Hello guys I bought Assassin's Creed 2, Bat Man Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age Origins yesterday and they are awesome

i like Bat Man it's really awesome i finish 35% of the game with veteran difficulty

AC2 is awesome and great story but the graphic is like AC1

Dragon Age is interesting i like it but the graphic is weak

I read some news and rumors about game industry....

1-I read SONY is selling PS2 in Brazil after 9 years and it costs 490$!!!! and they sell PS2 games about 95$!!! most of us were in the Brazil when we were playing MW2 and we know they are poor and can't afford this lol

2-I read MW2 break a record in the game history! MW2 sells 550 million dollars after 5 days!!

3-I read xbox360 get 60% fail thumb by gamers in England and i see some Blog here which they are about E74 error...my 360 is dead...in my opinion the reason which PS3 is better than xbox360 is the MS! because they didn't accept the NIVIDIA's agreement and ATI designed the 360's chip, we all know that NVIDIA is the best company which design the best GPU in the world, i know ATI is good too but if you go to you tube and watch some benchmark about it you will understand NVIDIA is better! unfortunately ATI is going to design the next xbox's chip and INTEL is going to design the next PS's Chip and it's obvious which PS4 is better

4-I think uncharted is going to be the best game of 2009

5-I think HEAVY RAIN is one of the best game ever

6-I read ACTIVATIONS just release PC version of the MW2 in the Russia because of that mission in the airport, NO RUSSIA

7-I read SONY is going to change somethings in the PSN in 2010 which you have to pay and it's not free any more

I GOT TAG BY 60SPAURE and here 10 things about me

1-I'm 19 and from Iran{Persia]

2-I love video games and want be a game designer

3-I'm learning 3D MAX here is a simple example of my work

4-My best games are : Gears of War 1&2, Fallout3....

5-most of the time I'm angry and i don't know why! for example i wrote this blog before but when i came to submit it the electricity turned off

6-I don't have girlfriend

7-I love Blonde girls with blue eyes

8-I have muscular body because i always go to GYM...

9-I love the Simpsonsand i think HEAVY RAIN is one the best games ever

10-I like all the gamers

I tag no body!

Thanks for reading my boring Blog

Hello guys

I want finish what i started so here is the rest of information:

In my previous Blog i worte about The Persian Empire, Palaces of Kings and in this Blog i want write about Luxury in Life&Death

Achaemenid Persia - the royal court at least - is strongly associated with luxurious living. Throughout their lives, high-ranking individuals were surrounded with precious objects: they ate from gold and silver bowls and wore dazzling jewellery. Many of these items have been found in burials, implying that they kept their valuable possessions with them even in death.

Dining was an important part of ancient Persian life. Food was elaborate as were the rituals that accompanied banquets. As well as ornate bowls, tableware included rhytons (drinking vessels), jugs, strainers, ladles and scoops. Many of these items were depicted on the stone reliefs at Persepolis. Ancient representations also tell us that the Persians wore a great deal of splendid jewellery. Both men and women wore headdresses, torcs, earrings, necklaces and bracelets, and even small gold ornaments sewn onto clothes. Jewellery with colourful inlays was particularly popular.

Tableware and jewellery must have been plentiful, but relatively few pieces survive today. This is partly because all the tombs of the Achaemenid kings were plundered in antiquity. However some lesser burials, including the Susa tomb, pictured below, have proved invaluable both for the objects found within them and the customs which they reveal. The Persian kings seem to have tolerated the many different local religions which flourished across the vast empire.

Achaemenid grave of a woman with rich burial goods excavated at Susa in 1901

Hollow gold fishDining in Achaemenid Persia must have been a spectacular affair. Gold and silver vessels seem to have been plentiful, although only a small number - mostly found in burials - have survived to the present day. The craftsmen who made them were highly skilled and came from as far away as Egypt and India. They cleverly combined standard techniques such as casting, hammering, chasing and inlaying to create complex forms or patterns.

Ancient Persian cuisine was highly developed, with speciality cooks, armies of servants and elaborate dining etiquette. Seating plans were complicated and banquets were typically composed of several different courses. Fruit, nuts and saffron are among the ****c Iranian ingredients which originated in the Achaemenid period and are still used today. One account lists the ingredients for the king's dinner as 'sweet grape jelly, candied turnips and radishes prepared with salt, candied capers with salt, from which delicious stuffings are made…' (Polyaenus, Strategemata IV.3.32).

