Month: March 2005

First, happy Easter! Nice and rainy here in Georgia, but still a wonderful day.

I got to put in a decent amount of time yesterday and this morning with my PSP. If you have a GBA:SP (or a GBA) you know how great the graphics and screen look when in direct sunlight. Not so with the PSP. I let my wife drive since she was hauling us over to her parent’s house. The PSP just did not look good in the sun. Not sure why, but it was darn near impossible to see Twisted Metal in the sunlight.

On the other hand, the PSP looked wonderful brilliant in a dark room – very impressive. I image that school children all over the country are going to be staying up much past their bed times until their parents wise up and realize that the PSP works extremely well in darkness. The only problem with playing in the dark, was that I do not have the various buttons (volume, screen brightness, etc) memorized, so I could not find them, but that is a small price to play for excellent night gaming.

I am having little luck with network connectivity with Twisted Metal. I can connect at my house, but 9 times out of 10 I get kicked out due to “network issues.” It could be my cable modem (or more likely my b-band wireless router) is just not keeping pace with the game. At my in-law’s house, I easily connected to their g-band router, and had better connectivity results. Problem was that in almost every game I attempted to play, I ended up being the only one in the gaming room. I guess people do not want to play an “unknown” person, but I never have this problem with Twisted Metal Black on the PS2. Or maybe other gamers are also suffering from connectivity issues. This requires further watching to see if this is a trend or if everyone is just trying to figure out how to work their PSPs.

Speaking of Twisted Metal Head-On, I am starting to adapt better to the game. Once I got the hang of the analog nub stick, things started to improve. I am sure it will get even better once I decide to read the manual to look at the control settings.

The analog stick does take some adjustment to get comfortable with its unique control, but after a while, it is actually pretty solid. I have switched from using the d-pad with Ridge Racer to using the analog stick, with little to no difficulties.

It is almost time for Easter lunch (homemade seafood lasagna, yum-yum) so I will wrap this up by saying that Ridge Racer and Wipeout: Pure are great racing titles. Lumines is extremely well made, and should satisfy any puzzle fan. I think (key word is think) that Twisted Metal Head-On will also prove to be a solid game for fans of the series, or fans of blowing up stuff.

Thursday night I managed about an hour and a half of playing time before my PSP’s battery gave up the ghost. I suppose that out of the box, the battery has not been initial charged, so no real reasons for concern. Yet.

First impressions? The screen looks fantastic, and overall I would have to say that the device looks “sexy.” The device is smaller than I figured it would be, but the screen is bigger than I imagined. The screen takes up about 80% of the face of the PSP, with the other 20% divided between the left and right for the various buttons.

After holding the device in my hands for a while, I noticed that while the PSP is not overly heavy, it started to feel rather heavy in my hands, but not heavy enough to be bothersome. The side power and WiFi button/switches also felt awkward rubbing against my hand; almost as if everything else was solid, but these two buttons always felt like I was pressing them into the PSP’s interior.

I do wonder why Sony decided to pack white headphones, and a white plastic strap/holder. I guess that is the iPod effect, but Sony should have stuck with keeping everything black. The initial PSP value bundle also includes a power adapter, a cloth to clean the screen, an overly large instruction manual, a cloth carrying case, a disc that includes some videogame footage, some movie clips, and some music videos. A Spider Man 2 movie is also included. I would have rather paid less because the extras are not really worth anything, especially when you consider that the demo disk is non-interactive.

It was super easy to setup WiFi networking. The PSP found my wireless network with little fuss on my part, and you can store 10 different configurations, which is a huge bonus if you plan to play in different areas (home, the coffee shop, work, etc). I joined several Twisted Metal online games, but most of the time I got booted out due to network issues – not sure if my battery was not charged enough, or if my b-band could just not keep up with the game. I need to investigate further.

As far as the games are concerned, I am happy with my initial selection, but I really need a sports title (FIFA was delayed) and maybe something RPG or hack-and-slash-ish. I have no desire to pick up Sony’s basketball game, and World Tour Soccer has not received favorable reviews (plus the graphics were blurry and washed out on the demo disk). There is always Tiger Woods golf, but I am not going to pay $50 for portable golf.

Some brief impressions follow (maybe 5hrs total time between the games).

