Thursday, November 30, 2006

Where's my nutmeg!!

No...this post will have nothing to do with nutmeg or any craving that I may or may not have for said nutmeg. I'm in one of those moods...so bare with me :)

An new Indie MMO conference has been announced. It's going to be held in Minneapolis, April 14 and 15. I think this can only bring great things to the MMO space. Right now, the market is just flooded with elves and orcs. I think that indie development may be the only one that can save us from this. I don't mind elves and orcs, really I don't, but we need a bit of a shake things up. Oh...oh...I've got it...elves with jetpacks.

Another review of EQ2 EoF. I found myself in EB games last night to do some Christmas shopping (yes, I'm a guy and I did Christmas shopping before Dec.24...I hear that my membership to the male sex is being revoked). I came very close to picking this up. I have pressure all around me to get this expansion. Solid reviews like this one and an EoF podcast review over at FalconTwin.com don't make it any easier. With the changes in Eve, playing WoW and the Beta I'm in, I just don't have the time to spend in Norrath right now.

Speaking of EB Games....if I can go off of MMO news for a sec. My local EB had a working demo of the Wii. All I can say is wow...what a great machine. I played a racing game and you use the controller as a steering wheel....genius. I'm very torn about getting a Wii for Christmas this year. I usually never get a technology when it first comes out, for obvious reasons. Besides Wii Sports and Zelda, there is really nothing there that would sell the system to me. But after playing it and knowing how much the girls would like it....ahhhhhhh....crap! The fact that my wife would actually murder me for getting it also tips the scale a bit. Watch the obituaries.

Revelations I is live in Eve right now. Got to play a bit last night. Not much to say about it. I tried the new map...blew up some pirates and saw the wrecks that replaced the standard loot cans. It still looks and feels like the Eve I was playing last week before the patch. Meh...as are all things in Eve, more time will tell.

Here's an interesting perspective about Ryzom and Nevrax's current problems. The author made me think of another reason that I really didn't get into Ryzom, besides the art direction....because I really did have to. The free trial given to players of Ryzom is something we really don't see in MMOs. You're given the entire newbie island experience for free and for as long as you want to play. No 10 or 15 day limits...for as long as you want. Granted...they put a level limit on your progress, but you could spend a lot of time playing Ryzom without spending a dime. It's an interesting thought, but I'm wondering if things would have played out differently if Nevrax went with a standard 15 day trial.

D out.

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