Hey, Four-Eyes! Does Gaming with a Headset Give You Sore Ears? Read On:

My Windows PC croaked its last breath about a month ago, and being long fed-up with Microsoft's OS, I purchased a refurbished iMac to replace it. Apple's design and OS X are absolutely fantastic, and I haven't looked back once.

The only hitch I've encountered revolved around gaming headsets. The iMac has a audio in jack, but it is just that. A microphone is a much lower-gain widget, and requires amplification to be audible. PC sound cards compensate for this fact with a 20 db mic boost feature, but the iMac sound card doesn't offer such functionality.

I initially started shopping for a USB headset to solve this problem, and found that the industry is offering a pretty wide variety of USB units. Unfortunately, this is only half the story.

Like many other glasses-wearing gamers, I suffer from a comfort problem with the majority of today's headsets. The most popular type of headphones is an on-the-ear (aka "supra-aural") design. The pressure these models exert sandwiches the wings of our glasses between our ears and our skull, and quickly becomes painful.

As such, I've been searching for a headset with both USB connection and also a circumaural (fully around-the-ear) design. Far as I can tell, there ain't no such bird. That said, there are a few nice circumaural models sporting the old PC-style 3.5mm stereo connectors. Hmm...

So, how to hook a PC-style headset up to a Mac? Enter Griffin's iMic product. This little widget accepts both 3.5mm analog audio input and output, performs a full, 24-bit analog-to-digital conversion, and interfaces with a Mac or PC via USB. (So, it's essentially a USB sound card.) What's more, a little switch on the side toggles the input jack between a normal audio line in and an amplified mic input mode - perfect! This cool little widget lists for $50 on the Griffin and Apple online stores, but psst - Buy.com has them for about $35 including 2-day shipping!

I installed mine last night, and enjoyed a raucous, two-hour trip through the Deadmines with some good friends, completely sans ear pain! Can I get a "w00t"?!

BTW, the circumaural headset I picked up is Razer Carcharias (see pic). About $70 on sale at Best Buy, so not cheap - but no ear pain, remember? The sound quality is decent (the frequency response is only an acceptable 20 - 20,000 Hz), but they will certainly do. The mic performance seems just fine as well. They are an open-eared design, but since they are circumaural, they still block what I'd estimate as 30% of outside noise, so you do get a little noise isolation. My wife complained that I was talking a bit loud on Ventrilo, so that is telling in itself.

If any other four-eyed and sore-eared gamers are looking for the next step up on the audiophile ladder, Sennheiser's PC 350 circumaural headset is the ticket. I was very nearly seduced by their excellent 10 - 26,000 Hz frequency response, but couldn't quite justify the price tag. The best price I found was at Amazon - and they were asking $139.

Aliens: Colonial Marines Exterminated? Aliens RPG set to hatch?

Dammit! I had suspected that Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines title might be in serious risk of an airlocking, as news on its development has been sketchy at best. Looks like my fears were realized. I'm seriously disappointed though - this is probably my all-time favorite movie license. [sigh] Game over, man! (Sorry, someone had to say it...)

In more uplifting news, Obsidian Entertainment, the development team behind Neverwinter Nights 2 and KotOR II, are apparently working on an Aliens-themed RPG for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC! Until then, I guess I can only cradle my pulse rifle in anticipation.

Still Alive

Wow - the ol' blog is looking very neglected. Let's start with a catch-up post. We've been pretty busy, and even more so at work, hence the lack of posts.

Left 4 Dead

Most of my gaming group got together last week to test drive the Left 4 Dead demo on XBL. Very freaking fun. We really enjoyed the co-op play, and all the ensuing confusion, complaints, and carnage.

"Bob, why the hell are you three blocks ahead of us??"
"Ack, a smoker grabbed me - help!!"
"No - don't shoot the Boomer yet!! Ahh, crap. Incoming!!!"

Most excellent fun. I loved how the game models zombie-movie conventions. A friend goes down, and another player must go over and spend time helping them up. A "boss" zombie attacks a player, and the others must rescue that player - he can't save himself. All these nuances force the players to act as a team or perish - a great way to foster cooperative play.

My group has been trying to figure out what our next XBL multiplayer game will be, and L4D was a strong candidate. In the end though, most of the group wasn't convinced, due to the lack of any unique single-player content. I'm sure we'll get this game some time, but now right now. Gears of War 2 seemed like another obvious choice, but I think the weak GoW1 story left several of the us underwhelmed. Several others are waiting until closer to the holidays. It looks like Rainbow Six Vegas may be our next XBL venture.


Fallout 3

I've really been having a blast with Fallout 3. We stayed home all of last weekend, and after knocking out a hefty hunk of chores each day, I deliberately carved out a few hours to continue exploring the Capital Wasteland.

The game is simply fantastic, and I'm particularly digging the palpable sense of exploration, the tension of traveling across a hostile, unknown landscape, and especially the extremely well-written quests and story. (I'm level 8 now, and just finishing up the last of the Survival Guide quests.)




Game Night

Our Star Wars Saga Edition session got off to its normal start - namely everyone sitting around chatting, catching up, and generally letting our hair down and decompressing after a long week's work.

Unfortunately, Ken - our designated GM for the evening - had a unexpected hostile random encounter with Neutron Lad and Star Girl (his kids) and we had to close up shop for the night.

This week Ken is busy, so we've got Classic Battletech at Damon's house on the slate. I've been reading a ton of Battletech books lately (Project Phoenix and Total Warfare), so I'm totally jazzed to sling some LRMs, baby!









Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Monday night, Brendan and I headed over to Ken's place to help him playtest MK vs. DCU for his Sci Fi Weekly review. We were all very pleasently surprised.

When this game had been announced, I had been firmly in the "huh??" camp. Suffice it to say, however, that Midway has done a fantastic job of crafting a story that makes the whole premise suprisingly acceptible. In fact, the story (told through a series of cutscenes seamlessly woven into the fight sequences) is very engaging and well-crafted.

The gameplay was likewise satisfying. Midway dropped much of the complexity that had been bolted on to the MK games of late. Gone are all the extraneous weapons, fighting stances, and emphasis on 3rd-dimensional movement. This game feels much more like a back-to-roots, 2008 take on the classic 2D Mortal Kombat games. The move set is simple enough for casual play, and contains enough depth to keep all but the diehard Virtua Fighter junkies engaged. Even given my dislike for the 360's mushy, imprecise d-pad, I still very much enjoyed myself.

The effects and animation were quite good as well. The plastic-doll look that plagued the PS2 MK characters has been overcome, and the whole package is quite pretty. Speaking of which, I must comment on the, er, proportions of the female combatants. The situation was ridiculous enough that we spend half the evening joking about it.

• "Just think how awesome the game would have been if they'd spent less time on boob-bounce physics." - Brendan
• "Oh no! Jax, my breasts have achieved fully sentient status!" - Ken, free-forming a Sonya Blade cutscene voiceover, MST3K style

The New Xbox Experience, or, When Wiivatars Attack!

Well, for good or ill, the '08 Fall Dashboard Update goes live today. (Whose idea was it to let the marketing guys spin a moniker for a freaking system update, anyway?) Out of curiosity, I logged onto XBL this morning while getting ready for work. I was pleased to see that the download was acceptably brief.

Unfortunately, though, the first experience you'll be dumped into is my least favorite feature of the NXE, namely the dorky avatars. Sure, it was pretty easy to create a reasonably close, big-headed faxsimile of myself, but why?? The 360's main demographic is late teen to 30's adult males, and what typical adult male gamer doesn't want ridiculously cutesy, childish figures prancing around on their cutting edge gaming console? Ugh...

What I do like, and test-drove this morning, is the full game install to hard disk feature. I popped in Fallout 3, and the process took about 10 minutes max. Upon firing up the game, I was very relieved to hear, well, the damn game! The optical drive on my red-ring-replacement 360 sounds roughly like a hair dryer on "low" setting, and is particularly annoying if you're trying to play a retail game on any audio level besides full Memorex mode.

The NXE: Xbox audio on "11" no longer necessary!

Our Star Wars RPG Campaign Blog Achieves Orbit

The ever-resourceful Mr. Newquist launched a cool Wordpress blog for our fledgling Star Wars Saga Edition RPG campaign today. (It's like Dungeons & Dragons, but based on the Star Wars movies. Yes, I'm that big a nerd.)

Still much content to be posted, but be sure to check back soon if you're interested in such things.

Fallout 3: Stuck on the Blood Ties quest? Here's a solution.

If, like me, you are working on the Fallout 3 quest Blood Ties and have spend hours searching for The Family without success, check out this blog post from Kelly at Outer Heaven.

All That is Old is Nerd Again

BattleMech Technicians Rule!

I recently started getting back into Classic BattleTech. Though perhaps more on hiatus then off, I've been playing this game for literally decades, and after a rousing game at our yearly weekend gaming fest, Nuke(m)Con, I decided to take the plunge and pick up the Introductory Box Set for my son and I to enjoy. (And, true to my typical nerd-zealotry, a map pack and a TRO too...)

Anyway, with this rekindled interest in BattleTech, I began searching for BT computer games. Firstly, I had never finished Microsoft's MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (a 2000 release), so I started checking to see if there is any widescreen support for it. (My PC is currently equipped with a gorgeous 21 inch WS Samsung LCD, and no way was I sullying it with icky stretched-out Mech graphics...) There does appear to be a registry hack. So far, so good.

Even better, MW4: Mercenaries (the 2002 standalone expansion to Vengeance) has received a ton of rapt aftermarket love from the community. First, MekTek.net has created a MekPak adding 29 more canon mechs to the game, plus more weapons, weapon slots, maps, and camo schemes. (Apparently, one can't use these mechs in campaign mode, however, without using a wonky "selling and buying back a mech three times" exploit. They are all available in the Instant Action and multiplayer modes, though. )

Second and even better, the folks at the MechStorm website have created a high-def patch for MW4: Mercs. It updates the graphics of all the original mechs (and many of the MekTek ones), adds upgraded sound effects, and improves the graphics of many of the rocks, plants, and buildings.

I've already placed an order for MW4: Mercs on nuLime.com...

Finally, a group is creating a total conversion of Crysis called Mechwarrior: Living Legends, and it's due out this winter. Be sure to check out their first teaser trailer - it's well worth the short download. This sucker is full-out BattleTech. It includes vehicles, infantry, aerospace fighters - everything! And stunning graphics that will probably break my PC...

And X-Wing Mechanics, Too!

Now, if you've been reading Ditlog lately (as thousands upon thousands of loyal fans do monthly - uhh, *cough*), you've noticed that I'm also all smitten with the Star Wars universe these days.

During a recent playtest of the starship combat in the SWSE RPG rules, we were talking nostalgically about the old Lucasarts and X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. My buddy Damon mentioned that there had been an updated X-Wing release in the not-too-distant past, so I looked it up.

