Why … This isn’t a post!

http://www.threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2008-11-20

Go away ¬¬ I’m tired and hungry.

Regards,
JamesR.

What do you do when you’ve had a few drinks and you’re relaxing? Look up hilarious porn names and compile them into a list? Why not …

Black Cock Down
Nailin Paylin
Paste your Face
Cougars and Cream
Pirates Stagnettis Revenge
Desperate Housewhores
Monster Tit Sex Zombies
Squirt in my Gape
Semen Sippers
In it Goes out it Comes
Snow White Loves Black Pole
Daddy Please stop fucking my friends
Gaped Crusaders
Input/Output
Meat on the Grill
Need Seed
She only takes Diesel
So you think you can Squirt
Strollin’ in the Colon
Yank my Crank

Enough said.

Regards,
JamesR.

Leave your favourites after the beep. Beep.

Seriously, i’m so so sick of reading BBC articles and watching the news when they’re talking about games and getting nothing but utter bullshit from them.

Does nobody see that the reason the BBC demonizes video games as much as they do is because television is the primary alternative? Funny that … Television is also worse for our kids than MMOs or Video games in general. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

Anyway, cheap excuse for a post, I commented on this article with the following:

It’s a shame when people, mostly the target readership of this blog and/or the original report, fail to understand something and are out to demonize it at the first opportunity.

I am a World of Warcraft player for over three years now but I am also currently working a placement in between my second and third years of a Computer Science degree. I have always had steady relationships and a reasonable level of academic performance. I also have a large circle of “real life” friends and healthy relationships with my coworkers.

The flaw with every “non-biased” news source that chooses to comment on the “problem” (I feel like I’m using inverted commas too much but then the article warrants it) is that you enter with the idea that you either play the game or you’re an impartial observer.

You talk about your time interacting with those waiting to pick up Wrath of the Lich king as if they were wasting their time. You obviously believe that this isn’t just any other hobby which is an opinion which totally poisons everything you write on the topic.

I find it rather peculiar that you have a psychotherapist as a reputable source in spite of the fact that he earns his money from convincing people (call me a pessimist) that there are problems with their lives. This man’s livelihood is directly connected to the subject in a way that will blur his viewpoint.

Like many of the commentators above me I agree that the media is just demonizing video games in the exact same way it has done with every major media to date. Have you ever considered that the kids playing these games excessively and tanking their grades simply need better parents to say no?

Quite frankly I would rather my children (when I have them) spent their time on a MMO video game than in front of the television because at least it engages their brain and gives them social exposure.

Then again, I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about MMOs. From your writings it’s obvious you think they do nothing but turn people into mindless drones.

You’re mistaken, that’s what happens when you watch too much BBC news.

Fucking BBC, first they show Killzone 2 footage on Halo 3’s release day … Now this?

Regards,
JamesR.

I’ve got a new article I was going to write as a weekly thing called “What’s the Deal with…” starting with JRPGs. I just can’t be arsed to write anymore of it … I’m almost tempted to just post the unfinished thing and let Leslie pick up the second half or something

Anyway the more dick’ish of you will be interested in the Probably Sucks competition running … To quote:

We want you to write your most offensive review of our website on your blog. What do we mean? We don’t want you to write a review praising this site, we want you to let everyone know just how offensive, mean and downright unfair this blog is.

Could be interesting, that should at least sort Mark out for content this week!

Anyway, Make Your Own GTAIV Fun: Prison Break 3 is set for reshooting this weekend. Don’t miss it.

Just had a conversation with a friend so lets put it to the poll! For … all … zero of you to vote on!

Read below before voting

James 1: 
Here’s a thought. Halo 2 is better than Halo 3. To me it seems that the third one hasn’t got an original bone in its body and while neither were better than 1 at least 2 tried to improve not just copy.

James 2: 
Woah woah woah woah woah woah woah woah woah woah woah woah.

False Profits - Hovind and VFX

I wanted to write about a specific area of the globalized religion that bewilders me - Faith in those who we know are liars. In recent years the faith debate has come under media scrutiny and theist proponents have swarmed on the opportunity to ‘prove’ their baseless nonsense. 

Read on …

I’m faced with a quandry at the moment - I haven’t preordered my Wrath of the Lich King. 

If i’m honest, i’m in no rush because I don’t want to play it until my new PC comes back (if… it comes back) so that gives me some room to breathe. The question is, do I buy the Collectors ed?

I vowed I would never buy another over priced collectors edition based on the pretty packaging becaus Bungie, EA, etc all gouge £10-20-$$$$$$ out of you for something crap + a pretty box.

But Blizzard have a good track record for collectors editions and i’ve always regretted not picking them up for previous games, so just to list it out:

Standard Retail Game: £18

Collectors Edition: £50

• Art Book
•  In-game Pet (Baby Frost Wyrm)
• Behind-the-Scenes DVD (hours of interviews)
• Music CD with over 20 tracks
• Northrend Mousepad
• Two trading card decks

Thats a steep price increase, but a substantial collectors edition package - so advice?

