Let me introduce my new persona... (Anonymous)

Spanx. The Troll Shaman.

Yes, I have joined the ranks of the MMORPG afficionado. I am playing World of Warcraft. I am a sad geeky loser with no.... wait a minute. I'm married. I have a life. Phew.

MMORPG's are a lot like work. You don't so much play as grind away, killing 47 pigs to scrap together some leather to make a pair of shoes out of that give you 3+ armour power. However, with World of Warcraft, Blizzard have taken this rather bog-standard gameplay and placed it in to a wonderfully huge, consistent and often breathtaking world of hills, meadows, forests and mountains that compells you to play. And once you reach a certain level of proficiency with the myriad spells, weapons, controls and lingo that makes up the experience, teaming up with people to go "questing" together is a fantastic feeling. Marching across the landscape slaying poor NPC's (non-player characters) with 4 mates in toe is very very cool.

My only concern is that once you've seen the whole world, what next? I'm sure Blizzard will use my £9 per month (!!!) subscription fee to provide new content, but will that be enough? Blizzard will be responsible for many hours of lost time - I just hope I don't regret it in six month's time.

P.S. I'll probably post some little entries about my exploits in the game, possibly even with some pictures! Lucky readers...

Lost (k3nshi)

For the uninitiated: Lost is TV programme currently airing in the US.

Yes yes yes. I'm probably last to the Lost party but after Kit (+ the Rest of the World) kept going on about it and how I should watch it, I finally did. And it is very good indeed(4Gs Daz).

I also noticed that Paul Dini is the writer. Good to see a great writer escaping from the comics & cartoon ghetto and start putting his talents to use in a medium that: 1. will get him the kind of greater exposure he deserves; 2. desperately needs some good writing.

A parent's primer to computer slang (k3nshi)

'..."pwn": A typo-deliberate version of own, a slang term that means to dominate. This could also be spelled "0\/\/n3d" or "pwn3d," among other variations. Online video game bullies or "griefers" often use this term...'

Read the rest here.

Resistance is Futile: DOA U drags me back into the fold (k3nshi)

As predicted earlier this year, it was almost inevitable that I would succumb and buy a game. And sure enough, the temptation to play a 3D beat-em-up online was what pushed me over the edge.

DOA Ultimate is pretty much the same game as DOA3, but of course it has an online component. An online component that has a terrible lobby system and can suffer from heinous lag when someone from another continent decides to join your game. Sometimes you are presented with a blank screen and all you can do is either wait or reset the Xbox. Hardly the kind of LIVE standard gamers have come to expect. On the other hand, when it does work you get to play a beat-em-up online and trash talk to your buddies. I spent a good few hours playing online with Meh this weekend. I kicked his sorry ass in a thoroughly comprehensive manner, of course.

The single player game has a few annoyances. The Tengu end of game boss is still appalling and annoying, although there are some nice gfx effects on his level. The real annoyance is that to unlock one of the characters in the game (Hitomi) you need to have a save game from another Tecmo game on your hard disk. I could forgive this if the unlockable in question was merely a costume or small mini-game - but a whole character? Someone is taking the piss.

Beyond these annoyances, the biggest one is the fact the combat system is so simple. This is of course a strength - some people cant handle the amazing (and accessible) complexity of VF4Evo, but once you've played on that level its hard to go back. I keep asking myself during play: "Why cant I reverse this throw that is being executed on me and then launch straight into a devastating counter attack?".

I'm not sure if I'll keep it to be honest. Its certainly fun (I've played it for hours), and the unlocking content thing is strangely compulsive, but ultimately not compulsive enough. Oh and I dont even bother playing the DOA1 disc - it just looks so old and ropey - something for the fans only.

Dipping the toe (Anonymous)

I've played a few online games, but the murky, slightly (!) geeky and obsessive world of the MMORPG has evaded me. But now I find myself in the position of seriously considering World of Warcraft. It could provide an accessible introduction to this, the scariest of gaming genres in the world. I'm hoping it's going to provide something a bit different from Halo 2, something a bit more civilised and laid-back. The fact that the European servers are separated from the US one, thus removing *that* problem from the game is a plus-point. My only worry is the old "spending hours chopping trees down to build your strength" image of MMORPG's in my head, that and the monthly charge, but I'm going to try it.

It's only available in French here, so I'll have to wait. But I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, and I might join a "guilg". How exciting!

Never. Give. Up. (k3nshi)

"In a move born of sheer desperation, Snipes hurled the ball across the court as the final buzzer sounded.

The ball traveled some 87 feet, the full length of the court and connected with the basket..."

• Story


• Game video

Via Ned Batchelder's blog.

My Weekend (Van123)

Amazing. One word says it all. But I'll write a few more.

I went out with Kenshi on Friday. Not something I do very often, but fun none-the-less. We went to Brixton. To the ghetto. And in this ghetto, is this building, with the most amazing Germans in it. Rammstein. Rammstein are definately in my top 5 bands, so this was an amazing experience, which I would gladly pay £30 for again. Apocalyptica were supporting. They're alright, I'm listening to them now. They mainly do Metallica covers, but with cellos and stuff.