Not only does X-Wing Alliance (1999) look sweet (and support widescreen), but a group at the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade site has been creating gorgeous updated models and skins for the spacecraft and scenery. I can't wait to try this one out too!

The next step will probably be finding a program to get a gamepad to play nice with these aging games...

My Bittersweet Affair with The Force Unleashed: a Spoiler-Free Review

Well, I finally finished The Force Unleashed yesterday (on Xbox 360). Let me first say that yes, I enjoyed the game - as did my son. In retrospect, I think there are two major factors leading to the lukewarm reviews the game has been receiving.


Kickin' Butt Old School

Firstly, in many ways the gameplay is very retro. To quote TFU project lead Haden Blackman, "this game is about kicking ass with the Force." Thing is though, one needs to kick an awful lot of ass to get from point A to point B. Distilled down, TFU most closely resembles a modern and more versatile version of classic arcade beat 'em up games like Double Dragon or Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Okay, okay - I can already hear the fanboys screaming (as if millions of nerds suddenly cried out in anger and refused to be silenced.) Bear with me and follow along:

• You're moving steadily forward along a highly linear path? Check.
• You are hindered in your progress by hordes of determined, but very similar combatants? Check.
• Fighting involves a lot of button-mashing, and a few relatively simple combos are available to you? Check.
• You get to fight a bigger, tougher, more interesting dude at the end of the level? Check.
• Rinse, repeat? Check.

Now granted, this particular beat 'em up happens to feature some pretty spectacular graphics and sound. And the battlegrounds include cool spaceships, lush alien planets, and sinister space stations. (And it's set in the Star Wars universe too - I almost forgot.)

As I'd mentioned in my preview, the potential exists for the game to come off like a boring button-masher. Don't miss the boat, though - the designers intend for you to wade through your numerous enemies like an orchestral conductor weaving a symphony of dark side destruction. Mix and vary your force powers and attacks, make use of all the interesting combos available to you, and challenge yourself to fling that stormtrooper or punt that jawa just a bit farther than the last time. Because even so, your thumb will probably be sore by the end of your play session - to some extent it's up to you to make it interesting.

You will probably also need to approach the tougher fights like you would those in an old school game. In the end, almost all the bosses and unique sequences require following some kind of pattern or trick. Many of the press reviews complained about such segments of the game, but maybe I'm a little more immune since I'm a crusty old Gen X gamer who cut his teeth on content like this.

Test that boss for weaknesses, watch for patterns, and take advantage of soft spots. Personally, I found the boss battles very interesting and engaging, and once the "trick" was discovered, the difficulty of the fight was much less than at first blush. Don't be too embassased to check GameFaqs either - there are a few spots where the solutions just aren't very evident.

Regarding boss fights, I'm not sure I like the QTE's. That mechanic does allow the designers to involve the player during a cinematic sequence, but I find myself missing most of the action due to focusing on the next button-press prompt. I think my vote is "meh" - I prefer fighting the boss in real time and then watching a cinema after I've beaten them.

One last retro facet is the search for hidden "jedi holocrons" that offer additional experience and power-ups. Some are hidden, and many of the more obvious require a hackle-raising series of jumps and timing to reach. If you really want to max out your character by the end of the game though, make the search for these golden goodies a priority and have fun looking - I did.


Polished, it is Not

The second weakness of the game contributing heavily to the critical raspberries is the lack of general polish and fine-tuning. TFU simply feels a bit rushed to market. Yes, the graphics are beautiful and detailed, the sound and voicework commendable, and the physics modeling excellent. On the other hand, the camera control is often spastic and contrary, the frame rate hitches frequently, and the horizontal tearing is distractingly prominent. Perhaps Lucasarts is simply pushing the 360 to its processing limits, but I'd speculate that further optimization of the graphics engine would have alleviated most of these issues. Topping off the mechanical maladies, the menu system is clunky and annoyingly slow-loading.

The gameplay itself could have benefited from further tuning as well. The timing of many enemies' attacks seemed to coincide exactly to your character's recovery speed, such that even the lowliest EVO trooper is sometimes able to knock you down repeatedly. Hordes of such enemies - common towards the end of the game - find you frequently stun locked and frustrated. Add a sniping Scout Trooper or two to the mix, or maybe several rocket-firing Jump Troopers who hover in silently out of our field of vision, and you're off to the loading screen once more.

It also bothered me that several enemies were only defeatable through spamming a single attack - several force bars worth of the same attack, mind you. Such an arrangement often finds you running in circles, dodging attacks and waiting for your force power to regenerate. Your thumbstick skills will be tested, but such play is a bit one-dimensional.

Now to my final gameplay bitch. I know that the designers were trying to dream up ways to challenge your incredibly-powerful character, but if the Empire really possessed this many Force-immune super-troopers, would the jedi knights have ever posed an actual threat?


Redemption

Despite all these drawbacks however, I still enjoyed the game. Sure, the gameplay can get a little repetitive, but you're repeatedly trashing stormtroopers with Force-lightning and lightsaber slashes. I'll take such tasks over hopping on mushrooms any day.

Speaking of weird flora, the planets (and starships) featured in the game are beautiful and varied, and your enemies behave convincingly and are well-animated and -voiced. The excellent application of physics effects also aids the player's suspension of disbelief.

In the end, after all of all its temptation towards the dark side of game quality, TFU is thankfully redeemed by its engaging story. Lucasarts has somehow managed to concoct a new and interesting character closely tied with major players from the movies, while successfully shoehorning him into the overarching movie plots in a manner both satisfying and uncontrived. I appreciated how the FU story paints Starkiller as a major influence on the events leading up to A New Hope, but not in a way that might raise the ire of lifelong fans. Bravo to Mr. Blackman and his writing team.

