Love Survival Kit (Yes, Really)

I have to admit I installed this on my iTouch as soon as I got the press release. Because it has the potential to be cutely fun or be The Rules horrific, and either way, I have to check it out.

wikiHow, a collaboration to build and share the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual, just launched its newest iPhone and iPod Touch app, wikiHow’s Love Survival Kit. Available now for free download on the App Store, the Love Survival Kit follows wikiHow’s hugely successful Emergency Survival Kit, which has more than half a million downloads to date. Packed with articles for every love scenario, from casual dating to serious relationships, and everything in between, wikiHow’s Love Survival Kit will have you looking for love (tips) in all the right places.

The Love Survival Kit’s practical articles help people gracefully navigate tricky dating and social situations, or just kill time by learning fun and charming tricks. A modern approach to etiquette – complete with video tutorials – the Love Survival Kit covers a broad range of relationship categories and subjects, such as:

• Love and War including: How to Catch a Cheating Boyfriend, How to Date Multiple Men/Women at a Time, How to Play Hard To Get, and more
• Kissing including: How to Kiss, How to French Kiss, How to Deal with a Bad Kisser, How to Get Rid of Chapped Lips, and more
• Awkward Situations including: How to Deal with Someone’s Bad Breath, How to Escape the Friend Zone, How to Get Rid of a Stalker, and more
• Breaking Up including: How to Break Up Over the Phone, How to Break Up Over IM, How to Get Over a Break Up, and more
• Dating Skills including: How to Flirt, How to Play Footsie, How to Read Body Language, How to Have a Great Conversation, and more
• Charming Tricks including: How to Fold a Dollar Into a Heart, How to Open a Beer Bottle with a Dollar Bill, How to Open a Champagne Bottle with a Sword, and more
• Additional How-To Categories including: Best Foot Forward, Relationship Fixes, Relationship Skills and Tying the Knot

wikiHow Founder Jack Herrick commented: “I started wikiHow to help people by offering practical education. One of the most surprising things I’ve seen is how many people want to use wikiHow to secretly improve their love life. So the Love Survival Kit was created to fulfill this need, delivering the best of our romance and relationship advice in one free app.”

Which gets me thinking… I wonder if there’s a Worse-Case Scenario Handbook app yet.

Popularity: 1% [?]

An Alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s Monster on ‘Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box’

I’ve posted about Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box and about The Game Composer’s Blog before, and today’s post over at the Game Composer’s Blog was just awesome. Sayre’s latest post transcribes a podcast he did about Tiger Eye, with an alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

ALIEN: Welcome back, humans. One of your kind is now with us. Behold Matt Sayre!

MATT: Thank you, Alien. I’m happy to be here.

BIGFOOT: (English accent) Welcome, Mr. Sayre.

FRANKENSTEIN: Urrrgh!!

MATT: Hi, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

BIGFOOT: Oh, go ahead and call him “Frankenstein”. He’s grown accustomed to that particular appellation.

MATT: Great. I will, thanks.

FRANKENSTEIN: Gyee.

ALIEN: Begin this interrogation by giving us the history of your project and the human faction that has created it.

MATT: Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box is a new hidden object puzzle adventure game based on the paranormal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. The game basically covers the first half of the book. You play as Dela Reese, a young woman traveling in China. She finds a mysterious riddle box and once she opens it she discovers an ancient warrior, Hari, who has been trapped within for centuries. He is cursed to serve as a slave to whomever possesses the box. You try to rid him of the curse and deal with the Magi, the antagonist who is responsible for the curse and who wants his riddle box back.

Our team, PassionFruit Games, was formed specifically to make this game and, we hope, all its sequels. Tiger Eye is the first in the Dirk & Steele (the psychic detective group Dela belongs to) series of books and it’s an exciting series, perfect for video games. The members of PassionFruit Games previously worked at Her Interactive (I did contract work for them, the rest were full-time), where they worked on the Nancy Drew Dossier series. Unfortunately, the Dossier series did not pan out (even though Resorting to Danger won Yahoo’s 2009 Hidden Object Game of the Year award) so the team was laid off. The day after being laid off, however, we were already planning this new venture. And last month we shipped TE: CotRB!

