Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, in the distant annals of the past, there was a Guy. He wasn't especially smart, not very social, not much to look at, and definitely not the sort to call attention to himself.

He did, however, have quite a vivid imagination. He would arrange games from all sorts of genres: from high fantasy, to gritty sci-fi; cyberpunk to horror; vampire and fairies, kings and robots... He could throw on some old rags and be the helpful beggar. Some dark robes and be the malevolent necromancer. A suit, and a suave businessman. A heavy suit of chain mail, and be the most noble of knights...

After a time, when He could no longer run around a forest or a cave system, battering all and sundry with weaponry, His realm became based around a table. He would produce maps and props, do accents and have fun with his friends. He would entertain friends and strangers alike, from His own dinner table, to a corner of a local pub, up to entertaining complete strangers for the companies that wrote the systems He would use, to the point that He would be told six months in advance that He had to write an entire scenario for a large group - for competition-level adventures. And when that became too much, He moved into cyberspace. While no one could hear Him or see Him, He used his written word to tell the story, to lead people across vast realms, to battle evil, and to save the day. His days were filled with maps and private conversations, notes and plotting, scripting adversaries and rolling dice for random outcomes.

And then one day, something happened. His real-life Princess was lost, and with it, his imagination. With her passing, He could feel the characters and the places slipping away. The costumes seemed strange, the acting-out imaginary stories an odd pass-time, and finally, pretending to be someone in front of others was so bizarre, He grew shy and embarrassed. Even hiding behind words and a screen seemed too much, and the worlds and characters, places and villains - they all seemed stupid and slipped further and further from His priorities, and a stasis fell across His imagination.

Days, weeks, months and, eventually, years slipped by. Now and then, something would spark in the back of His mind, but then would fade almost as suddenly as it appeared. The people around Him changed... Some grew up and changed. Some grew up and left. Over time, others came into His life to fill the void left by others, but none understood the passion He once felt for his hobbies. Some would look at him with a strange look, some would chuckle, others would outright ridicule Him, and the thought of rolling dice and pretending to be someone He was not seemed beyond stupid.

One year, an invitation arrived - to attend a party with friends, and to solve a murder while assuming the mantle of a different person. Role-Playing had effectively muscled its way into His life, and there was nothing He could do to avoid it. As the day and time grew closer, His nervousness and embarrassment increased. In reality, it shouldn't have been so difficult. A scripted character, a list of ideas for costumes and props, and to add to the things which would have made things easier, the character was already scripted as nervous - which played into His wheelhouse.

The night came and went, much laughter and fun was had. The nervous vicar did not commit the murder, nor did He explode into flame on the spot. That isn't to say that He didn't will himself to disappear a multitude of times over the course of the evening, but He did indeed survive. The people around were friends and loved ones, and some were as nervous as He.

But all He could think, was how far He had fallen. A scripted character? Told what to wear? Told what to SAY??

Even this, however, did not return His imagination. Despite being very aware of himself, and how this should have been child's play, He struggled to play to the simple role.

A year later, and another murder mystery. The murder of the doctor put the suave ladies man and famous cricketer of the 1920s firmly into the "Suspect Number One" position. This man was not a nervous vicar, but a loud, brave, flirty ladies man.

The real person, however, while He could be loud, was most certainly not loud, brave and flirtatious - especially around His assembled friends and loved ones. Once again, He felt the pangs of performing from a script, but He tried his best, and even now is unsure if He managed to convince people that He was not shaking in His suspenders and cap.

Over the course of the evening, however, someone said something He never thought He would hear, but struck the same chord as being told that He would be role-playing for the evening.

Someone suggested that - thanks to his background - perhaps HE should write a murder-mystery evening... Create the scenario, make the characters, plot out the evening with scripts, revelations, clues, and host it.

If you have been paying attention to this tale, you would realise that that is exactly what He used to do - many many years before.

Before He became a nervous wreck.

Before He would panic in normal social situations.

Before He would be laughed at for His hobby.

Before He lost the fair Princess.

The subject cropped up several times over the course of the evening, but He laughed and shook His head - while at the same time feeling terror at the very thought of it.

He journeyed home that night, climbed into bed with his Queen, and, despite the late hour, lay reading, immersing himself in a world of high fantasy once more.

After a time, His eyes grew heavy, and He placed his book down, settled under the covers and set to sleep. But, as is common knowledge, He was not sleeping. Instead, His mind was replaying the evening, cringing at His comments, His abilities, His accent, dwelling on things He had done and said. And, eventually, it replayed the "You should run a murder mystery night..." comment from His own Queen.

Again, the fear and nervousness crept over His mind like a shroud, but this time - maybe the late hour, maybe the alcohol - but along with the worry of such a situation, the spark flared once again. The rest of the night, it seemed, was filled with Him virtually arguing with Himself. Could He do it? Should He do it? What if this, What if that...

And so, today, the strange, nervous, worrying Guy is wondering if He could manage it.

Honestly - despite thinking and considering and debating all night, He isn't sure if He could manage it. And yet, at the same time as thinking He couldn't do it, He's also thinking about the setting, the era, the characters, even the victim...

Time will tell, I suppose. Maybe the spark will remain, maybe it will fade once again. And while He is considering, He is not setting anything in stone. On one hand, there is the thought of failure - to fail to produce something fun and imaginative, failing to meet the deadline He sets, failing to create something fun and engaging. On the other hand, there is the thought of performing in front of others, and putting Himself out for all to see - if the evening fails or there are glaring errors, they cannot be blamed on a company or unknown individual... They would fall squarely upon His own lap.

Time will tell.

While The Cat's Away...

This weekend - until Tuesday, no less - Kellie is away. She and her mum have abandoned me with the kids gone to see James, my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and their kids.

Which means, not only am I the one left in charge, it also means I am unsupervised. And you all know what happens when men are free of their wives. We cannot be trusted.

And it is here, that I too have to confess. Even I have to admit to what I have done, knowing full well that by doing so, it is going to alter how many of you see me for the rest of my life. Perhaps even whispered at my funeral...

But maybe by coming clean, it will be almost cathartic, freeing, a release of guilt, and of the burden of guilt.

I am so sorry to even utter these words.

But I've started playing MineCraft.

I know, I know... I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath, the shattering of mugs dropped from hands, the splattering of coffee spat over the monitors, the swooning of ladies... But I am weak. I allowed myself to be woo'd, to be seduced, to have my eye drawn from that which I love...

Please, don't judge me.

---

But I digress. AND I am also going to use the classic "But It's Not My Fault" defence. As, I am sure, many many of my fellow members of the adult world have said before; "It's not me, it's *Insert-Name-Of-Child-That-Plays*"

In this case, it's Tamsyns fault. Yes, the nine year old. She is a MineCrack addict - if she's not playing it, she's watching other people playing it, or listening to tips and tricks from other players, or reading guides about it. And my interest was, if I am honest, originally just a case of getting involved in something The Child enjoys. I've often sat with her while she plays, watching her concentrate on what she wants, building out the things she loves, killing nasties, but that has been the limit of our joint-involvement with it.

The boys and I have a generalised love of gaming. We talk about games together, we play a lot of the same games. Molly and I have a mutual enjoyment of taking the piss out of one another, slagging each other off, or just flopping on the sofa watching crime dramas together. But Tamsyn... She's a flighty little bugger. Every time something has caught her eye, it's been relegated back to the Big Pile O' Relegated Stuff and MineCrack has taken over her life once again.

Now, I've tried in the past to play it - I've mentioned a few times in various posts about how much I can't stand it (Irony, eh?) and how I can't get on with it. But then, I've waded in alone, and tried to figure it out alone. There is only so many times a guy can be Blown Up In The Dark whilst Wielding A Cube Of Wood Trying To Fend Off Whatever-That-Is and simultaneously Trying To Work Out Where The Hell I Am while ALSO-simultaneously Wondering Why That Green Figure Is Hissing & Flashing KABOOM Oh That's Why...

