Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

The MMO Times: Independence Edition!

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On July 7, 2014

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

4th_fireworksIssue 101: Happy Independence Day (for those of us in the U.S.A.)!! I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July. I celebrated our country’s birthday on the beaches in Maryland which means I took a week off of gaming. My vacation also explains why this post is delayed so hopefully there is still something in here that will amuse and/or excite you.

There are quite a few exciting headlines, especially for fans of WoW and SWTOR. There are also details about the Pathfinder Online MMO that is incoming and some exciting news for Asheron’s Call (for those nostalgia MMO fans). Also, not to toot my own horn but I am in the beta/alpha for two of Blizzard’s games now (Heroes of the Storm and WoD) so hopefully I will be able to talk about those games though probably not in too much detail because of the NDA associated with all closed beta/alpha invites. I know a few of you have also received a WoD invite as well so we could probably talk in secret 🙂

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My First Hurricane

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On July 6, 2014

In General Cogitation

arthur_ocmdI wasn’t really in the worst part of the storm. I was in Ocean City, Maryland which was just on the very, very edge of Hurricane Arthur. My in-laws had another sandy vacation for the family, this time in the penthouse on the 17th floor of a place on the beach in Ocean City. I don’t know what it is about fireworks on the beach that makes the 4th of July so much more spectacular. (If you have access to the gallery on the family website you can see some of the pictures I took).

The picture on the left is taken from the balcony that overlooked the beach on the day that Hurricane Arthur was moving north of the Carolina’s. The worst that we really got of the storm were some high winds (which were only about 25-30 mph) and a bunch of rain. Be that as it may, it is the closest I have come to being in an actual hurricane.

I’m not really a beach person, something about sand getting everywhere, but there is plenty of other things to do in Ocean City, MD that even I enjoyed. Of course I got an opportunity to grill out which I always enjoy doing with the ocean splashing in the background. The boardwalk is kind of fun to walk, granted there are quite a few people there that like to do the same thing. There are so many putt-putt courses you could literally play a different course every day of the week.

I tried golfing for the third time in my life. I do think I can really get the hang of it so I may be trying to find a decent set of clubs on Craig’s List to start practicing. I really don’t want to spend a bunch of money on clubs when I’m still learning to play the game. I think playing a round of golf with both of my brother-in-laws during these family vacations could become a great tradition.

It was a great week to spend up in New England, I hope my nieces had as much fun as the rest of us.

Open Season on nook

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On June 26, 2014

In General Cogitation, Technology

easton1I’ve had a Barnes & Noble nook e-reader since the first year they came out and today I probably have more books on it than I own in printed format. I always knew, however, that Barnes & Noble was struggling with the sales of their nook devices. Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iBook app are just too strong for Barnes & Noble to fight. It sucks because I really like my nook.

Now I read today on CNET that Barnes & Noble will be splitting into two companies, one will be it’s regular retail business and the other their Nook Media business. I think what is most suspicious about this move is that just a few weeks ago it was announced that Samsung will be teaming with Barnes & Noble to provide a new nook using the Samsung Galaxy hardware (named the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook). I suspect that what is really happening here is that Barnes  Noble Nook Media isn’t just splitting off, I think it will become a divestiture in which Samsung will purchase the new company. This just seems to coincidental so mark my words, Samsung will soon be the new parent company of Nook Media.

I just hope that my boring nook e-reader will not become completely obsolete and the sole focus will be just on the nook tablet. Unfortunately, I think I know the answer to that.

Biggs On: Game of Thrones (HBO Series)

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On June 18, 2014

In Biggs On, Geek Canon

The latest TV phenomenon is the HBO “perspective” of the Game of Thrones books. I actually have not been watching. I’m not really a fan of the deviation from the books. I realize that the author, George R. R. Martin (GRRM), is heavily involved with the retelling of his books. Perhaps his reasons for changing the fates of some characters or emphasizing certain character elements is his way of “correcting the flaws in the books”. Well then he should have fixed them before publishing the books. GRRM must be the worlds most A.D.D. author, or the most indecisive author.

I’m actually somewhat reluctant to read books 6 and 7 (if he ever gets around to publishing them) because I’m worried about the continuity with the first 5 books. He has already altered the fates of a few characters from the books. How will that affect the next book? If he uses some lame flashback mechanic or character recollection of the Red Wedding (**SPOILER**) to explain why suddenly Rob’s wife is dead (because she wasn’t killed at the Red Wedding in the book – in fact she wasn’t even at the wedding – and is the source of much controversy that she is carrying an heir), I will be quite upset and GRRM will be quite the sell out (and I know sell outs, I’m a George Lucas fan).

