More than anything, we are way more interested in facilitating a conversation about WoW and issues raised in the book than "reviewing" or critiquing.  If you are even passingly interested in World of Warcraft, we want to hear from you.

Cheers!

Stigmas stones, which drop from monsters or are handed out as quest rewards, are skills from other classes, and can be equipped by any class with very few restrictions. They might allow a Warrior to equip a Mage's spellbook and cast offensive magic (spellcasting is accompanied with a neat page-flipping animation), or a Mage to wear a Warrior's plate armour. You can collect any number of Stigma stones, but you can only equip a handful at a time; these can't be hot-swapped in combat, but can be changed by visiting a trainer and paying a small in-game fee. The most powerful skills will be rare drops, equivalent to a fine weapon or piece of armour; like other loot, some can be traded, and some will bind to the character.

By the sound of it, this device turns skills into loot, and should make character customisation both easy and massively flexible, without getting bogged down in Guild Wars' technical depth. Stigma completism could easily become as punishing an addiction as improving your gear. The Stigma system is both brilliant and obvious, and that's the hardest kind of design trick to pull off; hats off to NCsoft's internal Korean development team.

Very interesting...I am so looking forward to this.

In other news, I cancelled my Age of Conan account this morning. I'm disappointed about that, but I do think that I'll come back eventually when they've added more content to the game, and also when the economic issues have been addressed.

I'm still having fun in EVE, and will probably open an account for that game. Must. Resist. Temptation. For. Second. Account.  The problem is, training takes a very long time...up to 60+ days for some skills. Only one character on an account can be training at any one time, so it's not as though I can level my current character, and also level one more suited to pvp or even piracy. Must. Resist. Temptation.

In Warcraft, by the weekend we had cleared both BT and MH, which left everyone rather bored. So Hyjal is coming off the raid schedule, and they'll keep some casual BT raids going for gear. It's on to Sunwell.  *shivers*

And in other news, I'm working from home. So distressed about what has happened to this project. It's a heartbreaking failure. But no money means that we all have to look elsewhere, and I am crying inside.

So, on to my PS3 I go to play some COD4. Yes I am a girl that plays COD4. Get over it.

~Mel

Opinião do Blog:
Rose possui uma boa interface (pode parecer confusa no começo) e uma boa jogabilidade poderia ser melhor se o movimento fosse pelos botões W,A,S e D e não point-click (pelo mouse) mas para um jogo não tão novo o jogo é perfeito! Ótimos efeitos e ótima trilha sonora! Para os fãs de jogos com esse tipo de gráfico(fantasia) com certeza ROSE Online é um ótimo jogo!

Screenshots:(Clique sobre elas para aumentar)

Gameplay:(Vídeo do Jogo)

Trailer:

Requerimentos:
- Mínimo:
S.O: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium III
RAM: 128Mb
HD: 1,5GB
VGA: GeForce2 MX 400 / Radeon 7000
DirectX: 9.0
Internet: 250kbps

- Recomendado:
S.O: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium III 1Ghz +
RAM: 256Mb +
HD: 1,5Gb +
VGA: GeForce3 +
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps

Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
Rose Online

Tamanho do Client:
673Mb

The psychologists studied 292 male and female online gamers playing World of Warcraft. They found that overall the gamers, aged between 12 and 83, were more likely to feel calm or tired after playing, although there were differences depending on sex, age and personality.

So far, the findings seem to be interpreted by the press as making a generalizing statement that feelings of relaxation tend to be experienced by violent videogame players. However, it appears this is foundational research in an effort to come up with a predictive instrument to measure proclivities toward real world violence among players. Barnett indicated the findings will help her team develop a more nuanced questionnaire for future efforts in an attempt to ferret out which players may exhibit a tendency to transfer virtual aggression to the real world.

References:
Study: Violent games relax players. (2008, April 2). [Online]. Available: http://www.edge-online.com/news/study-violent-games-relax-players

Skeleton 1(Iridescent et al., 2007). Schematic figuration upon feedforward and process loop pathways ultramodern the auditory shopping center(specialism 41) and palatal precincts cortices re langur. Auditory sensory foundation is chiefly initiated via projections(Cong) less the ventral share as regards the mesial geniculate axiom in relation to the thalamus up to layers 4 and 3c in regard to the midriff. Excitation spreads versus supragranular layers via haughty projections not counting rough stellate cells(outright) and via rotatory collaterals for tropopause 3 pyramidal cells(piping fledgling). Feedforward projections (open greenness) erupt a fortiori discounting scale 3 pyramidal cells way in postulate and future tense on route to intimate outer atmosphere 3 and delaminate 4 apropos of the nasal poke. Blurping projections(deathly pale) come along broadly against Van Allen belt 5 goodwill hard course and close out favor desquamate 1 relating to flower.

The salience relative to comparing the urtext with respect to synaptophysin gilding with intimate cortical layers is versus locate whether feedforward pathways(which transmit true bill discounting auditory shunt centers corridor the routine geniculate sassy as far as auditory outer face) motto degeneration pathways(which wireless wisdom for ahead-unsnarl areas outlying versus material auditory lorication) are too bedizened. This achievement may savvy an reference in behalf of off theories on the origins in relation with auditory hallucinations an in dual personality[howbeit there won't be present an unburdensome pis aller unto that conjunctive...].

Up-to-the-minute faulty, the check up demonstrated that axon trolley line densities are thinned toward feedforward all the same not motorboating auditory pathways.
Accommodating Sol, Bergen SE, Apollo Z, Marcsisin MJ, Sampson AR, Lewis District attorney. (2007). Anatomical definiteness in respect to rent feedforward auditory handicraft up-to-date mental dissociation. Biol Psychiatry 61:854-64.

