Communism and WarCraft

Simpson’s Paradox talks about culture clash and WoW. The subject starts out as red communist party insignia:

…receiving one is a prerequisite for joining the Party as an adult. Although my colleagues tell me that the best students get the first honglinjin, but virtually every student in the class gets one eventually.

“You know what that means?” Stick asked.

“Um, some of your kids are right on track to join the communist party?”

“No! It’s almost Children’s Day! We have to get on WarCraft to run the Children’s Day seasonal quests!”

Full article here.

Detective Games

A post on VGViews compares old mystery games (Laura Bow) with new mystery games (Nick Bounty). The Nick Bounty games stack up very well, and the reasons are interesting.

One of the problems with Laura Bow, and with Sierra games in general, was the many ways to accidentally kill yourself. Getting into the elevator? Oh, sorry, you didn’t say you checked to see if it was on your floor. You fall down the elevator shaft and die. Crossing the road? You’re hit by a bus and die. Petting a cat? You contract a particularly virulent strain of rabies and die. Eating some candy? Well, you get the picture.

…

A few days ago, I discovered the Nick Bounty mysteries, flash games(or free downloads) from the independant Pinhead Games company. The first mystery is called “A Case Of The Crabs” and the second “The Goat In The Gray Fedora”, which gives you an idea of the seriousness. (I think Laura’s boyfriend in one story was a dockworker called Steve Door)

Nick Bounty is a bit more campy, with black-and-white sketch graphics, and sarcastic comments and narration, imitating hardboiled detective novels.

Read the whole article here.

But That’s My Name!

I just caught this story on my Twitter wire, and had to share.

If you have the word ‘gay’ in your Xbox 360 gamertag, you may be next in line for a trip to Bansville if Microsoft get its way.

Reports claim that the big ‘M’ has banned the gamertag ‘theGAYERgamer’ due to the homosexual reference. But check this out, even worse than that is that it also banned the gamertag Richard Gaywood, who is actually and rather unfortunately a real name.(We kid you not).

We’re assured that Dick Gaywood is also a straight, women-loving guy who just happens to have a ‘gay’ sounding name. Poor chap.

From Hexus.

Yeah, like it’s not rough enough being named Dick Gaywood, and now that poor guy’s got XBox Live picking on him.

HiPiHi: more than Chinese Second Life

A post on VGViews discusses HiPiHi, China’s answer to Second Life:

HiPiHi is pretty new, and so it’s struggling to get out of the shadow of Second Life. The similarities are pretty strong, but I think there’s enough interest in virtual worlds to keep both going. Also, China’s market share in MMORPGs is growing by the minute, so there are more and more online citizens, which are all potential HiPiHi-ers.

Chinese MMORPGs are collossal, with just huge numbers of subscribers. They’re also huge in another way, as the casual online gamer is pretty rare in China. (Which isn’t to say casual gamers are rare, just they they’re more likely to play a game on their cellphone or handheld.) Marathon gaming sessions are nothing new to Chinese high schoolers, who have been prepared for such long hours in front of the PC by marathon cramming sessions. So I don’t think HiPiHi will have any trouble getting subscribers!

Still, HiPiHi will need more than just bodies to distinguish themselves from Second Life.

Read the whole post on VGViews or check out HiPiHi’s English page.

Emulators and Roms

Remember how much fun you used to have playing mario brothers or zelda? Ever yearn for those days again? Well, I can’t promise you will have as much fun as then but there is a way to play nintendo games, even if you have thrown away your nintendo console like I did so long ago. It is called emulators and roms. Actually, you find an emulator and roms to almost every console game and even some of the older computers. The emulators are free as are most roms, though some do want you to own the game cartridges before you download them. Just do a search and you’ll be surprised at how many sites come up for free emulators and roms.

Crackdown

Crackdown is like playing the good guy version of GTA. Its fun but a little difficult on the eyes, the camera movements need to be tweaked just a little so as not to hurts the eyes too much.

Halo 3

This game was not a disappointment, and anyone who this so should be hung. the game play was smooth and and the story line was amazing. Halo 3 and both before it are going down in history as the greatest games EVER!!!

Terraworld Online RPG

I found this mmorpg last year and I love it! It’s got a small download, only 10 megs and best of all, it’s FREE!

Terraworld runs good on low end computers and doesn’t eat up your memory like some mmorpgs I’ve played. Terraworld uses 2d graphics, which some might not like but it suits me fine. Terraworld has added more quests to the noob island (beginner’s island) and you have to complete them before you can go to the mainland. It takes longer with the new quests but I think it’s better this way. The quests help build up your stats before you get to the mainland, where the monsters are harder but the drops are better.

Terraworld has a great community with lots of helpful players. Chat is closely monitored by moderators. Spamming, shouting and cursing can get you muted and if there are repeat offendings then jail time or banning can happen.

To try out this great mmorpg just go here: www.terragaming.net

Losing Interest In WoW?

Game reviews tend to be love or hate. Either the reviewer thinks this game is better than anything else in the whole world, and you should play it RIGHT NOW! Or the reviewer hates the game, it sucks and it’s a waste of money. It’s hard to tell what’s worth playing. But here are some middle-of-the-road comments from a WoW gamer, thinking about changes in the game:
As I reach higher levels, the proportion of powergamers is increasing. Instead of occasionally finding myself in a party with one guy who’s a bit obsessed with his shiny new sword, higher levels seem to be all about the gear. Like high school from hell, only those wearing the right clothes are invited to the party… where the main subject of conversation is who has what, and where they got it. It looks like end game is entirely focused on gear.

And gold spamming has gotten out of control recently. Hawkers shout URLs in Ironforge and Goldshire like pushy sovenir vendors in Beijing. Hello! Best price! I don’t need WoW gold any more than I need a plastic doohicky embossed with the Olympics logo, and I resent the harassment. Is there that much of a market for broke WarCraft characters, who can’t follow the ads on Thotbot or google BUY WOW GOLD?

Via VGViews

Mario Lunch Box

Just saw this article on Weird Asia News, combining two things gamers love… Mario and wild Japanese trends.

This edible icon is part of a bento-box art contest. It’s called Kyaraben, or キャラクター弁当, for Japanese speakers, and it’s combination fo the word “character” and “bento”.