Warhammer Official Forums are OPEN!

A lot of squigs died in the opening of these forums:

To log onto the official forum's beta simply go to http://forums.warhammeronline.com and sign in using your WAR product account name (the same one used to log into the game) and password. You will then be asked to create a user name and provide a valid email address. Please note, registration for the Official Forums Beta will not be open until the PTS is open.

What I Learned from Left 4 Dead

Best Left 4 Dead Comic Ever.

Left 4 Dead: Fixing Black Textures/Missing Textures/Video Problems

Recently, Left 4 Dead has gone dark on me. In my search for solutions, I stumbled across the following for nVidia card owners:

If you are using Riva Tuner, please follow these directions:

1. Launch Riva Tuner
2. Click the "Customize" button next to "ForceWare Detected".
3. Click the Direct3D/DirectDraw button
4. Set the "Surface Format Settings" to "for DirectX8- Applications"
5. Check the "Enable FOURCC DXT..DXT5 surfaces" box
6. Select "OK" and you will be prompted to restart your computer

For step-by-step with pictures and a guide for ATI video card owners, click here.

Favre Retires, and This Time It Must Be True

I know I'm late, but I had some other business to attend to on the day Favre re-retired.

Favre Retires, and This Time It Must Be True.

Quarterback Brett Favre has told the Jets he is retiring from the N.F.L. after 18 seasons, according to his agent and the team. On Wednesday morning, Favre’s Web site linked to an article on ESPN.com, which first reported that he had decided to retire.

“I had a great conversation with Brett this morning,” Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets, said in a statement released by the team. “Considering that he came from a totally different environment and joined our team during training camp, his performance last season was extraordinary.”

All I can say is that Favre had a rough end to the season, both physically and in the media. I'm still a Favre fan at heart.

The Greatest Improvement to World of Warcraft

Now that the lead designer on World of Warcraft is officially stepping down, I thought it would be a great time to point out World of Warcraft's single best improvement since launch: Dual Spec.

Dual Spec, part of WoW's new patch, allows characters to maintain two talent specs at a time and switch freely between the two. Having played a Shaman or Paladin for my entire WoW career, I can't count the number of times I wanted to change specs for a dungeon run or a guild event, but didn't do so because the cost in gold was outrageous.

I missed a lot of events in WoW because I refused to swap to a healing spec on my Shaman or Paladin. I even had the gear needed for each spec on my characters, but it just wasn't worth it to pay to swap and thirty minutes later watch my group disintegrate because the Warrior we picked up wasn't defense spec.

Dual Spec is fundamentally game changing, in a way that nothing else in a WoW patch has ever been. It truly brings the player to the forefront, and not the spec. The beauty is beyond just letting hybrid classes fulfill their various roles at any time. The pure classes benefit greatly as well, able to try off specs and pure specs at the drop of a hat.

I honestly can't state how great of an improvement this is for WoW. Unfortunately, Dual Spec is a couple years too late for me.