Even though I write a lot about WoW, it isn’t the only MMO that I play. There are times when I just want to play something different and relax. One of the games that I really enjoy at those times is Free Realms. I can already here the comments. Free realms is a kids game! What is wrong with you? Free Realms…Really!? While it is true that SOE markets Free Realms heavily to kids, I find the simplicity of the game, very relaxing. However, the main reason I like Free Realms is it’s flexibility. There are 15 jobs in Free Realms that you can switch on the fly. Unlike most MMOs, your aren’t locked into the choice of a class and when you want to change you don’t have to re-roll a brand new toon. You just click a couple of buttons and your outfit changes with your job. Over the next few weeks I will be posting a series of articles about each of the jobs, adding more Free Realms content to the site, and maybe including some in game video, recorded with the video capture option included in the game. To check it out go to freerealms.com and sign up for an account. The game client downloads quickly and you'll be playing in no time!
Thanks for reading and as always Have Fun!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Extra Life Fundraiser
I just wanted to take a moment to talk about a great event that is being organized by the people at SarcasticGamer.com and Texas Children's Hospital
The event is called Extra Life. Extra Life is a 24-hour gaming marathon to fund pediatric cancer research and treatment. Big Kids at Play is joining the effort to raise money and would like our readers to help in anyway they can.
Extra Life 2009 will take place on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 as gamers from all corners of the globe come together for a 24-hour video game marathon raising money to strike a blow against pediatric cancer. Last year, Extra Life raised more than $120,000 and was put together in just a couple of months. This year, they are starting early and throwing open the doors of Extra Life to anyone who wants to have fun while making a difference.
There are two ways that you can help.
1. Click the link at the top of this post, or on the top right of our site, to go to our fundraising page and sponsor Chks(David) as he takes on the challenge of gaming for 24 hours straight.
2. Click the link on the top of this post, or on the top right of our site, then click on the Big Kids at Play Team link. Once you are on the team page, click the link to create your own fundraising page and join the team. The only thing left to do is to get as many of your friends, family or others to sponsor your efforts as you take on the challenge of gaming 24 hours straight.
Extra Life begins at exactly 8:00 AM in your local timezone on Saturday, October 17th and ends at 8:00 AM in your local timezone on Sunday, October 18th. This gives people that have to work on Friday a chance to rest up and be fresh when it begins.
For more information you just click on the link at the top of this post, or on the top right of our site, and click the link to the Extra Life website in the left navigation menu or got to http://extralife.sarcasticgamer.com
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
MLG Dallas Part 1
This post is long in itself and will be one of two, maybe three posts about the event. I rant about things(That's just what I do), but in the end we had a great time and would suggest if you get the chance, you should attend an MLG event too.
On August 29, Dark and I had the opportunity to attend the second day of the Major League Gaming Dallas event. MLG Dallas was the third of five events on the MLG's 2009 Pro Circuit. The event consists of multiple tournaments for video games including, Halo 3, Gears of War 2, and of course WoW 3v3 Arena. Does anyone want to guess what we were there to see?
Our morning started early. After fighting with a Saturday morning alarm clock, making sure we had everything we wanted to take (which still wasn't everything), and starting our drive, we finally arrived at the Hotel Anatole just outside of downtown Dallas. The only parking we found was paid, which was a bit ridiculous for a hotel in my opinion, but we parked the car and forgot all about it. As we headed for the door the geeky excitement started to kick in and only grew as we made our way towards the hall the event was being held in. We bought our passes and then made our way through the door and into the hall. Passing through the door was more like passing through a portal that lead to geek nirvana.
No matter which way you turned there was some sort of video game being played. Xbox 360s and flat panel monitors as far as the eye could see. Huge screens with all the action projected onto them and the impressive main stage which I found out, much to my disappointment, would only be filled with Halo 3 fans. As we made our way to the back of the hall we found what we were here to see, the WoW tournament setup.
