[No pic, too busy playing]

Adnil’s current level: 58 (almost 59)

Holy crap.

I’ve had some video game addictions before, like my life-long love affair with Tetris, but never has a game so all-encompassingly consumed my attention like this. If I have five minutes to spare I log on “just to check my auctions” or fly to a zone that I’ve been previously too lazy to hand in a quest. If my wife sits down to watch Project Runway I immediately boot the game up. There’s been too many late nights recently spent wandering around smacking beasts with my one-handed mace because, well, I’m almost done this quest and I’m getting SO close to leveling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling out of work to stay home and play…yet.

Hell, I’m in the middle of buying a house right now and I still can’t stop thinking about getting home to play.

What is it about this game that has me and so many millions of other people so completely captivated by its endless amount of content? I think that my biggest draw is the loot. I love getting new gear and I plan on spending a lot of time PVP-ing very soon in order to get the PVP item sets for Shamans. For whatever reason those meaningless pixels are very appealing.

Now that I’m in the Outlands the loot is infinitely better and the quest rewards pay more as well. Hell, vendor trash can net you a few gold now. The zones are bigger, more detailed and way more dense than anything in Azeroth. I got a glimpse of this when I rolled Adnil, having played the original new-area content a number of times The Burning Crusade content for Draenei and Blood Elves is much better.

I’ve spent almost 11 days of play time leveling and building Adnil’s skills and I feel like the game is just beginning.

Missed This Series? Catch Up:
Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Catch Up Before Proceeding:
Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Adnil’s current level: 46

Now, where were we?

The last time I wrote this feature, which was way back in June, Dan and I were just about to get our mounts. Shortly thereafter we did and then something happened that I was warned about: I lost interest in the game. Hitting 40 and getting your mount is a big deal and the first goal you really work towards in this game, but then there’s nothing to look forward to until you’re at least 60 and can start doing some of the high end raids and instances. Couple that with how much longer it takes to level and you have a gaming experience that really isn’t worth looking forward to unless you’re in a very active guild, which YEAH WORD COTTON is definitely not. Well, at least it’s not for now. We want you to join us. Read on. Continue Reading »

Yeah yeah yeah, I know. The whole “lolcat” thing came and went within a week. Guess what? I don’t care. These two pics…dems funnay.

kthxbai

[I Can Has Cheezburger?]

The Game Lounge, a LAN center in Toms River, NJ is holding a “Finish The Fight for Breast Cancer” Halo 3 free for all tournament on November 7th. All proceeds from the event will be heading to the American Cancer Society. It’s only $10 to enter and the grand prize will be up to $100 (this is a charity event, after all).

It’s nice to see some Jersey folk doing something good. You don’t hear about this kind of thing going on in Canada. Frag for a cause people, that’s how we roll.

[Bungie News]

Coming out of left field Blizzard announced that paid character name changes are now available across some servers (it’s being rolled out slowly, like the new voice chat feature). For $10 you can now go from being known as “BritneysHAWT” (which seemed like a good idea at the time) to “BritneysAhorde” (which is MUCH more timely).

I know there’s not a ton of WoW players in our audience, but you have to choose names for a lot of different games. Did you ever choose one, get really far in the game and then completely regret the name you used? Would you take advantage of this service?

Check out the official word here.

A gaming blog writer’s job never ceases…

So I’m sitting at home, minding my own business and watching HIMYM with the wife when a WoW reference interferes with my sitcom.

Let me set the tone for the video. The whole episode Barney has been trying to teach Ted about the Crazy/Hot factor when dealing with women you meet online. When the crazy/hot girl finally decides that she’s leaving she reveals the true nature of how they met:

On another note, if you have never watched this show, give it a shot. Very likable and funny characters that aren’t afraid to show a little heart. Kind of reminds me of Scrubs.

Evidently about a year ago there was a plague-like disease running amok through parts of World Of Warcraft called “Corrupted Blood”. (I don’t remember hearing about this back then and the only information I found points to laster September). In today’s Herald Sun they report that scientists are studying this incident to try and draw similarities between how people would act in the real world to a similar circumstance. Evidently the Dustin Hoffman masterpiece Outbreak isn’t stocked at video stores around them.

Some acted selflessly, rushing to the aid of others, while others fled infected cities to try to save themselves.

And some who were sick tried to infect others.

“Human behaviour has a big impact on disease spread and virtual worlds offer an excellent platform for studying human behaviour,” Prof Fefferman said.