Gerstmanngate: GameSpot Editors Talk

During my commute this morning, I listened to GameSpot's "The Hotspot" podcast. This week, the GS editors addressed what issues they could involving Jeff Gerstmann's firing, and tried to defuse some of the community's perhaps misguided ire.

After hearing their take, I'm not sure I am entirely convinced of CNET's motives, but the GameSpot editors have allayed my concerns about their end of the business. They seem genuinely shocked at both Mr. Gerstmann's firing and the community's torch-and-pitchfork reaction to last week's events. It is clear to me that this team remains true to their goal or providing the ethical coverage that's kept me coming back to their site for years, and I'm glad to hear it.

The question is corporate CNET's motives aside, I'm going to continue to frequent the GameSpot site. In fact, I renewed my subscription this morning to show my support to what seems like a group of highly dedicated, genuine game journalists. I wish the GameSpot team good luck in regaining any lost trust from their readers, and Mr. Gerstmann the same in his future endeavors.

More Spiff/Coulton WoW Video Love - Uh, Literally...

First off, I'd like to apologize to the incredibly long list of people out there that (don't) read Ditlog for the lack of content. I was hoping that Ditlog would generate a little more buzz and interaction, but seeing none, I've been less than motivated to spend time writing.

Moreover, I'm working on content for a new podcast, so my creative energies have been channeled in that direction. Basically, we're crafting an instructional, episodic World of Warcraft audio program. Expect the content to start out basic, with tips and advice for all the new players out there. As the show progresses, we will delve into more and more advanced strategy. Look for an announcement here with more info soon.

Anyway, back on track, I just wanted to point out that Spiff has released yet another great WoW machinima music video for one of Jonathan Coulton's great tunes, this time First of May. Warning: the song lyrics and especially the video content are very adult in nature - probably not work-safe, and definitely not kid-safe. Enjoy!

Spiff's WoW-based Jonathan Coulton Music Videos

Using captured and choreographed World of Warcraft footage, Mike "Spiff" Booth has created some great music videos for a few of Jonathan Coulton's funny, geek-centric songs, including "Skullcrusher Mountain" and my absolute favorite, "re: Your Brains". Check them out on Spiff's YouTube page, and be sure to visit Jonathan Coulton's site as well of course, if you haven't already.

Back to WoW

So, after almost exactly a month, I re-started my WoW account. Sure, Oblivion has been a lot of fun, and Guild Wars wasn't too bad, but I guess I just missed Azeroth. WoW is like the video-gaming version of a favorite, comfy pair of jeans.

I'm still going to have to try to find things to keep me intersted until the expansion, but the new short battleground queues have me very curious about PvP, and I'm also exploring the two Undead starting zones (new to me) with Darkken the rogue, who's now level 10 and sleeping soundly in the inn at Brill.

Now, if I only had a murloc pet...

3-D Display Tech on the Horizon

Ugh - so many posts in my head, but work has been a madhouse since returning from vacation. I've no energy left to write when I get home...

Check out this Wired News article about Phillips' new 3D digital display technology. Apparently, this is no gimmicky, semi-functional tech demo, but rather a product that appears to be nearly ready for a commercial release.

I am so ready for some gaming on a 20' flatscreen monitor with this technology, even if it means I have to spring for a quad-SLI rig to power it!

Guild Wars - Initial (but Lengthy) Impressions

I picked up Guild Wars last weekend as another MMORPG to try during my WoW hiatus. I must say, I've been very pleasantly surprised.


A Different Kind of MMO

GW differs from most other MMO's in one notable fashion: as soon as you leave a town for the wild, you will be adventuring in your own private "instanced" copy of that area. The only other players you can interact with are those in your party. There are no random encounters with other players, allied or enemy, when playing PvE content in GW. This situation can be a boon, since there's no competition for spawns or goals, and the chat channels are blissfully free of idiotic banter. The only downside is that you'll never be able to solicit help from a passerby, but this seems a small concession. ArenaNet's unique MMO architecture also requires only one global GW "server", which means that everyone who plays GW - worldwide - shares the same space. As such, there will be never be the problem of a friend potentially playing on a different server than you.


The Gameplay

On the surface, GW plays like most other fantasy MMORPGs. One runs around exploring, completing quests provided by NPC's, fighting enemies and collecting loot. Note that GW does an exceptional job of making quests non-tedious. The game plot is seamlessly woven into the quests, and in this area I feel that ArenaNet's execution was even more effective than Blizzard's World of Warcraft questing, which I also thought an improvement over the sometimes-tedious grind of previous MMORPG's.

GW could perhaps be considered a bit "lighter" than many other MMO's. It could accurately be called a comfortable fusion of Diablo II-style play and a full-blown MMO. Still, it has a great deal of depth in its own right - make no mistake.

The time to level a character up to max level (20 in this case) also seems considerably shortened. I believe this factor was by design, as the main focus of the GW endgame is group PvP combat. This isn't to say that PvE content ends at level 20 - far from it. Most players will continue to quest in the PvE realms to gather more powerful gear and skills.

On that note, a word about the true innovation of the GW character framework. I am quite convinced that ArenaNet consciously took a page from the CCG and collectible miniatures book when designing this game. Guild Wars is all about designing your character, and a strategy behind playing it, just like the focus of a CCG or HeroClix is collecting and building an effective and interesting deck or army.

Before explaining my CCG analogy, I'll give a quick background of character creation in Guild Wars. Each character chooses both a primary and (eventually) a secondary Profession (GW-speak for class). Each profession has 4 or 5 disciplines called Attributes associated with it, and each attribute governs a list of Skills, which represent special attacks, magical spells and other abilities.

For example, the Ranger Profession has the attributes Marksmanship, Wilderness Survival, and Beast Mastery. Furthermore, characters with Ranger as their primary profession may also access skills and effects based on the Ranger's Primary Attribute, Expertise.

Each time a character levels up, the player receives more attribute points (AP) to spend to increase the effectiveness of all skills based on that attribute. Skills, on the other hand, must be acquired through adventuring - either by earning them from a quest reward, buying them from a skill trainer, or capturing them from a boss enemy in the wild. Collecting Skills is much like collecting new CCG cards - each one opens the possibility of a new potential strategy or powerful combination. Gotta catch 'em all!

Here's where the "deck building" aspect comes in. Unlike other MMOs, the choices of how many AP are spent on each Attribute may be rearranged any time a character returns to a town - there is no restriction, fee, or penalty associated with rearranging one's character configuration.

Moreover, even though there is an extensive list of 100 total skills available to each Profession, characters may only utilize a set list of eight while adventuring. So, from the potential selection of 200 skills from their primary and secondary professions, a character must narrow their choices to a measly eight before leaving town!

As you can now see, designing and choosing an effective "character build" for a given mission or PvP battle is paramount. The build encompasses choosing complimentary equipment, distribution of Attribute Points, and a strategic list Skills to place in one's eight available slots. Further customization follows when deciding which character classes, and more specifically character builds, to include within an adventuring party or PvP force. An incredible amount of synergy may be created via the hundreds of possible skills available to a group of characters - anything from a versatile, well-rounded group to a finely focused approach designed around a single strategy. The choices are virtually limitless. Bravo, ArenaNet!


Graphics and Sound

No question, this game is really gorgeous. The "realistic" approach to the art style is a refreshing change to WoW's highly stylized, almost cartoonish atmosphere. The game also runs very smoothly given the high levels of detail - it is clear that the programming was efficiently done. Note that the Prophesies campaign runs under a DirectX 8 architecture, while subsequent releases are DX 9. All are quite attractive.

Guild Wars' sound quality is also notable. The effects are crisp and likeable, and I immediately noticed that the volume levels seemed very polished. Sound in World of Warcraft always seemed harsh to me - it always felt like the balance between the effects, voice, and music was impossible to adjust properly - and my wife was forever complaining about the intrusiveness of the sound. GW, though, seems to get it all right. One can always tell what's happening from audio queues, but the sound is never overbearing. Even better, an always-excellent Jeremy Soule soundtrack completes the very-satisfying aesthetic package.

I also really like the content delivery system. After a quick initial download of the updates beyond what resided on the install CDs, one is immediately off to the races. Additions to content are downloaded a little at a time, so there's no big download with a new "update" arrives. Note also that when an update is released, GW simply politely reminds you to restart the game the next time you return to a town. No servers resetting or anything that interrupts play time - very well done. It should also be noted that the game loads *extremely* quickly, and one can also sign off at a moment's notice. Touches like this really help if one only has a few minutes to play.


Presentation/Production

So far, there are only a few game features that I feel are truely lacking. One is the chat and communication interface. GW characters have both first and last names, and there is no mechanism to simply click on a character near you and select "whisper" or group "invite" - one must actually type out the whole name. Rather annoying. The Friends and Guild lists are a bit more functional though - one can click on those names to create a new message or group invite. Also, once you've added a character to your Friends list, they will appear regardless of which one of their particular characters is online - a nice feature that puts the emphasis of identity on a player rather than a character.

Also, the documentation is fairly thin in several areas. The Prophesies manual neglects to even mention several very crucial aspects of the game - the concept of Salvaging, for instance. I did browse the .pdf manual for Factions online, and it seemed like ArenaNet did remedy several of these important omissions. From what I'm hearing, the newbie zones of Factions also consciously do a much better job of teaching new players all the basic play mechanics. New Prophesies players, however, will probably have to visit fan sites to truely learn all the important aspects of the game. Several notable pages are the GuildWiki, GWOnline, and GuildWarsGuru.


Lots of Versions - What's the Difference?

Specifically, I bought the Game of the Year edition of the original GW "campaign", which is subtitled Prophesies. Considering that this MMO is going for $40 at GameStop/EBGames stores and that GW requires no monthly subscription, it's quite a deal.

More on the different "campaigns", or "chapters". First off, GW promises to launch two "chapters" or "campaigns" per year. The first, Prophesies, was a traditional fantasy setting, although more Conan-like than Tolkein. The second, Factions, is a Asian-inspired setting. Shortly, a third campaign, Nightfall, will offer a North African-styled setting. If players purchase multiple settings, their characters can travel back and forth between those continents in-game.

The newer campaign releases are selling for $50, and Gamestop/EBGames is the only vendor where I've seen the original campaign for $40. Comparing ArenaNet's pricing to other MMO's, their model ends up being much less expensive, even for the hardcore player. A monthly WoW subscription would cost a player $180 annually, plus another $30 for the game. Even if one buys both campains that ArenaNet releases per year, Guild Wars will bring a $100 per year price tag. If a player is only interested in one of the GW settings, the cost is even cheaper.

One last note about the different versions of the Prophesies campaign. US players interested in buying Prophesies will want to look for the Game of the Year edition, since each character they create will have access to an exclusive, very powerful weapon for their class. These weapons do require a certain skill level to wield, however. For example my level 9 Ranger (the level cap is 20) will be able to wield this special bow, which rivals the power of many endgame weapons. A nice touch, ArenaNet!

