Last night or rather this morning in the line up waiting for the WOW Burning Crusde expansion, Tigerlili floated the idea of a treadmill and Wii interface for playing WOW. One guy said he would have a huge right arm, another guy said he was dual wield so he would be ok. Check out this dude, he lost 9 pounds in 6 weeks playing Nintendo Sports.
Well the life of a beta tester isn’t always an Elysian paradise of feeling vaguely superior and vaguely disappointed.
It can also be entirely unsatisfying and filled with frustration.
We downloaded the 3 Gigabytes that comprise LOTR, Shaows of Angmar three times on the weekend and every single DL had a problem. When we finally got it installed it would not connect or files were corrupted.
Thanks Codebastards. You really have your shit together. CCP, Blizzard and NCsoft better watch their backs.
Yep, got Beta testing for it, this Saturday. Which is pretty exciting as it’s the first LOTR online MMORPG game and we have been waiting for it for about two years.
However
The developers at Turbine were also responsible for the excruciatingly boring Dungeons and Dragon MMORPG, a game so crappy that it made me actually shout at the box it came in. Continue reading ‘Got Beta for Lord of the Rings Online’
When I used to have a computer at home I played a game called City of Villains. The view from Hoboken makes me feel like I’m in game, in real life.
Second Life (SL) is a 3D world designed and partly owned by residents. You’ve probably heard that people “make money in a virtual world”, then take a look at it and read a few reviews on games websites and think it sounds like a bunch of fuss over nothing.
You should look again. If you want to think of yourself as a progressive thinker, you really can’t afford to ignore SL.
Firstly SL is not a game. You don’t shoot things for hour after hour, you don’t grind for XP, you don’t advance your character. Well not in a lvl 60 way.
Secondly it’s not just “Sexy Sim World”. You don’t have to get involved in anything seedy whatsoever. Even though some residents choose to create and indulge in virtual thrill seeking pleasures, most residents I’ve met are interested in using SL in a different way, for instance designing meditation spaces. Virtual spiritual retreats with streaming wisdom from the Dalai Lama, or support groups for manic depressives.
Universities like Harvard have cottoned on to the benefits of virtual learning in SL. Here is what they have to say about their online course - Law in the Court of Public Opinion
“If we do say so ourselves, the course will be unlike any that has ever been taught. It is a course in persuasive, empathic argument in the Internet space. Throughout the course we will be studying many different media technologies to understand how their inherent characteristics and modes of distribution affect the arguments that are made using them. Students will be immersed in this study through project-based assignments in which they will be using these technologies to make their own arguments”
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/
Having tried a few of the online lessons in 3D building and scripting, I found the environment to be extremely creative. For a start my teachers varied in appearance, from a Feline Fatale to a “normal looking” Cheerleader, I got a unique perspective on how my teacher sees themselves. Of course my classmates were all pretty unique, one of them was actually a random object. And why not?
Public Radio’s popular health and Science show The Infinite Mind, recently ran interviews with novelist Kurt Vonnegut and technology and social forecaster Howard Rheingold.
(Click for clips and more info) http://lcmedia.com/
Performers like Duran Duran and Suzanne Vega have done live shows. Music concerts, sponsored by big movers have become more popular, with MTV and Coca Cola getting their filthy fists in on the action, however plenty of alternative groups are around, and you can’t keep a good bit of creativity down. Whilst the Evil Empire of Sony Online Entertainment shafted angry SWG players, the SW community thrives in SL, creating their own worlds, weapons and stories. There are weapon zones, but I’ve heard from other second lifers that they aren’t that fantastic, however I’ve not tried them out myself. I know that people have fun shooting the “trespassers” on their land, so maybe that is something you should consider if you start exploring the infinite lands within SL.
It’s not about possessing money either. If you look you can find financial opportunities within the game, but only if you are talented. There are plenty of guides to working in SL, but that is only going to be your thing if it is your thing, if you see what I mean.
For a deeper look at Second Life check the wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
Wagner James Au reports on SL
Click on Chip Guy for the skinny on the royal screwing that Sony Online Entertainment gave it’s customers. It’s a good antidote to the withdrawal pangs and reminds me that SOE is like an abusive ex-boyfriend that you shouldn’t go back to, let alone google.
I suppose the problem is that nothing can eclipse the experience I had when I played Progress Quest. Those halcyon days gathering the penii of Kobold on the Shores of Orion, my character JootMoot (Race - Talking Pony, Class - Hunter Strangler) would laugh and play alongside many, many others. Thanks guys for the companionship and love.
I will never, ever, ever forget you.
Ever.
Ever.
So this is where I have been for the last few months. In Azeroth*.
*Armed with the fully illustrated World of Warcraft Atlas (published by www.bradygames.com ISBN 0-7440-0441-1) It’s on Amazon. It’s lovely. Glossy.
We wait eagerly for the Burning Crusade expansion.
I’m a noob, just two lvl 30 Priests (one on each side) and a small clawful of lower level characters. Everyone plays this, most of the SWG community migrated here I suspect.
Basics is that it’s set in Elf land.
There are two sides, Alliance and Horde.
Alliance are Night Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Gnomes.
Horde are Undead, Trolls, Taurens and Orcs.
Alliance are soon to be joined by the hoofy Draenei http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draenei
Horde get the blonde horror of the Blood Elves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Elves
Ok, I’m sure that the Blood elves aren’t just blonde, but right now, the screenshots look like pointy Barbie dolls who are slightly cross. Still, just as long as I can make one in a brusier set of colours, I’ll try one out, it’s not that I don’t like playing my Undead character Crazylina, it’s just that sometimes her bony spine sticking out from her cloak makes me feel like I’m playing as Kiera “anorexia? never heard of it!” Knightley. But then Kiera’s jaw sticks out, where as my characters jawbone keeps falling off, so they are different in that respect. At least for the moment.
Personally I think that Troll girls have more fun. They certainly seem to get the most howling, whistling and bashful looks from the male folk. I think it is the sheer brazen Tina Turner Thunderdome Warrior Queenishness of them. That and their sexy tusks.
Sexy Troll Lady
Sexier Tina Lady
Ugh. Did I mention Seed?
Well if you like standing in the same spot as thirty other players for ages, if you like talking to an NPC thinking it’s another player and if you like having an incredibly crap navigation, this is the game for you.
I was excited about getting this after all the hype, but unfortunately it is just hype.
For a start, the Gameplay is laggy in busy places, you get masses of characters all jumbled up inside each other in a pixelated mess in doorways, entrances etc and some of the texture rendering wasn’t very good, bald patches appearing on characters heads for instance. I have a very fast PC and it still looked messy. Honestly, is it too much to ask for your toon to have the ability not to be able to run through other toons? It just sorta ruins the whole effect.
Visual character customisation is very limited, there are no options to change the body weight or shape of the character, and another more sinister problem, I couldn’t make the skin colour of the Elf I had chosen to play, dark. OK this sounds a bit weird, but I’m a dark skinned girl, I don’t necessarily always want to play a light skinned character. There was a light green, a light pink, a light blue option… but no dark green, no dark pink… no dark Elf skin colours at all. It may seem trivial, but it’s worth mentioning. Also there are no options to change your characters appearance after the first screen, so if your Dwarf fancies a beard trim, SHE will not have the option to have a wee shave later. I don’t think it’s just female players who like variety in the customisation of games, from what I have seen, male players are equally sophisticated in their tailoring needs.
I don’t think you should have to be a D&D expert to play this game, if you aren’t, the learning curve will be very steep, with neither the instruction booklet or initial screens being particularly user friendly. Honestly, I was snoring after the User Agreement.
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