We seem to be experiencing Technical Difficulties

Hopefully this post will signal a turn around.  I’ve had a lot of technical issues with my computers lately… including crashes as I’ve attempted blog posts.  I’ve done some updating and such and hope that the issue is resolved.  However my main PC is giving me some issues, so I’m not sure where things are heading there.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza etc. and new year.

Full Crackdown 2 Review: a 2.5 out of 5

I enjoyed the first Crackdown game, it felt like you were really in there busting heads and making a difference (please note I'm avoiding spoilers of all kinds in this review as much as possible). The fact that there were mini bosses present, which by taking them out weakened the main boss, that the different gangs had different flavors, and that the architecture of the city changed in the different regions, lead for what was at the time a fun and enjoyable game. It was in my opinion a fairly good if basic open world (a.k.a. sandbox) game, and while there are some more sophisticated games out there, this one wasn't bad.

Cracking down on Crackdown

I want to say I loved the game.  I want to say that it was one of the best sequels that I have ever played.  Mostly I want to say that it was was an improvement over the original.    Unfortunately as near as I can tell the newest crackdown game fails on every count.

A Question of Ethics

I would like to start off with an apology. I possibly have already offended someone I consider a friend, and others with an outburst of mine due to the subject matter of this blog post. I apologize for any offense caused and hope that they can provide forgiveness as appropriate.

Irony

It was interesting last month I must admit.  Normally my perspectives don’t seem shared as a general by any given industry, or individual, however over the last month nearly every time I have decided write something about video games, G4 or another network has beaten me to it.  Definite irony there, and worse is that more often then not lately I have been agreeing with them, with little to nothing to ad to the conversation.

Death of a Techno Device

I had intended this week to comment on something else, something more in tune with the current landscape of video games, and may still do so at a later date, but at the moment there is a bigger issue that I feel has suddenly cropped up.  For anyone who knows me in real life, you know that I am normally protective… perhaps usually over protective of my equipment, no matter what it is or how cheap it may be.  Recently however I lost two pieces of equipment though “Water proof” to a kitchen incident followed by a washing machine accident.

And In an Ironic Twist…

Following news as I do I recently received a post from WXPNews.com that follows along my last blog entry. You can check it out here in the editor's corner. What do you think? Personally I think there's a lot to consider in there.

Edit:  Updated the link for the archived address of the WXPNews link.

Knowlege is Power

In today's era of free flowing information, identity theft, and of course who can forget the internet, there are important details that we all need to remember.  The first of which is that anything that you say or do on the internet, be it by cell phone, IM, web post (such as social networking, or blogging), or by web sites such as someone's web page is that it is recorded there... forever.  I mean this quite literally,  anything that you put on the web is recorded on a server, that server has back ups, this means that your information is always there.  What happens if the company goes under?  Well there is a fairly simple answer for this...  usually companies are taken over, their data sold, and assets used by others, this will likely include your information.

You think you know a person

Most of us can say that at one point we had someone in our lives that we cared about enough to at least know the person if not care about them. It can be an interesting experience to then go though and watch said person change over the years. This is particularly true if you have spent a considerable time apart from the person, or have the abilities to step away from the situation and analyze it from a different perspective. How did they used to act? What did they think was funny? How would they have handled a certain situation? Usually these things change over time as we mature, age and have increased experiences in the world.

A change for the better and a warning

Well having finished some extensive work on my computer system I am now able to publish in a different way that could speed up the process. The good news for anyone who follows this blog, is that means that I likely will post more often, and hopefully have fewer spelling errors. Can I guarantee this? No, but one can always hope, and/or dream.

Everything Changes… and No, This Isn’t About Pokémon

Alright the above title does share the name of a song that is used in Pokémon.  No I’m not going to go into details about the song, other then to say sharing the name is not the same thing as a post being about the item.  The name is merely a good explanation about this post.

