tashkal has a birthday today, happy birthday!

A link to some pictures.
A link to the new GW2 Database.

So, did I get to play?  No.
Friday, Cat made a charr and ran around a bit.  She confirmed she doesn't like MMOs, so stopped.  I think charr might be the reason, but perhaps not.
Samantha made a mesmer.  She found she enjoyed it, and explored a bunch of different weapon combinations to see what she liked most.
Mark made a human guardian.  He played a little, and apparently helped someone out enough that they joined the guild.

They played through the weekend, tried out a lot of things, and apparently Mark and Samantha really enjoyed it.
Maybe I'll get to play next time.  >.>

116degrees has a birthday today.  Happy birthday!

My sister apparently had a dream, that was something like GTA.  She needed to get away from somebody or other, and to do so required her to slip into the back of a truck which was taking some women to the airport.  After a brief makeout session in the back of the truck with one of the girls, the group wound up on a plane to another country.  She made friends with the pilot, before following the girls to their new location.  There, she found out that the place was in the countryside, where this guy was going to 'train' the girls as prostitutes.

She prepared to head out, but the guy running the place seemed insistent that she stick around and work for him.  The conversation took place in the backyard, where the guy was running a bonfire with steaks and burgers cooking near it for visitors.  Since the guy seemed unreasonable, my sister decided to slam his face onto the grill, and threatened him.  He started turning violent, so she systematically began beating him up, and each time she'd toss him into the bonfire.  He was able to get out a number of times - but she became fairly... insistent that this was where he belonged.

After killing the guy off, she waited for the 'bosses' to show up, and negotiated with them.  She indicated the state of the place (a horrific pigpen), and that she was sure she could do much better.  She found out the guy had been embezzling from this group, so offered that if she was given a better place, they'd get more money from their 'investment'.  She was, apparently, planned to make this organization run by women, without the use of coercion and threats that the former owner would use.

When asked about the former owner, she replied he was 'gone with the wind' - apparently cremated and scattered.  She was given permission to move the girls to someplace better and start fresh, having emptied the guy's bank account before they'd arrived (he used internet banking, and had his passwords on some post-its beside the computer), so knew how much she had to play with.  She picked one of the girls to help run the business, and made nice with the pilot who brought them in, so she could go home when she needed to.

All in all, a pretty bloody dream, I think.  *shiver*  She didn't seem phased by it at all.

1960s.  VHF
1970s.  VHF (lower channels) and UHF (higher channels).
Early 1980s.  Cable TV.  "Cable Boxes" with sliding meters to handle a range of channels.
Mid 1980s.   Pay TV provides special channels if you pay extra on your Cable bill.  Do people actually use VHF anymore?
Late 1980s.  "Satellite TV".
1990s.  Cable TV is almost expected in a family household.  Pay TV starts to become "specialty channels".  VHF and UHF are for "poor people".
2000s.  Cable TV is standard.  Pay TV is replaced with Specialty TV "Packages".  Pay Per View becomes what "Pay TV" used to be.  VHF phasing out.
2010s.  VHF and UHF 'gone'.  Internet-Based TV - many shows available online for free, or just downloaded in torrent if unavailable.
2020s.... anyone have a guess?

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This will let you keep up to date on what we're doing.  The forum is pretty informal so far.  Note, as well, we're currently trying to decide our home server for GW2.  It looks like Eternal Grove is in the lead.

Someone on LJ reminded me it's been a while since I've posted.  True that, let's get up to date.
I'm pounding the keyboard working on Troinfi.  It won't be ready for CanGames, but it should be done enough that I can run it.  I'm also invited to run it and Fox Magic at WTF? in Montreal, and I'm looking forward to that as well.  I've done a few passes on certain sections of the game, cleaning it up and preparing it, and the things I'm adding look nice, but I have to keep in mind that 'better' is the enemy of 'done', and I should try to work forward.  The Fetch section is okay, the Sorcery section looks better, and once those two are done I can move into the GM section.

Cat's recovered well, and hopefully we'll be trying for children next month.  I'm scared, to be honest.  If she does get pregnant, she's forced to have a c-section, and we've got a very limited amount of time before she won't be able to have children again short of artificial insemination or she goes for surgery again.  I don't want her to have surgery again, and the idea of her having a c-section scares me as well.  Having her in danger just doesn't make me feel good, even if the risks are minimal.  Also, she's only worked two days this month - soon to be three.  I hope her shifts pick up again, because it's been a bit of a strain.

Guild Wars 2 is right around the corner, and next week is the Open Beta, which does not have an NDA.  I'm looking forward to it (and if you've purchased the pre-purchase for GW2, you can get in on it next week).  I'm all set, and can't wait to try it out.

I've written an article for the next issue of The Grimoire, which involves super hero RPGs.  I've tried a number of systems, and have looked at new systems as well.  I think I see a specific trend which has made super hero games difficult for me to enjoy, and difficult to run in general.  I talk about it for about five pages. ;)  Keep an eye out for it on RPGNow.  And as always, we need writers!

I found a suitable replacement for KickStarter, which I plan to use once I'm finished my first pass on Trionfi.  This will let me pay editors and artists, and hopefully we can have people go over the game and provide material for it.

My current rant of choice involves the upcoming Diablo 3 game, and this attitude that people must have an internet connection to play video games.  Basically, Diablo 3 requires you to have a constant internet connection to play, even if you're playing solo.  You must be logged into BattleNet to play.  They've removed LAN play, and they've removed the pause function from the game.  So, here's a few scenarios for you, which pretty much prevents you from playing D3.

1)  You don't have an internet connection.  My roomie's PC currently can't hook to the internet.  His laptop can, but the graphics card on that barely handles Guild Wars 1, it won't handle D3.  No D3 for him unless he gets an internet connection on his PC.  Also, I remember some people playing D2 on the bus, or out in public on their laptops.  If the laptop can handle D3, cool -- except that if you're on a bus or out in the open, there's even odds you won't be able to connect to BattleNet with any degree of reliability.  So, the 'portable play' option is mostly gone.  If you're visiting someone who doesn't have internet (me visiting my mom for example), you're hosed there too.

2)  Limited Internet. For a while, my cousin had to borrow a 'rocket' stick, it's sort of like a portable internet connection which uses a cellular link.  After a certain amount of bandwidth, cost goes through the roof.  Some people get 'light' or 'medium' internet packages - which would curtail how much D3 they can play as well.  Also, if you have multiple people using your bandwidth, this becomes more of an issue, and if, say, me, Cat, my roomie, and a friend all hook up at the same time to play together?  Laggy as hell if we've got a limited internet (which means limited bandwidth as well as limited up/down and limited total usage per month).  So, if anyone wants a 'cheap' or 'average' internet connection, they're hosed.

So what does this mean?  Effectively, it removes a sizeable chunk of internet users.  People who have a 'casual' connection to the internet but with fond memories of D2 are going to be disappointed.  People who don't have internet connections, or who want to play anywhere beyond their house, or play casually, are going to be disappointed.  The game has pretty much moved out of the hands of the casual gamer, and into the hands of the more hard-core players.  (This isn't meaning 'skill', but it means having 1) a solid, middle-to-high internet connection, and 2) a PC dedicated to the game).  It is no longer portable, it is no longer pausable, and it is a bandwidth sucker if you want to hook up with other people in a household, where in D2 this wasn't a problem.

Yes, this is the 21st century.  Yes, there are many people with strong internet connections with significant bandwidth.  But there's probably more people who don't have this, and there will always be more people behind the curve than ahead of it.  There was nothing broken about D2 being a game you could play anywhere, at any time.  Why remove this from D3?  It doesn't make sense.  If you want to play by yourself, you shouldn't need an internet connection, and there's nothing wrong with LAN play.

If D3 was an MMO?  Sure, I could accept that.  But it isn't.  So, basically, I don't think it needs to be treated as one.