Battlefield 2142... broken again

EA broke Battlefield 2142 yet again and its only been out a couple of weeks! Whats even sadder is the fact that people are still buying and playing this game. The patch problems with Battlefield 2 were bad at launch, but this mess with 2142 is taking the cake.

From AggravatedGamers.

Earlier today EA released a patch to the EA Downloader which effectively uninstalled EA Downloader and then installed the new “EA Downloader” which is called EA Link. Due to the uninstall it deleted all of the information associated with the cdkey of the game you purchased making the BF2142 that you had installed useless. By useless I mean whenever ANYONE connects to a server they are greeted with the message “Invalid CDKey”. If you are one of the lucky ones to manage to be able to connect to a server eventually 2-3 minutes down the line you will be kicked from the server by Punkbuster telling you that you have a “duplicate key”.

Once again EA rushes something out untested and screws a game over. How do I know it is untested? Because I can look at Xfire and see that play time for BF 2142 is down more than %50 today compared to the last week. That lends the intellegent people out there to believe there is a whole lot of people having problems.

BF 2142 is in a sad state. I can't believe I ever wanted to play it. I am damn glad I didn't and I will continue my fight against this garbage EA is spilling.

More Battlefield 2142 trouble

Things just seem to be getting worse for Battlefield 2142. We started off with the spyware and then tripped over the Microsoft security patch issues. Now there is a problem with Comrade, GameSpy's Xfire rip-off.

From Broken Toys;

"Apparently, during the configuration process of Comrade, a duplicate soldier is mistakenly created in the Battlefield 2142 account server and becomes the only soldier you can login to with that name. Of course, this pod-soldier is fresh off the vine and doesn’t know how to use things like, say, grenades, but hey, you can’t overthrow the Battlefield bourgeoisie if you’re sitting on a stat horde of your own now can you?"

Unfortunately the answer seems to be deleting one of the two accounts. Basically if you gained a bunch of points on one they are gone... forever. You would think that they would FIX the problem instead of just diverting people around it. This is another sad tale in the launch of BF 2142.

I don't know why gamers are buying this game anymore. The news has to have reached them now that this is a bloated, unfinished, and horribly overated game. Just wait... I know why gamers are buying this. Because they rationalize all the reactions to the bullshit by simply saying; "Oh people are just overreacting and I enjoy the game." The sad fact is that the majority of gamers are dumb and could care less what part of their soul they have to sell to play the latest game.

It is depressing that the gaming community is voting with two big thumbs up for BF 2142. It has only encouraged EA to take the next step. Not only is it bad for EA, but it is bad for the entire industry. These same dumb gamers that buy games regardless of the bullshit attached will be the same dumb gamers that just stop buying crappy products out of boredom and it will be the crash of '83 all over again.

Digg this!

Another Reason to say NO to Battlefield 2142!

From the Dubious Quality blog.

EA released a patch for Battlefield 2142 today, and I noticed this while looking through its ReadMe: "Players who have the Windows security update KB917422 installed may suffer from an application error when running Battlefield 2142. This error can be solved by uninstalling the KB917422 update."

And what does the Windows security update KB917422 do?

From Microsoft: "A security issue has been identified in the Windows Kernel that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it."

First spyware and now this. It is amazing what EA is trying to pull over on gamers with Battlefield 2142.

A lot of people are saying that people are just overreacting, but the truth is gamers never overreact as a whole. Gamers repeatedly buy bad games and continue to buy games where developers slip in such things as Starforce or the EA spyware. This just promotes further bullshit from these developers.

Starforce was only really shutdown because of the Sony BMG DRM fiasco. If that didn't occur I bet Starforce would still be in full force getting put into new games. EA will weather this storm and keep on marketing away the concern. They will make their money off the dimwits that haven't done their homework before buying. It is a sad tale that can be sung a 1,000 times.

I only hope that we've somewhat slowed the advance of spyware in games a little bit.

Digg this!

Voting With Your Wallet

I have a big secret for you. No matter how big or little your website is or how many people read your magazine nothing you say/post/write will have any effect on gaming companies. Your opinion is just that... your opinion.

I strongly believe that our opinions have a HUGE place in the gaming market, but it is obvious that gaming companies think otherwise. There is an endless supply of feedback, ideas, and information hiding in the world in regards to gaming. Most companies relegate it as just noise.

