The Oakstout

The Dust Blog

2011-11-14T18:38:00.007-05:00

Ok, so that's a picture of a Dust Bowl but you get the analogy right?

Well... it sure has been a long long long long time.

Since I've been participating on Google+ my activity here has pretty much stopped.

Why?

Because Google+ allows me to post quickly if somewhat grammatically error ridden and get feedback almost instantaneously. Course the same can be said of Twitter, except with Twitter, you have to make several posts just to get your point across due to the 140 character limitation and Google + has no such limitations.

Of course that is part of the reason I've not posted. The other part is that real life has gotten in the way of several well devised posts, if only on paper. So there is my attempt for you that don't follow me on Google+ to know what I've been doing in the gaming community.

Well, after coming back from a 3 week business trip, most of that I was sick, I picked up Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. Let me start by saying that I've been off all weekend and I have only devoted maybe 1 hour to Battlefield 3. The rest of my time I've spent in the wonderful world of Skyrim. The reason I've not put in a lot of time with BF3 is something I'll discuss in another blog. See, I'm making a commitment to come back and post again in a relatively short time.

Now a few words about Skyrim.

It's just awesome. Ok, I'll add a few more words to clarify the awesomeness of Skyrim.

The game is very very open world. There is a main story that drives your character through the game, but you can ignore it and do other quests or work on it a little at a time or jump right on it ignoring anything else till you get to the end. There are lots of little side quests that can help you level. You can also just explore the world clearing out bandit hideouts or killing mammoths and other woodland animals. Lets not forget the Dragons you'll encounter from time to time. Killing them will help you unlock certain "dragon born" spells or Shouts that will become very helpful the further you go along in the game. Everything is open.

Designing your character is also open. As you level you get points to add into the "Perk" system. The Perk system lets you craft your character. You can be a stealthy rogue or brandish two hand wielding warrior. It all depends on how you manage your perks. You can enchant items, craft dragon armor or just spend your days massing coin by lock picking and backstabbing your way through the world. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.

All this is packed into a graphically gorgeous engine. I thought Oblivion was great looking, but last year when I finally got around to trying to finish it, the graphics started to look a little dated, not Skyrim. Even on the 360 the game is fantastic looking, course the PC version is even better from what I'm seeing from screenshots on my Google + feed.

If your looking for a game to slake your thirst for RPG games or even if you want a substitute for that tired old MMO you've been paying monthly for I would give Skyrim a shot.

It gets a 10 in my book.

Do People Hate Games?

2011-07-18T20:58:00.002-04:00

Recently I was playing a game of League of Legends. For the most part its a PvP game with some elements of an RTS game mixed in for fun. It is also free to download and play. There are different styles of play but for now, I'm only going to address the PvP aspect. So, where was I, oh yes, I was playing League of Legends with a friend. We didn't have enough to field a full team for our 5v5 so we did a pick up group. I have played in a few pick up PvP groups and for the most part people are really nice, helpful and not very critical of play style. I've even been in a few losing games and even then, no one throws blame around, which is nice.

Well, things didn't go that way in our little match. Again, new to the game, so I don't know all the special abilities of other characters, so if I misstep is purely by accident. Well apparently, I was doing something wrong and kept helping an opposing player get stronger. Not sure what, but instead of coming to my assistance, one of our members started to become angry and belligerent. Not sure why he felt to help all his pain and anguish on others, but he just wasn't being friendly to the rest of us. After a while it felt like I was back in WoW's Alterac Valley with people complaining about everyone else instead of trying to help fix the problem. My philosophy is "I already know its leaking, I want to know what you plan to do to help stop it".

We continued to play and eventually the complainer kept trying to surrender and we kept checking no. We asked him to assist us with a co op effort to push the opposing team back and when we ALL did that, we actually made head way. Eventually, after after a few tries and the complainer finally helping, we won the match. It was awesome, but even then he had to point a finger at someone, namely me, and complain about how we could have won quicker with out me hindering "his" progress.

That brings me to my topic.

Why do people hate games? I mean, a game is for fun and relaxation. I do it because I want to escape from my troubles at work or to just lose myself from the day to day troubles around me. I don't play a game to get agitated and angry at people. That defeats the purpose. Why do so many people, when they try to escape, end up getting angry and frustrated in a game? My understanding of a game is that its not to be taken serious, but so many people get so involved and so crazy when they play that it makes the game unfun for others. Why do people feel the need to make the life of others playing miserable if they themselves can enjoy it? Are mulitplayer games a good thing for society, when people not only bring their problems to the game world but bring their game world problems to say work or their home life? People have been so angry at players in a game that they have gone to their homes and attacked them or worse.

I just don't understand why people would take such an escapism and make it something that people will eventually dread doing. People will have to play real life to escape gaming. Then where would we be.

Not like the others

2011-07-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

The main reason I left WoW was the grind. Cataclysm had arrived and I was excited about trying a new race, a new server and even a different faction. I wanted to explore the changes that the cataclysmic upheaval had wrought on Azeroth. I looked forward to visiting the newly designed old world dungeons, retuned newbie zoned and just try to relive the old days of WoW. When it was all new to me. A fresh perspective.

Well to be honest that concept lasted 2 months. By then I had reached the mid levels on several new toons, which are the 40ish levels and I started to get bored. The game in truth had not changed. Sure they add a little color here and there, moved a few things around and reinvented others but at it's heart WoW is as it always has been, just one long grind to end game and the all mighty grab for gear.

I had hoped that a fresh perspective would help me over look WoW's faults especially with the new changes but it Blizzard just used new smoke and mirrors on the same tired trick and in truth hadn't done anything special.

As I leveled it became clear that the game was still only concerned with two things, leveling and gear, how to get there the faster and easiest and where to find it and grind it. It just got old. I know some players like the grind for gains and I'm not ragging on them, well, not much. It just wasn't for me anymore. I had grown tired of competing for virtual gear on a virtual toon

But is that all MMO's have to offer? A place to waste time, grinding out levels by questing or PvP battles till the cap is reached and then play the meta game of gearing up for end game? Why is there nothing new and different? Why are levels needed or gear wanted? Bragging rights maybe, having a way to measure the worth of your time spent playing other than "I had a great time!" or was it just a goal I set and met for personal achievement.

Who really knows. Maybe people do it because 1) it's all there is or 2) it's all they know. The idea of a non leveling game where people have access to everything and can to do anything without having to measure their accomplishments by comparing themselves to other players would be fun. A game with no end game where the gain for items isn't driven by the need to be the best. No pressure to be like anyone else, to play the game on your terms in a very open sandbox world.

I wonder, will we'll ever see such a game? If we do, I'll be playing it.

(ps: see how I did an Eve post without doing an Eve post.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Eve Online Again!

2011-07-12T18:10:00.005-04:00

I know, I know I said this wouldn't be an EvE centric blog and yet here I am blogging about it AGAIN!

I just can't help myself. It's like sex with the ugly girl in class, you don't want to brag about it but you are the only one getting laid and it's fun (That line was for my friend, Scary Booster). So I'm not going to be ashamed, I'm really having a ton of fun playing EvE and if that's all I have to blog about then so be it, bitches!

Well after a week or two of skilling up and with a generous donation by friends to my "Let's help Oak get a Cruiser to fly" fund I am happy to report to duty for combat in my new Rupture. The first thing I did was fly her around a few systems and then park her so I could start my mining career. lol. Right now sadly, her guns are getting dusty from lack of use. Why you ask? Because I have decided to devote the next week or so to getting my mining business, "Bubba's Stripper Mining R' Us" up and running.

True, I'm not running a strip mining ship nor will I be in the near future. I have not joined a "new pilot friendly" mining Corp, which I hear do exist in EVE. No none of that. I went out and purchased a few Huge Secure Containers, fitted my mission rewarded Industry ship and gotten my Navitas ready for mining. I started by picking out a fairly nice section of 0.6 space, mainly so I could deploy my containers and anchor them safely. A nice asteroid belt with a wide variety of ores so I could find some thing profitable.

I maybe going to fast for those new to EVE talk.

Well let me back track a sec, for those not in the know, secure containers of any size require the anchor skill and have the ability to be password protected, which keeps theft down to a minimum, especially from hostile players wanting to grief people. These containers float near the asteroid I'm mining which allows me to mine and store large amounts of ore in a short time. Ore that I can come back later and pick up with my industrial ship, basically a large cargo ship.

Industrials are big, bulky and fly like buses loaded down with buses. However, they are necessary to move large quantity of ore to stations to sell.

The mining process once started is pretty easy. Course buying all the materials, moving my ships and gear around took a good 2 hours. Like skilling up, every thing takes time in EVE. Now that I am actually mining and moving ore, the ISK is starting to trickle in. After two trips I've been able to make around 1 mil in ISK, which for a beginner just learning isn't too bad, is it?

Sure it will take time. There are lots still to learn like tractor beams and large scale strip mining but for right now I'm just trying to get my feet wet and see if this is the side of the game I wish to devote my time too or should I be a Pirate. Arrggg who knows!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Strangers with Candy

2011-07-05T00:22:00.004-04:00

First let me start by saying I have found a new addiction. No it's not the girl in the picture as much as I would like it to be. No I've fallen for EVE Online.

Here's how it happened.

Recently a bunch of twitter people I follow were chatting up EVE. A few had just started playing while others were jumping back in so I figured, why the hell not? Steam had a demo and Stargrace was nice enough to give me a buddy pass which turned my 15 free days into 21.

Now, let's go back 2 yrs.

At that time I was really growing bored with WoW. I decided to get EVE a try. I installed a 14 day demo and jumped in head first. The problem was the learning curve complicated by my busy work schedule. I only managed to play for a few hours and never returned before the timer ran out.

Well this time I decided to take the time, learn the game and see just how complex the world of Eve really is. I downloaded the demo on a Saturday afternoon and by sunday night I had purchased the game off Steam. Two weeks later I'm still having a lot of fun.

The game is not like any other MMO out on the market, which is perfect for me. It's very deep with layers under layers. It's not as hard as some would have you believe but it's not for the casually lazy players either. You have to pay attention, read everything and do the tutorials first. The main mistake a newbie would make is thinking its as easy as WoW and its just not. Evert day I find out something new and different about the game. I'm just glad a few of the gang from Multiplaying.net have been around to help guide me.
Even though I read everything and do tutorials it's always nice to get information from someone that's done it already. They have been a great help.

It's hard to encompass all the great things this game has in one little blog post and I'm not going to turn this into an EVE centric blog, there are just too many great ones out there. However, for now, EVE is my MMO of choice so I will be doing some reporting from there at least till I get bored or nerd rage hits me.

Besides it always nice to get a fresh look at an old game especially from a total newbie like me.

Dwarves in space.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Friday

2011-07-01T09:25:00.003-04:00

I do have a few posts planned, one of which is one about League of Legends which I recently started playing.

But until then please enjoy this video on "How to win every game of League of Legends".

I found it....informative, I hope you do as well.

The Unbelievable!

2011-06-24T10:44:00.003-04:00

Today I wanted to post about personal triumphs. Goals achieved and weights lifted. Here is my struggle with finishing video games. There are lots of stumbling blocks along the way, but since finishing Brink, I thought it might be possible to finish another video game. Here is such a story.

Gears of War was released in 2006 and the only real reason I know that is I actually finished the game and saw the ending credits. I've had this game for 2 years maybe. It was an impulse "used game" purchase that I ended up costing me $20.00. I had played it a few times solo and with my com padre , Scott over at Pumping Irony. Still I was unable to fully get into the game and ended up putting it away in my gaming drawer, where it sat among other unfinished games until 3 weeks ago.

It had been suggested by Mr. Pumping Irony, that dust off Gears of War, get a co op game going on Insanity and get a few achievements. So, I removed the game from its hiding spot and placed it on the table so that when I time came I could just pop it in. Well, a week went by, mostly due to me being out of town for my anniversary, so we didn't game. The next week I was in Nashville, again my fault, soaking up all that nice hot weather. I arrived back in town this past Saturday, exhausted and just wanting to laze around the house for a few days.

Well, as I was relaxing from my week out of town, I kept staring at the Gears box. Finally I decided to pop it in and give it a few minutes of my time. Well a few minutes ended up being almost of Sunday that rolled into a bit of Monday afternoon. When I had finished I was starting up mission 5. I had gotten a few achievements and decided to see how many more there were to be had. It turns out upon further investigation that I had a far bit left to go, most of them are for harder difficulty levels and multiplaying. The most interesting thing I did discover was that I was only one mission away from completing the game. I couldn't believe it. Just a few more hours of play and I would have beaten my second console game in a month. A goal I never thought possible with my constant inability to stay focused. Until Brink, I hadn't completed a single game on the console. Sure, I've played board games and quick arcade type games, but never a game with a full fledged story before, well, before Brink, sad to say that was my first finished game, but such is life. Its like a girl losing her virginity to the fat kid with glasses in the back row with the z sounding name. Oh wait, that boy was me. lol Anyway.

Well, yesterday I got home early and decided that this was it. I was going to put another notch in my bed post by finally bedding down Gears of War and getting that sweet satisfaction of finishing her off, I mean it. Sorry got carried away with my analogy. Well, it was pretty straight forward, get to the end of the train, kill the boss. To tell the truth, in missions 3 and 4 I hit a few tough spots that kept me hanging longer in a section that I really needed to be because 1)it takes me a while to figure out how to get through a section if it has some trick to it 2) I didn't consult with the Internet on how to get past a boss or a section, I just figured it out on my own. So I figured that getting to the end of mission 5 was going to be difficult, but in fact it was pretty easy. I did die a few times due to my stupidity, but for the most part it wasn't too frustrating. Well, until I got to Raam, the final boss.

Raam was not easy. I died a lot. I did finally figure out that a straight on approach did not work. Finally, because I was just inches from finishing the game I decided to work the magic of the Internet for a strat. Well, after reading a few, I discovered that I was fucked. Most if not all of the strategies said keep shooting him in the head with the sniper rifle, check, got that gun, but only after you get the birds off him, which is done with a Torque bow, crap, don't have one of those, don't know where to get one, and I don't want to reload the whole mission just to pick up one weapon for the end, which I'm sure I won't be able to hold on to any ammo for. I could use grenades to get the birds off, but that requires standing up to do and every time I tried that I died. I kept trying different approaches with no better results. I did start getting better at shooting him in the head without getting the sniper rifle jammed on reload.

Now it wasn't completely hopeless. He isn't protected by the birds the whole time, they do fly out and try to attack me, which gives me a good opportunity to shoot him. However, that window is small and if he starts moving forward, it makes it harder. Well, I'm sure this is getting drawn out, so I'll wrap it up. I just kept running up against that wall hoping for some kind of break and finally I got it. He got stuck on some of the obstacles and couldn't move forward, the birds didn't go back to protect him so I was able to get a few good shots off and as he finally started moving forward and I thought I was done for, I got off a shot and finished that fucker off

The game takes over and you get a nice video how you save the day, and make it to safety. The game ends and the credits start to roll. I have to say as frustrated as I was and how close I was to yanking that game out of the disc tray, it was very satisfying to sit there and watch the credits roll. I watched all of them, because I deserved it. lol

My assessment of the game, it was good and I can't start to unwrap Gears of War 2 which I've had since release but never opened. I do want to finish a few other games that I'm currently playing. Mass Effect 2 has been occupying my time recently and once I play a bit more I'll give a nice review. Also still have Crysis 2 and LA Noire to finish, which I do plan on doing soon. I am a bit worried about LA Noire. I keep listening to podcasts that say after a while the game keeps boring and there is a weird twist after the Vice desk that upsets a few players. Not sure how I like knowing that going forward but, since I'm taking big breaks in between I don't think it will bother me as much as those running straight through the game.

Also being a non reformed game enthusiast, I purchased World of Kefling and Trenched. Trench is a nice tower of defense game but with a very different spin to it that I find fun and refreshing if not hard and complicated. World of Kefling is an Xbox 360 avatar game that is very similar to an RTS game. I played the demo of it yesterday and just had to buy it. lol

That is about it for gaming. I know my posts haven't been as frequent as I know you the reader and I would like. Its very hard finding things to post about since I'm not really playing an MMO right now. I hope to remedy that soon once SWTOR comes out. In the mean time I do plan to give Eve a shot. I have a 21 day friend pass thanks to Stargrace. Once I have more bitterness in my life from an MMO game, I'll be able to do more posting I hope. Just stick with me, I'm not going anywhere and if you get bored waiting, go Here and Here for all your MMO rage and bitterness.

What I'm Playing?

2011-05-31T09:26:00.003-04:00

Well, seems I've been spending a lot of my free time lately snuggling up to my Xbox 360 with one recent exception. So here's the list and my impressions:

LA. Noire (Xbox 360)

I'm to a true fan of GTA. I usually buy it, then run around doing tons of shit only to find out that I've done absolutely nothing and quit. I even tried Red Dead Redemption with the same results. If the world is an open sandbox with tons of stuff to do, I find that I never get any of the main story done, therefore, never actually finishing the game. Well, this time is going to be different.

L.A Noire is a crime solving game set in the post WW2 atmosphere of Los Angeles. Your character is a vet, who has decided the best way to server his country now is to be a be a crime stopper. You start out as a beat cop but as you solve cases, you get promoted. Currently I'm a Homicide Detective who's partner would rather be bellying up to a bar than solving a case, but you just have to cope. The game looks gorgeous and the mechanics are pretty great as well. You get to locate and shift through clues left at each crime scene. You eventually get to question possible eye witnesses as well as suspects, using the clues discovered to ferret out their correct answers.

I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys crime shows, its worth it.. And not to be over optimistic, I think I may actually finish this game, which is saying a lot since I don't think I've ever finished a game to date.

Crysis 2 (Xbox 360)

Hearing all kinds of good reviews from friends I decided to give this one a try. Usually I go straight for the multi-playing aspect of any First Person Shooter, but this time, I decided to dive into the single player since I'd heard great things. I have to say I'm really impressed. The story is a little weak and hard to follow at first, but it does start to fill in the holes as you start making your way through the game. I'm still not 100% sure what the suit is I'm wearing that gives me all this incredible power and stealth ability, but as long as keep getting to kill people, I really don't care. The game is very beautiful and the mobility of the character, which includes being able to power slide under low obstacles as well as being able to grab ledges and pull myself up, is a lot of fun.

I've dabbled with the multi player part a bit but nothing to really give an honest review about. Its similar to most other FPS online aspects already on the market. You start off with a limited number of load outs and as you level up, you get to unlock different guns, attachments and perks to your power suit. My first attempt at online play was very unsatisfactory, due to the learning curve. There apparently is a trick to using your armor boost and your stealth abilities at the right times, otherwise you get pwned like an ant under a magnifying glass. However, as you learn the strategies for each map, the online play becomes a lot more fun, unlike my first 2 hours. The real secret is getting over those first 2 hours of failure and forcing yourself to continue.

I ended up purchasing this game at Best Buy for $40.00, which is well worth the price. I can actually see myself finishing this game and from what I understand, I'm almost to the half way point after 6 hours.

Terraria (PC/Steam)

I picked this little game up for two reasons, the price, $10.00 and its a 2d version of Minecraft. Actually there is a third reason, a lot of people I follow on Twitter are also playing it. Curse you friend's lists. To say this game is addictive is an understatement. I found myself over the weekend, playing this game well into the wee hours of the A.M.

Basically, its a 2d version of minecraft. You start off with a pick and an ax. You fight slimes during the day, which provide you with ooze that is needed to create torches. At night, you fight zombies and flying eyeballs. The game play is that simple.

Its just like minecraft. I actually think in a few respects its easier and more accessible than minecraft. The game automatically gives you recipes for items once you've acquired the necessary materials, unlike minecraft where you have to do it by trial and error. As you build certain work stations, i.e work table, kiln, and anvil, it opens up more recipes. The trick is to have the right materials in your inventory. There is a lot more combat in this game, since your having to defend yourself night and day, but armor and weaponry are very easy to come by. Eventually, after you build up your shelter a bit by adding few torches, a table and a couple of chairs, you might be surprised when a merchant moves in.

The game is a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone who's been wanting to try minecraft or to even those who own it. Beware, the game is very addictive.

As a side note:

I did purchase Brink (Xbox 360). I didn't add it to the above games because well, I'm not really playing it. Upon release the game was pretty buggy and laggy. The learning curve was very steep even for average fps players, that of course is my opinion. The game doesn't seem to be able to deliver on its much anticipated hype. Yes, it has some pretty interesting game play mechanics, but Crysis 2 does a better implementation of a similar movement style.

To start with, there really is no single player game to speak of. The single player "story" is broken up into separate maps that are objective based. You can do the maps either as Security or Rebels with the same objectives. The maps or "matches" are team based and they don't really propel the story forward well at all. Single player is multi-player with bots. If the bots were decent that would be one thing, but your team mate bots are stupid and the opposing teams bots are hard as hell to crack, unless you set them on stupid. The game isn't what was promised, at least not in my eyes. Section 8: Prejudice a XBLA $15.00 game is a much better purchase and way cheaper and has objective based multi player.

The developers of Brink are trying to make things right with the community by continuing to update and patch the game to alleviate some of the issues with lag and graphic card compatibility on the PC side. My issue with all this is, why wasn't this tested before release? How can you release a game without testing the online lag or graphic card compatibility? That's just a huge misstep in my book. Its like walking out side without realizing your naked, who does that? Oh yea, crazy people.

When a person puts down $60.00 of hard earned cash, it completely destroys their confidence in developers when they can't deliver the goods. The only reason I've not traded the game in, is because I have three friends who want to at least try the multi player to see how destroyed it really is. I'm convinced that once this happens the game will be traded in a matter of hours.

And that's what I have and have not been playing.

Giddy as a School Girl

2011-05-20T10:15:00.002-04:00

Let your mind go blank!

2011-05-16T18:20:00.001-04:00

Why do people buy games?

What motivates certain purchase over others, especially in the same genre?

Why buy one FPS, MMO or RTS game over another? Is it devotion? The fanboy issue where one franchise or developer is better than another?

What drives the consumer to spend hard earned cash on a $60 game?

My theory? It's mass hypnosis.

Developers want your money, whether they put out a good product or not. But how do they get players to part with cash?

First, they put a good bit of money in the commercials. Make the game look like it's going to visually rock their world. If players ask for actual game footage, well, just video a few scenes produced under controlled situations with very low lag on super computers. I mean how is a player to know differently, especially with disclaimers on the box that say "your online play may vary", meaning "we don't really know how this game will play once thousands of users log into our tiny servers, but that's not our fault that, you bought a beta, sucker."

They use post hypnotic suggestions like "stunning graphics" or "new control schemes". Maybe they say "WoW killer" and poof people are spending money and clearing shelf space.

Demos do nothing more than make us cluck like a chicken with delight. We can't possibly know what a game will be like from a 10 minute tease or a 20 level beta.

Developers have their hands in our pockets and we are so blind we can't see it. If we aren't hypnotized explain to me why 90% of the games released get a patch on the first week and we are happy about it?

"Man lag was bad till they patched it, but now I'm having a blast. I still can't access my bags or bank but I hear they are working on another patch, hope that fixes it", he says with great enthusiasm

If we bought a defective car would we be so happy about them giving us a new part 7 days after purchase? Would we return it if we found out it had 2 hamsters on a wheel instead of an engine?

I ask this, if it's not hypnosis what is it? Mass stupidity?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

What sucks?

2011-05-16T14:27:00.001-04:00

Everything!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Blank

2011-04-27T10:50:00.001-04:00

What to blog about? That's a huge question? Do I talk about the current MMO landscape and it's future? What, if any, impact has Rift had on WoW's sub numbers? Will WoW wither away or become Free to Play? Should more companies take chances to break out of the WoW mold or should they continue to clone it?

Well I could talk about all those things but then I would be like thousands of other bloggers out there, speculating on the future of a business that 10 years ago was dominated by Everquest and why was that? Because they were the only game in town, basically.

In the future it seems that anyone with a programmer and investor's cash will be getting into the MMO business, sorry Curt Schilling. All this does is clutter the field, making it harder for the gems to stand out. Forcing bloggers to pick a favorite and trounce everything that isn't what they are playing. Giving birth to a flock of Fanboys that will circle looking for prey, starting a plethora of flame wars and...

