I said I was going to replay Morrowind.

I lied : /

However, I’m *actually* playing through Diablo II, lan-style, with some friends of mine.

Assassins ftw. Muh-muh-muh MIND BLAST.

Swego czasu Diablo II było najbardziej oczekiwaną grą w środowisku światowych graczy. To nie był rodzaj oczekiwania na zasadzie:  “och, już za chwilę nowy diabeł, nie mogę się doczekać  (westchnął Stefan)”, ale prawdziwy kocioł rozmów, emocji, rozpraw, zaszlachtowanych baranów i wypieków na twarzy. Nim jednak drugie Diablo ujrzało światło dzienne, rzeczone oczekiwanie na tę pozycję okazało się niezwykle płodne, bo pomiędzy pierwszą, a drugą częścią kultowego tytułu Blizzarda na rynku pojawiło się kilka świetnych action RPG-ów stworzonych wyraźnie “na duszy” Diablo. Jednym z nich był Revenant.

Zagubiona tożsamość

Historia tego hack’n’slasha z 1999 roku jest mroczna.

Nasz bohater powinien w ciszy obgryzać chryzantemy od spodu, a tymczasem odradza się jako Locke D’Averam (zresztą jego nowe nazwisko pochodzi od miejsca, w którym zmartwychwstał, a prawdziwa tożsamość pozostaje wielką niewiadomą). Ten średniowieczny heros został wezwany z piekła (w grze występujące pod nazwą Anserak) przez Sardoka, prawą rękę Lorda Tendricka panującego w mieście Misthaven, osadzonym na wyspie Ahkuilon.

Oczywiście nie bez przyczyny zakłócono sen tytułowego Revenanta. Lord Tendrick uciekł się do tej ryzykownej metody, bo w średniowiecznym rzemiośle widział jedyną szansę na ocalenie dziedziczki tronu Andrii, uprowadzonej przez psychopatyczną sektę znaną jako Dzieci Przemiany z tajemniczym Yhagro na czele.

Tyle, że Sardrok i Tendrick nie przypuszczali iż sprowadzony przez nich bohater jest… byłym obywatelem Ahkuilon, miejsca wielkich bitew bogów, magów i wojowników, wcześniej znanym jako mityczne Ur.

Historia się zapętli gdy Locke D’Averam zorientuje się w końcu, że jest byłym królem starożytnego państwa położonego na wyspie Tendricka. Tyle, że królem dość pechowym, bo nierozważnie zawierając pakt z demonem miał oddać duszę swojej żony, czego uczynić nie mógł. Tym samym demon zesłał Locke’a do Anserak na wiecznie potępienie, a przy okazji zrównał z ziemią całe państwo.

Oczywiście na tym całe wprowadzenie do fabuły się na kończy. Wszak w odpowiednim czasie okaże się, że prężnie działający na odbudowanym Ahkuilon Dzieci Przemiany, mają wiele wspólnego z demonem, który zrujnował Revenantowi życie…

Vendetta

Revenant to ekszyn RPG jak się patrzy!

Świadczą o tym choćby suche statystyki bowiem nasz potępiony heros będzie miał do dyspozycji m.in. 55 rodzajów broni, 50  typów czarów, 150 rodzajów pancerzu i bogatą ścieżkę rozwoju. Na swojej długiej drodze spotka 50-ciu  różnych wrogów (w tym czterech unikatowych bossów) oraz 30 bardzo rozbudowanych, niezależnych postaci.

Warto zwrócić uwagę na interakcję z otoczeniem. Locke D’Averam przeprowadzi wiele dialogów, które zaowocują gromadzeniem coraz to nowych informacji dotyczących porwania córki Tendricka, a przy tym stopniowego odkrywania tajemnicy własnej egzystencji.

Jądrem naszej wędrówki jest Misthaven. Revenant będzie mógł tam solidnie wyposażyć się u handlarzy, którzy oferują liczne fatałaszki, zbroje, broń i innego rodzaju akcesoria. Obowiązkowe wręcz wydaje się też zaliczenie szkolenia u starego sensei rodem z Kill Bill’a, który z chęcią pokaże nam jak używać combosów w walce.

Znamienna dla Revenanta jest bogata ścieżka rozwoju bohatera. Otóż Locke D’Averam z czasem odkrywający swoje wojowniczo-magiczne zacięcie, będzie po każdym pokonanym potworku gromadził odpowiednie punkty, których określona ilość doprowadzi do wzrostu wtajemniczenia (zazwyczaj przy takim wydarzeniu gracz będzie miał do dyspozycji ulepszenie dwóch spośród sześciu unikalnych cech).

Nasz bohater zwiedzi sporą liczbę lokacji, ale dzięki sprawnemu systemowi transportu vide Diablo II będzie mógł z powodzeniem przenieść się do małomiasteczkowego klimatu.

Dwadzieścia pięć mgnień światła

Grafika Revenanta jest szczegółowa i dopracowana, ale jej najciekawszym elementem jest zmienne otoczenie. Twórcy Revenanta wpadli na taki pomysł by naszemu bohaterowi stale towarzyszył cykl dnia i nocy, zatem Locke D’Averam stał się jednym z pierwszych bohaterów RPG, któremu dane było ujrzeć zarówno wschód jak i zachód słońca. Przyznać trzeba, że bardzo tu uprzyjemnia mroczną rozgrywkę.

Na jej niekorzyść nie wpływają też płynne animacje, zarówno w walce jak i w czarach.

Za atmosferę muzyczną odpowiada grupa Xymox. Co prawda nie znam za bardzo jej suwerennej twórczości, ale świetnie wkomponowująca się muzyka do naszej wędrówki, perfekcyjnie podkreśla ogólny klimat gry. Zresztą dobrze wypadają też efekty dźwiękowe: w rozmowach i walkach czy przy rzucaniu czarów.

Pozorne zastrzeżenia budzi system sterowania bowiem w grze poruszamy się głównie… za pomocą klawiatury (myszka znajduje zastosowanie tylko przy dysponowaniu inwentarzem). Stanowi to, szczególnie podczas walki,  spore utrudnienie dla fanów typowych h’n’s uwielbiających maltretować myszkę . Niemniej bez obaw. Jeśli uda przełamać się to przyzwyczajenie to gracze będą wniebowzięci, bo system walki w Revenancie jest naprawdę ciekawie skonstruowany (właściwie indywidualnie do każdej walki).

Całość w rzeczywistości wychodzi na duży plus. Revenant stał się nie tylko kolejnym przystankiem w oczekiwaniu na Diablo II, ale i w pełni suwerennym, gromadzących fanów, produktem.

Legenda.

Musisz sięgnąć jeśli… jesteś zapalonym fanem action RPG, a przy tym potrafisz sobie wyobrazić życie bez klikania myszki .

abecadło

Zdobyte w ciężkich bojach screeny pochodzą z:

http://www.activewin.com

I went and grabbed Torchlight from Direct2Drive on Wednesday night, letting the game download while I slept.

Not that it was a huge honking download.  It was just convenient for me to do it that way.  I prefer to let downloads that last more than a minute or two happen while I am away from my computer.

So the next evening I installed it to give it a try.

After about 10 minutes I realized I had been playing for an hour.  It is one of those.

It is slick, smooth, and quite clearly acquired some of the greatness that the Diablo series showed in the past.

If you have played the Diablo games of the past, the learning curve will be very short indeed.  There are some deviations from how things worked in Diablo II, but Diablo II first shipped over nine years ago, so it is quite possible that reflection over that time might have lead the developers to different choices.

The main departures from the Diablo series are in art style and story tone.

