I talk about video games as an art form ALL THE TIME. Practically every other post on this blog is about how video games need to be accepted as an art form, because they are art. But one thing I don't talk about nearly as often is how they can be used to create art.
Video Games can be great and powerful tools in the right hands. How so? Well, several ways. An example? Machinima.
What is Machinima you ask? Simple. Machinima is using the art assets in a video game, and manipulating them in a way to create a video. The most typical type of Machinima is music video parodies. These can vary to really really good. To... Less good. It just depends really. That said, while there are some out there that are straight up parodies of songs (which in many cases can be better than the original song.)...
*Caution crude content... But what do you expect, it's a Ke$ha parody. She has to freaking censor her own name, and that's not even a swear word.*
There are plenty that just take existing songs and create a music video for them. These are probably my favorite music video machinima.
I mean look at that. That's art right there. That was made using World of Warcraft animations, and essentially Photoshop. If you're familiar with the Warcraft Lore the story to the video even makes sense, as it shows a character rescuing Thrall (a major character) from an orcish internment camp.
Another great example is "Gilnean Like Me" a music video for the song "Wolf Like Me".
*Caution some mild language. But man this video is epic.*
This one is just gorgeous. Using the song, and the visuals from WoW, it tells the story of a man who becomes a Werewolf, as his homeland is attacked by an undead faction known as the Forsaken.
This is absolutely art. Absolutely.
But there are plenty of Machinima doing things other than music videos. Although music videos are probably the vast majority.
There are entire dramatic series done in Machinima form. For example, WoWcrendor's faux "How To" series.
Or the "Freeman's Mind" series, which while hysterically funny, is both too bloody and contains too much language for me to post here. Basically it's a guy narrating Half-Life, if the main character, instead of never speaking, wouldn't shut up about how much his job sucks. Also he kills guys. But don't worry it was "self defense with an automatic weapon".
There's plenty of dubs, too.
Basically anything you can imagine can be done via machinima. Including this. And I'm not even sure what this is.
*Note: I have been intentionally staying distant from information about Cataclysm as I want to experience it for myself. As such, there may be multiple factual errors about the contents of the Cataclysm expansion. I apologize.*
Well the time is almost upon us. Just 8 weeks remain until World of Warcraft: Cataclysm launches. 4.0.3 is likely to hit the PTR any day now. So what do I suspect it, and the expansion, will contain? Well here are my predictions for the future of World of Warcraft, during the Cataclysm expansion. Remember, anything in this post is a SPECULATION, and as such should be taken with a grain of salt. Patches
4.0.3 November 23rd 2010
New races/classes are pretty much a given. New zones will be in this patch, but for the most, classes will stay as they are currently on live. Goblins/Worgen will not be available until you purchase the expansion, Archeology will not be available until you purchase the expansion, and Old Weather Flying will not be available until you purchase the expansion. Hyjal, Uldum, Twilight Highlands, Deepholm, and that one underwater place I can't spell will not be available until the expansion.
Guild leveling will almost definitely be included with this patch. And My prediction for the release date of this patch is . That will put it exactly 2 weeks before the launch of Cataclysm, just long enough for them to fine tune...
4.0.4 December 7th 2010
This will be a small bug fix patch that fixes any problems that popped up on the beta from the time the discs went gold, to the launch date, as well as including small updates that have since been put into beta builds. We got a launch day patch with Wrath that did exactly this, so I don't see why we would get one for Cataclysm as well. Cataclysm itself we already know will contain three raids, each with a "hard mode" version, Bastion of Twilight, Throne of the Four Winds, and Blackwing Descent. This is intended to keep us occupied, naturally, until...
4.1 Late February-Mid March 2011
Firelands is pretty much a given as being in this patch, since not unlike Ulduar, it was meant to ship with Cataclysm, but was pushed back "to a later patch" to get the game out sooner. Ulduar came out on April 14 2009, about 5 months after Wrath of the Lich King launched. I think Blizzard realized putting that big a gap between Wrath and 3.1 was a mistake, and thus, Firelands will come out sooner. If I had to guess it will also contain a new daily hub, not unlike the Argent Tournament, which will be expounded upon in a later patch, perhaps one in the Caverns of Time. Why the Caverns of Time? Well...
4.2 Late Summer 2011
A War of the Ancients Caverns of Time raid has already been announced, so naturally it's my guess for what 4.2s major raid will be. The previously mentioned daily hub will be expounded upon with this patch. We'll also get a new Caverns of Time 5-man instance if this patch, maybe even two. What could they be? I'm not sure.