The old adage “the book is always better” definitely applies in this case but since the author has direct influence of the story told on HBO, then personally they will be two different entities. The HBO series will be a *cough*bastardized*cough* re-telling of the books and not worthy of my patronage.

Am I really the only one that feels this way? Is everyone else so taken in by the HBO series, and too intimidated to actually read a book, that these differences are not that troubling??

I think what pisses me off the most is that GoT was actually declared the best HBO series since The Sopranos!! REALLY!! The Sopranos was an original concept, not an adapted screenplay. There shouldn’t be any comparison. Oh, and aside from Peter Dinklage, the casting of GoT is terrible.

The MMO Times: 100 FTW!!!

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On June 11, 2014

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

100th-post
Issue 100: The 100th MMO Times Post! Wow, I didn’t think I would be writing this many posts and what a week to land on as E3 is June 10th – June 12th. I am excited to see what will be unveiled at E3 not only from a PC and MMO perspective but from all gaming mediums. I have played many a console games in the past and may even be hooking the ole Wii back up. I was reading some posts folks had written about what they expect from E3 this year and I have to agree with one blogger. It would be great to see some cross-platform love, i.e. let’s keep the PC in mind when publishing new console games this year. Microsoft is the biggest offender of excluding the PC with their titles. Considering the handicaps of the XBox One, Microsoft needs to do something to show some love for the PC gamers.

I’m sure E3 will have a few exciting headlines to read about but there are also non-E3 related headlines that might be of interest to you. For example, there is some new content news in regards to The Secret World. Defiance has some new mechanics for folks to check out if you have been interested in the game. Age of Wushu has some promises on the horizon to polish up the eye candy. WildStar is getting a lot of impressive feedback despite what I was hearing from the beta. If anyone has been playing WildStar I’m certainly interested in your feedback. There is also some news about the next SWTOR content patch.

Just as an FYI, a lot of the news coming out of E3 seems to be more related to non-MMO titles so I will prefix all E3 titles with “E3” so if its not something that will interest you, it should be easier for you to scan and skip if you so choose. Read on and game on, friends!!

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Blizzard the WoW Killer

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On June 6, 2014

In Gaming, World of Warcraft

world_of_warcraft_yaicon_pack_by_alucryd-d4w9zy2Every time a new MMO title comes out that has any kind of hype people start to question if it will dethrone the MMO titan World of Warcraft. Nothing has succeeded. In fact I don’t think any title out there will achieve the following and player base that WoW has held over the past 10 years. The elusive “WoW-killer” doesn’t exist; but that doesn’t mean that something will bring the behemoth down. Blizzard Entertainment will be the reason for the toppling of World of Warcraft. I know there are literally thousands out there that will agree with me.

In fact I’ve begun to wonder if Blizzard has just stopped caring about keeping players in the game. In the current expansion the players were given the final content patch of the expansion close to 6 months ago (give or take). The next expansion, Warlords of Draenor, doesn’t seem to be releasing until this Fall (some say November). It’s going to be close to a full year between new content. I know patch 6.0 will bring some changes to the game in preparation for WoD but I doubt we will see enough content to bring players back.

A few months ago WoW subscriptions dropped another 400k+ and a couple of my friends were among those that let their subscriptions lapse. I honestly don’t blame them. Why continue to pay $15 a month to do nothing. Raids are difficult to find if you don’t want to use the dungeon/raid finder tools so that leaves you with just dailies and leveling alts; which might work for some folks (including myself, a great way to wind the day down), but for others its not enough. If Blizzard did care about maintaining the WoW player base I think there would be more proactive efforts to keep people around. If Blizzard thinks that the coming expansion will be so epic it will draw hundreds of thousands of players back, someone has some epic delusions of grandeur. If I’m wrong then Blizzard will hold another accolade of the largest subscription comeback in the history of MMOs.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t even pre-ordered the expansion yet. I think we will get it eventually but since things are just entering Alpha we are probably going to give it a few more weeks (or months) to make the purchase. It might actually depend on what all of our friends plan on doing. Honestly I do hope that everyone comes back and perhaps we can “get the band back together”.

/cheers

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