Search Results

Cardinal Esports host discussion with ESL Caster Paul Todkil

Story and Photos by Eben Griger On Wednesday, Cardinal Esports hosted a conference with Paul Todkill, a project manager, producer, and caster for ESL. ESL is the largest official eSports organization, hosting tournaments across the globe. Using Discord video chat, Todkill was able to sit down and talk with Cardinal Esports about how he got involved with esports, what his job at ESL entails, and then took questions from various members of Cardinal Esports. Todkill talked extensively about the pros and cons of being in the esports business. “I would say one of the easiest parts of the jobs is that it’s something… we’re super passionate about. I don’t think there’s a lot of people here where its not something they care about deeply. But that’s sort of a double-edged sword in a lot of ways because, because its such a passion project for so many people. People are out there grinding nonstop… we are working our butts off all the time, every project... Because that’s how you do it. The second you stop, there’s somebody younger, there’s somebody hungrier who wants to come and take your job.” [ngg src="galleries" ids="32" display="basic_thumbnail" thumbnail_crop="0"]Todkill also talked about how to set yourself up for success on the casting side of eSports.  “I think the single biggest tip I can give somebody starting out is to find a good co-caster. Because there are so many bad habits you develop when casting on your own.” Todkill explains. “The second most important thing… you are a storyteller. You are there to tell the story of the match, the story of the players, to say why this is important.” Todkill went on to say that anyone can look at the screen and recognize a good play, but it is the casters job to add to it by giving context to things that happen in the match. The biggest audience for eSports, in Todkill’s opinion, is people who already understand the game and are trying to get better. According to Todkill, one of the most important skills for an eSports broadcaster to have is the ability to “break [the game] down to the audience in layman’s terms, but without belittling their intelligence.” Todkill also touched on the importance of being able to learn and take constructive criticism, knowing your way around both sides of the camera, and his favorite flavor of PopTart (which was strawberry).

E3 2019: Bethesda Recap

E3 2019: Bethesda Recap

by Eben Griger Bethesda is one of the biggest names in gaming. whether it be the legacy of past games, or the IP's they currently hold, it's hard to ignore anything that has the Bethesda name on it. Unfortunately for the gaming giant, this year that included a good amount of controversy. After the muddy launch and post-launch response of Fallout 76, Bethesda had been in a good amount of hot water with fans. Normally, things like this get swept under the rug at conferences like E3. Bethesda decided to take the high road with this though, having both Pete Hines and Todd Howard himself address the issues they faced from the community. After a few jokes at their own expense, Bethesda launched in to their announcements. The New Elder Scrolls: Blades An update adding jewelry and a dragon quest-line drops tonight Solo arena battles coming to the game this fall Also this fall, Blades comes to the Nintendo Switch, along with cross-platform play and progression.  Fallout 76 Wastelanders update set to drop, for free, this fall Adds human NPC's, new weapons and gear, and "choice and consequence" Free trial week on all platforms June 10-17 Ghostwire: Tokyo New action-adventure game from Tango, the studio behind The Evil Within 2 Story teaser trailer showed, highlighting ghost's biggest weakness - bows Elder Scrolls Online Showed off an impressive-looking CG dragon fight, showing off a new character Scalebreaker expansion coming in August, Dragonhold late this year Commander Keen Free-to-play mobile game in the style of a Saturday-morning cartoon Doodle Jump meets card game, plus alien slaying Coming this summer Elder Scrolls: Legends We got a live-action trailer that didn't actually show off anything new Moons of Elsweyr expansion coming June 27 Rage 2 Weekly content drops cheat codes, new vehicles, new challenges Rise of the Ghosts expansion More story, more gear and a new enemy faction Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot You're a hacker who takes control of Nazi mechs and then uses them to shoot their creators Available in July Wolfenstein Youngblood Co-op title featuring the twin daughters of series hero B.J. Blazkowicz More weapons, more customization, and if the trailer was anything to go off of, more synthwave Launches July 26 on all platforms, including the Switch Deathloop We got a CG reveal for Arkane Studio's latest game Basically Groundhog Day meets Dishonored Orion The one thing Bethesda showed off that wasn't a game Service that allows game streaming to run smoother with features like decreases latency and bandwidth usage, as well as improved graphics and framerate For example, they showed Doom 2016 running at 60fps in 1080p, on a phone Doom Eternal We saw new weapons and gadgets, as well as new enemies Doomslayer apparently ran out of things to kill in Hell, becasue we see him in what looks to be Heaven now Parkour challenges, classic Doom green goo levels New and improved multiplayer Player-controlled demons take on player-controlled slayer Post-release story content was confirmed Releases November 22 The Good Almost everything Bethesda showed off this year looked really, really good. Even the free-to-play mobile game about kids shooting aliens had me pretty excited. Bethesda seems to be more community-focused, and seems intent on putting out single-player experiences, a growing rarity in today's gaming industry. The Bad It's hard for me to say if anything was really "bad" this conference, because everything seemed sort of... bland. What we saw looked really cool, the gameplay of everything seemed fun, but nothing really stood out. The things that did, the new IP's, were merely teasers of what we might see at later E3s. Speaking of new IPs... The... Same Much like their conference last year, Bethesda's announcements were plagued by continuing IPs. Not that I'm not looking forward to them, Youngblood in particular, but out of the 11 games shown off, only three were original IPs, and even one of those is a rebranding of a game from the 90s. It's something we've seen in the film industry for a while, reboots and sequels (looking at you, Disney), and that trend seems to be bleeding over into video games. I'm not mad Bethesda, I'm just disappointed. Image: Wikimedia

