Dungeons and Dragons June 22, 2008

A friend of ours recently asked if we’d be interested in trying out the fourth edition D&D. As we’d never tried any edition (never played once), we waffled at first but we were curious. It’s always seemed like fun but I kept thinking it was too “nerdy”. I thought on it some more and realized the multitude of even nerdier things I’ve done before:

• Waiting eight hours in line for a Star Wars movie (probably for all six, now that I think about it)
• Waiting eight hours in line for a Wii
• Driving three hours to a convention to meet my favorite Star Trek actors

I’m probably forgetting about eight other things. There seems to be a theme of “many hours” in that list… anyway, I decided I’ve done worse, so it’s not like someone who heard I played D&D would say, “My, she seemed so normal, too…”

So yesterday afternoon, we got some pizza and chips, and settled in for a D&D session. A TEN HOUR session. I didn’t expect that but hey, it fits in with the theme above.

We really had a good time but I was too shy to speak up, even though I’ve known everyone we played with for years. I would whisper to someone, “Ask him about the mirror we found!” instead of saying, “Hey, dude, we found a mirror.”

I remember thinking how similar the game was to an MMO, which is my only other experience with role-playing. Coincidentally, MMORPG.com just released an article comparing D&D 4th edition to MMOs — it’s a good read.

All in all we had a good time and I’m not embarrassed that we played. I just don’t know if I could sit still for another ten hours any time soon!

Mmmm Cookies June 1, 2008

This is the first weekend we’ve been home in a while; we’ve been out of town every weekend for a month or so. I decided to log in my Fury in EverQuest II to see what was going on. My sister, a level 80 Provisioner, told me she was working on her Earring of the Solstice, which brought back a ton of memories from my EverQuest days. I loved crafting in EQ and I was proud to get my Earring of the Solstice and Thurgadin shawls back then. Even though I had originally logged in to EQ2 to try to get level 72, I decided to work on cooking instead!

As an extra bonus, this was a double experience weekend, so I ended up reaching my goal for the weekend of level 40 provisioner (I started at 34). I was so inspired that I baked some real cookies this afternoon. They look terrible — par for the course with my real life cooking skills — but they taste pretty good!

How It’s Made May 30, 2008

I recently discovered the show “How It’s Made” on the Science Channel and I was instantly hooked. I’ve been watching how all sorts of things are made in factories — things I never really thought about before. Some I’ve always wondered about, like chicken wings; in that episode they showed workers cutting up the chickens by hand. I would never last! All ten fingers would be gone in less than an hour.

I was watching one episode when they announced the next segment: how video games are made! I thought it would be fascinating to see how another company does it, and sure enough, it was pretty interesting. I’ve only worked on PC games so I was curious about any differences with a console game. You can check it out on YouTube if you’re curious, too!

Oblivious May 18, 2008

The other night we went about our business as usual, making dinner and then firing up the Grand Theft Auto IV. I finally took over and started playing and despite my previous concerns, I’m having a fun time playing! I don’t go on killing sprees or anything like that, so I think I’m being a good bad guy.

Anyway, I was concentrating on stealing a car (dang you, Brucie) when B said behind me, “Ummm… we’re under a tornado warning. Or we were.”

It turns out that while I was enjoying stealing cars, our friends and family were taking cover in their interior rooms and listening closely to the weather alerts!

Although I wouldn’t have enjoyed worrying about a tornado, I can’t believe that we didn’t know about it until B sat down to surf on the Internet. Eesh!

Liberty City April 30, 2008

Monday night we stood in line at midnight for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. B loves the hype around game releases; we stood in line 8 hours for the Wii and about 2 hours for Rock Band. The people in line for GTAIV were an interesting bunch… but thankfully the line went quickly.

B has been playing while I’ve been backseat driving. “Turn left or you’ll lose him! Don’t shoot the stripper!” I would play myself but I actually have a really hard time being “evil” in a game. I couldn’t play dark side in Knights of the Old Republic, went Paragon all the way in Mass Effect, and reset the 360 anytime I accidentally did something bad in Oblivion. (Granted, in Mass Effect you’re not evil, you’re just a jerk.) I just feel too guilty.

So I’m interested to see what happens if I do try to play GTAIV myself. Would I obey traffic signals? Never get into fights unless I had to? I think if I don’t have a real choice in the matter — it’s not like I can be a good guy — maybe I won’t feel so bad. I have the same theory for The Force Unleashed when it’s time to pop that bad boy in. Unleash the Kelly!

San Fran-tastic! April 27, 2008

This weekend I went to San Francisco for a Star Wars Galaxies community summit. It was just an overnight trip, but I really had a fantastic time! I went to the summit with a few members of the dev team: Jesse, Matt, Travis, and Thomas. We met up with Lorin and Binky there.

