The Viking Informer
Your source for the latest news and information Vol. 2
Game Review: Titanfall
By: Sam Spangler and Jackson Gray
Background
For those that are are unaware and otherwise not a part of the video game community. Titanfall is a highly anticipated first person shooter exclusively on the Xbox One and PC. Being a major selling point for the Xbox One, Microsoft did its best to excite everyone about, what most would call, an average game.
Titanfall
I feel I should lead with this: I like Titanfall, a lot. I've played it a bunch the last couple weeks and plan on playing it a lot more. No, I don't secretly get paid by Sony and I don't own a PS4. I'm an Xbox guy and I like a lot of things about Titanfall, but this column isn't about what's right with Titanfall. It's about what's wrong with Titanfall and, by extension, what's wrong with us. Xbox One owners. Gamers in general, really. As much as we like to gripe and moan in forums and comments sections about framerates, install times, and lots of other myopic; nitpicky complaints the fact remains that we're being ignorant. We're letting the industry convince us that less is more.
Try to imagine what would've happened if Ghosts or BF4 had announced that last year's game would have no campaign. Do you really think The Verge or IGN would just give it a pass? Would say "Oh, the multiplayer is really the focus of COD anyway and we applaud their decision to skip a single player campaign?" I seriously doubt it. We were convinced that Titanfall is the future and we bought it so eagerly that we failed to notice that the future is a raw deal for consumers.
Titanfall proves that it's now totally acceptable to pay full price for a multiplayer only game with limited features. (Goldeneye 64 had 4-player split screen co-op, too. Remember that?) All Titanfall is 15 maps and five game modes. There's no free-for-all, no private matches, and no horde mode. More game modes are coming free, thankfully, but other than some rumors about monsters and a promise of no new titan classes we don't know a whole lot about the next Titanfall DLC. Except that it will be one of three coming out this year. Three DLC in nine months and we know nothing about any of them.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/titanfall
2014 Music
By: Khameisha Green, Leilani Faleafa, and Morgan Isaacs
Happy
- Pharrell Williams
- Released – November 21, 2013
- Recorded- 2013 at Circle House Studios, Miami, Florida
- Genre- Neo soul, funk
- Label- Back Lot Music, I Am Other, Columbia
- Writer(s)- Pharrell Williams
- Producer(s)- Pharrell Williams
An extreme success, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams tops the US charts along with 23 other countries. It has been nominated as Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards and has made the sales mark of 3 million as of April.
Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Williams played in the school band as a drummer where he and Hugo, a friend, grew up together, destined for a music career. Later on, they created a four piece R&B group called the “Neptunes”, where two others named Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge. From here they signed up with a man named riley and so began their musical Journey. Since then Williams has worked with artists such as Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and many others. Pharrell is clearly a success and a prize to our modern music industry.
“This is a very uplifting song- it just brings life to the world.”- Leilani Faleafa
“I always want to start dancing when I hear it.”-Morgan Isaacs
“That song is live!!!”- Khameisha Green
UIL Social Studies
Interview with Maddi Eliott
Students with Jobs and Their Grades
By: Noah Whitehead and Thomas Coffey
Some students in Lago Vista Spend either their free time on the weekends working or they go to work after school for a few hours Monday through Friday. Some parents may worry that their child’s grades may suffer from them working many hours during the week. I asked some students what their lowest grade was and how many hours a week they worked. If their grade was low I asked if they thought the amount of hours they worked was the reason for the low grade.
Student 1: Says work is not the reason for their grade.
· Lowest grade: 80,
· Hours a week: 14
Student 2: Says work is not the reason for their grade.
· Lowest grade: 82
· Hours a week: 30 (two jobs)
Student 3: Says work is not the reason for their grade, but rather says that the teacher’s lack of input for his newer grades has left his grades at a low average.
· Lowest grade: 25
· Hours a week: 2.5
Student 4: Says that work could be a problem since they get large amounts of homework on the weekends and need time to do it.
· Lowest grade: 61
· Hours a week: 20
Student 5: Says that work is not the reason for their grade.
· Lowest grade: 71
· Hours a week: 20
Analysis
After having asked all of the students if they thought work was the reason for their grade the majority of the students answered with, no, their job was not responsible for their grade. They feel that they can still get all of their work done and continue to get good grades. Even the students with lower grades appear to think that their jobs are not the cause for their grades.
I am Second
By: Cierra and Ambrielle
Little girl lost, thought no one loved her, thought no one wanted her. Ran away from her castle, but God met her on that dark road. He said “you can come home now, I’m right here, and I never left you.” Redemption, redeemed, set free. –Annie Lobert
I Am Second is a Christian multimedia movement and non-profit organization that is designed to inspire people to live for Jesus Christ. I Am Second was found on December 2, 2008 by Norm Miller. This website has multiple people’s testimonies, peoples stories and how they got saved. These videos show how people have fallen to low places and felt like the world is horrible and no longer needs them. But God came into their hearts and saved them. The group that started this (Curtis Hail, Mike Jorgenson, John Humphrey, Buddy Vaughn) wanted to show people that we are all second and God is number one. You can live your life and be a Christian, but they also realize that there will be problems. The world is not perfect and there will be people who will pick on you and knock you down just because you believe in a higher God. The struggle in life and being a Christian is that people will treat you differently, life will not be perfect. And they give you tools to get through all of this.
There are multiple ways to get involved in this and one of them is the 22 day challenge. The 22 day challenge is a something you sign up for; you get an email everyday with the video of the day. After you watch it, send it to a couple friends and then take the action step of the day. After those steps pray, pray for things that go on and pray for your friends. Another way to get involved is volunteering with them and going on expeditions. Doing Gods works out on missions and seeing how your help can change someone’s life right in front of you. Seeing something you think is so easy to do but it changes someone’s life puts fire in you and makes you want more of that. But for the people that aren’t ready to get out there you can always make donations. You have to take the first step though, accepting Christ as your Lord and savior.
When Ambrielle and I first started watching I Am Second we were amazed. You see some of these celebrities on TV and in the magazines and you think “wow all they care about is money, and fame and nothing else” But when you see those celebrities on I Am Second and they talk about how life isn’t perfect and there is a higher God that celebrity-selfish image changes. You hear their stories and you hear their struggles in life and in the spotlight all the time it gives you hope. That all of this will soon pass and there is something much bigger than the problems you have now. I Am Second is something very important to Ambrielle and I. It gives people who think they don’t need anyone and think drugs and partying are the only thing that matter in life and this website gives them a different look on life. It is a very inspirational website. When you watch these peoples stories something inside you wants’ to do more and want you to go out and help people. It changes how you look on life and how you look at people.
My name is Cierra Wolff and my name is Ambrielle Jansky and WE ARE SECOND.
"I Am Second" Website
Getting Paid to go to College
By: Matthew Babyak and Saul Reyes
With the ever increasing rise in the cost to go to college, scholarships are becoming more and more necessary to even have a chance of going there. Of course, with this rising need, scammers have found ways to exploit students trying to apply for scholarships, creating a new breed of fraudulent “scholarships” that are meant to really just attempt to take money from students, and not give it to them. As you are applying for scholarships to go to college, be aware of these warning signs that the scholarship is actually fake:
1. The scammer requires a bank account number, social security number, credit card number, or any other type of information of the sort. You can infer what they are planning to do with it.
2. The “scholarship” requires fees and other payments for you to receive. If it were a true scholarship, they would be giving you money, not the other way around.
3. The “scholarship” requires that you attend a seminar, where there will most likely be a highly pressurized sales pitch trying to sell you something.
4. The company has no way to trace it, such as no telephone number or address. Scammers won’t leave a way for you or the authorities to trace them.
5. The organization claims they will take care of everything in your application process. Scholarships are supposed to be rewarded on merit, so the company cannot fill info out for you.
6. The “scholarship” cannot be found anywhere else. The internet is a vast place; if it is a legitimate scholarship, you will be able to verify with other sources.
7. Any scholarship “guaranteed”, or “held” for you is false. Nothing is guaranteed.
8. The organization seems to be trying to prove desperately that they are an actual organization. Why would this be needed if they actually were legitimate?
9. The “scholarship” is one that you never applied for. How can you win something that you didn’t even enter?
10. The scholarship is open to everybody. While this doesn’t necessarily
prove it is fraudulent, most scholarships are targeted towards specific groups of people, while fake ones try to hook as many victims as possible.
Finally, it would be good to include resources to find actual scholarships:
· https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search
· https://www.scholarships.com/main.aspx
· And of course, see your high school counselor.
Fort Hood Shooting
By: Connor Curvin
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014 - Specialist Ivan Lopez opened fired on other military personnel, at Fort Hood, located in Killen, Texas. The shooter killed a total of 3 people and injured 16 others before taking his own life. According to military officials on base, Lopez had “behavioral and mental health issues”, besides that, no clear motive for the violence could be discerned. However, a rumor has recently surfaced that Lopez may have had an altercation with a fellow soldier before the shooting occurred (unconfirmed). Ominously, the events that occurred Wednesday mirror those of the 2009 incident that took place in the very same military base. The link for that story follows:
www.nbcnews.com/.../gunman-kills-wounds-fort-hood 2009
Following this tragic event, an emphasis on monitoring the mental health among military personnel has been enacted. The men and women surrounding the shooting have been commended for their heroic actions, and continue to show unyielding bravery as they tend to their wounded comrades.
Malaysia Flight 370
By: Maddison, Favian, and Isaiah
Click this link to read the article over flight 370.