Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

The MMO Times – The Revival

By

On September 18, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 10

I know it has been a while since I have posted a new MMO Times. I apologize for the lapse in delivery but I had to make a few adjustments to the mailing portion of The MMO Times. I am excited to say that the new mailing list is working great. So, without further adieu, here is the latest MMO rumblings.

Latest DCUO Screenshots
SOE has issued some new screenshots for DC Universe Online and they feature some combat and game locations. If you visit the article, there is a gallery at the bottom of the post; Massively has the info.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/18/newest-dc-universe-online-screenshots-highlight-game-locations-a/

SWTOR Devs Talk About Designing the Jedi Classes
I love reporting more SWTOR news. This article from Massively has a video where the Bioware developers for SWTOR discuss the challenge of designing the two Jedi classes. Enjoy.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/17/swtor-devs-dive-deep-in-jedi-design-in-this-weeks-dispatch/

New Cataclysm Mounts and Pets
The latest beta build for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has some new mounts and pets. The most interesting of the items listed is the new companion mount where you are turned into the mount, and another player can ride on your back – my guess is this is the new Alchemist mount that has been alluded to before. I also think this gives a whole to meaning to “mount”.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-new-mounts-and-companion-pets-in-build-12984/

Pre-Cataclysm Patch Download Starting
If you have played World of Warcraft at all this week  you will notice that the background downloader has started downloading a 1.58GB patch. Yes, that is the 4.0.1 patch that will begin the pre-Cataclysm changes to Azeroth. This means the world event for Cataclsym could happen very soon.
http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/pre-cataclysm_patch_data_in_live_servers/

Going Live! – Read below to see what games/patches/expansions have recently gone live.

Clone Wars Adventures Launches
September 15, 2010 – This F2P game from SOE, based on the popular Clones Wars animated series, has left open beta and is now live. I am a big Star Wars fan but I’m not sure about this one. I might give it a try and see what I think.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/15/clone-wars-adventures-launches-with-new-trailer/

Beta News:

Vindictus Enters Open Beta
September 15, 2010 – This past week Vindictus entered into open beta and they are doing something interesting. You have to register to receive a key and it is required to play the beta. In addition, when you receive your beta, you receive two additional keys to share with friends.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/13/come-snag-a-vindictus-beta-key-and-cover-yourself-in-the-blood-o/
http://vindictus.nexon.net/

Forsaken World Beta Keys Available
October 27, 2010 – Yes, I know its a month away before the latest F2P from PWE starts testing but you can go there now to receive your key to the closed beta.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/16/forsaken-world-readies-first-closed-beta-test/
http://fw.perfectworld.com/

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

MMO Times Is Not Dead

By

On September 7, 2010

In General Cogitation

Just a quick shout out to anyone that was receiving the MMO Times e-mail from me, I have not stopped doing this. Various life activities and setting up a majordomo mailing list have prolonged the next post. Please be patient, the next one will be coming soon.

The Theme Plague

By

On September 1, 2010

In General Cogitation

If you frequently visit this blog site, I’m sure you have noticed by now that the theme has changed. This change was not intentional, actually it was unwanted. When I logged into my dashboard I noticed there was an update for my theme (Suffision), so I allowed it to upgrade.

Well, apparently there was a huge error in the update and now the Suffision theme will not show up as an option. I tried to install Suffision again from the search and it tells me it already exists. Obviously a huge flaw in the script. Oh well, I will use this theme temporarily until I can spend some time doing more research to find a new theme that I like with all the flexibility and customization that Suffision had.

Biggs On: Restricted Internet

By

On August 26, 2010

In Biggs On

This is a special edition of Biggs On where I talk about Restricted Internet. Why have I chosen this as my next topic, because I am currently suffering from restricted access to the Internet. I do not have access to any IM client/protocol, I do not have access to my gmail, facebook, twitter, etc. Oddly enough, I do have access to my blog site; thank God I set it up on a private domain instead of choosing blogspot (or other similar free blogs).

So here is my rant on restricted Internet. It’s lame.

I am a software developer. I need access to certain areas out on the Internet that potentially have answers to some logical obstruction impeding my productivity. Yes, ok, I confess, gmail, facebook, twitter, World of Warcraft are not websites that will provide coding solutions that ail my current projects; but they provide pleasant distractions from the mundane, and often frustrating tasks that occasionally plague my day. Security reasons prohibit me from disclosing the type of client which is brutally suppressing my need to be extroverted but I know if you did know, you would understand that the nature of the business requires tight security.

I’m still of the opinion that as a person whose brain activity is tightly coupled with the need for mild distraction to improve productivity (I know, its an oxymoron) that I should be placed within a specific security group that allows extra amenities.

I know that sounds conceited and arrogant but, damn it I’m having serious withdrawl’s here!!!!

/endrant

The MMO Times

By

On August 18, 2010

In MMO Times

Issue 9

I am now back on track and trying to remain on time. Here is the latest info on whats going on in MMOs. Lots of new stuff is starting to pour out from GamesCom so there might be an immediate issue of MMO Times coming again soon, in a similar fashion to the Comic-Con issue.

Jedi Advanced Classes Confirmed
I am not ashamed to admit, when I see new information released about Star Wars The Old Republic, I become giddy as a school girl. Bioware announced there will be advanced classes for Jedi Knights; Sentinels and Guardians. The link has a short video of, what appears to be, in-game footage of the Jedi Knight class. The music just gets my heart racing. Check it out at Massively.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/13/bioware-confirms-jedi-advanced-classes/

PWE Working on Battle of the Immortals Expansion
Its peculiar to hear that Perfect World Entertainment is already talking about an expansion for Battle of the Immortals when I’m pretty sure this game just came out. I think I beta tested this game briefly until I upgraded my OS and just never got around to installing it again. The article says that they are talking expansion to respond to player suggestions and concerns about the game to improve the player experience.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/13/first-expansion-coming-to-battle-of-the-immortals/

Jedi Knights Get Companions
Where would Luke Skywalker be without R2-D2? Escaping from Cloud City or the plan to rescue Han, Leia and Chewie from Jabba’s Sail Barge certainly would not have been possible without his trusty astromech droid. It seems to me that an astromech droid is a Jedi’s swiss army knife and apparently the dev’s at Bioware agree as it was announced that Jedi Knights will receive Astromech Driods as companion pets in The Old Republic.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/15/swtor-finds-a-companion-for-the-jedi-knight/

Warhammer Patch Introduces Appearance System
I thought this was a pretty cool game mechanic. In the next patch for Warhammer Online, players will be able to further personalize their gear and equipment in the new appearance system. There is a link in the article to a developer diary that provides further explanations and describes several nuances about this new system. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/

EverQuest II Expansion to have Flying Mounts
If EQ fans didn’t have enough to celebrate with the EQNext and EQII Extended announcements, now they will be reeling over EQII getting flying mounts. I have not played either of these games but if you are at all familiar with the MMO genre, then you have no doubt heard of EverQuest. While I’m sure EQNext and EQII Extended are just project names and not the offical names of the expansions, additional details about what will be available in these expansion will continue to be unveiled. The article at Massively is kinda long, but has more information.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/16/the-tattered-notebook-flying-mounts-and-whats-next/

Age of Empires Online
This is not a joke. Microsoft announced at GamesCom that they will be producing an Age of Empires Online, because Microsoft can’t help themselves but stick their nose into everyone’s business. They should have learned from the Zune that not everything they make is as good or better then the original. What’s next, World of Flight Simulator (hmm, maybe I should patent that before Micro$oft does). I am going to provide the link to the Massively article before I go on my soapbox about how pathetic I think Microsoft is sometimes.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/microsoft-announces-age-of-empires-online/

Cataclysm Collector’s Edition Announced
Blizzard has just announced the Cataclysm Collector’s Edition that will be available for puchase for $79.99 at retail stores only. There is still no release date but we are still being told that the expansion will be released before the end of the year. The link below to wow.com has the press release as well as the contents of the collector’s edition.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/17/cataclysm-collectors-edition-contents-announced/

New SWTOR Space Combat Video
Bioware has released a new space combat video to tease us with. This video looks much better then the previous video and it looks awesome! The graphics quality looks incredible. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/bioware-teases-tor-space-combat-video/

Guild Wars 2 Gameplay Video
Guild Wars fans everywhere are pounding the website that is streaming the latest video released showing gameplay footage of Guild Wars 2. There is a video imbedded in the Massively article but I don’t know how good the stream will be considering how hard the site is getting hit. Check it out.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/first-video-of-guild-wars-2-gameplay-released/

Going Live! – Read below to see what games/patches/expansions have recently gone live.

City of Heroes: Going Rogue
August 16th – The City of Heroes expansion, Going Rogue, has gone live and apparently a day early. Players that have pre-ordered the expansion were reporting that they have full access to the new content. The expansion was originally intended to go live on the 17th.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/16/an-early-release-for-city-of-heroes-going-rogue/

Warhammer Patch 1.3.6
August 17th – In this issue I was talking about the new Appearance System that has been implemented into the newest patch for Warhammer online and just a day after reading about that the patch goes live.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/

LOTRO F2P Launch Date
September 10th – Turbine announced early in the morning the official launch date for Lord of the Rings Online Free-2-Play launch date, September 10th. Since its been announced in June that LOTRO would be going F2P, people have been chomping at the bit to know when this will happen.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/18/lord-of-the-rings-online-f2p-launch-date-announced/

Beta News

Iris Online Opens Beta Registration
A new F2P game from Gala-Net, Iris Online, has been opened for beta registration. There is no news yet regarding the day that the beta will begin, just an unspecified time in the future. According to the article this game uses a “tarot-based set of mechanics” and allows players to change into monsters “via a card system”. Apparently I’m not completely up to speed on the nomenclature to know what any of that means. Here is the article and the site link.
http://www.massively.com/2010/08/17/iris-online-opens-registration-for-beta-testing/
http://iris.gpotato.com/

I also provide the MMO Times as part of an e-mail mailing list (manually maintained for the time being). If you are interested in receiving the e-mail please let me know.

Biggs On: The Ground Zero Mosque

By

On August 17, 2010

In Biggs On

I will be honest, the first time I saw something about this was on facebook and I actually thought it was a joke. Then I heard on the radio that there actually is a group trying to have a Mosque built at ground zero. It is causing outrage from coast-to-coast and with just cause.

But, despite how appalling and offensive this idea is, I can actually see some merit in it. I say, sure, let them build their little Allah Alter at ground zero. I mean, there are other places of worship in NYC for the other religions and apparently part of the WTC area does have zoning for religious structures so they are within their legal rights to purchase the land for a Mosque.

I think we are looking at this the wrong way though. Let them build their Mosque, not because of religious freedom, not because of equality, but because what are the odds that another plane will be flown into any more buildings when it might endanger a Muslim place of worship. In fact, I think I know of a good name for this place when its built … how do you say “Allah’s Shield” in Arabic?

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