Pagoda of Gaming

As per my tweet last sunday, I reactivated my Warhammer Online account via the 10-day free offer that popped through my inbox recently. I’m inclined to agree with Solid Snake on this one, WAR has changed. It’s an interesting game to be a part of right now - since the end of beta and the launch of the game, and since my horrible forgetting of the game thanks to the likes of Fallout 3 and other hits of last fall, the game has had time to mature.

The game now has about 1/5th the amount of servers it had on launch, and only one of the European-English servers has a considered “High” population. If I can say anything bad, is that the lower teirs of the game seem a bit barren of players, but a quick glance of the map, which I often do when I login, shows that in that Teir 4 Endgame space, there’s always something going on. And every night I’ve played this week (and I have played EVERY night this week) a City Seige was either underway or on the blades edge of beginning. I’m looking forward to getting there.

RvR rewards have been completely overhauled to give you more incentive to make sure you’re always queued for a scenario. You can get random armor drops off enemy players. Medals, which also drop, are tradable like honor from vendors. Renown Rank still opens up new equipment as you go along, and each RVR lake now acts like a big public quest giving you influence and therefore influence rewards - which are usually blue-level equipment. Not to mention the percentage gain increase you get towards your Renown and Rank for just participating. And all that for hitting some one in the face with an axe.

My few complaints lie with the game’s transportation. I think they could’ve come up with something a bit better than a helicopter back-pack for traveling between zones via flightmaster, something that makes more sence like an airship or something, and as I’m hitting the 10th and 11th Rank and the game-space is exponentially increasing, I really could be doing with a mount by now. Speaking of, they’re a little plain for a universe steeped in such amazing lore. 3 factions have lame-assed horses, Greenskins have Wolves and Boars depending on your characters size. The Dwarfs have aforementioned Helicopter Backpacks minus the zone travelling - which I think looks really stupid - leaving the Dark Elves with some badass looking Raptor beast. I doubt they’d outright replace the mounts, but more choise would be sweet. As for zone travel, that might be tougher to change.

I decided to start a new character, leaving my old witchhunter and Archmage for the time being and after much deliberation, I decided to start my life as a Dwarf Slayer. So far I’m really liking the class, when I’m in a scenario - which is about every 10 minutes, I feel really powerful against other players, with the mix of direct damage and really strong AOE Melee attacks. To be analogus to WoW, it’s like a Rogue mixed with a little Bear Tank, with the Swipe ability - except it has a better range, shorter cooldown, and actually does some damage.

If you’d like to Join me in WAR, you may have a 10-day trial sitting in your inbox yourself, hit me up ingame. Order on Karak-Eight-Peaks as the Dwarf Slayer “Colts” or as Destruction on Karak Norn with the Chaos Zealot “Belruel”. The game has changed enough now to carry many of the ideals the game initially promised, and there’s been much refinement on the game’s systems and stability - I haven’t crashed out once. It’s just a shame that people consider it a failure, despite it still making many millions a month. Tycho knows what I’m talking about.

This weekend is the Magic US nationals, and I hope that we get to see some Randy Buller + Brian David Marshall live commentary broadcast action as the top-8 rolls around. I’ve been keeping up with the action via the Event Blog over at the MTG site. And HERE ARE SOME of the decks I’m interested in seeing in action. I think we’ve got one hell of a metagame going right now, but I’ll be happy to see faeries roll out of standard come the fall - And let a new standard of Zendicar, M10 and Alara take hold, a place of no bitterblossom, no Wrath of God and more than 10 Planeswalkers.

It’s been a really weird week for news, First we get an officially liscenced Halo Anime. Konami are making a Metalocalpyse game, which I pray will be awesome. A South Park Tower Defence game is coming to XBLA, which via gameplay footage looks pretty decent. Finally we hear that APB is going to be out in March next year and will have a 5-10 year lifespan.

Our first video is quite possibly the best videogame interview ever recorded. I suppose you really need to be a diehard GFW fan for that statement to hold true, but Geff Green should be appreciated by everyone. Filmed at ComicCon09.

Next we have the song that for this week, I’ve always been looking forward to hearing. It’s meme meets DJ Mixery.


And Lastly there’s what todays post title is all about. Ronin Dojo Community Collage DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water, is some amazing american made animation in the vein of nerdery with a japanese anime twist. Please watch the awesomeness unfold, it’ll take you less than 20mins to watch the entire series. Episode 1 is embedded below and HERE is a link to the rest of the series.

So that’s my week. For the weekend, I’ll probably be playing WAR most of the time, to get the good out of my 10 day free trial and to decide if a subscription if in my future. Next week I’ll be talking about my holiday plans, because starting this friday, I actually will be on holiday. I just have to endure a week of factory-bitch work first - which I’m anticipating to be worse than my regular office-bitch work.

trolls! I am not trollin!

So let’s get into it, M10 Prerelease analysis/reflection time…

I opened a semi-decent pool of cards. My Red and Blue sucked beyond beleif, my Green cards were ok (Fuck yeah! 2x Llanowar Elf!) but not worth raping the mana base for a splash. Therefore Black and White were my strongest choices. My saving grace was most likely my pulling of a Baneslayer Angel and a Liliana Vess to tutor for her. That Angel is beyond insane - A 5/5 flying with Lifelink and First Strike. She Won alot of games for me It’s a shame I never got to use her crazy choices of protection (from Demons and Dragons Wtf?). Vess was primarily used for her first ability, and then to find my angel if required - apart from that Other rares that I included in the deck was Magebane Armor - which at one time was totally gamewinner when equiped to a mere Drudge Skeletons. Cemetery Reaper was extremely useful in many cases both to hold off attacks, and to win the inevitable creature race.

Among other cards Harm’s Way is one of my new favourite cards. It won me a game once, though I cant remember what it was exactly redirecting. It’s the cost of the card that really makes it shine, similar to sunlance. Redirecting cards of the past have cost alot more and have only really been featured in red or blue. It’s one white to deal with 4 points of damage, and it can win games. On the flipside there’s Doomblade, and I understand the need for it with all the Esper going about, but to me it just isn’t as flavourful as good old Terror.

But back to the tournament - It wasn’t an easy rise to the top by any stretch of the imagination. My only regret was that I got manascrewed quite a bit in my final match, but shit happens, and that’s not to say that I would’nt have lost the match regardless. There were very few games in which the Baneslayer didn’t take to the stage, one game she netted me 50 life. But there were a couple of rounds where I went 2-1, including the final. My winnings included a sweet shirt to go along with my awesome Conflux shirt of pre-release past. And a couple of boosters, which gave me a second Baneslayer and also a trade of a rare dual land for a sweet non-prerelease version (which totally has better art) Vampire Nocturnus - which is by far my favourite card of the set.

I should be playing this game. Across my entire life Magic is one of the count-with-one-hand things that I don’t totally suck at. I forget easily how much I love the game.

So yes, the PreRelease went well. So well infact that I bought £60 worth of Singles last night to build new decks with. I don’t know when I’ll get to use these decks, but I’ve got a nice Grixis Zombie deck in the works for Standard play, and in Extended I’ll be doing up my Sharingan and ressurecting my W/B Control deck from the Ravnica-Timespiral days with some new card choises. This might not get done for a while, but I’m earmarking some time in the Holidays to sit down and sort out my cards.

Apart from the prerelease I did a couple of other things. The rotting carcas formerly known as Zavvi, now known as Head, had some utter bargains that I took advantage of. Viva Pinata 2 for £7, Saints Row 2 (PS3) for £12 and Blade Runner on DVD because there’s no reason I shouldn’t have it. I had an amazing platter of food - From the usual Pre-Third-Round Steak and Egg Roll from the Clarke’s Bakery to a delicious 8oz Texas Top Hat (Burger with Bacon, Cheese, BBQ Sauce and Hash Brown) at Tonic, which is my new favourite resturant of all time, for the simple fact that they have 52 different kinds of burger including “with Marshmallow” and “with Wasabi”.