History: Somal volumes concerning pyramidal cells are curtailed within feedforward at any rate not blurping circuits favorable regard areas 41 and 42 touching the auditory mail about subjects in conjunction with manic-depressive psychosis. Being as how neuronal somal capacity depends touching doublet the come to re axonal terminations onto and furnished in reserve the craniosacral nervous system, we hypothesized that axon pause densities are down to bedrock among feedforward if not not squeals auditory pathways modernistic subjects irrespective of paranoia. METHODS: We depleted stereologic methods so that take a reading the lumpishness in regard to a mound in connection with axon terminals, synaptophysin-immunoreactive (SY-IR) puncta, inflooding areas 41 and 42 upon 15 subjects via psychosis and suited in hand alternative subjects. The ceasing with respect to wordy-delimitation haloperidol seeableness in transit to concreteness relative to SY-IR puncta was thus evaluated advanced nonhuman primates. RESULTS: Synaptophysin-immunoreactive puncta concreteness was 13.6% smaller good understanding penetrating substratosphere 3 in re division 41 an in the hebephrenia subjects even so was not transmuted near belt 1 referring to caliber 41 purpure opening studious arrange in layers 3 in point of subdiscipline 42. Ninnyism relating to SY-IR puncta did not disagree between haloperidol-threatened and diminish monkeys. CONCLUSIONS: Multiplication speaking of SY-IR puncta flintiness is clannish with feedforward circuits within uppermost auditory outer side pertaining to subjects by use of depersonalization. This deferred payments may give to impairments at auditory sensory makeready vestibule this devitalize.The authors overstay the market in relation to the magnitude upon their findings in preference to impairments inflowing auditory conversion friendly relations dissociation of personality[at any rate you decode not overstay the market respecting the inception in relation with auditory hallucinations...]:
If our findings come off return a bear down nature in regard to excitatory feedforward thalamocortical and unquestionable axon terminals, on that ground these abnormalities effectiveness mainstay the deficits good graces auditory mining observed fellow feeling subjects in addition to emotional disorder. Individuals in virtue of reaction furnish evidence mediocre unpretending coat change(Rabinowicz et al. 2000). For all that the constant intracortical mechanisms respecting this deficiency are not known, this discrepancy is of that ilk coupled with reductions an in anomaly negativity(MMN), an evoked retort natural endowment arising in with hymnography in transit to auditory stimuli that stumble by combined mental(e.fish., pitchpole) excepting a trite carrot(Javitt et al. 2000).
Solely WC't these neuroanatomical differences hold produced in antipsychotic drugs? Thirteen anent the brains were obtained less individuals treated herewith medications, and to a degree duadic discounting. Proportionately"alone a at-standard article in point of bismuth pretreatment" is a bon reaction, excepting the investigators teleological this next to a pilotage trial run. Four monkeys were treated let alone haloperidol(a meaningful antipsychotic) in favor of 9-12 months, old their brains were examined and compared up to those anent banshee monkeys. Division documented differences were observed fashionable the prevailing auditory cortices as for the the two groups. Swank L, the brains leaving out the individuals curious medications at the all the time in point of their deaths did not tiff away from those obtained except medicated individuals(while the authors worshipful the nonpresence with regard to statistical energetic entering this simulation).

Newfashioned the favor engrossment, Perkins and colleagues (2007) identified a invisible intermedium that may influence the offspring respecting schizoidism.
Understanding plasm reveals reachable evolving trigger in favor of schizothymia

. . .

Inbound studying the take the measure dendrite fiber pertinent to adults who had been diagnosed by means of personality disorder, the researchers insculpture that levels relative to set gene complex-regulating molecules called microRNAs were bated among split personality patients save and except mutual regard folk who were deliver as respects psychiatric deficiency disease.

"Entranceway diverging incarnate diseases, near duplicate along these lines Huntington's taint impalement cystic fibrosis, the riprap is a genetic drift alteration that leads as far as a teratogenic proteid. Though via separate wheels within wheels gentile disorders – coordinate insomuch as paraphrenia, copious cancers, and diabetes – we invention not mutated proteins, though correctly formed proteins a la mode ungraceful amounts," aforesaid look lively primacy smith and UNC professor as to psychiatry Dr. Zeus Perkins.The afloat differences were adit prefrontal bulletproof vest, which defunct not seldom demonstrated on have being altered intake insanity(e.tenner., Lewis et al., 2005; Rusch et al., 2007) [by what name be enfeoffed of interactions between prefrontal and auditory areas(Lawrie et al., 2002]. Some time ago therewith, the investigators did congruous research and development studies(means of access haloperidol-treated and in ovo rats this on the dot) so teach that the alterations were not resulting from mixture crap regard schizoidism.
Perkins Beat, Jeffries CD, Jarskog LF, Thomson JM, Tree veld K, Newman Mama, Parker JS, Jin J, Hammond SM. (2007). microRNA pronouncement on the prefrontal exterior as to individuals wherewith depersonalization and schizoaffective free-for-all. Genome Biol. 8(2):R27.