Gamergate reappears, then disappears just as quickly

This week, Russ Pitts, Editor-in-Chief of Escapist Magazine, published an op-ed on a subject that many had not thought about since it occurred almost five years ago, Gamergate.

‘Spongebob’ fans may get to relive the Bubble Bowl at Super Bowl LIII’s halftime show

Fans of the animated series Spongebob Squarepants will have something to look forward to during the halftime show of Superbowl LIII.

Gillette’s ‘The Best Men Can Be’ ad sparks internet controversy over toxic masculinity

On January 13th, shaving magnate Gillette released an ad for their razors, and this as has become the subject of debate across the internet.

Prolific comic author, editor and artist Stan Lee dead at 95

Stan Lee died today, after being rushed to the hospital early this morning according to The Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death is not yet known.

Spectrum drag show raises over $1500 for Muncie OUTreach

Spectrum, one of Ball State’s LGBT+ student groups, hosted their semi annual drag show in Ball Gymnasium on Saturday, Nov 3, which in total raised $1504 for Muncie OUTreach, a non-for-profit LGBT youth group.

Spectrum drag show raises over $1500 for Muncie OUTreach

by Eben Griger Spectrum, one of Ball State’s LGBT+ student groups, hosted their semi annual drag show in Ball Gymnasium on Saturday, Nov 3, which in total raised $1504 for Muncie OUTreach, a non-for-profit LGBT youth group. This year's theme was Breaking the Binary, featuring technologically oriented decorations. The drag show featured a multitude of queens lipsyncing, dancing and, in one case, actually singing along with music. In addition to the choreographed numbers, announcers would crack jokes about the event and poke fun at themselves and other queens while giving introductions Throughout the acts, spectators gave donations in the form of tips, either given to the queens themselves or put into buckets placed around the stage. The show also featured a booth with merchandise available, where Spectrum members were selling shirts. Proceeds from that were also added to the donation total at the end of the night. The show ended with the regular awarding of sashes, but to crown the true queen, contestants were treated to a lip sync battle between the two finalists. After the winner was decided, the hosts congratulated everyone who participated, both onstage and off, and announced the total raised. As the crowd filed out, they were able to chat with some of the queens and continue making donations. Image Gallery Click the image below to see more from the show! Photography by Eben Griger  [ngg src="galleries" ids="14" exclusions="167,169,170,174,175,189,275,278,281,283,288,289,292,295,297,302,306" display="basic_slideshow"] Photo Editing: Jeremy Rogers

Local music venue ‘The Batcave’ hosts its inaugural show

by Eben Griger The Batcave hosted the first of many shows in its basement last Sunday, with a four-band lineup. The venue gets its name not from the DC superhero, but from the bats found in the basement. The show was put on by Lame Brain Productions, a Muncie-native company that provides venues, booking, recording, and photography for local bands. Sunday’s show consisted of The Sick Boy Method, a “progressive post-hardcore” trio; Shoot on Sight, a “sociopolitical egalitarian punk rock” band; Pat and the Pissers, a hardcore punk band; and headlined by Indian Old School, a post-hardcore grunge band. Sick Boy Method is from Muncie, both Pat and the Pissers and Shoot on Sight are from Indianapolis, and Indian Old School is from Anderson. The show pulled in a good sized crowd, with people spilling out of the house and on to the front yard. During their set, Indian Old School gathered the crowd in to make a speech on the state of music and how shows like this one were working to improve music, with people doing what makes them happy. Raw music was being made because people wanted to make it, not because any record label wanted them to, continued the band. The trio then finished with a new song, ending their set with an announcement that they were taking a break to record new material and get their lives in order. The Batcave joins the ever-growing list of venues for local bands to play at in Muncie, which includes The Basement, The Sauna, and Be Here Now. Bandcamp accounts: Shoot on Sight, Pat and the Pissers, Indiana Old School

Village Green Records Hosts its Back to School Show

Muncie’s Village Green Records held its annual back to school live show this past Saturday, with several varied musical ensembles performing.

