Conspiracy Theories

I have always been fascinated by conspiracy theories. The more believable and unexplainable the better. However, I've never really been naive enough to actually believe any of them, or have I? But is it a question of naivety? A conspiracy theory would have you questioning yourself on why you don't believe it. Is it just ill-educated people that believe these conspiracy theories, or extremely well educated people that have outsmarted world leaders and exploited the dominant ideology that they present.

One conspiracy theory that I used to be fascinated by is the 'Paul Is Dead' conspiracy theory, a theory that believes Paul McCartney of the Beatles died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by an imposter. The evidence for this theory is a selection of clues in albums released by the Beatles. The story of Paul's alledged death is said to have been revealed through certain Beatles' songs:

• "He didn't notice that the lights had changed" ('A Day in the Life')
• He then crashed (a car crash sound is heard in 'Revolution 9' and 'A Day in the Life').
• He was pronounced dead on a "Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins" ('She's Leaving Home')
• Nobody found this out because the news was withheld: "Wednesday morning papers didn't come" ('Lady Madonna').

An example of a visual clue - on the cover of the "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album if you hold a mirror horizontally through the middle of "Lonely Hearts" message on the drum on the album cover it reads: "I ONE IX HE <> DIE" - the "I One" is said to mean 11, and so the mesage reads "11 9 HE DIE" or the 9th of November, the date of the accident. The <> is a diamond shape that points straight up at Paul McCartney, demonstrating he had died.

There are a lot more clues to back-up this theory and you can see the full list of clues on this page on the BBC's website.

One of the most popular and most publicised conspiracy theories is the theory that the 9/11 terrorist attack in America was not actually a terrorist attack, but instead an orchestrated attack on it's own people by the US government. At first this seems highly unlikely, why would the US government do this? But with all the evidence that proves it wasn't a terrorist attack, the conspiracy theorists do have a good case.

This clip from 'Zeitgeist, The Movie' shows the 9/11 myth that is commonly believed and deconstructs it to show that there is proof that the attacks were orchestrated or allowed to happen by the US government to create fear and justify the 'War on Terror'. It is a very interesting video and does bring up a lot of interesting evidence to prove that the World Trade Centre buildings were brought down by controlled explosions and that there is no real evidence that proves that Osama Bin Ladan is responsible for the attack.

This clip from 'Zeitgeist, The Movie' proves that it was impossible that a plane could have crashed in to the Pentagon judging by the wreckage. The fact that the CCTV that would have shown what actually happened was confiscated by the FBI is all the proof I need. If a plane crashed in to the Pentagon and the CCTV showed that then why would this footage be confiscated, this seems very suspect to me. So maybe I do believe this? But what can I do about it? Nothing, is the answer.

The full film, 'Zeitgeist, The Movie' can be seen here.

There is a conspiracy theory for pretty much anything, and there is no way we will ever find out if the 9/11 conspiracy theory, or any other conspiracy theory, is true because that's why they are conspiracy theories. Most people just sit back and take what they are spoon-fed by the mass media. If more people thought for themselves and drew their own conclusions from the other sides of the stories, not only the story shown by the media, which is presented as the 'truth'. If this were to happen then maybe people in charge (the world leaders, or whoever they may be, did someone say lizards?) might think again before trying to fool nations upon nations of people.

No Modern Warfare 2 DLC in development until after the game’s release - Published @ Video Game Reviews

As I reported here, a special Modern Warfare 2 brand of Monster Energy drink revealed that DLC for Modern Warfare 2 was planned to be released in spring 2010. However Infinity Ward responded to this by saying that no Modern Warfare 2 DLC is in development and will not be until after the game’s release.

You can read my article about it here.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

In recent years Batman has taken the movie world by storm with the great success of 'Batman Begins' and most recently 'The Dark Knight'; but Batman has never really had a good game interpretation. However, Batman: Arkham Asylum is just that; the best Batman game to date and it actually makes you feel like Batman.

The whole game takes place on Arkham Island, home of the Arkham Asylum where all Gotham city's criminals/insane characters/Batman's foes are kept. The game starts as Batman catches the Joker ready to imprison him in Arkham Asylum once and for all. But nothing is ever that easy for Batman, the Joker escapes and creates hell for Batman as you play out the longest night in Batman's life.

The gameplay is simply phenomenal. Detective mode is genius and the game has a great variety of combat where you can take out your enemies one by one in stealth mode or take them all on at once with a simple but effective 3 button fighting system. Quite simply, you will love playing this game. I don't want to give too much away but Batman's altercations with Scarecrow, where Batman is faced with his deepest darkest fears, are presented incredibly well.

What's also unique about Batman: Arkham Asylum in the Batman sense is that it is not at all based on any recent Batman movie and focuses on just the Batman character. Batman has a very interesting history which is represented well, for example winessing the murder of both his parents at a young age, a memory that is exploited in the game. All of Batman's gadgets are used in the game and you unlock and upgrade them as the game goes on, for example the Batarang can be upgraded to a triple Batarang to take out three enemies at once.

Furthermore any Batman fanatic will love this game; it is so well researched featuring all of the characters from Batman's illustrious comic book career. Character's biographies are unlocked throughout the game along with tapes of interviews with patients at the asylum creating a tremendous back-story.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was developed by London-based Rocksteady Studios, a relatively unknown developer that has only ever produced one game before this; Urban Chaos for PS2 (anyone remember that? No, didn’t think so...) Yet this game is still up there with the best action/adventure games available.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is almost the perfect game, the only thing that lets it down is that at times it can be repetitive and the boss battles could have been improved. However, these are small flaws in this very fresh game. The game also has great replayability with 240 riddles to be a solved all over Arkham Island and the very challenging, and aptly titled, challenge mode. More challenge rooms are unlocked as you solve more riddles. Even more challenge rooms are set to be released at downloadable content with two free sets of DLC already available.

Overall Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best games out this year so far and if you haven’t played it yet, what are you waiting for?

9/10

PES to “aggressively” incoporate Natal/Motion Wand - Published @ Video Game Reviews

Konami have announced that they are looking into “very aggressively” incorporating the use of Xbox 360’s Project Natal and Playstation 3’s Motion Wand in future Pro Evolution Soccer releases. Whatever “very aggressively” means, maybe it’s what PES needs to win its yearly battle with FIFA.

You can read my article about it here.

Modern Warfare 2 DLC coming Spring 2010 - Published @ Video Game Reviews

A special Modern Warfare 2 brand of Monster Energy drink has revealed that one of the downloadable map packs for Modern Warfare 2 is planned to be released in spring 2010.

You can read my article about it here.