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Stream is up again! ELO hell is getting worse!
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Kotaku put out a list of what they consider the 40 most powerful people in gaming. I respond to a few of them quickly!
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Stream is up! Come see some ELO Hell action. :-)
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So.. I've been on a small hiatus!
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Yo!
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Any requests for my next blog?!
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Sins of a Solar Empire Pwnage!
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This is me versus 7 other hard level AIs. Me and the green dude ended up being allies. This is right before I wiped out my second race. I'm the purple TEC. I think I'm 4-5 hours in here.
I love this game.
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AoE Online beta is pretty cool!
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Embrace the Hacker! How companies are doing it wrong when it comes to hacking.
If you weren't aware, the well known hacker GeoHot and Sony recently settled over his widespread finding and posting of the PS3's root key. Sony is worried about it making piracy easier, however didn't he just help Sony out? Who is in the wrong here? Are companies like Sony fighting a losing battle?
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Embrace the Hacker! How companies are doing it wrong when it comes to hacking. Blog image
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Does Hardware Equal Innovation?
We are in the longest console hardware cycle ever, the PS3 has been around for five years and the 360 for six. In a recent interview the Ubisoft CEO said that's the reason the industry is in a depression. Really? Would new hardware fix the game industry's creativity problem? Does it need fixing?
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OMG. The fact you said let's hire Cryptic makes me love you.
Cryptic = fail game
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What bothers me is that it's not JUST the gaming industry that's stagnating in this regard. Like someone else commented, the film industry has been largely profiting off of sequels, movie adaptations of other forms of media, and remakes of old movies. It's like people think it's just easier to market something that's already been done than it is to create something entirely new.
I think that a good part of it is that the consumer populace is too stupid to demand something better. It's just like "Awww yeah, this year's Madden has all the new players, and now tackling is more intuitive!" That's all people want. If people stopped purchasing the same game 10 times, companies would stop making them.
I originally went to college to be a filmmaker, and stopped when I realized that getting Hollywood to back anything "new" or "unique" as extremely difficult, unless you were an established name. Because of the amount of money that goes into these things, no one wants to put money on something Original. Pity.
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if you ask me gaming insurty follows the steps of politics.
1st) its a honor to be in this business and its fun
2nd) well its a good money this business we could earn some
3rd) greed is good
4th) anything for money mate (means COD 29, FF 98, PES 2040 and so on)
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Does Hardware Equal Innovation? Blog image
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The Complicated Relationship with MMOs
Everyone's relationship with the MMO genre is very different. Mine has been absolutely nothing but rocky, having tried nearly every one I can, I just cannot seem to find a home.
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MMOs are not for everyone. If you don't play for the social aspect (ie: if all of your friends live near enough for you to do RL stuff with them), you really need to have a very "small achievement based" mentality. Personally, I picked up WoW when I moved to MN because it was an activity that I could do with my friends who were still back in MD. After that, it appealed to me because (to be quite honest) I didn't feel any sense of achievement from my real life. The changes I were making were the types that involved long term effort for big rewards. I didn't have anything that constantly gave small gratification.
First it was leveling. If I killed x number of mobs, or did y number of quests, I would be rewarded with another level. Then, once I reached cap, it was overcoming more and more challenging end game content. There is something about working with 25 other people to do something that I couldn't do on my own that appealed to me. It also appealed to me in that there was a challenge, a learning curve, etc. to end game raiding. The boss that one night ate my face became my bitch the next night. And from all those nights of wiping with the same people, comraderie was built, and it felt damn good working together as a more and more cohesive unit.
I'm going to be completely, bluntly honest. If you are playing an MMO more than a few hours a week, you are doing it because there is something else lacking in your life. Maybe you're "no one" in real life, just a face in the crowd. But because you're in a "good" guild with "good" gear, you are "someone" on WoW. People know your name. They want to be friends with you. Maybe you're a woman who's husband ignores you, but when you dance naked on the Stormwind mailbox, men compliment you. When they find out you're a girl IRL they give you things, they want to see RL pictures, they fall all over themselves to be nice to you. Or maybe you're just new in town, and you're lonely, and this is how you prevent yourself from feeling miserable late at night.
My 2 cents.
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Great blog,
I was a MMORPG play, played World of Warcraft for a 5 years. I learned a lot about human behavior, and playing MMO is not just like playing any other genre. You need to have some kind of social skill to get to the top.
Time consuming aspect of the genre is awefull for gamers. Majority of MMO gamers are "slacking" with RL issues. This can be school, college, job, love etc...
My point is, this
MMOs are not for everyone.
:)
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Social skills isn't my problem. Trust me. :-)
I'd agree they aren't for everyone. I mean the only MMOs I really "loved" were Champs and Planetside (which I didn't mention in my blog, much to the chagrin of a few of my friends).
I guess after some thought last night it's just been mostly the satisfaction aspect I'm missing. If I play a limited time I want to feel accomplished. I just don't with many MMOs. Again maybe it's because I play when my friends are not, or something.
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The Complicated Relationship with MMOs Blog image
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Back in the game baby!
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Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum for $9.99 on Steam!!!!
I'll make a second attempt at getting into this game for that price!
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LoL US servers very broken today
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What about this one?!
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Nice ride u got there :) how about this one :P
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Playing All that Remains for this morning!
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It's a league game, Smokey.
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Streaming!
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Game reviewers - Do companies give them too much power?
Following an article I ready on Joystiq today regarding the THQ stock drop on the Homefront launch, I'm starting to think companies may need to change their strategy a little.
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Good response emptyhead!
I'd agree that finding a good reviewer is a great way to get past all the smokescreen of the modern game review scene.
I personally have started to find offshoot sites to read reviews for smaller games (starpoint gemini is a good game I recently bought because of a review from a small blog).
The interesting thing though is how all the major review magazines and websites tend to score games exactly the same (take a look at homefront scores for instance).
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At PAX, I went to go see G4's live taping, and they did a Q&A. One person in the audience asked why they didn't review Android/iPhone games much, and the answer was basically that people didn't care about spending 99 cents, so it wasn't generally "worth" it to review those games.
While I understand that viewpoint, it kind of bothered me that video game reviews are all tied into aiding people in spending their money wisely. While yes, that sounds good on paper, there are so many other variables as well. And some reviewers do slant their reviews based on bias regarding a company, or they accept payoffs to bump up scores. The whole thing seems very sketchy, and it disappoints me that game reviewers have so much say in the gaming market.
Truly, I'd rather game reviewers try and tell me about games I might not of heard of that are worth my time than tell me crap about games that have so much propaganda. And I am FAR more likely to spend more money on a game that I have demo'd myself. It makes no damn sense to me.
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Game reviewers - Do companies give them too much power? Blog image
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Two leaves because of masteries bug today. -.-
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Mark it zero, dude.
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Carry Morde pre-nerf
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I also just realized how old this picture is. I have over 400 wins now and am way over .500 win ratio. -.-
Morde was my first champ I could stomp with.
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I never liked Morde's gameplay, and tbh I like that they nerf him :)
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Yeah, I would roll games like this and just say to myself "dude needs a nerf".
I even posted on the LoL forums arguing with other Morde players.
He was tanky DPS before there was tanky DPS. -.-
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That it is! It's how I pick up the ladies.