World of Warcraft: Crown Chemical
February 7, 2010 2309

Crown Chemical, Incorporated

lol

World of Warcraft: Skornn-Blackrock, Worst PUG'd Tank Ever
February 7, 2010 2127

Let me tell you a tale about how the worst PUG'd tank ever in a LFD group turned our run into the most fun run ever! I queue with Amik and Mooglegem for a random heroic. After a few minutes of waiting, we find a tank and another dps, click accept, and find ourselves in Utgarde Keep! At this point I'm excited, because I need a holiday drop off Prince Keleseth.

I begin doing some buffs but held off on my mass buffs because Mooglegem
hasn't loaded. I'm very low on mana though, so I sit down to drink. Before I
am even at a third mana (and before Mooglegem loads), our tank, Skornn
from Blackrock pulls. This immediately makes me annoyed, but I
always try to tell myself, "well, we're overgeared. I'll just keep drinking
a bit and then catch up." Well, he runs into the next hallway and pulls a
few more mobs. He's really close to dying before Mooglegem loads, and I just
barely keep us up. Our PUG'd DPSer drops the group. I don't really blame
him, but I hope it isn't because he thought I wasn't good.

The tank pulls the next group. I'm still not near full mana, but I have
about half, and Mooglegem is with us. Then we enter the furnace room in
which you go counter-clockwise around (before the room with the drakes). He
pretty much pulls the full room. Our new DPSer joins the group but is still
loading. In the drake room, he again pulls the whole room just as the
paladin DPSer reaches the group. We almost wipe but manage to survive. Then
things are a little better approaching Prince Keleseth. The fight goes well,
and the Ebon Bouquet drops, which Mooglegem wins! Yay!

Then there's a few bad pulls. We're alive, but I'm very annoyed. In private,
Amik, Mooglegem, and I are angry. The paladin stops moving. We keep going. I
try to drink, but Skornn pulls again. I catch up and try to keep everyone
up, but I get killed. Then Amik dies. Now I'm hoping Skornn dies. And he
does! Sadly, Mooglegem dies too.

Okay. Now I'm expecting an argument, but no one says anything. We all run
back. Now I notice the paladin, Kimfar, is offline. I completely understand.
In fact, I'm kind of happy. Now it's just us and Skornn. If I decide to let
him wipe for being stupid, I'm not hurting some innocent DPSer. As we make
our way to the next boss, Skornn suddenly stops. This is very odd for him.
Then I get a vote to kick Kimfar. We vote no and continue. He still doesn't
say anything.

Eventually we find our way at the next boss. You can see this in the
screenshot. Amik says, "You gotta admire his resolve to never say a word"
right before Skornn says "kick this paly." As long as we're talking about
the screenshot, note that Skornn's gearscore is 5802. That's very high! He's
very overgeared for heroic UK. I know he just wants his Emblems of Frost.
Still, I find that overgeared tanks can sometimes be the worst tank. He
calls for a vote to kick Kimfar again, but we vote no. He says "..." and
pulls. We wonder in party chat why we're not kicking Kimfar, pretending not
to know. I'm sure Skornn knows though.

Then we continue through the instance. Nothing exciting happens for a while.
He continues to be a horrible tank, never waiting for the group, never
waiting for mana, and losing aggro to the other group members. Nearing the
end, Amik suggests we kick Skornn before the final boss and says he can
tank. Great! After the last mob, we try to kick him. We can't kick during
loot rolls. Fine! But Skornn is running for the boss. Now we can't kick
right after combat! Skornn reaches the boss, and Ingvar the Plunderer begins
yelling. Finally the kick goes through! Skornn fades out, Ingvar resets, and
we rejoice as we wait for Ingvar the Plunderer to respawn. Then Amik
switches specs, we all make sure everyone else is ready, and we pull. It's a
nice pull, and everything goes well. One tank, one healer, and one DPS, and
no arrogant idiots!

That was Skornn, S-k-o-r-n-n, of the guild Volatile from the Blackrock-US
realm.

Game News: Sonic 4 Intro
February 5, 2010 2211

Sonic 4

There's an Intro section on the official Sonic 4 website now with the background story of Sonic 4. There's no direct link, but click "Intro" under "Game Info" on the upper left of the site to see it. The site recaps the story for Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles.

