So I just googled the "dv9700t eq2" in order to see if anyone else is using the type of laptop I just purchased to play eq2...and on the first page my blog came up in the results! Gah!
This blog is for a school assignment...so anyone that stumbles across it, try not to be too critical.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
I finally gave in
Finally after battling with myself for over a year I bought a new laptop. It should arrive sometime late next week, or early the week after. I finally went and did it because I realize how much I work (both work and school) and I just got my 3rd raise at my current job, so why not treat myself? It's what I'm passionate about, so it's for pleasure and business.
I customized an hp dv9700t with dual core 2.6 ghz processors, nvidia 8600m gs video card, 4gb ram, and the 64 bit version of vista so that I can utilize all of that lovely ram. I do build my PCs by myself, but since I can't put together a laptop, and all of the back to school sales are happening...there was no time like the present.
On a side note, with the addition of this laptop I'll be able to four box EQ2 (play 4 accounts at once) and possibly 6 box if I really want to spend that type of money. I know when most little girls are asked what they want to do when they grow up they say something cliche like an actress or singer...or doctor or lawyer. I want to be a nerd, and I think I'm going about it all right :)
I customized an hp dv9700t with dual core 2.6 ghz processors, nvidia 8600m gs video card, 4gb ram, and the 64 bit version of vista so that I can utilize all of that lovely ram. I do build my PCs by myself, but since I can't put together a laptop, and all of the back to school sales are happening...there was no time like the present.
On a side note, with the addition of this laptop I'll be able to four box EQ2 (play 4 accounts at once) and possibly 6 box if I really want to spend that type of money. I know when most little girls are asked what they want to do when they grow up they say something cliche like an actress or singer...or doctor or lawyer. I want to be a nerd, and I think I'm going about it all right :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Gaming is good for you!
A few semesters ago I had to take a public speaking class as a requirement. We were able to speak on any appropriate topic we wanted, and had to do a persuasive speech, special occasion, and informative. I usually wrote my speeches about some aspect of gaming. I used a few facts from a source that this current article mentions.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26271240/
I love to publicize the positives to gaming, since the negatives are always all over the media.
I know the ending isn't the most uplifting...but as a nonviolent gamer who also enjoys active games like DDR and games for the Wii, I think I'm pretty set :)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26271240/
I love to publicize the positives to gaming, since the negatives are always all over the media.
I know the ending isn't the most uplifting...but as a nonviolent gamer who also enjoys active games like DDR and games for the Wii, I think I'm pretty set :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Why Flagship Failed (and made their users very angry)
Recently (the end of July) a somewhat small game company closed its doors and remains a barely operative shell of 5 or so founding leaders. Flagship Studios, creators of Hellgate London, finally had to call it quits. I read a lot of articles on the topic, and played the game myself for several months. It had an engaging storyline with a lot of true "lol" humor, as well as horrifying moments that almost sent me flying out of my chair. The artwork's style, especially of items, was extremely impressive. The levels did get a little boring in contrast, but I'll explain that part later. I also really enjoyed the skills system, which allowed you to make some extreme choices and variations to your character, and the item customization system.
My main concerns with the game are as follows. They chose to do something completely original, but they couldn't deliver. They decided that doing dungeon crawls of the same maps again and again, and camping enemies waiting for a rare one to spawn was unnecessary. I agree with this, but they fell short with their new strategy. The new strategy was to make every level randomly generated for your character (or party, if you are grouped). No one else can enter your instance unless you're grouped together. They used templates of rooms and structures to randomly generate each map and the chance for hidden treasure caches and named bosses. Unfortunately there are only so many drastically different looking areas you can make when you randomly generate from templates. After a while the areas started to feel washed out and used up. "Hell" itself was just some sort of red abyss or a dark cathedral. This also led to a stagnation of the community since you can only really interact with people in the "safe zone" main terminal stations. Also, the skill system which could allow you to choose great combinations, could also allow you to make a completely unplayable character with just a few clicks. And with no "respec" option, a new player could find themself making many many new characters.
Hellgate came out of the gate barely breathing. They so wanted to release on Halloween, but the game just WASN'T ready. Instead of listening to reason they pushed it out anyway and had to deal with serious bugs and an unhappy community. They also promised a new package of content each quarter, but only delivered one package during the game's lifetime (since 10/31/07). Their subscription structure for online play was annoying to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. You could choose to subscribe in order to get more storage space, subscriber only items, and the ability to wear prettier armor; or not subscribe and receive almost the entire game. They either had to differentiate between the two better, or get rid of the subscription fee/enforce it for everyone. Giving people a choice was probably a poor decision financially as well as from a design perspective.
I could have dealt with all of their issues, if it wasn't for the fact of broken promises. When Sony Online Entertainment says that there is going to be a game patch released, or a new expansion, they give a date and stick to it. If they feel that their content won't be clean enough by then, they push it off and give us the reason. Flagship continually promised the world but delivered nothing. It go to the point where I would read about a new patch on the forums, and immediately believe I would never see it (which happened with Patch 2.0 - it is currently scrapped indefinitely due to the stability of the company). There are only so many times you can promise something to your gaming community and not deliver it, before they lose faith in you and your game. For the time being, Hellgate is still operational and I still retain all subscriber benefits without being billed. Hopefully a large gaming company will purchase it and make it into the game it was meant to be.
My main concerns with the game are as follows. They chose to do something completely original, but they couldn't deliver. They decided that doing dungeon crawls of the same maps again and again, and camping enemies waiting for a rare one to spawn was unnecessary. I agree with this, but they fell short with their new strategy. The new strategy was to make every level randomly generated for your character (or party, if you are grouped). No one else can enter your instance unless you're grouped together. They used templates of rooms and structures to randomly generate each map and the chance for hidden treasure caches and named bosses. Unfortunately there are only so many drastically different looking areas you can make when you randomly generate from templates. After a while the areas started to feel washed out and used up. "Hell" itself was just some sort of red abyss or a dark cathedral. This also led to a stagnation of the community since you can only really interact with people in the "safe zone" main terminal stations. Also, the skill system which could allow you to choose great combinations, could also allow you to make a completely unplayable character with just a few clicks. And with no "respec" option, a new player could find themself making many many new characters.
Hellgate came out of the gate barely breathing. They so wanted to release on Halloween, but the game just WASN'T ready. Instead of listening to reason they pushed it out anyway and had to deal with serious bugs and an unhappy community. They also promised a new package of content each quarter, but only delivered one package during the game's lifetime (since 10/31/07). Their subscription structure for online play was annoying to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. You could choose to subscribe in order to get more storage space, subscriber only items, and the ability to wear prettier armor; or not subscribe and receive almost the entire game. They either had to differentiate between the two better, or get rid of the subscription fee/enforce it for everyone. Giving people a choice was probably a poor decision financially as well as from a design perspective.
I could have dealt with all of their issues, if it wasn't for the fact of broken promises. When Sony Online Entertainment says that there is going to be a game patch released, or a new expansion, they give a date and stick to it. If they feel that their content won't be clean enough by then, they push it off and give us the reason. Flagship continually promised the world but delivered nothing. It go to the point where I would read about a new patch on the forums, and immediately believe I would never see it (which happened with Patch 2.0 - it is currently scrapped indefinitely due to the stability of the company). There are only so many times you can promise something to your gaming community and not deliver it, before they lose faith in you and your game. For the time being, Hellgate is still operational and I still retain all subscriber benefits without being billed. Hopefully a large gaming company will purchase it and make it into the game it was meant to be.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Favorite Website
Who is the target audience? The main flash page is marketed for children through people in their later 20’s (people who are web savvy and have a more advanced understanding of how to navigate a flash only website). The “store” section of the website targets people who are looking to get a new cell phone, but they also have additional tabs that give you the news, entertainment updates, sports, lifestyle, and more. Overall the website is marketing itself to a younger generation by showing how “cool” and “hip” they are. This might be confusing for older people looking for a simple website to buy a phone.
What is the site’s objective? The main flash page seems to be purely for fun. They have also hidden 1000 free phone chargers in the flash page, so that will keep people entertained as well. It gets the user interested in the website, enough so, that they want to find out what exactly do they sell. They have an easy to find “store” page which looks like a normal website where the user can buy their products and actually learn about them. They also include functionality that a user might want on their home page such as news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and more. Their objective is to capture the user’s attention and then sell to them. They make themselves seem trendy so people are more likely to buy from them.
What would you want to change about the website? At first when I started out on the flash page I had no idea how to navigate down. I figured it out by accident, but it would have been nice to have a little pointer or hint. If a user becomes frustrated immediately at the website they probably won’t have a good overall experience. There is so much to see on the page that it would be a shame for the user to miss out.
Money is as dirty as your mom warned...
A few weeks ago I went out to lunch with a few co-workers, and two of us decided to pay with cash and the other two were using credit cards. One of the girls who was paying cash, Liz, found some odd "dirt" on her money. She thought maybe it was ketchup or makeup. My other co-worker, Rony, told her that it was probably blood because the money had at one point been used in a drug transaction. Liz was entirely grossed out, and then we started hypothesizing about the amount of drugs on money (and diseases, etc). This article just came out yesterday and it talks about how the US Dollar has the highest traces of cocaine, and also about the chance to have disease-causing bacteria. It was pretty interesting and definitely makes me more hesitant to carry cash!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080805/sc_livescience/highesttracesofcocainefoundonusbills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080805/sc_livescience/highesttracesofcocainefoundonusbills
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