I kind of want to quote the whole thing, actually. And also I want to subscribe to the Alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein podcast.

Via Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box Postnatal « The Game Composer’s Blog

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box Released

I mentioned Passionfruit Games‘ new paranormal-romance-novel-turned-adventure-game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box last month, when I helped with the Tiger Eye beta. The final game is released for PC today (the Mac version will be out in May).

The game is available on Passionfruit’s website, at three different price points. A $6.99 version is just the game download, $9.99 includes the game, strategy guide, Tiger Eye wallpaper and a seven-minute song from the game, and a $12.99 platinum collector’s edition includes all of that, plus more music and the sheet music for the Tiger Eye theme.

Related:

On composing Tiger Eye’s music
Tiger Eye Beta
Tiger Eye: Riddle Box Game Review
Game launch press release

Popularity: 2% [?]

Passionfruit Games

New development studio Passionfruit Games plans to release a casual adventure game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, based on the paramornal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. Romance games are a wildly popular genre in Asia, but in the US, they’re hard to find and usually pretty second-rate games.  (Did I mention how bad My Boyfriend was?) We have high hopes for this one because new Passionfruit is made up of many HER Interactive veterans — the game team who put together Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! and NDD: Resorting To Danger.  The game is currently in beta.

From the Passionfruit press release:

Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box also officially marks the launch of PassionFruit Games and represents a unique moment in the history of gaming.  Although a market for romance themed video games has existed abroad for years, these games are essentially unknown in the U.S.  Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box will be one of the first romance casual games to hit the U.S. market when it goes on-sale in April 2010.

In discussing PassionFruit Games’ decision to launch their company with Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, Melissa Heidrich, Studio Director, expressed her enthusiasm for reaching out to romance readers: “The majority of casual gamers are women aged 25-65, who report they play casual games mainly to escape.  Interestingly, those same attributes apply to romance novel readers – so it’s surprising that there are currently so few romance casual games on the market.  That’s why we’re excited to bring Tiger Eye to life as interactive entertainment.”

For Marjorie M. Liu’s fans, it will be a great chance for them to experience a game written by, designed by, and created for women. Mari Tokuda, one of the designers translating Marjorie’s novel into game form, says: ““There just aren’t many romance games in today’s market.  And, for many women, romance novels are not interactive enough.  That’s where we come in – we are giving players a chance to experience the romance through fun gameplay and sensual cut scenes that further the relationship.  This game will really appeal to players who want a storyline and those who want to BE the smart, down-to-earth romance novel heroine.  And of course, we’ll have a sexy leading man heavily featured in the game.  A game like Tiger Eye is one of the most engaging ways for readers to experience characters’ relationships.”

Fans will also be able to experience things that weren’t in the book and to search for hidden objects, play minigames, listen to a film quality soundtrack, and solve puzzles, all the while following the storyline as the main characters’ relationship deepens emotionally and grows in intimacy, though there will not be explicit sex scenes.

PassionFruit Games acknowledges the challenges of turning a popular book into digital entertainment and of adhering closely to the book’s storyline.  In their quest to stay true to the novel,  all members of the team—from artist to programmer—read Tiger Eye, as well as other novels in the Dirk & Steele universe, to get a feel for the “essence” of the game.  The producer and lead designer held regular video conferences with Marjorie to go over the latest design ideas and Marjorie herself wrote the script for the game and is involved with the game every step of the way,  giving input on scene art, character design, and voice actor selection.

Says Marjorie, who is well known for her New York Times bestselling Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series and for co-authoring the hugely popular Dark Wolverine Marvel comic book series, about playing the game’s early build: “I was amazed by the beautiful cinematic cut scenes and the way players could actually experience things my characters had done.  It’s an incredible feeling to not only see favorite characters brought to life but to experience life through their eyes as you progress through the game.”