• Lumines: Puzzle Fusion – what a neat little puzzler. Of course there are shades of Tetris, which is true of any puzzle game. The graphics are crisp and pretty, but I am sure this could be done on the Nintendo DS (or pretty close). The gameplay is extremely addictive; you basically rotate squares and try to match up colors before the blocks reach the top of the screen. For puzzle fans, Lumines is easily worth $39.99.
• Ridge Racer – this one has to be one of the most beautiful games I have every played. It is truly impressive what Namco has done with the PSP version of Ridge Racer. I have a feeling that this game will be the PSP benchmark for the next two years; it looks that good. Of course it would not matter if the game played poorly, but it does not. It is pure Ridge Racer, even if there is some feeling of “been there, done that” because Ridge Racer recycles so many of the tracks from previous PSX games. For fans of arcade racers, Ridge Racer is worth $39.99.
• Twisted Metal: Head-On – I am a huge fan of the series (well TM1, TM2, and TM:Black), but so far I am not feeling it with this edition. I am not sure if it is just the control setup (I have not looked to see if there are different options), but so far Twisted Metal: Head-On has been some what disappointed. There are plenty of characters/vehicles from the previous games, and there are a lot of levels; fans of the series should feel at home. I guess I need more time with the game, but at this point, I am not willing to say this one is worth the $39.99 I paid.
• Wipeout Pure – I have not played this one very much yet (Ridge Racer is taking up my racing time), but first impressions are very favorable. The graphics are pretty, the interface feels like Wipeout, and the racing action is spot on.

More to come later, but at this point the PSP is not a dud. The price is somewhat of a concern, as I feel it is priced $50 too high, and getting booted out of my network Twisted Metal games is also a point of contention. Battery life is definitely something to watch; are we really only talking about 4-5 hours? I also think the price of the games are $5-10 too much, but if the replay value is there, I suppose I will get over the sticker shock.

At this point I am impressed with the new shiny. Hopefully the good feelings will continue to last.

The great thing about this little blog is that Jonathan and I bring different viewpoints about the wonderful world of computer gaming. We agree on many things, but I have little to no interest in console gaming. And if it is possible, even less interest in portable gaming devices. So I’ll leave all of the Sony PSP hoopla to Jonathan.

In the meantime, Silent Hunter III is the big news in computer gaming. Word of mouth about this game began heating up months before it was released. Since its release, there’s been nothing but praise from all corners, even from people who don’t necessarily play “simulations”. This is a submarine simulation on steriods. With dynamic campaigns, crew management, and very nice visuals, it is shaping up to be a game of the year candidate.

I was in Best Buy ostensibly to purchase the movie “Ray”, but I looked for a copy of SH3 and couldn’t find one. Good thing, since Gametop is selling it for $29 and it’s a steal at that price.

Be warned – you actually have to think in order to play SH3.

I just don’t know when I’ll be able to find time to play the game. World of Warcraft continues to dominate my gaming world. The only game I’ve played more over the years is Out of the Park Baseball. I feel like a kid again! I was in the original beta test for EverQuest and didn’t bother purchasing the game. Killing giant rats didn’t seem like much fun to me. Since I was raised on Dungeons and Dragons (no, I am not ashamed to admit it), I always held out hope that a game would come along that would capture those good time feelings.

City of Heroes was close, very close. So close that I decided I’d give World of Warcraft a spin.

The key for me in WoW is the ability to solo. My schedule is such that I have a hard enough time getting together with my WoW buddy Geoff and doing quests once or twice a week. Plus, I don’t have time to negotiate with other players about group quests. I can do quite well as a hunter on my own.

The second thing that keeps me coming back is the Auction House. I have skinning as a profession, so I go out and hunt for leather that I sell at the AH. This profession system was missing in City of Heroes and ultimately drove me into WoW’s warm embrace.

Geoff asked me the other day if he had a WoW addiction problem because he checked the AH everyday before going to work. I told him no, that it was perfectly normal. Then Geoff realized that he was asking the wrong person!

My wife tells me that my PSP arrived safely from EBGames.com via UPS Next Day service today at 1:30PM. Of course I am at work (with 2+ hours to go before I can get away), and still have soccer practice, along with the “getting the kids ready for bed ritual” before I can even think about looking at my shinny new babble. Then there are all the other decisions that have to be made. Exercise or play the PSP? Beer or no beer? A lot of beer or no beer? Exercise? I have a feeling the PSP is going to win out.

