Life in Si

Warhammer : Seven Favorites

2009-02-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

Syp has suggested that we all write our seven favorite things about Warhammer Online.
so in the spirit of positive thinking here goes my seven :

Favorite Zone:
Ellyrion . I've only been through T3 so far , but I absolutely love the visual style of the zone .
I've grown to enjoy High Pass as well the lore and atmosphere of the zone are tremendous .

Favorite Race:
Chaos . with Dark elves a very close second .

Favorite Career:
oh my tough one . do i really have to choose ? that being said
my main the chaos Chosen wins out by the slightest of margins .

Favorite WAR Feature:
Careers . Mythic has done an excellent job imo fleshing out the career mechanics and
they are all very enjoyable to play . RvR and Public Quests are huge + in my book also !

Favorite Skill:
Raze (morale 2) on my Chosen . the HoT on my Zealot , throwing a flask 100 feet to my target never gets old . Gust of Wind on the Sword Master. running into a group of ennemies and sending flying away in all direction makes me chuckle every time ! PUuuuunnnnt wooo !

Favorite Scenario:
Stone Troll Crossing with a guild group is fantastic . with coordination and teamwork we were able to win against teams that out-match us rank wise . for pure goold old head bashing pvp , Mourkain and Nordenwatch take the pie though !

Favorite Live Event:
I enjoyed the Night of murder Live event . I enjoyed the lore behind it , and the event itself made for some interesting PVP and it didn't feel too grindy . Heavy metal comes second just for the awsomeness that is the Reikland factory scenario ! please put it back in Game !

so what are your favorite seven ?

Warhammer : Order Alt Night [ Feb 23]

2009-02-24T22:08:00.000-08:00

Last night , our order group was off to the badlands
to help the dwarfs find the brightstone they desperatly
seek .

Assembled for the night :

- Dracfyre ( Bright Wizard)
- Elsabeth ( Bright Wizard)
- FynFlam (Bright Wizard)
- Korinn (Sword Master)
- Racke (Iron Breaker)
- Tzudevilme (Rune Priest)
- Yrronisa (Arch Mage)

right as we landed in the Badlands , the Blue-Faced Orcs of the

Badlands were launching an attack on Stoutgut's warcamp .

Our small group set about fighting the savage orcs and helping

the unconscious oathbearers on the battlefield when the

Blue Face Boarboyz rode down on us from the top of the hill

10 champions strong . it was a small

miracle we survived the charge , kudos to our strong healers

and bright wizards who burned the savage orc riders to a crisp .

after a quick respite we set north towards Copperstone's River crossing .

south of the camp Orc Breakas are inciting the River Trolls into a frenzy

and plan to unleash them on the Oathbreaker camp. Gathering our

small crew ,we head out to wipe out the Trolls and clear the island

of the troublesome orcs.

Troll Island

when we were back at the camp , a dwarf scout showed up with good news .

he had followed some gobbos into a tunnel , and came back with a glittering

blue crystal . BRIGHSTONE ! The legend was True , Fireforge's tunnel exists !

However the entrance was guarded by The Moonfangs goblins who have migrated

to the entrance to the Gunbad Tunnels, drawn by their Night Goblin kin .

To the Dwarfs and their Oathbearers, however, these Goblins stand between

them and Brightstone.

Fighting our way though the hordes of MoonFang goblins , we finally
could draw their leader Gobhead Squigbringa out . the tough bastard

forced us to retreat when we attacked him , but we were able to send

him to his doom on the second try .

The entrance of the Gunbad tunnels lay wide open .

Into Gunbad

we ventured inside , and headed down the right fork . proceeding
slowly , we made headway into the tunnels encountering all manners

of crazed night goblins , bats and giant spiders .
it was getting too late though , our party was weary and
we needed supplies for a long expedition into these never
ending tunnels . we'll have to come back another time .

looking forward to next week !

Warhammer : destro Alt Night [Feb 18]

2009-02-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

Bye bye T2, it was nice to have known you.

and a grand send off it was ! : )
Wish order didn't withdraw from the scenario though ,
it started 12 v 12 and got imbalanced and was shut down .

with Strey back from the wrong coast ; ) , and Oska showing up
coming back also our group was 5 strong . I posted
the Alt Night Event on the Calendar and opened it to our alliance.
Sadly , not even a single person interested .
So , it was off to the BadLands and our destination
was "Trug's Hut" .