The Tiger Eye novel, which Publishers Weekly praised as a “first-rate debut” and “a striking paranormal romance,” tells the story of Dela, a woman with psychic abilities who buys a riddle box in Beijing’s Dirt Market and opens it to find an ancient warrior, Hari, bound to serve as a slave to the person who has opened the box.  The action moves between China and the U.S. and PassionFruit Games will mirror this international scope through two games, the first to take place in China and the second in the U.S.  PassionFruit games also plans to involve readers in the release of Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box with the chance for a select few fans to be Beta testers and with fan voting on looks for the character, Long Nu.

More on Passionfruit Games and Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box from Simpson’s Paradox.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mystery of Cleopatra

Mystery of Cleopatra follows Herod’s Lost Tomb and other educational, casual games from National Geographic. In this one, you play as a trusted advisor to the queen, charged with solving a mysterious break-in at the palace.

Cleo is a gateway game,  a hidden objects game with elements of an adventure game. While there’s still a certain amount of searching, you aren’t just looking for objects for the sake of squinting at the screen, your character actually uses those items.

I’ve written before about losing interest in hidden objects play, but Cleo held my interest a bit longer with ancient scenes. Did I mention that there are Romans? I’m unable to separate my game reviews from my classicist side, and I have to admit that the later civil wars and the question of Caesarion and Octavian’s inheritance have always interested me. The story leads you through different famous places in Alexandria, like the library and the lighthouse, and touches on some of the Roman-Egyptian tensions at the time. As you click around the hidden objects screens, bits of information appear about the items you’re seeing. You’ll also come across scrolls with a paragraph or two of historical background information. (I soon found myself skimming these, but that’s mostly because I wanted to play more.)

Finding items was quite easy, since you can see silhouettes of the items you’re seeking. I found my location hints recharging much faster than I could possibly need, but of course I was playing in casual mode because I am a huge slacker I don’t like my games to scold me for pausing. At times, silhouettes of items that are used together will appear inside a jeweled circlet, and once all the parts are collected, you can make and use a new item.

The puzzles ranged from the usual reassembly of a torn-up note to really creative, clever puzzles. I particularly liked the logic puzzle to open the armaria (That’s classicist for storage box. You’re welcome.) and the code-breaking puzzle. The only disappointing puzzle was one that required players to arrange numbered scrolls. The directions were seriously confusing, it took me a long time using the red and green hints to figure out what the game was asking me to do. (If you’re stuck, it might be because “across” doesn’t mean what you think it does. )

Later in the game, your character remembers places you’ve previously visited, and you use your inventory and evidence to answer questions about them, a bit like the basic mechanic in Phoenix Wright and occasionally used in Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion as well.

Spoiler Alert! Caesarian gets killed so Octavian can be Caesar’s undisputed heir! Wait, wrong spoiler. The real spoiler is at the end of the game when your NPC sidekick, Kathya, who’s been mostly plot exposition and historical detail so far, turns on you and tries to frame you as the murderer!  The brutal backstabs of palace life!

Overall, Cleo is an engaging Big Fish-type game with great scenery and good puzzles. And Romans.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Twilight Game

I really liked Twilight. I’m not saying I run around in a Team Edward shirt, or I’ve seen the movie a hundred times, but I’ve read the books and I loved the movie. Teenage vampire romance, kind of made me want to rent some old episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Anyway, I was excited to see this spinoff, the Twilight boardgame!

Soon you’ll be able to prove your knowledge of all things Edward and Bella, as the “Twilight” board game hits store shelves the week of March 15. Based on trivia and a small bit of chance, users traverse the board going from scene to scene until they wind up at the prom. Take a look below for an inside glimpse at what’s in store.

Via MTV Movies Blog » Exclusive: Roll The Dice With The ‘Twilight’ Board Game!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Runes Of Magic Valentine’s Day Treats

Site of the Gaming Dead has some news about Runes Of Magic, the free-to-play MMO.

Love and romance is filling the the virtual air all over Taborea, the world of Runes of Magic. Players can make handcrafted chocolates, guaranteed to woo and restore 35% of a love interests HP. What girl could say no?!? …

If you have more of a green thumb than a sweet tooth, never fear, part of the celebrations include collecting and culturing rose seeds. The beautiful blossoms reward the gardener in a number of ways, the player receives a buff when the flower blooms and there are special rewards for collecting a large bouquet…

I’ve already admitted my weakness for gamer romance, and romance that restores HP is even better!  Don’t go out to a crowded restaurant for Valentine’s Day, stay home and play games with your sweetie!

