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KensonPlays

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  1. KensonPlays
    During the Early Cretaceous period, around 113 million years ago, the Acrocanthosaurus was a dominant predator known for its unique blend of stealth, strength, and adaptive hunting strategies.
     
    Stealth: The Silent Stalker
    Acrocanthosaurus was a huge dinosaur, measuring up to 38 feet long and weighing about 6 tons. Despite its size, it hunted with stealth and agility. Its strong build allowed it to move quietly through the dense forests and floodplains where it lived.
     
    Fossil evidence shows that Acrocanthosaurus hunted large plant-eating dinosaurs such as sauropods and ornithopods. These plant-eating dinosaurs had excellent vision and sharp senses, so Acrocanthosaurus had to approach them carefully. Acrocanthosaurus used its strong legs and long tail to move quietly and stay balanced while sneaking up on its prey.

    Acrocanthosaurus Head, Nobu Tamura, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    Strength: The Power Behind the Hunt
    Acrocanthosaurus used its great strength to overpower its prey. Its strong, muscular body allowed it to take down much larger animals. Its large jaws had sharp, saw-like teeth that caused deep, deadly wounds.
     
    Acrocanthosaurus was able to dominate physical confrontations due to its large size. Despite having shorter arms compared to some other theropods, its incredibly strong arms ended in large, clawed hands that were effective in gripping and subduing struggling prey. These powerful claws had an important role in securing the target while the powerful jaws delivered the fatal blow.
     
    Adaptation to the Cretaceous Environment
    Acrocanthosaurus lived in what is now North America. The area had wetlands, rivers, and forests. It had a high, spiny back made of long neural spines, which may have helped it control its body temperature in the warm climate of the Early Cretaceous. This might have given Acrocanthosaurus an advantage over other predators, allowing it to stay active when competitors couldn't hunt as well.
     
    Its large size also allowed Acrocanthosaurus to defend its territory from smaller predators. The dinosaur's solitary hunting habits meant it didn’t need to share kills, further cementing its status as a dominant predator.


    Apex Predator of Its Time
    Acrocanthosaurus stood out for its adept use of stealth and strength. It wasn't just fast, but also patient, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush its prey. When it attacked, its massive size and physical power made it nearly unstoppable.
     
    Acrocanthosaurus remains one of the most fascinating predators of the Early Cretaceous period. Its ability to combine stealth with brute force ensured its survival in a competitive ecosystem filled with massive herbivores and rival carnivores. For millions of years, it was the dominant predator, proving the significance of adaptation and natural selection.
     
    In the ever-expanding world of dinosaurs, Acrocanthosaurus stood out as a fearsome and methodical predator. It left a lasting legacy on the fossil record and continues to capture the imagination of paleontologists today.
     
     
     
    Conclusion
    The Acrocanthosaurus was a pretty awesome dinosaur, and despite its size, it had enough knowledge to utilize its environment to remain at least somewhat stealthy while hunting its prey for food. You probably would not want to meet one in real life!
  2. KensonPlays
    Ah... the Ankylosaurus. An armored dinosaur that could take a beating from most predators. Imagine this — a dinosaur covered from head to tail in armor, essentially a living tank. It's one of the most iconic dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period, heck, of all time! Let us dive in and learn more about this amazing creature.
    Discovery & Naming of Ankylosaurus
    The first fossils of the Ankylosaurus, also commonly shortened to Anky, were found by Barnum Brown in 1906. The name comes from the words Ankylo and sauros. Ankylo means "fused" or "stiffened", while "sauros" is a common ending for most dinosaurs, which means "lizard" or "reptile." The name resembles its distinctive features of having its body covered in thick, bony plates that are 'fused' to its body.
     
    Slate Weasel, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Physical Characteristics
    This amazing dinosaur could reach up to 30 feet in length and was estimated to have weighed anywhere from 4 to 6 Tons, which translates to 8800 - 1300 pounds, on average. The armored plates on its body were known as osteoderms. They were not just decorations, but essential to its defense against predators. It may have helped regulate its body temperature too, but we will never know for sure, they're extinct!
    When Ankylosaurus was young, it likely had smaller, less developed armor plates, and as it grew, it got larger and thicker. While these plates were thick and tough, they also were a little bit flexible, to allow them to have easier movement and more freedom of body movements, while protecting themselves.
    Their club tail, though, is extremely dangerous. If a human were to be struck by its tail, you would get broken bones, internal injuries, and severe tissue damage. It's also possible that depending on where the tail struck you, it could kill you instantly. Even if they didn't hit any vital parts of a human, it would likely still cause catastrophic injuries. You would not want to be on their bad side!
    Lifestyle & Behaviors
    The Ankylosaurus is an herbivore, and thus it likely ate bushes and plants close to the ground, since it wasn't able to reach the trees like a sauropod. It is possible that its diet consisted of Conifers, Cycads, Ferns, and more. As for Conifers, which are trees, they would likely only have eaten those from fallen branches that broke off in one way or another.
    Ankylosaurus' defense mechanisms would likely have included crouching itself closer to the ground to protect its more vital organs, legs, and more. That way, predators would have a much harder time getting to its soft underbelly. It would swing that dangerous tail around and if it connected, could break the legs of predators, giving it a chance to get away.
    The Anky's Environment
    This amazing dinosaur lived in forests and plains, most likely. It would have existed around the same time as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which would be one of its predators. It also co-existed with the Triceratops, more than likely. It would have more than likely stayed near water sources, like watering holes, rivers, and similar. There was plenty of plant life around it that it could eat, so it would not have too many worries about food sources, and would probably have focused mostly on keeping its thirst at bay.
    DataBase Center for Life Science (DBCLS), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Pop Culture & Media
    The ankylosaurus has been well-represented in media and pop culture. It makes a very brief appearance in Jurassic Park 3 (2001). It was more visible in movies such as Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie (2013), and The Good Dinosaur (2015; Disney). Some TV shows that feature the Anky include Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), Dinosaur Train (2009 - present), and Terra Nova (2011).
    It also is in some video games! Some of these include Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (2003), ARK Survival Evolved (2015), ARK Survival Ascended (2023), Jurassic World Evolution (2018), The Isle, and Saurian. Some of Ankylosaurus' sub-species are in games like Path of Titans, such as the Anodontosaurus. We do highly recommend checking out some of these games. You would likely be able to find one you enjoy!
    Concluding Thoughts
    This dinosaur, the Ankylosaurus from the Late Cretaceous, was certainly one to contend with. They had great defense, so they were hard to kill themselves, but they were also dangerous with that heavy-hitter clubbed tail that they had. Was the Ankylosaurus one of Kenson's favorite dinosaurs? Not in the top 3, but certainly in his top 10!
    We hope this post gave you something new that you didn't know about this amazing dinosaur. Don't forget to check out our Discord server so you can hang out with us!
  3. KensonPlays
    Imagine this: A predator that's more fearsome than a lion, more cunning than a wolf, and fairly large. That's an Allosaurus. It was one of the top predators of the Late Jurassic period. Today, we'll learn more about this fascinating dinosaur!
    Public Domain photo of Allosaurus Skeleton at San Diego Natural History Museum   The Discovery of Allosaurus
    This dinosaur was discovered in the late 19th century, around 1877, by Othneil Charles Marsh. One of the largest fossil sites they found it in was the Morrison Formation in North America. He (Charles) was known for his role in the "Bone Wars." This was a period of intense and competitive fossil hunting in North America.
     
    One of the most famous specimens is "Big Al," located in the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. The museum is known for its extensive collection of dinosaurs, and their contribution to paleontological research. Their Allo fossil is very well preserved.
    Fred Wierum, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Physical Characteristics
    This theropod was, on average, 28 feet in length, and weighed 1.5 Tons. It stood in a bipedal stance, with a large skull that had sharp teeth. It had extremely strong hind limbs, and shorter forelimbs, like most theropods. Some unique parts of their design included the crests above their eyes and serrated teeth. It has been commonly used in comparisons with other carnivores, like Tyrannosaurus Rex.
    Allo's Behavior & Diet
    It was a fearsome predator, for sure. It likely was an Ambush predator and may have hunted in small packs. There is evidence in the fossil remains that it was more predatory, and an active scavenger (more on the side). It mostly ate herbivores like Stegosaurus & sauropods! It most likely went for the older, weaker, or younger sauropods, since those herbivores were tough.
    Their Ecological Roles
    It lived approximately 155 - 150 million years ago. The Morrison Formation includes areas of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and others. It included several environments, like floodplains, river channels, and lakes. It was a semi-arid climate with distinct wet and dry seasons.
    It was considered an Apex Predator of its time, among the top in the food chain. It may have been both an active predator and scavenged where it needed to. There's fossil evidence they may have lived in packs, like Raptors. Especially when targeting larger prey like sauropods.
    Significant in Scientific Communities
    The Allo is significant in the scientific community. It has helped them understand the biology and behavior of dinosaurs. It has also allowed them to advance the technology they use, for example, 3D Modeling and CT scans. It has also given a fairly significant role in the Education communities, as well.
    Concluding Thoughts
    The Allo was indeed a very fearsome predator that lived in the late Jurassic period. You would not want to have one come up to "meet" you, since you would most likely be eaten by one! Unless, of course, that's what you wanted! We would say that the Allosaurus was a successful predator of its time and that it didn't have much in the way of others predating on it.
    References
    Thumbnail Allosaurus By:
    - File:Allosaurus Juvenile Reconstruction.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
    - File:Allosaurus jimmadseni skeletal.png - Wikimedia Commons
  4. KensonPlays
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    Quick Facts
    Name: Herrera's Lizard Period: Late Triassic Diet: Carnivore, small/med herbivores Size: 6m (20 ft) Weight: 350kg (770 lb)  
    Quick Bio
    The Herrerasaurus was first discovered by a paleontologist & rancher in 1958, in South America. Its name means, simply, "Herrera's Lizard." There is not much detail available on it, but it was estimated it could run at a fast speed due to its stiffer tail.
     
     
     
     
    © Wikimedia Commons | CC 4.0 Attr. Share-Alike   Herrerasaurus - Discovery & What Is Known About It?
    Discovering the Herrerasaurus
    The Herrera (a short form of its name) is a smaller theropod, believed to be a Carnosaur at first, but then was debated over a 30-year period afterward. The dinosaur was originally discovered over fragmentary remains, with many parts missing. It was also thought to be a basal theropod, basal sauropodomorph, basal saurischian, and even considered at one point to not be a dinosaur at all, but a type of Archosaur.
     
    What Is Known About it?
    It came originally from the outcrops near the city of San Juan, in Argentina, in 1959. These rocks also yielded the Eoraptor, as well. There are two partial skeletons that are being used for research on this dinosaur, which they thought were two different species, but then finalized their findings on both belonging to Herrerasaurus.
     
    © Wikimedia Commons | CC 4.0 Attr. Share-Alike    
    Herrerasaurus' Growth & Size
    This dinosaur grew to be about 6 meters (20 feet) long and weighed an estimated 350 KG (or 770 Lbs). Adult skulls were found to be approximately 56cm (22 in) long, and it was fully bipedal. It had some strong legs for a smaller dinosaur. It is estimated that it could run upwards of 25 MPH. Even Usain Bolt only ran about 23 MPH in a 100-meter sprint. This dinosaur could outrun him, catch up, and eat even the fastest humans (on foot).
    It had a long, narrow skull that lacked most specializations that other dinosaurs had. It also had a flexible joint in its lower jaw that could slide back and forth, making it able to deal a "grasping" bite to its prey. The teeth in its jaw, were equipped with large & serrated teeth for biting into flesh easier. Its neck was slender and was also flexible.
     
