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WoW: The Ten-Day Trial

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After hearing about World of Warcraft all semester, I finally decided that it was time for me to take an MMORPG for a test drive. No longer would I be in the dark the next time conversation turned to guilds and classes. I wanted to know first-hand what all this meant.

Fortunately, there is a free trial right now – likely a promotion for the new expansion (The Burning Crusade). I jumped at the opportunity to download the full game for free and try it all out for ten days.

However, knowing the achiever part of my personality and compulsion with which I like to play my RPGs, I knew I had to be careful. I vowed not to subscribe to the game after the trial. I even told all my friends, “Ten days and that’s it!” Few believed that I have the willpower to resist such a game, but I am determined that I can be done at the end of the trial and continue to lead a normal life.

With over a week left before I have to return to school, today seemed like a good day to begin my trial. I had put it off long enough, afraid of the potentially dangerous addiction that has led to the downfall of some academic lives. I downloaded the installer (around 3GB). This took a couple of hours. Then I had to actually install the game (4GB), which took a long time as well, especially considering that I had to clear off enough space for the game on my computer.

Five hours later, I was registered and ready to play. I chose to be a female night elf druid (a choice I had made carefully over a length of time before playing), and began my adventure.

Quest acquisition and completion seemed easy enough. I liked the fact that killing monsters was part of some quests, meaning you’d level up both by killing the monsters and completing the quests themselves. Movement seemed fairly intuitive – I quickly grew fond of the WASD keys beneath my left hand and the mouse beneath my right for a default position. I really enjoy the customizable hotkey bar at the bottom for abilities. This way, I could cast spells using the low numbers, only needing a fraction of a second to move from the WASD keys.

Unfortunately, I found some of the in-game tips to be more annoying than helpful. These seem to be the main form of tutorial. I had to ask other people like an idiot how to save and quit the game. It was really embarrassing, especially when the enabled tips should have revealed such vital information. I finally did figure out how quit after half an hour, and I was very relieved to find my character exactly as I left her when I logged back in. Unfortunately, the tips that appeared the second time were exactly the same as before, and, despite their promises to become more advanced, they failed to teach me more rudimentary information that I needed to know, such as how to group or ungroup, how to talk, etc.

World of Warcraft is an intriguing game. After one day, I am not completely captivated by it – especially after my frustration in trying to save and quit. I got to level 5 in an hour or two which I find quite rewarding, but I’ll see if it becomes any more addicting tomorrow.  

Rabbids Run Rampant

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I finally rented a game for the Wii other than Wii Sports. I got Rayman’s Raving Rabbids. This may seem like an unconventional choice considering the release of the new Zelda game and the popular Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, but I was captivated by the French commercial for Rabbids that I viewed on YouTube. It has a bunch of rabbids playing the game, and there is one particularly memorable scene where there are several rabbids huddled around a couch, all shaking their Wiimotes and nunchucks at the same time. Check it out here:

Rabbids French Trailer


My sister and I finally got around to playing it. The game is set up as levels of four or five mini-games in a gladiator arena base level. There are one or two games from different categories (rhythm, precision, etc.) that all involve different uses of the Wiimote. Many of the games fit into my ideal of mini-games, where you have to play them for two or three times before you can beat them. Some are more successful than others.

By far, I found the rhythm games to be the most fun. They involve shaking the Wiimote and nunchuck in time to the music as raddibs hit a certain spot on the screen. I enjoy music a lot and am a big fan of DDR, so it really appeals me. I also think it is one of the most fun games to watch. My sister and her boyfriend played it in versus mode, and it was hilarious to see two people seated side by side, shaking sticks in time to the ridiculous music and looking completely focused.

Another type of game that seems to translate successfully onto the Wii is the shooter. There are several Western-style shooters in rabbids that are mandatory to complete a level. The Wiimote is used like a computer mouse to aim at the rabbids and shoot them with a plunger gun. There are many friendly features, such as a fairly generous target range (anywhere on the body knocks most rabbids down), short breaks before strings of rabbids, and an endless supply of ammo. The nunchuck is shaken to reload, and the trigger in the right-hand Wiimote is your trigger.

The design is fairly intuitive, and this extends to a great GUI (Graphical User Interface). The ammo and score are displayed along the top. When ammo is depleted (5 plungers at a time), you they turn opaque. The colors and placement of the GUI is very easy to read over a short period of time and never clutters the view.

Some of the other games are severely flawed, however. I grew so frustrated playing one particular game that I quit playing and considered returning the game. It involved pointing the Wiimote at each rabbid’s snorkel mask and then pressing a button to shoot some sort of drink at them. The aiming was absolutely terrible. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to aim at the eyes of the mask or the snorkel. Also, you have to manage the flow of the drink by constantly shaking the nunchuck, which wasn’t an easy task. I found it very stressful, as the rabbids would creep up to the front, getting bigger and bigger, and then scream in a gremlin-like voice.

This wasn’t the only game with flaws. Many of the games offer only a very brief set of instructions, which is fast and convenient but often fail to tell you important details. For example, on a labyrinth game, you had to figure out that you could slide your ball into a weak wall to break it and take a shortcut necessary to win. Certain secrets are fine with me, but I really prefer to play games where the secrets are not mandatory to win. Games become much more accessible to a wider audience if you save the secrets for those who really want to go through the trouble to find them. Secrets such as those involved to complete puzzles in adventure games turn many players off; veteran players often look up the answers online or use strategy guides. With so many games to play, there is less time to waste on frustrating secrets.

Despite Raving Rabbids’ flaws, I think I will continue playing it for a little while longer. It is nice to be able to pick up a game without worrying about when to find the next save point (each game is about a minute or two long). Even so, I do not find it a stellar use of the Wii technology and hope to find something that better utilizes the Wii’s potential.  

A Family Affair

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Many families want a Wii under their tree this Christmas. I was lucky enough to obtain one before Christmas. When I went to visit my mother for the holidays, she decided to invite her neighbors over to play Wii Sports.

These neighbors have lived in smaller towns in Arizona for a long time. They have three children, and the teenage son is the main gamer in the family. Their younger daughter plays computer games (her Christmas list included Civilization IV) and the rest of the family is more or less indifferent towards games.

At first, only the son and the younger daughter played the Wii. The son is a quiet high schooler, but he actually got somewhat animated and showed a sign of a smile while playing the Wii. He played tennis with his sister (who managed to beat him a couple of times) and really got into it. The younger daughter really enjoyed playing the Wii and stayed long after everyone else had gone to practice her skills in Wii tennis and golf.

A couple days later, they came back to play again. We had invited the children, but before we knew it, we had all five of our neighbors and two guests who had come over to see what all the commotion was about. The daughter played against her father in Wii Sports boxing. They stood side by side, staring intently at the screen, jabbing and dodging like pros. The father didn’t really play games, and yet he was able to find a technique that allowed him to consistently get strikes and spares in bowling.

It seems that the intuitive design of the motion control in Wii Sports allows people who don’t play games very often to jump right in with the regular gamers. Even people who may not have grown up with games can apply techniques from real life to the games in Wii Sports. However, one of the guests who came along was an engineer. He quickly noticed how the motion control was based more on acceleration than actual swings and arm motions. While it seems that the acceleration-based control was designed to coordinate with regular sports motions, another friend of mine noticed that games such as boxing can be beaten easily with simple wrist flicks.

While Wii Sports’ motion control may not be the most sophisticated in its techniques, it does allow great potential form bringing families and friends together. At its core, the Wii can become a great party console where everyone gets a turn – and a chance to try something really fun.  

Finally, Final Fantasy

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My classes finally ended and I had a chance to sit down and start the supposedly epic Final Fantasy XII. With every other Final Fantasy, I would wait hours before even touching the game, reading over the manual and much of the general information in the strategy guide. This time, I was too tired to wade through all the text. Besides, I didn’t even have the manual, as I had rented the game. I decided just to dive in.

The opening movie was spectacular, as always. It was beautiful and slightly chaotic – everything you’d expect from a game about a war. I can’t really complain about the CG movies, but it was the in-game graphics that seemed a little odd.

When you gain control of the characters, you begin to see how some graphics can be really good and others just don’t seem as great. For example, anyone with wrinkles appears exceedingly realistic, almost to the point where the younger people look like they need don’t belong in the same game. The graphics do seem to have improved since the PS2’s Final Fantasy predecessor, FFX, but not by a whole lot.

On the other hand, great graphics can sometimes become a distraction. During the CG sequence for Vayne’s speech, I was so captivated by the realistic movements of his long, wavy black hair that I can hardly remember what he said. (Although I admit that I had a soft spot for the similar hair of Final Fantasy VIII’s Laguna Liore.)

Hair aside, CG scenes are only really effective if they mean something. While great care was taken to show Ashe’s wedding, I hardly cared when her new husband was killed. I barely knew him, and she didn’t look terribly heartbroken (just solemn).

Another really distracting element was the dubbing. Why couldn’t the game have been subtitled? It seems like the animators went to great effort to animate the mouths of the characters for the Japanese words, but it just doesn’t look right when the English dubbing hardly fits. I hope it gets better soon.

When actually playing the game, I found that it feels fairly intuitive. I am still having trouble getting the hang of the battle system, but I’ve played for fewer than five hours. I didn’t like the choice to play a minor character in the beginning of the game either – it didn’t seem to matter what I did. I can see where this would be an advantage for newbies, but I like making progress from the beginning.

I have yet to make up my mind regarding many of the new changes to the previous Final Fantasy gameplay elements. I think I will have to keep playing to really make up my mind, but I feel that the game only offers an average Final Fantasy start.  

Whee!...Err, Wii.

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Today is a very happy day. I finally got my own Wii.

I smuggled the Wii inside from my car, afraid someone might catch a glimpse of my prize. I opened the box and felt I had something truly special. It was the first time I’ve ever gotten a console when it was first released. Perhaps it was because I could actually afford one and I care more about games now than ever before.

I set up the Wii and decided to make a Mii. Like any avatar, there seem to be three choices: making it look like you, making it look like an idealized version of you, or creating something completely different. I chose to make one look like me. It’s a lot of fun to scrutinize your face and features and try to see what makes you look like you. I was pretty pleased with my Mii.

After my Mii was made, I played Wii Sports. I was all alone when I played it and I was so happy. There is something so novel about motion control. Even something as simple as tennis becomes exciting when you really get to swing your arm and get tired. It’s amazing to feel physically exhausted after playing a video game. I fully explored the game, playing all the sports and even taking a fitness test. (I got age 65.)

When my sister came home, she made her own Mii (a pint-sized version of herself). Then we played golf together. I have never really cared for golf in real life and especially disliked golf games. They always seemed really boring. However, Wii Sports golf is much more accessible. Clubs hardly matter and neither does direction. It’s more about how you swing the Wii remote and acceleration.

Perhaps my most exciting experience with my Wii thus far was in obtaining an extra nunchuck. I had been looking online for them and had found that prices were very high – around $50 for a $20 item. I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait a long time to get one.

Fortunately, I ran into some luck when visiting family in Portland, Oregon. I walked into a Fred Meyer and, on a whim, I decided to check the electronics department. I was shocked to find several Wii accessories (nunchucks and remotes, at least three of each) just sitting on the shelf. I already had an extra remote, but I needed a nunchuck, so I snatched it up right away at $19.99. I didn’t even have to pay tax (because there’s no tax in Oregon). I asked the clerk how they had so many Wii accessories and it turns out they had gotten them in that morning. While the Wii may not be quite as popular in Portland, Oregon as it was in Los Angeles, it had still been selling out quickly and I was lucky to have walked in that day.

With my lucky Wii nunchuck, I can now challenge my sister to a round of Wii Sports boxing. Hooray for the Wii!  
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Okami’s Ending

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There are few games that make me want to cry. Okami came close.

While the touching ending could be considered sappy, I found it to be very appropriate to the spirit of the game. When you have a game about Gods and demons, it is difficult to make something that is not based around fantastic violence or faith. Okami’s ending incorporated both.

The theme of faith has been an undercurrent in the game, but it really rises to the surface at the end. People who believe in the power of the wolf help empower her throughout the game. The wolf is touching in its realism, and, as an animal lover, I find it amazing that the game created so much personality for the wolf without hearing her thoughts.

So what made me want to cry? It wasn’t the heartwarming faith message. It was beauty. At the end, you are able to see the wolf in a different form. The majesty, the music, and the miracle of it all is almost overwhelming in its artistry. It is a rewarding experience in itself.

I would love to recommend this game to anyone I could, but I feel that I can’t. The sheer amount of time necessary to appreciate the reverent tone and subtle humor of Okami will make it inaccessible for many people. I logged 54 hours and eight minutes. Although that included many sidequests, that type of dedicated gaming is not for the average person.

When the game finally ended, I was satisfied by the final fight and the conclusion. The story felt solid. Thinking back on my experience, I felt that the mini-games were frustrating at times, but those required to continue were never ridiculously tiresome like those in Kingdom Hearts II. I finally did find Moley’s treasure eventually and was able to complete the quests I really cared about.

Perhaps one of the best aspects of Okami was the fact that dying was more of an annoyance that a danger. I think I only died once in the whole game. If you fell off a cliff, you would only lose a portion of your life. This lead me to always have a sense of security, which fit the game, as the character was a God and should not be defeated by such a paltry setback.

I really enjoyed Okami and hope that my future gaming experiences can live up to it.  

LAN Party

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I never thought I’d be able to say I’d been to a LAN party. I thought those things were for ultimate geeks who lived in their basements all day and emerged once in a blue moon, justifying a LAN party as their primary form of social interaction. Fortunately, I thought wrong.

Last night I went to a DotA LAN party. (DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod.) We had about 20-30 people, each playing on a separate desktop in a computer lab. I was the only girl and I was grateful to be treated like everyone else. I played for nearly seven hours, and I actually had a good time.

There was a quite a mix of DotA veterans and new players. It was a challenge to form equal teams, but after a few games we were better able to sort ourselves out. It was my first time playing a full game (five versus five) and it was an absolute blast. It’s so much fun when there are other players around every corner and you have to do more than just hack and slash your way to the end before your enemy does the same. When human minds are involved, the strategy becomes really important.

Once again, the social aspect was one of my favorite parts of the game. It was great to have someone to blame for killing you or hearing them cry out when you surprised them with a powerful attack. I loved how people would hunt each other for personal grudges (i.e. “You’ve killed me five times and you’re going down!”) and stick together for coordinated attacks.

It’s great to watch what happens when members of a team realize that they are losing badly. You begin to see what type of person they are – whether they abandon all hope or fight valiantly no matter what. Fortunately, I played with a group of optimists in most games that always fought until the bitter end.

I have never been able to play a game for so long and have it hold my interest. Perhaps it was because the games themselves rarely lasted more than an hour – providing a natural break and a change of teams. People would get up and switch computers based on their new teams, keeping the blood flowing. Also, with each new group, a new dynamic emerged. Someone who so coldly hunted you down again and again the last game could become a great asset to your team.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of such continuous play was tracking my own improvement. I played more games last night than my combined experience in the past. I watched my number of deaths decline slowly but surely. I played with some great strategists, who inspired me and showed me a variety of techniques I had never known. I was nowhere near a pro, but playing with a full team is a great experience.

By 2 a.m., I was worn out but happy. No matter how many times I lost, I was satisfied having learned so much about DotA and playing with such fun people. I hope I have the opportunity to play again with such a fun group of people.  

Friends and Enemies

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I’m used to playing games with friends, but recently I had the opportunity to play video games instead of board games. I got together with some friends of a friend today, and we all played two very different games: Wii Sports and Defense of the Ancients (the Warcraft III mod).

Today was my first experience playing the Wii. While we only had one controller, it was a lot of fun to take turns and comment on each other’s playing. One of the guys was trying to coach my Wii tennis technique (i.e. “Watch your wrist”). During Wii boxing, cell phone movies were taken of the person playing (but not of the game). It was great fun watching ourselves and the ridiculous amount of effort we put into our Wii-mote punches. It’s easy to lose sight of your body when focusing on a game that requires motion control. Just like people in my class moving the PS3 controller, I wiggled and ducked around like there was an invisible bee trying to sting me.

I started to really fall in love with the Wii and its happy music. I love the fact that the sensor responds to the Wii-mote like a mouse on many of the menu screens. The design is sleek yet practical. I am going to get a Wii soon and now I’m way more excited than before. It’s hard to describe how fun it is – you have to play it for yourself.

After playing the Wii for a while, we started playing Defense of the Ancients (DotA). My friend is in love with that game, and we all needed to practice for a DotA LAN party taking place this Friday. We had three labtops and a desktop, so the player with the desktop was at a disadvantage (as you could see where his player was at a quick glance). We promised not to look, but our own characters kept us busy enough that it was hardly necessary.

Playing DotA with more people was definitely fun. Early on, I could see that one of the guys was Bartle’s killer player type because he loved to stalk characters and sneak up on people when they least expected it. Another guy had a great knowledge of items; he always knew what to get for each character at every stage of the game. As a new player to DotA, I had primarily been focused on fighting and found their player preferences to be inspiring. I never realized there was so much strategy involved in what had seemed like a fairly straightforward game.

While I didn’t win, I still enjoyed playing because it was an incredibly social experience. I loved having your friends and enemies in the same room and being able to trash-talk or strategize. There is nothing quite like hearing your enemy scream out of shock when you kill them. I hope I can experience that someday as I become a better DotA player.