Do We Need a Revolution?

Reading through the E3 coverage of Star Wars: The Old Republic, I across a weird common thread in their hands-on articles and descriptions of what people should expect from the game.  It's summed up quite well in this comment:

"Overall, I found SWTOR to be enjoyable, though nothing particularly revolutionary for the MMO genre."
- Massively


I assume that's a fair assessment, given that the author has had actual hands-on experience with the game (though apparently SOMEONE didn't actually play the game, according to the end of the article).  Considering my beta invite is still AWOL, all I have to go on are videos of dev walkthroughs, combat, and mission-running/questing/what-the-hell-ever they're going to try to call it, and what I've seen backs that statement up.

My question is... does TOR really need to be a revolution?

Out Of Control-ler

My wife joined our D&D game recently to get some dice-slinging in over the summer break.  She wanted to play something a bit different, so she made a melee-focused valorous bard.  She prefers to stay at range and decided to go ahead and try a front-line leader to help out the party, which is a little ranged-heavy.

Last week's game took the intrepid members of the Unsung (and their new bard friend) into some cramped quarters:  they were investigating the disappearance of several children from a local merchant caravan, which they tracked to a rundown soap-making plant in the seedy part of town.  It was also rumored to be the center of the local kingpin's drug operation, which the players confirmed once they were inside and fighting their way through the Soapworks' lower levels.

But those cramped quarters wound up putting her at odds with another member of the party who just couldn't resist the opportunity to do some damage.

Robin Williams is a Bigger Geek Than Me

This video makes me smile.  I don't even care that it's a commercial, it still makes me just grin.

Apparently, while Robin Williams's wife was pregnant with their daughter they were playing lots of the original Legend of Zelda (like you do), and loved the name so much they used it.

Zelda Rae Williams says she was teased a lot about the name growing up, but later grew to love it (and apparently gaming as well).

"Could have been worse," Robin said in the behind-the-scenes video.  "You could have been named Mario."

E3 Overload

E3 has been called many things:  Christmas for gamers, the biggest annual event in gaming, and a huge waste of time and money.  Whether that's actually the case or not I wouldn't know, because I still... haven't... been able... to go.  Really, I've been a gamer and a serious journalist for years now, and I STILL can't get in?  There is no justice in the world.

So like the rest of the gaming world, I've been checking 1Up, Joystiq, Massively and GameTrailers for the latest news and sneaking a few extra coffee breaks to watch new trailers and videos all week long.  Which makes this more like March Madness in a typical office environment, just instead of updating my bracket I'm updating my E3 bingo cards.

So here's all the shiny things I spotted that will likely put me in the poorhouse by this time next year.

Putting the "Cat" Back in Cataclysm

Image:  Blizzard.com

Yes, that's a cat with wings.  Yes, it's on fire.  Yes, it can be yours if you play World of Warcraft and pay $25.

No, I don't think I'll be buying it.  And I'm not sure hordes of other WoW players will, either.

The Winged Guardian is the second mount Blizzard has put in its online Pet Store, and is arguably a big step up from the Celestial Steed (aka My Little Sparklepony) in terms of model and coolness factor.  It's also going to cause a second wave of uproar from anti-microtransaction players that feel items like this should come with their subscription fee.  In other words, whiny gits.

Full disclosure:  I bought the Starpony the day it came out and I'm still glad I did.  So why am I digging my heels this time around, and predicting other people will do the same?