Basically, the story is that in Sonic 1 Dr. Eggman turns animals into robots on South Island in an attempt to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic defeats Dr. Eggman in Final Zone. Then, in Sonic 2, Dr. Eggman tries to create the Death Egg. Sonic and Tails fight him on West Side Island and the Death Egg, defeating him. Immediately after, in Sonic 3, the Death Egg falls on Angel Island, which was floating in the air, causing it to crash into the sea. Angel Island held the Master Emerald. Knuckles steals the Chaos Emeralds because Dr. Eggman convinced him that Sonic was after the Master Emerald. Dr. Eggman repairs the Death Egg, but Sonic and Tails blow it up again. It crumbles back down on Angel Island. Finally, in Sonic & Knuckles, Dr. Eggman has EggRobo attack Knuckles because he no longer needs him. Dr. Eggman then steals the Master Emerald and launches the Death Egg again. Knuckles pursues EggRobo, and Sonic pursues Dr. Eggman. Sonic saves the Master Emerald and returns it to Knuckles and Angel Island, allowing the island to float again. Now Dr. Eggman prepares to fight Sonic once more.

For anyone who cares about the Sonic story (which most likely isn't anyone reading this), this is interesting for a few reasons. It seems that the Sonic 4 story is disregarding every game besides Sonic 1,2,3, and S&K. Also, there's no mention of the Super Emeralds. There used to be confusion about why Knuckles thought Sonic took the Chaos Emeralds when they hadn't been on Angel Island, but they took that part out as well. It's the simplest explanation and is what I expected, but it's interesting to see it.

World of Warcraft: WoW.com's editorial on the Ensidia ban
February 5, 2010 1943

Editorial: Thoughts on the Ensidia ban

Dawn Moore provides well written and informative editorial on the recent Ensidia ban. I haven't done the research she has, and of course, no one but Ensidia really knows what happened and what their motivations were. Assuming Dawn was correct in her facts, I agree with most of her deductions. Given that information, it seems to me that the Ensidia members did deserve the 72-hour ban. That said, I can't blame them for using the exploit.

WebPageless: Blocked!
February 5, 2010 0017

My brother informed me today that WebPageless has been blocked at his high school. When he viewed more information on the block, he found that they consider it pornography.

Photos and Screenshots: Teh gemma pasta
February 4, 2010 1825

Too bad it's not shaped like awesome!

Game News: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1
February 4, 2010 0054

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 Q&A - Xbox 360 Previews at GameSpot

SEGA of America announced that GameSpot would be revealing Project Needlemouse at midnight tonight (12:00 AM 2/4), and they certainly did! It's actual title is Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, and it going to be downloadable on all three consoles. The versions will be near identical, but the Wii's will be 480p while the other two will be 1080p. Also, certain parts will take advantage of the Wii motion controls and the PS3's Sixaxis. I don't really want any motion control, but I think I'll go with PS3 just to have the nice d-pad. I'm really excited about this! Sonic 4 will be out this summer.

Gaming: Quickloading Degrades Game World
February 3, 2010 0537

Sometimes I Finish Games Too: ???

"It might be kind of interesting to play a game where quickloading was allowed to undo decisions you've made, but it starts gradually making the gameworld more and more unstable, and your avatar slowly starts to remember the actions he's undone and has a hard time reconciling them with the current reality until he just goes completely insane and the player slowly loses control of the protagonist, as the protagonist rejects the player's intrusion on his life. It might not go over well with players though."

Such a cool idea. I thought it'd be cool to play a game in which you live the same day over and over, but things you do repeatedly begin to make a lasting change. In the game, you'd be solving a murder. I have no idea why I thought that was a great topic.

Gaming: Draw a Mario!
February 3, 2010 0514

Draw Mario!

Draw a Mario at mariomayhem.com! Idon't know why, but I started seeing this a bunch on SB and Daphny's LJ, and I decided to draw one too.

Game News: Happy Hedgehog Day Everyone!
February 2, 2010 2125

SEGA America Blog | Happy Hedgehog Day!

Happy Hedgehog Day! I hope everyone's excited about Hedgehog Week! All week, SEGA will be releasing information about the new Sonic game, Project Needlemouse, including it's official name on Thursday. Also, today marks the 16th anniversary of the US release of Sonic 3!

