zondag 31 juli 2011

Failure is not an option

Why are so many people/bloggers claiming certain games will fail?
Why are there people who wish games to fail?

When Tabula Rasa shut down, there were people (bloggers) almost celebrating, claiming they knew it al along and the "i told you so's" where everywhere.
Personally i was heartbroken, as for me this was the game i loved playing.
Yet, all along it's (short) lifespan Tabula Rasa had many people who were yelling for failure.

What people don't seem to understand is that every game has people playing it and loving it, i am sure Auto Assault had it's dedicated players, The Matrix Online did and i am sure Star Wars Galaxies has it's share of dedicated players (i used to be one of them, yet i am sad to see it close).
Yet many people seem almost happy to see the games close down.

Is it because they are being childish, and they don't want other people to have fun with toys they don't like/enjoy?
To me it feels that way, i mean why would you care if GameX closes down or not.., you don't like it? Fine move on to the next game and let those who enjoy it play it.
And to me this goes for any/every game out there, even if i don't play it or like it, why would i wanna see it fail, see it close down? I don't play it, i don't care about it, so why should i wish for it to fail?

Recently i have seen some bloggers posting how they feel about WAR and wanting it to see closed down.
It just doesn't make sense to me, let other people have fun with what they enjoy.

I can't stop thinking that in some way even the blogging comunity might be partly to blame for this, i mean if there are a whole bunch of "top" bloggers writing about how much a game sucks and how big a of a failure a game is, readers are going to pick up on it, often people not even playing the game and that's gonna spread like wildfire, i mean look at the SOE/SWG witchhunt not too long ago, many people claiming SOE/SWG sucked had not even touched an SOE game, they just followed on the hype that was started.

I mean when you haven't played a game yourself yet and all you read on blogs/twitter/forums about it is stuff from people who are being negative, you might start to think a game sucks and not even try it, but the game could just be awesome and just what you were always looking for, but if you don't try it because, well one of those "famous" bloggers told you it sucked, you will never know.

In my opinion, even if a game has only a few thousand players, it's still worth having around, simply for the fact that people love/enjoy playing it.
There is no need to call for it's closure or failure, you don't like it, fine move on and let those that enjoy it play their game.
What can you possibly gain from a game shutting down? The pleasure of people not being able to play their game?, the pleasure of devs losing their jobs??

zaterdag 30 juli 2011

Commander Shepard Needs Our Help!

PAX_Ian_Travis_Barnard1
If you are a big fan of Mass Effect you probably heard of, or seen Holly Conrad around, she is the (awesome artist) female Shepard showing up on cons and, well anywhere on the web.
Check out some of her (and Crabcat's) awesome work here.

Normally i wouldn't post stuff like this but i really felt like making a post.

I follow her on twitter (@HollyConrad) and recently she tweeted the following:
twitterHolly01

And a couple of hours after that:
twitterHolly02

Yes Shepard needs your help, you can go to her page here and if you can spare some money donate and help her get back up and running (i did).
Even if you can't spare some money, you can still help by spreading the word!

Afterall we need Shepard (FemShep) to save us from the Reapers.

Screenshots of a lifetime

Like many gamers i am one of those that always tries to document my gaming adventures by taking lots of screenshots.
Today i had a look at my screenshots folder only to see that it has grown pretty large.
screenshots

Over 10 gigs worth of screenshots.
17504 screenshots in 123 folders (games), that's a lot of gaming..

This is the oldest screenshot i could find, dating back to 2005, before that i never kept screenshots for long.

Cantina Dantooine 03

Every now and then i like to go through my screenies folder and try to remember the moments i took them, always fun :)

vrijdag 29 juli 2011

Do Gamers Still Care About Raptr?

Ever since Raptr launched their new website, i have changed from loving Raptr to no longer interrested.
I used to love Raptr because of the great profile i could show off that basicly showed all of my gaming across all platforms, achievements, new games, whatever, it was there.
Now they have changed to a Facebook wannabe and are also starting to implement stuff they take from Twitter, it also reminds me a lot of Digg and who is using that nowadays?.

Ever since my beloved profile dissapeared i hardly look at my profile/Raptr anymore, and i use to visit my profile at least a couple of times a day, not only to check my own achievements/progress but also check my friends achievements/progress.