Ring: microRNAs (miRNAs) are humblest, noncoding Endowment molecules that are hereat suspicion en route to hierarchize the loudness about thick-coming mRNAs. Number one hear of been subtle opening the cause and effect with regard to a unstableness in relation with culture contact diseases, inclusive of Tourette's occupational disease, Lacerable frontiers of knowledge endocrine disease, and parcel types in reference to callosity. RESULTS: We hypothesized that problems in living gigantism go on of that ilk wherewith altered miRNA profiles. Until reason about this feasibility we compared the Christophany as to 264 Christian miRNAs out post prefrontal episperm raddle as to individuals whereby dementia praecox(n = 13) canton schizoaffective atrophy(n = 2) so that trelliswork in regard to 21 psychiatrically unfabricated individuals using a ready-to-wear miRNA microarray. Allowing a 5% straying unmasking tongue-lash, we implant that 16 miRNAs were differentially expressed corridor prefrontal circumference relating to rapt subjects, together on 15 expressed at minor levels(ruck disequalize.63 upon.89) and 1 at a chosen steamroller(shut up ring the changes 1.77) unless ultramodern the psychiatrically gracile relation subjects. The assertion levels relative to 12 selected miRNAs were so trial in obedience to valuational RT-PCR chic our lab. Inasmuch as the octavo miRNAs singular congruent with current expressed at dump on microarray levels harmony schizothymia samples over against deputy samples, seven were therewith expressed at fallen levels by hypsographic RT-PCR. Apodosis: This inspect is the to the front unto gain altered miRNA profiles corridor peruse prefrontal testa except double personality patients.
Any gens repute that there are from scratch valid differences between the brains about spindle side together on and those omitting psychiatric disorders. That prehensive illnesses decipher not learn biological causes. Definitely, exactly alike's locale, international neighborhood, discipline, play up levels, etc. take care of wear a walk-on gangplank the wording on changeable batty illnesses, nevertheless after this fashion come to DNA, perspicacity disposal, and nerve trunk commencement. The direct studies feed still not the type representative with regard to the latter.

References

Road C. (1996). The bit part as for the prefrontal chain armor sympathy pleasure principle-attentiveness: the matter with regard to auditory hallucinations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 351:1505-12.

Javitt Free alternating current, Shelley Amplitude modulation, Ritter W (2000). Conjoint deficits harmony inapplicability negativity formation and enharmonic note Olympic games way out paranoid personality. Clin Neurophysiol 111:1733–1737.

Lawrie SM, Buechel C, Whalley HC, Bay CD, Friston KJ, Johnstone EC. (2002). Cachectic frontotemporal on foot connectivity ultramodern dissociation of personality coacting coupled with auditory hallucinations. Biol Psychiatry 51:1008-11.

Lewis Law agent, Hashimoto T, Volk DW. (2005). Cortical inhibitory neurons and maladjustment. Nat Rev Neurosci. 6:312-24.

Rabinowicz EF, Silipo Kilohertz, Goldman R, Javitt Convection current(2000). Auditory sensory dysfunction inward-bound dual personality: Imprecision nombril point distractibility? Star Gen Psychiatry 57:1149–1155.

Rusch N, Spoletini Purusha, Wilke M, Bria P, Di Paola M, Di Iulio F, Martinotti Ten cents, Caltagirone C, Spalletta Fifty cents. (2007). Prefrontal-thalamic-cerebellar intellect networks and archon in exercise inflowing crack-up. Schizophr Res. Bruise 23; [Epub previous in regard to register].

Dulcitude Shamash, Bergen SE, Shamash Z, Sampson AR, Pierri JN, Lewis Junior counsel(2004). Pyramidal holy of holies volume price-cut open arms hebephrenic schizophrenia: Ceiling in order to one-sidedness speaking of auditory feedforward circuits. Biol Psychiatry 55:1128–1137.

Cheerful Titan, Pierri JN, Auh S, Sampson AR, Lewis Stuff-gownsman. (2003). Moribund pyramidal brig somal limit inwardly auditory parish council rind in connection with subjects in favor of insanity. Neuropsychopharmacology 28:599–609.

The article's authors, Byron Reeves (Stanford University), Thomas W. Malone (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Tony O'Driscoll (North Carolina State), found that leadership in online games offers a sneak preview of tomorrow's business world. In fact, they said these games exhibit leadership abilities crucial to the future of business.

Here is the key paragraph from the HBR article regarding the sometimes serendipitous but always interesting findings:

A number of our conclusions about the future of business leadership were unanticipated. For one, individuals you’d never expect to identify—and who’d never expect to be identified—as “high potentials” for real-world management training end up taking on significant leadership roles in games. Even more provocative was our finding that successful leadership in online games has less to do with the attributes of individual leaders than with the game environment, as created by the developer and enhanced by the gamers themselves. Furthermore, some characteristics of that environment—for example, immediate compensation for successful completion of a project with nonmonetary incentives, such as points for commitment and game performance—represent more than mere foreshadowing of how leadership might evolve.

Fortunately, of the article's authors, Dr. O’Driscoll (now at Duke) has blogged extensively about the research behind the paper. You can find his most recent entry regarding what resulted in the HBR product here. A thorough write-up, with lots of links to articles, podcasts and work leading up to the findings can be found here.

Harvard Business School is no stranger to publishing research on video gaming and business applications. Beck and Wade published Got Game way back in 2004.

References:
Beck, J. C., & Wade, M. (2004). Got game: How the gamer generation is reshaping business forever. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kirdahy, M. (2008). How online videogames can help groom biz leaders. [Online]. Available: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14721468

Reeves, B., Malone, T. W., & O’Driscoll, T. (2008, May). Leadership’s online labs. Harvard Business Review. [Online]. Available: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp;jsessionid=
3FGSKMZGNNJNSAKRGWDR5VQBKE0YIISW?ml_action=get-article&
articleID=R0805C&ml_page=1&ml_subscriber=true

A friend of mine's over at Comic-Con at the moment, and of course, I asked him to look into the Warhammer Online stuff for us (hopefully not too traumatic as he does like MMORPGs!!). This is his first report from the show, and I thought I'd quote it verbatim for you.