Game News: Dreamcast 2!
February 1, 2010 2332

If a Genesis and a Wii had a baby, it would be Sega Zone

Sorry, just kidding! It's the Sega Zone. It contains 50 games, 20 of which are classic Genesis titles, as well as a slot for Genesis carts. It physically looks like a Wii knock-off only with a bit more "bling." I've seen things like this previously, but it still looks cool. It's about 60 USD and is coming to the UK.

Game Journal: Backloggery
February 1, 2010 0252

The Backloggery - TheUser's Backloggery

The Backloggery is an interesting site for gamers who are obsessive like I am. You use it to track your backlog! In other words, it catalogs your game collection and tracks which games you still need to finish. It also groups compilations together (grouping SMB 1, 2, 3, and Lost Levels as four different games all under Super Mario All-Stars, for example), which is quite handy, and records the original platform of each game. I just finished entering all 643 of my games into the system!

Game Journal: 9 Games Left to Beat
February 1, 2010 0243

WebPageless - Pre-2010 Games to Beat in 2010

After finishing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, I've crossed 3 games off my list. Pretty good already!

Game-Boyz Blog Posts: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
February 1, 2010 0241

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box / /

Quick blog post on Game-Boyz about Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright.

World of Warcraft: Order of the Rose
February 1, 2010 0235 Order of the Rose This guild sounds amazing. Order of the Rose is on the Feathermoon (RP) realm. Order of the Rose focuses on role-playing. They hold a lot of different events, including the annual Rose Ball. It sounds really interesting! Feathermoon has a lot of other cool role-playing activities too it seems. I didn't do a lot of research or anything on this, so I'm not implying the this guild is the best at RPing or that the realm has the most RP activities. It just seemed really interesting!

Game-Boyz Reviews: The Mystery of the Crystal Portal
February 1, 2010 0223

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal / Apple / Reviews

My review of The Mystery of the Crystal Portal is up at Game-Boyz. It was provided to me by G5 Entertainment.

Game Journal: Pre-2010 Games to Beat in 2010
January 29, 2010 0123

Every year I set a goal to beat 12 particular games that were released before the new year. I usually give myself until the end of January to set the list. I had a bit of trouble deciding which to include this year, but this seems good. I'll strike out the ones I've completed as I complete them.

1. inFamous
2. World of Warcraft - Loremaster
3. Golden Sun 2
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright: Justice for All
6. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
7. Earthbound
8. God of War
9. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
10. Metal Gear Solid 3
11. Ballad of Gay Tony
12. Mad World

Because I had trouble deciding, I've also included a second set of 12 "runner up" games...

1. ChronoTrigger
2. StarCraft
3. World of Warcraft - Battlemaster
4. Uncharted 2
5. LittleBigPlanet PSP
6. Chip's Challenge
7. World of Warcraft - Dungeons & Raids
8. Bioshock
9. Psychonauts
10. Burning Crusade - Dungeons & Raids
11. Metal Gear Solid 4
12. Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

..and other games that I wish I could get through but aren't on either list.

• Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice
• Blue Dragon
• Space Channel 5 Series
• Dark Alliance 2
• Baldur's Gate Series
• Kingdom Hearts Series
• Odin Sphere
• God Hand
• killer7
• Sonic Heroes & Unleashed
• Mega Man Series
• Mega Man X Series
• Paper Mario Series
• LEGO Batman & Indiana Jones
• Devil May Cry 2 & 3
• Warcraft III

World of Warcraft: Thinking About Festergut, Rotface, and ICC-25
January 29, 2010 0009

Although some people had defeated Rotface in PUGs or with other guilds, Carpe Flux Capacitor as a whole has been unable to defeat 10-man Rotface until this past Tuesday (as I mentioned previously). I had the privilidge of raiding that time, which was my first time in the Plagueworks and second time in Icecrown Citadel, not considering fail PUGs that started on Deathbringer Saurfang, fail guild runs filled with alts and PUGs, and trash runs.

It was really interesting. Festergut was a fun but not very hard fight. I was marked, and the ranged were told to clump on me where I was standing when Festergut used Gas Spore. That just made it extra easy because I didn't have to move, although I also felt special that people came to me (even if I didn't do anything).

Rotface was just awesome. Struggling with the guild and trying different tactics is still new to me. It just felt amazing. We had three healers, and on our first couple attempts, we didn't coordinate. After a few wipes, we decided to be a little more organized. We had one designated tank/melee healer, one raid healer, and one healer focusing on the off-tank kiting the Big Ooze and the players running to him. I was the off-tank healer (and Mutated Infection remover). This made things go much more smoothly.

