Dragon Con costume 07

Convention season has come to an end this year. I was not able to attend as many as I’d hoped. So I’m making big plans for next year. I thought i’d share some of my favorite convention experiences here. I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many interesting people, sat in on a ton of panels, and ended up with good swag too. Part of the reason this past year’s con season got cut short was because I got laid off by EA at the beginning of the year. One of the things I really miss about working at a video game company is all the convention “perks”.  Not to worry though, even though my “perk”y days are over, I’m still determined to go to every convention I can in 2010.

Dragon Con James Marsters

Dragon Con is one of my favorite conventions. I’ve been attending this con since 95′ when I would go in costume and pass out flyers SOLAR and a few years later Legynds. I was not financially able to travel to other states so this big convention was it for the longest time. The best part of the convention is that it always falls on my Birthday making it very easy to score free stuff i.e. drinks. The last DC I was able to go to was in 2007 with Justin and Paul. It was a last minute trip and I put together a simple costume, really it was just a bodice with added flavor. The highlights of that weekend were meeting some of the convention celebrities. As a gift, I was given a photo with James Marsters who was very accommodating with the photo request, biting my neck, which he did  so very well. He was also just nice. I wish I’d had my costume on when that picture was taken. Hmmm… Paul had his picture taken with many, but Jamie Bamber from BSG was my favorite. He so cute and friendly. Justin didn’t get into the picture-with-cleb thing but he was very supportive.

Jamie Bamber/Paul Barnett Dragon Con 07

NYCC 09

The two best conventions I’ve attended were New York Comicon and San Diego Comicon.  I’ll begin with NYCC 09. They had such good panels and as a Whedon fan I was drooling over the fact that he was there. I really wanted to get into the Dollhouse panel, which I did after hours of waiting. Joss Whedon made some surprise visits out into the convention and I luckily had my video camera there. However, I was so pleased with myself for being at the ready, I did not pay as much attention to the footage, and it’s shaky and amateurish at best.  Earlier in the day I was able to meet Georges Jeanty (my favorite Buffy comic artist) who I bought a Buffy print from. He was happy to sign it and, as the video below shows, I was at the right place at the right time with that poster.

At Blizzard: Paul, Me, Josh, Jeff K.

Warhammer Booth SDCC 08

Going back a year, San Diego Comicon 08 was special because I was invited to tag along with Paul and Josh to visit and tour Bilzzard. I was able to meet Jeff Kaplan, who was a wonderful host (I had a drastic hair color change by this time). He personally walked us around, showing us everything from the QA department (Weee!) to a sneek peak of (at the time highly anticipated and unreleased) Lich King. He ended the visit by taking us all out to lunch. I mention the QA area because, as a former QA tester for Mythic, my eyes were bulging at all the high techie testing stuff that Blizzard has.

As far as the convention goes, it was totaly awesome. I wore a costume part of the time, also made sure to attend the Mythic panels which cut into my normal ‘fan girl’ activities. I wouldn’t change a thing, though. Except maybe I would have gone to the Dr. Horrible panel. Hmmmm.

Megacon 09

Megacon 09, here in MA, was the most recent convention I have attended. I was only able to go for one day of the event and it turned out to be such a good day. It appeared to be a very intimate convention. It all took place on one room in one hotel. After scanning the goods I decided to get a drink at the bar. I wanted to maybe get a signature from one of the con celebs but need liquid courage first.

As luck would have it, James Marsters was sitting two seats over at the bar. Justin was with me and decided to buy Mr. Marsters a drink. He also tried to engage in conversation which ended with him asking if he minded being in a picture. Mr. Marsters was incredibly tolerant of us and the others who were blatantly bothering his drinking time, however, he smiled and carried on as if he didn’t mind at all. And, no, I didn’t ask if he remembered me from 2 years earlier.

Megacon James Marsters 09

Micky Dolenz Megacon 09

The tail end of the event included meeting Micky Dolenz in the dealers room. He was ever so nice, talking and joking around. I even thought he might be flirting. Apparently the bar is really the place to meet the celebs, as Micky Dolenz was there as well. He kindly helped me into my seat  and said goodbye as he was leaving. Ahhh, well, he is kind of cute. Next time I’ll see if he can teach me the Monkey Walk. You know, I’ll just pretend I don’t know how.

I adore going to these conventions. I love the energy, crowds, celebs, new games, and everything else they come with. Many good memories have been created by them and I hope to get many more pictures and stories in 2010.

I shall close this post by shamelessly  showing a video, from Games Day 08. It’s a video that Justin made after the costume was finished and he did a great job. Next on the agenda is to decide on 2010’s costume.

Author: Walter Mosley

Title: The Man in My Basement: A Novel

Genre: African-American/Literary Fiction

Publication Date: 2004

Number of Pages: 256

Geographical Setting: The village of Sag Harbor, NY

Time Period: Present day (2004)

Series: No

Plot Summary: Charles Blakey’s life is falling apart at the age of thirty-three.  Unemployed, drinking far too much, and estranged from his only friends, he spends his days reading science fiction novels alone in his family’s three-story Sag Harbor home.  The Blakey family has a long history in Sag Harbor dating back to the 17th century when they arrived in New York as free blacks.  Now, however, Charles is in danger of losing the home his family has owned for seven generations.  Nearly penniless, Charles is far behind on his loans, and the bank is threatening to take his house.  Then one day Charles hears a knock at his door.  A mysterious, 57-year-old white man named Anniston Bennet has an unusual propostion.  If Charles is willing to rent him his basement for 65 days, Bennet will pay him nearly $50,000.  Though the money would solve his financial problems, Charles is wary.  Who is this mysterious white man, and why did he chose Charles for this strange request?  Why is Bennet insisting on complete secrecy, and what is contained in the large packages he wants delivered to Charles’ basement?  Though suspicious, Charles begins the monumental task of preparing his basement for Bennet’s arrival.  In the process, he discovers a family heirloom – a trio of ancient African masks – that rekindles in him a sense of belonging, family, and identity.  Charles begins to rethink his decision to rent to Bennet, and his anxiety is multiplied when he learns Bennet plans to construct a prison cell for himself inside Charles’ basement so that he can pay for “crimes against humanity.”  Ultimately, Charles’ need for money and cautious curiosity prevail, and he allows Bennet to lock himself in the basement.  As the 65 days pass, the voluntary “prisoner” and his “warden” engage in several heated conversations that explore themes of guilt, punishment, responsibility, and redemption which all lead to an unpredictable ending that will challenge and haunt readers.

Subject Headings: African-American men;  Unemployed workers;  European-American men;  Rich men;  African-American families — History;  African-Americans — Material culture;  Landlord and tenant;  Race relations;  Power (Social sciences);  Identity (Psychology);  Atonement;  Home ownership;  Debt;  Alcohol use;  Los Angles, California;  Psychological fiction.

Appeal: gripping, steady, realistic characters, vivid, strong secondary characters, mythic, character-centered, complex, literary references, inventive, thought-provoking, sexually explicit, small-town setting, contemporary, haunting, philosophical, psychological, suspenseful, frank, some strong language, realistic dialogue

Three terms that best describe the book: Haunting, Philosophical, Realistic

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

Dirty Bird Blues: A Novel by Clarence Major – Manfred Banks is an aspiring blues musician in Chicago who’s life is falling apart thanks to his taste for Old Crow whiskey (aka the “Dirty Bird”).  His wife Cleo has taken their daughter and left him for a preacher, and he can’t find work.  Will he be able to quit the bottle and regain his family or will he spiral into drunken oblivian?  (realistic characters, psychological, realistic dialogue, alcohol abuse, unemployment, search for identity, race relations, inventive)

The Book of Illusions: A Novel by Paul Auster – Since losing his wife and young sons in a plane crash, Vermont English professor David Zimmer has been lost in an alcoholic haze.  When a chance T.V. viewing of old silent film star Hector Mann makes him laugh for the first time in months, Zimmer sets out to track down the actor.  This is a difficult task, however, because Mann had disappeared years before at the height of his fame.  Zimmer’s quest to find Mann leads him to confront death, chaos, and his own guilt and leads to haunting encounter with the old film star.  (gripping, steady pace, realistic characters, complex, haunting, psychological, frank language, alcohol abuse, inventive)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison – This classic work traces a young African-American man’s life journey from the South to New York City during which he concludes he is an “invisible man.”  After growing up trusting, the narrator encounters shocking injustices at college, at a paint factory job, and as a member of Harlem’s Communist Party.  These experiences convince him that to whites he has no identity.  He’s an invisible man on to whom they project their own preconcieved ideas.  (gripping, haunting, realistic characters, psychological, thought-provoking, race relations, philosophical, vivid, search for identity)

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860 by James Oliver Horton – Co-written by professors of sociology at George Washington and George Mason Universities, this book traces the lives of the first free blacks in America from the American Revolution through the Civil War.  It examines this black communities struggles with racial injustice while striving to maintain a unique identity.  This book is about Charles Blakey’s own ancestors.  The Blakey family decended back to these same free black families in Sag Harbor, and it is with this family past that Charles longs to reconnect.

African Masks from the Barbier-Mueller Collection by Iris Hahner-Herzog – Written by a noted ethnologist, this book presents nearly 250 of the finest African masks from the renowned Barbier-Mueller collection.  With 100 color photographs and in-depth essays explaining the origins and uses of the masks, this book offers a fascinating look at fascinating African art form.  As Charles Blakey cleans family heirlooms from his basement, he discovers a trio of “passport” masks from his African ancestors.  These masks help him reconnect with his roots and start to reform his identity.

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan – Written by a law professor at the University of British Columbia, this book traces the rise of the corporation over the past 150 years and contends that today it is a pathological institution.  As a system “programmed to exploit others for profit,” the modern corporation is a dangerous possessor of great power over society.  When Anniston Bennet wishes to imprison himself in Charles’ basement, it is to atone for the great evils he has committed in service to corporate interests.  He’s exploited the African people and literally killed children to provide profit and power to the corporate elite.

Name: Russ

Author: Nalo Hopkinson

Title: Midnight Robber

Genre: Multicultural, LGBTQ Science Fiction

Publication Date: 2000

Number of Pages: 330

Geographical Setting: The Caribbean colonized mirror planets of Toussaint and Half-Way Tree

Time Period: Sometime in the far future

Plot Summary: On the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint, the artificial intelligence of the master computer, called Granny Nanny, watches out for the citizens by recording everything that happens and talking to everyone through nanotechnology in earpieces implanted in everyone at birth. When Mayor Antonio kills the rival for his wife Ione, he escapes prosecution by “climbing the Half-Way Tree” through another dimension to the mirror planet of Half-Way Tree and out of the jurisdiction of Granny Nanny. Antonio tricks his daughter Tan-Tan to come with him, but he soon begins forcing himself on Tan-Tan, saying she looks just like Ione. Tan-Tan finally kills Antonio and escapes to the home of the bird-like douen people, who live far out in the bush. Antonio’s second wife Janisette pursues Tan-Tan, who is also pregnant with Antonio’s child. Tan-Tan assuages her own guilt for killing her father by playing the part of the mythic Robber Queen (a character like Robin Hood based in the Caribbean Carnival tradition), and a whole mythology builds up around this character. For more on Carnival characters, visit this link.

Subject Headings: Caribbean Area, Caribbean Novel And Short Story In English, Multicultural, Jamaican, Canadian, LGBTQ, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Appeal: densely written, leisurely paced, vivid and detailed characterizations, intriguing secondary characters, character centered, layered plot, complex episodic storyline, explicit violence, literary references, mythic, open-ended, sexually explicit, incest, thought-provoking, tragic; detailed setting, exotic, gritty, hard edged; homespun conversational style with a lot of unusual jargon.

3 Terms that best describes this book: Exotic, complex and mythic

Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?):

3 Fiction Works

Prospero’s Daughter by Elizabeth Nunez (a scientist raises his daughter in isolation in the Caribbean until love develops between her and a boy of mixed race)

Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, edited by Sheree R. Thomas (a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories by African-Americans)

The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu (Ejii witnesses her father’s murder, sets off to find her father’s killer and awakens her own mystical powers)

3 Non-fiction Works

Talking Taino: Essays on Caribbean Natural History from a Native Perspective by William F. Keegan (A look at the Taino people, natives of the Caribbean before Columbus, and their perspectives on the natural history of the islands)

Masking and Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in the Caribbean by Gerard Aching (A look at masks in the traditions of the Caribbean as a “socially significant practice.”)

Toussaint Louverture: A Biography by Madison Smartt Bell (Biography of a key figure in the Haitian revolution)

Name: Christine E.

Mythic n’en avait pas fait mystère. Oui, le lecteur devrait attendre le septième opus d’ « Halloween Blues » pour en savoir plus sur le fantôme de l’actrice Dana Anderson qui, depuis son décès, hante les jours et les nuits de son mari, l’inspecteur Forester Hill. Enfin, la boucle est bouclée. Certains lecteurs en resteront pantois, d’autres seront sceptiques et même peut-être déçus de cette fin trop torturée à leur goût. Un serial killer est retrouvé mort en possession de l’adresse de Forester et d’une photo de Dana gentiment adossée à sa propre tombe ! Et puis, il y a aussi cette inconnue ressemblant à s’y méprendre à la célèbre actrice assassinée qui rôde autour de leur maison. Hallucinations ? A moins que la belle blonde ne soit pas morte ? Cet album épilogue diffuse au fil des pages toutes les réponses aux questions. Une fin étonnante pour une série finalement très classique que l’on a surtout appréciée pour son ambiance ‘fifties’.

Anne-Sophie

« Halloween Blues, t 7 : Remake », de Mythic et Kas, éditions Dargaud, 48 pages, 13,5 €

Cote : 2/5

(baogame.vn) – Mặc dù đang nắm trong tay rất nhiều tựa game đình đám, với số lượng tiêu thụ hàng triệu bản. Tuy nhiên, trong một động thái mới nhất nhằm cải thiện doanh thu tài chính, EA đã quyết định sa thải hàng loạt nhân viên. Ngoài ra, hãng này cũng cho biết thêm là họ sẽ chỉ tập trung vào các tựa game lớn và cắt giảm ngân sách cho những dự án không khả thi.

Source: EA cắt giảm nhân lực mạnh mẽ

Now given the depressing Mythic/Warhammer news over the last couple of days, I needed something to make me laugh, preferably at the expense of another MMO. Ovron, who’s a fellow guildie provide this link to a video, with Hitler venting his rage over the mass PvP crash issue in Aion, which I know absolutely nothing about and don’t even care if it’s true, but it made me chuckle and that’s what I needed. So follow the link fellow Warhammers and have a laugh, you’ll probably need it at the moment.

If you’ve seen it already, then you’ll know what I mean. It does contain some subtitled swear words, so consider your location before you open up the link.

Okay, it looks like the 80 people laid off at Mythic is being confirmed. For the people involved it’s a bloody disaster and for the game of Warhammer it has every indication of the last couple of nails being rammed into the coffin. You can’t lay off 40% of your staff and expect there to be no repercussions for the games involved. Not in my most positive frame of mind, can I possibly see this as a good thing.

So Jeff it’s time for a state of the game address, or in my parlance, WTF is going on (That’s assuming he’s still there). We’re your customers and I’d like to think you have a responsibility to keep us informed. If you say you’ve laid off lots of customer services, that’s not good, because you either have fcku all customers, or customer services has been sacrificed. If it’s from the development teams, then Warhammer is a dead man walking.

For EA, I have to say, you almighty bunch of cocks. You couldn’t run a car wash without drowning in the surface water. God you must wake up in the morning and thank the lord for your sports franchise games and that bunch of moronic customers that keep buying the same repetitive shit, year in year out.

As someone in another thread said, the Bioware staff on the Starwars MMO must be crapping in their pants at the moment. Yes Dr Ray, you get 1 year to bring out an MMO and somehow compete with the perceptions of a public weaned on WoW, for whom change isn’t to be embraced, it’s merely to be viewed as NOTWOW.

EA if you can’t handle the long game, for gods sake stop trying to enter the MMO arena, you really don’t have the corporate mindset for it. Just sit there and wait for the good ship Blizzard MMO 2 to come up and inhale the remainder of your customer base, because surely they’re going to launch on the consoles this time.

I was never a fan of EA before the buyout. I could see the need for it from a Mythic point of view, but by god you knew you were laying down with the devil. It’s just a bloody shame it’s Mythic who have be hit with the EA shit stick.

Is the endless trial the last throw of the dice for real Warhammer growth? If so for godsakes, email the old accounts and invite them back, open up all of tier 1. Don’t go out with a whimper, go out with a bang.

Mood = Depressed.

If anyone at Mythic would care to comment on the EA Layoffs (17% of workforce) and what this means for Mythic & Warhammer, that would be great. The sooner the better, since it will nip in the bud too much speculation and woe is to me behaviour.

It does say that the focus is to shift away from retail based games, which I would like to think means online games like Warhammer are good to go. I mean to savage Mythic would tend to undermine the point of buying the company in the first place.

If anyone has anymore solid sources of information, then please post.

EDIT: Please add to the 2nd paragraph … Ooops this is EA we are dealing with and they don’t seem to understand the concept of the long ball. How could I forget, Doh.

Eek! Mythic has been hit yet again by the downsizing hammer, as a massive downsizing at Electronic Arts (1,500 employees by April) hits the developer hard: 40% of their employees. According to twitter feeds from ex-employees, Mythic has laid off about 80 employees, approximately 40% of the Warhammer Online developer crew.

“Mythic Entertainment…just laid of [sic] 80 people, about 40% of it’s [sic] employees.”
-Katherine Pitta, Electronic Arts

This news is not going to do anything good for confidence in Mythic’s Warhammer Online, especially when another MMO is set to go under this January (Dungeon Runners) due to continuous cutbacks of staff leading to eventual cancellation.

Depending on who you ask, many will tell you that this is a sign that Warhammer is dying. To say this is a sign is to say the sky getting dimmer is a sign that the sun is going down. You are correct, but we already knew that. Warhammer Online has been spiraling since it launched last year, and to remind people of “imminent doom” is just to beat a dead horse.

So is this a bad sign for Mythic? Obviously, and MMO Fallout will be watching WAR’s development over the next several months to see what effect layoffs will have on the game, and whether or not the content will suffer.

From/De: EA

Mythic Entertainment Introduces Endless Free Trial for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Warhammer Online Further Enhances Accessibility with New Streaming Free Trial Client and Introduction of New User Journey Features

FAIRFAX, Va., Nov 06, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Mythic Entertainment(TM), an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, today announced that the critically-acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer(R) Online: Age of Reckoning(R) (WAR),has replaced its 10-day time-limited free trial with a new, endless free* trial program which is now available for download. The new streaming client for the endless free trial enhances the game’s accessibility and greatly decreases the download time, making it easier than ever for new players to experience the never-ending battles of WAR for themselves.

The new WAR endless free trial replaces the original 10-day time-limited trial program, and gives new and returning players the opportunity to create and play any of the 24 different careers to find their perfect character match for use during extended gameplay if they purchase the game and/or subscribe. The endless free trial limits players to progress through character level 10 as they explore the tier one Empire vs. Chaos zones of Nordland and Norsca. In addition, players can explore the newly added tier one dungeon, Hunter’s Vale, or battle other players in the instanced scenarios Nordenwatch, Khaine’s Embrace and Gates of Ekrund.

Endless free trial players will embark on the recently introduced New User Journey, which features enhanced tutorials and new community elements, such as a “new player” guild, to streamline the transition of new players into WAR and its vibrant community of players.

“With the introduction of the endless free trial and streaming client, we are making it easier than ever for a new player to join the WAR,” said Jeff Hickman, executive producer, Mythic Entertainment. “We’ve worked hard to create a more informative and community driven new user experience, and now we are giving players an unlimited amount of time to explore the early parts of the game at their own pace. We are confident that players new and old will find all the enhancements we’ve made to WAR over the past year worthy of their time and commitment.”

Available now, the new streaming endless trial client is a seamless way for new users to get into the game. After an initial download of just over 1GB, additional content streams in the background as required while playing. All closed 10-day free trial accounts have been converted to open endless free trial accounts and are ready for returning players to resume their journeys across the frontlines of WAR.

New users and returning players can download the Warhammer Online endless free trial by visiting http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial.

Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm(TM) conflict that will provide players with an engaging battleground for years to come. Available now for PC and Mac(R), WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning or to download the endless free trial, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

*INTERNET CONNECTION, ACCEPTANCE OF END USER ACCESS AND LICENSE AGREEMENT AND REGISTRATION REQUIRED TO PLAY.

About Warhammer(R) Online: Age of Reckoning(R)

Experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm! Declare your allegiance and join hundreds of thousands of mighty heroes on the battlefields of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the new MMORPG from Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot(TM). Enter a grim fantasy world of perpetual conflict to fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos). Invade enemy lands, besiege imposing keeps, and sack sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. Wield devastating magic and deadly weapons, battle monstrous creatures, and join your brothers-in-arms in epic Public Quests(TM). Climb the Bastion Stair, carry your Guild Banner into battle, and unlock the infinite secrets of the Tome of Knowledge as you travel the world. So sharpen your blade and unleash your inner mutation. The Age of Reckoning has begun and WAR IS EVERYWHERE!

For more information about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, visit: www.warhammeronline.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA^TM, EA SPORTS^TM, EA Mobile(TM) and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO, Dark Age of Camelot, Mythic Entertainment, Public Quests, and Realm vs. Realm are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Games Workshop, Warhammer, Warhammer Online, Age of Reckoning, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Warhammer world are either (R), (TM) and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2009. Used under license by Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective licensors.