Trug's hut

the Greenskins have learned the location of
the mutinous Moonfang Gobbos who have migrated to the
entrance to the Gunbad Tunnels, drawn by their Night Goblin kin .
And the Bloody Sun Boyz want them killed as a lesson to the others.

we started off by doing the Bloody Sun Boyz Bidding .
Moonfang gobbos were slaughtered by the hundreds and
their leader "Gobhead Squigbringa" was put to knife
after a big fight . they don't call him squigbringa for nutin !
the squigbringa was generous enough to leave us one gold ,
one purple and few green bag . what's not to like about him ? : )

afterword we ran to do the two other PQs in the chapter .
fireforge Camp and Mutant exile . The latter had some interesting
back story. Mutant Worshippers of father Nurgle made the tunnels
that dot the hillside their home, while the weak and small mutants
are forced to make camp outside.

Altar of Nurgle

Gobbo's have been disappearing regularly from "Trug's camp"
and the trail leads straight to the mutants . we fought our way
inside the tunnels to reach an Altar of Nurgle guarded by a gigantic
plague beast .

Pestilent PlagueBeast

our Trusty black Orc Tanked the abomination like a champ , and our group
was able to get rid of the threat . All in all a fun PQ , and 3 blue bags
are not too shabby ! : )

we all ranked up tonight , and have a few pieces of gear to look
forward to when we reach 23 . always a pleasure guys !

Warhammer : Order Alt Night [Feb 16]

2009-02-24T21:46:00.000-08:00

it is the start of a new week , time for our order group
to brave the bitter cold of high pass once again .
this week our party was joined by few new
(Amerika the Knight , Aidos the Archmage,
Charkampa the White lion) and returning heroes
(Racke the dwarf ironbreaker ) . It was a lot of fun grouping
with you guys , hope you enjoyed it as well !

Assembled for the night :

- Aidos (Archmage)
- Amerika (KotBS)
- Charkampa ( White Lion)
- Dracfyre ( Bright Wizard)
- Elsabeth ( Bright Wizard)
- Korinn (Sword Master)
- Racke (Iron Breaker)
- Tzudevilme (Rune Priest)

with a party 8 strong ,off we went to high pass and tackled
the ch 10 public quests there .

Meeting at Nuhr's Crest

First order of business was to to revisit the "Tomb of Traitor"
and pay him back in kind for last week.
unfortunately once we were at stage III the public quest bugged out
and "Hertzig the Traitor" wouldn't spawn .

a bit peeved , we headed out to the Chaos Ruins to seek the
sorecerer "Velethor" and his minions . Amazing what a difference this was!
we breezed through the PQ, Velethor's demons were
annihilated , and "Velethor" himself landed and was taking a dirt nap
in record time !

Velethor the Sorcerer

we ran the PQ for a second time to gain more influence
and this time we were rewarded with 2 gold bags ! : )

Afterwards , we passed through the "Foetid plains" PQ and ran it quickly,
before heading back to the crypts for one last try on the Traitor .
and what do you know , the PQ worked this time around !

Hertzig The Traitor

Racke tanked "Hertzig" like a champ , and even though he enraged
at the end , we were able to coast to victory !

a lot of fun tonight guys , this is the biggest attendance we had in a
while . 2 gold bags , 2 blue bags, multitute
of green bag and a horde of drops were just icing on the cake !
(oh if only we had Warrior Priests and Witch Hunters in group)

And to top things off , few of us ranked up!

/Cheers

Warhammer : Order Alt Night [Feb 2nd]

2009-02-03T22:57:00.000-08:00

It is the start of a new week , and you know it's time
for our city slackers to continue on their adventures .
Assembled at the gates of Altdorf :

-Tzudevil ( RunePriest - Rank 18)
-Dracfyre ( Bright Wizard - Rank 18)
-Fynflam ( Bright Wizard - Rank 17)
-Elsabeth ( Bright Wizard - Rank 18 )
-Korinn ( Sword Master - Rank 19)
-GrimFate( Sword Master - Rank 16)

As we made the trek to Wolfenburg insouthern Ostland ,
we queued for some scnearios.we had 3 scenarios in the span
of 30 minutes and were lot of fun now that we are all close to the
top of the tier . A big victory in Phoenix Gate , and two close fights
in Mourkain Temple . Wish we had the same luxury on Monolith .
I haven't seen a scenario on any of my destro characters
(other than on weekends).