4.3 December 2011-February 2012
Grim Batol raid. At this point the next expansion for WoW, be it "The Emerald Dream" or something to do with Azshara will have been announced, presumably at next year's Blizzcon. Thus 4.3 will be the last major patch for Cataclysm, just like 3.3 was the last major patch for Wrath. We will, naturally, take down Deathwing in this patch. Raid Content
Here's where things get rather interesting. What do I think each raid will actually CONTAIN?
Bastion of Twilight It's already pretty well known that the final boss of this place will be Cho'gall, and the Final-final (Hard mode only!) will be *spoiler* Deathwing's consort, Lady Sinestra. */endspoiler*
Throne of the Four Winds We already know this is a two boss instance, and the last boss is the Elemental Lord of wind, Al'Akir.
Blackwing Descent
Aha, well this is where things get interesting since all that's known is the first boss for here. Who do I think the final boss will be? Well, does anyone remember the Zombie Onyxia/Nefarian models that showed up waaaaaaaaay back in the Alpha?
That's right. Zombie Onyxia/Nefarion two at once encounter. I mean c'mon, this is really obvious. Deathwing comes back and suddenly two of his kiddo's we've killed get zombie forms? Easy. Other than that I really don't think any major lore figures are going to appear. We already know a Golem is the first boss of the instance, and it's a five boss encounter. I suppose it's possible Onyxia and Nefarian are seperate bosses and there's a different final boss, but I'd be surprised. Some sort of Dragon Necromancer working for Deathwing is almost a given. If I had to guess I'd say his encounter will involve summoning undead dragon adds of various types, similar to the Freya fight, but that's just guesswork.
Firelands
Again, we already know the final boss for this encounter. Ragnaros again. All I can say is the phrase "Molten Core was merely a setback" should definitely be worked into the instance in some form. If I had to guess for other specific bosses though, I'd guess at least one Core Hound, probably with a new model, and... Shoot, he's allied with Deathwing, maybe a Dragon boss? Lot's of elementals, obviously.
War of the Ancients This one's gonna be interesting.
Ok, so, this is based on the War of the Ancients, which is a major thing in lore that ends with the whole world exploding. My guess is that the Infinite Dragonflight have gone back in time to try to stop that from happening. Thus we're going to have to make sure that the Well of Eternity still goes boom. Chromie, being the fan favorite that he/she is, will play a major role.
Now, if I had to guess, I'd say that boss wise we're going to see Mannoroth get an appearance, although it's either going to be a "survive for X minutes" encounter, or a "get him down to 1% health and he'll leave" encounter, since he can't die, obviously.
Multiple encounters will be random demons we've never heard of, and members of the infinite dragonflight we've never heard of. At some point I suspect we'll see members of the "good guys" attack us, since we're trying to make it blow up. The final boss, if I had to guess, will be a timed encounter where we have to kill waves of infinite dragonflight, and then an Infinite Dragon (Perhaps Nozdormu?) and get out of the cavern before the Well of Eternity does explode and kill us all.
Also, I suspect we're going to, at some point, fight a pre-corruption Illidan off alongside Malfurion Stormrage. Possibly as the "Heroic only bonus boss" ala Algalon or Lady Sinestra.
It's also possible that Deathwing (from our era) will make some sort of appearance here, since it's theorized that he may have some ties to the Infinite Dragonflight.
Grim Batol Hoo boy. Grim Batol is what it's all been leading up to. So what do I think Grim Batol is going to have in it? Well... Deathwing is OBVIOUS. Other than that, I'm not really sure though. I suppose we COULD see another old god here, one of the ones that corrupted him, as a bonus boss, but I doubt they'll do that. I have a feeling they're only going to use old gods as "real" raid encounters, with entire raids leading up to them, and they won't have a "bonus boss" that's harder than Deathwing for this, since he's the big bad for the expansion.
I suppose we might get a Goblin boss using a giant mech, since Deathwing's always been quite fond of using Goblins for slave labor. I could also forsee Deathwing's New Consort may be a boss, considering we'll have killed Sinestra by then. Also, a full grown Twilight Drake wouldn't surprise me, even though we supposedly destroyed all the eggs in Obsidian Sanctum, as it wouldn't be that far fetched for at least one to have survived.
Other than that, I don't really know. It's very hard to say what will appear and what won't. I suppose if the Dragon Necromancer who raised Ony/Nef isn't killed in Blackwing Descent, he could instead be a boss here. Other Raid Content
The equivalent of VoA is almost a given here. Baradin Hold has one boss currently. I say with a large amount of confidence that it will get at least 4 by the end of the expansion.