Regards,
JamesR.

This post is a response to Mark’s post on Laputan Machine.

1,4,6 and 7 are the ones that I certainly agree with. We receive some fairly immense buffs from our totems (20% haste, 80-100 Str and Agi … Errr) on top of that we as Enhancement get our +10% AP and an instant cast spell every 10-15 seconds.

The problem is, that instant cast in PvP is almost always going to be a heal and with our ultra poor mana effeciency coupled with the suddenly shocking amount of mana drain means in any prolonged fight (which by Shaman standards is about 20 seconds) you’re completely fucked.

Shammy Rage is supposed to not only combat this but provide us with a window through which to engage people with ultra burst attacks and CC lock downs.

the problem arises when it’s only a 15 second dispellable (is it still? I forget) buff which is just long enough for Rogue, Mage, Priest, Warlock and Paladin to stunlock you for the duration and in most cases continue to do DPS and drains while you’re locked.

Our burst is reasonable though, when we’re on a target and getting off some DPS we’re pretty hard to match with the exception of Ret pallies (notably missing from your list), Critilate Rogues (see what I did there) and correctly spec’d Mages.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with regards to our weak buffing system and the overzealous application of crowd control - But it’s also the sheer number of “Out” clauses that classes have these days.

There are plenty of things related on this topic to be irked about, from a Rogue’s perspective all feral druids get Shadowstep, but only 1 spec of Rogue does. Shadowstep doesn’t even work if you’re snared anymore (i.e. frost nova) and yet blink breaks not only all movement affects but even stuns. Druids can charge, stun, stealth, heal, root, cyclone, poison, gouge, kidney shot and bleed … All with a single spec. Paladins can crit big (bugged DPS aside), get instant heals when they do (they get instant heal on 1 crit, we get instant heal on ~5 hits…), STILL make themselves invulnerable, STILL use Lay on Hands (with a reduced cooldown) and got even better buffs after 3.0.2.

I know i’m running around with only a tiny bit of Resillience and mediocre gear on my Shaman/Rogue … But on my Rogue I feel like I can go toe-to-toe with a moderately geared resillience character purely on the grounds of interrupts and burst critilates but with my Shaman it’s often over before I even got into range.

If Shaman could stealth, could you imagine? Appearing out of nowhere, stomping down earth bind and beating the living shit out of the guy before he even knew what a Stormstrike Debuff was.

*Sigh*

Regards,
JamesR.

Yes, this is a very lazy post, so shoot me.

I was writing a real post then decided that this would be more fun! Below is my wish list for 2009 (in the spirit of the now defunct WSAG):

• DRM needs to fucking die
  We all know it’s true, so lets just do it.
   
• Will Wright will die in a freak ATM explosion
  Because I hope he really enjoys having “the sales and metrics of the sims 2″ you corporate sell out bitch.  
   
• Blizzard/Valve will release games within reasonable time frames
  I shouldn’t have to wait 1 1/2 years for an expansion pack.  
   
• WAR, LotRO and every other two bit crappy MMO will shut it’s doors.
  Hellgate is closing it’s doors, now it’s free to play - Watch nobody play it anyway.  
   
• Sony will get what’s coming to them
  With regards to their PR policies … I’m not anti-PS3, i’m anti Sony (and anti PS3-fanboy :P)  
   
• There will be a scandal surrounding the Wii
  Because they’re far too high and mighty  
   
• Someoneone will actually complete a Master of Magic clone/remake
  Seriously guys … How hard could is possibly be to make this thing work on XP without DosBox?  
   
• Blizzard will announce and release Warcraft 4 using the SC2 engine.
  Do it. Do it now you bastards.  
   
• All 3 parts of SC2 will come out
  If I have to wait 3 years for the 3 campaigns I won’t buy them out of principle. Stop sucking my life away!  
   
• Killzone 2 will be released
  So we can realise that all those clowns who bought a PS3 for it really are stupid. Killzone 1 sucked and so will Killzone 2.

That was definitely more fun, leave me things you’re hoping for in 2009 and enjoy the rest of your day!

Regards,
JamesR.

Oh and Mark, leave me the URL to your new blog in the comments, I’ll update it while i’m at work.

I’ve decided that I will try to move my Atheist blogging to another place since I have a better chance at a real reader base if I focus on something per blog rather than completely random things which have a tendancy to drive off people.

Then again I don’t really care if anyone reads this … It’s my personal blog. Why do I even have a personal blog?

Anyway check out [21st C Atheist], i’m still working on a few things but comments about the layout and extremely rubbish header graphic would be appreciated (although ignored).

Thanks to Dwayne from Probably Sucks for dropping by

Regards,
JamesR.

On the topic of Probably Sucking … 41 Reasons why your Blog Probably Sucks (not from Dwayne :p)