On the search

Okay, the last The Secret World beta revealed to me that I'm going to need a new computer. It's not that old, but the more and more "new" games I play, the more I realize that I need to upgrade. I am probably going to get a laptop first, because I do travel alot and I like the convenience that a laptop offers (I can play in bed!). I've narrowed down my selection I think, and you can view what I've narrowed it down to (and maybe help me get a new one![half-joking here]) at my article here: Best Gaming Computer. What do you guys think?

Diablo 3

So, I've held off on my D3 review for a while and let the other top gaming sites(IGN, for example) beat me to it. However, I wanted this review to be pretty high quality, and didn't want a repeat of the twitter war that occurred over my TERA review (found here). I also found D3 more interesting than TERA and was able to continue playing it past level 10 without falling asleep. I normally don't like point-and-click games at all; however, D3 makes the top-down view, point-and-click style work and I found myself enjoying this game alot. If you're interested in reading more of my D3 review, head on over to the official review here: Diablo 3 Review. 

Happy Gaming All.

-Ashton

Father's Day is Coming Up!

Well, Father's Day is fast approaching. It is only a few days a way (it's June 17th this year). Those of you trying to find the perfect Father's Day gift for your game addicted Dad (husband, grandfather, boyfriend, etc) may feel like you are lost and don't know what in the world to get him this year. Well, luckily, I'm here to help. As the self-professed leader of the Game Addictz, I feel it is my responsibility to ensure that you get Dad something that he will find truly awesome this year. So hop on over to this article I've written specifically for the occasion, Father's Day for Gamers and find Dad the perfect gift this year. I promise to not disappoint. Also, if you have questions, ask them below. I will respond to them as promptly as I can! Good luck!

-Ashton

Skyrim: Revisited

As the scene faded in, I noticed that I was being taken somewhere in a horse-drawn carriage. As I tried to move, I was greeted with a message telling me my hands were bound, so I sat and listened to the conversation between my fellow prisoners. Once we got to where we were going, the Captain of the guard decided that I should be executed even though my name wasn't on the "bad guy" list. Her callousness made me determine that no matter what happened, I would join the resistance or "rebellion" or the "Stormcloaks" if I made it out of this alive. As I was about to be executed, a big ugly dragon made it's presence known and I was forced to run for my life. I chose to follow a rebel instead of an Imperialist and eventually made it out of the castle and escaped being dragonroast. As I was escaping from the dragon, the underground stream I encountered provided an initial beauty of the graphics that this game offered. The stream looked just as it would if I would have encountered in my own life. The river outside in the woods was even more amazing.

If you haven't bought Skyrim yet, you can get it from here:




True Character Customization: Once you get into the character customization and choice of skills, you will realize that you can truly create the character of your dreams. You earn points based on your actions that you can apply to skill "constellations" in several different areas. The weapons and armor that you decide to use are completely up to you and are not restricted to any "classes" (the game doesn't have any "classes" anyway). There are 10 playable races in the game, and if you've played any of the Elder Scrolls games, you will probably recognize some of them. The races include Altmer, or High Elves, Dunmer, or Dark Elves, Bosmer (Wood Elves), Argonians, Bretons, Imperials, Khajits (the cat-like creatures of the land), Nords, Orcs, and Redguards. Each of the races give different bonuses to different aspects of your character. For example, the Khajits are given a bonus to their sneaking ability because of their cat-like agility. However, you can still make a hulking Breton and improve his sneaking skill to make him just as good as an assassin as a Khajit, if that's what you want to do. Skyrim really doesn't place any limitations on how you play your character, making for one of the truest role-playing experiences since the pen-and-paper era.