Until We Meet Again, WoW

I made a decision yesterday afternoon that might come as a surprise to those who know me well. I decided to cancel my world of Warcraft subscription. Azeroth and I have had a long, torrid love affair. At this point though, I think it's time for us to start seeing other people.

I still love the game - I always will. (It's not you, WoW, it's me...) I just realized that I'm slogging away again and again at the same content. Basically, I've been running the same instances over and over with my sights set on one helmet and two swords. Is that reward along really worth 2 or 3 months of my video gaming life?

At this point in my WoW career, I've been most everywhere and experienced most everything. Barring the two Undead race starting zones, and several endgame dungeons, I've basically experienced everything that Blizzard has to offer, multiple times.

The problem with endgame content is that organizing a play session is not trivial. In general, I need to schedule a session at least a week in advance with my friends, and we're talking two weeks' advance notice for raids. My life is very busy, and this kind of rigidity is very inconvenient. I hate it when my wife comes in and I can't just hit "pause" to talk with her, because 39 other people are depending on me to pay close attention to the game. Or if my family wants to make spontaneous plans, and I have to say, "uh, sorry guys - I have a raid tonight."

I'm tired of the pressure to play that the $15 subscription places on me. I don't want to feel guilty for playing other games.

I've been playing this game for a year and a half straight, almost exclusively. My Xbox is covered in dust like some ancient Egyptian artifact, and the games that I have purchased since building my new gaming rig remain largely lonely and untouched.

I bought Oblivion and Battlefield 2, both outstanding games, and there they still sit in their boxes, barely used. I want to play Half Life 2. I want to play F.E.A.R. I want to try Crysis when it comes out, and Spore just looks yummy. I want something new.

That said, I'm sure I'll be back to WoW when the expansion come out. Content is really the only thing I'm missing right now. I still love the community and the camaraderie of a guild. I just need a change of pace.

So, for my friends that I've pulled into the game, especially Tarrek and Peric, I apologize for dropping out of the game that I pushed you so hard to join. Blizzard saves one's characters indefinitely though, so I know that Erilar will be waiting to join you in our climb to level 70 when Burning Crusade launches.

I'd also really like to figure out some other games to jump in to. I'd love us to all settle on a single shooter that we could occasionally play together like we did WoW. Maybe Half Life 2 or F.E.A.R or Battlefield 2?

I'm also planning on checking out Guild Wars (the original release subtitled "Prophesies", not the newer one called "Factions"). It's a "lite" MMO, with no monthly subscription fee. I figure it would be a sandbox we can jump into like we did with WoW, and my son and I could also play together without feeling like we're draining our bank account by wantonly paying for two subscriptions.

Anyway, farewell Azeroth, and sorry to those I recruited and am leaving behind. I'm sure we'll meet again in Outland.

Strategic Caffeine Deployment

The idea for this post has been rolling around in my head for quite a while. It's so hard to find time to write sometimes!

Caffeine is a funny subject. Specifically, why is there such a link between caffeine-worship and the geek subculture? Is there some kind of predilection for the geek brain to crave a slow Mountain Dew buzz? Certainly, the average geek probably enjoys a certain level of cranial stimulation - video games, scifi and fantasy movies positively dripping with outlandish special effects and action scenes, and of course the short attention span theatrics of the web. So, does the caffeine hum also even us out, in the same fashion (but to a lesser extent) that Ritalin might a child with Attention Deficit Disorder?

There is also the possibility that we cherish the edge that caffeine provides when we've a controller or mouse in hand and we're looking to unleash virtual electric death on our opponents. Myself, I'm quite convinced that "doing the Dew", as it were, can bestow a boost to reaction time that truly gives on a leg up on one's iEnemies.

I remember a NukemCon (one of our home-grown weekend gaming fests) about a year back when we were all sitting around playing Halo 1 over a network of linked Xboxes. I'd been chugging Mountain Dew all afternoon while we were boardgaming - it had been a long weekend of gaming, with many a late night with dice in hand, and I was trying to perk up a bit. At the point when we sat down to take a break and play some Halo 1, my brain was humming like a turbocharged, 2-liter boxer engine at 6500 RPMs.

Long story short, I was in the zone - buzzing and unstoppable. There was about a 20 minute period where I got my hands on a rocket launcher, and was killing Ken and Bob over and over again, seemingly invulnerable and uncannily accurate. They eventually threw their hands up, and said, "OK - enough of that for a while!" It's not that I'm better than them - both of those guys usually play Halo a bit better than me. My reaction time simply felt hummingbird-quick and my senses preternaturally aware. Quake Shake, indeed! (Be sure to check out the preceding link - one of the funniest PvP strips EVER!)

I myself have been a bit of a caffeine worshipper over the years, so I suppose I play into the geek stereotype nicely. There is a half-kilo bag of pure, food-grade, 100% caffeine powder in my office cabinet at work. You see, I am a coatings chemist by trade, and I'd weaseled a sample of the geek ambrosia from one of the chemical distributor salesmen that call on me (he also calls on food companies).

I'm going to stress right here that this material is nothing to mess around with casually. Ingested, the lethal adult dose is reportedly only about 10 grams. I suppose one's heart might have a hard time handling a pick-me-up of that magnitude... As they say on TV, certainly a "do not try this at home kids - leave this to the experts" type situation. That said, I'm obviously well-versed in measuring and dilution techniques, and in handling hazardous substances, so I consider myself to fit that experts-only bill.

