Christian Movies or Movie Christians?

The recent runaway success on Christian or 'faith' based movies like The Passion of the Christ and Facing the Giants has Hollywood turning their focus on 'Christian' movies.

Recently Christian movies makers and producers debated this at a Biola Media Conference. Jeffrey Overstreet reports on this in Christians as a 'Niche' Market.

Some of the suggestions are

The idea of marketing "faith-based" entertainment specifically to Christians has inspired a wave of new "niche market" ideas, many of which were discussed by conference guests. Some even spoke about the possibility of a new movie theater chain: separate cinemas for Christians, built within churches.

Wow. Talk about an idea brought too far. But apparently these are serious suggestions. There are still many unanswered questions.

Will "faith-based" film departments produce lights that shine in the darkness, or will they ultimately hide them under a bushel—being seen only by a Christian audience?

Will Christian movies establish a reputation for truth, courage, and uncompromising artistic standards? Or will they produce shoddy sermons, airbrush the reality of the Christian experience, and perhaps only pander to what audiences want to see?

Will faith-oriented films have a significant, lasting influence in Hollywood? Or will they be disposable, forgotten within ten years?

And what about success? What will Christian filmmakers do if they succeed the way Facing the Giants did, turning a $100,000 project into a $10 million box office surprise? Is financial success a sign of God's blessing, a sign of merely appealing to a niche market's wants, or a reflection of an audience that doesn't demand artistic excellence?

Many of these questions will only be answered through the successes, failures, and testimonies of those who blaze new trails for Christian media.

The Biola conference's theme this year was, "Gold Rush: Mining for Opportunity in the New Hollywood." Screenwriter Craig Detweiler, the conference host, summed it all up when he welcomed attendees with this question:

"Have we hit the mother lode, or will we fall for fool's gold?"

.

Christian Movies or Movie Christians?

The recent runaway success on Christian or 'faith' based movies like The Passion of the Christ and Facing the Giants has Hollywood turning their focus on 'Christian' movies.

Recently Christian movies makers and producers debated this at a Biola Media Conference. Jeffrey Overstreet reports on this in Christians as a 'Niche' Market.

Some of the suggestions are

The idea of marketing "faith-based" entertainment specifically to Christians has inspired a wave of new "niche market" ideas, many of which were discussed by conference guests. Some even spoke about the possibility of a new movie theater chain: separate cinemas for Christians, built within churches.

Wow. Talk about an idea brought too far. But apparently these are serious suggestions. There are still many unanswered questions.

Will "faith-based" film departments produce lights that shine in the darkness, or will they ultimately hide them under a bushel—being seen only by a Christian audience?

Will Christian movies establish a reputation for truth, courage, and uncompromising artistic standards? Or will they produce shoddy sermons, airbrush the reality of the Christian experience, and perhaps only pander to what audiences want to see?

Will faith-oriented films have a significant, lasting influence in Hollywood? Or will they be disposable, forgotten within ten years?

And what about success? What will Christian filmmakers do if they succeed the way Facing the Giants did, turning a $100,000 project into a $10 million box office surprise? Is financial success a sign of God's blessing, a sign of merely appealing to a niche market's wants, or a reflection of an audience that doesn't demand artistic excellence?

Many of these questions will only be answered through the successes, failures, and testimonies of those who blaze new trails for Christian media.

The Biola conference's theme this year was, "Gold Rush: Mining for Opportunity in the New Hollywood." Screenwriter Craig Detweiler, the conference host, summed it all up when he welcomed attendees with this question:

"Have we hit the mother lode, or will we fall for fool's gold?"

.

Seven Lessons I Learnt Playing Command and Conquer 3

Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars


Command and Conquer is a real time strategy (RTS) computer game where you choose to play the good guys (Strategic Defense Initiative) or the bad guys (Brotherhood of Nod). The bad guys want to take over the world while the good guys want to preserve freedom. The year is 2047, seventeen years after the last wars as played in Command and Conquer: Tiberium Sun. Tiberium, a toxic but powerful substance is destroying the earth’s ecosystem, replacing carbon based substance with itself. However, it is also a powerful source of energy. This game is developed by Electronic Arts and powered by SAGE gaming engine.