If you're looking for some vintage Elder Scrolls games, check them out here:






Guides and walkthroughs are helpful, but not needed: There are guides and walkthroughs out there that can help you throughout the game; however, the free-from style of gameplay allows you to truly play the game how you want to play it. Don't want to complete the main quest? Well, don't, you may miss out on some things, but it's not required in order to enjoy the game. Here are some of the popular guides available:




 Prima's Official Guide is here:

You can also check out Abeona's guide here, and it does provide some useful hints and help getting through the game if you need it: Abeona's Guide

Stories and lore: If you're interested in the stories and lore of the Elder Scrolls series, there are vast amounts of books to that you can find anywhere on the Internet. There are also stories found in all of the games as well in various books that you encounter and these also let you glimpse into the lore of the Elder Scrolls.

Check out some of the books here:



New Expansion: The new Skyrim: Dawnguard expansion is set to release at the end of June 2012. The downloadable content expansion will be released around June 26 for Microsoft XBOX 360. The expansion will be released sometime after that for PS3 and PC Players. Check out the video here:

TERA = Pink Slime?

A young George Washington was once credited with famously saying "I cannot tell a lie." Well, I think I've tried to be truthful and honest in all of my posts as well as the articles I write at various places. That has not changed and hopefully will never change. I admit I am an affiliate of most products that I promote and I do earn money from those promotions (however, trust me, it's not enough to live off of. I still have a full-time job I must go to Monday through Friday, 7:30 am - 4 pm).  But I will never promote and say something is good when it is not.

I recently promoted Velik's levelling guide for Tera over at Squidoo, which is an excellent guide to help you get through the game. However, I have not yet posted my review about Tera and was waiting until the next issue of MMO Addictz to do so. But those of you that actually read my blog will get kind of an advance warning with this post. The bottom line is: After my free 30 day trial of the game with it's purchase, I will not be subscribing to it at all.

The game is semi-unique with its targeting system and cross-hair that requires you to have a mouse or a controller to play; however, I think Champions Online system is similar. However, those of you that use laptops to play games with a touchpad and don't want to either get a USB mouse or a controller are at a disadvantage here. There is no way to play this game with that type of setup (unless you have an extreme amount of patience that no person should ever be capable of having). Those of you that use regular mice or controller should be okay, but the system still sometimes seems slow to respond to your actions.

I played the game since its release and still have no clue what the storyline here is. This may not be important to some and it's not always a dealbreaker for me, but I do like to know why I'm doing things from time to time, other than just because some stranger wants me to. One of my gaming friends that has been with me since every MMO release since 2006 or 2007 bet me early on I wouldn't make it past level 10. I'm probably afraid to say he's right here, I've made it to level 7. Some of you are probably going to blast me here and say you get into the real guts later on, but hey, if you don't get me addicted at the beginning, I don't really have the patience to grind to said level just to get to the real content of the game. It's kind of like pink slime filler meat here. Yeah there's good stuff in there somewhere, but that filler stuff looks gross and may or may not be harmful to your health.

-Ashton

P.S. If you do want the levelling guide to help you out, click the link below. It's a good leveling guide, but the game is only so-so and I don't believe it lives up to its hype. Hopefully Secret World will satisfy my hunger...

Tera Leveling Guide

TERA's Launch Is Upon Us

If you're like me, you have your doubts about whether TERA can escape from underneath the "WoW clone" label. I have my doubts that it will be addicting and fun and worth the $14.99/month subscription fee, but right now, I'm risking it and downloading the game now. To be honest, most of the MMOs that I have bought within the last several years have all gone free-to-play, with the exception of WoW and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I always hate downloading and patching a new MMO because it takes so long, but I truly am excited to see how this one works out.

One of the other reasons that I'm excited about this game is that I found a truly awesome guide to go along with it to make my experience more fun. No, it's not cheating, it's just maximizing my potential (yes, I know I am an addict, read the title of the blog). Check out Velik's guide and check out more information about it here. Also, if you still need to buy TERA online, go ahead and head over to Amazon and get yourself a copy. Check out the links below to buy TERA online.


Buy Tera Online

Buy Tera Online Collector's Edition

Angry Birds Games!

