Maple Story iTCG

I am a sucker for trading card games (TCGs). As I've gotten older and more responsibility has cropped up in my life, I've found little to no time to head out to my FLGS (friendly local game store) to play with "real" cards. So, I've been relegated to online versions. I played Free Realms' card game for a bit, but quickly realized it was a massive money sink. I played Magic the Gathering: Online for all of its beta, but scoffed at the idea of paying the same price for virtual cards as I was for real cards. However, every time I hear about a new online TCG, I get interested and click on over to check it out. So, when I caught this story on WarCry about a Maple Story iTCG, I had to investigate.

Nexon America opened a new Web site for its upcoming game, MapleStory iTCG Online, at http://itcg.nexon.net. iTCG Online is an online flash-based, in-browser trading card game using the characters and monsters that occupy the world of MapleStory.

The biggest part that caught my attention was "online flash-based, in-browser". This means players open the web page, log in, and then start playing. An almost "pure" browser game (flash is still a plug-in, albeit a web standard of sorts).

Now, this is where I would insert information on how the iTCG plays, but the servers have been down all morning and I can't give the game a whirl. If the servers come up before the mood passes, I will check it out and maybe report back here on my findings.

NOTE: I understand this iTCG will probably be a money sink, but that's why I am trying to get in on the beta (which I'm hoping unlocks a lot for free)!

Goblin's Playable In Next World of Warcraft Expansion?

WoW.com has the unofficial lowdown on the new races for the fabled Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft.

Our sources have told us that the new races of Cataclysm will be:

* Worgen – Alliance
* Goblin – Horde

Personally, I don't believe it. Goblin's are a neutral race within the Warcraft lore. It would cause a ton of lore-based conflicts within the game world. Not to mention how out of place some places of the game world would feel. Goblins joining the Horde would break too many parts of World of Warcraft.

This doesn't mean Blizzard can't make it work. Blizzard could update the entire world and switch all the Goblin content over to Horde content. This would be out of character though, as Blizzard has shown that they'd much rather create new content rather than update or fix old content.

In the rare case that this does prove out to be true, Blizzard will probably just spin off some sort of new Golbin tribe (or whatever Goblin groups are called) and attach it to the Horde. Thus, they have nothing to do with the current Golbins in game. Blizzard is more than free to invent whatever they want. I just don't think it will feel right for WoW.

Worgen? Who the fuck cares about the Alliance.

George RR Martin Interview: Update on A Dance with Dragons

A new interview with George RR Martin has surfaced and with it, updates to A Dance With Dragons (Book 5 in The Song of Ice and Fire). Listen to the audio/podcast here or catch the notes below.

Key points:

* George has over 1000 finished manuscript pages for his next book, A Dance With Dragons.
* His previous four books in the series have come in between 1100 manuscript pages and 1500 manuscripts pages.
* He thinks the book will be around 1200, although he will not put an expected finish date on the project
* HBO is moving forward with the Ice & Fire pilot. It is going to be shot in October in Ireland.
* Originally, the story of A Dance With Dragons was meant to be the second book of a trilogy, but the first book grew in the telling.
* Sean Bean has been cast as Ned Stark.
* George talks about why Dance is late, due to the complexity of the series and the amount of rewriting he does.
* Listen to the podcast for the rest!

Good news all around.

Vick?

Seriously?

GREEN BAY — Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson’s non-answer to a question about Michael Vick was more than just Ted being Ted.

The team is doing thorough due diligence on the former NFL quarterback and has had legitimate discussions about the idea of signing him, according to sources.

This is a really bad idea and a half way good idea. Aaron Rodgers has more than proven himself as a capable quarterback and given a years experience, I think he's going to start winning more games. So, Vick would be a back up at most.

First, I think Vick is trouble. Green Bay has a tendency to calm even the wildest souls and keep them out of more trouble(Brett Favre was no angel when he arrived in Green Bay). However, Vick's trouble is unlikely to stop following him around anytime soon.

Still, the Packers need a back up for Rodgers and Vick can play. However, his best days are behind him and have since he broke his leg back in 2006. He's never been a great passing quarterback and always relied on his legs to make things happen. I just can't imagine he will get back those youthful legs that impressed everyone in his early years. On the positive side, he could be picked up for a cheap price and quarterbacks are pretty tough to find in today's league.

Once the highest paid-player in the NFL — and now bankrupt — Vick probably wouldn’t cost much financially.

Either way, interesting.

Update: 13 Aug, 2009 - All this Packers/Vick talk and Vick ends up signing a 2-year deal with the Eagles.

Heartless_ View: Casualty of Warhammer

It all started, as so many things do these days, with an Internet news posting.

In 2008, after almost four years reviewing games and covering industry news and events, I lost my job. In my search for new work, I came across a posting for QA/customer service jobs at Mythic Entertainment for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I didn't have much of a technical background aside from being a lifelong gamer, but I had a few years of customer service experience, so I shot them a resume. I heard back a month later and started at Mythic a week after that.

I initially thought it might be some type of call center job, but my supervisors explained that I would be working within the game itself. The journalist in me thought it would be a fascinating look behind the curtain at a young MMOG. The gamer in me thought it would be awesome to finally have the powers of a GM. I would be like an agent in The Matrix.

