Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar will see an item store added to WOW. The above video gives a nice preview of the vanity items that currently exist on the public test realm. Prices and items are subject to change when Patch 5.4 goes live. Areyou looking forward to the release of Patch 5.4?
We all know them, and love them or hate them, you must admit the foul mouthed fourth graders at South Park Elementary are hysterical. Believe me, I was once in the camp that didn’t like those foul mouthed fourth graders at all but now, now I find them hysterical and spot on social commentary.
I’ll admit it. I’m more than a little looking forward to popping South Park: The Stick of Truth into the Xbox. Oh I’m quite sure the game will be quite full of crude humor, no I take that back I know it will be packed with it, but I also know I will laugh every time. Playing alongside Cartman and gang will definitely make real world problems and challenges recede into the background.
So get ready world, November 2013 Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and the rest of South Park, CO hit you console and PC.
Ubisoft’s 2013 entry into the MMO market is in the form of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot to be released exclusively on the PC. There is currently an “open house” for the game from July 30th – August 6th and so I stopped by this morning.
Here are my impressions of the beta:
Seriously, this game would run flawlessly on my Surface RT or an ipad. I am baffled as to why Ubisoft is only releasing this for PC’s. There is nothing complicated. Basically, it is a cartoony version of Diablo III without the story and the simplicity of running through a castle collecting shinnies. Heck, you can die during a castle run and the only consequence is you don’t get the loot at the end of the castle. No biggie there.
This game is definitely more suited to the younger crowd. No blood, no guts, no worries. Admittedly, some younger players might have trouble reading the endless lines of text but players over the age of 8 won’t find the game difficult.
Verdict: Don’t waste your time unless you truly need a mindless romp while stuck on a meeting or are nursing an incredible hangover.
Dallas, TX will be the site of QuakeCon 2013 beginning tomorrow, August 1st. Events will be streamed via twtich.tv and the schedule from streamed events can be found here. Of particular interest will be the live stream of actual game play of the highly anticipated release of The Elder Scrolls Online next Spring and of Wolfenstein: The New Order which is scheduled to release later this year.
SOE Live begins tomorrow night! The schedule of events can be found here. The keynote address begins at 7PM PDT and will be available via streaming on twitch.tv. The list of streamed events and reveals can be found here. Of particular interest to Everquest fans will be the revel, FINALLY, of Everquest Next to the world. That will be streamed at 12PM Friday. Personally, I’m very much looking forward to the reveal and am silently praying that it lives up to my expectations. I will have full update notes for the keynote address tomorrow night and the reveal of Everquest Next on Friday; other panels are possible depending on if there is anything of interest to report.
The free titles for XBox Gold Members for August are Crackdown, Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Case Zero.
Crackdown will be available on August 1st. And both Dead Rising Games will be available starting August 16th. Just a reminder, games are free for download and will remain a permanent part of your Xbox account, even if your Gold account lapses in the future.
Today, July 31st is the last day to download Assassin’s Creed II and to get the remainder of the Assassin’s Creed series and DLC on sale.
Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey releases on PC November 2014. Wii U fans now also have a reason to rejoice, announced today, the game is also coming to a Wii U near you. The game is available for pre-purchase at various investment levels ranging from $25 to $1,000.
So fans of the story, the long anticipated wait is almost over.
So I downloaded Assassin’s Creed II yesterday and fired it up immediately. I played until it was time to turn over the control to hubby. I loved the game play, the story line, and the intricate details placed in the little things (like fabric). It was a pleasure to play and while I might not blow through the whole game in a day or two, I will enjoy my time spent with young Ezio Auditore.
I usually don’t like games where I’m scaling heights for no reason but in AC II I’m enjoying the vistas from the incredibly high viewpoints scattered throughout the game. The controls seem sharper than the first game, which I appreciate even though I never completed the first game. I really enjoy the brief but detailed database of characters, places and things. I take the time to read the database which undoubtedly slows down my overall game play.
My only complaint … too many games I want to play at the moment and not enough hours in the month!
It finally dawned on me this morning why I’ve been so burned out on MMOs the last several weeks … they are like a mana bomb that exploded on my desktop and sucked the everyday joy from my life slowly over time the last several years.
Admittedly, the mana bomb Garrosh Hellscream dropped on Theramore was far more destructive and killed innocent Alliance citizens. However, MMOs may be the ultimate time suck ever created in the last twenty years. The grind for gear, the constantly expanding world, and if you are lucky, the compelling story are all designed to keep players coming back day after day, year after year. There is a definitely appeal to MMOs, personally I like the story lines in the MMOs I play and have become attached to characters over the years. But, honestly after a break the last couple of weeks I don’t miss the grind or the feeling of “oh crap I’m falling behind” that comes with in-game events and expansions.
When I power up my console and load up a game I know that it will have a story I’m interested in (or I wouldn’t be playing it) and I can easily pause the game to change the washer or bake cookies. I’m not constantly having to look for a safe spot to log out and carry on with real life. Admittedly, with DLC for games being so prevalent on consoles there is an argument to be made that there is still a gear grind or always waiting new content but that argument falls flat. DLC is completely optional and most of the time doesn’t interest me and since I rarely, if ever, play multiplayer games on this generation’s console, I am competing against no one else, save my husband for gear. Achievements are nice, and I admit I have on occasion been known to achievement whore, but for me achievements are not important to me overall in a titled.
Another added benefit of console gaming, is that I can enjoy the game’s story while my husband plays and I do something else. More games than I can count have been experienced that way for me and I’m fine with that. He gets to relax and immerse himself in a game and I can read or stitch and still know the story I was interested in without having to play through the game myself. I suppose this benefit is helped because we both gravitate toward the same types of games in general. And heck when he plays games I’m not interested in, I can always fire up my audible.com selection and listen to a good book while stitching.
I’m currently playing LA Noire and enjoying it. I’m going to fire up Tomb Raider this morning for the first time since we purchased it while it was on sale last week. When Assassin’s Creed II released as the free title for Gold Members on 16 July 2013, I will be powering through AC II, AC Brotherhood, AC Revelations, and AC III. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first game from a player’s perspective, but I did enjoy the story. After I tried AC III several weeks ago, I realized that the game play mechanics had improved significantly and I was enjoying the actual game play aspect.
I’m not giving up MMOs, I’m simply checking in with ones I enjoy when the mood strikes me. I’m not going to pay a subscription fee to MMOs any longer. I’ve always been a solo player in MMOs for the most part and thus I’m going to treat them as single player games going forward. Oh I’m sure the mood will strike me once in a while to run group content in an MMO and when it does, I will. However, the other things I enjoy in life are far more important to me than the 1’s and 0’s that are the game and gear of a MMO.