Samsung's new phones: the Flight and the Mythic

Another week, another truckload of Samsung devices dumped onto the shelves. This week’s Samsung shipment brings two new TouchWiz-based touchscreen handsets: the Mythic, and the Flight.

Before we dive into the specs, we gotta give Samsung some grief for the names. Not because they’re bad – in fact, I really, really like both of these names. So much that I wonder why the hell Samsung is giving them to two random TouchWiz handsets. I mean, come on: LG has to resort to calling one of their best selling phones “Cookie“, and you throw away Mythic? For shame!

Anyway, on to the handsets:

Samsung Mythic:

• TouchWiz core (in other words, it’s not TouchWiz on top of WinMo/Android. It’s just TouchWiz)
• 3.3″ touchscreen
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• SMS/MMS
• AT&T Nav (subscription required)
• 4.49″ x 2.06″ x .5″
• A2DP Stereo Bluetooth
• Dimensions: 4.49″ x 2.06″ x .5″
• Weight: 3.8 oz

Samsung Flight

• 2.0 Megapixel Camera
• A2DP Stereo Bluetooth
• Dimensions: 4.17″ x 2.2″ x 0.5″
• Weight: 4.8 oz

Both handsets seem quite overpriced compared to the competition, launching at $199 and $99 respectively. Both will be available beginning Nov. 8th.

There is one thing: who is going to care about there when the DROID release is right around the corner?

Sources:

Mobile Crunch

Over the years, I’ve been forced to redefine my definition of “native” game clients for OS X. At first, I was a die-hard, nothing but true native code for me, thanks. Then, as the harsh reality of understanding that true native code is about as likely as Congress putting aside their differences and acting on what’s best for the common man, in a moment of true despair I opined that maybe running games in Crossover wasn’t such a bad idea.

Now, the trend seems to be to use TransGaming’s Cider, which in non-technical terms a wrapper game developers can use to bridge their Windows code over to OS X. It’s not a “true” native client, but, since it doesn’t require a virtual machine or the ritual sacrifices that seem to go along with getting games to run on Crossover, I can handle that. Warhammer Online, from EAMythic is the latest game to get ported. After a few months of beta, it was released October 26. Full disclosure: this isn’t a full review. I’ve only got about 15 hours or so of game play to base these observations on.

I’ve had decent luck with Cider ports, although my sample set of Sims 3 and Spore is a little small. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is definitely the most resource-intensive of the ports I’ve tried. For the most part, it worked fairly well. I have a brand-new MacBook Pro, but with only 2GB of RAM. I had enough stutters and jerks to prove to me that jumping to 4GB would be optimal, but it wasn’t unplayable with 2GB, either.

Gameplay

Warhammer has two modes: one where you fight against the computer-controlled monsters (PvE), and one where you fight against other players (PvP). There are two sides, Order and Destruction, and they are locked in the age-old, time tried, cliché battle to control the lands. What I liked is you can earn the experience needed to level up in both modes — although there is a separate level called Renoun where you only earn in PvP.

The PvE quests are fairly trite, being mostly “go forth and kill me 10 of these.” One nice variation is a Public Quest. When you go into an area, you’ll get a pop up to “kill x of this.” Any player in the area killing these contributes to the kill total. Participating in these earns you some influence you can use to buy better gear — almost all the gear upgrades I found were earned from either Influence or Renoun rewards.

There are also PvP quests relating to capturing enemy turf or killing other players. You can also play PvP scenarios, which are similar to a Team Fortress-type map. You’ll go into a small area and need to fight other player for control of a few objectives. This is where I had the most fun. The battles are short, usually fairly intense, and last about 15 minutes. You can queue up for one with a press of a button. When enough players are queued up, the scenario will begin. When it’s completed the game will return your previous location. Being able to gain levels doing this relieves some of the boredom attached to just running quests.

There are a couple of amusing bones EA has thrown to Mac players. All Mac players unlock an in-game title, “I’m a(n) Order/Destruction” depending on your faction. If PC/Mac people kill enough of each other, you can also unlock a secret title.

Competition

Warhammer’s biggest competition on the Mac is World of Warcraft, and in many ways it’s not a fair comparision. WoW has years of polish behind it and only has a PvE mode (the PvP stuff is more of a tack-on than a core game component as it is in WAR). There is a visual similarity between the two, but it’s ironic. Warhammer Online is based on the old Game Designers miniatures game, which WoW borrowed from for its look. However, I found the look to not be a sharp as WoW, and the characters models were a little bland by today’s standards.

One of the benchmarks I’ve used when reviewing games to judge their elusive “fun” factor is how many times I bullcrap myself into thinking, “I’m just logging in to check one thing,” knowing full well I’m going to be in there for at least an hour. That about sums up my weekend with WAR. You can download a free, 10 day trial here. Existing customers, aka, yous Windoze folks, can download the client for free.

It’s clear! I’ve read it all! And with a cat sleeping on my keyboard so I can’t type without hitting her ear (got to love helpful cats). So here goes, with two stories from a variety of blogs this time – one about WAR and one about LotRO:

A lot’s been written about the new WAR free trial, taking out the 10 day restriction and just opening up Tier 1 for free play. WAR is a game that will always be close to my heart and I would definitely boot it up sometime post-Mirkwood and play through some Nordenwatch for old time’s sake. I hope it gets them some extra subs, and going streaming is great too. Of course, it’s not ALL good news, because apparently GOA hasn’t announced a similar scheme yet.

