International Space Station infected by a Virus. – That’s just sad. Really, really sad.

Google launches Chrome – I wanted to wait until I had some alone time with this browser before I wrote about it. It’s very sleek and super fast, especially if you use a lot of Google’s services (which I do). There is a darkside however. For you security consciousness people out there, you may want to check out Steve Gibson’s security podcast, aptly named Security Now. I’ll be sticking with Firefox for the time being.

Ubiquity, yet another reason not to ditch Firefox. – As you all know, another reason why Firefox is so near and dear to our hearts is because of all the great extensions available for it. Ubiquity is just another fine example of what a great extension can do for you. It has sped up my surfing by 28.37%, no kidding. Install it, check out the tutorial, and take it for a spin.

Google to Acquire Valve? – Say What? I’ll believe it when I see it. If you don’t know who Valve is, don’t bother clicking the link. If you don’t know who Google is, get off my site.

Amazon buys Shelfari. – Old news, I know, but I’m still excited. One of the reasons I stuck with Shelfari over Goodreads was the fact that Amazon was an investor in the company. Now that they own it, let all the Amazon goodness ooze right down onto it. Oh, and check out my shelf. Sweet stuff there.

I’ve been using runningmap.com – This isn’t new either, but it’s new to me. I thought I’d throw this out there to my fellow runners. This is what I ran today.

• Server name – [DDB] & [RIOT] Hardcore Mixed GT
• Server I.P. – 208.167.234.131
• 20 slot server – may increase
• Hardcore mode – cuz that’s the way we roll
• Mixed game types – Headquarters, Domination, and Sabotage
• Ranked server

For more information, or to leave feedback, head over to zengeeks.com.

OK, I’ve played for 8.2 hours so far according to my steam page and I’m having a freaking blast. At first I was a little worried that the game was too simplified, but my fears were quickly squashed as I started to learn all the nuances of the game. Tactics, strategy, diversity, and team work are key to fun and victory in TF2. A team of just soldiers, or just HW Guys would get their collective asses handed to them. You really need to utilize every class to win this game.

If you’re not already familiar with Team Fortress Classic, you may be better off waiting for an official review. These are just my personal observations and thoughts. Another thing to remember is that this game, as of right now, is still technically in beta. Things are liable to change when it is officially released.

Big Changes:

No grenades: This sucks, but it’s sort of understandable. TFC was infamous for grenade spam. (I’m going to miss the EMP grenade though )

Graphics: Obviously. After 7+ years one would expect it to have slightly better graphics, and it does. But the player models are what really separate this game from all others. They look absolutely fantastic.

Every class kicks ass equally: This is a pretty big deal. I’ll get into each class in detail below.

Subtle Changes:

No more capture points: Instead they use control points similar to Battlefield. The more teammates attacking a point, the quicker your team controls that point.

No flag in CTF: Instead it is a briefcase (CTB?). The briefcase will stay where ever the enemy drops it for two minutes. Defending team members are not able to simply touch the flag anymore to reset it. If the attacking team touches the briefcase again, moves only three feet, and drops the case, the timer is reset to two minutes again. This minor change adds a whole new element to the game.

Secondary weapons actually matter: A shotgun, in this game, is a shotgun. They will take down any class fast. A pistol, in this game, is a pistol. Not just a thing to hold when you’re sick of holding you primary weapon. They hurt.

Classes:

Pyro – Flamethrower, shotgun, axe. He is devastating up close, but very vulnerable when out in the open. When up close, the Pyro can light enemies on fire. They remain on fire, and continue to lose health over time until they jump into water, get healed, enough time lapses, or they die. A lot of Pyros seem use a fire / shotgun combo and it seems to be quite effective. Pyros are great for uncloaking spies too. (yes, uncloaking. I’ll get to that)

Scout – Scattergun, pistol, club. This guy used to be practically useless. Now, not only is he fun to play, but he is an asset to any team . First of all, he’s extremely fast. He also has the ability to double jump and change directions mid jump (if one so chooses). His scattergun is deadly at close range and can even take down a Heavy (assuming you can get close enough) Another very important roll of the Scout is capturing control points. A Scout captures control points faster that any other class. (1 Scout = 2 of any other class)

Soldier – Rocket launcher, shotgun, shovel. Not much has changed here, but nothing really needed to.