Who knew it would be so damn difficult to know for certain if I am going to get a PSP on launch day? I previously posted some portions of the more interesting emails from EBGames.com that were not 100% clear if I would get a PSP upon release. How hard can it be to give a concise “yes” or “no” answer to the $250 question? Apparently pretty difficult.

Meanwhile the local EBGames has informed me that I will get one, which out strings attached (i.e. $250 – no bundles required), and they will “hold” my order until noon on Friday. Pretty damn rediculious that their online counterpart requires such a massive layout of money on their bundle packages ($250 + 4 games/accessories). My total with shipping is around $500. This junk better be good!

But what about the games? EBgames.com sent the following last night:

“Dear EBgames.com Customer,

Thank you for choosing EBgames.com for your online gaming needs. At EBgames.com we pride ourselves on the speed and service at which we are able to get games into the hands of our customers. Unfortunately, games such as FIFA Soccer, the PSP Charger Case, Ridge Racer, and Rengoku: The Tower Of Purgatoryare no longer available as selections. Please resubmit your selections from the list of games below. As soon as you reply with your four items we will put your order together and send you a confirmation with further details. This resubmission will not affect your place in our first come, first served queue. The game can’t be cancelled however. You can either replace FIFA Soccer for another game listed below or leave it on your account. If this is left on your order, this will ship out on its scheduled release date.”

WTF? After looking at the status of my order, all of my games, which the exception of the Lumines puzzler are listed as not available or on backorder. No Ridge Racers. No Twisted Metal. No Wipeout. No FIFA. No nothing. That royally sucks.

So I called EBGames.com support, and “Ricky” tells me that the email is a mistake, and my entire order, with the exception of FIFA, is boxed and ready to ship. If true, then very nice. I am informed that FIFA has been pushed to an April 5 release date, and I will get it Next Day shipping free of charge.

I am not sure if Sony is responsible for miscommunication with the various distributors and retailers, or if EBGames.com is just botching the whole launch.

I still have no idea what to expect in the way of shortages – should I go for 2 PSPs and make some extra cash on eBay, or do I just happily, and gratefully except a single system and be done with it. I told my wife that I would give her half any profit I make from proceeds from the “extra” PSP, so she is hopeful of massive shortages.

I guess it will all shake out less than 72 hours.

Cheese and crackers, can violent video games not get a break? Why have a video games rating system if we are not going to enforce it by preventing minors from purchasing (and renting) ‘M’ (Mature) rated games?

So now we have this crap on David Coursey’s Weblog by an attorney that wants to stop MicroSoft from publishing GTA:SA

“Last Sunday I appeared on CBS�s 60 Minutes to explain a wrongful death lawsuit we have filed in Alabama on behalf of the families of three law enforcement officials slain by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City to kill. As you know, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is even more violent. Already there have been killing incidents linked to this latest GTA game.”

I should not even dignify a response, but in David Coursey’s weekly letter, David wrote the following:

“I will not cite all the evidence here, but there is good reason to believe that violent media has a negative effect on children and society. It desensitizes them to pain and suffering and may teach them violent “skills” they would not learn anywhere else.”

Maybe this is an accurate statement, and maybe it is not. Regardless, I go back to my previous point that children should not be playing games such as GTA. There is a reason GTA, as well as other violent games have a ‘M’ game rating � the games are not intended for children.

David concluded his “take” on this issue, with the following:

“Everyone involved in the development, promotion and sale of hyperviolent games like GTA should be ashamed. I wish we would go after these games with the same zeal directed at some other forms of obscenity.”

It always boggles my mind that people look towards video games as if there are the anti Christ. Are weak minded individuals influenced by media (not just video games)? I am sure they are in the same manner that children are easily impressionable. If everyone can just agree that games such as Grand Theft Auto are not for kids, and enforce the already reasonable ratings system, then I think a lot of this bunk would go away. Leave the video games alone already!

As expected, the PSP reviews are stating to roll in at various gaming and non-gaming sites. I figured it would be fun to see what some of the non-gaming sites have to say about this new gaming wonderment. Continuing on the previous theme (see “PSP Review – Gaming = Good; Multimedia = Bad” post below), pcmag.com rates the PSP a 4.5 our of 5. Of course PCMag is somewhat gaming mainstream since they are a Ziff Davis company, but I digress.