I definatly don't need another (gaming) Facebook.

I still keep the client running for one reason, logging my gaming hours.
Way back i imported my gaming hours from Xfire into Raptr and stopped using Xfire, so if i wanna keep tracking my hours i am gonna have to use Raptr for it since there is no way to import my hours back into Xfire.

I do wonder however, how many of the original people are still on Raptr, that have been there from the start, those that probably joined Raptr, just like me because of that awesome gaming profile.
How many of those people are still on there and actually like Raptr for what it has become, or how many are dissapointed like me in what Raptr is turning out to be.

Personally i really hope they are gonna dump that shit they are working on and give use back our old profiles. I know it's still posible to link to your old profile, but how long are they gonna keep that around??

Hot on Raptr, they say.. Well not much.

Patience My Young Goblin.

WoW 2011-07-29 03-48-43-99

My character has been pretty much parked at the same (camping) spot for almost a month now, trying to get the Time-Lost Proto Drake, but so far he is pretty illusive and i have not seen him (dead or alive).
Since i had mail in my mailbox that was about to expire i had to take a quick trip to K9 for a mailbox and while flying there i spotted a dragon flying over K9, unfortianatly it was not the TLPD but Vyragosa again, but decided to kill it anyway :)

After picking up my mail i decided to do a quick flyby over a few of the other spawns for rares, and guess what, within 8 minutes i spotted Skoll and tamed him.
Another cool looking spirit beast added to my stables.

Still hoping for some more luck and get that TLPD...

No really, it's the rain.

No really, it's the rain
I am not crying, i am Shepard dammit!!

Earlier this month i finished the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2, i had put it off because i didn't wanna finish the game, but not playing doesn't make sense either, does it?
It felt pretty short but a really cool story to link ME2 to ME3.

Still sad i finished the game, but also looking forward to ME3.

In other Mass Effect news, i have been reading the Mass Effect books, so far i have finished both Revalation and Ascension and they are really cool stories, Revelation is the prequel to ME1 and Ascension takes place between ME1 and ME2.
Next Mass Effect book on my list is Retribution, which i think, is taking place just before Mass Effect 3.

If you love Mass Effect (and it's lore) these books are definatly a must read.
I really hope BioWare will be continuing with the books long after ME3 comes out, as i am really enjoying the lore of Mass Effect.

It's also my wish for Mass Effect to be an open world RPG (like Oblivion), but yeah, not much chance of that happening is there?.. Unless.... yeah let's do it, make a Mass Effect MMO. There i said it!

woensdag 27 juli 2011

SWTOR CE pre-order kit (pics).

When i pre-ordered the collectors edition of Star Wars The Old Republic i got an email stating that i was going to get two shipments, well the first one has arrived.
DSCN0572

As you can see it's just a dvd box and inside you find a card with a pre-order code.
DSCN0573

And below are a few more pics/scans of the box art and pre-order code card.
cepreorder01
cepreorder02cepreorder03

Of course i removed the code, i am not stupid :)

And now begins the long wait for SWTOR to arrive..

zondag 24 juli 2011

SWTOR: Join the fight trailer


I guess you could call this the first (pre-order) launch video and i have to say i like it.
Really looking forward to playing this game.

Personally i still haven't decided what i will be playing although a few people have recommended me playing a smuggler, based on what i love to play in WoW.
So that would mean i will pick the Republic side, which is not a total surprise to me :)
Playing through Knights of the old republic i never went dark side, and i did try once, just to try playing it through on dark side, but in the end i was all light side and the most i got through the course of the game was being grey for a while.

So you will probaly find me on the republic side playing as a smuggler, although i might also play the other classes as well, i loved Tabula Rasa and i had a character in each class and liked playing them all, so who knows SWTOR might do the same for me, it is what i am hoping for, to have a game again that i just love to play no matter what class, and looking at this trailer makes me think all classes look cool, so who knows..

I am still trying not to get too excited or hyped about this game, but it's hard :)
My only fear is that i will become to hyped and expect too much from this game and that will only lead to dissapointment, as i am sure many people will be.
I don't think i have to name any games, most of you know, but those games got hyped soo much that people started to expect too much and they could simply not deliver.

