Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Well 2011 sure went by quickly. It seems like just yesterday when I was preparing for my wedding, looking forward to the release of Cataclym, and writing my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011. It’s hard to believe that was over a year ago.

While this blog is very new and has very few people actually reading what I post here, I’d still like to take the time to thank you for showing interest in my thoughts and opinions. I’m looking forward to meeting more people and getting to know more of you.

I bought SWTOR yesterday as a gift to me from my wife, so I have to wait until Christmas to install it and start playing. I’m so excited I could piss in my pants. While I’m playing it during my week long Vacation after Christmas, ill also be putting together my list of resolutions for 2012 to share with everyone.

Again, thanks for being here and I truly hope that you and your family have the best Christmas imaginable.

2011 Holiday Shopping Guide – A Gamer’s Wishlist

Christmas is nigh.  Are you ready?  Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, but lets face it…shopping for others can be a real hassle. Especially when you’re newlywed, broke, and lazy like I am.  But I digress.

Shopping for your parents and grandparents is always pretty easy.  But shopping for a gamer?  Now that can be a chore.  What games do they want?  For what platform?  Do they already have it?  Will it fit in a stocking?  In an attempt to make the whole experience of shopping for a gamer a little easier, I’ve decided to put together a little shopping guide to assist you.

1. Xim3:  The Xim3 will allow you to connect a mouse/keyboard to your PS3 or Xbox 360 and play console games seamlessly.  It’s sure to give the gamer in your life a definite advantage over the competition in MW3, Battlefield 3, Halo Reach, etc.
2. Turtle Beach Ear Force x11:  Turtle Beach provides high quality headsets for Xbox, PS3 and PC.  The Ear Force x11′s (p11 is the PS3 variant) will be a great gift for your gamer, and won’t break the bank.
3. Star Wars: The Old Republic:  SWTOR would provide an incredible gift for any gamer.  Regardless of what type of game he or she enjoys, there will be days, months, and years of enjoyment had from this simple $60 game.
4. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: For the gamer who is always on the go, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be an ideal gift.  With the power of a PC packed into this sleek mobile tablet, gaming on the go will be smooth and enjoyable.
5. Squid Kids 10-Doh! Figurines:  These cute and collectible figurines would be a thoughtful gift for any gamer.  Each figurine stands 7″ tall.  The set is limited, so eventually these will be very difficult to come by.
6. Retro NES Controller iPhone case: This iPhone case is a great way for any gamer to show his or her roots.  If I were an iPhone man, I would honestly buy one for myself.
7. Atari Joystick Gum Tin: This oldskool Atari controller has cleverly disguised himself as a gum case.  Oh wait, it is a gum case.  And it would look sweet sitting on any gamer’s desk.

You can’t go wrong getting anything on this list for the gamer in your life.  I would personally buy anything on this list if, as I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t poor.  Does anyone have something I missed?  Drop a comment and let me know!

Modern Warfare 3 patch 1.0.7

Since November, the majority of my time spent gaming has been invested in MW3.  It has been a long time since I actually enjoyed a FPS game, but I must admit that coming back to the scene is much like visiting the house where you grew up in – many things are different, but it still has that familiar and welcoming smell and atmosphere (despite the fact that I’m playing it on a console instead of PC).

Upon logging in for only a few minutes today, I was greeted with a downloadable update.  The patch released today is the seventh so far by Infinity Ward.  That’s seven updates in just over a month and I have to say I dig the attention that the community feedback is getting.  What does the new patch address?  Well since you asked:

Patch 1.0.7 is 4mb on Xbox 360.

1. Improvement to address “Host Disadvantage” / “Lag Compensation” that caused hosts with good connections to be hindered.
2. Plus ability to hot fix additional tweaks based on user feedback to this change.

Also, an additional update was released separate from patch 1.0.7 which added the following changes to the multiplayer list:

1. Community Playlists – This mode will be updated periodically with game modes and variants that are popular in private matches.
2. Drop Zone – This new game type is a take on King of The Hill type games, the longer your team controls the Drop Zone the more points you get. The MW3 twist is that a care package will drop every 15 seconds that a team controls the Drop Zone. Javelins and Pointstreaks are disabled, all of your bonuses will come from care packages.
3. Hardcore Headquarters is being added to the Hardcore Team Tactical playlist.
4. Hardcore Ricochet – Ricochet will be applied to all Hardcore game types, meaning when you shoot a teammate, that damage is applied to you instead of your teammate.

So the notorious Lag Compensation that has a negative effect on those of us who pay top dollar for reliable gaming broadband has been addressed.  Also, no more getting teamkilled by baddies.  Maybe that will cut down on some of the noob tube spam, but I doubt it.

I didn’t have time today to play enough to notice any changes to the gameplay (I did notice the new multiplayer list, though).  Have you noticed any differences in your connections?  Is the lag compensation better or more bearable for you?  Let me know in a comment so I can be prepared when I log in tomorrow afternoon.

My frank expectations from SWTOR

Following in the steps of Scarybooster, I’ve decided to lay out my expectations of SWTOR in list form, and in no particular order.

1. I expect SWTOR to provide enough entertainment to last me until Diablo III is released
2. I expect something fresh and different from what we have been given over the past 5 years
3. I expect a polished and bug-free user experience
4. I expect to play a class that differs from your typical mmo Rogue, Mage, Priest, etc
5. I expect a true Star Wars vibe that goes along with the movies
6. I expect the process of keybinding and setting up the UI to be quick and painless
7. I expect good graphics
8. I expect most of the lag, disconnects, server crashes, and technical problems to be worked out
9. I expect to stay up until 6am because I can’t quit playing my first night and have to call in sick the next day
10. I expect Flashpoints and Operations to be fun, exciting, challenging and worthwhile.

It’s important to me that SWTOR meets all of these expectations for me (except for #9).  Will it?  Can it?  We’ll see soon enough.  If it does not, that doesn’t make it a bad game.  It just is not the game that I’m looking to make time for in my busy schedule right now.

Late to the SWTOR party

Today marks the first day of the Star Wars: The Old Republic early access for all of those who preordered.  Unfortunately, I’m not in that category.  Why?  Well, SWTOR came at a strange time in my gaming life.  When it was announced, I was occupied with the endgame content in the Cataclysm expansion of WoW.  While it was being hyped and by the mmo community, I was transitioning from WoW to Rift.  When it came time to preorder SWTOR, I was trying my best to hang on to the enjoyment that I got from mmo gaming.  By the time I got my beta invite, I was truly tired of the questing, raiding, rinsing and repeating of mmo’s.

Fast forward to today.  The games I’m currently enjoying are Modern Warfare 3 and League of Legends.  Both of these games are enjoying in their own rights, but neither has the substance or depth that mmo’s have always provided me with.  So being completely fed up with WoW, bored with Rift, and looking for an mmo to submerse myself in, SWTOR is the obvious next step.  And now, being that I farted around and didn’t preorder, I’ll be a full week behind everyone else in the game.  But I guess it could be worse…I could be doing dailies and trolling trade chat in WoW.  

I’m almost grateful that I didn’t do a ton of research and digging on SWTOR in preparation for its launch.  It has been a long time since I played an mmo knowing absolutely nothing going into it.  I’m excited to experience everything without being rushed, without looking forward to endgame, and without already knowing what is coming next.  I’m excited to meet new people who aren’t helicoptering their epeens around in Orgrimmar.  I’m excited to experiment with and learn new classes.  And last but not least, I’m excited to hit noobs with a lightsaber.

Well, it’s been a while…

Awkward first post coming in 3…2…1…

I tried blogging in the past, but I never let myself enjoy it.  I was too wrapped up in entrepreneurship, monetizing, forward thinking, and professionalism to actually enjoy it.  So this is my attempt at being me on the internet.

Most of my posts here will probably pertain to gaming, although there will be a few about my life, my interests, my successes and my failures, all thrown in the mix. This will be a learning experience, hopefully for both myself as a blogger/writer, and for you as a reader.  I hope to learn more about myself and my ability to express my opinions, and I hope that you will learn more about me as a gamer, a husband and a regular guy in general.  And I look forward to learning more about you in return.

So yeah, that’s what you can expect from this blog.  I’m going to forget about picture perfect grammar and being a talented blogger and just let the good times roll…and hopefully meet some great people along the way.