“Originally conceived as the PlayStation Portable (and now simply called the PSP), the slick, gorgeous device succeeds spectacularly as a portable gaming console. If you view its music- and video-playback capabilities as bonus features, you’ll be thrilled; if you were hoping it would be best-in-class at all its endeavors, you’ll be slightly disappointed.”

Frankly I find it a little disconcerting that I am not in Sony’s targeted demographic age group for the PSP (15-25 year old males according to the review). How is a 15 year old going to come up with $250 for this puppy? It sucks being old.

Washingtonpost.com has an interesting PSP review. You may have to register with the site to see the review:

“If you get a PSP, do yourself a favor and stick to the games. If you also want to listen to music and view your pictures, just get an iPod Photo or another music-plus-photos player. What if you don’t want to carry around two expensive gadgets all the time? Then you’ve got a problem — and so does Sony, until it revisits the PSP’s multimedia software.”

I am going to be in this boat. I will soon carry around my cell phone, my iPod Photo, my GBA, and my PSP on various trips. I wanted the PSP for the games, not the other stuff, so no big deal.

There is also a separate article that covers some basic reviews of the games. Nothing to write home about, but it is always interesting to see what the mainstream has to say about games.

“On the sports front, Sony offers MLB, NBA, Gretzky NHL and World Tour Soccer. NBA is our favorite of those four; not only does it look extraordinary, it offers some creative added features, such as a set of three mini-games that let you work on particular skills. World Championship Soccer, however, was the worst of this bunch, on account of its stiff animations and repetitive commentary. MLB, NBA and Gretzky NHL can all be played online as well as over local “ad hoc” wireless networks, but World Tour Soccer only allows local competition.”

Too bad about WTS – I have read similar unflattering previews about the game, so I decided to go with FIFA to meet my PSP soccer gaming needs. I hope to try WTS fairly soon after launch, if I can find it on the cheap (eBay) or for rent.

For the first time in recent memory I did not watch an F1 race live and instead opted for the replay. I guess I am getting too old for this stuff; for back in the day, I would have stayed the course and watched the race in its entirety, or just set the alarm to get up and watch in the middle of the night. No more I guess.

I am not sure I am sold on all the new rules for the 2005 season, but it certainly looks like the racing governing body knows what it is doing; the Red Ponies are finally at the back of the pack, while other manufactures are at the top of the heap, all the while there is plenty of racing action on the track instead of in the pits.

More to come later, but drama of a different sort is finally in F1. Can Renualt maintain its pace? Will Ferrari fight back when they finally unveil their 2005 entry? Not that last year’s drama was bad (i.e. can Schumi win them all), but the young season is proving to be very interesting.

I suppose many sports fans spent yesterday engrossed in March Madness, but I spent my TV time engrossed in the 12 hour Sebring race on SPEED. It seems like each year I get more and more involved (dare I say engrossed) with endurance GT racing – very interesting racing, with tons of high quality drivers. I was disappointed that one of the two Corvette C6-R cars did not win their class; the new C6-R is a damn impressive car.

Each time I watch one of these endurance races I always wonder why a video game developer cannot give us a Gran Turismo style physics game, with a Melbourne House 24 Hours Le Mans style game. The DC and PS2 Melbourne House games were always fun, if not a bit easy, but the cool thing about them was the 18-24 car field vs. Gran Turismo’s 6 cars. Plus the PS2 version of Le Mans has the Petite Le Mans Road Atlanta Race.

Speaking of Gran Turismo and Le Mans, I am only 5% or so into GT4; Le Mans goodness is coming, but apparently it is one of the tracks that is time released after a certain number of GT4 days. I will have to post some updated statistics later (for anyone that cares), but I have not really had much time to play the game since it came out, which makes me question my judgment of my PSP pre-order with 5 games.

EBgames.com has confirmed my order; still waiting for the AMEX to get charged to “prove” it, but I feel certain it is a done deal. The brick and mortar EBgames also have told me that I would have a shiny new PSP waiting for me at midnight on the 23/24 of March. I guess that means there is the opportunity to make a little extra cash on eBay, but I do not get the feeling that massive shortages are imminent. I have to make some decisions this week about what to do with my two PSPs. Right now I am thinking about canceling the local store order, but maybe I will read stories today about all the expected shortages. Either way, hopefully on Thursday I can say “I got mine!”

