Dare to Play the Game

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I didn’t do much this weekend, you hardly knew a holiday was passing through. I was going to see Grindhouse but the super awesome girl that I wanted to go out with was called out to work at the last moment. I try, I try. But…now I hear they want to split up the 2 movies which is kinda pointless and will kill what little money they are making from the picture. I just hope if I don’t get to go see it that when it comes to dvd it will be together and with the missing reels and fake trailers. Besides I need my healthy dose of Kurt Russell. He will always be my favorite actor I think no matter what role he ends up in.

“Like Kedrix, when are you going to give up this tireless crusade of fawning over me and providing another weird picture of me? I mean I know I’m really pretty and I think you are handsome too but come on, week after week!” I really do need another hobby perhaps, perhaps torturing paper mache animals or crafting models out of old Atari 2600 E.T. cartridges. She’s just so darn cute.

At some point during the week of May 7, Xbox 360 owners will turn ontheir console and find that a new update is available for thedashboard. The timing will coincide with the launch of Games forWindows Live by no small coincidence. In total, some 1,600 changes,fixes, and updates will be applied. Most will be superficial. Few willeven be noticeable. But the groundwork is being laid. In sitting downwith Jerry Johnson, Xbox Live Group Program Manager, and John Rodman,Senior Product Manager for the Global Platform and Accessories Group,we got a glimpse of the immediate future and beyond. It begins withWindows Live Messenger integration.

This talk of dynamic, product specific pages got the room talkingabout the future and options for users to create their own pages foreveryone to see. Jerry Johnson told us that day isn’t far off thoughMicrosoft is focusing on the Marketplace and communication optionsright now. “The next phase of this…is being able to express moreabout yourself, build a richer profile and view other people’sprofiles.” Imagine being able to create your own personal Xbox Livespace, viewable by your friends or others on the web. If you just beata game, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to let the world know in a waythat is more personal than an Achievement list? It’s coming. “Not toknock what other people are doing in the industry, I think it’s moreabout the information you share and less about some immersive 3Dexperience.”

Okay, that is a lot. Let’s try to break this down into bite size bits. XBOX Live Messenger looks like it could be interesting with the creation of chat rooms and ongoing chat boxes. I’ve done the person to person thing before while just messing around on the same or different games. When people are willing; it is a nice way to relax and add to your playing experience. My only worries are that I hope it can be turned off for example when you are watching a movie. I don’t want a whole message appearing while I’m trying to enjoy Escape from New York for the 37th time. They also mention a new controller with a qwerty keyboard attached. Interesting, however they make mention that plugging in a usb keyboard is tedious. I happen to do this, I have a very compact USB Keyboard and it’s not tedious at all. In fact it even have a usb slot on the end of it for another device so it doesn’t even tie up a slot. But I guess some will need it to be even easier so Microsoft delivers.

Good idea on the Live Messenger list, too bad I don’t use MSN’s Messenger. I happen to be a fan of Yahoo Messenger (and ICQ when there were still people using it). Again, nice idea but won’t be helpful to everybody. Achievements, okay the first person that sends me automatic notification when they get a 5 point achievement; I’m beating the crap out of. Now if you beat a game at a certain difficulty level, then awesome, I wouldn’t mind hearing about it. But if you got the chicken achievements in Frogger, I really could care less. I certainly like the idea of being more descriptive about the achievement. There were certain times in Guitar Hero this week that I was like what did I just do and have to flip back and forth often. I’m something of an achievement addict now; so anything to help that along will be appreciated (and my therapist will thank you too).

I’ve been wondering about those automatic downloads for quite sometime. That’s why I haven’t downloaded anything huge as of yet. My connection isn’t the greatest to begin with and I don’t feel like leaving it on when I go to sleep as some probably do now. I don’t want to even go into how long it took me to download the South Park episode they had up there in HD, most of which was due to the fact that I turned off my XBOX and only downloaded chunks here and there when I wasn’t playing something online. Any pluses they make to the streaming media are a good thing since I currently use TVersity. While it is good, if XBOX could just make all mpgs and avis native and recognized; I wouldn’t have to jump through so many hoops to play a lot of my old video files. Finally, it mentions that there will be a new blade (read: more advertising space) that will be allow publishers to spam, I mean inform us more about their products. The only interesting idea is that us XBOX users might be able to create live spaces. I saw an inkling of this on XBOX’s website already but I don’t think it’s implemented quite yet so I can’t give a strong opinion just yet. I am however very excited for the future and hope that Microsoft keeps delivering.

Well, last week we did 5 questions from the interview with my friend Gary, the devoted WoW player. This week we finish that interview. Hopefully somebody finds these entertaining.

1. Thank you for coming back for a second week, lets start off with something easy.  So how large is the area you can explore; are we talking the size of Montana big, or are we talking about the size of my bathroom (which is where most of this humor is going)? 

Well lets just say, if your on foot it can take you hours to get from one side to the other. That is just one continent. There are 2 large continents, and a smaller one, about half the size, and in some of those places, you have to fly to get there. And about your humor, isn’t slap stick and toilet jokes funnier then the F’er this, and Mother F’er that jokes?

2. Hey, hey; those MF’er jokes got me through college (and also didn’t land me a date for several years).  You mention flying to each continent.  So what are you given to fly and do you have to go a certain route to get there? 

Well there are many ways to travel. There is the Zeppelin which goes between Grom’Gnol (sp), Undercity, and Orgimaar. There are Ships, which take you from Rachet to Booty Bay, to Dark Shore, to where ever else. Inside the borders, there are Flight Master’s. You pay anything from 50 copper, to 20 silver for a flight to another city. The only draw back is you have to be summoned to, or run to talk to each separate flight master. Other then that, once you reach level 40, you can buy a mount which gets you there a little quicker.

#3, Level 40; wow, that’s pretty high and you are like a level 60 or something right?  How long does it take you to level?

I am level 60. I am able to buy an epic mount, But I just don’t have that kind of gold lying around. But for me, it took a year to make level 60. But for anyone who plays regularly, it takes from a couple months, to about 4 months to reach 60. With the expansion you have the chance to go to 70, but that takes a month or so of regular play as well. There are hard core players, who with their guilds help, can reach level 60 in a month. Also once you reach level 70 you get flying mounts, which can only be used in the Outlands. They take you to areas, only accessible by level 70 players.

#4. Guilds help eh?  Sounds like a conspiracy.  So these cults, I mean guilds, how are they formed and do you have sacrifices with small animals? 

Guilds NOT cults, are formed by a group a guy interested in taking on the responsibility of dealing with a bunch of BS. Just last night, I was running 4 guys (all in Playground Bullies) through Shadow Fang Keep, and this one kept needing all the items. When in a group, you greed Bind on Equip, that way you can strike a deal with the person who wins, and pass on Bind on Pick up, that way the person who needs it, gets it without having to go through the instance 30 times to get an item that will be wasted because they would be to high for it. So anyways, this idiot kept “Ninja Looting” so we booted him from the party. He goes into guild chat and starts calling our group a bunch of immature a’holes, greedy sob’s, and just generally unfair losers. He quit once he realized, he was about to be branded, booted, and laughed at.

5.  Sorry, I had only a thirty day free-trial and I had to work quickly.  Besides you kept telling me to light chickens on fire for no reason.  So final question; so how are these groups formed and what is a raid…do you raid chicken coops or look for vials of dragon’s blood to perform your rituals?

I seriously think you need rethink your addiction to Guild Wars. I heard that they enjoy the ritual slaying of frogs, rabbits, and anything short and limp =)

Groups can be formed in 3 ways. Use your guild to get a group together, and usually a high level will help you through it. There is also begging in General chat for a group. Or you can use the LFM system, which allows you to choose which instances you want to join, and it puts your name out there for others to view, along with your stats. A raid can be 20, 40, or 60 member teams which go into an instance and work together at getting items, gold, and slaying the big bad monsters, that Kedrix drools over so much =)  You can also raid your opposing factions cities. Last night after my run through SFK, there where around 15 alliance scum attacking the crossroads. Needless to say, they had problems staying alive.

Well I certainly thank Gary for his time and thought this was a nice departure. Just maybe I can secure some Guild Wars guys for some rebuttal, but we’ll see :).

BOOOMSHAKLAKA! When this game came out in 1993, basketball video games were pretty much limited to dribble, dribble, pass, pass, pass pass, and shoot. It was boring and dull mostly. Then came this little game that cost usually around $2.00 to play a full game that featured actual NBA players doing an assortment of crazy moves including dunking a whole lot. Not just any dunks either, monster jams babie! This game was actually based off Arch Rivals, an older basketball game released around 1989 which showed off the same kinda play minus fancy graphics and NBA players. This game was also one of the first where certain players *caugh Michael Jordan*, decided they were too good for the game and were not included. I believe he’s never been included in an NBA Jam game to be honest. (if I’m wrong, please correct me). Anyhow, this game spawned many successful updates in the arcade and console arena. It lost “fire” around 1996/97 when NBA Maximum Hangtime came out. In 2003, a new NBA Jam was released for PS2/XBOX and I do happen to own a copy. It’s a not a bad game (quite fun actually) but it does feel kinda dated now :). For some reason for the original I almost always chose the Washington Bullets (even though I could never stand the team). Mainly cause I always made my living by playing with Tom Gugliotta and draining those threes. However, NBA Jam essentially revolutionized the sports game industry into what it is today. You still see many of the same ideas from NBA Jam just imported into new and exciting games from Midway, its creator and many other game companies. So be sure to “Monster Jam” and if it bricks then “Grab the rebound” the next time you play this game.

PS2

Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer

Wii

Super Paper Mario

DS

Cake Mania
Toondoku

Suddenly I feel like I’m flashing back to three months ago when there wasn’t a blooming thing released. Unless you have a Wii and you have been waiting patiently for Super Paper Mario, this is a mute on the ole wallet this week. I did hear that Kingdom Hearts II for PS2 is now only $20. My honest opinion, that is your best bet for this week unless you do own a Wii. Just wait for next week, hopefully there will be something cool.

I finished Guitar Hero 2 for XBOX 360 on medium. I’d say about half of the last 12 songs are extremely difficult. I’m not sure my fingers quite react the way they are supposed too. But I do notice myself getting better. Can I conquer hard? Doubtful, but I’ll give it a shot. I did take time to write a review. I also finished Gun by for 360 by the way, I want to try it in the hard difficulty sometime, but probably not right now. Basically all of this progress got me to 30 points within the 1500 Old Spice Challenge. There is no reason why I won’t get those 30 points this week (most likely in Guitar Hero). Have fun kiddoes.

As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)