Huh. I wonder if I spend too much time gaming?
Anyway. Some minor news from my various gaming related interests:
EQ2: Finished Tier 2 last night (finally!) as the Overking went down quickly and painlessly. The raid leaders decided not to flag everyone who needed him in one go, instead some of us (including me!) got in this time, and the rest will go the next time. It’s more important to actually win than to try to do it all at once, but lose. We went on to do Leviathon, the hentai tentacle monster in the Chamber of Destiny (which is not that crystal emerald sphere after all, but a different place entirely), to finish Tier 3. I’d have pictures, but I sat out of that raid. Next time! Listening to the fight on guild chat was fun. People turning into fishes to grab things from the beast’s stomach… some of us sitting out did a Vault of the Eternal Sleeper run, and they were still fighting that same guy when we were done. LONG fight. I finally got Dina’s Coat of Imperious Strikes (legendary RoK scout-set bp) from the boss of VoES… I’d though that dropped only in Maiden’s, but apparently not.
Afterward, I got Dera and we did a CoA run. No masters, but Dera got a ring that procs power on heals. That was kind of embarrassing, because I wasn’t aware Inquisitors got heals, but a careful examination of my spell book revealed some toward the end. Who knew? That was nearly as embarrassing as finding myself suddenly in Jarsath Wastes as we were clearing. That hammer gets me into so much trouble…
I’m not questing with Dera. Instead, her final two levels are being done entirely through dungeon runs. She is now 60% through level 79. Would it be faster to quest? Yes, definitely.
Rock Band: Some of my son’s friends got Rock Band for Christmas, so we’ve been forming online bands with them – usually me on drums but sometimes lead guitar. It’s better having friendly people in the band… when I screwed up one of my solos on “Green Hills and High Tide” on Hard and failed out, they didn’t complain, I just got to try it again (and nailed it the second time). We downloaded a lot of the DLC (Downloadable Live Content). Last night I downloaded the new Hives song (for me) and the Metallica pack (for my son). I was tempted to get Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps” but didn’t. Still no Queen.
I couldn’t find any publicly available episode guides to Goong AKA Princess Hours, so when I get a moment I’ll start with those. Because you all care about Korean comedy fairy-tale soap operas? No, because you might if you knew more about it :) I wasn’t that enthused but my sister kept nagging me to watch it, so because I loves my sister, I did, and… hey, you know, this is pretty good… I checked out my Bittorrent this morning. I was drawing bits of it from Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Italy, even some from the good ol’ US. And I was amazed that out of all these fellow fans all over the world, NONE of them had the last 2.8% of the second episode.
What’s up with THAT?
As much as I like Rock Band, it’s hard to look at that Xbox as anything but a piece of white plastic crap. It’s as loud as an idling car, daily (it seems) one or more of my son’s friends goes offline suddenly because their Xbox died with the Red Ring of Dead (RRoD), and my son tells me OUR newly-purchased Xbox went halfway to RRoD once.
I just GOT that thing. It didn’t come with WiFi, the controllers are expensive and crappy, it’s just cheaply and sloppily made. Compared to the Wii and PS2, which are WAY better constructed (GRANTED they are simpler boxes)… I resent that little toad-like creature. I put up with it because I must. I’d rather have gotten a PS3.
Now that the High Def format wars are essentially over (Blu-Ray, shockingly, the winner) and the PS3 is one of the cheapest Blu-Ray players around (above and beyond its ability to play games), I’m thinking of replacing it. But backwards compatibility with my older PS2 games is vital.
Unfortunately, Sony REMOVED backward compatibility with their new, cheap 20 Gb machines. And the 80 Gb machines emulate it in software – not the best solution (though cheaper to manufacture). It turns out the old 60 Gb machines that are no longer manufactured have the “sweet spot” – Wi Fi and hardware PS2 compatibility. These are hardly anywhere to be found – certainly NewEgg and EBGames had none online. While we were food shopping at BJs last night, I noticed that the PS3s they were selling were the old, fully compatible, 60 Gb machines. I’ll have to see if my straining checkbook can handle the $500 they’re charging.
Second step would be to force my son off the Xbox occasionally so I can use the TV to play MY games. Or watch movies. I don’t have a HDTV, but plan on getting one this year. I think that 32" 1080p Toshiba I’ve been eying might fit the bill. And heck, since my son monopolizes the TV with his Xbox addiction, I could just move the new HDTV and PS3 into my room for luxurious movie watching while I play, you know, my games. My little 15" color TV (yes, it’s tucked away on a side table next to my desk) could use some upgrading…
Pirates of the Burning Sea… I don’t have it. I intend to play it sometime, but who the heck has time? I’m not a serial adopter, always dropping what they have to flock to the new shiny. But I’ll check things out when I can. It’s clear that you can only seriously play one MMO at a time. I am probably years away from giving up EQ2. I’ll try PotBS, though, sometime. Vanguard first. I’ve heard good things and bad things about it, and by the time I get to it in a few months, probably all the launch issues will be gone and the rough edges smoothed away. No reason to play it from Day 1 that I can see. If a month helps some, a year should give the devs enough time to make it the game they would have liked it to have been if they’d had more time.
By then all the serial adopters will have moved to Conan and Warhammer (and will be hotly anticipating the new shiny after that) and those who have found a true home in PotBS will be able to explain all the ins and outs of their world. I’ve predicted it will become the place for huge naval battles at the expense of a PvE or a solo, 1v1 PvP game – I think Warhammer will turn out to be the home for the more casual PvPer.
Guess I don’t have much other ‘stuff’ to talk about. Weather is warm in Connecticut this week, but that will change. It’s still winter. It’s been totally fun watching the Democratic race. First Hillary is the anointed one! The Obama wins in Illinois and Huffpost sanctifies him and tears Hillary apart! Obama ftw! Nothing can stop his inevitable victory! Just swear him in already!
And then Hillary wins New Hampshire! OMG! She was supposed to LOSE! Didn’t she read the SCRIPT?
New Hampshire is the most Libertarian state in the Union. We’re natural cynics. You can’t just SAY. You have to DO. And what has Obama DONE?
I dunno if Hillary will win the nomination. In fact, I think probably it will go to Obama. But I love the soap opera. And anyway, none of the Democrats really match how NH thinks. That nod goes to the Republican John McCain, who is so plain-spoke he could be a native. It’s no surprise he won the Republican race. Heck, even though I’m a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, I might vote for him as someone who actually would have the ABILITY to heal the stupid left-right division in American politics and get something done. Hillary can’t do that. Obama says he can but has no track record. And none of the other Republicans has the slightest interest in doing so.