allergies wtf…I feel like hell…have some toast

As promised, I finally got my recording software working (kind of) and I made an experimental video of some of the new features in Starcraft 2 and the new Battle.net respectively. This is my first youtube video, so hopefully everything works right…be gentle.

Enjoy!

G’day everyone, here for an evening post while it’s still Monday. I’m still working on getting some video recording software configured to record some Starcraft 2 footage, but for now, a post!

It is mostly common knowledge now that Starcraft 2 will not include LAN play capability. This is purported to be because of Blizzard’s desire to have all games played through the new Battle.net system that will be in place for the final release. There is some merit to this, as the new features in Battle.net are going to be quite awesome.

But, some people are still pretty pissed. (with apologies to our Jewish friends, naturally.)

Have a great week, class dismissed.

At long last, our beta key for Starcraft 2 has been activated. I was able to play two short games last night andthe game is beautiful.

We’ll have more on the game in the coming weeks but for now, there are a handful of live streams with which you can watch the game in action, here are a few:

http://www.teamliquid.net/video/use….php?user=Chill
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177988
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/1up-game-night
http://www.starcraftmethod.com/livestreams-lumi
http://www.justin.tv/iccup
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/giant…ve-stream/1875/

If you happen to have access to the beta, you can catch us there under the username Endymian.gamersu

Hope to see you there.

Welp, I would love to be posting a video of us playing the Starcraft 2 beta today, but I am still waiting my key from Blizzcon to be activated. Suffice it to say, I am disappointed…I thought it would be quicker than this for the Blizzcon key holders.

But, it doesn’t do me any good to curse and bitch, so…moving on!

I saw this lovely little cartoon on Youtube last week from Albino Black Sheep (who has always produced quality as far as I can remember.)

Please enjoy this very funny and cute cartoon, Spy vs. Pyro.

Class dismissed

From the Press Release:

Blizzard Entertainment Begins Closed Beta Testing of StarCraft^® II: Wings of Liberty^™

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft^® II: Wings of Liberty^™, has begun. Thousands of gamers around the world have started to receive invitations from the company to participate in the first phase of the beta test. In addition to providing feedback on the multiplayer balance of StarCraft II, testers are also getting a first look at Blizzard Entertainment’s revamped Battle.net^® service, which will be the online platform for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft^®, and future Blizzard Entertainment^® games.

“Gathering concentrated feedback from our players is an important step for us as we head into the final stretch of development for StarCraft II and the new Battle.net service,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to having our players’ help in polishing the overall experience and preparing for launch.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is currently slated to ship in the first half of 2010.

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment will again offer unparalleled online play through Battle.net, the company’s world-renowned gaming service. A new version of Battle.net will be launched alongside StarCraft II with several enhancements and new features to establish it as the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers.

For more information on StarCraft II and the beta test, please visit the official StarCraft II website at http://www.starcraft2.com. To set up a Battle.net account and sign up for a chance to participate in the StarCraft II beta test, please visit the official Battle.net website at http://www.battle.net.

Yes we have a key, and yes we’ll be covering this as much as possible. Stay tuned!

Foresight Games
Ages 12+
~30 Mins
2-6 Players

Overview
Quick Six is a fast-paced dice game where, at it’s core, the objective is to roll 6 of a kind (while saving matching dice) in as few rolls as possible. Unlike most other Dice games, like Yahtzee, Quick Six is played with eight-sided dice, which adds to the difficulty. But, to make it easier, each player is given a special “Occupation” abilities to help them achieve six-of-a-kind such as the power to add dice together, or distribute the value of one dice onto one or more others, and so on. Whoever gets their six-of-a-kind in the fewest amount of rolls each round gets the most points for that round, and whoever has the most points at the end of the allotted number of rounds is the winner.

Rulebook
The rulebook is currently under revision due to some inconsistencies and confusing wording that I have already discussed with the author and are in the process of being fixed. The game is difficult to understand with the current rules, but the game really is quite simple and once you understand it you’ll see how easy it is. It’s not a catastrophic obstacle. The reference cards included are very helpful though.

