Updates on this blog have been quite sparce. This can mostly be attributed to the fact that Blizzard has created the most addicting game to ever be released, World of Warcraft. I started playing WoW about 2-3 months ago, when I decided I would try out the game millions of others were raving about. I figured with the 1 free month you get with the game, I would be able to tell whether or not it was truely worth the $15 monthly fee. As I have stated before (see, Guild Wars), I was never a fan of monthly fee’s for games. I figured there would never be a game possible of deserving a monthly fee. Damn… I was so very wrong.

Comradery

World of Warcraft brings a new meaning to the word addiction. I can’t say I have ever been more addicted to anything in my life. This game has even forced me to pretty much halt any poker addiction I currently have/had. I am currently a level 53 Orc Hunter (7 more to go!), a level 23 Undead Mage, and a level 12 Troll Priest on the Burning Legion server. I am a member of The Vague, a small 30-40 person guild. None of us are truely addicts in the WoW sense (50+ hours a week, etc), but we all get along quite well in the game. Most of our members are developers/designers in the Dallas area, with a few implants from the San Fran area (Danny, Mike, Christian, etc). If you are ever in need of finding a quick pickup group to quest with though, there is always someone doing the exact quest you are, making it VERY easy to level.

Economy

The one thing that amazes me in this game is the economy. You could literally sit at the Auction House all day, and make gold like a mad man, and still have a damn good time. Or, you could farm Copper, Silver, Mithril, etc through mining, and sell that at the Auction House, or craft it into Armor/Weapons to sell as well. There is also a skill for fishing, where you can create Savory Deviate Delights that transform you into a random character (Pirate, Blob, Skeleton, etc) for 30 minutes. These sell for quite a hefty price on the Auction House, but why? Because they are cool, and for no other reason. I can’t count the amount of high armor items I have that won’t sell on the Auction House, yet if I have Abel create me a Leather Ball that you can simply throw to friends, it will sell in no time flat.

PvP

Hmmmm. How do I word this. PvP is both the bain of my existance, yet the thrill of a lifetime. There is something about constantly fearing for your life while doing simple quests in a contested area. Yet, having a 12 year old level 60 Rogue decked out in epics corpse camp your level 25 body, can be quite frustrating. I still don’t understand why Blizzard can’t implement a system that disallows the same character from killing an opponent for 15 seconds or so, after they have killed you 3 times consecutively, but oh well. I think I am one of the few people that thinks Battlegrounds are a perfect answer. Most people have said that Battlegrounds have ruined world PvP. While that might be true, there seems to still be plenty of raids in Orgrimmar, etc.

No end in sight

I see no end in sight for my love of this game. There is just way too much to still be explored. Hell, I still have 5 other classes to get to 60 :) So, in closing, if you have noticed the lack of updates, you know why. If you are on Burning Legion, or want to get in touch with me in WoW, send a tell to Aeigelus on the Horde side, or just comment here. We are always looking for more developers, designers, or just plain addicts. Either way, if you play, comment with your server/in game name.

I have been a HUGE fan of the Battlefield series since they released the demo of Wake Island for Battlefield 1942. Literally, I have played this game series, more than I have played any other games combined. Kind of sickening when you think about it, but when you see how good the series is, you would understand.

Overview

So, this weekend, EA & DICE released the demo for Battlefield 2, the modern combat sequel to the series (Battlefield 1942 was the WWII edition, and Battlefield Vietnam was the Vietnam edition). In a nutshell, Battlefield is a FPS, but with vehicles. At any time, you can hop in a Tank, Jeep, Plane, Helicopter, etc… and use it any way you please. Hell, this weekend, I took out a line of 3 guys in half a second with a Dune Buggy (if only the Prt Scrn button was closer…).

There are 2 new features that really make this version stand alone from previous Battlefield’s. The new commander mode allows a person to basically “command” the battle from a top down standpoint (execute artillery strikes, give squads orders, etc). The other great feature, is the new command execution. Before, you had to use the F keys to execute a command to your team. Now, you simply point at a target, hit Q and click the appropriate command, and not only does it call out the command to your team, it highlights it on the map. The usability of this feature was REALLY thought out, as the most used command (Enemy Spotted) is selected by default, so you just have to hit Q + click at the same time.

There are some bugs

There are a couple of bugs however. For instance, every once and a while, if you capture a base, some teammates that now spawn there, will show up as enemies, and when you kill them, you will get a Teamkill. I racked up a wopping -27 score in about 30 seconds this weekend before realizing it. How this bug makes it through testing, is beyond me, but what makes me ok with it, is that EA/Dice are usually VERY fast in patching the game to fix these type of bugs. Another annoyance, is the Helicopter controls. Not only do the controls hardly respond while at full speed, they just feel fake overall. Anytime you angle the helo down, it speeds towards the ground at an incredibly fast rate. Sure, this might be realistic, but hardly easy to use in-game.

Overall

Overall, I am extremely impressed with this game. If the full version proves as good as this demo, I would go as far to say that this is the game of the year. Go download the demo, and let me know what server you play on. Great work EA & Dice.

UPDATE: EvilAvatar has a couple good download options for the demo.

Warning: geek factor of following entry is 10 :)

Over the weekend, I bought the newest entrant to the MMORPG genre, Guild Wars. The one thing that drew me to this game, was the lack of a monthly fee. Call me old fashioned, but I just don’t understand paying $15-20 a month for a game (although WoW sure was tempting).

Overall review

This game is quite impressive. From the start, I was expecting a substandard MMORPG, due to the fact that there was no monthly fee. Ill be damned if I wasn’t proven wrong from the beginning. I played it one time during the beta weekends (about 4 months ago), and was impressed, but saw many holes needing to be filled. Ncsoft definitely filled them, and more. From the start of the game, you are introduced to a world of complex skillsets, easy to use interfaces, but at the same time, not made to feel like a n00b. That is, until you go to the academy. Once there, you’re on your own. Make SURE that you take care of ALL of your skills, leveling up (I would say level 6, 7 is the minimum before entering the academy), etc before you enter the academy. Otherwise you will be a little bit limited in what you can do in the searing. You won’t be shit out of luck, but it will be a little tougher.

Expansiveness

This was one thing I was worried about before I entered the academy. The map was quite small, and I thought it would be quite limiting. Once you enter the academy, you will find out that the map grows 10 fold. I have been playing in the searing for quite a while, and I’m not even 10% through the map. This might be the same in all MMORPG’s, but I have nothing to compare to.

Skills

One thing that’s great about Guild Wars, is the fact that your ability is determined by skills, not hours played. I think in the end, it all boils down to hours played, but it is a LOT easier to pick up and compete with the more experienced player.

So ya gonna join my guild?

Well, I really haven’t started one yet, but wanted to see if anyone in the community had bought the game and wanted to team up. Leave a comment and we can meet up in Ascalon.

A couple of days ago, Paul Scrivens of Whitespace fame, released his recent blog venture, Insert25. Insert25 is a blog dedicated to the ever growing community of gaming. Being an avid gamer myself, I offered up my blogging services to Paul, and he quickly took me up on the offer. So expect to see many articles, reviews, etc. from me at Insert25.

Press Releases
Forever Geek
Whitespace

Sony announced a new, redesigned version of its Playstation 2 console today. Advantages include a much smaller design, and also a built in ethernet port. Disadvantages include a not pictured, probably huge external power supply :) No announcement has been made on a lower price yet. The console will debut on November 1st in Europe and November 3rd in the US.

Check out the article at the BBC

With the release of ESPN NHL 2K5, Leagues were introduced to online play. My friend Abel and I have already been playing single games online, and while it is a LOT of fun, we had the idea of starting a league of our own.

So who is up for it? Want to get whooped, oops, I mean play in our league? If you don’t have the game, don’t worry, its only $19.99!

We hope to get about 6-8 people playing in the league. It has options for between 10-82 games in a season, period length, etc… So far we have myself, Abel, and my friend Kevin in the league, but of course, we need more to make it fun. Sign up in the comments :) Oh yeah, we would be playing the Xbox version…