Back at Wolfenburg , we set out in pursuit of the perpetrators
of the plague that ravaged Ostland's capital . we soon found
ourselves making the arduous trek up a treacherous mountain
pass into the forbidding cold lands of High Pass .

Far north of any land that could be called civilized , High Pass
is the gate between the northernmost reaches of the realm of man
and the wilds of Chaos . A Hostile land slowly warping under the influence
of the snows and winds and the subtle taint of the Dark Gods .

Seeking refuge from the bitter cold , we head into Nuhr's crest .
an Expedition of Griffon soldiers has set camp and were looking for
Dr Zumwald , the plague architect who fled into these parts .

After a small respite , we set north of the campin pursuit of some
shadowy figures and happened upon "The Foetid Plains".
It was said to be the site of an ancient battlefield and that so much
blood spilled on these tainted grounds, a terrible beast was born in
the belly of the mountain. The many arms of this beast reach
upward in search of more ichor upon which to feed and we had to
pass through these tentacle infested grounds . Cutting down many
tentacles we slowly made our way through this putrid place until
we were startled by a murderous looking daemon spawning right
through the ground under our feet .

"The Foetid Plains Daemon"

we had to fight our way through the many horrid daemonvines
surrounding it before attacking it and slaying the wicked deamon itself !

packing our things quickly , we couldn't wait to get out of these
tainted parts . We followed a mountain road south into the top
of small hill to investigate some ruins .
The ruins, however, were far from abandoned.

"Chaos Ruins"

Chaos Cultists and minor daemons milled around ,
for what ungodly purpose we didn't know .
However , it was too close to the Griffon camp .
this can not be good and we had to dosomething about it .
After defeating some of the congregated cultists , we were
surprised by Sorcerers joining together upon the Chaos Star
to enact some sort of a dark ritual of power .

The chaos Magii prepare for a Dark Ritual !

Caught a bit unprepared , our party went down swinging but not
before dragging a few of those chaos magii with us . Quickly
regrouping, we came back to finish what we started and out of
nowhere , "Velethor the Shifter" comes flying over our heads
on his daemonic disc summoning mighty flamers .

That Magus will never face a fair fight while his minions exist!
Things got hairy at this point ,as Velethor kept summoning his
minions as fast we defeated them , and we couldn't bring him
to the ground as the pq timer slowly ticked by and eventually
expired . On the plus side , the encounter was a lot of fun and
the experience points off all these champion npcs were great .
I even got a tome Unlock for killing 100 flamers !

Great night Overall , most of us ranked up and plan to come
back next week to continue the adventure . So far i like this
new zone , and look forward to what future chapters hold .

Korinn's new Elven Steed

Also , Korinn hit the rank 20 milestone and now sporting a
spanking new white convertible ..err .. i mean horse !

Warhammer : Destro Alt Night [Jan 21]

2009-01-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

Another Wednesday and our small crew was getting ready
for our weekly adventure . We were missing our trusted
tank Trogue (hope you feel better mate) , so the plan
was to do some questing and engage the enemy in some
scenarios . Assembled for the night :

- Tzudevil ( DoK --rank 19- -)
- Streyla ( Sorceress --rank 17-- )
- Keseth ( Zealot --rank 18-- )
- Oska ( Squig Herder --rank 18-- )

Oska was running a bit late , so our trio set out to Troll country .
The night started out on a positive note , as we participated in a
demolition of the order team at the "Phoenix Gate" .

Arriving at "Troll Haugen" , we set about completing different
tasks for the local chaos warlord . The Raven Host had come to
these parts in search of the Soulblight Stone, an artifact of dark power that Lord Tchar'zanek desired to possess.
The Champion required the stone to enact a plan; what that plan was, only a few truly knew, but the whispers about the camp spoke of a mighty and terrible feat of magic that would forever seal the fate of the Empire . Bjarne the leader of the previous expedition soon after retrieving the stone ,had been attacked and eaten by a Troll .

Our quest naturally led us to hunting that forsaken beast
and soon we came upon it . The power of the profane artifact
had mutated the creature into a terrifying, disease-ridden monster
of unnatural strength.

Soulblight

After a long and exhausting fight , the fell beast lay dead at
our feet . Lord Tchaarzanek will be pleased !
At this point Oska was able to join us , we ran it again
and were not disappointed ! it went twice as fast and were rewarded with a massive loot bad which my zealot luckily won !
Setting north afterward , our crew happened upon an Eerie sight .
a Chaos portal guarded by the warriors of Nurgle !