I’ve never been to San Francisco before, so I was somewhat in awe when I saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz when we drove into the city. We were a little early so we couldn’t check into the hotel; we explored the Metreon area instead.

We wandered around taking pictures for a little while and then grabbed lunch with our team members from SOE and LucasArts. I caught a glimpse of the NFL draft while we ate. (Tennesee Titans, why didn’t you take Limas Sweed? It could have been the University of Texas at Tennessee!) I finally changed and hoped that I didn’t smell like airplane anymore, and then it was time for the summit.

When registration opened I ran up to say hi to a few familiar faces when they arrived. Hopefully I didn’t scare them too much when they looked up and saw me barreling at them! I love meeting the people in front of the monitors, so to speak, so I was really excited.

I thought everyone asked the SWG team great questions and I took notes to remember everything. (We’ll have a recap of all the juicy tidbits on the web site later this week.) The most exciting part of the talk for me was our announcement that the team is working on creating the battle at Echo Base on Hoth. I’m really looking forward to seeing it take shape.

After the summit was over, we finally made it to the hotel to check in and clean up before heading out again. We wanted to check out the Fisherman’s Wharf and get some good seafood, so we grabbed a cab to Pier 39.

We made it there before sunset so we caught a glimpse of a number of large and slightly smelly seals relaxing on the docks. Alcatraz looked so close from our vantage point; it didn’t seem real!

While walking around Fisherman’s Wharf we wandered into a penny arcade. (It must be our natural gamer instinct that led us inside. Or maybe the fact that Lorin had visited the night before. Either way.) The arcade had an odd assortment of games, from actual penny arcade machines to the original Star Wars arcade game. Lorin spent a quarter on a machine and we watched a tiny lumber mill come to life for just a minute. There were some really strange machines in there!

We found a place to eat dinner — seafood of course — and relaxed for a little while before heading out. We decided to take the trolley back to the hotel. After a long wait, we finally got on the trolley with so many people that it was standing-room only. The operator mentioned that the car was originally built in 1947! I saw Jesse at the other end of the car signal to exit on the next stop, so we all got off… except Travis. The door closed on him while I said, “Nooooo” (in slow motion of course). It turned out that Travis stayed on the trolley because he knew that it was the wrong stop, and we didn’t! We met up with him a few streets over but we were a little lost downtown. Lorin and the GPS on his Blackberry finally led us back to the hotel safely.

All in all it was really a great trip, and I’m happy that I had the chance to go!

Happiness is… April 20, 2008

Sitting in the Alamo Drafthouse, drinking a chocolate milkshake, and watching Jet Li and Jackie Chan fight in The Forbidden Kingdom. Mmmm.

Bo-bo-bo-boxing! April 11, 2008

Last night we got away from the TV/monitor screens for a change, and went to a cardio boxing class at a boxing gym near our house. I wouldn’t be getting hit, just hitting a bag, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad…

During the class I confirmed my suspicion that I am a wuss. I almost didn’t make it out of the warm-up! I thought I was going to pass out so I kept sitting down. Eventually I made it through and got to the punching bag part, which was a lot of fun, even though I had to keep taking breaks. (Wimp is also a good description for my current fitness level.)

While I was resting I had a chance to look around the gym. There were some guys boxing, and fighters behind me wrestling. I watched them for a little while and realized that they could snap me in half.

I got back up and hit the bag for a little while longer. It did get a little easier as the class went on and I ended up having a great time! I have to decide soon if I want to sign up for the boxing gym or go to a regular gym, and it’s going to be a really tough decision.

Incidentally, One Pound Gospel… this is all your fault! *shakes fist boxing glove*

Working on Collections April 7, 2008

This weekend I played my entertainer in Star Wars Galaxies and worked on a few collections. I completed the new Chapter 9 entertainer collections, and finally had a chance to craft a valahorn!

I’m very excited about the valahorn because it’s sort of named after my forum handle (Valara). I wanted to tell my parents how excited I was about it, but I have a hard enough time explaining what I do for a living, much less trying to figure out how to explain an in-game instrument. Ah well, I know they’d be happy for me anyway!

Bring Down the Sky April 5, 2008

I’d downloaded the first downloadable content for Mass Effect a while ago, but because I had already completed the game, I wasn’t really motivated to play it. Since I just finished Lost Odyssey, and I had some time to kill (my computer is being persnickety), so I started Mass Effect again.

I had to play a little while from the beginning to get to a point where I could take on the new Bring Down the Sky mission. I can understand why the content takes place in the middle of the story rather than after; most players are still working on the story and not finished. I still hope that some of the later downloadable content takes place after, though! But playing from the beginning again wasn’t too bad, since your items, skills, and levels carry over after you complete it.

The new mission was definitely worth the time and points, so if you don’t mind playing through the beginning again, I would recommend it. And it has its own achievement, which never hurts!