So then they went off, and Teh 'Stein came on. My God I've only seen that much energy from Iron Maiden. These guys were on fire, literally. There was fire everywhere. Every other song had pyrotechnics involved. Not only that, but the crazy Germans played with fire while playing their instruments. They had these sort of gask masks, with foot long noses. And when they sang, flames burst 20 foot into the air. Till had a flamethrower, which he played with for a bit, firing it at an oversized cooking pot with the keyboardist in. There was lots of fire.

The highlight of the concert was Rammstein, though. Obviously the theme song, and it was performed so well. Live always sounds so different to the album versions, and you could really feel the heat *ba-doom tish* from Rammstein's performance.

Then, I left Kenshi and his mate and set off for the train ride home. I popped a squat next to a 50 year old rocker with a mullet, his gang was cool. We got to talking. The'd been on Thursday and Friday. Hardcore. Anyway, when I got back to my home station, I stood at the top of my road and looked down it. Two minute walk home, or 15 minute walk to a mates house for a party. The latter, clearly, was the better option. So I ran half the way, turning up at his at about 00:05. Rock on. I was all partied out by the time I got there, and only the cool people were left. That was great. Meant I didn'[t have to spend hours pretending to like the people who were talking to me. There was about 15 people left, msot were drunk. "Want a drink, Chris?" You know I did. First drink in six hours! A bottle of Sainsbury's lemonade. Best drink ever. No alcohol for me, I'm clean for the next few months, until my exams are over. I'm kind glad I missed the mass party stage, and got there at the social stage. That was cool.

That was a great night. I left my mates house 7ish, and a few mates came back to mine to watch Team America before they went home. I fell asleep before the main Dicks and Pussies speech. Amazing fun. That girl was there. The one that's obsessed with me. My mate told me today that when she was drunk, she blurted out that she was only staying the night to see me. Ok... As long as she doesn't come on to me, then it's all good. But what's this? She does? Queue Ride Of The Valkyries. I manage to dodge that bullet though, by simply explaining that I've got my heart set on someone else, which is the truth really. And telling's the truth's for winners. That's why I told her that I don't like her. It's better that she hears it from me, again, than everyone else... again. Two of my mates also tried smoking that night. I told them they were stupid, and only to smoke drugs, cos cigarettes taste like shit. Pipes and cigars are allowed, though.

Sunday, I did some coursework. Meh

5Gs, Daz.

Resident Evil 4. (Anonymous)

Although owning at one time or another Resident Evil , Resident Evil 2, RE : Code Veronica and REmake I have never got further than a few hours into any of those games, why?

Despite the (at the time) cutting edge graphics the early games had and my undieing love for Zombies the Hammy acting and the jump out of your seat moments. Incredible apathy swept me away, my heart was saying "Zombies man, living abhorrations " My brain "Oh man the controls are so shit, oh man I hate typewriters/emblem keys/red key cards/half moons/ruby tiger eyes...." even writing about it bores me. By REmake it was agreed the Resident Evil formulae was rancid.

Some of you may not know but Resident Evil 4 went through a complete overhaul during it's development this led to the Camera now being directly behind Leon, the tempo was upped and the zombies turbocharged (think 28 days later) the result is a much more action packed game with often 10s of lurching "zombies" coming at you from all angles , in some ways the combat is like Halo where thanks to decent AI scripting every encounter is different, and thanks to some visceral weaponry always a bloody joy.

Don't be a hater like me , feel the itchy .. scratchy mmmmm brains.

Inspiration (k3nshi)

• Chris Crawford interview on the Guardian's Game Blog


• Will Wright & Howard Scott Warshaw interview at Onion AV Club

Ruminations on Gaming Temptation (k3nshi)

At the dawn of this year I proclaimed my intention to avoid buying any games for at least 6 months. This would be a prudent thing to do, going by the number of games I have bought in the past versus the number I have played to any real degree. Of course this bold proclamation was doomed from the moment it was uttered.

The first temptation was PC Darwinina. Written by UK indy outfit, Introversion, I was always looking forward to this title. However playing the recently released demo, which failed to run properly on my (admittedly underpowered laptop) kind of put me off. Yes, yes, yes - I should try the demo out on my more powerful PC. But the fact is, the demo has been deemed confusing from some quarters. To their credit Introversion say they will release an updated demo with a tutorial. I can't help wondering how many people will have been put off by the initial demo and won't give it another go. Hopefully not many - I sincerely hope Introversion have a big hit. The Industry needs some fresh, independent talent. Regardless of this, the lustre of Darwinia has been reduced for me.

The current Game du Jour seems to be Resident Evil 4, for the Gamecube. The amount of excitement this game seems to have generated seems a bit unprecedented to me. But then I have studiously been avoiding reading about it. It's only word of mouth recommendations from other gamers that make it a blip on my gaming radar. I almost bought it out of sheer boredom (my typical games buying modus operandi), but resisted somehow. I think the thought of having to drag the Gamecube out of my drawer and set it up, kind of put me off.

So far, so good. 2 contenders, seemingly seen off. But its always the sucker punch that gets you the hardest. In this case, the long forgotten Dead or Alive Ultimate. I was never a huge fan of the DOA game mechanics (VF4EVO4LIFEYO!) but they seemed entertaining enough. And, of course, its one hell of a pretty game. But the lure of an online 3D beat em up? We may have a winner...

Oh, and another potential contender: Wipeout Pure for the PSP. If this manages to capture the fun of the original Wip3out, then Sony have the killer app to sell me a PSP. Portable Gaming might not be dead for me in 2005 after all.