Well to be honest that isn't the future it's the present. People spend way too much energy deciding who has the bigger penis, I mean MMO, and why? Who really cares? I change MMO's like underwear, once a year and to be honest I'm only loyal till you bore me to death or fail to provide value for my dollar. Trying to explain why my choice is better that your choice is like trying to explain what a song bird sounds like to a deaf person and pretty silly if you ask me.

If people were the same, liked the same thing and made the same choices the world would be boring. Excepting that your opinion matters but only to you is the first step to recovery, from the dreaded fanboy disease.

And I thought I wouldn't have anything insightful to say.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Back to the Middle again!

2011-04-20T13:49:00.001-04:00

Middle Earth that is.

Succumbing to the powerful Jedi mind tricks of several friends (a nice SWTOR plug),I decided to give the Free to Play (F2P) version of LOTRO a try.

Now as some if my readers may know I did sub to LOTRO back when it first came out but only briefly. At the time I was still hooked on the WoW crack so playing another MMO along side it was always fatal to the other MMO. So I ended up dropping LOTRO.

I won't do a true first impressions of the game since what I posted back a few years ago still hasn't changed much in my opinion. Instead I'll discuss my current likes and dislikes.

Lets talk about the dislikes first. This way I can end the post on a positive note.

Turbines new Free 2 Play business model is based on Micro Transactions. Basically Turbine let's you play for free and gives you access to almost all of the content. However some items, perks and content will cost you money to unlock. Real money is exchanged for Turbine Points which is used as currency in the LOTRO store.

Want a second revive and disregard timers, then spend a few points. Want more bag and bank space, how about resetting your daily tasks or increasing the number of tasks you can do per day well just spend a few Turbine Points. Would you like to ride your own horse? Well the horse will cost you a few game silver but the skill will cost you points. I'm not a fan of micro transactions because the player can end up spending more to unlock items than it would cost for a monthly sub where a majority of things are free.

On the plus side, as you adventure and unlock Deeds you do earn some Points to spend in the store. It just takes a while to build them up, but it is possible to play the game without paying for a sub or buying Points. But like me, most people who play an MMO want instant gratification, which makes it hard to wait. I want what I want and I want it now has always been my motto when playing any game.

Subscribing to the game will unlock a lot of items and areas, but developers have added a few additional quests and storyline content to LOTRO since launch that even subscribers have to pay for with points to access it. I'm not a fan of charging subscribers for additional content when they spend $15.00 every month, but Turbine makes up for this by giving an allotment of points free to subscribers every month which can be used to unlock additional content as well as other perks available in the store.

The point with all this is that before playing Free 2 Play LOTRO I hated the idea of an MMO using micro transactions. Now I don't think it's so bad. It let's me play a triple A game for free and I like that.

That should cover all my dislikes. I do have some nit picky stuff I could mention but all games have some animation, sound or graphical glitch that effects the experience and although LOTRO has there fair share, still, it's not enough this time to detour me from playing.

So why am I back in Middle-Earth, besides the fact it's free? Mainly because a bunch of close friends have decided to start playing. Before no one I knew in real life played and the game quickly became more like a single player game in a world of strangers. I got bored and left. Now we have a little community that hangs out once or twice a week. We are all learning the game together and having a fantastic time. It's very casual and I like that. The game is still gorgeous. The sounds and music help get you into the game.

I'm usually not big on game lore but I am really digging the whole Tolkien setting this time around, trying to finish parts of the main story line and really enjoying the journey.

The game just seems more fun this time around. Maybe because it's not competing with WoW or maybe playing with friends does make a huge difference or could it be that it's free? Who knows. Either way I'm having fun and that is the important thing, right?

Location:Piedmont Pkwy,Greensboro,United States

For your viewing pleasure

2011-03-31T19:28:00.001-04:00

I'm Not

2011-03-28T21:20:00.004-04:00

I'm not playing WoW.

I'm not playing Rift.

I'm not playing anything.

I'm not at home, so I'm not in front of my computer or gaming consoles

I'm not blogging, because I'm not playing games. I'm not happy about that, but what's one to do when your just not.

Now What?

2011-02-28T00:40:00.003-05:00

Well, I did something I never thought I would do. I cancelled my World of Warcraft account. Not sure why, but I just didn't see the sense in paying for a game that I was only playing maybe twice a month. Sure, I had lots of friends wanting me to hang with them and do stuff, but my heart just wasn't in it. I just couldn't see myself leveling up another 5 levels and then do dungeon after dungeon for gear only to turn around and start raiding for better gear again and again. The mechanic for end game just doesn't rock my boat, flip my pancakes, or launch my rocket anymore.

It bores me to grind, grind and grind some more only to find out that once I'm at the top, if I ever get there, its still not enough. Its just enough of an obstetrical till Blizzard decides to launch another update that includes another area that hasn't been unlocked with more grinding involved. I've done it, and I've done it for 5 years. I think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Well, its insane for me to stay subscribed to WoW, because its going to be the same old thing.

Wanting to avoid more insanity, I've decided not to jump on the Rift band wagon. I've read about the end game there and its similar if not the same as any other end game. Do dungeons for gear, then do more dungeons, then raid and raid till you get to the penultimate raiding dungeon and defeat the bosses there. Sure, they will have different degrees of dungeons, different sizes of raids and different ways to defeat bosses that will make it different from WoW and other MMO's but not different enough to capture me. Besides, right now is the wrong time to join Rift. They are working out server loads, population caps and every day since head start people have been waiting in line to play with on their guild selected servers. Some guilds I'm sure have had to move because they can't get into the servers they wanted at launch and are scrambling to keep guildies together. Its a mad house but nothing the MMO community didn't expect with a brand new child. So, I'll wait a bit. See things calm down a bit. Wait for the tourist season to subside and then quietly slip in under the radar and play me a little Rift, probably in 2 or 3 months.

Not sure what I will be doing now. I've been playing some Oblivion on the Xbox and its fun. I can probably spend a lot of time there. I've also been invited to play a little Champions online with a few friends. Right now I'm only playing the free 2 play version but who knows, if things pick up I may had back there full time. But for now, I'm MMO-less and it feels good.

The Kindle

2011-02-17T23:29:00.005-05:00

I have been thinking of picking up a Kindle. I have a vast book collection, mostly Scifi fantasy, which tends to be very heavy when traveling. But as I was reading my current book, Robert Jordan's "The Great Hunt" it occurred to me that one of things you can't get from an e-reader is a visual as to how far you have left in the book.

Looking at my book, I could easily see the thickness and how far I had left till I reached the end. Sure, if I got a Kindle I could do the math. I'm on page 200 of a 350 book, but being able to look at the thickness left on the other side of your thumb is something that you can't get from a Kindle or any other e-reader and I'm not exactly sure I want to give up that visual.

Just a quick observation.

How did I get here?

2011-02-12T21:15:00.003-05:00

I seem to have become a very angry gamer and blogger. Oh, I've been known to rant from time to time about things that get under my skin, like ex WoW players who think Blizzard is the anti-Christ or crazy people that just lash out and offer comment without actually knowing what they are angry about or whom to focus their anger on. But lately, it seems that all my blogs have been unusually angry. I don't report anything interesting or having anything very interesting to say, I just attack and let the blood fly.

In my last post, I basically asked bloggers who participate in betas to stop pre-judge those games until they are released. I did this without actually forming any kind of theory as to the motivation they have for offering these opinions nor did I even ask them why they do it. I have since come to a conclusion that may explain the need that compels bloggers to chat up betas, specifically MMO betas, so much.

I know the community is hungry for information on the next possible WoW killer and when an MMO looks promising people in beta want to dish on all the info, good or bad. They want to be the ones that find the oasis in the desert and help guide gamers to it. People want to find that next gem in the rough and when its found, they want to be the first on board. The problem is, there have been more lumps of coal than actually gems of late and people are getting very annoyed with this trend. So, I really can't fault bloggers for wanting to find the promise land. How can I when even I'm looking for it.

The future of MMO gaming, as I see it, isn't very bright these days. We have WoW and we have a number of WoW clones. Which is great, if you like WoW, but not if you don't. For the record, I still like WoW, but even I want something new to play. On the horizon we have Rift and SWTOR. Both seem to have promise.

Rift has had several successful beta tests, the community is all a buzz with activity and the release date is very soon. Prognoses looks good that this could hold the attention of some for a few months maybe even longer. The game is different in some aspects to a WoW, but not too different to frighten away gamers. There is positive hope that this might put a good dent in WoWs armor for a while, at least long enough till SWTOR hits shelves in the fall.

By all accounts SWTOR could be a great hit. The IP is very strong and BioWare has been known to put out a few successful titles here and there, the Mass Effect Series comes to mind. A lot of detail has gone into the game, lots of lore and separate quest lines for each of the different characters which will all voice over. Could be very exciting or could be a complete disaster. Long decision quest trees and the long wait for quests to be read out loud to players might turn a lot of people off. Did I mention the game has a Smuggler, Bounty Hunter and Jedi class? So maybe it takes a little longer to get your quest.

In between those titles we have Guild Wars 2 set to be pushed out onto shelves. I've only seen a few things, but it looks like devs have decided to move the game more towards the traditional MMO style this time around, which isn't winning over a lot of loyal GW players. Still, being a free to play model, they shouldn't have any problem getting players to populate servers. Success is pretty much a forgone conclusion. The MMO community will play it, but I'm sure they will be itching to pick up another pay to play game in between visits to GW2.

But to my knowledge, with the exception of a few smaller MMOs that tend to come out every year, most of them either going with a micro transaction model or are some version of a converted Asian MMO's the future of MMO gaming is pretty bleak. I mean, if neither of the above big titles captures the hearts and minds of WoW players, then Blizzard will remain king for another year. I'm not saying thats bad, but even I think its time to move forward and I love WoW.

Again, I understand the need for bloggers to talk about their beta experiences. They want to give hope to the masses that this will be the year of change in the MMO community. that a new champion will emerge from the dust and we will have something exciting to play again.

STFU

2011-02-08T12:25:00.001-05:00

I've often blogged about the pitfalls of hype, especially when it's generated by those participating in betas. How irresponsible it is to express feelings, good or bad, be it through blogs or tweets about a product that clearly isn't ready for mass public consumption hence the title "Beta".

No matter how hard it is to resist, people still insist that telling the world about their experiences while playing an incomplete product is the best way to hype or destroy said product. It's the right thing to do, because we don't want those reading our RSS or twitter feed to misunderstand how this unfinished product has changed our view of gaming one way or the other. It would be a disservice to hold back how we really feel about the 10% of a under development game we've experienced. How the small or big tweaks they've made though the beta process have either wet our appetites or made us lose our collective lunches.

I just don't understand why so many judge something they've never actually played. It's like reviewing a movie when you've only seen the opening credits. Who wants those people to tell them what to buy a ticket for?

True, people go out of their way to explain that these are their feelings and they don't necessarily reflect the views of the community as a whole, but that's just crap. People tweet and blog so others will read their opinions. They want people to share in the experience and those that follow you do it because they empathize with what your feeling and saying. You have influence over others.

So do some of us a favor and stop spoiling the end to our gaming. I know you want to share but do it when your playing an actual released product not a "Beta".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Screw Gamers

2011-01-28T22:31:00.005-05:00

I have met some pretty interesting and amazing people through the inter tubes as they say. I've met some cool bloggers, gamers and lots of people while playing WoW. But are Internet friends, real friends?

Now, I've had some pretty good conversations, interesting adventures and long drawn out arguments with people I have met in game. All of it to some degree has been entertaining and fun. But the thing that I always discover is that those relationships tend to fall apart or evaporate just as easily as they come together. The truth is that you don't know who is behind that cartoon character running with you to kill that elite mob. Sure you can hear their voice on vent but are they really vested in being your friend once their personal goal in game is met? You don't know their life story or what their financial situation is. You don't know where they live or what color their kitchen wall is. They are users of animated characters in a game that could close down tomorrow and then what would you have in common?

Real life friends are people you grew up with, who you've socialized with in college or at work. People who you have something other than a game in common with. They attend your wedding or come to your child's birthday party. They hang out during the super bowl or exchange gifts during xmas. You are to some degree, invested in their well being and they in yours. You actually care what they think about you and vice verse. Their is something more than a digital world between you. Even if you get pissed at each other in game, your still going to be friends because of your history together.

You don't have that with a stranger you meet in a game. They aren't invested in the relationship. There is nothing there to prevent them from logging off for good and never seeing you again. When their work is done in game, what is the motivation to keep in contact with you? I have had more people be my friend in WoW only to have them bail for greener and richer pastures. You just have no guarantee of their commitment or how long it will be there. It just seems to happen time after time, which is probably why people think those that play WoW are a bunch of asshats.

I'm not saying that I don't value the friendships I have met through games or the internet. I have. I have met lots of great people this way, but I don't really know them. We have gaming in common and maybe a few other things, but they don't know the real me and I don't know the real them. We are as different as an apple and a grape. I'm just saying that I've been burned too many times to think I'm the only one who hopes an in game friendship will last longer than one expansion or guild. I know lots of people meet their soul mate and marry, but those are exceptions to the rule. What rule is that? Digital friendships are just one key stroke way from being deleted all the time.

So what have I learned? Real life friends are friends you can depend on, because they value the friendship more. They are invested in being your pal. The other side of that is you can't depend on people you meet in game, not really, not to any amount of certainty. They consider you single serving friends. People you can play with and hang out with, but who are always on the look out for something better on the horizon. My advice? You just have to do your own thing and hope that someone will stay as long as you need to get what you want out of the relationship.

The circle is now complete and thus ends the lesson

More Apples

2011-01-27T18:51:00.005-05:00

I criticized a fellow blogger for excluding me from his blog roll. Now, I'm not one to complain about not being on a blog roll per say but I felt slighted just a little and I'll tell you why.

You see me and this other blogger have grown very close over the past few months. I thought we had something special. We would exchange tweets and reminisce about farts, bowl movements and his lack of a decent sex life. I had grown very fond of this person, so I decided very early on in our relationship that I would do him homage by placing him on my blog roll. Now, I'm not one to blow my own horn, but I think my blog is pretty darn good, I mean, Kotaku even quoted me recently and I do know a few movers and shakers in the gaming industry, none that would actually come forward at the time of this writing to admit such a relationship even existed but still I know of them. I also feel that being placed on my blog roll is a landmark for any blogger and its a prized position. Your either interesting as a writer or you not on my blog roll. But I'm feel I'm losing you as a reader so I will continue with the true story.

So, I decided recently to check out the blog of my precious and what did I find? I had been omitted from his blog. I quickly brought the vacancy of my name on his roll to his attention, because I have no shame and any traffic is always good traffic. However, in rectifying this slight, I may have under estimated my own true value to this other blogger, my precious, my fart buddy. Apparently, my name is now on his blog roll, but with the added title of "Large Drunk Penis". I wanted to say, I almost weeped with joy when I read it. I never knew he felt that way about me, and therefore, I...

OMG.. really? Am I going to write an entire blog about Scary calling me a Large Drunk Penis? No not really. I was hoping that by rambling, as Scary often does at the beginning of his blogs, that I might come to some type of epiphany by the end of mine. One that I could wrap up into some kind of gaming MMO blog post or metaphor, but I'm really not all that creative.

Well, I could start off by saying that Rift is an interesting game. I've actually chosen not to play in the 5th beta this week because, well, I'm just not sure its the game for me. True as Scary says, apples are all different with different sizes, tastes and even different looks, but in the end no matter what else, they are still apples. But I already have a favorite apple WoW and I actually like it just fine enjoying it. Sure, I know that I'll get tired of playing it when I reach end game and I've gone through all the raid instances with friends, but that really doesn't diminish the enjoyment I get out of the game now. Those that have reached end game since Cataclysm was released are spouting that its the worst expansion Blizzard has ever released and yet, they were the first online to get it and the first to consume all of its content, so its a win win for Blizzard even if those people bail to try out Rift. But I like WoW just fine and I see no need to replace something that works with something thats a big question mark.

Will Rift hurt World of Warcraft? No more than Lotro or WAR did when they got released. A few will play Rift to level cap then wonder, what next? They will start to yearn for WoW. It always happens. People will want the familiar surroundings of Azeroth. Blizzard will drop in some new free content in a few months, about the time people realize that Rift is after all, just like all the other apples in the barrel. Will it sustain a good following to keep it up? Sure. I predict that those playing Lotro, EQ2 or WAR will easily jump over to Rift. A few with be WoW players, but not as many as some predict.

I'm just realistic not pessimistic. I've seen it all before, Tabula Rasa, Champions, Age of Conan and WAR. Enough hype to power a rocket to the moon, but not enough for the return trip. People go because they want to taste the fresh water, but they don't want to stay there. Eventually, Rift will start to merge servers after 9 maybe 10 months and in a year and a half it will be a F2P model. That's just the future. Besides, people forget that SWTOR is right around the corner and I'm sure BioWare has no intentions of letting Rift beat them. Especially with such a valued IP in their hot little hands. No, Rift will go strong for a while, but people will flock back to WoW eventually.

So says the Large Drunk Penis.

I am a blog!

2011-01-13T13:51:00.001-05:00

I am a blog, but what is my true purpose?

Am I just ramblings on a web page or do I have meaning to others? Do readers find me informative or do they point and laugh and discuss how much little thought was put into my construction?

Is it my "job" to report the news or just be abusive and criticize others for their failings and lack of insight? Do I provoke thoughtful discussion among peers or gather frothing fanboys to me?

These questions and others are often asked by most people when deciding whether or not to create a blog, especially a gaming blog.

Do I report how I feel about a game or report what the general population feels? Should I be brutally honest or fudge a little so as to not incur the wraiths of fellow bloggers or fanboys? Will I be a propaganda machine for my favorite games or just report the news and remove any emotional hype?

It's hard to be a blogger. If your popular and your opinion is viewed and respected then any misstep can cause people to pound your site with unwanted comments. Worse, you can be the ire of fellow bloggers not because they want to oppose you but so they can pull hits from your misstep onto their site and I'm sure this happens more than people will admit.

Blogging is a lot if fun, but it can be as pulse pounding as getting ganked over and over and just as frustrating if you let it be. The trick is to remember that blogging is for your personal enjoyment. I have said this before and I will say it again, I blog for me, not for you!!.

If you like it or hate it, leave a comment or add me to your reader, but if not that's cool too. I'm gonna do my thing whether I get 1 or 1,000,000 views a day and fellow bloggers and readers should understand that there is no wrong or right blog just the fun of blogging.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

The Completed Quest!

2011-01-10T14:58:00.001-05:00

I want to do a post about questing. I want to express my frustration about how killing 20 wolves to collect 5 pieces of wolf meat is just plan silly. How you get to the end of a quest chain only to stand in line, like buying groceries on a snow day, behind all the other players in the zone waiting to kill one boss you need to collect the blue reward item that every other same level warrior or healer is going to be wearing or wielding.

Or how, when your grouped with friends,
you still have to collect a quest item for each person in the group. Making the questing 3 or even 4 times longer and it feels like your standing still instead of moving up the leveling ladder. Making the grouping experience seem more of a hassle and pain instead of a fun social happening.

Spawn rates for mobs and quest items are either to slow or too fast and it never seems to match the current server population. How quests are misleading or not 100% clear on how they get completed or to whom the completed quest gets turned into.

I want to express my lack of interest when a completed quest rewards me with a useless book of game enhanced lore or an item my class can't even use or wants. How collecting 10 of anything to bolster favor with a merchant in town is extremely tedious and silly when the game clearly defines my character as a hero of this virtual world right on the box.

Heroes don't deliver milk or sandwiches. They don't kill rats or collect spider eggs. We don't have long conversations about our role in this virtual world.

As soon as developers realize that we are heroes and not errand boys, then they will have completed the biggest quest of all, to create the next generation of MMOs.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Rifting!

2011-01-04T16:32:00.001-05:00

I want to play Rift that much is a certainty. Now the question is how much should I invest in this decision.

I found out today that Amazon has the game listed for preorder. The standard edition is $50.00, which is reasonable. However, I'm actually considering buying the Collector's edition, $80.00 worth of gaming goodness, and to be honest that would be a first for me. In all of my years of gaming I have never purchased a Collector's version. Just never saw the need but man I'm pumped about this game.

Maybe it's because a lot of my new found WoW friends and twitter community buddies are planning to play Rift day one and if I have learned any thing about Rift by playing in the beta it's that the most fun to be had in the game is to play with friends.

Buying the Collector's edition may or may not happen but regardless I will be playing day one.

The Honeymoon is Over!

2011-01-03T12:57:00.002-05:00

When I switched over to Horde and decided to dive back into WoW my hope was that the amount of Asshattery would have grown smaller, but I'm here to report just the opposite.

My main issue as always is the dungeon crawl. Players have adopted the Lich King mentality of instancing, which in a nut shell is to blast the mobs till they crisp and to hell with worrying about crowd control and agro. Problem is, this solution doesn't work with old world dungeons. Vanilla WoW was all about slow and easy. No rushing. Crowd control and agro management is a must to survive.

Players just have no patients for this kind of progression and Bliz must be aware of it since you get more xp for questing than for doing a random dungeon. Once the group fails now people just start blaming others for their own agro mistakes or they bail figuring the next tank will hold agro better.

The failure isn't that of the players but that of Blizzards for failing to educate players on how to do dungeons. Old world dungeons are cakewalks to level 80's but not for the levels they were originally designed for and players need to understand that. There is a learning curve to this stuff. You can't run in expecting mobs to just fall over at the sight of your proposed awesomeness.it just doesn't happen that way.

Another issue that I thought Blizzard had fixed was how boss loot gets rolled on. Before if gear dropped that wasn't for your class you didn't get an option to roll "NEED" just "GREED". Apparently that has changed for those of us trying to level up in the post Cataclysmic world.

Now players are scarfing up any loot they can get their greedy little hands on. Healers roll on DPS gear, Tanks now roll for healing gear and what's worse is that the minute someone rolls against their class type they either get booted, after a lengthy argument or everyone starts doing exactly what the terrible player did and the rolling gets really out of hand. Players start to bitch and the group falls apart. Which isn't a biggie for a healer or a tank who seem to be the main classes breaking the unspoken rule because they get into random dungeons more quickly than the rest of us.

Look I'm cool if a healer wants to roll need on a piece of my gear, but ask me first. Don't be that worthless tool that I'm going to stick on ignore the minute I leave the group by rolling "Need" at the last second on the last boss so you can bail. Your not going to go far in raids with that kind of attitude.

I know people avoid WoW because of this kind if behavior. I don't understand why "This" game attracts asshats but I wish Blizzard would do a better job of discouraging this type of interaction. Figure out s fair system for rolling loot and teach people how to do a dungeon. I mean your messing up my Chi.

Although this has put me off fully enjoying my new WoW experience I am glad to be hanging in there with all the cool new guild mates. You guys make logging in fun and really that's all that really matters.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T23:45:00.002-05:00

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 2011 should be another great year for gaming!

Lots of great new MMOs coming so I should have more to blog about after the new year!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

For the Horde!

2010-12-28T20:19:00.003-05:00

Playing Horde after years of playing Alliance can be very confusing, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am having a blast. The best part is not only did Blizzard do an outstanding job with the goblin starting area (an area I've been through 4 times now), but there are tons of new, stylized quests in all the vanilla areas of Warcraft.

Phasing is now the "In" thing when it comes to dividing up questing zones. Once you do a Phased quest the world transforms around you and it's done very seamlessly. Blizzard dev's learned a lot from there experiments with phased events in Ice Crown and made it oh so much better.

But that's not the only change. Twisting up old mechanics and reinventing them for questing is also a new trend. Sure they have had us in vehicles before but this time they are more inventive. Quest item usage is more imaginative and unique. It isn't just a new coat of paint and a few more quests. It feels like I'm playing a completely different game.

The shortening of the talent trees seemed odd at first when I was playing my level 80 pre-cataclysm. It was different but it was more of an "meh" moment instead of a "this is fantastic" moment. Now that I'm starting over it's more of an "OMG" feeling.