Why do most companies pass it all off as senseless mumbo jumbo? Because gamers vote with their wallets. They tell companies that it's all right to launch buggy and incomplete games. They tell companies that Madden 2020 is what they want. They tell companies that 50 Cents : Bullet Proof is the game of the year.

People want to play their games and they want to play the sequels. These people repeatedly buy crappy games because they've bought them before. They don't stop and think at all about what other games are out there because the game companies have marketing departments. Gamers money is as good as gone the second they see that commercial flash across Monday Night Football.

Games are marketing and there is a ton of proven data to back that up. The most innovative games in the world won't sell more than a handful of copies without advertising. This is why the whole idea of a publisher exists. There needs to be a way to get the game on the store shelves and to tell people how great it is.

I honestly feel the gamer crowd is populated by a bunch of idiots that believe the cinematic commercial for Madden 2007 is actually what they will be getting out of their first generation Xbox. These people will buy a game because the marketing is good.

And this leads me to where we are now with Battlefield 2142. EA knows that people are going to buy it. They know that it is going to sell. So why not throw in some dynamic advertising powered by malware/spyware to make an extra buck on the side? EA knows they are going to get away with it because gamers vote with their wallets. Enough idiots have proven them correct in the past. People will buy the crappiest game that EA can make simply because they can push it out the door with a slick marketing slogan or brand name attached.

Here is my point. Start truly voting with your wallet. Don't buy a game if it even hints of crap like what EA is trying to pull with BF2142. An anti-cheat program in World of Warcraft that keeps the playing field level is one thing... a spyware/malware program that feeds advertisements by sifting through my personal surfing habits in Battlefield 2142 is entirely a different story. The only way that EA will stop pulling this crap is when gamers vote with their wallets.

I have little faith in that though because I see it with every Madden release and with the new Playstation 3/Xbox 360. Gamers will pony up cash for anything. It is a sad state and anyone thinking that this sort of behavior will not lead to a gaming market crash is blind. It's just like politics. You fuck with your voters one too many times and they just stop coming back to the polls and eventually even the best candidates don't get votes.

PSM3 Magazine gives PS3 testkit a glowing preview!

The team over at PSM3 Magazine have gotten their hands on some Playstation 3 test/preview consoles. And guess what... they absolutely love it and give it a smashing review!

1) It's quiet like a sleeping baby. A barely audible hum. With the TV on you simply can't hear it at all.
2) It's heavy like a planet. No, really. It's impossible to pick up with one hand.
3) It's shiny like a mirror. In fact, it's impossible to take a photograph of it without the flash spanging every picture into a starburst mess. And therefore it's massively prone to fingerprintage too, with the tiny amount of dust in the office magically attaching itself to its surface in seconds.
4) The PS3 joypad is very light and the tilt system is very responsive. We like.
5) The start up is amazingly fast. And game load times were faster than expected. In fact, PS3 does both at about the same speed of PSP. ie, Long load times due to the massive Blu-ray disc? Nope. Simply not an issue.
6) Andy's fingers kept sliding off the shoulder buttons. But that's because his fingers are slippery.

You would think being the Official PS3 magazine and being some of the first journalists to get their hands on a working PS3 they would be more objective about it. The quality of their writing is worse than most blogs I read. It's an "OMG OMG OMG we gotz a PS3... OMGZ daddy Sony lovez us!11!!" article full of vague features.

How long are the loading times? Last time I touched a PSP it took over three minutes to load SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo.

How responsive is the tilt system? What game is it responsive in? Last time I checked even with the Wiimote it is reliant upon the game being played and the developers ability to program properly.

A heavy system? Heavy usually means expensive...

oh snap!

Well I have to get to class, but this is just amusing to see.

My First Raid... Ever

Now that I'm with a new guild in World of Warcraft I figure it is time to start doing some new things. However, what I thought I would be doing is something different than what I did today. I envisioned myself joining guild PvP groups for grinding faction in the battlegrounds, but today a call went out for a pick-up raid into AQ20.

While AQ20 is by far not an "uber" raid it is actually the first raid instance I've ever stepped foot into outside of doing the Molten Core attunement quest. It was spur of the moment and was a multi-guild effort. Fortunately the raid leaders were all experienced with the content and that means everything in organized raiding.