When we were writing The Book of Grudges back in the day, it always frustrated me how much of my time I had to spend talking about the differences between the EU and US experience for players. I thought I’d dropped that as a topic when I switched to a more generic blog, but now it’s raised its ugly head for me in LotRO. Turbine run and develop the game in the US. Codemasters run it in Europe. In terms of server stability and even my own personal experience with GMs, I have no problem with the Codemasters service. But, it did take an age to get EU players access to the Lorebook for editing purposes (a bit of a smokescreen I have to say and one I never got behind, because I think the Lorebook is pretty pointless).

But with the my.lotro service, Turbine has finally produced something related to the game that I am actually jealous of, and which I’m mad at both Turbine and Codemasters for not extending to the EU players. So now to the links, right? Well, both Casual Stroll to Mordor and Doc Holiday talk about the new class-specific lotteries being held on my.lotro at the moment. And this follows some more generic lotteries. It sounds fun, it sounds community-building, and we don’t get it. Grr.

(Spinks just asked if I’d pick an EU service again. It’s looking less and less tempting with each game with a split in service).

“The corollary to that is if you’ve seen a game consolidate servers, you know it’s in deep, deep trouble — that’s not a healthy sign for an MMO, It will be the same for ‘Warhammer.’ Look at us six months out. Look at us six weeks out. If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.”
-Mark Jacobs, Mythic VP

Thank you, Mark. What Mark Jacobs, Vice President over at Mythic Entertainment is trying to say is that success in an MMO can usually be seen by looking at whether or not the company is adding servers. Earlier in September, as we all know by now, Turbine turbine’d Dungeons and Dragons Online into a free to play game, with pay to play subscriptions as well as a microtransaction system. After the game relaunched, Turbine noted a 40% increase in subscriptions.

Well, Mark Jacobs can eat his heart out. Turbine will be opening a new server to deal with the incoming flood of players.

As you’re probably already aware, Mythic are going to change the terms of their Warhammer trial in the US. Tier 1 is going to be free for all and sundry. Now I’m not sure if there aren’t going to be some other restrictions, but you have to hope not, since it would mar an otherwise marvelous idea. 

Aren’t Mythic lucky they tiered the content in the game? Heaven forbid they actually planned for this strategy that far in advance. It’s a shame, I just can’t credit them with that level of forethought. I appreciate I’m being negative, but you only have to look at the 2 zone capture concept in 1.3.2, to understand my viewpoint.

Now I think this change to the structure of their trial is a really good idea, it’s a new spin and I like it. These 10 day trials are really quite limiting for people who don’t have enough time to sink themselves into a new MMO. By the time they get going, the trials finished. So this will give people plenty of time to get acclimatised and attached to a range of characters.

I think my fellow players take for granted their knowledge of the inner workings of Warhammer, and can struggle to grasp how mystifying Warhammer can be. Take for instance the WoW tourists, those who have only ever experienced WoW. Playing WoW doesn’t seem to prepare them that well for other modes of MMO play, especially those with the potential for heavy PvP. Well it’s not WoW, so how good can it really be? I know Warhammer has it’s rather vocal detractors, but if you haven’t been back for 6 months, then go on, give it a whirl, what have you got to lose?

Now if this trial is really successful, then it does raise the question of where are all these people going to go? At the moment we’re all piling into the Destruction vs Empire Tier 1 and that’s how it’s been structured with the new user experience. Could we end up with this ORvR lake being just to busy? Maybe Mythic are going to open up the other ORvR zones with their new user experience program, since I can only assume that it’s going to be ongoing development, especially if the trial works. I personally would make the Dwarf vs Orc tier 1 zone the next one to be hit with the new user experience hammer.

So my final question has to be … GOA what’s the ETA on a similar program for us poor people in Europe? Aren’t we often told about how close together GOA and Mythic work together? I hope we haven’t got the situation where Mythic have rushed ahead and left Europe in the slow lane, again.

PS – Still having PC upgrade issues, potentially something to do with motherboard/memory timings. The memory seems to come out of the box with SPD settings which don’t match the default settings. Mood = Annoyed.

This article has nothing to do with high level players.

Patch 1.3.2 has come and gone for Warhammer Online, bringing with it the new New Player Journey, the removal of fortresses, and other balances and tweaks to RvR. Mythic hopes to bring back new players and old veterans alike who are either afraid to join or became sick of the title long ago.

Along with this update comes unlimited free trials. Yes, the ten day limit has been removed, you have as long as you want in tier 1 (That’s level 1 to 10) to experience what the game has to offer, and to form your own ideas as to whether or not the title merits your subscription.

When I talk about the new user journey, I’m going to refer back to an old article I wrote a month or so back, and that is while Mythic can bring in a good amount of new customers, they are having a hard time retaining them. Between the New User Journey and the new unlimited beta, Tier 1 areas will undoubtedly be highly populated. Public Quests will be lively, Realm Vs Realm will be packed, and you won’t have to go far for a conversation. New players will be in guilds automatically for new players, and the community will be grand.

And then some will subscribe and get to tier 2, and the population drops a little.Finally, they will hit tier 3, and the population will plummet.

This is the same fault Warhammer has had since it launched slightly over a year ago. There are thirteen servers left for all of Europe, and seven servers left for North America. According to the MMO Fallout scouting team, most of these servers are desolate after tier 1, and at tier 2 and 3 it can be close to impossible to find any Open Realm Vs Realm.

I never comment on speculation, but this one had me thinking: Could Mythic be mulling over a free to play model? If this free tier-1 initiative does not go well, it is increasingly possible.

“The corollary to that is if you’ve seen a game consolidate servers, you know it’s in deep, deep trouble — that’s not a healthy sign for an MMO, It will be the same for ‘Warhammer.’ Look at us six months out. Look at us six weeks out. If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.”
-Mark Jacobs, Mythic VP

I’m sorry Mark Jacobs. It’s been over a year, and you haven’t added a single server.

I know it’s been out for a few weeks, but time flies and I can’t always find time to look at these things when they initially pop up onto the interweb. So let’s get stuck in.

Initially Jeff talks about the changes Mythic have implemented in tier 1 and the proof is in the pudding, it’s absolutely buzzing down in New Emshranks, every time I log on.  The new murder ball live event, is also providing a nice addition to the action down on the beach.  Maybe in time with the proper support, it can become an olympic event.

He makes mention of the apprentice system, which I have yet to see in action. Yep, no one in the guild is back from Aion yet, but here’s hoping.

Then there is the bit on keeps and city seiging, but unfortunately I don’t find that at all interesting (Neither does Bootae). Case in point, well organised foe stands behind main keep door as it goes down last night in Reikland. We could have spent a month of Sundays trying to get in, but it was ultimately going to be futile. I really don’t understand what I don’t like about it, but it just doesn’t hit the spot.

What I did notice, is how many people were hanging round the keep, but apparently not in a warband. Maybe they’re all in a full warband?  I can only assume that full warbands don’t show up in the looking for group window, which does make sense, but doesn’t give you an idea if there’s an organised response going on.

There’s more blah blah blah, before we get onto Jeffs thoughts on 1.3.3, which goes something like this.

1. Ability to walk and sit down. Don’t care, really null points. RPers fine, just not for me and should have been in the game from the start. This doesn’t justify a bulletin point on a Producers Letter.

2. Various UI fixes, timers synching up properly. Attempt no. 75 on this one? A work in progress.  Every time they fix an issue on the server-side, then it tends to mean they probably have to undo a change in the client, which was trying to make things function previously (Again guess-work). Just another day in the client/server communications roundabout.

3. Graphical enhancements (Bloom, weapon trails and heat shimmer). Please god, don’t turn this game in Aion. If I wanted that, I’d go and play it. Less is definitely more in this case.

4. Pet and monster pathing improvements. Don’t have pets in Mythic games. Okay a bit harsh and maybe my White Lion has now finally reached the level of a 6 month old child, but in my eyes the monsters and pets can only be as clever as the cpu cycles they’re allocated on the server.

From my viewpoint, the crux of this letter is the Underdog system. As Jeff said.

Basically, it’s a system that kicks in on any server to help aid the Realm that’s consecutively being pummeled. It’s a handicap system, so to speak, for the T4 campaign. VPs needed for zone control and domination timers will lessen for the losing side.

He goes onto say that it will be covered in further detail in the next letter, which is fine. However I’d like to say a few things, which is my prerogative. If the underdog system becomes merely a mathematical representation of the ebb and flow of the realm war, with no real manifestation on our screens beyond another bar, ala LotD, then it’s really an unworthy solution to the balancing issue. If it stays that way, then it should have been put in to balance control of the land of the dead, which is what I proposed a while ago. Though given the inactivity in LotD (I have no basis for this sweeping statement), then it would be a major waste of coding time. Lets see something solid (virtually) in-game, beyond yet another clap-o-meter.

My final thought on this and it’s been brought up by others before, is merely to say that too much balance  is bad. Maintaining the status quo, would end up making  for a very boring game, so it’s fine tightrope Mythic are walking on this new system.

All in all, this is a producers letter that indicates to me that 1.3.3 is going to be a holding pattern patch. Nothing really new, bar maybe the Underdog system. In defense of Mythic, I have started to take their hard work for granted, that each patch must bring in something new and revolutionary. Things which other companies may drop in once a year. Mythic seem to be banging out major changes with a metrononic pace, that does occasionally remind me of the tick/toc cycle of Intels CPU development, but only significantly faster.

For some of you this will be of interest, especially you Ex-DAOCers and it most certainly will take you back a few years. So thanks to Bluesky who dropped this golden nugget on the guild forums. When I actually started viewing the screenshots and videos, there was definitely a nostalgia trip going on, maybe even a hint of a tear in the corner of my eye.

When I started viewing all this material, what concerned me the most, was how much I had forgotten about the old frontiers in DAOC. I struggled to remember places, especially when there wasn’t a keep or milegate around to provide some kind of reference point. I could blame the camera angles, but I honestly think it’s my memory starting to show signs of wear and tear and that’s without the aid of any mind altering substances.

As an ex DAOC player it was lovely to see the sun coming up over the hills, the shadows and such, but as a friend commented, it does show you how sparse these old landscapes were in comparison to modern-day games. What made me chuckle were some of the before and after water scenes. I just remember being wowed by the water in DAOC and yet compared to the Crysis engine equivalent, it has all the artistic merit of a corpse. Again another example of how much progress has been made in video game art/engines these last 10 years.

I remember with fondness all the action that took place at the Milegates, which were positioned at the end of area belonging to one of the THREE realms. This one was positioned to protect the Midgard teleport keep, if I remember correctly. If you went a little bit south from here, you had the Albion milegate and since the Albion and Midgard factions were the most populous, there was always a shedload of action between these points. Poor old Hibernia had to hike all the way up from their ORvR main gates. Don’t feel to sorry for them, at least in DAOC you had speed, I mean proper speed. Of course that was assuming you had a skald/ministrel or bard in your party, otherwise you were destined for life in the slow lane. This was also the reason you always had one person in your group panning behind, looking for faster moving incoming groups.