The art style is cartoon-y, in the same vein as Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield Heroes.  To wit, my Destroyer:

Vikund the Destroyer

Some people won’t be able to get past that I am sure, but it works for me.

And part of the reason that it works is that the tone of everything is a little lighter than it was in Diablo.

Diablo was very dark (though not without humor) while tone of Torchlight is more befitting its look.

If you can get past those two items, the game feels like Diablo II brought forward 9 years.

Click to move, click to attack, right-click for your secondary attack, click to loot, click to do just about anything.

The settings are stone simple for a modern game.

Torchlight Settings

I’m not sure what “Netbook Mode” does, but I gather that Runic is shooting for a large audience by trying to support very low end systems.

You cannot even remap keys.  Not that you need to, since there are not all that many keys to learn, and almost everything you need is clustered on the bar at the bottom of the page.

Belly up to the bar!

I am a little leary about having the hot keys split up the middle.  I tend to memorize the few keys I use all the time and go click on everything else.  On the other hand, having health and mana moved in from my peripheral vision seems to be quite effective.  Many of my Diablo deaths could be attributed my no glancing down to the corner of my screen to check health during a hairy fight.

But most other things will be remarkably similar to Diablo fans.

Character Sheet

Inventory Sheet

There are also health potions, mana potions, identify scrolls, town portal scrolls, three skill point trees, and all the equipment in the world dropping in various forms.  There is even a hardcore check box at character creation, which I am going to assume means perma-death.

Which is not to say that there is nothing new.

The simple fact that the game runs on my home system at 1600×1200 versus the 640×480 for Diablo and 800×600 for Diablo II is a big deal to me.  And on my system, a two year old quad-core with an nVidia GTS-250 video card, it runs very well.

It also runs well on my soon-to-be five year old laptop, though the CPU usage is such that I wouldn’t count on doing anything else on the machine while I was playing.

You also get a pet, either a cat or a dog, which fights along side you, has its own inventory slots, and can run back to town and sell stuff for you, though I haven’t check to see if he is getting short changed.

And speaking of inventory, you not only get the usual chest in town to store your excess goodies, but you get a shared chest that your other character can access.

Then, finally, there is fishing.

I caught one!

I haven’t actually fed a fish yet to my pet, nor eaten one myself (I’ve been too busy simply smacking stuff), but various fish are supposed to endow you with special benefits.  Something to look into.

Sound great so far?

Now the killer.   No multiplayer.

I know, what do I want for just $20?

But seriously, if the game had multiplayer, I could tell you what the instance group would be doing for the next few weeks.

Without multiplayer however, I get to decide if I go play with my friends or play Torchlight.

So that is a let down.

But, since the plan seems to be to move to a Torchlight based MMO of some sort, we may get multiplayer in some form in the future.

And since the game was designed with MODs in mind, I expect that the game will take on a life of its own if it achieves large scale success.

In the end, for $20, the game delivers enough sheer Diablo-esque joy for me to not fret too much about the missing multiplayer aspect.  I am not that far into the game, but I can already tell I will get my money’s worth out of it.  And there is something to be said for keeping things simple.  I hope it finds enough success to finance the follow-on plans.

If you miss Diablo, you will probably be able to find a home in Torchlight until Diablo III ships.

But if you didn’t care for Diablo, this probably isn’t the game for you.

It’s been a rather unproductive October, which has no correlation with how busy I have been this month.  Actually, haven’t done much of anything this month so my apologies.

Anyways, out of respect for National Blog Posting Month, I will be attempting to write a post a day during the month of November.  These post probably won’t be the quality you all have come to expect from me (very little), but hopefully it will push me out of my wayward ways and back onto the blogging track.

So…expect a lot of Defense of the Ancients posts and Domain of Heroes posts, with a sprinkling of Heroes of Newerth (if i could just get a darn beta key) and Diablo II.  Cheers!

Creat de Blizzard Entertainment, Diablo II este un joc fantastic, de acţiune de tip RPG (Role Playing Game),apărut în anul 2000. Povestea din Diablo II este o continuare a celei din jocul precedent şi începe în tărâmul sanctuarului unde a fost invins Diablo, Lordul Terorii de către un erou necunoscut. Acesta din urmă, pentru a-l împiedica pe Diablo să revină în lume a împins piatra sufletului acestuia în propria sa frunte crezând că este suficient de puternic încat să o stăpânească. Dar treptat această piatră l-a corupt aducându-l din nou pe Lordul Terorii în lume. Jucatorul este un aventurier aflat pe urmele eroului decăzut care ajunge să îi elibereze pe cei doi fraţi ai lui Diablo: Mephisto (Lordul Urii) şi Baal (Lordul Distrugerii)  din pietrele sufletului  în care erau prizonieri. Pe parcurs eroul din Diablo I se transformă în Lordul Terorii.

Jocul se împarte în partu acte, fiecare act având la sfarşit câte un filmuleţ. Ulterior a fost adăugat un al cincilea act în care jucatorul va porni pe urmele lui Baal încercând sa îl opreasca înainte de a corupe Piatra Lumii.

Jucătorul are posibilitatea de a-şi alege unul dintre cei cinci luptători: Barbarul, Amazoana, Vrajitoarea, Paladinul sau Necromancerul, pentru a porni în lupta împotriva celor trei fraţi. Dacă aţi instalat si Lord of Destruction vor fi adăugaţi înca doi luptatori: Asasina şi Druidul. Pe parcursul jocului luptatorul va dobândi experienţă şi va învaţa noi abilitaţi pe care i le veţi dezvolta după bunul plac.

În finalul jocului, caracterul dumneavoastră va primi un rang şi va avea posibilitatea de a relua jocul, sporindu-se dificultatea. Diablo II poate fi jucat pe 3 dificultăţi: Normal, Nightmare şi Hell. Pentru a juca pe dificultatea Nightmare trebuie finalizat jocul pe Normal, iar dupa teminarea ambelor dificultaţi veţi avea acces la Hell. Personajul va continua sa dobândească experienţă pe parcursul tuturor celor trei dificultati, iar nivelul maxim pe care îl va putea atinge este 99. Se poate juca şi în varianta Multiplayer pe reţeaua locala, dar şi pe serverele Battlenet (e necesar să vă creaţi un cont, care este gratuit).

Jocul nu este lipsit de secrete, spre exemplu, la finalul fiecărei dificultaţi aveţi posibilitatea de a deschide un portal spre un nivel ascuns: «Secret Cow Level » despre care vă voi vorbi mai târziu. Un obiect interesant care nu trebuie să lipsească din inventarul jucătorului este «Horadric Cube », un cub magic care va fi necesar pentru a trece din actul II în actul III şi din actul III în actul IV. Acesta are multe alte întrebuinţari fiind capabil să transforme sau să îmbunataţeasca obiectele.

Cerinţe sistem:

Sistem de operare: Windows; Procesor: Pentium 233 Mhz; 650 MB HDD; Memorie RAM: 64 MB; Placa video: compatibilă Direct X; Multiplayer: Internet (Battle.net); Alte specificaţii: 650 MB spaţiu pe hard disc.

I finally beat Act 5 Hell a couple of days ago. Killing Baal isn’t so hard, but getting to him is really painful since there are Gloams (or Burning Souls, or whatever) everywhere. Even with max lightning resist, that’s pretty painful, especially when they are uniques and minions. I need to find a good SP map and do some runs on Hell Meph to pick up some better equipment for my various characters, so I guess that’s the next order of business.

Obiecałem wczoraj (i nie tylko), że napiszę, jak naprawić to co zepsuł polski wydawca gier Blizzard’a, firma CD Projekt. Otóż w normalnych krajach Warcraft III jest w wersji hybrydowej (PC/Mac), ale w Polsce oczywiście nie!

