April Fools Day 2012 Gmail Tap Sega Bass Fishing

Google and their wonderful inventions!




SEGA Bass Fishing of the Dead, combining two classics The House of the Dead, and Bass Fishing. Also check out Virtua Vineyard!

Blizzard also has Zergotchi!

Google Maps 8-bit for NES

Conan O'Brien Buys Mashable, Ousts Pete Cashmore as CEO

Star Wars Admiral Ackbar Singing Bass from ThinkGeek

WARBY PARKER, WARBY BARKER. Glasses for dogs.

Touring Blizzard Entertainment Holiday 2010

DA BLIZZ!!!

Over the Holiday, I had a chance to visit the campus of Blizzard Entertainment. Erin, an ol' pal of mine was our host, and tour guide at the studio. She was able to show us some cool stuff around the campus which included the Blizzard Library, and Museum. Thanks for fitting us in Erin, despite your busy schedule!

Some background: Erin is a friend from the 1UP.com Community. We go back several years, when she was still studying videogame design at UAT. She blogged her experiences, and gaming opinions on the site. She and I were pretty active users on 1UP for a few years, until careers in the game biz took over the blogging time.

Flash forward to present day. It was great catching up with her again however brief. Good to know she is doing well, and kickin' butt in the videogame industry. See kids, you too can achieve your dreams!

The stormy weather in southern California couldn't stop us from taking a trip to Irvine, just south of L.A. Making our way in dangerous freeway traffic conditions to the videogame studio beloved by many gamers worldwide, the tour -- arranged on pretty short notice -- was highly anticipated by everyone in the group. Wayne (Gaian), another good 1UP friend, and a resident of Irvine, met with us for the tour as well. I'm sure he had no trouble getting to the studio.

We on the other hand, got lost several times once off the freeway, and navigating the area was a bit of a pain. Located in a highly secure, and gated business park, the studio campus appears just like your average office space. Once inside the building though, you could feel the creative forces at work.

Below are just a few pictures taken during the tour.

View more pictures on my facebook album.

Overall, it was an awesome trip! Looking forward to the next time.

Aion, the game so far...

...is awesome.

It has only been a few weeks since Aion launched, and so far I've managed to make some very good progress, playing everyday like an obsessed fiend trying to keep up with the rest of the community who are, no surprise, blazing a trail to max out their characters. Currently at a ripe level 27, I think I have a good idea of what this game is all about up to this point; what is lacking, what makes it irritating, and where I think it is pure genius, and a joy to play.

Once this 30 day trial is over, I can say with certainty that I won't hesitate to pay to play further. This willingness to continue past the trial period, was something I didn't feel compelled to do with World of Warcraft, for whatever reason, WoW, and I didn't jive. (To each their own, WoW experience).

I'm having fun right out of the box with Aion. I don't have to wait until lvl 60, or the third expansion pack later to enjoy myself.

Starting a game fresh, on launch makes all the difference. I think any MMO gamer would agree. When you start a game where every other player is discovering the world at the same time as you, players are actually dare I say, friendlier and supportive of Newb-like behavior, because in the beginning, we're all Newbs.

The benefit of which is finding a pickup group to level with who aren't interested in pushing their Guild/Legion on you, many don't even have Legions starting out. You can find players who are more likely to help you out, where asking random players for advice is not a line you never should cross. Rather it's encouraged, as I soon discovered.

Life in an MMO.

I'm learning a lot about MMO rules, thru Aion, but which apply to just about any MMO. It helps when your buddy is knowledgeable in this sort of thing, a person who has played quite a few MMOs in the past, that they have become a jaded mess of online anti-socialism, filled with all these MMO rules (self-imposed, or based on "MMO culture"), that they literally live by. A friend like that can give me the rundown on how to behave in an MMO, but it is equally frustrating, when you can't play the game the way you want, because it violates some rule.

