Fan fic that I have been working on for those who like the video game Doom and I know there are quite a few fans on this forum how lucky I am to find people who like the same games & can talk about what we like anyways onto the Doom Fan Fic.

"Abandon hope ye who enter here".....
----

~ Chapter 1 Home Sweet Hovel ~

Jack Ward stared around at the sullen, stricken faces of the crew members. The bridge of the U.S.S. Delta was bathed in crimson light, giving the room an ominous, surreal atmosphere. He could sense Krya's presence next to him, just as tense and apprehensive as himself. They were currently making their way down through the atmosphere, reentering somewhere over North America. Corporal Pierce, face taught with tension, gripped the handheld comms unit. He was speaking quietly and rapidly into it.

"I repeat, this is the speedship U.S.S. Delta, transmitting on all channels, to anyone. Is anyone left down there?" he cried, his voice rising in desperation.

"Another one just blew, sir." the Private whose name Jack had never learned grimly informed Pierce. The Corporal whipped his head towards the Private.

"Where?" he replied.

"South America. Brazil, it looks like. Wait, another one just went off in Italy."

"My God..."

"Why are they dropping so many nukes?" Kyra murmured softly.

"They're panicking." Pierce replied darkly. The bridge fell silent yet again save for the soft rumbling of the ship's hull as it entered the atmosphere. In the quietude, they broke through the low cloud cover and continued their descent towards the surface, near the heart of America. Pierce brought the radio to his mouth again.

"I repeat, this is the U.S.S. Delta, somebody answer me, dammit!" he snapped. Again, a static answer. Pierce slowly put down the radio on the console, replacing it to its place of origin.

"Maybe they're just too busy to answer." Jack murmured.

"Sure. Maybe they're all dead." Pierce replied glumly. Before Jack had a chance to answer, a sharp beeping suddenly filled the bridge.

"We've got incoming!" the Private cried out.

"What the hell is it?" Pierce snapped. Jack's eyes hunted through the front windows. He could imagine an army of Cacodemons rising up to meet them with a flurry of Lost Souls for back up. Instead, he saw a pair of bright lights streaking for them.

"Missiles. We've got auto-targeting missiles. They've locked onto us. I'm transmitting our code, but they don't seem to care..."

"This is a speedship, dammit. Outrun them, out maneuver them!" Pierce demanded.

"We're built as a speedship for space, not interplanetary maneuvers. Ten seconds to impact." Jack felt his stomach go cold. There was no way he was dying here, now, because of some damned missiles. Not after all he and Kyra had been through. Despite what the Private had said, he tore the ship into a dodge as quickly as he could. Too late. Ten seconds seemed like they went by way too fast, and a violent eruption across the back of the vessel sent everyone crashing to the ground.

"Damage report!" Pierce shouted, struggling to be heard over the shrieking alarms.

"Those goshdarned missiles vaporized the back half of the ship! We're in free fall! Everyone has to get to the escape pods!" the Private roared. Jack didn't need to be told twice. He was hauled roughly to his feet by Kyra and given a good shove towards the door. He took a quick look around the bridge. Two of the bridge crew were on the ground and not getting up. Pierce was knelt by one, checking his pulse. He looked unhappy. The unnamed Private began making his way towards them when suddenly one of the control consoles overloaded and burst into flame. His pained shrieks were short lived as he was thrown flaming into a nearby wall.

Pierce abandoned the pair of bodies and hurried to catch up with Kyra and Jack. Together, the trio made their way through the corridor beyond. The ship's rumble was more violent than ever, now feeling unnatural and dangerous. Now that they were out in the corridor, wind shrieked by them from the torn open hull.

"Was there anyone else on the ship!" Jack cried.

"Negative! The entire crew was on the bridge! We had a skeleton crew!" Pierce shouted back. Jack nodded grimly. It was just the three of them now. Not a good way to start his return to Earth. Fire and blood. Jack was following Pierce's lead now, as he was the only one who knew the way to the escape pods. They silently made their way through the vessel, merely focusing on staying alive at this point.

