One of the longest running MMORPG fan based events, FanFaire is happening this week at the Las Vegas Hilton, put on by Sony Online Entertainment. OffLine will be there as usual! Stop by the tables for special FanFaire offers!
Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, Harvard researchers and authors of the book: Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games talk about their research.
Something for the J. Thompson’s of the world to think about…
Via Kotaku
The news was broken over at Troll Lord Games.
If you’ve ever played an RPG, you’ve been influenced by this guy in some way or another. I remember being impressed by my friend who had a dice bag Gary (and the rest of the D&D team) had signed.
Rest in Peace Mr. Gygax.
Photo by Alan De Smet
It seems like my anti-scapegoat shirts will never get old.
It appears that Brazil has banned Counter-Strike and EverQuest “claiming they incited violence and were “harmful to consumers’ health.”"
I don’t agree with the banning of these games, however I do wonder why they were singled out. For instance, why EverQuest and not all Fantasy based MMORPGs, I imagine that Lord of the Rings may not be played as much by Brazilians but surely World of Warcraft, with its 10 million players, has players there.
Here is a letter from the Kotaku Brazilian Connection that sheds some light:
From Pinguin:
Since 01/17, Counter Strike and Everquest are banned in Brazil. The decision came from a federal judge, based in the Consumer Rights, saying that it puts in danger the life of buyers. You can see the full decision in this site. (in Brazilian portuguese)
The counter strike was banned because, in experts opinion, teachs war strategies.
Everquest was banned because of their quests. The Brazilian judge, claims that, some quests ask for the user do good things and bad things, leading the user to pscicological problems.In Brazil, those games were rated to 18+, by the Justice. In the past, before those rates exist, games like Carmagedon, Grand Theft Auto and Postal were banned too.
But, we still can play Postal 2, Manhunt (the complete version) and all the other games. Everquest isn’t even [sold] in Brazil!
Full AFP article.
More letters and information on Kotaku
Below you should see an “Utterz” widget. I’ll be sending nearly live (5 minute delay) audio notes and pictures from the Los Angeles Convention center tomorrow. The kind folks at Utterz tried to get their autoblogging working for me but we ran out of time. The widget’s pretty cool though.
Information will play in the order of Newest to Oldest without pause so don’t get confused if you hit the one about the Stephen Hawking voice reading my text only post about Dreamhost (or Stephanie Hawking reading it in my case).
~ Fricka
Your gaming rogue and geek gal
Sent via Treo 755p
Sony
PSP gets slim. New finishes for the PSP
Nintendo
WiiFit title is coming. Gamers want to get slim. MarioKart game for the Wii will come with a steering wheel.
Microsoft
Halo look box. No price drop. Extended warranty on Xbox.
Assassin’s Creed
Looking good. Living up to hype (so far) of last year’s E3.
The PS3 price drops. The 40 Gb model is now $499. $100 cheaper than the 8 Gb iPhone! 
North America will also be getting an 80 Gb PS3 which will go for $599. Revving up for HD movie downloads eh? The 80 Gb also ships with the game MotorStorm.
[Reference: Kotaku]
ABC News in Philadelphia ran a story on game addiction, mainly focusing on World of Warcraft and EverQuest. While the general tone of the piece looks at MMORPGs as an unhealthy activity, especially the part with the mother who lost her son, the psychologist in the piece does point out something that stories like this usually miss:
Dudley says children or adults who become obsessed with video games often have a history of struggling with depression or anxiety. The game, she says, is simply a catalyst, similar to drugs, alcohol or gambling.
It’s literally been years since I was first moved to make designs in response some lawsuits against games. While there has been headway (as evidenced by the above quote), it seems they are still relevant.
EQ Warning
Gamers Against Scapegoating
No ScapeGoating - Works for defending any popular media
ABC News Link. Via Kotaku.
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gaming, mmorpg, worldofwarcraft, everquest
I beta tested Lord of the Rings Online and, well, let’s just say, “They got me”. At this point in my MMO/MMORPG gaming life, I have gotten used to being somewhat of a Professional Beta Tester. I am used to being in Betas, testing, evaluating and then reporting on the games and then rarely going that extra step and buying an account once it goes live.
I thought LOTRO was going to follow that pattern, especially since I am still involved with other MMORPGs… but, I was wrong. The game, with all its limitations, is quite simply, “fun”. It has the ease of WoW yet the lore of Tolkien. Some of it does feel a bit like a “MMORPG on rails”, like a ride at Disneyland, if you will, but it’s an enjoyable ride. And, if you’re a fan of the Lord of the Rings books, then you will find like minded folks here.
And indeed, with Launch Day, I was not alone. I had happened to pick the “Unofficial Roleplay Server” of the US server list, Landroval. What greeted me today was a queue line. It was accurate though, I was at that screen for about 2 minutes.
Once in, I saw fellow “Founders” who were already in their low teens, but also brand new players. I myself had pre-ordered and had been emailed my Pre-Order key by Fry’s Outlet, so I was already registered. However, it was a happy surprise to also find my Standard Box already on my doorstep this morning. I gathered by in-game OOC talk that that was not the case for everyone. Folks were saying that they had not received their box yet and were playing on the left over Beta account time.
It seemed like most were happy though. Myself, I found the live game to be just as smooth as Beta had been, no lag for me (there were some complaints of this in OOC). At peak playing time, 5 pm-ish till 7pm, it did get rather busy, but by 9pm things had quieted down again. I found it a nice pace, enough people to get pick up duos but not too many folks to have to wait for key mobs. This was probably helped by the fact that spawn times in LOTRO seem very quick. Perhaps this also helped with politeness amongst gamers, more than once I saw fellow folks around a camp invite others into their groups rather than try to jump the mob first. I myself had a bit of a, “You first, no you first” sort of routine for a harder mob.
All in all, Launch Day seemed quite a success, and I forsee good things for the game. I’m not sure personally how long it will keep my interest, but the Founder’s deal at $9.99 a month, and the box at less than $50, I think it will be a fun ride to mix up with my other games.
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lotro, lord of the rings, mmorpg, mmo, gaming
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