Chaos Portal

Nurgle was after the Soulblight Stone !
Led by the ambitious warlord Sysstos the Wretch,
the forces of Nurgle used the portal to travel from the realm
of chaos and were massing in the hills ready to launch an
assault to retrieve the stone ! This shall not pass !
the stone can not fall in the hands of the Lord of Decay !

We had to clear our way through the massed battalions of infected warriors .and forge a way for Belarrl (a champion of Tzentch),to face off with with the leader . This was very hard as squadrons of 3 champions , then 6 attacked the champion in waves along with regular warriors . The last wave as we advanced near the portal was deadly , we went down but dragged just as many of the bastards with us !

on the bright side , most of the champions were caster type npcs and they don't hit very hard . Revising our tactics , we attempted this Public quest again . Streyla , our Sorceress ,
lived up to her tanking reputation and AOE Tanked like a champ , grabbing all the aggro off Belarrl and decimating wave after wave of Npcs . It took all the Energy my zealot could
muster to keep her healed up as she soaked crazy amounts of damage . The closer we got to the portal , the heavier the waves of champions got , Strey went down couple times only to be brought back from the dead and continue the fight .

Systoss the Wretched

This Time we made it to Systos . Belarrl engaged him in battle and
we pulled his retinue of champions one at a time burning them
down as fast as possible before Belarrl's health went out .
We engaged him after what seemed an
eternity and brought him to his knees !

This was a Fantastic Public quest . designed for 6-9 players ,
I am still amazed how tightly we managed the pulls , how close we
came on couple tries , and how awsome it was to
vanquish it ! Superb Job guys !
a gold bag in the end also was the icing on the Cake !
My zealot is sporting 2 pieces of havoc armor , and ranked
up again on the last kill ! rank 20 !

Rank 20 Mount : Chaos Steed

we gotta do the portal PQ for Trogue next week that's
how awsome it is ! we all have capped our influence for this
chapter and the rewards were great also . we Finished
the night with some open RvR and a succesful keep assault
at "Mandred's Hold" ! Great fun Overall !

until next week !

Warhammer : Order Alt Night [Jan 19]

2009-01-20T23:47:00.000-08:00

Another Monday Night rolls in ,
And our city slackers left Altdorf in search
of adventure . Our Bright Wizard Elsabeth
was out with a bad cold , but the rest were there
and ready .

Assembled for the night :
-Tzudevil ( RunePriest )
-GrimFate ( Sword Master)
-Dracfyre ( Bright Wizard )
-Fynflame( Bright Wizard )
-Coventina (Warrior Priest)
-Korinn ( Sword Master)

As we headed out to Troll country ,
we stumbled upon an Order Warband taking the
Keeps and objectives in the Empire T2
zone .

Troll Country : The Zerg Wave

After Succesfully locking the Empire zone , The warband Head out
to Barak Varr and easily captured the undefended keep and
Battle objectives then marched south to the "Marshes of Madness .

Barak Varr

the keep soon fell , but as we hit the battle objectives
were greeted with a sizable destruction force defending ... *gasp* !
What a crazy skirmish it was as a sea of red names
clashed with our forces and much bloodshed ensued !
Hats off to the destruction players
for mounting a good defense on Both Objectives even
after having lost the first one !

Marshes of Madnes : The Zerg Victorious !

Our Last stop was the Shadowlands , Where "Spite's reach" keep
wasdefended . warband leader decides to leave it
and attack "cascades of thunder" in Ellyrion .
we were not retreating ...please .. we were drawing them out !
Ellyrion Fell with little resistance , and when we returned to
the ShadowLands , Spite's Reach was brimming to the hilt with
destruction players awaiting our arrival !

After a heated battle at the door of the keep , we managed to break
in . The enemy were mounting a stiff defense and managed to hold
us off at the ramp with a pretty effective shield wall . Battle raged
on , and alas the defenders had the upper hand on this one , and
we couldn't break through to the Lord's room !

It was fun running with the zerg , not much accomplised in
terms of xp , but we gained almost 2 Renown ranks and
I actually won 1 gold bag (this swordmaster's first)!