    (C) Wikimedia Commons | CC0 (Public Domain)  
    How Herrerasaurus Lived Its Life
    It most likely lived in lightly forested areas to hilly plains, where it could more easily catch up with its prey while running at its full speed (about 25 MPH). Pictured above, is a small synapsid that it just killed and is about to eat. That was most likely its primary source of food.  
    Herrerasaurus In Media & Games
    This creature is depicted in the Legacy branch (old version) of The Isle as a "Sandbox Dinosaur" that was not normally selectable. You had to have a server administrator change your character file in the server's files in order to play as this dinosaur, or get nested in by another player. There was a mention of it in the Jurassic Park/World franchise but was not visible in the films.   Conclusion
    The Herrerasaurus is an interesting dinosaur from the early periods of dinosaur times (Triassic > Jurassic > Cretaceous). It was on the smaller side but still had a sturdy build, and could run fast to catch up with its prey. This dinosaur was likely a more common occurrence during its time, and you would likely have seen it running around doing its daily business more than say, other smaller theropods of its time.   You can check out my streams to chat & learn more about the Herrerasaurus! We'd love to have you come and join the pack! References & Notes
    Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons (Pictures)  
  5. KensonPlays
    .fright { float: right; max-width: 30%; padding: 15px; }
    Quick Facts
    Name: Tyrannosaurus Rex Period: Cretaceous Diet: Meat Size: 12.3m Weight: 8.4 - 14 Tons Nick: T. Rex, Tyrant Lizard Quick Bio
    The Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of the most well-known dinosaurs that have ever existed, if not the most popular. This is in part due to its popularity in the Jurassic Park franchise, but also because there have been more than 50 individual near-complete fossils found, and many more less-complete ones, as well.   The Tyrannosaurus Rex, also known as "T. Rex" is a Theropod. Its name "rex" means "King" in Latin. It lived throughout what is now known as western North America, on an island then known as Laramidia. It had one of the largest ranges of hunting grounds of most other tyrannosaurids. They lived about 66 Million Years ago.   Did the T. Rex and Spinosaurus ever meet? In short? No. They lived in different parts of the Cretaceous period, and different regions of the Earth. Unfortunately, they would never have met in real life, unlike how Jurassic Park 3 depicts them fighting.   (C) Wikimedia Commons CC Attr-Sharealike 3   Size & Stature
    It was the last known member of the tyrannosaurid family and was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist. Like other tyrannosaurids and theropods alike, they were bipedal in nature, with a massive skull. The most complete specimen was 40 feet (12.3 meters) in length and was about 12 feet (3.66m) tall. It is thought to have between 8.4 and 14 metric tons in weight. There have been many discussions about whether they had feathers or not, as well.   It was by far the largest carnivore in its environment, so it was most likely an Apex Predator and preyed upon hadrosaurs, armored herbivores (including Ankylosaurus), and quite possibly Sauropods like the Apatosaurus. The T. Rex was estimated to have the strongest bite force of all terrestrial animals of its time. Its feeding habits, though, have been a matter of a few subjects of debate. Some say it was more of a scavenger than an active predator, while others say that it was more of an active predator. Both of these were likely true, it likely ate both already dead animals (as in a scavenger), and actively hunted for food.  
    © Wikimedia Commons CC Attr-Sharealike 4   Body Design & Health
    As for the debate on whether the Tyrannosaurus Rex was feathered or not, filamentous structures, which commonly are recognized as precursors to feathers, have been found in other tyrannosaurids like the Dilong Paradoxus found in China. They may have had feathers when they were younger and lost them when they grew, or they may have had them during their entire lifespan. Studies have found that they may have even only had feathers on the upper side of the trunk area.   Their lifespan was likely around 30 years old if they survived that long. The fossil, Sue, was estimated to be 28 years old when it died, and they have found bones from an estimated 14-year-old T. Rex, as well as a 2-year-old T. Rex. The sudden change in growth rates at the end of their growth spurts may have indicated physical maturity; a hypothesis that is supported by the discovery of medullary tissue in the femur of a 16 to 20-year-old fossil from Montana. Medullary tissue is found only in female birds during the time of mating. This indicates that they may have been able to reproduce around that age.   The Tyrannosaurus Rex was historically described as a "living tripod," with the body at a 45-degree angle, and dragging their tail along the ground, like a kangaroo. But in 1970, they realized that this was incorrect. It would have resulted in a dislocation or weakening of several joints, including their hips and the articulation of their head and spinal column. Thankfully, films like Jurassic Park used a more accurate posture to show to the general public! Modern representations of the T. Rex in museums, art, and film show that it was approximately parallel to the ground, with its tail extended to balance the head.  
    © Wikimedia Commons CC Attr 3 Speed & Survival
    It is unknown how fast it could run exactly, but scientists have estimated that it could have been around 25 MPH (or 40 KM/h) on average, as low as 11 MPH (18 KM/h), and as high as 45 MPH (72 KM/h). There are many tracks of large theropods walking, but rarely (if any) have the pattern of running. Scientists think the T. Rex was able to run have pointed out that hollow bones and other features that would have lightened its body may have kept an adult to a max weight of a mere 4.5 metric tons; like ostriches and horses which have long and flexible legs are able to reach high speeds through slower and longer strides.   The estimated top speeds of the Tyrannosaurus Rex were around 25 MPH, but were deemed impossible because it would require exceptional leg muscle mass of around 40 to 85% of its total weight! Even moderately fast speeds would require large leg muscles. If their leg mass was less, their max speeds would have been around 11 MPH.   The Tyrannosaurus Rex may have hunted in packs at times, according to fossil evidence. This was because a fossil that has been found in South Dakota found 3 T. Rex skeletons in close proximity to each other. Some of their prey, like Triceratops & Ankylosaurus, had significant defenses, so it would have been more effective for them to hunt in groups. However, this behavior has been criticized, due to not having been peer-reviewed, like normal, as was discussed in a TV interview. The Tarbosaurus and Albertosaurus, on the other hand, likely did hunt in packs (the basis for this hypothesis).   The T. Rex may have been severely affected by parasites and other traumatic injuries by other carnivores. Infections in a Tyrannosaurus Rex were rare, according to Scientific American's website. There has been evidence that the fossil Sue was infected by a parasite, which caused injuries to her lower jaw, which was a somewhat common occurrence amongst the Tyrannosaurus Rex species. The juvenile fossil, Jane, might have been bitten by another juvenile Rex, suggesting that the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex may have fought each other for food, as well.   Conclusion
    As one of our favorite species of dinosaurs, the T. Rex will sit firmly in our Top 10 Carnivores list. Keep an eye out for that video! Thank you for your time, have a rawrsome day, and we will see you next time in the Mesozoic Haven! Watch my streams for dinosaur gaming  (and similar) content weekly as well! Notes & Resources
    Thumbnail Background: By @KensonPlays at Witte Museum in San Antonio
  6. KensonPlays
    The Suchomimius Tenerensis, commonly shortened to Sucho, was a very fast swimmer in the Early Cretaceous period. It very likely would out-swim the Spinosaurus (Late Cretaceous), if they ever came into contact. which is considered my favorite dinosaur. It would mostly eat fish, and other meat if needed.   It grew to approximately 11m long on average and weighed about 2.5 - 3.8 tons. Since the Sucho is a newer spinosaurid, we do not know as much about the Suchomimus compared to the Spinosaurus, or other dinosaurs that were discovered a longer period ago. Its nickname was "Crocodile Mimic."  
    © Wikimedia Commons Suchomimus Design & Discovery
    The Sucho was discovered in 1997 by American paleontologist Paul Sereno, along with his team in Niger. It was originally discovered in the Elrhaz Formation. The first part of the fossil they found was a thumb claw. Unlike most theropods, it had a very narrow, more crocodilian-styled skull. It likely had about 120 teeth in its maw, pointed backward.   © Wikimedia Commons   Compared to other Spinosaurids, its size was that of more of a medium-sized Spinosaurid. It was similarly sized to a Baryonyx, and larger than an Irritator and Icthyovenator. As the graph below shows below, with a human for comparison. (Red outline is Suchomimus)     © Wikimedia Commons  
    Suchomimus Diet & Life
    The Sucho likely ate primarily fish (Piscivore). But it likely didn't pass up other meat-based foods when given the opportunity. Its lifestyle most likely included living around river systems so it had a constant source of food and water to live. Due to this, it most likely would stay near the rivers and rarely leave being nearby the water source.  
    Suchomimus in Media
    The Sucho can be found in multiple forms of media. Some movies (Jurassic World), video games (ARK Survival Evolved), and others. Unfortunately, there isnât much known about specific details about the Sucho, so a lot of media just takes a guess on what it could do. Check out my streams, some games I play have Sucho, like Path of Titans!
     
    Conclusion
    There isn't much information available on the Sucho, so keep an eye out for updates to this post! (on the first update, we'll add an Updated row to the top) References & Notes
    Thumbnail background: Андрей Белов, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia Natural History Museum  
  7. KensonPlays
    The Spinosaurus, also known simply as Spino, was a carnivore that did not live at the same time as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, another famous Carnivore in the Mesozoic era. It got most of its "fame" from the third Jurassic Park movie and various books over the decades. At least, that's when the public started knowing more about it. It lived in the early Cretaceous, whereas the T-Rex lived in the Late Cretaceous. They very likely never met, as it was a very long period of time between them.   The Spinosaurus lived in Northern Africa, whereas the T-Rex lived in North America. However, the Earth at the time was more of a singular landmass, rather than multiple separate continents. The Spino was discovered by fossil hunter Richard Markgraf & German paleontologist Ernst Stromer back in 1915.   Due to World War 1, the Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus (the "first" Spinosaurus fossil) became a casualty of war. The original fossils were destroyed in a British bombing raid in 1944. Fortunately, Ernst Stromer had left detailed drawings and multiple photographs, so the "type" remains available for analysis.  
    © Wikimedia Commons   Spino's Size & Stature
    The Spinosaurus was among the largest of all known carnivorous and piscivorous dinosaurs. It was larger than the T-Rex size-wise (though the T-Rex was larger in weight!). Various estimates suggest that the Spino ranged from around 41 - 59 ft (12.6 to 18 Metres), and was around 7 Tonnes (Some games like The Isle have Spinos as 9 Tons, which is a bit much in our opinion).   Its jaw was similar to that of a modern-day crocodilian. It had more useful arms than the T-Rex, being able to use them to help grab fish for its meals. The Spinosaurus' tail, as recently discovered in 2020, has a more paddle-like design to it. Their forearms had an enlarged claw on the first digit, which helped them to hold their prey.   Like most theropods, it was originally thought to have stood up with its tail near the ground. But as science has advanced, both the Spinosaurus and other theropods like the T-Rex, Giganotosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, and others were discovered to have had a more horizontal stance instead of a vertical stance.  
    © Wikimedia Commons   What's With The Spinos Sail?
    The sail is an interesting aspect of the Spinosaurus. Some people may feel that it looks a bit odd, but it helped it to navigate lakes, oceans, and deep rivers with ease. This, along with its paddle-like tail, helped it be more agile in the water. It was bulky, so its swim speed may not have been the best, but it was able to quickly turn and bend to catch up to prey more easily.
    Some theories say that the sail of the Spino may be what drew a female Spinosaurus to a male for mating purposes. It is said that the larger & more prominent the sail, the more favorable by females during the mating season. Stromer also speculated that the size of the neural spines may have differed in size between different genders. If you think of the Spinosaurus' sail like a Peacock's tail; you may consider that the males with the flashier tails are more attractive to females.
    Another theory is it helped with maintaining their internal body temperature. During the day, it's said to have absorbed the sun, and this helped perk up their metabolism, and at night, would have radiated excess heat. This theory came to be due to the Dimetrodon may have used it in this manner. The issue with this though is that evidence points to theropods being warm-blooded (endothermic). The more primitive Dimetrodon, though, was Ectothermic (cold-blooded).
    A third theory was that it was used for navigation. This theory does make sense due to the new records, with its "new" tail design. Due to this, it would have helped it with swimming due to its semi-aquatic lifestyle. This theory seems more likely, to us at least.
    The final theory is that it helped with survival. This theory states that it was more like a camel's hump. It may have stored fat reserves it could draw upon. But this would mean another complete redesign of its sail, and a major overhaul in books, TV, and Movies. The trouble with this is that the Spinosaurus lived in the wet and humid forests of early-mid Cretaceous Africa.
    The odds are that multiple of these theories were true. It may have been used for navigation, survival, and mating. Until more fossils are discovered, we may never fully understand how the Spinosaurus' sail was used in their day-to-day lives.
     
