It seems that the guys at Rupture are still at it!
They just made it possible to auto generate a nice banner with the click of a button for each of your World of Warcraft characters. I think this is really funny as I had just submitted a feedback for not even two weeks ago with this exact suggestion. 
Recently, Blizzard released a website, the Armory, that gives users access to character information ranging from what profession skills they have to what they are currently wearing. This is an ability that Rupture had recently made available through it’s service.
So, what are the differences between these two services? There are a few that are quite noticable, let’s take a look at the Armory first. The obvious advantages are that Blizzard is providing the data, so it’s going to be accurate and clean (versus other sources that might not be so trust-worthy). The most notable advantage is easily that the data is being pulled directly from their servers, so no add-ons are necessary. The downside to using the Armory is the lack of information. Sure, it has overall profession numbers (i.e.: “175 of 250″) but no specifics like what patterns that character has learned. It also does not show a character’s inventory, which to come players might prove to be a good thing.
Rupture on the other hand, does show things like what patterns a character has learned and what items they have in their bag and bank! It also allows for user interaction such as uploading images, befriending characters or leaving comments on other character and player profiles. It’s a lot more like Facebook or (/cringe) MySpace in those ways. The disadvantages are that you do have to install an executable which has two functions. The first is to upload gathered data to update the website, the second is actually a really neat chat client. It uses Jabber multi-user chat so one can use iChat or Meebo to talk with friends on the Rupture network. This executable also installs an add-on, the one that gathers the data about your characters as you play. Further, the executable even keeps the add-on up to date, so you never even have to touch it! So that part can be viewed as both a negative and possitive.
Overall, if Blizzard wants to stay competitive, they will have to implement some sort of user interaction (like being able to have a page for each player where the player can choose whether or not to claim all of their characters on a page. Meaning, they could claim all of the characters that other players know belong to that player, but if there is one or two that the player plays in secret, they don’t have to claim them on the player page. Uploading images seems to be a must to be so that proud players can show off their hard work. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, if Blizzard were to expand on the amount of data that was shown for each character and gave some sort of chat interface into the game (like guild chat only or the like), then they would be WAY ahead of the game.
Well, everyone else has talked about it. Maybe I should too. I’ve been trying to find someone with a Rupture account by searching the website since it’s still in beta. In order to obtain an account, someone who already has one must invite you. Not as fun as it sounds. I’m really wanting to give my guild the ability to sign up for the service if they want to.
While searching the Interweb for someone with an account, I found another website which might prove to be interesting: Warcraft Social. I believe this site to be more for actually finding people to play with and announcing the presence of your characters on your MySpace page whereas Rupture is more for maintaining the stats of your characters like WoW Roster does. I enjoy the thought of being able to go to a website in order to see if any of my guild members knows how to create a certain piece of armor or perform a certain enchantment. Now I would like to enjoy the ability to do that instead of just the thought.
Overall, I believe Shawn Fanning’s new website to be a very sharp-looking piece of work. Now if they would just open the doors a little wider to allow those of us who truly want to help test the site, the world would increase in its “better place” points, if only by a few.
JoyTech, a company in the UK, has released a few retarded interesting suppliments for the Wii. The one I would like to make fun of the most My favorite is the Sports Pack.
With this fun new product, you really can get in the game. For those of you who have played Tennis on the Wii: Have you ever been playing and said to yourself “I sure wish this Wii controller looked more like a over-sized sewing needle right about now.” Na, me neither.
The Wii remotes have small groves along the sides of the controller length-wise, blatantly alluding to the future plans to provide some sort of a rechargeable functionality to the controller. What? Haven’t spent enough time with your Wii to notice this yet?
With a new feature like this on the way, we won’t have to deal with batteries anymore. This is of course the type of feature that the Xbox 360 uses with great success. So, in addition to your $60 controllers (three purchased by you), you now have to spend an undoubted $20+ for each bringing the cost of each controller up from $20 to $30 on past consoles to $80!! Come on, Nintendo. You’re right up there with the rest of them now!! Oh, and how much will a cradle for all four controllers cost? $40? Grrr…
Either way, it would be a great feature to have. I hate to admit it, but as much as it would pain me, I would most likely get it. Darn me!
By now, you may be wondering why I have yet to write a review of the Wii. The answer to that is unfortunate, but simple. I’ve been playing it way too much to write a stinkin’ review.
I was the very first person to receive mine at the store where I pre-ordered, which seemed extremely unfair seeing as I was the last one to have paid that evening. They were smart about it though, when we paid, they actually put a bag together with our paid-for items and place our names on it. Then when midnight hit, they just called names and handed out bags. A little insecure, but hey, it seemed to work. There was a strange commoradory amongst everyone there though, since we had all stayed in line since the wii hours (ooh, bad pun) of the morning to attain our pre-orders. So it was not as if we were all stangers to each other. At the end of the morning when we got our pre-orders, everyone leaving was like the eleven leaving the fountain in front of the Bellagio in Vegas at the end of Ocean’s Eleven.
Setup
I got mine home in, I’m sure, record time. I had it connected within five to ten minutes (allowing time to clean a cat box - awe, the necessities of life…). Everything was pretty normal until I got to the sensor bar. Of course, I’ve seen it, but geesh! This thing was much smaller than I had pictured it before. It was less than a foot wide. One can place it above or below the television. During the system setup though, you have to state where you ended up placing it (above or below). My suggestion? If you think you’ll be standing to play it for the majority of the time, put it on top. On the other hand, if your television is raised up high or you have a really low couch, put it below. One ends up aiming the remote (unconsciously) at the sensor bar. To clarify, despite the fact that the player really does not notice a difference as the old eye-hand coordination kicks in, the remote is actually being monitored relative to the sensor bar and not the television.
Starting the console for th first time was like walking into Willy Wonka’s candy room. You know, the one where everything is edible? This was so because the first time I got to use the cursor on the screen, being controlled by the remote like a laser pointer, I immediately felt how much power was available for developing games in the future. So, I had the Wii on my wireless network with VERY little effort. Despite my MAC filtering, WEP encryption and lack of a broadcasted SSID, it was smooth as butta’.
The first thing I did was … update the system. Yep, updates… I thought that’s why I got a freaking console versus my computer! Just kidding, actually, I’m quite grateful for this ability. I’ve already found a few bugs which make me happy about the update feature, but we’ll get there soon enough. After about ten minutes of updating and a restart, we updated some more. That was fun. Luckily, that was all.
The Interface
I was then taken to the main OS screen. This is where the user selects from one of many channels. One also has access to the system settings area as well as mail. The channels are very limited at this time. They so far consist of 1) the game which is currently in the system’s disc drive 2) Mii (character creation) 3) Pictures (a very nice looking and functional picture and video viewer) 4) Shopping (virtual console games as well as software like the Opera browser)
5) Weather (not yet available) and finally 6) News (will be CNN, but is also not yet available).
The Mii channel is actually quite fun. Despite it’s limited style of character features, it is pretty easy to make a Mii which resembles your victim subject. Freckles, receding hair line, glasses, it has a lot available. Once you create a Mii, you can then use it in Wii sports at least. I though Wario Ware also made use of it, but I’m far from certain.
Wii Sports
The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
So I created a Mii for myself and my wife also put one together. At this point, I just could not help myself. While Wii sports was the intended first game to play, Zelda has been beckoning to me for too long to not experience it when it’s finally right in front of me. So, I placed the sacred relic into it’s rightful home and selected the game’s channel from the main menu.
I was immedaitely greeted with some very familiar-sounding music which got me excited right away (I hate being human sometimes, with the already-known reactions that allow marketers to do whatever they want to me when it comes to a product I am already in love with). Watching the intro scenes were incredible. Mind you, I am a PC and Mac gamer. My newest console aside from the Wii was a Gamecube. Before that was my Playstation … One. So these graphics already have me. Personally, I do appreciate good graphics, but a good story, good game play and a good controller scheme is MUCH more important. I’ll play a game with atari graphics as long as it has the latter three over one with great graphics and terrible everything else. If I wanted something with great graphics with next to no controllability, I’ll watch a DVD.
Starting the game was very interesting. We Zelda fans are used to a semi-dramatic or at least intriguing introduction, but this was pretty laid back. Just you and another guy sitting on the beach talking. He says “come see me later,” and like the N64 Zelda, you start in your house. I will not go into the details, but I will say that you don’t start with your sword rigth away. I will say though, when you get the sword, it is a lot of fun as the controls change drastically from the part of the game in which you had no sword. There are a few new mechanisms at your disposal. Slashing with the remote causes a slashing motion in game, shaking the nunchuck causes a spin attack (limited area of effect). With your sword put away, doing either causes you to draw your sword with no further action taken. Aiming the slingshot, boomerang and bow is a delight! Having watched some of the people at E3 play, I remember thinking “Strafe, ya moron! Don’t just stand there and get hit while you line up your shot!” But now I understand. You can’t when you’re in “aiming” mode, so you have to be fast about it! One really nice thing is the Z-targeting, which those from the N64 era will undoubtably remember. If your target is close enough, you can simply hold the Z button to maintain a targetting mode on your target (one of the two triggers on the nunchuck) followed by the B button (trigger on the remote) which performs the selected ranged weapon’s attack without having to aim. This may seem like cheating, but it is not always available depending on your enemy’s distance from you.
