Serious Sam 3: BFE

My first encounter with Serious Sam

I had never played this series before some friends convinced me to purchase this game. I believe it was a package deal, buy four copies and get a discount. So we got it and split them among a group of friends. Then the mayhem started!

It is just an insane game if endless slaughter with the most insane arsenal I have seen. 

It was years ago I bought it and first played through it. But now when scrolling through my list of games in Steam I saw it. 

Felt I had to give you guys a heads up - this is potentially an awesome game for you!

I played it with several friends. You can be at least 4 people playing the story co-op I believe. Anyway, that was the best way of enjoying the game! Love talking on Skype while the most insane monsters ever show up on your screen.

It is not very tactical, it is not the game with the best graphic. It simply is the game that you can play while listen to some hardcore music and just go f-ing crazy with. Feel the adrenaline flow! Kill stuff!

Besides the crazy ass story mode you can also do different challenges where you are to survive for as long as possible. And it is not the easiest. I tried it not too long ago, and I have not played the game for years. Which means my understanding of the different enemies and weapons are bad. 

I had a hard time surviving longer than three minutes at least.

Check the trailer above. Might be something for you! He is equipped with all the weapons you can imagine as well as a horrible vocabulary. He is simply bad ass!

Managers in England

My thoughts on managers in Premier League

To write about managers in England without mentioning José Mourinho is impossible. I will however give you my thoughts on a lot of other ones as well.

The difference of coaching the top teams and the rest is huge, ask David Moyes. He got to test the atmosphere in Manchester United after he had success in Everton. No matter who, replacing Sir Alex was never going to be easy. And Sir Alex has had a huge impact on my idea of a successful manager. 

Success can be measured in different ways.

- Always winning titles
- Building a "dynasty" like Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger
- Build a club through youngsters and by doing so create a familiar feeling with fans and locals. This way the economy is not at risk.

The reason I wrote this post is probably Jose Mourinho and the present talk about him trying to build a dynasty. I am not sure if he has used those words himself. However, he came back to Chelsea again. The club in his heart. 
At the moment he is not getting the results he needs and the team is a long way from winning the title this year.
When listening to the media covering the Premier League. It is quite clear. Mourinho is having a certain way, as he called himself "The Special One". And when he is winning titles, everyone is accepting his ways. When he does not get results though, the way of Mourinho is harder to accept.

A lot of the talk is about the comments from Mourinho regarding Arsene Wenger. The media calls him obsessed with the Arsenal manager. Is it because of Wenger being able to create this dynasty that he has with Arsenal?

Mourinho have been talking a lot about Wenger not winning titles. But like I wrote above, there are other ways to be a successful manager. Even though you are not winning titles every year, creating something lasting in a club is a success in itself.

Today there are way too many clubs that changes managers very often. And I have been following Manchester United since I started following Premier League. Sir Alex was there from the very beginning. And he was always there.

Since I was used to that, the team always having the same manager. The long-term planning. The club has not been suffering from a manager having to play with players that another manager brought to the club. 
The fact that one manager brings players in and then is replaced must be tough on the players as well. They might end up being in a club with a long contract where the manager is not using a tactic where he has a role.

Arsene Wenger is a great example on a manager that has created something big in a club over the course of many years. He has had long periods where he did not win any titles. But lets be honest, Arsenal is not a club where the expectations is to finish top of the league table each season. 
He has not been using large amounts of money during the transfer windows until recently. Özil was the first star he bought in a long time (if I am not mistaken). He was a quality signing since he was already known as a top top player. Otherwise Wenger has had a good run of players from France and the academy. That way the pressure is lower, since he has not spent a lot of money on the squad.

Wenger had a few years that was his golden ones. "The invincibles" of 02/03 I believe it was. I guess you could argue that when those players retired or left on transfer they were never replaced with players of the same calibre. 
And that shows us what this developing young players and buying cheap can mean in a negative way. Wenger built a great team when it worked out perfectly. But then he was unlucky with some transfers, players prone to injury for example.

And nowadays, Arsenal are having a real problem with injuries. A lot of players are often sidelined by injuries. 
Walcott and Diaby standing out though with long problems that kept them off the pitch. If those two players would have been healthy and developed better and then constantly performing week in and week out the past few years might have looked a bit different.