So, for those that read the above article, we get a sad story about the state of a customer service position at a company who's product failed to meet expectations. The article is both revealing of what happened with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) and a bit annoying at whats implied.

First, the article lays heavy blame at Wrath of the Lich King's feet for WARs collapse. Little is said about WAR's own shortcomings. Granted, this was a viewpoint looking out from the inside, so its understandable why they were looking for reasons or excuses that didn't point any fingers back at themselves. I'm not going to say that Wrath had nothing to do with WAR's faltering performance, but it was a minor footprint to where I lay blame: the fundamental design of WAR was a fragmented mess with no continuity.

Secondly, there is too much effort in trying to make everyone feel bad for the people losing their jobs. Wake up, customer service is a cruel mistress in any career field. I have no sympathy for the guy in the article. He set lofty goals in a volatile position. Strip all the names away (EA, Mythic, WAR) and this story can be sung a million times over for failed projects.

Lastly, I can count on my hand the number of game designers/developers that have come from the customer service realm. Big dreams are nice, but they lead to big disappointments. Goals need to be precise, small, written down, and most importantly, must be measurable. Thus, I have no illusions of breaking into the games industry.

Like Section 7, But Better! Section 8!

An article over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun caught my eye; mostly for vague references to "Tribes" and "Planetside", two games I rather enjoyed back in the day. The new game being compared to the latter is Sector 8.

I want to say up front that I’m having great deal of fun with this. It’s the kind of game I go into for five minutes to take a screenshot, and emerge from two hours later. Read onwards for why.

When people were throwing the “Tribes” word around to explain where Section 8 sat in the big scheme of things, I was unconcerned and not particularly inspired. I assumed it would be another vague sci-fi squib that wouldn’t really satisfy anyone. Tribes-alikes have a habit of not quite hitting the best things about multiplayer gun-violence on the head. As much as I respect the original games, their weapons, physics and environments never quite grabbed me in the way they did so many other people. So you can imagine that I was pleased to find that despite some similarities in the sci-fi, jetpacks and vehicles sense, Section 8 is very much its own game.

Just running down my "What makes a good FPS" checklist:

1. It looks good, both UI and atmosphere.
2. It has classes, not just guys with guns that they shoot people with.
3. The maps look BIG.

Now, does that make it worth the price-tag? Probably not. It is an Xbox360 release, which always makes me leery (For example: Halo was great on Xbox, but sucked on PC). Also, without any apparent digital distribution via Steam or another platform, it doesn't appear that the PC is their primary market. I'm not the only one with the digital distribution question either.

I'd be interested to know if Section 8 will be downloadable at launch on Steam - and if so if there will be a preload offer?

*coughs*I won't mind a free weekend and if you offer one you are bound to sell more copies. But yeah, you'll never do that.*coughs*

+1

So where is the response to this post? Purchasing this game on steam would really motivate me to purchase this game. Direct2Drive and all of the other content systems are a joke.

I would consider purchasing this game in store, but lately I have made it a hobby to secure all of my games with steam so that there is no worry of losing cd-keys and such.

I'll be keeping my eye on the game in the meantime.

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.

Aion Is Pretty

Aion has another gorgeous update out:

The Sorcerer is a Daeva who follows the Star of Magic. They are able to freely wield the destructive power if the natural elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. A sorcerer is a scholar at heart, evident by the books and orbs they normally carry with them. However, these items can be dangerous weapons in their hands as they help to increase a Sorcerer's power.

The Rubber Meets the Road at PAX 2009

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be demonstrated live, in public, at GameCom and PAX '09.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be will be bringing the power of the Force to two more conventions this year, GamesCom (Cologne, Germany; August 19-24 ) and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) (Seattle, Washington; September 4 – 6). During the conventions, the team we will be showcasing the first public gameplay demo as well as giving away Star Wars™ goodies to attendees. Stop by the community cantina and hang out with some of the members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team.

Here's a quick list of what needs to happen in order to impress me.

1. Combat must look fluid and engaging. The game play we've seen so far leaves a lot to be desired.

2. The demonstration can not be dominated by pre-canned cut scenes. If it is, then I am terrified for what the actual game will be like. I have nightmares about games that start and end with conversation trees.

3. A sense of epic scale. If they don't show off an epic Jedi vs Sith fight followed by the victor jumping into a ship and taking off and then landing in a giant space ship orbiting the planet, I won't be impressed.

To put it plainly, SW:ToR has NOT impressed me. I'm still excited for the game, but my optimism is firmly in check.

The Future, Now! Firefox 3.7 Theme

Firefox 3.5 just launched, but the Mozilla folks are hard at work showing off 3.7. I love the Firefox web browser and get a little giddy anytime there are future updates in the works. Thanks to Boneyardbrew, we have a mock-up of FIrefox 3.7 available for download. However, there are some extra steps involved:

Installing this theme isn't quite as simple as you are probably used to—you'll need to first enable the All-Glass Firefox extension for the Aero effects, the Personal Menu extension to hide the menubar and add the Tools button, the Stylish extension for a tweak that fixes the text, and then drag the mockup theme's *.jar file into the add-ons window to install it.

Once you've successfully completed all of the steps—which are detailed on the download page—you should have an impressive browser style that looks very similar to the screenshot.

Personally, I just downloaded the theme from Boneyardbrew's page and it looks fine to me, minus the tweaks that the other add-ons provide.

Enjoy.