Another wonderful new feature is the ability to fight while mounted on Epona (Link’s horse). I just got to the first of many situations (I’m sure) where this is necessary). I nearly defeated one guy on a warthog mount while not only having to chase him around but also being chanced by his minions. After this, I found myself chasing him onto a bridge which, as soon as we were both on it, had both ends made unavailable by a wall of fire. We had to joust, me using my sword. But it was free form, not like a “mini game.” Just awesome. Daunting, but doable. Really made me question my abilities as a jouster, not as a player of this game. That was an unexpected thought.
Overall, the game just felt right. In every way, it was as if the other Zelda games were just practice for this one. Quite honestly, this is easily now my favorite Zelda game. The dungeon to world balance is done exactly like the NES game seemed to have been designed, but this has more “art” to it. That is to mean, every joining of the dungeons to the world (meaning the over world) is obviously intentional, but might be found in this world if it were real. I.e.: an old castle, abandoned, turned into a lair. Instead of the bad guys just happening to have a castle sitting around. I mean really, who built the castle? This “bad guy” is relatively new on the scene. Will the game designers chalk it up to “oh, he used his evil power to build it.” No, the designers of this game made it feel realistic, as much as I think it can feel at this point in the gaming arena.
Problems
As promised, here are some bugs I have found. I will add new posts as I find more. I hope I won’t find more.
Internet connectivity
Upon going into the store or attempting to preform a manual update (just to see if there was one), I would on occasion receive an error message stating that there was no connection to the Internet. Resetting my router has done the trick every time, unfailingly. My laptop, on the other hand, which was downstairs with myself and the Wii was still as online as it has ever been, using the exact same security stuff as the Wii has to.
Controller
I’m positive this is due to my position while using the Wii, but every now and again, when I’m sitting down, I will experience problems while moving the cursor across the screen. It will move where it is supposed to, but along the way, it will jump repetitively to one side or another (the same side depending on where I move it to). This does not seem right and frankly causes much frustration. I would have reset my system except when I went into Zelda to try it out there (since it uses the cursor for menu navigation), I had ZERO problems. So it is most certainly the software of the Wii’s OS.
Conclusion
I would buy this console again three times over if I had the chance to redo it. It is an incredible amount of innovation for the price. I must say I am disappointed by the price of the controllers ($60 per set), but whatever… at least the console was cheap. That is just the Nintendo way. Get the cheapest console in the prospective customer’s door, then require them to purchase more for some of the features. Yes, it is frustrating, but really, it’s just another business tactic. The other consoles are choosing to put all functionality in the initial package. But in the end, you know that they will be charging for things like this as well to an extent.
So, there you are, driving along a loose dirt road in the middle of nowhere, trees lining the road. Suddenly, you lose control of your vehicle veering off the road. Much like a speeder bike from Star Wars, you barely miss tree after tree, catching air on the small terrain inconsistencies you drive over. Your luck runs out when you total your vehicle head long into a massive oak. Moments after this happens, a police car pulls up behind you - in the thick of the trees! The officer gets out of his vehicle, slowly strides over to your window, which by the way is broken now anyway due to the crash. Instead of asking for your license and registration, he begins writing on his pad and hands you the ticket he has just written. It states the following: “Award five stars for a wicked-awesome feat of dodging 7 trees before a really impressive crash.”
This is Excite Truck. No, no police officer, but you ARE awarded stars (points, in any other game) for performing feats like these. Ramping off of a huge hill, landing in a massive thick of trees and actually making it back to the road is probably a better outcome, but you do actually get points for crashing! It it was done with style, that is.
I got to play with the Wii for the first time yesterday, which was a terrifically exciting experience for me. My wife whooped me a few rounds, for which I was extremely proud. The strange thing about this game is this: Even if you reach the finish line first, much like Harry Potter’s Quiditch, you have not necessarily won the match. For instance, in the last round, during which my wife had clearly reached the finish line first, I had more stars by far by the end of us BOTH reaching the finish line so I won that round. This is a very different system which actually encourages players to ramp, crash and swerve around things instead of just staying on the beaten path.
