The Common Sense Gamer

I heard a very interesting saying on the latest Gamers With Jobs podcast. One of the guys, can’t recall who, made a resolution along the lines of “killing my executive gamer”. What is an executive gamer? For me, it’s that part in you that plays games in order to analyze and pick them apart. To see the cracks in them and criticize them as products instead of entertainment. Think of professional wine tasters. For most of us, wine is just wine and we don’t give a rats ass if it has a hint of peach in it. Bloggers, podcasters, journalists and others who have their hands in this industry (…but are NOT part of it…) tend to be executive gamers. They’ll be the first to tell you what’s wrong with a game and last to tell you why it’s fun.

Looking at 2008, I’m not the only one who may have let that part of me take over a bit. I don’t think being an exec gamer necessarily stops you from having fun in a game, but I do think it shortens that “fun window” by quite a large margin. Personally, I think my tolerance of the “same old MMO game” design paradigm is starting to thin a bit…but that’s not really because these games are not fun. Brent spoke to it a bit in his latest podcast in which he thinks we see the dents and paint scratches a bit easier. Seeing these types of flaws makes it harder for us to have fun, but that says more about us than it does the actual game.

I think part of the key to killing this tendency is to go back to one’s roots as a gamer and I think this is where games like Sacred 2, Tomb Raider and The Witcher will come in. I’m hoping that playing games like these will bring back an enjoyment for what makes these games fun instead of just pieces of software to hack away at. No promises though

D out.

Looking at Spellborn…which has been getting quite a bit of love.

Hmmmm, I think I may need to check this thing out. I remember getting a demo at GDC last year and thinking ‘maybe”. I absolutely was impressed by the graphics (…Tipa’s screenies do it no justice…) and the shard boat that we were shown at the time.

They seem to be taking the the road of “player skill over math” approach, which I’m all for, but at the same time, I also don’t want to see a click fest. I think they will be offsetting that with the skill system they have.

…I’ll have more thoughts once I actually play the game.

In other playing news, Sacred 2 seems to be taking up all of my time in gaming these days beyond LOTRO sessions with the usual crowd. I am having a blast with this game and I’m personally thrilled that I’ve somehow found the fun in a game like this again after failing to find it in others.

My character is really sexy…

I know…I know…don’t say it

This game is a hack-and-slash wet dream….and you should expect nothing more or less if you pick it up. There is a multiplayer component to it, but I have yet to take a peak.

Next on the single player game list:
- Witcher
- Tomb Raider: Underworld

D out.

I thought the trip into space inspired him to do something new?

…guess not.

D out.

Well…that was an interesting night of alcohol, pizza and Rock Band. We didn’t even make it to midnight. Here’s a hint kids: never drink and play Mario Cart…bad things happen.

Kind of hung over, but the coffee is helping…but regardless, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and here’s to another exciting year of gaming for all of us.

D out.

Since I will be out of town during New Years, I’m going to post my insignificant predictions right now. If you haven’t read my predictions for 2008, then go take a gander and have a good laugh….then come back here and have another laugh

1. Warhammer will continue to have it’s audience shrunk. This will not be a bad thing because they will also find themselves and start really coming into their own as an RvR (…not PvE…) alternative to WoW. They will fall into the same issues as Planetside does for new players.

2. Age of Conan will continue to struggle and will fold this year…or will show some serious signs of folding within 2 years.

3. Blizzard will stay the course and will do nothing to rock its boat. I know…this is kind of a gimmie, but I need at least one of these

4. One more MMO luminary will fall on his sword.

5. LOTRO will become what people thought WAR would be, i.e. the second coming of Jesus.

6. Star Gate Worlds will not see the light of day and will be canceled this year.

7. Gotta restate this from my previous prediction: Jumpgate Evolution will be the sleeper hit of 2009.

8. RMT will not be something that the MMO industry can hang its hat on as a reliable revenue stream for 2009. This won’t be because RMT is a bad thing, it will be because most people will not have the disposable income to spend due to the continuing economic crisis, which will get worse. Subscription based games will still be king of the hill due to their inherent “lock-in” nature.

9. Free Realms and Wizard 101 will go head to head in a clash of the titans battle never before seen in the history of man kind….and we will all be very happy that they did.

10. I will try an Anime based MMO and I will die a little inside for doing so.

11. Star Trek Online’s future will directly depend on the outcome of the new movie. If the new movie flops, so will this game. If the movie succeeds then MMO gamers and Trekkies alike will cry out with joy.

12. TOR will continue to make headlines and will announce its release date in 2009….which, as it happens, will be Q4 2009.

Winners for 2009: LOTRO, WoW, TOR, Jumpgate, Kids MMOs
Losers for 2009: AoC, Star Gate Worlds, RMT, STO

D out.

