I’m trying out some new themes around here, pardon my mess.
Author: Ethic
I run this little MMO gaming blog but I hardly ever write on it anymore. I'm more of a bloglord or something. Thankfully I have several minions to keep things rolling along.
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Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.
.Smooth Launch for Turbine
I shouldn’t be surprised with a smooth MMO launch, but I still am. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar launched yesterday and from all appearances it was quite trouble free. I have heard some tales of new account registrations being slow, but other than that it seemed to go without many problems at all. The availability of boxes on store shelves might not be as plentiful as one might hope, but I don’t know if that qualifies as a negative.
There was a queue when I logged into Landroval last night, being 14th in line. I was logged in within 3 minutes. I ran around a lot, trying to see how many people were playing. It looked pretty good to me. Plenty of people.
Thorin’s Hall
I only recently started playing a Dwarf in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. I just logged out after spending time in Thorin’s Hall. Simply amazing. I can’t say enough about how beautiful this place is. I grabbed some screenshots to share, even though my graphics settings were not as high as they could be. I still think it looks fantastic.
Up first is the view from the courtyard outside. You can see Thorin’s Hall up the stairs to the right.
The Ugly Side
Another example of the ugly side of MMOs just occurred.
In World of Warcraft, a member of a guild is claiming his brother was one of the victims at Virginia Tech. He announced that he is taking over his brother’s character and that the one thing his brother wished for was to have a mount. Therefore, this “person” is asking for donations to buy one. Now, if true I certainly feel for him and his family. But why would you turn your grief into asking people for gold? Even if I believed him, I think that action is way out of line. I assume this guy is using a tragic event for a personal gain and it makes me sick. Worse yet, the guild is pooling funds for this guy. If I was in that guild, I’d be so out of there. But maybe that’s just me.
– Ethic
A Quest! aka Contest!
Hail adventurers! I have a task I need done, but alas I am unable to do it myself. You see, my feet have become permanently connected to the ground here where I stand. I would be so very thankful if you could help me out. Are you too busy to help? No? Good. Oh yes, I do have a reward for you should you complete my task well, but first let me tell you what I need.
I am gathering information about the great heroes that travel through my little town. What I need is for you to gather up the story or make a sketch of one of these brave guardians of our lands. Perhaps even you qualify? I will choose one of the many tales or sketches that will hopefully be shared with me by you and the other adventurers willing to help. The best will be rewarded.
IMGDC 2007 Day Two
Closed up the 2007 Indie MMO Game Development Conference today. It was a very enlightening experience for me, realizing how much I have been looking at games from a developer’s viewpoint instead of a gamer’s viewpoint. The people attending this conference are extremely passionate about making MMOs. Not only that, they are willing and able to take the risks the big companies cannot and try something radically different. The next revolution in MMOs will almost certainly come from the Indie MMO arena.
The keynote speech this morning was given by Dr. Richard Bartle. It was a fantastic talk about the history of independent game development and how the time is ripe for Indie MMOs to really make a difference in the next few years. I could probably sit and listen to him talk for a whole weekend. It was a pity that we only had a few hours.
IMGDC 2007 Day One
I’m back from day one of the 2007 Indie MMO Game Development Conference. With regrets to Nicodemus for telling him I wasn’t going to write up anything, here are some of my thoughts.
I arrived to find the Minneapolis Convention Center packed with girls valleyball, girls dance and a karate tournament. Eventually I found my way to the IMGDC conference rooms. Several people I recognized right away – Dr. Richard Bartle and Brian “Psychochild” Green. I quickly found Robert/”Nicodemus” but was surprised he wasn’t smoking a pipe as his pictures always show.
Lord of the Rings Online – Special Edition
The Lord of the Rings Online Special Edition will be available in limited quantities and contains a number of benefits & bonuses priced at just $59.99 MSRP. The Special Edition includes:
* Full Game on 2 DVD’s
* 30-days of free online play
* Free 10-day Buddy Key
* The “Beyond the Shadows. . .The Making of The Lord of the Rings Online†DVD – A collection of videos that show how Turbine brought the Books of J.R.R. Tolkien to life. Hear from the game’s designers and see their work from concept to completion.
* The Lord of the Rings Online Soundtrack – In-game soundtrack of the Shire, Rivendell, Bree, Thorin’s Hall and Angmar.
* Exclusive In-Game Item – “The Glass of Aglarel†– Carrying this in-game jewel will increase your Hope to aid you against the effects of Dread brought on by the Witch-king and his minions.
* A Full Color Special Edition Manual
* Exclusive map of Middle-earth
Note: This is NOT a Collector’s Edition and there does not appear to be plans to have one (in North America anyway – Europe is getting one). This is just the same box with some extra stuff.
– Ethic
Random Thoughts
It’s time for another outburst. I have not had a lot of time to play anything in depth, so I just came up with some random thoughts to share.
World of Warcraft: My wife wants Blizzard to add an option to stop earning XP. Her level 35 Hunter has 8 days /played. Mine? 4 days. She spends a lot of time talking when she could be out playing with other people instead of saving her XP for grouping with me.
KTR Forum
We have a forum, here. Call it an experiment. I think there are already too many forums, but I wanted to have some place less informal to do things like offer invites or talk about movies. I’ll get rid of it, if it gains no interest.
– Ethic