discussions’ with the Belgian authorities.

In April 2018, Belgium followed in the Netherlands’ footsteps in clamping down on gambling mechanics in video games, with companies such as Valve, 2K, Blizzard and EA being told to remove said features from games including Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and NBA 2K18.

This came after EA’s own Star Wars Battlefront 2 faced mainstream media coverage in late 2017 for featuring ‘loot boxes’ that contained random rewards that could give players an advantage, and could be bought using a currency that was purchased with real money.

 

When players complained about the predatory use of loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2 EA responded, saying their intentions were to ‘provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment’, which quickly became the most downvoted comment in Reddit’s history with over 660,000 downvotes.

Despite similar mechanics being used in other titles, the involvement of the much loved Star Wars license, direct impact it had on gameplay and the fact that the game was mainly targeted at children caused mass outrage.

Now, nearly 10 months after Belgium instructed publishers to remove these mechanics from EA’s main cash cow FIFA, the publisher has finally caved in.

FIFA’s ‘Ultimate Team’ mode allows players to built a custom team by opening packs of cards, a mechanic EA has often compared to opening Panini sticker packs.

These packs can be bought using in game coins or FIFA points; with the latter needing to be bought using real money,

The purchasing of these points in Belgium has been disabled as of the 31st of January, with EA apologizing to players ‘for any inconvenience caused by this change’, also stating that they ‘do not agree with Belgian authorities’ interpretation of the law’.

Additionally, EA said that ‘the impact of this change to FIFA Ultimate Team in Belgium is not material to our financial performance’. This raised eyebrows, especially since the publisher has stated in the past that these in-game purchases are necessary for them to continue making games.

 

As the UK experiences it’s lowest temperatures and harshest conditions all season, many are too busy caught up worrying about transport and food supplies to offer a helping hand to those less fortunate.

Nearly 5,000 people were found to be sleeping rough in England in 2017, and that number is always rising.

Not only do they have do deal with the mental and physical struggles of not having a home with water heating and electricity, but they also have to deal with the British public, that according to some shocking statistics, don’t offer the kind of compassion you may hope.

According to a charity aimed at tackling homelessness in the capital named Streets of London, homeless people are 17 times more likely to be victims of violent crime, and a whopping 47 times more likely to be victims of theft.

Additionally, a disgusting 1 in 10 said that they had been urinated on, and 3 in 10 female rough sleepers had at experienced some form of sexual violence while homeless.

On top of dealing with all of that, recent conditions have drastically increased the risk of hypothermia and frostbite.

In recent months more coverage has been given to the UK’s rough sleepers, but not for the reasons you might hope.

On Sunday 27th January Kane Walker was found dead near the Bullring shopping center in Birmingham.

An extremely upsetting video (see below) has now been discovered of him stating that he was ‘done’ and that there was ‘no point’ to a charity worker, just months before his death.

The heartbreaking moment a homeless man tells a charity worker he can’t cope… just months before he was found dead in Birmingham #Homeless #homelessness pic.twitter.com/67uXUJWlYF

— ITV News Central (@ITVCentral) 1 February 2019

What can we do to help?

The most common reason passers by don’t help rough sleepers is because they don’t know what to do.

There is no universal answer to this, but there is no way to find out what someone needs other than talking to them.

From there you might want to offer a hot drink, a snack or even just conversation.

It is also a good idea to refer them to your nearest homeless shelter or charity.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton