Yep

Long time, no post

Good question.  What do I do here?  It certainly isn't anything to do with posting bout playing video games anymore.  Of course I haven't played much of any video game lately.  My time in Guild Wars 2 is just flipping items on the trading post to amass gold I will never spend.  My Solforge time is just for the daily rewards.  I've given up playing Solforge due to the rate at which cards are released and the inability to efficiently collect them to keep pace with the trending deck archtypes.  Ditto that sentiment for Hearthstone.

So what would you say I do here?  I'd like to know if anyone is still awake out there in blogger land.

Boycotting E3

#blackout

I didn't have enough time to redo my entire site to black it out, but I have made the theme black in my protest of SOPA/PIPA.

Combining passions: Green Bay Packer Highlights and Star Fox

Video speaks for itself.  Its my own personal nerdgasm.

"Activision Ruined You"

Clearly this man is not a fan of Blizzard's plans for Diablo III.



But I bet anyone $5 and that day old burger wrapper in my car that Blizzard is thinking:

Google+, the "IT'S BETA!" argument

I suspect us MMOG players will understand Google+'s current fiasco better than most.  After all, GOOGLE PLUS IS STILL IN BETA and just like an MMOG in beta, not all features are going to be there on beta day one and not all promises are going to come to fruition.  This is why most MMOG betas have strict non-disclosure agreements and why MMO bloggers are always screaming "IT'S BETA!".  Google+ doesn't have the NDA luxury currently and the successful launch is quickly turning into a public relations mess.  However, I am willing to give Google+ the benefit of the doubt and I for one am willing to buy the "IT'S BETA!" argument. 

My own Heartless_ Gamer Google+ account was deleted in the name clean up.  In fact, I totally missed the whole "real name" requirement of Google+ and had assumed anonymous and pseudonym use was going to be allowed.  Unfortunately, that is not the case (yet!). 

Google has stated "brand" and "business" accounts are coming.  What they will feature is unknown, so I'm undetermined at this point whether Heartless_ Gamer will exist on Google+.  Hopefully, the brand/business accounts will allow me to operate on Google+ the same as a regular user would with a more of a “webpage” front end for “visitors” to my stream.

A Circular Examination

I really like the Google+ "Circles" which allow contacts to be divided into multiple groups which can be assigned to view content I post.  As a games blogger, with a lot of gamer contacts, I would love to slice and dice them up into different groups.  I could socially tag my content and share it with those I think it is most relevant to.  If I write up a post about Civilization 5, I could share it with my Civ circle and spare my Battlefield group the reading time.

There is a lot of potential in Circles and what we have now in the beta is not guaranteed to be what the final version of Circles will be in Google+.  There was a lot of potential in Hero classes for World of Warcraft, but the idea was nipped during beta.  There was a lot of potential for six capital cities in Warhammer Online, but that as well was trimmed down in beta.  Not everything survives beta.

Circles equate to any feature from any MMOG.  In Google+’s case, Circles are a selling point and are there on day one of the beta.  They may change or may even get pulled.  We don’t know, but through beta testing Google will determine their place and Google+ ends up better because of testing Circles, then we should all say “that’s what beta’s are for”.

And that IS what beta’s are for: improving the end result.  This doesn’t always happen and not every beta is the same (some are marketing stunts).   If we are going to say “that’s what beta’s are for” when they go right, then we need to buy the “IT’S BETA!” argument when the sailing isn’t smooth.  Right now, “IT’S BETA!” is a valid argument for Google+.  Google just better be done with the five year beta cycle.

Bye-bye Facebook, Hello Google+

I hate to admit that I have a Facebook page that I update on a monthly basis.  My most recent monthly update involved the elation I had seeing my 2-year old son's reaction to a handful of worms I had picked up in the backyard.  As you can probably tell, I'm not your average Facebook user.  I really don't use Facebook to "connect" with anyone on a regular basis.  The only redeeming factor I see in Facebook is Facebook Connect, but as not much of what I'm involved with uses it, it's kind of pointless (I had hoped maybe some games would start using it instead of requiring me to register a new account with their own system).