It also would not shock me to see more Chamber of Aspects open up as one to two boss encounters as Cataclysm progresses. In fact, considering Blizzard appear to be adopting a multiple raid per tier system, and this expansion is so closely tied to DRAGONS, it would shock me NOT to see at least one Chamber of Aspects open up. Which one? Bronze Sanctum is a possibility for sure, releasing at the same time as War of the Ancients. Azure Sanctum could also happen, involving a new Blue Dragon trying to rise up as the new aspect, and side with Deathwing, perhaps to fulfill Malygos's wishes of killing all magic users. Emerald Sanctum is most likely going to stay closed until they do an expansion dealing with the Emerald Dream, though.
It also wouldn't shock me to see another old raid revamped for the 7th anniversary, ala Onyxia 10/25. Perhaps Gruul?
5-Man Content I suspect that like Wrath, Cataclysm will have several 5-mans released during it's course. As I said above, I suspect at least one in Caverns of Time. I also wouldn't be shocked by a 5-man taking place late in the expansion (perhaps the equivalent to HoR) on the island of Kezan. There could even be multiple ones, one taking place in the Undermine, now controlled by Deathwing, and completely destroyed by Mt. Kajaro, and one taking place inside Mt. Kajaro. Lore
This whole expansion is going to be VERY lore heavy, I suspect even moreso than Wrath was. Keep in mind, this section is only going to be about lore changes coming with patches, and I DO NOT KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT QUESTS IN THE BETA. As such this is probably going to be the section containing the most broad predictions.
War of the Warchiefs
Well one major faction leader already bit the dust at the end of Wrath (or more specifically, turned into a weird human/undead hybrid thing that is the new Lich King since he's unable to die, but not quite alive either) and Cairne was killed by Garrosh not long after the Cataclysm. But since Thrall is off picking flowers or some such nonsense, and Garrosh has declared himself new Warchief, I predict that one of these two Orcs will not live through the expansion. At some point during the final raid of Cataclysm, either Garrosh will die, and Thrall will return as Warchief, or Thrall will die, and Garrosh will be Warchief for another expansion. I really don't see them both living through this whole thing.
Personally I'm hoping Garrosh dies as the lore was much more interesting when the Horde were noble, and the Alliance were evil scum, instead of both side being warmongers. Other Major Lore Characters Die Who? I dunno, but hey this is a tough war, and chances of everyones survival are... Low.
Sylvanas? Maybe. Magni Bronzebeard? It's possible. Brann Bronzebeard? Eh, I doubt it. Like I said, I'm not sure who, but a whole bunch of people are going to die. Seriously. It's the Harry Potter 7 of WoW expansions.
War of the Ancients is a Lore Nut's Dream We're going to see lots of major lore events, whether as encounters, or just Easter Eggs, in this instance. Queen Azshara, pre nagafication will make an appearance for sure, although whether we'll be fighting with or against her is up in the air.
But for new lore in here... Well that depends. If the infinite dragonflight IS involved in this, and I sure hope it is, because I don't want another raid without them in it, then we may finally get confirmation that Nozdormu is the leader of the infinite dragonflight, trying to prevent his own demise. If not... Blah. This is a pointless raid, story wise, and it's just there because it's cool. The Elements are Displeased
We'll be fighting two Elemental Lords this expansion, Ragnaros, and Al'Akir. No big deal right? Well if we kill them in the elemental plane (which just so happens to be where we will be killing them) then they may or may not die forever. No one's really sure. We've never done it before.
So what happens if a Fire Elemental that big is extinguished forever? I don't think it's going to be pretty, whatever it is. I have a feeling the spirits of fire and air may not be very pleased with us and Shamans everywhere (lore wise, not gameplay wise) will have dire consequences in the next expansion. Heavy setup for the next expansion
A lot of what happens in this expansion, will be setup for things in the next expansion, whether that be The Emerald Dream, The South Seas, or going on the offensive to some Burning Legion worlds. Meta Game
Player Growth
I expect to see the number of players of WoW to continue to grow with Cataclysm since the leveling is much more accessible, and the legal trouble with WoW China seems to be dying down. They just hit 12 million a few weeks ago. I predict 13-14 million players by the end of Cataclysm. Expansion 4 Announced At Blizzcon 2011
Yeah. There's a trend that's been going on, and it's pretty hard to miss. I would be SHOCKED if the next expansion is officially revealed before that. I'd be pretty darn surprised if it's any longer than that either. TOR and WoW Coexist
This isn't related to Cataclysm specifically, but I predict that TOR will be the most successful "WoW Killer!" yet. It won't actually hurt WoW's growth, mind you, but I have a feeling TOR will manage to grab a comfortable 1-2 million users. Cata Comes To a Close Late 2012
2 years seems to be the life cycle of expansions. I expect Expansion 4 will launch Q4 2010. That'll have been a full year of Grim Batol, just like we had a full year of ICC, and (almost) a full year of Sunwell.