Warhammer: Destro Alt Night [Jan 14]

2009-01-15T23:32:00.001-08:00

The evening started quietly with only Trogue , Tzu and myself coming out to the IC last night . we decided to head out to the Greenskin area and do some pqs and quests around ch8 in Barak Varr. This chapter didn't offer much in term of influence rewards unfortunately ,so we decided to skip it and hit the next one . Problem is , how to get through that underground maze those blasted dwarves dug into the mountain !
Long story short , 10 minutes getting lost only to be back in a
roundabout way at the entrance , we decided to swim to the
other side ! problem solved !

We finally made our way to Mobash's Place ! curiously , a huge dwarf ironclad has crash landed onto the beach and its engines struggled vainly to back the hulking ship into the water. a huge battle raged on as the Greenskins assaulted the trapped dwarfs . I must say that was a great pq . it felt like being in a battle with the the frontlines advancing and retreating as we helped the npcs push into the dwarf fortifications and then pushed back as gyrocopters flew in for bombing runs and dwarf reinforcements poured from the ship .

Where is Trogue ?

we managed to to clear through to stage-3 a few times , but shorthanded it was impossible to finish off the hero plus 2 champions without a full group .

Moving on , running some quests we reached Iron rock point .
another fun PQ and with the help of a friendly squig herder
we actually completed the public quest all the way through .
Trogue even got a gold bag ! Well deserved mate !

Overall It was a relaxed outing , we earned enough influence to cap chapter 9 and the rewards for that were well worth it . I am bringing my chosen to get the Elite reward ring . Again , i apologize for the frequent interruptions . my 4 year old was having a tough time going back to sleep , and I had to be quiet a bit on vent as my pc room is nextdoor.

Warork and Mindbendir you were missed . Hope you guys can
make it next week . we even saved some drops for you guys !

/cheers

Warhammer : Order Alt Night [Jan 12th]

2009-01-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Monday Night Rolls in , and was time for another Order Alt night !
unusually , we had a single group going today and our entire
corps of warrior priests was MIA :S .

Assembled for the night :
-Tzudevil ( RunePriest )
-GrimFate ( Sword Master)
-Dracfyre ( Bright Wizard )
-Fynflame( Bright Wizard )
-Elsabeth ( Bright Wizard )
-Korinn ( Sword Master)

heading out into Ellyrion , we decided to queue up for some
scenarios . The 1st phoenix gate was pretty enjoyable , and went
back and forth , chasing the flag carrier , pushing destro all the
way into their base and preventing them from capping .
in hindsight , we should have protected our flag , but it was fun
nonetheless . live and learn .

MourKain soon popped after that . and what a disaster that was .
shorthanded (12 vs 9) and outleveled , match was over in 4 min .
not a pretty sight .something was up with scenarios after that .
couple more popped and order had the same handicap
(12 destro vs 9 order) . and when StoneTroll popped a bit later ,

order had 15 players in ( supposedly it is 12 v 12) and the scenario

ended abruptly with no warning message with 6 min left .

The Dragon Gate

in between all this scenarios we managed to finish a pq in
Ch8 Ellyrion , and everyone got a green bag with a nice
rank 17 chest armor reward . Tzu Funnily threw his away
and took the money thinking it was a rank 15 piece .
That's what happens when it gets late !
Taking the hint , we called it an early night at 11:15 and
head back to city . I stayed behind a little bit and finished
a couple quests and ranked up to 18 .

A point about target calling ,
I know tanks usually lead the charge and make the target calls ,
But I make a poor target caller as i get sucked into the action
mashing my 1-2-3 sword master combos and it's hard to look
at the entire battlefield . I think one of the ranged players should
be target calling and we had good success with Drac at the helm ,
though we shied away from it as the night went on .

also ,seems my sword master is a bit ahead of the pack rank wise ,
so for next week I think i am gonna dustoff my archmage .
if she handles rez duty and a bit of healing , Tzu would be freed up
to pump the mad heals and we'll hopefully have better outcome in scenarios .

until next week !

Warhammer : Destro Alt Night [Jan 7th]

2009-01-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus , Our small motley crew dusted off the cobwebs
of the holidays ,and it was time to hit the road . It was great meeting up again ,and as it turned out as enjoyable as ever !

Assembled for the night :

- Trogue
- Tzudevil
- Streyla
- Oskadagrunt
- Keseth

Our destination for the night was Ellyrion .
Flying to the warcamp in the shadowlands , we headed south .

The Griffon Gate.