This buddy of mine refuses to ask for advice, they refuse to talk to any other players outside their group, and they almost always have an excuse that prevents them from dealing with other players. They would rather solo than join other players, and when it comes to group quests, they'd rather not. They never use their MP to buff other players, or to even rez someone who needs it. I don't play many MMOs, and Aion is only my second, but I think all these rules can be ridiculous.

It's kind of bizarre, closing oneself off from everyone else. I guess because this friend of mine is afraid of dealing with those online trolls, and the fear of being labeled a 'newb'. True there are jerks in any game, especially MMOs, but if you're gonna be uninterested in dealing with other players, then you might as well be playing an offline game. I guess playing WoW, really drove my friend up the wall, for this sort of thing.

This is an MMO, a social experience. It is also just a game. Some people take things way too seriously that they forget they're not getting paid to play, they're paying to play.

Aion, is its own thing.

But anyway, back to Aion. In a game where, not many things are handed to you the easy way, I've learned that you have to ask for help. It might be because that's the way 'Korean-style' MMOs are, where the things aren't as self-explanatory as they should be for challenge reasons, or it might be because of localization, that certain pieces of information are left out. Or it could just be a game design flaw. This game definitely ain't WoW, when it comes to a lot of things in the game.

Aion is quite 'grindy' as well, and requires lots of killing, and questing to fill up the XP bar. I've been told, that's the Korean MMO thing. Also the NPCs, don't give you directions to every location in a town, which at first was incredibly annoying, coming from WoW, where the locations are all spelled out for you when talking to townspeople. The lack of information, carries on in other aspects of the game as well, (ie. rift locations) where you really have to ask around with real players, or read the chat, to figure it out.

I didn't know what to expect from Aion in the beginning, aside from pretty graphics, and 'wings' that make Aion unique. When I heard you couldn't swim, I was slightly put off. Then I realized that it wasn't a big deal at all, there isn't anything in the depths of the water anyway, that players need to do worry about. All the action is in the air, purposely designed which makes the water irrelevant. Though, it is pretty to look at, you spend most of the time on land, or in the air.

The developers did a great job constructing the environments, to fit with the vertical scheme of things. While flying is reserved for certain areas, gliding, is your next best friend. Rather than the wide expanse of land being relatively flat, the environments in Aion are designed with gliding in mind, with hills, small or tall, for players to jump off of to avoid monsters, to take shortcuts, and to speed up travel in general. It's a strategic ability, that I'm loving more and more. I like to think the ability makes players like Batman, swooping in for a kill. Gliding is so integral to getting around.

Other than that, the game is pretty darn fun. Combat is a joy, and the chain attacks are awesome.

PVP is awesome too, and as a Priest turned Chanter, I can hold my ground. Just the other day, I went on my first trip to Asmodian territory, where I had to complete some quests. All I gotta say it, it was intense, trekking through the dark side. Gliding, and flying extremely important, as to travel undetected.

Oh, and I've joined a Legion, or should I say formed a Legion, of which I am a co-founder in the two member posse 'Pixel Pushers'. A group for digital artists/gamers.

I guess, it was a smooth launch outta the gate. The channel system is still iffy though, in fact they need more channels, because the server I'm on is always packed. There's also a serious problem of Gold Farming, and Phishing flooding in the general chat channels of Aion. Just the other day, there was a massive crackdown on Gold Farmers, banning many players, even those who had nothing to do with Gold Farming, and were caught up in the mess. (Like the RULE ABIDING, MMO expert, friend of mine, I mentioned early).

Not to mention the retards that hawk their items in their private stores, hopefully NCsoft figures out a way to deal with that. There was actually an in-game survey about what players thought about the Private Stores, which I stated I wasn't a fan. Private Selling in Aion FTL!

During the course of this trial period, I realized I don't miss swimming/diving, or even care for it in game anymore. Second, Aion is more than just "WoW with Wings". Third, not every bit of information in the game is handed to you, leaving it up to the players own discovery.

So with that, I'm gonna be playing more and more Aion, even though it's an incredible waste of time, but it's good fun.

Any other Aion players out there? I need to roll with a crew in the Abyss!