Baseball games have come and gone this season, but the only significant news is that there will be a new patch issued for Out of the Park Baseball in a couple of days. I hope. Since this patch was promised as a “Christmas present” in 2004, many have speculated that Markus actually meant an early present for Chrsitmas 2005. No word on what is fixed or added by the patch.

Sean Sullivan continues to plug away at his PureSim Baseball game. He has a very loyal following and the game is much better than when first release a couple of years ago. The real shame in all of this is that I don’t have time to really take a hard look at the game. I am an OOTP fanatic because of online leagues. Playing baseball games solo lost its luster after I joined my first online league, and there really isn’t a significant PureSim multiplayer community.

However, if I did play baseball solo, I probably would choose PureSim over OOTP6. I don’t like PureSim’s minor league structure, but everything else is set up to attract people who like to customize everything. Sort of the ultimate tweak file game.

Speaking of baseball pruducts, it just amazes me how many years we see the same reaction to baseball arcade/action games. One group will quickly proclaim that game A is the best thing since sliced bread. Another group will say they don’t like the batter/pitcher interface. Yet another group will complain that some major baseball aspect is seriously broken in the game. Bill Harris will lead a concerted effort to “slider” out the problem. Everyone will seek Bill Abner’s slider settings. Repeat and rinse.

High Heat was the last gasp folks. Until a serious sim engine is attached to these arcade games, this cycle will continue. High Heat 2001 was the closest thing to a serious arcade baseball game that I’ve seen in my lifetime. It failed because of many lingering bugs that even the community couldn’t fix and tweak out of the game.

But that is is. Game over. Will never happen again. If you seriously believe that EA Sports or Sony (my God, Sony!) is going to make a serious baseball product, then you really aren’t looking for an acurate baseball simulation. So be happy with what you have.

It won’t get any better.

This is why I steadfastly support PureSim and OOTP. These are baseball chess games. And they deserve to be played.

One reader pointed out to me that Angela Basset is a good guy on the currrent season of Alias. Have we not learned? Ms. Basset will be outed as some sort of evil spy working for some sort of evil group at some point this season or next. You can count on it.

Anybody else lost track of the different evil groups that come and go on Alias?

I’ve been having fun playing the market in World of Warcraft. Looking for a way to gather loot so that I can purchase my Kodo mount at level 40, I finally started putting things up for auction. For those unfamiliar with WoW, every side has an auction house which serves as the clearing house for various merchandise. My Tauren hunter skins what he can to get various types of leather to sell through these auctions. So far, I’ve mad a nice profit.

There has been a great deal of uproar about servers going down and long lines to enter certain WoW realms. I really haven’t experienced much of this during my many months playing the game. Yes, the servers have gone down a few times, but nothing too inconvienant.

World of Warcraft is so much fun, that I can’t honestly see any game on the horizon that will take any time from it or Out of the Park Baseball. If I had any additional time, I’d probably check out Everquest 2 since there’s a lot of good word of mouth about the game. But what elder gamer has time for two online multiplayer games?

Not me, that’s for sure.

Yesterday I was exuberant about my PSP preorder from EBgames.com (see Virtual Sex below). Today I read the fine print:

You may cancel your order at any time up until ten days prior to the PSP launch, which is March 24, 2005. To expedite processing, your credit card will be charged ten days before the PSP launch.

Please respond to this e-mail within 72 hours. If, after 72 hours, we have not received your reply, your order will be canceled. Receipt of this e-mail does not guarantee system availability nor does it guarantee that your order will be fulfilled with our initial shipment.

Once we have your order in the system we will send you an e-mail confirming your games and accessories choices and the final price of your bundle. You should expect this confirmation within seven business days of replying to this e-mail.

WTF? Let me understand this. First, my credit card will be charged 10 days prior to March 24. Second, I have to respond to the email within 72 hours, but EBGames.com has seven business days to reply to my email to confirm my order. Third, EBGames.com is not sending a confirmation that they have received my email, but it does not really matter because this process does not “guarantee that my order will be fulfilled with our initial shipment.” Again I say, WTF?

Well, not really, but it makes for a nice headline. As I just told my wife, I guess this is what virtual sex feels like. She was starting to get pissed until I told her that EBgames.com just confirmed my PSP preorder. Pretty sad state of affairs when EBgames.com makes me happy by saying that I can spend $500 or so on a PSP bundle, but I digress.