As Tydros, the off-tank, ran around the perimeter, I made smaller circles on the inside so I could stay near him. I could probably have done my job with a lot less moving, but it made it easier to be near him and watching. There were still a couple problems. First, healing someone running to Tydros wasn't a big deal, but healing myself while running to him was a bigger deal. I can't actually say that this caused problems for the group, but it really disoriented me. Another problem was multiple slimes being up at the same time. Sometimes someone with Mutated Infection wouldn't get to the off-tank in time, leaving a Small Ooze somewhere else. Similarly, this means that sometimes a Big Ooze was exploding while other Small Oozes already existed.

The last problem was that people sometimes were unable to find the off-tank. He was marked at the start of each attempt, but after he got Mutated Infection, he would become marked with a different mark. After the infection was removed, he would no longer be marked, and neither of us (the two people worrying about Mutated Infection) had the ability to remark. I pointed this out, and he was given Assist so he could remark himself if needed. Eventually, on what was to be our last attempt, we got him really low before wiping, so decided to give it one more go. That last attempt (duh) was when we finally downed Rotface.

I also wanted to mention something about ICC-25. I've only done a 25-man once, and it was an Icecrown Citadel PUG on a Monday night before raid resets. I had between 800 and 1500 ms latency (most likely due to there being two people sharing Wi-Fi both in 25-mans and both running Vent). The lag kind of sucked. I wouldn't want to try another 25-man in which people depend on me unless it was a guild run and I could do trash as a trial or a bad PUG that I didn't care about. Anyways, as a disc priest, I felt that my role was much more defined in 25-man. In 10-mans, even when I'm "tank healing," I'm still doing extra healing. In the 25-man, I focused just on the tanks. It also seemed like had I not been lagging my Penance could actually heal the tank rather than become overhealing. Regardless, these thoughts on doing 25-mans are just from the one 25-man raid I did before going with on the run that killed Rotface. This is important to note because while that was the first time I felt like my role was really defined, it was before I had that awesome ICC-10 experience. In fact, we had much more coordination as a guild on the 10-man run than the PUG on the 25-man. Still, I'd be interested in trying 25-man content in the future.

Games for Free: Trogdor
January 28, 2010 1859

TROGDOR!!!

Make Trogdor stomp peasants to gain the BURNINATE ability! Use that to burninate the city!

Game-Boyz Reviews: iSamJackson - Coolest Soundboard Evar
January 28, 2010 1848

iSamJackson / Apple / Reviews

I just posted my review of iSamJackson at Game-Boyz. It's actually a really funny soundboard featuring Samuel Jackson. I got it from Heatwave Interactive, and they even sent me an iPhone 3G case that says "BAD MOTHER ****** iSamJackson" on it - except that word was written in of course.

Game-Boyz Blog Posts: Hello World, Desperate Struggle, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
January 28, 2010 0206

Hello World, Desperate Struggle, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom / /

Murray let me know about Game-Boyz' blogging feature, so I decided to start blogging a bit over there. I'll link to my Game-Boyz posts here like I do my reviews. In this one I give a brief introduction to myself before talking about Desperate Struggle and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

Game-Boyz Reviews: Magnetic Sports Soccer
January 28, 2010 0155

Magnetic Sports Soccer / Apple / Reviews

My review of Magnetic Sports Soccer was posted today on Game-Boyz. It's sort of like foosball except for two differences. First, only the goalies can move. Second, the ball acts like it's magnetically pulled to the players. Anyways, it was pretty fun! I received the game for free from publisher Bulkypix.

World of Warcraft: ICC10 Healing
January 27, 2010 0144

I've been looking at my healing. I don't really know what conclusions to draw. It seems like Prayer of Mending is the spell that heals the most quite often. Penance is as well, but when I break my 2pT9 bonus, PoM will weaken. I suppose that's okay because I'll gain more throughput. It also seems like Penance is most of my overhealing. I already thought that was the case. There are other healers, so Penance never really gets 100% absorbed. I dunno. Also I don't think Recount considers PW:S's ability to absorb damage.

World of Warcraft: Snowfall
January 27, 2010 0100

World of Warcraft: Recycling
January 27, 2010 0100

World of Warcraft: Blue
January 27, 2010 0059

World of Warcraft: Guild First Rotface
January 27, 2010 0027

gem and I were there for Carpe Flux Capacitor's guild first killing of Rotface! I posted this on the Playground Justice Blog as well, but I'm very excited! There's a post on the CFC site as well!

