Gen Con 2007

Hello, first of all let me introduce myself, I am Tranziq the newest contributor to WrathofGod's blog. I have known WoG for a little over 10 years now. We have very similar gaming interests and we are both Jesus Freaks. I hope you like my first post.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Gen Con this year. I usually steer clear of GenCon due to me spending WAY too much money on figurines, games, swords, knives, and other sharp things. This year I told myself, "Hmm, E3 got nerfed and these guys said last year they wanted to pick up the slack that E3 had left in its dust." So I started doing some research on who would be there. The first one that cought my eye was Blizzard. I knew that Blizzard would be there due to their Trading Card Game and for World of Warcraft. What I didn't know was they were going to showcase the latest expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

Well being one that just quit playing WoW this did not have me as interested as I thought it would be. But I was proved wrong. This is still VERY Pre beta. None of the talents are done, no lvl 80 powers are done, none of the character improvements are there, and the death night does not apparently have a dance emote yet. He just stands there and laughs at you. The death night is still a work in progress of course so the rune system was not there yet nor was any of his high level skills. The spectral sabre mount was pretty cool tho. I got to play a bit in Northrend. There is a big ship that leaves Darnassus that takes you to one of the sides of Northrend. In the Press release they stated that it would have Nordic tendencies. Infact just think of traveling to Norway and you pretty much have Northrend. Everything is Green and lush. they definatly are learning how to use thier dated graphics engine to the fullest now. for example, a burning forest! Yes they actually had trees on fire and it looked really good. I only played for about 20 minutes and was just exploring Northrend. It looks like the map is done, but the balance mechanics and spells are far from done. Just remember boys and girls. It is still WoW. It is sill a rep grinding game.

Next on my list was a game I did not expect to be there, Starcraft II. This is the game that got me into true multiplayer gaming. I got to play as Terran and let me tell you. ZOMG. I was truly amazed. If you have ever played starcraft before you will feel right at home. I hopped in and started playing without issue. This game has got to be close to being done because it is hella stable and is looking really really clean. Heck even the bunkers look pretty. To be honest it is starcraft with a graphic update and a LOT more options on troops. but you will never have enough vespene gas!

Next on the list was another surprise. Eye of Judgement. This game is the launch game for the new PS3 Eyetoy. It is a Trading card game that interacts with your PS3.

The Eyetoy will recognize what card is played and do all the dice rolling and fighting on the overhead screen. All you old school PC gamers remember Battlechess? you take over your opponents square and the two cards duke it out. The goal of the game is to be able to hold 5 of the 9 squares. There is a lot of strategy involved and it seems like the first TCG I could actually get into. For an indepth interview on the game click here (Gametrailers.com)

Next... Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning blew my socks off! This game is absolutely amazing. This game is made by EA Mythic. For those of you who don't know Mythic, they made Dark age of Camelot. DaOC was a big PvP heavy game with siege weapons and capturable cities. The same with Warhammer. the Realm vs Realm is amazing. RvR is actually Faction vs Faction. kinda like Horde vs Alliance. Warhammer is very PvP heavy and has a TON of humor built in. for example some of the skills say for a Black orc are as follows. Da Choppa, Kick to the Jibblies, Git ovr Here, and so on. I was laughing all the time while playing. This game is a must have.

Last but not least is Crysis. We were playing on Dell XPS's and Alienware computers and yes it still could max them out. They were running it on Windows XP and Vista so you could see the difference between DX9 and 10. Bottom line Crysis is the revolution FPS needed for PC's . Multiplayer is solid, Single player has a rich interesting story. Now I must say this had to be an early build because Glitches were EVERYWHERE! floating guns in cut scenes, alot of texture bugs. I think I drove thru a cliff as well. so there is a alot of work still to be done. the only thing that really irked me was the shotgun. It has no power. Point blank range took 2 shots to kill an unarmored soldier. so lets hope they fix the shotty. Graphically it is hands down the best looking game I have ever seen. Even on DX9. Stunning is really the only word I can think of to discribe it. A must have game!.

Feel free to leave comments or questions about any of the games listed and I will try to answer them

-Tranziq

the LAW of men

Recently I saw a blog post about certain man-laws. Obviously written from a ah... "worldly" view of a single man, I wanted to alter it a bit for the married with children christian - "dude".

THE LAW EXPLICITLY STATES:
in relation to proximity of your persons and another man:
1 You must ALWAYS enforce the 1 seat buffer law in a movie theatre. There are ONLY 2 exceptions - opening night of any Star Wars movie, or Matrix movie.
2 Never accept "doubling up" under an umbrella. Neck-punches are reserved for offerers or offerees.
3 Sleeping in the same bed with another man is strictly prohibited. The following states of the floor are the only acceptable excuses: The ENTIRE floor is currently on fire, floor is flooded (ONLY in the case that an electrical appliance is submerged AND plugged into an outlet)
4 Man hugs (grip right hand, pull and slap back) are the only acceptable "hugs". If it is held for more than 2-3 seconds, you are authorized to fight.

in relation to the wife husband relationship:
1 Under no circumstance will you ever answer the question "Do I look fat in this?" Your options are to:
a. Say NO! (Your wife is beautiful and you love her how she is)
b. punch yourself in the face as hard as you can
c. break a bone (fingers are acceptable)
d. set some portion of your person on fire
2 Leave the seat down. (The earth has not known wrath as a woman scorned by the "bowl sit")
3 There are very few occasions when it is OK to tackle your wife. I have no idea what they are- I just wanted to throw that out. (at least make sure you drive your shoulder with a good form tackle when you decided to tempt fate and go for it)
4 When called and asked "Do you have ANY idea on how bad the kids are today?" Your answer is always NO! Do not deviate under any circumstance under penalty of your Xbox360 being killed in the face.
5 Yes, you love her new shoes/shirt/dress. You love it so much your face hurts.
6 Yes the food is delicious. (It is ok to decline seconds. Sometimes.)


...to be continued next week.