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“Snickers” who is well known to regular SOE FanFaire goers for his hand made Froglok costume, got a special call out at the end of the People’s Choice portion of the costume contest.
Emceeing the show is Jace Hall (Producer of “V” and a gamer and game producer) and Brassee (the bearded dwarf alter ego of Linda Carlsson, SOE Senior Community Manager).
I captured it on this video which shows the end of the People’s Choice portion of the contest as well:
I have the entire introduction of the costume contest (where they first get introduced and go on the stage) on video too. I’ll post it in parts.
Here’s another MMORPG with a no subscription model. EverQuest II is going to keep their subscription model and add on EverQuest II Extended.
Beta for EQII Extended is scheduled for launch on or around August 17, 2010.
Some of the differences with the free plan and the top level subscription plan include a level cap (limited to 80 for the free, Bronze level, option), customer support options (free plan only has access to the Knowledge Base for support), race and class restrictions (free option is limited to 4 and 8 respectively), and chat options.
You can see a chart with the full matrix of of differences here.
Quotes from their press release:
Extended players will finally experience the vast depth of content only available in EverQuest II without a subscription, credit card or software purchase. Extended will include free access to all EverQuest II game zones through The Shadow OdysseyTM. Players will be able to purchase power-up potions, armor, classes, races, weapons, mounts and more through the marketplace.
Both EverQuest II and Extended players will enjoy a plethora of recent user-interface improvements designed to improve functionality and game navigation. Players will experience a new and improved character progression through the Golden Path while creating their own legend with the Storyteller adventure journal that visually displays quest exploration. Additionally, both titles received a graphics quality update that gives a more realistic immersive experience to fully enjoy the beauty of Norrrath.
The Extended adventure includes the recently added New Halas, the ultimate starting zone with premium designed content for players levels 1-20. Extended also gives players quick and convenient game access through the web-based streaming download application that lets players get into the game quicker than ever before. Extended will also feature multiple tiers of service upgrade options that allow players to customize their gaming experience to fit their needs.
Looks like Lord of the Rings Online is the latest MMO to offer a Free to Play option. They’re taking Beta signups now. I liked my run with their game, mainly because it was in the Lord of the Rings universe but also because it was just light fun. You can see my Lord of the Rings Online Launch Day Review here. While I didn’t keep up my play from launch (I never got a group of regulars going in it). I plan on starting it up again with the free play option with a small group to play very causally.
Here’s a chart explaining the planned differences between LotRO’s VIP, Premium and Free accounts: LOTRO Free to Play Plan Comparison Chart.
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Check out the new offerings in the Misc / TV section, stuff for LOST, Legend of the Seeker and School House Rock. I’ve also got new things in the Computer Culture/Geek section!
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I’m a video game fitness nut I guess. I own “Wii Fit”, “My Fitness Coach” and most recently got “EA Sports Active” (it was on sale) about two months ago.
I thought I’d do a comparison review of the games as I’ve experienced them so far. I’ve owned “Wii Fit” the longest and you can see my preliminary review of “Wii Fit” here.
First off the games are quite different from each other. “Wii Fit” is the game which comes with the Balance Board and started the whole “fitness game” craze. It separates exercises into a few categories, Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics and Balance Games. The Balance Board is used for most of these but sometimes you just use the Wiimote and nunchuk.
“My Fitness Coach” on the other hand does not use the Balance Board at all, it is structured as an exercise program, no “sports game” element is included and it flows more like a regular workout with an instructor. It does however adjust exercises to what external equipment you might have (or want to do) on a given workout. For example, you can tell it you have one, all or none of the following: hand weights, an exercise ball and a step platform. Workouts are not separated except that you can choose a Yoga workout or a “regular workout” for a regular workout you can choose an emphasis such as aerobics, core strength, upper body strength, etc or you can let the game choose it for you based on your overall goals you set up in your profile which guides all of your workouts. The game also has you do a challenge test every so often in which you need to weigh yourself, take measurements and do exercises to failure. I found this game to be the closest to a workout DVD in the sense that everything just flows so I feel it was the best for aerobic workouts. It also seems to have the biggest variety of exercises. However, whenever a new exercise is introduced you have the option of hitting a button and the trainer will show you how to do the moves before continuing on with the program. Another big plus is that after certain sections your trainer will ask you how that section felt and adjust it accordingly for next time. For example if you answer that it was a piece of cake she’ll make it harder, or conversely if you could barely keep up she might step it down. I really like this aspect of the game.
“EA Sports Active” is the newest game I’ve tried but I’ve had it for over a month now. It is the most ambitious in terms of integrating your movements into the Wii. A balance board is an option and it will ask each workout if you have one (or verify that you still do) but inside the “EA Sports Active” box a resistance band and a strap to hold the nunchuk are included. “EA Sports Active” also incorporates different sports such as boxing and an inline skate simulation (which is not like real skating at all but makes for a fun game). I find the resistance band to add nicely to exercises though depending on your height and existing strength you may want to buy your own. The straps that are intended to be used with the resistance band will work with other bands. One thing I noticed about the game though is that you must hold the wiimote and nunchuk exactly as pictured. I had trouble getting the game to recognize that I had lowered my arms on the second half of a bicep curl/shoulder raise drill and then realized it was because I didn’t quite have my nunchuk held the way the digital trainer had hers. I’ve also found that the nunchuk cord occasionally gets in the way but I can just hold the extra length. Another option folks seem to use is to buy a wireless nunchuk.
My Opinion
I think each of these games has its place. I’d go with “Wii Fit” to get the Balance Board and as an introduction to video game fitness. I liked learning Yoga poses with the “Wii Fit” as one is able to choose a front or back view of the instructor so it makes it easier to compare your pose to his/hers, also I liked that you got additional feedback when you used the balance board, for example, in standing tree pose you stand on the balance board and it shows you a dot for your center of balance and a larger pale yellow target area. The downside of “Wii Fit” is that after each exercise or game you must hit the A button to continue, which really breaks up a workout. Also if you just want to play games, for example you and a friend want to do the ski slalom game and compare scores, there isn’t a fast way to switch Miis. You have to exit back to the start screen to load up your Mii then go back to the slalom game. Of course you could just use the same Mii, but then the top scores wouldn’t reflect who had won what and you won’t get a workout credit for the appropriate Mii.
After getting “Wii Fit” you’ll want more of a challenge if you really want to get in shape. Your next choice is either “My Fitness Coach” or maybe “EA Sports Active”. To me the basic difference between the workout portion of these two games is in the level of micromanaging it does. “My Fitness Coach” tells you to do things and it’s up to you to make sure you have proper form and that you actually do them, not unlike a DVD. “EA Sports Active” counts reps you do since it uses the Wii accessory sensors and to some extent can tell if you are not using proper form. But then that can get frustrating as evidenced in my example above. Also it seems to break the flow of a workout even on the “Hard” workout option.
One feature in “EA Sports Active” is that you can review what exercises will be coming up in a given workout and check or uncheck them accordingly (for example you see that squats will be included but your knee is bugging you so you uncheck them). That’s a nice option that “My Fitness Coach” doesn’t have (except generally, for example you can choose to do a mainly upper body workout vs a lower body one). However if you do uncheck squats in “EA Sports Active” I noticed it doesn’t replace it with something else and your overall workout results in fewer calories burned.
Both games, “My Fitness Coach” and “EA Sports Active” incorporate a workout journal of sorts, with “EA Sports Active” having the more detailed one as well as a “trophy” section for achieving certain goals.
Buddy or Family Workout
“Wii Fit” as I explained is not set up for simultaneous workouts of different people, though you can have a profile for each member of your family. This applies even if you were have two balance boards, the Wii itself just doesn’t handle two boards at once. “My Fitness Coach” is also set up for one person at a time, though since it is not measuring actual input from you, if you have enough room you and a friend or friends can all follow along with each workout. “EA Sports Active” allows you workout with another person though you will need to buy another set of equipment to do that. I’ve not tried this option so I’m not sure if all of the workouts will work for this or perhaps just some of the sports games.