And that’s the jist of it. I’m really tempted to hit Fundee again during my summer break, that is the two weeks I get. The logistics are a bit up in the air, and I haven’t really thought it through, but if I can put myself in dundee and subsequently Draft and eat Burgers - well that would make for awesome holiday.

Battlefield 1943 is officially my shooter of the Summer. It’s all I’ve really been playing the past week and it’s just a total solid battlefield experience, which is something I’ve been after for a while. Fortunatly, I missed the highly publicised rocky start the game had with matchmaking etc, so I can’t say anything really bad about it in that regard. I can just sit down, hit play and have a really good time, the only hassle there seems to be is the squad system which is a little off-base in regards to organisation and finding a squad. If the game continues to be playable for a long time I would like to see a couple of new maps - the coral sea one was a nice addition but you’re screwed if you cannot dogfight, which again is another little sligh of the game’s design. A word of advice to all those budding pilots out there, never use 3rd person view unless on a bombing run - and just stick with it and you’ll eventually get the hang of it. I did.

I also squeesed in some 1 vs 100 into my schedule. The concept is pretty tight, it just needs a little polishing and in my opinion is screaming for a total set of videogame trivia for the extended play - because I’m already sick of getting asked fucking football questions. I gave the live show a go last night and whilst I was never a part of the mob or the one, it was a pretty decent time - though I think I must’ve lagged out of the show somewhat, because I never heard the ‘Host’ talking once past the intro. There’s another one on tonight that I might check out.

Whilst I was exiled last week, I played some Fallout 3 PC. It’s awesome, as the X-Box Version is, and my Laptop happily gets along with it’s graphical demands. I suppose if there was any issue, I’d have to take it up with the controls. They’re just a bit off for my taste - I can’t really put my finger on it. I’d like to plug in a 360 controller and see how that deals. I do however love the fact that I get two Fallout 3 entries on my X-Box Live Profile - and hence double the possible achievements.

Regretfully, I never sat down to play any Civ4 - to sink my teeth in. Maybe this weekend. I know from Rebel FM’s tales of Civ that it is a beyond time consuming game, and I’m afraid I’d have to pull myself away as a delightful obsession sets in. The same reason I have for not sitting down with Plants Vs Zombies over the past week.

This week’s video is a small intro, from Bill Roper, to the character creation and development of Champions Online. I’m actually looking forward to this game quite alot. I’m really after a different kind of MMO these days, and this seems promising - but I’ll see if I can get my ass in the Beta before I commit to buy.

And with that I’m back to the infinite cycle of depression that is eat-sleep-work. I am starting to see the upside of a driving licsence - the ability to just up and go to the fundee roughly any time I want. But now I remember the core of my previous stance - I neither can afford or wish to deal with the hassle of car ownership.

Also GIRUGAMESH!!

and slap your American face!

It’s Officially Summer. I can confirm simply by the appearance of my usual monsterous form being made moreso repulsive, as on tuesday morning hayfever tooks it’s toll. My eyes are stingy and constantly red as if assaulted by bags of polleney death, my nostrils are now broken taps of mucus and the back of my mouth prickles on occasion. Not to mention the heat, that is making atleast 1 part of my body sweaty-moist at any given time. The past few days represesents what people call good weather, but in the mind of a present cretin of the internet, it promotes sympathy for the vampire. This entire season is destructive on my person and I really cant wait until it’s over.

When I’m playing Prototype I’m always at polar opposites with my opinions. Edge gave the game and 8 - and I’d have to agree. But sometimes the game can be a downright 4. On the good side there’s the candy shop of the character’s skill choices, the way the character throws himself about the city for transportation, and little things like the Web of Intrigue. But on the opposite there’s the horribly written cut scenes, the constant gameplay ending brick walls(metaphorical), and the stupidity of some things; like the main character’s wardrobe of leather jacket ontop of hoodie, ontop of white shirt.