Read more (and look at pretty pictures) over on Runes of Magic Gets Romantic for Valentine’s Day | Site of the Gaming Dead.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Grand Ages: Rome

I love the Romans, so of course I’m excited about new Grand Ages: Rome game coming out this March. Here’s the trailer:

I do think some of the battle shots looked a lot like Rome: Total War. What do you think?

Via Gametrailers.com – Grand Ages: Rome – Trailer

Popularity: 13% [?]

11,000 Gamers Attend Virtual Wedding

Ah, gaming romance. I love stories like this, because they ruin the stereotype of anti-social gamers, and the stereotype that all gamers are men.

LAND O’ LAKES, FL– JANUARY 12, 2009– Artix Entertainment’s MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds was the setting for the December 29th wedding of longtime Artix gamers Bello and Merca which was broadcast live starting on www.aqworlds.com with over 11,000 gamers in attendance.

The bride, who is a retailer, and the groom, who is a pre-school teacher, have been avid Artix gamers for three years. They live in southwestern Missouri and decided to share their union with fellow gamers worldwide.

“We thought this was a unique opportunity to do something memorable,” said Bello.“We decided to go with AdventureQuest Worlds because we’ve been playing Artix games for years now and almost feel like we’ve been a part of Artix Entertainment’s maturation as a gaming company.”

Read the rest at OVER 11,000 GAMERS ATTEND ADVENTUREQUEST WORLDS ONLINE WEDDING Gaming Industry | Press Release by MCV

Popularity: 14% [?]

Press Release — DOMO Weddings!

Gametribe.com, the premier destination for Free-to-Play games starts 2009 with a great update to come on January 7th!

We are happy to introduce the Marriage system for all the lovers!
Declare you Love and get married to unlock extra bonuses with your
partner.

To prepare a great wedding ceremony, you can now get the two
beautiful Ring of Devotion (to give energy to the partner) and Partner
Pager (to summon the partner at any time).

Depending on the rings set you choose (Plain, Gold, Platinum or
Diamonds), you will have access to the different wedding costumes
(Chinese, Japanese and Fantasy) and wedding places (Chinese, Church and
Fairytale).

Invite all your friends, prepare a special banquet, it’s a unique moment!

If you want to get married, you can also try the Lover’s quests:

- Devoted Love in Darkdale lvl 20

- Mutually Love in Swan Lake Basin lvl 25

- Everlasting in Blakatoa lvl 30

- Loving Forever in Grassgreen Square lvl 35

- Never regretting Giantwood Forest lvl 40

These quests give wedding dresses and love titles!

Another big feature coming is the Potential Development Instructor
(meet him at the Eversun Dojo). He will give you several quests that
will let you reach the new cap, the level 62!

New items and goodie bags:

• Permanent Emperor’s New Hat and Bounty Hunter Costume available until January 21st

• Purple Butterfly Wings

• Devil’s Wings

• Wedding Venue Lease Contract: for couples to enter a wedding place another time

• Costume goodie bags available until February 4th:

o For girls: Bestial Girl costume, Wild Girl costume and Fairy Horn

o For boys: Red Ghostly Gown, Blue Ghostly Gown, and Demon Horn

• Special riding Pet goodie bag available until January 21st: you may get a permanent Lil’Dairy Pu or Pure White Pupu!

The new update will be available to players after the weekly Wednesday maintenance window.

DOMO is a Free-to-Play social MMORPG based on ancient Chinese
mythology. Join with thousands of other gamers in an amazing
anime-inspired world where you can socialize, form friendships, craft
and master a variety of jobs, all within the underlying quest of trying
to solve the riddles of the ancient myth of the Kunlun Mirror.

To download and play DOMO visit the game’s official website through www.gametribe.com.

Via DOMO: Love is all! Gaming Industry | Press Release by MCV

Kind of makes me wish WoW had special romantic quests!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Age of Mythology

Out from Ensemble Studios Publishged by Microsoft this was one of the heaviest myth based Game i’ve ever seen on Multiplayer Play. Based on Greek and semi roman Mythology the game has a Solid base and a Decent Texture Engine though u need some dedicated graphics to get rid of some stupid polygons.
Playing though Different civilizations os even more Thrilling.