This just in from EBgames.com via email:

Thank you for pre-ordering your PSP Bundle from EBgames.com. The bundle you have purchased includes:

Sony PSP Value Pack, which includes the PSP hardware, 32 MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with remote control, battery pack and AC adaptor, soft case and cleaning cloth, movie/music/game UMD sampler disc and, for the first one million PSP Value Packs produced by Sony, a UMD video release of the feature film Spider-Man 2
Your choice of any four games and accessories listed below
Carefully follow these steps to tell us which games and/or accessories you would like.

Select any four items from the list below. You must choose at least four, but if you select more we will add them to your bundle. If an item is not listed below, it is not expected to be available at launch and therefore is not available for this offer.

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (Rated T) $39.99
Twisted Metal: Head On (Rated T) $39.99
Wipeout Pure (Rated E) $39.99
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (Rated T) $49.99
Gretzky NHL (Rated E) $39.99
FIFA Soccer (Rated E) $49.99
World Tour Soccer (Rated E) $39.99
NBA (Rated E) $39.99
Ridge Racer (Rated E) $39.99
Tiger Woods PGA Tour (Rated E) $49.99
Tony Hawk�s Underground 2 Remix (Rating Pending) $49.99
Lumines (Rating Pending) $39.99
NFL Street 2 Unleashed (Rated E) $49.99
Spider-Man 2 (Rated T) $49.99
Dynasty Warriors (Rated T) $49.99
Ape Escape: On the Loose (Rated E) $39.99
Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory (Rated M) $49.99
Metal Gear Acid (Rating Pending) $49.99
Need for Speed Underground Rivals (Rated E) $49.99
PSP Mobile Kit $39.99
Sandisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 128MB $39.99
Sandisk Memory Stick Pro Due 256MB $54.99
PSP Charger Case $59.99
Pro Gamer�s Case $29.99
Sound Stage for PSP $49.99
The software and accessory products listed above are scheduled to be available at launch, but release dates are subject to change.

EBgames is giving customers 72 hours to respond or they will cancel the order. Good thing I am not traveling this week!

No real surprises other than the memory stick; thank goodness I do not have to buy one right away. Also cool about the Spider-Man 2 UMD movie, but I would rather have the unit sale for less and not include the disk. Hopefully the sampler is worthwhile. I was also surprised that there are actually 19 launch games, which a lot more on the way in April.

I decided to go with 5 titles: Twisted Metal: Head On, Wipeout Pure, FIFA Soccer,
Ridge Racer, and Lumines.

I wanted to go with World Tour Soccer, but I figured FIFA was a safer bet; who knows how WTS will play on the PSP, but I can imagine what to expect with FIFA. Lumines was also a dark horse; I think Archer Maclean’s Mercury looks like a better puzzler, but it is not available on the preorder list. Surprisingly, no baseball games. I started to do Tiger Woods or Tony Hawk, but I figured I would not get my money’s worth out of either game. As it stands, it is going to be hard to get plenty of time in with Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racer. I figure Twisted Metal may suck – I love the series, but I cannot imagine that this one will be better than TM1, TM2, or TM:Black; maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. Hopefully these new PSP games will hold their value on eBay for a little while … just in case they suck.

Now if I can also get my local EBgames to commit to my preorder from back in January; I may be able to do some damage on eBay.

Am I crazy?

Was watching Justice League (yes, the cartoon) via Tivo (yes, I tivo’d it) and another piece of the conspiracy puzzle rested in place. Guess who is in charge of the grand government run conspiracy against the Justice league? A white male? No. An Hispanic women? Nope. Who can we find that has cornered the market on evil this television season? Who can that be?

An African American female cartoon can, that’s who! Not even children and/or older folks who appreciate fine cartoon entertainment are safe.

Or maybe we’ve come a long way baby? Seems every other racial/gender mix has ascended to the throne of evil at some point in history. Finally black women get a turn in the sun? Is this the dream Martin Luther King, Jr. hoped for?

In other news, my Tauren hunter is level 31. The game likes telling me how long I’ve played World of Warcraft. So far, that would be 4 days and 9 hours – with just my Tauren character. That’s right, 105+ hours of my life gone. I also have a level 21 Dwarf hunter.

Does Blizzard know how to make a game or what?

I need 100 gold pieces to purchase a mount for Fwa (my Tauren hunter) and I only have 22 on me. So I need to make quite a bit of coin over the next eight levels. Because nothing looks badder than a Tauren on a big old Kodo beast.

Got to get me one of those.