It wasn't at all what I expected. Instead of the main stage I mentioned earlier, there were four long tables in sets of two. On each set of tables, were six monitors, three on one side and three on the other facing opposite each other. Under the tables, each monitor was connected to an HP Blackbird tower. This is where the gladiators would do battle. As for the spectators area, there wasn't one. Not a single screen showing the action, no chairs to sit and watch, it was as if they didn't expect anyone. After fighting with a security guard we were allowed to enter the tournament area and stand watching the first teams prepare for their games. In the beginning this was actually pretty cool. We were able to watch the different ways that each player used their keyboard and mouse to control their characters. It was all up close and personal but soon standing and trying to see the action became the challenge as more people showed up to watch.
After a few matches Dark was tired of standing and starting to get thirsty so I grabbed her one of the very few chairs that was not being used by players, or staff giving her a chance to sit as I went to get us both something to drink. When I returned I was informed that the staff and the security team had confined the spectators to a small area in front of the tournament area to watch from a distance. I was not happy and in what was probably not my finest moment I made it known. Dark looked at me during this time like she didn't even know who I was as the, WoW fan boy in me took over and I gave anyone who would listen, or who was within earshot a piece of my mind. The details of that piece of my mind will not be repeated here in its entirety, because there may be ladies and children present. To sum it up I told them it was outrageous that we, along with the other spectators had paid our money and should be treated no different those people who were watching the other tournaments in the main hall. I also mentioned that we didn't pay to stand at a distance and watch players pound the buttons on their keyboards. We came to see the matches and the fact that there wasn't at least one screen showing the action was appalling. The worst part about it was that there was a monitor not in use just on the other side of the room. My rant caught the attention of someone who happened to organize this portion of the event ( I am sorry that his name has slipped my mind because he was, for lack of a better term Awesome. So grey MLG hoodie guy, thanks for everything) and he said it would be ok if we watched the action from behind the players as long as we weren't leaning over their shoulders. I thanked him, apologized for my outburst and he was understanding. A few minutes later he came back to Dark and I and informed us that they were setting up the unused monitor we had seen earlier so that it would play the live stream that was being shown on the internet. I once again thanked him and then things were looking up. For the moment anyway.
As we STOOD watching the monitor, which didn't have any sound, I heard a voice to my right and looked over to see and overhear a staff member saying some things I didn't find flattering about WoW arena PVP. Already in one of those moods my mouth opened and my opinion came out and he and I were engaged in what turned out to be a good conversation. We talked about the tournament, the setup and what I believed was wrong about the experience we had so far. Once again the full details I don't have room for here but I found out the man's name was Lee and that he did seem to care about what was going on, but was under some constraints that I could understand. Lee did get the ball rolling and shortly after our talk, the sound was added to our screen and the chairs for the WoW spectators began to show up and so did more spectators. From this point on we had a great time cheering for our favorites in each match, meeting new people, and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stayed for every single match and at the end of the night, my ranting was rewarded with thanks from another one of the staff, Devon, who was appreciative that now they had a spectator area they didn't have before. For this Dark and I were treated to some time on the tournament realms using the same computers that the players had used that day. It was a great ending to a overall great day. Thanks again guys for all your hard work.
On August 29, Dark and I had the opportunity to attend the second day of the Major League Gaming Dallas event. MLG Dallas was the third of five events on the MLG's 2009 Pro Circuit. The event consists of multiple tournaments for video games including, Halo 3, Gears of War 2, and of course WoW 3v3 Arena. Does anyone want to guess what we were there to see?
Our morning started early. After fighting with a Saturday morning alarm clock, making sure we had everything we wanted to take (which still wasn't everything), and starting our drive, we finally arrived at the Hotel Anatole just outside of downtown Dallas. The only parking we found was paid, which was a bit ridiculous for a hotel in my opinion, but we parked the car and forgot all about it. As we headed for the door the geeky excitement started to kick in and only grew as we made our way towards the hall the event was being held in. We bought our passes and then made our way through the door and into the hall. Passing through the door was more like passing through a portal that lead to geek nirvana.
No matter which way you turned there was some sort of video game being played. Xbox 360s and flat panel monitors as far as the eye could see. Huge screens with all the action projected onto them and the impressive main stage which I found out, much to my disappointment, would only be filled with Halo 3 fans. As we made our way to the back of the hall we found what we were here to see, the WoW tournament setup.