You are rewarded with talent points on the odd numbered levels and spells on the even numbered levels or so it seems (that covers me incase I'm talking out my ass). So every level I get something different to improve my character which keeps it fun and exciting. Since the trees are so different now, figuring out where to place your point is more challenging and exciting.

As always you don't get any talent points till you reach level 10. Once you add your first point and effectively pick your "Spec" you are stuck with it (you can still pay to respec but that takes the fun out of it) till you reach level 30 when you can dual spec, so you have to be pretty sure how you want to level up. However, one of the great things about dual spec is the cost. It's been reduced from 1,000g to 10g. A huge break for new players.

When you do pick a spec, one of the newer features is you get free abilities that are key to succeeding with that spec. When a warrior chooses the Protection spec now, he or she gets shield slam, which does damage but also generates a large amount of threat to help hold agro at lower levels.

All this newness to WoW has inspired me to not only change faction but to also try classes I would never have attempted before like a rogue. I'm still very new to the concept of hiding and killing, but a ShadowStepping Rogue is the bomb in PvP, especially at the lower levels. I have a feeling I will be ganking a lot of ~~Horde~~... I mean Alliance.

The only complaint I have is that you level too fast now. I understand that Blizzard wants players to enjoy end game as soon as possible, but I want to enjoy the new content, relish in the exciting new quests and see the changed world. I'm having too much fun and it goes by so fast. I don't want to turn off my xp gain, just slow it down a little and enjoy the scenery.

But kudos to Blizzard for crafting a spectacular new world that I plan to play in fir a very long time.

-Oak

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Scary decision

2010-12-28T13:33:00.002-05:00

I normally use a PC to craft my wonderfully created blog posts. The idea of relying on my iPod to handle all my blogging needs was just out of the realm of possibilities.

Then today I read a post from one if my favorite bloggers, Scary Booster, who had grown frustrated with his free blog posting app and decided to bite the bullet and throw down some cash and picked up a more reliable app.

Being a devoted follower of the cult of Scary, I decided to purchase the same app, BlogPress. I'll give it a try and hope that it will increase my urge to blog.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Rift Impressions!

2010-12-23T07:46:00.008-05:00

So by the title of the blog you can tell that I've been playing a little bit of Rift. To be honest, this game wasn't even on my radar. I just happen to be cruising twitter one day when someone I follow posted some free beta keys and I decided, what the hell, I'll snatch one up and be like all the other big time bloggers and do some beta action.

After getting the key I took a look at Trion's website. I looked at a few in game screenshots and viewed a few videos on You tube about the concept of the Souls, their version of a talent tree/spell acquisition system. All of it looked pretty interesting. I was kind of "meh" about the whole thing because everyone knows that a beta test isn't really a good polished product. When most games get released, the public as a whole knows that is when the true beta testing for a product begins, so I wasn't really expecting a whole lot out of this experience. I really just wanted to be able to say I did it and give it a thumbs up or down.

Well, here are my impressions and I'm going to do it without giving you a lot of story background because to be honest, I don't really know what the whole story is. You have your two opposing factions, Defiant and Guardians. Both sides dislike each other but they both have a common enemy. This enemy is opening up Rifts to his plane of power and through these Rifts he sends out invaders to conquer the world. That's basically it in a nut shell. I'd tell you more, but I've really not read a whole lot of the story to be that well informed.

To begin with, I did not feel like I was playing a beta. The game ran very smoothly. The character animations were spot on. The spell visuals and the terrain were just stunning and ran extremely well on my old video card. I would have no issue with buying this game as is and fully enjoying it for months to come. Rift is ready for prime time. I've played purchased games that were not this well polished. (Damn, I was trying not to use that word!) I tried a number of different classes in the first beta but ended up leveling a Ranger/Marksman the highest. For the second beta I switched up a bit and played a Inquisitor/ Cabalist. Both very different and interesting to play. The inquisitor/Cabalist took some getting use to and eventually after some "Soul" tuning I got her in a spec that I really liked. I'd probably play both again once the game is released. The game world is huge. I quested from level 1 to 18 and not once was I required to zone, well, except when I accidentally found the entrance to a high level dungeon

The class system is very similar to the one originally in EQ2. Again this is my impressions. Basically, you pick a starter class from one of the four basics, Rogue, Warrior, Cleric and Mage. That is your starting "Soul". As you level you get talent points. You place those points in your respective soul and from that you derive your spells and abilities. At or around level 5 you get your second "Soul". You can pick any kind of combination, but the game give you helpful hints on how certain "Souls" will work or compliment each other. Further down the leveling process you'll be able to pick a third "Soul" and in effect making your character multi classed. You can spend your points as you see fit. If you want to pump them all into your starter "Soul" that's fine or you can split them up. Once you get a spell by placing a point in a talent, you will have to go to a trainer to train that spell up as you level. This process may not seem very innovated to other gamers, but to me it was pretty cool. I was able to experiment more with the whole "Soul" concept on my second beta run. This interesting way of getting talents and abilities might not seem that unique, but it will provide players with lots of class combinations. When people hit max level, I don't see a lot of min/maxing when it comes to classes. Sure, some will be better than others, but with the multitude of different combinations available to everyone, I see a future filled with a lot of different specs.

So what is very different about Rift that makes it the game to play next year? Rift uses the Warhammer Public Quest idea, but takes it a bit further. Instead of static public questing areas, there will be Rifts that open up in various random areas where players will have to pull together to defeat these dimensional invaders. If a Rift opens and players don't shut it down fast enough, the Rift will spawn a invasion team. This invasion will start roaming the zone looking for things to kill and not just players either. I've seen a Rift get out of hand to the point where these mobs invaded a questing hub killing all the NPCs and basically shutting that area down for players till the invaders where dealt with which can only happen when players get together to push them the invaders out. This confirmed one thing for me. Rift is all about players working with each other. There really is no "I" mentality when it comes to dealing with Rifts or invasions. I also felt that the game wasn't built for the solo player. Sure its possible, but you end up with a lot of down time and that can suck. Its better to already have a group of people you plan to play with. This will make the questing and dealing with Rifts a lot easier. Oh one safety tip that I discovered. Don't go afk near a quest giver. If an invasion happens and no one is there to fight it off, you'll die. Also, one extra thing I have to mention. Invasions can happen randomly, but the power to create a rift opening is actually in the hands of the player. There will be spots on the map that indicate a Rift forming, at an early level in the game, players are given a spell that will let them open a rift so they can defeat the invaders on their terms. Course a lot of players run around opening up Rifts only to run off afterwards and this can cause a lot of trouble as stated before.

I have heard the devs say the number and level of an invasions will depend on the number of players in a zone. So I don't foresee 2o invasions hitting a zone if only 4 players are populating it. However, if the players in a zone don't form up and defeat the Rift, then it will only cause them more problems later while questing. So its in the players best interest to assist his fellow player.

What else is there to say? Oh yea, crafting.

There is crafting for those that love to make stuff. You can train up three different professions but that includes crafting and gatherings skills, so choose wisely what will help you in the end. I tried out armor crafting and weapons crafting. The armor crafting was out of necessity since I created a dual wielding warrior but couldn't find an decent one handed weapons through questing, so I was forced to make my own, which was easy enough. The crafting is very standard WoW fair. No special tricks or buttons to push. If you have the materials you can craft an item. You can also add extra stats to an item through augmentations done at the time of crafting. Some of those you get through questing or rewards for defeating Rifts.

Was there anything truly "Innovative" about Rift? Not really. Warhammer introduced us to Public Questing and Rift just does it better and in a very unique way. Will it be a true competitor to games like World of Warcraft and EQ2? I don't see why not. The ability to open up a Rift and start an invasion will keep players on their toes and ramp up the excitement for months on end. The dev team has already completed a number of dungeons and raid instances, so there should be plenty for the players at end game. From levels 1 to 20 there was a lot of great content to consume. I didn't feel like I had to start farming mobs to grind my xp. They already had several repeatable quests in the game, so I can imagine more of that to come.

I just liked the game. Will it be a day one purchase? Most likely. The game is wonderful with the Rift action and the visuals the game has a lot of potential to be a contender. It won't knock WoW off its horse, but it will do very well in the race.

The Art of Not Leaving

2010-12-11T08:21:00.003-05:00

My last post seemed very depressing. I had pretty much grown tired of World of Warcraft. I didn't have very high hopes for Cataclysm and I was very dejected by the state of MMO's in general.

What? You didn't get all that from my last post? Am I really that horrible of a story teller? I must do better in the future I promise. But lets move forward to today and this post.

Well, a few bloggers that I follow on twitter, Scary_booster, Medwa and The River, started hyping up cataclysm. They were going on and on about some Horde guild they were planning. How it was going to be super causal and how they planned to play goblins and just start enjoying the game from the ground up again. Well, let me say, it started to peak my interest. I figured, why not just make a new start of it?

For nearly 5 years, I'd been playing strictly Alliance characters. It was fun, I enjoyed leveling 5 toons to level 80 and maxing them out and even getting in some raid time with a few of them. But I'd seen the game from that point of view and I wanted a change. Cataclysm was going to add new content for lower levels, it was changing the face of the old world and introducing new races, so why not give it one more try.

So I took up Scary's offer and I am now, Greengotz, Goblin Hunter level 19 in the Latency Lowlife guild on Azgalor. Course everyone over in the guild still calls me Oak and I do have a Tauren Paladin named Oakstout in the guild, because I do have to represent.

I'm going to do a full blog post on what I love about the new expansion, the goblin starter areas and my over all impressions of being a Horde in the next upcoming posts. I'd do it all now, but then my blog would be silent for a few weeks, this way I have lots of material to drag out so people and fellow bloggers don't bury me on their RSS feed.

I will say this. If World of Warcraft has bored you in the past or you just feel tired of playing. Do what I am doing. Start over on a different server, Azgalor is a nice one. Try a class, race or even faction, Horde is very nice if you've been playing Alliance for 6 yrs. Also, changing guilds is always a good way to shake things up. I recommend Latency Lowlife, sure we are bloggers and tweeters, which do consist of the lowest common denominator when it comes to people with class, but we are friendly, helpful and we aren't very interested in rushing to end game to be bored to death. Relax, read some quests, look at the new starter areas and just be a causal gamer.

The Big Yawn

2010-11-16T07:46:00.005-05:00

Months ago I an avid WoW player/blogger. Now I can't seem to muster the energy to log in to the game. Right now, Blizzard's game is suffering from apathy. I mean why log now when the whole world will change in Dec.? They've already gutted the talent tree. That change has caused a good many of my friends to leave the game. I can't truly comment on the effectiveness of the talent tree changes only to say that my damage output on my Shadow Priest has increased. But being able to melt faces effectively hasn't encouraged me to log in.

This happens every time Blizzard announces a new expansion. People start dropping out a few months before the release and pick the game back up several months after. At least that is my plan. Sure, I want to see what happens when the world gets turned upside down and the Worgen will be an interesting race to play, but I have no plans to jump on the lag wagon the minute the game is released. To be honest, they'll be making tweaks and adjustments the first few weeks to counter any attempts by players to exploit some odd coding. Oh, you know it will happen and there will be rage on the forums and then Blizzard will have to patch it.

Cataclysm might be released in Dec, but it probably won't be ready to fully play till the middle of Feb. So, I'll just wait. I may cancel my account till then to save a little bit of Christmas money or I may just let it ride in case the urge to encounter the giant lag monster stirs in me. But for the most part, I'm done with World of Warcraft for a while at least.

I would jump over to another MMO, but I've tried them all and if they had any hook I was truly interested in, I'd have been playing that instead of Wow. I do have hope that Star Wars The Old Republic will be the game to grab me in the future. But the more I examine that game the more it looks like a "solo" MMO rather than something to played with friends. I don't have an issue with that, but its always nice to run around doing stuff with a group, but if a majority of the game can be done solo, why would you group? Which was the issue with the superhero games. A good portion of those games can be done one on one. I like doing stuff on my own, but its aways nice to hang with a friend.

Other than my lack of interest in WoW, I have been playing a lot of console games, including the new Call of Duty: Black Ops. Not sure why I'm enjoying that game, probably the rpg elements where you level up, buy guns, attachments and perks. But to be honest that isn't much different than Modern Warfare 2, another CoD game. I do hear the campaign is very good, but I'm more of a online multiplayer gamer. I do get killed a lot, but its still fun to win one very now and then and to kill more people than you die. Which is rare, but still fun. The game isn't as good as the Battlefield games, but its still enjoyable for now.

That's about it. I'll try and be better about updating my blog.

Big News of the Week

2010-10-26T23:40:00.004-04:00

Apparently a blog I posted last January is getting some press from Kotaku during their PC LOVE FEST Week. So traffic on that post has picked up, a LOT. Well, two additional posts probably don't constitute a lot, but still any traffic is good traffic.

I still feel that the general atmosphere of PC gaming is the same, basically on life support. Sure, Steam and Direct2Drive are currently driving an industry that depended heavily on the brick and mortar stores to provide the supply and demand. However, I don't think being able to digitally download your game isn't a generally good thing. I've had issues and I know of others out there who have as well with getting the codes from steam and the manufacture to match up. It also prevents a lot of the games you buy from being able to run if your, say, kicked off your Internet connection. What if there is an interruption in the original download and you end up with a corrupted file or two. I'm just not happy that we are reduced to back alley shadiness to get our PC fix. I go to any Gamestop or Best buy and they have tons, I mean tons of console games. We are reduced to sneaking on line in the middle of the night to download our digital copies. We don't get the benefit of a paper manual or a box to place our non existent disc in.

People praise the efforts of Steam and others to keep the industry alive. Others think it will be companies like Blizzard and EA who will strive to keep a small corner of the world safe for PC gaming. But what happens with those companies bail? Steam and keep on providing our fix forever. People say, I've purchase tons of PC games on Steam this year alone and I'm completely happy. Sure you are. I would buy 4 or 5 PC games a year at Best Buy or Gamestop, but if my only choice is Steam, then they will now get all my business. If your only source of water for miles is Steam, then your gonna end up drinking there a lot.

I just don't think PC gaming will be around 10 or 15 yrs from now. Too many devices out there to get your gaming fix and having to upgrade a PC every 2 yrs just so you can play a limited number of games, well, I just don't see the public as a whole buying into that plan. I mean, with Facebook and other sites providing web based games, whats the need to even digitally download? Maybe gaming on the PC won't go away completely, but it will change into something cute and you'll be able to plant your garden or raise your cattle, but it won't be anything as exciting as whats on a console.

Well, that's my follow up. I feel the same as I did last year and I don't suspect I'll change it anytime soon.

Apple

2010-10-19T17:32:00.010-04:00

I recently bought an Ipod Touch 4G. Why a Touch instead of an Iphone or Droid? Because I can't afford the outrageous data plans, besides, there are tons of great free wifi areas near me, so if I need to hit the net for something, I can always run into a Starbucks. Hell, even my doctor's office has free wifi for patients.

I'd had my eye on one for a while now, but wanted to wait till they added a camera, which is now included in the 4th generation. They also put in a front facing camera, to use with their new Face Time app and a HD video camera. I've shot and posted a few videos already. I have to say, the Touch makes it soo easy to shoot video, edit and then post to your youtube channel or even facebook. Course I probably could do the same on an Iphone or Droid, if I had money.

Being a gamer as well, I picked up about a dozen games. Most are very quick time wasting games that don't have a lot of thought. Similar to your basic shockwave or other Java app games. It gets you into some quick fast fun, but also lets you drop out if you need to. They can be very addictive, but they do tend to drain the battery power pretty quickly. The apple sales person said that the device would last week on a charge, but that was if I only played music. If I did gaming or web browsing the charge would probably only last 24 hours. That is still better than my Ipod 32g classic that I've had for a few years. I've only had it run out of juice maybe once or twice since purchasing it, but I've always got a wall or car charger with me, so thats never an issue, and it doesn't take long to get it back to a full charge.

I will say that I have noticed that the back of the device gets pretty hot while charging, which is a bit unnerving, but as long as I can keep playing Angry Birds I'm good.

The only other issue is the short supply of decent cases for it. I currently have a case, but it doesn't protect the display, only the back and sides of it. I tried using Zagg's Invisible Shield, but discovered it was a waste of 20.00 since I couldn't get it to fit on the device without getting finger prints all over it. If you decide to purchase one of these screen protectors, take the time to watch a few youtube videos so you'll know what your getting into. Also remember, you only get one shot at it, because it only comes with one screen protector. I'm waiting for Otterbox to put out an updated case for it, but there is no telling how long that will be.

Lastly, I want to say how helpful the people at the Apple Store were. Originally, I wanted to purchase the Ipod Touch at Best Buy so I could use my reward card, but they didn't have the 32gig model in stock. I suggested to my lovely wife that we travel over to the Apple Store before trying another Best Buy. My thinking was that if anyone had what I wanted it would be the mothership.

Now, I had heard how creepy the sales people at those stores can be, because they are all so happy to be part of the evil Apple Empire, but I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The smiling doe eyed lady greeted us at the door and after telling her what I wanted to purchase, she disappeared for a few minutes then returned with my purchase in hand. She then activated the device for me and even took the time to set up a few of my e-mail accounts. We talked a bit about the features and such, basically a tutorial of what was available and how I could go about setting things up. Of all the sales people I have encountered in my life, she is easily one of the top 5. It was kind of creepy but at the same time one of the most satisfying purchasing experiences to date. If only Steve Jobs could sell that sales person attitude to say McDonalds or even my local movie theater, he would own the world in a matter of days, not that he already doesn't.

Once I'm done playing with my new toy, I'll start blogging again full time. Maybe something about World of Warcraft and their recent patch update or even Civilization 5, possibly Halo Reach, both of which are consuming a bit of my time here and there. I will say that the real time killer for me these days is Minecraft. That game is just fantastic and very addictive. I've spent way too many nights up past 4am trying to dig a hole in some silly mountain while defending myself against exploding snakes and zombies.

Oak-

WHERE YOU BEEN OAK???

2010-09-25T21:24:00.004-04:00

Well, I've been playing a bunch of games. A few months back, I decided to try and break my WoW habit. I had a nice 2 month break. Then I got lonely for my online friends and I decided that my poor little shadow priest needed some attention. I leveled her up to glorious 80 throught random dungeons and a few battlegrounds. Now with a gearscore just shy of 4.4k and itching to do some raiding I would have to say that my addiction is back in full swing, only now I have a killer DPS to play.

I've also been playing some Dragon Quest 9 when I get the chance. I've found a few of the Fyggs and gotten my party to level 20. I'll play for a few hours straight then take a 3 or 4 day break then be back at it. That is one of the nice things of owning a DS, you can play it just about anywhere, anytime. Usually if I'm on a show for work where there is a lot of downtime, I'll break out the DQ9.

I've also been enjoying the Summer of Arcade on my Xbox. For a few weeks straight I was logging in just to play a quick game of Monday Night Combat. The matches are fairly short and can be very intense at times. I won't say that I'm good or bad at it, only that I pretty much break even on winning and losing. They've promised some DLC and a few updates in the near future, so I'm hoping that will extend the life of the game past the first month or so.

Now, lets talk about Halo.

I'm not a huge fan of the series and to be completely honest I'm actually what some would call a Halo hater. Let me explain. I asked for and got Halo 3: ODST for Xmas last year. I asked for it because I've never really played a Halo game with the exception of maybe the PC port of the original Halo, which ran like a dog on my computer so I pretty much gave up on it. Now with Halo 3: ODST in hand, I had hoped that I would truly understand the love that so many people pour into this series. I started by trying the campaign, but I hated it. It was very boring and the parts that weren't boring, were so hard that I found that the game must have been designed for sadomasochistic gamers. I hate to admit this, but I'm a spray and pray kind of player. Meaning, I have terrible aim and that I have waste a lot of ammo to hit one silly target and this game wasn't designed for my style of play, because it was pretty chintzy on the doling out the ammo for weapons. I finally arrived at a section of the game that was, well to me, impossible to pass, especially with my limited ammo and current skill set and after beating my head against the controller for an hour I decided I'd had enough. So, the game went back into the drawer. I didn't trade it in, only because I had hopes of one day popping it in and trying co op with some friends. But, I was so turned off by the campaign that I just couldn't be bothered, at the time, with the online multiplayer aspect.

Since my failure with ODST, I decided to investing a bit of time with shooters like Borderlands, Bad Company 2, Modern Warfare 2 and Monday Night Combat, just to name a few. My ability to aim has been improving and I don't need to depend so much on my tactic of spray and pray. So when buzz started about the new Halo game, I was slightly interested. I started to get glowing reports from friends who had invested a bit of time looking at videos and came to the conclusion that this might be the game to own. So, with so many of my online friends picking it up, the only logical thing was to pick up Halo Reach, the latest and last Halo game to be published by Bungie, as well. This time, I decided I would take a different approach, I would try the online play first, specifically Firefight, and see how I did. I have to say this time the experience is completely different. I'm having a blast. Being able to play with a small group of friends and fight your way thru waves and waves of mobs is just, well a delightful blood bath of a time. lol I've actually ventured into the campaign just a bit and still find it pretty hard at times, the A.I controlled group you venture with in the game are pretty retarded and therefore useless. Still, being able to do that in a co op situation makes all the difference especially if you suck like me. lol

But just win I was really enjoying my romp through Halo Reach another game decided to drop on to the market.

Civilization 5 is probably the best game I've played in a very long time, that wasn't an MMO or shooter. A turn based strategy game that pretty much picks up where Civilization 4 left off. If your not familiar with the game, its basically a 4X game. You control an empire and explore, expand, exploit and exterminate your kingdom. The great thing is that every little improvement or research your purchase throughout the game effects the outcome so every game can be played differently with very different results. It is the time killer of games. You can get very involved with every aspect or minimize your involvement by letting the game make certain decisions for you based on a strict set of conditions. It is a lot of fun and it is taking up a lot of my free time, which I already have so little of. Good thing it was released the week of my vacation.

Well, I've done my best at proofing this little update. I know it won't be the best sentence structure nor will there be a lot of words spelled correctly, but hey, thats not my style. I just thought you guys who have me listed on your reader should know what I've been up to and where I've been.

I hope to have more soon.

Oh, btw, a little safety tip. If your going to paint your front porch and you decided to pick up the can of paint to shake it a few times before opening it, you need to do two things first. One, make sure you put down a tarp or plastic sheet in the area you plan to work and second, don't shake the paint anywhere on the porch. Because if you drop it and the lid happens to fly off when the can hits the porch, you'll have a mess and lose half your paint. Not to mention all the paint that will splash up onto the side of the house that you'll have to clean up afterwards.

Just thought I would share that bit of knowledge.

Questing for Dragons, Nine times.

2010-08-15T20:19:00.008-04:00

Recently, I decided to pick up a new DS game in anticipation of having to spend a lot of down time during a long work weekend. To be honest, my job requires a lot of hurry up and wait. So, to keep my down time from being deliriously boring, I decided to pick up my first Dragon Quest game, Dragon Quest IX.

The game is a JRPG, not very different in style from any of the Final Fantasy or Zelda's series of games. Your main character starts off as an angel, who, because of circumstances beyond his or her control, gets cast out of the heavens only to find that they have landed on terra firma with no halo and no wings. From there you adventure out trying to understand what happened and how to get back to your home in the clouds. There is a lot of the starting story that I'm leaving out because I don't want to spoil the experience. I'm really impressed with the visuals and cut scenes in the game. They are just fantastic for a DS game. I've played a few JRPG's on the DS, but most of them, Chronos Trigger and Final Fantasy 3 are all ports of older games and can't produce the kind of quality I'm seeing in this title. It is just visually nice.

The game play is pretty simple. There is a main story line that pretty much pushes the main character forward, but there are lots of side quests that can be done for items and xp. After a certain period in the story the ability to recruit a party members will become unlocked. I, not being that smart, tried to venture out without a group and got spanked, so when you get to the part where you can form a party of adventurers, do it. lol Party members are very customizable. You can choose their sex, hair/eye color and choose their names or you can pick from any number of pre-generated classes.

There is a profession/job for each character, i.e healer, mage, warrior, thief, etc. As you level them up, you get points to advance their skills. There are 5 different skills to level up. When you place a certain number of points in a skill, it unlocks certain abilities for that class. The warriors can unlock different abilities with the sword, the healer can unlock spell protections, etc. You can change your profession when you reach a certain part in the story, but I've not gotten there yet, but I've heard that you can change your profession to some degree. You will lose some of the stuff you've learned but if a character has maxed out a skill, they get to keep it, so if you want your warrior who has maxed out his sword skill to now be a healer, with a different set of skills you can. Now I'm not a 100% sure about that, but that is what I've heard. lol

Another very cool aspect is tactics. If you want to run one of your party members on auto pilot, you can choose from a number of different presets and that preset dictates the actions of your party member. My cleric is on a setting called "Focus on Healing" which means that he'll attack until he notices a party member's health getting too low, then he will start with the heals. This way, I don't have to make those hard decisions and since I've had the healer in my party, I've not had any deaths. Lucky me. There are other tactics that prevent casters from running out of mana or to keep fighter's attacking relentlessly. My healers is the only one set to a tactic right now, which allows me to manually control the other three party members.

The fighting so far has been fun, but there is a lot of grinding. Why so much grinding? Because there is also crafting in the game and to craft you need certain items that either drop from specific mobs or you can pick them up off the ground. This crafting is where you get a majority of your cool magical items. You can craft armor, weapons, rings and potions. As you travel through the world you gather recipes by searching bookshelves in the houses. I've collected a few recipes so far. Some items need for crafting you'll have to buy from vendors. One recipe is an upgrade to a dagger, so you have to have a dagger of a certain quality in order to transform it into something greater.

I'm just scratching the surface of all you can do with this game. You can also set the game to TAG mode and if your near someone else that has their DS in TAG mode, they will visit your world and you can visit theirs. You can trade treasure maps that will help you find some of the more interesting magical items in the game. Apparently there are tons of these maps out there and not every game will be able to find them so being able to trade them is the key to unlocking all of the maps. It's a lot like Pokemon where if you want to capture all the pets in the game you need to do a lot of trading with people online. The game does have a multiplayer mode, but its only adhoc and not over internet, which is a shame. If you have a one to four friends with the game, you can play together, but the story will only advance for the person hosting the game. Everyone else will still be able to level up and get some of the loot, but they won't be able to go back to their game with the story updated.

Not only is the game fun to play, but it's very punny in its own right with monster cucumbers called Cruelcumbers and evil cat magician's called Meowgicians. I've put in over 10 hours so far and there is sooo much left to do. If your a fan of Japanese Role Playing Games, I'd recommend this game. Its a lot of fun, the animation is top notch and hey, there's crafting. Who doesn't want that? lol

Summer of Arcade

2010-08-12T21:04:00.007-04:00

Every summer, Microsoft does a promotion for their Xbox Live Arcade series of games. It usually consists of 4 or more titles that can be purchased for download and if you get all of them, they'll kick you back a little bit of credit at the end of the summer. This years releases come with a higher cost than last years. Last years titles were $10.00 each, this year, the cost has gone up to $15.00. I'm not entirely sure every title deserves that price tag, but since it seems to be the new pricing model for all their arcade releases, I guess there won't be a choice. This summer I decided to splurge a little and I ended up picking up a few, which is what I've been playing lately.

Limbo, the first to be released, is a dark, mysterious puzzle platformer similar to last years summer hit, Braid. I've played roughly about an hour and my main reason for purchasing it was because of the art style. The game is dark with shades of grey. Everything is in shadow as your character a little boy in search of his missing sister must traverse this strange world by over coming monsters, traps and difficult puzzles. The game has no music only the sound of your character as he runs through the world encountering obstacles in his path. I was certain I had made the right decision when my poor little character was running through the dark world and met his untimely death by stepping on a bear trap. It was so sudden that I actually jumped off the couch. lol That was when I saw the only color in the game, a dark blood red that squirted as my characters head was lopped off when the trap closed. Pretty gruesome, but that is was so fantastic about this game. Its filled with moments of certain calm greeted by moments of sheer horror and death. The other great thing is that you death is pretty fast, gross and you start not far from where you die, so when you do die, and you will, you don't have to travel back through a large portion of the world to get to the spot of your previous death. Which is nice. Not sure it was worth the price of $15.00, but if it goes on sale, I would certainly pick it up.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane was my second purchase. It happens to be a remake of a classic arcade game that had been previous ported to the Dreamcast. I don't actually remember seeing it in the arcade back in the day, but I was busy playing Pinbot and Gauntlet II. This game is an arcade style racer, but instead of cars, karts or motorcycles, its speed boats. Each track, or water course, is different with it's own set of obstacles. The trick to posting the best time and winning is to capture boost along the course and to find the short cuts that will propel you ahead of your opponents.

This game has me hooked and not in a good way. Why? Because I love competition and one of the wonderful things about this arcade racer is that as you race you can see the completion times of people on your friend's list that have the game even if your not racing against them. Your not only competing to win the race, but in my case, I'm racing to beat my friend's times. I can't tell you how often I've restarted a race because I already knew 5 secs into the game that it wasn't going to be my best time and that to keep going would be a waste. The game is fun, addictive and looks fantastic. You really get the feel of being on the water in a speed boat. The music isn't the best, but it's not as annoying as it could be and that's a plus. In my opinion it's worth the cost of admission.

The last title I picked up was Monday Night Combat. This is the four summer arcade release. I will mention that the fourth release was Castlevania: Harmony of Despair which I didn't pick up because I'm not that big a fan of the series and I had been hearing reports that it wasn't worth $15.00, so I skipped it. Maybe if the price comes down, I'll grab it, but for now, lets talk about my third purchase.

Monday Night Combat is Team Fortress 2 created using the unreal engine with a twist. There are 6 different classes to play Support, Tank, Assassin, Sniper, Assault, and Gunner. Each one is different with different skills that are completely upgradeable by spending the cash acquired by killing your opponents and their bot army. The game play is pretty simple, defend your base. Currently there are a few issues like not being able to cue up for matches as a premade group. I could get into plenty of matches if I soloed but if I was in a Live Party that wanted to join as a group, getting people to pug in was an issue, so we ended up playing against each other in a private game. The maps are pretty limited. Not sure exactly how many maps there are because they pretty much all looked the same. I do hope this gets upgraded with some DLC in the future otherwise the community for this game will die a quick and horrible death. However, if your wanting to play Team Fortress 2 on the console and don't have it, this is an inexpensive alternative and although I'm not sure as of yet if its worth the price of admission, I do like the game a lot.

What I did on my vacation from WoW.

2010-08-04T19:44:00.002-04:00

Since there apparently is an issue when I try to post my Star Trek Online screenshot pictures inside the body of my blog(... still not sure what the issue is...)I decided to upload them all to Google's Pisca.

Enjoy!

Please fill my raid spot.

2010-08-04T16:16:00.004-04:00

Wednesday night is normally 10 man Raid night in WoW. Tonight, I'm not gonna do it. Instead, I'm going to log in, beam on board my ship, give the order to power the impulse engines and cruise around the galaxies of Star Trek Online. I want to test out my new Science vessel that I picked up after reaching Lieutenant Commander last night. I was wrong in my previous post when I said it was every 10 levels. In fact, its every 11 levels.

After reaching my new level, I was asked to see the Admiral on Space Station Earth so he could promote me to the proper rank. Afterwards, I was told to head to the space stations conference area where I was saluted by everyone in the room and given my new set of officer bars. It was very formal and very nice. In most other MMO's when you reach a milestone you don't get any pomp and circumstance, you just get a very loud "Ding" and shimmering colors. In STO they make it a proper celebration. I can't wait till my next promotion and my next ship, but for now, I'll cruise the star systems with pride and the fortitude to seek out new life and new civilizations, to kill Gorn, Klingons and marauders alike.

One thing I do want to say before I end this post. The animation, at times, might not be the smoothest, but the space battles and massive explosions are fantastic in my book. Along with the music it gives you the proper feel of being part of the Star Trek IP.

How much is too much?

2010-07-31T18:12:00.008-04:00

Since the announcement in Korea, I had been looking forward to Blizzard's launch of StarCraft 2. I was even lucky enough to participate, if only for a short period of time in the multiplayer Beta. I had been sensing the hyped buzz and knew the time was approaching for the product release. Now I hadn't bothered to preorder or even check out what the suggested retail price of the game was, so, when I picked up last weekend's Sunday newspaper, I was shocked to discover that SC2 would not only be out this week, but would carry the hefty price tag of $60.00!!

Now, I'm not a cheap person and as recent as last month I purchased a console game with a similar price tag and didn't think twice about it. This time, I paused. I'm not sure if it was shock or just being confused. When did PC games move up in price? One of the great reasoning behind PC gaming staying relevant in this age of console gaming was the lower cost of games. Affordability was what appealed to me. Apparently, thanks to the money grubbing whores at Blizzard, not anymore. I can't be shelling out $60.00 every time I want to play a new game. My general philosphy when it comes to console games is to wait a few months, or in some cases less and pick the game up either used or low down cheap. Course, with PC games they don't come used nor do you see any significant price drop until a year after the release, especially on a game that sells millions as I'm sure SC2 will do its first week alone.

I've not been living under a rock mind you. I know that recent game releases like Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the PC had started to inch up in price to equal their console versions, but some where in my psyche I thought Blizzard was the one of those rare companies that wanted to support the PC gaming industry. To help it survive under the current flood of consoles. Course, if your heart is set on playing StarCraft 2 the only way you can play is on a PC. There will be no console version to the best of my knowledge and the same will go for Diablo 3. Blizzard just has no shame. We are the god of all PC gaming. We own the most popular MMO in history with over 10 million users. We can do what we want. If people want our product they have to pay our price.

Here is the added issue that others are upset about. "StarCraft 2: The Wings of Liberty" is only 1/3 of the complete single player story. Blizzard will be releasing in the not so far future, 2 more games that cover the Zerg and the Protoss sides. This doesn't bother me since it has been explained on the intertubes that this release includes well over 20 or so missions. The original game only came with 30 or so and included missions for all three races. All the races are available for online play so if mulitplayer competition is your thang, then you are good to go with "Wings of Liberty" and don't need the other "Expansions" to unlock races. There is no Lan support, so the days of playing with friends at giant lan parties is pretty much over unless there is an internet connection to accommodate your crew. But for my part I would only play online through there Battlenet service, so even that change from the original doesn't bother me.

I'm not sure if its Blizzard that is being the source of all evil or if its Activision. Either way, they pretty much have the fans by the short hairs as my mom use to say. I can choose not to stick it to the man and missing out on what reviewers are saying is one of the best RTS game in years or join the masses of zombie Blizzard fanboys and buy StarCraft 2.

I will leave it to the readers. Should I protest the increase in price by waiting till it comes down or should I just hitch my wagon up and drink from the Blizzard kool aid?

Captain of My own ship!

2010-07-30T20:26:00.010-04:00

After reading a post by Scott over at Pumping Irony about his current endeavors in Star Trek Online, I decided to give the game a little spin and take it out of a nice test play. Currently Cryptic Studios, the developers that brought us City of Heroes and Champions, also known as City of Heroes 2 or more of the same City of Heroes, has an unlimited demo that runs you through an equal amount of ground missions and Starship missions in Federation controlled space. It gives you enough of a taste to want more, even if the demo doesn't really explain anything about how the game mechanics actually work. Sure you can meander through the game world effectively enough to figure out how to fire your weapon, command your away team and even shoot down enemy Starship's in space, watching them explode with enough satisfying fiery grandeur to make you pine for your DVD copy of Wrath of Kahn.

The part about Star Trek Online that really rocks is the skill points, how to train and maintain your bridge officers and how to equip your ship effectively, so you don't explode in the middle of deep dark space. Learning how to control, fire weapons and manage your energy resources on your ship is part of the key to having a successful experience in STO. And let me tell you, there isn't anything that makes that experience better than having someone thats been there explain it to you. Lucky for me, I found out I actually know a lot of fellow bloggers and tweeters who play STO and they have been great at helping me understand that you just can't spam the fire button, you also need to be facing your target properly at the right arc and angle so your phasers and photons will actually fire and hit the enemy ship. This isn't WoW, nothing is certain when it comes to STO.

One of the first diplomatic missions is in fact pretty hard if you don't read and follow along properly. Oh did I mention that you can fail at a quest, even a collection quest? Which is very refreshing for a change. I like easy don't get me wrong but every now and then the brain needs a challenge or it will dry up and rot. I think that STO is just the perfect answer to the non- WoW question.

After giving the demo a once through, I decided to pony up a few bucks, $40 to be exact and get myself the retail game and a 60 day game card. My Engineer, Lt. Ira J. Cook is now rank 6 and I'm having a blast, no pun intended. I made him human because I often play the non-human in fantasy style games that I figured if I was going to be in space, be something different in space. Slowly, but surely, I have learned a few things about skill and how to apply the points.

Skill points basically get split into a few different camps. Some improve you character while on the ground, others when you piloting your starship and still others help with the overall of command. I have moments of frustration especially when I hit a brick wall on a mission or not understanding why my starship can't or won't fire all its weapons. When that happens, I know that someone in the Fleet (STO's version of a Guild!) will be more than happy to assist me with either advise or shoot over in their Galaxy class star ship and help kick some Klingon ass.

The game is a lot of fun and for $40.00 and 3 months, I should be able to figure out if its a game I want to keep on playing. To date, there hasn't been any retail expansion, however, they have released 2 patches that provide free content, which they are calling episodes. Sure the game has bugs like a few broken quests or graphical glitches and serious rubberbanding lag but I don't worry about it because I get boldly go, out to some sector of space and attack enemy ships with phasers pulsing and torpedoes exploding. Still lots to learn like how different starship weapons work, how their energy consumption effects other systems and what kind of bridge officers do you take for specific missions versus others.

I have to say, being a pretty big fan of the series, I'm very happy with the nostalgia this game is giving me and the fantasy of actually being in the same class of hero as Picard and Kirk.

End Line--

Never Fear

2010-07-30T07:18:00.001-04:00

I am still here. Sorry but work has been a bit brutal and I've been doing lots of stuff that I want to talk about when I get the time. Hopefully this weekend I'll have something to post and some of it involves a new (new to me!) MMO that I've started playing.

Here is a hint, I have Talyn, Longasc and Tipa to blame for this new addition.

Netflix: Video Nectar from the Gods

2010-07-12T16:45:00.004-04:00

My newly discovered obsession with Doctor Who has forced me to take a drastic measure, I decided to try out Netflix. Really it was the only sane thing to do. I could, either buy season 2 - 4, (I hate season 1; please see previous post for clarification) rent all of them, both a tax on my limited income or just get Netflix and watch them when I could, which appears to be just about every waking hour since I signed up for Netflix.

Now my wife had to be convinced that spending an extra $10.00 a month on movies since we already get HBO was worth it. Well actually, I did it and then told her I was doing it after the fact. However, since getting Netflix, she has seen the light, I mean the advantage, of having it, mostly because they have a lot of really old really bad horror movies available for disc delivery or instant watching and those are the things she loves the most.

The best feature has to be the instant viewing of movies and television shows. It is a fact that they have more movies for home disc delievery, but there is a modest amount of shows that you can watch instantly on your PC, Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360, which is great because I have all of them. The only rub is that because they signed an exclusive with Microsoft, the Wii and PS3 require a disc to run their movie software, which isn't much of a hassle since they will send you the disc free when you sign up.

If you watch a lot of movies or have missed a lot of television shows that you'd have to go out and rent the discs anyway, then spending $10.00 a month is a pretty good deal. I also managed to stream 2 movies from different viewers without much signal lose at all. This way, I can watch Doctor Who on the computer while my wife watches Jekyl on the Wii.

I would recommend this service to anyone who travels and has a laptop or just loves to stay at home on a rainy day and watch movies.

I'd hit that!

2010-07-09T18:56:00.006-04:00

The newest result of my alt-o-holic crazy has been leveling my shadow priest, Gwinaveer. Over the course of a few weekends, I was able to level her up through the Outland areas and she is now muddling around in Northrend. I will say that my recommendation for leveling between 60 and 70 is battlegrounds and heirloom gear. Alterac Valley is fantastic for experience. I managed just about 7k xp on every major NPC kill not to mention the xp acquired from honor kills. I know a lot of people will tell you doing random dungeons is the way to go, and that does help, but I managed to go up 4 levels in one weekend of battleground fun and that was without rested XP.

After managing to reach 70, I decided to pick up a cheap flying mount and see what Northrend had for me. Well, I soon discovered that a normal flying mount isn't the way to see Northrend. The pace is excruciatingly slow. I decided after a few days of trying to fly around in slow motion that I really needed to get my epic flying skill. I'm sure I wouldn't have wanted to push forward with this expensive endeavor if I already didn't have several 80's with epic flying and dragon mounts.

I decided that taking one of my 80's around to do daily's for gold just wasn't something I wanted to do. I just seemed like to much work. I'm sure people will disagree and recommend a plethora of quests that are not only interesting but will also give my extra gold for completing them, but I just wasn't interested in questing. So, I dusted off my 80 Tankadin and proceeded to farm ore in Ice Crown. I cleared out my bags, to make room and proceeded to map all the nods. My luck was just unbelievable. I set out on a Saturday early afternoon and by the end of 2hours of mining had over 2 stacks of titanium and about 12 stacks of saronite ore, not to mention all the eternals that you get as bonus items from mining. Now, I'm doing this on a toon that's really not seen any action in over a year. He has about a 5.4k gearscore which isn't too shabby, but I wear no PvP gear when I farm and I prefer to stay in my protection spec which makes me almost invulnerable to most mobs I might encounter while farming ore.

I bring all that up because the real fun, the truly exciting time I have been having is that I've been crushing a lot of horde while mining. Now other than the bit of leveling I have done with my shadow priest, I'm more of a casual pvper. I don't look for a fight and I usually try to go for the fast easy kills. For some reason, the horde ore farmers on my server aren't geared for pvp, nor do they even put up a fight and I have been consistatly kicking their asses. I suspect that a large majority are bots, because they don't put up much of a fight, nor do they even try to defend themselves. I have had several try to run away, but a quick hammer usually stops that from happening. They also seem to be desperate for the ore, because while I'm actually mining it they jump down and try to do the same, without even trying to do damage to me. They probably think that people on my server are scared of horde and that I would run away by they mere presents, but they quickly learn that is not the case. Fighting them is very close to shooting fish in a barrel with a grenade launcher. I've been mining for two plus weeks and in all that time, I've had about 2o confrontations, I've only died once and that was more or less a tie...(protection warriors are just as nasty as protection paladins, thank gawd for ardent defender. lol) I also tend to see the same horde players over and over, so I'm positive they must be bots of some sort. On occassions, like the protection warrior mentioned above, I have had to actually work at staying alive, but thats maybe less than 1% of the encounters.

The good news is that I gathered and sold enough ore to acquire the money for my epic flying also known as the Artisan Riding skill and purchase a Swift Gryphon. It makes getting around Northrend so much easier. I also used a bit of that money to advance my tailoring and enchanting, which are probably some of the more expensive trade skills to level up. I still run around collecting ore with my Paladin in the hopes of doing more battles with the bots of World of Warcraft. I'm pretty certain they are bots because if I was getting the thrashed around by a Paladin over and over again, I'd go hunt for ore elsewhere. I'm not a person to scare easily but I know that you can only beat you head against the wall for so long before you need to look for a new wall.

I believe that a lot of my recent plethoria of pvp victories and the abundance of good ore to sell is due in large part to a lot of people taking a break from the game. When I reached 80 with my first toon, you couldn't walk around Ice Crown without getting jumped by a horde. Recently, the Alliance has even managed to win a few Wintergrasps, back to back in one week, which must mean the horde have gone on vacation for a while. Oh, I'm sure when Cataclysm hits, we'll see an increase in Horde kicking the crap out of Alliance, but for now, the break is very nice.

I hate you Gamestop!

2010-07-07T00:55:00.003-04:00

So almost 2 weeks ago, I decided to put some money down on a new Xbox 360 pre order through Gamestop. The lady told me that I could expect my new Xbox no later than July 9th, however, she informed me that they get shipments every week and that I would probably be getting mine before July 9th.

So, after a week, I called them up and asked what the status was on my pre order. Apparently, the day I put MY money down on the new Xbox was the last day they were taking pre orders and my pre order was one of the last ones to they would be filling. Now, I sure as I was handing over my cash the lady behind the counter new this, but failed to inform me that I would be one of the last to be getting my pre order filled. Because if I had known, I would have held on to my cash and used it to purchase the new Xbox at Target or Best Buy, which in the last two weeks I've seen tons of. (Sorry I know ending a sentence on a preposition is bad, but Gamestop made me do it!)

Now I wait. The bad part is that I'm heading out of town for the rest of the week and I'm sure that my shipment will arrive, they will call me and tell me I have till the end of the day to pick it up and when I don't they will end up selling it out from under me. Oh, I have informed them that I was headed out of town, that I still wanted the unit and they graciously wrote my name down on a piece of paper, but I'm sure that when I show up next Monday, which will be after July 9th, they won't have a unit for me. Shame on me for being a trusting soul. Yes, I could have my wife pick it up, but I also want to trade in my old unit and getting that worked out with the little woman ain't going to be smooth as glass, so its just better for me to handle it assuming they even have a unit for me on Monday and they will let me trade my old one in.

I hate you Gamestop!

The Doctor is back!

2010-07-06T21:59:00.007-04:00

Back in 2005, I was pretty excited when BBC America and Scifi channel announced they would be broadcasting the BBC reboot of the Doctor Who series. I only slightly remember seeing a few episodes with Tom Baker back in the day in my younger days on PBS. Nothing that I could remember specifically, but I'd heard great things the original series from other friends and bloggers and since it was a reboot, I thought why not get in on the ground floor.

I soon discovered that I liked the concept of a rebooted Doctor Who. The only problem was that I did not like the actor, Christopher Eccleston, in that role. Maybe he didn't have the right humor or he seemed a bit too serious at times, but I just wasn't about to give up another year of my viewing time to a show whose main character didn't interest me. I was aware that they had replaced him, but I was so disappointed in what they had tried to do with Mr. Eccleston that I had not reason to invest my time with David Tennant.

Well, I have to say, that was a huge mistake.

Recently, I'd had the pleasure of watching a bit of Doctor Who on BBC America, actually they had a marathon of sorts during the recent July 4th weekend. They showed a few hours of Doctor Who. The marathon episodes spanned the course of several seasons, eventually ending with an episode from the latest season with Matt Smith as the Doctor. I have to say that I regret not giving Mr. Tennant a chance to impress me, because after viewing 3 of his episodes during July 4th, I was saying to myself, this is the Doctor. He was funny, strange, whimsical and at times a complete angry pain in the ass, but not so's you noticed. I truly think that he was the Doctor they had envisioned when they set out to reboot the series. That being said, I think that Matt Smith is an excellent replacement. His acting paired with Steven Moffat's writing, he created my other favorite British shows, Couplings, is just awesome. The Doctor's helper is Karen Gillan, who is funny, very smart, brave and a bit more flirtatious than other Doctor companions, which is something new I think for someone in that role. Course, I've only seen the first 3 episodes from season 5, 2 of which I had to download straight away from iTunes after viewing the marathon.

I have gone Doctor Who crazy. At lunch today I decided to hit Best Buy up for a few more episodes from the David Tennant stack, including the one where he changes into Matt Smith, which I've not seen yet. I also decided to sign up for Netflix so I could stream all the earlier seasons, with the exception of season 1 which I will just write off as a bad experience all around. I'm sure that others will disagree, but I'm just happy to have rediscovered Doctor Who. I look forward to what the rest of season 5 will provide and hope that season 6 will be just as great.

I just wanted to spread the word that if you've never given Doctor Who a shot, check out the episode "Blink". If you don't get hooked by watching that one, you never will.

Yelling Never Works!

2010-06-25T20:32:00.007-04:00

Microsoft announced at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo their new take on their old Xbox 360 console called the Xbox 360 Slim. It would be smaller in stature and have a sleek black shiny finish. The system would incorporate WiFi, a 250gig hard drive, a whisper quiet mod and be equipped with ample ventilation to prevent any overheating, which was a problem with the old Xbox 360.

But this post isn't about that. It's about my recent conversation with those heathens at the Microsoft Xbox 360 support and how they basically don't get it.

I had been tossing around the idea of picking up one of those new "Slim" units. I was running out of space for saved games and my disc drive would make tons of noise when it was spinning. As it turned out, I wasn't very off the mark because not long after the thought of upgrading hit me, my machine started to take a turn for the worse. In 2009 I had an issue with the machine not reading discs. I had owned the unit for over a year and decided to get it repaired. Well, as it turned out, my warranty ran out about 1 week before I needed it. I had to have my Xbox so out came the credit card. Three weeks and $100.00 plus shipping and I had my repaired unit back in my little hands.

Then in January of this year, I had the exact same issue, the machine wouldn't read a disc in the drive. I knew immediately this was an issue. I did not hesitate to ship the unit back to Microsoft, this time under warranty to get it repaired. It arrived back 3 weeks later with a 3 month extended warranty, which apparently I either forgot about or didn't get notification on because I thought it was another full year since it was the exact same issue which they seemed to have failed at repairing the first time.

Well, as luck would have it, recently after having thoughts of abandoning my old unit started to rise, the disc drive started to fail again. This time only 6 months had passed. So I decided to call up Xbox support and see if they would repair it for free since it had only been a mere 6 months since the its last visit to the doctor. Besides, it was the the exact same issue so they should at least honor their work and try to bring some life back into my old Xbox. Especially since I wanted to trade it in at Gamestop for a new unit... shhh... it might hear me.

Alas, that was not the case. I even did that thing that all men do when they aren't happy about a call that goes against them, I raised my voice and shrilled at the poor lady on the phone about how unfair this was and how I couldn't understand why this same unit would fail in the exact same way 3 times in less than 2 years. I told her to bump this call up the line to someone that could actually help me since all she was doing was cock blocking me from my free repair.

Now, just so you don't think too ill of me I did some thinking while I waited. I'd calmed down a bit and realized the cold hard truth of the situation. No tact I took would actually work on these cold hearted people. If I wanted my Xbox fixed, I'd have to pull out the credit card and make the magic happen that way. Course I did try one last plea with the person next on the corporate ladder of denial. It too didn't work and I was reduced to telling her that their failure to fix my machine properly the last time didn't speak well of their product nor did it speak well of those chained to work benches in the bowels of Microsoft repairing broken Xboxs. Normally I'd just refer to them as untrained monkeys but i thought I'd keep her in the dark about the truth, that's me, Mr sensitive.

I hung up the phone. I didn't pull out the magic make things happen card. I had resigned myself to the fact that investing any additional money into my sweet old machine would be better served buy just getting a new machine.

Since they seem to be in high demand and the supply very limited, I had to plunk down some money to reserve one at Gamestop. Some would say screw Xbox. Don't get a new system. But I've got a ton of Xbox games, lots of friends that I like to play with on Xbox live and I can't quit all that. I have decided that this will be it for me and Microsoft. If they do release a new console system that surpasses the 360 I won't be getting it. I've had a Sony PS3 for over 2 years now and not once have I had an issue with it. I watch lots of Blu Ray movies and play a good number of games without so much as a small hiccup. If Sony can do it, why can't Microsoft? Look at the Wii. It gets abused a ton with controllers getting tossed into TVs and ceiling fans. I haven't heard of it Red Ringing or the disc drive crapping out.

Is it because Microsoft is an American company? Is it true that Americans produce inferior products that fail more often than they succeed? I guess I should ask Steve Jobs that question, huh?

How to Win at Pugs and Gearscore

2010-05-26T00:50:00.004-04:00

This pretty much covers all my grips!

The Long Dark Time...

2010-05-14T11:43:00.006-04:00

...before Cataclysm drops, or is it?

Recently, a couple of my World of Warcraft friends decided to create a new guild. One that would work towards recruiting people, but not the top elite. We wanted players that were interested in progression, wanted to improve their status and wanted to do it in a semi casual friendly guild.

We were pretty successful in recruiting about 5 additional people to help with our 10 man raids. We had just started working out a schedule when a slight snag hit. In the midst of our recruiting process, we also wanted to test out prospective candidates. So on a few occasions we would form a pug raid, for say Onyxia or Vault, just to see how they preformed. Well, during a Onyxia 10 man, we had issues. Not with anyone in particular, I'm sure everyone has been there, some players just don't work well with others. So, after failing a few times, the raid started to disband and during that, some exchanges took place with our guild leader and someone from another guild. That person got very graphic in the exchange and well, he got reported. That seemed to take care of the issue, except the next day after the event, our guild name got changed.

It seems that "Hardcore Pwnography" is just too offensive as a guild name and got banned. I just don't get it. How do we get banned when every day I see some pretty graphic character names running around Dalaran? Not to mention the multiple number of rude names I've seen while using the LFG tool.

The real grip about the entire affair is that Blizzard won't even tell you, they just change the name to something non harmful, like Oakstout's guild, and then, even after opening a ticket, they won't let you change it to something non offensive. You don't even get the chance to make it right. So, in order to fix the issue, everyone had to leave the banned guild and form a new guild, all the while hoping that members would see the guild message of the day explaining why everyone left the old guild. Officers had to constantly try and catch players online in order to get them into the new guild. Which made our week of recruitment kind of a problem. But luckily we've managed to gather everyone up into the fold of our new guild.

Having gotten that little obstacle out of the way, we decided to get our new recruits and some raiding newbies together to try taking on some 10 man content. First task was to do the weekly raid, to kill Noth the Plaguebringer from Naxxramas. No problem there, even after picking up a non guildie hunter to finish out our 1o for the raid. We then moved on to try 10 man Trial of the Crusader, which went better than expected, since some members hadn't seen much of that content. We did wipe a few times, but we still managed to learn from the mistakes and eventually took down Anub. Several guildie's got some decent upgrades while a good many of us only needed badges and practice. We then successfully took down Onyxia in our premade 10 man and then slaughtered 2 bosses in VoA before we called it a night.

The guild goal is to do Ice Crown. A lofty goal, probably, but after our successful night out, not something out of our grasp. Next week, we are going to get our feet wet and see how we do against the first few bosses in ICC. Who knows, we may just come away with very nice prizes, which is my hope.

On a personal level, I did pretty good at my first attempt at raid healing. I need to not stand in the fire and learn where I need to run when I have certain debuffs like the poison from Acid Maw. I do have a lot of raid knowledge but only from a tank's point of view, which is very very different from a healers. But even though I didn't do great at healing, I do know that I can make adjustments and should perform much better on my next outing.

I don't plan to be back tanking anytime soon. Healing probably will be my preferred class for some time, even after Cataclysm is released. It is so challenging and that is what I want from my MMO these days. I'm not saying that tanking isn't hard, but once a fight is learned, it pretty much stays the same. The only factors that can change a fight for a tank are the DPS and if they behave, then its the same old same old. But with healing, its never the same. You don't know how much damage will be dealt out to the tank or dps. You never know when someone is going to have a bad night and get stuck in the fire or not know how to get a debuff off. It's is never a dull moment, which is just fine for me. I'm tired of easy mod.

As you can see, things are going very well. Things have picked up. Raiding prospects have somewhat improved and I'm having a great time with friends. I just hope Cataclysm doesn't screw all that up.

Cataclysm, the birth of Blizzard's next MMO.

2010-05-04T19:48:00.003-04:00

Cataclysm will not be just an expansion with a few new zones with new races to explore with, but a complete reworking of World of Warcraft. Not just a revamp of characters stats , new class/race combinations or even the ability to use your flying mounts in the Old kingdoms. World of Warcraft will be a completely different game with different rules, different graphics and different game mechanics.

The question is, are players really ready for it?

Defense, weapon skill and MP5 go away. Attack power will be gone on most items. Spirit will only be found on healing gear and spell power to be limited to weapons only. Intellect will now provide spell power, which should have been the case since vanilla. This is just the tip of the changes with added value stats like armor penetration to still be decided at a later date. Gear obviously will be altered to fall in line with these stat changes or eliminations, certain gems will get color changes to suit a more appropriate scheme. And these aren't even the more drastic changes. There will be new class/race combinations, certain talent trees will get redefined and changed all the while moving Blizzard's game in a different direction.

In short, Blizzard isn't just changing WoW, they are recreating WoW. Making it more simplified for the stat crunchers? Maybe? Finally realizing that concepts at launch no longer work with their player base? Also possible. Or are they trying to continue the trend of recruiting the lowest common denominator of player to play their game? A fact that hasn't been lost on those using the recently developed Looking for Dungeon tool. Or is it just some evil plot to get people to keep playing overly simplified MMO, hoping that in the near future their boredom will force players to seek out something a bit more difficult and complicated. Something that has that Blizzard trademark and feel. Maybe Blizzard's yet to be named future MMO?

Whatever the case, Cataclysm will change WoW. Maybe into the MMO Blizzard had hoped for when they first sat down at the drawing table so many years and subscribers ago. Maybe into something no original player will ever recognize as their favorite first MMO. But change is what will come with Cataclysm, but down deep, I doubt it will be for the best.

The American Rock Project

2010-05-02T11:56:00.004-04:00

I present, the American Rock Project!

Enjoy!

The Losers!

2010-04-30T15:41:00.002-04:00

Today was 1/2 day cinema day. Meaning, I took a 1/2 day at work and went to see the LOSERS!

Well, I was faintly interested in the movie. I figured of all the stuff out there, that I could go see without my significant other, this movie would be just the thing. I figured it would have some decent action, descent actors and one very hot actress! It's actually based on a DC/Vertigo comic of the same name. I am or rather was a huge Vertigo comic fan back in the late 80's, early 90's but this particular comic never crossed my path. That being said, all I really knew about the movie was what I was seeing in trailers and various geek podcasts!

So, I had no expectations. I just hoped, I wasn't wasting my $7.00 matinee cash on something juvenile and or gawd awful!

Well, the movie was both funny and action packed. Parts of it seemed a bit silly, but it is based off of a comic book so I didn't hold that against them. The writing wasn't too bad, considering I laughed pretty loud at most of the jokes. The plot isn't too hard to follow and if you've ever seen any picture where a group go up against a major bad guy then you pretty much know the flow of this movie. There were some obstacles thrown in but not many red herrings. There was never a "WoW, I had no idea!" aspect to the movie, but for an afternoon flick that was a get away from work, lose all your troubles kind of movie, it was great. It was much more entertaining than that bloat that was Alice in Wonderland and I happen to be a fan of both Tim and Johnny's work.

However, this is a guy movie. Insert disclaimer here (that statement is kind of loaded because there were only 5 people in the theater, one of them happened to be a woman and she did laugh as loud if not louder than I did at times.) I whole heartedly enjoyed the movie and plan to buy it when it comes out on Blu-Ray in 3 or so months, if not sooner. I felt the same about Live Free or Die Hard, another silly, yet action packed movie that is nothing but a popcorn eating affair.

So two thumbs up!

Xbox Live Party

2010-04-11T09:33:00.002-04:00

Tip for the Day!

When in an Xbox Live Party chat, the most important thing not to ask is:

"What are you wearing?"

Even if your looking at your friend's avatar when you ask.

By the way, sorry I asked!

The Broken Game

2010-04-03T18:30:00.010-04:00

So, to continue my barrage of postings.

Recently I decided to give healing a try on my druid. I've only played a healer class once and that was in Everquest 2 about 2 years ago. My understanding is that druids are some of the best healers in the game. Also, I had heard that the learning curve for a restro druid wasn't that bad. I decided that I would give it the old college try once I reached the Northred dungeons since I'd leveled up two tanks in those instances and I had a pretty good idea of what it would take to heal through most of it.

I've only been doing it for three days, but my overall success has been positive. I do over heal because I tend to be more nervous about players dying and them kicking me from the group than from me getting agro or running out of mana. This will all change once I get more confident and acquire better gear or better well geared tanks in my group.

I want to talk about the current incarnation of WoW players and what I've discovered since I switched to healing. Now, these aren't really new observations, but since I'm a veteran tank, I never got the kind of flack that I tend to get when healing.

I have discovered a good many things that I will share with you.

First, WoW players are now divided into two distinct groups. Those that want to help you and those that will call you any name in the dirty word dictionary if you fail at your job. There really is no in-between now. Also, those in the second group tend to always be in a hurry. Pull, kill, go, pull, kill, go. "No rest for the wicked" must be their motto. A Northrend dungeon, if things go well, can be done in less than 30 minutes. what is 30 minutes out of you're life? There is no need to break records, especially when your only level 73 and the healer needs to get mana back.

And what happened to waiting for the healer to catch up before pulling or checking with the healer to make sure they are ready for the next pull? When did that become obsolete? I don't get that mentality. You know, to be very honest, it is by the will of the healer that you stay alive in a dungeon, not the tank. The sole purpose of the tank is to keep the healer from getting killed by controlling agro, that's it. He's not going to save the dps, that is the healer's job. If the healer gets pommeled by mobs, it won't be the warrior or hunter that keeps the group alive then. No one seems to be aware of what is happening anymore. Its always rush, rush, rush.

Now, that's a section of the WoW community. The other side will take their time and they will make sure your ready because you're success is their success. But this group is becoming very rare these days. And I have to say, the only one to blame for this issue is Blizzard. They are the reason that MMO's have become so watered down, loot-centric, and "me" oriented.

Blizzard has streamlined the whole process of acquiring an epic piece of gear. Back in the day, people had to spend weeks or months camping a specific rare spawning mob and then pray their epic item dropped when it was killed. Now all of that can be done in days. There is no need to work hard for your epic when you can do a few quick heroics a day and boom, you'll have enough badges to cash in for that coveted epic gear. It used to be a status symbol to run around in all purple gear, now its as common as a penny on the street.

There is no game anymore, its just a production line for obtaining epic gear. The need for players to do as many heroic runs has pretty much churned out a bunch of horrible players. They don't need people who are slow or know what they are doing. If you can't keep up, we'll just kick you and use that new LFD tool to get someone else in. They want the most efficient way to do a dungeon so they can get their badges and their shiny status symbols. Strangers used to be considerate and help others in the game, now its about me and my goal to get the easy gear. They have no time to even say hello when they join a group. They just want to do their daily random, so they can get that frost emblem, which gets them closer to that epic item.

Where did the game go? There is no game in WoW anymore, or at least I can't see it. This is what I've learned by leveling up my druid. People just don't have time for anyone anymore. They can't be even bothered to say hello or be patient enough for you to learn your new healing spec. If your not doing it right, then your in their way.

I just want it to be over. Can someone please invent a WoW killer?

Stargate Universe: Take 2!

2010-04-03T18:16:00.002-04:00

When I originally watched SGU last year, I wasn't very impressed. It seemed to be in between great, the original Stargate and horrible or as I call it, the Stargate Atlantis experience. This past Friday, I had the opportunity to view a large batch of SGU episodes on SyFy, marathon's tend to be like that. I have to say, the show is growing on me. At least to the point where I am willing to add it to my list of must record shows.

I am hopeful that the show's premise, stranded on an unstoppable space ship traveling around the universe, won't become stale or too silly, which can be the death of a lot of SyFy shows. I will say that the character development is starting to look promising, especially now that they have started killing off a good many "non essential to the over all plot of the show" characters, or as some could call them, fodder.

There is a lot of potential and I just hope SyFy doesn't blow it, like they did Atlantis.

Clash of the Titans

2010-04-03T18:09:00.002-04:00

Saw it, loved it, recommending it.

Don't pay for the 3d version, but go see the 2d. Just don't go expecting it to be like the original. If you go in with an open mind, I think you will very much enjoy it.

Funny thing, my wife is the one that wanted to go see it and I'm glad she did.

Still here!

2010-03-16T17:28:00.002-04:00

I've not deserted the intertubes yet. Work has been very brutal the last few weeks, almost legendary.

Here is a quick gaming update. I picked up Modern Warfare 2. Love the game, lots of grinding to unlock different weapons and to level up your character. I picked up a copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the Xbox 360. Another great FPS game with a slightly different slant, which makes them similar but yet very different games in my opinion. BFBC2 lets you form squads and you get experience for staying together, killing foes and completing objectives. Imagine that, a game that fosters co operation. Course to unlock a lot of the weapons and special gear you have to grind your way through several matches earning experience. Weird how FPS games have adopted the MMO style of play by letting you gather experience to get access to epic gear, I mean, new guns and accessories.

I also have been working my DS a bit lately. I purchased my very first Pokémon game recently, HeartGold. A refab of a previously released Gameboy Color game. So far I'm loving it. I've put in close to 8 hours in the two days since purchase, which is a lot for me when I'm at home surrounded by my PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. I have to say, leveling up each of your little pokemon pets is fun, except for the fact that you have to pretty much grind out each level by fighting other trainers and wild pokemons. Still its a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to getting more involved in the Pokémon series once I finish this one.

That's about it for now. I hope to post more in the next week if possible. Usually I'd be doing NCAA basketball, but we got lucky and we aren't doing it this year. YEAH for me!

The Final Count down!

2010-02-22T10:32:00.004-05:00

No, I'm not leaving the blog o sphere. I can't leave. Where would I find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, certainly Mos Eisley space port, but no place here on earth for certain. I just wanted to let everyone know that interesting posts are coming and I'll be posting again soon on ITG.

I'm actually in New York City, Manhattan, just off Central Park west to be precise, this week for work. I love to visit this city, but I would really hate to live here. It is too expensive, but its exciting to see all the architecture, hear the cabby's yell and honk their horns and experience the hustle and bustle that is NYC. However, personally give me a town that rolls up its streets at 9pm any other day and I'm happy.

Btw, doing a pub crawl in New York City is fun, just beware, there are over 200 Irish pubs in Manhattan alone, or so says one google search, so bring a big liver or a donor. That number gets inflated by the fact that there a lot of pretend Irish pubs. If your server isn't from the old country chances are some dude in Brooklyn just bought the name to the pub.

Again, I hope to blogging fairly regularly again soon. I have lots of topics. Some don't even include World of Warcraft so those might actually be interesting, probably not.

Irony

2010-02-19T07:22:00.005-05:00

World Of Warcraft Irony:

This scene takes place in the middle of Hellfire Ramparts...

Tank: How am I doing?

Group: Your doing great!

Tank: This is only the second time I've tanked. :)

Group: Well, your doing great, just work the agro a bit more and you'll be fantastic.

Tank: Well, I have got to go, early work tomorrow.

Tank leaves group!

Recue for new tank!

No Star Trek

2010-02-04T19:33:00.005-05:00

I have no desire to play Star Trek Online

I am and always will be a huge fan of the series. When I was a child, I would spend evenings trying to tune in the show on a small black and white set my parents had in the bedroom. Let me say, that is dedication. I owned at one point a phaser, communicator and tricorder toy set as well as a model of a Romulan Bird of Prey. Trust me, I love the Star Trek IP.

I just don't have the confidence that Cryptic will do a good job with the IP. There are a good many people who are die hard fans and I don't see them as a company that can pull off an epic Star Trek game, especially after the debacle of Champions online. They just haven't made very many good decisions as far as providing a great game for fans based on top notch IPs and if your going to produce a game based on an IP that is as epic as Star Trek, you have to bring the top talent because if you fall short just by an inch, they will crucify you for it.

The second reason I'm not going to play is that I'm currently enjoying WoW, although at times I do get bored, which happens with all things done to excess. I have found that there is just too much for one person to do in a single MMO and that to try and spread yourself over two or more would just make it impossible to fully enjoy any.

I do hope I am wrong about Cryptic, because I'm sure there are a lot of people hoping to take part in that voyage into the final frontier. To be a part of a fantastic IP and to boldly go where no player has gone before.

At least there is always Star Wars to look forward too.

I only have eyes for you!

2010-02-04T18:24:00.003-05:00

Fair warning, this is not a gaming post (Boooo) but it is a rant (YEA!)

For the last week I've had an eye problem, not anything too major, but some how I managed to scratch it pretty good. Now, the first thing I did, when I realized I had an issue was to go see my ophthalmologist. Now for those not in the know an Ophthalmologist is a eye doctor that specializes in Ophthalmology, deals with the medical treatment of the eye and its diseases, not one who check your vision and prescribes glasses. That is an Optician.

I see (I love that pun) an Ophthalmologist once or twice a year because I have diabetes and during the course of that disease serious eye problems like glaucoma and such can occur, which may result in vision loss if I don't keep it in check. The regularity at which I visit the specialist depends on how well I am controlling my diabetes. To date, I've only had to see him once a year, yea me.

Now that the eye doctor education is over I will continue with my story.

So, decide to go see my eye specialist, whom I have been visiting for about 6 or so years now. I trust him and he knows me pretty good I would suspect. His diagnosis is that I have a small scratch on the bottom of my eye and that it requires some antibiotic and that if it doesn't get better in 48 hours a second visit will be required. Of course this all happens 72 hours before I'm suppose to head out of town for a week on business.

Two days later, my eye started to feel much better. I continued with the drops but didn't go see the doctor on account of the fact that I was out of town at the time and my eye was feeling, well... much better. Then, on the third day after the visit, I subjected my eye to some chemical haze and fog, which was being used at an event I was working. Course, when I say chemical haze and fog, I'm not talking about recreational drugs, I'm talking about foggers and hazers similar to those used at rock shows to produce stage effects. These things cause a smoke like fog in the air so laser and light shows will look awesome. This effect, however, can cause some serious eye irratation. Now my eye not only starts to hurt, but it feels like someone is shoving and ice pick into it.

So now my eye is hurting again, irritated and red. The best way to fix this is to rest my eye and continue to use the antibiotic drops. However, I can't rest because the event I'm at doesn't get done till 1am and we are back at the venue striking the equipment at 8am in the morning. So the much needed rest will have to wait and my eye will stay irritated for another 2 days.

Once I get the rest I need, my eye starts to feel much better, again. This lasts for a 2 days till I have to limit my sleep once again, because on the next job we have to do, the client decides they want to rehearse at 5:30 am two days in a row and therefore, no 8 hours of sleep for me and my sad little eye. My eye feels okay during the day hours but the morning and evenings are a huge problem for my scratched eye, because of the lack of sleep and rest.

I arrived back home this past Tuesday and crashed as soon as I was able too. Upon waking up Wednesday morning, I wasn't unable to keep my eye open, any little bit of light annoyed it immensely and the pain was pretty bad. I called my ophthalmologist and luckily was able to get an appointment that morning. He reexamined the eye, notating that it was a scratch, prescribed a different antibiotic and told me I needed to rest the eye. I took the day off, layed on the couch and napped and by yesterday evening I was feeling much better. As a matter of fact, it felt great today as well. I just had a follow-up visit with a different doctor, since mine wasn't going to be in the office which I thought was OK, since all he had to do was see if it was improving or not improving and I would be good to go.

My luck is never that good.

This new doctor, whom I've never seen nor met, suggested that my problem wasnt' a scratched eye at all, but ulcers caused by ocular rosacea. He then proceeds to prescribe two more eye drops, besides the antibiotics I'm already on, hands me a pamphlet where he has writtem Ocular surface disease and ocular rosacea written on it, all the while telling me to look them up on the web so I'll have a better understanding of my condition and sends me on my way. Now this is a lot to take in. Apparently, the single scratch I had yesterday and for past week has over night turned into two ulcers. I questioned him about how this happened in less than 24hrs and he said that my doctor apparently felt that it might have been this all along, course I don't know why he wouldn't have mentioned it to me yesterday when I asked him about the scratch and what we would have to do if it wasn't healing.

Talk about someone hit with a brick. I was blind sided. I've got my reqular doctor telling me its a scratch and this new doctor, who I didn't know from Adam telling me I have some kind of surface disease on my eye. And the more questions I ask the less information I'm getting from this new doctor. Apparently, my regular doctor had discussed my case with this new doctor which is why he confirmed the diagnosis was something else. Now I have to apply two new eye drops, one of them I have to use, well, forever because now, over night, I have this new condition.