Another thing I like about Wenger is his calm. He has been manager for one of Manchester Uniteds biggest rivals but I am not having a negative attitude towards him at all. Sure there has been big issues between the clubs, for example in I believe it was Charity Shield when there were a lot of suspensions after Ruud van Nistelrooy has been treated badly in the game after he missed a penalty. 
There and then I suppose Wenger were defending his own players in the media etc. But that is how it is. He has to defend his players. But at that time I probably disliked him for defending that behaviour.

But he does not go about it the same way Mourinho does. Mourinho is doing a good job of keeping the attention from his players by doing all the provocative things that he does. So in that sense, he is doing a good job. However I have to say, I prefer the way Wenger does it. He is not hurting other peoples feelings like Mourinho risks doing.

Van Gaal at Manchester United could definitely be considered the opposite of Wenger. He came to the club stating that he would only be there for the three years that he signed on for. And he has been spending astronomical amounts of money bringing in new players. 
Honestly I had no idea that he had stated that he would not stay for a long time at the club. I was kind of hoping that the club was going for a long-term resolution. 
But thinking about it, I can understand that this might have its advantages. After having had Sir Alex for such a long time it might take a few years before the club figure out in which direction to go. 

Van Gaal is definitely a manager that has proven himself. As we speak some accuse Manchester United for playing boring football. They have not scored a lot of goals recently but on the other hand, they have not conceded goals either. 
They have been winning the possession in the games. And honestly. Is this not a really well executed tactical win?
Most of the money have been spent on expensive attacking players over the past few years. The defence has been suffering a lot. They have had a lot of critics. Now Chris Smalling is considered the best centre back in the entire league and they are not conceding goals. 

I love it! 
Being in possession, wearing the opponents down while not conceding goals. That is a way of playing football that I support. I don't need the exciting all out attacking football when you score 4 goals each game. I admire the tactical football where the defense comes first. 

When writing this I realize why I like Mourinho in a lot of ways. He is great at building defenses that works. And he can do the defensive substitutions to shut down a game. He is one of the managers that always has come to a club and won trophies. I believe he wants to build a dynasty and I hope that he can do that in Chelsea. 
I would appreciate having him as the competition. It is good for the league to have profiles and of course, great managers.

The latest one to take charge of a big club in England is Klopp. Even though Liverpool is not always in the top four. They will always be considered a big club due to their history and fans all over the world. 
The entire world wondered where he would end up after he resigned from Dortmund where he built something fantastic. And now he is in Premier League. I like it!

He has been known to use a high press system where his team wins the ball fast and can go straight for goal. I believe that might be successful in Premier League but he will have to get some new players in and be able to rotate the squad correctly for them to manage that style over an entire season.
One thing that many points out is the defenders. When so many players pressure the opponents high up, the defenders will need to be able to shut down the times when the opponents play through the first wave of Liverpool players.
Some consider the current defenders to lack that ability. I believe however that they might. Look at Manchester United. They have the same defenders as they did have before but now it works well. 
Can Klopp do it? Time will tell.

After finishing this post I realize I will want to add a few names from clubs further down in the table. But that is another story!

Ranked League of Legends

Ranked League of Legends

So I started to play my placement matches in solo que. In a week or so the season ends and it would be nice with a rank coming into next season. 
And I have to check it out. A looong time I played solo que ranked. 
Is it serious matches? I mean, are there people who rage quits or just go AFK in protest of their role in the team?

So this is the way to play competitively in LoL. The big question is not really concerning the gameplay. Is these competitive matches full of bitter losers just-flaming-for-no-reason-players?

Yeah, it is sad. Not even in a ranked game people try to encourage teammates to play better, instead they just go wild with bad language. 

I Hate That! Mute Mute Mute. Mute is a fantastic option in this game. Just a click with your mouse and you won't have to endure the bullshit of certain players.

Yes. I do understand that people who play League of Legends are not generally evil. It is just the fact that with one or two of these in the game where 10 players participate makes the entire game experience a bad one.

So here it is, last night I played a ranked game and everyone on my team were nice and polite from the start in champion select. I have never won a game as easily as that one. I don't think that would have been the case if people would have started to flame each other for small mistakes. And mistakes were made in the early game. But the friendly atmosphere made us all work together and not getting in each others faces.

I firmly believe that what they say ingame is true. On a loading screen Riot have information saying that players reported for bad behaviour are less likely to win matches.