Okay, so I know I usually stick the the regular console and PC games, but I have been getting addicted to Angry Birds on the iPod Touch recently. I've set a goal to get three stars in every level (and it's kept me up until the wee hours of the morning sometimes), and I've been successful so far. However, did you know there are other versions of the Angry Birds game out there? No, I'm not talking about the other iOS applications, there are board/card games out there that are fun for children and adults. My children have the Knock on Wood version and they love playing it. I highly advise checking them out.

Check out an article over here as well.

Star Wars: The Old Republic and apologies

Okay, first with the apologies part. I'm sorry I haven't posted since November, things have just been crazy. Plus I've been depressed with the news that my favorite MMORPG magazine won't be published anymore (at least for a long while). Ah, but at least they converted my subscription to their tablet magazine?

Anyways, on to Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), the best thing since sliced bread. Well, almost. Is it a WoW-killer? No, I don't think anyone but Blizzard can kill World of Warcraft, and I think they will even have trouble doing it. But it is fun, once you get the graphics issues worked out if your not playing on a top-of-the-line gaming rig. You've got to turn shadows off pretty much, not just on low, for the game to be mostly playable.

After that, the game is pretty good, even for those that aren't hardcore Star Wars fans. The storylines are good and the cinematic quest acceptance and turn-in movies are a nice little perk to watch. If you don't feel like watching all that, you can press the "space bar" and it will skip to the next choice you have to make.

Speaking of choices, most of your choices within the game have some sort of affect within the game. They can affect your relationship with your companions, which can affect the speed of their crafting skills (yes, you send your companions to do all of your crafting and gathering for you [gathering costs credits, though], the choices can affect points towards the light side or dark side of your character, which can in turn affect what types of weapons or crystal modifications you can use, or they can affect how NPCs react to you in the cinematics. All of this makes for a pretty custom scenario every time you play the game. For example, you could create two bounty hunters and play one as a completely nice, light-side bounty hunter (kind of an oxymoron, though) and play the other as the evil, hateful, dark-side and have two different experiences.

One more thing and I'll conclude for now (I could probably write alot more, but I'll save you the pain of reading through a long blog post). In SWTOR, the quest and rewaerds don't end after you turn it in, especially with side quests. Depending on how you completed certain quests, you may find mail from NPCs that you helped in the quest, which contain credits or gear, which is kind of nice. Alright, that's it for now. I'll see you next time.

-Ashton

I'm sorry, I can't make the WoW Raid tonight. I'm busy playing Skyrim

Eh, no, not really. I'll be there, but it was really hard to pry myself away from the XBox 360 today. Oh, I have it on PC too, but I save that for work diversions. It has been a really long time since I've been this immersed in a game that I would buy both the 360 and the PC version and play both versions during the same week. I love being able to sneak up on enemies and shoot them from a great distance and when I hit them, they suffer significant damage and don't instantly dash to me and kill me. The game takes me more time when I'm stealthing, but I enjoy it and I get to see a lot more of the game when I'm not trying to run from the enemy or towards them and hack n' slash. The game lets you do that do if you want. You can use your sword (or swords if you dual wield) or other melee weapon to obliterate the enemy. You can also use magic as well if that's your style. You'll also learn some dragon shouts along the way that are basically beefed up magical powers that help you with your journey. There are puzzles along the way, but they aren't too complicated or "Myst-like" that you won't be able to figure them out. A lot revolve around reading notes that you find or using your dragon shouts.

The game is also amazingly beautiful, which is one of the reasons I like to sneak around and take my time. The entire scenery seems so real, I almost stopped to try and take a leak in the gushing waterfall, but alas I had a ladyfriend accompanying me on my journey so I decided against it (It was then, that I realized I really had to go in RL and the sounds of the waterfall were making it a lot worse). I'm going to add a disclaimer here: I haven't played the game in hard mode, I'm currently playing it in Easy. Once I complete the story, I'll go back and try it in medium and hard and see what the differences are and if I can complete the game in those modes; however, I'm more of a story guy and like to get the full story of the game, rather than worrying about getting my brains beat out of me at every single moment. Although I'm playing it on Easy, I have not used any cheat codes and the game makes it very easy to pick up at your last save, or auto-save, if you die, so cheats aren't really necessary at this point.

If you have enjoyed playing the previous Elder Scrolls installments, then you are almost certainly in for a treat with Skyrim. Even if you have shyed away from the game before, give Skyrim a try, you may find yourself enjoying the variety of ways that you can play and complete the game. The graphics are amazing, so if you are the type that the graphics make the game for you, then you also need to get your hands on this game. That's it for now, see ya next time (I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'll try to keep coming back as regularly as I can).

-Ashton

How much is too much?

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything, but I wanted to get an update in before I let too much time pass and no one read the blog anymore. Anyways, I started wondering today, do I have a problem? About a month-and-a-half ago, I had a job interview for a subtance abuse counselor position. One of the questions was "What do you think the most important part of the 12-step recovery program is?" Okay, so with my new B.A. degree in Psychology in hand, I absolutely blew the question. I couldn't remember the 12-step addiction recovery steps and fumbled my through with some jibberish. Needless to say, I didn't get the job; however, I went home and looked at the 12-step recovery program. The first step is the most important, of course, because it is "Admit to yourself that you have a problem." You can't begin to recover if you don't believe you have a problem. Anyway, so enough of the psycho-babble for now, I started to wonder today as I was counting my characters in World of Warcraft, and the numerous other games that I play, if I really do have a problem. The number of characters shown over at http://combatengineers.enjin.com/profile/828566/characters/index/page/1only shows you my guilded characters within World of Warcraft. I'm working on adding my Rift characters there (I think there's around 5 there) and also my City of Heroes characters (somewhere around 15 or 20 total characters there). My Everquest 2 (4 or 5), Vanguard (1), and DC Universe Online characters (2) are not listed either. And that's just the MMOs. I also play numerous XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 games and dabble around on a 3DS every now then. Granted most of my game playing time is devoted to World of Warcraft, EQ2, and NCAA Football 2012 but I do play the other games now and then. So, I may have a problem. But then again, I do not think it's a bad one either, and it's definitely not a mental illness (A mental illness has to cause a negative effect on my normal daily activities, and I am very capable of fulfilling my daily activities and do not neglect my children in favor of gametime ;-) ). Some studies have shown that games can improve brain function, and I can definitely use some improved brain function. Everyone has a hobby, and everyone has different ways of having fun. So my hobby is gaming and I just happen to have fun when I sit down at a computer (or a console), log into vent, and play games with people that I get along with very well. And if you've got a problem with that, I've got two words for you.....

Regular RPGs just don't do it anymore (or am I a cheater?)

Okay, so I know it's been a little bit since my last post, but alas, I'm still here. I've been a bit down lately to post anything, as my Learn 2 Play WoW (weplaywow.com) experiment didn't turn out as well as I thought (apparently there are not many people out there that want to play World of Warcraft and just don't know how as I had originally thought, although I do have a good amount of fans on our Facebook page). The website is still up and we're still accepting purchases and giving classes if needed; however, no one has bit yet (Yes, I'm probably the only business owner to ever admit this, but I think that's one of my key traits: I'm able to admit when I don't succeed at something and either try harder and figure out what I did wrong or why something doesn't work).

Ah, enough of the self-pity and onto the real meat of this post. I realized something the other day as I was demoing D & D: Dragondale on the XBOX 360. I didn't get very far before I became bored. The same thing happened with Demon Souls on the PS3 (an interesting concept, but I was only able to play until I died, and then it became very irritating trying to resurrect...). I thought back to The Elder Scrolls series that I have played since Morrowind. I only made it through the stories of those games because I (scoff) cheated. Yes, I admit when things got frustrating (which on Oblivion set to Easy mode wasn't often, but hey it did happen), I either looked up the cheat codes for God mode or looked up the walkthrough to find the answer. Then I thought about something. I never cheated in City of Heroes to get to 50 (you couldn't or if you did, you got banned, etc, etc, etc). But it did get frustrating at times, but my friends in-game helped me, as well as my wife because she played as well. Then I thought to how I had become bored with City of Heroes and moved onto World of Warcraft, and sigh, I cheated. I use Dugi's guides... and before those I used Jame's tour guides... (note, not necessarily cheating, but walkthroughs essentially telling you how to do everything). Am I addicted to getting to the end as fast as I can or am I even cheating at WoW, or did CoH just become boring at the end when all of my friends, and my wife, had moved on pretty much. I admit, we have regular groups that run Dungeons in World of Warcraft and that is one of the reasons I stay. I'm now playing Rift occasionally, especially with their version of a dungeon finder implemented (okay, I love my Bard in these dungeon groups! Don't have to dedicate healing, and I play music to buff and deal damage!). Okay, geekfest over here. Let me know in the comment section here. Am I addicted to cheating or have the single-player RPGs just lost their flair compared to MMORPGs, or am I even cheating at all on World of Warcraft?

City of Heroes Going F2P?

So, my good friend, Steady over at Steady's Gaming Blog, let me know that City of Heroes was going Free to Play in the upcoming issue 21. City of Heroes was the first MMORPG that I had invested enough time to get a character to the level cap. Don't get my wrong, my first MMORPG that I played was Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2, but I never got to the level cap there or any subsequent MMO (Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest, Everquest II, etc). until I found CoH. At around level 5, my wife and I found a home with the Moonbase Gamma supergroup, which eventually evolved into the Combat Engineers gaming community, that I'm still a part of today (yes, I know, those people are crazy for keeping me this long!).

Anyways, I later started playing World of Warcraft, got addicted, and moved more away from CoH, and devoted most of my game time towards World of Warcraft (yeah, like that's worked. I still try every game known to man, and I still keep coming back to WoW). So, to make a long story short, I may come back to City of Heroes, depending on what content is being offered for free. I don't think I'm willing to pay another monthly subscription (with Rift, WoW, and now Gods and Heroes [see next blog post, coming soon]), but if I can still play my level 50 and access new stuff, finish off certain badges, etc, and maybe level a new character as well, I may be coming back.

Now, as with Steady, I share his concerns. Will this new F2P model ruin the game with an influx of new people farming characters to the level cap, without learning to play their character, and then attempting to play the end-game and ruin PUG groups in the game completely (they're already dreadful enough as it is)? The game already has a problem with paying subscribers farming their toons to level cap and then attempting the end-game content without knowing how to play their character (hence the current state of most PUG groups). Don't twist my words here, I'm not against farming levels completely, and I've taken part in and benefitted from the practice as well. However, a person that farms a character from level 1 to the level cap without learning how to play said character should not then attempt to jump into any end game content. Learn to play the character. Run some of those missions you missed along the way, learn about the powers that you have and when you should use each one. Find out with enhancements work best with your character. Find some friends and run some task forces and once you feel like that character is your in-game persona that you know like the back of your hand, then maybe dabble in the end-game content. Hopefully, these new F2P players will grasp that concept, but if it's anything like some of the current subscribers, it's kind of doubtful. Granted, I can still play with my current Supergroup, but most of the people that used to play it actively, have moved on to another game as well (usually WoW).

-Ashton

It's Friday! Welcome to Weplaywow.com!

Okay, so in keeping with my promise to give you all the answer to the "something big" that was coming Friday, here it is. It's 12:41 am where I live, so it's Friday. Lately, I've been trying to recruit some of my friends and family into playing World of Warcraft with me (consider it a real-life recruiting for the in-game world type of thing). Yes, I know, I play games way too much, but I just want to spread the addic...ahem...joy.

Anyways, onto the point of this halibaloo. I would usually get my family members to play for maybe 5-10 minutes at the most before they would say that they didn't understand the game at all. I left it at that for a while until one family member said that they would like to play the game more, but they just didn't understand it and became easily frustrated. I asked around to the other people, and I kept getting the same response. The in-game WoW tutorial just wasn't cutting it for these people and they were becoming frustrated and giving up on the game very quickly, although they enjoyed the possibilities that the game could bring.

So, after several months of research, work, and monkeys (don't ask, there is just always monkeys involved in everything), We Play Wow was developed. It is the most in-depth beginner's guide (well, actually guides) and one-on-one help available. Actually, there isn't anything else like it. Trust me, I looked and looked and even the monkeys couldn't find anything.

"Wait", you ask, "You're asking us to pay you to teach us how to play World of Warcraft?" No, I'm not, actually. Here is what my program will provide you. All of the programs include the following: a beginner's guide to GameSpeak, a customized (yes, I personalize each one of these things) guide to World of Warcraft developed specifically for you (I e-mail you and you e-mail me letting me know what it is you are wanting to learn and I then create a guide specifically tailored to your needs every single time), bi-weekly to tri-weekly meetings (some would call these classes, but I would hardly call playing WoW school), and basically just about anything else that you could ask for this type of program. Trust me, if you e-mail me with a question, I will answer it (and no, I won't charge you extra money to answer your questions, all that's included).

This product isn't for everyone. Actually, it's not for people that already play World of Warcraft. It's for those people who want to play, but having a hard time understanding the game. I taught my own mother (who was one of the ones who could only play for 5 minutes before quitting) using this course and she is no longer a 5 minute wonder. I know there's going to be jerks out there saying "Everyone can play WoW. It's so easy." No, my friend, it's not. Not for people whose last video game was Pac-Man or Tetris (both very awesome classics in my opinion. And trust me, the in-game community for the most part, is less than stellar in their empathy and helping attitudes (spend 10 minutes in trade chat and you'll see what I mean).

I'm not charging you for doing stuff that World of Warcraft is already doing, the extremely low fees that I do have are for the time investment that I personally make for every individual person. You're not sitting with millions of people watching a recorded webinar. You're actually talking with a real, live person, one-on-one, and working together in-game as well. No, I'm not charging you to play the game with me (trust me, I'm not that desperate for a social life), again, the extremely low fees cover the cost that I incur for the services that I provide (the guides, creating accounts on World of Warcraft, the ventrilo voice-chat server, etc).

Again, this product is not for everyone. But if any of what I said applied to you and you want to get started playing World of Warcraft and actually enjoying it, head over to www.weplaywow.com and check out what we have available.

-Ashton

It's Here!

Okay, if you follow me on Twitter. You know I said I would reveal all about the "Something big" that's coming on Friday. I'm still going to reveal all on Friday; however, the something big is here now. If you want a sneak peak, head on over to the We Play WoW fanpage here and check it out. I'll give you a hint. It's for those of you that follow my blog, wish that you could play WoW but didn't have the time to learn the game mechanics or understand them at all (Mom, I'm talking to you ;-) )

WWE All Stars? Child's Play.

I purchased WWE All Stars for my Playstation 3 the other day in hopes of adding an addition to an already great game WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2011. Unfortunately, my hopes were quickly diminished. The game breaks away from the move controls used by previous Smackdown vs. Raw games and attempts to go back to button-smashing Arcade roots. However, a lack of synchronisity between my controller and the game leads to a delay between my button press and the actual action being completed by my in-game character. A very uninteresting career-type Path of Champions mode, combined with a boring, and often frustrating (with the way the game does not recognize my controller commands half of the time) Legends-type mode (where you determine the best of two wrestlers, one modern-day and one legend) does not do very much to help this game out.

I would take the game back and get some in-store credit for it; however, I let my 7-year-old play the game (yes, I know what the ESRB rating is and I monitor him while he plays so kiss my bad-daddy butt) and he says that I'm not allowed. He's not any better at it than I am (which is surprising because he is usually better at the games than I am), but he likes seeing the Legend wrestlers compete with the modern day wrestlers and likes watching the entrance music of the Legends. I get what the game is trying to do, but the delivery just didn't come through here and what could have been an awesome game falls to the mediocre pile.

Sorry for the lack of updates!

I know, I know. It's been a while. Some of you probably thought that I fell off the face of the earth. Others are probably wishing they were the ones that pushed me. But, I'm back and will try to do better with more regular updates from now on. I've been very busy with my RL work and I will be graduating college in a little over a month, so that's kept me busy as well. But, just because I've been busy does not mean I haven't been gaming. In fact, I needed the stress relief that only playing video games can provide even more with the extra stress lately.

I recently acquired L.A. Noire and the Saints Row compilation (1 & 2), both for the XBOX 360. I really like L.A. Noire. It's made by Rockstar Games and it feels like Grand Theft Auto in reverse. I even get to live my fantasy of being a 1940's era police officer and I can turn the sirens on in my police car and everything. It does seem kind of easy; however, and it seems more geared towards the casual gamer. Sure, you can assume that a person is lying and be completely off-base, but it doesn't throw your case off too much. Even after failing a tense fight or chase scene three times, the game will allow you to skip the scene and continue on if you want to. It does feel more like I'm watching a movie sometimes, especially with the non-playable WW II flashbacks the main character keeps having. Even with it being geared towards casual play, I find myself enjoying the game every time I play. The high stress of my job and college right now may make a casual game of cobs and robbers just what I need to de-stress every once in a while.

Let's move on to the Saints Row compilation. I'm trying really hard to put Saints Row 2 in and give it a try, but after trying Saints Row 1, it's kind of got me wanting a little more. Remember how I said L.A. Noire was like GTA in reverse. Saints Row is exactly like Grand Theft Auto in every single way. Prostitute mini-games, trying to win gang turf wars, stealing other people's vehicles, out-running the cops, etc. It's all there, no change in style whatsoever. I actually have to say I liked GTA better. At least their idea was original at the time. Once I try Saint's Row 2, I'll post an update letting you know if it was any better. Should you try Saint's Row? Only if you have not tried GTA and want to get a taste of what it's like for a fraction of the cost.

Well, I think that's it for this update. Thanks for following and I'll be sure to try and update more frequently from now on.

Update: Final Fantasy XI Sub Cancelled

I promised everyone an update on my time spent in the XBOX 360 version of Final Fantasy XI. I tried playing my Hume a few more times and did not have any luck at all. The initial quest was simply "go find this guy in this maze of caves, but I'm not going to give you any directions or anything. Oh, there's a map sold by this guy down at the dock, but you don't have enough money for that yet. Oh, and you'll need to equip your weapon as well, because if you don't, well you'll die" basically. I couldn't find the guy even after trying to find an online walkthrough for the quest. So, I decided to try a different character. I created an elf this time and started in San 'd Oria (I think that's how it's spelled, but I can't remember). This time, it was a bit easier. I was able to do several of the starting quests and even levelled up to level 5. However, the quests were all of the "Kill X number of Y" variety, and being the type of person I am, I got really bored with this type of quest. I simply didn't have the patience anymore, and WoW was calling my name again (Yes, I know WoW does the Kill X number of Y thing too, but at least I get an interesting story to go with it). So, I have cancelled my FFXI sub and doubt I will go back.

Yes, I really don't know Jack

I saw a new game for the XBOX 360 the other day that I just had to have for nostalgia, and possibly entertainment, reasons. The game, you ask? Why, my friend, you really don't know Jack, do you? Anyways, silly puns aside, the game "You Don't Know Jack" was recently revamped and released on all major platforms, including the Wii and PC. I remember playing this game into the wee hours of the night on the computer back in the day. The game was fun, a great game to play with more than one player, and you really learned a lot from the game before it just disappeared. So, I bought this new version in hopes for the same fun and nostalgia. I bought the XBOX 360 version and you can play by yourself (although the game does berate you for it), with 3 other people locally or on-line. Did I get the same enjoyment from this new version as I did from the old version? No, I didn't and my self-esteem is lower, thanks to games amusement at my lack of knowledge. Maybe I just knew more back in the day and as I got older, that knowledge disappeared. Or maybe I just don't get the same enjoyment out of getting made fun of for being dumb that I used to.