    © Wikimedia Commons Spinosaurus' Aquatic Life
    Since the Spinosaurus is a Semi-aquatic dinosaur, it likely spent a good amount of time in or near water. Their sail and tail were critical for them to easily navigate the water due to their size. Its paddle-like tail, sail, and webbed feet must have helped them with swimming in their daily life. These three aspects of their body shape, indicate that they could swim in a similar manner to other crocodilians.
    They were likely very superb swimmers. They were not fully aquatic, like the Mosasaurus or Plesiosaurus, but they were in the water fairly often, which required them to have the body shape that they had during their entire lifespan.
    Media & Games With Spinosaurus
    There are multiple things that have a Spinosaurus in them! Jurassic Park 3, ARK Survival Evolved, The Isle, Path of Titans, and more to come in the future, Iâm sure! If you want to see my thoughts on the Spinosaurus in Path of Titans, watch the following video:
      Conclusion
    The Spinosaurus is indeed an amazing dinosaur. Although they have had a lot of body changes over the years, their overall shape and design have pretty much stuck to be the same. The new spinosaurus tail design does feel legitimate and flows well in with the rest of their body design. Let us know in the comments what your favorite parts of the Spinosaurus are!
    If you want to see some more Spino content, check out my thoughts in the video link above, for the Path of Titans Spinosaurus! Have a rawrsome day, and we'll see you next time in the Mesozoic Haven!
    References & Notes
    Thumbnail Background by Wikimedia Commons (ABelov2014, CC BY 3.0)  
  8. KensonPlays
    We just got an announcement recently, about an incredibly poor choice by the Guilded overlords, Roblox Corporate. Even though I'm a Partner with them, myself, and the vast majority of Guilded Partners are extremely unhappy with this change. I will be quoting content from their latest blog post.
    Let me say this, I don't blame Guilded directly. I blame Roblox. They think by forcing me to create an account (which I can't, the username I gave to my cousin), they'll get me to play that horrid game that's full of toxicity and poor moderation. No, it won't. I guess I'll be losing 3-4 years of history, and my first major Partnership with another company. It's not Guilded's fault, it's Roblox's.
    Not to mention ... if you get banned on Roblox, for whatever reason, even if it is a mistake on their part, you'll be banned on Guilded too! Global ban from the platform, from what I understand. That is not acceptable. I can understand server-by-server bans for breaking TOS or their rules, but a global ban across the whole of Guilded for something on Roblox, even if a mistake? We can't trust that.
    Their first paragraph states:
    Jared They Didn't Discuss With Their Partners
    They never tried contacting us Partners (or even the GilGang [their version of HypeSquad]) to see what we thought of these changes. Honestly, they should have given Partners a heads-up before publicizing this change. Let us discuss it with the staff to get input from their active Partners. Of which the vast majority would have said "NO. Don't force Roblox login. Optional is fine, but not forced." or something similar.
    Before any sort of huge, major change that would affect a vast majority, or in this case, all of its users, they should honestly contact their Partners, get lots of valid input, and then take the input from their Partners to Corporate, so that way they can get input from their biggest and most active users of the platform. They didn't do that in this case.
    Guilded Used To Be a Great Discord Alternative
    This is no longer the case. I'm likely to lose my Partner status with them, but honestly, they did it to themselves. Guilded used to be an amazing alternative to Discord, offering free emotes, large uploads, custom URLs without needing Partner or Lv 3 Boost, and more.
    Why did they choose to slow down their development cycle, and alienate both their developers and users? It started earlier this year, or a bit before the end of last year, when the Bot API was slowing down with updates, and a few of the major bot developers have either paused development completely on their bots or have shut them down.
    One major bot, Parrot, was one of those bot developers that paused development, except for crucial security patches. They were considering rebuilding their Discord bot to Guilded again, but with this announcement, they decided not to:
     
    "What's Changing & Why"
    We'll start this off with a direct quote from their blog post:
    Jared Here are my thoughts on this part of their post: How can it be the "best communication platform for your communities." if you turn something that used to be optional, and then start forcing it on everyone? Especially if the platform is known to have some moderation and toxicity issues? Let us know why you say that, please.
    Furthermore, "We're excited about the amazing opportunities this connection will help us unlock," is utter crap. That does not make any sense; at all. It is very likely to do the complete opposite, instead.
    Guilded's Own Users Are Unhappy
    I have gathered some quotes from various Guilded users who are extremely unhappy with this announcement they've made.
     
    Gaian-Commander (Mesozoic Haven Admin)  
    Codeize  
    I'm not saying that they won't say that, but they probably won't name them directly, Codeize.
    Ging3rbomb (Guilded Partner) A very nice, detailed post. Thanks Ging3rbomb! It sums up my favorite parts of Guilded, which are now unfortunately coming to an end now.
    @Cupara  
    Could you please consider reversing this change, before it becomes permanent, and a negative part of your history?
    FAQ From Their Blog
    Q — Will Guilded no longer be supporting communities that are not focused on Roblox?
    A — Guilded's mission remains the same: to build the best communication platform for you and your communities. Guilded will continue to serve gamers, developers, content creators, and interest groups of all stripes.
     
    Q: Can I opt out of connecting a Roblox account to my Guilded account?
    A — A Roblox account will be required in order to access your Guilded account beginning July 15. If you choose not to connect with Roblox, you will no longer be able to log in and access your account. However, you can restore access if you choose to connect and claim at a later date.
     
    Q — What happens if I cannot access my Roblox account?
    A — Access to your Roblox account will be required in order to log into your Guilded account. If you experience issues accessing your Roblox account, please refer to this Roblox Help Center section.
     
    Q — How will this affect the 2FA I have on my Guilded account?
    A — If you have 2FA enabled on your Guilded account, you will be prompted to enter an authentication code in order to connect your Roblox account. Completing this step will disable the 2FA on your Guilded account, and Guilded will defer to your Roblox account security settings. Guilded 2FA will no longer be supported. For more information on Roblox 2-Step Verification, please visit this Roblox Help Center article.
    Leaving Guilded?
    Are you leaving Guilded, like me? Check out this site (site is no longer maintained, here's archive link) for some helpful info! It has a timer on when the 'death' date will happen, along with a link to Guilded Scrubber. A way to remove your content from the public view. I would run that right before deleting your account.
    Concluding Thoughts
    I honestly hope that Roblox Corporate reverses this change. I'm not very hopeful, since you know big corporations seldom change once they make a decision. Once they make it, the chances of reversal are usually less than 1%, in my experience. There are some rare instances, like when the community won against Studio Wildcard & ARK Survival Ascended's horrible changes they were making to server hosting. We won that battle, but that was a highly unlikely one to win.
    Since the reversal of this Corporate decision isn't likely to happen, we want to take a moment to warmly invite you to our Mesozoic Haven Discord server! The same community we had on Guilded, but on Discord! We hope to have some game servers up within a few months once my debts are down a bit more.
  9. KensonPlays
    What is Toontown?
    ToonTown is a game designed for kids but has people of all ages playing it. It has also been around for a long time, being released all the way back on June 2nd, 2003 for full launch. This game is one of my favorite nostalgic games, and I semi-regularly stream it live, in addition to Monster Hunter & ARK Survival. Watch live here. There are currently two primary private servers that are keeping the ToonTown community alive: ToonTown Rewritten (more vanilla-like) and Corporate Clash (more modernized). Between the two, I prefer Corporate Clash. It is less grindy than Rewritten is and has more up-to-date textures and more gag choices.
    Toontown in one form or another, has been alive for 20 years now! Disney shut down the game officially on September 19, 2013. They had it running for roughly 10 years since 2003. Private servers of kept it running for 10 years as of September 19, 2023. This game may look like a kid's game, but it means a lot to me, Kenson. I grew up with this game! As such, I stream it on a semi-regular basis.
     
    What Corporate Clash Does Better Than Rewritten
    Corporate Clash is a much more "recent" and "modernized" version of ToonTown Online. Because of this, it does require a bit more computer power to run. I personally recommend a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. That is not too difficult to get these days unless you have an old PC. Some of the things it does better than Rewritten include, but are not limited to:
    More Toon Species A New Gag Track (ZAP) 8 levels of gags, vs 7. You can also buy all 8 levels in the Gag Shop, vs having to get 500 exp between uses for level 7s in Rewritten Completely rebuilt (from the ground up) Lawbot boss, the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) The upcoming update includes a "mix-n-match" system to make your own variation of a toon species. Significantly less grinding than Rewritten. Makes multi-tooning (not me tho) easier. Leveling cog suits in rewritten can easily take months of work. Not always, but it can easily take months. You can play the full game "task-less," although you won't get the full 150 laff, since you need to complete each playground's Kudos boards. This is nice if you find certain aspects of the task line offensive. Some people do not like magic or witchcraft, so you may want to completely avoid the Ye Olde Toontown section in that case. But if you do not like magic or witchcraft, you cannot continue through the rest of the story until you complete that section. Because of that, you'd miss out on 8 Laff points, maxing out at 142.    
    What Rewritten Does Better than Corporate Clash
    It wouldn't be a good review if I didn't compare the features of its "competitor" (they don't call themselves competitors, all Toontown private servers are friendly with each other because they are all keeping the spirit of the game alive) or "alternate" choice to Corporate Clash, would it? Here's what Rewritten does better at (in my opinion):
    If you have played Toontown before, it is a much more familiar experience. More vanilla-like experience (if you want to experience the original game (except field offices, they overhauled that from the OG game) Larger player base. Rewritten averages over 1000-1500. Corporate Clash averages 600. Uses fewer system resources than Corporate Clash (easier to run on older systems).  
    Which Private Server Is Better For You?
    To be honest, it really depends. If you have an older PC, you will want to probably play Toontown Rewritten as your primary server. You can give Corporate Clash a try to see how well it runs on your PC. While I'm streaming, in an Overclocked CLO (hardest boss in the game right now) I get an average of 30 FPS, sometimes 18-22 or so during the final round. This is on a Ryzen 5800x, 3070 Ti, and 64GB of RAM with all SSDs (no HDD). But while I'm not streaming, it runs fine and can average closer to 60 in the OCLO.
    Other parts of Corporate Clash run a fair bit smoother than CLO/OCLO. Certain sections of that boss tend to strain a PC more, and it is the reworked boss in comparison to the old version of the boss still existing in Rewritten. This will hopefully be alleviated with the "Mix-N-Match" update from what I understand. They will hopefully be doing some more Toon/Character optimizations at that point, which will allow both better visuals and better performance.
    There is no "best server" really – it is a matter of preference. Both of them have pros and cons. Corporate Clash is a much more modern game, and as such, it requires a bit more of the powerful computer. Rewritten is the classic experience of the game. This means you can run it on a potato essentially! I highly recommend giving both a try to see which one you prefer.
     
    Conclusion
    In Kenson's opinion, Corporate Clash is the better option in terms of private servers. It does not get as many players as Toontown Rewritten, but it has a lot more modern additions. This makes the grind less labor-intensive, and they also allow you to change your gag tracks out anytime you want with no retraining. This allows you to change or build to be optimal to whatever is currently needed. That is one thing I like, meaning if I really need to add Sound, I can add it for that one run, and then get rid of it again. Because I normally run soundless.
    Who knows, you might prefer the more vanilla aspect of Toontown Rewritten. Be aware, though, that it is currently significantly more laborious than Corporate Clash. If you do not mind the grind, then either one will be okay for you. But if you are someone like me who does not really like magic in games, you may personally want to avoid Corporate Clash. Although, you can skip that storyline and go taskless.
    The differences between Corporate Clash and Toontown Rewritten are actually pretty significant. Clash aims to be more modern, as mentioned earlier. Rewritten aims to have less significant changes, to what they think Disney would've done at this point.
  10. KensonPlays
    Don't get me wrong, the entire Horizon (Zero/Forbidden) franchise is among my favorite games of all time, along with ARK Survival, and Monster Hunter (World/Rise). I love the fact that there are robotic dinosaurs in this amazing game series. But there are some things that when this game was released in 2017 were considered 'top of the line,' but this is no longer the case. The small Quality of Life improvements in Forbidden West, along with a Spinosaurus-looking machine (below), make Forbidden West my favorite among the two games.   While this post is about Horizon Zero Dawn, I do have a Forbidden West review in the works at the same time, as well. One of my favorite aspects about the first game, Zero Dawn, is that you get to explore Aloy's origin story. In Forbidden West, it is less about her own story and more about saving the world (which you do in both games). Being able to explore the main character's own origin story is a big part of my experiences in single-player games.   Things I Love About Horizon Zero Dawn
    There are plenty of things to love about the Horizon (Zero/Forbidden) universe. It's single-player, story-driven, and open-world; all at the same time. It seems that a lot of gamers don't enjoy good single-player experiences as much as we used to, and prioritize multiplayer experiences. There are benefits to both Single-Player and Multiplayer, of course. Single-Player lets you sit back, relax, and play a game at your own pace, since in 99.9% of Single-Player games, you can pause it at any time (or near any time).     That is one of my favorite things about Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West. The fact that they are single-player, so I can literally pause at any time to take care of things IRL, like family emergencies (should they come up), chatting to my stream at length about a specific topic that requires my full attention, and similar. Single-player games are great for that, and the fact that the first two (and upcoming third) Horizon games are Single-Player, is perfect for a chill community & stream.   Another one of my favorite parts of Horizon is all the dinosaur-like machines. From the Tallnecks that look like Sauropods to the Slaughterspine in Forbidden West that looks like my #1 favorite dinosaur, the Spinosaurus, Sunwings (which are like Pterosaurs, not technically dinosaurs but in the same time periods), Grimhorns (similar to Triceratops), and others. There are many machines that give off dinosaur-like vibes, but not all are modeled after them, like the Fireclaw and Frostclaw which are modeled after bears.  
    Horizon Zero Dawn's Storyline
    The storyline, in my opinion, is pretty well-written. It isn't the best storyline of course, but it isn't a bad one either. (minor spoiler) You start as a young Aloy around 6 years old, for a good bit. You'll finish the tutorial when she is an adult. I do feel like the storyline in Zero Dawn is a bit better than the story in Forbidden West, though they are both good stories in my opinion. If you don't own the first game, but plan to play the second game, I recommend checking out my streams (I replay it once in a while), or a YouTube video, to get the general gist of the story, at least.
    There are some areas that they could improve upon in the first game's story; once you arrive in Meridian, for example, some of the story at that point feels a little dull, in my opinion. The beginning of the story is good, and the game in the mid to end-game areas is better. And in Forbidden West, I would say its a similar story; parts of it are great, some are "eh," and others are also good.
      The Many Machines of Horizon Zero Dawn
    There are many, many types of machines. Some resemble dinosaurs, some resemble mammals, and others are more fantasy (like the Corruptor)! While my favorite, the Slaughterspine, isn't in the first game, it is in the second. It will hopefully be added into the third game as well, whenever that releases. Here are some of my favorite machines from Zero Dawn:
         There is a wide variety of machines between the two games. That allows for some very nice, unique combat between all the machines. I've seen some interesting videos where some people override a large machine and have it combat another large machine. For example, a Slaughterspine vs. a Thunderjaw. There is an area in Forbidden West that has both of those machines very close to one another so it's easy to get them to fight each other without any real difficulty.
     
      Slaughterspine in Horizon Forbidden West (Taken by me)  
    What I Want To See In The Second Sequel
    Push Square, Stephen Tailby As Push Square mentioned in their post, a third game is all but confirmed at this point. That is something I am very excited to see. And there's even confirmation at the end of the second game, in a sense, as Push Square continues:
    At the end of the second game, there is clear evidence that a new threat is on its way to Earth via space. That is something I will be very hyped for and will want to stream or make a video series of it within the first few days of its release. You can bet your dollars that I will be getting into the third game within the first couple of days!
     
    Conclusion
    Horizon Zero Dawn, even though its graphics are a bit dated in comparison to Forbidden West, is still worth playing in 2023. If you have a PS5, you can play both games at no extra cost with PS Plus. For Zero Dawn, there's also a Steam release on PC. Hopefully, this means in the future, Forbidden West will come to PC as well. Thankfully, I finally got a PS5 thanks to a friend/business partner, so I was able to play through the second game without having to avoid spoilers for multiple years.
  11. KensonPlays
    Are you someone who has a need for a pleasant, calming & relaxing game with dinosaurs? Your answer may be Paleo Pines! They are a small indie studio making a dinosaur ranching game, and with my early access, I was able to get my gameplay in a week before the demo went public, I must say, the game is worth it, even though it is only in the beta/demo stages.   From my 7.5 hours of gameplay so far, I am in LOVE with this game. I have played through the demo story twice. The second time I got further along with my ranch building than my first time playing. I plan on having an interview with one of the Paleo Pines team members that will be published on the site soon! Keep an eye out for that, and maybe some more tidbits about the game will come with it.    
    When Will Paleo Pines Be Released?
     
