News and Opinions

Losing Suits, Being Less Ambitious & Outgrowing Games? – Welcome to the column that would only outgrow games if Obama admitted himself to be a level 70 Tauren Shaman known as Dare to Play the Game.

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day, hopefully most of you took a moment to observe what those brave men and women did for the United States of America. I offer the following piece of courage for those who might have missed the day.
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Episodic Gaming, Circuit City closings, & Wii RPGs? – Welcome to the column that would get out and vote if only there was a candidate that supported more hot women in gaming known as Dare to Play the Game.

Yesterday was Election Day in the grand ole United States of America. While I could go on a nice rant about the person who got elected, this is not a politics column and I tend to steer far far away from such discussions.
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Game Cards, MK & DC gets the T, & National Gaming Day! – Welcome to the column that should get a national holiday just as long as it doesn’t have to divulge what nation it actually belongs to known as Dare to Play the Game.

I spent the last week in Ohio, I’ll try to refrain from any major jokes about buckeyes or Deliverance music or how freaking hilly the state is. I like my states flat, just like I like my wom…errr that just doesn’t sound right.
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Little Big Planet causing controversy, Rockband goes a little country, and Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a bunch of rubbish – Welcome to the column that would say something about Ohio but there are people with pitchforks & torches and the Amish are a little poed off too known as Dare to Play the Game.

I am currently sitting in Ohio. Oh Hi Oh. We’ve had a nice time in the Buckeye state but keeping it mostly simplistic. The temperature has been very cool for this time of year at least for me. As a result I’ve come down with a slight cold or allergies or something that makes me all sneezy, runny nose, stuffy nose and general bad things with my nasal region.
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Xbox Live upgrades, World of Warcraft education & addictions, and the Age of Booty! – Welcome to the column would probably be delisted if Metacritic even ranked us in the first place known as Dare to Play the Game.

The Ike debris is gone, the Ike debris is gone. *Happy dance* *Just a jump to the left* *And then a step to the right* *Put your hands on your hips* *You bring your knees in tight* *But it’s the pelvic….errrr. Perhaps I should stop right there.
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Retired NFL’ers want their cuts, Rockband 2 Glitches , and World of Warcraft Patches – Welcome to the column that the first step was not admitting they have a problem but deciding the problem never existed at all known as Dare to Play the Game.

Ha, well the Ike debris still exists. It’s like a fungus actually. At some point, I expect it to sprout wings and engulf my house. Somehow, I don’t think FEMA or my insurance covers such things or the deductible might be too high.
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Tough Games, GTA IV saving Windows , and Rock Band 4 Ever – Welcome to the column that took Cotton Eye Joe out back and shot him…dead known as Dare to Play the Game.

I’ve been a little busy this week. That might be a good thing, I think. Debris is still being picked up around my home. It’s going a bit slowly since I don’t have access to a truck and for the most part people in my subdivision rather keep to themselves. Shocking I know in this day and age, people are selfish even when offered money.
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Avatar Rights, The Patch that was the Pub , and Lego Batman, Lego Batman!! – Welcome to the column that is happy to report that we are alive and in one piece (not pieces) known as Dare to Play the Game.

I’m still here. Aren’t you glad? Don’t answer that. After a rather rough two weeks, I hope to return to a fairly normal column with fairly normal jokes and fairly normal news which don’t involve me huddled on the floor with my thumb in my mouth and my body in the fetal position. It’s not a pretty picture and I don’t want to repeat it.
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Ike sucks, Rockband & Guitar Hero tracklist comparison and did I mention I hate hurricanes? – Welcome to the column that is free and there is no need to stand in line for half an hour known as Dare to Play the Game.

There wasn’t a column last week. I know, I’m sorry. I was too busy deciding what to do about Hurricane Ike. I had parts of it written last week time and time again. But I never could complete it because my heart wasn’t into it. My heart still isn’t 100% into it. You can blame it on Ike, or just hurricanes in general.
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Learn by Death, More Fable items on the Web, and Europe becomes the real place for gaming? – Welcome to the column that thinks the more you punish a player, the less likely they are willing to take up bondage as a vocational hobby known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. The Labor Day weekend was full of watching various web pages to determine whether or not Gustav was going to come anywhere near by backyard of Texas. Thankfully, it did not and Louisiana despite damage avoided a tremendous disaster.
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Y’s makes it to Virtual Console, Fable Pub Glitch to be patched, and Space Invaders recreating 9/11? – Welcome to the column that thinks bad ideas are fine as long as you take that rental chicken suit to the proper dry cleaners known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Last Friday, I went to go see the Dark Knight with my girlfriend & one of our mutual best friends. What did I think? It was very awesome, however not as uber-awesome as my girlfriend and the best friend would lead you to believe.
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Come Get Some Duke Nukem 3d, Wii is prime for Hardcore, and is there really a Hardcore or Casual division? – Welcome to the column that believes birthdays are kinda like the yearly edition of Madden football, you get all excited for release day only to find out nothing has changed from the year before known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I had a birthday on Tuesday. I turned thirty-three. Yes, your favorite video game columnist turned thirty-three. The end is near; okay, okay not really.
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Gaming in the Olympics, Disgaea goes cheap, and the true reason why Final Fantasy is on Xbox 360 – Welcome to the column that is an Olympic gold medalist in Speed Snoring & Sarcasm (and did it with a broken friggin neck!) known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 52/27/??/??. That’s right. Two of my characters this week are currently doing the limbo dance. Talloween & Magkick. Magkick was the recipient of a doomed server from the start while Talloween has been on again / off again because it is very hard to solo a priest.
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Death of Sierra, No Yoda vs Vader, and Pre-Owned Sales going extinct? – Welcome to the column that is about to start a rant the size of Barbara Streisand’s nose before the surgery known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 52/27/22/14. Every character this week in Warcraft with the exception of my hunter got some love. My troll rogue marched and hit level 52 with help from the Hinterlands and earned his first useable trinket. My blood elf mage stormed six levels and made his way into the Ghostlands. Even the dwarf priest who had not seen action for at least a month got some good shoulders & found his way questing again in Redridge.
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XBLA Summer Time, Gears of War 2 going Backwards & the Bitter Core of Gaming – Welcome to the column that sees summer as a chance to stretch their feet and wiggle their toes as long as it is inside a house with massive amounts of air conditioning known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 51/27/22/8. I started another character, somebody please shoot me. No, I swear it is not Warcraft/Toon ADD. This time, I started a Blood Elf Mage named Magkick on a PVP server. Furthermore, I have the best of intentions.
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Ubisoft Hacks themselves, Warcraft Achievements & Sonic’s got a Sword? – Welcome to the column that slices off their nose to spite their face known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 50/26/22. I finally did my last pvping for my rogue. I worked my way back up to 20 marks and got my blooming blue ring. The rest of the time was spent in dungeons mostly amassing money & items for my hunter to disenchant.
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Xbox 360 Price Cut, New Wolfenstein & Xbox 360 Hard Drive madness? – Welcome to the column that went to E3, got way too belligerent with the Wii hard drive Booth (and later found out one didn’t exist) and was asked to leave known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 49/24/22. In World of Warcraft News, the patch for 2.4.3 is out as of Tuesday. The real news of course out of the patch is that level 30 characters get mounts, where it used to be that level 40 was the magic number. The cost of the mount training has also decreased, to 35 gold.
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Episodic Gaming, Irish Anthem screw-up & Pub Games for Fable II? – Welcome to the column that gets drunk & gambles a lot, but not enough to admit they have a problem known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. So somewhere in my World of Warcraft experience, I think I burnt myself out a little bit. I was playing with my level 19 blood elf hunter quite a bit, going into battlegrounds and such.
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No Piracy for Crytek, Free Rainbow Six & Diablo III? – Welcome to the column that cares about you as the consumer but asks that you don’t let the other consumers know about our torrid affair known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Rule #1 for this week, if you aren’t a twink in the 10-19th level World of Warcraft Warsong Gulch battleground, be prepared for many many deaths. I have a level 19 blood elf hunter and after my main Lantanador (who is level 49) had so much success in the 40-49 WSG battleground, I figured I would give it a try with my hunter.
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PS2 Edutainment, Disney goes Rockband without the Band and the Beginning of the End? – Welcome to the column that knows the end is near when it’s mentioned in the mainstream press as informative & witty known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I don’t feel like crap anymore. Unfortunately, now my girlfriend feels like crap. So that means I’m feeling like crap by proxy I suppose. WoW update: 48/22/18 and I will be sick of Blacksmithing quests very soon. A man should not have to mine this many mithril bars in one sitting
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Postal wins an award, 360 Avatars all gassed up and ready to go, and a brand new TV Gaming Competition Show? – Welcome to the column that got dressed an hour early but realized it has no place to go known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I feel like crap. Actually I’m getting better, because a day or so ago I felt like absolute crap. It’s kinda different and usually doesn’t involve vodka. I stayed home from work on Monday and spent a good portion of that time either getting rest or playing World of Warcraft with my trolly troll and working on a blacksmithing quest. Cause I soooo love blacksmithing quests *insert sarcasm flag here*. But it helps your skill, it really does. I also did the unthinkable. I pvp’ed.
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LucasArts putting on the halter, Wii wanting to go steady with HDD, and Blu-Ray & Xbox 360 tying the knot? – Welcome to the column that got married once but forgot to read the fine print about descending into the pits of hell known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. So at some point last week, you were probably wondering where the heck is your favorite video game columnist. The truth is I don’t know where Adam Sessler is and he won’t return my messages (something about me and Morgan sitting in a tree). As for me, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada. Internet for tourists in Las Vegas, NV sucks. Why is that? Because they charge, $13.99 a freaking day. My conference did have it for free, but it moved like a 300 baud modem. (For the kids at home, that is like your dad asking you to walk to the liquor store on the other side of the county line and back with a bottle of JD stopping for every hobo that asks for a sip)
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Bright Colors, Glam Rockers Sell Big on Rock Band & I’m going to Vegas babie! – Welcome to the column that is so proud it made a hundred postings that it just might consider blowing the paycheck on Morgan Webb and blow known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Believe it or not, I’m not starting with World of Warcraft in this column (that’s the second paragraph). No sir, the column has reached a milestone, 100 posts. Almost two years, I have worked my nails to the bone to provide refreshing points of view and talented humor. Or perhaps a whole mess of sarcasm.
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Plagiarism in Video Games, Penny Arcade, & The Never Ending EA Offer – Welcome to the column that copies itself weekly with jokes that were relevant twenty years ago known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 43&22. Well, as some of you might remember, I had a goal for World Of Warcraft and my level 43 Troll Rogue last week. Actually two of them, one was with lockpicking and one involved cooking. My lockpicking skill was in the 160’s and needed to be raised to 175 to compensate for the level 40 junkboxes I was starting to get.
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Adult Gaming, WiiWare, & The Death Knight class unveiled – Welcome to the column that discovered it was an adult one day back in 1996 and has not been heard from since known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. 42&22. I unfortunately did not get to play my dwarf priest, except past a couple of quick quests and leveling some of my cooking & fishing. I honestly expected a slowdown with my Troll Rogue in WoW once I hit 40. Quite the opposite I guess. The game seems to get more interesting once you pass the magic mount level.
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