Well, that's pretty much all of my predictions for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Let's see how much of this turns out to be true, and how much of it turns out to be completely and utterly false.
Sigh. Blizzard, I really really want to love World of Warcraft, and for the most part, I do. I think it's a great game. It's definitely not art, but hey, it's a fun game.
Sigh. Alright, now I know a lot of the people who read this don't play WoW, so let me explain why the above statement is really, REALLY, irritating.
So, in World of Warcraft, as you level up, you get mounts. These are various creatures you can ride around on, ranging from the natural, Horses, to the more exotic, like Raptors. At level 20 you can get the basic one, which makes you move 60% faster. Then at level 40 you get the armored "epic" ones, which double your speed.
Then at level 60 you can get Flying Mounts.
Now, these mounts, apart from being even faster, allow you to, as the name implies, fly! Hooray! This makes flying over enemies you don't need to fight a possibility, and makes the leveling up experience much easier, and faster. Also, some of them look awesome.
Then, at level 70, you lose the ability to fly again.
To be more specific, you can only fly in Outland, one region of the game, and Northrend, the level 70-80 area, is too cold. But it's ok, because at level 78, you can learn "Cold Weather Flying" for only 1000 gold! Yaaay!
Ok, so, this is annoying, but understandable. When Wrath of the Lich King, the expansion that added Northrend, was released, Flying mounts were not obtainable until level 70, and they didn't want people skipping the 70-80 experience by flying over it. I get that. They should have made you learn it from a quest or something instead of making it and expensive ability to learn, but whatever. The cost was a gold sink. What is a gold sink you ask?
Well, the way a normal economy works is that there is a finite amount of money, and more is created at a controlled rate. As more money is slowly created, we have to deal with inflation. But, inflation is also stopped by the way that money, over time, decays. Something like 90% of the US Dollars that are printed every year are replacing money that was destroyed in the previous year.
But, the way a GAME economy works is not nearly as easy. There is an unlimited number of, well, everything. Money? A small amount of money is generated every time you sell something to a Non-Player Character, or loot money off of a dead person. And, since it's virtual money, it doesn't decay. It stays there, clogging up the economy until every player generated and sold item sells for an absurd amount.
A gold sink is the solution to this problem. Simply put, you create a desired object, and make players pay money to a source that, essentially, deletes it. A non-player character. For example, after time, your armor and weapons in WoW will break, thus, you must repair them, for let's say 100 gold, by giving the 100 gold to a non-player character. Now, since this is a non-player character, the money doesn't leave back into the economy. Instead, the money is gone.
In this case, however, the amount was larger than, 100 gold, it was ten times that, thus forcing every single character (it's almost impossible to get to level 80 without Cold Weather Flying) to pay 1000 gold at level 78 to a source that deletes it forever. There are, of course, more expensive gold sinks, the fasted kind of flying in the game costing 5000 gold, and some of the more rare mounts costing in the neighborhood of 20,000 gold. But those are generally not "necessary" unlike Cold Weather Flying, and armor repair, which are.
Then, when "Cataclysm" announced that it would be adding flight capability to the areas of the game from levels 1-60, many people asked one question, in fact, at Blizzcon 2009 someone, during the press conference yelled out, "BUT WILL WE NEED TO BUY 'OLD WEATHER FLYING'?"
And the thing is, they said no. They said, to fly in the old world, you would need to buy nothing but the skill to ride flying mounts, and the flying mount itself. No Old Weather Flying.
And then the above quote was released. Sigh. Nice.
Ok, so here's what I really REALLY don't understand. WHY THE HECK IS OLD WEATHER FLYING BOUGHT AT LEVEL 60?! It really reeeeeally seems to me like it should be bought at level, well, 85, the new maximum. Y'know, so people won't SKIP THE NEW CONTENT BY FLYING OVER IT?!
But what really baffles me is the price. If you were trying to make it a gold sink, why did you make it cost a mere 250 gold?! 250 gold is a pittance! It's nothing! A gold sink should either be something cheap you pay for over and over again, (item repair) or something that's reeeeally expensive, you only buy once.
In other words, this makes literally no point. It's like they completely forgot the purpose of Cold Weather Flying in the first place.
Sigh. So, I've mentioned before that I play WoW. Well, today I checked my e-mail to see that I had recieved the following.
"***Notice of Account Closure***
Account Name: ***
Reason for Closure: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy
This account was closed because one or more characters were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for "real-world" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.
Even if this behavior is the result of a third party accessing the account instead of the registered user (for example, a friend, family member, or leveling service) then the account can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.
We've found the above behavior is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/antigold.html
The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html. Any recurring subscriptions on this account have been suspended to prevent further monetary charges.
For any disputes of this action, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and Contact page here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/exploitfaq
Regards,
Blizzard Entertainment www.worldofwarcraft.com"
I figured this was some sort of scam at first, so before I clicked on the links, I tried logging in.
So, first thing I did was MSN a good friend of mine through the game and let him know I had been hacked so he could demote my characters in our guild and keep my doppelganger from stealing from not only me, but my guild bank.
After that, I had a lovely time calling Blizzard's Billing and Support. Actually, it was pretty darn good service. I explained what had happened, and he asked me a few questions to make sure I was... Well... Me. (When were you last online, what's your main character's name/class, what's your "secret question" for password recovery.) As soon as he did that, he looked up my account, and he told me he saw that I had been banned for suspicious activity. "I" had traded 34,000 gold in the span of five hours, across five realms. In other words, I had been selling gold.
For those who don't know, gold selling is a fairly common, but highly despicable practice in WoW. You pay real money for virtual money. The stereotype is that there are Chinese guys work around the clock for $0.10 an hour to get gold, but the truth is the money comes from hacked account like mine. They take whatever they can find on the characters, sell everything they can, and then give the money away. In other words, I expect when I log back in in about a week to have NOTHING. Luckily in most cases anything really valuable can be restored after another week or so by a GM (Game Master).
The worst part is that I hate gold sellers. They're scum. To think that my account was used to help them? It's salt in the wound. I guess I've learned my lesson, I'm buying an authenticator as soon as I can. Plus I get a cute in-game pet, so that's a plus.
I've also mentioned my love of video games, MANY times before. You know what else I love? Music. I know, shocker, I like music. You know what else I love though? video game music. As in, the OST (Original Sound Track) to games. I actually own a couple of them.
This is the point where several of you start laughing, but I'm serious. There are some brilliant OSTs out there. I personally own one that I'm quite fond of called "Zelda: The Music" which is comprised of songs from every Zelda game made up to the point it was released. (No Phantom Hourglass, Twilight Princess, or Spirit Tracks songs I'm afraid.)
Now, I know a lot of you are skeptical of this, so I'm going to point out a few pieces that are just brilliant.
Take for first, a few of the pieces off of the "Wind Waker" OST.
For example, this piece called "The Legendary Hero" is played at the start of the game, when the story is being laid out.
Notice the darker tone it takes toward the middle. The scene playing over this was a sort of recap of the events of the game set before this Ocarina of Time. At the point it gets sadder though, you find out that after the events of OOT, the villain returned, and the hero did not save the kingdom. It's explained that the goddesses sunk the entire kingdom, thus creating one of the most interesting setups for a game. The Great Sea.
This brings me to the Wind Waker Theme.
The use of the flute creates the entire feel for the game. This theme is more strongly linked to a game than possibly any other theme has been linked to any game, ever. Wind Waker reminds me of this theme, this theme reminds me of Wind Waker.
I'd also like to submit to you a video called "Wind Waker Unplugged" made by Freddie Gredde.
But then again, Zelda has always had major links with music, even in the gameplay. Ocarina of Time, considered by many to be the greatest game of all time, revolved around an Ocarina which is a type of flute. What about other games? There are still a lot of great OSTs out there for other games.
The Professor Layton Series has great music. Really superb music, especially for a handheld game. The music really sets the theme for the game.
The Wrath of the Lich King OST (Which I own a copy of that came with my Collector's Edition) is pretty darn good too.
The point of this post is just to say that video game music has come a LONG way from the days of Mario Brothers, and video game music can in fact, be good.
Let me finish with a video game song that's very very popular, and a personal favorite song of mine.
The following video is the theme song for this blog post.
*Warning some mild language*
The following blog post was written under the influence of UNRELENTING JOY!
Activision, this is what happens when you are a total jerk. When you do not pay your employees, they sue you. You know what they say about karma right? It's a... Something I can't say on a PG-rated blog.
So basically, there's been a huge fight going on between IW and Activision. I previously discussed Activision was holding IW's royalties in a last ditch attempt to keep the developers that made them a billion dollars from leaving. (A more effective strategy is, of course, to not be pure evil.)
Well, IW finally got sick of it, and they are all leaving the company, to go start a new company, Respawn Entertainment, headed by the two leads who got fired. The games they make will be published by EA, the direct competitors of Activision. Who said that Bobby Kotick shoots race horses. I approve.
And that's not the only problems they're having! Meanwhile, while Activision is paying for it's legal suit with TRH, something wonderful/horrible is happening in South Korea.
Now, I don't think any of this is going to be the downfall of Activision, Activision will live on, but it is nice to see the big bad lose millions instead of making billions every now and then.
I'd like to point out this little ditty written up by a Kotaku commenter (It's the musical blog post today). The actual lyrics have swearing, so these are the censored version, but I'll link the real version if you really want.
(To the tune of How to Save a Life By The Fray. Click play, and read the lyrics along with the song for maximum awesome.)
Step One you hold our royalties We ask and beg on broken knees To pay us everything that you owe. So we won't have to borrow. You fired Zampy, then dear West, Even though they were the best. As you start this stupid schism Is this what you meant by fear and pessimism?
Where did you go wrong? You screwed a brand, Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.
Tell the press that you know best Cause after all you're on a quest To ignore all legal precedence And uphold questionable innocence. Let's write a list of what is wrong Like Bobby Kotick in a thong, And pray to God he hears us, And pray to God he hears us.
Where did you go wrong? You screwed a brand, Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.
As B.K. begins to raise his voice, We lower ours and grant him one last choice, Pay us our royalties or Rack up the hefty courtroom fees. He will do one of two things He will admit to everything Or he'll say he doesn't owe a thing And then we'll duke it out in the Judge's ring.
Where did you go wrong, you screwed a brand. Somewhere along in this big mess. And I would have quit Sunday, Had I known they were nicer at EA.
Article about the song along with uncensored lyrics here. Further details on Activision Vs. Infinity Ward can be found here.
Ahhh Totalbiscuit. You crack me up. You're correct though, of course, that TRH is the stupidest thing I've seen in quite a while.
"But Zul," I hear you asking, "What on earth is wrong with TRH?" Well simple, it's $25. No, not 25 virtual dollars, $25, real life dollars.
For those who don't understand, TRH is part of the recently implemented Blizzard Pet Store, where you pay real life money for pets, and mounts, in World of Warcraft. I like pets, I like mounts, I do not like paying $10 for a pet, and $25 for a mount. That's absurd.
Mounts in WoW allow your character to move faster, and while awesome, and I do have a lot of Mounts in WoW, I find $25 to be a BIT PRICEY for something that is NO BETTER than the ones already in game. The only difference is how it looks.
Now, I wouldn't have a problem with this if the pets were just say, $2.50, or even $5, and the mounts were $5, or heck, $7.50, but $25?! That's insane!
So, surely no one is actually buying this? SURELY no one is paying $25 for a reskin?
The thing has been out for less than 24 hours and the queue to download it is already at 140,000.
You see, about a year and 3/4ths ago, Activision bought Blizzard. About a month later, Wrath of the Lich King was given a release date, and released half finished. ever since then it's been one money grab after another. But it's ok, just keep throwing money at him people, maybe he'll retire after you give him yet ANOTHER BILLION DOLLARS.
That was sarcasm. Don't do that. Don't do that at all.
So, I've explained what my picture is, I suppose it's time to explain my name. Zul. Why Zul? Well, there's actually a little story behind that. And it's nerdy. Exceptionally nerdy. Like, uber-nerdy, even for me.
So if you don't want to hear me describe my incredibly nerdy alias, stop reading now.
Sooo... Zul. It's actually short for the full name, Zuldim, which would properly be written Zul'dim. You see, it's translated from Zandali, the language the Trolls in World of Warcraft. Yes, I told you it was extremely nerdy.
Zul (Rhymes with cool) is a prefix to a word that means great, or to a name that means great chieftain. Dim (As in the light is dim) is the word you get if you type "lol" into the chat speaking in Zandali, and a non-troll reads it. Therefore, Zul'dim would loosely translate into "Great chieftain of the lolz". I like it. I think it suits me. It sounds good if you don't know what it means, and it's kind of funny if you're nerdy enough to understand it.
Also Trolls are awesome, and I'm a freaking huge nerd about the lore for Trolls in that game. It's sad, I know. But Trolls are freaking awesome.
Warning: The Following Video Contains Large Amounts Of Anti-Video Game Propaganda. View at your own risk.
I stumbled upon this video around two months ago. If you don't want to watch, this video is basically a guy using his admittedly good animation skills to blame video games for the failure his life has amounted to. In his own words, he is a fat, friendless, failure.
Now anyone who knows me in the least probably already knows my opinion on this particular subject. But forget that, I'm going to tell you anyways.
I'm a fun loving guy, or at least I like to think so, but this is a subject I'm dead serious about. I'm about to say something that may shock and/or offend some people, namely those who would see video games destroyed, and those who spout hatred and bile toward them claiming they are the work of the devil. So please, if you want to stay in your safe sterile black hole, stop reading here.
Are they gone? Ok. Good. Are you ready for me to rock your world? Video Games, are an art form. I know what you're thinking. "VIDEO GAMES? ART? HA! I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU SIR, YOU ARE CLEARLY INCORRECT!"
I could go into a lot of different tangents here, as to why Video Games are an art form, but that would take a very long time, and not be super productive. Suffice it to say, that anything that can make you feel something, good or bad, is an art form, in my opinion. Books can make you become attached to the characters, movies can do the same, and both can affect your emotions. Now, don't tell me that no book or movie has made you cry before. That's a lie.
Now, understand that I am not saying all games are art. There is a difference. I do not believe that all movies are art either, nor all books. I would hardly qualify, for example, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" as a work of art. I thought that movie was decent entertainment at best, but not a work of art. However, to say that no movie is art is to bring down an entire form. The problem with games now, however, is quantity. There are very games I would classify as art, compared to movies. But that's to be expected. The form is in it's infancy.
But that's not what this is about, and I could talk about that all day. What this is about is the video above. That video troubles me for many reasons. The first and most obvious, or I would hope at least, is that he's blaming video games for his own lack of self-control. There's an old adage that says "All things in moderation." This is his case. He passed up on many opportunities in life, just so he could play video games all the time, and now he has to live with that. That's his own fault, not the fault of video games.
It's true, what he says, that you only get one life. It's yours to spend however you like, and you may waste it on video games completely. However it's not entirely true that video games can't help you in life. Don't forget there's an entire industry surrounding them. Not just developers, and writers, but even outside of that, journalists, reviewers, play testers, all sorts of stuff, all because of these games.
I'd like to point out the story of one Jeff Kaplan, AKA Tigole. Jeff Kaplan was an avid player of the MMORPG Everquest. And as many gamers, myself included, are prone to do, he complained about a lot of the things in Everquest. He thought he could do things better. Many of his complaints were pointed out to his guild (a grouping of players.), Legacy of Steel. Legacy of Steel was headed up by Rob Pardo, VP of an, at the time, small company, Blizzard Entertainment. The thing is, Rob really liked a lot of the ideas Jeff had, and so he gave him a job as a game designer for a new project, which some fo you may have heard of. World of Warcraft, the game that dethroned Everquest as king of MMOs.
Did you see that? A guy got a job, for playing a game. And not just any job, a really good job. Blizzard is one of the biggest companies in gaming today, and everyone who plays WoW, well, almost everyone, knows who Tigole is.
Not to mention, what he says about how long it takes to make a level 80 character in WoW, that's just a lie. It does not take that long. It takes a while, to be sure, but not THAT LONG. Not to mention, one of the things he mentions is reading. READING.
HARRY POTTER no less. Harry Potter is awesome, to be sure, but it's no more productive than World of Warcraft. The fact is, it doesn't matter which you choose, the end result is the same. Nothing is accomplished, beside the fact that you either have now read Harry Potter, or now have a level 80 character.
When I told a friend, a very good friend I made through WoW, and speak with every day, for the record, about this video, he said the following: "If we weren't playing games, we would be watching TV, reading books, playing sports, watching movies, or I shudder to say, building model trains." He's right. There will always be hobbies. If it weren't gaming, it would just be something else. True, it's possible to work and work and work, and yes, you would be more productive than someone who played some games, but really, what kind of a life is that? You only get one, in his own words. So you might as well enjoy the one you get.
Now I'm not saying you should play games all the time and never do anything productive, but again, it's balance. It's bad to take it to either extreme. If you work all the time, you'll work yourself to death, if you play games all the time, you'll end up like this guy, fat, friendless, and a failure.
