Perfect Day

The Green Bay Packers won.
The Dallas Cowboys lost.

Oh, and I received my grades for the Fall semester. Another perfect 4.0. Once again, for the sports fans, that is a 4.0 cumulative GPA over four semesters.

The best part of this 4.0 is my Micro-Economics grade, which was hovering towards a high B, low A at the end of the semester. I needed a near-perfect score on my final exam to come away with an A overall. Fortunately, I owned the test like a fat chick on a twinkie.

Another Mythos Update

Mythos has just pushed another great update out the beta door.

FEATURES
* Guilds have been added! Speak to the Guildmaster in Tulin's Hope to start one at a cost of 5 Gold.

* Hardcore Mode has been added, for extra challenge! In Hardcore, when you die - your character is gone forever, so be careful!

* Elite Mode has been added. In Elite mode, monsters are faster, more aggressive, and tougher. Champions appear more often. You can only sell items for half of regular price.

- Note that Elite and Hardcore players cannot party or trade with players who do not match their setup, to preserve the economies of these different play styles.

* Re-specs are now allowed (although not in Hardcore or Elite mode) - speak to a Skillmaster in Stonehill or Tulin's hope. Re-specs are free from level 1 through 5, and above that, cost starts at 1 Gold and increases from there. There is a maximum of 3 re-specs beyond level 5

* Quests are now Trackable - check them in your log to view them onscreen at all times

* Maximum Questlog size increased to 8 quests.

* Hardware Mouse Cursors! This should make mouse response lightning fast. Hooray!

* Achievements system has been added - complete goals to earn equippable achievements that give you extra bonuses! Unlock a new achievement slot every 10 levels

* Emotes - there is an emote button above the chat pane that will show you the options

* Zivia's Puzzle Box!

* Party Finder – post your party and description and meet some new friends! You can also post yourself as looking for group to the list.

* Ignore List is now account-based and actually saves.

There is a bunch of other, smaller improvements as well.

Speaking of hardcore, Grimwell has started a Hardcore Challenge. Now, as mentioned in my comments on his site, I will probably be starting a hardcore adventure in World of Warcraft. However, with this update to Mythos, I am probably going to shift my plan of attack. I would much rather be part of a real hardcore mode than a self-policed hardcore mode. Plus, I want to get some more Mythos time under my belt!

CCP Tries To Explain Themselves: Fails

Dr. Erlendur S. Thorsteinsson, EVE Online Software Group's director, has a lengthy post trying to explain the Best Bug Ever.

Shortly after releasing EVE Online: Trinity at 22:04 GMT on Wednesday, 5 December, we started receiving reports that the Classic to Premium graphics content upgrade was causing problems to players by deleting the file C:\boot.ini, which is a Windows system startup file. In some cases the computer was not able to recover on the next startup and would not start until the file had been fixed. In this dev blog I want to tell you how this happened.

He goes on to answer a few questions.

Why doesn't Windows protect its system startup files?
That's a good question, one that I have asked myself in these last few days and wish I knew the answer. But of course I'm not going to blame Microsoft for our mistake. Windows doesn't protect those files and therefore software developers must take care not to touch them. We should have been more careful.

I have to take offense to this answer. The question that needed to be asked: why was a file named the same as a critical Windows system file knowing full-well that EVE Online (like most games) will be played and PATCHED on an account with administrative privileges?

This could of been Linux and an fstab file with the same outcome; a PC that doesn't boot correctly. It baffles me that someone this high up in the company would even attempt to answer this question and state "I'm not going to blame Microsoft". I'm sorry, Dr. Erlendur S. Thorsteinsson, but it sure sounds like you are saying part of the blame goes to Microsoft.

Of course the answer to why the file was named boot.ini:

The answer is really "legacy"; it has been like that since 2001 when the file was introduced on the server and later migrated over to the client in 2002, so this file has been with us for over 6 years. We are reviewing all filenames and changing the name of any file that conflicts with Windows.

Or as I like to call it: lazy-assedness.

Reading through the comments, many EVE Online players are giving CCP props for full disclosure. Unfortunately, CCP really doesn't have a choice at this point in EVE Online's life with all the other drama that has swirled around the game.

The entire post details a breakdown of the most basic principals that guide any software project, from a Hello World! to Google. And I can't believe they DON'T have a single machine setup in their testing environment that mirrors what someone would be using at home (Windows XP installed on a single drive, game being played and patched on an administrator account).

All told, in the end, 215 users seem to have been affected. That is 215 too many.

