Oct

29

Update: Back to Everquest

October 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Four weeks ago, some friends and myself decided to dust off our Everquest subscriptions from days gone by and try to take back Norrath from whoever it is that thinks they own it now. I must say that I am having a blast playing it again and I am finding it much easier to overlook its “problems” and just enjoy it as a pleasant one night a week diversion. But the new Norrath isn’t quite as we remember it. Not only is the game sporting 15 total expansions (holy crap!), but there have been some significant mechanics changes to the game which greatly impact the play.

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Sep

21

Sad times in Noob-land

September 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I recently took a new job as a web developer and unfortunately this little page has made its way down to the bottom of the list of projects that I have to work on in my spare time. Part of the reason is because I don’t have much spare time to spare. As a corollary, in the spare time I do have, it’s hard to find minutes to even play video games, never mind ruminate on their implementation and improvement.

Hopefully, I’ll be back here again soon.


 

Jun

26

Owning the game

June 26, 2007 | 1 Comment

I’ve been playing UFO:Afterlight a bit obsessively lately, if you call 8 hours a day for the past three days “obsessively.”

And although later I might post a review of sorts for the game, this isn’t it.

This is a gripe which applies to Afterlight and a philosophy which pervades games everywhere.

My complaint is that the game will not let me be a part of it. Oh sure, I can play it. I can go through the missions and research the technology and fight the monsters and win, but it’s all according to the developer’s vision, not mine.

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Jun

12

All I really needed to know I learned in the Sims 2

June 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment

So for while there (before I took my most recent hiatus from this little blog), I’m somewhat reluctant to admit, I had been playing the Sims 2 quite a bit. What I am even more reluctant to admit is that upon reflecting on how I play the Sims 2, I decided to make some changes to what I do in my real life.

But how could I not? I can’t help but notice is that life is pretty good for Sim-Noob. He looks good, he’s got lots of cool stuff, women dig him and he’s a luminary in his career field of choice (And he’s a doctor… not an aspiring gamer).

Sim-Noob seems to have it much better than RL (real life) Noob. In the real, I’ve got a few extra pounds, am constantly low on cash and have a career stuck in a continual state of restarting.

So as I was watching the rise and blossom of Sim-Noob, I could not help but think, “what if I were to simply do what Sim-Noob does, how would life turn out then?”

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May

20

Oh sure, I’d like one…

May 20, 2007 | 1 Comment

Optimus KeyboardIn case you haven’t heard yet, the Optimus Maximus keyboards may now be pre-ordered for delivery in December. The keyboards feature an individual LED on each key which may be programmed to display anything which will fit on their 48 x 48 pixel screens. The keyboards also feature a pre-order price tag of approximately $1564, or more than three times the annual per capita income of folks living in India.

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May

16

Un-installed Vanguard just now

May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I guess it was the recent announcement that Sony had acquired Vanguard developer Sigil Games that was the impetus behind the decision to finally erase the already dusty and unused Vanguard: Saga of Heroes from my hard drive. Not that I needed to reclaim the space for anything, but just because I figure that I likely won’t be going back in the near future.

I had already canceled my subscription because Sony decided to hike up the rates on their Station Pass, which I was a subscriber to despite only playing Vanguard at the time. I hadn’t even thought about it since then, I can’t believe that was only back in March, it seems like such a long time ago that I played it.

But to finally un-install it made me just a touch melancholic. Maybe it’s the rainy New Hampshire evening that’s got me a bit down already, or maybe it’s the idea of “the Vision” which could have been, but never quite materialized from the murkiness of the wonderful daydream that it must have been and that many of us at one time shared. Read more


 

May

16

Lexicon page removed

May 16, 2007 | 3 Comments

For those of you who visit the site often, you may notice that a link to page called “Lexicon,” where I had defined exactly 6 game design terms, has been removed.

After surfing over to Nerfbat’s page, I noticed that he recently updated his own MMO Lexicon page, which is a wiki format page allowing the community to stock it with content. Well heck, if someone out there is already getting the community involved in defining the various MMO terminology, I might as well just link to that instead.

And I believe they even have more than 6 terms defined already!


 

May

14

A recent revelation

May 14, 2007 | 1 Comment

As I was playing yet another hour (or two) of the fabulously addictive Desktop Tower Defense by Paul Preece on Challenge level (The 100) and while I was failing over and over to actually complete the challenge, I was struck with a sudden revelation. It hit me like a level 40 giant hitting a noobie wizard in a soiled cloth robe.

I am a masochistic gamer.

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May

11

Blame the zombies

May 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment

It’s their fault I haven’t posted here in a while.

Everything is better now that I found the flamethrower and the chainsaw.
I promise.


 

Apr

12

1001 Crazy Game Design Ideas: #5 Take the Bad with the Good

April 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The last time I played a pen and paper RPG, the game of choice was Villains and Vigilantes. I happily rolled myself up a new superhero (The Chrome Cricket) who had some wonderful world-saving powers (like armored skin and a sonic attack), but along with the super-powers came a weakness… in my superhero’s case a dependence on a certain medication to survive.

In the old V&V game, a player could drop one of their super-powers to rid themselves of their character’s weakness and I believe that most people who play choose to do that. Weaknesses are a liability and most of us have at least one in real life and would rather not deal with weaknesses in a game which is supposed to be “fun.” In fact it seems like it may be a big taboo to even suggest game elements which might not, on the surface, contribute to immediate and enduring fun. And who in their right mind would confuse a weakness with fun?

I might. Read more


 

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Noob


noob - aka: William Mackie on the Bass River in Dennis, MA.
noob - aka: William Mackie