They pounded down the corridor and took a hard right. Just as they did, the ship decided to roll sharply onto its side, causing the trio to slam into the wall. Jack grunted in pain, but pushed himself up and pressed on with the others. He couldn't believe this. He had waded through oceans of blood, fields of corpses, clouds of bullets and hundreds of demons only to now have to be rushing through a crashing ship as his welcome home to Earth.

"Who the hell would even be shooting at us?" Jack roared in sudden anger as they took a shortcut to the pods through the infirmary. Supplies were scattered all over the place. Jack suddenly wished he had grabbed his armor and a bigger arsenal, but was thankful that at least he'd managed to holster his pistol and throw on a proper uniform.

"Again, panic. They're all panicking down there. They must've set off the missiles without even thinking. Or maybe the demons have control...you said there was intelligence behind them." Pierce replied ominously. He opened the corresponding door on the other side of the infirmary. Jack shuddered at the thought.

"It's possible." he admitted. If they had invaded Earth, God alone knew what else they were capable of. Their journey was nearly complete, Pierce informed them. The ship was shaking worse than ever now, and their plummet had to end sometime. Jack had no intentions of being on the ship at that time.

"Here!" Pierce suddenly cried. They bolted through a door as he opened it and they came into the squalid escape pod bay. There were three. Pierce rushed up to one and worked the control to open it. As he pressed the button to open the doors, the whole console abruptly overloaded and ruptured. The resulting explosion doused Pierce in flame and he roared in furious pain as he was thrown across the room. His smoking, charred corpse slammed into the far wall, dead before he hit the ground. Blake and Kyra didn't waste a second.

The pair hurried up to the second pod and hit the activation button. The doors snapped open and the pair hurried inside. Jack being first, he began rushing through the warm up sequence. The pod was a squalid thing, taller than it was wide. It could hold a maximum of four people, if you managed to squeeze everyone in. The door snapped shut behind him and in a blast of motion, the pod shot itself out from the ship.

The pair turned to briefly watch the ship as it crashed below. They were barely five hundred feet from the surface. Within seconds it plunged and smashed into the ground. Jack returned his attention to the controls. Their initial blast had given them several seconds aloft in the air, but that was quickly fading. Soon, they would be falling as fast as the ship.

"Where the hell are we?" Kyra cried. Jack had barely risked a glance at the navigation screens as he did his best to pilot the vessel down to the ground while mitigating the impact. He was failing.

"Looks like somewhere in the middle of Kansas!" he roared. Suddenly, the ground rushed up to meet them. Jack felt gravity catch up with him as both he and Kyra smashed to the ground.

Darkness instantly consumed his vision.

Often overlooked by many, The Legend of Zelda II – The Adventure of Link (hencefore “Zelda II”) is a fabulous game in it’s own right, and a worthy addition to the Zelda series, but why was it overlooked by many? More importantly – why should you play it?

Well first a bit about the game, Zelda has not been kidnapped this time, but instead has been put into an eternal sleep, and it’s upto you to awaken her before Ganon is himself awaken and takes over the world. Nasty eh? The game – rather than being an overworld, top down adventure, instead is a side scrolling game – not really a platformer, more of a scrolling fighter with RPG elements. It’s tricky to define, but it’s definitely a “Zelda game.

Unlike the first one, the game is more spell orientated, with less objects (including no bow and arrow nor boomerang, mainstays of the first game & most other Zelda games). Each castle hides an object, and each town there is a mystical man with a spell for you to learn, though finding either is half the battle. These spells & items are needed to complete the game, though some items you will use only once. Furthermore, you can also level up your skills by killing monsters, an idea not usually portrayed in Zelda games, more akin to the Final Fantasy series.