I'm not going to recommend not buying this game, but if you don't like games that make fun of you for getting questions wrong, then it's probably not for you. The game is still kind of fun, and as I continue to play it, I might learn something new, and become better at the game.

Tired of the WoW Clones

Okay, I'll admit it. I love World of Warcraft. But, I don't want to play it all of the time. I also don't want to try every new MMORPG that comes out and find out it's exactly like WoW. It really pisses me off, especially when I pay money for it. I recently played a beta version of a game (I can't say which one, cause that would break the NDA, of course) and literally everything was exactly like World of Warcraft, except with a different storyline. The thing that they proclaimed set it apart from other MMOs was very similar to WoW, but with more choices. Granted, I didn't pay any money for it, but I probably would have, had I not played the beta. It seems like every new fantasy MMORPG that is coming out is copying WoW, using the excuse that they are taking what worked with WoW and adding their own elements in. The problem with this concept is that most of their "new ideas" are very small elements of the game and the game comes off looking very similar to World of Warcraft. Don't get me wrong, because like I said, I like World of Warcraft, but I don't want to repeat the experience every time a new fantasy MMO comes out.

Square Enix wants your next-born child to play FFXI on XBOX 360

Admittedly, I probably should have known better. I've played the PC version of Final Fantasy XI and was not too impressed with it. In fact, I never got past the starting area in the PC version. However, I thought maybe the console version might play better with the way the controller moves the camera and everything. Well, two weeks after buying the game I still didn't know. I should've read that the game required a hard drive and then realized that my 4GB 360 Slim didn't come with a hard drive... So, yes, that's my fault there, I'll admit that.

Fast forward to last night after I've purchased the hard drive I needed to play (this is the only one that works without unauthorized work-arounds that may damage your system, by the way). The link for the hard drive is below this post.

Okay, so the PlayOnline viewer installed in under five minutes. Good to go, right? No, not so fast. Now you have to register. This shouldn't be a big deal, should it? Apparently, Square Enix had to make this part extremely hard. Apparently, Square Enix thought that the way other games let characters enter information was just too easy...

Their not-normal cursor icon further complicates the process because you don't know which end is the right one to use. Secondly, if you don't have a keyboard attached to your controller (as I don't), you're in for some additional pain. You have to highlight the field you want to type into, then press the Y button to select the field, and then the X button to open up the keyboard to use. Then once you're done, you have to press the B button to close the keyboard and then start the process over with the next field. Okay, fast forward about 30 minutes later and I've finally finished the registration process. I thought since I downloaded and updated the PlayOnline thing that I was ready to get into the game. No, sorry, I still have to update the actual game portion of the game. It says I have one hour remaining, so I go do something else for an hour.

Now I'm back and it says complete and press X to continue. I press X to continue and now it's updating again...Now, I'm officially frustrated. Now, I have about 5 hours remaining and it's bedtime. I leave it on to update and when I wake up in the morning, it says I'm good to go. Now I have to obtain a Content ID (FFXI's version of character slots). I choose 3 for now, since they're all free for thirty days and create my male Hume. I choose Bastok and load into the game. I watch the short intro and do the initial dialog with the NPCs and find my first mission to go into the Bastok mines and get the report from the Overseer. There's a map, but it's not easy quest-finder mode-enabled like World of Warcraft. I get to the mines, and now I have no clue where to find the Overseer. I search for a while and still haven't found him. I also find out that I'm no match for even the low level "Ding Bats" in the mines (although the name does make me laugh) and without a weapon I die very quickly. I log for now, but I still want to give the game a little longer. I plan on finding a strategy guide for the quests and missions that I can not figure out on my own (I admit it, I'm not the hardcore type, I like help) and also getting a weapon in-game. If you want to try out the game, get some headache medicine (and make sure you aren't susceptible to high blood pressure) and click the link below: