Asilomar Wants to Host Your Gaming Event August 2, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, In Person.Tags: Asilomar, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Gaming Conventions, Golfland, Haunted Conference Rooms, Moneterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, Pacific Grove
8 comments
Or so I hear.
The Asilomar Conference Grounds site is a very nice place in Monterey County, California. Located in the city of Pacific Grove (where I’ll be able to afford to retire if I get my wish) it offers nice facilities in amongst the trees, is walking distance from ocean, and is a relatively short drive from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There is also some golf course near by, but they don’t have an arcade or anything like Golfland.
Merrill Hall at Asilomar
The whole area is pretty nice. Ask Tipa.
Anyway, a friend of mine who works at Asilomar heard from the director of marketing for the facility that they are looking to attract more “gaming” events.
Why gaming events?
Well, the same company that runs the grounds for the state, Aramark, also runs the Anaheim Convention Center. And you know what happens at the Anaheim Convention Center. BlizzCon.
So I have to think that might have influenced them a bit.
However, Asilomar is not the same scale as Anaheim Convention Center or Moscone Center. You couldn’t host BlizzCon or GDC there.
But for smaller events… say anything from some out-of-town buddies wanting to host a LAN party or a weekend D&D campaign to something on the order of SOE’s Fan Faire… Asilomar would be an appropriately sized venue in my estimation. And the place has a rustic feel to it that would certainly add to any medieval focused event. Plus I heard that one of the conference rooms is haunted.
That is the preamble. Now to the actual point of this post.
Said director of marketing is not exactly tapped into the gamer community and would like to know where to start. I wouldn’t consider myself tapped into the community either, at least not for planning events like this. But I have all of you readers. Somebody out there must know something… and the rest of us have opinions which we’re always happy to share.
So I would like to open this up for comment. You might consider the following questions as a guide, though if I have missed something, do not feel constrained by them.
*What should Asilomar do to get noticed and considered by those planning gaming events? How should they be reaching out? (Remember though, Asilomar is being run for the budget strapped State of California, so “spend a lot of money” probably isn’t an option.)
*What sort of gaming events should they consider trying to attract?
*Is there anything special the facilities should offer? They do tech industry outings there, so they have good internet connectivity, but what else should they have?
*What would you want to know about from their web site or brochure before you would consider planning an event at Asilomar?
Thanks in advance for anything you have to offer on the subject.
Statement of interest: I am not in anyway affiliated with Asilomar or Aramark nor am I being financially compensated in any way for putting up this post. I am doing it as a favor for a friend. This post was neither vetted nor approved by Aramark or any of its representatives. All views and opinions expressed are my own, especially the part about the haunted conference room, which I quite possibly made up. Somebody from Asilomar will read the comments on this post. How they use any information provided, or if they use it at all, is entirely up to the management of the facility.
WoW Phishing via StarCraft II August 2, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Blizzard, Diablo III, entertainment, World of Warcraft.Tags: Account Security, Battle.net, Blizzard Authenticator, Blizzard Store, Phishing, Something for Nothing, StarCraft II
6 comments
I have to give some points for ingenuity on this one.
My inbox this morning had this email in it:
Subject: Blizzard Store Order #87859 – StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™
Date: Sunday, August 1, 2010 10:22 PM
From: “Blizzard Entertainment” <WoWAccountAdmin@blizzard.com>
Hello, thank you for shopping at the Blizzard Store!
StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™: 9744253649464714451160736
To use this key to activate the game, simply follow these instructions:
- Create a Battle.net account (or if you already have one, log in) at [Bogus URL]
- Verify your e-mail address. (If you have previously verified your address, skip this step.) From the main Account Management page, click the ‘verify this e-mail address’ link. Then, check your e-mail account for a verification e-mail. Click the link in this e-mail to verify your e-mail address.
- Return to the Battle.net account management page, then click on ‘Code Redemption’.
- Enter the above CDKey in the code field.
- Once you have successfully redeemed this code, you will be able to play the game.
NOTE: If you have previously chosen to gift your digital purchase, attaching this key to their Battle.net account will prevent you from being able to redeem this key with your Battle.net account.
===================================
Purchase Receipt
===================================
Customer Account: [Not my Battle.net email address]
Order Date: 2010-8-2
Order #: 1882359(1) StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™ – $59.99
Credit Card Number : ****-****-****-8089
Credit Card Type : Visa
Item Subtotal: $59.99
Tax: $0.00
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Shipping Tax: $0.00
Grand Total: $59.99
===================================If you have any questions or concerns about your order, please contact us at:
Phone: Toll-free at (1-800-592-5499)
Website: http://us.worldofwarcraft.net/accountLive phone support is available seven days a week, 8:00AM – 8:00PM Pacific Time.
Thanks for shopping with us!
Blizzard Customer Service
Now, I knew I had not ordered a copy of StarCraft II, so my first thought was, “Hey, did somebody buy me a copy? Cool!”
Wishful thinking, I know, at $59.99 a pop, but I had just rolled out of bed.
And then my sleep addled brain began to pick out the dubious details of this email.
The “from” address jumped out at me first.
I have seen “WoWAccountAdmin@blizzard.com” at the top of a lot of phishing attempts. Plus Blizzard would never be so sloppy as to send something from a WoW focused account for a Blizzard Store transaction. Those are two different groups in the company. The Blizzard Store uses “sales@blizzard.com” as the from address for all transactions that I have seen.
That lead me to parse the email again, which lead me to the bogus URL for account activation. Standard operating procedure for a phising attempt.
And, to top it off, as usual, the whole thing was directed to a “customer account” email address which is my email address, but not one I use for a Battle.net account.
The email looked pretty good though. I was tempted to try and enter that product key.
I went and compared the email to other receipt emails from the Blizzard Store I have tucked away from items I have purchased, and it was first pass close to the real thing. One other flag: Blizzard always uses my first name in the salutation. Something to remember.
Ah, well… no free copy of StarCraft II for me today.
Here we are starting to see the price of Blizzard rolling up all of their games into Battle.net for administration. The same account I would use for StarCraft II also lets me into World of Warcraft. And the same will no doubt be true when Diablo III rolls around.
Now, having the Blizzard Authenticator, I am covered… or more so than somebody without the authenticator. But still, everything that might send somebody to log into Battle.net is a potential hole that phishing scams will try to exploit.
Pokemon Enigma Stone Download Event August 1, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in DS, entertainment, Pokemon.Tags: Download Event, National Pokedex, Nintendo WiFi, Pokemon HeartGold, Pokemon SoulSilver
2 comments
Pokemon.com has announced a new Nintendo WiFi download event for Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
From July 31st through August 27th you can download the Enigma Stone for HeartGold and SoulSilver.
By default, the Pokemon Latias only appears in HeartGold while Latios only appears in SoulSilver. But the Enigma Stone sets off a chain of events in the game that leads to an encounter with the Pokemon that does not generally appear in game.
So if you have HeartGold you will encounter Latios, while SoulSilver players will encounter Latias.
To get the Enigma Stone, you have to have obtained the National Pokedex in HeartGold or SoulSilver, which means you have completed the Johto portion of the game and have defeated Lance and the Elite Four.
This is not an in-store download. You must connect to the Internet via your Nintendo DS using the WiFi option in order to obtain the Engima Stone. Instructions on how to configure your DS are in the instruction booklet that came with Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. (page 35)
If you need further help, please see the Nintendo WiFi site. Do not post questions about Nintendo WiFi in the comments here.