The game is ripe with gameplay imbalance. One moment I’m taking down army guys by throwing cars at helicopters and then some Hunters (think mini Incredible Hulks) show up with their one hit combo that takes of more than half your health that has an attack radius that seems to encompass my exact vicinity. The bosses are equally rediculus, some taking about 30 minutes to kill, because all I can do is steal helicopter after helicopter to slowly shave the health off, because otherwise I’d be hit by the 5 attacks the boss is simultaniously launching. What’s worse, I feel, is that the game presents a concept that you should be able to brawl with these enemies like your standard God of War Affair, but you just cant. I’m always either a giant walking badass or a constantly failing weakling. I should also mention that I was playing on the easiest gameplay setting.

But at the same time, the game can be extremely satisfying. Grabbing someone and literally and violently consuming their being for a chunk of health and sometimes a 20 second clip of some dude’s memories, is always fun and totally relevant to the gameplay. And running up the side of any structure, even the tallest building in the city, with a simple press of L-Stick and the right trigger. It’s got enough good things in it to warrant attention and even to warrant a sequal, with hope a more balanced one.

I soldiered on and Finished Mass Effect, that is, I finished the main story. I was a little surprised to know that the game doesn’t remain open after the final encounter. Instead there’s a replay option that allows your level to be retained and continued, it’s an offer I might take upon. Theres so much extra story and achievements yet unnatained all set in a wonderfully eskewed modern Sci-Fi universe that I’d love to consume alot more of. I will say that for myself, that playing it on the easiest difficulty really made the game playable, as opposed to any other instance where the game would struggle to function as a game. It is a great game, but only in part because we know 2 and 3 are always on the way, and all round improvements are promised. Right now it’s just a T-T-T-Texture Popping good time.

Did you hear that DJ Hero is going to be £108. I’ve said it all before when it came to Rock Band’s pricing, atleast these days I know a little better. This may be the last mention of DJ Hero on this site.

Now that the M10 spoiler is complete, I’m less excited, more “that’ll do”. There’s officially no Wrath of God, and that’s going to make the white players scream, though they shouldn’t, since some of the cards they got are downright amazing(see the 2-mana Glorious Anthem and Baneslayer Angel). And for them to say that half the set is brand new cards is a little misleading - Alot of the “new” cards are simply reskinnings of old ideas. For example, they have reprinted Grizzly Bears, Hill Giant and Civic Wayfinder and all they’ve done to them is rename them and change the creature types, so now respectfully we have Runeclaw Bears (which remains bear), Canyon Minotaur (which trades Giant for Minotaur) and Borderland Ranger (which traded Elf for Human). But the set is warrant for them to make some cards that wouldn’t normally fit into a modern magic block so easily, the prerelese card is proof enough of that.

Today’s video is some early trailer footage of Fallen Earth - a post-apocalyptic MMO with more than a pinch of Fallout in the mix.

There’s also this following video, that is a reminder of how retarded Batman used to be, and how thankful we should be for Christian Bale’s weird forced bat-voice.

IT’S SUCH AN OBVIOUS TRAP! SHE’S TALKING IN RIDDLES AND THE BARMEN ARE WEARING GREEN SUITS! OF COURSE THE RIDDLER IS GOING TO FUCK UP YOUR SHIT!

I’m nearly ready to ship out come tomorrow night, at the latest. From then on I will be internetless for a week, essentially. I should have pleanty to do, and I’m contemplating Transformers 2 either saturday or sunday, and all the short distractions Aberdull brings with it. I have new access to Civ 4 and Fallout 3 (which both play surprisingly well on the Nintop) and ALOT of stocked up TV to get through. I’ll be Tweeting along the way, so keep an eye on the FEED for updates.

I’m a little peeved that I’m going to miss BF1943’s PSN and XBLA release. It’s been a while since I’ve sat down with a tight Online FPS and something that’s a refinement of old content that I actually missed first time round. And an experience the new console battlefield engine stokes my game boner like a BBW.

I’ll see you motherfuckers in a week or so, when I’ll have tales of M10 prereleases, tasty giganta-burgers, and ruling the Capital Wasteland for something like the 4th time now.

nights were so much hotter then