    The official Paleo Pines release date is on September 26th, but the demo is available RIGHT NOW! Go ahead, give it a watch, and see all the cuteness that's coming to the gaming world in late September!   If you want to see how my second playthrough of the demo went, here is my stream archive that you can watch! Feel free to watch it all the way through, which is recommended. We did skip the dialogue on this playthrough since we already read it all the first time through. (it is 3 hr, and 45 min or so, just so you know!)    
    What Is The Estimated Paleo Pines Price?
    We do not have concrete pricing information yet (will update this once we do)! We have an estimate that it will likely be around the $20 to $30 USD mark, but as there is no released pricing info, we have to make do with a guestimate for now. (Kenson's opinion) I am personally hoping it will be closer to the $20 mark. They can always add extra paid DLC for more regions and creatures down the road, and I will be buying those, of course.  
    What Is Paleo Pines About?
    This game is all about providing a very relaxing, chill game with some vibes of Animal Crossing, Ranching Simulators, and dinosaurs, all combined (in my opinion, at least)! I am in love with this amazing game, and it is still only in a demo state!   By the way, I will be making a series of videos when the game comes out in September, but I am keeping it a surprise for you all! Keep an eye out for that on my YouTube channel at the end of September! Paleo Pines is a game that we hope you will enjoy, especially if you love dinosaurs as much as we do here at Mesozoic Haven. Don't hesitate to join our Guilded server to hang out with us and chat about Paleo Pines, and other dino games!   Frequently Asked Questions - Paleo Pines
    Paleo Pines Dinosaurs - What Will They Have?
    They currently have 29 confirmed dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures planned! Here is a gallery with the journal art for the dinosaurs! [GALLERY=album, 1][/GALLERY]   Will We Be Able to Breed Our Dinos?
    No. There is no breeding available in the game. And since there is no breeding, there will be no mutation system. However, some dinosaur patterns and colors are rarer than others! Can We Name Our Dinos?
    YES! You can name, and rename, all of your dinosaurs, except Lucky. You can do so in your journal. How Many Dinos Can I Have?
    Technically, you can tame as many as you want. But . . . there is a limit on Dreamstones throughout the map. So long term, there is a finite limit on how many you can have on a more permanent basis. How Will The Dinosaurs Sound?
    All dinosaurs in Paleo Pines will have a more cutesy sound design. Larger dinosaurs tend to have a big, low, honking-type sound. Smaller dinosaurs, on the other hand, will have chirps, trills, and similar! Will My Dinosaurs Die?
    NO! They will not! They do not get sick, but if you forget to feed and take care of them, they may decide to leave your ranch. They will also never attack and kill each other! A perfect game for little kids! This means young children will not have to be sad that their creatures will die! Will There Be Multiplayer or Co-op?
    No. Paleo Pines is intended to be a Singleplayer experience. They do have it in their mind, so in the future, a co-op experience could happen. (Kenson's opinion) It could be in the style of Stardew Valley, or a trading system. But we have no confirmation on this as of yet.  
    What Platforms Will Paleo Pines Be On?
    This game is confirmed to be released on the following platforms: Steam (PC) [And SteamDeck] Xbox (One & Series) PlayStation (4 & 5) Nintendo Switch Interview For Paleo Pines Coming Soon!
    (Update: Unfortunately, the developers never got back to us, so we couldn't get the interview.
    Keep an eye on our blog! I have sent off interview questions to one of the Paleo Pines team members and am waiting to hear back from them to put together the interview post for this amazing game that has so much potential. I would highly recommend wishlisting the game on Steam!  
    Content I Have Planned For Paleo Pines
    I have plans to make videos relating to every dinosaur in the game, which at the time of writing this post, is 29 confirmed dinosaurs! You will have to wait and see how each video comes about! Some will come at the beginning of September to start hyping up the game with dinosaurs available in the demo!   I cannot wait to share these videos with you, but as mentioned earlier, I do want to keep it a surprise so we can hopefully be the first channel to do videos of this type! If you have not subscribed to my YouTube channel, please do so, and turn on the notification bell to "ALL" so you can be notified when these videos (and others) go up!
  12. KensonPlays
    What Is ARK Survival Ascended About?
    ARK: Survival Ascended is a dinosaur survival simulator that pits you in large open worlds, surviving against the elements and many creatures roaming the world. You can learn more about ARK in our review post for more information and detail.   There has been confirmation that ARK ("one") is getting an upgrade to Unreal Engine 5, which will make some big improvements to the game's performance overall. The original game was created off a modified version of Unreal Engine 4, and the UE5 upgrade will be a stock build of the engine, more or less, which should improve performance significantly.  
    The Community Has Backlashed Against ARK Devs
    We are not sure why the community is as against this as they are. The developers are partially to blame, for sure, but there is also blame to be given to their publisher, Snail Games. The publishers basically tell the developers what they can and cannot say or share. It is all on the publishers for some of the key areas that people are complaining about.   We recommend sharing the blame with Snail Games as well. This publisher has ruined some other games in the past, so we hope that Studio Wildcard can get away from them as a publisher, and go to a better, more reliable publisher like Microsoft or similar.  
    ARK Survival Evolved's Development History
    While ARK has had a mixed history in the gaming industry, they have made a game that was, at the time, very unique in its combining of survival and a wide range of dinosaurs you can interact with, tame, or survive against. At the start, they used a customized build of Unreal Engine 4 (Source), and not a stock build. This means updating the game to later, stable versions of Unreal Engine 4 was not really all that feasible.   With ARK Survival Ascended, the remaster, being coded in a standard (vanilla) version of Unreal Engine 5 (probably 5.1), it will make it much easier for them to update the game to the later builds of Unreal Engine 5, say 5.5, down the road. This should help it benefit from all the improvements of future versions of the UE5 engine.  
    What Are The Unreal Engine 5 benefits?
    The benefits of UE5 over UE4 are plentiful, it has made many strides in performance over Unreal Engine 4. Unreal 5's Lumen lighting system has made dynamic global illumination much less costly, and more efficient. The Nanite mesh improves the quality of static system meshes, which makes a low-cost, more beautiful environment renderer. It also improves the physics aspects of games. The engine itself is also free to use, which is nice for modders and indie developers wanting to make great-looking games!   Some of the best parts of Unreal Engine 5 are: Lumen - A lighting system overhaul, which is dynamic real-time illumination. Nanite - A overhaul of the mesh system. This should solve all the meshing problems that the original ARK Survival Evolved has. It does not waste resources on rendering things not shown on screen (which Unreal Engine 4 does). So this should vastly improve performance on consoles, for example. World Partition - This allows people to make much larger maps than the original ARK Survival could handle. Basically this allows maps to load and unload chunks of the map dynamically. If nobody is in a specific region of the map, it can unload it so it doesn't take up resources on the server. Physics System Overhaul - Unreal Engine 5 introduces "Chaos Physics" - a new system built from the ground up for UE5. It's a huge leap in physics capabilities, and will vastly improve quality of all Unreal Engine 5 games that make use of it. This includes: Rigid Body  Dynamics & Animations Cloth Physics Ragdoll Physics Hair simulation and much more! Destruction - A completely new Destruction system. Will ARK Survival Ascended use this? We don't know yet. It will have thresholds that define how much damage is needed to destroy an object. This could allow for more dynamic cave and custom structures in ARK Ascended.  
    Improved Lighting & Visual Updates are Incoming!
    As we mentioned in the previous section, Unreal Engine 5 had a complete overhaul of the lighting and visual systems in the latest engine version. There have been samples of what ARK Survival Ascended could look like, thanks to some tweets, thanks to these lovely people:    
          There Are Some Downsides To This Upgrade, Too!
    There will be some downsides to this update, two of the biggest will be that mods will break and are incompatible from ARK Survival Evolved to ARK Survival Ascended. We will have to wait on the mods to be updated to the remaster. Another downside is that save files will NOT be compatible between the two editions of the game. You will need to start new saves, and cannot transfer them to the new game.  
    Mods On Steam Edition WILL Break!
    This is one huge downside to the remaster that we will have to deal with. Thankfully, Nekatus (Fjordur creator) has stated he will be moving at least some of his stuff to Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, it seems the Eco decor mods developer may not be bringing their mods to ASA, which is a huge bummer if that remains the case. Those decoration mods are amazing and they make your bases look much cooler!  
    ARK 2 Release Date Delayed Again
    This has been confirmed now. ARK 2 has been delayed yet again. To be honest, that is no surprise. We were expecting something like this to happen. What we are thinking now is, ARK Survival Ascended is being made just in case ARK 2 fails to meet sales expectations, or similar. This will allow them to have a more up-to-date game that they can continue updating to make some money to keep the studio alive if ARK 2 fails.  
    Concluding Thoughts
    While the community is partly right, they are also partly wrong. Sure, Studio Wildcard has made some questionable choices in the past (like selling Scorched Earth while in early access), but they have also made huge improvements to the game over the last 6-7 years. They also have much more experience and knowledge nowadays. They should be able to successfully fix the game with this remaster.   Updating ARK 1 would not really be feasible at this point, due to its heavily customized engine. They would have to recode the entire game from scratch even to fix ARK 1. So why not build it in a new engine with tons of fixes and improvements? Since it is a completely updated engine that was not customized by them, the remaster should perform a lot better.   The biggest downsides are that save files are not transferrable to the remaster and those mods will need to be "recooked" according to multiple developers. It may not be very difficult to update mods for the remaster and not take a recode of their mod. But a lot of mods are basically abandoned at this point so some of the best mods may never get an update for ARK Survival Ascended or the updated Unreal Engine 5. Hopefully, someone will step up and remake the mods for the remaster if that is the case.   Do not forget to join in Kenson's Streams!
  13. KensonPlays
    I finished watching Lyle Lyle Crocodile the other day, and I must say, although I normally do not enjoy musicals, this one was one of the few exceptions. It's a great movie about a cute-looking crocodile named Lyle. It is available to watch as part of your Netflix subscription, rent it on Amazon Prime Video (Affiliate link), on Vudu, or on Redbox.
    I highly recommend watching the trailer for the movie. There are spoilers ahead for this film, if you are okay with spoilers, read on! Even if you do not like musicals normally, you may enjoy this one, as I did:
     
    What I Like About Lyle Lyle Crocodile
    What I liked most about it, of course, was the crocodile. I love reptiles of all sorts, so this movie was one I was willing to give more of a shot than most musicals. And to the opposite of what I assumed, I did enjoy the full film. Coming from someone who does not like musicals, this is saying a lot!
    Since I'm a big lover of reptiles, pretty much anything that includes reptiles, I will love anything that they are in. This can be from Jurassic Park, to How To Train Your Dragon, and rarely, musicals like Lyle Lyle Crocodile. It is a great movie, and a fun, feel-good film that I strongly recommend you give a watch.
     
     
    How can you say no to that cute baby crocodile?! He is most definitely a cutie. Although he grows up during the acts of the movie, I still think that he maintains his "cutie" status. He stays a baby for probably around 25% of the film, then starts growing into a full-size Crocodile that we know and love, named Lyle.
    I feel that this film will be one I rewatch on occasion since it is a feel-good type of film, and it has one of my favorite types of animals, REPTILES! Who can say no to the cute, scaley creatures that are Reptiles? I did use to own a Leopard Gecko, named Chomper. He is no longer with me and is living with another family in town that has lots of other reptiles, so his housing situation is a bit more comfortable, I would say.
     
     
    Lyle's Growth Through The Film
    Towards the start of the film in Act 1, Lyle the crocodile is a bit shyer. In fact, through a good portion of the film, he is shy until closer to the final two or three acts of the film. As the film progresses, he slowly becomes less and less shy. In the final acts of the film, he finally starts to become more outgoing and makes real friends who appreciate his singing.
    While the main characters (in this case, the boy Josh & the crocodile Lyle) are still learning about each other, the kid's parents are nervous. This is understandable since a LIVE CROCODILE is living in their attic. But eventually, the parents get to know Lyle and then they all become friends and are attached to one another. So much so that towards the latter third of the film, they even go so far as to rescue Lyle from being put in a zoo exhibit.
     
     
    Lyle's Growing Friendships
    Near the start of the film, he pretends to be a fake or stuffed crocodile in a glass box that his previous owner made, to help protect him from being taken away by the New York authorities. But as Lyle grows in his friendships with the Primm family, he starts to become quite a bit more social. This is evidenced by at first, only Josh knowing about Lyle, and then later on in the film, Josh's mother learning about "there's a crocodile in the house!"
    Eventually, once they become more comfortable with the crocodile, their dad discovers that Lyle was living in their house. Understandably he was very scared and tried getting the entire family out of the house, to keep them safe. If this was real life, I would probably feel the same way until I got to know Lyle as a friend. Would you not feel the same way as I do? It makes sense.
     
     
    Rescuing Lyle From The Zoo
    About three-quarters of the way through the film, Lyle is discovered by the local HOA group, and his first friend, the magician, is forced to 'sell him out,' to get money to live off of. But shortly after, he mulls it over and knows he made a mistake. He then goes back to the Primm family, Josh in particular, and gets his help to rescue Lyle from the "evil clutches of the zoo."
    This whole act is one of my favorite parts of the film, where the human characters come to their senses and do whatever they must to maintain their friendship with Lyle the crocodile. This is a turning point in the film, where everyone makes mistakes and learns to fix them and maintain friendships.
     
     
    Learning To Overcome His Shyness
    Since he is a unique crocodile, it makes sense that he is nervous and shy about his talents which no other crocodiles have. Lyle is the only singing crocodile in the world! I am personally not sure about the choice of the voice actor for the singing crocodile, but hey, what can I do? Until around the last act of the film, Lyle only sings in small groups like the 3 human family members, or by himself in private.
    But in the last act, he overcomes his shyness for the most part and proves to the world that he is a unique crocodile that deserves the love and life that the Primm family gave him. The singing from Lyle is decent, in my opinion, but could have been better. After all, singing in public can be a cause of nervousness in most humans, and in a crocodile that has that unique skill? HECK yea it can be tough to overcome.
     
