The Game Dame

I’m not a sim player, but I thought I’d pass along this beta of a create-your-own Sims game, for those interested.

Sims Carnival

Also, here’s a puzzle game I got to try. It’s a logic game. I played a few levels but, frankly, I’m not very good at it. Still, I can see the appeal for those who play Sudoku and stuff like that.

Paradoxion

I’m a bit late in finding this video — it’s about a year old — but it is way too cool not to share with you. This guy shows how easy it is to make any Wii game into a virtual reality game. It’s not even very difficult. I’m surprised some game makers haven’t already taken advantage of this opportunity. Thanks to my Dad for sending it to me!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw]

Games I’m Playing Right Now

• World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
• BioShock
• Final Fantasy XII (kinda, it’s been a long while)

New Games I Own & Can’t Wait To Play

• Mass Effect
• Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception
• Blue Dragon
• Halo (don’t have 2 or 3 yet)
• Kameo

Games I Don’t Own Yet But MUST One Day Soon

• LittleBigPlanet
• Halo 2 and Halo 3
• Whatever Oddworld Inhabitants cooks up next

Any thoughts? (No spoilers, please!!)

Yesterday Blizzard wiped the Shaman talent builds. Fortunately, I realized this development before
I went into any kind of combat. (It was pure luck that I did. I accidentally hit the N key on the keyboard and went, WTF??) At first I totally freaked out because I had no memory of the specifics of my spec — other than it was mostly Elemental — and was unsure if I could rebuild it.

Then I remembered that I had wanted to respec to Enhancement anyway and nearly paid the gold to do so on Patch Day. So I started diving into websites with sample Shaman builds to figure out which talents to grab when suddenly my guildies wanted me to join a BRD run.

I panicked. (Yes, I’m a bit high-strung.) I wanted to go with them but I was afraid of learning on the job to be an Enh Shammy and getting everyone toasted as a result. So in the interest of expediency — not to mention short-term group survivability — I did the best I could putting together my former build.

I think the time pressure was good for me because I could remember the talents I really needed to have (Elemental Mastery, Lightning Overload) and specced straight to them, skipping some of the talents I’d never really used. In fact, I ended up having quite a few points left over for some better Resto skills than I’d had before the Patch. You can see the new build here.

I heard around the blogs today that Blizzard wiped the Shaman builds on purpose so that everyone could respec according to the new buffs/nerfs of the Patch. I feel bad for folks who’d already spent the gold to do it Tuesday because I was almost one of those poor sods.

End of story is that I went into BRD with noticeable improvements, thanks to my speedy, not-over-muddled respec! Happy Shammy, happy Shammy!

Man, I’m addicted to WoW blogs! Unfortunately, I’ve found none that focus on Shammies, of which my main, Slig, is one. (Yes, Slig’s a dude, get over it! I liked the broken horn, so sue me. He’s a luvable lug, not a trannie.) I know that Shammies represent a fairly low population among all the WoW classes (actually, the lowest). I’ve seen a few reasons for this on WoW Insider and on the Forums, but I’m not sure I agree entirely with their point of view. If Shammies are nerfed for PvP, it doesn’t mean we aren’t quite effective and versitile for PvE or generally group/PUG play. Since I’m not a raider and haven’t even hit level 60, it’s quite possible that I am not qualified to speak for the entire Shammie population. However, I know there are a ton of casual WoW players out there and I think Shammies work well for solo play if you build them correctly.

So, my question to you, my few readers, is this: should I start a WoW Shaman blog? Any thoughts?

One of the best moments in WoW is when a Murloc dies. Not only because Murlocs are evil, nasty, smelly, aggro-loving fishmen, but also because they are such drama queens when they die. I mean, “chewing the scenery” is an understatement. They put their hands to their heads, twirl, gasp mournfully, and then slowly fall to the ground with a plop. Sometimes it takes longer for them to die than it did to kill them. It’s a scene I never fail to smile at — and often laugh out loud.

Well, it’s not so funny when a Murloc dies close to home. My very first WoW guild was for my main, Slig, was called “Murloc Stole My Socks.” I loved the name of the guild so much that I begged to join it and then discovered a bunch of people who played the game like I do — for fun — but without too much sexual innuendo going on. (Since my main is male and I’m female, that kind of thing can lead to some awkward conversations.) In short, I had a blast and loved my guild.

Then about two weeks ago I noticed that my best WoW-friend, Charah, was no longer on the guild roster. Nor was the guild’s founder. In fact, our guild had shrunk in a week from over 100 members to 71 members! We got some odd welcome messages and then some dude I’d never met before became the guild master. Needless to say I felt orphaned. I could never catch Charah online to ask her about it, so while mulling my options, I rolled that BE Priest I told you about yesterday, who is finally high enough to have a page in the armory now.

In the meantime, the new guild master promoted me to Officer, which meant I could recruit. But he gave me such a strict list of guidelines that I could never find anyone who fit the profile. The gossip in the guild was that the original GM started a guild called The Summit for raiding and that we could all “graduate” to go there when we were high level enough. Well, that didn’t make beans worth of sense to me. There’s no reason to form a “sister” guild for raiding. I knew something else was up.

Last night, I was feeling lonely for my main’s friends, and missing my level 50 powers so I logged back in as Slig. Charah was online and I told her I missed my old Murloc buds. She revealed to me that her new guild, appropriately named, “From The Ashes,” was a spinoff of the Murlocs folks who were unhappy with the split. She asked me if I’d like to join and I said, “HECK YES!”

However, it was not all rosy. I felt so guilty and sad to leave the Murlocs. After all, I’d just been promoted to Officer and I think they were expecting me to help solve the attrition problem. However, I knew only 2-3 people who were left in the guild. I felt like an outsider in my own guild. It took several minutes for me to actually press the “Leave Guild” button and my heart sighed a bit. But I knew it was for the best for me. After all, I hadn’t been enjoying playing Slig as much and I dearly wanted to get him to 60. I had to break it to one of my only friends left from the Murlocs (also a recently promoted officer), but he was totally understanding and didn’t hold it against me.

As soon as I pulled up the roster of my new guild, I breathed a sigh of relief. I recognized fully half the names on the list and, of course, Charah was among them. I will probably see if they would invite my alts to the guild as well. It’s so hard to find good folks who play the game your style that I don’t want to flail around looking any more.

I was watching college football today and saw this commercial for Toyota Tacoma trucks. It’s a WoW parody and it’s HYSTERICAL!

You… must… see!

Very interesting that MMOs are becoming mainstream instead of fringe “geeky” activities. Says some interesting things about Tacoma’s demographics, too. I love the fact that Blizzard has a sense of humor about the game. So many people take WoW too seriously but at least Blizzard can laugh at itself (all the way to the bank).