E3 2018 recap and reflection: Playstation

Sony had set the tone for their conference early in the week by announcing they would be revealing five new games coming to PlayStation in the five days leading up to E3. With some smaller announcements out of the way, Sony left time in their conference for some big reveals, so let’s take a look at what they showed off.

Steam pledges to barely moderate its storefront, inviting regulation from the Trump administration

This week, Steam announced that it no longer plans on moderating any content put on it’s store, barring things that are “illegal” or “trolling.” What this means is obviously open to interpretation, with legality varying from country to country and trolling being possibly the most vague term they could have chosen. 

Steam pledges to barely moderate its storefront, inviting regulation from the Trump administration

by Eben Griger   This week, Steam announced that it no longer plans on moderating any content put on it’s store, barring things that are “illegal” or “trolling.” What this means is obviously open to interpretation, with legality varying from country to country and trolling being possibly the most vague term they could have chosen.  Now, ignoring trolling for now (what is and isn’t technically “trolling” is a monster in itself), Valve has said that it will look at games in a case-by case basis, meaning if a gathers enough complaints, Valve will make a judgement call. But until those complaints are gathered, there is no barrier to entry for games to get on the Steam Store.  Which could be good or bad. On one hand, for those that consider video games to be an art form, this lack of restriction for things like violence and nudity can be used to further a game’s message or to make a statement. An example of this upcoming game Agony, which takes place in Hell. Agony has garnered criticism over the depictions of brutal violence in the game, going so far as to receive an “Adults Only” rating from the ESRB. But seeing as the game is in fact set in Hell, this violence may be warranted, and removing it may subtract from the game. On the other hand, say Jack Thompson’s hand for example, this lack of serious moderation could be used as a platform for people arguing that gratuitous violence and sex in video games has an adverse effect on children. It's not just disbarred former attorneys from Florida arguing against violent video games. A big player on this side of the argument is the White House itself, which released a “violent video game reel,” which included scenes from Modern Warfare 2, Fallout 4 and Dead by Daylight. President Trump has even spoken to reporters himself about the dangers posed by violent video games.  Trump brings up the level of violence in video games and movies. https://t.co/be0VWVrkQM — Meg Wagner (@megwagner) February 22, 2018 Beyond talking about the dangers of exposing children to violent video games and movies, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently made headlines by revealing that her Commission on School Safety will not be examining the effect of guns on school safety. What will the Commission be looking at then? Video games and social media, among other things meaning legislators could be looking for an excuse to bring a bill to the floor that would do what Steam has chosen not to do.  Steam has recently elicited strong responses across mainstream media outlets when the game Active Shooter appeared on their storefront. The game was reviled for its morbid gameplay, and Steam was roundly condemned for allowing the game to be sold. Just one week later, the game AIDS Simulator appeared on the storefront, describing a game wherein the main character seeks revenge on the people of Africa after catching AIDS from "the locals." Both Active Shooter and AIDS Simulator were pulled from the Steam storefront before they were made available for purchase, but the media fervor that games such as these generate does not need a release. Similar issues with politicians worrying about the violent content of games like Mortal Kombat in 1992 led to the creation of the ESRB, which was formed as a way for the industry to self-regulate games without legislators stepping in. Depending on what the Trump administration decides to do, we could possibly see something even more restrictive be implemented in the near future. Sources: NOLA, MSN, Kotaku, Twitter  Images: QZ, YouTube

BSU hosts 3rd annual Cardinal Screenplay Festival

The Cardinal Screenplay Festival, now in its third year, is a celebration of the Department of English’s best scripts, written by students and performed by both students and faculty. The scripts are chosen from the screenwriting courses, in this case English 410 and 615.

Ball State hosts Xenharmonic New Music Showcase

by Eben Griger The Xenharmonic New Music Showcase 2018 features composers from all around Indiana, as well as from Denver, Colorado and Boston, Massachusetts. BSU graduate student Stephen Weigel will be performing as well, and was able to answer a few questions for us. Xenharmonics refers to any music that does not stick to the 12-tone system that most people know. The music is mostly performed in traditionally non-European music. However, simply departing from the traditionally contemporary western tuning systems is not the only feature of modern xenharmonic music. "It’s actually the deliberate usage of a plurality of tuning systems that is not... Electronics and technological advances have enabled people to play in any tuning system they like." said Weigel. “I find that tunings illicit different moods.”  And mood is a big focus for xenharmonic music. Traditionally, most 12-tone music is either major or minor, which tends to sound happy or sad respectively. Because xenharmonic music doesn’t follow the same system, composers create pieces that bring about different feelings from listeners. “Why would you have only major and minor when you could have everything?” Weigel said. “That’s why I use xenharmonics." The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15 in Sursa Hall. Image: Facebook

Ball State hosts Xenharmonic New Music Showcase

The Xenharmonic New Music Showcase 2018 features composers from all around Indiana, as well as from Denver, Colorado and Boston, Massachusetts. BSU graduate student Stephen Weigel will be performing as well, and was able to answer a few questions for us.

