The Most Violent Game on Facebook… November 7, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Facebook.Tags: Facebook Ads
3 comments
Or so they say.
Isn’t being the most violent game on Facebook about equal to being the hardest drinker at the soda fountain?
And where exactly is this game banned? You can apparently play it on Facebook which, last I checked, was banned in pitifully few places, though I keep getting email from a group that wants to ban it in India.
Something like “most violent” is clearly puffery, but claiming to be banned… I think you have to prove that one. I think you have to get called out by the governor of a state or be banned in a whole country like Postal II to have any street cred there.
I am also a bit disappointed. They had enough space left that they could have spelled out Facebook. I don’t want to start hearing people refer to it as “FB” or, even worse, “The FB.” Let’s nip that one in the bud right now.
Hrmm, I wrote for a couple of hours today about the Supreme Court, EverQuest, and TorilMUD, and this is all that was worth posting. I’m going to have to have one of those “unfinished posts” weeks like Syp did a while back.
Getting Flight Checked for Cataclysm November 5, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Blizzard, entertainment, World of Warcraft.Tags: Cataclysm, Flying Mounts
5 comments
One of the great promises of Cataclysm, the next World of Warcraft expansion, is the ability to fly around Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, or as one wag put it, “Old Weather Flying.” Blizzard is even now teasing us with the skill in game.
See your trainer indeed… in about a month.
That looks like it will be an affordable skill, 250 gold at level 60 and probably less with faction discounts.
There are more changes though, and with Hallow’s End I finally got out of my slump are started looking at what patch 4.0.1 had to offer, including on the flying front.
First, of course, there was the high speed flying. It used to be, back in the day, that you had to get a special mount to be able to fly at 310%. All you could buy your way into was the 280% epic flying mount.
But they have switch that around and now your skill dictates how fast a mount flies. (Running seems to be unchanged.) So now there is a master flying skill that gives you the 310% speed boost. Master riding, and you can learn that one today.
It runs 5,000 gold, to siphon a bit of cash out the economy no doubt, but can be had for as little as 4,000 gold if you are exalted with the right faction. Fortunately, Vikund had the cash on hand so I was able to grab it for him.
If you happened to have earned one of the 310% mounts already though, you got the skill for free.
Blizz also moved Cold Weather Flying, the Northrend flying skill, to level 68 and halved the price, making it 500 gold. No longer will you feel the frustration of getting to 70, getting your epic flying skill, only to head to Northrend to find yourself grounded for another seven levels. Now my level 70 druid can fly in Northrend.
Patience got me Flight
This change mirrors what Blizz did with flying in Outland after Wrath of the Lich King came out and we had the great big riding reset. They’re just getting the change in a bit earlier this time around. No word on whether they will also cut the exp table in Northrend. I think they might leave that for a while. Wrath content has more replay value in it than Burning Crusade does, in my opinion.
Rides have changed a lot since the old days, when you could buy your first mount at 40 and maybe that epic mount at 60 if you played the auction house or bought gold.
It Is Total Annihilation! November 3, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Ancient Gaming, entertainment, Other PC Games.Tags: Cavedog, Impulse, Retro Gaming, RTS, Stardock, Total Annihilation
13 comments
After getting Civilization V through Steam, I had started digging around through their store to see what else they might have on hand. There were some older games, a few that I thought I might like to go back and revisit. As SynCaine mentioned the other day, the game has changed.
Still, there is a lot to plow through on Steam, so I sat down and made a short list of games I’d like to find there.
At the top of the list was Total Annihilation, probably my favorite RTS of all time.
Of course, I actually own the game already. I have the main CD and the two expansions, all of which are over 10 years old. And because they are that old, they are a bit of a pain to install.
You have to install the base game first, then the two expansions. But you have to install the expansions in the right order or everything gets mucked up, and I can never remember which is the right order.
Then there are patches to go find and units released by Cavedog as post GA downloadable content to track down in order to get the full package. There used to be a great site that had everything centrally located, but it has been down for a few years.
So I would have gladly dropped some cash to get a Steam installed version that put the whole thing together for me.
However, it was not on Steam. Frankly none of my list was on Steam, but I’ll get to that in another post.
In digging around though, I did find Total Annihilation over at Stardock.
They too have a Steam-like service and a small library of games, including TA for just $9.99.
$10 was a no-brainer. I would have paid more. And I don’t even have to pop the CD in the drive to play.
I gather from the logo and what I have read that Atari ended up in possession of the rights to the game.
And, true to my expectations, the install did lay down all of the content, patches, and what not.
I am not exactly thrilled to have to have installed another Steam-like client on my system. Stardock’s client, Impulse, isn’t quite as intrusive as Steam, but it also isn’t as polished. I suppose one pays for the other.
I was also able to dig out my old Stardock account information, so I actually have access to Galactic Civilizations I and II again now as well.
Now I just have to find a site for maps. There used to be some great maps for the game.
That and an updated AI.
There used to be a vicious AI that would start dropping nukes on you at about the 15 minute mark in a skirmish.
More stuff to find. Who has a good Total Annihilation site up their sleeve?
Going a Bit Overboard on the Giants Win with Michael Franti November 3, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment.Tags: Michael Franti, San Francisco Giants, sports, World Series
2 comments
But heck, it’s been nearly 60 years since they last won a World Series.
For all the Giants fans out there.
Sorting Through My Hallow’s End Loot November 2, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, World of Warcraft.Tags: Achievements, Hallow's End, WoW Achievements
2 comments
Hallow’s End is over, it closed up at midnight on October 31st. And while I didn’t go all out to do things for Hallow’s End, I still ended up with a few cool items.
I did Trick-or-Treat and used the dungeon finder to slay the Headless Horseman at least once a day.
And while I did not get the coveted Horseman’s Reins, I did at least get the flying broom. It only lasts a few days, but it is a cool mount and it summons instantly.
Vikund on the Broom
And I did get the Horseman’s Horrific Helm, which is not only a pretty good helm, but also lets you do the Headless Horesman’s laugh.
For This I Will Show Helm
And I even got one of the masks I was looking for. But only one. I am still one shy for the A Mask for All Occasions achievement.
One Shy...
Not bad I suppose. But now I have to wait another year to try and knock out that final Hallow’s End achievement.
Oh, and I got about a half a dozen sinister squashlings and an equal number of hallowed helms, both of which I already had.
Ah well, maybe they will change up Hallow’s End a bit more next year.
A Facebook Ad Combo Attack November 2, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Casual Games, entertainment, Facebook.Tags: Facebook Ads
3 comments
Ads for browser games on Facebook tend to follow a couple of common threads. You have to grab people’s attention and tell them something compelling about your game in a Twitter-like word restricted format.
Lying is a popular formula. We saw that with Dungeons & Dragons Online and their “No Download Needed” ad.
When I saw this gem this morning, I knew I had to post it.
Here we have a one-two punch of Facebook ad cliches.
First, the title, “Banned on Myspace.”
Being banned somewhere seems to have some allure to the advertiser end of the equation, though I am not sure why. I’ve seen ads for games that have been banned, banned in Utah, banned for kids (as Facebook ought to be), or nearly banned. Nearly banned?
But “Banned on Myspace” is a new one. I didn’t think people got banned from Myspace as a punishment, I thought they were sent there as a punishment.
Does Myspace even have games? How exactly was this game banned?
And then there is the “Most Addictive” whatever, another popular unsubstantiated claim for Facebook game ads.
Then we add in “No download needed,” which we’ve seen for games that did need a download, as I pointed out above.
Finally, there is the picture. What is going on in that picture? Is that a Kerra with a Santa hat squaring off against a red turtle with a club? Or is it some sort of little red Power Ranger? Is this picture even from the game in question.
Another classic Facebook ad.
Giants Win The World Series! November 2, 2010
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment.Tags: baseball, Giants, San Francisco Giants, sports, World Series
5 comments
The Giants have done it at last. They haven’t won a World Series since they were in New York, back in 1954.
I’ll even post their current logo.
As I said last week, I had two baseball hopes. I have now lived to see them both.
Now maybe I’ll throw my support behind the Cubs. They last won a World Series in 1908. That’s a pretty long dry spell.
