Kitty's Corner

April2014

How does music affect brain?

Read what happens in your brain when listening to music

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Hot or not? The game review that tells you everything thereis to know about New Leaf

Do you play too much?

Take the quiz and find out

Contents

EDITORIAL

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GAME REVIEW

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Introducing New Leaf

ADVERTISEMENT

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PS4

GAMING QUIZ

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Find out if you play too much!

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Wrong Side Of The Tracks?

Editorial by LiisaLehtonen

Who is responsible?

It is the first day of April and it is still snowing. The sun isshining in Helsinki and the traffic is polluting the air withgases. Downtown, people walk fast speaking to theirphones, not noticing the ragged beggars on the streetsasking for money. Is it that we don’t care or that we don’thave time for these unfortunate people?

It is very common to see Romanian beggars wherever wego nowadays and the amount of people coming to theScandinavian countries has been increasing in the pastfew years. As surprising as this phenomenon is in theNorthern countries, it sure isn’t new. These people don’tnecessarily have homes or any other income than just themoney coming from the small donations. What is thesolution to helping them? Is it the responsibility of thecitizens’ to give them money, or should the governmentof Finland find a way to support them?

What about Romania? Romania is a part of the EU whichsupports the free mobility of people within the EUcountries. Should it be responsible for getting thesebeggars at least decent homes and pay some kind ofsupport? One of the most important values of EU is toallow free movement for all its citizens. This is why everyspring we see unfortunate poor people who arrive toNorthern countries in hope of some kind of financial aid.

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"The city of Helsinki is aware of the problembut is not able to forbid the begging.Forbidding would not help because thesepeople would still come back every year."

Usually, they don’t travel alone butinstead, they travel with their relativesbecause if the woman gives birth to achild in Finland, the child gets thecitizenship and the family has to stayin the country as well, which is whysome foreigners do this in order to stayin the country.

When they arrive, they don’t have anyknowledge of where to stay at or wherethey can get medical treatment fromand usually they speak only theirnative language. During the spring theweather allows these people to beoutside and live in shacks. What canwe do to help these people? What canyou do to help? As sad as it is, themoney we provide isn't enough to payfor the

basic needs for humans, such as ahome, experience, work or food. It'strue that people, who get to study, andlater on work, are much richer withexperience. According to the public opinion inFinland, the state of Romania as an EUcountry should take care of and beresponsible of these poor people.There are also official considerationsabout the possibility that thisphenomenon of begging Balkan peopleliving in the Northern countries is apart of a serious international humantrafficking.The city of Helsinki is aware of theproblem but is not able to forbid thebegging. Forbidding would not helpbecause these people would still comeback every year.

This is called the freemovement in the EU areaand begging has become anintegral part of most majorcities, but in the end weneed to think for ourselves;who exactly is responsiblefor improving their livingconditions, the governmentor the people?

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New Leaf, New Life

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I start my Saturday byturning on my 3DS and ina matter of minutes, I amsucked into the world ofAnimal Crossing-gameseries' greatest successor,Animal Crossing: NewLeaf. This game has abrought a lot of joy to oldand new players. You don’tneed to play the oldergames to understand NewLeaf.

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Since the game has been out foronly half a year, it can be found inthe local game shops for 40 to 50euros. It can be bought online forcheaper. The game is worth everycent and offers a happy and anunforgettable gaming experienceto anyone who just wants to trysomething new, or even for anolder player, this game will justremind them why they startedplaying in the first place.

What is the game about?

Well, you start the game and findyourself (your character) sittingin a train, and soon a cat comes totalk to you. Sounds weird? It getsweirder. The cat asks for yourname, gender and destination

You get to come up with a namefor a town, and in the newestgame, you will also get to choosewhat kind of a town you live in.

"You get to control the town, you get to make friends andyou get to customize your character and your home anyway you want."

After the train-ride, you end up ina town in which all the residentsgreet you. You become the mayorand are therefore responsible forall the Public Works Projects.

You get to control the town, youget to make friends and you get tocustomize your character andyour home any way you want.

A big-headed character steps outof her blue-tinted house, closesthe door and sways her little hipsto the calm music playing in thebackground.

I haven't played in a few weeksand all my neighbors tell me howmuch they've missed me and howthey were scared that I'd movedaway. I didn't think that a fewweeks of being away would endup in such chaos.

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It is up to me alone to pull out theweeds, take out the garbage, return thelost items to their rightful owners andgo check if there is any new furniturefor me to collect. At some point of mySaturday, I end up going to MainStreet, blaming Tom Nook for suchhigh prices. Tom Nook is the raccoonsalesman who sells you house exterior.

A creature resembling a raccoon smilesat me and says "Arched Brown Dooronly for 4 000 bells. Yes, yes!"I don't buy the door and keep going. Ivisit the Nookling stores, just to begreeted by two other raccoons.