World of Warcraft: Ask a Faction Leader: Vol'Jin
January 26, 2010 1517

Ask a Faction Leader: Vol'Jin

I love you WoW.com! I really enjoyed this Ask a Faction Leader (and not just because it's Vol'Jin)! If you decide not read it all, at least scroll to the bottom one!

World of Warcraft: Cute guy at the Dalaran North Bank - w4m - 24 (Dalaran)
January 26, 2010 1505

Cute guy at the Dalaran North Bank - w4m

I'll reproduce the post below this. Any idea who wrote this? The "you" sure sounds like me!

---

Hi! I saw you at the Dalaran North bank last night. I forgot my ATM card, so I had to run in really quick. You were at a different teller, and I thought about saying hi, but by the time I was done and out of line, you were already gone.

You: Tall guy with a blue mohawk. I think I remember seeing you with the Hammer of Purified Flame, but I couldn't make it out clearly.

Me: Pretty average height girl wearing my red hair in a ponytail. I had my 2pT10 on and gold hoop earrings.

I know that chances are you'll never see this, but you looked like the kind of guy who'd shield me from anything.

Quick Review: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
January 26, 2010 1408

While I'm not even two hours into Desperate Struggle yet, I have to say I'm already pleased with it and excited to continue. It takes place three years after the first in a Santa Destroy that's now a larger city, filled with large corporations. There seems to be more cut-scenes, but that might just be early in the game. The graphics are still great, and the little bits of breaking the fourth wall are amusing while not annoying. The first fight was fun but simple. It was a tutorial after all.

But let me tell you about the two things that made me fall extra in love with the game. First, Travis' cat is back, but now she's fat! You can play with her to make her lose weight, but exercising makes her unhappy. Then you give her treats to make her happy! She's fat and cute! Second, Desperate Struggle has awesome minigames! There's a video game Travis owns in his house. It's called Bizarre Jelly 5, and it's a vertical shoot 'em up in which you control a magical girl who can shoot with her hand. On the harder difficulty, it's like a (mild) bullet hell. Bizarre Jelly is based on the anime that Travis Touchdown loves. After I played it, it unlocked a video that allowed me to watch an anime clip of Bizarre Jelly, complete with the second and third panty shots in Desperate Struggle (the game's not for kids). The side jobs all play as simple games that feel like they would have been right at home on the NES. They're fantastic!

All in all, the main gameplay is still awesome, and the minigames are great. I love how aware Desperate Struggle is that it's a game. It's like an homage to the medium as a whole.

Quick Review: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
January 26, 2010 0216

Capcom has once again created an awesomely fun Vs. title. It's true that I don't know any of the Tatsunoko characters, but that doesn't stop them from being interesting characters. I prefer the graphics over SF4 with it's simpler backgrounds and 3D models with a bit of cel-shading. Street Fighter IV, which does have an interesting graphical style, consists of characters bulging all over the place with muscles and gross eyes. TvC is a 2v2 fighting game with 3D models on a 2D field.

It can be played with Wiimote and nunchuck (although I wouldn't want to use an analog stick for a fighter), Classic Controller, or Wiimote held sideways, which is how I always play. It's nice to see a simple control system. For the most part, you use two buttons for fighting with a third to call your partner. Just like with Marvel vs. Capcom, the characters are a lot of fun to use, and I'm looking forward to unlocking Frank West (from Dead Rising) and Zero (from Mega Man X).

Ultimate All-Stars gained an online mode after being localized from Cross Generation of Heroes. The game also has really great music and sound effects. I'm glad they didn't put in some hip-hop music in an attempt to localize. The music sounds very... early DDR. I like it.

If I get around to it, I'll write a full review later! But for now, I really recommend Tatsunoko vs. Capcom if you like fighting games.

World of Warcraft: Comments on Gearing
January 25, 2010 1800

There are some obvious generalizations to be made from my last post. First, any role in which I'm going to be using Flash Heal benefits from me having two pieces of healing-T10. This is pretty obvious. The 2-piece bonus from healing-T10 is to have Flash Heal have a chance to place a HOT. If my role is tank healing with Greater Heal, the 2-piece healing-T10 set bonus is worthless, so it would be better for me to go for additional throughput by taking the DPS-T10. For raid healing, I want Prayer of Mending to be stronger, so I should keep 2 pieces of T9 for the 2-piece set bonus. The T10 facts came as no surprise to me, but I hadn't thought of keeping the T9 pieces. Maybe I'll keep two pieces of T9 on me in case there's a fight in which I think having the Prayer of Mending bonus would be beneficial.

World of Warcraft: T10 Gear
January 25, 2010 0254

I've been trying to decide how to spend my frost emblems. Here's what I'm buying:

Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Volde's Cloak of the Night Sky
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of False Gestures
Circle of Ossus
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing
Spark of Light -> Purified Lunar Dust

For my own reference, here's what Rawr came up with when optimizing under different conditions.

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/fh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of Ambivalence
Lightweave Leggings
Sandals of Consecration
16305.77 -> 17873.88

---

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/gh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Cowl (dps)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Meteor Chaser's Raiment
Gloves of False Gestures
Leggings of Woven Death
Sandals of Consecration
Score: 16277 -> 17904.91

---

raid - pw:s/penance/fh, overall, with Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
keep current T9 chest
keep current T9 gloves
Lightweave Leggings
Sandals of Consecration
Score: 24465.8 -> 26152.38

------

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/fh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Ermine Coronation Robes
Gloves of False Gestures
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing)
keep current shoes

---

tank - penance/pw:s/prom/gh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Cowl (dps)
Crimson Acolyte Mantle (dps)
Meteor Chaser's Raiment
Gloves of False Gestures
Crimson Acolyte Leggings (healing)
keep current shoes

---

raid - pw:s/penance/fh, overall, without Ashen Verdict craftables, max thoroughness
Crimson Acolyte Hood (healing)
Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads (healing)
Ermine Coronation Robes
keep current T9 gloves
keep current T9 pants
Keep current shoes
Score: 24465.8 -> 25467.19

Game-Boyz Reviews: iPhone Best of 2009
January 24, 2010 2102

My Best of 2009 was posted over at Game-Boyz. It was actually posted almost a week ago, but I missed it. There's no normal link to the article. I had to click a small "Recent posts" link in the bottom right and then look through a table of posts to find it.

My list includes Space Invaders Infinity Gene, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Atsumari, Rat on the Run, World of Warcraft: Mobile Armory, and GameCenter.

Atsumari was the only game that I received for free as a review copy, but I assure you, it deserved to be on the list.

TV: King of Your Mother
January 22, 2010 1712

I noticed something interesting while watching How I Met Your Mother today. This will spoil one episode from King of Queens and one episode of How I Met Your Mother, but I doubt anyone really cares.

"Damned Yanky" is the 16th episode of season 6 of King of Queens, airing on February 18, 2004.

"Double Date" is the 2nd episode of season 5 of How I Met Your Mother, airing on September 28, 2009.

Both of these shows are from CBS, and both have the same plot.

Marshall/Doug likes to fantasize about other women but feels guilty doing it. There's only way he can rationalize it; in Marshall/Doug's fantasies, Lily/Carrie always dies a tragic death. Years later in the fantasies, after an appropriate amount of grieving, Marshall/Doug goes after another woman, knowing it's what Lily/Carrie would want. In actuality, Lily/Carrie is fine with Marshall/Doug fantasizing about other women but is pretty pissed off about being killed off in fantasies.

Game-Boyz: Atsumari App Store Description
January 22, 2010 0247

A quote from my review was put in the App Store description of Atsumari! I know it's dumb to be excited about this kind of thing but... =D too bad!

Pets: Muffin, Greatest Chicken Evar
January 20, 2010 2359

@PeepPeepTweet | TweetPhoto

Take a look at Muffin the Magnificent, best of William's chickens! This is William's photo, not mine.

Pets: Sumo vs Tails
January 20, 2010 2214

Game News: Graal Classic for iPhone!
January 20, 2010 2124

Graal Classic is a version of Graal Online developed for the iPhone! It was released last month, and I just tried it today! It feels pretty good! Menus and such seem to lag a bit. Hopefully they're better on an iPhone 3G. The game ran smoothly over WiFi and claims to work over Edge and 3G. I'll check that soon! I died pretty quickly after starting. Everyone's pretty PVP crazy in Graal. You can see a picture of my first death!