Można polować na wersję angielską, ale zakup z pomocą eBay, po doliczeniu przesyłki do Polski może być sporym wydatkiem. Jest inna droga. Należy kupić wersję polską (nawet z połamanymi płytami, ważny jest tylko numerek seryjny), a następnie zalogować się na stronie Battle.net i tam kliknąć w Add a Game. Po wprowadzeniu posiadanego numeru seryjnego i wybraniu wersji językowej (English EU), można będzie pobrać grę w wersji PC lub Mac. I już. Sprawdzone zarówno na “podstawce” (Reign of Chaos), jak i na dodatku do niej (The Frozen Throne). W ten sam sposób można pobrać Diablo II i StarCraft, choć ten ostatni występuje w wersji PC/Mac także w naszym pięknym kraju. Dodatkowo miłą cechą tak zainstalowanych gier jest to, że nie wymagają płyty w napędzie.

Wprawdzie już poniedziałek, ale po co od razu wpadać w poważne tematy?

W weekend staram się nie spędzać całego dnia przed komputerem i biorę się raczej za “lekkie” zajęcia. Postanowiłem przetestować pod Snow Leopardem gry, których trochę się uzbierało przez lata, a w które (jak sobie obiecuję) “kiedyś pogram”. Temat o tyle mnie interesujący, że nigdzie nie znalazłem informacji, jak chodzą tytuły z PowerPC pod Mac OS 10.6. Wiadomo powszechnie, że wsparcie dla instalacji na PPC wywalono i że wciąż jest dostępna Rosetta, ale co z tego wynika w praktyce?

Spieszę donieść, że jest dobrze – wszystkie uruchomione przeze mnie tytuły działają nie gorzej, a może i lepiej niż pod 10.5. Testowałem klasykę (w mojej opinii), nie żadne nowości, bo i takowych nie posiadam. Lista poniżej:

• Age of Empires II
• Diablo II (wersja beta dla X3100)
• Railroad Tycoon 3
• Rise of Nations Gold (program aktualizujący do 1.0.1 wywala się pod 10.6)
• Starcraft

Oczywiście bezproblemowo działają także tytuły przygotowane już dla Intela, u mnie są to: Age of Mythology, Warcraft III i Zoo Tycoon 2. Jeśli zatem macie sentyment do którejś ze starszych strategii, nie wahajcie się wydać 19,99 zł w Tesco, czy innej Biedronce – obudzone wspomnienia są bezcenne.

PS. Następnym razem napiszę, jak z Warcraft’a III w polskiej wersji PC-only zrobić wersję dla Mac (angielską).

Diablo: Rawr!

Currently feeling the recognizable need to play Diablo II again…this is not a good thing since last time I installed Diablo II I didn’t do anything but play the game for a couple months.  However, with the delay of Diablo III (until never?), I probably need to get my fix soon.

Game can be found here.

Bereits der Eingangsbereich der Kölnmesse ist gigantomanisch und erinnert an einen Flughafen

Vom 19.-23. August 2009 fand die gamescom in Köln statt – die größte Video- und Computerspielemesse Europas (und nach Fazit der Veranstalter mit 245.000 Besuchern nun auch der Welt) statt. Und naürlich ließen auch Captain Cook und sein langjähriger polynesischer Koop- und Versus-Partner Tupaia es sich nicht nehmen, das neue Messegelände in Augenschein zu nehmen!

Wir reisten am Freitag früh pünktlich zur Hallenöffnung um 10 Uhr an – und keine Sekunde zu früh, denn bereits gegen Mittag füllten sich die Hallen dermaßen, daß stellenweise gar nichts mehr ging. Um 10 Uhr morgens hatten wir aber die Gelegenheit, halbwegs flüssig durch die erste Halle zu kommen und sogar den ein oder anderen Blick auf ein Spiel werfen zu können, ohne von den Massen zerquetscht zu werden.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising im Multiplayer-Coop

Unser erster Weg führte uns zum heiß erwarteten Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, das für Oktober angekündigt ist. Anspielbar war eine Multiplayer-Koop-Mission, die sowohl mit Tastatur und Maus als auch mit XBox-Pad gespielt werden konnte. Obwohl auf normalem Schwierigkeitsgrad samt HUD gespielt wurde (und nicht auf dem berüchtigten Hardcore-Modus), war bereits erkenntbar, wie “unforgiving” OPF:DR sein wird – und nichts anderes erwarten wir von einer Militär-Sim! Die Grafik sah genretypisch aus, die Figuren bewegten sich sehr natürlich und waren detailreich. Grafisch und vom Gameplay her gab es vom ersten Eindruck her nichts auszusetzen.

Nach diesem Standbesuch inspizierten wir den Rest der Halle, die vor allem von PC-Spielen und Hardware dominiert war. Namhafte Hersteller von Platinen, Prozessoren und Grafikkarten waren hier ebenso vertreten wie die Casemodder-Meisterschaft und ESports-Gemeinde. Da wir beide zu 95% Konsolenspieler sind, ließen wir den aufdringlich-penetrant-fröhlichen Runes of Magic-Stand, der die Besucher auf eine abstruse “Quest” schickte, um ein T-Shirt zu erlangen, eher irritiert hinter uns. Blizzard dominierte mit einem riesigen Stand, auf dem auf zwei monströsen Leinwänden ebenso monströs laute World of Warcraft-Trailer liefen, die es tatsächlich schafften, sich in der Kakophonie der Halle durchzusetzen und alles andere zu übertönen. Ein Highlight der PC-Gemeinde war Diablo II, das es zu Anstellzeiten von bis zu 4 Stunden (!) brachte.

Die Schlange für Call of Duty: MW2 reichte einmal um den Block

Überhaupt war das mit den Warteschlangen ein großes Problem. Zwar gab es ein Bändchen-System, bei dem man das Alter aller Besucher nach USK-Freigaben 6, 12, 16 und 18 an der Farbe ablesen konnte, dennoch wurden alle 18er-Titel (und damit natürlich die für uns interessanten Spiele) in diversen Würfeln oder geschlossenen Installationen (wie einer postapokalyptischen Container-Anlage bei Bethesda) präsentiert. Und hier ging bereits ab Mittag nichts mehr. Wartezeiten von je 2 Stunden für Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, den Rockstar-Stand, God of War, Bink, Borderlands, Halo ODST, Battlefield Bad Company 2 waren einfach zu viel – selbst wenn man sich überall hätte anstellen wollen, so hätte die Öffnungszeit der Halle nicht gereicht, um auch nur einen Teil davon anzuspielen. Und natürlich will man in der Zeit noch etwas anderes tun, als sich die Beine in den Bauch zu stehen.

Zahlreiche Bühnen zeigten Live-Events

Wie in vielen Foren und von anderen Besuchern geäußert, würde hier eine USK-18-Halle absolut Sinn machen, in der die entsprechenden Spiele genauso aufgebaut und locker anspielbar sind wie die zahllosen Renn- und Wii-Spiele, bei denen es keine Probleme mit Warteschlangen gab. Die geschlossenen Würfel und die viel zu hohen Wartezeiten von zum Teil mehreren Stunden waren wirklich störend und schmälerten den Eindruck der Messe deutlich. Die interessantesten Sachen blieben dem Warte-Unwilligen verwehrt bzw. man mußte sich entscheiden, in welcher Schlange man seine kostbare Zeit opfert. Angesichts der Tatsache, daß die Kölnmesse 11 Hallen besitzt, von denen nur ein Teil für die gamescom benötigt wurde, ist eine USK-18-Halle in meinen Augen kein Problem.