Gameplay any different in solo que? When playing normal with draft pick I have not seen any difference in picks and bans. Hopefully people will be a bit more serious with their picks, going with champions they can handle well. 

I have played 8 matches so far I believe. At first I started out as a support in two games. Instantly I got two losses.

Then I started to look for roles where I could affect the game more. Maybe people are right, in low level ranked - you have to carry the game yourself!

Anyhow, 5 wins and 3 defeats I believe I have at the moment. I actually won a game as support as well. I chose Shen however which made it possible for me to influence the game by doing plays with my ultimate and my dash. 

Ranked 3v3 or 5v5 is a whole other thing though. You have your team, no random player that might decide to go feed n' leave.

You can decide roles in advance, play compositions that you have prepared in advance. And you can say to each other like, "remember that game, lets go for the same plays".

New shit is coming though

We will be able to play soloque with a full squad of 5 friends! And we will all get our individual ranks. To be able to do that though we need to have the same rank or there about at least. 

I haven't read it fully yet but I am taking it all out in advance. So if this turns out not to be totally correct, you have been warned! If I understood it correctly you will be able to play the solo que as you were with duo que but with any number of premade. 

The match making engine will try to give you opponents that has the same sort of mix. Something like a 95% chance that if you are 5 man premade that you will face another 5 man premade.

So how do you make sure to be able to play with your friends? I suggest that you play the placement matches together. That way you should end up in the same league. And if there are differences depending on your score in the games it should not differ too much between your ranks after the placements are done.

League of Legends are about to make big changes

League of Legends won't be the same

Like I have said before I believe that the gameplay will be more about the jungle in the future. The changes to Skarner with the spires and the new champion Kindred are signs of that. 
Now it turns out that I was right. In the next big update before season 6 there will be a bigger jungle monster in the Baron pit during the first 19 minutes of the game. 
That means more teamfights in the jungle area.

Lane swaps won't mean losing control over the jungle objectives. It used to mean that you lost the dragon control. Now you will still lose that but instead you will have better control over the new monster that is in the Baron pit.

There are tons of videos on Youtube where they show off the item changes. As a nerd it is sad to see the 1337 gold cost item gone, the Brutalizer. I can't remember if it is removed completely or if it is just the price that is altered.

Check it out if you have any intrest in being on top of things when the new season starts! There is a lot of changes to learn and if you start now, you will have an advantage when the changes go live.

There are podcasts discussing it as well if you don't want to sit and watch Youtube videos or read patch notes. Basically most League of Legends podcasts made in the beginning of November should have some talk about these changes.

For example some AD Carrys are getting changed, the warding system is changed, if I understood it correctly the green wards will no longer be available for purchase. Instead the Sightstone come in different models.

Looking forward to more objectives to play around! More tactical possibilities.

Hearthstone season ended

Hearthstone season is over

First of all. I don't consider myself a Hearthstone ranked player. I just haven't played it enough and I did not really know which rank that was actually Legend. Turns out that Rank 1 is Legend. I thought it was something like in Counter Strike or League of Legends. Bronze 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc and then you go onto Silver 1,2,3,4 etc. So I was surprised when I learned that there was only one ladder.
This was my first time actually playing ranked to go lower than the one rank you can't miss, rank 20. (When having a higher rank than 19 you can't lose rank. Which means that you can simply just spam matches and eventually you will reach rank 20 and get a reward at the end of the season.) 
I managed to get rank 15 and the game told me I was among the top 30% of the players that has played ranked during this season. 
Wow. Really? What if I put a serious effort into this new season. 
How far can I go? 
I mean, I did not play very much. And I love statistics like that. The devil in me that feeds on competitive energy just woke up and he is fierce!

Said and done, I have started to play it from the start now. My Hunter deck with extremely cheap cards to give me the chance to bomb down the enemy hero quickly. 
Problem is that if I have not won after turn 7 or something, I will run out of cards in my hand and I have no way of drawing extra cards. Then it is basically over and a defeat for me.

Below there is a picture of a fun game. I have never had that Hyena being that strong. The combination of a trap with spiders and a spell releasing as many dogs as the enemies have minions allowed me to get a lot of beasts on the board. And as I killed them one by one the Hyena gained strength like crazy.
But this is a good example of how the deck works. It is turn 4 and the game is about to end. I need to be quick or I lose.