The night started on a High note , as we completed the PQ at the Griffon gate and were surprised with 1 gold bag / 1 purple bagsup for grabs . Tzu won the Purple bag , but the gold bag went to a level 7 player who was with a couple of his buddies . w t h ?
now he sure has something to look forward to @ rank 17 .

Following the road south we arrived at dark elf camp in Brokenblade .
I must say i like the rolling plains of Ellyrion much better than the bleak landscape that is the shadowlands .

The Plains of Ellyrion.

our first stop was the town of Berhessa . The Town of Berhessa is well known for rearing some of the most prized horses of Ellyrion. The Dark Elves know this and intend to leave the town in ruins.Town of Berhessaour group picked up two players and set about destroying and pillaging the town . Stage 2 had us escort Dark Elf sorceress NPCsinto the town and protect them until they burn building after building down . battle raged on non-stop , and swells upon swells of high elves were slaughtered . Fantastic PQ , a Ton of fun . Upon Vanquishing the Hero , we were rewarded with another gold bag ! What more could you ask for !

Berhessa .

we head out and did the other PQ's in the chapter "reservation of Honor"and "Monument of Narielle " which while enjoyable , were less challenging and we completed easily for a multitude of green bags .

As always , playing with this tight group is very enjoyable ,
Got a whole level tonight (very close to 18), and I believe everyone ranked up (some twice : P) and while i slipped and let our tanking sorceress hit the dirt a couple of times ,I am sure he'll forgive my rustiness !

- The Siege of Smolensk -

2007-06-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

After a Massive Military Buildup on its Western Front Germany Declared War on the Slumbering Russia.Tzaress Catherine , Addressed the nation declaring a state of war , and urging all able - bodied Citizens to join thenational army . under its charismatic leader , The russian EmpireProspered in the last 20 years . Catherine has emphasized building upthe Nation's infrastructure, building up the natural resources . The Russian economy prospered under the Free market and open borders with the neighbouring countries .

German Forces descended on the small Northeastern desert city of smolensk .
German cavalery battalions ravaged and plaundered the country side
while the main assault forces prepared to lay siege to the city .
Smolensk reknown for its booming economy driven by 2 very prosperous gold mines ,proved to be too attractive of a target on the german-russian borders .

It started at dawn . German Canons pounded the city defenses ,
and german musketman and cavalry launched a massive offensive
against the battered city .
Lightly Garisonned , the defenders dug in anticipation for
the onslaught . canon rounds tore through the city walls and
flattened building wherever they landed. grey columns of ash rose
to the sky everywhere and a bevy of fires started raging on .

the russian musketman fought valiantly . fighting door to door ,
they ambushed and Frustrated the numerically superior advancing
germans inflicting severe casualties and taking many casualties
themselves . Wave upon wave of infantry and cavalry continuously
assaulted the barricated russian positions inside the city ,
tenaciously gaining ground.

In nearby St Petersburg , the russian military was making preparation
for relief efforts. 3 regimens of Cavalries , and 4 battallions of infantry
marched north to assist the sieged city .

...The defenders must hold their ground ...
... Smolensk Will Stand ...

- The Arm chair General -

What you looking at ?

2007-04-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Tobii technology creates special screens that track where your eyes look.
Market research companies use such screens to see “hot spots” -
which parts of an ad or Web site draw your attention and hold your gaze.

http://www.tobii.com/

State : a How-to guide to dysfunction

2007-03-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

The EU is celebrating its 50th anniversary today .
back in 1957, The European Union Started as 6 nations
banding together for economic/social develepment
following a devastating World War II conflict that shattered
the old continent economies and infrastructure .

Nowadays, the EU brings together 27 European countries
and 490 Millions Citizen from a plethora of ethnic, religious
and linguistic backgrounds .It unites diverse nations and regions
that in the not-too-distant past fought wars against each other,
practiced economic isolationism or were subject to dictatorship and clientelism.

Today, differences are resolved via dialogue and negotiations.
matters of joint interest , like trade and economic issues, security ,foreign policy, crisis management, judicial affairs, social policy and migration are discussed and voted on
in the various European institutions in which the 27 member states have entrusted
some of their sovereignty.

If the EU is a shining Example of Multi-state collaboration
and economic growth, Lebanon on the other hand is a
how-to guide to dysnfunction . Located in the heart of the Middle east ,
Lebanon boasts 10k square kilometer area ,
a whopping 3 millions citizens (of the same ethnic background)
subscribing to a multitude of religious beliefs , and a faltering economy
shouldering 38Billions Dollars in state public debt due to years of civil war
and strife and further handicapped by conflicting political agendas .