    Conclusion
    Come join me on my streams or on our Discord server, and chat about what your favorite parts of this film are! Talk away about your favorite parts (but let people know that spoilers are incoming, please)! We would love to see you there.
  14. KensonPlays
    Wow ... 30 Years Already?!
    Wow ... it is hard to believe that it has been 30 years since Jurassic Park ROARED into theaters, changing cinema forever. This groundbreaking film, directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on Michael Crichton's bestselling book, introduced audiences of all ages to a world where dinosaurs were brought back to life. It was a major success, commercially and critically, and spawned a gigantic franchise that is still being explored to this day.   If you are a fan of Jurassic Park, you probably know some of the amazing facts about this movie. For example, did you know that there are only 15 minutes of dinosaurs in the first film? Or that Jurassic Park broke the record for the highest-grossing movie of all time until Titanic? Or that the island where the park was located, Isla Nublar, was based on a real island off the coast of Costa Rica?   To celebrate this 30th-anniversary special, Universal has announced a massive series of events and activities to honor the film and its gigantic impact on Pop Culture. Some of these include a special re-release of the film in 4K, a new documentary, a Smithsonian exhibit, more merchandising, and much much more!  
    © 2023 Jurassic Bap What Is Jurassic Park About?
    If you are a fan of science fiction, thrillers, or dinosaurs, you have likely heard of Jurassic Park. It is one of the most popular and influential novels and movie franchises of all time, after all! But, what is it really about? How did it come to be? And what makes it so captivating and relevant even today? Today we will explore the legacy of Jurassic Park. As well as why you should read or watch it if you haven't already. (no really, you should check it out!)   Jurassic Park is not only a thrilling adventure story but is also a cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering and corporate greed. Crichton was inspired by his background in medicine and science, as well as by his fascination with dinosaurs.   Crichton consulted with experts such as Jack Horner, a renowned paleontologist who served as the model for Alan Grant. He wanted to explore the moral and philosophical questions raised by his premise: What are the limits of science? What are the responsibilities of scientists? What are the rights of living creatures? What are the risks of playing God?   Due to its popularity, some directors have even said that all the sequels that were made after were not needed. They could have just made the first movie and been done with it. But of course, as this movie itself even explains, it was taking into consideration what is common in the corporate world: GREED. Universal fell to the very thing that this movie was explaining. How is it that Universal succumbed to the same thing that the movie explains? 30th Anniversary Celebrations & Special Events
    © 2023 Folio Society Folio Society Announces 30th Anniversary Edition of The Book
    The Folio Society is a publisher that specializes in creating beautiful editions of classic and modern literature. They have recently announced a special 30th-anniversary edition of the Jurassic Park book ($60), the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton that inspired the blockbuster movie franchise. As a huge fan of the franchise, I will be saving up for this special edition of the book.   This edition of the book features a stunning cover design by artist Vector That Fox (creative name of Jo Breese), who also made 11 full-color illustrations for the book. These illustrations capture the awe, and terror, of encountering these amazing prehistoric creatures. It also captures the beauty and fragility of the island setting. It includes an introduction by Steve Brusatte, another famous author.   If you can afford the price tag, we recommend getting this book. The cost may be a bit high at $60, but if you are a big enough fan of the franchise, it would be a $60 well spent. I would get a copy of it for myself (Kenson),  if I wasn't currently unemployed. Love the original movie, and have an audiobook version that I could play while reading this paper copy. National History Museum of London Had A Pop-Up Exhibit
    If you are a fan of dinosaurs and movies, you might want to visit the Natural History Museum of London. The museum had launched a temporary exhibit (which closed on March 31st) pop-up Jurassic Park shop in its Cranbourne Boutique, where you could find a variety of merchandise and decorations inspired by the iconic film franchise. They still have other dinosaur content as well, though!   This pop-up exhibit was part of their celebration of the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park. It included life-sized models of Tyrannosaurus Rex, "Velociraptor," and the Brachiosaurus. You could also see models of baby dinosaurs, it was open until the 31st of March, which then shut down. We wish we could personally have attended to get some pictures for you to see, but it was out of our budget. Jurassic Park - 30th Anniversary Special Merchandise
    If you are interested in LEGOs, you may want to check out one of SlashFilm's latest posts. It explains LEGO's history, some other sets, but also the Jurassic Park T. Rex Rampage set that is part of the 30th-anniversary celebration. It has over 3000 pieces and costs a whopping $250 (USD). It includes a posable T. Rex, including jaws and a hidden compartment for its meals.   That is not all, though! Many special releases are coming this year, and we will update this post with other special releases and events relating to the 30th anniversary of this amazing franchise to come this year. We hope to be able to keep you all up-to-date on these releases as we find them! Concluding Thoughts About Jurassic Park
    Jurassic Park is an amazing movie franchise. It could have easily only had the one 1993 movie with a remaster for the 25th or 30th anniversary, but they did end up milking it for as much money as they could make. We would have to agree with a good chunk of the fanbase in saying that they made too many movies. About half of them did not do all that well in comparison to the original film.   Be sure to check out our blog for other Jurassic Park-related posts coming in the future! You may also be interested in our post about ARK: Survival Evolved, a fun game to play with friends! You should also check out our Guilded server to hang out with us!
  15. KensonPlays
    I finished rewatching Dolphin Tale recently, then I decided to look up to see how Winter the dolphin was doing. I was very saddened to hear that Winter passed away on November 11th, 2021. She was a big inspiration to me, and others that live with various types of disabilities (I have an "invisible" disability that you will not detect unless I tell you). I hoped to meet Winter once COVID calmed down and became much more reasonable and manageable, but now that will not be possible.
    Since I will not be able to meet Winter the Dolphin in person anymore, I decided to show my appreciation for all the CMA (Clearwater Marine Aquarium) does in another way. I bought a little keychain addition which just arrived a while back (this is a rewrite of the post), pictured below. I will also look at ways to contribute regularly to my streams or similar. I highly recommend looking at the CMA's website to see how you can contribute to supporting Winter the Dolphin & Hope's legacies. They are a cause worthy of your support!
     
    My Pendant To Support Winter  
    Dolphin Tale Movies
    I would highly recommend watching the Dolphin Tale movies (there are 2) if you love marine life or have disabilities that you live with daily. Winter the Dolphinâs story will make you want to show your support for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, even if not monetarily; you can show your support by sharing their Ways To Help page or this post with your friends.
    The Dolphin Tale movies would always get me to tear up while watching. But when I looked up and discovered that Winter died during my last rewatch, I was very close to crying. Winter's story makes me glad Winter had a longer life than most captive dolphins. Unfortunately, she couldn't live in the wild back with her pod due to Winter's condition. It would not have been possible, so she had to live at the aquarium for the rest of her life. She got a good 16 years of life; most captive dolphins only live about 12.
     
    Watch her rescue series here:
     
    Do You Love Marine Life?
    Suppose you are a fan of marine life and want to help support keeping marine life alive. In that case, I highly recommend looking at their Ways To Help page since you can help a marine aquarium & marine hospital to keep healing marine life and helping keep them alive. Of course, there are other causes you can contribute to as well, that are not specific to marine life (like the World Wildlife Fund).
    But I feel that the Clearwater Marine Aquarium deserves more support than SeaWorld (though I support both. Blackfish had a lot of inaccuracies. I have had 3 friends who worked there, including 2 who worked with the Orcas directly). However, both are doing what they can to heal marine wildlife.
    Marine life makes up a huge chunk of our planet since our globe is more than 70% water. We humans need to find ways to support and keep marine life alive. This ranges from Dolphins (like the Vaquita with less than 20 10 left alive) to Sharks which are essential to the ecosystem (which is killing multiple ecosystems globally with shark finning), basically all forms of marine life.
    Winter The Dolphin - An Inspiration To All
    She was a big inspiration to me, I have always wanted to visit and now that she is dead, unfortunately, I cannot. The only way I can show support is to keep rewatching the Dolphin Tale movies, their YouTube videos on the Clearwater Marine Aquarium channel, and by getting little things like the keychain pendant I always keep with me wherever I go.
    If you live with any type of disability, like me, you will more than likely be inspired by her difficult life without a tail. You can watch the Dolphin Tale movies on Amazon Prime [Affiliate link!] (rent for $4, buy for $13), on Vudu, and on Redbox.
    Concluding Thoughts
    I would enjoy it if you all could share any wildlife causes you supported, in the comments below. Please! Let me know what various wildlife causes you are all supporting. It would make me feel super happy.
    Looking forward to reading your comments! Don't forget to also check out my streams if you want to chat about Winter!
  16. KensonPlays
    Quick Game Facts
    PLATFORM: PC, Xbox, PS5 # OF PLAYERS: 1 - 3 GENRE: Action, Monster Hunting DEVELOPER: Omega Force PUBLISHER: EA REVIEWED ON: PC ESRB RATING: T MISC INFO: Not worth it in current state.   Overview of Wild Hearts
    EA's version of Monster Hunter is about to release (on the 17th of February 2023)! Does it match up to the long-time series, Monster Hunter from Capcom? In short: No. It does not. It needs some major work done, primarily on the Optimization front. My system with a 5800x overclocked to 4.2-4.3, a 3070 Ti, and 64 GB of ram was STRUGGLING to play it smoothly while live.
    For Console players, this review may not necessarily apply to you, this is a review of the PC edition of Wild Hearts.
     
    Performance Issues Galore At The Beginning
    The game does look good, to be completely honest, but its performance has some severe issues. I was playing on a high-end system, and it was still running slowly and felt laggy on-stream but about halfway through my playthrough, the game started slowly getting laggier.
    You would think that a system like mine would be able to run this game, if Monster Hunter World runs well enough, right? Well ... you would be unfortunately wrong! I will do some testing on it off-stream to see if it runs any better, but I am not very hopeful. Let us hope that EA can get their act together, and optimize this game a lot more.
     
    Wild Heart's Visuals Look Nice, But Looks Are Not All!
    As a continuation of what I was talking about before, a high-end system should be able to run any game you throw at it, without issue. 60+ FPS smooth gameplay. That is not the case with Wild Hearts. If you want to play a Monster Hunter-like game, I recommend the actual Monster Hunter series.
    It has been around for over a decade now (the first game was in 2002/2003) and it runs so much smoother. Barely any noticeable frame drops ever on my rig. Both Monster Hunter World and Rise run much, much more smoothly on my rig, and I can maintain 90+ FPS while playing Rise.
     
    Things I Feel Wild Hearts Needs To Work On
    The biggest issue they need to fix as their number one priority is improving the game's performance, especially if they want people to be able to stream it on a single-PC setup like mine. The game is stuttery and did not run smoothly at all. Performance is a big issue that a lot of studios seem to struggle with. They should have lower-end systems to fully test on, and not just high-end systems.
    They can not honestly expect everyone to have PCs from mid-range to high-end. They need to think about people on a budget that can't afford top-of-the-line graphics cards. Especially with the insane prices that NVIDIA is charging for the current generation. Please. EA. Optimize this game, and it could become a fun game to play with friends.
     
    Do I Recommend Wild Hearts?
    In its current state, I do not recommend purchasing or playing Wild Hearts. If you have EA Play, though, you can try a 10-hour free trial to see how it runs on your current system. Iâm sure Xbox & Playstation may run smoother since they are optimized for that. But with so many different PC components out there, I do not recommend playing it on PC at the moment.
    Conclusion
    This game does have potential, but it also clearly has some major issues they need to work on. Optimization is the biggest issue this game has on PC, but I can't speak for Consoles, since I don't own a PlayStation (I do now!), and rarely turn on the Xbox. Especially at the 70, or 90-dollar price point. If it was cheaper while it was in "early access," something like 20 or 30, then I may say "go for it" on PC.
    Until the game's performance has some major fixes, I would recommend saving your money for a different game that you want to enjoy. You will be happier with making that decision.
    You can check out my streams and join the Mesozoic Haven Discord to learn more and chat about other games like ARK and Path of Titans! We'd love to have you come and join the pack!
  17. KensonPlays
    Movie Quick Facts
    WATCH/STREAM ON: Amazon Prime (Affiliate link! Free with ads), iTunes GENRE: Adventure, Family-Friendly TOM. CRITIC RATING: 99% TOM. REG RATING: 91% MISC INFO: Great movie to watch with your kids, and kids with their parents! Great movie to watch with friends, or alone as well! We recommend watching in this order: Movie 1, Race to The Edge show, Movie 2, Movie 3  
     
     
     
    Reason 1: The Film's Synopsis Is Well Written
    How To Train Your Dragon is an amazing franchise, well, for the most part. The "modern-day" series that is up on Netflix, kind of feels sort of like a retelling of the first movie, so I would not really recommend that one personally. The original movie, which this post is about, is the beginning of a superb franchise that I highly recommend watching as soon as you can!
    The movie is about a young Viking boy named Hiccup. He finds a Night Fury they become friends. This movie is about building that friendship and trust among one another. It is a crucial film to watch if you want to understand the later films and shows in the franchise. Warning: Ahead of this message are SPOILERS (mostly for the TV show, Race to the Edge).
     