Anyway, the game itself does take a little bit of getting used to – the fact that your character’s sword and super sword (the beam weapon you get when you have full health) are both pretty pathetic (though you do have a up and a down thrust as well), and that monsters are a complete ballache to kill. Those who are familiar with the original Zelda game may not take to this game, but give it time, as there’s a fascinating game underneath the surface.

Yes, it’s as hard as hell, there’s a lot of times where you’ll tear your hair out, and you’ll hate swamps with a passion. However, there’s a huge amount of love for this game, and rightfully so. It’s remarkably addictive all things considered, and I’m not really sure why. It’s a fantastic side scrolling RPG, and has a lot of charm.

I will make a special point – the music in this game is classic Nintendo 8 bit ditties, that alas doesn’t get played as much as it should. The temple and town themes are great Zelda tunes, that alas do not get as much remixing nor playing as the other Nintendo gems. But try the Temple theme, classic Nintendo stuff!

Zelda II doesn't exactly go out of its way to explain itself from the outset. What's obvious is that you've once again donned the green garb of Link to save Princess Zelda (who is pulling a Sleeping Beauty inside a temple) and prevent the return of the vile Gannon.

Once you walk out of the temple that houses Zelda's sleeping self, you're presented with an overworld that Link can wander around. There are towns, caves, forests, deserts, and the like everywhere, but where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to explore isn't explained at all within the game--not even by the various townspeople you meet. Of course, a few cursory Internet searches will get you all the details you need to proceed.

But if you don't happen to have a walkthrough or otherwise detailed instructions on where exactly you're supposed to go to make that happen, Zelda II might prove a confusing experience, especially the final area of the game--a ridiculously hard, monster-filled labyrinth in which getting lost is a little too easy. It's just interesting to note how such a completely opaque world design could fly back in the day.

Playing Zelda II is an interesting mix of platforming and combat. Caves and dungeons are littered with both perilous traps and angry enemies, often at the same time. Link's primary weapons are a rather piddly sword, a shield, and some magic abilities that upgrade over time.

Leveling up in the game can be kind of a strange process, but you do get plenty of health and magic bonuses, which you'll certainly need to survive. The game is fairly challenging, tossing a number of enemies at you in every situation, including some exceedingly tough bosses at the end of each of the game's palaces.

The game even dabbles in random encounters as you explore the overworld. Enemy icons will just pop up on the map, and if you happen to run into one of them, you're forced to either fight or hightail it out of the area. The whole random encounter thing was annoying, but if you stuck to the roads, you could mostly avoid them.

The emulation of Zelda II on the Virtual Console is spot-on. The graphics were impressive for their time on the NES, and they retain a reasonable amount of aesthetic value now. The game has some great music that maybe isn't quite as catchy as in other Zelda games, but it is pleasing enough.

The original save system also happens to be intact, however obnoxious it is to use. Essentially, you get three lives--and three lives only--in each game. When you die, you can save your progress, but you have to start from the beginning spot every single time. You'll still have your inventory, but you'll have to trek back to wherever you were when you started. It was annoying then and is even more so now.

It's entirely understandable why someone might not like Zelda II. It's such a wild departure from the original Zelda, and there are certainly some foibles and questionable design decisions floating around within the game. But with that said, Zelda II doesn't deserve nearly the level of derision it gets nowadays.

It's an interesting adventure that, in some respects, paved the way for concepts and mechanics found in the modern Zelda games. More than anything, Zelda II as a downloadable game serves as a way to educate fans who weren't old enough to play it back in the '80s. The game doesn't hold up especially well, but it's worth a look for those curious about the roots of the series--just be prepared to go FAQ hunting before embarking on this journey.

Link has had a lot of adventures over the years, though none have inspired such wildly varied reactions as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The Nintendo Entertainment System sequel to the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II eschewed the top-down dungeon crawling nature of the first game and went sideways, essentially turning the game into an action role-playing game/platformer hybrid. Some people loved the new direction of the series, and some reviled it.

The truth was probably somewhere in the middle. Now the debate over Zelda II's place within the series can be fought all over again because the game has come to the Wii Virtual Console. Its unusual design and sometimes clunky mechanics don't hold up nearly as well as any of the other Zelda games re-released for the Virtual Console. But Zelda II still makes for an interesting history lesson, and the game itself is decent enough to make it worth its $5 price.

Viva La Vida By Coldplay

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Fav is Traveling Riverside Blues done by Led Zeppelin they got there style from one of my favorite blues artists Robert Johnson another song that I liked was Crossroads if you do like blues you would like his music.

Asked sweet mama, Let me be her kid
She said, "You might get hurt if you don't keep it hid"

Well I know my baby, If I see her in the dark
I said I know my rider, If I see her in the dark

Now, I goin' to Rosedale, Take my rider by my side
Still barrelhouse, If it's on the riverside, yeah
I know my baby, Lord, I said, "is really sloppy drunk"
I know my mama, Lord, a brownskin, but she ain't no plum

See my baby, tell her, Tell her hurry home
Had no lovin', since my baby been gone
See my baby, Tell hurry on home
I ain't had, Lord, my right mind, Since my rider's been gone

Hey, she promises, She's my rider
I wanna tell you, She's my rider
I know you're mine, She's my rider
She ain't but sixteen, But she's my rider

I'm goin' to Rosedale, Take my rider by side
Anybody argue with me man, I'll keep them satisfied
Well, see my baby, tell her, Tell her the shape I'm in
Ain't had no lovin', Lord, since you know when

Spoken: Why don't you come into my kitchen

She's a kindhearted lady. She studies evil all the time
She's a kindhearted woman. She studies evil all the time

Squeeze my lemon 'til the juice runs down my leg
Squeeze it so hard, I'll fall right out of bed
Squeeze my lemon, 'til the juice runs down my leg

Another I remember from Greek mythology is the Nemean Lion a preternatural beast with an impenetrable pelt, nevertheless vanquished and carried to Mycenae by Heracles as one of his Labors. These Labors were assigned Heracles by his cousin Eurystheus, who hid in a storage jar when he saw the great hero coming with the lion on his shoulder.

One of the offspring of Echidna & Typhon who had other offspring like the Chimera,Hydra,and the Sphinx.

Throws fresh cow dung at Kerubi for not doing it right either right into his face and more moldy green lemons.

Throws lemons at Chaos not just lemons but moldy green ones that have been sitting out for 6 years and smell real bad and are soft and way over ripe.

~ Listening Soundtrack: Track 9 - Down By The Seaside - Led Zeppelin (5:13) - Physical Graffiti ~

Down by the seaside. See the boats go sailin'
Can the people hear, What the little fish are sayin'

Oh, oh, the people turned away. Oh, the people turned away

Down in the city streets, see all the folk go racin', racin'
No time left, to pass the time of day

The people turned away. The people turned away
So far away, so far away

See how they run, see how they run, see how they run, see how they run.

Do you still do the twist
Do you find you remember things that well
I wanna tell you... Some go twistin' every day
though sometimes it's awful hard to tell

Out in the country, hear the people singin'
Singin' 'bout their progress, knowin' where they're goin'

Oh, oh, oh, oh, the people turned away
Yes, the people turned away

Sing loud for the sunshine, pray hard for the rain
And show your love for Lady Nature. And she will come back again
The people turned away
The people turned away

~ Listening Soundtrack: Track 6 - Burnin' Alive - AC/DC (5:05) - Ballbreaker ~

[Oooh yeah]
Burnin' alive, set my soul on fire
Runnin' with a gun, this place is gonna burn
No firewater, or novacaine
No thunderstorm, no John Wayne
No kids to rock, nowhere to run
So watch out 'cause this place is gonna burn

Burnin' alive, Burnin' alive
Burnin' alive, Burnin' alive
[Burnin' alive, Burnin' alive]