I still don't have all the cards that is actually in the original deck. I haven't unlocked the wings in solo adventures yet. I am slowly getting the gold from quests and wins when playing ranked. I actually think that this Hyena is not in the original deck and will be removed eventually. 
This does not happen very often which makes me want to replace it with cards from the solo adventures.

If you haven't tried finding a deck through guides on the Internet and try ranked to see how far you can go. Try it, you might also get surprised at the results. Fast matches and you can play it on your phone. 
I haven't paid anything for Hearthstone so far and I don't see myself spending money in the future either. By farming gold and playing arena you can craft cards and build your deck.

Sleep or being productive

Sleep is important

We need sleep to function properly. Our body needs sleep to build muscle, recover from illness and so on and so forth. 

Even our testosterone levels decrease from lack of sleep. And if you are looking to build muscles as a man, you do want your normal levels of testosterone. 

But here is the thing. One day only has 24 hours. If you have a day job to secure your daily life, roof over your head etc, 8 hours are gone there. 
Do you have a family that requires your attention? Kids? Lets say they go to bed at 8 p.m. Your wife/husband might want some attention, I mean bang. 

The amount of time left is not a lot to work on some project. You have work in the morning and have to get up at 6 a.m. To get 8 hours of sleep you would have to be asleep at 10 p.m. 

I am writing this at 1 a.m. That is just proof of my lack of sleep. I won't do this for 60 years though. So different periods in your life will give you different amount of free time to work on projects. 

Feel like it is tough with everything? 
If you are convinced about your project, feel lucky! 
Many people would kill to have a meaningful project that made them feel productive. 

This is a fucked up fact. When you are 60 years old. If you have slept 8 hours each day. You have slept for 20 years! Out of 60! Wow! It is not hard math. But when I heard it put like that. It sounds like a looooot! 

Noone knows our body and the way it works better than us. Do I need a certain amount of sleep each night? Then that is it. You know what you need. 
I am not telling anyone to skip sleep. I am simply saying that, if you feel like sacrificing sleep in order to do something productive - don't feel bad about it. 

There are people out in the fitness world that talks about that sleep is important etc but them themselves admit to not sleeping well due to different stuff they are working on and that consumes a lot of time.
I would feel worse about this post if I wrote in caps lock that you have to sleep and get rest in order to build muscle and function properly! Without saying that I don't follow that strictly myself. Screaming about how you should live your lives without doing that yourself is the biggest kind of bullshit there is.

There are different periods in life and sometimes, when adding all parts of your life together. You might actually feel better as a human when skipping a few hours of sleep, if you are doing something that really developes you as a person and allows you to grow.
Obviously if you feel ill after losing sleep you are not having the positive experience and you should consider trying a different approach on life. Personally I can rest for a few minutes on the couch or something to regain some short term energy and finish the day if I feel too tired. 
And that happends now and then.

Don't limit yourselves. It is important to have those goals and dreams. You might not move closer to them everyday. But allowing yourself to have dreams and going for them will make your life better. 
For example, you can find positives in holding hard onto your money a few months, if you are looking forward to something like a vacation afterwards! 
By having a huge dream and small goals along the way. You get these rewards as you go on the path towards the bigger goal, that huge dream!
In this example, what if you have a dream to visit every country in the entire world. Then that specific trip is one of the goals along the way. And working hard to save money for the trip is later rewarded with the fantastic vacation and one step closer to having visited the entire world.

Actually quite proud of that example. I hope that made it more clear to you guys of what I meant.

What is your favorite scary movie?

So which one is it?

Mine is many. There are so many great movies in this genre or genres. I consider horror and thriller to be close, since movies can be scary in different ways. Jump scares are always great when they work. A psychological scary movie might be just as effective though.

We are different people (thank god), which means we are scared of different things based on our history.

I like movies when you get to think and perhaps create the fear from your imagination running wild.

I often go for the thrillers when choosing a movie to watch. Gore without a good story is not something I enjoy. Like they try to cover up the bad writing with obscene gore.

There are a few classic series that might not be the ones that is the most scary nowadays. But they have made an impact on the way movies are made today.
Halloween for example was one of a kind back in the days. A Nightmare on Elm Street was created in the same era. 

Then if we go to movies that are in the 21st century. Lets mention a few like The Ring, The Grudge and Paranormal Activity.

Blair Witch Project was a crazy one as well.

Which one is your favorite scary movie?