This Will Blow Your Mind

I am sure exactly none of my readers are aware that World of Warcraft recently released a new expansion to their incredibly popular online role playing game. I am sure even fewer of you care (like some of you actively don't want to know). But I saw this comic and thought it was worth sharing for those few of you who have ever experienced the global insanity that is online RPGs.



This comes courtesy of the gaming comic Penny Arcade.

If you get the joke, right on. If you don't get it, basically the mechanics of these games are such that no matter how accomplished you are in the game, you'll always be tasked with doing stupid, repetitive stuff to get money or gain favor. Like always this expansion was delivered with great fanfare, offering realms and features only the truly advanced can reach, but the gameplay always remains the same.

OK. Fine. I am a dork.

But why? Why is the MMO model so damn successful? There's no fun in this stuff! They've created a whole new world (apparently called Northrend) and filled it with the same exact stuff that's everywhere else. And then they sell it for $30 (actually it's $40) and millions and millions of people will spend every free moment consuming this garbage. How is this possible?

Is this a symptom of the human condition? Are people satisfying their aching need for answers and their quivering fear of the uncertainties of life by submerging themselves in mindless pointing and clicking? Did we kill God only to replace him with a video game?

See, I got all deep and philosophical there. Bet you didn't see that coming!

Save the Princess, Save the World

I recently completed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. It was a pretty fun game and definitely sucked up a lot of time (in fact it tells you how much time you have spent playing -- over 50 hours for me.)

Before I get into the detail, I want to say that I really enjoyed playing this game. The controls are solid, with sensible use of the Wii's motion sensor. The music is catchy and the visuals are pretty terrific. There are some really fun puzzles and a handful of challenging battles. All of which made me wish there was more game in this game.

Zelda starts you out in a small village, getting you used to the controls and introducing the characters.

This sequence (call it the first level) takes far too long to accomplish and contains way too many "what the f-ck am I supposed to do?" There was one point when I was trying to physically chase a cat across the map. Needless to say, this was not the appropriate solution to the puzzle.

Anyways, after you "rescue" the cat, retrieve the baby basket from the crazy monkey, and herd the goats you get to actually get on with the game. Once they're sure you've got the whole running, jumping, riding a horse, and swinging a sword thing down they let you continue with the game. Where they promptly... turn you into a wolf.

This is perhaps the problem with the game. The game takes a long time to get a rhythm and even then it constantly breaks stride. And it's only difficult when you have no idea what you are doing.

But if you have no idea what you're doing, then the game's not fun to play. After all, this is about a hero who saves the princess, not a bumbling idiot who can't just f-ing pick up a f-ing cat, goddammit!

But there are times when everything clicks together and the game comes up with an interesting puzzle or a challenging fight. This is mostly in the middle half of the game. And when the game ends (with its incredibly unsatisfying boss-fight and cinematic) I found myself let down by the sheer potential that this game showed.

However, after the near-disaster that was Madden '08 it was a pleasure to get to play a game that embraced the spirit of the Wii. And, when it comes down to it, that's really the thing Zelda does best.

The star of the Wii show right now is not the games, it's the console itself.

Reader Poll: Do you find this funny?

Do you find this video funny?



I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I still think it's hilarious. I tried to describe it to Nelly and I couldn't quite justify why I thought it was so funny. So I am curious how my vast and varied readership might react.

Since I am posting you-tube videos. I think this clip from 30 Rock is ridiculous.



Do the crab! Fight the worm!

The Games Wii Play

Since I got the Wii (and I bought a bunch of controllers -- Wii party anyone?) I have found that despite having been around for a year or so, there aren't a lot of games I am really interested in playing on the Wii.

My first purchase was Madden 08. Which is a good game and it makes pretty good use of the motion controls. However, and this has been true since Madden '04, it's not really a revolution.

So far the best game I have for the Wii is "Wii Sports" which comes with it. Although it's too easy. I need to get Nelly playing more so we can go head-to-head.

(I'm making a new "Wii" tag for my blog. Huzzah.)