And cue the /ragequit

I considered watching a Video Guide. I considered reading a N00bie Guide. I EVEN considered RTFM'ing... But the first two just made me think I was no better than Tamsyn, and the latter, well... Ha! Hellooo, I'm a man!

So this weekend, I sat with Tam, and made her sell it to me. Getting her to explain it to me in her own words. Granted, it didn't start too well, as when I asked "Explain to me what it is about MineCraft that you love, explain it to me, pretend I've never seen it or heard of it before" she replied "You can mine stuff, and you can craft stuff, and I love it."

She of many words. Thank you Captain Obvious.

But I pressed on, sat on the desk talking away to her for the better part of an hour. And after I managed to get her to open her brain-doors and start explaining it, you could see the real passion in what she was talking about. She was animated, jabbering, her brain was trying to outrun her mouth. Then we sat and she showed me what is what. She played in Creative Mode which apparently gives you everything you need so you don't have to play like I did fight to survive... She started out by building an elaborate house. Adding rooms and furniture, clicking fast and furiously. Then she built a stable, populated it with animals. And like her brain running faster and faster while talking, her clicking went to a new level, and she was trying to show me everything all at once and doing one thing while talking about another...

By this point - talk of Ender Dragons, Portals, Nether-something-or-other - I was getting confused, so she sat with me on the sofa, and I fired up a new game. Yes, the 38-year-old-man was sat with his nine-year-old daughter, and SHE was telling HIM what to do. "Click that. Pick that up. Now make this. Now put that there. No, there. No, There... Now make this. Add that. Add that. Daddy, ADD THAT *furious pointing while I get confused*"

In the end, I got it, I worked it out, and, more importantly, I understood why I kept dying (because I sucked) and I survived my first night. And... Well...

I'm actually enjoying it now.

Don't get me wrong, it's frustrating as hell, I die a lot and find myself trying to remember what my Master taught me, but yes, I admit, I enjoy playing MineCrack. Yes, I suck at it still. Yes, Tamsyn has a much better spatial awareness than I do (but any fool beats me on that front!). But I only started playing at the weekend.

And, side-note, for people with OCD, this game is either a blessing or a curse. I am yet to decide which, but all I know is, I spent over three hours levelling off a mountain top, and another two hours making my lake a perfect cube with a water spring bubbling up in the EXACT centre.

---

Not that I need to justify my actions, but... I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, as to why I watched and joined in and started playing. But when I was a kid, I would spend days at a time, sat in amongst the worlds supply of Lego, usually with Gemma bumbling around on the periphery, and Mum sat on the sofa, watching us, making suggestions, admiring our handy-work... Generally being involved in what it was we were doing.

But today - in the digital age - the kids prefer doing things on something with a screen... A phone, a tablet, a laptop, a computer, a console... And unless you're playing an MMO (Like World of Warcraft, for example, which Jaysen has been playing for years, Dom has also now been playing for a few years, and quite often, we play together. Or we talk tactics. Builds. Funny anecdotes - that sort of thing) joining in with what they are doing is difficult. Not every child wants to sit and play Lego. Or draw. Or do arty-crafty things. And if you MAKE them turn off the Thing-With-A-Screen and sit to do what YOU want them to do, all you're going to end up doing is making them NOT enjoy whatever it is you want them to do in the first place.

So, my interest in MineCraft (originally) was to connect with Tamsyn with something she does, that she enjoys, and really, is not THAT much different to playing with Lego together.

Less messy too.

And there you have it. My name is Dan, and I am a MineCraft player.

Again, I apologise.

Gamer Gaming

As I occasionally do, I like to stop what I am doing and take a minute to talk about my gaming habits. And, for a change, the list is quite different to normal. For a start, I'm not playing World of Warcraft, and haven't been online in ages.

Why? I got bored. It's all well and good discovering new areas, finding the cool nooks and crannies, running the interesting, intricate quest lines, and seeing stories unfold in different places... But Blizzard have dumbed the game down so much now, it's hardly worth bothering. There's only so many times you can run the same quests through the same places to get the same outcome.

You don't even need to read the quest dialog any more. Glance over the summary, run to the marked point on the map, got through the motions, run back. No more searching or hunting. No more figuring stuff out for yourself...

Dungeons & Raids never really held much interest for me, except when I were in a guild of like-minded crazies. THAT was fun. Now it's go to a dungeon with a group, and either steamroll through everything in 30 minutes, or die repeatedly and deal with others screaming and ranting at one another. Raids are even worse as they are bigger, take longer, and no one works out the tactics any more... Read an article, learn the moves, rinse and repeat.

And PvP holds no interest for me at all.

So it's either level a character, do the same stuff repeatedly and start again, or not play.

Which means I can't be bothered to play. Even the upcoming expansion doesn't make me go all giggly and think "wantwantwantwantwant" like it used to. I've not even seen the cinematic for it yet. Not interested.

I'm not playing Diablo 3 at the moment either, but that isn't a game I like to play in dribs and drabs. I don't like playing for half an hour then doing something else, and at the moment, I don't have the time to sit and play for a decent amount of time.

Games that HAVE sucked me in, however, are a strange mix.

Despite mocking Tamsyn and her love of all things Minecraft, I've somehow gotten hooked on Terraria. It's practically the same thing, but 2D and not 3D. I can't even explain what I love about it. Exploration? Crafting? Digging?! Whatever it is, I own it on both my PC and my Tablet. Both games are different - with randomly generated world's when you create a new game, it's ALWAYS different... Being able to play with others is sort of a plus, but the only person I played with was Jaysen. Who doesn't play often. And he sucked at it ;-)

Considering how much Minecraft doesn't hold my attention, I can't work out why Terraria does. Maybe I'm just fussy...

Next on the list of games that have sucked me in is The Elder Scrolls 5 - Skyrim. And I mean this game has all its claws in me and has dragged me in. I loved Oblivion and Morrowind (Elder Scrolls 4 & 3 respectively) but Skyrim has me even more so. I'm doing all the main quests at my own pace. I'm picking up all the miscellaneous quests I can find. I'm exploring every nook, every cranny, every cave, ruin, tower, dungeon, crypt, mountain pass, and whatever else there is. I'm making my gear better and better. I've adopted kids. I've become a werewolf (even though I forget I can shape-shift). I've saved vampires and murdered honest merchants. I've accumulated more wealth than I know what to do with. I've bought houses and built mansions...

And still I'm hooked.

I honestly think it's the open-world aspect of the game. I can go and do what I want, when I want, how I want. The play-style I use determines how my character develops his skills... I can sneak in and pick off the baddies from afar with my bow. I can go in blazing with magic in all directions. I can charge forth and let my axe splatter faces... I can be given a quest to go do something-or-other, and wander off in the opposite direction to go collect stuff so I can make some potions. Or go explore a cave. Or steal a horse. Or burgle a house.

Hey, don't judge me, I'm mostly good, but a locked chest MUST be locked for a reason, right? I can't NOT look...

In the world of Online Gaming, I am currently in love with Wildstar, a sort of futuristic sci-fi Western set on another planet. It's a very pretty game, and has a lot of undertones of how WoW used to be.

Think Star Wars meets Titan AE meets Firefly meets Warcraft.

But... My computer is old, and my laptop is, well, a laptop... There is only so much they can handle, and reeeally annoyingly, Wildstar is that one step too far. I can play it to a point, with all the details turned waaaay down to almost minimum, but it destroys the point. I like pretty games, I like games that look nice. And I like games that don't struggle when you have more than a few monsters surrounding you.

So now in order to play it, I have to save up for a decent computer, or really really decent laptop.

