Hooked

Nerdgasm to follow:

So when I first got Rift it was just cause Chad was pestering me to try it, and I figured I was pretty bored on the weekends anyway since Ryan moved so I’d give it a shot.  I did not expect to get into it much, I thought I was done with MMOs.

Wrong.  I am hooked to this game.  It feels like the first game to do MMOs RIGHT since WoW.  And it’s learned from WoW and other MMOs along the way.  It has the best of WoW, Warhammer, Aion, etc all in one with beautiful graphics.  And it does a few new things really well.  The fact that you can have 3 “roles” and re-spec on the fly out of combat is great.  And the rifts are awesome.  Rifts open up throughout the world and they’re like mini raids / public quests. 

It was a free-play weekend so Chad and I convinced Brett and Linda to give it a shot and they’re now seriously considering picking it up too.  Over the weekend we all played together and it was a ton of fun.  Facetime on iPhone is an awesome addition to gaming together! 

It just seems everyone is at a weird time in life where they have a lot of free time.  Chad doesn’t do much on weekends other then spend time with Olga, Brett and Linda are biding their time until they move to Vancouver, and I have a lot of free time on weekends now that Ryan has moved.  It lets us play without any guilt!

Today Chad and I did our first instance.  It was hands down the coolest instance I’ve done in an MMO to date.  It starts in summer and as you progress the seasons change.  At the end you’re climbing a mountain in an insane blizzard where you can barely see in front of you, adding to the epic feeling and sense of confusion.  Incredibly well done instance, and it was only the first.

The world is beautifully done and the graphics are amazing.  The game feels amazingly polished and balanced, especially when you consider it just came out and from a no-name studio!  There’s always something to do as well.  Plus my friends are playing.  Not just close personal friends, but friends from BioWare and Longtail play too.  I think I’ll be playing this game for a while…  In fact, I’m considering getting a new PC next month to run it better.  My PC is 5 years old, it’s been time for a new one for a while, and I can afford it.  But it’ll have to wait until after I pay for my wisdom teeth coming out and then my plane tickets to and from Winnipeg for my Dad’s wedding.

It’s exciting to be into an MMO again.  Forgot how fun they can be.
Nerdgasm over.

Rift

Well, I never thought it’d happen, but I somehow let Chad talk me into trying a new MMO.  Rift.  It’s been getting good reviews, most saying it’s the first real competitor with WoW.  I quite enjoyed Aion for the short time we played it, but it had its issues.  None-the-less we’ll see how long we play this one for.  I was certain I was done with MMOs altogether.

It’s pretty fun so far, and the graphics are beautiful.  While I can run it comfortable at Ultra, makes me realize I should probably start thinking about an upgrade or new PC soon.  This computer is almost 5 years old now, with a few upgrades keeping it alive.  I rarely game on PC anymore, so it’s not a priority, but even in just every day use it’s starting to show its age.

It is nice having an MMO to play again though.  I don’t have much of a social life for it to interfere with.  I still plan on trying to meet people, but that can only fill up so much of the day.  And it’s a great way for Chad and I to spend some time together.  Although the 3 hour time difference between Halifax and Edmonton makes it hard to schedule a decent chunk of time to play together.  But we played tonight and it was good fun.  One of the guys at work plays too!

Dragon Age Development Stats

THIS is a really short but sweet read about some of the stats about the development process of Dragon Age.  I knew most of this already, and know the people mentioned directly, but it’s awesome to see the stats all in one place.  Check it out!

WoW vs Aion

So Aion is doing really well, and it’s no surprise that because of the similarities it gets compared to WoW a lot.  The people that jumped over to Aion say WoW is for kiddies, and the people who stuck with WoW call Aion another wannabe flash in the pan.  I’m not that polarized, WoW was great but I just got sick of it, and I’m loving Aion now.  But any time someone tells me Aion sucks and WoW is amazing, I’m sending them this video.  You’ve probably seen the original video by now.  This is the same video, just made 1000 times more epic.

Video Game Mind-Fuck

I came in to work this morning and the first thing I did was open a link from Colin on msn.  This is what it was.

Mass Effect On iPhone

Go get it, it’s really fun!  Already available on app store with a 4/5 star rating!  I got to test it a few weeks ago, and it’s cool!

Bear Mount!

I got my bear!  =D

Life In Edmonton

The weather out here is freaking bizarre.

Monday Friday

I guess it’s those Chinooks.

So I’ve gotten back into WoW. It was the 3d Glasses. The game looks amazing in 3D and I had to give it a shot, and sure enough I got sucked back in. Running instances in 3d is awesome, and flight paths give me vertigo!

Sounds like I’m going to see Coldplay with Nathan. His friend Kyle got some advanced choices on cheap tickets, great seats. And we just found out he also sold the adjacent seats to some hot lady friends of his, so sounds like we’ll be sitting with some hotties!

Also next weekend I’m probably meeting a new girl, exciting times!