Til today this one of the Most widley played Multiplayer Games in Clans and Online too.

Game Rating 7/10
Basic Requirements:
Pintium IV 1.6-2.6Ghz
512Mb RAM
64MB Graphics
and A Sound Card

Popularity: 5% [?]

ChronoTrigger Romance

A man hacked his girlfriend’s game to propose. How romantic!

Via Princess Bride Studio Blog

Popularity: 2% [?]

Tropical Nightmare

From Simpson’s Paradox on Tropical Nightmare

I recently got the chance to beta Tropical Dream: Underwater Odyssey by Digital Chocolate. I usually love betatesting new games, I get a sneak preview and the chance to run my mouth to the developers. Before I say anything else, I should make it clear that I played the beta, and things may change for the final version.

I thought the premise of Underwater Odyssey was perfect: Young Megan leaves her boring job for expat adventures in exotic locations! But things are not quite as advertised, and she must rely on her wits and creativity to survive! Could it be any better?

At the end of the introductory sequence, Megan decides to become an underwater photographer, which is when the game starts to go downhill.

It’s about as fun as watching the old Windows fishtank screensaver, and taking a screen capture of pretty fish. No, really. That’s the game. If you get it right, the fish smile at you. Then you come up for air. If you got the right fishy photos, you can hang up your best pictures in your house, and then do it all over again. I almost cried when I saw space on my wall for seventy-odd photos. If you didn’t get the right photos before you ran out of air, you go back down and try again. (You can’t drown yourself. I tried.)

I started to think it was a joke, like you play this repetitive “game” for a few moments and then you surface and realize that aliens have landed! And Megan has to save the world!

But that didn’t happen. The break in the fish-photo action was a Bejeweled-type minigame with Roman and Chinese coins. Sounds like a recipe for an awesome Meggish minigame, but it was completely overdone which went from cute to annoying in about three musically-accompanied, over-animated clicks.

I’d been wondering what I’d do if I played a game I really didn’t like. Not write about it? Take, for once in my life, the old advice about what to do if you can’t say anything nice? Say something politely bland about it not being quite my style? And then I remembered that I’m the editor and publisher here, so I assigned myself to write an honest editorial. Simpson’s Paradox: Your source for hard-hitting journalism in the world of casual games.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Tropical Nightmare

Popularity: 3% [?]

Final Fantasy

As much as i love 7, i have to admit that i loved 8 more for a long time. At the time i was a hopeless romantic and so 8 with its love story fit. Of course now i’ve grown up and no longer think of romance that way anymore, maybe its because of my own relationship problems, but thats for another blog. As for right now, Cloud is number one on my “list of most badass of people ever to be badass”. Thank you

Popularity: 2% [?]

Persian Prince To Play Prince Of Persia?

You’ve probably heard the Prince of Persia is soon to be a movie (I know I’m going to watch it, but I can’t decide if I expect the best or the worst). But who will be the movie’s Prince Dastan? Kotaku says:

Both international and U.S. audiences overwhelmingly favored David K. Zandi, motion picture executive, actor, champion equestrian, model, and honest to goodness Persian prince. One of the last male members of the Zand dynasty (1747 – 1779), David has also studied both fencing and Roman sword fighting in England, so the only way he could be better suited for the role is if he actually possessed control of the Sands of Time, which I am not completely ruling out at this point.

My expectations have just risen!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Guitar Hero Encore Rock the 80s

The wait is over as Guitar Hero Rock the 80s is on sale today. Red Octane’s hugely popular franchise pays homage to the decade of big hair and glam rock.

Guitar Hero Rock the 80s will retail for $49.99. The Encore edition will feature some of the same game mechanics as Guitar Hero II. There will be a cooperative and competitive two-player mode. Players can practice before tackling hard songs or to slow a song down to get use to it. New playable characters have been added who look like they are fresh from the 80s. New venues and different songs make this Encore edition more like a stand alone title. A more comprehensive song set has been released and features some quintessential 80s rock music. Read more for the list.

Read more »

Popularity: 3% [?]

Montezuma’s Revenge

Montezuma is a freaking jerk.

Civilization 4 is the game addiction of choice this week. Every evening, Stick and I load our LAN game and swear that this time, we’ll save and go to bed at a decent hour. And every night, I stumble into bed, glassy-eyed and exhausted, dreaming of ways to conquer the world in just one more turn. After much careful consideration, I can say with total confidence that Montezuma’s always starting shit.

I say that we’ve been playing multiplayer, but actually I think we’re playing two entirely different games that just happen to look similar. Let’s start with the fact that Stick likes to sing the Civilization themesong… which doesn’t have words. I don’t even turn on the sound. It’s not that I don’t like the song, I just don’t care too much for in-game sound effects. I played the game for months before we happened to play a hotseat game on his PC, and I learned that the units speak in their native languages on activation. The Chinese units (always mine) say “What do you want now?” and the Romans (always Stick’s) say “What are your orders?”

Stick will occasionally ask me if I’ve developed gunpowder or artillery yet. I don’t know why he does this, the answer is always negative.

Stick likes to build up a huge organized army and take over other cities. This seems like a good way to play a strategy game. And Civ 4 has arranged a sort of rock-paper-scissors system of military units. Pikemen have an attack bonus against mounted troupes, mounts defeat catapults, catapults do serious stack damage to your force of pikemen. There’s also a whole set of experience skills available; extra damage, faster healing, better defense. Or I think that’s how it works… I don’t actually build military units.

I know it sounds a little wonky, admitting that I don’t like to build military units but I do like to conquer the world. Fortunately, Sid Meiers agrees with me. There’s a whole cultural victory condition, based on creating such a happy and artistic society that the whole world envies you.

With bribery, clever alliances and defensive pacts with my more warlike neighbours, I’ve been able to win without ever engaging in battle. I usually control resources, arranging blockades or favorable trading relations instead of attacking. I figure if China can maintain good relations with the Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea (also known as North Korea) and South Korea at the same time, I can convince Alexander and Tokagawa to spend their aggressive energies on each other, leaving me and my amazing cultural improvements alone.

Sometimes I play like England, trying to colonize the globe, but a freakishly successful British empire, watching cities revolt to join my glorious empire. And it is glorious, too, since I didn’t spend any time or resources on building a military. Instead, I look with pride at my Parthenon, my National Epic, my Sistine Chapel, my Spiral Mineret, my Broadway, etc. They’re usually in cities defended by a single low-experience warrior, but don’t tell Stick, ok?

In theory, there are victory conditions based on having the highest population or the greatest percentage of the world controlled by your civilization. I can never seem to make those work out. As soon as my population increases, they’re all moaning about how crowded Beijing is becoming these days, and how they want an aqueduct, and that’s hardly making more productive citizens!

There’s another method of winning the game, if not actually conquering the globe. I started playing Civ against my friend Eric when Civ2 was new, and I don’t think we’ve had a game without him utterly destroying us all in the space race. One moment you’re looking at Eric’s wee empire, thinking about how awesome it’ll be when you defeat him, and the next, Eric’s landed on the moon. But I’d rather lose to Eric than that Montezuma AI.

Because Montezuma’s a jerk.

(from my FTTW article)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Why Morrowind Will Ruin Your GPA

About two years ago (Long long ago, before I met my boyfriend Stick), I was at Eric’s, lying on the couch and studying. With characteristic focus on my homework, I looked over Eric’s shoulder and saw Morrowind.

“Oooo, that looks pretty. And you have lots of stuff in your bag! Can I play?”

“I told you about it when I first got it, and you said it looked like a bloody game and you don’t like violent games and you wouldn’t even let me make you a character,” Eric reminded me.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Well, you were slashing somebody up then.”

“Oh yeah,” (This conversation explains why Eric and I don’t argue)

I like really open-ended games. If a quest has more than one ending, I’m happy. If almost every quest has different endings, which unlock even more quests… I’m in gamer girl heaven. Morrowind is the most open-ended game I’ve ever played. You can pick a detailed combination of racial traits, birthsign, talents and skills, or if that’s still not enough customization, you can invent your own character class. (And the preset classes include Witchhunter, Nightblade and Spellsword, instead of just Fighter, Mage and Rogue) If you decide, after hours of gameplay and several levels, that you’re not so crazy about your skills and you want to become something else, it’s possible to work on those other skills. Nothing’s forbidden.

The Morrowind world is well-written, too. You find (or in my case, steal) bottles of flin and mazte, instead of Potion of +50 HP. When you find (or steal) books, you can read about the history and myths of Morrowind. If anyone from Bethesda is reading this, and needs someone to write fictional myths for a computer game, I’m your girl!
Celtic and Persian-inspired clothes, NPCs with Roman-style names and an incredible variety of architecture keep Morrowind from becoming pseudo-medieval generic fantasy.

If you ever run out of things to do in the game, say there’s a blizzard and you can’t leave the house for weeks on end, you can download new mods for Morrowind. My personal favorite is the boyfriend mod. (Hey, this was before Stick, ok?) He’s programmed to say sweet things, and you can sleep at his place without the assassin mod coming for you. You can also leave some of your loot at his place.

And I really like games with stuff. Sure, I like leveling too, but I’d much rather have a sexy new set of armor and a better sword. (New cleavage-baring robes for the magic-users don’t hurt, either) Morrowind gives you different styles of clothes, armor, weapons… and modders have built a complete wardrobe, plus weapons and all kinds of trendy Pottery Barn accessories for your house.

The mapping system is not so good… or maybe my sense of direction is not so good. Quite a lot of my Morrowinding time involved me shouting “Eric! I’m lost again!” into the kitchen. I was playing it at Eric and Chris’ place because Morrowind requires a better videocard than I had at the time.

I liked Morrowind so much that finally got my finances into a spot where I could buy a new videocard. I was supposed to go see a movie with a boy I’d just met and kinda liked but I was so excited to play Morrowind that I kind of blew him off.

Luckily, Stick asked me out again.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Question: The Sims 2 & University Expansion Pack…are they worth the dough?

Answer: Every Penny!
Elaboration: I have played many a computer game in my life: ranging from extremely dynamite to ultra poor. The Sims 2 as well as the Sims 2 University Expansion Pack rate on the extremely dynamite end of that scale.

This game is very engaging and quite addictive. Don’t buy this game if you don’t want to be tempted of the devil to play it all day long. If you are okay with that type of addiction, feel very good about making the investment to buy this game.

The original Sims game is very good; it kept me hooked for about a month or so. However, the Sims 2 is 20 times better, and I’ll tell you why: The added sense of realism.

In the original Sims game, you would control your characters seeing them prosper with a successful carrer. You would accumulate wealth, buy the house on the hill, have several children, and then you would enter a world like unto Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day–everyday is the same, your Sim and his children stay the exact same age, and the only entertainment you get out of the game is having your Sim play the piano so that you could hear “The Flight of the Bumble Bee”.

With the Sims 2, you can now follow your Sim through his life. You can see him grow up from a baby to a teenager, to an adult, all the way to an old fogey. You can then follow their children through their lives, and so on (the game never ends, it’s like looking into mirror that is infront of another mirror…mindnumbingly cool).

Also, each Sim has a life-goal/ambition. If your Sim’s ambition is to have a family, he will enjoy spending time with his wife and children. If your Sim’s ambition is Fortune, he will enjoy success in his career and earning money, etc.. You also have the option to persue knowledge, popularity, or romance. Also, you have the option to change your Sim’s life-ambition at different points in your Sim’s life (for example, once you’ve matured a bit, you may not be quite as girl crazy as you were in highschool and college; you may now be after $$$, but the choice is up to you).

The additions to this game are astounding. You can build wonderfully elaborate stores for your Sims to shop in: they can try on their clothes in clothing stores, buy groceries in grocery stores, or buy video games in video game stores. You can learn how to cook different types of meals–salmon, hamburgers, turkey, mac n’ cheese–and watch your Sim prepare the meal as they would in real life (just at a faster pace).

The University Expansion pack allows your Sims to go to college. As college is one of the funnest parts of your life, it is also the funnest part of this game. My pappy always said, “don’t let going to class get in the way of your education,” and if you are playing this game you should let that line be your mantra: throw some parties, get to “know” some girls, join a Greek house, and if you can get your Sim to get up by 9:00 am, send him to class as well.

To sum up, the game is extrodinarily fun. It is better than the old Sims because it more realistic and the game never gets boring. You almost develop a relationship with your Sims; each Sim grows on you and has his own personality. It is a great game, and very addictive.

Popularity: 2% [?]

A Little Dose of History

What happens when interests for both History and MMOGs meet in the same person? You get the Yza becoming more and more curious about a game still in its alpha version, yet holding interesting premises, provided things go the right way: Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

From Ogaming:

Set in Rome around 300 BC, a time when the Republic is powerful, but Roman enemies including the Carthaginians, Gauls, and Samnites threaten the fledgling imperial holdings. Worse, the land is beset by terrible creatures, such as Gorgons, Cyclopes, and Furies. As heroes of Rome, players will take on missions to expand and protect the Republic, her interests, and her citizens, and will serve one of the twelve great Roman gods. Future expansions are planned to open up new lands and new pantheons of gods.

Now to hope that my own knowledge in History matters won’t impede my enjoyment of the game (and that I won’t rant out loud at every little Latin typo or not-completely-exact detail)!

Popularity: 3% [?]

MCR Puts The “Fun” In Funeral

Hiya, necrophiliacs! Do you find the ‘net — although brimming with cadaver pix and the like — often lacking in MMOGs that appeal to your lifestlye? Your hopes and dreams? Goth rockers My Chemical Romance feel your pain, offering up an online game inspired by Helena, the sexy ballerina corpse from their music video of the same name:

…She appears in the so-brand-new-it’s-retro video game MCR posted on mychemicalromance.com. The game is a throwback to such coin-op classics as Dig Dug or Joust and features sub-pixel graphics and a cheesy, three-note rendition of “Helena.” Players have to guide the very active corpse through a maze of enemies aiming to put her back in the casket, all the while trying to free guarded pallbearers and make it to the next level.

If God didn’t want us to be attracted to dead bodies, why did he invent formaldehyde? Think about it…

My Chemical Romance Reanimate Helena For Online Video Game [MTV.com]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Pierce Is Out, Sean Back In As 007

Despite amassing great wealth through his domination of such Celebrity Jeopardy categories as “The Rapists”, “Swords” and “Anal bum cover”, Sean Connery is going back to work as James Bond. The Scotsman will supply the voice and likeness for the skirt chasing (and usually catching) spy for EA’s From Russia With Love (based on MGM’s hit movie from 1963) due out this fall for the Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube. Sexy Hollywood Reporter reports.

He will be joined by other likenesses from the original cast of the film as the game will bring to life such characters as the original Q (Desmond Llewelyn), Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw), Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), Kerim Bay (Pedro Armendariz) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell). “As an artist, I see this as another way to explore the creative process,” Connery said. “Video games are an extremely popular form of entertainment today, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all fits together.”

Connery back as Bond for EA’s ‘Russia’ [Hollywood Reporter]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Romance: As Boring In Games As It Is In Real Life

YES!! SCORE!!! Two more historically accurate strategy games based on foreign wars and ancient civilizatioZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…

ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS X is the latest installment in KOEI’s long-running Historical Simulation Game series. The game covers nearly one hundred and forty-seven years of Chinese history starting with the fall of the Han Dynasty at the end of second century A.D…. While China was in the midst of an upheaval, the Roman Empire experienced its own decline after the death of Caesar Marcus Aurelius. Nonetheless, the citizens of Rome were provided with ample public diversion in the form of gladiator games. Through the Action Role-Playing Game, COLOSSEUM: ROAD TO FREEDOM, video gamers will experience first-hand the thrill of fighting in these gruesome spectacles, as well as the hardships of training as a slave.

…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…

KOEI Announces Two Historical-Themed Video Game Releases for 2005 [Active Anime]

Popularity: 3% [?]