I must admit, there seems to be a pretty steep learning curve when it comes to proficiency on the controller using this “steering wheel” approach. Now, I DID find it to be a LOT nicer than a standard analog control stick and would much rather play using the Wii remote if I had a choice. Nevertheless, it is just one of the many observations which I was able to obtain while playing.
Have you ever been in a mood to play a classic video game from your past? Well, today, I was certainly in the mood for such a game.
Last night, We had some friends over for our annual Halloween party. Near the end of the evening, when most everyone had gone, a buddy of mine and I got the laptop out running my NES emulator along side my original NES controller modded with a USB converter chip from RetroZone. Next, we hooked up the GameCube and put the Zelda Collector’s Disc in. We spent some time running the same course through the game just for the fun of it. This is actually a lot of fun. I highly recommend it, especially if the other person is a novice Zelda player.
As if I needed incentive, this got me in the mood to play it some more today … and so I did. For four and a half hours, in fact. To completion, not dying once (sure, saving periodically) and getting all heart containers and items.
I suppose after the first hour or so, it became a goal to complete the game in one sitting. As I played, I thought to myself ‘how fitting - beating the original Zelda a few short weeks before Shigeru Miyamoto’s dream version of Zelda is released!‘ From what I understand, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is what Miyamoto had always wanted the original game to be as far as the experience, now that we have the technology to utilize such incredibly innovative controller methods. Currently, I have Red Steel and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess pre-ordered.
I will be obtaining my Wii Saturday night along with everyone else, but won’t be sleeping much until Sunday night.
The day before yesterday, I heard that most of the local Gamestop stores I’ve been tracking would be getting anywhere between 30 to 50 Wii’s per store. “Awesome!! This won’t be anything like the PS3 pre-orders!” I thoguht to myself as the same answer kept popping up from each store I called. “We’ve learned our lesson when it comes to console launches from the Xbox 360 release,” stated a local Gamestop manager.
Last night, I made my final calls to each of the same stores to see see what the final count of how many Wii units each would be receiving. I nearly dropped the phone when I heard “8,” come from one of the closest stores, the one I had planned on camping out in front of. A tad speechless, I made my second call. “14,” was the reply this time, and ever other store in town. It looks like my first call was just bad luck or sorts. Nevertheless, I called my buddy who was going to be camping this one out with me to tell him the bad news. So we set our arrival time to be a tad earlier than we had originally planned. I’m not a morning person, by the way. Neither is Phil, but he apparently had more will-power than I.
I received the call at 5am. Phil was on his way. So I hopped up, took a shower and dragged my butt to Starbucks where I nabbed a few coffees and made my way over to Gamestop.
When Phil got there, there were already three guys waiting (together). 5:15am mind you. They had been there since 9pm the night before. That had to be a tad disheartening to find that the next people to arrive, come eight hours later. Nevertheless, only one of them was actually getting the Wii. By 6:45am, we had eight people there, only six pre-ordering, mind you (I, being the fifth since I was still waking up). We had our 14 people by around 8am.
The store manager arrived around 8:30 and took our names down which freed us up to go get into our cars to warm up. By then, the sun was up and starting to chase the cold away, not very efficiently, might I add. This made me feel really bad for those three guys mentioned earlier. It had to be around 30 to 40 degrees (F) through the night. Enough to frost our yards over a little.
So, when 10am rolled around, we went inside and paid up. Good fun. I was debating if I wanted to get the classic controller, since it is only $20. I told myself that it turned out to be more, I would not be getting it. Good for Nintendo. Despite this, I only preordered the system and and one additional “controller set” (remote and nunchuck). My plans include buying two more sets and a multiplayer game when the reviews start coming out. My group of friends and I tend to really enjoy the 4-player action on the GameCube. I have no reason to think that the Wii’s equivalent would be any less fun. Besides, I’d already ordered Zelda a few days back… of course!
Now, I’m really tired. But that’s alright - I have a Wii pre-order.
Darn it! I can’t buy ALL the games released for the Wii, but I’ll have to if this keep up…
“When playing a Killer match, apparently the Wii-mote will act as a telephone. It will ring and when you place it against your ear, you will be given your mission objectives without other players being able to hear what it is.”