But I digress.

As for mobile games... Well, I've already mentioned Terraria. For some reason, I am also playing TWO farming types games, Township and Hay Day. Again, I have no idea why. Grow crops, produce goods, fill orders, build stuff, help friends... Strange, but addicting.

I'm also playing Dungeon Keeper, but that's more a five minutes here and there game at the moment. The developers have taken the idea of the original Dungeon Keeper game, and changed it to a game of "Micro" transactions. Doing anything takes ages. Unless you use gems. Which you find now and then, but you'll need more. So you have to buy them. Over and over. Same goes for the big powerful dudes, they cost gems. Which you can find. But you need more. So you buy them.

I refuse to spend money on it. So I am slogging away, taking my time...

I also have both The Tribez, and the sequel Tribez & Castlez. Honestly I prefer the first one, but it's a "build a town" game, and again, they push you to spend money... One of the "special" offers is a single building for more than £20! I'll pass.

I am getting bored of both those games... But I struggle with mobile games, trying to find something that holds my interest, doesn't cost money to progress, doesn't feel like actual work, and doesn't have a learning curve like a cliff-face.

My time has been all over the place this last month thanks to the house move, and that has definitely cut into my gaming time. But more than that has been how I feel...

Because of my useless brain and pointless body, I struggle with games, especially new ones. I really struggle to take in ANY new instructions, and learning a new game can take a while. Then I forget what I am doing completely which either results in a restart, or just me having a hissy fit at how thick I am, and just deleting the game.

If I am in pain, gaming sometimes distracts me away from it, and I can enjoy doing something. However, sometimes the pain wins out, and - the same if I am tired - I lose the plot, forget what I am doing, and make stupid mistakes that results in a Game Over or a Reload Y/N screen. Making stupid mistakes on top of stupid mistakes is the worst.

Running face to face with a handful of powerful critters is a stupid mistake that ends in death. That, coupled with the biggest stupid mistake of forgetting to Quick Save, well... That usually means an hour of slow creeping and assassinating is wasted.

And I just quit.

I think that was the only reason I stuck with WoW for so long. I was so used to playing it, knew what I was doing, even if I made silly mistakes, I could get over them. I almost played on auto-pilot a lot of the time.

But I digress..

The only game I am actually looking forward to comes out in just over a week... A revamp of the original Gauntlet game. I've been watching the videos posted to Steam, and reading about the features and what not, and really can't wait for it to come out. The 20-something of this month. And assuming it'll run on my computer (which I am sure it will) I will be getting it!

I also intend to get both Oblivion and Morrowind again too, and replay those, to see if I get as sucked in as I have been with Skyrim. No promises on holding back on murder and burglary mind you ;-)

Lastly, apologies for any typos/wrong words or formatting weirdness... I am very tired, in pain, in bed, and posting from my tablet.

Gaming Boredom

So, the gaming front has kind of developed a teensy weeny hiccup.

And that hiccup is that very very little is holding my attention. It probably doesn't help that I am knackered, nor does it help that Germs 2 - Revenge of the Germs has struck within ten days of me shaking the last batch, but my point is...

Ugh.

I have a big ol' batch of games installed (you know, like I mentioned just four posts ago), and was getting to grips with another one, but since then, the entertainment-value and enjoyment-factors have both dropped to a big fat zero.

• Diablo 3, bored.
• Dragon Age Origins, bored.
• Electronic Super Joy, bored AND migraine inducing.
• Half Life 2 (and addons), completed many times, bored.
• League of Legends, bored AND full of complete f$cktards.
• Neverwinter, bored.
• Path of Exile, bored.
• Portal, stress-inducing and bored.
• Rift, bored.
• SimCity, bored but trying a new city.
• Sims3, ohmygodSObored.
• World of Warcraft, bored.

So what am I to do? Well, I am considering sticking to SimCity a bit longer, try my Super Ultra Cunning Strategy X plan, but I'm 99.8% confident I will end up fighting to keep the city alive - financially, medically, and literally.

I'm also partly considering picking up my spaceship goggles and jumping back into EvE Online - but I find it difficult to get into EvE too deeply, as often they will say "Right, meet up at 9pm, and we'll do this and that" but I can't commit to that sort of play very often. EvE is not always casual-player friendly.

Diablo 3 has an expansion coming out soon which I am looking forward to, as I've completed that game with every single class on every single difficulty except for Inferno - and not because it was too difficult, but it was just the same thing over and over. And NOW they are changing how the levelling works so you don't have to play it over and over with every class. DOH!

I highly suspect they are dumbing it down, much like WoW has been dumbed down more and more over the last few years.

So what to do?

I could try another game, but that means signing up for another trial, downloading another massive install file, patching another game client for hours on end... I don't especially want to blow money on a game I've not tried - so it either has to be free, or have a trial version. If I like it, I don't mind spending a few quid on it. But I don't want to spend money on something that will suck monkey dangly bits and end up in a draw gathering dust.

I am always up for suggestions, free trials, guest passes or whatever. If you want to suggest something, fire away. As long as it's not boring, doesn't have a learning curve like the north face of the Eiger, doesn't have a community of complete and utter asshats, and doesn't cost my first born, one of my livers and the soul of an innocent, I'm good.

But now in the mean time, I am going to go into SimCity, create 0ddtopia, and destroy the lives of many many innocents.

Because I can.

On Gaming

If you know even a little about me, or have read 0ddness for any length of time, you will know that I am a bit of a Gamer. For the most part, I play online games, and if you fall into the afore-mentioned "Know Me A Little" category, you will know that I am an avid World of Warcraft (WoW) player.

Now, WoW is almost ten years old, and for the most part, I have been playing WoW the entire, time. I've had several months off here and there, mainly from suffering burnout or boredom, only to miss playing and to carry on going again.

I am currently going through one of those phases, and have been trying to find something else to play. Thankfully, I have a Steam account, and have started poking around on Twitch.tv to see what's what in the world of gaming.

Usually, I only have two or three games installed on my laptop - usually that's all that can hold my attention, or I stick with one (usually WoW) and play that constantly. Including WoW, I currently have NINE games installed, plus another four on my Steam account I own but haven't installed. Then there is Origin, which has another three games on it. I've not even looked at the free games available on there!

For me, that's unheard of.

The biggest problem is that I know what I like. So often, I will start an online game, and my first thought is "It's not WoW..." which I know is stupid, because if I am playing something else, it usually means I'm bored of WoW, which means I want something different...

I know, I never said I was normal.

So, I've been keeping an open mind, and trying other games, just to see what's what. Oh yes, and the other issue - I'm not wanting to part with cash for something that I will probably not like - so I've been going through Steam looking for the different Free-to-Play (F2P) games.

I know, I never said I was normal.

So, I decided that, for a change, I'd blog it, and review a few of the games I've been bashing around on. These are NOT exhaustive, I do NOT cover all aspects of the games, and as usual, these are my own opinions, and I'm not getting anything out of them. I know a few of you (assuming I still have readers) are gamers and looking for something different every now and then, so figured you might be interested.

I am also fully aware that none of these are "new" games, and that they have probably been reviewed to death elsewhere. But they are new to me. If that makes sense.

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Rift

Rift is one of the F2P games I've started with, and despite having several people tell me "Oh, I played that, it was awful" I've stuck with it. Especially as most people that have told me it was awful gave it about three nano-seconds of play time. I can't take peoples personal reviews seriously if they play one character/class, and only play for the first few levels.

So, I downloaded it (it's huuuuge by the way, you might be better off setting off the download/install/patch at bedtime) and gave it a whirl...

First off, it's quite similar to WoW - but then, I think a lot of MMORPG-type games are similar to one another, because A) The formula for WoW obviously works, and B) There are so many ways you can reinvent the wheel. The graphics are quite pretty - more realistic than WoW, but not up there with games like Guild Wars.