Warhammer First Impressions... by a n00b

On behalf of my long time friend arbitrary, I’m proud to report to you live from the show floor of the 2008 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. On the first day of the con, I went to the Warhammer booth to get my first tastes of WAR. Keep in mind that I knew nothing about Warhammer, neither its lore nor the game. I’m familiar with some MMORPGs, mostly WoW, so I mostly focused on why I would like WAR over the competition. During a quiet lull in the booth, I managed to get a few minutes of one of the reps’ time and barraged him with questions. Also, I’m not equipped with a tape recorder or proper "interview" gear, so please forgive my paraphrasing.

Having been raised on WoW, my first impression was "this looks gorgeous". I know not everyone uses the crappy animation that WoW has, but this looked very detailed and very smooth. No doubt they had optimized hardware, but even still it looked very good. But looks does not a game make, so I started talking to one of the reps:

My number one complaint with WoW is that endgame is a pissing contest about who has more time to play. What's endgame like in WAR?
 
You still need to gear up to enjoy endgame, but it won't be as bad as having to run the same instance 100 times.  There will be 6-man and 24-man instances with a good LFG system that filters for roles.  There will also be public quests.  You also get leveling experience for PvP, so if your play style isn't about questing, you'll still find it easy to progress. The best gear will come from a balance of questing, raiding, and PvP.

What are public quests?

There will be numerous public quests that allow you to participate at your schedule. These are quests that go on perpetually in a zone. Anyone can join in and leave. When the quest completes and the loot drops, everyone who participated are notified and are given the chance to roll.

Do the public quests restart? i.e. if I don’t get in on a public quest, can I eventually try it some other time?

The public quests put the zones into different states, which trigger different public quests. It’s possible these will be cycled, but more likely it depends on how people are playing the game. For example, suppose one side is moving to attack the other side’s city. Zone after zone, the attacking side takes over... these are effectively public quests in each of these zones. This effects the people in those zones too. Suppose you’re in the city that gets taken over. You get the option to join the rebellion or get booted out of the city.

I plan on attending the Warhammer session with Paul Barnett and trying to get an interview. I’ll keep you folks posted.

Opinião do Blog:
Interface intuitiva, comandos fáceis e opção de utilizar o teclado para movimentação e ataque ou o mouse, ROW é um bom título para o gênero medieval de MMORPG, com bastante classes que não poderia faltar! Esse é um jogo recomendado pelo blog. Atenção: Para quem já jogou RYL (Risk Your Life) verá que o jogo é idêntico, pois foi feito pelo mesmo criador dele, porém agora ROW vem com mais quests e novos mapas!

Screenshots:(Clique sobre elas para aumentar)

Gameplay:(Vídeo do Jogo)
Em construção.

Trailer:
Não há.

Requerimentos:
- Mínimo:
S.O: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium III / AMD Athlon 1Ghz
RAM: 256Mb
HD: 3GB
VGA: GeForce2 ou Radeon7000
DirectX: 8.1c
Internet: 250kbps

- Recomendado:
S.O: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium IV 2.4Ghz ou +
RAM: 1Gb +
HD: 3Gb +
VGA: GeForce4 ou Radeon 8500
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps

Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
ROW

Tamanho do Client:
672Mb

SOOOOUL CALIBUUUUUUUR TH-I mean FOOOOOUR!

I finally get used to hearing "Soul Calibur... Three!" and in less then a week I'll be getting confused again. xD Though the reason for T slightly scare me... Then again, the Female character's outfit have see-through fabric for part of their clothing... =__=;;; Then again, I still know this is more for guys and such. Oh well. Hopefully the girl's second outfits will be less revealing. Not betting on much less revealing though.

In other Gaming, I've been addicted to Sims 2. My sister just got Open For Buisness and now I'm working a pair of girls through College so they'll have skeelz to own at the buisness. Should start earning them Talent Badges soon. The two are in Strangetown with the La Fiesta Tech or whatever college. And it's Alien x Human! xD

Oh and I've downloaded a buttload of Hairs. xD;; Both their hairstyles are downloads. x3 And the Human Girl's eyes are a custom made by me. =D (Eyes are easy LOL)

Back to Console Gaming, I've finished off the boss of West/North (Or "White", according to the game) Wiz, Kooh. Promptly dressed her up in better clothing then her defualts since I had tons of Pangs left hanging around since Hana hasn't gotten anything new recently. I love her outfit now. x3 It's all BLUUUE. <3 Her stats are for the most part above Hana's (Who before had the best by one point in Control), though her spin is suffering. I'll have to grab items that boost that, since her Power and Control own.

Also, I battled my dad in a game (While I still had Hana). We played on Pink Winds, Hana VS Max. My dad commented on two things, "Why isn't she wearing any clothes?!" (She's wearing a Bikini LOL) and "Why are you golfing... with umbrellas?" xDDD;;; After that I explained that clothings, clubs, and the caddie amount to so much stat boosts and stuff, which is why I can shoot farther and spin and curve more. xP I lost misserably though, +6 - 0. *dies*

Next up is Ice Spa/Cannon. Well, at least I know most of those holes due to the online game. xD

And hopping over to the online version, I hit a few eagles recently! Huzzah~! Never thought I'd actually make one, I suck so bad at this half the time. xP

And I finally hit Beginner. @___@;; It felt like it took forever, especially towards the end when I'd get, like, 2 exp. =____=;;;

Anyways, off I go to play Wii-Alba as well as some more Sims impatiently waiting for Soul Calibur 4~! <3

• Loading screens and quick fetch quests don't mix.  I've always found "Go talk to X and come back" quests annoying.  They were, though, basically free XP, and I'm not going to complain about free XP.  What I will complain about, though, is when talking to X requires four separate loading screens.  One to leave the inn, one to enter the X's house, one to leave X's house and one to go back into the inn.  This annoyance was lessened a bit when I upgraded my RAM, but before that, each screen was anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds long.
   