Heavy – Gatling gun, shotgun, fists. Again, no major changes, but one subtle one. When the Heavy wants to shoot his gatling gun, there is a slight delay while the barrel starts to spin. His special ability is to spin the barrel with out actually shooting, thus saving ammo. The downside is he walks brutally slooooow when he does this.

Engineer – Shotgun, wrench, toolbox, detonator (to detonate structures you have already built). The Engy is still as much fun to play now as he was in the original TFC. He can build upgradable turrets, teleports, and dispensers. The dispensers have been greatly improved. They offer infinite health and ammo to you and your teammates, and it regenerates metal over time for you and your fellow Engineers. (metal = material used for building)

Medic – Healing gun, syringe gun, bonesaw. The medic can heal players up to 150% of their base health and can fire the healing gun continuously. While healing, the Medic’s ubercharge is constantly charging up. When fully charged, he can make any player and himself invincible for ten seconds. (usually a Medic / Heavy combo), He is far more valuble a class than he was in the previous TFC. His syringe gun is a blast to use too.

Sniper – Sniper rifle, sub-machine gun, machete. Same old sniper with a few tweaks. When you first zoom in, your gun starts to charge. The more of a charge you have, the more powerful the shot. I believe it takes three seconds for a full charge. The sniper rifle still sports the same colored dot that warns your enemies that you are there. The machine, though not too powerful, is good enough to fend off the close combat intruders.

Demo – Grenade launcher, sticky bomb gun, a bottle of whiskey. This is my new favorite class. His grenade launcher acts a lot like the grenade launcher in the quake series, whereas you can bounce grenades around corners, but if you hit someone directly, the grenade will explode on impact. Delicious! The sticky bomb gun is extremely useful for defense too. You can lay up to 8 sticky bombs (on virtually any surface) and detonate them at a later time. The best thing is you can detonate them regardless of what weapon you currently have out.

Spy – Pistol, butterfly knife, cigarette case (where he keeps his disguises), elctro-sappers. So the role of the spy stays the same. He can disguise himself as any enemy class, and he can do it on the fly. No more standing still and waiting. He can also cloak himself for a short period of time. While cloaked, he cannot attack. He also has a new tool called the elctro-sapper (or something like that) that he puts on structures, i.e. turrets, teleports, and dispensers,… to sabotage them. And of course, the Spy still has the trademark one-shot-back-stab kill that we love so much.

Thoughts:

So far this game is a blast. Sometimes I even forget that it’s actually still in beta. My only real concern is that the game will burn out quickly. If TF2 were realeased as / is, I don’t think the game would have very long legs. Hopefully I’m wrong. And hopefully there will be a lot of support and new additions to keep people coming back for more.

The maps that we’re playing now are great too, but I won’t get into too much detail because hopefully there will be a ton of new maps at the final release.

Gameplay is very fast pace and almost feels Quake-ish at times. What doesn’t feel Quake-ish, however, is the need for strategy and tactics. You can’t rely on twitch alone in this game.

Valve has added stats tracking, as well as a variety of achievement goals that you can shoot for. It’s very similar to the way Battlefield 2 implemented the awards feature. You can keep track of your performance on your very own Steam Community page. Here’s mine. And here are my TF2 stats. Yes, I know, pathetic… But be warned! I’m finally starting to get the hang of it.

Frag you later.

Discuss it here…

On a side note, there is a mod worth mentioning for all you TFC fans. It’s called Fortress Forever and it is a beautiful re-skin of the original game using the source engine. Check it out.

When Steam was first introduced back in 2002, I was flat out against a service like this. One reason for this is because I liked to be able to put my new shiny games in my nice shiny game rack, but also…who in their right mind would want to download a 1+ gigabyte videogame over the Internet? Well as it turns out, I would. It took a few years of persuasion, and a whole new philosophy toward what the Internet can and should be used for, but I finally saw the light. People buy music and movies from places like iTunes, why are games any different? And Steam has a great feature that iTunes doesn’t, infinite downloads. Okay, I’ve never actually read the fine print, but I must have downloaded games like TFC, CS, CS:S, DoD:S, Half-Life 1&2 dozens of times, on half a dozen machines, and I’ve never had so much as a hiccup. Once you buy a game through Steam, help yourself to as many downloads of that game as your heart desires. But enough of why I am a born again Steam user, and on to the news at hand.