Drinking wine and beer was an important part of public banquets. Guests drank through straws or out of deep bowls, straining the residue through filters or sieves. Sources suggest that when the royal court travelled, they took supplies with them; the court of Cyrus was said to travel with 'water, ready boiled for use, and stored in flagons of silver' (Herodotus, History I.18.

Gold bowl

Metal drinking bowls carried by Parthians or Bactrians on a relief from the outside of the Apadana at Persepolis.Persian bowls are particularly distinctive; they often have a small boss in the centre and lotus flower and bud decoration. They are sometimes inscribed with the name of the king. As well as being used at banquets, they were valued as bullion and were sometimes made to a specific weight standard. Away from the court, potters did their best to copy precious metal designs in clay for the less wealthy.Rhytons (drinking vessels) are typically Persian and consist of a trumpet-like horn with a pouring hole or spout, often with an animal head at the pouring end. The frieze from the Nereid Monument at Xanthos famously shows how they were used. Most surviving rhytons are silver, although examples in gold, bronze, pottery and even glass have been found.

Jugs and jars (amphorae) from ancient Persia stand out because of their animal-shaped handles, often in the form of an ibex

Jugs, jars and utensils from ancient Persia stand out because of their animal-shaped handles, often in the form of an ibex.

The beautiful jewellery of the Achaemenid period shows the great wealth of the Persians, and the immense skill of their craftsmen. Much of what survives comes from three different sources: the tomb at Susa; a water jar found at Pasargadae; and the Oxus Treasure. Representations of people on reliefs show the wearing of jewellery.

The finest pieces of jewellery were inlaid with pieces of stone, glass, faience (paste) and perhaps enamel, all of different colours. The inlays were fitted into cavities and held in place by red-coloured cinnabar (native mercury sulphide, which occurs naturally in Iran) or by bitumen. The most popular inlay stones were turquoise, lapis lazuli and cornelian, but onyx, rock crystal, agate, lazulite and mother-of-pearl were also used.

Bracelets with griffin terminals carried by Lydians on a relief from the
east side of the Apadana at PersepolisBracelets and torcs, open at one side with animal-head terminals, were very popular during the Achaemenid period. Many different animals were incorporated into the designs, including lions, rams, goats and ducks, and inlay was sometimes used to create a special effect such as the mane of a lion. Bracelets in particular were held in high esteem; on the Apadana reliefs at Persepolis they are shown being presented as gifts to the king by four delegations.Earrings of the Achaemenid period were generally flat and round, with a wedge-shaped opening for the pin. The most elaborate examples were made from intricately woven gold wire although simple circular rings are depicted on some reliefs.

Textiles were often decorated with golden clothing ornaments. Some of these are in the form of roundels, while others are gold plaques with loops or rings on the back so they can be sewn onto the cloth.

Finger-rings were made of bronze, silver and gold, with the designs generally incised on pointed bezels, but also on oval and round bezels.

Kohl bottles, which would have contained eye make-up, have also been found.

Persian religion is still the subject of debate among experts although there is much evidence that the rulers at least were Zoroastrian. This is the religion named after the prophet Zarathushtra, known by the Greeks as Zoroaster. Its followers worship one great god, Ahura Mazda, and 'helper' gods such as Mithra (the sun god) and Anahita (the 'goddess of all waters').

Ahura Mazda seems to have been represented in Achaemenid art by the winged disc with a human figure holding a ring or flower. He is described in inscriptions by the kings as 'the great god' or 'the greatest of gods'. Zoroastrianism became the state religion during the Sasanian period (third-seventh centuries AD).

The Persian kings adopted a policy of religious tolerance and allowed local religions to flourish throughout the empire. They helped to pay for the building or rebuilding of temples dedicated to foreign gods and religions. The policy was initiated by Cyrus, who returned the Treasures of the Jews and gave official permission for the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon. It seems that even in the Persian heartland, non-Zoroastrian gods were revered: on the Cyrus Cylinder, for example, Cyrus speaks respectfully of the Babylonian city-god Marduk.

Priests in Iran were called magi, and some of them also held administrative positions at court. They are sometimes shown in the art of the period, performing ritual ceremonies. The ceremony most frequently depicted on the reliefs seems to have been called 'Ian', which appears to have involved offerings of food and drink. It was performed by both Iranians and Elamites, and the inscriptions imply that there was a degree of cooperation between priests of different religions.

Fragment of stone relief showing the upper part of a figure

Depiction of Ahura Mazok from the Bisitun relief (520-519 BC)The Persians buried bodies in a range of different ways. Cyrus was buried at Pasargadae in a stone-built tomb with a gabled roof set on a stepped platform. According to ****cal authors, his body was placed in a gold coffin. There are also freestanding stone tombs in Asia Minor, for example at Xanthos.

Ahura Mazda seems to have been represented in Achaemenid art by the winged disc with a human figure holding a ring or flower. He is described in inscriptions by the kings as 'the great god' or 'the greatest of gods'. Zoroastrianism became the state religion during the Sasanian period (third-seventh centuries AD).

People were also buried in coffins shaped like bath-tubs that were placed in vaulted chambers under the floors of buildings. A bronze coffin at Susa (illustrated in Luxury in Life and Death) contained a particularly wealthy burial where the dead person was accompanied by jewellery and other items needed in the afterlife, including the objects illustrated here. Many pottery coffins of this type were found at Ur in Mesopotamia.

Necklace of agate beads

The cliff at Naqsh-i Rustam

Hope you like it my next blog is about Control of EmpireThanks for reading PEACE

Hello guys

I want talk about an old forgotten Empire which was very important in the history, every great peaceful things was from this culture but nobody no anything about this and it makes me upset , i want talk about Persian Empire:[this information is from: http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/]

The Persian Empire was founded in around 550 BC by Cyrus II, called Cyrus the Great. His dynasty is known as the Achaemenid, named after the legendary king Achaemenes. The empire lasted for 200 years, encompassing diverse peoples and reaching its greatest extent under Darius I.

Cyrus founded the empire by conquering the Median kingdom, bringing together two powerful ancient peoples: the Medes and the Persians. The Achaemenid homeland was in the province of Fars (Persia) in modern Iran. It was here that rulers built capital cities at Pasargadae and Persepolis. Cyrus continued conquering new territory until his death in 530 BC, defeating King Croesus of Lydia, in modern Turkey, in 546 BC and capturing Babylon in modern Iraq in 539 BC. After this the whole of the former Babylonian Empire, stretching as far as the Mediterranean, fell into Persian hands.

Cyrus died in 530 BC during a campaign to gain territory in Central Asia, having managed to establish a series of forts on the left bank of the River Jaxartes. This came to be regarded as the northern border of the empire. He was buried at Pasargadae in a freestanding stone tomb he had built there.

After Cyrus' death, his son Cambyses ruled for eight years (530-522 BC) and continued his father's work of conquest, making significant gains in Egypt. A power struggle followed Cambyses' death and, despite his tenuous connection to the royal line, Darius was declared king (ruled 522-486 BC). He was to be arguably the greatest of the Persian rulers.

Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building programme at Persepolis. He built a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, a forerunner of the modern Suez Canal. He improved the extensive road system, and it is during his reign that mention is first made of the Royal Road (shown on map), a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals.

Major reforms took place under Darius. Coinage was introduced - the daric (gold coin) and the shekel (silver coin) - and he greatly increased the efficiency of administration. The Old Persian language appears for the first time in royal inscriptions, written in a specially adapted version of cuneiform.

Under Darius, the Persian Empire became the largest of its time. As the map illustrates, the empire stretched from North Africa to India and from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf. It covered 7,500,000 square kilometres (2,900,000 square miles), making it comparable with the Roman Empire and the Chinese Han Empire. Its inhabitants were extremely diverse: as well as the Persians and the Medes, there were Egyptians, Greeks, Scythians, Babylonians, Bactrians and Indians, among others.

The empire was formed into provinces called satrapies, each of which was governed by a satrap on behalf of the king. A primary function of the satraps was to gather tribute; its presentation to the king is depicted on many of the stone reliefs at Persepolis. Other reliefs show the people supporting the king's throne, symbolising the extent of his power but also the cosmopolitan nature of the empire. The subject peoples are incised on the base of the famous - now headless - statue of Darius.

Eight further Achaemenid rulers followed Darius. His two immediate successors, Xerxes (ruled 486-465 BC) and Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC), carried on his building programme. Hostile relations with Greece led to the Graeco-Persian Wars, although territorial acquisitions continued to be made in other areas. The Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army in 330 BC.

During the Achaemenid period, Persia had four capital cities: Persepolis, Pasargadae, Susa and Hamadan (ancient Ecbatana). Each had an array of impressive and highly decorative palaces. Founded by rulers, these were inhabited by royalty at various times. They were also used for state occasions and as an ostentatious display of wealth.

Persepolis - known as Parsa by the Persians - was a vast and impressive place. The city was founded by the Great King Darius I (522-486 BC) and continued by his successors, Xerxes (485-465 BC) and Artaxerxes I (465-424). It was located in the province of Fars (the Persian heartland).

Persepolis - known as Parsa by the Persians - was a vast and impressive place. It was one of the four capital cities that existed during the course of the Persian Empire, along with Pasargadae, Susa and Hamadan. The city was founded by the Great King Darius I (522-486 BC) and continued by his successors, Xerxes (485-465 BC) and Artaxerxes I (465-424). It was located in the province of Fars (the Persian heartland).

Persepolis was above all a ceremonial complex where representatives from the different areas of the empire gathered and feasted with the king. It was built on a huge stone platform with access via a grand staircase with a gateway at the top. There were many splendid palaces, the largest being the Apadana (Audience Hall), which had stone columns 20 metres high. Other buildings included the Hall of a Hundred Columns, and beyond this the Treasury, where valuables like gold and silver vessels were stored.

The city was burnt to the ground by Alexander the Great in 330 BC and was never rebuilt. Ruins - stone foundations, door jambs, some columns, column bases and capitals - remain to inspire modern visitors.

The small extract below is taken from a large clay tablet with foundation inscription of Darius I. The inscription, written in old Persian, describes the construction of Darius's palace at Susa, and how he brought workmen and materials from different parts of the empire. Persepolis was, before its destruction, an outstanding example of Achaemenid architecture. It was built using materials and by craftsmen from all around the empire and was an impressive tribute to the wealth and power of the ancient Persians.

The city was built on a huge man-made stone platform measuring about 455 by 300 metres - about the same length as the Acropolis in Athens but four to five times as wide. A grand double staircase led up to the platform and as well as being crucial for access, it played an important role in ceremonial processions by dignitaries. At the top of the staircase was the Gate of All Nations, flanked by two gigantic bull statues.

After passing through the Gate, visitors entered the Welcoming Hall. The most important delegates would then move south to the Apadana, the greatest and most splendid palace at Persepolis. It took thirty years to build and access was provided by staircases, decorated with striking reliefs, to the north and the east. Traditionally, foundation deposits - including large inscribed slabs of stone or metal plaques - were buried under new buildings. The Apadana had four, one under each of its four corners.

The Apadana's main hall contained 36 columns, each 20 metres in height, and had three porticoes, each containing twelve further columns. Columned halls with porticoes were typical of Achaemenid architecture. The column bases throughout Persepolis were made of stone and some were bell-shaped while others were square (as at the Apadana). The shafts were most commonly stone but sometimes wooden with a painted plaster coating. The capitals were particularly distinctive and there were four different types at Persepolis: bulls, lions, griffins and human headed bulls.

To the east of the Apadana was the Hall of a Hundred Columns, where other dignitaries, particularly military officials, were received. It was large enough to accommodate thousands of people. Also at Persepolis were three palaces, each built by one of the three kings who oversaw construction of the site: Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes. There was also a Queen's Palace, where it is presumed that the royal ladies lived. The Treasury, at the south-east corner of the site, originally contained ornamented columns, although these did not survive Alexander's attack. Inside Achaemenid palaces, walls were mud-brick and floors were made of red-polished lime or paved with bricks or stone. There seem to have been windows at a low level and maybe also a high level, but with the large number of columns the rooms may have seemed quite dark. Despite this, the interiors were lavishly decorated, and none more so than those at Persepolis.

