The Pointed Sticks are all reunited and playing gigs again, which means of course I missed them at they're most recent gig at the Red Room. A little then and now playtime :)
What gift from a parent do you remember the most?
Submitted by jorge456.
Thats easy. My first computer, the Atari 800XL. On its own, it rocked hard with its 8 bit processor and 64k memory. The tape drive was slow, but worth the wait. You could even use regular cassette tapes to record on to (I used a
Mini Pops tape my grandparents gave me). I lusted hard for the floppy drive, but it cost nearly as much as the computer if I recall. Nevertheless, countless months of Joust and DigDug were to be had, along with the games you used to type in out of magazines, library books, etc. Hoever the best and most played had to be The Temple of Apshai. This game came out shortly after my introduction to D & D, solidifying my nerddom for eternity.
Well, we launched a new World of Warcraft site in an already oversaturated market, Wherecraft.com. It's essentially a collection of resource links to help when playing the game, easy to access from a browser while playing the game. We're running a contest as well for some expensive items, and so far there is a bit of traffic with that. Dunno if it will flourish, but we're learning a lot just by having the site launched.
World of Warcraft's private test realm is now open for pregenerated level 70 transfers again. Anyone interested in trying out an arena team? You are allowed 4 premades in addition to the regular 4 character transfers. Will probably try some non-standard builds just to see if any are viable. By the way, there is appx. a 3-5 day wait for the transfers to occur. At present, the transfers are giving me errors, but thats business as usual on the PTR's.
What's your favorite card game?
Strangely enough, blackjack. My only game when I go to the casino. I've been toying with card counting on and off for a few years now.
Not sure how to feel about the stripped down, industry friendly E3 this year. This time the public is relegated to the sidelines forced to watch imbedded videos like the rest of us unfortunate shlubs have to do year in, year out. Which can be a good thing as content is worth more than parlour tricks. With a shorter, leaner show developers and manufacturers needed to show polished products. The big hitters delivered for the most part, on everything but a major announcement.
Microsoft's yawn-inspiring opening gave one thrill, new footage from Mass Effect. Bioware is inspiring the same fan loyalty as production houses like Blizzard and Id have developed through immersive storytelling and gameplay. The combat will be squad based, real time with the ability to pause and issue commands. To be released in November.
In my opinion, the big news regarding the 360 is the no-news surrounding the red ring of death. As a consumer, I'm more inclined to spend for a PS3 than a XBOX 360 as the latter has been plagued by system-killing technical problems. I don't want a doorstop upon end-of-warranty. I want a faithful system that will play as last gen consoles did. Forever.
By the way, anyone really care about the Halo 3 special Edition 360? Would have been more impressive with a bit more room to grow (20 GB). Oh, and maybe the fucking game?
Gears of War coming to PC. Not a shocker. Cliff Bleszinski's announcement that it will contain new maps, campagin chapters and even bosses (?) exclusive to the PC platform. And DX-10 compatibility of course. I'd expect this exclusivity will be short-lived as loyal fans of the game will be jonesing for the right to partake in the new content.
Sony's PS3 had a great outing after last year's controversies and dubious marketing strategies. Nah, you knew they'd mess up somewhere. In an age of terabyte hard drives, why the fuck are we still quibbling about 20, 60 and 80 GB drives in our consoles? Is it 1998? C'mon, if you want these damn things to be an entertainment hub, at least place a decent sized, decent performance drive in the box.
LittleBigPlanet was salivating. God I need to play this. It seems like any 4 year old with a lot of caffeine and sucre flowing through their veins could imaginate such devices. The gameplay showing the construction of a tank made me squeal.
Devil May Cry 4. Swords, guns, Dante. What else you need? Rachet and Clank, yes please! Those are obvious. One that slipped under my radar that I really am itching to try is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It seems to be a combination 3rd person shooter combined with platformer mixed with the goodness of flicks a la Indiana Jones. Heavenly Sword is code for 'we don't talk about Assassin's Creed anymore' Well, not all of us :) Perhaps the AI and collision detection issues in AC can be settled. The voice acting and delivery and targeting lightning needs improvement so as not to ruin immersion in the game as well.
Nintendo is staying the course. Staying with tried and true IP, they are expanding gameplay options for them. Super Mario Galaxy is looking like the Wii game to need. Mario flying around in a bee costume, beautiful color palette and varied environments, it seems to have everything you want in a Mario game. Unsure if you will get want you want in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, that being online play. An omission of details regarding this may be speculative that it's being left out in the cold. Dragon Quest Swords will leave Japan paralyzed by sick calls and time off work. And Samus will roll, roll, roll in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Admittedly, I'm not too impressed by the trailer. Seems to have a lot of enemies stuck in place, waiting for you to shoot them, like a static Duck Hunt.
When I first saw the exercise pad for Wii Fit, I thought 'Who the hell can do anything on such a tiny surface?' and 'Will my fat, laborious body snap the damn thing in half?' I remain dubious, however some podcasters who had a chance to demo the surface feel its large and sturdy (can't remember which though honestly-a lot of same-day coverage this week).
Multiplatform. I came home to Jenny saying 'Oh my god, you have to see this Star Wars trailer!' We agree on Force Powers. They are good. I would use mine to pull down a Star Destroyer, she would likely Jedi Mind Trick me into getting several fluffy kittens. Resident Evil 5 creeps me out with a strange, Rwanda-like feel. Unreal Tournament III, am I the only one who like Bio-Cannons? No wonder I'm frag-bait. Still one of my favorite FPS's and its getting some tweaks, including a hoverboard.
Made it this far and figured 'what the hell, where's Call of Duty 4 in this pile of slag?' Infinity Ward brings FPS's out of 1939-1945 to give us a feel for the modern era. The demo at Microsoft's press conference was chilling. The moment MacMillan rises from being camouflaged, I just sat with my mouth hang slack. The game will likely follow linear progression and scripted events as similar games of the past, yet the environment feels vast. And surprisingly claustrophobic as enemies slowly advance on the player's position.
PC Gaming. Overall, the real next generation of games appear to be finally catching up with the two heavyweights. The only loser here according to pundits are PC gamers, with not much showing on the horizon. I think they may be reading into this too much as the console giants have the new hardware, and the games to go along with them. Development has finally caught up. PC gamers still have plenty to look forward to, with Crysis coming up, next-gen MMO's running in beta, BioShock, Starcraft 2 and Fallout 3 sure to attract or hold loyal followings. We're still waiting on Microsoft to Service Pack Vista to bring it out of the XP era as well as get DirectX 10 out to the consumer base. My favorite platform is still PC gaming, and I wouldn't count it out anytime soon.
A good showing of games in a poor showing of E3. The console giants appealed to the economists and the game developers appealed to the public. The quality of trailers and in-game footage was incredible. Old franchises got some great new facelifts and in some instances entire redesigns. The best part of this year was the games finally upstaged the personalities in the industry.
Edit: They said it couldn't be done...
But seriously...
"Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON??!!! March 2007: it's the CanCon apocalpyse, let me tell you."
I hadn't listened to CBC Radio 3 in a little while, but I credit it, David Wisdom and Brent Bambury for everything gone right in my life. Michael Barclay and Carl Wilson sum up better than I the end of an era. I used to tell people that I like to pretend all my tax dollars went to supporting CBC radio and public heath care. Now, we seem to be left bereft of a voice in the night. CBC reorganizations are nothing new; every passing of an election seems to bring them under fire. But I think its a serious miscalculation to eliminate outlets of aspiring, fresh Canadian talent that requires no browbeatings from the CRTC to promote the same.
Sigh. Well, you can always tune in to the oft-flammable phoenix that is CKUA radio in Alberta. At least Andy Donnelly still is one of the prolific voices still on air.
Edit:
I'm not sure what happened to the formatting, but the small text is not a quote :(
A quote from David Wisdom in from an interview with Michael Barclay:
"I got my Canadian citizenship in 1992, partly inspired by the Rheostatics music, and that’s the truth"
Post-nursing diploma I literally kept mine due to the music and culture exposed on shows like Nightlines and Brave New Waves. My sense of identity as a Canadian are strongly tied to them.
Remember when...
June 2007's edition of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning newsletter is out. After spending many months bubbling in anticipation, soldiering delays, and waiting for a precious beta invite, I have to say my fever is waning. As great of a viewing as Paul Barnett gives, his hype of public quests don't seem to live up to released footage of the events he described. Graphically the encounters seem little better than scripted events in WoW, the combat footage seems as uninspiring, and the main battles of RvR combat being instanced leave me feeling anything but dubious that this game can aspire to be anything WoW isn't let alone knock it from its perch.
Although I've probably just pissed my chances for a beta invite away :( I can't help but to feel a slight breeze of disappointment in the air. Guess it may be time to return to WoW soon as I can find a compelling reason to.