In recent Develepments , Government and Opposition have been deadlocked
for 6 months in an ongoing political impasse that paralyzed the country's economy .
Various efforts to diffuse the sitution has been in vain . the divison between
the sparring political parties is so big ,The country has sent 2 delegations to the Arab state summit This week.

Now that begs the Question , if 27(twenty-Freaking-Seven) european states
can cooperate and present a unique stance for issues like social and economic policy , balanced development, security, and foreign policy , How could the tiny ethnically homgeneous
so-called state that is Lebanon Send 2 delegations to a State summit ?

What a Disgrace .

What a laughing stock of a state .

if you can't agree on a single representation for a single State ..

Stay

Freaking

Home .

Third Sphere

2007-03-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

with the big success of world of warcraft ,
MMOs as medium of entertainment has become mainstream .

There are a lot of excellent single player games, that have never
achieved the level of success world of warcraft is having.
Furthermore , The most Successful ones boast robust
Multiplayer components .

So, what's the appeal of Online gaming ?

To make an analogy lets look at coffeeshops.
on sunny days, They seem to be bustling with Customers.
Most patrons though are there alone .they sit at their table
enjoying the hot beverage ,while reading a book or flipping
through the local newspaper.Now ,I can argue that i could
brew the same coffee ,sit ona chair in my sunny backyard
and abosultely enjoy it alone.
So , what drives people to flock to coffeeshops ?

As people , we spend the majority of our time in 2 social spheres.

The first sphere is the Home . At home , we eat , sleep ,
enjoy our families company , entertain friends among many other things .

The second social sphere is the work place. whether it is aneducational institute , corporate environment , or a local businessthat's where we spend a lot of time earning a living and interacting with our colleagues.

Even though we spend majority of our time in the above 2 spheres,
The leftover time (i.e Leisure time ) is our own .
Social animals as we are, where would we seek social
interaction in our leisure time ?

Enter the 3rd social sphere .

Coffeeshops as they are a good example of the 3rd place theory .
A coffeeshop is a neutral locale , where people withthe same taste
in coffee head to enjoy their brown beverage .the "possibility" to
connect with peers with similar interest is present
if the person decides to seek it.

Another example is an amateur sports league team .
The members of such teams come together twice or more a week
to enjoy their activity of choice , and play competitive games
against other teams of similar minded individuals.
Similarly to the example above , the "possibility" to establish
personal social relations beyond the activity itself is available to be pursued .

To generalize , any location where a random group of people
congregate to partcipate /enjoy a certain activity
(that activity not being work related ) can be considered a 3rd place .

MMOs are the new 3rd places .
Virual Worlds to engage in and explore alone ,
share and enjoy with a buddy, or compete against
other like minded individuals under a predetremined set of rules .
Or pretty much do just about anything .
With this new Medium , The possibilities are Endless.

The Wifeometer

2007-03-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

GDC 2007 , an excerpt from Miyamoto keynote sharing

Nintendo's vision of accessibility in game design :

I’d like to talk about a personal experience of [mine]: I have a personal way of determining if a product will be succeed with the intended audience, I call it the wifeometer.

[laughter]

This wifeometer measures one variable: the interest level of my own wife. Maybe some of you can remember when you played Pac-Man, or a game like Mario. And maybe you think that these were important moments in your lives. They were not important moments for my wife. But then Tetris came out. The problem was that, when I thought my wife would be interested in this game, she was not, but then when my daughter started playing Ocarina of Time at home, there was a little change. My wife had gone from complete disinterest to a background observer. She watched my daughter play. I thought, oh maybe there is hope!

[laughter]

Then came Animal Crossing. Now when this game came out I assured my wife there were no enemies to fight in this game, so she agreed to actually touch the controller. She was soon happy cutting down trees and exchanging letters with our children. The wifeometer went up a bit more. I thought I’m going to get that thing higher!

As some of you may know we have a dog in our house, and my wife loves cats but I’m a dog lover. This is our dog. He’s 6. He sleeps on a better mattress than I do. If you look at his face, he looks like a guitar pick. So we named him Pick. Now since Pick joined us, we’ve been studying dog training, and we made new friends through the other dogs our dog has met. He brought us new joys and discoveries.
Getting back to my point today... growing the wifeometer.
I was watching our dog friends and my wife, I thought maybe if we could get these people and turn them into game players, if we could interest them, we could expand the user base, there were elements too of dog training that I thought I could turn into a videogame. So when I showed her Nintendogs, she finally saw a different perspective.

