A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: General Cogitation Page 34 of 40

The Chuck Norris ..er MMO Times

Issue 22

Hello Gamers! I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. Here are some of the postings I found during my various opportunities to peruse the internet during my holiday. I hope you enjoy.

F2P DCUO Pays Off

I find the shift to Free-2-Play paradigm fascinating. Some of the games that have converted to F2P were met with failure, recently Lego Universe suffered this fate. Recently Sony decided to take DC Universe Online Free-2-Play and it looks like it paid off. I’m glad to hear that this worked out well for them. I found an interesting read at Venture Beat.
Venture Beat article

Chuck Norris Commercial

Blizzard aired a new WoW Commercial during the football games the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Yes, the newest celebrity to don a World of Warcraft character is the iconic Chuck Norris. Below is the video but for the e-mail I have a link to the WoW Insider post that contains the video for you to watch. Iconic, yet a bit corny. Enjoy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arKpdxjHamI[/youtube]
WoW Insider post

Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculators

Blizzard unveiled the Mists of Pandaria talent calculators. I suspect WoW Head will have theirs updated to match the official talent calculators. I haven’t been able to look at them too much yet but its exciting to get to play around with them early.
WoW Insider post

TORHead Beta

One of my favorite websites for World of Warcraft is WoW Head. I love the information about all the loot and the talent calculator. Last week the beta of TORHead went live. It also has talent calculators, item details, crew skills, all the stuff you would expect it to have based on WoW Head. I’m very excited.
TOR Head website

WoW Patch 4.3 Live

The final patch for the Cataclysm expansion hit the live servers this week. The final raid, Dragon Soul, is now available to raiders. This is the final showdown with Deathwing. Players will also receive Transmog, Void Storage, three new instances as well as a few other goodies. The post from MMO-Champion has an excellent summation. WoW Insider has the official announcement from Bashiok.
WoW Insider article
MMO-Champion post

I also provide The MMO Times in an e-mail. If you are interested in receiving the e-mail version please subscribe

Giving Thanks

So I’m sitting here with my in-laws on the eve of Thanksgiving. We’re just chatting, watching random stuff on TV and it does occur to me to think about what I am thankful for, so here is a post about that very thing.

Foremost, I am thankful for my wife. She makes me a better person everyday.

Obviously I am thankful for my family. The ones I’ve always had and the new family I have had going on four years now. All of my family is amazing and I’m very fortunate to have them and I’m also very fortunate that we all get along. I know there are some families out there where that isn’t the case. Therefore I’m thankful for even the small things.

After family I’m very thankful for my friends. Although in quite a few cases its hard to distinguish between family and friends but I feel friends still deserve to be singled out. I wouldn’t be who I am today or where I am today without my friends. They have been there through hardest of times and the joyous of times. I couldn’t have survived high school, college and life without them.

There are many other blessings I am thankful for and the Lord knows what those are but I don’t feel like going into much more then family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Very Sparkly

I am probably going to have my man can revoked but I watched the first Twilight movie on Monday. My wife wanted to watch them because of all the hype so I told her that I would watch them with her.

I am somewhat of a fan of vampire lore. I love the True Blood series. So I do have a few expectations when it comes to vampire lore. I think the first movie was alright, not quite as bad as I expected but there are two things that do bother me about the “alternative interpretation” to some of the vampire lore.

I know everyone has already mocked the Twilight movies about vampires sparkling. I’m sure Stephanie Meyer was just romanticizing the vampire lore to tell her love story but nearly every other vampire story will depict a vampire bursting into flames when they come in contact with sunlight. Vampires also do not have a reflection, and the climatic scene in Twilight takes place in a ballet studio and all the vampires have reflections in the mirrors. I think these two are some pretty core vampire lore, much like pointed ears on elves. While I can let the reflection thing slide, I’m having a hard time letting go of the sparkles.

So, while I’m definitely not a fan of sparkling vampires, so far I don’t think its a terrible movie. I told her I would watch the remainder the movies with her so I am interested to see how things transpire. The reviews I have been hearing about the one currently in theaters is that its much darker. Perhaps we will see the true brutality of vampires.

The Amazing Impact of Novels

I just finished reading the last book of the Inheritance Cycle (which I highly recommend, seriously, read it!) and I cannot remember the last time, if ever, I felt such heart ache at the end of a series. You can call me whatever you want, a dork, and pansy; but Christopher Paolini created such a connection between the characters and the reader you would swear the inspiration was taken from the relationship between Rider and dragon.

The series ended the way they should have ended and I was still nearly moved to tears. I still find myself (even hours after having finished the book) yearning for a different ending. I keep amusing myself with the thought that maybe if I read the last one hundred pages again the ending will be different. Rarely will a novel make such a profound impact on me.

Despite my longing for the proverbial “fairy tale ending” I think its the sign of a great author to leave me feeling the way I feel. I think Christopher Paolini has an amazing career ahead of him. The Inheritance books are an amazing series, so amazing that I find it difficult to pick up another book until these feelings have passed.

Forever “Eterno Paterno”

Before I express my opinion of the firing of Joe Paterno, let me make one thing very clear. Jerry Sandusky is a scum bag of the worst kind. What he did is reprehensible! Any kind of sexual abuse where the victim is of any age is reprehensible, but his egregious acts are of a different level. A level that has a special place in hell. He should be castrated and imprisoned with cell mates convicted of similar crimes. I’m sure his pretty face will be quite pleasing to the other sex offenders.

So what about Joe? First of all I am not a Penn State fan by any means. As a Purdue grad, I loathed playing Penn State because they were always tough to beat. The reason they were tough to beat was Joe Paterno. Despite the fact that I wasn’t a fan, I respect Joe Paterno for what he has done for the university and for his acolytes as a college football head coach. His accomplishments will be insurmountable.

Nine years ago Paterno learned about Sandusky’s crimes and reported him to the university authorities. Many would agree that he should have done more, perhaps even fire Sandusky on the spot. Nobody, except Joe, knows why he didn’t do more. Perhaps he was so offended and revolted by the crime that he wanted nothing more to do with Jerry Sandusky.

Yesterday Joe Paterno announced that he would resign in light of the scandal, stating that he wish he had done more. A respectable exit, for a respectable man. Before his signature had time to dry the board of trustees had an emergency meeting and fired Joe Paterno under the guise of sparing the universities’ reputation further damage.

This is how they treat a legend?!? In my opinion their actions have tarnished the reputation of the school more than what Paterno allegedly should have done nine years ago! Again, nobody knows the real reason the board fired Paterno but my guess is they just needed to flex their muscles for everyone. They wanted to illustrate that they are doing something to calm the swell of controversy.

Pfft!!! Tell that to the 2,000+ students that rioted in retaliation for the board’s decision!

Obviously the board was just looking for a scapegoat. So why does Joe Paterno have to be the one to bend over and take it up the ass? (Too soon?)

In my eyes Joe Paterno’s impeccable reputation remains in tack. I don’t think legendary status should be tarnished because some staff member couldn’t keep it in his pants!

Occupy A Cubicle!!!

Here I go again, about to get political. I try not to on this blog, but sometimes I just get so tired of the idiocy that continues to get media attention.

As you can probably guess from the title I’m talking about the Occupy Wall Street morons that are spreading their stupidity to every major city across the country and the globe. I wish I had that kind of time to squander but I have to pay my bills (i.e. I have to make an actual contribution to society)! Ah, but they are there “to represent the 99%” The 99% of what? The way I see it, you are only representing the 99% of the stupidity and freeloaders in this country.

Get A Job!!! If these people spent half the effort getting a job as they are spending on these protests they could all “occupy” a cubicle by now, earning the money they feel they deserve! I have no idea what they have done to earn that money, I guess loitering in the streets and public areas is suppose to warrant a paycheck? There are enough homeless and bums loitering in the streets (and at least they have a reason).

I think its time to end this insanity because America isn’t taking you seriously anymore. Your protests are now the source for mockery and punch lines.

Page 34 of 40

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén