Better Than I

Julie Whitefeather is my hero. Earnest Cavalli can now consider himself owned, not by some non-factor blogger like myself, but by a peer within his own field. It is painfully obvious that Mr. Cavalli wants nothing to do with my criticism of his work, but that is where Julie Whitefeather steps in. I will quote her response:

"... If a writer who gets paid to play and evaluate MMO games sees such striking similarities between a promotional video and a prior title, don't you think the average gamer might have trouble differentiating?" - Earnest Cavalli

I wasn't going to respond until I read the sentence above - so while Mr. Cavalli is busy tooting his own horn, perhaps I should give a small toot on my own. Back in undergraduate school - before BOTH master's degrees and before I GOT PAID FOR WRITING (albeit in another field) who would have pointed out the following.

The arts, of any sort, be they video games, a painting on a wall or a movie in a theater is not done for a professional reviewer. They ARE done for the "common man" (a figure of speach I use only to make a point for there is nothing common about each of us).

Having to resort to the phrase "..if a writer who gets paid..." is nothing short of the same response a politician gives when he or she says "I don't think you understand all the issues involved." I see this all the time in MY PROFESSIONAL field. Phrases of that sort are used for one reason and one reason only and that is a cheap last ditch defense that is tantamount to a journalist who, lacking any other sufficient arguement, stands in his own virtual back yard and yells...

"Nyah, nyah, nyah - and so's your mother..."

And while Mr. Cavelli is busy responding to Heartless with "Thank you Heartless for providing an excellent example of why deigning to respond to criticism is generally such a terrible idea" I will respond in kind...

Thank you Mr. Cavelli for such a trite and meaningless response and "deigning" to respond to us all here - you didn't hurt yourself when you climbed down off your pedestal did you? I might also thank you for a response that proves to US the lack of originality in the article you wrote - surely a journalist who deigns to responds to us poor downtrodden masses is worthy of more originality in his work.

I will end with a phrase my dear departed grandmother was wont to use...

Mr. Cavelli, if you can't take the heat - get out of the kitchen

And yes, I will see you on line...

again, and again and again.

p.s. the hours spent on the figurines were for the grandchild of a board member.

While he passes it off as an opinion piece, the truth is that Mr. Cavalli posted an article that has no journalistic integrity! His article shows obvious signs that he paid no attention to the disclaimers given within the video he criticized and more than once he directly contradicts what he is stating. That folks, is not journalism.

I'm glad that my angry rant can be so easily backed up by people that Mr. Cavalli might consider "worthwhile". Respect +1 for Julie Whitefeather.

The Following People Are Wrong

I hate mis-information. Funny to say that, because I'm responsible for my fair share of it. However, I am fairly willing to correct myself. The following people are wrong and need to correct themselves.

NOTE: None of the following have deleted any comments.

1. Someone at DungeonRun.
2. Cameron at Random Battle.
3. Earnest Cavalli, the guy who originally drug out the dead horse, over at Wired's Game|Life blog.

I don't really want to put a lot of energy into this post, but I need to outline a bit of my argument here. First of all, it has been proven, beyond-a-doubt, where the Warcraft universe originated. Mr. Cavalli even states so in his article:

"Of course, I realize the Warcraft universe is functionally lifted wholesale from the Warhammer universe..."

Point numero uno, Warhammer's look was here first, not Warcraft's. Therefore, Warhammer Online has every right in the world to look the way it does without a copycat tag being applied.

Next point on the docket: the game-play in the video sucks and looks staged. Well, that is correct, as stated by Paul Barnett in the video!

Lastly, the proposal that someone could mistake this video for World of Warcraft. We've covered the "similar looks" debate in the first point. I'll bend a little bit here, as WAR is shaping up to play and feel a lot like WoW. However, that is a bit misleading and I'll explain it a bit here.

WoW does a lot of things right. Not just in terms of MMOs, but in the terms of just being a game. I will not play games that do not follow the benchmarks set by WoW. If that means WAR feels and plays a lot like WoW, then so be it, but that is what games (not just MMOs) need to do in today's PC gaming market. However, don't for a second call that a "clone". The whole clone debate is something fairly restricted to the elite MMO circles out there and is a dead horse beyond worth beating.

