Basement 51

As I spoke about in my Lack of Inspiration article, I have been less than inspired by the current market of gaming; specifically the MMO gaming market.  And it appears that I am far from alone in this.  Prof. Venatus recently linked an article to me that I think addresses this exact topic.

The article is over on Wolfshead Online and is titled The Emasculation of MMOs: Part 1 – How Convenience Replaced Risk.  Perhaps it was due to my current state of mind, but the article just pulled me in.  The Wolfshead starts his article with the following analogy:

Twelve starving men sat down at a table. Before them was placed a sumptuous banquet. Then one of the men protested: “I don’t like salt…”. So in order not to offend him the others agreed to remove the salt from the table. Then another man exclaimed: “I detest pepper…”. So in order not to anger him they all consented to remove the pepper from the table. Each remaining man rose in turn rose and protested yet another ingredient until there was nothing left on the table. With nothing left to eat the twelve men died of hunger.

Essentially the article goes on to argue that without a sense of risk the player of an MMO loses the feeling of accomplishment.  Sort of like going out and winning the Tour de France without really having to ride the full 21 days, or winning the Super Bowl without having to play the regular season.

I found the article to be very thought provoking. Read the rest of this entry

Have you ever just had one of those days, weeks, or months?  You know, the times where you just simply can’t get inspired to game in any form.  Perhaps it’s due to an over active mind or ADD kicking in, but I’m in one of those funks.  I just can’t seem to get inspired to play any game.

The last time I think I actually played a role playing game was probably over a month ago.  Playing a game that is set in the current day, where the players are actually playing alternative versions of themselves.  It’s quite fun, but sadly getting the Thursday night crew together of late has been difficult, and sadly I am often one of those who just can’t seem to get my schedule open to make it…and I’m running the game.  It’s been probably over 6 months since we played any DnD 4.0 (because honestly I think the game kind of sucks now…just too generic, too video gamish, too not DnDish).  Maybe it’s time to be an old beardy and go back to playing 3.5 again.

Video games, well Age of Conan is fun, but sadly of the usual nightly MMO krew, only two of us are consistent in any sort of way.  Dr. Jones is, well distracted and always tired (yeah he sucks).  Mr. O is busy (he also sucks) with his business, and we all miss gaming with him, but he needs to feed his family.  Leaving only me and Prof. Venatus as consistent players Read the rest of this entry

One thing that E3 is known for is being the venue that many game companies announce and premier their upcoming titles.  This year is no different.  With all of the announcements of 3D gaming from Sony and Nintendo, many exciting potential game releases have been lost in the news.  One of the big titles, in my opinion, that has been somewhat down played is the announcement/premier of THQ’s Warhammer 40,000, Dark Millennium MMO.  Set in the EPIC Warhammer 40k universe (Games Workshop’s Cash Cow Universe) this is the game that many MMO gamers were clamoring for when they announced Warhammer Online a few years back.  Well 40k fan’s your wish is in production! Read the rest of this entry