They be smokin' your hide, come runnin' wild
Tell you nothin' to fear, cause the buck stops here!
He came from a little town called Hope
And someday, maybe, it'll go up in smoke

[I say]
No firewater, or novacaine,
No thunderstorm, and no John Wayne
No kids to rock, nowhere to run
So watch out, cause this place is gonna burn

Card name: Justice
Author: LunaRoseAngel
Prompt: Mary Winchester
Rating: PG

Artist Notes:I thought that the figures of Justice and Mary Winchester absolutely matched each other. They both do what has to be done and they're stretched out towards the truth for the parts. Mary is a positive figure that adapts herself to a card that has to represent stability and integrity. I opted not to blindfold her (as Justice is at time represented) because I wanted to show her calm and determined stare, as her decisions are. I tried to use the classic nightgown, the one that we all know (sigh), readapting it a bit. Maybe I should have made it a bit more masculine, without the frills, maybe some kind of an armor on her frame...but I don't think that having a 'sweet' dress clashes too much with being irreproachable. I kept a very classic vision of the card in order not to make her lose elegance and, yes, severity.

The writing behind her shoulders is in Latin: "Iustitia omnibus hominibus suum tribuit", that means "Justice gives to each man their own".




Card name: The Star
Author: LunaRoseAngel
Prompt: Lisa
Rating: PG

Artist Notes: The Star exists to bring hope and peace to the hero of the story. Dean, burdened with his decision to allow or not allow Michael into his body turned to Lisa. The Star is a card that everyone loves, and is often the most beautiful card in the deck. It is there to offer comfort to the hero and bring a sign of relief. Although, this relief may not be immediate. When Dean again turns to Lisa at the end of Season 5, she becomes the symbol for hope and change that he needs at the moment. The trick is that the card may not be that future. It only predicts the future, the hero must find his own way to it.

Lisa seemed the obvious choice for this card. It is difficult to dislike someone who brings peace and a family atmosphere like Lisa does to Dean.

Symbols: I used a lighter style than I normally do in this picture, the thin outlines make it look less dynamic, but more peaceful (I hope). There are six stars on her shirt and one in the sky for a total of seven as the card requires. Lisa dips her feet into a pool of water and gazes into the sky introspectively. There are also two pitchers of water sitting next to her, they both have the protection pentagram stamped on them, the same one that Sam and Dean have as tattoos. I added this as an extra detail to represent the safety of the card.

~ Listening: Thunderstruck - AC/DC (4:52) - The Razors Edge ~

I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (Thunder)
I looked round
And I knew there was no turning back (Thunder)
My mind raced
And I thought what could I do (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (Thunder)

Sound of the drums
Beatin' in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been - thunderstruck

Still getting use to playing this game I think I have the jest of it am very sure anyways I have help if I get stuck that's why I like this forum.

T again is for "The Hurting" by Tears For Fears.

Next letter is G

What is up with the letter t it must be a popular letter today.

Listening to Metallica's Ride The Lightning from there self titled album one of my fav songs that I like listening to.

Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain't right
There's someone else controlling me

Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can't be happening to me

Who made you God to say?,
I'll take your life from you

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the pain

Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It's the beginning of the end

Sweat, chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consciousness my only friend

My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the pain


Someone help me
Oh please, God help me
They're trying to take it all away
I don't want to die

(SOLO)

Someone help me
Oh please, God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don`t want to die

Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain call I see

Im through with this
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be

Wakened by a horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die

Burning in my brain
I can feel the pain

It’s a debate we hear all the time. The experienced old-timer talking about how they did it in their day and how things were so much better “back then”. Even when it comes to video games, there are people who prefer the way things were back in the old blocky, 2D days.

There’s a good reason I like going back and examining the good and bad of video games past. That’s because deep down, I still really enjoy playing some of the old stuff. But, at the same time, that doesn’t make games back then better. While several old games helped to define genres and trends in gaming, nostalgia goggles can do a lot to alter one’s perspective on what was good and bad. Hell, when I was a kid, I thought Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was an excellent film, but that was a freaking peace of crap in retrospect. In the end, the “things were better back then” argument can sometimes boil down to fond memories as opposed to whether something was actually good.

Games Were Harder Back Then

To be honest, you can’t really argue with that. Games back then were harder, or at least appeared to be. Comparing the 8-bit Megaman games to the Megaman games of the 16-bit era or Super Mario Bros. in comparison to Super Mario World, there’s a tendency for the 8-bit stuff to be more on the difficult side. But then again, this isn’t a really a surprise when you think about it. After all, with every passing generation of the so-called “Console Wars,” video game technology has improved, meaning things don’t have to be as limited as they once were. Once you start removing some of the gameplay limitations, such as the amount of shots that can be fired onscreen in some old shooters, the games stop being as relentless. That said, there’s a reason why games have a hard difficulty setting.

On top of that, remembering old games as “being hard” doesn’t necessarily mean they were actually hard, or at least harder than things today. Though there were games back then that were controller-breakingly hard, that doesn’t mean all retro games were hard. Just like many other things out there, gaming is a skill and you get better at it the more you do it. Personally, I have begun to feel as games today have been getting easier as time goes on, but at the same time, after playing video games for almost the last twenty years, maybe it’s all that experience I’ve gathered from playing so long. Perhaps I’ve leveled up, along with several others who have realized that the normal difficulty setting just isn’t enough these days.

Still, with gaming having gone quite mainstream in recent years, who’s to say that games haven’t gotten easier? After all, not everyone is obsessed with being number one at a video game. In fact, game difficulty can turn people away from games and, as we all know, the gaming industry is just that; an industry. Developers and publishers exist to make money and if a easier difficulty setting will appeal to more customers, than it’s not all that surprising that games are somewhat easier. But, just because there are easy games doesn’t mean that there aren’t hard ones. Though I do love a good challenge, I play games that are fun, regardless of difficulty. So to say retro games are better because they’re harder doesn’t really make sense when you think about it. In fact, some of those retro games can be downright frustrating, especially some of the older arcade games. Though, given that they’re designed to take your money, their level of difficulty shouldn’t be surprising either.

People These Days Care About Graphics As Opposed to Gameplay

That’s another argument that gets tossed around when comparing modern games to games from gaming’s “golden age”. With graphics technology continuously improving, the belief that focusing on graphics detracts from gameplay development is a common one, especially when there are several games that look good but are ultimately very flawed, either having horrible gameplay or being glitchy. It’s no surprise that gamers would want improved graphics, but there are those who feel that it is costing gamers good gameplay. Still, just because a game looks good doesn’t mean it can’t also be good gameplay-wise. Inversely, a 2D game isn’t guaranteed to be a masterpiece. In fact, many were garbage, including games like Cliffhanger, Jurassic Park and Fester’s Quest to name a few. Many people may blame graphics for the decline in video game quality but that being said, there were still many s***ty video games even before graphics looked good.

On the other side of the spectrum, the improvement in graphics can be a good thing. A good game doesn’t rely on graphics, but that doesn’t mean that graphics can’t help a good game look good as well, especially given that video games are a visual medium. It’s easy to say that a game that looks nice is all flash and no substance, but that isn’t always the case. Still, some “purists” will still consider good graphics a bad thing and, as I’ve said before, you don’t need graphics to enjoy a good game. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be welcome though.

Gaming Is Getting Too Complicated

It’s hard to argue with this one, simply because it is quite true, especially when it comes to console gaming. It used to be you just placed the game in the console, picked up the controller and played to your heart’s content. However, now that we’ve got built-in hard drives in every console, except for the Wii, which uses flash memory, console gaming is quickly becoming more like PC gaming in terms of complexity, especially when you look at the PS3, which requires that some games be installed onto the hard drive. With gamers requiring an internet connection to receive updates for games and keep them current, keeping up with system updates (though there aren’t usually that many), and online play being almost a necessity, the “simplicity” of console gaming as compared to PC gaming is slowly fading, and gamers who once turned to consoles due to the ability to just pick up and play can wind up being turned off by just how complicated things have gotten.

