I very rarely see something jaw-droppingly cool. This technology is so amazing, I might have to buy a Wii.
Of course, the first thing I thought was, "That'd be great for Warcraft." On second thought, Second Life...
What wonders and great moments in gaming await if this gets developed well?
The funny thing is, with the rate technology progresses, in 10 years, this will be commonplace.
Highlander the game is due out by the 2008 holiday season. I must confess to a bit of a fondness for the original movie. So, I'd really like it to be a great game, but...
This trailer doesn't have any gameplay, and the game website has zero content, so I'm not too hopeful.
I'll at least rent it to check it out. If for nothing else than it gives me a reason to dust off the xbox and mock something. I really need a good mocking.
Somewhere, a crack has developed in the safety bubble that protects me from evil. Word is out that The Princess Bride Game will be released for both Mac and PC in 2008 by game developer Worldwide Biggies.
Yeah, who? Had it been Blizzard or Bethesda I might have had some hope. Please, please let this not suck like I expect it will.
Lose more hope at theprincessbridegame.com
It's the 20th Anniversary of The Princess Bride!
And, wow, I'm old. I wasn't out of high school yet when this came out in theaters. I'm pretty sure this was one of those movies I went to in a cape, too. Prime cape-wearing period, high school. Yeah. OLD.
The new DVD, due out November 13th, includes:
"The Princess Bride: The Untold Tales"
"The Art of Fencing" Featurette
"Fairy Tales and Folklore" Featurette
"True Love and High Adventure: The Official The Princess Bride DVD Game"
That all sounds like goodness to me. Plus, coolest box art ever:
UPDATE: There is a Princess Bride game in development. Apparently the "True Love and High Adventure" on the 20th Anniversary DVD is a sample of it...
World of Warcraft is one of my favorite guilty pleasures now. Two of my main characters are now in the 30ish level range, which means the next milestone is getting my mount at level 40! Hey, get your dirty mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about an animal you can ride instead of having to run from place to place. Geez. Get up to speed with the terminology/slang of Warcraft already!
Well the purpose of this post is to show off some screenshots I've taken recently (having just learned how to do this) to show all my readers just what I do with all my gaming time.
I'm not totally impressed with the mapping system. While this photo looks a whole lot better than say, the Oblivion Map, the more local terrain maps seem to leave out large obstacles that I'm constantly needing to find my way around. Maps inside most large cities still confuse me, as there appear to be walls and tunnels where there are none, and vice-versa. I have not yet found a way to make my own permanent map markers, but that is a feature WoW sorely needs.
The Barrens. Much could be said about this place, but the less the better, really. The Barrens Chat channel here is unbelievably juvenile and peppered with obscenities and strange references to Chuck Norris. My God. At least it's not David Hasselhoff. Barrens is a pretty good area to grind on critters for stuff like skins and meat though, if you are trying to pump up your Leatherworking or Cooking skills. Takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to run across, hence the desire to hit level 40 to get myself a nice mount to ride.
One of my favorite things in WoW is the 'public transportation system' of boats, zeppelins, bats and griffons. For the price of a few coins, you can hop a scenic flight through all the amazing terrain, while watching the critters and mobs below in real time. For the longer trips, a boat or zeppelin can travel with a large group of people at once. Since your character is usually safe from harm during travel, it is a common occurrence to take a break from the computers at this time to go to the bathroom (called 'bio break') grab some food or step out for a smoke. However in PVP areas, Rogues have been known to hide down in the hold of the boat, to appear in mid-flight and kill other players, so watch yourself...not that I would ever do such a thing. I'm perfectly visible in the photo above. See? No stealth here. Nope. Just minding my own business...
Here's me and my raiding partner. I'm the Undead one on the left. Scream casts the spells, I backstab and eat the corpses. It's a great relationship, really. If it weren't for my raiding partner (who I think should start a business coaching WoW n00bies) I would still be stuck at level 1.
And check out those fashionable shoulder pads! And here I thought that 80's clothing was never going to make a comeback. If I see a Troll in legwarmers, I'm going to get really worried though.
While helping my raiding partner mine pearls the other day, I had to laugh - it reminded me of the Daffy Duck cartoon where he jumps inside an oyster, wraps himself around the pearl and cries "I'm RICH! I'm WEALTHY! I'm a happy millionaire!" Mining pearls takes awhile, with all those giant crabs and underwater beasties to defeat. Thankfully, we both had water-breathing spells so that we wouldn't drown. Yes, even the Undead can die from drowning. 
Death is a common problem in PVP servers. Not only do you have the NPC monsters trying to kill you, but other players can gank you as well. Thankfully, there's no real punishment for dying, except than sometimes you have to run a great distance from the graveyard to your body so that your ghost can reanimate your corpse.
On that note, it's time to resurrect and kill some spiders or something.
Sony, the brains behind God of War II, has deemed a group of West coast LARPers worthy enough to exploit for....ahem, I mean...proudly display in their latest marketing ploy. Even though I love history+hack&slash games, I'm not planning on buying this one, because the website, Battle of the Gods, is far too much fun! I mean, why buy the cow when the milk is free? Freeeee! I implore you, my loyal readers, to visit the site now, for nothing else you see or do this day will compare. Would I steer you wrong?
On one side, you have Kratos, a Barbarian King, Atropos, Cyclops, and Icarus, which you can pit against Zeus, Colossus, the Minotaur, the Medusa Queen, or....Chubby Kratos, all played by normal people just like you and me. Ok, maybe not normal, but they are definitely people under all that body paint and plastic armor.
This cast of ten brave souls are the talent behind what I hope will become one of the most mocked websites of all time. Their mad foam skillz are now part of something greater than just their mortal bodies, as they are now GODS!! Not that I believe in a pantheonic system of religion, but I would pray to every God I could think of that Sony paid you all very well for your time. Because your acting careers are over.
To witness the majesty of "combat", choose your champions, and fight to the DEATH! Or select "characters" and learn a little mundane information about these weekend warriors. Oh, and thanks, Atropos. I never wanted NOT to be a graphic designer before now, but now I just feel kind of dirty knowing we both have the same mundane interests.
My favorite line from the site? " I am Chubby Kratos, and I am all out of bubblegum!" Oh, yessss.... let the mocking commence...
Hot on the heels of the movie trailer, here comes the PotC At World's End video game to kick off the marketing frenzy that will no doubt resemble a storm at sea. If you've never experienced repetitive 20 foot swells bashing you around, a sickening feeling you can't get away from and the smell of fish gone bad, well, you haven't lived.
After watching both trailers, I think I might enjoy the game better - the graphics look really good. The fighting appears to have some actual realism, and you just can't argue with a giant squid boss. Call me jaded, but I'm going to place a bet that finding the hidden rum gives you a power-up. I wonder if there's an 'auto-swagger' mode for Captain Jack?
A couple of weeks ago I checked out EVE Online, which was far, far too complex for me to get into, but the graphics were amazing! I've been interested in space-themed MPORGs since seeing Firefly. I surmised that the "Eve" universe could be easily adapted to include Firefly and Serenity ships, characters and quests, if the user interface were simplified a bit. What the world needs is a virtual 'verse!
Lo and Behold! Mere days after I mentioned this fact to my partner, I see that the internet is abuzz with the very same notion! Now all we need to do is wait until 2008. Sigh. I wonder if Reavers will be a playable class.
Fans can do AMAZING things for the shows they love. Take Phil Teller, for instance, who has built a flamethrowing car called the Capissen 38. The slideshow has photos of almost every angle of the car, and detailed descriptions. It appears to be some oooold 70's model, but I can't tell with all the extra space junk on it. Is that thing even street legal?
In other Firefly news, the Big Damned Flanvention 2 that was scheduled to happen Dec 8 - 10th was mysteriously cancelled at the last minute by the coordinators, Booster Events. Wired has the scoop from day 1, CNET news has more information from day 2, and by day three, the Backup Bash was rolling sweetly along! I am amazed at the tenacity of the California Browncoats for saving the weekend for all those fans! Still, there are several hundred fans crying for Booster Events' blood, demanding full refunds and making very bad press for them.
I don't personally know anyone who went (as there were only 500 tickets sold) but here's a Flickr gallery from The One True B!x with photos from the 'event'. Some very sexy sideburns there, Wash!
STILL don't have the Serenity movie
Since lots of people keep telling me I'm darn funny, I'm inclined to start believing them. So why not make some money off my ideas? Hence, the creation of Fyne Goods - Bad Humor. Which you can now access through a convenient permanent link over there on the top left column. I know there's only one item in there, but I guarantee there are many more to come.
This post marks the first phase of blatant self promotion. I'm hanging my hat out to see if anyone throws money in.
Phase two involves an army of minions papering all the privvies at Estrella War with my propaganda...uh... I mean... announcements. Right. Hmmm.... I'd better order some more duct tape...
I'm really just getting over the fear of the major time commitment that it would take to put my crazy ideas up for sale. Now little by little, they are escaping onto the internet...
...here's what the world is in for:
Where is the time going? It's almost summer! Event season is almost here. Looks like only an act of God will allow me to get to Grand Outlandish this year. I may as well just plan for Crossroads instead.
It's all about the income. Or lack thereof. Especially when the 'experts' are predicting that the price of gas will be $3 a gallon at least over Memorial Day weekend. Seeing as how my poor old event van gets only 17 miles to the gallon, well...you do the math. It's too depressing for me.
Long gone are the days when I could use my disposable income to fund my SCA life. Now it's the choice between event money or groceries. I really need a job that pays more than $12 an hour.