It wasn't at all what I expected. Instead of the main stage I mentioned earlier, there were four long tables in sets of two. On each set of tables, were six monitors, three on one side and three on the other facing opposite each other. Under the tables, each monitor was connected to an HP Blackbird tower. This is where the gladiators would do battle. As for the spectators area, there wasn't one. Not a single screen showing the action, no chairs to sit and watch, it was as if they didn't expect anyone. After fighting with a security guard we were allowed to enter the tournament area and stand watching the first teams prepare for their games. In the beginning this was actually pretty cool. We were able to watch the different ways that each player used their keyboard and mouse to control their characters. It was all up close and personal but soon standing and trying to see the action became the challenge as more people showed up to watch.
After a few matches Dark was tired of standing and starting to get thirsty so I grabbed her one of the very few chairs that was not being used by players, or staff giving her a chance to sit as I went to get us both something to drink. When I returned I was informed that the staff and the security team had confined the spectators to a small area in front of the tournament area to watch from a distance. I was not happy and in what was probably not my finest moment I made it known. Dark looked at me during this time like she didn't even know who I was as the, WoW fan boy in me took over and I gave anyone who would listen, or who was within earshot a piece of my mind. The details of that piece of my mind will not be repeated here in its entirety, because there may be ladies and children present. To sum it up I told them it was outrageous that we, along with the other spectators had paid our money and should be treated no different those people who were watching the other tournaments in the main hall. I also mentioned that we didn't pay to stand at a distance and watch players pound the buttons on their keyboards. We came to see the matches and the fact that there wasn't at least one screen showing the action was appalling. The worst part about it was that there was a monitor not in use just on the other side of the room. My rant caught the attention of someone who happened to organize this portion of the event ( I am sorry that his name has slipped my mind because he was, for lack of a better term Awesome. So grey MLG hoodie guy, thanks for everything) and he said it would be ok if we watched the action from behind the players as long as we weren't leaning over their shoulders. I thanked him, apologized for my outburst and he was understanding. A few minutes later he came back to Dark and I and informed us that they were setting up the unused monitor we had seen earlier so that it would play the live stream that was being shown on the internet. I once again thanked him and then things were looking up. For the moment anyway.
As we STOOD watching the monitor, which didn't have any sound, I heard a voice to my right and looked over to see and overhear a staff member saying some things I didn't find flattering about WoW arena PVP. Already in one of those moods my mouth opened and my opinion came out and he and I were engaged in what turned out to be a good conversation. We talked about the tournament, the setup and what I believed was wrong about the experience we had so far. Once again the full details I don't have room for here but I found out the man's name was Lee and that he did seem to care about what was going on, but was under some constraints that I could understand. Lee did get the ball rolling and shortly after our talk, the sound was added to our screen and the chairs for the WoW spectators began to show up and so did more spectators. From this point on we had a great time cheering for our favorites in each match, meeting new people, and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stayed for every single match and at the end of the night, my ranting was rewarded with thanks from another one of the staff, Devon, who was appreciative that now they had a spectator area they didn't have before. For this Dark and I were treated to some time on the tournament realms using the same computers that the players had used that day. It was a great ending to a overall great day. Thanks again guys for all your hard work.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Old School Project: On Hold!
Due to some real life happenings we have lost some of the people that were joining us in our Old School Project. I will be making a couple of posts that are way overdue, but I do not know when, or even if they will continue anytime soon. I will keep everyone posted as I know more. For those who have read and enjoyed the stories, thank you for reading and I hope to bring more stories like them soon.
PVP Gear Season 7
Arena Season 7 started as of September 1st and boy am I ready to get started. As I did in Season 6, I have updated my spreadsheet showing the costs for the different PVP gear that is available. Relentless Gladiator has taken the top spot and made some of the other gear more accessible to those who are not high in the arena rankings.
I won't go on and on with the details, but if you want a better understanding of how PVP gear rotates each season, check out my previous post on the subject.
Here is the Google Docs link to the new spreadsheet.
PVP Gear Available in Season 7
Thank you for reading and as always HAVE FUN!
I won't go on and on with the details, but if you want a better understanding of how PVP gear rotates each season, check out my previous post on the subject.
Here is the Google Docs link to the new spreadsheet.
PVP Gear Available in Season 7
Thank you for reading and as always HAVE FUN!
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