This leads me to Google's new project; Google+.  While it won't be a true replacement to Facebook, I feel it will fill my "social network" needs and I suspect I will be able to maintain a completely anonymous profile along with a more personal profile via different Google accounts (Facebook bans users posting under pseudonyms such as heartlessgamer). On top of this, Google is a big proponent of OpenID and I much prefer that to Facebook Connect (but still run into the problem of many people NOT using it in the gaming community).

However, there is more to why I am going to use Google+ and chiefly among that is explained in this article at PC World:

5. You Can Get Your Data Back

Facebook is notorious for its poor stewardship of personal data. You are forced to make certain parts of your personal data "public" for example, and It is very hard to permanently delete your Facebook profile. Google, on the other hand, makes it possible for you to pick up all the data you’ve banked at Google+ and walk away. This is done through a Google+ tool called “Data Liberation.” With just a few clicks you can download data from your Picasa Web Albums, Google profile, Google+ stream, Buzz and contacts.

This feature is HUGE. This is the reason I use Google's Blogger service: I control my data and have several years worth of backups of my content, all achieved via a couple of clicks. Facebook has nothing on this and never will.  Facebook can't exist as a company without selling it's users data.  I understand that and accepted that fact when I started using Facebook. 

Google+ won't kill Facebook.  Facebook is a doomed model.  Google+ is a value add to Google's core product line and that will allow it to succeed (or be sheltered if it fails because Google doesn't need it to survive).

Note: Yes, I've been denying the fact I have a Facebook profile on this blog because, no, I don't want you to friend request me.  Sorry.  No hard feelings.

Note2: No, I don't have any plans to use Google Buzz over Twitter at this point, but I am willing to entertain the idea depending on Google+'s integration options with Buzz.

MMO websites are big business

MMO-Champion has been acquired by Curse.  With this acquisition, Curse is now the largeest MMO portal in the world and MMO-Champion will be adding some 7 million eyeballs to their readership (or so they claim).  My initial sneaking suspicion is that Curse won't gain that many new eyeballs, as a large portion of traffic to MMO-Champion probably already visits Curse on a regular basis, especially considering both are very heavy World of Warcraft portals.

Either way, I suspect a lot of money exchanged hands in this deal.  WoWhead.com sold for a reported $1 million and I would wager its traffic statistics were on par with MMO-Champion.  I would be interested to get the details of the sale.

Fortunately, Curse isn't some scum-sucking company like ZAM (who purchased WoWHead).  And all I know is that MMO websites are big business and I'm sad all the sites I've volunteered for and poured my sweat into over the years missed the money train.

Battle.net 2.0 vs a Rock, there's something to learn here

I claim no credit for this image.

Normally, I wouldn't poke fun at Blizzard because they have a fairly flawless track record as a game developer.  However, the world is changing and Blizzard with it.  Every company is locking their games into "platforms" and it's starting to get a bit silly.  Oh, and I can sympathize with the gamers that long for the days where LAN support was one of Blizzard's standard features.

The bullet points in the picture are agreeable to my persuasion as well.  As a gaming community, we seem to be losing a lot in favor of Facebook and Twitter integration.  Game developers appear to be looking at the new social media as a replacement for what has worked great for years. 

Actually replacement is a strong word, as what we're really getting is "integration with and instead of X".  However, we're still being tied to the developer's own platform rather than offloading entirely to the social media maven of choice.  It's one thing to offer "Facebook Connect" in place of a developers own account system; it's another thing entirely to integrate a game into Facebook status updates.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of consolidation to a central "hub" that can be tied into.  That is why I am more of a fan of Facebook Connect than I am of Facebook itself.  I like creating one account and being able to use it on tons of different websites.  Just as I like having a Steam account and having that account integrated directly into a game via Steamworks.

Battle.net 2.0 is great for gamers that will stick to Blizzard games and I suspect there is enough of them to make it a success.  However, Battle.net 2.0 is NOT that much different than a 40,000 year old rock when the games are removed.

Heartless Blender, so cute

Thank You Posts On Developer Boards Are Rare and to be Commended

While sifting through dozens of complaints and suggestion threads at the official forums for Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers I came across a rare find on any game developers forums: a thank you post. Not only was the poster saying thanks, but also providing valuable feedback. For this, I commend the poster. Below is a sample of what was posted:

First of all, thank you for making M:TG Duels of the Planeswalkers. This game really brought back the joy of M:TG for me and my friends.

What we love about it:

• (Xbox specific) The friend chatter while playing the game (even being 1800 miles apart)
• Being able to play again, without investing a lot of money and time rebuilding digital collections
• Ease of logging in, picking a deck and getting playing
• The smoothness of the game; in my opinion overall it runs very well
• The decks being relatively balanced against each other
• Every player, for the most part, has access to the exact same pool of cards

A Self-Serving PC Gaming Wish-List

It's not my birthday, but I was inspired by Alec Meer's birthday post over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

I want these things.

• A Free 2 Play Warhammer Online.
• A fantasy-based EVE Online (where is World of Darkness anyways?).
• A Shadowbane that doesn't make me want to vomit on my keyboard.
• Battlefield 1942 recreated in Battlefield: Bad Company 2's engine, destructible environments and all.
• An announcement from 38 studios on what their MMOG will be.
• To figure out what ever happened to Project Offset.
• Some sort of hypno-therapy that makes me incredible at FPS games overnight.
• To never see or hear the phrase “dumbed-down” again
• A loaf of bread.
• My kid's two front teeth (teething sucks btw)

NOTE: Yes, I stole a couple of Alec's ideas and changed or did not change the words slightly.

#BlackFriday: Games

Update: 28 Nov, 2009 - Removed links as Black Friday is over. Cyber Monday is next!

Olivia Munn Hates Flying

I once hated Twitter. I now love it. I get to find out cute little things like Olivia Munn (@oliviamunn) having a fear of flying:

United Death Flight 6876 out of State College, Pennsylvania is now departing. Dear mother of God... Hail Mary full of Grace... Fuck me.

Soleil Moon Frye aka Punky Brewster. RT@fedbizop Who do you want to play U in the story of your life?

If I dont make it, tell my mama not to cry. tell her i was happy, made fun of fat people, told lots of racist jokes and LIVED!

My last tweet will read "Is it cool if there arent wings?" RT @Mikey_Vega peggy sue, peggy sue. A pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty peggy sue..

Don't know who Olvia Munn is? Only the hottest geek gaming chick of them all and star of Attach of the Show on G4 TV.

The only thing that concerns me is that it is not a verified person on Twitter so could just be a twitter hoax :P Oh well, hot chick pic FTW!


UPDATE: She lived.

oliviamunn In NY safe! Yeah bitches!!! Liv Munny in the hiz-ouse!... Fuck I just said "hiz-ouse" as a replacement for "house". Gotta kill myself. Damn.

Warhammer Expansion: Rise of the Horned Rat

Exciting news today about the first Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning expansion entitled Rise of the Horned Rat.

In the Depths of the Under-Empire a Prophet has risen, claiming to be chosen by the Horned Rat, the devious god of the Skaven people, to lead the Skaven Empire to victory over the surface dwellers. Uniting all the clans under one banner, the Horned One and The Lords of Decay have began the long dreaded invasion of the surface world. The bowls of the Skavenblight growl with the endless hunger of millions while great tunnels open up in all the lands spilling forth legion upon legion of hateful Rat-kin.

In the heart of Skavendom however there are whispers that an impostor leads the Skaven nation and that The Council of Thirteen has plans of their own….

New Race and Faction: Skaven!

Join the newly created Third Faction and fight for the glory of the Horned Rat against both Order and Destruction!

* Brand new Third Faction dramatically changing the landscape of WAR.

* Multiple new and unique classes! Play as the dreaded Plague Monk or walk through the shadows as the deadly Clan Eshin Assassin, and many more!

