Sierra Kilo

Massively is a pretty good gaming site. The only problem is that there are a ton of posts each day and only a few have some meat. They had an article on crafting in Mythos that I found interesting, especially since I tried and enjoyed it this weekend. I’m not sure why the “complexity through simplicity” aspect of Mythos is so appealing to me, but crafting is an example of that. Once you have found a crafting recipe and gathered the ingredients, you can create the item. Enhancing the item’s properties increases the failure rate. Dead simple, fun, and engaging. A couple of things are missing from Mythos, however. First, I felt like I was playing a single-player hack-and-slash game (a bit like Gauntlet). I didn’t get much of the multi-player aspect. Second, a sense of permanency was missing. With so many items to collect, I couldn’t actually collect them because my inventory would fill up. Player housing would be a great addition (either that or a Dungeon Siege-like pack mule). Last, I felt no connection to the world. Why was I there? Why was I doing quests (other than money and XP)? Who am I, where am I?

The other good Massively article today asked “Is narrative important?” I say yes. That’s part of what’s missing from Mythos (n) : a story or set of stories relevant or having a significant truth or meaning for a particular culture, religion, society, or other group; anything delivered by word of mouth: a word, speech, conversation, or similar; a story, tale, or legend, especially a poetic tale. Maybe I just missed it? I like the game, but I like to be a part of my MMORPGs. I want to live the life of my character in that world. I understand Mythos isn’t exactly for roleplayers, but it could at least have some grand story (like trying to defeat Diablo and free the land from oppression or something).

Despite all of that, I’d really like to play a little more Mythos…maybe even tonight. Maybe I’ll LFG and see how the multi-player side of things is?

This is just way cool. I love seeing small spaces organized in efficient ways. A 4-level living space in a normal 2-level. What’s more, the whole thing is made from birch plywood!

While I wouldn’t be able to give up my 1900 square feet of living space, I would sure as heck would like to lay it out differently. As it stands, there is probably 500 sq-ft of wasted space due to poor layout of an “open floorplan” design. Poor wiring placement adds to the poor layout by limiting the arrangement of furniture. Given the outer shell of my house, I would love to gut the interior and redesign the layout. Got a few $k laying around?

…not the SNL-variety.

Friday, a friend and I went to see Rush in concert. It was great! Being in their mid-50’s, they held up very well for nearly 3 hours! They played most of the classics and the best songs from their latest, Snakes and Arrows. Limelight, Freewill, Dreamline, Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer, 2112…all rediculously good. Neil Peart played a 6+ minute drum solo, followed up by Alex Lifeson playing Hope on a 12-string. I can now say that I’ve seen one of the two bands I’ve wanted to see live…next up, Pink Floyd (when pigs fly?).

I got a little time to game, too. I’d been meaning to get on Dungeon Runners and Mythos for a bit and try to figure out what the difference was They’re both Diablo-esque hack-and-slashers. I found myself playing Mythos more. Maybe it’s the Diablo roots, but it just felt more familiar and fun. I wasn’t a big Diablo player, but I liked the idea of socketed items and item rarity. The RPG elements are all there as well as the skill tree. I’m playing a Gadgeteer, which is actually pretty fun. I’m using a shotgun-like musket and sending my little homing spider bombs to collect kills. There are plenty of quests and they’re nice and short. One could hop on for 15 minutes and complete a quest or two. So far, however, I’m missing the MMO part of it. Sure, I see a few people running around the common-area cities and see a bunch of text in the chat window, but it’s felt like a completely single-player experience. Maybe it’s the instanced dungeons? Mythos seems well suited for Achievers with a little for Explorers. As an EASK, it’s not completely lost on me. I would like to see more roleplaying and social elements. Owning a home and defending the city from an invasion would be a great way to give the player a sense of belonging and camaraderie. The crafting quests were slightly fun. More downtime activities could fill the roleplaying void.

Games:
With all of the MMORPGs being developed, why isn’t there one that I really want to play? Granted, there are a couple who have not released enough information (I’m looking at you Bioware and 38 Studios), but from what’s known, I’m a little disappointed in the future of the genre. One player in my disappointment is the lack of console MMOs (specifically XBox 360). I can jump into a CoD4 frag-fest and play for an hour or so in the evening. I’d rather play from my comfy couch in 720p on my 50″ TV than in the upright chair in the confines of my office. Maybe XBox Live is to blame? Is it not possible to develop an MMORPG for that console? Playstation 3 has their virtual world “Home” coming out soon, so it’s not impossible for that platform. It’s not the control scheme. With the chatpad attachment, it would be easy enough to map actions to keys rather than having to navigate menus with the controller.

