I stopped by Razer’s BlizzCon 2010 booth to get the skinny on its upcoming StarCraft II mouse, keyboard, and headset, as well as the Naga Epic MMO mouse (perfect for World of Warcraft!). Razer USA president Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff gave me the 411 on these hot products. With the customary Razer quality and precision, these gaming peripherals are fantastic for RTS and MMO fans. Check out the video and let me know if you’re interested in any of these babies (please)!
Tag: PC Gaming
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
After two weekends on the road, I’m psyched to stay home and play some games! Since it’s Halloween weekend, Double Fine’s Costume Quest seems like an appropriate choice. I’m enjoying this “RPG lite” so far. The graphics are charming and the writing is excellent. In fact, the writing is almost as good as WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, which is my other weekend game.
How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?
Diablo III Preview: Hands On with the Demon Hunter
I had an absolute blast playing Diablo III at BlizzCon 2010. This action-RPG offers the excitement I love about the genre and the ridiculous polish I love about Blizzard games. Diablo III is shaping up to be one of the smoothest, deepest, and smartest experiences in the genre. At BlizzCon 2010 I spent several hours (more than I should have, to be honest) playing the single-player game with the new “demon hunter” class. This is easily going to be my favorite class.
Before I give you more details on the demon hunter, let me give you an idea of the kinds of action-RPG characters I enjoy. In Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance I loved playing as the sorceress and exploiting her ridiculously powerful ball lightning attack. In Marvel action-RPGs like X-Men Legends and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, I use characters like Cyclops, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Woman — characters with awesome projectile attacks. Diablo III’s demon hunter fits into my play style perfectly.
The demon hunter plays like a projectile-hurling rogue with a bit of magic thrown in. She’s armed with dual crossbows that fire all sorts of ranged attacks. The projectiles can be imbued with various magical properties, which allow for exploding shots, slow shots, and more. The demon hunter can set traps and has the ability to jump across large distances with her “vault” ability. Obviously she’s not meant to be a hand-to-hand combatant.
Mixing and matching the demon hunter’s attacks was lots of fun. Hitting enemies with slow shots to decrease their speed, setting traps, and vaulting away as the traps blew the enemies to high heaven was one of my favorite tactics. Other times it was just fun to run-and-gun through levels. Firing off spread shots and exploding shots then jumping away for some mana recovery time was a joy. The demon hunter’s style and abilities give the action a sense of chaos; sure, my goals included killing enemies and snagging loot, but controlling the chaos added a layer of gameplay that’s not necessarily there for the other characters.
I was pretty high on Diablo III before BlizzCon. It’s Blizzard. It’s Diablo. Of course the game is going to be great. That said, playing as the demon hunter took my expectations to another level. I want to play this game (NOW! ) and I want to play as the demon hunter.
[nggallery id=25]
Coffee Talk #236: Do You Care About Gaming Affinity Programs?
I’m fanatical about affinity programs like Starwood Preferred Guest and United Mileage Plus (even though UAL sucks for not having a DEQM promotion this year). For some reason, I’m not nearly as interested in videogame affinity programs.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Brian Wilson’s resemblance to Randy Savage (or Bonesaw), continuing this excellent discussion on people Justin Timberlake should sleep with instead of Bolivia Bunn, or Taylor Swift blossoming before our very eyes, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Sony announced that it will be testing an affinity program called PlayStation Rewards. According to the press release, “Everyone who participates in PlayStation Rewards has the opportunity to earn a wide range of exclusive rewards. Some examples include exclusive PSN avatars that display member status in the program, dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content, as well as the opportunity to participate in members-only sweepstakes and giveaways.”
I’m fanatical about affinity programs like Starwood Preferred Guest and United Mileage Plus (even though UAL sucks for not having a DEQM promotion this year). For some reason, I’m not nearly as interested in videogame affinity programs. Club Nintendo is pretty cool, but I’m not (yet) interested in PlayStation Rewards, Xbox Live Rewards Squad, or GameStop PowerUp Rewards. To be totally honest, part of it is because I get a lot of videogame goods for free, but part of it is that the gaming programs are kind of dull.
How about you ladies and gents? Are you into any affinity programs? How about videogame affinity programs in particular?
BlizzCon 2010 Video Tour
Here’s a guided video tour of BlizzCon 2010. You’ll get to see the awesome sights of the show, including elaborate booths, statues, grand stages, statues, astronaut training contraptions, statues, demo areas, and your old pal Brian Leahy! Please, please, please check out this video and let me know what you think! (And yes, I totally ripped off Chris Jericho with the whole “statue” thing. I think I miss him.)
Related content:
Coffee Talk #235: Downloadable Games Should Be Like E-Books
One nifty feature about e-books is the ability to borrow and lend them. This adds a social element to e-readers and takes advantage of the digital nature of e-books. Digitally downloaded games should be handled the same way.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your World Series prediction, the Celtics thrashing Miami Thrice, or Bryan Danielson acing two WWE shows in a row, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
One nifty feature about e-books is the ability to borrow and lend them. This adds a social element to e-readers and takes advantage of the digital nature of e-books. Digitally downloaded games should be handled the same way. The social impact would be awesome and the borrowing/lending could be a more effective marketing tool than demos.
Let’s say RPadholic thundercracker buys a strategy RPG called Christina Aguilera’s Quest for RPad. He knows that Final Fantasy Tactics is my all-time favorite game and thinks that I’ll love Christina Aguilera’s Quest for RPad. He clicks a button on the menu screen and pushes the game to me. The next time I turn on the console, I see a notification that says I have a game available from thundercracker. I would be able to play the borrowed game for a limited time and have the option to buy it.
I’d love to see a feature like this implemented into PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. A friend’s opinion is worth more than any reviewer’s. Plus pushing games to friends would be fun. I hate to use modern buzzwords, but it would add a “social discovery” element to gaming. What do you think? Would you use something like the borrowing/lending scheme I mentioned? Would you want something different? Do you think publishers would go for borrowing and lending?
Steve Jobs Was Pissed Off When Microsoft Bought Bungie
Former Microsoft vice president Ed Fries told Develop a fantastic story about how Apple CEO Steve Jobs was pissed off when Microsoft acquired Bungie. Apparently His Royal Worshipfulness High Master Steve phoned up Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and unleashed the wrath of Jobs. Here are the details from Fries:
As soon as we announced we bought Bungie, Steve Jobs called. He was mad at Ballmer and phoned him up and was angry because we’d just bought the premier Mac game developer and made them an Xbox developer.
So, during the day, I got an email from Steve Ballmer asking me to phone Steve Jobs and calm him down about the whole thing. Anyway, we did this deal with Apple where we’d port some PC games to the Macintosh and help Peter Tamte create this company to do it, and I had to go to a Mac developer conference and get on stage and talk about this whole new partnership. It was a pretty strange time.
Man, that conversation must have been awesome. Both Jobs and Ballmer have tempestuous personalities, so it must have taken a lot for Ballmer to back down and ask Fries to assuage Jobs. Let’s play a game and imagine what Jobs said to Ballmer. I’ll go first. In my head Steve said something like this:
Listen you bald-headed f*ck. I don’t care if you’re in charge of Microsoft now. You’ll always be Bill Gates’ b*tch to me and you better do something to make me happy. You just took away the Mac’s best game developer. Seriously. Have you ever played Marathon?!? That’s the best thing Bungie ever did and ever will do. How the f*ck do you take that away from my glorious platform and put it on your stupid-ass game-box, which — by the way — will never go anywhere. I’m going to have fun watching Nintendo and Sony rape your skull on this one.
Your turn!
Dragon Age II “Destiny” and “Rise to Power” Trailers
Thanks to these Dragon Age II trailers, I’m completely over 2010 and can’t wait for 2011 to arrive. I want to play this game now!!! The trailer is pretty slick, don’t you agree?
BlizzCon 2010 Cosplay Video
One of the coolest parts of BlizzCon 2010 was checking out all the great cosplayers. From World of Warcraft to StarCraft, the show had some of the best costumes I’ve seen at an American show. Here’s a video — along with some wise-ass commentary — featuring the excellent cosplay at BlizzCon 2010.
After you check out the vid, please let me know which cosplayer was your favorite.
(Pro tip: The resolution is pretty high, so go full screen if your PC is up for it.)
Related content:
BlizzCon 2010: World of Warcraft Cataclysm Art and Screens
With all-new zones, remade classic zones, new races, and more, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is going to rock WoW players this December. Here are some screens and pieces of concept art from BlizzCon 2010.
With all-new zones, remade classic zones, new races, and more, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is going to rock WoW players this December. Here are some screens and pieces of concept art from BlizzCon 2010. The deathwing, goblin, and worgen stuff is particularly cool. Check it out!
[nggallery id=27]