Conclusion
My opinion of the games is shaped from a background of already being a reasonably active geek girl. I used to regularly go to a gym as well go rockclimbing at least once a week. I’ve since quit the regular gym and have replaced that with my workout games (I still climb and occasionally add more sports/exercise). Because of this I am looking at these games with an eye towards getting stronger and as a means to keep my weight down, but also doing so without potential overuse injury. I also like to fit in a workout when I want. Because this is my goal I find a use for all three of the games - though “Wii Fit” admittedly gets the least amount of use. I mainly use it to weigh myself, take its age test and, very rarely, play the balance games (been doing the ski and snowboard game because of the Winter Olympics lately). I like “My Fitness Coach” and “EA Sports Active” about equally for now, I think I get a better, more rounded workout, with “My Fitness Coach” but sometimes find that “EA Sports Active” has some individually harder exercises. Sometimes I worry that it’s too hard, for example, in some of the games you do a fair amount of high jumping. Also, I haven’t used “My Fitness Coach” with a step platform or balance ball so I’m sure its individual exercises can get harder. I also really enjoy that “My Fitness Coach” seems to pull exercises from a variety of disciplines, like pilates for example. The difficulty of the individual exercises aside, I’ve found that I feel more “worked out” after a “My Fitness Coach” workout of 20 minutes or more than an equivalent length one from “EA Sports Active”.
If you’re coming to these games from a background of not having done exercises since PE class I’d suggest getting “Wii Fit” and just doing that until you get bored. If you’d like to move on from that, or if you feel confident you can do exercises with good form I’d suggest “My Fitness Coach” next. The reason I’d choose that over “EA Sports Active”? I feel that the way that “EA Sports Active” forces you to use the Wiimote and nunchuk can lead to bad form, I think it’s better to do the exercises in good form first before trying to adapt to the game’s limitations.
Finally, if it’s only the games you’re after and not the exercise, I’d go with “Wii Fit” and “EA Sports Active” though for “EA Sports Active” keep in mind that you will need to get through the exercises to unlock more sports. In fact, maybe just skip “EA Sports Active” and go for “Wii Sports Resort” instead. I had a lot of fun with that over Christmas playing my brother’s game.
Whatever you choose, have fun and burn those calories!
EQII will have Battlegrounds starting February 16, 2010 - so you can fight even if you’re not on a PvP server — you pansy! 
Quick Details
It’s free for current subscribers with characters level 80-90, Battlegrounds will hold up to 48 players total, loot to be gained are the all new Chaos armor sets and if you log in between 2/16 and 2/18 you’ll get a Warrior of Chaos statue.
Battleground Breakdown
At launch 3 Battlegrounds will be available:
Battlefield of Ganak
* Game Type: Capture the Flag
* Players: 6 Person Group
* Environment: Outdoor arena with two large oppositional bases with intersecting interiors
* Objective: Capture the enemy’s flag located within their base and return it to your base with your flag still in place
* Win Condition: First team to successfully capture and return three flags wins
Smuggler’s Den
* Game Type: Hold Territory
* Players: 24 Person Group
* Environment: Five spires on top of two pinnacles jutting out of a raging ocean
* Objective: Gain control and hold towers longer than the opposition to earn Tower Tickets
* Win Condition: First team to reach the displayed Tower Ticket goal wins
Gears of Klak’Anon
* Game Type: Hold the Relic
* Players: 6 Person Group
* Environment: Industrious clockwork foundry containing scientific equipment in motion
* Objective: Acquire and hold the relic to accrue points faster than the opposition
* Win Condition: First team to reach the set score wins
Let the pixel slaughter begin!
I almost didn’t go this year. Some of my friends I usually go with weren’t going so I almost called it all off. I’m glad I didn’t of course. Among some of the highlights for me were first time Comic-con appearances of Hideo Miyazaki and Peter Jackson. Even though the former was only there to promote the English dubbed & US release of a film he’d already made (”Ponyo”) and the latter told us the disappointing news that “The Hobbit” was stalled, I am enough of a fangirl that just seeing them in person was a thrill.
For more movie news I was excited for “Where the Wild Things Are” (they showed us a great sampling of clips from the film) and I was cautiously optimistic about “District 9″ (The film Jackson was there to help promote). I also think Tim Burton’s “9″ is going to be good with the potential of being “great”. “Toy Story 3″ is a sure fire hit and gave me a chance to see if the “new” 3D was going to give me a headache or not (it didn’t). However “Beauty and the Beast” in 3D left me thinking, “Why?”. It’s already a fine film so making a 3D version just seems like a money grab to me. “Sherlock Holmes” I’m not sure about but with Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr and Rachel McAdams in it, I’m willing to give it a shot. “The Book of Eli” looks pretty darn dark and could turn out to be compelling. Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington are in it so we’ll see if it’ll go on their respective “hit” or “slightly miss” lists. The film “Legion” I wasn’t interested in before at all but it’s now at least on my DVD list, same with “The Box”.
Arts-wise I enjoyed seeing Donato do a live painting workshop demo and I also enjoyed Brom’s panel in which he talked about his career as well as showed us some of the work process behind his new book, “The Child Thief”. Looking at his past work I was surprised by how much he’s done (you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing this as I met him as a friend of a friend before I realized I’d also seen his work before). I also made the usual webcomic artist rounds, seeing Rich from Diesel Sweeties, and the Penny Arcade and PvP guys.
For evening events, Friday night I attended a bar party where I saw four members of “The Guild” and talked briefly to Felicia Day (and even more briefly to Sandeep - not because he was rude or anything just because it was darn crowded in that bar!). Saturday I went to Sony Online Entertainment’s Block Party. The weather was pleasant compared to past parties and I had a pretty good time though they weren’t demoing “The Agency” which is what I wanted to see since I’d missed it at FanFaire this year.
In general, I was once again pleasantly pleased with my fellow geeks out there. I did experience some of the huge crowds Comic-Con is famous for but I generally found everyone to be very courteous. Folks would apologize immediately if they even slightly bumped you or got in the way of your picture. Some nice guys saved my seat in Hall H when I had to go up to the press area to take pics and then came back to my seat. I made “line buddies” with a Lara Croft who was wearing a climbing harness as a stand in for a gun holster harness — something I had just noted on my recent climbing trip. So there you go folks, at least two girl, geeky, game playing / rockclimbers out there. I am not alone.
In fact that’s what Comic-Con is ultimately about for me and many like me. It’s reaffirming that you are not alone. There are others (many others in some cases) out there who like that same comic, hero, villain, piece of artwork that you do and at Comic-Con not only do we get to reaffirm this in a way that online interaction can’t do as well, but we also get the chance to fly our colors proudly and show the whole world that we are not the only ones out there.
Quotes from my trip:
Hideo Miyazaki answering the question, “Why do you have female protagonists?”, “Because women are strong and beautiful.”
Tim Burton, “I’m actually a ‘light’ person.”
Robert Downey Jr on preparing for his role as Sherlock Holmes (after we watched clips which showed Holmes being a playboy), “As you know I’m a method actor…” He paused then added, “No, we went to the source.”
Peter Jackson, “I don’t think movie studios give the audience enough credit.” in regards to making a thought provoking film.
Cameron Diaz answering a shouted marriage proposal from the audience, “Yes!” and then she added, “Can we do it in Vegas? I’ve always wanted to get married in Vegas”.
Gary Oldman answering when we might see the next Batman movie, “Might be 2011… We start shooting next year…But you didn’t hear that from me!” [he has since backtracked on that statement].
My Comic-Con photos: Flickr set
The game, movie cross over trend shall be complete. A Warcraft live-action movie is in the works.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – July 22, 2009 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment®’s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.
Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award® nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.
“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”
My first thought was that they were going to make a film of “World of Warcraft” that might be a good comedy but it was a little hard to think of it as a live action film since so many people play WoW with differing play styles (can you imagine Gold Farmers in the movie? ha). Since it’ll be about Warcraft I’m thinking it has a chance
Full press release here.
I was once again at FanFaire wearing dual hats as a community website person and a vendor (of fabulous t-shirts & cool stuff from OffLineTshirts!) I was pretty busy the whole FanFaire but I was able to film the entire costume contest for your viewing pleasure. It’s 30 minutes total of video but don’t worry I split it into 4 parts plus 2 short segments for the finalists portion. Brenlo (Alan Crosby, former SOE Community Director and now EverQuest II Senior Producer) was in rare form for the show and cracked jokes while in a banana costume.