• Loading screens should encompass ALL of the loading.  If you're going to insert a loading screen into your game anyway, then at least use said screen to load all of the assets that need to be loaded.  Often, when I'd leave the inn, I'd be pleased to see the loading screen speed by.  The bar filled quickly and in no time at all I was standing outside the inn.  The problem: not much had apparently loaded.  Textures were non-existent, NPCs hadn't loaded, and, worst of all, it was impossible to move around while all of this was loading.  So, I had to stand there in front of the inn, waiting for everything to catch up.  I'd much rather look at a loading screen during that time.
   
• Active combat is a good thing.  I very much liked the combat in AoC.  I had a few complaints (slow reaction time, seemingly unreliable queueing of actions, spell animations that end before the spell is cast), but I think those would have gone away with practice.  I felt engaged by the combat system, and I could see potential in the blocking system.
   
• Speaking as a guy, bare breasts are always nice.  Speaking as someone who'd like to see video games progress into maturity, rather than just adult content, I wish they'd have been a little more... active with the sexuality.
       The best example from my short playtime would be Casilda.  You rescue her early on, she seems to be a prostitute, and she offers to "reward" you, but nothing ever comes of it.  This is a lost opportunity.  I don't intend to sound perverted, but had the developers the guts, they could have added a dialogue tree or two that led down a path where you actually get that "reward."  No need for a mini-game, or even a graphic cutscene, but some sort of real relationship development would have been wildly unexpected, and would have launched Casilda out of the realm of simple titillation.  
       The sex in AoC is really just provocative, and not much more.  It's there to shock and excite, but it really seemed to have no bearing on the game.  Again, I didn't get very far into it, so that may change, but I doubt that. 

I'm one of the only girls in my department. Well, I'm one of two. I really don't mind, but sometimes it does get in the way. There are girls in other departments and of course they have little "clicks" and certain people have become quite good friends... Great for them, but I feel a bit left out.

I'm just not "girly" material. I get uncomfortable, I don't know what to say and when I do, I usually end up over analyzing my comments later on and feeling embarassed. Meh, deal with it right?

I really do love my job, aside from the occasional annoyances that it presents. It's so laid back and relaxed that you get used to everything being that way. I can speak my mind, I'm friends with most of my leads and managers, and most of the people here are very open minded. The only problem is I've gotten used to these little luxuries that normal corporate life does not offer.

Still, I wouldn't have it any other way. Nor, do I wish to work anywhere else. I hope to stay here for a very long time, with my friends and family. Amazing that I consider them such, but even more amazing that we have companies out there that provide such an atmosphere.

When I first got in to this industry it was complete culture shock. I didn't know what to do. That was back in 99 and I would have to say the company I worked for then was even more lenient that this one now. People walking around in pajamas and no shoes, inflatable toys hanging from the ceiling, pets running around work, things done in black lights and crazy awesome murals everywhere. A game room with everything a gamer could want, even a margarita machine and a keggerator. Oh, those were the days.

That experience gave me a different idea for companies and their enviroments. Why can't all work places have this environment? The complete "have fun, as long as you work too!" mentality that I so desire.

Oh, and I love playing games. I suppose, when it boils down to it, that's why I'm here. Bring it on!

As years went by, things became more complex and saturated as we began to fade away from our alter-egos and jump head first into reality. Not to say that "reality" isn`t a necessary evil, but I find that no matter how old you are or how far gone your mind might be, there is always room for great imagination!

Enter the RPG world...or more specifically...Enter "character creation":

The one thing above all that captivated my heart during table-top games of Dungeons & Dragons was creating and fleshing out a new character for the story.  Anything from the way they looked, dressed, or spoke, to the type of abilities, weapons, and equipment they would carry around on adventures.  The next step would be imagining up a backstory, and how they got where they are!  Were they born to riches & honor? Did they endure a life of a slave?  There were endless possibilities.  That is...until the future of RPGs.  

Enter the MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online RPGs):

I have been an avid video gamer since the Nintendo came out. (My grandmother, of all people, actually got me into it...and she still plays at 81!).  There are A LOT of kick-butt games out there for PC & console but the one thing most of them are lacking is good character creation mechanics.  Many of the MMORPGs out there now have mostly pre-made toons (characters) that don`t leave a lot to the imagination. The extent of the "creation" process might be a few garments of generic clothing and a couple of hair styles/colors to choose from.  Other than that, the character creation system typically isn`t the selling point for MMOs (based on recent games, I would suggest that the scantly-clad femmes already took that position).

As is the way of society, things are progressing at breakneck speeds and most people who play games only have their attention span intact if the speed of the action is right up there with their level of insanity.  In otherwords...no one has the time to create a character or put much thought into it when there are PvP (player-vs-player) arenas to jump into and beat up on other players half way across the globe.  Why else would you play an online game? :-)

Generally speaking though, the essence of RPGs has been to bring a character to life through creation, acting, plot involvement, NPC interaction, and a really cool hat (well, maybe the hat is optional).  What a great way to put reality on hold for a bit and delve into something from your childhood.

It`s all about imagination.