I've messed around with a few different interesting recipes. My caffeinated spring water beverage (active content equal to that of Mountain Dew) is as low-cal as a "soda" can get, and my personal favorite, caffeinated Jell-O Jigglers, is perfect for a snack during a late night table-top gaming session. :)

Back to the Deployment portion of the piece. A while back, I stopped drinking soda on a regular basis, mostly for health reasons. Coupled with a reasonable diet, I lost 10 pounds in a relatively short period. I was drinking one cup of tea in the morning when I got to work, and that was about it. (I'm now mostly on a coffee kick, and a 16-oz travel mug of java love is a permanent fixture in the dash cupholder of my WRX on my half-hour morning commutes.)

Since cutting out the frequent soda, I've had to really watch my intake of caffeinated beverages. If I drink a cup of coffee or glass of soda after 4 or 5 PM, I can expect to still be sitting in front of World of Warcraft at 2 AM - it really affects me strongly now. My one cup of coffee is all I really need anymore, and it lasts me throughout the morning, and on late gaming nights, a single glass of Dew will keep me going till my Subaru carries me to my front door.

Those of you that find yourself drinking soda or coffee all day might consider cutting back, if only as a temporary experiment and/or easy diet method. You may just find out that you don't really need all that go-juice, and that you're really just wiring yourself to the gills and guzzling empty calories needlessly.

That said, the next time I log on to Halo 2 or Battlefield 2, I'll probably still have a Dew handy in my coaster. Take that, Devilfish!

Arkham Horror Audio Review

Just a quick note to check out the latest installment of the Radio Active podcast (#34) over at Ken Newquist's speculative fiction website, Nuketown. Ken kindly asked me to join him to collaborate on a review of one of our gaming group's newest obsessions, Arkham Horror.

Arkham Horror is published by Fantasy Flight Games, and is an engrossing cooperative board game based on the timless, creepy fiction of H. P. Lovecraft and the cult favorite (pun intended) Chaosium Games' RPG, Call of Cthulhu.

What? Video Games DON'T Cause Real-World Violence?!?

Just wanted to post a link to a great article debunking Big Media's "video games = violence" crapathon. Great Stuff. One amateur video game writer, using government-published statistics, easily and intelligently squashes all the combined blustering of the Far Right and the media. Precious! :)

Grand Theft Auto - embrace it, my children!

Fine print: Ditlog does not condone parents allowing their young children to play GTA. Lots and lots of soccer moms read Ditlog daily and I need to be careful to qualify this stuff...

Battle Planner - Check it Out!

After a long hiatus, I've recently gotten back into playing some HeroClix with friends, and wanted to give some props to a great program called Battle Planner. I've been using this great database for a few years now, and it really deserves a close look from any of you who play collectible miniatures and/or card games.

The program keeps an inventory of your collection, and empowers you to more easily and intelligently construct new armies/teams/decks. Via a variety of different tools - filters, sorting, statistics - it allows one to get a better top-down view of their collection, and best utilize all the strengths and combinations available from your inventory of game pieces.

Data modules are available for virtually all the major collectible games out there, and for quite a few of the more obscure ones as well. The site also maintains a link page for accessing player-compiled sets of playing-piece images. (The creators are not allowed to provide "official" images themselves due to copyright restrictions.)

Unless you have a photographic memory, you will be hard pressed to remember the exact details of every game piece when putting together a new deck or miniatures force. Battle Planner puts all this data at your fingertips, and will make you a more competitive player in the process (ast least from the standpoint of creating a deck or army).

I've used BP for HeroClix, Mechwarrior, VS cards, and most recently, WizKids' great constructible Pirates game.

(If you're interested in Pirates, be sure to check out the cool new Pirates of Davy Jones' Curse expansion. WizKids' new expansion has introduced a bunch of cool fantasy elements to the game - ghost ships, sea monsters, and the spooky Cursed faction, which really give this great, very affordable, fast-paced game a supernatural shot in the arm.)

In closing, Battle Planner is very affordable, and in dealing with the creators Shawn and Todd over the years, I have learned that they are very nice guys and support their product thoroughly. Pay their site a visit!

USB Headsets: What You May Not Know

I frequently play WoW with a headset for voice communication, and I think most of our spouses get tired of the endless gunfire and explosions when we're playing FPS's. So, most of us find the need to play with headphones on at some point or another.

While recently building my new PC (see previous posts on that project starting in April '06), I found out something very interesting: a USB headset bypasses your sound card entirely.

I had specced in a nice Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card for my new rig, specifically because of their well-received CMSS-3D headphone technology, which was supposed to be the best simulated surround sound technology for a headset ever.

Upon getting my new system assembled, I was very surprised and a little bummed out to discover that the nice $50 Logitech USB 350 headset that I'd been using for over a year would not make use of my powerful new sound card in any fashion. So, I wanted to put the word out.

Certainly, there are positive features to a USB headset. If you're playing on a laptop, or another system with a less-than-stellar soundcard or integrated sound, then you'll most likely benefit from the digital signal processing chip that is a component of most USB headsets. Moreover, if your system is not the most powerful, a USB set will reduce some of the system burden by processing its own sound.

If you're a gaming enthusiast with a nice, turbo-charged sound card though, buyer beware. The USB headsets are typically about $20 more than the normal analog type, and if you've got a decent sound board, you're getting nothing for your extra cash.

