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Cutting the Cord After last week’s epic episode, “Coliseum”, those of us at the Federation News Service were intrigued to see just how they could possibly top that nod back to the high point of the Star Trek franchise – the very beginning. Maybe they could have stayed in a retro mood, and maybe it would have been better if they had. “Cut the Cord”, the finale of the “Cloaked Intentions” arc, instead took its cues from “Star Trek Nemesis”, the movie that finally killed the Star Trek franchise. Nonetheless, it was still a fun, if literally on rails, experience. ...

Plushies, Appearance Items and Housing Since the times when the local post office is open correspond almost exactly to the times I am at work, I won’t be able to pick up my Rift Collector’s Edition until later today… and I couldn’t play last night at all. My headstart amnesty was up. So I turned to EQ2 for a little fun. .bbpBox43845498133692420 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1298664727/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #e4ecec;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block} @tipadaknife eq2 really? Figured you were done with it.less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®redheadedtim ...

Striking a Power Chord in Deepstrike Mines I only had a chance to play for a little while last night. The guild message of the day told us to complete dungeon runs to finish off some guild quests, so I went off to the Stonefields looking for a Deepstrike Mines group. DSM is a dungeon filled with undead who are using kobold slaves to mine sourcestone, the heartblood of Telera. There’s a couple tricky fights in there, especially the last boss, who tosses out crystals that you must either run from or destroy, depending on the color. Everyone likes maximum dps there. ...

Today’s the NA Rift launch. The Belmont server was iffy last night and is iffy this morning, though maybe it’s just me. I pre-ordered the game, and Amazon says it is in the mail, but perhaps Trion is just trying to prod me into entering the retail game key. They let me slide past with Amazon’s headstart key, but it’s no longer headstart. I have to either put up or shut up. ...

In Smuggler's Rest It’s Dungeons & Dragons Online’s fifth birthday, and Turbine just wants to give back by re-opening Smuggler’s Rest for a few short days. Before DDO acquired the Korthos Island adventure zone, new players would be sent to Smuggler’s Rest to learn the basics of the game before finding themselves in the mean streets of Stormreach. The newly renovated Smuggler’s Rest is a progression zone of sorts. Players run around the island attacking small groups of pirates, who drop treasure map pieces, rarer special treasure maps to hidden treasure caches, doubloons in three varieties, and very rarely, a Treasure Compass. ...

Vanity, thy name is Reman shields You can’t think of “Star Trek” and coliseums together without thinking immediately of the original series episodes “Bread and Circuses”, where the Enterprise crew beam into a 20th century version of the Roman Empire, and “Amok Time”, where Kirk and Spock battle to the death on the planet Vulcan. (The director of “Bread and Circuses”, Ralph Senensky, blogs about directing that episode – a must read! Includes bloopers!) ...

Why, hello, Mister Skellington Sometimes people are waiting JUST off camera for you to hit that PRINT SCREEN button… Dina leveled to 21 last night and is nearly finished with all the non-rift based quests in Freemarch. I have to return to the Iron Fortress to hunt up an Unseen agent. I, um, didn’t see her last time I was there. Then I’m off to the Stonefields, the next step in the linear progression. ...

I’m trying not to go on and on about Rift; in fact I have decided to hardly mention it at all. It’s one thing if it’s a game few people play, but that’s not Rift’s problem. HOWEVER…. Just wanted to share this screenshot of my Bard/Ranger/Assassin taking down the boss of an earth rift in the Stonefields. Yummy. I love getting all cinematic on stuff. Sorry for the Twitter spam… ...

A portrait of a nerd CCP has been sending me “come back to EVE” e-mails for awhile now, touting variously their refund of learning skills, the new character creator, soon the “captain’s quarters” where capsuleers can get out of the pod and stretch their legs. So, what the heck, I took them up on their latest offer. I made a character portrait that looks vaguely like me, except my skin is worse and I look way older. ...

In the first episode of “Cloaked Intentions”, the third Feature Episode arc, we visited a semi-abandoned, giant space station called “The Vault” deep within the Romulan neutral zone. There, we met Obisek, a Reman rebelling against the half-human Romulan empress Sela and her scattered empire of refugees. In the second episode, “Mine Enemy”, we followed Obisek’s suspicions to a hidden Tal Shiar (Romulan intelligence agency) base deep within a mining colony inhabited by the rock-like Horta. ...