Those mile gates were places of intense action. The place would be riddled with stealther classes, reminiscent of the scene at the end of Predator 2, when the aliens all decloak. But in this case, it wasn’t to thank you for your efforts. It was to leave your rotting corpse on the ground. You would then wait 5 – 10 minutes before you could port to that particular frontier again.

Oh well, I’m sure it wasn’t all as rosy as that, but it was still glorious for its time. You’d never know that all that experience gained from DAOC: Old and New Frontiers, had been imbued into Warhammer Online product, now would you?

Without a doubt , if you’re reading this blog, you will have experienced 1.3.2 and the benefits of its increased frame rate or should I say a more stable minimum frame rate, which is really what it’s all about. If you’re interested in getting a little more of an insight into these changes, then have a look at the developer diary for Chad Robertson. Personally this is the kind of stuff I love and would like to see more of, though with significantly more depth, but I understand Mythic not wanting to perform open heart surgery in public on their Warhammer code base.

What does intrigue, is what exactly did Mythic buy from Gamebyro, if they’ve come to the point, where they’re actually rewriting the texture management system? Does their agreement basically buy them the baseline code of the current engine, which they can then modify on a whim. Maybe they have worked with Gamebyro to modify the baseline code to better handle the dynamic nature of the Warhammer textures, with a view to making the engine more accommodating for future MMO clients?

When you get into modifying someone elses product/engine, then the more you modify the baseline code, the more work you give yourself, if you want to benefit from future upgrades to that code base, in this case, say for new revisions of direct X. What I do remember from my time merging releases/updates into customer bespoke versions, is what a truly thankless task it is. Damn you had to be so precise when changing the code base for your own requirements. No matter how much another bit of code annoyed you, you’d leave it, since it would be another difference you’d have to resolve when merging in a future code updates. It’s not a job I miss in the slightest, it still gives me nightmares.

Though I would say, that if you work solely on someones else code, you never really get to see the bigger picture. Of course you learn things, but never in the same way as building something from the ground up. I suppose it’s all about what level you want to work. Personally I need to know how things really work, but nowadays the levels of integration and pace doesn’t really allow for it. Sniff sniff for the good old days of appalling development environments.

Now Chad makes an interesting comment.

I’ve long lived by the belief that the frame rate and performance that a player perceives in a game is dictated by the elements that stand out as the slowest, rather than the fastest. Typing that, it seems obvious—but what I mean is that the frame rates you’ll remember about any game most likely come from times when the game chugged or stuttered

Absolutely true, which is why when your looking at performance figures, especially for GFX cards, it’s all about the minimum frame rate, which unfortunately many websites don’t provide.

Chad also commented on an improvement in the server traffic handling, which should lead to better responsiveness over a wider set of situations. However this is one area where I don’t agree, I’m finding that the inventory is more sluggish since the update. Again I will have another look tonight (Wednesday), since the boss is out the house.

Note – I had a look again and it seems it was my imagination.

A little while ago when reading an interview with another Mythic personage, I remember reading that developing the MAC client had taught them quite a few things. I know I’m speculating, but maybe we are getting some of the benefits via our new texture manager. On a side note, does anyone know how the MACs are handling Warhammer. Did they, do they have a similar performance to the PC 1.3.2 client?

I’ve finally reached the point where I don’t have a slightly nervous tic when recommending  ”>Warhammer to other people. I always had a little niggle when saying to others, go on give it a go, because the performance if I was to be honest, blew chunks in the ORvR keeps. So that has got to be a step forward.

Now I’m not saying that all is rosy, because it isn’t, but it’s a lot sweeter than was. Just a shame it’s taken a year.

I would have got on and done more live testing last night, but I had my cable connection upgraded to 50MB/1.5MB yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), which though fine in the afternoon degraded to unusable in the evening.

Note – I’m still having a few issues with a drop in FPS, if I play for a while, but since I already can’t remember what it was like a week ago, I can’t say it’s not my head playing tricks on me. In ORvR there are so many factors, that it’s not really possible to do a proper test, merely try to make an educated guess.

I have an evening to myself. The daughters asleep since 7pm, wife is out since 8pm. The bloody qualifying for the Brazilian grand prix over runs by 1.5hrs, because of a little bit of dampness. I log onto Karak Norn at  9.05 pm. I spend 5 mins sorting out the interface for my new bright wizard Laminar and then  the bloody server crashes at 9.15 pm. Am I an evil person for asking for quality gaming evening. No I am not. 

Now I am not one to cast to many stones at Mythic HQ, but when are they going to learn, not to roll out major updates towards the end of the week. Seriously, talk about painting yourself into a corner. If something goes wrong, you only give yourself 2 working days (Including patch day) to fix any problems. I’m sure they will have some development staff in over the weekend, but you can’t tell me that everyone is in for the weekend post a major patch release.

Hows about you roll out the patch on a …. Monday, giving yourself 5 days to fix any under forseen flaws which always creep in with big patches. Hell, this kind of muppet brained logic, goes along the line of rolling out a new patch and then letting your development team have the following week off. It just doesn’t add up.

Now at the moment, the lack of server could be down to an act of god, network problem or some other piece of bad luck on my part. But at the moment I figure that 1 + 1 = 2 and it’s a flakey bit of code. Sorry if I’m a bit grumpy, but I’m writing this, when I should be playing.

At the moment on the happiness scale, I’m sitting at 0.

Update: Finally got on about 40 minutes later and had a fun time in New Emshrank. Very strange playing a caster versus a tank.