The game itself is very good - I've been playing on and off pretty much when I've had free time (aside from the fortnight I was sick as a dog) and am loving it. I've levelled one character up to 30-something, and another to the mid-teens. According to Steam, I've logged 60 hours of play time.

Because I enjoyed it, I threw a few quid at it too. It IS a free game, but you can buy credits to buy different things in the in-game store, but it isn't a Pay-to-Win game - they maintain that you don't need to pay ANYTHING and can still be as effective as someone that has thrown a metric shit-ton of money at the game. Credits can buy outfits, mounts, additional space, extra character slots - various things that don't really affect gameplay. I bought some credits to acknowledge that it's a good game, that I appreciate it's free, and because I "needed" a mount and more storage space.

Like most MMOs, it plays in the same sort of way... Go here, kill X of these, collect Y of that, talk to this fellow... Like I said, they aren't reinventing the wheel here.

My final point - and this is something that WoW seems to lack on occasion - is that the community is friendly, helpful and generally approachable. If you ask a question in WoW, for the most part you will get a hammering from the trolls that play. In Rift if you ask a question - and because I'm a newbie, it's likely a silly question - you actually get help and guidance. It's quite refreshing if I am honest.

The developers, Trion, keep the game updated, appear to be adding new content quite regularly, have a decent customer service presence, and regularly release patches, hotfixes and minor repairs if something goes pearshaped. They also release expansions every now and then.

And remember, this is a F2P game.. WoW is £8.99 a month, plus you have to buy the expansions when they are released - usually for something like £30.

All in all, if you are looking for an MMO but aren't sure what you want to play, I really do recommend trying Rift. But try it properly - don't give it an hour and then delete it. Play through, read the quests, explore, chat to people. It is well worth it I think.

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Neverwinter

I DO love me some Dungeons & Dragons. My real passion before Bethy died was playing D&D, but after losing her, I don't know, something inside me broke, and I found it hard to play and run games. Every now and then, I have a burst of creativity and think of scenarios and situations for games, or I think of an entire plot line or even a story of some kind which I start to write.

But then I lose interest for some reason and struggle to keep going on and on. I hate it with a burning hate, because I LOVE D&D, but don't think you can force something, because it then becomes a chore.

D&D computer games are quite good, but never quite manage it. I loved the Baulders Gate & Neverwinter Nights series of games, but Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) was a pretty naff game. So imagine my surprise when browsing Steam, I came across a game called Neverwinter - the name of a city in the Forgotten Realms setting of D&D with lots of history and back story.

I was very much "Ooooooh" when I saw it, even more so when I realised I was in the F2P section! A free D&D game. I had a check, made sure it was NOT a rebranded, renamed, rechurned-out version of DDO, and gave it a whirl.

Again, if you're going to install it, do it at bedtime - it takes a while.

Now, in as much as WoW and Rift are true MMOs where you run around a world and run into other players, Neverwinter seems slightly different in that a lot of areas you go to do quests seem to be just for you (and, I assume, your group if you have one).

It's also different in that the combat system is more hands-on. In WoW & Rift, you push buttons and hotkeys to do a multitude of different things. With Neverwinter, you have fewer abilities, but can move around, dodge, counter-attack and everything else. It makes quite a difference.

While the questing system is very similar - go here, kill this, collect that - it is a LOT more linear than "traditional" MMOs. Don't get me wrong, that's not always a bad thing, but with the previously mentioned games, you can go and wander off elsewhere, have an explore, see what's what, find a different quest hub or whatever. Neverwinter is more a case of going from A to B to C.

However, that said, it IS very D&D. While I was never that sort of Dungeon Master (my players always had free reign to get their heads splattered where-ever they wanted) a lot of D&D scenarios are very much A-to-B-to-C-to-win style.

I confess I've not played Neverwinter for a huge amount of time. Twelve hours racked up so far. And I've only played one character. I've not spent any money on it as yet, but like Rift, you can buy credits and buy other stuff - but I've not looked at any of that yet, so don't know if it's Pay-to-Win.

It is a very pretty game, and the different areas are excellently laid out. The combat system makes a nice change to the multitude of buttons you get in other games, and having to be more alert than you would in others is nice.

But. For me, that is an issue. There are days when I can't even do up my own shoe laces because I'm not sure what I'm doing.

Possibly one of the most interesting aspects of Neverwinter is the fact players can create their own adventures with a tool called The Foundry. Now, I've neither played nor created anything Foundry-based as yet, but talking to other players, it makes a huge difference to the game. If you're bored of A-to-B-to-C, you can enter a Foundry adventure. Effectively, it's a single-stand-alone adventure, sometimes with various parts to it, but it's a break from the norm that sounds very interesting.

Again, if you're looking for an MMO or similar game, it's worth a go. I intend to play more, but if you have concentration issues, then you DO need to be in the right frame of mind.

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Hearthstone

I confess I've been playing this one for a while, as I've been in the Closed Beta for it, but seeing as my blogging has been, shall we say, a little sporadic, I never really mentioned it.

Hearthstone IS a Warcraft related game, but is a complete break from the above games. Hearthstone is a card game in the WoW setting, but you do NOT need to be a WoW player to enjoy it.

If you've ever seen ANY form of Collectible Card Game (CCG), it's most likely going to have been Magic: The Gathering, Vampire:The Eternal Struggle/Jyhad, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh or similar... I used to play Magic a LOT, I spent a f$ck-ton of money on it when I left college, and even now I have a few boxes of cards. Vampire wasn't bad, but Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh never interested me at all.

So Hearthstone is much like these games. You have a deck of cards, gain power, summon creatures, destroy your enemy... It's brilliant, really really fun. If you have a Battle.net account, I believe it's currently in Open Beta, which means anyone can sign up and play. I think.

Again, it's currently free (I don't know if it will remain free once released) but you can spent money on it by buying Booster Packs of cards, adding them to your starting collection, with a chance of getting rarer, more powerful cards. BUT you don't need to buy the cards.

You can play practise games to get used to it, against different difficulty levels of AI enemies, and you can play one-off games against other human players. Then there are the league/tournament games which is against players that have rebuilt their decks and optimised how they play.

Yes, I lost a lot.

If you like these sort of games, if you enjoy CCGs, it is a good laugh. Obviously, being that it's still in beta, there may be bugs and issues in it, and the final product may be slightly different - plus when the game is released, you will probably have your account reset. I don't know for sure, but you may well end up starting over on release day.

----------

I think for the time being, that will do. I'm also playing other games, but haven't played them enough to form any real opinion on them. Sims3 seems interesting but more like hard work - I played it before and it just seemed like work as opposed to a game. Path of Exile is fun, and very much like a Diablo3 type of game, but I've only sodded around on it for a while. Electronic Super Joy is an 8bit style platform game that is HUGELY frustrating, but has a brilliant techno-style soundtrack. Dragon Age Origins I got for Xmas, and have seen Kellie play it through a few times, so thought I would give it a whirl. Enjoying it quite a bit, but again, needs concentration.

Yesterday, I heard about one game from two different sources that kind of piqued my interest. One was the 0dd Sister. We were talking about Live Roleplaying, her memory recalled things about it because the 0dd Brother In Law had was playing League of Legends (LoL). An hour before that, I was on Twitch, and clicked a video in one category that was actually something different - a League of Legends game.

So, I took the hint, took the plunge, and dived in. I started the download (Huge, Bedtime, etc etc) and eventually got in. I've read several reviews, watched some videos, and have played through some of the tutorials...

It's classed as a "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" or MOBA game (as opposed to "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" or MMORPG) and is apparently based off a Warcraft 3 mod called Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) from a few years ago, that appears to have spawned the whole genre of MOBA.

The reviews are all positive, and the game itself does seem very good from what I've played so far - but like I say, it's only the tutorials as yet. It does seem to have quite a steep learning curve, with a massive choice of things to do and to play, but I'm running through the tutorials more than once which helps. No doubt I will slap up another post about it at some point!

If you managed to read through this entire post - which has taken me ages to do thanks to a headache, feeling sick, and finding links for you to click - then well done. Clearly you're as much a nerd as I am!

Until next time.

I Don't Get It?

Over the last couple of years, people seem to be going on about a game called Minecraft. And every time people have gone on about it, I've had a nosey at the website, had a quick scroll around, seen some of the screenshots and ended up thinking "nah" and diverting my attention elsewhere.

Today or yesterday in the news, I noticed it has now won some award or accolade or another, so again I decided to have a look... And again, it's the same look as before, and while apparently it's been updated, it doesn't look that different to me.

However, I decided to run with the consideration that "eight million people couldn't be wrong*" I thought I'd sign up for an account and have a bash at a demo version.

I've never watched any videos, read anything aside news stories about it, or even watched friends play, so I was going in without any ideas of what to expect.

And go!

Within two minutes, I had grown tired of punching the crap out of things to see what would happen. I expected trees to fall down (they don't) when you removed a section of trunk. I expected... Well, actually, I didn't know what I expected.

So I carried on punching some more. "ANY minute now -" I thought to myself "- the tutorial will give me more info.

Thus far, the tutorial consisted of "These buttons to move" and "This button to jump" and nothing else. Considering this is the demo which, I assumed, was to convince those unsure whether or not to buy it, it was pretty lacking. I punched stuff, it popped, my bar across the bottom became filled with things...

I punched different coloured ground for sand, dirt, gravel... I punched sheep and pigs for wool and meat... I punched trees for different wood and bits of tree.
It got dark, I carried on punching. I saw a man, I carried on punching. The man grew, I carried on - oh... He blew up and took me with him. I scored 9 points.

There are points now?!

So I respawned, punched stuff, including a fella - I'm assuming a skeleton - until it died and dropped a bone. Another explody man came at me, but I got stuck against some leaves.

BLAMMO! Dead.

I was certain this was a build it type game, but couldn't find any way to build stuff. I had plenty of shit in my inventory, but couldn't do anything with it. All I could apparently do was punch stuff, harass sheep and pigs, and get blown up by some angry thingies. If anything, I was achieving LESS because I was digging the place apart, and Mr Blowy-Up took out the scenery with him.

I kept trying and trying, learned how to sink, drown and swim. Learned that falling from great heights is painful. Learned that once night fell, I was likely to get eaten by zombies and spiders, shot by skeletons, or blown up by Mr Blowy-Up.

Now I'm bored, fed up, and don't see the appeal. I have a quick look online, and it starts with "important stuff you need to know" like building beds, houses, pick axes... All information that might have been useful at the START of the demo.. So I start trying to work out a bed, but in the process of this, an explosive visitor pays me a visit.

What the actual f$ck?!

Now, I just don't care. I've had a shitty couple of days, I'm tired, in pain, and trying to take in this new "game" with a tutorial that might as well explain car driving as "get in car, forward is that way, back the other" and leave it at that. Yes, I'm fully aware it's a "sandbox" game, that there are no real goals, it's all user generated and so on.. But really?

Really??

Please, feel free to regale me with tales of why it's so great, show me videos of people that have spent their every waking hour making pretty castles or dungeons... People that just need some Lego, it would seem. I just cannot see the appeal.

So, in relation to the *... YES. Yes they can. Out of interest, I click the buy now button.
Eight million people have paid close to TWENTY QUID for this game. It's no wonder then, that in the interview I watched, one if the creators looked so smug...

So on your marks, get set, go! Explain what I'm missing, why it's so fun, and why should I spend twenty quid on online Lego with free explodey-men...

Because it's beyond me, it really is. I actually clicked the Buy Now button expecting a fiver. Maybe seven quid.

Bzzz! Wrong!

Excuse any typos or strange grammar - I'm writing this at 2am. On the phone, no less.

My Addiction

Considering the amount of drugs I take on a daily basis, it's surprising that I am not jacking up on some illicit substance every day. I do, however, have one addiction that, considering my "demographic" (that is, 36 year old, white male in a relationship with children!) it's a strange one.

For my birthday, Kellie got me a DSi. Previous to that, I had a basic DS Lite which - to be very honest - had seen better days. The hinges were gone on it (so it flopped closed at random in a comedy "Fingers Trapped In The Piano Lid" style), the top screen was knackered (it had a massive black line running straight through it) and to get any game to work, you had to put the cartridge in, turn it on, turn it off, remove the cartridge, blow into the gubbins, re-insert the cartridge, turn it on... And so on and so on until the game works.

So yes, as I said, it had definitely seen better days... And so I was bought a spanky ungraded version.

Now, you may think that is nothing strange - especially considering I am a geek, that I own a hand-held gaming device. There are all sorts of Brain Training games, and Puzzle Games and Shooting Games... And yes, I DO play those game, but the sad addiction is the game I play a LOT.

Yes, I - a 36 year old man - am engrossed and addicted to Animal Crossing.

For those of you not sure what I am talking about, Animal Crossing has no guns, no adventures, no quests, no loot tables, no bosses... It has Fish, Bugs, Fossils, Paintings, Sea Shells and Fruit. It has up to eight other characters in the town, plus nine "staff" and the occasional visitor.

The point? Well, technically there is no actual "point" to the game... Sure, you can collect every kind of Fossil, Fish and Bug, collect all the paintings, and plant the right balance of Trees and Flowers to get a "Perfect" town rating... Which is HARD, because the different collectibles only turn up at various times of the year, and at various times of the day - and even then they can be weather dependant which is FrUsTrAtInG as hell...

If I happen to have some free time, I don't play the epically-scaled World of Warcraft, nor do I sit and destroy demonic hordes in Diablo III... No, I am trying to catch that poxy fish, or chase down that stupid bug, or collect that missing bit of a dinosaur. When I go to bed, if I can't sleep, I play it. When I'm on the loo (and not texting people to tell them I'm on the loo) I play it. When I'm waiting for a washing load to finish, I play it...

Most of you will find this tale amusing, but some of you will be pissed off. And I know who (whom?) and why: Those that are pissed off are the ones that I take the piss out of for playing and enjoying Animal Crossing.

And if I am very honest, I have been taking the piss out of people for almost three years... I've been playing it for two and a half years. So if I have mocked/ridiculed you in recent history for bug-catching, fishing or fossil hunting, I apologise. In truth, I am probably more addicted than you are.

So if, like me, you are a sad addict of something that you should probably not be proud of, cast off those chains, stand tall and be proud of it!!

Unless you're into loving animals, in which case, keep that to yourself.

Diablo III - A Review

After waiting for several years for this moment, I clicked the Big Fat Play button on the game loader. First off, despite this being a Single Player game first, you NEED a constant online connection for it, and a Blizzard/Battle.net account.

Their reasoning is simple. For one, Diablo and Diablo II were heavily pirated, even with CD Keys being used, if you were a Diablo player, chances were that you ran off a copy of your own game so others could play with you on a LAN connection. For two, they have implemented an Auction House system per region (Europe, US, Asia etc) which they will be branching into a Real-Money Auction House, so need to use their Warden security system (as used in WoW) to monitor you to make sure you're not cheating and/or hacking.

Personally, I don't mind the always-online connection... I can chat to my other Blizzard-Game-Playing-Friends while playing D3, even if they are in WoW or StarCraft. Nifty. Secondly, being that I am neither cheating nor hacking, they can monitor my system till their heart is content - I know if I join a public game, I won't be playing with someone that has cheated their character to have the biggest and best suit of armour on - on their body, their head, their hands, as a weapon - yep, that was a very prevalent cheat back in D1 and D2!