Also, with HD gaming being all the rage these days, developers are starting to cater more to that crowd. Though that hasn’t been that big of an issue, there have been a few cases in which HD gaming has caused a few problems for those who aren’t HD capable, such as issues with blurry text in Dead Rising and Mass Effect 2 when playing in standard definition. While HD technology is quickly becoming popular, a problem like this wouldn’t have been an issue in earlier gaming days, unless someone had a particularly crappy TV. Like I said before, it’s hard to argue with the fact that console gaming has become rather complicated. Still, even in it’s simplest form, the video game world has always been technologically driven, so is it really a surprised that things wound up this way? Probably not, but some people like to keep it simple, and compared to today, gaming back then was definitely simple.

The Verdict

Gaming is a continuously evolving thing and, while there are people who would prefer to stay in gaming’s past, I feel that there are still great things to come when it comes to the future of gaming. I’m still a fan of the retro stuff, always have been and probably always will be. But, when it comes to both old and new video games, while there are those who will favor one over the other, you can’t really say that one is better than the other. After all, it was the old stuff that helped to lay down the foundation for the games we have today. Sure, some games, such as the Sonic series don’t always translate well as tech becomes more advanced. That, for the most part, will always be true, but it’s not something that holds true for everything and I think there’s more to modern gaming than just pretty graphics, otherwise, I would’ve given up years ago.

T is for "This Ain't the Summer of Love" by Blue Oyster Cult.

Next letter is E

Orion was the son of Neptune. He was a handsome giant and a mighty hunter. His father gave him the power of wading through the depths of the sea, or as others say, of walking on its
surface.

After this he dwelt as a hunter with Diana, with whom he was a favorite, and it is even said she was about to marry him. Her brother was highly displeased and often chid her, but to no purpose. One day, observing Orion wading though the sea with his head just above the water, Apollo pointed it out to his sister and maintained that she could not hit that black thing on the sea. The archer-goddess discharged a shaft with fatal aim. The waves rolled the dead body of Orion to the land, and bewailing her fatal error with many tears, Diana placed him among the stars, where he appears as a giant, with a girdle, sword, lion's skin, and club. Sirius, his dog, follows him, and the Pleiads fly before him.

Mr. Longfellow has a poem on the "Occultation of Orion." The following lines are those in which he alludes to the mythic story. We must premise that on the celestial globe Orion is
represented as robed in a lion's skin and wielding a club. At the moment the stars of the constellation one by one were quenched in the light of the moon, the poet tells us,

"Down fell the red skin of the lion
Into the river at his feet.
His mighty club no longer beat
The forehead of the bull; but he
Reeled as of yore beside the sea,
When blinded by Oenopion
He sought the blacksmith at his forge,
And climbing up the narrow gorge,
Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun."

Tennyson has a different theory of the Pleiads:

"Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid."
Locksley Hall

Byron alludes to the lost Pleiad:

"Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below."

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Your very welcome am glad that these facts are helping for you.

Sleipnir is a horse of Norse mythology who was believed to belong to Odin, the god of war, poetry, knowledge, and wisdom. Slepnier, however, was no ordinary horse. Having 8 legs, his speed far exceeded that of any other horse. He was also said to be exceptionally smooth, which is where he got his name, the meaning of which is "smooth" or "gliding".

The story behind this unusual horse is quite unusual itself. It all started when Thor, the god of thunder and war, left Asgard to slay giants. While he was away, a frost giant named Hrimthurs came to Asgard disguised as a human stonemason and offered to rebuild the wall around Asgard which had recently fallen. All he asked for in return was the sun, the moon, and Freyja, the beautiful fertility goddess.

