I realized today I am completely insulated from the video game hype cycle. I am free! Normally by now I would be really deep in Dragon Age: Inquisition (I am a huge fan of Origins, and got through the second one for the sake of it) or I would be levelling in Warlords of Draenor…
Dipping the Toe Back In
And almost had it cut off. With Izlain’s inadvertent prodding and poking I re-downloaded League of Legends. It’s always hard returning to a game you haven’t played in a while and especially so when it is a game that changes frequently. There is a relearning period where not only are you remembering the basics of…
Worth Not Threatening to Kill You About
I don’t normally write about serious things but if this is the kind of things “free speech” is supposed to protect then the NRA is the most sensible organization in the USA. Sorry to my USA friends who are NRA members. I just find them inflexible and not open minded for discussion, and that was…
I Am Pavlov’s Dog
A thing happened to me while playing The Secret World last night – I have realized how much I have been conditioned by the titles I have played over the  years – and I feel dumber for it. I restarted Kingsmouth quests with a new weapon that seems to fit my play style better (assault…
Class Desires
I was reading about Gladiator stance over at Tales of the Aggronaut and immediately fell in love with the idea. How awesome is that – a shield wielding DPS class? That is a great addition to World of Warcraft Warriors. Back in an old post My Favourite Classes I chose the Warden from Lotro partly based…
Sessions
Before last weekend I was pretty sure  I was going to have to give in my gamer card. Life is busy and I have learned to prioritize work/life/gaming balance much better than the past. Family, then work, then gaming. Sadly, the realities of a job that demands a lot and a family that I want…
7 is (Not) Enough
Warlords of Draenor launching is having a bigger than I expected effect on WoW subs – although as TAGN points out, things aren’t really clear where those subs are coming from. Besides, WoW subscriber numbers are like the old McDonald’s signs from back in the day that used to list how many millions were served. Eventually…
WODding Nistfully
Guess what – Warlords of Draenor has been released! I know this is a shocker to most of you, and my breaking news CNN style segment remains in tact. The play on the title of this post is to acknowledge yet another failed feature on this blog. I’ve tried a few of them and was good at…
A Sign the Apocalypse is Upon Us
I just got back from my 10 day trip down under – 7 days in NZ and 3 in AUS. I love traveling and very fortunate that I get to travel for work – and my company is a fan of the Work-cation. The work-cation is a great concept – since the company is paying…
1 vs 100
First off an aside – I have been travelling one week on and one week off the past two and a half months for work and while it has been a lot of fun travel (no Alabama yet, Murf!) it doesn’t lend well to gaming time, and I am not posting as much as I enjoy…
I Win Prizes and Give Suggestions
Short post and shout out to Contains Moderate Peril for their random number generator – I entered a contest there a while ago and ended up winning their autumn bundle. The fun thing about that is I only entered because I am a fan of their site and podcast – so since I was there anyway consuming…
Colbert Report on #GamerGate
So, this happened, in all its comedic glory. True to Mr. Colbert’s humour and the vibe of the show (which I used to watch a lot) it is a great interview. Making light of serious things in a not-so-serious nature is the game of the show and it is done very well – worth the…
A Moment of Pride from Tragedy
I do not write much non gaming here, but due to recent events in my country am going to break from that mold. I am a very proud Canuck. So proud, in fact, that I actually tell you that – it’s a bit rude to be over nationalistic so typically I just wear my Captain…
Uncomfortable With Hatred
Hatred in the general sense, but more so in the upcoming gaming title. Watch the trailer: First off “May Contain Content Innappropriate for Children?” Seriously? Do I need to make a snarky/sarcastic comment here? The polish studio Destructive Creations is behind this upcoming shooter. Secondly, let me guess – this falls under First Amendment rights somewhere? I…
The Tombstone Quandary
There is a quandary around movies that I noticed in the 90’s where movie studios are afraid to be left behind in the market. When one was making a movie about, say, Tombstone  the other major one would follow-up eerily close with Wyatt Earp. Big studio coming out with a disaster movie about Volcanos? Better not be left behind! I…
The Wolf Among Us
In my not so classic installments of not so game reviews on not so new titles (entitled Fashionably Late) I finished my TWAU play through. I think I over praise story based games because they have stories - without as much focus on how well they are written (sometimes). This is because of the story drought I keep…
AAA Blog
I was finishing up the Contains Moderate Murf podcast while driving and for some puzzling reason a thought struck me on how much I dislike the term “AAA game”. What exactly does that mean? How does the rating work? We rarely hear about ‘A’ games, or ‘C’ games, or even ‘AA’ games (although all of…
Back in the Saddle
I was on a work trip to Louisiana last week (and ended up in New Orleans) and came back to Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend. Family is *still* in town so took an extra day off of work. The liver is recovering (and so is the blog). I started a bunch of posts last week but Louisiana…
Who Drives Design Decisions?
I sat through a few presentations last week from potential suppliers and a few of them shared the “new” tech that “beacons” storefronts. This tech will ping every cell phone that passes by your storefront door and give you a unique traffic count each day. It does ping unique versus non unique but no personal information is…
I Switch Teams
I am unashamedly pro Microsoft. I game on Windows 8, have a Surface Pro 2 that I love and admire (upgrading to Surface Pro 3 soon), I even had a Windows Phone at one point! (It broke.. they have limited handset styles in Canada so ended up going back to android). And yes, I had…
Sensationalism
I have stayed pretty uninvolved with the whole Gamergate discussion – my blog is shorter, off the cuff discussion pieces that don’t really lend well to the necessary thoroughness, research and thought level on such a challenging topic. I would be better sitting around a table drinking beer and discussing it then trying to put it into…
The Walking Dead Season Two
Better late than never, my segments of reviewing games long out of the minds of the hip kids who grab them on launch day is now called “Fashionably Late”. I have a laundry list of games to play that are outdated in the world of instant news and updates – but I’ll play them, and…
Facepalm Design Decision: September Edition
[Author’s note – I wrote this one night after a long day. When I reread it in the morning it is far more “ranty” than I normally write. I thought about editing and taming it a bit, but in the end, decided to keep it intact. This is how I felt about it when I discovered it and…
Real Bloggers of Genius
First, to set the stage. We bloggers are a fun bunch – we chat about games, and life, and life in games, and gaming lives, and what not. We tweet about it, blog about, share on sites. We have a community. Often we complain – whine, bitch, moan, criticize – and why not? We love…
The Destiny Story
The benefit to not having a clear story in a game is that we get to make up our own. My Destiny play through is actually very clear – Guardians are white cells (leukocytes), and the Fallen and Hive are various diseases. It all happens as a visualization of a 5 year old, after hearing how white…