BSU Technology Center now accepting old electronics for new recycling program

by Eben Griger We’ve all got those old electronics laying around. That old flip phone, the laptop that failed, the old CRT computer monitor. It’s that (information) age-old problem. Old electronics aren’t exactly trash, nobody tosses their old MP3 player in the garbage, but you can’t really throw it in a recycling bin either. Until now, that is. The Ball State Technology Center, located in Bracken library, is now taking your old technology and recycling it for you, free of charge. Byte spoke to BSU Director of Unified Technology Support Laura Petty about the program. “Ball State is always looking for ways to be environmentally responsible, and so providing a way for folks to recycle or dispose of their technology items properly was a big thing for us,” Petty said. “It just seemed like a good service for the university community.” So let’s break down some things about this service. First, what they’ll take. All of the standard items are there, laptops: desktop computers, mobile phones and tablets. Also accepted though, are monitors, printers and network equipment like modems and wireless routers. The only thing they don’t take is TVs. All the Technology Center asks you do is wipe the device of any personal data. If you’re not sure how to do that, the Technology Center has you covered there too. TechTime, free to all enrolled students, will walk you through how to wipe all your data. After it’s wiped, bring it to the Technology Center in Bracken, fill out a quick form, and you’re good to go. And if you’re worried about anything you’ve forgotten to wipe, have no fear because no one gets that data anyways. Instead of being resold or repurposed, all donated technology has their hard drives and other memory devices taken out and smashed, ensuring that any personal data can’t be recovered. “We want to make sure that we’re being good stewards of university resources, make sure were taking all appropriate security measures to protect data and by destroying those drives, wiping them and everything, then we can be assured that everything is safe.” For any questions on the new program, contact the Technology HelpDesk at (765) 285-1817, Monday-Thursay 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Image: Ball State Tech Center

BSU Technology Center now accepting old electronics for new recycling program

We’ve all got those old electronics laying around. That old flip phone, the laptop that failed, the old CRT computer monitor. It’s that (information) age-old problem. Old electronics aren’t exactly trash, nobody tosses their old MP3 player in the garbage, but you can’t really throw it in a recycling bin either. Until now, that is.

Newly released Chrono Trigger PC port causes backlash among fans

by Eben Griger The 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger was ported to PC this past week, and fans are not happy with the product. The original game is commonly referred to as “the best video game of all time,” mostly for it’s influence on modern games of the genre, such as multiple endings, character development and a unique combat system. Chrono Trigger had boasted a “dream team” of developers, including those who worked on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball prior to the development of Chrono Trigger. So naturally, fans were excited to be able to play Chrono Trigger on their PC. Unfortunately, much of this excitement dwindled rather quickly as fans started to play the re-release. What they were greeted with was muddy visuals, fonts not in the original, and inputs for touch-based controls even when using a mouse and keyboard or controller. It quickly became clear that the PC release was a port of the mobile version of the game, not the original. And muddy really is the best way to describe the visuals of the PC release. The pixels aren’t sharp, and the colors aren’t bright. And while the graphics were technically improved, much of the original detail has been lost. When Ball State Assistant professor of Journalism Renee Human was asked how much of a difference this makes, she explained it to us in simpler terms. When we first started playing games on our mobile phones, we were probably looking at 480 pixels across. Which we were, the iPhone 4, which the mobile port was released on, had dimensions of 320x480.  “So were going from about 480 pixels across to up to 2200 pixels across (a rough estimate for computer screens),” Human continued. “So we’re taking something and making it five times bigger… you’re just going to loose all quality you had at that smaller resolution.” And quality wasn’t all that was lost in the port. Many fans have a soured taste of Square Enix, the developer of Chrono Trigger and their ability to, well, develop. “It’s kind of an amateur thing to do.” Professor Human said. “It’s something you’d expect from someone doing mods, but not from the company itself.” Perhaps the most offended by this changed version, or the lack thereof, are the players who experienced the original Chrono Trigger in 1995. “My generation, we are really steeped in nostalgia, and we want some of these old games,” Human says. And this seems to be the consensus of many players. WHAT pic.twitter.com/hADczvngwY — Fred Wood (@thatsmytrunks) February 27, 2018 The re-release of Chrono Trigger paints an interesting picture of what’s to come. With the direction technology is going, many modern machines are too much for older games to be ported on to in an unedited state. This leaves developers with two options, either rebuild the game completely so it is compatible with modern machines or release a product that isn’t optimized simply for the sake of capitalizing on nostalgia. Square Enix did the latter, but the backlash it received in doing so may be enough to convince other developers to try the former in the future. Sources: Twitter, VG 24/7, Wikipedia, PaintCode Image: YouTube