So i am keeping expectations down, or at least try to, and just enjoy the journey of playing a new game.
Looking at these videos all i think is, i hope they're not like movie trailers where they show you the best few minutes from a movie while the rest of the movie sucks and dissapoints.

Anyway can't wait to get my hands on the SWTOR collectors edition and start playing the game...

donderdag 21 juli 2011

Begun the pre-order has

swtorpreorder
Yesterday's rumors floating around appeared to have been true and pre-orders for Star Wars The Old Republic have started.

Personally i am definatly getting the Collectors edition, the box looks really awesome.
I also wanted to get the Origin exclusive Digital Deluxe edition, just to be sure to get into the game ASAP in case the box is for some reason late, but Origns won't have it.
So far i have bought games on Origin without a credit card, but this pre-order requires a credit card, so i won't be getting it.

Funny cause i bought the Mass Effect Digital Deluxe pre-order through Origin with Paypal (or direct debit i am not sure), yet for SWTOR they don't..
Oh well i'll just wait for the box set than, and maybe buy the regular version on Steam (if it releases there).

Anyway the wait is over SWTOR is here, well kinda

dinsdag 19 juli 2011

That's not a bug, that's a feature!

tabula_rasa 2009-02-28 23-14-05-43

There has always been one thing in MMO's that anoy the heck out of me, i would be out exploring or doing some quest, you would come across a named mob or someone askes for your help killing a mob and you kill that mob.
Later you get a quest to kill that excact same (named) mob, i see this happen a lot in WoW, but it's not only WoW, i see it happen in most, if not all MMO's.
Eventhough i am not a hardcore roleplayer, i still feel it is wrong, afterall i allready killed that specific mob so why make me do it again??

There has been one MMO to date (that i played and loved) that got it right: Tabula Rasa!
There were several times where i would join some people in defeating a mob or i would be out exploring and encountered a mob and killed it, than later when i would be out questing again and get a quest to kill a mob i allready killed before, the quest would just auto complete, almost like the quest giver would say "ah i see you allready killed him, good job".

I would say that's one heck of a feature and i would love MMO developers to take note of that and implement it, afterall most MMO's log everything you do in game, in WoW for example the game knows if you kill a boss in a dungeon, it shows up in your armory feed, (heck they even know what you're looting) so to me it would only make sence that if i would recieve a quest later on to kill that same boss in a dungeon or the world the quest would complete, because you allready did "the job".

To me it's not a major thing but it still anoys the heck out of me, having to go back and kill the same mob again and like i said it makes no sence to me, maybe it's just the little roleplayer in me, but it just feels wrong.

zondag 10 juli 2011

Time-Lost Goblin

WoWScrnShot_070311_220522
Funny, how obsessed one can become.
When i started camping for the Time-Lost Proto Drake i had done enough "research" into it to know that it was not gonna be a quick one but now with over 2 weeks of camping a spawn spot for at least 4-5 hours a day (sometimes more) i start to feel like i wanna give up and start playing the game again, cause that's what it is starting to feel like, i am no longer playing the game.
Sure i have had a few spawns, i killed Vyragosa 3 times now, but the illusive TLPD is not showing itself.

It's not that i am absolutely bored, i mean, i would be if i would spent my time staring at the screen and seeing that same mountain side for hours on end, instead i started using the hours camping to listen to podcasts, reading books, i allready finished Warcraft: Lord of the Clans and Warcraft: The Last Guardian and now started reading The Shattering and i have been reading blogs and wrote some blogpost while camping (like this one) or just browsing the internet.

But on one hand i just wanna give up and go play the game again (or play some other game), but on the other hand i keep saying myself you allready invested so much time in this and giving up now would be stupid, i mean i know it's just a matter of time and some luck to be online when he spawns, i mean for all i know he could have spawned several times while i wasn't logged in. And then there is the fact that he has 4 spawn spots and i am covering one, with a 25% change of him spawning at me and i have a view of one other spawn spot that if no one else is there i could catch him flying around (how i got the third Vyragosa kill)

After spending so much time on this it would really feel like time wasted if i would stop now without getting him, but on the other side i have no idea how long i will still be camping for him, one of my guildies said he camped him for a month (i didn't ask how much time a day he camped,as i didn't wanna know), so i could be camping for another 2 weeks or maybe even longer.