Each player starts with a basic construction module and a limited amount of money. He or she must build a refinery to mine tiberium to convert that to money. With money, the player can build barracks to train soldiers, war factory to build vehicles, tech centre to conduct research to upgrade weapons and buildings, and watchtowers to defend the base. One can play online against real ‘human’ opponents or with the artificial intelligent (AI) that come with the program. I had to go over to Singapore to get an original program (it is almost impossible to get original game programs where I live). I was playing the good guys (of course) and it took me 5 days and nights (with time out for work, eating, sleeping, reading) to finish the campaign. I was against the AI set at medium difficulty and without using cheat codes (honest!).

What are some of the lessons I have learn from playing this computer game?

(1) Keep your energy source close to your base. Build your refinery near to tiberium rich fields so that the harvesters do not have to go far. I wonder what in your life give you energy? I get my energy from pleasing God, being with my family, and from my passion: teaching and preaching the Word of God. I find that if I stray from my source of energy, my resources get depleted very fast and the enemy can easily defeat me. That is why I have to constantly remind myself to keep close to my source of energy. The refinery is converting tiberium to energy. Praying, studying the Word, centering, silence, practicing the spiritual disciplines, and keep building up the relationship with God and with members of my family are energy giving.


(2) Try to upgrade your assets as fast as possible. In the game, it is possible to upgrade your assets until you have space based weapons like ion cannon and shockwave artillery. I find that I too need to upgrade myself constantly. The world is changing very fast. This game with its movies clips of live actors is an example of the improvement computers games have made in the span of a few years. Anybody remember computer ping-pong? It even has an AI that learns from my moves. After placing my refinery at a certain spot a few times, the next time I did that I find the enemies hiding in the tiberium field in ambush! Upgrade means I have not only have to learn what is going on outside in the world; new technology, globalisation, and religious pluralism, but also what is going on inside of me. Am I becoming more Christ-like? Am I listening to the Holy Spirit? Am I developing the spiritual gifts that God has given me? Am I improving my mind by embarking on an intentional course of study, thinking critically about issues and reflecting on their application in my life? All these are important questions to ask if we are to be continuing upgrading to become who we are meant to be.

(3) Mix your attack force with vehicles and soldiers of different abilities. Soldiers come with machine guns, rocket launchers and special armours. Vehicles include troop carrier armed with machine guns, light tanks, heavy armour tanks, and walking artillery platforms called Juggernaut. An attack force that consists of heavy armour tanks will be easily defeated, even though they are powerful weapons. A mixed force of all types of vehicles and soldiers are harder to defeat. Reminds me of the armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. There are many components of the armour. Individually they are weak but used together, it is powerful; defensive and offensive. The problem is that we have always being taught that the armour of God is for individuals. Paul however uses the plural in the Greek. The armour of God is for the whole church. The church put on the armour. However it does assume that the church is united, something which Paul was teaching in the earlier chapters. If the church is not united, the armour of God is useless and we have already lost the war.

(4) Protect your base. An important lesson as the enemies always attack the base. We need to protect our families, ourselves, our leaders, and each other. This calls for showing caring and concern, hospitality, accountability, prayer support, and emotional support. Our church or small groups are our bases. That is where the enemy will concentrate their attacks.

(5) If you are defeated, try again. Failures are common if we are human. Even Jesus has failures in his ministry. Falling down is something we cannot avoid. Lying down and refusing to get up is not an option. In the game, I have had to save often, try different tactics, and persist until victory is achieved. In one mission, I have to set up a base while under constant attack from three different directions! It took me 4 hours of repeating until I finally manage to build my base. We need persistence if any worthwhile project is to be achieved. If we have a dream, we need to continually work for it. Defeat just means we try another way.

(6) Do not use the tiberium bomb. In the final mission, which is the most difficult, the player is offered an easy way to win. A tiberium bomb is given. All he or she has to do is to drop it on the enemy base and the war is won. The only side effect is that it will ignite all the tiberium. This will cause a chain reaction which will end in the destruction of the world. Be careful of the easy way out. Be careful of the easy way to get rich, become famous, or respectable by compromising your principles. It will always backfire and destroy your world, and also others who love you. Winning is not everything.

(7) The game play is unpredictable. There are five different AI programs in the game. Each AI has a different personality; balance, rusher, turtle, guerrilla, and steam roller. You never know which AI you will come up against. And in the middle of the game when victory over the enemy is almost within your grasp, earth was invaded by an alien force! Life is unpredictable. We never know what will happen tomorrow. What we have is the present. Let us live in the present rather than the future. Let us appreciate and love our spouses and children

while it is still now. May we be content with what we have. Let us appreciate what God has given us and embrace them as gifts to be enjoyed, rather than a right to be exploited.

I have enjoyed the game. It was fun, even during the frustration when my computer rebooted itself before I can save. This is something I indulge in once in a while when there is a good game available. And I have learnt some valuable lessons. Nuff said.

Seven Lessons I Learnt Playing Command and Conquer 3

Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars


Command and Conquer is a real time strategy (RTS) computer game where you choose to play the good guys (Strategic Defense Initiative) or the bad guys (Brotherhood of Nod). The bad guys want to take over the world while the good guys want to preserve freedom. The year is 2047, seventeen years after the last wars as played in Command and Conquer: Tiberium Sun. Tiberium, a toxic but powerful substance is destroying the earth’s ecosystem, replacing carbon based substance with itself. However, it is also a powerful source of energy. This game is developed by Electronic Arts and powered by SAGE gaming engine.

Each player starts with a basic construction module and a limited amount of money. He or she must build a refinery to mine tiberium to convert that to money. With money, the player can build barracks to train soldiers, war factory to build vehicles, tech centre to conduct research to upgrade weapons and buildings, and watchtowers to defend the base. One can play online against real ‘human’ opponents or with the artificial intelligent (AI) that come with the program. I had to go over to Singapore to get an original program (it is almost impossible to get original game programs where I live). I was playing the good guys (of course) and it took me 5 days and nights (with time out for work, eating, sleeping, reading) to finish the campaign. I was against the AI set at medium difficulty and without using cheat codes (honest!).

What are some of the lessons I have learn from playing this computer game?

(1) Keep your energy source close to your base. Build your refinery near to tiberium rich fields so that the harvesters do not have to go far. I wonder what in your life give you energy? I get my energy from pleasing God, being with my family, and from my passion: teaching and preaching the Word of God. I find that if I stray from my source of energy, my resources get depleted very fast and the enemy can easily defeat me. That is why I have to constantly remind myself to keep close to my source of energy. The refinery is converting tiberium to energy. Praying, studying the Word, centering, silence, practicing the spiritual disciplines, and keep building up the relationship with God and with members of my family are energy giving.


(2) Try to upgrade your assets as fast as possible. In the game, it is possible to upgrade your assets until you have space based weapons like ion cannon and shockwave artillery. I find that I too need to upgrade myself constantly. The world is changing very fast. This game with its movies clips of live actors is an example of the improvement computers games have made in the span of a few years. Anybody remember computer ping-pong? It even has an AI that learns from my moves. After placing my refinery at a certain spot a few times, the next time I did that I find the enemies hiding in the tiberium field in ambush! Upgrade means I have not only have to learn what is going on outside in the world; new technology, globalisation, and religious pluralism, but also what is going on inside of me. Am I becoming more Christ-like? Am I listening to the Holy Spirit? Am I developing the spiritual gifts that God has given me? Am I improving my mind by embarking on an intentional course of study, thinking critically about issues and reflecting on their application in my life? All these are important questions to ask if we are to be continuing upgrading to become who we are meant to be.

(3) Mix your attack force with vehicles and soldiers of different abilities. Soldiers come with machine guns, rocket launchers and special armours. Vehicles include troop carrier armed with machine guns, light tanks, heavy armour tanks, and walking artillery platforms called Juggernaut. An attack force that consists of heavy armour tanks will be easily defeated, even though they are powerful weapons. A mixed force of all types of vehicles and soldiers are harder to defeat. Reminds me of the armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. There are many components of the armour. Individually they are weak but used together, it is powerful; defensive and offensive. The problem is that we have always being taught that the armour of God is for individuals. Paul however uses the plural in the Greek. The armour of God is for the whole church. The church put on the armour. However it does assume that the church is united, something which Paul was teaching in the earlier chapters. If the church is not united, the armour of God is useless and we have already lost the war.

(4) Protect your base. An important lesson as the enemies always attack the base. We need to protect our families, ourselves, our leaders, and each other. This calls for showing caring and concern, hospitality, accountability, prayer support, and emotional support. Our church or small groups are our bases. That is where the enemy will concentrate their attacks.

(5) If you are defeated, try again. Failures are common if we are human. Even Jesus has failures in his ministry. Falling down is something we cannot avoid. Lying down and refusing to get up is not an option. In the game, I have had to save often, try different tactics, and persist until victory is achieved. In one mission, I have to set up a base while under constant attack from three different directions! It took me 4 hours of repeating until I finally manage to build my base. We need persistence if any worthwhile project is to be achieved. If we have a dream, we need to continually work for it. Defeat just means we try another way.

(6) Do not use the tiberium bomb. In the final mission, which is the most difficult, the player is offered an easy way to win. A tiberium bomb is given. All he or she has to do is to drop it on the enemy base and the war is won. The only side effect is that it will ignite all the tiberium. This will cause a chain reaction which will end in the destruction of the world. Be careful of the easy way out. Be careful of the easy way to get rich, become famous, or respectable by compromising your principles. It will always backfire and destroy your world, and also others who love you. Winning is not everything.

(7) The game play is unpredictable. There are five different AI programs in the game. Each AI has a different personality; balance, rusher, turtle, guerrilla, and steam roller. You never know which AI you will come up against. And in the middle of the game when victory over the enemy is almost within your grasp, earth was invaded by an alien force! Life is unpredictable. We never know what will happen tomorrow. What we have is the present. Let us live in the present rather than the future. Let us appreciate and love our spouses and children

while it is still now. May we be content with what we have. Let us appreciate what God has given us and embrace them as gifts to be enjoyed, rather than a right to be exploited.

I have enjoyed the game. It was fun, even during the frustration when my computer rebooted itself before I can save. This is something I indulge in once in a while when there is a good game available. And I have learnt some valuable lessons. Nuff said.

The Batman: The Complete Third Season

This cartoon series The Batman comes after Batman: The Animated Series which ran for 4 seasons. There is a revamp of the drawings. While Batman: The Animated Series shows a square jaw Batman, this cartoon series shows a younger Batman/Bruce Wayne. Actually this Bruce Wayne has oriental features and looks like a young Bruce Lee! Must be the influence of Asian, mostly Koreans graphic animators.

This series shows a younger Batman, and the storyline takes off where the movie, Batman Begins ends. However this Batman has cooler gadgets. The villains like the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Clayface and the rest looks different and are more aggressive. Imagine Penguin fighting and you know what I mean.

This is the third season. Batgirl/Babara Gordon joins an unwilling Batman (who is unwilling to take on a sidekick) to fight Joker, Penguin, Scarface, Gearhead, and an assortment of other criminals to keep Gotham City safe. There are 13 episodes and some episodes are quite funny. I like the one in which Joker stole Bane's device and uses it on himself! A Bane like muscular Joker is fun to watch. And they also introduced a new batmobile and batplane. Cool.

This is the DC Comic Kids Collection. Just right for me.

.

The Batman: The Complete Third Season

This cartoon series The Batman comes after Batman: The Animated Series which ran for 4 seasons. There is a revamp of the drawings. While Batman: The Animated Series shows a square jaw Batman, this cartoon series shows a younger Batman/Bruce Wayne. Actually this Bruce Wayne has oriental features and looks like a young Bruce Lee! Must be the influence of Asian, mostly Koreans graphic animators.

This series shows a younger Batman, and the storyline takes off where the movie, Batman Begins ends. However this Batman has cooler gadgets. The villains like the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Clayface and the rest looks different and are more aggressive. Imagine Penguin fighting and you know what I mean.

This is the third season. Batgirl/Babara Gordon joins an unwilling Batman (who is unwilling to take on a sidekick) to fight Joker, Penguin, Scarface, Gearhead, and an assortment of other criminals to keep Gotham City safe. There are 13 episodes and some episodes are quite funny. I like the one in which Joker stole Bane's device and uses it on himself! A Bane like muscular Joker is fun to watch. And they also introduced a new batmobile and batplane. Cool.

This is the DC Comic Kids Collection. Just right for me.

.

Nothing is What It Seems

The Illusionist (2006) is one of few rare movies I have watched recently that had me intrigued, guessing and trying to figure out the outcome of the story until the end.

It is a period movie set in the early 20th century in Vienna. The props and sets were beautiful. It is a romance, with a twist in the plot (I love those) and had me wondering what is real and what is not.

Eisenheim (Edward Norton), the Illusionist was the son of a cabinetmaker who fell in love with a Duchness Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) when they were children. They were separated because of their different stations in life. Eisenheim left to explore the world and to learn the art of illusion. 15 years later Eisenheim came to Vienna and started a magician show. There he met Sophia who is about to marry evil Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). The prince was plotting to overthrow his father, the Emperor and takes the throne. Love was rekindled and Eisenheim need to get rid of the Crown Prince if he and Sophia were to have a normal life. Eisenheim subsequently came to a faceoff with chief police inspector (Paul Giamatti) who was the prince's henchman.