My character walks up to the giant airconditioner, turns to the animal andwaits to hear the price. "I see you'vefound our special item of the day! Only2500 bells, yes, yes!"

Today, I will not buy anything andwalk back to my house. First, I decideto go collect some shells on the beach.The waves hit the sand and mycharacter takes off her shoes just tofeel the water underneath her feet. Isee an interesting notification on thebulletin board. There is going to be ameteor shower tonight so whenwalking outside tonight, we’ll be seeinga lot of beautiful shining stars fallingfrom the sky; and if you're lucky youmight even see the aurora borealis,otherwise known as the northernlights.

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"Even if there are longer breaks in betweenplaying, I still find myself enchanted by all thecolors, possibilities, new neighbors andfestivities."

New Leaf is an interesting, evena heart-warming gamingexperience. It offers a lot ofvariety of what one can do inthe game. Basically everythingis customized: everything fromyour character to the townlayout. The game also followsreal life-time, it has a lot ofevents you can participate inand you get to make a lot offriends. It is also possible toinvite other players to your owntown, and even play with themif you have wifi.

I myself have found a lot of joyin seeing the landscape changewith the seasons and being ableto decide about almosteverything gives me a goodreason to keep on playing. Evenif there are longer breaks inbetween playing, I still findmyself enchanted by all thecolors, possibilities, newneighbors and festivities. Everytime.

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F

ind out if you play toomuch and if you should cutit down a bit...

Playing games can be a lot of fun anda good activity but sometimes it doesgood to go outside and see what thereal world has got to offer or are thegraphics too bad…?

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Question 1

Your friends are planning on going out on Fridayand they let you know on Thursday that you areinvited. What do you say? A) You’re quite busy right now… The newestThief-game just came out and you are desperateto try it out on Friday. It’s a no-go. B) Eventhough your friends let you know one day inadvance, you still feel you have too much to do athome – mainly playing. Maybe you could justplay for a while and then go… You let yourfriends know that you will come a bit later onFriday. C) You think the idea is great! Who wantsto play games anyway? You decide you have thetime later for the game and inform your friendsyou’re already on your way! No, wait. It’s onlyThursday. D) You won’t go, you don’t like toparty but you don’t play either. You’ll stay athome helping your mom bake cookies.

Question 2

You are downtown with your friends when younotice the newest Animal Crossing game in agame shop.

You get excited and grab your wallet just to findout that it’s empty. What do you do? A) Steal it B)Ask for money from your mother and promiseyou’ll get her a nice Mother’s Day gift next yearC) Ask for money from your dad and promise topay back when you have the chance D) You waitfor the prices to drop a bit and use your weeklyallowance to buy the game

Question 3

You’re spending the night at your friend’s houseand he happens to have new console with a fewgames. You two start to play and after the first 30minutes, it’s his turn. How do you react? A) Youask for him to let you play for a while longer B)You are planning on not letting him play at all C)You start to whine when it’s his turn and beg forhim to let you play after the first five minutes D)You let him play and patiently wait for your turn

Question 4

You’re supposed to write three essays for yourclass tomorrow but when you come home youreally feel like playing a few rounds of the newshooter game you got for your birthday. What doyou do? A) You do your homework first and thenplay for a few hours B) You are sure you canfinish your homework after playing for an houror two C) You decide to leave the homework fortomorrow – you are sure you have time D) Whodoes homework?

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Answers

Question 1 A = 3 B = 2 C = 0 D = 1

Question 2 A = 3 B = 2 C = 1 D = 0

Question 3 A = 1 B = 3 C = 2 D = 0

Question 4 A = 0 B = 1 C = 2 D = 3

Most three-point answers:

It would be smart to play fewer gamesand instead do something productive.Playing can be and is fun but itshouldn’t overrule everything else. Anew hobby could benefit you, and ifyou like action games head over tomore action filled activities such asfootball or martial arts.

Most two-point answers:

Gaming seems to be quite important toyou but you are still capable ofseparating the line between reality andgames. Remember to keep the balancebetween gaming and other things youdo during your free time. Maybe apicnic with your friends would berefreshing? Make some food and goout with your friends to enjoy thenature!

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Most one-point answers:

You don’t need to be scared ofgaming. Games won’t bite you!If you want to play more,choose a game that trulyinterests you. That way you’ll beable to open the door to themagical world of games andfun! Of course, don’t forget youhave your own life too.

Most zero-point answers:

The fact that you like to helpyour mother to bake cookies issweet, but you don’t need tocover your ears every time youhear the word “game”. If you’venever played a game before ordon’t find gaming interesting,that is just fine. But if you feelthat you should find somethingfor yourself anyway, go to thenearest game shop and ask forthe clerk’s opinion.

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