As far as the X-Fi and its fancy 3D surround processing for headsets goes, I got to test it out last night. I'd ordered a new Plantronics Gamecom 1 headset (not the Gamecom Pro 1 - that one is USB), along with Plantronics' very handy headset/speaker switch. (Without this switch, if you alternately uses an analog headset and speakers, you must crawl under your desk to swap jacks when you change between headset and speakers - annoying and inconvenient.)

Short story, Creative's CMSS-3D processing is not hype - it sounds great. There is a very clear distinction between sounds that are in front of you and those that are behind you. I've no idea how they do this, but the positional audio is as effective as a set of 5.1 surround speakers - quite impressive.

In summary, as the saying goes, usually you get what you pay for. If you're a gaming enthusiast with a powerful dedicated sound card though, the extra $20 or more for a USB headset won't get you the added value you might be anticipating. Get yourself the analog version of the headset you like and continue to enjoy all the whiz-bangs that you expected from your cool sound card.

Making Money in World of Warcraft

As a busy gaming parent, the acquisition of prestigious, expensive items such as Epic mounts in World of Warcraft seems like an unattainable goal. If you're like me, you might get to raid Molten Core or Zul'Gurub a few times per week (if you're lucky), but raiding has never made anyone much cash, has it...

Seeing as a raid here and there is pretty much the only WoW playing time I get, the normal (but time-intensive) money-making methods such as running the 5- and 10-man endgame instances, soloing Scarlet Monastery, or farming for crafting raw materials, are just not an option.

So, how else can an enterprising Night Elf make a quick gold piece? No, I'm not referring to dancing nude for tips on top of the mailbox outside the Ironforge bank! Instead, I have discovered that the Auction House is the answer to my gold flow problems. Just like playing the stock market, it is possible to make a considerable sum of money on the AH by the time-honored approach of buying low and selling high.

Normally, one does not give away their most precious money-making schemes for fear of losing their edge to bandwagon-jumpers. Seeing as how 90% of WoW players play on servers other than mine, perhaps I won't lose out too badly by being a nice guy.

Before you run off in a lather to log on to your favorite toon, be warned. An unprepared AH prospector will walk away with only moths in his pockets if he is not careful. Read on, Sir Warbucks.

I use several tools to help me quickly identify good deals and verify that they should be a "safe" purchase. The first is a fairly hefty WoW addon called Auctioneer. This handy tool performs scans of the Auction House, cataloging price info about each item. One merely has to mouse over a particular item, whether in one's inventory or in the AH itself, and an enhanced tooltip appears describing such useful data as the average price that the item goes for on the AH, how many times it's been scanned by Auctioneer, and how much an NPC vendor would buy the item for.

Each time you scan, another snapshot of the AH prices is processed by Auctioneer's statistical algorithms, and the more accurate Auctioneer's prices become. Auctioneer can certainly be fooled by instances of outrageously-priced items, but in general, it is fairly good at identifying good deals.

But, you say, I don't want to spend all day pouring over every item on the AH looking for a good buy. Fear not, faithful financier. Auctioneer includes a Search Auctions function that does most of the work for you. This search function is even implemented as an added tab within the AH screen itself - how convenient! Simply specify whether you're looking for sweet deals on auctions soon to expire, or juicy low buyout prices. By changing several filter options, one can literally say, "hey Auctioneer - find me all Blue or rarer items with buyouts that should, upon resale, net me 10 gold or more per transaction". Viola, this great addon spits out a sortable list.

Now, as I'd mentioned earlier, Auctioneer can be temporarily fooled by crazy-high prices. Example: let's assume an overzealous seller places several extra-high 50g buyouts on a Nightraven crossbow, and that you had scanned a few times during that period. The following day, when a more reasonable seller puts a Nightraven up for the typical 25g price, Auctioneer might consider that "normal" buyout price for the crossbow a sweet deal. In reality though, if you jumped on that 25g buyout, you'd be lucky to sell it for that and break even.

So how do we make sure that Auctioneer isn't feeding us bad tips? I use two simple cross-checks:

My primary cross-check is a web site called Allakhazam. Using this site's search tool, one can peruse long-term pricing of one's target item. Allakhazam's excellent item price database shows all kinds of great AH statistics - median, average, and most common prices, and even a histogram. The only downfall to Allakhazam is that the data has been gathered across all servers and server types. Still, I have found it to be largely accurate, which isn't suprising considering that the sample size is typically very large. Allakhazam's data is typically based on thousands of sales of the target item, over a period anywhere from around a month to as short as only a few days!

OK, so Allakhazam says that my target item (say, our Nightraven crossbow) sells for a median price of 25 gold. How do I double-check that my server follows suit? Simple - my second price cross-check is to consult the AH itself. Once you find a potential deal, switch to the AH Scan tab (the built-in Blizzard AH scan that you've always used when looking for items). Check to see if any other instances of your item are for sale. This method will catch several potential problems:

First, if there are lots of other auctions for the same item, and several foolish sellers are unloading their swag for less-than-typical prices, you'd have a hard time selling your item.

Finally, it is possible that your server's market is simply a bit different than the "average" market predicted by Allakhazam's data. Perhaps one guild has been running UBRS non-stop and the AH is saturated with drops from that dungeon. Supply and demand will drive local prices down temporarily, etc.

The only other reality check that you need will be common sense. For example, this morning, I found a piece of mail armor that seemed to be a great potential buy. Upon second glance however, I noticed that the stats were basically Int and Spirit. No hunter is going to be very interested in that piece - it's actually a shaman item, hence the extra-low price. I never would have sold it for the attractive Allakhazam median price, which also takes into account Horde-side pricing.

Good luck, and strike gold!