So anyway, you're always online. Don't like it, don't play.

First off, cinematics. As is usual with Blizzard, they go all out, and their art/animation department is populated with very talented people...



The game has several cinematics, and all are just as pretty. If you can click full screen and view that video in HD, then do so - the little box does not do it justice.

Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, Wizard

Onto character creation... Like the previous Diablo games, you get a choice of classes, but can't tweak their appearance - so those of you that spend an hour making your character pretty, you're out of luck. The options you get are "Male" or "Female"

Of course, you get a choice of classes to play; Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor and Wizard. A better way to look at it would be "Big Weapon Stabby", "Crossbow Shooty", "Fast Hand Slappy", "Spells and Weapon Mixture" and "Magic Blammy Blammy"

Now, I've only played the Monk and Demon Hunter in any real depth - I've played through Normal mode with both and am halfway into Nightmare... I've poked around with the other three a bit, but not enough to justify writing about how they play.

Once you select your character, you get another brief cinematic from the characters point of view, and you're dropped into the game, just outside the town of New Tristram.

Starting Point

First off, from this point, the game looks very pretty. Given that it's a set viewpoint and you can't rotate the screen or anything, it's gorgeous to look at. I have it on my laptop, and for the most part, have all the graphics cranked up and it runs like a dream.

The next thing you notice is the sound. The Ambient sounds - that is, the sounds of the area you are in - are all crisp and clear. When you walk through a puddle, it splashes. You hear the wind blow. You hear creepy sounds - voices, cries in the distance - the whole lot. I tend to play with earphones on, and it's a little disconcerting hearing a sudden slobbering critter somewhere off behind you when you're playing at one in the morning.

Off you trot with your character, and being that it's all new, the help system points everything out to you. Do this to move, do this to attack, click this to open or break - and so on. The number of pop-ups with instructions slow down after a few minutes, but you will encounter one every time you open a something new in the game - Stash, Inventory, Quests, Crafting - but it's not obtrusive; if you're mid-battle, it's not going to open a window across your fight and cause you to get your face chewed off by the forces of hell.

From the outset, you're on a quest line, and you pretty much stay on it all the way through the game. Yes, it's linear, but then, if you've played D1 and D2, it's the same sort of thing. Talk to this person, go here and kill this. Go back, talk to this person, go and find this item...

Once you're out of the town and in the world, you experience one of my favourite parts of the Diablo games - the randomly generated areas. You head out, and even though an area might conform to the same size/shape each time, it is different every time you load the game. The map is covered with a fog of war which you only reveal by exploring. Now, technically you don't have to explore the map. If you need to run from Point A to Point B, you can do just that. However, if you want XP, Gold and Loot, you explore every nook and cranny. Chests, rotten logs, hidden stashes - not to mention beasties, gribblies and nasties aplenty... All ready for you to find and smash open.

And yes, smashing open applies to the monsters too.

So my previous point - the areas. Let's say I clear through the first area, explore every nook and cranny and see what is where. I might have found a small side-dungeon like a Hidden Lair or something and cleared that out too. I then quit, have dinner, and come back later. The area I previously cleared is now re-cloaked with a fog of war. Upon exploring, you will find it is all different. You might encounter different monsters, you will find different treasure, there might be an "Event" in there somewhere too - a mini quest where you invariably have to fight off a shit-ton of monsters... There might even be a different mini-dungeon for you to clear. Last time, it was a Hidden Lair, this time, it might be a Subterranean Cave System. It might be a Hidden Lair again, but if you go in there, it will be different too.

The control system is easy to get to grips with, and to be honest, you can easily play one-handed if you want to, using just your mouse. To start out, you have your Primary Attack Skill (Mouse Button 1) and your Secondary Attack Skill (Mouse Button 2), and as you progress through the levels, you unlock different hot-bar buttons across the bottom. You can click these, or hit the assigned number button. There are four in total, and depending on your class, determines what the buttons do. You also unlock Passive Abilities, and can select which ones you have active, from a list of several.

Skill Menu

As you level up, you unlock different skills for each button, but also, different runes for each skill. If my primary attack is a fast-attack, the first rune might make my attack flaming, the next one might add three hits, the fourth might add a knock-back effect - and so on... So you can customise each skill as you level up and make your character your own. Don't think, however, that choosing Skill X and Rune Y means you're stuck with them. No no, you can change them as often as you wish, testing out combinations of skill and rune until your heart is content.

Or until you run out of things to pulverise.

If you get bored of trashing through the critters on your own, you can invite other D3 playing friends to join you in your quest, and play together. This increases the toughness of the creatures, but not stupidly so, and playing together is a good laugh. There's also no loot stealing - whatever I see a creature drop on my screen is MINE, and my friend sees loot on their screen which is theirs. You can, however, drop stuff from your inventory to the ground for your friend to pick up, which means if I am playing a Wizard, and get a crossbow that is good for my Demon Hunter friend, I just drop it out, and she can pick it up.

Simples.

If you are Billy No Mates, do not despair. Thanks to the wonders that is Battle.net, you can join any open game whenever you want. You can jump in when you like with people you don't know and have a good laugh. If you don't like them, you can leave. Easy as that. Bear in mind though, if you drop anything from your Inventory to the ground, they can pick it up - it's one thing accidentally dropping something with a friend, but with people you don't know...

Another handy feature - let's say you live in the UK, have a few friends here that play D3, but also have LOTS of friends in the USA that also play. You are allowed to switch your regions in order to play with your friends elsewhere. Just keep in mind, the US have their scheduled maintenance on a Tuesday, and the EU has theirs on a Wednesday - both during their early hours, which means due to time differences, you might find your character unplayable during your own prime time.

Auction House

Aside from game play, there is also the Auction House part of Diablo 3. Here, you can buy and sell all the various items found adventuring through the lands. You can sell the rare bow you found, and buy a new piece of headgear. You can sell stuff directly from your Stash - a chest that all your characters in the same region can access - and even directly from your inventory.

In the coming weeks, they are also implementing the Real Money Auction House, where by you "Load" your Battle.net account with money via Paypal or whatever, and use that money to buy items for your characters. You can also sell the items you find for real money too, the funds of which get transferred into your Battle.net wallet. There are "Transaction Charges" and similar, but to be honest, I've not paid much attention to this side of the game, as I probably won't use it... I enjoy playing, but don't see me parting with actual CASH just to give Billybob a new sword.

There are, of course, downsides to D3. Yes, this might be a glowing review, but it does have its problems that... niggle.

First and foremost, it can honestly be said that this has not been a smooth game launch for Blizzard. From day one, they have had server instability, emergency server shutdowns, patches and updates, errors preventing players logging in... And all this is still ongoing. Tomorrow, in fact, they have another round of server shutdowns, which means the game will be unplayable.

Now, for WoW, this is sort of expected. It's a Massive Multiplayer Online game, and the servers need work, the servers get shut down, job done. Diablo, first and foremost, is a single-player game. While I understand the need for security and suchlike, it would be nice if it did a check to a safe, always-online server when you log on, and then you could play single player. No chatting to friends, no Auction House...

On the other side of the coin, WoW has a monthly subscription, so they have a steady stream of income to pay for server work, techs and stuff to do this - D3 does not have a subscription, yet we get all the online stuff for free...

I'm on the fence still. I would like to be able to play my game when I choose, not have my playing time dictated by a computer being offline elsewhere on the continent. But then, there's the social side and security...

Another niggle of mine is the graphics. Yes, it is graphically very pretty... But it's not amazingly so. The scenery is gorgeous, but then it's mostly two dimensional pictures, as you can't move the camera around. When you zoom in to your character and the NPCs around them, they look... Old Fashioned? I wonder if, where the game has been in development for so long, that the graphics are a little dated due to that?

One of the selling points of the game was the fact that it contains several difficulty levels... Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno. Before you can do Nightmare, you have to play through Normal. Before Hell, you have to play Nightmare - and so on. Inferno Mode has been billed as stupidly tough, like, People Are Screaming On The Forums tough. However, people fail to realise that from the outset, Blizzard said it was REALLY hard. I watched an interview with a developer who said something along the lines of, "we kept increasing the difficulty for the play testers, making it harder and harder, and when they finally said "This is REALLY hard" we just ramped it up even more".

My niggle? You play the game storyline from start to finish on Normal mode. You level your character from 1 to around 30 by the time you kill the final boss. Then you get to do it again from the start on Nightmare mode. Storyline from start to finish, kill the boss... And start again on Hell mode... Blah blah blah...

Now, granted, the areas are different each time you play them, the layout is roughly the same, but the content is different. Yes, that does help somewhat, but I can't help but think the game is a little small, and they've extended it's life simply by making the monsters badder and meaner, and dangling the carrot of more levels, more skills ahead of you... Yet all you are doing is playing the same thing over and over.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind replaying through it - I am around the same point of Nightmare mode on both my Monk and Demon Hunter... But... I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it...

Achievements

Yes, there are achievements you can aim for - and some of them you can't get until you reply through the game... But I think a lot of people that aren't used to D1 or D2 will find it over and done with very quickly and think "Is that it?" and get the hump.

Lastly, there have been calls and cries on the forum, claiming that Blizzard have been hacked, because "I joined a public game, had someone on my friend list I didn't know, then was suddenly logged out, and when I managed to log back in, all my gear and money was gone!"

Blizzard were quiet for a few days - I suspect investigating - but the forums were a storm of protest and shouting, screaming and whining... Theories were given, people with precisely zero computer savvy were claiming this hack or that exploit was used. Blizzard then took to the forums and stated that the people claiming to have been hacked simply had their accounts compromised - probably by a keylogger or similar on their computer - and that everyone was safe, as long as they practised safe computing.

People cried out, disagreed and everything else, but to date, Blizzard are standing by this statement. No one with an Authenticator has been compromised, and their servers are safe and secure.

Personally, I am with Blizzard. I suspect had they been hacked, they would come clean - I think legally they have to - and as with WoW, getting your account stolen without an authenticator is quite easy. I know several people that believed they were careful, but ended up getting hacked. Blizzard have also offered people with hijacked accounts roll backs - so they reset their character to an earlier time.

Authenticators - Added Security

For those crying they can't afford an authenticator - seriously, after buying an expensive computer game - they are like £9 from the Blizzard store. Failing that, you can get them on the various brand of smartphone for free. And if you DO use one, and are still worried, set your account to ask for the Authenticator number every time you log in.

If you own an Android and want the free Authenticator, you can get it from the Android App Store here. If you own an iPhone (or similar I suppose!) you can get it from the Apple Store here!

To sum up...

I love Diablo III. Properly, full-on adore it. I can play a bit, feel like I've achieved something, log off, and log back when I like, maybe re-run an area, maybe push through the quest a little more... It's a very pretty game, but not as pretty as it could be. Atmospherically, it is stunning - the sounds and music and locations are all gorgeous to look at. When you're in the desert, you can hear the desert wind. When you're running through the sewers, you can hear the splashing and see drips falling from above into the water. When you're on snowy ramparts, you can hear the snow crunch under-foot and almost feel the cold wind...

While it's a shame you can't customise how your character looks, you can customise every skill and ability you use to suit your own playing style, and I like that a lot. I'm still 20 or so levels from maximum, so obviously there are things I have yet to play with, but what I have seen so far I like.

Story-wise, it's a little short, and I suspect if you were to rush it, maybe with a friend or two, you could finish it in a very short space of time. The story is linear, and while it has some twists and turns, it is a little predictable. I do like the fact you meet familiar faces from previous games.

If you've never played D1 or D2, don't fret, you don't need to know anything.

A brilliant game, atmospheric and great fun to play, albeit a little dated in places, with a few minor issues and teething problems on Blizzards side... Once they have their act together, I suspect it will be even more enjoyable.

Lastly: If you're a Dragon Age type player, do not expect Downloadable Content. If you're a WoW type player, do not expect Content Patches. Blizzard have already ruled out both. A shame, yes, but then, I am not sure what DLC they could add really. And as for content patches - you get them with WoW because you pay a monthly subscription...

They WILL, however, "monitor the game and make any necessary adjustments" which means if a class/skill combo is too powerful or "not working as intended" then they will fix it.

Currently, there is no demo/trial version of Diablo III. Blizzard, however, are normally good at attracting more players through these avenues, so keep your eyes peeled - I am sure one will surface.

Diablo III Homepage

On Diablo III

It's not often that I get my knickers in a twist over a computer game. I might be a gamer, but I know what I like, and to be honest, most of the games on the market just don't do it for me.

I'm not much of a console gamer... I owned an original and a second generation Playstation (now referred to as the PSone) and enjoyed that, but once I could afford a PC, that has been my choix du jour. 


And even then, games come and games go, but nothing really does it for me. With the exception of expansion packs for World of Warcraft (which, obviously, does do it for me!) I do not buy a computer game very often. Over the last few years, my game purchases have been mostly in the MMO category - Dark Age of Camelot, EvE Online, World of Warcraft. Every now and then, however, something has caught my eye and I've bought that too - Doom3, Spore, Sim City whatever number - but when, several years ago, I saw that Diablo III was in the making, I KNEW I would own it.


The original Diablo game was a chance purchase, and one that hooked me within half an hour. It's a dungeon crawl, hack & slash style game in an isometric view - you don't see through your characters eyes, nor from just behind it - the view is a angled-top-down view. The graphics back THEN were amazing and brilliant, and every time you started over, the dungeons were different. Brilliant stuff.


Plus, it had "Online Play" which back then meant connecting your computer to the phone line, loading Diablo, entering the phone number of the friend playing, dialling HIS computer, his computer would answer, and voila! 


Obviously, this got rather expensive.


Then, a while later, Diablo II was released with Outdoor Areas, different classes and skills and monsters, plus a kick-bottom storyline. I should add at this point, the Diablo series is made by Blizzard - the same people that make World of Warcraft. Storyline, Cinematics, Gameplay - they have all bases covered, the smart little chaps and chapettes that they are.


Diablo II was brilliant and compared to the usual Curse of the Sequel (ie, it being shit) that afflicts a lot of games, it was brilliant.


Then, nothing. They hinted back then - like, 12 years ago - that they would do a sequel, and that one was in the works, but nothing seemed to come of it. Over the years, every now and then someone would say it was "in the works" and the geeks of the world went nuts, then the furore died down and nothing would be heard.


I suspect it was put on a back burner to make way for World of Warcraft. All company assets poured into the game that would become one of the biggest ever.


Four years ago - not long after Kellie and I started dating, Diablo III was officially announced. I may have wet my pants, remembering days past when I would be staring at the screen all bleary-eyed thinking "I'll just clear this area, then go to bed" and seeing that, four hours later, I had two hours till I had to get up for work.


I'm not that bad any more - while I CAN do it if I am having issues sleeping - I tend not to. Grown Up, Adult, etc etc.


Over the next four years, more and more info was forthcoming, and it was apparent this was happening. However, every time they set a release date, it was bumped further and further into the future.


Eventually, a date was set, and it stayed set. The closer it got, the more us geeks were thinking "It'll be bumped" until it got so close our collective hopes were raised until, finally, it was clear this was it.