id! Before this, Steam’s video game library was comprised mostly of Valve’s own titles and games from a handful of independent developers and modders. With the exception of a few mainstream games, like the Call of Duty series and the Civilization series, the Steam library was devoid of any third party heavy hitters. Well that’s all history now. id software is the heavy hitter of the heavy hitters. According to Shacknews, every id title will be available through Steam… though I didn’t see Quake IV in the line-up. Maybe I just overlooked it. Regardless, if this doesn’t help launch the digital distribution of games to a new level, I can’t imagine what will.

Whose next? I would love to see the Battlefield series on there, but I think it would be a cold day in hell before EA sold a game through Steam. Then again, they may be crazy not to.

Top ten ways to know you’re a PC snob.

From GameSpy

Just when I was about to abandon all hope, two amazing mods grabbed my attention and they are both worth checking out.

Dystopia – This is a Half Life 2 mod that takes place in a cyberpunk environment. One thing is apparent, the developers put a whole lot of time and thought into this mod. You can choose from various weapons, armor types, and implants — each combination with it’s own strengths and weaknesses. What’s really cool is that it takes place in two separate worlds, cyberspace and meatspace. Meatspace is where the real action is, but if you equip yourself with certain types of implants, you can jack into cyberspace and help your team out from within. There is a pretty good preview of Dystopia over at Planet Half-Life explaining the game in more detail. Check it out if you get a chance.

Project Reality – This is a Battlefield 2 mod that focuses more on realistic gameplay and less on traditional run and gun tactics. I’m not usually a fan of this type of game because they tend tooo drrraaaaaag, but Project Reality really broke the mold. There are no cross hairs, no health meters, no little messages that tell you who you killed. In fact, the first hour I played I didn’t see a soul, but the bullets were flying by my head nonetheless. Sounds play an important role in this mod. You can easily tell the difference of an M16 and an AK-47 rattling of rounds in the distance. The developers of Project Reality are really trying to promote teamwork and caution. I spent more time in the prone position than actually walking. Squad members can be rewarded with specialized kits too, such as pilot kits, crewman kits, or sniper kits. Because of this, there are far less lone wolves roaming about. IGN wrote a very flattering write-up for Project Reality called “Why all BF2 players should download this mod“. Another good read if you have the time.

There you have it. I was going to post some screenshots of my fragging adventures, but I didn’t think you guys would want to see pictures of my corpse over and over and over again. Maybe I’ll post some when I can manage to stay alive for more than 30 seconds. Until then, hope to see you on a server.

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade is out and I’ll be purchasing a copy today at lunch. What’s great about this expansion is that it virtually makes all level sixties even again, whether they’re decked out in tier 3′s or still wearing greens. Since I’m only a casual player, this is great news for me.

I loathe 40 man raids…

Later on in the day, after gazing at Cameron’s shiny new DS, I decided to take my own out and give it a quick polish — yes I was a little jealous. So I grabbed my lens cloth and I proceeded to carefully wipe off about a thousand tiny finger prints, hence the reason Santa is bringing Cameron her very own DS. I was just about done shining it up when I saw the cracks. Two cracks to be exact, one on each hinge. I had never noticed these before, so I assumed they were relatively new. After doing a little research, I found that I wasn’t alone here. It seems there are quite a few incidents of cracking hinges on some models of the DS Lite. According to Nintendo, it accounts for only 0.02% of the units sold. Mm hmm, sure it does. They do, however, recommend that you contact customer service right away if this should happen to your DS. So I did, and what a delightful experience it was. Not only are they going to repair it free of charge, they are going to pay for the shipping too. But it gets better! I should get my DS back within seven days. Not too shabby if you ask me. The customer service rep was a nice guy too. We talked for a bit about all sorts of things, such as the Wii, Nintendo’s competition, the industry in general, Nintendo’s philosophies, etc… It was very interesting. He has worked for Nintendo for 13 years.