I am pretty sure that once i do get him i will think of this as al worth it afterall he is a very rare spawn, but i am also thinking, i am never going to do this again. I don't want to waste time standing around doing nothing for days/weeks camping a spawn, i know there's a few more that give mounts, but after this one i am done :)

Now i know this is all starting to sound like an obsession, however i would rather say i am tenacious about getting him, i just don't wanna give up now.

Allright i am off camping, hoping for a quick spawn..

vrijdag 8 juli 2011

There is no game, but there is story!

Have to say i am amazed at the amount of entertaining content in the numerous podcasts about SWTOR, especially since there is really no game yet, well not officially.

With no game out to play all there is really to talk about is the info that BioWare gives us or just plain rumors floating out on the internets.

I am currently listening to quite a few SWTOR podcast to fill my SWTOR needs and here's a small list with links (in no particular order):
TOROcast
Darth Hater
Corellian Run Radio
Mos Eisley Radio
TORWars
TOR-Talk

So until the game actually comes out, or you are one of the lucky ones getting into the Beta, this will help ease the wait for SWTOR (or in my case make you even more excited).

maandag 4 juli 2011

Feeding the beast

WoWScrnShot_070411_023631
A lot of the talk about WoW hunters is often about their bond with their pets and i have often thought about that myself.
Way back when i started playing as a Beast Master Hunter, i really felt somekind of bond, as you had to feed your pet to keep it happy, sure as long as your pet was killing stuff he/she was fine and happy, but if you stood around for a while in town, your pet would become unhappy and you'd have to feed him and it felt great to see his mood go up to happy after feeding him.

Every pet had it's own kind of food and feeding him felt a lot like in real life, it always feels nice feeding your pets, especially giving them treats :)
Heck i even gave "treats" to my pet ingame every now and then by giving some extra food if i felt he deserved it, eventhough the extra food did absolutely nothing ingame.

At a certain point Blizzard changed this and with certain glyphs you no longer had to feed your pet, just keep him fighting and he'd be happy, if his happiness dropped for whatever reason you just hit Mend Pet and he'd be happy again.
Now you could still say this kinda gave you a bond with your pet, if you saw the mend pet ability as a "pet on the back" kind of thing. It still required some interaction with your pet.

With all of the changes now, you no longer have to do anything. Your pet will entertain itself and is always happy, even if you stand around doing nothing forever.

Now i don't say this is a problem but it also means there is no real interaction with you pet anymore, besides telling it to attack or to follow.
The pet has basicly become part of the hunter's gear or a spell, sure it still follows you around like a loyal pet, but no more interaction with your pet is required so now more than ever it feels like the pet is just an extension to the hunter's weapon and no longer the hunter's trusty sidekick and companion.
Sure occasionally you might have to hit mend pet when fighting mobs, but that happens very rarely.

Still every now and then i hit mend pet when it's not needed or give him some food, just as a way to say thanks to my pet for doing a good job.
I know it makes no sense, but it makes me feel good :)

zondag 3 juli 2011

Time-Lost Proto Drake, lost in time?

WoWScrnShot_070311_142722

After about 7 days of camping (at leat 5 hours a day) for the Time-Lost Proto Drake, or Time-Sink Proto Drake as most people call him, i finally had another spawn at my camping spot.
Unfortianatly it was not the TLPD but Vyragosa again.
Still scared the shit out of me as i was doing other stuff while keeping one eye on WoW in another window when suddenly a huge dragon popped up in my screen.

There's definatly a lot of time lost camping for him but on a positive note i have plenty of time catching up on my backlog of podcasts.

The count so far:
Vyragosa: 2
TLPD: 0

So the camping still continues..

vrijdag 1 juli 2011

A tabard tab? yes please!

Apperantly the next patch (4.3) might be bringing a Tabard tab according to Wowhead and a blue post.

Tabard Tab

A tabard tab has been a desired feature ever since they came out. It's quite possible it could be on the way for 4.3--Bashiok dropped a first hint that it's being considered, which is usually how awesome features get snuck into the next patch. At least they are not dodging the question any longer.

This is definatly one feature i would love to see, clearing up some bank space and making tabards a lot easier to use, and it makes collecting them also a lot easier, much like you now have the mounts and pets tabs.