Right now, I am actually looking forward to Stargate Worlds. It looks like it might be very interesting. I might even be able to get the wife to play with me. Earthrise and Fallen Earth are also intriguing (I’ve been following FE forever). Still, none to be played in my living room

D&D 4th Edition: Pen-and-paper WoW? I happen to like 2nd Edition AD&D best, but the online component to 4e looks interesting. D&D seems to use much less imagination lately, though. With all of the miniatures, rules simplification (yet complication due to the multitude of extra sourcebooks), and multi/prestige/hybrid classes, D&D seems much less about roleplaying and more about gaming. I’m interested to play a 4e game on “D&D Game Day” and read the rules, though.

Gadgets:
No updated Mac Mini yet. By the time they update it, I’ll probably be over the whole Mac in the living room thing.

The Goods:
Hellboy 2 looks much better than the original. Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth comes through a little, which is cool.

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I celebrated Office Space-style. I did nothing! I watched TV, played games, and that was it. I had grand plans to wash the car, but news of rain stayed my hand.

I played Call of Duty 4, mostly. I gained a few levels and opened up a few new weapons and equipment. I thought about hopping on Dungeon Runners or Mythos, but never got around to it. In hindsight, there were a few other things I would have liked to do, too, but didn’t think of at the time. None would have broken up my day of doing nothing.

I saw a show last night about the 2007 Solar Decathlon. It was very interesting. I love the prospect of modular housing and wish it were more widely accepted. Many modern technologies are modular and upgradeable, so why aren’t homes? If my computing needs call for more memory, I can slap a new stick of RAM in my PC. I’d love to see a neighborhood in my area of North Dallas that consists of modular houses. The area is fairly progressive and tech-savvy, so it would probably do well. SIPs, recycled/renewable materials, energy efficiency, and smart home technologies are something I’d love to have in my house. If I could easily slap on an extra room in about a week for a few bucks, I’d be all about it. All I’d need is some land and money, I guess…

I’ve been a good boy.

Created by OnePlusYou

Walt Mossberg promises 3G iPhone in 60 days - Engadget

The “3G iPhone in 60 days” is one of the least interesting topics in this video. My 14-month-old daughter could tell you Apple is releasing a 3G iPhone soon! She loves flipping through photos on my wife’s iPhone, by the way. My prediction, however, is closer to 1Q 2009, since that’s when early adopters’ 2-year AT&T contract will be up and they’ll be looking to upgrade.

What is more interesting is his call for more standardized broadband, better advertising, and a better way to bring internet-delivered media to TV sets. You tell ‘em, Uncle Walt!

While I’m not starved for bandwidth (I don’t always use what little I have anyway), it would be nice to have a fat pipe for data when I want to use it. Scandinavia has better broadband than we do?!? Sure, our urban sprawl and expansive land mass make it a little difficult to lay high-speed fiber all over the place, but still…

I’ve ranted about advertisements before. I may have even written about an acceptable dynamic advertising method, although I can’t find where the article went. Basically, like Walt, I don’t care about E.D., tampons, or trucks. I accept the fact that if I want free content from a media provider, I may have to view advertisements. I’m fine with that. I can go get a snack, use the restroom, or whatever while the ads are playing. If the ads are entertaining or informative I may even watch them. However, most ads don’t cater to me, are boring, and are completely biased (although most medications do give some of the downsides, yuck). How about letting your product speak for itself? Give your product to an unbiased reviewer and let him review it. If your product is good enough, the review will be good, so use that as your ad! Hmm…Walt does reviews. I’m not sure exactly how unbiased he is, but if I saw Walt giving a minute long review of something showing features, benefits, and maybe even a few drawbacks, I’d probably watch. I’d be even more likely to watch if what he was reviewing was 1) something I was interested in, 2) related to whatever show I was watching, 3) or closely related to a product I had previously purchased, rated, or showed interest in. Amazon’s suggestions are some of the best I’ve seen, but even those aren’t perfect.

AppleTV and TiVo are currently the best options for internet-delivered media. I would have bought an AppleTV already if I didn’t want even more features (like those that a Mac Mini can provide). Content just isn’t quite there yet. I already pay for cable and I can skip past commercials easily, so I’m not going to subscribe to a season pass on iTunes for a single show. Video podcasts are great, but there are few with good production value, and the content is limited. Most are tech/news/current event-centric. I need some fiction…sci-fi, action, fantasy, drama, comedy, etc.