My Nintenday gets even better. I got to try the Nintendo Wii for the first time and I was utterly blown away. I had some expectations, sure, but nothing like what I experienced yesterday. I only got to try the system for ten minutes or so before I was snapped back to reality, so I may be jumping the gun here, but for those ten minutes I felt like I was looking into a crystal ball. Those ten minutes gave me a glimpse into the future, and not just of gaming, but of how we will eventually interact with everything. Let’s begin. The game was Zelda; the task was fishing. I pulled pack the Wiimote and then lunged it forward as I watched the virtual fishing pole mimic my every move instantaneously. I followed the bobber as in soared through the pixelated sky until it finally plopped into the water. At the very moment of impact, I felt the Wii remote shutter ever so slightly. It sort of reminded me of…..fishing. I gave the Wiimote a tug every now and then until it was finally time to reel in the line. So I grabbed the left part of the controller and started spinning it as if I was actually reeling in a fish. As I did so, the Wiimote started to vibrate rhythmically, in sync with the motion of my left hand. It sort of reminded me of, well…..fishing. There was even a point when people started to gather around to find out what the hell I was doing. From the outside, I must have looked like a demented mime strung out on crack. Anyways, It was really fun and I can definitely see the potential for this system. I plan on writing a full review of the system once I get Cameron gets it for her birthday. Oh, did I mention she’s getting it for her birthday? Which, mind you, is only three weeks after Christmas.

With this in mind, I proceeded to the counter to talk with the manager who sold me the Nintendo DS. I asked him if he had any Nintendo Wiis in stock. Now, I’ve been to about ten other stores before this one, looking to buy the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii and have had zero luck, so I was pretty sure I knew what the answer was going to be. I was just hoping he wouldn’t burst out laughing. He never did. Instead, he just looked me in the eyes and said in a very robotic, monotone voice, “We are currently sold out of all Nintendo Wiis”. As he was doing this, his head started twitching to the left. So then I asked him if he thought he would see anymore before Christmas, in which he replied in the same robotic, monotone voice, “We are currently sold out of all Nintendo Wiis”. His head was twitching to the left even more and at this point I was starting to get a little freaked out. I figured it was the holiday pressure getting to him. I was about to say thank you and walk out of the store when he said in the same robotic, monotone voice, “Even if we did get a shipment of Nintendo Wiis an hour ago, we are not allowed to sell them until exactly 9:00 A.M. on Monday morning.” His head furiously twitching to the left now. That’s when I got it. Sitting on the floor to his left were two large brown boxes. I looked up at the manager. He was smiling at me. I smiled back. We shared a special moment.

And that concludes my Nintenday. My Nintenight (that just sounds stupid) was spent trying out Final Fantasy III on my cracked DS. We’ll save that for another post though. Oh, and by the way, I’ll be a little late for work Monday morning.

I remember the good ol’ days in Team Fortress Classic playing my Engy; setting up sentry guns, chucking EMP grenades and wiping out an entire team, falling back in Dustbowl to protect the,.. umm,.. whatever that thing is we had to protect. There really wasn’t a game quite like it.

This was back in the days of the dungeon (my basement), when me and a bunch of my friends would set up a LAN and game all night long. We’d drink beers, smoke butts, talk smack, and kick ass. As time went on, the dungeon was used less and less in favor of gaming in the comfort of our own homes (VoIP was starting to become a little more mainstream). Team Fortress Classic was eventually replaced by games like Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament. I quit smoking.

We all still game and we all still have a blast, but there’s just something about the older games that you miss from time to time. I’ll say this though, if Team Fortress 2 is even half as good as Team Fortress Classic, I will be one happy camper. We may even have to reopen the dungeon.

To give you an idea of how long Valve has been developing this game, check out the original TF2 trailer that came out in 1999. A little bit of a difference, huh? It was originally developed on the Half-Life Gold engine until they scrapped it and went back to the drawing board. Now seven years later…

That same night she bought a game called Lunar: The Silver Star Story for $80.00 on Amazon. For the average gamer, $80.00 is a bit high for a used Playstation 1 title, but for a collector, it’s a steal. I played this game when it originally debuted on Sega CD back in 1993. It was by far one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve ever had. The ambiance and design of the game was so incredible and alluring that one of my best friends watched me beat the entire game from beginning to end. We were geeks back then too.

