By Charlie Clark | Hidden Valley High School

“The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night,” is the second game in “The Legend of Spyro” trilogy.

The first game, “Spyro the Dragon,” was a huge hit in 1998, and has inspired many sequels and spinoffs.

The plot of “The Eternal Night,” centers around Spyro bringing back his friend Cynder and ultimately saving the kingdom from the invading Ape Army.

The beginning stages of the game are a kind of tutorial, which must be completed and can become tedious. Once done, however, you are able to explore more freely and gain new attacks.

For the Nintendo Wii system, the game is very interactive and makes it hard to stay on the couch while you play. There are arm movements, thrusts and button pushes that all combine for different purposes.

Though the plot is somewhat childish, the game-play is both interactive and fun for almost every age.

The game has been released for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii systems.

— Charlie Clark is a sophomore at Hidden Valley High School

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By Betsy Graves | University of Virginia, class of 2011

There’s a saying about how roommates will make or break your first year of college.

I don’t know exactly how it’s worded, but the message is true: Roommates can make a huge difference.

As far as roommates go, I got pretty lucky.

I knew a number of people before I came to school here, but still decided to go with the university’s random roommate selection. This worked out for me in the end, but it can sometimes be a stressful process. The only questions on the housing application were:

1. Do you smoke?
2. Would you describe your room as a social place or a study place?
3. Do you go to bed early or late?

Not exactly the perfect personality test.

However, I was fortunate to be paired with an awesome girl (also from in-state), and it turns out that we get along very well. Even though our lives and majors are quite different (she’s pre-med, I’m foreign affairs), it’s totally worked for both of us. We had enough common interests that we were easily able to relate to each other at first. Then, the more time we spent hanging out and talking, the more we realized that we had a lot in common. Plus, my roommate is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She puts up with my atrocious number of alarm clocks (it takes me seven to wake up in the morning), and my paper-ridden desk.

In turn, I have no problem with her late-night laundry activities and her affection for air fresheners (our room always smells great).

One key to getting along with your roommate is learning to compromise. Chances are, it’s the first time both of you have spent an extended amount of time away from home. That alone takes some adjustment.

It’s also important to be open-minded, yet straightforward. This is significant on a number of levels, especially when it comes to rules for the room.

Most schools require you and your roommate to sign a roommate agreement at the beginning of the year. If your school doesn’t do this — or you feel the one they offer is not thorough enough — I highly recommend writing your own.

This is where communication really counts, because you have to lay down the rules for the living space. Getting along with someone and living with him or her for nine months are two entirely different things. It’s important to figure out where you both stand on certain issues.

For instance:

1. Partying policy. How often do you both go out? Is this going to cause problems?

2. Boy/girlfriends in the room. Are you OK with being kicked out of the room for the night? Does your roommate feel the same?

3. Sleeping late versus getting up early. Do your schedules ever coincide? If you don’t have a class until 1 p.m., will you still wake up early or sleep until noon?

4. Social versus studying. If one of you has to work (or is sleeping, talking privately on the phone, etc.), who should leave the room? Are there times you both agree should be silent hours?

These issues might seem pretty straightforward, but they’re very important. If you can establish your views early in the year, it can make life much easier down the road.

Plus, you should never suffer in silence. If something isn’t working or you feel uncomfortable with a situation, speak up! While it may feel awkward at first, it’s better to be open about issues that are bothering you. Letting it go will not solve anything. Chances are, whatever is bugging you will only get worse.

There are loads of roommate horror stories, and I know a lot of people at other schools who weren’t quite as lucky as me.

Sometimes, roommates are simply not compatible. However, most of the time, people are able to work out their problems. In some cases, your roommate will become your best friend. For others, they will become another one of the challenges of college.

For me, I was very blessed and have had a fantastic experience. My dorm is like a second home, and although I always enjoy coming home to the ’Noke for breaks, it’s always great to return to UVa.

— Betsy Graves is a 2007 Hidden Valley High School graduate and was a senior editor at the Edge. She is majoring in foreign affairs and English.

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By Emma Berry | Brown University, class of 2011

For some reason, in high school, whenever someone mentions college roommates, the conversation immediately turns to horror stories:

“I knew this girl whose roommate just never wore clothes, even when she was studying!”

“Dude, my brother’s friend’s cousin’s roommate would always throw wild parties in the room, especially during finals.”

And it goes on from there. Roommates who steal your stuff. Roommates who exile you every night. Roommates who smell bad and play “Halo” until 5 a.m.

Soon, you start thinking you’re doomed to spend the next year of your life living with the mayor of Sketchville, U.S.A.

But here’s the thing: It’s not like difficult people crawl out of the woodwork at the age of 18 just in time to be your college roommate. The vast majority of roommates are pretty normal. Roommate relationships are just like any other relationship: They depend on your ability to respect each other and to communicate.

One of the first things my roommate and I did after moving in was sign a roommate contract detailing our room’s “rules” about loud music, overnight guests and cleanliness. Almost all schools require roommates to fill these out. And while they may force you to have semi-awkward conversations about your sex life, personal habits and substance use, they’re essential. Avoiding them will only lead to seriously awkward situations.

When you’re determining rules, compromise, compromise, compromise. My roommate and I are both pretty chill people, so our rules aren’t very strict. People are allowed in the room whenever, but if one of us wants them to leave, they have to leave. If one of us is studying, the other has to use headphones to listen to music or watch TV.

When my roommate gets annoyed at how messy the room is, she tells me, and I clean it up.

When she distracts me by studying out loud, I let her know, and one of us moves to a study lounge or to someone else’s room.

This has worked out pretty well, so far.

In addition, if any rule is non-negotiable for you (e.g. no smoking in the room,) make it known. A good roommate will respect your boundaries, but they can’t read your mind.

And, like any real relationship, sometimes roommate relationships don’t work out despite your best efforts. Maybe your schedules just don’t mesh. Maybe your personalities clash. Maybe your lifestyles are too different. Maybe you really were stuck with one of those horrific roommates.

If you try everything and still can’t work things out, it isn’t the end of the world. Most colleges will allow you to switch to a different room.

And, if you’re lucky, your new roommate will know how to keep her clothes on.

— Emma Berry was a senior editor at the Edge. She is undecided on her major.

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By Katie Thisdell | James Madison University, class of 2011

Whoever decided to make two 18-year-old strangers live together in a tiny room must have been crazy.

It makes no sense. And it can cause even more drama, problems and stress as incoming college freshmen face the biggest changes in their lives.

Luckily, switching roommates is easy. I know from experience.

My first roommate seemed normal enough when we e-mailed this summer. Maybe it was weird that she already had the complete layout of the room planned. I naively took that as extreme enthusiasm toward the whole experience of dorm life.

She ended up being a princess whose parents did everything for her on move-in day.
Things went downhill from there.

She became instant best friends with our suite mates (every two rooms on my hall share a bathroom between them.) She came back to the room drunk on one of the very first nights of orientation and wasn’t even able to climb into her loft bed.

The first weekend, her boyfriend came to visit, even though I told her I wasn’t comfortable with his staying in our room so soon. She said they’d stay somewhere else, but I heard them come into the room in the middle of the night (or morning,) and leave early on Saturday. I didn’t see her again until Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, I’m not very good at confronting people about problems. And it made it even harder that we didn’t even talk to each other for those first two weeks. We never even talked about the boyfriend issue again.

Luckily, it was just two weeks. After that, because of other problems in our hallway, a friend from orientation asked if I wanted to be involved in a three-way switch. I took her up on the offer.

Susie, my friend, had experienced her own roommate problems. Over the summer, James Madison University students completed a short survey about living habits. One question was about smoking. Susie’s roommate lied about her smoking habits, while Susie checked the box saying she was against rooming with a smoker.

This caused some problems, adding to many of their other differences.

Having Susie as my roommate has made my transition to college much easier. Since we became friends during orientation, we didn’t have to struggle through the process of forming a friendship while living together. Instead, we already knew about each other’s backgrounds and personalities. We’re both vegetarians and like to cook. The Food Network is our favorite channel.

We also like to watch “Sex and the City” at night. We both knit. Our walls are covered with bright colors, photos and posters.