    (C) Dreamworks 2010 Reason 2: It Has Some of my Favorite Moments in Animation
    Where do I start? The How To Train Your Dragon (commonly shortened to HTTYD) franchise is a great universe of movies and TV series for entire families to enjoy together. Currently, it is a possible replacement as a favorite franchise for me, potentially taking the place of Jurassic Park. I seem to rewatch the HTTYD franchise more often than Jurassic Park(/World) franchise these last few years.
    What I love the most about the How To Train Your Dragon franchise is that the universe is so in-depth. There are many species of dragons, each with its abilities, classes, personalities, and more. If you haven't seen any of the movies or the TV series, I recommend watching the first movie first, then the TV series "Race To The Edge," then the second and third movies. The TV series takes place between the first two movies, and if you watched the movies then the TV show, you might be confused about certain things.
    How To Train Your Dragon is a wonderful universe if you like dragons. It has a wide variety of species of dragons, which I love. There are at least 85 species of dragons in the lore. Not all are shown in movies or TV series. But just think . . . 85 species of dragons in the universe. There is so much potential for more movies or TV shows down the road with new characters. Although personally, the original movies and Race to The Edge will most likely always be my favorite as they're what got me into the franchise in the first place.
    The expansive universe, its many, many species of dragons, and how they make me feel, are all things that make me love the franchise. In all 3 movies, there are moments I start tearing up and almost crying when they happen. I will not say what they are in this post, since I want this post to be minimal spoilers. If you want more details on what I like about each movie, I will be working on a blog post for each movie and the TV series as a whole (maybe split into two posts for like 3 seasons each or something).     © Dreamworks 2010 Reason 3: It Does Have Imperfections, But Not Many!
    There are a few things, though not many, that I do not really like about HTTYD. Some parts of the sequels are meh, while other parts are great. As a lot of people say, the third and final movie was a mixed bag. It did have a nice wrap-up to the end of it, which I will get to in the blog post dedicated to The Hidden World.
    One of these minor imperfections, in my opinion, is that the animation style changes a little bit between the movies. Technology does improve at a fast pace, but I would have liked to keep the animation visuals the same between all three movies, personally. That would give it more of a consistency that people can come to expect.
    Then there are some minor inconsistencies, which happen in almost every universe created around a book, a movie, or the like. There are not many, which I do not want to give out specifically in this post, but I will likely mention them in the movie and TV show-specific posts, mentioning what they are between the other parts of the HTTYD franchise.
    Reason 4: It Has Plenty Of Sequels in Movies & TV
    I hope that they make more movies and TV shows in the future, perhaps with new characters (Psst, now they do on Netflix, modern-day. It was meh, and feels like a retelling of the original movie to me) to explore the huge universe HTTYD has. This will allow for a huge variety of content for people to enjoy. I would not be surprised if even more content is being developed or planned.
    I will probably write some posts here and there relating to the series, but as a whole, unless they make another movie or TV series, the franchise is at an end in terms of new content, so there is going to be a limit at some point of how much we can write about the HTTYD franchise. If you want to discuss How To Train Your Dragon, feel free to ask me on-stream!
    Reason 5: I Wholeheartedly Recommend This Amazing Movie
    YES! I wholeheartedly recommend watching this amazing franchise. I personally recommend watching in this order:
    How To Train Your Dragon (this movie) Race To The Edge (TV Show) How To Train Your Dragon 2 How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Conclusion
    Go and give it a watch in my recommended order above! It may take some time to get through the TV show, but you won't be as confused as to "why is Hiccup's dad still alive?" if you watch the second movie then the TV show. Let me know in the comments what you think of this first movie!
    You can check out my streams to chat more about How To Train Your Dragon! We'd love to have you come and join the pack!
  18. KensonPlays
    Today I write to you about a streaming tool that I use on my streams, Stream Avatars, and the avatar pack that I have commissioned! If you are on this website, you are likely interested in dinosaurs in some manner! If that is the case, and you happen to be a streamer (on Twitch, YouTube, Trovo, Dlive, or Facebook), you can make use of this tool and these cute dinosaurs on your stream!
    You can view the list of suggested creatures on the page with the button above. The pack initially started with just nine dinosaurs, but we have over 16 now! We want to add more dinosaurs, but we are waiting for the animator to have available time to make new dinos!
    Above is a picture of the thumbnail to look out for on the Steam Workshop. Search for "dino" or "Dinosaur Avatars," and it should pop up! We are planning on making this the ultimate dinosaur avatar pack for streamers to enjoy! Feel free to submit new dinosaurs in the Steam Workshop discussions area!
    What I Love About Stream Avatars
    You are free to use whichever dinosaurs you want for your stream. Enable some, disable some, or make some only available to subs or manually gifted out! One cool thing about Stream Avatars is that you can make some avatars unique for specific viewers. The avatars will also have speech bubbles with what the viewer says in chat appearing above it. There are minigames like boss fights (right now, we have three bosses!) and a battle royale minigame for all viewers to enjoy. Viewers can also duel each other.
    Stream Avatars is a tool only the streamer has to purchase, so the viewers do not need to run a copy on their machines! The app is only $20, which is not bad. Your viewers can interact with the avatars via a Twitch extension or chat for other services!
    Things Stream Avatars Could Improve Upon
    This is a pretty minor thing, but Mixer's been gone for a year now (RIP, one of my favorite websites of all time), so they should honestly remove it as a login option for the app. Hopefully, they notice and get to remove it soon unless they're hopeful for a revival, haha.
    One thing I would love to see would be to allow specific viewers' avatars always to show. Even if they aren't active while still despawning other inactive viewers. Say, for example, your mods, subscribers, and VIPs to the channel could always have their avatars spawn in and stay even if they're lurking and not actively chatting.
    They should honestly increase the "extension space" if someone wants to have a lot of avatars to use but not create avatars themselves, and make the upload space for active artists much higher. It gives you less than 25 MB by default. That usually is enough for most people, but with my avatar pack, we have 12 of the 19 planned dinos, and one boss of probably ten or so planned bosses, and we're already at nearly 4% of the storage. It does not include the possibility of some custom backgrounds or "gear" that people can add to their dinos potentially down the road.
    You Mentioned Dinosaur Avatars? What About Them?
    It is true! I did commission a great artist to make our dinosaur avatar pack. Their name is Potterzilla. They also made the Smash Bros avatars if you are interested in those. My dinosaur avatar pack is the only dedicated dinosaur pack out there for dinosaur lovers or people who want to give dinosaur avatar options to their viewers.
    I am striving to make these avatars reasonably accurate to what they would've looked like in real life and scaling them roughly to what they'd be if they all lived together. Some dinosaurs, like the Velociraptor, had to be scaled up a bit, or they would be nearly impossible to see, though, unfortunately.
    If you have any suggestions for dinosaurs to add, please do not hesitate to add your suggestions in the Workshop discussion tab for the pack, in the comments below, by joining our Discord, or contact us directly! I will add it to my notes with a list of dinosaurs we eventually want to add if it does not seem like it would be too similarly designed to the dinosaur avatars that we already have.
    Additional Notes
    I will update this post over time when we add new avatars, and we will adjust our thoughts if the Stream Avatars dev adds the features that I mentioned in the "Improve Upon" section. Keep an eye out for updates every so often!
    I stream with the avatar pack when I stream games that are not too demanding to cause the app to slow down! Feel free to come watch!
  19. KensonPlays
    Terra Nova ... a show that deserved more than one season, for sure! It was a short-lived series that ran in 2011. This amazing show, executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, had a ton of potential, but unfortunately, it was wasted when it only lasted 1 season. The kids in the show are now over 10 years older, so bringing it back would be tricky unless they did even more time-travel shenanigans.
    Since Spielberg had such a high spot in the team that was creating this show, it gave high expectations from the audience. Unfortunately, it did not get greenlit for more seasons. Terra Nova, and Chuck, are two of my favorite TV shows. The latter was almost canceled twice but saved by the fans. Why couldn't the fans have saved Terra Nova, as well?!
     
     
    Terra Nova's Premise
    This show had a fairly unique concept. It was humanity's escape to the Cretaceous period, to try to save the future. The main characters, the Shannon family, almost got separated by the authorities in the future timeline. They had to be sneaky to get their family together. Which most people completely understand. Most families want to stick together so they can be in contact at all times, whenever needed.
    The future timeline was set in 2149, and the past timeline was in the "Cretaceous period." They didn't specify which part of the Cretaceous they were in, though. That is up to speculation. They mostly had fictional dinosaurs, named Slasher, Empirosaur,  Gallusaur, and Ovosaurus. Some of the real dinosaurs they had included Brachiosaurus, Carnotaurus (though with some modifications), and pterosaurs.
     
    Plot Highlights
    The show begins with the family in the future, where the Earth is in bad shape. The father was not included in the family's ticket to the past, they had to sneak him through the portal so they could be together. Once in the Cretaceous period, they went to the town, aptly named Terra Nova.
    The commander, Nathaniel Taylor, played by Stephan Lang, also played a military-type character in James Cameron's Avatar. Here, he was a good guy doing his best to protect the residents of Terra Nova.
    There is also a group of enemies called the Sixers. The motives were initially unclear, but they're a constant threat throughout the show's short run. Along with them, there's also drama between a few of the families, too!
     
    Visuals, Effects, and More
    Back in 2011, the visuals for this show were pretty good. Though they've somewhat held up today, they could be better. They had high production values, with each episode costing around four million ($4,000,000) dollars! This was likely due to the elaborate setpieces, Special Effects, and the locations they filmed in. It was primarily shot in Queensland, Australia. More specifically, in the Brisbane and Gold Coast region.
    If they rebooted the show, I would hope that they end up having Steven Spielberg produce again! That would allow it to have a similar feel to the original show. With streaming platforms allowing binge-watching these days, they could be rescued by platforms such as Netflix. They have been known to bring back niche shows, either with the original cast, or a new cast. In this case, they would likely need some replacement cast members, specifically the younger children in the show.
    Terra Nova's Reception, and Legacy
    The premise of the show, mentioned above, was praised for its originality and potential but suffered from uneven writing. The visual effects at the time were generally impressive, but it was also very high-cost, for its short run. That 4 million dollars per episode likely contributed towards its unfortunate short end. With inflation costs, it would be closer to 4.8 - 5.2 million dollars per episode today.
    In today's terms, that wouldn't be too different from the averages. Broadcast networks can do 3 million or more per episode, Cable dramas can reach up to 5 million per episode, and streaming services can sometimes spend 10 million or more per episode! It would likely be 'affordable' in today's TV show industry.
    The impact it had on fans, like Kenson, though, was much higher. The fans of the show all wanted another season or two to flush out the story, even if it didn't go further than 1 or 2 extra seasons. Today, it remains a memorable and beloved show, though it was unfortunately cut short before it had a chance to take off.
    Concluding Thoughts
    Overall, Terra Nova was a great show that got cut short too early, just like Firefly! Some amazing shows don't get the chance that they deserve, and this was certainly one of those. I highly recommend giving the show some love. It's unfortunately not available on any streaming platforms, though you can buy it on Prime Video (Disclaimer: Affiliate link), Apple TV, or Vudu.
  20. KensonPlays

    Trip To Hawaii (2024)

    By KensonPlays,


    Vacation Logs
    Get ready for a rawrsome adventure! I'm taking a break from my daily life in Texas, for the lush landscapes of Hawaii! This is my first trip off the continent, and I can't wait to relax in the sun, explore new and fun places, and document my journey while sharing it with you! This blog post, and its subsequent pages, will be my trip journal, with lots of photos and memories to be made! Certain pictures with other family members will be kept private, of course.
    While I prepare for this rawrsome trip, here's a sneak peek at what I have planned!
    Stepping into Jurassic Park! This is a tour of the Kualoa Ranch. An iconic filming location for the original 1993 Jurassic Park saga! Get ready for lots of pictures of that trip, along with me hopefully avoiding being Rexy's lunch! Dive into the Wonders of the Deep! We're hoping to squeeze in a visit to the Maui Ocean Center, where I'll come hand-to-fin with amazing marine wildlife! Keep an eye out for a blog page with the trip to the aquarium! This is just the beginning, dino friends! Stay tuned as I update this blog daily, starting April 15th! Until then, this post will be not updated too much except if we add more fun things to do on the trip!
     