So I guess what I'm saying, is that this video is an example of, not the negative effects of games on peoples lives, but of the negative effects of lack of self-control on people's lives.
It's sad yes, and I understand why people try to find things to blame, but the fault lies in the individual, not the object.
What troubles me is the propaganda surrounding every new generation's new thing.
When Jazz was new, it was hated by the generation before. When movies were new they were to blame for kids wasting their lives. Comic Books took the blame for many school shootings, and now it's video games turn in the hot seat.
I can't expect our generation to be any different, I'm sure something will be hated as much as video games are now, that our kids love. But I do hope that I at least, will be sensible about the whole thing, no matter my personal feelings on the new object of hatred, and to those my age, I ask that you do so as well.
The only Motherboard on the market with USB3.0 A Quad-Core 3.4 GHz processor. 4 gigs of DDR3 A 400 gigabyte hard drive A pretty dang good video card.
All of the above are well and good, but how do games play? Really well at max settings, that's how.
World of Warcraft: In Shattrath City (one of the most deserted areas in the game) I was getting 30fps with Max settings. In Dalaran (the most croweded, overpopulated area in the game) I was getting 20-25fps with max settings on. It spiked up to 60fps at one point in Dalaran. But idling in the cities is one thing, raiding is quite another. Well, if Sartharion 10 (0 Drakes up) is any indication, looks like I get about 60 fps in 10 man raids.
Oblivion: Runs perfectly in Ultra-High settings.
Tommorow: I test KOTOR 2, and the big one, Mirror's Edge.
So. Like a lot of nerds, I like World of Warcraft. Like a smaller subset of nerds (supernerds, if you will) I like the lore behind Warcraft. I think the deep universe they've built up is one of the biggest, most extensive storylines ever. There is so much material, even outside the games, that it makes up a very real feeling world to me. I mean, what other video game can get away with people writing regularly updated blogs about the storyline alone? (http://www.lorecrafted.com/, I'm looking at you.)
But there's another thing about the Warcraft universe. The story, well, there are quite a few points that make no sense. In fact, large portions of it, make little to no sense. Here's an example: The Caverns of Time: Hyjal, is basically one big paradox.
For those who don't play WoW, the caverns of time are a giant underground series of caves, run by the Bronze Dragonflight (Protectors of time.) and each cavern leads to a different time period. The Battle for Mount Hyjal is one of the most important points in history (history of Azeroth that is) when the Night Elves, Humans, and Orcs, all mortal enemies at the time, teamed up to fight off the demon lord Archimonde from destroying the world tree, which gave the night elves immortality. If the world tree were destroyed, Archimonde would easily destroy the world.
Here's the thing though, for the other Caverns of Time we're allowed into by Bronze Dragonflight are under siege by another dragonflight, the Infinite Dragonflight, who are attempting to alter the past. For example, in one cavern they try to destroy the orc leader who leads a rebellion that forms the Horde, one of two large factions in the world, before he ever escapes from a human internment camp. So you help him escape. Makes sense. Sort of.
But in the battle for mount Hyjal, you're just going for the heck of it. It's like a vacation. But this raises the question, what if we hadn't gone back and helped them? Well, they would lose to the demon army. So you would never have been there to go back and help them. IT'S A PARADOX.
However, a friend and I have come up with the solution. Shmandalf the Shmey. Shmandalf is an all powerful archmage, who can not only travel back in time, he can solve all continuity problems, with magic. What kind of magic? No, I don't think you understand. Magic.
Shmandalf is also a master of disguise. You never know who he might be. Here are a few of his known alias's: Medivh Khadgar 'Gandalf the Grey' (He wasn't really trying with this one though, obviously.) The orc who gives you the quest to smack the peons in the Valley of Trials The peons you smack in the Valley of Trials That vulture you just flew over in thousand needles
Not only that, but Shmandalf has some pretty cool spells. One of them is known as Empowered Lightning Shock. It has the power to bring the dead back to life. He can even use it on himself if he ever died.
In fact, it doesn't have to be Caverns of Time problems he can fix? The Draenai/Eredar retcon? That was all Shmandalf's doing.
Heck, they don't even have to be in-game problems, remember awhile back when Blizzard said Goblins would never-ever-ever be playable? No you don't. They never said that. Shmandalf made it so.
So just remember, next time you need to retcon anything at all ever Shmandalf is there for you.
P.S. If I ever wrote a fantasy novel series, Shmandalf would be a character, just for the lolz. P.P.S. This is probably why I don't write a fantasy novel series.