I understand now why doctors get sued. So, now that I'm stunned. I start the drive home. I called the wife, who was just as confused as me, but had some very good advise, "Don't do anything till you talk to YOUR doctor." So, I got her to call the eye care place. They told her a P.A would call me, which she did. We talked, I explained how I wasn't comfortable with this new doctors diagnoses and how I needed to talk to MY doctor. She said she would call him and see what he said. She called me back and by the tone of her voice, I could tell that MY doctor didn't think much of the new diagnosis. Although, he didn't tell her to tell me it was BULL SHIT, I could tell that he didn't think I had ulcers or that I needed all those drops.

Monday, I'll be making an appointment to see MY doctor. As long as my eye is getting better, which it is, I don't see the need to do anything about this dry eye conspiracy. I did discover that like all things, a second opinion isn't always what its cracked up to be. The power to get the right answers is always with the people themselves. Doctors work for you. Don't let them bully you if you feel they don't know what they are doing. Sure, at some point you have to pick a side, but make sure you feel confident in the people your asking that opinion of.

Oh, by the way, the second doctor, Mr. Ocular Rocacea, I knew there was something wrong with him the minute he walked in the room. No sane man would sport a Mr. Brady perm.

Puzzle Quest!

2010-02-03T14:07:00.003-05:00

I've been AFK this past week from my favorite consoles and MMO's but that hasn't stopped me from gaming. Lucky for me, I had my trusty DS and man, I was able to rediscover how much fun can be had with Puzzle Quest Warlords.

I have to say that in the past I've treated Puzzle Quest as a variant of Bejeweled. I would take it with me while waiting in a doctor's office or when I was meditating in the morning before work, because it was a quick game and you could make small advances while not getting to involved. I'd always approached it as nothing more complicated than matching gems to get mana and then using it to cast spells to do direct damage or defend against your opponents fury of attacks. But there is a complex set of strategies and a really nice story as I happen to find out this past week.

As I found out, getting the handle of this game all starts with playing the right class. On this go round, I decided to play a druid, which allowed for some nice healing spells as well as some good direct damage ones as well. This time I decided to employ a little more defense to stop the smack down getting laid to me every other round. Apparently, its not only about getting mana for your self, but also about preventing mana from going to your opponent to stop them from tossing damage spells at you all the time.

So far I'm enjoying it the more I play and plan to stick with it instead of popping in Planet Puzzle League when I want some puzzle action. As soon as I get my Xbox back, I'll start up my arcade version just to see how much different it is, but I am sure that it will be a blast as well.

The Price of Failure

2010-01-29T21:41:00.003-05:00

Apparently, the motto at Microsoft's Xbox 360 division is that "Failure is always an option."

Last February, 1 year and 1 month after I purchased my Xbox 360, the dvd drive failed. This failure made it impossible to play any games on disc, which was the bulk of my library. It wouldn't have been a big deal except my warranty had run out, which meant I had to shell out an additional $100.00 to get the system repaired or pony up, at the time, $300.00 for a new system. Since I had yet to purchase a Wii or PS3 I had to get my system repaired.

I paid the cash, sent it off and within 3 weeks, I got my system returned and working perfectly. Along with the repair, I got an extended 1 year warranty on the system, which was something I never thought I would have to use. That is until about 2 weeks ago my system's dvd drive started acting up again. Sometimes it would read a disc and other times not. Now, lucky for me, I've got that extra year so I was able to send it in under the new warranty.

Now, I can't help but wonder if they even know what they are doing when they claim to repair those machines? Are they just recycling used parts to get machines out the door faster? Are they correctly diagnosing problems or just throwing stuff together hoping it will last? I had a tech on the phone tell me it was my hard drive and he almost had me convinced until the disc wouldn't read when the hard drive was disconnected as well as when it was connected. Besides, when it eventually does read the disc it sounds exactly like a helicopter which I'm sure isn't a good thing.

So, I am sans Xbox and my Modern Warfare 2 for a few weeks. Course, unlike last time I have a PS3 and Wii to play when I get bored of WoW. But all this got me wondering about how the gaming industry handles the multitudes of broken products.

I'm sure that the standard of the gaming industry isn't to just throw something out on the market and decided later how or if they plan to fix it, and yet, at times it sure feels that way. I don't know how many times I found out after installing a new game that I just paid $50.00 to be a beta tester. But yet, no one complains. There are no recalls for the gaming industry. You don't get a broken game and take it back to the store for a new one. We are stuck waiting for them to provide a patch that will actually make the game worth the money spent. If they don't your pretty much stuck with your broken purchase with no real recourse. And this is the way they have been doing business for years and no one has called them on it.

I just don't know why people aren't more vocal about it, especially considering the number of blogs and fanboys out there. It just makes no sense.

My Killer Cat

2010-01-21T18:34:00.002-05:00

I decided to have my wife take the test because, well, if the cat was to kill anyone, it would be her first.

Thanks Ysharro!

Quote of the Day!

2010-01-13T18:18:00.003-05:00

Syp has inspired me to post one of my own.

Never Make a deal with the Devil, because negotiating is Hell!

-Oakstout

The Ice Crown Citadel

2010-01-11T17:45:00.004-05:00

I never did Zul'Gurub, the original Onyxia's Lair, nor Molten Core. I wasn't there at Blackwing Lair, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj or Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. I never set foot inside Tempest Keep, Mount Hyjal or Black Temple.

Why? Because I wasn't a raider then. I rarely did instances unless with close friends. I soloed content, ganked with buds and did a little Battlegrounds when the mood suit me. To tell the truth, Raiding scared me. I had heard stories of people going crazy because they didn't get loot or mass exodus from guilds because of drama over small stuff. Leaders barking orders and people having to be there on time and not screw up or getting over looked on gear rolls because you weren't in the in crowd. It seemed like too much hassle to even consider being a part of it. That was then.

But now for some reason I got the fever to raid and I've got it bad.

A few months back I joined a raiding guild and although it seemed there would be problems and drama during the recent holiday season, things have turned completely around. For some reason, the guild has been performing spectacularly. As a result, we've managed to one shot all of Ice Crown Citadel in both 10 man and 25 man mode. This did not include the new release this past Tuesday of The Plagueworks, with several new and interesting bosses.

After successfully clearing our 25 man content, we decided to have a try at the new wing of the instance. To start off with, several members died on the "Frogger" part of the entrance. We first came up against Stinky and Precious, which let me tell you, those encounters were like trying to ride a bicycle blindfolded. We only had limited knowledge of the new section, because we didn't expect to be there in one try. We wiped the raid several times before we decided to call it an evening and that was on the named trash mobs. Later in the week, we did the 10 man mode, which as stated above went rather well. So again, we reached the Plagueworks ready to combat the new bosses, however, this time several people had read up on the encounters and had a pretty good idea on how to accomplish our goal. It took us several tries on both Festergut and Rotface, but we successfully, as a guild, took them down.

That was one proud moment, that as a guild we could come together and reach a place in the game that a lot of guilds hadn't even seen nor had they been able to accomplish so much so quickly. I mean the content came out on Tuesday and already by Saturday we had killed off two of the new bosses, that is some kind of accomplishment in my book. The great thing is we are a very casual guild. We schedule raids twice maybe three times a week, but nothing is manditory, people help others get what they need to raid, like food and flasks. No body is yelling at anyone for making a mistake and everyone has a great time. We aren't like the hardcore raiding guilds out there, we just try to have fun and so far, it seems to be working for us.

The point is, guilds don't have to be hardcore to have fun and accomplish major things in the
World of Warcraft. They don't have to be clicky or bossy. There doesn't need to be major drama and if there is, find a way to sort it out and keep people who do a good job together. The trick is to have fun, because its really just a game anyway.

Another 80 Levels Done!

2009-12-31T17:55:00.002-05:00

Finally got my warrior, Oakstout, to level 80, thanks to the help of some friends and the new LFD tool.

Again, the tool is a hit or miss kind of thing. Some day's, it works fantastic, others well, you just want to bang your head on the wall, just so you can dumb down to the level of the other people in your group.

However, without the use of this new tool, I wouldn't have 24 triumph badges to use on reaching level 80, nor would I have gotten the opportunity to get all the great boss loot, which has gotten me pretty close to my defensive cap.

This is a special shout out to all those wonderful people from other servers who know how to play with others, who know their roll in a group and who understand what it means to be a team player.

I also want to say, shame on those that ninja-ed loot from the tank or left because they didn't' win a roll, or decided that pulling everything in the dungeon would be awesome. To those people, who I have now introduced to my ignore list, I thank you for reminding me that some pretty selfish and dumb people still play World of Warcraft and that when you have a good group of people playing with you, thank them, because your next group just might be a bunch of Asshats.

The First Taste of Guild Drama.... YUMMMMY!

2009-12-29T08:44:00.004-05:00

Apparently have being in a fairly successful raiding guild for a few month's now, I still fail to understand the inner workings of the officers and guild leader. How they decide stuff still completely confuses me. Some rules seem pretty simple, if we have to PuG a raid then we don't do loot council, if we do a full guild raid we do it. Oh, loot council is when those in charge look at those playing and award the loot to a person in much dire need for it. This worked very well in my favor because I was a tank in much need of gear when I joined the guild and in order to put me on par with others, I got a lot of nice loot. These rules I understand. They are logical and thought out.

Now, here are some of the more illogical ones I have seen in recent weeks.

We recruited a new member about 2 weeks ago. This member had been an officer of several guilds till he reached ours. He also was the guild leader of his last guild, which apparently one day exploded. Strange thing, in most other cases where this person was the officer of a guild, those guilds exploded as well. He also seemed to be in the middle of all the explosions. I'm not saying he was the catalyst, but if the same guy shows up at 10 different bank heists, chances are that person knows something about the heist. So, I'm starting to have some concern about this person being in our guild, but wait it even gets better, they have made him an officer in my guild, which means, that he can have a say on the loot council. This greatly concerns me. I'm not one to bitch much, but a person that has a lot of controversy surrounding them and problems in guilds and now he has a say in my loot? He's also brought in others from his failed guild, which means, he might try and vote in their favor when possible, since he pulled them to the last failed guild from another failed guild so they could raid and now that they are raiding with us, their might be issues.

But that's not the only problem. They kicked some people out of the guild recently that challenged rules and leadership. Once they left, they bad mouthed our guild and formed a guild specifically to be against us. Crazy right? Now they are back. What? I don't get it. You get rid of people that cause problems and then let them back in, give them spots in raids and then let them have a shot at loot? No punishment for bad behavior? I'm not trying to be a dick, but if you reinforce bad behavior then it will happen again. If you tell your guild, hey, you can be a ass but if you know enough people in the guild you can come back after you leave and form your own guild that fails.

Crazy times. Makes me see more and more why people don't join raiding guilds. The good news is I've been in the guild for over 3 months and this is the first bit of guild drama that I have seen so far, which I suspect is a good thing. Still, I'm not saying a guild should be run like a correction facility or the government, but when those in charge start doing stupid stuff, you have to wonder when will they start doing it to you?

"Your Anquish Nourishes me"

2009-12-08T08:37:00.006-05:00

So today Blizzard will release the much anticipated 3.3 content patch. It will have new 5 man instances, a new raid instance for 10 and 25 man and new emblems to relish and acquire. Changes to the interface will include the new quest helper and Looking for Group.

As much as I want to be very excited for the new content, I am really looking forward to the LFG improvement. Currently, if I play my Tank, I have no issue getting into a group, people are always yelling for my assistance in trade or general chat, not the LFG channel of course, but still I am needed a lot. But as I have learned recently while trying to gear up my mage, damage dealing classes are a dime a dozen. I've been kicked from groups because people wanted to bring their guildie or friend, because they already have 2 mages or because they just don't like my gear score. However, this shall not be the case I hear with the new interface which is suppose to match players not only across their server, but other servers in their battle group. I hear lots of great things and I won't spoil too much in case fellow blogger, Br3ntbr0 over at ITG, wants to create a post about his recent adventures on the test server.

However, with all things that change, some things will remain the same. Meaning, the game will be more buggier, more competitive driven and will create lots of people who just want to grief others and not just on a PvP server, but on all servers. I discovered after creating a death knight on Jaedenar that players even in a guild will beg others for money no matter what server you are on. I can't believe someone playing a Death Knight would need 3g for repairs in the starting area, but apparently they do and needed to harass me for spare change.

UPDATE

I wrote this post early this morning in the hopes of having it finished by noon. Alas, work wouldn't allow it, but I've tried repeated since getting off work to log in and look at the new content. Apparently, that seems to be near impossible right now. As I'm typing this, even the main World of Warcraft website is down. So, it might be tomorrow evening before I get a chance to enjoy all the creamy goodness of this wonderful game ~~breaking~~ altering content patch.

Freshly minted 80

2009-11-19T12:00:00.003-05:00

My Sweet lil' Gnome Mage, Gwion, is finally 80. Yaaaa....course, now I have to get him gear so I can pull his gear score up and avoid getting hit with Mohawk Grenades as I manage to figure out what spec is good for raiding and what is good for overall solo PvE and PvP. Being squishy toon, you have to think of all these things. I've also got to get several achievements done, so he can advance his tailoring and lots of Heroic instances to do for trash loot to get recipes for enchanting.

Man, Blizzard sure does know how to turn a perfectly great game in to a grindy little cash time sink, wouldn't you agree.

Been doing a lot of raiding with my Tankadin, Oakley. His Gear Score is over 5100 now which apparently is good for most 25 man raids. Not sure how that will work out once the new Ice Crown instances drop in 3.3, but I'm very happy with the guild I've chosen so everything should be peachy as they say in the south. I do need to get a set of nice retribution gear, but that will come as we advance forward and just do 10 man stuff for fun.

What else is there?

Well, picked up a few console games. Apparently, and I didn't know this till recently, but Toys R' Us is a great place to get games on the cheap. They usually have some kind of killer deal every other week. I recently picked up 3 games for the price of 2 and at 60.00 a pop, that's not bad. So, I got, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2. I've also managed to pick up God of War Collection and Left 4 Dead 2. But if you have me on your PSN or Xbox live friends list you'll see that I've not been on playing any of those lately. The reason for that is Dragon Age Origins and Torchlight, which I picked up for the PC. I wouldn't bore you with elation that I feel for both these game, since its been widely posted all over the net by now and I hate to be behind the times as it were.

I've got a great rant about PC vs. Console in my to edit file so I hope to have that out soon. It just seems that every time I have a great blog idea, someone else has done it or is regurgitating it from some gaming news source. I hate to be non relevant in this age of Twitter and Iphones. Not to mention the fact that I've been trying to fix my PC for the last month, but that too is another story to tell.

I'm Talking Games, Also!

2009-10-31T09:20:00.004-04:00

I've joined a secret coalition of bloggers destine to bring gaming information and opinions to the masses, or at least to each other.

Oh, apparently it isn't very secret anymore. Well, no one really reads my blog so I guess the secret will be safe for a while anyway.

I'm Talking Games is the brain child or the finger of blame, however you want to see it, of br3ntbr0, formally of A Wall of Text, and Genda, The Grouchy Gamer and founder of Casualties of War. Others have joined the squad, including the controversial, Jobildo and a new blogger, to me at least, Kaldeem.

If your looking for more info and opinions on games from very detailed and opinionated bloggers then be sure to set your readers to I'm Talking Games.

Don't worry, I'll still be posting here about World of Warcraft and other things that interest my fancy.

Oh, btw as a side note, last night was my wife's birthday, no ages please. For some crazy reason, her favorite place to eat is Cracker Barrel, so after work we did some shopping and headed to our local restaurant. Well, we sat down and I took a gander at the people at the next table. I had to do a double take actually, because the group to my left included a man that looked just like Reverend Jesse Jackson. On my second look, the man caught me looking, smiled, extended a fist for the congratulatory Obama Fist bump and said hello to me and my wife.

As it turns out, that was in fact, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Apparently, he was speaking at a local college and decided he needed a fix of home cooked food, which by the way included Greens, one of my favorite meals. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera, but if we did I'd be hesitant to even take his picture because he was trying to have a low key meal with friends and possibly family.

I have been very lucky. I've already met, Ret. General Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State, Alexander Haig and Iran Contra and Fox News commentator, Oli North, but I don't brag about that last one too much. I also met the lead singer of the 80's rock group, Survivor, but I don't even remember his name.

Now if I can only get Jessica Alba to come hang out with me.

The Guild Hall

2009-10-26T00:21:00.003-04:00

Well, as mention some time back, I decided that the only way I was going to progress any further in WoW with my Tankadin, was to find a decent raiding guild. My first attempt at this endeavor failed terribly, so I went back to my old friends only guild to hang out and figure out what my next plan of advancement would be.

As stated in a previous post, I got invited, by someone I had met in game, to come raiding with his guild. Sure, I was a PuG, but I'd always had fun doing dungeons and such with this fellow, so I figured, I'd give raiding a try. It was a great success. Everyone liked my gear and was impressed that I had managed to get a good bit of it from badges and heroic dungeon crawls. They invited me full time into their guild. I accept after chatting with my friends and making sure that the new guild didn't raid on the night my friends and I would be hanging out together. One thing I learned from the previous experience, don't turn you back on friends, or burn any bridges. Because when you run away from home, you might end up coming back to stay when things get rough.

The new guild had not issues with me taking Wednesday night to hang with friends, as long as I didn't run any 25 man content, which, as I think I stated before, we are very very far from doing. So, I said yes and became a member of Tsunami on the Darkspear server.

Now, so far things have been, well, fantastic. I did some research, by watching videos on tankspot.com, for the raids we had planned, mostly 25 man Trial of the crusader and 25 man Onyxia. I made sure everyone of importance understood that it would be a learning curve for me, only because I hadn't seen the fights in person. Videos and strategies are fine, but if you've never been in a fight, you really don't know how you will react till your there. I just wanted them to know that I would probably screw up or be slow doing things required of me, but that if they were patient, I'd get it learned and we should excel from that point forward.

They did explain as much as they could, and with the assistance of the guild's main tank, a very nice Death Knight, I managed to get pretty far. We got most of the 25 man ToC done in one night and the next raid night we did 25 man Onyxia with out so much as a wipe. We then traveled into 10 man Ulduuar so we could get badges and gear for some who had just leveled up their alts. I've also son, 10 man Onyxia and 10 man Trial of Crusader and finished them as well. The loot system for the guild is via council. Now some would argue that a loot council is a bad thing, and normally, I would agree. Basically, a number of officer see what the loot items are, then they ask those who can use the item to link their current item to see if the gear is worth replacing. If so, they will either award it directly to the person needing the upgrade the most or make them roll for the item if its a upgrade for both.

The problem arises when people, who have played together for a very long time, tend to reward items to friends over strangers in the guild. Or in some odd cases if a friend of someone they dislike needs the item they'll reward it to someone else just to spite them. This does happen. Emotions can run high when it comes to the all mighty purple item that everyone must covet.

But in the case of this particular guild, they reward the item to the person who needs the item the most, because they understand that if they as a group want to advance, their members must have the right gear to do so. Since most of the tanks in the guild currently have fantastic gear, because they've been raiding end game content much longer than I have, they graciously pass on the gear so that I can upgrade and become a better guild tank. What this means is I've been getting really wonderful loot. I've gotten probably 4 or 5 pieces since I stated raiding with them 2 weeks ago. They aren't stingy with the gear at all.

Another great thing is they don't chastise people too harshly for making a mistake. The guild leader has been known to call out people who do start passing the blame around when a boss fight fails or things just don't go well and the raid wipes. The atmosphere is very casual, but yet business like. You have to be on your game, but if you make a mistake, no one remembers that, they only applaud you when things are done right. I've made mistakes I'm sure, but they are quicker to point out when I do something right as opposed to most other guilds I've raiding with who won't explain the fights and start yelling at you if you do something wrong. How can people expect others to stay in a guild very long when they have an off day and people are yelling at them? Its a game, not work or life threatening. There is no need to beat people up for making a mistake that they are pretty well aware of in the first place, because they made it. I'm sure they aren't jumping up and down, proud of themselves for wiping an entire raid of 25 people. Instead they probably feel bad and don't need any further pressure from a bunch of know it all's who just want someone to point the finger at and yell. It doesn't bolster any extra self confidence to do it right the second time, I can tell you.

Anyway, I'm having a blast. They are a super bunch of people who are more interested in finishing a dungeon for the bragging rights as opposed to getting tons of loot and badges for themselves. They just want to have fun and be competitive, which I greatly appreciate.

The problem is all this raiding and fun is making me miss a lot of sleep, especially since Borderlands has come out and I'm spending a lot of much needed sleep time playing it late into the morning hours.

Well, I'll speak more on this other great game in another post.

Look, if your unhappy with your current guild and think that all raiding guilds are the same, well don't. They aren't all the same and I'm sure you'll find a great fit eventually as well. Course, it took me 2 years of looking to finally find one that I'm hoping will last longer than the 2 years it took to find them.

It's Alive

2009-10-23T08:39:00.003-04:00

Ok, I've been slack, in my defense, I have been so busy at work..... and playing Borderlands and Raiding in WoW. All of which I hope to chat about this weekend.

Don't give up on the dwarf.

On some good news. A friend got his WoW account hacked (not the good news) and with the diligence of some friends and guildies, the brought to the attention of an online GM, the account was quickly banned, to prevent the destruction of all my bud's hard work. It was on a weekend, so he had to wait till Monday to speak with Blizzard. After two days of talks, they returned the account back to him and was able to return all the stolen gear and the items taken from the guild bank.

Now, I know people complain about Blizzard and mainly about customer service, but I have to say, that no matter what horror stories others have had, I commend Blizzard's CS with quickly responding to the problem and the fast return of my friend's account and all his gear. I also want to remind people that play, beware of websites and mods that could potentially constant Keyloggers. Also, if you see odd behavior from a friends account, contact him directly to make sure it is him, if not, then make sure you bring it to the attention of guild officers, so they can limit guild bank access and put in a ticket to Blizzard. People say that GM's will not do anything from a ticket, but I have first hand proof that the best way to help your friend is to chat with an in game GM. At the least, he will be aware of the issue, especially if they person has stolen the account happens to be on.

I would also recommend getting one of Blizzard's authenticator. It is a hassle, but it will save you time and money later and it's only 7 dollars.

Jonas Sees In Color

2009-10-09T07:35:00.005-04:00

I've mentioned that I work for a audio visual rental staging company. I work on the staging side. Basically, we provide audio visual equipment for large corporations who want to reach out and chat with their employees or share holders, you know those 1000 people intimate conversations. As a co worker describes it, "It's a rock and roll show without the band"

Well, yesterday, we set up lights and sound for a band, Jonas Sees in Color. We've been providing gear for their live shows for some time, but being on the video side of things, I've really not been involved. They are a bunch of really nice people, who helped us set up the entire rig and will probably be there this morning when we set up the sound. Not to famous to get their hands dirty, which was nice. Actually, after chatting with a few of them yesterday, I think that no matter what, they will stay humble and always remember the people that helped get them to the top.

The reason for all this fanfare is they recently got a record deal and are having a CD release party (at Greene street in Greensboro, NC, Friday October 9th around 9pm) to thank all their fans, which is pretty cool.

So if your looking for something to do in North Carolina tonight, come have a listen.

Oh, they did a video of our lighting guy, Jim Caddy, which I'm also going to share with you.

The FacePalm

2009-10-07T01:47:00.004-04:00

I got a chance to do 25 man Trials of the Crusader, which is a very interesting raid. I hooked up with a healing buddy, Bigrichard, and his guild, Tsunami. Right now, its very late or rather early in the morning and I have work. But I did want to say, Wow!! What a difference in raiding style between the last few raiding guilds I've interacted with, Conclusion and Anubis. This guild looks promising, but I'll get more into that and their style of play in another post.

Let me just say that not all raiding guilds produce horrid people that would be better suited for working at the clinic of arguments. For those rude people, I'd recommend the crunchy frog. Still, I'm pretty happy with my progress and even though I've only stuck my head in the instance once, I managed to perform admirably, if I do say so myself.

Again, I'll relay more on this matter later.

It only proves the adage, Always look on the bright side of life.

The Sunday Review

2009-10-04T21:02:00.006-04:00

I had the opportunity to view two very different shows, one on the big screen and one on the little screen. I've decided that both needed to be talked up or rather about, so here is my review of these two different pieces of media. Again, remember, I talk out my arse sometimes, so you may or may not agree with portions of this Sunday review, meaning, please read with an open mind.