To reiterate the points presented here. The Warhammer look came first and was liberally used in the creation of the Warcraft universe. The game play in the WAR video is staged and is not representative of the way players will eventually play. Finally, WoW is a great game and other games should LEARN from the aspects that WoW has perfected.

I know, I'm not being nice. Go here for a nicer version of what I'm trying to say.

Deleted Post

Update: 16 Aug, 2009 - Deleted post, because I lost the picture. /sadface

Awwww Hell

Tick.... screech.... tick, tick, tick....

Those are the sounds my hard drive is making! Fortunately, it is not showing any signs of failure yet and checks good through Western Digital's drive checking software. I know better than that and commence with the backups I shall.

Reading Goal for 2008

Upstate Geeks, a new online hangout opened after the fall out of my local non-video gaming scene, spurred me to consider my reading plans for 2008.

While the original poster plans to do five books a month, I don't see myself hitting five books in the entire year. At one point in my life, two books a month was a good average, but I never read hardcore (probably due to my gaming addiction). So, my goal is four books read by the end of 2008, not including the few hundred pages left in my current book, A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin.

My tentative reading schedule:

Finish A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
A Feast For Crows by George RR martin
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

...and if I like the Novik novel, I'll finish the year out with the trilogy.

What are your reading goals for 2008?

In The Toilet

My local non-video gaming scene took a turn for the worse over the past few weeks and is essentially in the toilet.

It started in early January when the organizer behind our local Dungeons and Dragons Meetup.com group stepped down due to health concerns. No one has stepped up in his place and the group is quickly fading into the sunset. The Meetup.com group was a great monthly get together for D&D nerds of all flavors and offered an easy way to find a steady group. Sadly, it does not look like there will be a big party when D&D 4.0 hits later this year.

If the death of the Meetup.com group wasn't enough, my favorite local game store is closing it's doors and this time there is no one around to save it. A few months ago, the original owners announced they were moving, and we all feared the worst at that time. However, a family stepped up and bought the store. Unfortunately, it does not look like they will be able to keep it going.

Sadly, a couple major downers were not enough. The cornerstone of our local gaming scene, the game store in the mall that has been around for 20 years, has also announced it will be closing. This one honestly came out of left field and shocked most of us. This store was always busy, partly due to location, and while it had no actual space to play games, it was the place to go and buy supplies and harder to find board games.

Now we're left with an upstart game store that everyone thought wouldn't make it past a couple months in the face of the other two, more popular, stores. But now those two stores are closing and that leaves the upstart as the sole king of the mountain. I just worry that the upstart is struggling due to an expensive store location and massive prize support to bring in local gaming groups.

Also on the plus side, our local board gaming group is still going strong and the decision about which store to host events at has been made really simple now. Hopefully, the store closings will end the "this store vs that store" mentality and we can all get back to gaming! Speaking of that, I should go check when the next Board Gaming Day is.

Update: 1 Feb, 2008 - The gaming store located in the local mall may have just made a successful saving throw and looks to remain open for the time being.

News Bits

World of Warcraft has officially hit the 10 million active subscribers mark. A lot of people, including myself, predicted this as a year-end goal of 2007. We were close. Also, a bit of clarification on what a subscriber is:

Blizzard defines subscribers as those who have paid a subscription fee or are using an active prepaid card, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game during the last 30 days are also counted as subscribers, but players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions and expired prepaid cards are excluded. WoW currently totals more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.

Next, there is news that EVE Online will be available via Steam, Valve Software's digital distribution platform. As a fan of Valve and a regular game-buyer through Steam, I am pleased to see MMOs make the move to the platform. Unfortunately, most MMOs are linked with publishers that only sell boxes, or that have their own digital distribution platforms. Unfortunately, I have yet to find anything as good as Steam.

Lastly, some sad news out of Hollywood. Heath Ledger has kicked the bucket. The only question I have: how does a great actor like Heath Ledger die and a walking reason for abortion like Britney Spears remain alive?