I never got to learn if I had any similarities with my first roommate (who, by the way, started dating one of the resident assistants in our building, and has since moved to another dorm to continue their relationship so he doesn’t lose his job. There’s always more drama in our former suite every day.)

In the past few months, I’ve learned a lot about living with other people. For instance, not everyone wants a clean bathroom. Similarly, a clear floor is not an issue for some. Others will sleep the whole day, even if you want to study in your room in the morning.

When you put two people together in a room that is probably smaller than the one you had at home, you will encounter so many issues.

Everyone has traits that will annoy others. I’m sure it bugs Susie that I actually like to get up in the morning rather than sleep in, even on the weekends. It’s important to get your problems out in the open to have the best relationship. You are living together, after all.

But I don’t want to scare you. Having a roommate is actually great. It’s all a part of the college experience. You learn about others in a whole new way, and how to interact and build relationships. You never know — the two of you may end up being the pair that becomes each other’s bridesmaids or groomsmen in five years.

Anything is possible.

— Katie Thisdell was a senior editor at The Edge. She is majoring in the School of Media Arts and Design with a concentration in print journalism.

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By Patrick Mahaney | Giles High School

“BioShock,” for the Xbox 360 and PC, has been well-received by critics and has won several awards.

After playing “BioShock” for almost 13 hours, I have to agree — this is one awesome game.

“BioShock,” according to the official Web site, is a “genetically modified” first-person shooter game. The basic premise is that after surviving a plane crash your character is taken to an underwater city called Rapture by way of a rusty bathysphere, an underwater vessel.

Tentatively stepping from your vessel after watching a brutal murder, you are soon forced to start defending yourself against genetically mutated enemies, called “splicers,” who are intent on your death so they can get Adam. Adam is the substance that everyone in Rapture literally kills to get their hands on.

Luckily, you aren’t completely alone. While there isn’t direct contact with most of the supporting cast, you definitely start feeling a connection with the characters, especially a mysterious man named Atlas who guides you through the city by radio.

Several features also add to the game’s appeal. First, “BioShock” is well designed. The city, Rapture, was originally intended by its creator to be a haven for scientists. It was supposed to be a place where politics and religion would not interfere with scientific discovery. Rapture seems to be frozen in the 1950s, so everything — the environments to the appearance of in-game menus —conforms to this design.

Environments in “BioShock” are huge and detailed. The game boasts an incredible soundtrack, which varies from upbeat swing music to the eerie and dangerous.

One of the main components of the battle system is its use of genetic mutations, such as a fist full of fire, electricity that shoots from your fingers and the ability to create decoys of yourself to draw away enemies. You can also strengthen your skin and build your muscles. Sometimes, plasmids (the devices used to change your DNA) are lying around the environment, but most of the time, plasmids are found at “gatherers gardens.” There, they can be bought using Adam, a substance whose requisition requires you to hunt down “little sisters.”

“Little sisters” are genetically altered little girls who find and collect Adam. To get your hands on one of these girls, you must defeat a “big daddy” — their overly powerful guardians — and the motif of the games. After defeating the big daddies (not an easy feat) you have two options: Freeing the little girls from sea slugs, after which you get the warm feeling of saving a little girl’s life, but only a minimal amount of Adam; Or, you can harvest her slug for all the Adam possible. But that, in turn, kills the girl.

While this choice may seem easy, freeing the little sisters gives so little Adam that you can barely get though the game. So, unless you have excellent gaming skills, a couple of little girls will probably have to … well, you know.

On the bright side, however, the little sisters’ mysterious creator will eventually begin to give rewards for saving them, so harvesting is a necessity only some of the time. Of course, if you want, you can harvest every little girl, which could bring you huge power.

The rest of the game features excellent voice acting and powerful sequences which are really well done. “BioShock’s” story is full of demented logic, but still has interesting characters with histories and reasons for their actions. Even your guide, Atlas, can exhibit questionable traits.

In the end, “BioShock” has above-average gameplay and a wonderful story. These two qualities alone — plus the quality music and graphics — make “BioShock” an excellent game.

— Patrick Mahaney is a junior at Giles High School.

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