The Very Strange Case of Kuma Games

Back around '08-'09, there was a studio called Kuma Reality Games, commonly shortened to Kuma Games.

The site was primarily focused around Kuma War, a Source FPS that took real battles only a few days after they happened and put them up in the game. Their work ended up getting the attention of Discover Communications, and they made games for various channels in the network that coincided with television series that went were going on on the channel. Kuma Game's big break was one of these games, and the way I ended up finding them -- Dogfights, a game made for the History Channel show of the same name; both of which were actively advertised.

However, by 2010, Kuma Games vanished.

The website stopped updating. Games stopped getting patched. Kuma War stopped getting weekly releases. Slowly, servers began to empty out. A game that once held hundreds, now only had 1-3 servers.

A glancing thought from a passerby would probably assume that the studio had shut down sometime in 2010, and its audience left with them. However, it only takes a small bit of research to know that that's oh so wrong.

So, what the hell happened? What's with all these cryptic messages on their Facebook and Twitter? Is Kuma Games really still together, or did they get hacked?

Another question that comes into play is why the servers of the website and the game client are still up. Someone is paying for it -- but who? WHO is Kuma Games? Am I Kuma Games? Are you Kuma Games? Are we all Kuma Games? 

But don't worry, thinks get weirder. Way fucking weirder.

It is December, 2011. On an Iranian state television channel, a man by the name of Amir Mirza Hekmati got on stage as a public confession that he had been working with the US government to spy in the Middle East. Most of what he had to say wasn't incredibly important, but one quote did stick out from the rest:

"After working for DARPA, I went to Kuma Games Company. This computer company was receiving money from the CIA to produce and design and distribute for free special movies and games with the aim of manipulating public opinion in the Middle East. The goal of the company in question was to convince the people of Iran and the people of the entire world that whatever the U.S. does in other countries is a good measure."

Kuma Games declined to comment.

It did explain a lot, however: it explains how they were able to have such precise details on battles so close to the date of happening, as well as how the last two games that the developer released were from community members living in the Middle East. But that still leaves one question -- what happened to Kuma Games?

On March 20th, 2015, a few weeks after the start of making this article, the Kuma Games facebook updated with this message:

Wait, what? What's Infinite Overdrive? What's Kuma\TV?

Searching either of these shows Kuma Games newest project, Kuma\TV.

As it turns out, the studio never really left, but rather went through some major rebranding. Certainly what a way to advertise your product, Kuma. 

So whatever might be the truth of what the Iranian spy said, or why their social marketing is a little crazy, or if they're even legally allowed to say that they're working with Discover Communications still, one thing's for sure: Kuma War was Counter-Strike for poor people.

Citations:

Kuma Games Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KumaGames

Kuma Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/kumagames

Kuma TV: http://www.kumatv.com/index.php

Alleged Iranian Spy 'Confesses' that U.S. Video Game Company is CIA Propoganda Tool:

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

On Equality, Part 2

Part 1

But there is more to equality than just gender and sexuality. A similar issue is going on in the world of race, although unlike radical feminism this movement is not built on greed but rather decades of true oppression and segregation. In a time where all races should finally be equal, tensions are greater than ever.

Once again, we have the Google Dilemma -- except instead of applicants we have suspects, and instead of Google we have the government. The only way for all races to live equally is for them to understand each other, and to understand that neither race is after the other one. Blacks are not trying to attack whites, nor are whites trying to attack blacks. When you mix black and white, all you get is grey.

As with gender and sexual equality, the media and entertainment try to push one side of the coin as much as possible. Once again, it is foolish and silly. To achieve equality, the coin should be put on an equal level; or else you get the same problems that have existed for years, just the opposite way.

In order to achieve equality, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay, female, or black, anymore than it does if you’re straight, male, or white. It may be a long way until true equality -- all over the world there is still oppression, double standards, and genocide. However, this is the best chance that we’ve gotten in a long time. I pray we don’t fuck it up.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

On Equality, Part 1

Modern society seems to be focused on one system: the creation of seemingly perfect equality, whether it be social, racial, sex, or sexuality. The endeavor is noble; and perhaps one day, though it may be well after our lives are over, we will be able to achieve this equality. However, the creation of this perfect society is threatened, and it is threatened by some of the same people who dare say they wish to have this great system.