Der Blizzard-Stand übertönte alles

Wie bereits erwähnt, war es jenseits des USK-18-Interesses relativ einfach, Spiele anzuspielen. Sony, Microsoft und Nintendo waren gleichermaßen in Hülle und Fülle mit anspielbaren Stationen vertreten. Hierbei fiel die immense Masse an Autorennspielen auf, die nahezu überall mit Pad oder sogar im Autositz mit Lenkrad angespielt werden konnten. Drittzubehör-Hersteller wie BigBen zeigten ihr Angebot an Controllern und anderer Hardware. Für PS3-Spieler interessant war sicher die Tatsache, daß es mal wieder Gran Turismo 5 zu sehen gab, das angeblich ja noch dieses Jahr erscheinen soll. Ansonsten habe ich den ein oder anderen Renntitel (Quad und Auto) an den diversen Stationen angespielt, wurde jedoch von keinem aus den Schuhen gehauen.

Auffällig waren Microsofts Versuche, Arcade-Spiele beim Volk bekannt zu machen, denn überall in den Hallen fanden sich verteilte XBoxen, auf denen die Demo-Versionen aller Arcade-Tital anzuspielen und sogar per mitgebrachter Memory Card zu erwerben waren. Nun muß ich natürlich auf keine Messe gehen, um die Demo eines Arcade-Titels anzuzocken, das kann ich auch zuhause tun. Für den Casual Gamer ohne XBox-Erfahrung waren diese Displays aber sicher interessant, denn mit Gehirnjogging und diversen Puzzle-Clones fängt man ja bekanntlich Mäuse. Oder so ähnlich.

Auch kuriose Geschmäcker wurden bedient. Hier ein U-Bahn Simulator der Berliner U-Bahn-Linie 7

Woran auch überhaupt kein Mangel bestand, waren die benutzbaren Wii-Konsolen, über die man auf Schritt und Tritt stolperte. Hier war es geradezu schwierig, KEINE Fernbedienung und Nunchuk von den Nintendo-Animationsdamen in die Hand gedrückt zu bekommen und über Tanzspiele, diverse Sport- und Wii-Fit-Bereiche bis hin zum neuen Need for Speed für Wii wurde alles gezeigt, was dem Wii-Besitzer Freude macht. Nun habe ich meine Wii leider seit längerem wegen akuter Verstaubung verkauft, so daß mir der Überfluß an Spielstationen nicht wirklich etwas nützte.

Den Hammer brachte natürlich Nintendo selbst mit dem “Mario und Sonic bei den Olympischen Winterspielen“-Stand. Dieser war – völlig unangemessen zur heißesten Zeit des Jahres – im Weihnachts-Look gehalten mit einem riesigen geschmückten Tannenbaum, Kunstschnee, Weihnachtsmännern, einem bemitleidenswerten Messebabe im Engelskostüm, das den ganzen Tag in einer Plastik-Schneekugel spielen mußte bis hin zu herumlaufenden Mario- und Sonic-Menschen, die in ihren Kostümen so wenig sahen, daß sie von leichtbekleideten Damen am Arm durch die Menge geführt werden mußten. Ein riesiger Wintersport-Stand mit aufdringlichem Ambiente, der definitiv den Captain-Cook-Abstrusitäts-Award gewinnt.

Ja, ist denn heut schon Weihnachten?!?

Im Gegensatz zu den heißen, engen, verstopften Röhren in Leipzig war es in Köln kein Problem, von einer Halle in die andere zu wechseln und wieder zurück, ganz nach Lust und Laune. Hohe verglaste, weitläufige Hallen verbinden die Messehallen miteinander und erlauben relativ zügiges Gehen. Zudem sind Umwege über dazwischenliegende Freigelände möglich, die mit überteuerten Freßbuden und diversen Bühnen, z.B. vom in Köln mehrfach vertretenen Elektronikriesen SATURN, besiedelt waren.

Sehr auffällig war auch die fast aufdringliche Präsenz der Musik-Spiele, die mittlerweile fast inflationär auf den Markt geworfen werden. Jedes Musikspiel, von Rock Band über Guitar Hero über DJ Hero über Rock Band Beatles hatte eine eigene Bühne, auf der sich Freiwillige vor geiferndem Publikum im Band-Musizieren üben durften. Daneben wurden junge Studentinnen dafür bezahlt, in Glaskästen zu stehen und den ganzen Tag neben den Bands vor sich hin zu tanzen – teils mit mäßiger Begeisterung. Insbesondere die Beatles-Rockbands waren so laut, daß sie dem WoW-Stand fast in nichts nachstanden und über den Lärmteppich der Hallen hinweg eine unterschwellige Dauerberieselung mit Beatles-Songs erzeugten.

Wer wollte, konnte ein Beatle sein

Auch für sonstige Bespaßung wurde natürlich gesorgt an zahlreichen Kletterständen, Nerf-Stand, bei Verlosungen, Quiz-Shows wie am GamePro-Stand, bei denen tiefschürfende Fragen nach Ocarina-of-Time gestellt wurden, in deren Folge sich die Preiswilligen gegenseitig totschlugen, um an ein Zelda-Manga zu kommen. Microsoft bot daneben auch die Möglichkeit, sein allerneustes Spielzeug anzuspielen: Windows 7. Hammer. Nach einigem Klicken durch das Menüsystem kam ich zu der aufregenden Erkenntnis, daß es sich optisch so gut wie gar nicht von Vista unterscheidet und daß man mehr an dieser Stelle nicht feststellen konnte.

Ein Engel, gefangen in der Kugel und zu ewigem Wii-Spielen verdammt

Manche Spiele wurden sehr gigantomanisch inszeniert wie das kommende PC-MMORPG Star Wars The Old Republic, dessen Stand ein riesiger nachgebauter Jedi-Tempel war. Hier konnte man ein wenig an PCs herumklicken, wo Informationen über die kommenden Klassen geboten wurden, aber da ich – als Konsolenspieler – kein potentieller Kunde bin, blutet mir als Star Wars-Nerd schon ein wenig das Herz. Immerhin kann man Kopfgeldjäger sein und Mandalorianer noch dazu, und wenn jemand der geborene Mandalorianer ist, dann ich! Andererseits – die Monatspreise für das kommende Spiel wurden noch nicht bekannt gegeben und wenn sie sich in der Größenordnung des (ebenfalls anspielbaren) Champions Online bewegen, muß ich das ohnehin nicht haben. Und Zeitfresser habe ich auch so genug – wie zur Zeit das japanische Rollenspiel The Last Remnant.

Das koreanische Rollenspiel Aion fiel durch eine etwas...äh, extravagante Theatershow auf

Neben den Game-Hallen, in denen neben anspielbaren Spielen, riesigen Trailer-Leinwänden und Bühnen zu sehen waren, gab es auch eine Halle, die das Thema “Beruf, Bildung und Aufklärung” hatte (oder so ähnlich). Hier rekrutierte die Bundeswehr mit einem Panzerfahrzeug zum Anfassen, es wurde über Medienkompetenz und Jugendschutz informiert, es gab Informationsplattformen für Eltern, diverse Ausbildungsstätten stellten Ausbildungsberufe in der Spielebranche vor und sogar das Arbeitsamt hatte einen eigenen Stand mit Computern, auf denen man nach Jobs suchen konnte, wenn man gerade nichts besseres zu tun hatte *hüstel*.

Am frühen Nachmittag füllte sich die Messe so schlagartig, daß das lockere Standbesichtigen vom Vormittag der Vergangenheit angehörte – nun hatte man teilweise Probleme, überhaupt zu einem Stand durchzudringen. Wir hatten die wichtigsten Stationen zum Glück schon am Vormittag abgegrast und unsere Eindrücke der neuen Location gesammelt. Der Lärmpegel und die Anzahl der Bühnen, die mit reißerischen Auftritten um die Aufmerksamkeit der Massen buhlten, stiegen am Nachmittag exponentiell an und auch in den weitläufigen Verbindungshallen wurde die Fortbewegung problematischer.

Ob es sich in der Rüstung wirklich kämpfen läßt?

Die Verkehrsanbindung an die Kölnmesse ist mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln absolut vorbildlich. Das Parkleitsystem für Autofahrer soll hingegen eine Katastrophe sein, wie ich mir sagen ließ. Die Eintrittskarten gelten gleichzeitig als Fahrkarte im gesamten VRS, das heißt von Leverkusen bis nach Bonn, von Düren bis ins Bergische Land, und zahlreiche Regionalzüge halten am eigenen Bahnhof Kölnmesse / Deutz. Züge nach Köln Hauptbahnhof verkehren im Minutentakt und mit der Überfüllung der Züge hatten wir auch kein Problem, sondern konnten bequem an- und abreisen und hatten immer einen Sitzplatz. Die Kölnmesse selbst ist nur wenige Gehminuten vom Bahnhof entfernt und zudem hatte die Bahn Service-Personal abgestellt, das an einem eigenen Stand wie aus der Pistole geschossen Gleis und Abfahrtszeit für das Wunschziel nannte.

Das Messefazit 2009:

Die Hallen der Kölnmesse sind weitläufig und insbesondere die Verbindung zwischen den Hallen ist vorbildlich und führt nicht zu Verkehrsstaus. Dafür war die Standaufteilung suboptimal, denn die USK-18-Stände waren dem Besucheransturm definitiv nicht gewachsen. Extreme Wartezeiten von 2 bis hin zu 4 (!) Stunden sind indiskutabel und machen keinen Spaß; eine USK-18-Halle würde hier Abhilfe schaffen und es den erwachsenen  Besuchern erlauben, alle Titel anzuschauen, für die sie sich interessieren – und nicht den Großteil der Zeit in irgendwelchen Schlangen herumzustehen, um danach fünf Minuten zu spielen oder einen Trailer zu sehen, den man eh schon kennt.

An Flyern, Magazinen und Aufklebern herrschte wie immer kein Mangel

Auch mit Neuigkeiten war man eher sparsam auf der Messe. Zwar ließ Microsoft auf der Pseudo-Pressekonferenz den “wahnsinnigen” Hammer Fable III platzen, ansonsten war aber nichts zu sehen, was man nicht schon von der E3 kannte. Die gezeigten Trailer, wie z.B. Assassins Creed II, sind dem geneigten Spieler mit Internetanschluß oder von der GamePro-DVD bereits geläufig und auch die anzuspielenden Spiele waren keine wirklichen Überraschungen. Okay, jetzt hat man OFP:DR mal selbst gesehen und konnte Hand anlegen, aber wirkliche Ankündigungen, Offenbarungen und Knaller fehlten – die heben sich die Entwickler wieder einmal für die Tokyo Game Show im Herbst auf.

Das macht Köln zwar zu einer der größten Videospielmessen weltweit, aber es ist und bleibt doch eher eine Werbeshow für in Kürze erscheinende Spiele, die man aber eh schon kennt, als eine aufregende Quelle für neue Ankündigungen und erste Blicke auf neue Software. Das Recycling bereits gezeigter Dinge sollte definitiv noch um ein paar Exklusivtitel angereichert werden und ich würde mir wünschen, daß Köln ein Termin wird, den Entwickler nutzen, um neuste Pläne bekanntzugeben.

Neben Spielen war natürlich auch für Halligalli gesorgt

Die Räumlichkeiten sind gut geeignet für eine Messe dieses Ausmaßes, Luft nach oben besteht auch noch, denn die Kölnmesse hat noch mehr Hallen zu bieten als die reservierten sechs. Wirklich verpaßt hat man nichts, wenn man nicht dort war, denn es gab keine Neuankündigungen und anspielbare Titel, von denen man noch nichts wußte. Ein Erlebnis ist es aber allemal, durch diese kakophonisch lauten, bunten, schrillen Hallen zu wandeln und die Eindrücke auf sich wirken zu lassen.

Wenn jetzt noch etwas am Detail gefeilt wird, wird die neue gamescom in Köln zusammen mit der E3 und der TGS hoffentlich zu einem Event werden, der Entwicklerstudios und Industrie zu mehr Mut in Sachen Ankündigungen veranlaßt.

JBG correspondents Scotto and Lord Andrew write from the depths of Blizzard Entertainment’s BlizzCon. Follow their adventures below!

———— Photo Update ————

They have brought all of the voice actors on stage to talk about the new Starcraft 2 installment.

Right as you walk into BlizzCon.

Illidan!!

Wow, Lord Andrew and I have had a chance to play a lot more of the new games.

Starcraft 2 is really fun. I wasn’t that excited about it before, but now I cannot wait for it! It is SO polished. The units are gorgeous. The in game cut scenes are incredible. Lord Andrew kicked my butt really bad but it was still amazingly fun.

Diablo 3 is great too. Lord Andrew and I stumbled into a dungeon this last time. The atmospheric effects are so cool. Everything is beautifully animated…and it runs very fast. I was playing the witch doctor this time and Lord Andrew tried the monk. The spell effects make it very fun too. I love that every creature had rag doll physics so the deaths always look different.

We’ve gotten to play both of the new races for the new WoW expansion Cataclysm. The Worgen look great. You start as a human and you can transform into a worgen whenever yo want. His racial is a swift run ability that you can trigger every minute or so.

The new goblin race for horde is awesome too. They added a ton of facial detail…he looks awesome! He probably has the most fun racials of any class too. He can rocket forward with a jet pack, and also shoot a missile!?? So good. We liked him a lot.

We just heard that they will be bringing the old Onyxia boss fight back….all new updated items and stuff. They are going to make it possible to do cross-server LFG’s with th new path. So you can do 5 man PUGs really easy now. WAY easier to find groups.

I‘m really looking forward to being able to go back through the original game and play it with all new content.

————  Update ————

We are leaving now so sad. Lord Andrew kicked my butt at Terran, Protoss, AND Zerg. Really really kicked my butt. Great way to end BlizzCon! Wouldn’t have it any other way.

(Note to self – build more units…build them faster.)

- Scotto

This concludes JBG’s BlizzCon coverage. Hope y’all enjoyed the ride!

]]> http://johnnybgamer.com/2009/08/21/jbg-blizzcon/ Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:13:27 +0000 lunchtimegamer http://johnnybgamer.com/2009/08/21/jbg-blizzcon/

JBG correspondents Scotto and Lord Andrew write from the depths of Blizzard Entertainment’s BlizzCon. Follow their adventures below!

We are waiting for opening ceremony to start! We have our bags of “swag”. We got Starcraft action figures.

It has been quite the cultural experience. I’ve seen a few succubus, night elves, Druids…and one dude in leather…hmm…I think he was going for a tree. I’ve been surprised though. It’s at least 15% female. All of whom are dressed in black. I’m not wearing a dorky enough tshirt. I’m starting to feel self conscious about it.

- Scotto

———— Photo Update ————

Picture of statue from Blizzard's Irvine Campus!

The SWAG! (Lord Andrew modeling)

————  Update 1:17PM ————

Listening to the WoW Cataclysm feature panel. This new expansion is going to be amazingly cool. They are changing the whole game.

————  Update 2:23PM ————

We just played Diablo 3! I loved it. Feels very similar to Diablo 2. I played the new “monk” class. Very fun.  – Scotto

—– : —–

Unless noted, all photos have been taken via iPhone.