The Gods agreed to this arrangement, provided that Hrimthurs could finish in six months, something the Gods believed was impossible. The trickster god Loki, without consulting the other gods, gave Himthrus one tool to use-- a gray stallion named Svadilfari, which means either "slave" or "ill fated."

With the aid of Svadilfari, Himthrus worked very quickly, and it wasn't long before the Gods realized that he might actually finish in time. When they realized this, they became very afraid, and very furious with Loki. To fix the situation, just as Himthrus was about to replace the last brick of the wall, Loki turned into a beautiful white mare and beckoned Svadilfari to follow her. Himthrus was very angry about this and he began tearing down the wall, however, he was prevented by the return of Thor. When Thor saw Himthrus tearing down the wall, he pulled out his famous Hammer, Mjolnir, and hit the giant over the head.

Later, Loki, still in the shape of the mare, gave birth to an 8-legged foal, Sleipnir. He then offered Sleipnir as a gift to Odin. It is believed that Sleipnir was not only the fastest horse, but that he could be ridden over the sea and through the air by Odin.

Later, Odin's son Hemrod rode Sleipnir into the underworld on a mission to retrieve his dead brother Balder. Hemrod and Balder's other brother Hodur, who was blind, had been tricked by Loki into killing Balder. Hemrod rode for 9 days and 9 nights until he came to gates of the underworld, ruled by the goddess Hel (the root of the English word Hell). Sleipnir was able jump and clear the gates without a problem. Hemrod continued to ride through the underworld until he finally found Balder. However, Hel, said that she would realease Balder from the underworld on only one condition. Everyone and everything must weep for him. Loki, disguised as a giantess, refused to weep and Balder was condemned to the underworld forever.

Now that we know Sleipnir's story I would like to talk a little bit about him as a symbol. It is believed that Sleipnir's eight legs are symbolic of the four men who carry a coffin. I am afraid I have to disagree with this. While Sleipnir did carrry his rider into the underworld, he did not do so at the time of his death, and don't think that Sleipnir could in anyway be blamed for Balder's death.

Another suggestion about the reasoning behind the 8 legs is that on rare occasion a horse my be born with three toes, a genetic manifestation known as polydactyly. When this happens, two extra toes will appear on the legs of the horse. This usually does not negatively affect the horses motion. It is very rare, but has been seen both in modern and ancient times. Juilius Ceasar rode such a horse, and they became considered a token of good fortune. It is possible that this particular horse is at least partially responsible for inspiring the myth of Sleipnir.

I personally believe this is very likely. To encounter such a rare horse, would more than likely cause people to start telling stories, and we all know that the longer a story circulates, the more outlandish is becomes. The myth of slepnier is a very old myth that has had plenty of years to grow into what it is today.

-Forests, plants, animals and fish are some of Canada's renewable resources.
-Renewable resources can be replaced by nature.
-Canada has 10% of the world's forests.
-Minerals, metal, natural gas, and oil are some of Canada's nonrenewable resources.
-They cannot be replaced by nature.
-Hydroelectric power is sold to the United States.
-Canada is one of the largest mining nations in the world.
-Over 60 minerals and metals are produced in Canada.
-Canada is the third largest diamond producing nation in the world.
-Canada is the world's leader in the production of potash and uranium.

-There are many different types of farms in Canada:
grain farms, vegetable farms, fruit orchards, livestock and dairy farms

-There are 42 national parks in Canada.

Parks were created to protect the forests, plants and wildlife.Canada has laws to protect the wild animals and plants that are endangered.Hunting, mining and logging are not allowed in parks.

-The largest park in Canada is Wood Buffalo National Park, in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It is home of the world's largest bison herd and the only nesting site of the endangered whooping crane.
-The oldest National Park is Banff in Alberta. It was created in 1885 as Rocky Mountain Park.