Making this claim is controversial, but rarely anything that is an important statement isn’t. Therefore, I’m not going to bother preparing for whatever opinions you may have, and instead trust in your own reason and understanding to see truth, or at least understand, what I am saying. Many of these faults come from our own nature as human beings, and so many will try to avoid it. However, no one gets anywhere trying to hide from their mistakes.

Feminism is defined as the belief that both male and female should be on an equal level; though in recent times it has come to include equality between different sexualities as well. The movement has been on a swift rise recently -- but with all popular ideas, there comes both positive and negative versions of it.

Radical Feminism is a new type of feminism. It is not based around traditional beliefs of equality, but rather a minority -- a very vocal minority -- who believe only in their own advancement. The movement does not serve any particular gender, but rather only people who follow it. Recently, this new movement has stirred an incredible amount of trouble in the entertainment medium; I intend to explain exactly how and why this happened, as well as how to stop it.

As feminism has become popular, it has lead to another, perhaps more innocent incident -- the sudden shoving of diversity into the face of the masses. More and more companies, movies, games, et cetera, have tried to push their brand as being more progressive than the other. This is quite a silly ordeal, and in some ways even leads to a bit of irony, as some companies and universities have become prone to choosing more diverse applicants than “normal” ones.

However, as radical feminism continues (which, as has been mentioned, is a very vocal minority), it continues to push these poor practices, and in turn, people who are acquainted with radical feminism tend to begin to confuse the rise of feminism as actually being the rise of radical feminism, and so the two conflict. The actual feminist side, seeing this conflict, finds it unreasonable -- and then they begin to confuse radical feminism as true feminism, and the cycle continues. In case you couldn’t tell, that is very bad.

The main reason something like this happens in the first place is the result of a problem called the “Google Dilemma”. Say we have 4 applicants, and two are “diverse” (which is group one), why the other two are not (group two). What counts as diverse or undiverse, I honestly have lost track by this point.

Anyway, the company/university has been claimed to favor one population more than anything else, though whether this is true or not is debatable depending on the place. The people who commonly push this are the radical feminists, but as this now normally transpires through the internet, it becomes very hard to tell what is a small group of loud people and what is an actually large protest. In turn, the company/university is forced to make a decision.

Now, case one is that the group one applicants are indeed better than the others from group two,  and in that case the answer is simple: you would obviously choose the group one applicants because they are better and it would look favorably on you. However, the dilemma is in case 2, in which group two is better than group one. If you choose group two, then people will continued to be riled up about your choice, however if you choose group one, then you are choosing the group with less experience, denying the group that does have it. That, and group two could probably figure out that that is what happened.

The main question is this, however: will this ever amount to anything serious? Likely not -- of course, though there are people who suffer from the “diverse selection”, they will still end up easily finding a place in another company or university. It is hard to imagine a world where those who are white, male, or heterosexual become oppressed (much to the distaste of radical feminists), and in the end diversity will begin to become a norm, stopping the need for the push or the dilemma, and therefore ending the cycle. This will likely be the final result.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

The National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists is a Scam.

As this is going around and not apparently there isn’t a lot of coverage on it, so I figured I would make this so people know exactly what’s going on.

To preface, I got a message in the mail addressed from some NASA guy named Buzz Aldrin. At first I thought it was just a regular friendly letter, as me and Buzz go way back and he hasn’t really gotten used to the whole “internet” thing yet. However, upon closer inspection, this wasn’t a friendly hello at all -- it was actually an invitation.

I was pretty confused at first, as I’m pretty stupid when it comes to school smarts, but as I read it through I came under the realization that what I was reading was entirely genuine, and I myself was reading to take my first steps in joining this prestigious group.

Haha, just kidding. It’s a fucking scam. Here’s why:

First, let’s start with the name. Sure, there’s a lot of pretty well known Academies. There’s the Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academy of, uh -- Well the point is that there’s plenty. However, the name “National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists” doesn’t really ring a bell, which it feels like it really should speaking of its apparent importance and my accumulated knowledge via various college/scholarship searching. Not only that, but -- and like I said, I’m stupid -- I’m pretty sure “technologists” isn’t even a word.

