Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90 - Yahoo! News

Not much more to say ...

Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who co-wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday, an aide said. He was 90.

Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90 - Yahoo! News

Everquest 9th Anniversary Video

Bringing back memories ....

The Lord Of The Rings Online™: Mines Of Moria™

The first expansion of LOTRO is coming out!

For more info, check out the press release linked below.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: Mines of Moria™ Unveiled at Connect 08

Volume II of the 2007 PC Game of the Year Expected to Arrive at Retail This Fall

The Lord Of The Rings Online™: Mines Of Moria™ Unveiled At Connect 08 - The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ Forums

Free Realms

In interesting news, SOE is planning on releasing  a free to play game directed at youngsters.  Judging from the previews, it's not just for kids!

Gamasutra Press release from 2007

March '08 Review from GDC by The Brasse

Articles at Ten Ton Hammer

As you can see, there's not much out there yet ... but it looks interesting enough to try when it releases :)

Wizard's First Rule .. the TV Series

From Terry Godkind's blog ..

Now that the announcement about the TV series has been officially released, I  would like to take this opportunity to put it in perspective and fill in some of the details. (Please keep in mind that some of this might change as things evolve.)

The first season will be 22 one hour episodes, on Saturday evenings, probably at either 8 or 9 pm. Since this is a syndicated program you will need to check your local listings for the station in your area.

The first season will cover the story of WIZARD’S FIRST RULE. Along with exciting opportunities afforded by the air time in which we have to tell the story, the TV series also brings unique challenges. All film formats — TV series, mini-series, or feature films — must, to a greater or lesser extent, alter the novel in order to translate the story from words to pictures. A feature film has severe limitations of time, requiring major parts of novels to be cut out. Sam Raimi knew that a feature film of WIZARD’S FIRST RULE could never work to tell the story. That’s why he wanted to do a long format TV show. I’m especially pleased that we are going to be doing 22 one hour episodes to tell this epic story — much more time than a mini-series would have afforded. That said, there must still be changes, yet within those changes lie exciting opportunities.

Terry Goodkind - News

MetaPlace mini launch - MetaChat!

I mentioned Metaplace earlier as something to watch .. well it's here, or almost.  MetaPlace has launched MetaChat, an avatar-based chat program that has lots of rooms, a couple of footballs and the ability to toss paint bombs at each other!

You can move your avatars around, and see people's myspace profile by clicking on the little dot next to their names.

Only on myspace ... go to http://www.myspace.com/metachat to get it.

You can find me on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/ariayasylva, feel free to add me as a friend to chat!

New Domain

We've got a new domain!

http://www.ariayasylva.com

The Feedburner feeds and the blogspot addresses will be re-directed so you won't lose out!

What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?

I Am A: True Neutral Human Druid/Cleric (2nd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-13
Dexterity-13
Constitution-14
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-13
Charisma-15

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

RMT from a different perspective

Although it's been a while since SOE advertised that they will be using a 3rd party company for their Exchange servers, the debate about RMT continues.

Over on Tobold's blog, he posts an interview with a US RMT company and it gives a different perspective. According to the interviewee, banning RMTs actually make money for Blizzard as the gold farmers re-subscribe with a new key and a new game card. From comments from SOE, they actually cost money as the gold farmers use credit cards that they have stolen and are disabled shortly after the account is activated. It does make you wonder what the real story is, but the effect on the players is the same.

Personally, I don't think that the gold sellers are much of an issue to the average player. I just ignore them. There have been times, especially in EQ, when I couldn't put as much time in the game as I wanted to get the items that I "needed" but I never did buy any. The risk of losing your credit card information is high ... and a huge deterrent for me. I'd hate to pay for something and not get it, or worse, lose more money.

It does hurt is the way that the players interact. If you buy a character, or an item that gives big boost to your character's ability then you need to learn how to play that character. Until you've done so, you will not be quite as effective as you could be, and in a worst case you'd be a liability. Personally, that's not something I'd like to be.

My characters rarely, make that never, have the top end gear .. I just don't play enough. But I try to know how to play my character as best as possible. It should be enough .... but sometimes you just want stuff :)

I can understand why people feel they need to, or just want to, buy gold or plat ... and while it's sometimes annoying to see that people who are just richer than me getting more than me without spending the time, it doesn't affect my gameplay. As long as it doesn't waste my time or money, I'm tolerant of it. Of course, that's just me. For some reason I manage to suppress my competitive streak in MMOs ... not everyone is like that.

For more info, check out Wikipedia's entry on Virtual Economies

Girls Entertainment Network

Where Geeky Girls Go

Megacon 2008

  Whew! What a weekend! We gamed 7 slots of RPGA Living Greyhawk. I expected to hear a whole lot more talk about the new D&D 4th Edition but folks were focused on the gaming and the con.

And what a con! This was my first big con since I went to D*Con when I was in college. The costumes were awesome! I only managed to get a small sampling captured in photos, but there was a whole set of characters that I recognized, a lot that I didn't and some really cool ones!

I snapped a few shots of my favorites but I missed getting a picture of the Green Arrow who was just perfect!  He was an older guy who was perfectly buff and running around in tights .. mmm ...

There were quite a few Star Wars folks running around as well, including the great ones I got pics of.

And let's not forget the gang from Gotham  or the one Anime character that I recognize ... Collectable card games anyone? *grin* 

  But I went for the gaming, not the costumes ... okay well mostly for the gaming.  For some reason the current year's adventures for LG just don't excite me.  It was great seeing everyone and I had a lot of fun!

If I'm still here, I'd plan on going again!

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69

A sad day for gamers everywhere ....

 

MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

 

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69 - Yahoo! News

More Lotro!

    

So we got together, gathered the quests and headed out to kill. Killing is pretty easy, we don't have a healer between us .. C is playing a Guardian and I'm playing a Hunter, so severe lack o healing! We can use healing potions that we get as mob drops and from the occasional quest, so that's it. Most of the solo content isn't an issue as long as we get 1 or 2 mobs.

I love my hunter! She reminds me of a cross between WoW Hunters and EQ1 Rangers. She doesn't have a pet, and gets track at level 12, but her bow work is fun fun fun! She's finally able to use medium armor at level 10, but before she was in cloth. Don't get hit territory!! Thanks to being a hobbit, she's got a little agility (avoidance) boost so it's not quite so hard when she gets into melee. We did have to go hunting for a bow quest at one point to upgrade her ranged dps, but ohhh .. she's fun. I love it when stuff dies before it can reach me *grin*

C's guardian is pretty good at holding agro, so when I'm partnered with him I can go to town on the dps.

There's a few mechanics in the game that are different from other MMOs that I like a lot. There's no hit points, there's morale. When your morale runs out, you retreat. It explains the whole respawning thing SOO much better than dying in other MMOs!

And deeds ... deeds are new to me and are really cool. There are a few different kinds of deeds. For Kill deeds, you kill the "starter" mob .. it can be a named or just a mob of the given type, and you get titles and [traits] for minor improvements for your character. There's quest deeds where you need to complete a certain number of a given type of quest (faction or location are what I've seen so far). And then there's quests for using certain attacks .... and possibly defenses for the defense type classes.

Traits are pretty fun too ... they're a bit like EQ's AAs or WoW's talents, but you have to do a quest or deed to get them. You can have a limited number of traits of each type based upon level. There are traits for races, classes and general traits so you can do quite a bit of character customization with them.

Umm .. other things to comment on ... crafting! .. but I'll keep that for another post :)

Ah! Graphics!

Okay .. Turbine really excelled here! I'm running around with shadows on and it's running great! The graphics are a little more realistic that WoW, but still a bit cartooney. I like them. You can seen the screenshots throughout the Lotro posts. C's computer runs at a lower resolution, but they still look good .. and he can spot the harvestables better than me since he doesn't have the ground cover!