Interesting...

So, digging through my junk mail tonight I find a most interesting email apparently from "Blizzard" which states basically there is "strong evidence" that my account is either being traded or sold and that is a violation of their terms and policies and what not. So with that, I should click on the link provided in the email to "verify my password."

Um... no?

I haven't logged into my account in quite a few months by now, so I'm afraid I'm just going to have to call bullshit on this. If it is actually legit, then they can go ahead and lock up account up all nice and tiddy if they so choose. If not, well how much money can a person actually make off of a level 20 Orc anyway? Now unless the level cap was dropped to 20 and my dude suddenly gained massive god-like powers, I don't think that will amount to anything.

Ah, junk mail... thanks for the laugh!

Chance At Freedom

There are a lot of things I could say, but I will say just this: Crazy times, these days have become. It just couldn't be helped these past few weeks, not since we've gotten a hold of a car. Well, more like it is borrowed from a friend and we've been adventuring all over the place! It is kind of nice to be able to do that for a change, rather then having to use the bus and take a full day to get to places outside of the city.

But anyway, games! More games! I've been busy on that front, playing a couple of new PC games (though they are technically old games now) in Spore and Civilization IV.

Civilization IV is a tough monster to just pick up and play and though playing through Civilization Revolution does help some, it just isn't the same type of beast as it's big brother. But I have not given up hope yet and it is a work in progress for sure.

Surprisingly, I've resigned up for World of Warcraft. I was actually gearing towards getting into Final Fantasy XIV, but my PC apparently cannot handle that game. And trying to sign up for that beta has been more of a headache then I believe it is worth. So much, much sooner then later, I will be stomping through the dust as my virtual Orc once again.

Now onto Spore, which has been absolute fun for me as I do love creating wacky, random things. And this game certainly allows for some weird creatures! Unlike a lot of other PC games I've picked up into lately, Spore has been the easiest one to jump into.

September is the start of crazy time to be a gamer, as the flood of games is about to be unleashed. Starting things off (at least for me) is Kingdom Heart: Birth By Sleep. Prequels aside, seriously... when and where will there ever be a Kingdom Hearts 3? I want to see how this whole mad quest ends already!

Then again, it could end up being like Final Fantasy XIII and be absolutely beautiful in its visuals and damn near brutal in everything else. I surely hope that never happens again...

Then comes Halo: Reach, which I have obviously fallen for their most recent advertising campaign. Yes I reserved that crazy special edition with the Noble Team Statue and I think we may even get the hardcover guide with the added on 80 pages of concept art. Hook, line and sinker? Understatement of the year.

Remember Reach?! I didn't even really know anything about it until now! But I'll be damned! Videos make everything so emotional....

And I was debating (then reserved) and am now back to debating if I'll be able to even get Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I am thinking about holding off on those two, with the simple fact that I may very well be hooked solidly into...

Fable 3.

The man that would be King? Sign me up for the revolution and I will give the people blood, guts and glory they seek! I will end their suffering and lead them to a golden age unlike they have ever seen before. And in the end, I will rule absolutely and they will kneel before their King or they will die where they stand.

What? Tyrant? Where?

Game Change

After only a month of not having it around, I caved in and got a new Xbox 360. Okay, it isn't a "new" new Xbox 360, but a brand new Arcade one instead. One of the sales people did try, but they cannot convince me to wait it out for the new "slim" version. I have not read anything all that great about that thus far, so I am not convinced that that would be a better choice.

This wasn't actually going to happen for a while (getting another Xbox), but after trading in almost all of the games I had left... I had enough to cut the cost down to around $50. Can't go wrong there huh?

I suppose I could blame this sort of "renewed" interest in the console thanks to announcements about games such as Fable 3, Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3 *its coming sooner or later!*. I guess the purpose of the Xbox (for me) is to fulfill my RPG needs. I just hope this new console has a longer life then the previous consoles (about a year each, yeesh!).

Right off the bat I downloaded Risk: Factions and you know what? My luck in dice rolling games continued to hold true: My luck sucks.

But the game is pretty decent fun in my opinion and the added cartoon factions does add a bit of odd personality to the game itself. The campaign mode is weird in its own right, though it does get the job done as far as getting it's point across. I do fancy the undead (Zombie faction), though I got smashed by humans, cats, robots and yeti people. Weird huh?

On a side note though, it looks like I will be taking a bit of a hiatus from World of Warcraft. I just haven't really had the time to dedicate to playing it as much as I would have liked. Plus I've been slowly piling back up on games I haven't played much of (Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy XIII, Red Dead Redemption top that list).

I think it is safe to say that I will return to WoW eventually. Perhaps after the Cataclysm expansion is released in fact. I would like to see how the world changes after all of that end-of-the-world stuff kicks in.

Goal Reached

So I set out to reach level 20 a.s.a.p. and while I was close to losing my mind (died a great deal last night and earlier this morning), I have reached my goal and now am a proud owner of a brand new Wolf for a mount. A wolf car perhaps? I was a little disappointed that it didn't have the standard equip options such as windows, stereo or at the very least a windshield.

But a ride is a ride and this means I can move about a lot faster then I have been previously. Now the question in my mind is... what's next? Where do I go from here? I suppose the easiest answer here is to reach level 30. Isn't that the purpose of MMOs? Level up, get better gear and kill more and more people, monsters and anything that you can hack at?

I would have posted a picture of my orc and his new ride, but I am afraid I don't quite know if I can do that or not. What? I'm still learning the ins and outs of this game. It still is strange to me when people know you've achieved something in-game without ever having to say a word.

The Push to 20...

I admit that it has been a long time since I've had a drive towards some type of goal in a video game, but now that has surfaced in World of Warcraft. I even nearly fell into the same trap I did in Final Fantasy XI, in that I have created a few other characters to see how the other races play out. I kind of like those Blood Elves...

But no! No... I won't be detoured from my goal here! I don't know what it is, but I just feel like I need to reach level 20! Maybe its because at that level I'll be able to get a mount, which would totally rule over having to run everywhere I am trying to get to. And considering I am sitting at level 18 right now... I am like already there now!

Am I addicted?

No, I'd like to think not... not yet anyway...

What?

Don't judge me!

Note: I don't even know who the character is in the picture at the top. For all I know, she could just be a piece of concept art. Or maybe she is one among many who can whoop my ass with just a flick of a eyelash...

PC Unleashed

In a turn of events, I actually traded in my 360 yesterday and I absolutely had the option to get a whole new one. Did I get a new Xbox 360? Nope! Instead I used the credit to get a small pile of PC games, which is absolutely unheard of for me.

So now I have The Sims 2 Double Deluxe and both expansions for World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King). Maybe it was a bad idea to get both The Sims 2 and those expansions... I mean how in the world will I be able to play all of this gaming goodness? So far I've only played The Sims 2 last night, which was meant to only be a short play just to see what's new. Instead it turned into an all night house building craze!

Maybe today I'll get around to installing both expansions for World of Warcraft, though I guess I don't know why I got both of them now. I mean my Orc only just recently hit level 15, so I won't even be touching any of the level caps for a good long time. Still, I think getting these expansions will be more worthwhile then it was when we got all of the expansions for Final Fantasy XI (we bought them all... twice). Why? Because our characters were never level 75, so the bulk of the content was crap we could never, ever make use of.

Smart, huh?

World of Warcraft

So a while back, I had said that I had reformatted my computer and all was right in the world. Well it was not fixed and the world just was not right. Having to be stuck on an old laptop computer that had the speed of a raging, sleeping turtle is not my idea of fun.

Yesterday, however, all of that changed and we went out and got a new computer. Nothing overly fancy, it is one of those eMachines. I never thought much about those, but man... the differences is unreal! And the biggest change is the graphics card. Much to my surprise, I could actually play games that were made in the past decade or so!

Now after all these years of only being able to play Final Fantasy XI, I made the jump to World of Warcraft. Sure it is a few years late, but I made it!

What I think I am enjoying the most about the game so far is just how easy it is to get into. I mean all the menus and all that other stuff is daunting! I won't shy away from saying that it had me intimidated for sure. But to me there is no comparison between Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft, as far as being a newbie. Unlike Final Fantasy XI, which doesn't really give you much help in any aspect of their game, I am impressed that WoW gives you just enough information to get going and not too much to overwhelm you.

Even though I am only playing the 10 trial version, I think I might actually like the game. I am wondering if I can solo up or do I need to find XP parties forever and ever. I tried playing as a Human Paladin and this morning saw me trying out the Night Elves. I am thinking I like the Night Elves a little better...