I got an EB Games gift card from my wonderful in-laws (…/waves…) and I decided to go into the store of consoles and rummage through what little offerings they have left in the way of PC games. When I found the final island of sanity tucked away in a corner, I was looking for one game specifically and I also decided to get a “whim game”. The specific game I was looking for was Tomb Raider: Underworld and not surprisingly, I did not find it in the “PC section” of EB Games. Now, I did find my “whim game”. Whim games, for me, are just games I pick up just because the box looks cool (..yes, I’m a whore…) or I heard about it off-hand. The game that landed in my hand was Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. I looked at the box and…ahhhh shit….it was developed by Europeans. Don’t get me wrong…I love Europe, they make great wine and chocolate, but in general the games they make are buggy as shit. Since this was a “whim game”, I went against my better judgment and went up to the counter to pay for it. I asked about Tomb Raider, and they had a copy behind the shelf. So, I left with both.

I decided to install Sacred 2 first and decided not to look at forums, reviews or anything until I played it. Well, long story short, I played for about 5 hours last night and I love it. It’s a Diablo clone, no doubt…but it’s got balls and great character development. Sure, it took me about an hour or so to patch it (…see above comment about good chocolate and buggy games…), but once I started playing it, I was hooked. This game kind of shows that I am destine to want to play a Diablo-like game for the rest of my life…even though I always seem to think I’m done with them.

Funny thing though…I almost uninstalled it about 2 hours in. Wanna know why, oh disembodied reader? Because I heard an electric guitar as a background track in this game…that’s why. So…not only do these guys make good chocolate, but they think it’s a great idea to put an electric guitar riff…IN A FANTASY TITLE!! Next time I’m in Germany, I’m going to pay a visit to Horst Koehler and I’m going to say that these guys must be arrested immediately

I haven’t tried out Tomb Raider yet…but I did play the demo. Yeah, Lora Croft is still incredibly hot. It feels to wrong to think that about 1’s and 0’s.

D out.

“Pleeeease Daaaaddy?”

That sentence usually causes me lots of trouble. With the puppy dog eyes and the little kisses…oy. I’m a real sucker sometimes, but I do have an interest in getting my girls to be gamers. So, with that, both my 8 year old daughter and I are now signed up to Wizard 101. It’s actually quite a deal to tell you the truth. With Wizard 101, you can get a family account and just add more members to that account for the reasonable price of $6.85 per month per person….which is not bad. It’s pretty much a two for one deal when you look at the pricing model of most MMOs…and most MMOs don’t give a rats ass if you’re in the same family or not. It’s really wise of KingsIsle to at least acknowledge this in their pricing.

Wizard 101 has put in the ability to duel each other…along with the other things you can do in this game, it seems that these guys are just adding more and more depth to this game. To tell you the truth, I think that this game and FreeRealms are going to be going head to head in the near future…but that is another post.

…where was I? Ahhh yes…dueling.

My daughter an I decided to try it out. Thinking that we’d be joined by others, we stepped into the ring only to find us facing off against each other. I wish I had a camera because we both looked over at each other with the exact same expressions on our faces. Considering she looks something like me (…meaning, she is beautiful.. ), this was a mix of a “I’m going to kick your ass” and “Oh…this should be interesting” look.

At first, the fight was really looking to be a stale mate as the flow seemed to be “do damage-heal-do damage-heal”. Then, I ran out of cards to throw at her and this is when I started to draw on my special “side cards” that you can get. I didn’t have many and most were defensive in nature. The couple of offensive ones that I got were not being drawn when I wanted them to be. Add to that, my ever resourceful daughter, unbeknown to me, has been making purchases of some really powerful cards in the library and she decided to use then on my tender, wizard-like ass. She first set me up with two death debuffs, and then she decided to nail me with a spell that hit me for 900 damage. This was devastating considering I only have 590 hit points.

“Ohhhhhhh yeah….I brought you down!” /giggle. She said.

“Where did that come from?! Where did you get those!?!”

“The library dad. I bought them at the library. You really need to go get some.”

“Clearly.”

So there it is. My first duel in Wizard 101 and I was pwned by an 8 year old girl.

D out.

So I’m going to put a reduced schedule in for blogging starting today. Unless something major happens, you won’t find that much around here until the new year. I have do have thoughts regarding some Wizard 101 adventures I’ve had with my daughter as well as my final year end review of both the site and SUWT, but that is about it.

…more incoming soon.

Crap….I still have Christmas shopping to do

D out.

It be over here for your listening pleasure.

We kind of take a page from A Christmas Carol and go through the three MMO sprits of 2008. John has a great writeup of the show over at his place.

That will be it for SUWT for this year, but we’ll be back on the airwaves around the first or second week of 2009.

Thanks to everyone for your support and for listening.

D out.