Sigh. You know you have too much disposable income when you trick out your car with oriental carpet mats. Personally, I would if I could...
By the way, if you haven't visited my MySpace profile lately, I added a slide show of Estrella War photos.
Also of note on MySpace is the SCA group I started waaaay back when MySpace was just a teeny blip on the radar screen instead of the social networking behemoth it is today. More than 2000 SCA'ers have joined the group and are, for the most part, behaving themselves. Knock on wood.
In other news, I've just gotten Sid Meier's Pirates for PC, and it looks like it will suck away many, many hours of my precious time.
At least I'll be able to pretend I'm accumulating disposable income by looting ships and plundering ports.
Arrr, mateys!
Oh, noooooooo! Sexy booth babes have been BANNED at the upcoming E3Expo! Dress codes will be enforced! And "ESA said it has sole discretion to determine what is acceptable."
Video games have long been a haven for sexual themes. Apparently the game industry is trying inject a little morality back into them by making sure that the game creators don't use scantily clad models to direct interest to their newest endeavors.
But I feel bad for the geeks. Whatever will they drool over while perusing the newest, hottest video games? Instead of just logging on to watch their World of Warcraft elf dance, this might be the one weekend a year that they crawl out of their darkened basements, blinking from the brightness of the sun, seeking contact (however brief...) with a real girl!
I say, DOWN with the dress code! Geeks unite! Take BACK your skintight spandex, your negative 10 AC bikinis, your sparkly body paint! You go to the trade shows to see the new technology, yes, but the EYE CANDY is what makes the cost of the trip worthwhile!
Besides, if the Game Industry can do this, the Comic Industry may not be far behind. Save the Spandex!
One of my favorite Xbox games, Fable, has gone gold. That means that there will soon be a new version with added content. I just love games where the choices you make in play affect your good/evil qualities. And Fable already had some of the BEST graphics ever. The new one will probably be super slick.
If you haven't tried it yet, go rent yourself a copy and see how much fun it is to kick helpless chickens. This of course is only a small part of the experience, but boy is it a satisfying one.
I just wish there was a female character to play. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to wait for the Gold version and see. I better dust off the old Xbox and get ready...
I'm a big fan of role playing games. I was also an arcade zombie for most of my pre-teen existence.
Imagine my happiness when I find Bard's Tale! Combining all of the hack-n-slash of an RPG with a 3/4 down view video game layout makes for a dashing good time.
Having seen this game on the racks at game stores with a $49 price tag slowed me down for a while. I hate it when I buy and game and it was a complete waste of money. So I just rented it instead. The learning curve was a little steeper for me than anyone buying the game, because rentals don't come with the manual. Oooh, lots of button combinations to cast the proper spells you need. The map feature is very nice. I quickly figured out how to skip over those awful songs that the game designers apparently thought were integral to the story. Still some things for me to figure out, like why there are cow skulls spinning around the Bards' head sometimes, and how to use different weapons.
If I had to rate it from 1 to 5 stars, I'd probably give it a 4. A couple of things bug me a little, but not enough to detract from the fun.
Cary Elwes (Wesley from The Princess Bride!) does the 'voice' of the Bard. It's worth a rental just to hear his snarky comments. This game has a bit of sexual innuendo, but would still be suitable for kids. The jokes would probably go over thier heads. There is blood when you kill stuff. The narrator is actually really funny, and tells the tale of the Bard as if the game were a storybook.
When you load a saved game, the narrator says things like "oh, yes, now where were we? Chapter 10..." Verrrry Princess Bride-ish. And once, when I died, the Bard cried out "in-con-CEIVE-able!!" as he perished. Heehee!
God, I am such a geek. But, I am not left-handed.
Since I'm on a roll here, and I've got the time, I thought I'd share with you my feelings about my recent purchase of the "Pirates of the Carribean" video game for Xbox. Ahem...
WHY for the love of God did I spend money on this? Lovely graphics and all, but come ON. You get what, two, maybe three moves during swordfighting? Please. And the cumbersome amount of detail just so you can get your ship up to speed. I sunk it at least five times just trying to figure out how to sail, too.
No. When I think "pirates" I think hack-n-slash, running around with a cutlass screaming "Arrrr" or finding loads of buried treasure.
Spend your money on "Pirates: the Legend of Black Kat" instead. It's got all the good Errol Flynn-like fighting moves, and the story itself is fun to follow. OK: cheesy, but fun. And the ship battles are awesome, once you get the hang of camera angles. Plus, with some very interesting codes that you can download here, you can change her outfits. Trust me: you want to know where her jolly roger is tattooed.
If you want to get into the character a bit more, sail on over to the Talk Like a Pirate Day website and get educated about all those cryptic terms like "avast" and "booty".
Full sail!