As most people who play World of Warcraft (WoW for short) know that as of the date of writing this, WoW has a new expansion set to be released later this year entitled “Cataclysm” (Cat for short).   Information on this expansion can be found on WoW’s Cat site and information is coming out on their main page in the forums.  Most of this information admittedly is pre-beta testing, so it is very early to judge, however it does show just where Blizzard (the company that produces WoW) is heading with the game.

I play WoW, and have a level 80 character, a few level 70s, I have played every class up to level 10 multiple times, and have participated in every profession in the game.  I have played both horde side, and alliance side, and started with the game back at 1.0, (Cat being the 4.0 expansion).  In short I have some experience with the game, and while there are many people who know more then I do, I can’t help but feel a certain wrongness associated with the new expansion.  Let me explain.

You see to begin with Death Knights (DK) are becoming more “Warrior like”, when I say this I mean that they are gaining specific specialization (i.e. spec) talent trees.  They are at their most “Warrior like” currently in the Blood spec., save their abilities let them heal themselves.  Now however they are going to become tanks, already their Ice spec makes them like a furry warrior, but soon the Blood spec will function much like a tank.  However unlike a Warrior’s tanking (being damage absorption for hard hitting enemies), Blood specs will still be able to heal themselves, in short they will be a super tank.

Where I find this largely disheartening is that DK are a “Hero Class” unlike Warriors who are a normal class for WoW.  Blizzard denies that this means they are supposed to be better then a typical class, however the name certainly implies that they are better, and certainly Blizzard has admitted that “DK were designed to have an out for nearly every situation”.  Where does this leave Warriors?  Already the game has higher DPS (Damage Per Second) classes, specifically Rogues, Shaman are gaining some tanking ability, and as mentioned DK’s are becoming tanks.

My immediate impression is that Warriors (whom my level 80 is one of), will becomes an obsolete class.  Unless Blizzard manages to handle things very well, we have an immediate problem for Warriors.  Of their 3 talent trees, 1 (arms) has no clear cut use, 1 (protection) is for tanking, and the final (fury) is DPS.  This in my mind clearly indicates the possibility for warriors to become a obsolete class since there will be other classes that can do the same, have more “outs” (ways to get out of bad situations), and more functionality.  After all, if a battle lasts a few minuets longer, BUT you have a class that can better handle pulls, heal themselves, and have more group attacks, which would you prefer?  Me?  I’ll take the class that can do it all.

“Thank You” Nintendo…

Now for the rest of the story (Paul Harvey if you don’t recognize the quote) Nintendo has set the stage to try to amaze people once again with the Nintendo 3ds. Already I feel a wave of bile raising my throat because of the thought that games I like, but that are only available on the DS, will appear on this new system that Nintendo claims will release in Japan with in the next year (which means a US release with in 2 years), While more information is set to be released at E3: the Electronic Entertainment Expo, I can’t help but feel outraged.

A Change of Perspective

Normally I plan to try to avoid lecturing or coming across as over bearing but lately it has occurred to me that perspective is something that people over look a considerable amount of the time. Perspective for a human is everything, it colors everything we see, everything we hear, and yes even everything that we do because it affects how we react to everything. Perspective can also be in reference to 2-d, 3-d, etc. namely height, width, and depth, 2-d having height, and width, but no depth, 3-d adding in the depth.

A Hearty Thank You

I’d like to thank the two people who are currently following this blog. It means a lot to me that someone would actually take the time and care about anything that I have to say. I realize that this blog will probably never be famous but it is important to me, even if it doesn’t always show. So, in other words, thank you.

Dissapointment

There is a certain disappointment that occurs when you realize that something you wanted or planed isn’t going to work out the way you thought or hoped. What is worse is when it’s though no fault of your own and you realize that the thing that you wanted is possible, however it might not, or even would not be enjoyable. This is the case with something I had thought about doing, specifically role playing on a set of forums that I recently started visiting.

Continuation

It occurs to me that as much as someone may want to blog about life, games, and the things that exist in them, you actually have to put your self out on a limb and do them from time to time. Ironically for me its been a while since I bothered to really put myself at any risk or try anything news. Now, thats beginning to change, and while there is a decent chance that there will be people who are displeased by this news, all I can offer is an apology.