As I play WoW, and as I signed up for an annual pass, I wangled my copy of D3 for free. Yes, Blizzard are still getting money from me in the form of WoW Subscriptions, but that doesn't matter.


The week before release, I downloaded my copy - all 7Gb of it. The day before release, the installer was unlocked, and I installed it, and the day of release... Well, the day of release I was out. However, this is not a bad thing, as "Release Day" is usually better known as "Day The Servers Refuse To Play Nice" - it's the same with ANY Blizzard release, and Expansion Release Day is no different, so I wasn't too fussed not to play. Several Bajillion people, trying to log on at the same time from across the world, getting more and more frustrated?

No thanks!


Finally, knowing I had a few hours of peace (Kids at school, Kellie at work!) and knowing I had done housework and cleared up, I sat, and I fired it up...

Gaming Murderers!

One of the things that really irks me is the press running with stories about people that play computer games committing some awful crime and making the leap that it's the fault of the game.

I read on Sky News earlier (because they are sooo well known for fair, balanced reporting...) about a Vietnamese boy that killed a little girl.  Now, the story does say he killed her for her earrings to sell so he could play his online game, however, the article is mainly about how "campaigners are warning about the dangers of online gaming" and making out that Online Gamers equal Murderers.

Let's take a rough look at this picture.  Of everyone that plays on online games - be it on the PC, Xbox, PS3, Wii or whatever, how many do we think play games online with friends and/or strangers?  Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions? A billion? Sky News uses the line that it's the "latest in a long line of violent crime attributed to online gaming"

I'd like to know how long this "long line" really is... I've been playing computer games - on and offline - since I was 10. My body count so far?

Zero.

And after double checking, it's still zero. And all my gaming friends, I'm fairly sure that none of those have a body count larger than my own.  Technically, if you count all the female gamers that have given birth over the years, surely the births/deaths number is actually in favour of births?

They've got a "specialist" to comment on the story too, a woman that set up a support group after her son killed himself "because of his addiction to online gaming"  Now, is it just me, or would she have been better helping him BEFORE he died?  These parents that make claims like "My child plays SO MUCH, I don't know WHAT to do..." I have a handy guide:

Step One: Limit their play.

If step one fails, move directly to the next step:

Step Two: Remove the device they are playing on.

"Oh but my son goes to his friends house and plays there..."
Get his friends mum involved, don't allow him in, or if he does go in, don't let him play.

"Oh but my daughter goes to the Internet cafe and plays there..."
Tell them to bar her.  Or, even better, don't give her money to spend.

Their way of thinking is "If online games are bad, we should ban online games" which to me is fine.  Let's do just that.  But, to keep things in balance, Car Accidents kill people, so we should ban cars.  Married couples kill one another when the marriage falls apart.  Let's ban marriage.  People kill one another for religion, so let's shut all those churches down.  People drown at the seaside, so let's fence all that shit off...

The other thing that drives me insane with these games are the parents that moan their child's game is SO VERY VIOLENT.  Yes, there are violent bloody games out there, but you know what - they all have age restrictions on them.  If junior asks you to buy him Bloody Death Siege 4 - Revenge of the Exploding Guts, complete with it's 18-rated certificate slapped on the front, and the info on the back that says "Contains scenes of violence and people blowing up" then don't bloody buy it for Junior. If Junior has issues differentiating between Real Life (tm) and Computer Life, then Junior shouldn't be playing those games, simple as that.  And it's up to you as a parent to NOT buy things for him that you don't like.

"Oh but my child gets them from his friends and plays them..."
See Step Two. Remove their gaming device. 

Honestly, to compare gaming to drug addicts doing anything for their fix, is just sad, stupid and wrong. Granted, you get the occasional fruit loop, but tell me there aren't any fruit loops in every other group in the world and I will stand up and apologise.  I'm just sick of people putting gamers into this niche of "Plays Online Games - Will Become Murderer" when it's somewhat less than true.

Dragon Age Issue?

If further evidence were needed that Kellie is slowly developing her Geek Gland, she has been playing more and more RPG-style games, mainly of late, Dragon Age: Origins.

Now, me personally, I don't play RPGs on consoles... I'm much happier with a mouse & keyboard and a plethora of keys and commands, while Kellie, starting out in the world, is happier with a controller and a radial-menu of commands.

The point of this post?  Well, I'm pretty sure quite a few of you are techno-sorts, into your PS3s and all that milarky.  Kellie is having an issue with her DA crashing - rather, freezing up.  The PS3 works fine, but DA seems to have a few "issues" with working.

It can run fine for hours and days at a time, then for no reason, the graphics will go from "Ah pretty" to blocky boxes.  More recently, however, the game itself freezes and stays frozen.  The music keeps playing, but that's all, and you have to power off the Playstation with the mains switch.

Very irritating.

Now, were this a PC, I'd check drivers, change the settings and what have you for graphics, but being a PS3, I'm kinda stuck.  I'm partly inclined to think it's a heat issue.  The PS3 did seem rather warm after each crash, but even letting it cool between sessions hasn't fixed it.  Yesterday, I used the tried and tested method of wedging a house fan up against the vents to blow cool air inside it, and that DID seem to fix it.

Last night.

Today, however, no such luck, it's crashed three times, and we've just moved it so there is nothing at all impeding air flow - not that there was anyway, but still...

So, if anyone has any suggestions or advice, please let me know!!

Oh, here's what I mean by "Blocky Boxes" on the graphics:

Clicky to Embiggen!

Yes, I know that looks green/yellow.  It's not, I promise!

Dia-Dia-Di-a-blo...

Many years ago, when I lived in a pokey little flat with Jo and we had ONE computer between us (back in the stone age), we got addicted to the Internet.  And by getting addicted to the internet, we got addicted to internet gaming of various sorts.  Mostly, it was the Doom-style type games, or online board games...

Being that it was the stone age, there was no Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, EvE Online - though there were some games, hosted in the states, which meant playing gave a huuuge amount of lag, so we never bothered.

Then, out of the blue, a company called Blizzard released a rather fun game called Diablo.  Typical fantasy slash-through-the-dungeon type of game, get better gear, go up in levels...  And we got hooked on that too.  That game kept me awake for well over a year - the thing with it was, each time you restarted, the levels were different, you could find different unique monsters, different gear... And then there was the Online Aspect of it - you could play together in the same place over a network, or you could (for those that remember, use dial up!) connect directly to another person and play with them.  Failing that, there was Battle.net to connect to the thousands of other players out there...

I never actually got bored of Diablo - I ran out of time, more than anything, as Jaysen was born, and having a baby made gaming rather awkward.

Time passed, and Diablo 2 came out, and was bigger, altered, changed - Blizzard know how to do cinematics, video, storyline, music - and the sequel was no let down.  Actually, before the sequel, there was the expansion, Hellfire, but that seemed rather unpopular, prolly because it wasn't Blizzard that made it...

Once again, the world of Diablo sucked me in, and I sat up all hours playing with friends and strangers alike... 

A few weeks ago, I reinstalled Diablo and played it for a while, killing time, and slowly getting sucked in.

Then this morning, while kicking my way through my blogs, I notice someone mention Diablo 3.  Well, that pretty much set me for the day - despite running late, stressing and flapping and everything else.

The biggest thing I remember with the original, and, to an extent, the sequel, was the cheating.  The cheats people used, trainers, gear, life, stats - people would sift through code, find the best item in the game, then hack it so you could wear the same thing on your head, body, hands, legs, feet, both hands AND potion slots...  For a while, we DID play that way just to see how fast we could get through the game, but it did make it very boring.  Fun for a while, but killed it in the end.

With Diablo 3 in the works, that is now the third game I am looking forward to being released...  Spore, Wrath of the Lich King, and now Diablo3.

I'm sure Kellie won't mind becoming a gaming widow for a while... Right?