Huge wooden doors at palace entrances were sometimes decorated with bronze or precious metal strips showing mythical beasts. The Apadana was famed for its gigantic doors, 18 metres high and adorned with gold and silver. The doors themselves were fixed to huge poles that turned on large sunken pivot-stones above which were stone slabs decorated with floral designs.

On the inside, palace entrances were often guarded by life-sized statues of animals including seated dogs. Walls were decorated with friezes, tiles and glazed brick panels; at Persepolis examples of these have been found with floral, geometric and other designs. There would have been patterned textiles on the walls and carpets on the floors. The palaces contained huge quantities of valuable ornaments, decorations and luxurious furniture. The Greek historian Diodorus mentions that the vaults were packed full of gold and silver.

Most of these treasures were taken or destroyed by the Macedonians under Alexander in 330 BC, but some objects survived the destruction. Small statues have been found - notably a lapis lazuli head of a young Persian prince from the Apadana - and these probably stood inside false window frames or on pedestals. Remnants of burnt textiles and fragments of thin gold leaf used for gilding furniture have also been recovered.

The best finds, however, come from the Treasury at Persepolis: gold and ivory objects and gems, as well as jewellery and fragments of pottery, clay and stone. The Treasury Tablets record payments to the artisans who worked at Persepolis. These objects suggest that the Treasury may have functioned partly as a museum or a royal archive. A number of buildings at Persepolis - and other Achaemenid sites - were decorated on the outside by carved stone reliefs. Important casts of the Persepolis reliefs were made in 1892 during an expedition by the philanthropist and explorer Herbert Weld-Blundell. They have become an essential record because the originals have subsequently sustained damage through weathering and some details are now preserved better in the casts than in the originals. The only complete set of casts to survive today is in the British Museum.

The Apadana has some of the finest and best known reliefs; they can be found on the façades and staircases of the north and east sides of the building. They show on one side 23 delegates from all around the Persian Empire bringing presents and tribute, and on the other side rows of Median and Persian nobles, guards and attendants.As well as Persepolis, Persia had three other capital cities during the Achaemenid period: Pasargadae, Susa and Hamadan. Pasargadae was founded by Cyrus the Great and is located in Fars, close to the site where Persepolis was later built. Various structures have been found at the site - now largely destroyed - including a gate-house which was once flanked by winged bulls, two small palaces and two pavilions. There is also a large unfinished platform which was probably the base for a palace that was never built.

The buildings were made of stone and the palaces had columned halls with porticoes much like those at Persepolis. They were built by skilled masons brought from Ionia and Lydia, territories in western Turkey conquered by Cyrus. There also seems to have been a pleasure park or garden at Pasargadae: the first of the gardens for which Persia has become famous.

Cyrus was brought back to Pasargadae after his death in 530 BC. His body was placed in the large gabled stone tomb he had had built, set apart from other buildings on the site. The city remained in use in subsequent years, perhaps as a ceremonial or religious centre hosting successive coronations.Susa is located in what is now south-western Iran. The site was occupied before 4000 BC so already had a long history by the time of Cyrus the Great. During the Achaemenid period Susa was the empire's most important administrative centre and an end-point of the famous Royal Road, which ran west to Sardis in western Turkey.

Darius I undertook a lot of construction work at Susa and built his first major palace there. An impressive Persian Apadana (audience hall) had elaborate stone columns topped with capitals in the form of two bulls back to back. To the south it was combined with mud-brick buildings round four courtyards where there was extensive use of panels of brightly coloured glazed bricks. These panels showed files of guardsmen, lions and sphinxes. The guards wear richly patterned Persian dress, grasp an upright spear in both hands, and carry bows and quivers. In addition, some of the stairways were decorated with glazed brick panels showing priests or servants in Median and Persian dress bearing food and animals. All the bricks have fitters' marks to show how the builders should place them within the panels.

The site was used by rulers throughout the Achaemenid period: Artaxerxes I did restoration work on the Apadana and also built himself a palace somewhere at the site.Hamadan, also known as Ecbatana, is located in the heartland of the Median area. Once the Medes were joined with the Persians under Cyrus, the city became important to the Achaemenids and the royal court spent part of the year here. However Achaemenid remains still lie buried below later buildings and have not yet been located.

Hope you like this Blog Thanks for reading. PEACE