26 November 2008

A Much Shorter Absence

Haven't posted in a while for a couple of reasons. And those reasons are Fallout 3, Fable II, Mirror's Edge, Left 4 Dead, and Wrath of the Lich King. Mostly WotLK, though. This time of year is always a crunch but, surprisingly, this year has been fairly light compared to holidays past. Still, the new content in World of Warcraft alone consumes the majority of my time. I managed to tear myself away from the shores of Northrend long enough to make a few updates.

You may or may not have heard that the NIMF has done an about-face with it's stance on video games and declared the fault to be mostly, if not entirely, on parents and educators. The industry report card contains such sweeping statements as "[t]he ESRB has become the entertainment industry leader in educating retailers and parents about the rating system." Like many, I was overjoyed to hear this. This could be the first major step towards the video game industry being accepted as a legitimate medium, right up there with movies, television and music. This is definitely worth keeping an eye on. Let's hope this is only the start of a trend away from blaming games for all of the ills of the world.

Reading up on Star Wars: The Old Republic, a certain detail concerning the gameplay caught my attention. Bioware intends to implement a companion system, allowing players to recruit certain NPCs to travel and quest with. Although only one companion can be recruited at a time, each recruitable character comes with their own story, abilities and quests. The reason I found this notable was that this seems to be a throwback to Neverwinter Nights, Baludur's Gate and, of course, Knights of the Old Republic. If done properly, this feature alone could bring what makes all of Bioware's single player affairs so great to the game and serve to make The Old Republic stand out from the MMO crowd. Just when I thought I couldn't be any more excited at a new Bioware release.

One last things before I head back to the frozen peaks of Azeroth, if you're ever even heard of Mortal Kombat, you need to take a look at this. In response to the release of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Maxim Magazine scored an exclusive with Hernan Sanchez, the voice responsible for the iconic "Finish Him!" in every Mortal Kombat game since the beginning. And, rather than delivering a typical interview, Maxim took the opportunity to do something exceptional. I think "Flawless... Ensemble!" has to be my favorite...

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