I’ve been playing Guild Wars since the 27th of April. I was able to get a pre order box so I could play starting at 12:01 am on the 27th. I’ve had my eye on this game since around this time last year. Guild Wars comes at an opportune time as my adventures in the World of Warcraft are being made very un-fun with the inclusion of the so called “honor” system and a contest to encourage this so called honor system of Blizzard’s.

Guild Wars at this moment in time feels like a fun game. The biggest selling points right now are no monthly fees to play and the fact that just about everything is a private instance means I don’t have to worry about getting ganked (farmed for honor) as I try to level. I can’t stress how antisocial I am at this time because of this bullshit going on in WoW. So it’s nice to be able to be all alone in an area in Guild Wars if I want to be.

Another huge selling point as it turns out is that I can play the game from work. There is only one port number that needs to be open for the game to work and that port number happens to be open on this isp the hotel uses. The ability to play at work is really amazing seeing how just about every other port number on the internet is closed here at work.

The ability to play at work has many downsides as the these six screen shots above can show. The Intel Extreme Graphics Technology powered 82845G Graphics Controller in the work computer just doesn’t have the muscle to run a game like Guild Wars. The horrible graphics really isn’t the problem. The problem is that about 20 minutes into playing the computer crashes to a bsod that points to one of the driver files for the onboard vid card.

Which is really frustrating. I’ve updated to the latest drivers provided by Intel. I’ve lowered every setting in the game that I can. The damn thing still keeps crashing. Granted this pitiful video card is not supported by the game. I was just hoping to have some luck and make it work via tweaks. And I’m contemplating buying a cheap ass pci video card to put into the work pc I use. It all depends on how things go at the hotel in the coming weeks.

So World of Warcraft has me firmly in it’s grasp once again. I’ve been playing quite a bit (for me) this last week and have managed to level up to 25. The game is of course still not a finished product. Granted that can be said for all mmorpg’s on the market. But WoW just at times feels like it’s unfinished. Gameplay mechanics aside it has to be the constant god damn Weekly Scheduled Maintenance that Blizzard seems to relish inflicting on their paying costumers.

And now that I want to play the game again it pisses me off when I can’t. I’ve done a few of the lower level instances and I’ve grown to enjoy the rewards that comes from them. I’m talking about the phat lewt man. It has to be one of the most important reasons to play a game of this type. When I’m not working or sleeping I’m playing WoW. At work I spend all of my time checking out my character profile over at WoWRankings.com trying to figure what kind of gear I need to replace. I’m trying to get all of the stamina and strength items I can find.

Which is odd. In Camelot I never really thought about item stats and how it really affected my character. I just played the game in a daze really. But this stuff is important here in WoW and I do pay attention to the details. I’ve also noticed I’m really worried about how I spec out my talents for my Shaman. Again this wasn’t something I thought about in Camelot to heavily. But I do wonder what will make my character the best. It is a PvP server I’m on after all and I’m sick of getting ganked and I want to be able to be the one doing the ganking when the time comes.

And with all of that said I’m in no hurry to hit the level cap. I don’t plan on setting any records in leveling up quickly. Of course this time I don’t plan on taking over two years to hit the cap. This time I would like to be able to do it in under a year. But we will have to wait and see if I manage that.

So I picked up the Dark Age of Camelot expansion Catacombs and what follows is my first experience in these new areas. I installed the game first of course which comes on 4 cd’s. And like the other expansion packs for Camelot this is a whole new version of the game. Each expansion that has come out has had it’s own client for the game. Which means that I’ve wasted another 2 gigs or so for this game that I’ll play maybe for a month at the most and end up canceling again.

Then of course I patch. Patching Catacombs involves the normal Camelot patching system plus a download of some bigger file not added by the patcher. No problem here of course since the expansion has been out a while and it’s not having to patch everyone and their brother. Once the game loads up your greeted with a new character selection screen, which is a nice fluff feature added by the expansion. All of my character except my level 50 were able to change their faces here at this screen. Turk (my level 50) could not do so. Which is no big deal as I found out I can talk to a npc in game to do this later. I picked my 50 and entered the game.

And of course I zone into Avalon City. This of course just shows how long ago it was I played the game last. So to get to these new expansion areas I have to run to a nearby town and take a horse to another town where I’m able to teleport to Camelot City. Then one goes behind the church and enters the Roman Aqueducts. And this is where the games unfriendliness becomes very apparent. You zone into this area and there is no real indication of where you need to go, other than heading forward. I guess I’ve grown used to WoW and it’s hold my hand approach.

So I’m exploring these Roman Aqueducts and having a general fun time minus the fun. I go past this Blue shiny thing and pay no attention to it. Which was a mistake because it is an Obelisks that transports you into the city for your side. But I had no idea and I explore all around this maze that is the Roman Aqueducts. And I’m having a fairly decent go at it until I come to a dead end which the only way to go is to jump off down to your death.

And of course I skillfully manage to fall to my death at this dead end as I’m making my way out of it. Which is no big deal I’m level 50 the experience loss is not an issue nor is the 17 gold it costs to buy back my con. It’s just the whole idea of this death. It’s like the game (or the developers) relish the idea of killing the player.

I can invision some sort of big scoreboard at Mythic that keeps a tally everytime the game kills one of their players. And again maybe I’ve been babied to much by World of Warcraft. But I just can’t find the fun in it anymore and I’ve tried. Oh well I’ll spend a few more days in Camelot as I gain up some great rested xp in WoW and see how many more times Catacombs can kill me.

So I’ve been playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (developed by Obsidian Entertainment) on the Xbox these last few days. It’s not what I would call a sequel, it’s more like a expansion pack really. Not that it isn’t a good game. It’s just more of the same with some new feats/force powers/prestige classes thrown in with a new story. You can sway your party members to your side of the force, which opens up a whole new angle on the game. But it loses some of the immersion that I loved about the first KOTOR.

I’ve only made it to the second planet so far and I’ve yet to feel any of the Jedi Guilt that I experienced in the first game. You know the stuff I’m talking about, those conversations with Bastila where she nags the shit out of you for doing a bad dead. I miss that. And sure it was probably all scripted sequences in the first one. I just find myself missing that here in this second game. I just don’t feel like my party members care if I am good or bad in this one. I don’t notice them questioning me if I’m bad.

And I’ve done my fair share of bad deeds in KOTOR:TSL. My favorite evil moment so far was using the Jedi Mind Trick to force two thugs in Nar Shaddaa to give me their money and then jump off a ledge so they plummeted to their deaths. The lack of nagging is making it so much easier for me to be evil. I find it refreshing. I’m looking forward to embracing the Dark Side like the way a fat guys craves candy. And I don’t consider myself evil really. It’s just that I relish the fact I can do the evil things I would like to do in real life but can’t because of the those pesky laws we have in these kinds of games.

There is a down side to playing this game. It’s cut into my World of Warcraft play time even more than the 500 issues of the Amazing Spider-Man comic did. And don’t get me wrong. I have no intention of quiting WoW. I’m just taking a minor break is all. Anyway this time away from WoW insures all my friends in the guild will be a higher level than me and thats the we it should be.

World of Warcraft retail day one is over and that’s something I wouldn’t have imagined would ever come. I’m not sure it’s been the smoothest launch. Waiting to login to the game is crazy. I understand that everyone and their bother wants to play this game. It a lot of fun. But jesus I hate waiting for something that I will be paying for. Granted I’m on a free month here. It’s just the idea that maybe this game wasn’t ready to go live yet. I’m still shocked of how fast the closed beta ended.

I can’t help but think WoW was rushed out to compete with EQ2 and to fill the pockets of those french fucks at Vivendi Universal. I’m sure I’m probably wrong about that. But it just seems odd. But don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the game is finally out.

You know the weird thing though? Now that it out I kind of feel like I’m leaving my first love. I didn’t even un-install Dark Age of Camelot. It would just feel odd with it not being on my computer. I do miss the game. It’s just that Camelot stopped being fun for me a long time ago. But I can’t help but have a special fondness for that game. And who knows, maybe I’ll give Catacombs a shot when it comes out. Just to see how things are and to visit old friends.

Half-Life 2 has been getting my full attention ever since the game was unlocked at 12:07 am (Valve time) on the 16th. I played the game from the time I got off of work (around 7 am) until about 4:00 pm. I only took 6 screen shots and the only ones of note to show are these shots of Barney and Alyx:

A couple of things about this game. First off the graphics are amazing. I think it’s even more than just the graphics, it’s the environments and the way the story unfolds around you. You may have heard about this games physics in a preview or two. And it’s something that has to be seen, I can’t do it justice writing about it. More or less if you played and liked the first Half-Life this game will be a must have.

Multiplayer is handled by the Counter-Strike: Source, the juiced up version of CS. Personally I don’t like CS so it’s not an issue to me and I’m not big on the multiplayer part of the game. But some people would like to have just a plain old Half-Life 2 Death Match mode. And from what I hear it’s coming thanks to the mod community.

World of Warcraft comes out the 23rd according to this press release. Which makes you wonder about just how long open beta will be. The final stress test started the 1st of this month. Well thanks to the Blizzard Insider we know when the open beta starts:

Also here is the beef on what this game is going to cost me and you:

After the initial free one-month subscription ends, players of World of Warcraft will be able to continue playing under one of three different subscription plans. The month-to-month subscription plan costs $14.99 per month, the three-month plan costs $13.99 per month, and the six-month plan costs $12.99 per month. World of Warcraft subscription fees can be paid by major credit card, PayPal, and pre-paid game cards, which will be available in stores where World of Warcraft is sold.

I admit it’s more than I expected it to be. But regardless of the price I will be playing this game. If you have doubts make sure to try it on the 8th.