Then game Brain Age. This has turned her into a true gamer. She has accepted games as part of her daily life. She understands the unique interactive entertainment found in games. And today we have a Wii in our house. So last month, on Valentine’s Day, in Japan on Valentine’s Day women give chocolates to men, it’s very nice!
As usual I came home rather late from work, expecting her to be asleep. I opened the door and heard the sounds of the Wii, so I thought she waited up to give me chocolates, so sweet, but actually she was just casting her votes on the Everybody Votes channel. So she herself downloaded the channel and voted on her own, this is an incredible occurrence in my household, it would be more normal to get home and find Donkey Kong eating at my dinner table!

[laughter]

This is the second version of Brain Age. It has a mini Mario game in it. Now my wife comes to me and says, I can beat you at this game, anytime. She’s bragging! To me!

[laughter]

Looking at her scores, she’s right. She turned into a hardcore gamer much faster than I expected. Wifeometer has shot up dramatically. So there it is. Now she’s playing Wii sports. Not only that, she invites our friends over to play Wii sports. I don’t know if she’ll stop making Miis - she makes them for everyone in our neighbourhood. This is very lucky for me, see because now she’s getting a taste for what it‘s like to create something. I see this as a first step towards game design. I think we’ll be competing going forward, eventually she’ll come up with a unique idea, and when she does … I can retire!

[laughter]

A strong drive to expand the target audience , coupled with Hard devotion to the entertainment business , and strong creative innovation , That is what define Nintendo as a company.

It is no surprise to see the Wii and the Ds as bestsellers in todays fierce console market.

Ps : Original Article can be found at : http://www.wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/2007/03/gdc_miyamotos_k.html#more

California , Rest in Peace ...

2007-03-10T23:01:00.001-08:00

I Love The Art on the this Album Cover .

"She's a runner, rebel and a stunner "

"A little loaded she was stealing another breath "

"I love my baby to death "

"Who knew the other side of you "

"Too true to say goodbye to you "

"Gone too fast .."

Hauntigly Fitting ...

RHCP - Stadium Arcadium

2007-03-10T23:01:00.000-08:00

Blissfully oblivious of the music scene, I somehow
Missed the Release of "Stadium Arcadium" ,
"Red Hot Chili Peppers" latest Album . Nominated
for seven grammy awards , it was the biggest
selling album of 2006. I believe it is one of their
best works to date.

The songs "Dani California" , "Tell me baby "
among others showcase the Lyricist ingenuity of
frontman Anthony kiedes.
The Album Features hard Rocking riffs that alternate
with a catchy Chorus to deliver a a very addictive
1-2 musical knockout that worms itself into your head ,
dig deep and never Let go .

"They come from every state to find
Some dreams were meant to be declined
Tell the man what did you have in mind
What have you come to do ...
Tell me baby ,
What's Your story ,
Where you come from
and where you are going
come on .."

Alternative Rock / Funk at its best .

Vertical Limit

2007-03-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Aggressive stance ,
Anticipation,
Incoming set,
Swift step ,
Eyes on the kill ,
Acceleration,
Elevation ,
Explosive contact,
Floorbound velocity,
Impact.
~
Terra Ferma.

Normal , or The definition thereof

2007-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

Quirky ,odd , off beat , puzzling.

All could describe Murakami's characters. However Funny,
charming , witty or sarcastic they are inherently human and
that's what makes them so engaging .
Murakami's short stories are an introspective foray into
the quirks of the human soul. He plays with the concept
of normality , stretches it, dances around it and then
stretches it some more.

what is Normal ?
Normal is not what makes us tick .
Normal is not what makes us react .
Normal is not what makes us rage
with anger or brood with melancholy .
what's Normal ?
Humbly, Normal is boring.

"We are all human, after all, and everybody 's
got something a little off somewhere. " Haruki Murakami

California Sunday

2007-03-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

an Idyllic Sunday .
Unseasonably warm for a March weekend.
Outdoors , in the waning hours of the afternoon ,
the jibber of my son exploring the high school next door
makes for pleasant company . time seems to idle .
here's to many sundays to come .

A Race Car Called Lebanon .

2007-03-04T14:08:00.000-08:00