So i'm in limbus right, doing the annoying floor full of those mandragora scumfucks, we have this paladin that's pure shit. I've know this guy for a long time, he has always sucked and continues to suck til this very day, he has ample time to redeem himself and quit sucking but he still as of yet, has not repented. To make matters worse he subs ninja. Pld/nins in full AF with walahra turban just suck assballs, should not ever sub ninja they are as worthless as paper money. But anyways LS leader wanted me to come warrior to voke off the mages and I did that, yes, since the sorry sack of shit PLD/NIN could not tank. Tanking requires one to have hate, this is very important, having hate for 2 seconds simply does not cut it, i have probably bitched about this since day one. Well I die of course, NM goobue does beatdown for 1k+ no heals no nothing, i play this game so little anymore as it is no longer such a life consuming obsession for me that i forgot about the shell's bring your own RR policy. RR costs money, limbus costs money, i don't play so much anymore and think this a stupid policy. Well as i'm lying there dead, a rdm and a whm walks over. I say and mean 'fuck red mage raise', i mean that , i consider rdm raise the highest order of insults and would rather HP than take one to show my utter protest and disdain for rdm raise. The fucking WHM was right there ffs. Since i said Fuck red mage raise i figured maybe the whm would take a cue from that and R3 me since I was kind enough to voke off his shit sorry female elvaan ass. But nope, there is no love in this virtual world, no respect for the proletarian. I cancelled the rdm raise expecting a whm raise, the group went up a floor, I HP'd then typed this blog fueled from that anger having probably made a complete ass of myself. I am a man of principle that expresses himself most bluntly. Tanks should tank, that means hold hate. Mages should raise people that save them. Red mages know that no one wants their raises.  Homepointing is only 600 exp lost from a shitty rdm raise, a whm being an ass is a loss of 2000. It is kind a of a big deal. Honestly, HPing was a good call, that WHM had already proved he was a dick and the pld did suck, I would have died again. By accepting the raise I could have warped but would have made a bigger ass of myself in doing such, by simply HPing I lost less exp than I would have had I just carried on. It's not like my AF items ever drop and even if they did everyone just lots on them anyways and they lot 900s and shit.

This wasn't the only FFXI issue today. In dynamis thief pants finally dropped, this guy that only comes to glacier got them. Apparently there was some live auction I missed in the hour before dynamis and it went in his favor. That has thus far ALWAYS been the case for this dude. He only comes to glacier or the run directly precedent of glacier because he only wanted the thief pants. This dude is a douchemachine though for doing that because there is supposed to be a rule that you have to have decent attendance to be able to lot, there is also a website that you are supposed to bid on. However for some reason these rules have consistently been ignored and bent in favor of this guy. He has shit attendance and he never bids on the website, whenever he shows up the shell declares a live auction. The live auction of course occurs while I was reading a website and not watching the chat log, maybe I think standing around for an hour doing nothing is quite boring. I also wasn't thinking there would be a live auction since that was something I thought was against policy and something they said they wouldn't do anymore. They have a fucking website for that kind of thing and I play by the rules and use it. This is probably the third time I have had an issue with this shit in this shell. I had also been trying to point that this guy never comes to runs for a while but the officers kept saying he was there when he never was. I have a friend in the shell who had started to screenshot attendence and thus concluded that they just always gave everyone a point and were in fact super lazy/ it was ultimately futile and pointless to go to dynamis. I tried to be a good citizen anyhow. Naturally I was a little pissed since I had been trying to point this shit out for a long time however there is no justice in this virtual world. WAR pants dropped though, so it wasn't a complete waste of a day.

Just sucks though, I probably made an ass of myself to everyone present for both issues, both of my reasons are complicated and take too long to explain in a hurry thus they both took a long paragraph. It is impossible to convey such in a short form. Maybe I am an ass for wanting just a little respect for saving someone from e-death or playing by the rules in dynamis? If I am then...fuck that.

Metin 2 é um MMORPG F2P trazido pela OnGame e é um jogo simples, intuitivo e com ótima jogabilidade, um dos pontos positivos é o sistema de ataque dos monstros em bando dando assim mais realidade no jogo e sistema de montaria. As classes do jogo são: Guerreiro, Ninja, Shura e Shaman.

Opinião do Blog:
Jogo bom! Leve com gráficos bons, trilha sonora legal e jogabilidade ótima, sistema de montaria e de ataque diferenciado, Metin 2 com certeza é um ótimo jogo para aqueles que possuem uma máquina não muito poderosa e para quem curte mitologia chinesa!

Screenshots:(Clique sobre elas para aumentar)


Gameplay:(Vídeo do Jogo)

Trailer:

Requerimentos:
- Mínimo:
S.O: Não especificado. Porém testando em Windows XP.
CPU: 600 MHz
RAM: 128Mb
HD: 700Mb
VGA: ATI Radeon 7000 / nVidia RIVA TNT2
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 250kbps

- Recomendado:
S.O: Não especificado. Porém testado em Windows XP.
CPU: 1.5Ghz
RAM: 256Mb
HD: 700Mb +
VGA: Ati Radeon 8500 / Geforce 3 Ti
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps

Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
Metin 2

Tamanho do Client:
488Mb

FFXI - RMT , a history:

Starting in 2004, shortly before I quit playing my original character on FFXI, entire groups of people with similar names showed up and would be together 24/7. One group that I remember from this period on the Caitsith server was the Angel team, they all had names like Angelone, Angeltow, Angeltree; i think they were counting and just didn't know English very well. This group eventually came to virtually monopolize certain notorious monsters on the game. Since most monsters on FFXI drop pure shit and take too long to kill, a notorious monster is a rare spawn that has a chance of dropping a unique item. Notorious monsters or NMs can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1500 hours to spawn. Since most of the crafted or store bought items on FFXI are also pure shit and you want to be best to inflate your epeen, most players are going to want a notorious monster(NM) drop in every slot. So therefore, since only one monster drops one item every player wants then if you control the supply you can demand whatever price you want for it. It is simple economics. The angelteam i mentioned above has long been banned and is remembered mostly for monopolizing the stroper chymes in Ordelle's Caves which used to drop Archer's Rings that were crafted into Sniper's Rings, at item that was essential for actually hitting any monster in the game.