Game Reviews: Babel Rising
January 19, 2010 1741

Babel Rising is a simple game and is quite fun / Apple / Reviews

My review of Babel Rising for the iPhone is up at Game-Boyz.com. It's a pretty fun game! Waves of people come to build and tower, and you have to stop them. It's similar to those games in which you have to defend a keep or a castle. My review copy was provided by Bulkypix.

Game News: Hellgate: Resurrection Coming Soon
January 19, 2010 0130

Hellgate: London servers set to reopen in Europe and U.S.

Hellgate: Resurrection: Hellgate: Tokyo Announced Today - MMORPG News - New MMO News, Free MMOs, Tidbit, Top 10, Topics, Previews - News.mmosite.com

Joystiq reports from gamesindustry.biz" that HanbitSoft, who owned the rights to Hellgate: London in Korea, has acquired worldwide rights to publishing the software and plans on reopening servers in Europe and the United States. The game will now be called Hellgate: Resurrection and will have new features.

This is definitely good news. Reading through the comments on Joystiq, it's obvious that a lot of people do not share my excitement at Hellgate's return. Most likely they're judging the game based on what it was originally. Yes, Hellgate: London was pretty horrible (although still fun!) at launch, and it remained so for quite some time; however, the game was much better at the time of server shutdown. I was actively playing at the time, having recently come back to the game. Hellgate definitely still has some issues.

My three biggest issues were needing to use the mouse to look around while also needing to use the cursor, the sluggish interface, and the bland atmosphere. The first two problems combine to be particularly annoying, but you do get used to the cursor usage. I doubt the atmosphere can be fixed. The entire game is gray. Thanks Gears of War for making gray worlds so popular! I understand their reasoning: a post-apocalyptic world should be covered in dirt and dust. Still, I feel like some more color could be used.

Despite these shortcomings, the game was actually very fun. While marketed as an MMO, it functioned similar to Guild Wars. The towns were like MMOs, but everything outside of town was instanced. Playing similar to Diablo, it was really an online, role-playing, dungeon crawler. It had an intriguing plot that I never got to see through to the end. I was always sad that I didn't get to find out what happened at the end. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint! The graphic novel and three novel series were very entertaining. The novels seemed to end without as much conclusion as I had hoped, but they were still quite enjoyable.

mmosite.com reports that Hellgate: Resurrection includes The Abyss Chronicle, the second patch (the first being the Stonehenge Chronicles), which was developed by Flagship Studios and on the test servers but never released. In addition, HanbitSoft also has new content known as Hellgate: Tokyo, which will take place in Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama. I hope those locations are more colorful! The game has also been tweaked a bit with the removal of the level cap (uh, I doubt there's no cap), a new/changed character advancement system, and changes to class balance.

World of Warcraft: WoW Developer Twitter Chat
January 15, 2010 2119

Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category

WoW.com put up a nice transcript of the WoW developer Twitter chat organized by category. I've included some of the more interested ones to me.

Q. For those of us who collect tabards and armor sets, do you see a way for us to store and not use our very limited inventory?

A. Yes. We'd like to store them the same way you do titles. In general, we don't want to punish the packrats out there who just like to collect stuff. We will have to wait and see what we can do about it though.

This is great news! Tabards should be easy, but I'm curious what they could do for armor sets. When they answered this question, they were probably specifically thinking of tabards and not armor. I'd like to see a 100-slot bag, only purchasable at the level cap, that can hold any armor or weapon piece that was a certain item level below the current tier item level. In other words, you can always put your old stuff in it.

Q. What knowledge have you gained from WotLK/ICC in regards to your future design plans for Cataclysm?

A. That's a broad question for just 140 characters! I'll say one thing we learned in retrospect was that the progressive badge structure has ended up confusing. We have a simpler one in mind that accomplishes the same goals.

It wasn't confusing at all. It worked really well.

Q. Will you be emphasizing more Horde vs. Alliance hatred in the future?

A. It's a major focus for Cataclysm. Neither Garrosh nor Vyrian is a major fan of cross-faction cooperation.

Are we going to get at least some leader to whom we can admire? Garrosh is war crazy, Cairne doesn't do anything, Vol'jin doesn't do anything, Sylvanas is kind of mean (and I don't trust the Forsaken), and I don't even know who the leader of the Blood Elves are. Who should I look up to? Tirion Fordring? I'm not a paladin. Do priests count for anything to the Light? Will he be around in Cataclysm? I doubt the Ashen Verdict will still exist. Will the Argent Crusade, in some form? Will Fordring still be amicable to Horde? I suspect he will, but he's not really my leader. Darion Mograine? I'm not a Death Knight. And I have no idea how the Knights of the Ebon Blade will be integrated into society without the driving force of killing Arthas. Maybe I should look closer to home. My guild leader? Oh yeah, she's inactive, lol.