]]> http://chuletasalvapor.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/mi-overejercito-d/ Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:36:52 +0000 dejotaplayerz http://chuletasalvapor.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/mi-overejercito-d/

Esperando esperando hasta que salga el ansiado Diablo 3…  =D

(clic en la imagen para ampliar)

Si quieren ver unos videos de lo que promete ser Diablo III…

]]> http://sigonasr2.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/welcome-to-august-school-yes/ Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:48:52 +0000 sigonasr2 http://sigonasr2.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/welcome-to-august-school-yes/

So, this morning I promised to myself I would make a post. Yes, I’m still alive, living fairly well, and doing things on a daily basis, but haven’t gotten much chance (Or have been too lazy) to post on here. It’s usually easier for me to work from the most recent things to the furthest back events that are in my head, so it’s time to start.

First off, I have rejoined Fiesta for a third time. Sheesh, when am I gonna stop? But that’s beside the point, explained further below, Warinthestar has convinced me to start playing and doing things that I was doing 2 years ago. Man has it really been that long? Ah yeah, it has. So just yesterday, my cleric on Teva has reached Level 67, and I’m telling you, it doesn’t get easier. Joined guild SoulReaver, Warinthestar’s current guild, looks pretty fun, I’ll tell you that. So I guess I’m back to Fiesta.

Next up, as you may know, Warinthestar originally was an admin on the Twilight Server for the game BZFlag. Well guess what? I’m back to playing that too! (Now a third time also) So let’s see, Twilight has changed its global groups to TWILIGHT.SRADMIN, TWILIGHT.ADMIN, and TWILIGHT.COP, as in we’re in TWILIGHT.SRADMIN, and TWILIGHT.ADMIN is now for the original Jr. Admins. We’re trying to recruit old members from our past times playing Twilight, found Saber and boresnake who still get on every once in awhile. Twilight now runs 5 servers, 4 of them public including: Twilight Main Server, Party Time Server, Jumping Skillz Server, and BZSports Server. The private one is the Twilight Test Server. Also, we have started a new site on my http://sigonasr2.servegame.org server with my newfound web-designing skills I gained over the summer, we created a nice looking site and forum fairly easily. Check it out at http://twilight.servegame.org, and please join if you’re interested.

(Read onward for stuff that happened further back.)

Let’s see, going backwards before this “spark”. I played Diablo 2 quite often on Battle.net and by myself often. In late July, I visit Michael’s house and we played Diablo 2 together. So now we have a Barbarian and Assassin duo as we accomplish the various quests. We are now on Act 4 at level 23 (I Think….). So yeah, that was as of last night. Usually I play in the evenings since we do Fiesta and BZflag during the afternoons and mornings. I also have a level 70 sorceress (U.S. West) who’s stuck now because I can’t defeat cold-enchanted and I am single-elemental sorceress (Which I admit is not all that powerful in Hell Mode xD). I have a level 24 paladin (U.S. East) who’s at Arcane Sanctuary (I know, still Act 2? But I spent FOREVER getting the Horadric staff, it was ridiculous.), and a few lower level characters which don’t need much mentioning. That’s about it for that.

I have also been playing Animal Crossing: Wild World. You may be thinking, WHAT?!? Well, first off, I don’t even have a Wii, so I can’t even think about getting Animal Crossing: City Folk. But, I still wanna play, and it’s been about 3 years since I’ve really cared about that game. So I started up again. And, as mentioned earlier, using my newly-found web designing skills, developed a website for that game for our town! It’s at http://azww.tk if you want to take a look. You see, our town’s called Arizona, because we live in that state of course, so AZWW seemed to fit pretty well.

Even BEFORE THAT, I was doing Game Maker stuff and developed yet another website… for my game project I was working on (And still will when I get bored with the aforementioned stuff) and the site is at http://mega.z-gamers.net. I haven’t worked on it since the Saving/Loading system, but whenever I get the chance someday, I’ll continue. Until then, it’s pretty dead.

lalala, going back farther….Been playing Final Fantasy 7, now you may be thinking “WHAT?” again, but I have to admit, awesome game. I’ve beaten it once before when I was like 10 and didn’t care at all for the story, but now I do and I understand how the game comes together. I’m near the end of Disk 2 now and haven’t played in awhile due to the stuff mentioned further above. But yeah, it’s a fun game, and I don’t have any Playstation 2/3 games, so I can’t use my Playstation 2 for anything but our old Playstation 1 games.

Hmm, next up, a little about my religious life. So I guess my post from about half a year ago??? I think, about questioning death is now obsolete…Basically because the tides have turned for me. I completely believe in the bible and God now. Due to personal reasons, and due to pastors and preachers talking about God alot. And as more proof, God has even answered my prayers in some way, shape, or form, and he is definitely there to protect me, you (the reader), and the world. Although I am not necessarily a “Good” Christian, who can be? So we repent and live on. I’m not super religious or a freak about it (Though we should be according to the bible.), but I wish to know God even more and get to be even more closer to him everyday…

Up next, my driving. Haven’t talked about that in awhile either, I have become pretty adept at driving (It’s pretty easy though, so it’s not too surprising), and all I need to do is practicing parking and tuning up my backwards driving skills, and I should be good to go on the road. I do stay fully alert on the road, probably more than I should even. But just today when there was a left turn green arrow and I headed up to the crossroad to turn, two trucks from the side to the right of us zoomed straight forward across the intersection when it was a red light, so that could’ve been a fatal crash (for the other people that already started turning), but luckily there wasn’t one, and I made it safely through the turn. Just a little bit more drama than usual during driving.

And as a final note, Back in early July (As in, the 1st~2nd week of it), we went on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon. We? I mean the youth group church kids of our town. It was really fun. I got to meet some cool kids (All Asian hah [Sorry, racial statement xD]) and we talked and chatted every once in awhile. It was fun, and we visited more than the Grand Canyon, which it was the 2nd time visiting. But it was fun. I got even more details I’m planning to include in some future posts, so stay tuned!

Ok, for real, as a REAL Final note, I have recently made my desktop GREEN. Yes, Green. Why? My fav. color, also because it’s not too hurtful on the eyes, but still gives that sort of “strong” color feeling if you get what I’m saying (If you don’t well, too bad). But anyways, if you’ve been watching my desktop at http://mydesktop.tk, you can see it in daily use, or check out http://sigonasr2.servegame.org/mydesktop.html for a few screenshots of what it looks like now. I may include a future post also for how to get your desktop pimped out yourself later on!

WAIT! I just thought of something else that was very recent! I went to band camp for school (Which is in 2 days by the way….blah…), so anyways, band camp seemed really fun this year. Leadership looks great too, and our band teacher let them conduct band camp this year. Way cool, good job everyone great work, we acknowledge you! An inspirational teacher, Mr. Humbert came in and like every year, he gave us wacky jokes, made us laugh, and told us how weird band kids are. Well we are, and we love it, so deal with it. So yeah, incoming band kids (Freshman and Sophomores) were also very cool, glad to see new faces and the future of Buena Bands. Ah…Only two more years to celebrate.

Alright! I’m done! All in a nicely wrapped up 1400 word count post! (Including all the words I’m speaking right now will make it exactly 1400 ). So yeah, this might or might now be my July post. I may post more frequently in the future! (Just maybe hehehe.)

The Site

Our summer trip came and went without much impact to the site.  This was largely due to my writing up a couple of posts in advance and then being able to monitor and approve comments via my wife’s brand new iPhone.  The 3G reception by the pool at the Marriott Grand Residences in Lake Tahoe is excellent.  My wife was able to upload pictures directly from poolside to Facebook.  Reception from the trail around Emerald Bay was a bit spotty by comparison, but still viable at points.