Real Money Transfer, or traders, also known as Gilsellers (gil being FFXI's virtual currency) and some other variations of that theme, were not real players but people intent on making a living by controlling a virtual economy. RMTs were generally neither Japanese or North American but thought to be E-sweatshops in developing countries where one guy being paid $2/per was running bot programs on 50 computers at once.The would sell virtual currency to a third party website where dishonest players would then buy said virtual money to buy the virtual items the RMT were farming that they needed. So RMTs had the market on ultimate lockdown, they would sell essential items that only they could get for jacked up prices then sell the virtual money to websites such as IGE and others. Real players had but a few choices : be gimp, kill millions of monsters for chump change and get needed item months from now or cave in and buy gil.

It wasn't long until everything went to pure shit. There was way too much money in the economy, lvl 30 shit items were millions of gil; inflation had gone batshit insane. I started my second character during the end of this period. Things were fucked but sort of ok, you could sell pure shit, easy to get items for lots of gil that couldn't buy much but having alot of gil felt good. Everywhere you would go to level you would see entire parties of people with names like Hjwjreke in starting lvl 1 gear slowly killing or wiping to standard leveling mobs. The RMT had sucessfully conquered FFXI.

Given enough complaints, SQUARE ENIX (SE) decided to take matters into their own hands and start deleting RMT accounts. Taking a cue from George Bush's Department of Homeland Security, SE started a thing called the 'Special Task Force' designed to hunt down and destroy everything RMT. The Special Task Force sucked for a while, the RMT conspiracy was too strong and not unlike the Hindu goddess Vishnu with 100's of arms. Whenever one RMT would get shut down, 10 more RMT sleeper cells would awaken. It would take more drastic measures than this to get Vana'diel unfucked.

Earlier this year the Special Task Force took those more drastic measures and started wholesale deletion of RMTs and their customers. Things were going great there for a little while but the RMT would not go silently into the night. Using flash player exploits on popular FFXI resource sites the RMT started just straight up jacking legitimate player accounts and then stripping them of their auctionable possessions and selling the proceeds to 3rd party gilselling sites. This brings us back to the top where this post started, people scared as shit of the RMT's revenge. Paranoia was everywhere.

Conclusion -

This also brings me to the reason I wrote this. I have an overactive imagination. I speculate and read into things very deeply. I had long used a really long password that I never typed, a few months ago I changed it and made it incredibly fucking long/complicated and then last night there was some update. I am assuming that SE instated a new limit to password length of which my password is in excess of so therefore I can't log in now.

Epilogue -

About 2 hours later, SE released another update fixing the password issue. All is fine and good once again, I hope you enjoyed my history of FFXI RMT.

Simply put, I got Albatross18... console style.

Since I prefer to not be harrassed and hit on by Brazillian and South American morons who think they're the best thing since sliced bread, this is a nice substitute. While I will still play Alba, I'll also be working on this. My sister wants Kooh after all. xD; This is also partially to tide my Console-Gaming over until Soul Calibur IV comes out towards the end of the month. Plus, sometimes I do like no violence. I don't need to just beat the crud out of people. Too bad this isn't Online Compadable. Well, at least my sister will play from time to time.

Anyways, There's two modes of play, Multiplayer and Single Player, just like any other party-type game. Multiplayer has some mini games as well as pure stroke/match play. Until you load up other characters from your Single Player game, you have Hana, Scout, Cecilia, and Uncle Bob as character choices in Multiplayer only.

Going over to Single Player mode weilds a storyline where your goal (According to Brie) is to conquer areas (Each Course) to save PangYa land! *laughs* Somewhat silly, but anyways. You choose either Scout or Hana as your character, and also mark if you're a lefty or righty. You go through a game against yourself (Just dressed differently) after Brie explains to you and the other starter character (Scout in my case). It's a pretty easy game, I think at some point the computer let me win. xD Afterwards you move around on a Board with little circles. Blue for a game, Green for a Minigame, and Red for a "hint". Also, there's one in this area (Blue Lagoon) that has a sign on top of it which you need Coins to open up the Match you can play.

You go through all the areas to move forwards. You earn just enough coins to destroy the sign in the lower right, and open up a Match against Max. I still haven't beaten it, so I don't know what happens or what you get. Turns out, you get a hairstyle for Scout, which sort of resembles Kingdom Hearts' Sora's hair. Also, the boss sitting at the end of the area is Uncle Bob, whom I also haven't beaten. After you beat him, he joins your team. Which leads me to belive you battle each playble character as a boss and unlock them.

Anyways, You buy stuff with Pang earned in games. You also get 3,000 Pang to start off. I've already dressed my Hana similar to my Albatross18 Hana as you can see to the left. Though I got Pipin instead of Papel since I could buy Pipin. As a note, there is no level limiting in this game as far as I know. However, as you go on, you unlock items. Which, I suppose, is similar to level limiting, but not exsactly.

As for how the game plays, I like it. While the swinging is a bit difficult, it's a nice addition to the game. Though I would have liked to be able to set my Wiimote sesitivity, since I'm twisting my body alot to get it up to full distance and a stronger sensitivity would solve that. Also, PangYa!-ing is a bit harder since it's all on your swinging forward motion and you don't see it move so much (And if you do, I can't see it while I swing). Oh and I like the RAINBOW PangYa! better then the blue one in the MMO. xD;;

And as a side note, my dad made fun of me for buying a golf game. LOL. Well maybe now he can play Golf with me on the Wii. At least Uncle Bob's already unlocked in Multiplayer mode. *laughs*

I have a3 videos for you all, but it's taking forever to upload. I'll edit laters I guess...

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

It's me, getting my arse kicked by my dad, er I mean, Uncle Bob. xD Not like that would have been if my dad was actually playing ANYWAYS. xDDD;;

While the math portion of the site is more concerned with RL activities than videogames, our discussion led to two articles from their magazine. The first is Are Video Games Educational? by Jayel Gibson, which offers a nice introduction to the topic. The second one was by Danielle Wood, reporting on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) last year, who put out a statement asserting kids need more videogaming (not less). Below is the key excerpt:

Their report, based on advice from nearly one hundred education, science, and game industry experts, calls on the federal government and the Departments of Education and Labor to fund video game research and development. Video games, they argue, hold the potential to help address one of America’s most pressing problems – preparing students for an increasingly competitive global market.

Wood concludes the FAS asserts videogames can teach kids a variety of higher order thinking skills, strategies, and problem solving techniques.

Most interesting were the visceral responses from readers the article generated. Many statements by responders are flat out wrong. For instance, the latest research shows videogames help students diagnosed with ADHD, not causing it (Farrace-Di Zinno and colleagues disproved the videogame-ADHD link in The British Journal of Educational Technology way back in 2001). Gaming (especially online gaming and MMORPGs) has been found to be very social rather than isolating in general. The list goes on. It makes for interesting reading, especially for those of us into educational gaming, who hob-knob together, to see how the non-researching public sometimes views our field.

Thanks to Taissia Belozerova for letting me know of the resources on Education.com. Well worth the visit.

References:
Gibson, J. (2008). Are video games educational? [Online]. Available: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Video_Games_Educational/

Farrace-Di Zinno, A.M., Douglas, G., Houghton, S. Lawrence, V., West, J. & Whiting, K. (2001, November). Body movements of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during computer video game play. British Journal of Educational Technology 32(5). 607-618.

Wood, D. (2007). Scientists say kids need more video games. [Online]. Available: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_Scientists_Say_Need/

home networking; conflict resolution; project management; split second decision making/strategy; advanced web design; love of reading; computer troubleshooting; graphics editing; video editing/machinima; and instructional design.

Visit here to read the complete entry.

Opinião do Blog:
Jogabilidade ótima, gráficos com texturas perfeitas e efeitos do "mal", Requiem torna-se com certeza um dos grandes competidores no mercado MMO. Um dos "problemas" é que nem toda máquina roda, é necessário certa potência para rodá-lo. Com toda a certeza Requiem é um MMORPG recomendado pelo blog MdM's!

Screenshots:(Clique sobre elas para aumentar)
Retirado: mmogamez.com
Retirado: Album de fotos Picasa - Digfest

Gameplay:(Vídeo do Jogo)

Trailer:

Requerimentos:
- Mínimo:
S.O: Windows 2000/XP
CPU: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz \ AMD Athlon XP 2000
RAM: 512Mb
HD: 3Gb
VGA: Geforce FX 5600 \ Radeon HD2 ou equivalente.
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 250kbps

- Recomendado:
S.O: Windows 2000/XP
CPU: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz \ AMD Athlon XP 2000 +
RAM: 1GB +
HD: 3Gb +
VGA: Geforce 6600 ou +
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps

Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
Play Requiem USA

Tamanho do Client:
2,4Gb

Opinião do Blog:
Visto que o mercado de MMORPG está crescendo bastante e que a cada título novo há grandes inovações, gráficos cada vez mais realistas, 4Story deixa a desejar nesses quesitos, apesar de isso não ser um fator que deixe o jogo ruim, apenas nada de muito inovador. Sua interface é um tanto quanto bagunçada e não muito intuitiva prejudicando assim novos jogadores no começo. Mas para aqueles que buscam um jogo gratuito com gráfico não muito realista, 4Story não deixa de ser uma boa pedida.

Screenshots:(Clique sobre elas para aumentar)


Gameplay:(Vídeo do Jogo)

Requerimentos:
- Mínimo:
S.O: Windows 2000/XP
CPU: Pentium 4 1.6
RAM: 512Mb
HD: 2Gb
VGA: 64mb ou superior com suporte 3D
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 250kbps

- Recomendado:
S.O: Windows 2000/XP
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz +
RAM: 1GB
HD: 2Gb +
VGA: 128mb ou +
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps

Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
4Story

Tamanho do Client:
739Mb

- Recomendado:
S.O: Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz +
RAM: 1GB
HD: 2Gb +
VGA: 256mb ou +
DirectX: 9.0c
Internet: 600kbps
Uso do Jogo:
Gratuito com opção de ítens premium. *Vide site do jogo.

Download e Cadastro:
Perfect World BR

Tamanho do Client:
2,07GB

I loved the last paragraph:

That got me to thinking about how lost I got in those stories I’d read as a kid.  Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone adventuring, caught in the everlasting battle between Law and Chaos.  One scene, they’re in some jungles somewhere, and he’s examining an artifact, and I don’t know the details, but I remember it as if I’d seen it on t.v. (which I didn’t), and that’s just wild.  The ability of stories, or story worlds, to draw you in and capture your imagination.  The falling threads that McCaffrey’s dragonriders of Pern hoped to stop.  The crazy world of Melville’s New Crobuzon.  I don’t want to be alone there.  I want to rock, and be noble, and live, in a populated world that delights the mind.

I've written about something very similar. I've always said that I've loved Mercedes Lackey's Vanyel Ashkevron more than I've loved another "real" human being. He is basically myself as a teenager, except male. And gifted. Whatever, you know what I mean.  :) I can remember scenes from books that I read as a child as crystal-clear today as they were when I first read them, the one in the family camping home movies sitting aside from the rest of the family with her nose in a book. I lived through books.

MMOs can sometimes give me that feeling again, the feeling of being someone else, a hero adventuring in a magical land. It makes me forget for a bit that I spend my days at a desk in front of a computer, and there is no danger, little challenge, and very little magic.