Exams Are Done

I have finished my last exam for the semester. I can now play games again. I know everyone is dieing to know if I kept my 4.0 GPA, but I won't know until sometime later this month. It will be close, but Micro-Economics may have played the role of spoiler.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not always perfect.

500,000

The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) beta sign-up counter reached the half-million mark today and with the talk lately of "beta invites as an advertisement" I wanted to make sure one of 2008's most anticipated titles doesn't get left out of the mix.

However, unlike the Lord of the Rings Online 1,000,000 beta invites, WAR only tracks actual sign-ups, not "e-mail addresses we have in a database somewhere".

Don't get me wrong, the counter is a pure marketing move on EA Mythic's part, but it is the sort of marketing that is somewhat truthful. WAR has a huge following already and EA Mythic has no need to bolster the hype by "stretching" the numbers.

The question that remains, is how many testers are in the beta currently, and how many more will be let in when the beta restarts in late December? Age of Conan recently dropped the bomb that they had invited 10,000 players, out of 100,000+ sign-ups, but as this article questions: how many are actually online and playing? Those are the numbers many of us would actually care about.

OMG Parenting

Recently, Dr. Phil attacked the problem of MMORPG addiction in teenagers. Surprisingly, he hits the nail on the head to solve the problem. Instead of blaming the game, he correctly points out that the parents need to control the situation and their child.

Dr. Phil is baffled. "Four hours a day? It's ridiculous!" he says. "Mom, you've got to step up and shut this down. Once she's at a point where she can play the game instead of being absorbed in the game, then perhaps, she can attempt to go back to it."

Holding parents responsible for what they let their children do is great and all, but the really important question I want to ask is: does this mean the mainstream media is shifting away from the "blame the games" mentality?

My Head Hurts

This is about the most random blog post I've ever found. So random, that it makes my head hurt, but in a good way. And it all starts with a time machine:

So I invented a time machine in the year 1962, and I went back in time to kill this guy that caused the world to end in 1984.

And I was just about to take my shot when this second Time Traveller Guy suddenly showed up on the roof next to me and asked me to stop.

Tabula Rasa: Why all the delays?

If anyone plays Tabula Rasa and wonders where their subscription payment goes, this video may just hold the key. Or maybe it will help us understand why Tabula Rasa was delayed so long. Either way, opening a beer will never be the same.



What do you expect from someone who requires that their name comes before a game's title? All we need is for Mr. Garriott to show up on MTV to show off his crib...

...oh snap!

Best Bug Ever

The latest EVE Online patch seems to have come with a wonderful side effect for Windows XP users.

After a large number of PCs stopped working following installation of the new Trinity patch for Eve Online, developers CCP were able to confirm that the patch deletes the boot.ini file from Windows XP machines. What this means is that XP users who downloaded and applied the patch within the first few hours (the patch has now been taken down) cannot reboot their PC.

This, along with other FUBAR moments from CCP, really speaks to a poor quality assurance process and a lacking sense that any of the management at CCP has control over the EVE Online project.

Secondly, I don't understand how there are not safeguards in place to prevent such a disaster from going live? The split-second a programmer typed "delete boot.ini", warning bells should have gone off that the code needed to be triple-checked for accuracy. More cowbell maybe?

Fortunately, the problem is easily fixed for the tech savvy. However, knowing that the most addicted EVE players were probably the first to download and install the patch, I have to wonder how many of them ran out to the nearest PC hardware store to start swapping out parts. Actually, I LOL in real life just thinking about that, because at one point in my life I may have done the same thing.

Passing On Pirates

I am officially passing on the Pirates of the Burning Seas beta. I have recieved an invite to beta and was graciously asked to participate in a fairly significant manner as either the PvP or Economic representative on the official Boarding Party, a collection of player advocates that helps promote the game and funnel community issues to the developers. Unfortunately, I have final exams incoming followed by a marathon of work to get done if I want to actually enjoy my time off over the holiday break.

From all accounts, with the NDA being dropped, Pirates of the Burning Sea is shaping up to be a good, but lacking overall game. The consensus seems to be: avatar combat and leveling sucks, PvP and the economy are sweet, and the British are over-powered. Pretty much what I expected out of the game.

It is a bit disconcerting that the game has been delayed a long time due Flying Lab's decision to finish their implementation of avatar combat. Originally, the game was planned to be ship based only, with the ability to move an avatar through the port towns. However, that all changed and now there seems to be a fairly grindy, land-based aspect to the game that I've yet to read a good thing about.

In the end, PotBS is the wrong game, at the wrong time for me. Had it released already, I would no doubt be playing it. But now, I have my sights set on Warhammer Online. In the interim, World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty 4 should hold me over until I get my chance at WAR.