This got me thinking about all the other great games that I’ve played over the years, and which games I considered to be the best of the best. The problem with creating a list like this is making sure people understand the criteria for such a list. In an effort to jog my memory for games long forgotten, I’ve been reading other “best games ever” lists around the web. Some of the lists I found were absolute crap, while others I found to be very interesting. Again, the problem is criteria. How do you make a list like this? What is the criteria?

1. Are they games with the best graphics at the time of its release?
2. Are they games with the best story lines?
3. Are they games that have sold the most copies?
4. Are they games with the best replay value?
5. Are they games that have had the most significant impact on the gaming industry?
6. Are they games that are just considered to be the most fun?
7. Or does a list like this need to take all of these aspects into consideration?

I’ll tell you right now, based on what I wrote above, I could make 7 very different lists. That’s why I want to make sure everyone knows what I’m basing my list on. A game must meet all of the following criteria to make the cut.

1. I must have played it.
2. I must have really, really, really liked it.

Simple enough, right? Well then, here we go.

A quick side note, this lists consists of games starting with NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Although I loved my older systems like Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision, I feel that the real gaming revolution began at the original NES, and thus, this is where our journey shall begin. By the way, I’ve ordered the list by platform and then by year released, not by preference.

• Super Mario Bros.
  Nintendo – 1985
• Metroid
  Nintendo – 1986
• Legend of Zelda
  Nintendo – 1987
• Rygar
  Nintendo – 1987
• Lost Vikings
  Super Nintendo – 1992
• Star Fox
  Super Nintendo – 1993
• Mortal Kombat II
  Super Nintendo – 1994
• Street Fighter 2
  Super Nintendo – 1996
• Lunar: Silver Star
  Sega CD – 1993
• Alien vs Predator
  Atari Jaguar – 1994
• Wave Race 64
  Nintendo 64 – 1996
• Golden Eye 007
  Nintendo 64 – 1997
• Mario Kart 64
  Nintendo 64 – 1997
• Twisted Metal 2
  Playstation – 1996
• Resident Evil
  Playstation – 1996
• Tomb Raider
  Playstation -1996
• Resident Evil 2
  Playstation – 1997
• Final Fantasy VII
  Playstation – 1997
• Metal Gear Solid
  Playstation – 1998
• Gran Turismo
  Playstation – 1998
• SSX
  Playstation 2 – 2000
• Doom
  PC – 1993
• Quake II
  PC – 1997
• Half-Life
  PC – 1998
• Starcraft
  PC – 1998
• Team Fortress Classic
  PC – 1999
• Counter-Strike
  PC – 1999
• Unreal Tournament
  PC – 1999
• Diablo II
  PC – 2000
• Deus Ex
  PC – 2000
• Undying
  PC – 2001
• Command & Conquer: Renegade
  PC – 2002
• Soldier of Fortune II
  PC – 2002
• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
  PC – 2002
• Battlefield 1942
  PC – 2002
• Ghost Recon
  PC – 2003
• Call of Duty
  PC – 2003
• Planetside
  PC – 2003
• World of Warcraft
  PC – 2004
• Unreal Tournament 2004
  PC – 2004
• Half-Life 2
  PC – 2004
• Battlefield 2
  PC – 2005

DONE!! That was a blast. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few games. I’ll add them as they come to me.

You know, while making this list I discovered some interesting facts about my tastes in games. The most obvious is that I’m a huge first person shooter fan. I didn’t need this list to tell you that. However, one interesting fact is that I have no favorite games on Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Cube, or XBOX. It’s not because I didn’t own those systems, because I did. This kind of surprised me, so I thought about it a bit and here is what I came up with.

1. Sega Genesis -
   Sega competed head to head with Super Nintendo. I think back then you were either a Nintendo guy or a Sega guy. I was a Nintendo guy. There’s not much more to say. I guess Sonic the Hedgehog just didn’t cut it for me.
2. Nintendo Game Cube -
   The truth is, I don’t think I ever gave this system a fair shake. It was always kind of in the shadow of the PS2 and the XBOX. From what I hear, the Zelda series on NGC is incredible, as is their Resident Evil series. But don’t lose hope yet, you Nintendo fans may be happy to know that since my daughter’s interest in video games has surfaced, her platform of choice is the Game Cube. Naturally, being her gaming mentor, I have to pick up the controller every now and then and show her how it’s done.
3. XBOX -
   The first reason I never played the XBOX is simple, the controller. XBOX’s controller has, does, and will forever suck. Don’t try to defend it. It sucks. The other reason I never played the XBOX is because I’m a PC gamer. All the great titles that have ever been released on XBOX have been released on the PC a year earlier and ten times better. I’m sure Halo was a great game, but that’s only because it’s the first real game of it’s kind to hit consoles. Games like Halo are a dime a dozen on the PC.

Am I droning on? This is such a fun topic for me though. While doing my research I read dozens of “top games” lists from different magazines and game sites. None of the lists were even close to identical, but I was able to find some common recurrences. A lot of these games made it on my list. Some, however, did not and that piqued my interest. What have I missed! I’ll list some of these games below and my pathetic excuses for never playing them. And I call myself hardcore, please!

• Chrono Trigger for SNES
  Out of all the games I have never played, this one appears on the most lists. I’m embarrassed to say I really know nothing about this game. I have, however, already downloaded the rom to my hard drive. I shall be a Chrono Trigger master by the end of the week.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for N64
  This game claimed the most #1 spots of any game I saw. It also got a perfect 10 on Gamespot. I have no excuse for not playing this game. It just slipped through the cracks. It isn’t too late I’m happy to say. This just happens to be one of the games Meg bought on her game buying spree.
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos for PC
  This game made its fair share of lists. The truth is, it’s just not my genre. True, Starcraft is on my list, but I think that was caused by some kind of wierd cosmic anomaly. I may dig it out and play it someday.
• Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow – for PC
  Again, no excuse. I own it (actually I stole it from Meg), I’ve installed it, I even went as far as setting up the controls. I’ll get around to playing it once I kick my addiction to World of Warcrack.
• Super Mario 64 for N64
  To tell you the truth, I was suprised to see this game show up on list after list after list. It just doesn’t seem appealing to me. But alas, the people have spoken. It just so happens that Meg owns this game too, what luck.
• System Shock II for PC
  Being an avid fps fan I’m ashamed to say I’ve never owned or played this game. There’s no excuse for my obvious disrespect to the genre. This game is also on almost every Top 100 gaming list I read. It looks very Deus Exish, I’ll be buying it.
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for PC
  Own it, haven’t played it, I suck.
• Beyond Good and Evil for PC
  I remember when this game came out. There was little to no hype about it, but every now and then you would here someone say what a terrific game it was. Then some more people would say it. Then some more. Now it’s considered one of the best sleeper hits of 2003.

Alright, I’ll shut up now. I’m sure I missed a ton of games that deserve to be on this list, but my brain hurts right now. Like I said, I’ll add them as I remember them.

I was sitting at my desk, like the good little employee that I am, when my diggtray alerted me of a new story on digg.com. Usually I ignore these alerts since there is a new story on digg every 10 freak’n seconds, but this one caught my eye. It was called The End of an MMO and the excerpt was as follows:

What happens when a massively multiplayer game is approaching it’s final days? Asheron’s Call 2 is doing just that, and Clive Thompson is taking a look into the desolate, anarchic final days of the game which will be turned off forever on Dec. 30

For those of you that don’t live in the fascinating world that I live in, i.e., normal people, mmorpg stands for massively multiplayer online role playing game. And these games really are all that. They are gigantic virtual worlds where thousands of players interact simultaneously. To help maintain these massive worlds and keep them running 24/7, mmorpg’s usually require a monthly subscription. Subscriptions usually range anywhere from $10.00 to $15.00 a month. Asheron’s Call 2 is one of these said games.

Now, I’ve always preferred playing first-person-shooters (f.p.s), and still do for that matter, but around 2002 I started really getting curious about mmorpg’s . You see, in a f.p.s. you usually play on servers that host 8 to 64 players at a time depending on the game. You can usually walk from one side of a map to the other in a couple of minutes, sometimes even seconds. Now imagine playing on a server with one to three thousand players at the same time and with worlds so big and complex that it would take you hours or more to reach the other side. Not to mention, the world is always there. Even when you aren’t playing, thousands of others are. It’s a world that never stops. I couldn’t even fathom it at the time. They must be exaggerating. It must look like crap or run like crap or just be boring as hell.

Then the day came when I had my chance to see what all the fuss was about. Before Asheron’s Call 2 was officially released they had an open beta for people to try. Essentially, the point of an open beta is to work out any bugs in the game before its final release. Beta’s are also free; so I signed up, downloaded the client, and installed the game.

I was a little apprehensive at first. I’ve never played anything remotely like this. I’ve also heard how irritated some veteran players can get with noobs entering their territory, but I put that thought aside and logged in. The first thing I had to do was create a character. Next, I chose a name for my character. From there, I worked on the characters attributes, appearance, race, class, skills, etc… I may be confusing some small details here with other mmorpg’s, but they’re all basically the same. Once I was done creating my character, who I believe was a ranger, I entered the world. They start you out in a series of caves. In the caves you run through a string of training exercises and tutorials. I remember it being pretty neat, but nothing I hadn’t seen before in other games. I was essentially by myself in an enclosed area running around doing quests. It was still fun, however, and very nice looking. The graphics were beautiful and very detailed. Once the training was finished, maybe an hour later, I was able to enter the world of Dereth.

I was absolutely blown away. I had never seen anything like this. I was on top of a large hill looking down over a valley. There were mountains on either side of me. I started making my way down the hill. When I reached the bottom I saw other players doing various things, most likely just getting used to the environment themselves. When I looked up I saw stars sprawled across the sky with a large moon off in the horizon. I kept walking, still reveling in the enormity of this place. In the distance I saw menacing looking creatures ducking in and out of the trees. The ambient music was soothing and yet very eerie. In fact, the whole experience was eerie. The first couple of days were very quiet and one couldn’t help but to feel alone. The beta was still relatively new and the thousands of players that would soon occupy this land were not yet there. It felt like one of those movies where everyone in the world was gone except you. Like walking down the streets of New York City in perfect silence, completely devoid of life.

Over the next couple of months I continued to explored the world of Dereth. I saw rolling hills and green fields that seemed to span miles. I saw great cities with hundreds of people bustling around in the streets, selling there goods, playing music, or just chatting with their fellow citizens. I saw beautiful coastlines that stretched as far as the eye can see. I went on dozens of adventures with friends I met in-game and some I new from my real life. I watched my character grow from a fragile apprentice to a seasoned warrior. It was one of the greatest gaming experiences I ever had. If you’ve never played a game like this before then you are probably thinking I am a lunatic. But that’s okay. I felt the exact same way you did at one time.

Over time I started drifting away from the game. It ceased to be fun for me and felt more like work than pleasure. After about 5 months of playing AC2 I finally logged off for good. At the time, there was no sense of remorse. I just moved on to the next game, almost relieved that it was over. But the world continued on with out me.

I’ve since played other mmorpg’s and dozens of first-person-shooters. Great ones too. I’ve played hundreds and hundreds of games throughout my life, but there are only a select few games that give me such an overwhelming sense of nostalgia the way Asheron’s Call 2 does. It was one of those few gaming experiences that really piqued my emotions.

In the article by Wired, Clive Thompson writes:

“Anybody out there?” I type, but I already know it’s pointless. There’s nobody anywhere near me. For almost an hour, I’ve been wandering around a desolate plain: Gray clouds scud slowly over rough quartz mountains, while a few birds wheel in the air near mushroom-shaped trees. I never see another living soul. It feels like the end of the world.

We have come full circle. When I first set foot on Dereth, it was beautiful and desolate. And now, at the end, it is desolate again. But in between these two times, thousands of people occupied this virtual land. Friendships were made. Countless hours of adventuring were had. You could come home from a long day at work, sit down at your computer and escape from reality for a time. You could be alone in your house and yet surrounded by hundreds of strangers, all there to have a good time and to meet good people.

It was quite a time. I will especially miss those first few weeks I spent in AC2. As of December 30th, all Asheron’s Call 2 servers will be shut down forever. No one will ever set foot on Osteth, Omishan, or Linvak Massif again. All characters will be permanently deleted.

The point of this entry was for me to just reminisce about that world I had almost forgotten, and to say one last goodbye to Dereth and to all the people who made it such a great experience. Good luck to you all, and thank you for the great times.