Dare to Play the Game

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. This year, I didn’t find myself reflecting all that much. I saw myself for the first time in a while looking ahead, looking to new avenues where I can expand my craft. I saw myself getting older, but gaining some grace and momentum. For you see my friends, my life is not destined to be trapped inside a cubicle typing away a column every Wednesday. Well, I wouldn’t mind the column part, it’s the cubicle portion that drives me up the wall. No, no, I’m not going to suddenly bust out and do construction or lay bricks for the rest of my life either. I’m way too accident prone for that scenario. Actually, I need to write and write more. This includes not just columns, not just dvd reviews, not just video game reviews, this includes primarily my spin on fiction. See, I didn’t start my craft with what I do now, I did it with writing good ole fantasy fiction. Give me a rogue, a town, a forest and a dungeon and let me weave my magic of a tale. My favorite three contemporary authors: Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore & Eric Lustbader are indicative of my writing style. From Terry Brooks I get my sense of how to shape a world and make it come alive. From R.A. Salvatore, I get my sense of how to forge a character and make the reader care. From Eric Lustbader, I just get how to create a good steamy sex scene. Hey, gotta make it sizzle babie!

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. These characters are going to be recreated. Magkick will go off the PVP server and be re-created on my usual Horde place over @ Killrogg. His professions will change from tailoring & skinning to tailoring & leatherworking. (My hunter will do the skinning for him) The priest will be recreated and on the same server. But on a different account with different professions (currently mining & jewelcrafting). This will enable him to play with my girlfriend’s characters and get a reliable buddy to quest & get gear with. My girlfriend will also be creating one or two characters on the new account @ Killrogg so she can go quest with my three characters over there. I’m kinda trying this on a trial basis and we’ll see how it plays out. I’m not deleting my mains (52 Troll Rogue / 27 Blood Elf Hunter) and neither is she (70 Draenei Hunter & a multitude of others). We are just trying out what would happen when we quest together. Let’s hope it goes smoothly.

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. I think my major accomplishment this week was what I learned about spellcasters. I hit a point with my mage this week where I died about 5 times in one hour. It was around level 9 ½. No matter where I went, I was clearly overmatched. So again and again I met my WoW maker. Each time, I learned more about the character and then finally I hit 10. Level 10 for a mage is a big deal early on and opens up the playing field. Frost Nova became my new friend and I only died once for the rest of the weekend. I also made the decision right there to go Frost Spec. Yes, I know most mages go fire spec until they hit 70 but have you ever known me to do what everybody else does? Let’s see, Troll Rogue Combat Spec (most go Subtlety from what I’ve seen). A Hunter, Marksmanship build (everybody and their dog goes Beastmastery). The Priest? Discipline Spec (most go Shadow). So, it’s little wonder that a Mage for me would go Frostie. Mmmmm, Wendy’s anyone?

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. My girlfriend’s brother feels like playing WoW again, so this is mostly his idea. But to join the cause, Sarah, her best friend, my best friend, and myself are making a go of it by starting at the same time on the same server. Others might join as well making for possibly one big party of sorts. It could be an interesting and fun time or eventually end up in a character transfer back to my usual Horde stomping grounds @ the Killrogg server. Either way, I’ve got a mage named Magkick. May the jokes and ganking begin.

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. I also finished a bunch of quests for dungeons like RFK or ZF that I just didn’t turn in because I thought it would put me over the 49 barrier. In addition, I went back to work on my blacksmithing and I’m 75% done with the initial Weaponsmithing quest. The blood elf hunter on the other hand amassed a couple of levels just killing peasants in Hillsbrad. His skinning is nearly maxed again (over 200) and his enchanting is still on par with his level (135). I have a feeling when he gets to 29, he is going to be a beast on the battlefield (well against the non-twinks anyway). I’m not super gung-ho for getting to 30 and the mount because as far as I’m concerned the mount limit is still 40 metaphorically speaking. I’m sitting back and having fun, trying not to care too much about my characters. Way too many people take the game so seriously and have to have something done as fast as possible. But then what do you do after that? They never really have an answer for that.

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. So the twink bracket that existed at 29 is for most practical purposes is gone, and the 39 twink bracket will actually exist again. I mostly played with my hunter which would explain why he was the only one to gain levels (2) this week. He finished the Ghostlands, took a quick trip to Razorfen Kraul & landed in Tarren Mill to start questing. He should have the 45 gold (35 training + 10 for the actual mount) by the time he hits 30. I just need to skin as much as possible and not dump as much money as I was into my enchanting skill. My enchanting skill is on par with my level (120), but I can always get my 49 rogue to solo anything up to and including Razorfen Kraul to get items to disenchant for mats. Plus, my rogue will be moving past the 49 barrier after this week I would imagine. I’ve pvped enough for the current bracket and he needs to make the first steps so he can start moving towards 60.

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. I worked up the 20 marks of honor and got myself a spiffy neck piece. However, that was not the end of it. I decided to go back to Ghostlands and finish up questing there. I spent the better part of Friday and some of Saturday, working myself into a frenzy to do so. I gained three levels (to 22) and finished everything in Ghostlands with the exception of killing the elite boss in Deatholme (name escapes me for a moment). Major accomplishments include getting exalted status for Tranquillen (which entitled me to a blue cloak from the reputation vendor) and defeating the two 20 elites that roam Dead Scar & surrounding areas by myself & at level 20. (on separate occasions of course). Notable accomplishments for sure, but it soured my taste on the game because I pushed myself so hard. So I'm taking it easy this week, I will play some; but remember folks we play games to enjoy them, I don't feel like making myself hate it. If that makes sense.

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. HAHA, yeah. I usually have the same # of kills as I do deaths. My first battleground with my hunter was a slaughter. I managed 4 kills and died 15 times. Fifteen. At one point I got killed by the same guy five times in a row. My second effort was a lot better as I killed 6 and died 8 times. But then you might ask, don't twinks (or people who buy insane enchants and pay ridiculous amounts of gold for gear that is solely used for the purpose of succeeding in battlegrounds) exist at any level battleground? True, to a point. At level 19, the difference between somebody who is twinked and somebody who is not twinked has a much more noticeable difference than say one would at a level 49 battleground. I can do pretty awesome in the 40's bracket with good gear but if I only have good gear in the 19 bracket, I can get owned because I don't have amazing gear. Anyhow, safe to say I'm just trying to have fun with the early brackets and not worry about dieing so much. I am after all, earning honor and marks which will be used towards at least one very nice piece of armor.

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 . One hundred and twenty bars of mithril (not to mention 40 bars of iron, 5 bars of truesilver & 4 citrine) to get 3 lousy blacksmithing recipes. Well they aren't lousy, but I'm not sure they are worth the effort either. My question is what the heck are they doing with the mithril bars? The quests are given in Stranglethorn Vale which is one of the worst places to mine (I've done most of my mining in a combination of Hinterlands & Thousand Needles). If this was a regular person and not a NPC, I would think I'm bankrolling his blacksmithing skill. I mean if all I had to do was handout three recipes and get in return hundreds of bars and entry trinkets, I would be one rich mofo.

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. Yes, for many months I had openly discussed the bad taste of pvp and refused to do it. So I did it, and while I take back some of my comments that weren't too kind, I'm still not in love with it. I took a 46 into a battleground dominated by mostly 48 and 49's (and were much better pvp'ers than I was) and got my troll tuccus handed to me for the most part. So it was entertaining, I learned a lot about the battleground (Warsong Gulch) and will continue to play it in spurts. Just don't expect me to join a pvp server or start talking about leeeet pvp gear. It's not going to happen. And don't expect me to do Arena either. That's all I need is my tuccus handed to me and people actually notice that I don't know what I'm doing.