E E E

As you all know, this E3 thing is this week. HA! Did you know? I was only vaguely aware because I read the better blogs.

But here’s what I was wondering. Do players, y’know, just gamer people, go to this thing? I’m thinking they do. This strikes me as far too much of a commitment to a hobby than I’m willing to give. Is it me? Am I wrong?

Everything’s leaked on the net two hours after it’s finalized anyhow, so how could there possibly be any unheard of, unseen shiny?

Nevertheless, plenty of blogs and news sites are covering the amazing! must-see! fun of an industry media event convention, including one blog, that I won’t name, with a fucked newsfeed that sends all their old posts as new material every time my feed reader refreshes. (Ever hear of adding your own feed to a reader to check that it’s operational?)

Best coverage that I’ve seen is Amit’s of These Damned Machines Are Killing Me. Of the myriad sites providing wall-to-wall, he’s one of the few that isn’t just pumping up the punctuation on press releases and doing a reblog.

Sure hope the food gets better for him, brave lil trooper.

Gotta Walk Tall in the Wild West

Today I checked the Guild Wars front page which I haven’t done since the game went live. I assumed they wouldn’t ever update it because, y’know, no monthly fee. Since the server farm has been up and operational every time I wanted to play, they’re really under no obligation to change, update, fix or explain anything.

In my own mind, no monthly means we’re not married. I can walk away, they can walk away.

In many ways, this is my kind of relationship.

I know they had some blahblah about pushing new content every so often, but who believes that anymore? But there it is, in black and gold, in less than a month they pushed new content. Crazy. (The 5-16-05 news item because ArenaNet doesn’t believe in permalinks either.)

The rest of it is standard front page schtick: guild of the week, contests, press coverage, yawn, but one item caught my eye … Name Alert System. You can, in fact, report offensive character names via email. Damn.

I was enjoying the whole Wild West, lawless, Deadwood feel of Guild Wars. You’re on your own in this world, cupcake. No GMs to whine to, no official/moderated/corporately-sanitized (I hereby lay legal claim to the adjective “corporatized”) message boards to spam, no recourse WHATSOEVER.

You fuck up, you’re annoyed, you’re offended, game screws you, tough shit.

On paper, that sounds bad, but hell, there’s no monthly fee, the server farm is always open for business, I have no complaints.

I’m not a frequent petitioner in any game as it is; I think the only petition I ever sent to Blizzard was “hi, boats are broken. thx.” The authority-free world that I imagined of Guild Wars (and maybe is, the email addy could be a junk folder for all I know) was tremendously liberating.

It’s just the NPCs and us. There’s no one here to save you now.

More Star Wars Links To Click I Have

The pace quickens: the ads, the watercooler talk, the ringtones, the wallpapers, the planned absences from work, the toy displays, the monologues.

David Letterman’s Top Ten Things Never Before Said by a Star Wars Character.

Are you like me? Do you want to beat anyone wearing a Stormtrooper costume with their plastic laser gun? Good.

We’re going to need more targets, there’s just not enough to go around. Take time today to send the instructions for Building a Stormtrooper Costume to all of the Star Wars fanbags you know.

So many of the pre-release reviews spend far too much time apologizing for Movies 1 and 2. Ya ya, we all have excuses and I don’t know anyone that didn’t hate Movie 2, I mean active, bile-filled hate. We’ve moved on. Is THIS one any good?

Two reviews that are well-written and interesting of their own merit: One that loves Movie 3 and one that doesn’t (popup alert on 2nd link).

Lastly, a flickr photo set from the Star Wars Celebration III, April 2005 in Indianapolis. Lucas approved with properly displayed ©’s ™’s ®’s! More details about the convention were detailed in USA Today, bloglike format.

Much dedication for their hobby they have.

I would guess that some of them have their own blogs where they write humorous anecdotes and post news items, almost every day, for NO PAY.

What kind of a pathetic nutjob would do that?