It's Buffet Day

So we'll start off with some podcast news. First up is the guys at MOG have posted up show number 61. Their guest for the show is Denis McCauley from gamepolitics.com. This show deserved some mention because they tackle all of the issues behind the recent events at Virginia Tech. Gary and Ryan bring up a very important fact about what happened and that it is the issue of how mental health played into this whole thing. It looks like this kid was just sick in the head ...well, obviously. That, unfortunately doesn't seem to be the focus of the debate...because hey, politicians will get more votes if they "save children from video games" than if they tackle mental illness. As usual...it's guns, video games and media in general (rap music or movies) as the central issue. Sadly, we will see more events like this happen again until we address the real issues of why people do things like this. So, thanks Garry and Ryan...great show boys.

Next, looks like TelonCast is signing off for good now. Mikael has decided that Vanguard is not the MMO for him I guess and has opted move on to other things. I'm really not surprised to tell you the truth. If you look at the podcasts, they've been getting shorter and shorter...also, his tone and enthusiasm seem to change at around show 6-ish. It's hard enough to keep a podcast going...it's even harder when you don't have a passion for the game you're playing. He's starting another general podcast called Wildly Divergent in the near future. So, good luck to Mike with his future podcast.

LoTRO has announced their first update called Shores of Evendim. Check it out for feature details and such. It's great that they are already announcing new content and like I said, I'm really eager to start to experience this game after the level cap is removed.

So Brent keeps posting content from his recent contest and one caught my eye on Friday. The article hits an angle I never really thought of, i.e. how could the VG team keep moving on their vision despite having the MMO successes and failures to draw on since 2001-2002 (or whenever they actually started designing VG)? That's a really good question. They saw the massive success that is WoW and how it absolutely killed EQ2 at launch in 2004...and yet, they stuck with their vision. They saw how well Eve Online was doing, and yet, stuck with their vision. Nat has a point, this vision may have just translated to either bad design or outdated gaming norms that just don't appeal to gamers anymore. Remember how I said that the word "potential" has an expiry date...well, we're really close to it I think.

There are some who think that Sigil is in a bit of trouble and that SOE may be a candidate for taking over Vanguard. I really don't know what to think about that. One question is: Why would they? They already have a fantasy game in EQ2. Why on earth would they pick up on another one? Given EoF, EQ2 has just finally come into it's own and, in my opinion, is on par with WoW in terms of game play and accessibility. SOE spent two years getting to this point with EQ2, why would they spend the money, resources, and another 2 years getting VG up to snuff? Personally, I think they have their hands full with something else...because besides the station pass thingy and the new launcher, SOE has said nothing about what they're doing next (more knowledgeable people...please correct me if I'm wrong).

D out.