Q. Will Trolls ever get either their own capitol, or a district in Orgrimmar like the Gnome district in Ironforge?

A. Personally, I think it adds a little to the troll story that they have such an amazing cultural legacy and have fallen so far from that in recent history. That said, we have a little bit of love for trolls in Cataclysm (beyond the ability to be just about every class in the game).

*excited*

Q. Can we expect a Canadian style pet for the Olympics this year?

A. I will put in a request today for an epic moose mount, not sure if it will make it in though.

Room... with a moose!

Games for Free: First-Person Tetris
January 15, 2010 2005

First-Person Tetris

First-Person Tetris will spin you right round, baby, right round

Just play it.

Game News: Project Needlemouse featuring Just Sonic
January 15, 2010 1919

SEGA America Blog | Project Needlemouse Character Countdown – Finale and Concept Art!

SEGA America Blog has been eliminating possible characters for Project Needlemouse, the new 2D Sonic game, all week. They posted a picture with various characters' names on Monday, and each day they've been rejecting some of the characters. Today SEGA finished by rejecting every character other than Sonic. This is pretty good news for long time Sonic fans. To be honest, there's a lot of characters I don't mind. Tails is alright, although I feel like being able to fly breaks the game a bit. Knuckles is fine, and I enjoyed playing as Amy in Sonic Advance. Still, I hate the introduction of random, additional characters with each game. Here's hoping Project Needlemouse turns the Sonic series around!

World of Warcraft: WoW Magazine Doesn't Credit Authors
January 15, 2010 1913

Yes, I Wrote for the WoW Magazine – Check out my Articles | World of Matticus

I’m A Sucker For Pretty Things « Azure Shadows

The first issue of World of Warcraft Magazine was released recently. It seems most people are pretty pleased with the content besides the fact that it seems rather dated (as print always is). However, Matt from World of Matticus wrote on his blog that he wrote two articles for it yet went uncredited. A woman named Lesley wrote in a comment on an Azure Shadows post that she too went uncredited for her contribution to the magazine. It seems that the editors at World of Warcraft Magazine feel that crediting authors for their work isn't something they should do. Not that I was going to buy the magazine anyways, but I don't think this will help them any.

World of Warcraft: Azoku and Fingerpaint, Losers
January 14, 2010 2208

Let me tell you about two douches from Kil'Jaeden! We (Carpe Flux Capacitor) had to PUG three people for our second ICC-10 run. Two people came together - Azoku, a druid tank, and Fingerpaint, a holy priest. They complained that the fights were taking too long due to low DPS but stuck with us anyways. Then when Lord Marrowgar was at 3%, they both decided to leave the raid group, leaving us to wipe. While we were slow, no one had died, and everything was going fine. Asses.

Hopefully by the time Frostwing Halls hits, I'll clear Lower Spire. It sure as hell isn't happening before The Crimson Hall hits.

World of Warcraft: Carpe Flux Capacitor Guild First Festergut
January 13, 2010 0631

Mooglegem was with Carpe Flux Capacitor during our guild first downing of Festergut in the Plagueworks of Icecrown Citadel! There's a post on the CFC forum with a screenshot!

Game-Boyz Reviews: Atsumari
January 13, 2010 0619

My review of the fantastic puzzle game, Atsumari, was posted yesterday on Game-Boyz.com. It's a relatively simple game in which you use a few rules to determine which hexes of a hexagonal grid should be black and which should be right. It was a relaxing game, and I really enjoyed it.

I also found that my review was quoted on the front page of Atsumari's web site at Atsumari.com, which really excited me! I had to save a screenshot!

Game-Boyz Reviews: Twin Blades: The Reaping Vanguard
January 13, 2010 0608

I think I forgot to mention that my review of Twin Blades: The Reaping Vanguard for iPhone was posted at Game-Boyz.com. It's normally $0.99, but I received a review copy for free. It was a really fun, although rather repetitive, hack and slash with really gorgeous sprite art.