Some people that read my blog may believe I'm just a mad casual gamer. Well I am, but I know how it is to be a raid or die type player. That is all I did in DAoC. If I wasn't doing Realm vs. Realm then I was off doing a dungeon crawl in Darkness Falls or any number of Shrouded Isles dungeons. I broke that habit shortly before Trials of Atlantis launched and have not looked back since. I'm better for it.

I don't see myself becoming a raider in WoW terms, but when the opportunities arise I will take advantage of them. I plan to report on all them also because I know it can be soothing to read about other people's raids and the ph4t l00tz they obtain. So let us discuss my AQ20 raid today.

The group formed within 30 minutes which I think is pretty good for a pick up raid. We were short on priests (one to be exact), but decided to head out anyways. We had four shamans and a couple of druids to pick up the slack. We didn't have any crazy ideas of clearing the entire dungeon... just the first couple of bosses.

The start was disastrous when a rogue thought he could stealth up towards the first trash pull and aggroed a three pull forcing us to zone out and back in. Once we were ready we pulled the trash and made it to the first boss, Kurinnaxx, just fine. First attempt and he was down.

Kurinnaxx Loot

[Vestments of the Shifting Sands]
Plus some minor quest related loot.

Then we initiated the second boss fight and it went smooth as butter also. It involved seven waves of monsters which we handled very well. We held the last wave so we could regenerate a good bit of mana/health before General Rajaxx came barreling down upon us. Our General Rajaxx strategy proved to be perfect and we didn't suffer a single death.

General Rajaxx Loot

Once again a slew of quest related drops.
[Tablet of Strength of Earth Totem V]

You could imagine my surprise when the tablet dropped. Even more my surprise when I rolled a 95 on the first roll! Of course with my luck 95 is never good enough and the last shaman to roll hit a 97.

After the Rajaxx loot was split the only priest had to leave. Of course that started the flood and the raid ended. It was a good raid and only took a couple hours of my time. This is what raiding should be about, but I can't expect every pick up raid to go so smooth. Even without winning any loot I was happy about spending a couple hours in AQ20. I am quite surprised about the whole situation and I may just be going back sometime soon.

Old enemies; New friends

A long time ago on the Azgalor server of World of Warcraft there was two enemies. Tanglefoot, Troll Shaman of the Horde, was constantly at battle with Taozu, Human Rogue of the Alliance. Many forum f-bombs were dropped and I even made a teaser video about Taozu (which is now lost to cyberspace).

Well Taozu has had a change of heart and is now fighting for the Horde as a rogue. According to him the Alliance is just a bunch of piss ant whining bitches. Well maybe not those exact words, but you get the idea.

Of course now being a proud member of the Horde he decided to contact me; Supreme Commander of the Horde (don't hate because I can think of cool names for myself). During our discussion we came to the conclusion that we really aren't too horrible to be around and I believe a new friendship was born. I see a lot of PvP in our future.

Along with this he also gave me an invite to his guild Extinct. I have been on the lookout for a guild for some time. Since I usually call the lamers as I see them I have not won many friends on Azgalor. Anyways the guild accepted me and hopefully I will enjoy my new home. I miss having people to play WoW with and hopefully I will find plenty of people in Extinct that share my same enthusiasm for PvP.

So I Met an MMORPG Player in Class Today

I haven't really announced it on the blog that I have gone back to school for the fall semester. If you ever met me in real life you would think that I am not a day over 18. Fact is I am approaching 25 and am just starting technical college. I am often confused as just another "kid out of high school", but that does not bother me. Anyways this is all besides the point. I am in school and go to class everyday.

Today we had a lab to do. A simple lab: install Windows 98 SE on our hard drives. While doing the lab I started talking with the older female that was sitting next to me. We ended up talking about routers while we waited for Win 98 to install. She didn't know how to secure her wireless so I told her about a story involving my roommate and how our old neighbor found out he was piggybacking for free on their wireless access. Long story short she said "As long as it doesn't effect my games."

Being the self asserted genius that I am I put some clues together. What game or type of game could be so important that you wouldn't want it to be affected? MMORPGs... duh! What is the most popular MMORPG out right now? World of Warcraft... duh!

This doesn't mean everyone I meet that talks about video games or gaming is automatically thrown in the WoW category, but for this particular instance it was my best logical guess. So I said bluntly... "You play World of Warcraft." Not a question... a statement. Of course I was correct.

Turns out she is also playing in a couple of beta tests. Specifically Lord of the Rings Online and Vanguard:SoH. And here is the meat of this post:

Me: So how's Vanguard?
Her: Sucks. Can't even kill level 1's and the graphics run like crap (she has a moderate gaming rig, but still relatively new). Death penalty is stupid.
Me: I agree.
*senseless jabber occurs about Brad McQuaid*

Me: So how is LotRO?
Her: Great. It's beautiful and runs really well.
Me: I saw a video and I think the game looks boring... combat is slow and unimaginative.
Her: You have to try it because the combat is very fun.

Now these aren't exact quotes, but it gives the jest of what she was saying. On one hand it gave me some insight into LotRO which I was surprised to hear was going so well. I just lack faith in Turbine after Asheron's Call 2. Of course the other side is Vanguard and I must say she confirmed what I've been bitching about all along.

So overall it was a productive lab even if it took me a bit longer to install Win 98 than I had planned.

Vanguard : Watch how boring our game really is!

Ten Ton Hammer has a set of four Vanguard:SoH beta videos up for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately for Brad and friends they are just four more reasons not to play Vanguard.


Comments

• The animations are stiff and repetitive. They do not look dynamic or fluid at all.
• Whack. Whack. Whack. Nothing stellar at all found in the combat portions. Actually the combat looked quite boring and repetitive.
  
• Did that big bad wolf just run through solid stone? Yep it did. Next generation graphics... same old problems.
• Can the camera be any more jerky? It is commendable that they shot in game footage instead of a developer hacked ride by of the game world, but god damn is the camera really that laggy in the game? Were the graphical settings turned up a little bit high?
• Hello I am "insert NPC name here" and my legs don't work. Once again this is supposedly a next generation MMORPG, but the NPC's still don't move and still need little indicators over their head to get the players attention. After playing with Everquest II's voice acting I was quite surprised by its effectiveness. Even if I just want to skip through the bullshit and get to the quest/merchant/etc. it was still nice that an NPC would beckon for me to come over and talk.
• Did I mention how BORING combat looked? Just checking.
• The one thing that I did like was the UI that was in a couple of the videos where they were fighting in the desert. It looked clean and manageable. It was hard to tell what everything did, but it seemed like there was a good and solid base to play the game.

Vanguard:SoH is going to fall flat on it's face. An MMORPG just can't afford to launch with next generation graphics when the majority of gamer's computers are still last generation. World of Warcraft hit on the fact that a lot of potential gamers just don't have souped up gaming rigs. Next generation graphics require bigger budgets and the choice to go with better graphics means you are sacrificing a good 3/4 of your potential customers. No I don't have numbers to back that 3/4 up, but the WoW vs. EQ2 has been more than enough evidence to convince me.

I truly feel sorry for Brad and friends... I truly do.

3 Words to Describe BF 2142

1. Buggy as in it crashes a lot and there is several connection issues. Graphically I haven't had many slow ups even when settings are cranked. Of course I always could play BF2 at MAX settings just fine.

2. Confusing as in WTF am I supposed to do? No one on my team communicates. The objectives are poorly laid out for Titan mode. EA needs to take away score keeping and focus on rewarding you for completed objectives. Giving scores for kills just turns the game into a whoever can kill more people wins even if that means fucking my teammates over.

3. Fun so far. I have some good "OH shit did I just knife that dude as he got out of his mech" moments and a few "OMFG that dude isn't on my damn team and I let him cap the silo right next to me!" moments.

More to come when I get some more solid and connected games.

Beta Crazy! NeverWinterNights 2 MP Beta

Hi everyone,

Congratulations! If you are receiving this email it means you have been selected to participate in our Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test! This is just a pre-emptive email so that I can get started getting you guys and gals access to our private forums in preparation for the commencement of the beta test which should be sometime next week. I will be sending a follow up email soon once the build is ready for download. This beta test is under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which means you CAN NOT discuss the game outside of our private community forums at http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=445.

To gain access to the private Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test Forums, please follow the instructions outlined below:

- If you DO NOT already have an Atari Community Forums account, please go to www.ataricommunity.com and register an account. Once you have created your account, reply to this email and give me your username so that I can add you into the private forums.

- If you already DO have an Atari Community Forums account, simply reply to this email and I will give you access to the private forums.


Please Note: Only send ONE email. It will take some time to get through all of the access requests, and your patience is appreciated.

Gear up that Gnome, dust off that +1 Dagger, and welcome once again to the Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test! I hope to hear from you soon! :)

Betatest Administrator
Atari, Inc.

Note: No gnomes were harmed in the making of this email.

Battlefield 2142 Beta Here I Come!

I recieved my key a little bit ago thanks to Fileplanets 10,000 beta keys for anyone with an account. This means any account... not just paying subscribers.

TIP: If you get to the application screen and there is no SUBMIT button you need to disable ALL of your firewalls. FilePlanet has always had that problem and I doubt they will ever fucking fix it.

Look back for some thoughts and impressions later tonight when I get the game downloaded and installed. I am weary of any non-File Planet downloads at the moment with several beta client versions floating around.

It's getting messy around here!

I've decided to go ahead and start cleaning up some of my posts over the last year or so. I will be deleting a bunch of meaningless posts full of broken links. Also I will try to clean up spelling mistakes and grammer issues in a lot of older posts. I figure the sooner I start the faster I will catch up to my current posts and from then on I can hopefully keep it clean.

This is all in preperation for the Blogspot changes that Google is testing in beta right now. Once those go live I will be redoing the sites layout as well as going back and putting all my posts into categories! I'm open to any other suggestions as well; just leave a comment.

WoW really pissed me off today

World of Warcraft really got under my skin today. Logged in to find that the battlegrounds on my server (Azgalor) were finally working. I like to play in battlegrounds because it offers a lot of PvP action, but at the same time I despise playing in them because I know the glaring imbalances that are present in WoW's PvP.

Warriors, rogues, and paladins are just insane once they have decent gear. Rogues aren't as bad as I once thought because they are soft enough targets that I can damage them respectably. Still can't fight through stuns, blind, sprint, and a number of other unbalancing features that combine to make the rogue, but with a few lucky crits and blowing my instant heal I can get a kill.

Paladins are truly fighters with heals now. Blizzard did a great job in turning the class around. Once upon a time paladins had to complain about lack of damage ability, but that is a thing of the past. Why? Because you seriously can not fucking kill them solo. If a Paladin is in any decent set of gear it takes forever to kill them. With a boost in their damage and a GOOD ranged execute they can lay the smack down before you ever get them anywhere near death. Why? Because of instant heals, invulnerability shield, and SUPER EFFICIENT MANA COSTS FOR HEALING. Also shield healing needs to be nerfed along with the majority of their healing ability. If a paladin shields they need to be unable to do ANYTHING! No more get out of jail free cards and no more "I NEVER DIE" paladins.

Warriors tip the scales though. A warrior should never be considered by their level, but by their gear. If its shiny, sparkly, or looks bad ass then you probably need to stay away. Warriors are just like rogues with enough tricks in the book to beat you down regardless of how skilled your class is. Combine this with great damage reduction, great hitpoints, and the most insane DPS weapons in game and you have a zero fun zone. I've seen epic warriors go into 5 on 1's and not even blink wiping them out.

Sad fact of WoW PvP is that your best bet to have fun is the twink out a lower level for lower level battlegrounds. At leas then you know you are the strongest of the strong compared to other twinks. But you won't find yourself fighting other twinks... because its always funner to one shot the non-twinks.

Forget Snakes on a Plane... I have Ants in My Mailbox

If anybody remembers back to my "Another Invasion..." post you probably can guess what this post is all about. Yesterday my wife headed out to the mailbox to grab the mail, but that is not what she found. There seemed to be a massive crawling mass inside the box.

As I ventured out to see what this mess was I pretty figured I already knew. It was ants. Not just a few, but a lot. These are not the type of ants that build anthills. These are the nesting type of ants that find any place they can to leave their eggs sitting around. We assume they are in our walls and all around our house, but we never figured they would invade our mailbox.

The mail was literally covered with ants when I made it to the box. I quickly grabbed the mail and shook the ants off. Quite a few had made it onto my arm, but were quickly brushed away. Of course I was out of RAID and the rest of my ant killing devices. Afterall its been a long war and the supply line to Home Depoy has been congested with high traffic.

Later that evening it was off to Home Depot and luckily we ran into a represenative for one of the pesticide companies who was stocking the shelves. We have a new product that was just released for the fall season that is supposedly "kick ass". I also picked up my favorite can of RAID Ant & Roach killer.

Armed with my trusty RAID I cleared out the mail box in a single spray. Up and down and all around I continued to ensure they wouldn't make a return. That was last night. Today I returned to wipe the box clean. I have never seen such a massive lump of dead ants and ant eggs before in my life. All I care though is that they are making great fertilizer now.

The fight is tough, but I plan to win.

I should really start a political blog for this...

...but I'm not going to waste my precious time with creating a new blog just to vent a little bit about Digg.com politics and the general political atmosphere of the Internet. It is no secret that the Internet has become overrun with far left democrat loud mouths who feel a few thousand hits to their blog turns their opinions into fact. I shouldn't say the net is smothered by these whacko's, but I must say that they are abusing any tool they can to promote their ill will.

Case in point... Digg.com's addition of a World and Business section which just so happens to include Political News and Political Opinion. There is a problem though... the liberal agenda can't seem to understand the difference between News and Opinion. I would link to some articles, but it is by far not worth the effort.

The problem is even larger than just throwing around partisan politics as news. Digg.com is a website that has grown from Tech News into All News. The liberal political blogosphere is spearheading the abuse of the Digg system to deny fair and balanced coverage. It is a true reflection of mainstream media in America which is dominated by the pundits for the liberal agenda. Whoever said the Internet would deliver political freedom was dead wrong. It has provided a system for those who yell the loudest to oppress the rest of us that don't agree.

Since I am a large fan of Digg.com it pains me to see the Digg community so one sided in political debate. Articles that are equivalent to hate speech are passed off as foregone conclusion on the Digg pages. The Digg community is the editor and chief here, but that only goes so far when the community is driven by hate filled individuals. If you don't agree with the haters you are "dugg -1" and soon any iota of balanced debate is destroyed.

On top of this Digg receives visitors from around the world and it is no more evident than in the World and Business section. Digg.com is an American idea, an American company, and most of all only possible because of America's free will. You would think that such ideals would come accross from the Digg community. They do not.

Most international posters that actively engage in political discussions on Digg are American haters. They hate us. They probably hate you if you are American. Read through any comments on a political news story on Digg.com right now. Count how many times you hear about how Americans "don't get it". How American's are ignorant.

Yet day in and day out Digg.com flourishes. A website built on American free spirit, but slowly being occupied by the hate vendors of the world. Maybe people like myself just don't care enough to counterbalance Digg and provide an equal footing for our ideals. Maybe for people like me Digg is best left as just another news site rather than a revolution in Social Bookmarking. Social Bookmarking only works when everyone's voice can be heard.

Digg this!

Who Wants to be a Superhero?

"Who Wants to be a Superhero?" is a new reality show appearing on Sci-Fi and I must admit I was very surprised when I watched it. Being a reality show I didn't pay much attention to it among the flood of a million other reality TV shows. However, this show is far from the standard fodder when it comes to reality TV.

The important part to realize about the show is the fact that Stan Lee is "The Man". He invented what it means to be a Super Hero. With that knowledge he knows exactly what to look for in these people. It isn't about some fancy costume, funny stunts, or outrageous backstories. It is about whats on the inside. Like is said in the show by Major Victory... "Stan wants us to be super humans."

You can tell which contestants are there just because they were accepted and those that truly believe in their characters and the idea of being a Super Hero. There is no voting in this show and so far the normal reality TV bullshit has been avoided. Sure people like or dislike each other, but there is no secret alliances or other crap that clouds the meat of the show.

I would love to share more, but I don't want to spoil the shows! They have the suspense and twists of a good M. Night Shyamalan movie. Go and watch now!

Turbine announces they are copying World of Warcraft raids!

Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine has announced they have decided their "Friends Don't Let Friends Tank Balrogs" policy just wasn't going to cut it. So they have decided to make raid encounters and as described they are nothing more than stolen World of Warcraft raid instances! World of Warcraft sort of stole the idea from Everquest, but Blizzard just happened to make them quite a bit more fun, challenging, and less exploitable. Everquest pretty much stole the idea from MUDs, but raised the number of people.

So isn't Turbine just following suit and offering the next upgrade in raid content? If this article is anything close to their final system then this is going to be a near CLONE of the WoW raid instances. Replace all instances of LotRO in this article with WoW and you couldn't tell the difference other than the raid sizes. WoW has 40 & 20 person raids while LotRO will have 24 person raids.

I really could go on and on about how this is such a blatant rip off, but its not worth my time. Turbine doesn't fucking get it. DDO is basically being redesigned and LotRO has a different design idea being tossed back into the game every other week. None of the ideas are original and there are so many of them (faction, raids, etc) that just STINK of rip off that it amazes me someone isn't suing Turbine already!

Wake up Turbine! World of Warcraft is here and they have hit the nail on the head for achiever oriented gameplay. You have THE MOST BELOVED fantasy license of ALL TIME in your hands (Lord of the Rings is 2nd only to the Bible in all-time book sales). Do something true to the nature of Tolkiens work. Don't throw the MMORPG copy-cat bullshit out on shelves with the LotR trademark as you did with Dungeons & Dragons Online. Screwing up DDO is recoverable.... fucking up LotR is unforgiveable.

----

I realize that a big budget AAA title is nothing to go hog wild with. There needs to be a solid and proven game design under the hood. However, this does not mean Turbine needs to go back against their initial designs to include things that are DESTROYING other online communities. Turbine had a very different game with Asheron's Call and I can't understand why all their new games stink of copy cat bullshit. They don't even make the slightest changes to hide it...

A gamer is married.

So my little AFK is over. I am now a married gamer. A happily married gamer. I haven't touched a videogame in almost a month now due to wedding activities. My little brother on the other hand enjoyed rampaging accross the lands of Azeroth in World of Warcraft. I think he spent more time with his Tauren Warrior than with his soon to be married brother. I dragged him away for quite a few matches of the board game Carcassonne and that was all the gaming I got done. Anyways onto the wedding.

It Rained

The day we were to be married the weather was overcast. Clouds hung in the sky, but for the longest time the rain held off. All morning and afternoon there was no rain in sight and the weather radar looked good. We had an early evening garden wedding outside of a historic inn up in the mountains of North Carolina.

Right as our ceremony began the rain started to trickle. By the time "Here Comes the Bride" began to play the rain was at a medium pace. Everyone held firm and the minister did not speed up one bit to get going faster. The light to medium rain continued throughout the ceremony. We have some GREAT pictures of people hiding under trees in the audience and the lighting actually made for better pictures overall.

Funny thing was as soon as the ceremony ended the rain stopped and the sun came out! By the time formal pictures began the rain was no where to be found. The reception followed and a great night was had by all. I probably drank a bit too much wine, but I remember almost everything. I made sure everyone had a good laugh when not thinking I nearly chugged the entire glass of champagne we drank before the cake cutting. My wife elbowed me to stop. Then after cutting the cake my wife handed me a hardened sugar flower. I thought it was soft and chewy... which I was very wrong about. I didn't know if I should spit it out or keep trying to chew it. Thats when the real laughter started and I had to bear trying to laugh and chew this HARD candy flower.

Jamaica and the amazing Mr. Houdini

Our honeymoon was to Jamaica to an all inclusive resort. If you ever have the chance to enjoy an all inclusive resort I recommend it. For one price you get your entire trip paid for. You can eat as much as you want. You can drink as much as you want. You can do whatever activities they offer for no extra cost. I can't tell you how relaxing that makes the whole experience.

We did some snorkeling while we were there and the ship captain was nick-named "Sponge Bob". His deckhad didn't have a nick-name so he asked for any suggestions at the end of our trip. Since the deckhand kept ducking down into the hull of the boat and popping up to run across the roof and appear on the other side I recommended Houdini. I swear if you didn't keep an eye on him you would think he had a twin stashed on the boat. To my surprise on our next snorkeling trip a couple days later the name, Houdini, had stuck. Later in the day I saw Houdini walking past the beach bar and someone that had been on our trip called out to him with his new nickname. He responded and I was satisfied that I had chosen a good name.

Jamaica was great while we were at the resort. Otherwise the airport sucks, the road trip sucks, and its sad to see what some of the surrounding areas look like. The resorts or dreamy, but the local shanty towns are dumps.

The End

AFK for wedding

So my wedding is almost here. Soon I will be a married gamer. I don't know when I'll start posting again, but I have better things to do for a while. I'll be back so don't worry.

Peace.