That is 1.7 miles, not 17 miles, to Vikingsholm, a so-called castle.  Personally, anything with only a two car garage can hardly be called a castle in my opinion, except in the “A man’s home is his castle” context.  Even the viking reference is something of a flight of fancy.  It was designed by an architect who happened to be from Sweden, and the last time I recall the Swedes behaving viking-like was back in the time of Gustavus Adolphus.  Still it was pretty, but not really exotic enough for us to cough up $5 each for the tour.  I live up the road from the Winchester Mystery House, so I might be a tough crowd in that regard.

Quote of the trip from my daughter:

You dropped me at the kids club and then left the state?

The Marriott compound is a few minutes walk from the state line between California and Nevada, so the wife and I hit the casinos on the Nevada side for all of an hour while our daughter was occupied with activities back that the resort. We actually left with more money than we had when we entered.  Imagine that.

As for changes to the site itself, on the side bar of the site you may have noticed that I changed the feeds I display.  I removed Massively’s feed.  It wasn’t because I don’t love the team over there, because they are great, but because on a lot of days the VirginWorlds feed displays almost everything on the Massively feed at the same time, so it was looking a little redundant.

To replace Massively I put the feed from Massive Blips, which is a site that tracks MMO related blog posts, including those at Massively, so stories from there may still appear in both feeds on the side bar.

The interesting thing about Massive Blips is that you can create an account and then vote for posts.  So few people seem to use this at the moment that just myself and Gaff voting can raise the visibility of a story.  Now will turn into a more focused version of Digg or just fade away over time?

One Year Ago

The mention of Diablo III seemed to spur a revival of Diablo II with the Diablo II Battle Chest taking the #1 sales spot for a time.  Not bad for a game that had not had an expansion since 2001.

Meanwhile, on the SOE front, it was time to say farewell to the EverQuest side of the Living Legacy program.  I also griped a bit about how SOE was advertising the completely out of date EverQuest Platinum on the EQ Players site and had been doing so for a long time.  That ad disappeared before the month was out though.  Such a coincidence.

In Azeroth the instance group went back to the Slave Pens as we edged ever closer the Burning Crusade level cap of 70.  Meanwhile people were selling Wrath of the Lich King beta keys on eBay for $500.

In New Eden I was pondering the economics of building and flying a marauder and comparing the benefits of a Raven Navy Issue and the Caldari marauder, the Golem.  Our little corp was on the move again.  And some of us were taking the EVE personality test while I compared ships styles of the different factions to cars from my youth.

Warhammer Online was on the horizon.  I had pre-ordered the collectors edition, but then came the content removal, some classes and four cities.  And while Mythic posted the minimum system requirements, I was wondering what the recommended… often thought to be the true minimum for many games… might end up being.

And, finally, I was done with GameFly and damn glad to have escaped from Atlanta.

New Linking Sites

The following sites have been kind enough to link here.  Please take a moment to visit them in return.  The next Tobold may be on this list!

• /gab
• Chain Healz and Lightning Bolt Pew Pew
• PhoenQ
• Strict Machine
• The Angry Raider
• The Noob Lock

Also, Anakh at Big Ogre, Small World wants people to know he is back to writing again after being on hiatus for some time.

Most Viewed Posts in July

1. Play On: Guild Name Generator
2. How To Find An Agent in EVE Online
3. Rotom Secret Key Event
4. Date With a Lady
5. Shaymin Event at Toys R Us
6. Rotom Secret Key Available Via Nintendo
7. Is It Cheating?
8. Daily Bog Roll 7/11 – Two Ply Edition
9. Getting Upper Blackrock Spire Access
10. Alamo teechs u 2 play DURID!
11. For Want of a Horse…
12. What Is A “Tank” In EVE?

Search Term of the Month

boobs inflation pokemon
[Ash finally hits puberty?]

EVE Online

Despite being in somewhat of an “off” time for EVE Online I have managed to find a bit to keep myself amused.  The AFK level 4 mission running Dominix experiment is about ready to roll.  The skills are done, I just have to round up the last modules, fit them, and give it a try.

World of Warcraft

The instance group has been chugging along.  Summer plans have diverted us from our primary path of hitting the five person Northrend instances on occasion, but even when we can only get four people together, we find ways to have fun.  Still, the level cap looms.  We still have to see if the group will want to move on when there is no more experience points to be earned.

On the family side of the game, my daughter seems enamored with her Blood Elf hunter and prefers to play that character now.  However, she still gets upset when I or my mother level up any of our characters past level 39, where her previous favorite character sits.

Coming Up

Some organizational changes are on the horizon at work.  Expect delays.

I will certainly have to report on whether or not I lose my Dominix in EVE Online.

I’ve got to roll up the results from the cheating poll and see how they compare with my own views.

And I am going to predict that at least one of the instance group will be level 80 before the month is out.  The level cap test will be on us soon.

When is Star Trek Online coming out?  I’ve been averting my eyes so long I’ve lost all track of the game.

Giới thiệu đến các bạn Game DiaBlo II, Game này chắc hẳng rất nhiều anh em chúng ta mới làm quen với Computer đã chơi nó phải hông? Đây là phiên bản nâng cấp của Diablo phiên bản mới toanh cho anh em ta giải trí sau khi làm việc mệt mỏi!

Yêu cầu cấu hình:

Single-Player PC System Requirements

• Windows® 2000*, 95, 98, or NT 4.0 Service Pack 5
• Pentium® 233 or equivalent
• 32 MB RAM
• 650 MB available hard drive space
• 4X CD-ROM drive
• DirectX™ compatible video card

Multiplayer PC System Requirements and Options

• 64 MB RAM
• Open Battle.net game Creators and TCP/IP game Hosts: 128MB RAM recommended (256MB RAM in games with over 4 players)
• 950 MB available hard drive space
• 28.8 Kbps or faster modem
• Up to 8 Players over TCP/IP Network or Battle.net® (Requires low-latency Internet connection with support for 32-bit applications)

Optional PC 3D Acceleration

• Supports Glide™ and Direct 3D™ compatible video cards with at least 8MB of video RAM. Direct 3D™ requires 64 MB of system RAM

* Local administrator access required
Single-Player Mac System Requirements

• MacOS 8.1 or Higher
• G3 Processor or Equivalent
• 64 MB RAM plus Virtual Memory
• 650 MB available hard drive space
• 4X CD-ROM drive
• Video support for 256 color display at 800×600 Resolution

Multiplayer Mac System Requirements and Options

• 64MB RAM plus Virtual Memory
• 950 MB available hard drive space
• 28.8 Kbps or faster modem
• Up to 8 Players over TCP/IP Network or Battle.net® (Requires low-latency Internet connection with support for 32-bit applications)

Optional Mac 3D Acceleration

• Supports Glide™, OpenGL (v.1.1.2 or higher), or RAVE

Diablo II 3CD FULL ISO

Diablo II 3CD FULL ISO

Download Mirror 1:

Download CD-1:

http://rapidshare.com/files/148070699/D2-CD1-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148019846/D2-CD1-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993320/D2-CD1-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148021009/D2-CD1-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993187/D2-CD1-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part5.rar

Download CD-2:

http://rapidshare.com/files/148021767/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993274/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148025152/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993182/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148026122/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993139/D2-CD2-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part6.rar

Download CD-3:

http://rapidshare.com/files/148026838/D2-CD3_-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147981422/D2-CD3_-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147981388/D2-CD3_-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147993252/D2-CD3_-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/147981095/D2-CD3_-__5B_iMaGe__5D.part5.rar

Crack: http://rapidshare.com/files/147980966/CRK_2BKEY.rar

Password: thietkewebvnn.wordpress.com

Download Mirror 2:

This rant/musing draws inspiration from a good friend’s blog/article on MMORPG’s.