    Leaving Soon!
    I'm leaving for my trip in less than TWO WEEKS! I am very hyped for this trip, especially taking that Jurassic Park tour at the Kualoa Ranch, where they filmed actual scenes from multiple movies! I will be sure to update you all via an Announcement a day or so before I leave for the trip, to remind everyone that week's stream will be canceled!
     
    Update 4/13/2024: I am now beginning the draft of my "Pre-trip" page, which will be published tomorrow night sometime!
    Update 4/22/2024: Jurassic Adventure Tour page up!
     
    The right side of thumbnail image was created with Microsoft CoPilot Designer
     
     Day 1 - Flying Into Hawaii!
    Today was the longest day of our trip. I am writing this on Tuesday, actually. We were so tired after flying for nearly 10 hours and being stuck in an airport for another 2 or 3. By the time we got to the condo, after shopping at Walmart, we were wiped, and I went to sleep at 830 pm or so Hawaii time. Slept until 730 or so the following morning. We didn't get much done today, so there isn't much to talk about.
    I did find someone who was almost on our flight that works for AppSumo, an amazing service that gives you deals on software. Also met a kid at the hotel before we left that is learning to play the guitar. They said after only 3 or so days, they're learning some songs. Takes a lot of talent to pick up an instrument that fast, I would say.
    I don't have any pictures to share of this day, since it was mostly private to friends and family. But on Tuesday, we had some more fun things to do. Read on to find out what we do today!
     
     Day "Zero" - Pre-Trip
    Today is Sunday, the day before my long 10-hour flight to Hawaii! Today, we're staying in a hotel in San Antonio, since my flight is before 9 am. We plan to arrive in Hawaii sometime around 1-2 pm Hawaii time since they are 4 hours behind us here in Texas. At least for the first few days, my body will be used to Texas time, so I should have minimal to no issues waking up early for the Jurassic Park tour on the 18th! I am very much looking forward to that tour, even though it's 2.5 hours long! I will be taking my phone, a battery pack, and taking as many photos and videos as I can! Since I likely will never be taking this tour again.
     
    Waiting On My Ride
    It is now 3:30, and I am currently waiting for my ride to arrive, then my HAWAII TRIP officially starts! This page will be updated once or twice tonight after I eat dinner and get to the hotel! Keep an eye on this page for updates tonight, and my long day starts tomorrow, with over 9 hours of flying!
    Arrived in San Antonio just fine, got to hotel safely. Watched random TV shows for a few hours, then we went to bed around 10:30 PM.
     
    The Next Morning
    It is early Monday morning, 6:45 as of the time of writing this. We ordered Cracker Barrel for breakfast, since the one in our hometown is pretty good. We were NOT impressed with the food at this Cracker Barrel though. 3 out of 5 stars. They didn't give us any silverware, we almost had to eat the eggs, hashbrowns, and grits with our hands. Thankfully the hotel had some for us. Also, the grits were pretty bland, as well as the eggs. I should've gotten cheese melted into the eggs in hindsight. Oh well. The bacon wasn't too bad though. I hope the rating isn't for the driver, but for the restaurant!
    We are now waiting on the shuttle to arrive to take us to the airport, where our first flight to LAX will start around 9 am. Then we have a 1 hour layover between flights, so I can update and start the next page at the airport. Hopefully LAX's wifi is decent!
     
     Day 2 - Beach and Food
    Today, we spent a little bit of time at the beach, since its a 5 minute walk (or less) from our condo. We will be heading to an authentic hawaiian food truck to get some food shortly, I wonder what they'll have. Since I'm not big on coconuts, I definitely won't be having a Pina Colada. I am looking forward to tomorrow, when we fly to Oahu for our Jurassic Park tour on Thursday!
     
     
    Here are two pictures I'm comfortable with sharing, since it does not show any of my family members in it. I want to keep their privacy in-tact as much as I can! I am now just waiting on the rest to get back to the condo, they are still at the beach, so we can head to the food cart and try some of that authentic Hawaiian food!
     
     Day 3 - Flight to Honolulu & Prep for Jurassic Park Tour!
    Today is the night before the Jurassic Park our at the same exact ranch that the first movie, and parts of the other movies, were filmed on!
    Today we flew from Maui to Oahu, and are staying on the 20th floor of a Hilton hotel. We enjoyed some time at the International Market across the street, and got dinner there as well. We finished our night by watching Jurassic Park 1993, to prepare for the JP tour tomorrow! I wonder if I'll recognize any other locations besides the log. I sure hope they'll stop the bus and let me take a picture of myself by the log. That would make for an amazing thumbnail replacement for this blog series!
    We'll have to see though, if they do this. I read that the bus does not stop, but on the website it shows people getting a picture taken in front of the log. They could've stopped doing it, but I am hoping that it was temporary and they are back to doing it again. It would not feel like a complete tour for me, without getting a chance to get a couple pictures in front of that famous log where they hid from the Gallimimus in the movie, and where Rexy ate one of them on-screen.
    I am winding down, and preparing to sleep now, since it is 9 pm Hawaii time, which is technically 2 am Texas time, which is when I normally go to bed. Take care everyone! I will be taking as many pictures and videos on the tour tomorrow as I can, and making it a special album here on Mesozoic haven.
    GOOD NIGHT, fellow dinos!
     
     Day 4 - Jurassic Adventure Tour
    Yesterday we took the Jurassic Adventure Tour, and man . . . it was WELL WORTH IT! Want to know more? Read on to find out!
    Shuttle To Jurassic Park
    Our shuttle to the Kualoa Ranch took about an hour, and even then, we arrived 2 hours early! There was a couple of quick pics I snapped, but other than that, the shuttle wasn't that interesting. We figured out it might've been a bit cheaper or quicker to grab an Uber both ways instead. In hindsight though, if I ever am able to make it back to Hawaii in the future, to take the Hollywood Movie sites tour, we may take that method instead.
    Waiting ... For Two Hours
    Once we arrived at Kualoa Ranch, we had to wait at  least two hours before our tour took off. It felt longer, though. But my mother and grandfather joined me on the tour, which made the wait more bearable! For privacy reasons, I am keeping their names and pictures out of this blog post. To any family reading this, I will have a private album I can share with you all in the future.
    They also offered horseback tours, ebike tours, and atv tours. If I come in the future, I may take a bundle deal with 3 tours and a lunch buffet for the same price as the Jurassic Adventure Tour. Since I've done that tour, I can do the others next, since there won't be anything new on the Jurassic Adventure Tour unless the rumored Jurassic World 4 films some stuff at the ranch. But what's cool about this is I can now officially say "I've been there!" whenever I rewatch the Jurassic movies!
    The Tour Begins!
    Our tour guide was very friendly and professional. His name is Zach, and I will give more info in a later part of this post. Our tour lasted just about 2.5 hours, like the website said. We had 6 stops along the tour, including the log from Jurassic Park 1993, and the hill they run from the Gallimimus on as well. Some other stops included the Gyrosphere building from Jurassic World (they took out the movie-specific stuff, but the structure was there).
    Another stop was an unused, behind-the-scenes look at the first building they designed for the Baryonyx scene in Jurassic World, but they also had the actual building that they ended up using. Unfortunately, our bus didn't stop at the one they used in-film, so I have no pictures from the "real" Baryonyx building. Though, for some odd reason, they have a statue of a Tyrannosaurus Rex coming out of the entrance, not a Baryonyx, I am not sure why that is the case.
     
     
    Our First Half
    The first half of the tour went well. The guide told us some of the history of Kualoa Ranch, as well as a bunker that was used in one of the World Wars (I can't recall which one, though). They had turned that bunker into an area to show props from various movies that was filmed either in part, or most of it, on the ranch.
     
    Our Second Half
    The second half of the tour, on the other hand, was wet. It rained for a few seconds here and there. We were in an open-air tour truck, so we got wet and rained on. It mostly started while we were at one of the stops we got out of the vehicle for, so by the time we got back into the truck, our seats were not just misted or lightly wet, but enough that our butts got soaked, as well! We saw both the actual Baryonyx building that they used in the final cut of JW: Fallen Kingdom, but the bus didn't stop there for some reason. We kept going, and the next stop was from an earlier version of the Baryonyx building that they ended up not using in the film.
     
    Very Professional Tour Guide
    Our tour guide, Zach, was extremely professional. He also went above and beyond what a Tour Guide is required to do. Told us all about the history of the ranch, since he grew up nearby, and so he had a lot of knowledge about the area. He also helped us locate my grandfather's phone. He lost it somewhere, and he was willing to go back to the last couple of stops to check for it. Considering it's a 2.5 hour tour, that tells us a lot. If any of the Kualoa Ranch staff are reading this, give Zach a bonus to his pay this month, or a raise. He went above and beyond the duties of a Tour guide.
     
    Overall Thoughts on Jurassic Adventure Tour
    I was very happy with the tour. Even the parts where we got wet due to the rain. Would I go again? Yes. I would do this tour again, but after I try the other tours like the Hollywood movie sites tour. From the friendly staff in the gift shop, the lobby/waiting area, and our Tour Guide, Zach, I would say that this was the #1 best tour I've ever taken in my entire life. I would love to try the triple package with the Hollywood movie sites and 2 other tours combined with a buffet in the future. I of course, would write a blog post about each of those tours, as well!
    Thanks to all the super kind and friendly Kualoa Ranch staff, for allowing me to have one of the best days of my life at your ranch! If you're reading this, I would love to work out date and time to come back, experience the other tours, like Hollywood movie sites trio tour, and the ATV tour! Feel free to get a hold of me if you're interested via the Contact Us link in our footer!
     
     Day 5 - Maui Aquarium
    I don't remember much about this day outside of the Aquarium visit. We went in the morning, spent a few hours there until mid-afternoon, then headed back to the condo. We went through the entire aquarium except the fancy sit-down restaurant, since it would've been expensive.
    One of the first things I saw was a tide pool, shown below:

     
    Soon after, I saw this weird seahorse-looking thing that wasn't a seahorse, but related:

     
    Can you find the Frogfish? Took me a couple of minutes to find it at first.

     
    This was one of my favorite signs in the entire aquarium. Lots of info about SHARKS! Please protect sharks, they are essential to the ecosystems and health of the oceans!

     
    Shortly after, we saw the Sea Turtles. Here's a couple of pics of one I saw swimming, along with the underside of a turtle shell:

     
    Then there's the shark tank where they had a ... animatronic? human? diver. Some of the kids at the demonstration learned something since I asked a couple of questions I already knew the answers to. "How many shark species are there?" "How many are dangerous to humans?" to which the answer to the latter is only 10-12 or so of the 400+ species of sharks found.

     
    Day 6+ | Relaxing Until Going Home
    Day 6 and later didn't have much of anything going on at all. We mostly sat around the condo, relaxing and doing small things here and there, like going to the beach a few times, checking out more local food trucks or farmers markets, etc. All-in-all, Day 6 through 10 weren't that exciting, not enough to write about for sure.
    This is the end of the blog series. I hope you enjoyed it! Have a day!
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