Juxtaposed Life

Over this long weekend I had some extra gaming time, which then led to me commenting out loud (to no one) about the games I was playing as well as games I was reading about.  Talking to myself is bad enough, but not recording the conversation so I can listen to myself at a later date is just wasteful.

So, I decided it was time to once again put my thoughts on to virtual paper.

First up: My dead Xbox 360.

It went sort of like this:

• Sit down. Grab Controller. Turn on Xbox. Red flashing lights.  *sigh*
• Turn off.  Unplug. Cross fingers. Plug in. Turn on. Red flashing lights.  *Deep sigh*
• Turn off. Unplug all plugs.  Let sit.  Read support site.  *sigh* Plug back in. Turn on. Still red lights.  *tear for my wallet*
• Call nearby Best Buy. Out of stock of new 250gig model.  Target. Out of Stock.  Walmart. Out of stock.  3rd Gamestop called.  *yay* One left, but we close in 10 minutes.  Drive. Pick up. But no transfer cable. *sad*
• Start calls again. Yay. Best Buy has one. Drive across town. Pick up cable. Drive home.  *happy*
• At home. Unpack and set up new box. Shiny, quiet, lots of drive space.  *Very Happy*
• *wallet still sad*

Yes I could have repaired the old one, but it was going to cost $100+ and I would have still been left with a 1st gen 360 with a puny 20gig HD, and loud DVD drive.   I would have easily been able to wait if not for the upcoming Halo Reach, and Dead Rising 2.    Which leads to …

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MrAnderson EQ2, Final Fantasy, Free2Play, Games, LOTRO, Musings, XBox360 Dead Rising, EQ2, FFXIV, Free2Play, Games, Lotro, Musings, Xbox360

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of topics that frazzled me a bit when I heard them discussed. I really try not to respond to podcaster or blogger comments that I disagree with, because I do not feel I can debate well with the written word.  I am much more comfortable debating in person and often do with my co-workers and friends.

But these two topics struck me enough that I decided I should record my thoughts for future reflection.  My comments below are not so much direct responses to people I disagree with, they are simply my thoughts on the topics as I believe today.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, Musings Guild Wars 2, micro transactions, MMO, Musings, rant

While I was thinking about a quick post about things I was playing, watching, listening to, all the talk about Lord of the Rings Online going F2P helped tipped my hand.   Thus here I am actually sitting down to type out words on the blog.

LOTRO F2P
I have not even started to read everything people have said about this move to F2p, but I see there is a lot of conversation about it.  From a quick glance there is some positive, some negative, some a bit crazy,  and a few of my friends believe its a sign of the future; F2P is the way “all” future MMOs will use.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, LOTRO, Musings, World of Warcraft Free2Play, Games, Lotro, MMO, World of Warcraft

Welcome to another episode of “What I’ve been playing.”

The last few weeks have been full of World of Warcraft goodness.  Its been a lot of fun to be back in and chatting with old friends, and just enjoying the game.  The key to this has been not raiding.

Sure I would love to see Ice Crown, or help guildies with Ulduar, but I have little patience for four hour focused intense sessions of play. Instead I have been enjoying popping in at lunch to do daily quests, jumping online before bed and running a quick dungeon, or even sneaking in a quick Battleground.   Good times.

I have also played a little bit of God of War 3. Though for some reason, which I have not yet figured out, I have not been drawn to play it. *shrug*

Unlike the last game I want to mention, Warstorm.  This is a Facebook collectible card game that has captivated me, its all about crafting your squads (decks) and watching them battle opponent squads.  It’s a great between tasks at work sort of game, but it does have the “please spend your money”  hooks.

That’s about it on the gaming front.

As for other entertainment, I wanted to mention that two weeks ago we officially (though minimally) entered the HDTV era.   I had been holding off on a new Tivo for a couple of years, but finally decided it was time.   I picked up a new Tivo Premier, and signed for Charter’s basic HD package.

Amazing.  Even on our 10 year old rear projection 1080i TV the picture quality is great, and we can not record 2 shows in HD at the same time on that machine, while the old tivo has become a dedicated kid show recorder!  I cann’t recommend Tivo enough.

MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, World of Warcraft, tv Games, tv, World of Warcraft

Free Realms

I have not had a chance to explore all that this game has to offer, but I have played enough of it to tell that the name most definitely does not refer to the cost.  I would go so far as to say that for the target audience this game is not free to play.

Ok, ok; that is not entirely fair you can actually run around and take part in many activities without spending any money. Yet, at its heart this is a game that so heavily tempts its target audience to pay, that I have a hard time believing it is free to play.  Three examples below after the break.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, Uncategorized Free2Play, FreeRealms, MMO

Yesterday I stumbled upon a FlyFF and Rappelz, both of which are several years old and yet for some crazy reason I downloaded them. Today after installation and account creation I played both for a very short bit, during which I took a few notes.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, Job Search, Runes of Magic Free2Play, MMO

Today marked the official launch of Runes of Magic; a free to play MMO that looks a lot on the surface like World of Warcraft.  I am not about to start a debate about how good RoM is or how it compares to WoW, I am just saying the developers made it a point to make RoM feel a bit like WoW.   Of course while it looks like WoW, it is not WoW and has several game mechanic differences some of which I have listed below:

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Runes of Magic Free2Play, MMO, Runes of Magic

I have had a bit of writers block this week, even though there has been plenty to chat about. I guess I just have not been able to gather any subset of my thoughts up into a cohesive chunk. So instead, since this is my blog and I can make up the rules, I am just going to jot down some thoughts on several topics.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, LOTRO, World of Warcraft, tv Dollhouse, Fringe, Lotro, MMO, Patch, Runes of Magic, tv, World of Warcraft