The way Eisenheim's plan work is full of illusion, deception, manipulation and magic, making the prince's police inspector work against him. The line is blurred between illusion and magic... reality and fantasy...power and helplessness. The movie-line is a complex plot for two lovers to escape their social destinies.

Burger, the producer conducted extensive research into magic, as well as the setting of the story: fin-de-siècle Vienna. "I read everything I could about the Hapsburgs, about the Secessionist movement, and about the magic from that time-both the illusions themselves and the social world of the magicians. Most of the tricks that ended up in the film are based on real illusions done at the time, and the characters I invented are also based on real people. I wanted it all to be as believable and honest as possible, all the more so since the story examines the idea of how we perceive truth and illusion...and blurs the boundary between those two concepts. If you're going to exaggerate certain elements, to have it be dreamlike or surreal or uncanny, you have to make sure that the rest of it has a rock solid foundation in the period." read more.

Good movie to watch with children but be prepared to have to explain to them how the many illusions work. On the other hand, with the many special effects in movies nowadays, don't bother.

.

Nothing is What It Seems

The Illusionist (2006) is one of few rare movies I have watched recently that had me intrigued, guessing and trying to figure out the outcome of the story until the end.

It is a period movie set in the early 20th century in Vienna. The props and sets were beautiful. It is a romance, with a twist in the plot (I love those) and had me wondering what is real and what is not.

Eisenheim (Edward Norton), the Illusionist was the son of a cabinetmaker who fell in love with a Duchness Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) when they were children. They were separated because of their different stations in life. Eisenheim left to explore the world and to learn the art of illusion. 15 years later Eisenheim came to Vienna and started a magician show. There he met Sophia who is about to marry evil Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). The prince was plotting to overthrow his father, the Emperor and takes the throne. Love was rekindled and Eisenheim need to get rid of the Crown Prince if he and Sophia were to have a normal life. Eisenheim subsequently came to a faceoff with chief police inspector (Paul Giamatti) who was the prince's henchman.

The way Eisenheim's plan work is full of illusion, deception, manipulation and magic, making the prince's police inspector work against him. The line is blurred between illusion and magic... reality and fantasy...power and helplessness. The movie-line is a complex plot for two lovers to escape their social destinies.

Burger, the producer conducted extensive research into magic, as well as the setting of the story: fin-de-siècle Vienna. "I read everything I could about the Hapsburgs, about the Secessionist movement, and about the magic from that time-both the illusions themselves and the social world of the magicians. Most of the tricks that ended up in the film are based on real illusions done at the time, and the characters I invented are also based on real people. I wanted it all to be as believable and honest as possible, all the more so since the story examines the idea of how we perceive truth and illusion...and blurs the boundary between those two concepts. If you're going to exaggerate certain elements, to have it be dreamlike or surreal or uncanny, you have to make sure that the rest of it has a rock solid foundation in the period." read more.

Good movie to watch with children but be prepared to have to explain to them how the many illusions work. On the other hand, with the many special effects in movies nowadays, don't bother.

.

Is Computer Games Bad for Your Kids?

That is a question many parents ask.
Is computer or video games bad for our kids?
Is it bad for their learning?
Will it make them violent and anti social?

Answering the last question first, children becoming violent after spending too much time playing violent computer/video games is a recognised phenomenon. However, there are other contributing factors such as absent or abusive fathers, dysfunctional families, personality disorders, socio-economic factors, and gangsterism. So, there is not a clear yes or no answer.

Is it good for them? Depends. It is now recognised that children who played computer/video games makes better surgeons because of better hand-eye coordination. I know of some trainee surgeons are beginning to play computer/video games to improve their hand-eye coordination. My comment to them is , good try, but you're too old, too late.

Don Norman gave an interesting talk on The Future of Education: Lessons Learned from Video Games and Museum Exhibits at a
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL POLICY: June 2001

he makes an interesting observation.

Children, we are told, have short attention spans, caused, of course, by the prevalence of games and TV and commercials in our society.

Nonsense.

Watch people at video games. You can't tear them away. More importantly, they truly are exercising their minds. They problem-solve. They take notes, read books of hints and strategy. They save the game state, try out a new course of action, and if it doesn't work, return to the saved game state. And they form social communities, sharing hints, tips, and methods. Many of you will understand, for you do it too.

Times have changed. Game play has become more complex. It can be a good learning experience. Professional organisations are using stimulation games to train their employees. Game theory are used in fields as diverse as economics and the stockmarket. However as parents, we still need to vet through the games we allow our children to play. This means we have to know about computer/video games. Command and Conquer 3, anyone?

.

Is Computer Games Bad for Your Kids?

That is a question many parents ask.
Is computer or video games bad for our kids?
Is it bad for their learning?
Will it make them violent and anti social?

Answering the last question first, children becoming violent after spending too much time playing violent computer/video games is a recognised phenomenon. However, there are other contributing factors such as absent or abusive fathers, dysfunctional families, personality disorders, socio-economic factors, and gangsterism. So, there is not a clear yes or no answer.

Is it good for them? Depends. It is now recognised that children who played computer/video games makes better surgeons because of better hand-eye coordination. I know of some trainee surgeons are beginning to play computer/video games to improve their hand-eye coordination. My comment to them is , good try, but you're too old, too late.

Don Norman gave an interesting talk on The Future of Education: Lessons Learned from Video Games and Museum Exhibits at a
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL POLICY: June 2001

he makes an interesting observation.

Children, we are told, have short attention spans, caused, of course, by the prevalence of games and TV and commercials in our society.

Nonsense.

Watch people at video games. You can't tear them away. More importantly, they truly are exercising their minds. They problem-solve. They take notes, read books of hints and strategy. They save the game state, try out a new course of action, and if it doesn't work, return to the saved game state. And they form social communities, sharing hints, tips, and methods. Many of you will understand, for you do it too.

Times have changed. Game play has become more complex. It can be a good learning experience. Professional organisations are using stimulation games to train their employees. Game theory are used in fields as diverse as economics and the stockmarket. However as parents, we still need to vet through the games we allow our children to play. This means we have to know about computer/video games. Command and Conquer 3, anyone?

.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

My idea of a good computer game is a real time strategy game like Command & Conquer. I have enjoyed playing all the games in the series with their expansion packs. The storyline is captivating and I find the graphics improving with each new game. However the AI remains not too smart which I am happy with. Otherwise I will lose too often. Thank God, for being able to save the gameplay. The last few games is about the war between the Brotherhood of Nod and the Global Defense Initiative.

Just released is Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars which is a real-time strategy game developed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles for the Windows and Xbox 360 platforms, and is a sequel to the 1999 RTS title Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm by Westwood Studios. Canonically it takes place at the advent of and during the "Third Tiberium War", after the Brotherhood of Nod launches an unexpected and worldwide offensive against the Global Defense Initiative, abruptly ending a period of seventeen years of silence and crippling GDI forces everywhere. With the odds tipped in Nod's favor this time, GDI field commanders rally their troops and begin to combat the Brotherhood's second re-emergence, trying to restore lost hope. The game also features the introduction of a new third faction (Scrin) to the Tiberian series of the Command & Conquer games, and is the second C&C title in which players are able to upgrade their forces.

It sounds promising. Now I have to find time to play the game. I find these games addictive. Once started, I find it hard to stop. In the past, I would play until 5.30am and crept to bed before the wife wake up! So much for self discipline.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

My idea of a good computer game is a real time strategy game like Command & Conquer. I have enjoyed playing all the games in the series with their expansion packs. The storyline is captivating and I find the graphics improving with each new game. However the AI remains not too smart which I am happy with. Otherwise I will lose too often. Thank God, for being able to save the gameplay. The last few games is about the war between the Brotherhood of Nod and the Global Defense Initiative.

Just released is Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars which is a real-time strategy game developed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles for the Windows and Xbox 360 platforms, and is a sequel to the 1999 RTS title Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm by Westwood Studios. Canonically it takes place at the advent of and during the "Third Tiberium War", after the Brotherhood of Nod launches an unexpected and worldwide offensive against the Global Defense Initiative, abruptly ending a period of seventeen years of silence and crippling GDI forces everywhere. With the odds tipped in Nod's favor this time, GDI field commanders rally their troops and begin to combat the Brotherhood's second re-emergence, trying to restore lost hope. The game also features the introduction of a new third faction (Scrin) to the Tiberian series of the Command & Conquer games, and is the second C&C title in which players are able to upgrade their forces.

It sounds promising. Now I have to find time to play the game. I find these games addictive. Once started, I find it hard to stop. In the past, I would play until 5.30am and crept to bed before the wife wake up! So much for self discipline.