But look! Right there lay the signature of Buzz Aldrin himself, and his message that he decided to personally recommend me. Certainly they wouldn’t put THAT much work into a fake?

It’s true, they wouldn’t -- and its not a real signature. Upon closer inspection of it, you can see that it is made up of individual sets of squares; not very common for natural human brushstrokes, but very common for a printer. Hey, at least they paid for the color!

Another pretty egregious detail on here is the requirements. Normally for high quality scientist/engineer academies, the GPA requirement is around 3.7-3.8. However, for this, it’s only 3.5 -- something you know is bad when its the minimum requirement to join ASU’s engineering school. No, seriously, if something is set at ASU standards, you know something is up.

Taking down these major points, you start to find little problems between the lines. The ridiculous price, the various grammar mistakes, and my personal favorite, the News Release section:

“You will be able to create your own news release using an easy to follow program the Academy has developed. Included are instructions on how to distribute this release to local newspapers and television stations so you can get the maximum recognition for your achievements.”

Wow, I never knew getting on TV was so easy! Unfortunately, this easy media guide was in fact not included with the rest of the papers -- must have been cut out of the final product at the last minute.

So, these are our ways of seeing through the fraud on paper, but what’s the proof outside of it? Well, it turns out these are the same people behind the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, who had this nice little message written for them by NY Times writer Diana Schemo.

Now, I’m going to embarrass myself a little here, but its for the good of all of us -- for a short time, I genuinely believed this message was true. Now, if I thought it was real, how many other students and parents think it is, and for longer than just a few minutes? How many families could this end up preying upon? I’m writing this in hopes that we can minimize these numbers as small as possible.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

A Cup of Pseudo-Philosophy -- An Argument to God

Whether there exists in this wide universe a creator, ruler, or engineer who has constructed not just us but all things both living or dead, is debatable -- however for the purposes of this document I will assume that such a thing exists, and that I will also assume that he has control of the conscience of people, and I will also assume that this God is not only able but has controlled the conscience of people, and have used it to create various religious texts. These texts in themselves are all different in their own way, so I will assume that only those trends common among all documents is true -- and that these together are the guides that this God has deemed suitable that all man should follow. Assuming all of this, I will now continue.

To the lord which rules all, to the king of all kings and the ultimate architect, to the creator of my being and all else under the sun, I have come to the conclusion that I must respectfully question these guidances of yours. I am no god myself, nor will I likely contribute any great ideas or works like many of my own peers, so please have the graciousness to excuse me if I have any faults in my speech. The majority of your laws on mankind are very well conceived, and I do admit that I personally believe that they go great lengths to defend at least some kind of order in our place in your machine. That being said, there are also a few discrepancies, and though perhaps a being of your nature could have no mistakes, I do pray you to at least consider what I have to say.

You have stated many a time that the killing of oneself is that of ultimate evil -- that the murder of another man is itself a sin, but refusing the gift of life that you have given is an even greater crime. Well, I can tell from my own knowledge that a man values nothing more highly than himself, and the idea that a man would simply take himself away in spite, or in excessive modesty, may not be unheard of, but it is very rarely the truth. You see, in the final moments of a man’s life when he intends to destroy it, he thinks not of you at all -- and if he does, he prays to you, and tells that he is sorry to both you and his fellows to what he has done. Or perhaps he is smitten with anger, and does lash against you -- but this is rarely your fault, and rather some men’s way of dealing with pain. Perhaps I am wrong to assume, but I would think that you would know all of this better than we know it ourselves. If that is the case, why hurt the already hurting man? Why call what he does a crime when his crime is that he believes there is nothing else left for him?

I understand that in entirely neutral judgement there is no path of sympathy, so do not pity these men -- but rather realize in their feelings pain and suffering, and know that they are going through a Hell in itself. There is certainly no place in Heaven for these creatures, but their place in Hell is just as unreasonable.

And how could it be that refusing a gift could be any worse than taking one from another? It is in some places in your kingdom that refusing a gift is a courtesy, but it is in all places that taking anothers is a crime. Why insist one thing in our world that is not the same in the other? Is this judgement not flawed?

But I do understand that this could simply be that you wish for men to realize that there is always still hope, and that going through such a pain and enduring it is in fact an achievement. And so you put fear in them so they still try to endure, and that they hopefully will stop considering the thought. If this is your meaning, I understand.

Repentance is as well an issue in itself. You say that if men go against their sins, then they are forgiven, but if they do not do it in time then they will be sent to eternal damnation. Have you forgotten man's capacity for lying? Have you forgotten that life is a fragile thing?

Perhaps you wish for men to do it everyday, and you can easily see whether they truly believe it or not -- but is forgiveness really all that is needed to gain access to a greater future in death? Does a compulsive liar eventually believe what he says is the truth?

Another great sin is the love of one’s self above all others. Though I could see both excessive pride and unhonest modesty as crimes against others and themselves, is not self confidence the greatest self-rejuvenator of all? Too much of anything is a dangerous thing, but in some cases too little is just as bad. And to once again say that such an easily measurable thing is much worse than murder, which is rather something so heinous and stays with you forever, seems to not be the best hierarchy of all.

My final argument is the one that I’m sure many have argued to you about before, but I intend my discussion of it to be much less emotional and much more reasonable.

Why does the act of war exist in us, but not in any other species? It cannot be that we are too sophisticated, because war itself is started upon weakness (jealousy, greed, perhaps even excessive pride). And an even greater question, at least for me personally, is why do you support such a thing? In multiple religious texts you have stated that, although it is preferred that it does not happen, if it comes down to it then it must. That is not the words of a God, but rather a king who sits on his chair and tries to play with whatever power he can get. I struggle to understand the exact meaning of its existence, and although there are some explanations for it (Pandora’s Box, Adam and Eve) I feel like these do not come directly from you, but rather your followers in their own attempts of explaining why these things happened. If war continued, I would be unaffected -- I am asking for this explanation on the side of reason, and why it would be implemented into the greater scheme without any true meaning. Indeed, the entire act of war is vestigial at best, and yet leaders will continue to do it because they believe there is no better choice. That means that my original idea of ‘perhaps this is something man must unite and come out of’ is incorrect -- if that was true, war would’ve ended a long time ago.

I understand that someone like you is likely not used to criticism, and I would be the first to admit that perhaps my points were more sharp and my words more poetic at the beginning of my speech, but understand that this comes from another gift you have given us named procrastination. Still, I hope you can at least take some of these points into consideration.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Codex of Aegis State of the Union -- 2015 edition

Alright, alright -- I know it's March, and technically these "year-long plans" things are supposed to take place at the very beginning, but who cares. This is my ride and I can do what I want.

So some time last year I basically lined up all my project's and said what would be happening with each of them (for the sake of your curiosity, here's a link). With this post I intend to do relatively the same.

Codex of Aegis

First off, in the last post I hinted at the idea of a Codex of Aegis compilation ebook, with extra features, commentary, and the rest of the works. It was originally slated for Winter 2014, but it never came out -- and that was purposeful on my part. To make sure I would have enough content to work with in making the book, I decided to set a point in which I finally start making it after I upload X amount of stories. Well, as of today, the X amount has been reached -- so I'm now announcing that Codex of Aegis will go on hiatus while I'm busy compiling it. I plan to add the following:

• All stories from the blog's inception up until today's
• Commentary/critique on each one
• A special "Astuka Looks Back" section
• A few chapters to a book that was originally going to be released in 2014 but will now be later

As for price and release date, I'm still working on it -- though I hope to finish by at least Summer 2015. 

The Blogs

As Codex of Aegis will be busy hibernating, I intend to start updating this a lot more. I already have 2 posts planned for next week with some ideas for more. I also plan on starting another blog for more dumb clickbait stuff, since apparently that's "in". So that means there would be 3 blogs: one for stories, one for nonfiction kind of stuff (this one), and finally the new blog (which might end up being monetized, but I don't know).

AstukaGaming

Recently there has been some talk internally on making AG season 2. I can't say yet that we're dedicated to making it, but I have made the AstukaGaming channel an "official Codex of Aegis" channel, and plan to do the same with Best of the Youtube tomorrow. As always, the podcast will keep going, and I'm thinking of legitimately doing some "casual streaming" on astukari as time goes on.

Well, those are my goals so far. I also might continue patch notes, but they would be in the form of short videos rather than what they have been (blog posts), but that's really only an idea.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis