Over the weekend I found myself bored, as I refuse to go outside during winter. This, generally leads to me playing a lot of video games, and watching quite a bit of sports. I’ve still got a couple of weeks before many retail games come out that I’m thinking about buying, so I started to search around for a cheap alternative until said release.

I ran into a game called Perfect World International. It’s a MMORPG that originally released in China but due to its popularity has become a cult hit around the world. After playing it until level 6, I really saw nothing special with the game. To be fair though, you can’t accurately judge an MMO until you get deeper into a game. However, during my time playing I really didn’t see anything that leapt out to me as being amazing.

So, why therefore are so many people playing it? All because of that ever glorious word, ‘free’. Yes, I’ll give Perfect World credit, in that it’s a game worth playing if you don’t have to pay for it. In fact, I’d say it’s probably the highest quality free game I’ve ever played.

Of course, no MMO can be played without sustaining some kind of profit. Perfect World makes its cash from a system called ‘micro-transactions’. This is a system where players can pay cash for in-game money, or items. Nearly every ‘free’ MMO has this system with varying levels of success. Perfect World seems to be doing just fine, as they keep increasing the number of countries where the game is available.

While the micro-transaction system can work in a financial sense, I think it greatly throws off the balance of the in-game world. Of course, you’ll have the dedicated gamers who don’t care how much they have to spend aslong as they can get some killer loot. Then you’ll have people who just want to play, and earn what they get through actually playing the game.

If you have someone who is dedicated to the game, and plays it a lot but doesn’t necessarily have the money to invest frequently, then he is penalized. But if someone plays for quite a bit but has some money to throw around then being able to advance and obtain some great items will have an easier go of things.

It appears that BioWare, developer of Star Wars: The Old Republic might be looking into the micro-transaction system. I really hope not, as it really just messes things up in the game world. Plus, giving players an extra advantage because of something they do outside of the game kind of ruins the immersiveness.

What are your thoughts on micro-transactions? Do you prefer the system, or do you not mind paying a monthly fee to play a MMO?

There’s always been this affinity for secret hidden messages inside music, or electronics. I believe it all started when someone played their Beatles album backwards, which was supposed to reveal secret satanic messages.

The new trend in subliminal messages is releasing electronics, or in this case video games with hidden Islamic messages.

According to a woman who purchased ‘Baby Pals’, the Nintendo DS game has a baby uttering the message, “Islam Is The Light”.

If you go into the video knowing that the phrase is said, then it does sound close to that wording. Of course, it really just sounds like gibberish. But who knows, maybe there’s a secret Islamic phrase making cult out there. Trying to brainwash kids through robotic sounding baby voices planted in toys, and video games.

It was a sad day yesterday when news spread of Ricardo Montalban’s death, as we lost one of the coolest of cool actors. I haven’t been able to round up details of his death, so I’m assuming it was accounted to old age. Montalban, at least in this humble writer’s eyes will always be an icon.

Ricardo Montalban, started as a famous Mexican actor before making his way over to the United States. He starred in numerous soaps, was the famous Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, and was the villain in the original Naked Gun movie. Of course his most famous role will always be of the original Klingon, Khan Noonien Singh.

Montalban played as Khan during the Star Trek series, before famously revising the role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He brought a certain flair to the character that really made him stand out. It definitely would take something special to cause that ever famous line from Captain Kirk:

If you listen to those who were around Montalban, he was supposed to be one of the classiest people in Hollywood. It’s sad to lose such a figure, but I will honor his life by watching some Star Trek II tonight, remembering the good times.

In Potsdam University that’s just south of Berlin will be receiving what’s referred to as a “flirting” course. The actual class will be teaching a group of IT engineers the mysteries of social skills and talking to other human beings.

Philip von Senftleben, an author and radio personality will be teaching the class. The IT nerds will learn valuable things such as, writing flirty text messages, impressing people at parties, and accepting rejection.

A spokesman of Postdam University had this to say about the course, “We want to prepare our students with the social skills needed to succeed both in their private life and their work life”

I can appreciate the spirit behind the reasoning, but this sounds eerily similar to some bad reality shows I’ve noticed on TV. Suave sophisticated person teaches young budding nerds how to pick up ladies? Should have hired this guy:

[via: Yahoo News]

I’m still debating whether this advertisement is clever, or just in bad taste. I think it’s a mix of both, as I support the idea of providing the less fortunate with ways to connect with the world. Although the needs of food, and water will super cede a laptop, it’s still a way to help us all stay connected.

Here’s the ad for the One Laptop Per Child charity that digitally altered a video of John Lennon. Or they found a great look-a-like. Either way they did a great job, even if it’s a bit creepy.

Net Neutrality has been a hot word to use the past couple of years. With questionable tactics being raised by telecommunication companies to control internet access for users, it will only continue to grow. The latest Net Neutrality incident comes from the Northeast, with the telecom FairPoint Communications.

FairPoint is taking over internet distribution from Verizon, who is giving up 1.5 million landline accounts going into the new year. All of this is pretty standard fare, but the big question is the handling of email accounts through FairPoint’s service. All of the Verizon accounts will have to be switched over to FairPoint. This can either be a small, or big hassle depending on how much you rely on your email address for communication.

I can actually forgive FairPoint for having customers switch from their Verizon accounts, to theirs. It makes sense, considering it’s a huge telecom switch. Where I draw the line though, is that FairPoint is restricting access to third party email services (AOL, Yahoo, Google etc..). Users of these services will still be able to keep their addresses, but can only access their accounts through FairPoint’s email portal.

Needless to say this is a huge breach of privacy in terms of a provider-client relationship. Restricting access to a site because of a service that millions across the country use every day? I’m not sure what the thought process behind the decision was. If anything, having customers rely on other third party services helps keep the strain off their servers. The only real advantage to forcing users to use FairPoint’s portal would be if they have advertising on their pages.

This is quite upsetting, as it’s but one step (albeit a small one) towards telecoms garnering more control over content. First, it started with capping bandwidth for people utilizing a large about of data transfer. Now, FairPoint has taken it a step further restricting users from free services on the internet.

Where/When is it going to end?

[via: Rutland Herald]