Art
Art isn’t a very important aspect of Quick Six. Like Yahtzee, there is little more to the game than dice and a scorecard. Quick Six does have the Occupation cards, which are average looking but serve their purpose perfectly. They are clearly color coded and quite legible. Nothing wrong here.

What Quick-Six is/isn’t
In my opinion, Quick Six is an ideal game to take with you on road trips. It’s lightweight, the rules are easy to remember once you understand them, and it would play perfectly on hotel room coffee tables. Quick-Six would also be an excellent way to help children learn some elementary mathematics skills. The Adder, Subtractor, and Distributor Occupations (among others) are a great method to help teach the nature of numbers and turning learning into a game always makes it more effective. I don’t know if I would make this my first pick with my usual weekend game group, but the utility of Quick Six makes up for it. Although, it might make a fantastic drinking game (but you didn’t hear that from me)

What could be better?
A scorepad would be excellent. I know TheGameCrafter isn’t quite equipped for that yet, but a PDF of a blank scoring sheet with some helpful notes would be helpful. Other than that, Quick Six has everything it needs to be fun.

Final Word
I’m a fan of Yahtzee and other dice games like “Ship Captain and Crew” so naturally, I enjoyed this very much. With a revised rulebook, this is an easy 4/5 star game. Even though the game is labeled ages 12+ (by law) give it a shot with your 1st-through-4th grade kids, it’s excellent, fun math practice. And, at $12, it’s not a huge risk to give it a chance. I had fun!

[Check out QUICK SIX at The Game Crafter right HERE]

[The Author has graciously donated a copy of his game, Quick Six, for the purposes of this review. Thank you very much! We had a lot of fun, and I appreciate your patience during the crazy holiday season! If anyone else would like to have his or her game reviewed and advertised for free on our website, please feel free to send me a message on TGC or email me through the link in my profile!]

Hey Ash Whatcha Playin? (or HAWP) cannot be described. It can only be experienced.

There are many episodes of HAWP, they are funny, they are creative, they are about videogames.

I believe I’ve said everything I need to say. Here is a sample:

See the whole collection here: http://www.heyash.com/

I lol’d hard.

It’s about time! It felt so polished and clean when we played it at Blizzcon, I can’t wait to see how far it’s come along.

Blizzard had a quarterly conference earlier this week that clearly stated in a slide that this is the first year ever they plan to release two major products in the same year, meaning World of Warcraft Cataclysm, and Starcraft 2. It also said that the Starcraft 2 beta was “ready to launch this month”

I’m naturally very excited. Mostly about the campaign editor, which I am hoping will be included in the beta. Blizzard has mentioned plans for a marketplace where people can actually put prices on their SC2 maps as if it were an iphone app. I think this is going to make for some truly creative games; bank on seeing Gamer’s University Games contributions to that community as well as information on the game’s beta and release as we receive it!

Class dismissed!

It may become a reality, just in time for the new expansion.

Just a quick post today while I work on a million other things:

From Cnet.co.uk:

The existing Armory application allows players to check out characters, statistics and achievements from their iPhone. The coming expansion will build on that by giving gamers access to the game’s virtual marketplace, Pocket-lint reports. The mobile version will reportedly feature all the functionality of the ‘real’ Auction House, and will allow iPhone-equipped players to continue their financial wheeling and dealing on the move.

Blizzard confirmed that the application was in development in an official post on the World of Warcraft forums. It seems that currently it’s only focusing on developing for the iPhone, although if the app is successful, an Android version could conceivably be on the cards.

The official announcement also makes it clear that “certain elements” of the game will be premium-based. World of Warcraft players already pay a monthly fee for the game, so if you want the full version of the coming application, expect to pay an additional fee on top of your usual monthly charge.

From Blizzard’s point of view, expanding World of Warcraft’s mobile functionality makes perfect sense — fans will eagerly pay to never have to be disconnected from their character’s online activity and manage a more laborious part of the game while they’re away from their computer. Stay tuned for release dates and pricing information. Lok’tar!

“Premuim” huh? Well, if a company can charge $25 to have some monkey copy-paste a character file from one server to another (a process that is probably automated anyway) why not this? We’ll see what happens with this one, but it’s definitely interesting.