Another Age of Conan Delay

Funcom set a new release date for Age of Conan today.

Funcom announces a new release date for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The highly anticipated MMO receives 8 more weeks of development, allowing Funcom to deliver a more polished MMO experience when the game launches on the 20th of May 2008

With the rumormill and beta leaks swirling, the news coming out of the Age of Conan camp has not been good. I don't harbor any ill-will towards the title, but I am a bit confused by the delays for the title.

I praised Age of Conan at one point for showing the fans what they wanted to see: PvP sieges, mounts, city building. However, apparently most of what was touted to be "in-game" was actually not. What fans have seen through demonstrations seems to have been pre-canned development server stuff, which is disappointing.

Is this the last delay for Conan? I think so, but I also thought I would be playing both Pirates of the Burning Sea and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning back in 2007! Oh well, I still hold to my 2008 predictions that AoC and WAR will both launch.

Heartbreak, Bad Weekend

Well, the Green Bay Packers managed to throw out a stinker tonight and forfeit their chance to go to the Super Bowl this year. I'm proud of what the Packers accomplished this year, but I am absolutely dismayed by the performance they put on against the Giants. I am still not sure what team and coaching staff showed up, but it was not the same one that had been in Green Bay all season.

I give credit to the New York Giants for the win and playing a good game, but I can't stand the "destiny" tag that the Giants fans have thrown on their team. Let's face it, they beat a fairly flat Tampa Bay team, were in the right place at the right time to catch Dallas with their pants down, and then really just got the luck of the draw and catch the Packers playing their second-worst football of the year.

Congrats to any team that wins a Championship game, but as a football fan, it pains me to see underdogs limp into a win over a team that for whatever reason falls apart for a few hours. However, that is why the NFL is so great, any team can win on any Sunday and being a football fan, GO GIANTS AND BEAT THOSE PATRIOTS!

On top of a heartbreaking Brett Favre interception to end my weekend, our heating unit died. We had snow the other day and last night either the heat pump seized or there is a freon leak that turned our unit into an ice cube.

Adding insult to injury, our dog has absolutely gone off the deep end, coming within an inch of biting a random joggers hand. We've worked extremely hard and long with our dog, but she has gotten worse by the week and it is starting to worry us that there is something we're missing that has turned a friendly puppy into an aggressive 11-month old dog. Sadly, as a Doberman, our dog does not get a second chance and one bite could be the end.

I'm not sure what else could go wrong in the next thirty minutes to make this weekend any worse, but at least I have tomorrow off from school and work. Too bad I have an online test to take, two massive assignments to get done, a heater to get fixed, and I still have to get around to getting into see the eye doctor and figure out why I am going blind.

Life's a bitch, but I'm not one to gone down quietly.

Challenges

I really wanted to tackle my RE: RE: Why Be Nice Anymore? post today, but time is just not on my side.

I am enrolled in a capstone course for my Computer Networking degree. This is the big daddy of classes and will require my complete attention for the next fifteen weeks. Already, in the first two weeks, I've dedicated more time to the project than I am used to dedicating to gaming!

The class is split into teams of three, each team responsible for designing a Request For Proposal for an imaginary company. Basically, our team will design a computer network from the ground up on a budget of $150,000 dollars.

Being the outstanding person that I am, I was elected to be the Team Captain. I understand some readers may not believe that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. In reality, I was hand-picked to be part of this group by my instructors.

The group that I am part of has a perceived advantage, a forth person to split the work with. Unfortunately, the fourth person is the odd-man-out in the class and presents a unique situation. The extra member has been deaf since birth, has never really learned English, and has struggled to get into this course.

Yet, he has persisted and made it to the crowning achievement of the networking degree program at my college. In reality, this should be a ticket to a diploma, but it is doubtful that my team member will be able to pass his programming courses anytime soon.

I have been tasked to lead this team to success. My instructors have undaunted faith in my patience and leadership ability to see this through and produce a noteworthy end product. I have been challenged, and I do not plan to disappoint.