MMORPG’s (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) is a topic that has intrigued me for many years. I really love the concept, many people, from all over the world, gathering online to play a RPG.

Being the geek that I am, I thrived on RPG’s through middle school and high school. Now, back in my day (mid nineties), it was all pen and paper RPG’s, with actual dice rolling. I loved it. My friends and I could stay up all night, armed with the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, DMG, Dice (d4,d6,d8,d10,d12,d20), a case of Mountain Dew, chips ,other assorted snacks and our imaginations. Ah, the memories. Of course, as time moved on, it was harder for my friends and I to gather in one place for our gaming sessions. I played a little in college, but nothing stable. I can say, I haven’t done any good gaming in at least 11 years. Sad, but true.

Enter the world of online gaming. I am an avid computer user. I spend all day on a computer at work, and still I will be on a computer for at least another 2 hours every night. I have an addiction to the Internet. That said, MMORPG’s seem like the way to go for me, right? I can honestly say, I have not found one that could hook me. I’ve tried a few. The only one I played with any kind of consistancy, was Guild Wars. To be fair, I have a poor track record with computer games. I tend to burn out very quickly with most of them. Here are the games I was hooked on: Diablo, Diablo II, Dungeon Siege, and Empire Earth. Each of those games, I played for months at a time. I have not been able to find a game since, that keeps my interest. I suppose I tend to hold an even higher standard for the MMORPG’s. With the single player computer games, I expect a fairly linear story line. MMORPG’s, I feel should be somewhat dynamic. The sparse experience I’ve had though, they still feel as though something is lacking.

Here is what I think the problem is: computer games lack the flexibility of a real live game master.

That is what made things so interesting with the pen and paper games. The rules were there, but they served as mere guidelines. They could be changed or ignored at the discretion of the game master. You can’t do that with a computer game. I don’t fault the programmers.  I don’t see any way to have this done via the computer. Check out the scenario below:
Old School – Players have been at it for hours, sludging through a dungeon, in search of the dragon’s lair. They finally reach the destination. They make sure they have all the healing potions needed, that all the spells are ready, and they move in for the attack.  Well, through cruel fate (bad die rolls) the dragon would certainly slaughter our band of heroes, but,  the benevolent game master intervenes.  Our heros survive, but the mage has now lost sight in his eye, and our fighter has a broken leg, which will affect him for the next couple gaming sessions.

MMORPG - Players have been at it for hours, sludging through a dungeon, in search of the dragon’s lair. They finally reach the destination. They make sure they have all the healing potions needed, that all the spells are ready, and they move in for the attack. Well, this time, the computer is handling all of the calculations. Our party is slaughtered without mercy. So, the party re-spawns, gathers more healing potions, buys some better armor, and trys it again. And again, and again. Finally, the dragon is defeated, and the heros frolic into town with the newly aquired treasure.

Sure, both sequences have the same outcome (heros defeat dragon), but the Old School way seems like it will be more memorable to the players.

So, here is what I see needing to happen, before I can begin to enjoy the MMORPG’s. Create an open ended world. Allow “game masters” to controls different aspects of the game (create quests, import maps and game objects). Let the rules be broken, bent or ignored as the need arrises.

Computers should enhance our gaming experience, not run it.

Yes! Thank you all! I humbly accept all your thanks and would request that in the future when you ask me to help you get rid of some uber and utterly terrible demon, please make sure the demon truly is uber and utterly terrible mmkay? thanks!

Proof? Watch. My dear Skarash (Paladin), is now level 24. At the time of this video I think he was about level 19 or so. By the way, Vessel of Judgement rocks!

Pwnage. I didn’t even know when she died. I had never had problems regenerating mana before so I didn’t come prepared for that. As you watch the video you should notice that my health bar hardly ever drops.

Yegwa says I play Diablo like an RTS… After reviewing the video myself, I concur. Hey that’s just what I’m used to

My biggest problem so far with Diablo II has been the freaking stash. Why on earth is it so damn small? I’ve had to stop picking up potions because I just don’t have enough space with all the damn gems, jewels and of course my back-up armor (should I die and need to fight before I can get my corpse).

Anyway, more later, gotta go smack down some irreverent demons. I’m the sh*t fool!

Kthxbai.

All your base are belong to us

That was my first and only statement as I was recruited to defeat the evil forces of Diablo.

This is my first time playing Diablo… Well sort of, that’s if you don’t count me clicking with all deliberate randomness about a year ago when Yegwa first tried to get me to play it.

That's not a dance... It's the opening move to your destruction! AHAHAHAHA

My character is an unholy paladin named Skarash and I apparently got to level 4 without realizing it. How? Well I was quite ill and apparently my mind is such a fine tuned machine that it was able to function without my conscious control and also take screenshots… I’m serious.

Skarash begins his mission

Skarash somewhere down the line

Anyway, I’ll have more juicy stuff once I actually begin to consciously play the damn game. Till then, live long and prosper.

Saturday night found me sitting in Central Park in the city of Santa Clara watching a fine Independence Day fireworks display.  It was probably the best display finale I have ever seen, the sky ablaze with overlapping bursts of colors all set to the 1812 Overture, a magnificent piece of music if not one I would necessarily associate with the United States or the independence thereof.  But it does have cannons.

We arrived home in time for me to peek into Azeroth and catch the fireworks over Stormwind.

Oooh, ahhh...

I also saw Skronk, Ula, and Earl online, representing the Saturday night group in Northrend.  They were running some quests to pick up experience.

But as we gain more experience, the whole group is now level 77 with the exception of Earl who is closing in on that, we also get closer to our tradition of being… well… done when we hit level cap.

When we hit 70 before Wrath of the Lich King, that was the end of instance runs.  We finished up Escape from Durnhold Keep then the group stopped showing up in WoW on Saturday night.

Now we’re closing in on 80 with no new expansion in the offing from Blizzard for a long time to come and we’re starting to think about what to do when we hit the level cap.

It is possible that achievements might hold our attention for a while.  Some of us in the group are more addicted to them than others though.  We might also explore the path of the Death Knight as a group of five… a death squad if you will.

But the time will come where we’ll be done with Azeroth until the next expansion and we’ll be looking for something else to do.

There are, of course, plenty of MMO options.  I am just not sure if a break from WoW would be best used playing a similar game.  If there was an MMO that would accommodate our play style, which is focused primarily on the five of us playing one night a week, and if that MMO were different enough from WoW to seem fresh, that might be an option.  But I’m not sure such a bird exists.  Our run at Warhammer Online lasted six weeks before we decided it wasn’t for us, and our time in Middle-earth was hampered by the fact that a group needs six people in LOTRO, and we only had four at the time.

Or we could kick the MMO habit for a time and look for a game that can accommodate five players.  Potshot and I have already experimented with Age of Empires II: Age of Kings and found a way to get ourselves connected reliably.  And there are certainly other RTS games to look at.

An adventure or RPG might be more our speed though.  It is a shame that Diablo II only seats 4 players, that might be an interesting retro experience.  I actually played through the original Diablo in a group a couple of times, but did most of Diablo II solo.  Too bad as well that Diablo III is still over the horizon.

Then again, maybe we ought to lighten it up and look for a shooter to occupy the time.  Something like Team Fortress 2 (if I can get over my grudge against Steam) or Battlefield Heroes might be a refreshing diversion.

So I am looking for game ideas for a regular group of five players.  You don’t have to sell me on MMOs, but something that can handle our group and can be fun and rewarding on our limited weekly play budget.