Five New Cities!

The WAR comes homes with the inclusion of Five new Capitol Cities to seige and defend!

* Explore the mountain Strongholds of Karak-A-Karak and Karak Eight Peaks, current home of the Dwarfs and Bloody Sun Orcs!
* Explore the Ancient High Elf Capitol of Lothern to the mighty “Fist of Malekith” a vast Black Arc and launching point of the Dark Elf Invasion!
* Traverse the dark and twisted Skavenblight, the massive underground Capitol City of the Skaven!
* Brand new Quests, PQs, Dungeons, and secrets to Unlock!

* Each City pairing has it’s own unique City Capture Mechanic and play Style!

Growth System!

Introducing the new Growth system, watch your avatar grow as you advance!

* Brand new growth system! Dwarf beards get longer and Orcs get bigger, something new for every race and class!

* Multiple levels! Don’t want to keep growing? Shut it off and make your avatar look how YOU want it to look!

* A new layer of customization that you can control!

New Classes for Destruction and Order!

Many changes to our existing classes as well as brand new classes for both Order and Destruction!

* Introducing the the Dark Elf Assassin and the Empires own Priest of Morr!

* Minor and Major changes to all existing classes! From minor tweaks to total overhauls!

New and Improved Dye and Trophy Systems!

* Major changes to the Dye and Trophy systems, look how you want to look!

* Dye your Weapons, Shields, and mounts! Dye system expanded!
Brand new Trophy System allows you to place Trophies where YOU want to place them! Dagger on your boots? Skull on your helm? No problem!

* New unique Mount Trophies!

* New Elite Trophies give passive bonuses to Renown, Experience, Influence gain and many more! Only for the the most dedicated, look cool and fight harder!

* Multiple new Dyes with overhauls to existing ones!

* Dozens of new, high res, Trophies to collect and wear, Old Trophies improved!

Massive Overhauls!

Substantial Overhauls to nearly every system in Warhammer:Age of Reckoning!

* From PQ’s, Keeps, loot drops, Ordinance, and Siege weapons major and minor changes are on the way!

* Collecting your sets is now easier then ever, both in PvE and PvP! No boss fight is a wasted experience!

* Cheaper Ordinance and improved Siege Weapon mechanics along with Keep Changes to make Keep sieges more exciting and less Static!

* Massive Changes to how you gain Realm Points, from everything from Keeps and City Sieges to Bo’s and Scenarios!

* Much, much more!

Much Much More!

Experience even more new and modified content in “The Rise of the Horned Rat”!

* Brand new, never before seen, unique class content! From class quests to powerful new weapons and armor!

* Improvements to RvR including new purchasable weapons and armor, improved Crest system, and more rewards for increasing in Realm Rank!

* Much much more!

This is totally fake by the way, but some people are gullible. Whats sad, is the guy who made this up, TOLD EVERYONE IT WAS FAKE.

The primary reason you might not have seen it before is because it’s 100% fan generated content, Mythic is in no way involved. So short of the hand of God none of this will ever be anything more then conception on our website. While we have had one or two ideas picked up in past games, the odds of Mythic picking up an entire expansion from us is very unlikely.

But if the fans and players like it maybe they can apply some pressure once the project is finished, and if the ideas are solid then who knows!

Google Library's Book Recommendation Gadget = Genius

Logging onto the Internet this morning, I checked my iGoogle homepage and saw a new recommendation topping my Google Library gadget.


Don't get me wrong; I love to read and I've spent some time with the Air Force, but... nevermind. Google, who the hell would want to read a phone book? Google wasn't kidding when they stated the wanted to scan the entirety of the written word onto the Internet.

Much Cooler Soda

Mountain Dew Game Fuel is cool and all, but it has nothing on Magic The Gathering soda.

One More Hour

One more hour and I can start using the Internet again. No, your April Fools jokes are not funny.

What I Learned from Left 4 Dead

Best Left 4 Dead Comic Ever.