Zombieland

First, I'd like to say that Zombieland is one of the best zombie movies I have ever seen and if you don't go out and see this movie you are doing yourself and your funny bone a disservice. The movie from the start is just great. The main characters are just trying to make sense of what has happened to the world, mainly that everyone has become an undead flesh eating zombie and they seem to be on the preferred menu, but it is done in a "Bob Hope/Bing Crosby" style inspired road trip. Lots of great humor and wonderful cameo, which I won't give away, and lots of rules to live by, my favorite is rule #4 by the way, which a lot of people in zombie movies fail to understand, especially the cheerleaders. Also, it lets the geek be the hero, Mountain Dew Code Red and World Of Warcraft FTW!

The movie does have a good portion of zombie killing, maiming and destruction, so for those who love violence and grossness, there is a lot for you to enjoy. Funny thing, I couldn't remember what the rating for this movie was, especially when me and Mrs. Oakstout took our seat and looked among our fellow patrons and noticed a large percentage where kids under the age of 18 with adults. Trust me, this movie is full of violence, adult language and lots of visuals not suitable for the younger audience. It is also, as I just happened to look, rated R. Now I understand why kids are the way they are, with parents taking them to movies such as this, it doesn't surprise me at all.

On my scale the movie gets a B+ and will definitely be on my to buy list once its out on the market. It might actually edge out Inglorious Bastards for my movie of the year, still the year isn't over yet.

Just remember, nut up or shut up!

Stargate Universe

I am or rather was a huge fan of the original Stargate SG1 series, but to be honest, it had to grow on me. The first time I watched SG1, there was a bald African American with a gold tattoo on his forehead, being all serious, and I said to myself, this can't ever work. But, persistence from a co worker that the show was actually decent got me to record a few episodes, which eventually got me completely hooked. Richard Dean Anderson was the heart, sole and main reason that show survived as long as it did, which is saying a lot, because in the later seasons where he was absent, the writers spent a lot of time pulling stories out of their collective asses. I ended not even watching most of the last season because after killing off the Goa'uld or at least making them a none threat to earth, they had to come up with an even sillier villain for the series called the Ori, which was very absurd, but that is my opinion. Eventually, the ended the series without really coming wrapping up that whole story arc. I believe there is a direct to video movie, which fixes that problem, but I stopped watching it before all that so I'm not sure. What a way to kill a fantastic series. Anyway, lets continue.

Before the demise of SG1, they spun off the show and created Stargate Atlantis, which was decent for the first season or two, then it started spiraling out of control when the viewer was informed that the Wraith, the main bad guys on the show, were actually a mutation between a human and a space slug, to be honest, I never really like their villain at all. The Genii seemed a much better villain, but these people don't like their shows to be humanoid vs. humanoid. I actually liked the episodes when they were more like Star Trek episodes. Go to planet, get in trouble, help people on planet, leave. I never thought there needed to be an overall subversive plot in the background, but then what do I know.

So, I eventually stopped watching Atlantis because it just got too out of control, even though there was a lot of great actors on the show, like the doctor, Carson Becket t, who they killed off and Rodney McKay, still my favorite.

So that gets me to Stargate Universe and this past Friday's two hour premiere.

I have to say, I watched it expecting it to, well, suck. They, those who create content for the Stargate franchise, haven't managed to do anything really creative, in my mind, since the first few season of the original. I don't mind strange and exciting stories, but come on, they have to have stories less contrived than the ones in the last few seasons of Atlantis or SG1.

But in truth, I was thoroughly entertained by this new Stargate show. The people they introduced seem rather ordinary, but who are for the most part, pretty broken as humans go, with personal issues, problems and lots of baggage that I'm sure will come out into the light and make for lots of interesting story lines. No one knows what is going to happen to them or where their next adventure will be, which gives it the Star Trek style feel that I do enjoy. They aren't in control and that is a great way to start off an adventure. I don't want to say too much about the show, it isn't perfect, but it is worth watching at least a few times, because I think it could be a winner.

I've added it to my recorder list and I'm hoping for the best. I do want to enjoy this one because with so few great Science fiction shows on the air, Fringe is horrible by the way and Heroes is so gawd awful these days, I'm hoping for the best this time.

-Oakstout

What ARRRRRR ya doing?

2009-10-02T11:26:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. Still chugging along slowly with Oakley, my tankadin. By slowly I mean I'm at end game looking for something exciting to do. Luckily, there are all these holiday events coming up in the next few months, starting with Brewfest, that will keep me entertained. I've also managed to get 50 riding mounts in the game, which nets me a very nice albino drake for free. Also got all my starting alliance faction to exalted, which nets me the title of Diplomat. So I am keeping some what busy.

As posted earlier this week, I'm back in a friends only guild trying to convenience them that recruitment is what will keep the rest of the crowd interested so we can do 10 man content on a regular bases. But, like me, the rest of my friends are stubborn and lean towards procrastination on matters concerning the guild and figuring out what to do next. Course, I can't complain too much, I could be proactive and step up the movement of recruiting more, but since I'm just like them, which is why we all work together well, it's going to be hard to get motivated towards that endeavor.

I also picked up Champions Online. I still play it off and on during the week. I try to get in a level every time I play, which isn't hard since the game is pretty broken as it is. What I mean is, I can solo things that are 3 to 4 levels higher than me and since the content is designed for specific level ranges, eventually, I will, as everyone keeps telling me, run out of quests to help me level which will mean endless grinding off mobs that don't relinquish much in the way of XP.

This concerns me, but I like the concept of the game, the art work , the graphics and the way my character performs his attacks and super powers, its just really, really cool looking and I am still having a blast. I will say that since I'm using an Xbox 360 controller and not mashing buttons on a hotbar repeatedly, I think I'll get way more enjoyment out of the grinding process. Even now, I'll just try and kill everything in the zone I'm questing just to see how cool my character looks while doing it. Oh, and he looks pretty awesome by the way.

There are aspects of the game that are severally damaged, but I'm hoping the free content patch they are providing in October will help with a lot of that issue. They do seem to patch a lot every week and there are some who are still in there hoping for the best. I should be annoyed that I'm paying to beta test an MMO and normally that would be an issue for me, but I just like the look and feel of this game even if it is broken. There are some who complain about the "Rubber Band Questing" or the collection questing or the go here get this questing. What I gather from all that is, its the same style questing we've been dealing with since Everquest came out, right? Those are the tried and true mechanics of all MMO's on the market right now, with maybe the exception of a few independent games like Fallen Earth and EvE, which I've never had the privilege to play.

Ive picked up Uncharted for the PS3 since I hear its a very good game and Uncharted 2, which is slated to come out very soon, is even better. I managed to finish the story mode for The Beatles Rock Band. It was very nice and I hope to go back through learning all of it on the plastic drums the second time around. I do still play a few games on the on the Xbox 360 like Mass Effect, which I picked up on the cheap recently. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I like Mass Effect, but I knew it would be full of dialog trees, which aren't my favorite type of game, but the story is very intriguing so I thought I would stick with it a while.

While at my local gamestop, I reserved Borderlands for the Xbox 360. I did this because Scott and Aaron wanted to play some 4 person co-op and were very nice to include me. I've got no expectations about my contribution to the co op portion of the game, because I suck at FPS games on the console, but it was nice to get asked.

Finally, my last piece of gaming info. I did pick up Scribblenauts and I have to say, I'm not as impressed with the game as I thought I would be. The concept is really cool, but moving objects around in the world and getting them to work the way you intend them to work is very haphazard. I can't go into the specifics of the game mechanics, but let me just say, it looked cool in the demos and on paper, but it isn't as cool as one would suspect when your actually doing it. If I was to rate the game, I'd have to go with an 7 or 8 out of 10, rather than what the reviews I keep saying. But this is my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

I think that about covers what I've been playing. I do hope to be getting Batman Arkham Asylum for the PS3 and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for the DS at some later date, just not sure when. If so, I'll do a review.

If your looking for a good podcast about console or portable gaming, I would recommend the Player One Podcast. I have to say, not only is it very informative but it is freaking hilarious to listen too. It's a weekly podcast that is usually available by Monday.

Wow, two pictures and an embedded video this time. I'm really getting the hang of this blogging media.

Blog Roll

2009-10-02T11:18:00.003-04:00

I've made a few changes to the blog roll.

I've deleted a few, bloggers who have fallen off the grid or stopped posting anything that interests me, and I've added one crazy mofo, Scarybooster. Check out his site when you get a chance, lots of good info about Aion, Fallen Earth and Champions online.

Cave Drawing

2009-10-01T19:21:00.002-04:00

To Pillage, To Plunder, To Raid

2009-10-01T14:37:00.006-04:00

The MMO Gods hate me!

Let me explain quickly. Last Saturday I joined a pretty nice raiding guild called Conclusion. Little did I know that it would be the end of my current aspirations to become a full time raider. I managed to raid with them Saturday night, 25 man ToC, which was pretty cool. Having no previous experience in that particular instance, I think I did pretty good as an off tank.

So, I log off, because I have to do some work on Sunday. I log in late Sunday evening and everything seems pretty cool. People are hanging out. I put my name on a few raids for the upcoming week, do some inventory and quest clearing then log off. I felt pretty good about the new guild, everyone was fun to hang with, got a few tanking pointers, people seemed to be having fun together, no issues. I had to take a few quick snips from my friends in our old guild, but since they weren't seriously thinking about recruiting people to help us raid and I wanted to raid, I figured they would understand.

So, I don't get to log back in till Tuesday night because of my work schedule, but that's cool, cause there are no raids till Wednesday and I didn't sign up for any until Thursday. But, as soon as I log in, I get messages from a few people. One of them is asking me if I am going to join UO. I check who sent me the tell and it's an officer of Conclusion, except he is no longer in Conclusion. Apparently, in my brief appearance in the guild, some of the officers got fed up with the casualness of the guild leader and left taking over half the guild with them and forcing the guild leader to shut down the guild completely. So, after figuring out all this, I discovered that my friend, the person that got me into the guild in the first place had also jumped ship, I decided to leave Conclusion and join up with Underoath or UO.

But, I didn't feel right about it for some reason. Sure, the officers probably had a pretty good reason to leave since the guild leader wasn't supporting their efforts to get the guild into full raid swing again. They definitely had the right to leave and create their own guild, one that would serve their purpose and get them the gear they desired, but I'm not big on guild drama and if they did it once, who's to say they won't cause problems again or problems won't arise again. So after thinking it through, I decided my place was back with my bud's in Noobs. I had to apologize for my leaving and beg for forgiveness, but they understood and welcomed me back.

I do long for the day that I can raid and do 25 man content again. Hopefully, the Noobs will start recruiting and we'll get some additional help to see that dream come true, if not, I might try to get in on a few PuGs, although I'm sure they will be disappointing and full of know it all jerks who love to criticize rather than help people out.

Although my stay in Conclusion was brief, I do have hope that there are some guilds out there that really value the player rather than the gear that player will help them get. One of the hosts of the Banstick Podcast tweeted to me earlier:

"I don't think that there will be any loyalties until Blizzard encourages guild teamwork and goals with a system."

A honest statement, I just hope Blizzard is listening.

The Book of Enforcement

2009-09-18T08:11:00.003-04:00

Stephen 'stepto' Toulouse is Xbox Live's Director of Policy and Enforcement. Recently he held a panel at Pax in Seatle, which was rebroadcast on a recent posting of Major Nelson's Podcast. I found the intro extremely funny and thought I would share it with you. For those with consoles, who play a lot of multiplayer games, you will find this very informative.

Here is the actually transcript of the above video in case you're like me and have to crank your volume up to the point of annoying love ones. Yea Tinnitus.

To begin, a reading from the book of enforcement.

And it came to pass that the user did sign up for Xbox LIVE. And it was good. And the service smiled upon the user and did ask, "by what name shalt thou be known?"
But a shadow passed over the user's soul, and they were tempted. And they did indulge this temptation and entered a name unfit for the eyes of others. And the service spake forth, saying "Thy gamertag is not appropriate"
But the service was kind and forgiving and bade the user, "Please try another"
But the user had hardened their heart. and did carefully shroud their name in trickery. And it came to pass that O's became zeroes. The letter T became as a plus sign. Falsely clothed in their new finery, the service was fooled by the user and did bid them welcome with the customary ancient incantation "P00nhunter has signed into Xbox LIVE"
And the user did commit unspeakable acts of evil in their profile. The soul of those who looked upon the gaping maw of the user's Bio field were rent asunder, left as small and twitchy as a beaten purse dog.
Poonhunter did travel to the battlefields of 1943, where they intended to darken the hearts of their brethren. On the highest point of wake island they preached their dark fellowship aloud to their team mates, and poonhunter’s words became as stones.
Verily poonhunter intoned in great detail the false histories of their team mate's lineage. They bore false witness to the tendencies of the very wombs that begat them to lie with all manner of creatures, two legged, four legged, 8 legged, and even the very crops of the earth. And poonhunter did take the last plane on the carrier and then did use that plane to try and knock the team mates from the ship with the plane's wings. And in their dark blasphemy poonhunter proclaimed his team's habits of routinely spilling their seed upon the ground.
And the team did cry out in anguish to the sky "why, why is this douchebag on our team" And more than one among them did file a complaint.
But my children, the service heard.
A light shown in the void, and it blew over the game like a cool breeze and said "time to regulate".
And it came to pass that the service archangels swooped down, and poonhunter's mouth was suddenly silenced. Their words fell as inconsequential as a forgotten gas receipt at the pump. And suddenly the archangels did smite the user with such a force that the shockwave reached the other players, a shockwave that explained itself as simply as it was effective: "Poonhunter has left the game"
And on the other end of that judgment there was a wailing and gnashing of teeth. And the service looked upon the fires of a two week ban and smiled, and it was good.

Can I get an amen.

I would recommend listening to the entire panel discussion or reading the rest of the transcript on Stepto's website.

How it should have ended!

2009-09-13T21:26:00.003-04:00

I would like to thank, Wolfshead, who recently posted "How the Lord of The Rings Should have Ended." That little bit of fun, lead me to finding this little gem!

So, Enjoy!

The Edge of Nowhere

2009-09-13T15:03:00.002-04:00

I'm stuck.

I've reached the end of my potential with my character in WoW short of raiding. I'm in a friends only guild and currently we are raiding but nothing too hard. We've done Obsidian Sanctum and a few bosses in Naxxramas, but nothing very complicated.

Now, what do I do? I can keep running the heroic dungeons, getting emblems, but there isn't anything currently I need from them for my tanking set. Course, I could start grinding gear for my retribution set, so I can do dsp when needed, but that seems like a huge waste of time, especially since I really only want to tank.

Blizzards small fix, which came in the form of patch 3.2, has kept me interested, but that only lasted a month or two. Not much in the form of choices. Short of dumping my buds and trying to find a nice causal raiding guild, I'm pretty much stuck in neutral. This is why people leave WoW. Blizzard tries hard to keep people interested by adding a few little tid bits at a time, but unless your really into farming or raiding, you'll eventually get bored. This is how I ended up getting into Warhammer last year. I was stuck and here was a new game that grabbed my attention for a short period of time. Seduced me away from WoW with it's promise of being better on the PvP front, but in the end it failed to keep and sustain a base of players.

How do MMO's keep their audience? I know that Eve online has managed to maintain a huge following, but I think it's because the game is so cut throat and powers in the game change on a regular basis which must keep the action fresh. Everquest 2 is so huge now and leveling isn't the easiest thing to do, that it will take months or longer to reach the end game, so it will keep the player interested, if they can stand the look of the characters.

I just don't understand, how games like WoW can stay on top, if they are boring people to death by the end of a years playtime? I'm not bashing WoW, I like WoW, but I don't understand why I go through these periods of boredom? I just don't get it.

So basically, what do you do as a player to keep your MMO fresh? Do you just use it as a social network or are you hip deep in raiding? Is it just a place to lose yourself in the mundane to forget your daily troubles? Or does the game never get old for you?

I'm just curious.

T.M.I

2009-09-13T11:44:00.008-04:00

T.M.I or also known as "Too Much Information".

Back in the day, it was presumed that you couldn't have too much information. Knowing all we need to know about something, helped us make informed decisions and helped guide our thought process. But these aren't the old days. Now we are in the age of technology and what use to represent something which was needed is now defined as something we don't want. I regret that today, I'm going to talk about the later.

Now, in today's age, T.M.I means hearing something we don't want to hear, like when Paul tells you he got drunk, ate a bucket of chicken and threw up on his mom's shoes or that your best friend for years decides to tell you he has a plastic blow up woman, called Linda, whom he plans to marry the moment it becomes legal to do so. What it means now is, we really wish you had just kept your mouth shut and not told us that juicy bit of information. Now, I bring this up, because I want to talk about T.M.I in reference to theory crafting and specifically MMO's.

Cuppy, a short time back, explained how she disdained from reading any blogs that divulged a truck load of theroy crafting, she then explains that she isn't against theory posts in general, but she would like to see them from developers and not from people that number crunch the visual and don't know the code, which is how I translated it to mean. Channel Massive decided to take issue with this and talked about it on their Blog O Steria. Sorry, I have to give these guys props, they turn out a very interesting podcast.

Now, I've read theory posts before. I have gone to elitist jerks and maintankadin a few times looking for information about how to tank and how to get my stats up so I can be the best I can be in the game. Sure, a lot of the time, its number crunching by people that are analytical, who know that result A when added to result B will get you result C. Basically, they haven't seen the code, but from what the game is outputting to them visually, they can deduce the answer they need from the question proposed. There is a need for this kind of information because people crave it, they want it and they don't feel they can play the game without it. Sad, but true. Which is why it's a choice. People put up forum boards and blogs to discuss this kind of information. Whether you go there or not, is your choice.

Now, I didn't quite understand Cuppy's feelings on this subject till just recently. I won't name names, cause well, I can't remember who it was and if they read this post, I hope they understand that they did nothing wrong, this is how I felt when it happened.

The other day, I was in Champions Online, hanging out, playing one of my many super heroes. While playing, I decided to hang out in the guild vent channel. A lot of the people in the guild are actual blogger's which is pretty nice. Anyway, I was questing along and listen to them chat. Its fun to just hear people get excited about a new game, and discovering new things. Every now and then, I would interject something to the conversation about how much fun a certain power was or when I killed a cool looking villain. Eventually, the conversation changed and when they started talking about the numbers, meaning what set up netted you the best results and how other results were far less impressive and gimped. They started throwing out information about energy regen and which stat was the best to level up and what skill powers to take , a lot of it was way over my head and the word "viable" kept being tossed around. When they had boiled the numbers down, it left little choices as to what was worth playing in the game and what wasn't and this just started to bum me out.

Here I am, trying to be fully immersed in a game of super heroes enjoying how my character knocks people back 50 yards or how I can fly around and shoot enemies with my shock power, and I'm hearing this new fantastic game being boiled down to a bunch of stats that if you don't have them, your screwed. I mean, it turned me off fast. Instead of getting the feel of playing a super hero I was feeling I had made a terrible mistake and was playing a really gimped game, and this was in a matter of minutes. And all this from a few people discussing theory. It wasn't their fault, but it did take me out of the game and for a while there I wasn't really enjoying it. Because I'm thinking, should I just stop what I'm doing and roll something that will be "Viable" down the road? I mean, the game is set up for the player to have tons of options, but are there really that many options if I want to succeed in this game?

I do want to state that it wasn't anything the guys in the guild said in particular, it was just the fact that when the numbers had gotten crunched, that the final result was some aspects of the game just weren't going to be working well in the game, in their analytical opinion. Your overall ability to do particular instances or mobs might suffer. They didn't' come out and say, Oak, your screwed now. This was their theory. I mean, they figured all this out by running characters up to 20+ and seeing what worked and what didn't. So for the most part they were the ones who got really boned. They had, in their eyes, wasted valuable time playing a character and discovered they wouldn't be able to do much once their. But why can't we be ignorant of this? I mean, if you didn't' know that your character was gimped would that take away from your overall experience? I'm sure they had fun getting the character to 20 and if they hadn't crunched the numbers, would they still be having fun? Isn't there a saying that "ignorance is bliss?"

So, in the end, I just decided I was going to play the game like I wanted and to hell with the theory that my character might suck later on. I'm a super hero damn it and that is the fun I wanted to have. If I wanted to theory craft and number crunch, I would go back to raiding end game in WoW.

But as much as Cuppy wants to get away from it, theory craft isn't going away. People need to boil it down, get the skinny, because those people don't believe in too much information. While others, who just want to play a game, who want to be immersed in the world and find peace from the real one, who want to be a warrior or a super hero for a short period of time, they believe that there is such a thing as too much information and they say, keep it to yourself.

Course to be completely honest, even those people will seek out the numbers, eventually.

The Fab Four

2009-09-13T10:47:00.004-04:00

When I owned by PS2, I purchases and very much enjoyed Guitar Hero. I wasn't too bad at it either. I was able to do most of the songs on medium difficulty, which was fine for me. But when I picked up my PS3, I dusted off my plastic guitar and software and traded it in for something at Gamestop.

Now, I was never really interested in Rock Band. Sure it sounded like a lot of fun, but the "Man Cave" as the guys at work call it, which is where I've got my computer, PS3 and Xbox 360 set up in is very very small. So, setting up a drum kit, no matter how condensed it maybe compared to a real one, would take up just about 1/2 the room.

Well, then Harmonix announced The Beatles, Rock Band.

After a little negotiating, like telling my wife she didn't have to buy me a birthday gift next month if she let me have this game now and cleaning up the Man Cave a little, I picked up my set of plastic instruments at Best Buy. Now, before you go thinking that I've got a small fortune, let me explain that I did not pick up the Limited Edition version, which is around $250.00. I ended up getting the less expensive version which didn't have the replicas of the Beatles instruments. It would be cool to play on Ringo's drums or Paul's bass, but since I'll be playing them in the privacy of my own home wearing boxer shorts, I didn't feel the need for going over board.

I got out the guitar, which was probably a safe thing to do, since I've never used a drum kit before in my life and would be embarassed to see how that went while sober. The set up was fairly easy and the packaging was really impressive. Instead of openning up the huge box and finding everything back in there, they actually had the drum kit and the guitar packed up separately. Which means I don't have to pull out pieces of the drum kit just to set up the guitar. I was also a little confused while opening up the box. I thought all the instruments were wired. I thought this, (I did no real research on the box set except to compare pricing), because on the box it says it comes with a 4 port usb hub. Since it was a PS3 version and most things associated with the PS3 communicate with the main unit via blue tooth technology, I figured it was all wired instruments.

Well, they aren't wired, they are wireless. the hub is so you can hook up the wireless box that goes with the associated instrument. This was a happy accident for me, because I wasn't looking forward to running cords all over the floor. Course when I ran the cord, it would only be about 4 feet, which is the distance from my Futon and my 32" LCD. Still, it was nice.

Ok, so I got the guitar set up, which was pretty easy and then inserted the Beatles Rock Band disc and proceeded to see just how rusty I was. I was really really really rusty. So, after calibrating the wireless plastic guitar, I decided to jump into the story mode and see how bad I was after being out of practice a few years. Well, I would have to say it was on the on the verge really sucking. I think I got 20% of the notes right. So thinking it was the game, I recalibrated the plastic guitar again. I mean, I couldn't' suck that bad, right?

This time instead of jumping back into the story mode, I chose a song from the easy list and started giving it a try. Well, more suckage, but I was up from 20 to about 40%. Now, when I say I know I was sucking, I would hit almost 100% on easy when playing Guitar Hero, so I understand the concept of hitting the buttons when they come across the target area. At this point, I decided to do the tutorial. Which, to be honest, helped me tons. I was able to get back in the rhythm of the game after a little practice.

Well, to make a longer story longer, I went back in and picked another easy song and scored almost 90% with a 74 note string, meaning I hit 74 notes in a row accurately. After a few more songs, even a few on the more difficult range, I still managed to keep my score from hitting the crapper. So, if your rusty and haven't played a plastic instrument in a few years, I suggest you put your ego in check and play through the tutorial.

But, overall I would have to say I made the right decision to pick this monster up. It is the most fun I've had playing a game, except the one with Scott, Aaron and the other Scott a month back. I love the Beatles. I have been a fan of The Beatles since way back in High School. It wasn't until cd's became inexpensive and widely available back in the early 90's that I began filling out my collection. I'm not a Beatles maniac, but I do appreciate their music. I especially appreciate how, in a time when people were just scratching the surface of rock and roll and specifically, what could be done with electric instruments and sounds to enhance a song, the Beatles were right there on the front lines with George Martin, making it happen for us.

If you have Rock Band, I would suggest picking this up, the music has been remastered in true stereo and the animation is just great. If your not a fan of plastic instrument games, then, I would suggest one of the 12 remastered compact discs recently released. Each of them have been remastered in true stereo and digitally enhanced. Course, as a co worker said to me recently when I asked if he listens to The Beatles, his response was, "I don't listen to anything, with a few excepts, that was released before I was born". That was 24 years ago. What a shame.

The Play List
(Might not be complete!)

Singles
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
Paperback Writer
Revolution
Don't Let Me Down

Please Please Me (1963)
I Saw Her Standing There
Boys
Do You Want To Know A Secret
Twist and Shout

With the Beatles (1963)
I Wanna Be Your Man

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
A Hard Day's Night
Can't Buy Me Love

Beatles For Sale (1964)
Eight Days a Week

Help! (1965)
Ticket To Ride

Rubber Soul (1965)
Drive My Car
I'm Looking Through You
If I Needed Someone

Revolver (1966)
Taxman
Yellow Submarine
And Your Bird Can Sing

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Good Morning Good Morning

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
I Am The Walrus
Hello Goodbye

The Beatles (White Album) (1968)
Dear Prudence
Back In the U.S.S.R.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Birthday
Helter Skelter

Yellow Submarine (1969)
Hey Bulldog

Abbey Road (1969)
Come Together
Something
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes the Sun

Let It Be (1970)
Dig a Pony
I Me Mine
I Got a Feeling
Get Back

Love (2006)
Within You Without You/ Tomorrow Never Knows

A large portion of the songs need to be unlocked in story mode.

Champions Online Impressions

2009-09-07T09:24:00.004-04:00

I have a very low resistance to games. Meaning, if I see a lot of people having a great time playing a game that I'm slightly interested, I'll pick it up just to try it. Such is the case with my latest purchase, Champions Online.

Now this game originally wasn't on my radar. I had tried City of Heroes, another super hero game created by Cryptic, and found it very lacking. It was like a Thanksgiving meal without the turkey and dressing. The little I had read on blogs from people who had been in the beta was that the game was not very fun and it was pretty broken. So if I was going to try the game it would be months down the line after getting way more feedback.

Then the game got released.

I started getting feedback on the game in a very interesting place, Twitter. A lot of those people I follow started tweeting about the game and the impressions were pretty positive. Apparently, Cryptic had decided, strangely enough, to fix a lot of the broken aspects of the game in beta, which isn't what successful game developers are suppose to do. As a result the game is much more polished, Sorry Darren, than expected. So, on a whim, I decided to pick up it up and a 2 month game card at Best Buy. This way, if I was bored in 3 months, it would be easy to quit.

The first thing that gave me hesitation that I might have been in haste purchasing the game was the fact that the installation gave me a few problems. The game got stuck on patching and crashed, so when I force closed the game, it wouldn't start up at all. This took me several minutes of internet investigation to find a fix, which I'm still not certain corrected the issue. All I do know is eventually the game, after a system reboot or two, started working again and patched. Then I was able to get into the game and start having fun.

The character creator is very robust. It's similar to the one in City of Heroes, just on crack. I mean, I've created three characters so far and I don't even think I have scratched the surface of the greatness the creator is capable of. I could spend hours just crafting new characters, sadly, they only give you 8 slots. I do wish there was a video tutorial or something similar to point out some of the more finer aspects of the creator, but I guess they wanted you to get your hands dirty and dive right in.

After several hours of crafting my toon, the game starts everyone off in a small tutorial area that teaches you how to block attacks, use your super powers, interact with objects, etc. Nothing too complicated and it gets you oriented to the look and feel of the world. Cryptic steals from every other MMO, including Warhammer's Public Quest system, although Cryptic's version isn't very exciting and I found myself not very interested in trying it more than once. which is odd cause I participated in the PQ's in WAR all the time. The quests aren't any different than any other MMO. Save the people, collect the items return and get your reward. Champions has a built in quest helper, which puts circles on your mini map letting you know these are the areas in which you need to get things done for quests. Again, it drags you around a bit by the nose, but I'm not against that sort of stuff. It doesn't feel odd like it did in WAR for some reason.

After playing around in the noobie area for a few hours, I still wasn't digging the game very much. I mean it was fun, but I found the interface and the movement very awkward. Course that could be my fault. When you get into the game, it asks how you want to set up your UI and controls. I set mine to MMO style, which I figured would be similar to WoW, but apparently I still had issues getting the camera right and getting my character moved into the right spot. But, I had read somewhere that you could use a console controller to play the game. So I dug out my wired Xbox 360 controller and got it working. I have to say, this improved the game for me 1000 percent. I never was a big fan of the concept of playing an MMO on a console, but after using my controller for a few hours now, I can finally get my head around that concept. Getting to things in my inventory, chatting and picking up certain quest items still requires a mouse and keyboard, which is kind of a pain, but overall I am having a fantastic experience using my controller with this game, and if you have one, I would recommend using it.

The game is gorgeous by the way. It has a certain style that is comic bookish and I'm sure people won't like it, but I think it adds a lot to the overall feel of the game. I do think they could have done more with the sound, because the back ground noise is very repetitive in certain areas and can tend to get on your nerves. The best part are the attack effects, spell and melee. I choose a dual swordsman for my first toon and the attack animation is just awesome. One of my attacks is a flying kick, which at times still doesn't work like its suppose too, but is still fun to watch. Kicking someone from halfway across the map is just a blast. Characters movement is very well done, even while flying or moving with super speed.

Oh, I guess I need to mention that little perk about the game.

When you reach level 5, you get to choose your traveling power, flying, super speed, teleportation, hover disc, etc. These will help you get around the map pretty easily and fast. It's akin to purchasing a mount in any other MMO, except you get it very early in the game. These traveling powers are fun, and you can attack with them active. I've seen people hovering or flying while taking on mobs, which is pretty cool to see. Course, like all powers, even your traveling ones, you can change the colored effect at will.

This is getting long so I'll wrap it up with some of the cooler aspects of the game.

All your character name's are tied to your account, so there is no naming restrictions, except for profanity, that I know of. So there can be more than one of any name in the game, so if someone chooses the same one as you, they can still have it because their account name will be different. Also, having your character name tied to your account makes it easier for people to find you while playing alts. They just add your account name to their friends list and any toon on that account automatically gets added to the list. Course, this makes it hard for you to hide from friends who are playing the game, but overall its a great addition and I wish more MMO's would follow suit.

Next time I'll mention some of the dislikes, but since currently I don't have a lot of them, it will be a very short post.

The Beat!

2009-08-31T13:39:00.000-04:00

Something creepy to keep you all wondering.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

On the Frontlines

2009-08-30T11:03:00.002-04:00

I had a chance recently to play Frontlines: Fuel of War with a few of my favor bloggers, Scott over at Pumping Irony and Aaron over at Anyway Games. Let me say that Scott's version of my gaming prowess is very much exaggerated. Yes, I did kill him with a tank and yes, it was very funny sneaking up on him, but until we all got on the same team I think the score on kills was more like Scott 20, Oakstout 1.

I had picked the game up a few months back on the hopes that we would all get a chance to play online together. I was concerned that since the game was over a year old that their wouldn't be a lot of players online, which is the case with a lot of online console games when they are past their prime, but I was pleasantly surprised that the community is very large and their were lots of great servers to chose from.

Normally, if I play a FPS, it's on the computer because I suck playing them on a console, but I really wanted to give this one a shot and it was a lot of fun. I'm hoping we can get a few more players so we can field an entire team of bloggers and friends.

This is one fun game I would recommend to any Xbox 360 owner.

The Bad Patch

2009-08-30T10:22:00.002-04:00

I'm a bit behind in my news, but I wanted to talk about something that has been bothering me since Blizzard released their recent content patch, 3.2, for World of Warcraft.

Everyone has seen the patch notes, so I won't go over them here. My main complaint, isn't the patch it self, it's what the patch has spawned. Emblems of Conquest now drop from 5 man heroic dungeons. This is great, it lets people, who are limited on time or aren't really interested in raiding, to have access to higher end gear. This has brought to the forefront some of the most obnoxious players in the game. Let me give you a little background to explain.

I like PuGs. My success rate with finding nice friendly people, who know what they are doing and know how to get the job done was close to 85%. I would run PuGs all the time and as a protection paladin, it wasn't hard to get into a group. On occasions, I would get into a group that was under geared or certain people didn't know their role, but even in those groups, people bit their tongues and didn't give each other crap.

Enter patch 3.2 and the need to have that coveted gear through Emblems of Conquests.

Players start doing chain heroics, trying to get as many emblems as they can in the least amount of time. The problem is, when you rush, things go wrong and then players start to wag their tongues a bit too much and start to point fingers. Up until the patch came out, PuGs were fun. I would do a few a day, every day if possible. Now, they are a bane to my fun. It's like the patch spawned a whole bunch of rude, crude socially unacceptable players and the only thing on their mind is what's in it for me. Patch 3.2 is a prime example of how greed effects people. "I must run 10 heroics a day so I can get my tier x shoulders by Thursday" but the issue is, once you get all that gear, what then? If your not a hardcore raider, you'll look very nice in that pretty gear, but you won't be doing anything in it. And if your already a hardcore raider, why even stress out about that gear. It's not like you won't be raiding an instance that will drop even better gear eventually. True, you have to compete for the drop against other people, but isn't that the fun of raiding? Isn't that why we raid?

I just don't get why people have to be rude. I mean, everyone has a bad day. On occasions I've made a wrong pull or forget to re-acquire agro and someone gets a mob punching them in the face, but that happens. There is no need to start telling me how to play or tell me I suck or I'm not going fast enough. I've had people so impatient that they pull bosses, just to get people moving faster and then they complain that they are dead because I didn't rescue them from their mistake. I've had several conversations in groups since the patch where my ability to tank has been brought into question because people don't understand how to control their threat. And the reason their not watching is because they are in a hurry to get to the next dungeon to acquire that next emblem and some how, that is my fault.

My advise, don't run PuGs till the dust settles and all the rude people become bored again and go back to sleep, then I think it will be safe to find a decent PuG. Lets just hope they don't release another content patch soo soon after they start to slumber.

The Coffee Break

2009-08-03T13:52:00.005-04:00

Coffee Break! Time to take a moment, step away from the World, that is Warcraft and discuss other things.

I recently picked up two new DS games.

Desktop Tower Defense is a below average game derived from a browser based game which is free. I only picked it up because the box said "Game of the year" but apparently that was a marketing ruse. It's your typical, build turret, upgrade turret, defend against on coming army. Nothing too spectacular. Very low end graphics and the game can provide some entertainment, but at $20.00 it's pretty much a rip off. If you have a PS3, I would recommend PixelJunk Monsters, which is a much better game and half the price or just play it through a browser.

The second and much much better game I purchased is Grand Theft Auto: China Wars by Rockstar Games. It's a top down version of their very popular console series and let me say, it's a lot of fun and challenging. It's the typical set up, you are small fry in a big mafia, Yakuza to be precise. You do odd jobs for your uncle till you can start branching out and making new friends, all the while trying to find out who killed your father and stole the family heirloom.

Driving around town is a good portion of the game. There are lots of side missions some of them entail you working in the drug trade. One of the more difficult aspects, at least for me is the driving. It isn't as easy as one would expect, the controls are very similar to those used in previous versions of the console game, but since the DS is much smaller than a console controller working with the left and right bumper buttons while trying to zip around town takes some getting use to and it takes time coordinating your moves so it feels more natural. Also keeping your car on the road does seem a bit difficult, but it is a bit forgiving on damage and running over people, meaning the cops don't start after if you run over one person, unless it's a cop. But if the law starts chasing after you, no fear, just run them into other cars or building structures until they crash or explode, this will generally discourage those following and eventually they will give up pursuit. The game is also chalk full of naughty language so it's definitely not for kids. The humor is there, just inbetween the F-bombs.

At $35.00 it's a little above my normal DS game price range, but I don't feel like I got robbed amd the cost is about equal to the amount of fun I've been having, which is always a plus, since I've only scratched the surface.

The only other game purchase I have made in the past few months is Sims 3, but I'm not ready to speak about it just yet indepth. It is a time sink, and a lot easier to play, for me at least, than previous versions. But if you want more info on the game for now, check out Ysharro's blog.

(Course, knowing me, I've probably already mentioned all that a few blogs back. Memory is one of the first things to go, right?)

Other than that, I've really not been playing anything except World of Warcraft. I am, however, looking forward to trying out Wii Sports Resort, which came out last week and Scribblenauts for the DS, which should be hitting shelves in a few weeks. I also have my eye on a few Monkey Island games, the old version, which has been reskinned and the new episodic version, have recently been released and I've very interested in picking something up, but since they release it on both Steam and XBLA, its hard to choose. I'll probably have to consult the gaming community to see which is better.

See, it doesn't have to always be rants and WoW!

*Personal Point*
I've lost 27 lbs. on Weight Watchers.

The Forward Progression

2009-08-03T01:20:00.003-04:00

To raid 10 man instances, you need,... well, 10 players. Course, you need the right combination, mainly 2 tanks, 2 or 3 healers then the rest a collection of melee or ranged dps. But the two most important things, in my opinion, you need for a successful 10 man run is gear and experience. If you don't have those, no matter how many healers, tanks or dps you have, you will fail epically.

So, how do you get these two must have items? Obtaining decent epic gear is pretty easy, if not time consuming. First, on your way to 80, you can pick up good gear by doing normal instances, completing quest for reward gear or grinding up rep with several factions in Northrend. Crafted gear as well as gear purchased off the auction are also great ideas. There really isn't any limitation to getting decent starter epic gear if your persistent.

Here is how I got all my tanking gear for my Paladin. First, when I hit 80, I did a lot of battlegrounds and tons of Wintersgrasp events. Through the gathering of honor, I was able to purchase some decent dps gear. Even though it was designed for PvP, it still doesn't do a bad job of getting you through a few instances as long as you make sure to enchant and gem it properly for max damage output. After obtaining a good number of pieces, I would jump into as many normal PuG instances as I could, just to learn how the dungeons worked and to pick up any trinkets or rings I was still missing. Then, I moved forward to doing Heroic dungeons. This provided me with Emblems of Heroism, with which I was able to purchase more tanking gear. If, while running the heroic, the main tank didn't need an item, I would get a chance to roll on it, sometimes I was successful, others, not so much, especially when I tended to get into all plate wearing groups. Believe it or not, it actually happens. After getting enough tanking gear through emblems and crafting a few pieces with my blacksmith, I decided to do a few tanking runs myself. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but as the tank, I got my choice of any tanking gear that dropped.

That is basically how I was able to build up my tanking set and a decent dps set for my off-spec. Not a very hard endeavor. Through my determination to run instances where I could get the best gear, I was able to pick up a few pointers from more experienced people and was able to gain the experience needed to be a successful tank. You can't run just a few successful instances and claim to have experience, especially those that don't run any instances till they get to 80. Experience also comes from being in bad PuGs and learning what works and what doesn't. I know for instance, that if my health is failing on trash mobs that the healer is ill prepared to get us through to the end boss. If the portal mobs aren't getting dps-ed fast enough in Heroic Violet Hold, then we are lacking in the proper dps and others will have to step up to get it done. All of this comes from not just doing one or two heroic dungeons but doing all of them over and over in the hope of understanding what combinations provide a winning outcome and which will end in utter failure.

I believe that since WoTLK came out, PuGs have been much more successful. True, you still get the occasional know it all pain in the ass and the idiot that has no clue, both of which will cause expensive gear repairs by the end of the run, but more often than not this is the exception not the rule.

My suggestion, before your guild starts running 10 man raids, make sure everyone is geared up, run a ton of heroic dungeons and maybe even an old 10 man raid pre-WoTLK. Go over strats and always remember, it's just a game, that you play for fun, relaxation and enjoyment.

The lack of good information

2009-07-25T09:53:00.005-04:00

As previously mentioned in this blog, I've started tanking with my paladin, Oakley. I've reached my defensive cap of 540 for 5 man heroics. I also managed to gather just about all the gear I will need prior to raiding Naxxramas or any other 10 man raid instances.

That being said, it's been a real chore to find any decent information on what gear or technique is good for tanking as a paladin. There is always, Elitist Jerks, but that's more information that I would ever know how to properly digest and at times very confusing. There is also Tankspot, which is pretty fantastic with pull techniques and tanking suggestions, just not a lot of info specifically for Tankadins. Sure there are lots of good sites that specialize in retribution paladins or Holy paladins, but nothing specific to a tanking paladin, which is a shame since we make pretty good freakin tanks IMHO.

So here is the plan, here on this blog, I'll try and impart some of the wisdom that I have gained through trial and failure from time to time. I'm not a numbers person but I will give as much useful advice as I can about tanking as a paladin and the short cuts I have found for gear, best group make up, and strategies.

One of the first things I want to suggest is RAWR. It will allow you to upload your character off the armory and will help assist you in optimizing your gear, enchants, gems, etc. It will give you as much or as little information as you need to help figure out what combination of gear will best help your character advance, so will know where to go looking for the next ugrade. This is not a mod, but a program that will run off your computer. If your not comfortable with running something like that, then I can suggest a website that does something similar, albeit in a much more limited fashion.

Lastly, I recently discovered a nice paladin blog that covers all specs called Blessing of kings. Lots of good info and it's been added to my blog roll.

Harry Potter and the Half Plot Movie

2009-07-25T09:37:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday, the wife and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I really enjoyed the movie, except for a bit of the rough dialog, some of the stiff acting and the butchering performed on an outstanding plot as originally told in the book.

Not to say I didn't laugh out loud a during the teen angst or enjoyed all the other parts they hacked up to put in the movie, but still, they should have made this one a two parter as they doing with the last book, because it really deserved that kind of fan service.

All in all the movie is one of my top Harry Potter movies. I just wish the actress playing Ginny, Bonnie Wright, had done a better job. At times I wasn't sure if she was just too stiff or just too scared to act in each scene with Radecliffe. Course, that could have been what the director wanted, who knows.

They jump around a lot, trying to cover as much of the books highlights as possible which at times, seems too much, but still, if they provide an extended version on blu-ray, I'll be picking it up.

One good thing about seeing the movie is that it's finally gotten me to read the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So far, its very good, but I'm only a few pages in. I'm sure I will enjoy it just as much as I have the rest of the series.

Over all I would give this movie a B-, but that's just one Dwarf's opinion.

The Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

2009-07-16T07:08:00.004-04:00

My previous post has been deleted and the following is the reason:

I've come to realize that a blog is a huge responsibility. Sure posting your rants and raves about games and MMO's is a lethargic way to release bent up joy and frustration, but its really not a venue for releasing personal stuff, well it is and it isn't.

Recently, I posted about a recent unfortunate issue that I had with real life friends inside World of Warcraft. I was hurt, angry and very upset. I needed a place to air my issues and since this is my blog, I chose here. I'm not saying posting personal stuff on the web isn't helpful or therapeutic, but this particular issue was a misunderstanding between friends and as such, it should have been kept between friends, not aired out in the public. I didn't remove the blog to sensor other views or to show that I'm a poor sport when comes to these kinds of issues. This was a personal matter that needed to be handled, personally and that didn't give me the right, nor the reason to post my issues here. The break down in communication is evident in this situation and a phone call would have been a better way to clear things up than a blog post, because as I discovered a simple matter often turns into a "he said, he said" argument and then things start to get way out of whack. Obviously, there are two sides to any issue, and we could go on pointing fingers at each other all day, lines could be drawn forcing things to become crazy and get out of hand if they aren't already. But I realized, thanks to my sanity anchor and friend Ysharros, it had just turned into a crazy childish argument where I envisioned two nerds with flailing arms and hands trying to bitch slap each other like in an episode of "The Big Bang Theory".

Too often I have seen people post blistering rants about how they are treated. who did or said what, and it just ends up being this huge drawn out Internet drama that, well, is meant for places like high school and television soap operas. As someone that fell from blogging grace, I understand that venting as I did, is necessary but the Internet is really no place for this to happen. As an adult I should have known better especially since I usually point my finger at people like that and go "CRAZY" all the time.

You can exercise your inner demons but I could have done it in a better way. I'm not by nature a mean, unbalanced spiteful person, well, most of the time I'm not. But on occasion, when things hit me the wrong way, I tend to only see red and once I start trashing the china shop, I just have to let the broken pieces settle and then try and figure out, in the long run, how I will pay for all the damage. If I was a person who was always quick to anger, I think I would have handled the outcome better because of years of experience, but since I only rage once in a blue moon, I tend to over do it and it's usually something that happens with close personal friends, which is unfortunate, but hopefully in the long run, they will understand.

That being said, I'm sorry to have posted it all here. Airing my dirty laundry isn't my proudest moment, but learning from my mistake is very valuable.

We now return you to our regular humble gaming blog, already in progress.

What's in a name?

2009-07-14T15:03:00.004-04:00

Well, this isn't a post about gaming. This is a statement about my favorite coffee. Grant you, not a paid advertisement for my favorite coffee, Venti, bold, 5 sweet'n lows and a bunch of cream.

This is about the different types of establishments that are under the name, Starbucks. There is the stand alone, brick and mortar, Starbucks, and then there are those that are nested inside another establishment, like Barnes & Nobles or your favorite grocery chain. People might think that this are the same, but in fact, they are not. I'm here to straighten that out.

The stand alones, which are the true, official Starbucks operated by trained Barista's, and always have coffee and always have it nice and hot, no matter what what the weather. These are the ones I frequent the most. Every time I walk in, I order my Large or Venti coffee and every time, I get it in a matter of seconds, piping hot, be it the middle of winter or summer. It's always the same cost and they never, well ok, almost never, try to sell me anything other than what I am buying. I might get the "want to add a chocolate chip cookie to that order" once in every 20 visits.

Now, lets talk about the faux Starbucks, which are located for convenience, inside your local Barnes and Nobles or corner grocery store. Every time I visit one, and I do visit them because they are convenient, especially since those in the Barnes and Nobles will take my discount card, reducing the already crazy price for coffee down a few much needed cents. They NEVER have coffee when I arrive. I mean, never. I tried going at different times, different days of the week, and still upon ordering my venti coffee, I would get told, "would you mind waiting 3 minutes while we brew you some fresh coffee?" Not just every now and then over the course of 2 months, but I mean, ever single time this would happen. It even happens at the local grocery store. (I won't mention the name because my company does a lot of work for them.) It was like a conspiracy. I even asked to talk to a manager once, just to let them know that this happened all the time, and she said something about a new system for rotating coffee out every so many hours, and yadda yadda yadda, sorry for the inconvienence.

But if that was true, why didn't I have the same exact problem at the brick and mortar stores. The "Real" Starbucks stores never left me hanging for a cup of coffee. Every time I go in, boom, I get coffee no waiting, no give me 2 minutes to make some fresh, I'm in and out in less that 4 minutes depending on the teenage couple in front of me snuggling and chatting about how good their flavored iced latte will be. Even then, its fast.

The main product at these faux Starbucks is coffee, so how can they not have any ready to go, hot and fresh? I understand that during the summer, there isn't a lot of need for a hot beverage, but still, if your a coffee house, you should, well, have coffee ready to server, right? I honestly don't think the guys in Seattle know how bad these franchise Starbucks really are and how much of a bad name they are giving their real stores. I mean, in a 5 mile radius of my house, there are 3 different Starbucks, two are the fake ones, and one is the real deal. In a city that rolls up its streets at 7pm on a friday night, I hardly think they need 3 Starbucks, especially since two of them are always out of coffee.

Well, I've gone on long enough about coffee. Let me just warn you, if your headed to a Starbucks later, just make sure you go to a real one, and not one nested inside another business.

Now you can see why I tend to be unbalanced, too much caffeine.