30 days of WoW = ENOUGH.

Account Canceled

I started out thinking WoW would take over my life. For a brief time, it did. Between level 10 and level 30, I felt like maybe this WoW phenomena was actually something I'd be willing to devote a ridiculous amount of time to, beyond the 30 day trial, which I started back in June.

What a difference 30 days make. At this point, on the eve of my card getting charged for automatic subscription renewal by Blizzard, I've decided to pull the plug on this, uber MMO. I am so over WoW. RIP Lvl 36 Paladin.

I don't hate the game. I think there's a lot of solid things about it, and I can see why it's such an addictive experience. WoW just got old, kinda fast, despite playing with buddies, questing, hitting up the dungeons, finding items, and making cash money on the auction block.

It could be that maybe my lateness to the WoW party might have had something to do with my lack of willingness to play further, when practically everyone in the game has maxed out their characters, and are playing it over again with a different character class. Everyone running around like jaded veterans. I never really ran into real 'noobs' discovering the game for the first time, and I think that discovery aspect is important for gamers, especially in an MMO. Most players I ran into in the game, have 'been there, and done that.' The game wasn't fresh to them, and it never really felt fresh to me. A problem when you join 4 years later.

I'm just not that into WoW, and I sure as hell am not gonna get the expansion packs.

My quest for a PSO, replacement continues.

WoW - the PSO replacement, is taking over my life

Late to the party.

4 years after World of Warcraft launched, I've finally decided to take the plunge into the popular MMO, ending my curiosity about the game and it's drug-like appeal to players, filling the void that PSO left behind. As expected it's taking over my life. "Warcrack," is exactly that.

Not that I would know anything about taking Crack cocaine, but from what I've heard it's pretty addictive, similar to the affects of Blizzard's MMO creation. If you're like me, and have a history of getting hooked to the repetitiveness of lvling up, WoW is certainly something to be avoided.

Case in point, me last weekend. When you find a game more interesting than hanging out with friends, outside, in the real world, you start to seem pretty pathetic.

It all started last Friday, thanks to a friend who during a conversation over dinner, convinced me to sign up. This person had a copy of the game that they got as part of an expansion pack bundle, so they gave it to me to try the 30 day trial.

What was supposed to be a night of watching Pixar's Up with friends, turned out to be an online RPG discussion. We started talking about WoW in detail, and I of course, mentioned how I used to go hardcore when playing Phantasy Star Online for the SEGA Dreamcast. Too immersed in the conversation, we realized rather late, we were gonna miss the last showing of Up. Too full from gorging on the meal of All You Can Eat Hot Pot, we decided that going to see a movie with such full stomachs would cause us to fall asleep during the film. Which would be a waste of movie tix.

Instead, I decided to get the copy of WoW off my friend, went home, and began the installation process. 10 hours or so later, the game had finished installing/patching/updating, and the game was ready to go the next day.

Saturday morning, Kev came up from Seattle to visit Jen. They called me up to hangout, but I was too damn bent on creating my character, and getting right into the madness of WoW, that I totally blew them off to stay in and play the game. How effin' pathetic is that! I'm admitting it on the internet too. LOL

A week has passed since I joined. I'm currently at LVL 20, and am enjoying the game quite a bit. Not sure if I'll renew at the end of the 30 days, if I don't burn out, or get bored with it by then. I just missed the BETA for AION this weekend. (I have my eyes on that game too, when it comes out.)

WoW isn't my perfect MMO drug. I'm not too crazy about the combat mechanics of the game, where players don't have the freedom/flexibility to attack like in an action adventure game, like PSO, where you chain your attacks together with button input. WoW's combat is like playing an RTS, where you basically point, click, and watch the character fight on automatic, which was something I wasn't clear on before I started playing, and is kinda a bummer.

I won't say what server I'm on, but I am Alliance, and I like to clean up ugly Horde trailer trash.

See ya online, ya ganks.

PS. No game will ever truly replace Phantasy Star Online DC.