Definitions

Note: this was originally published in my Multiply account’s blog, dated 1 Sept. 2009 I was thinking about Arthas. Why did he, a Prince of the Realm, a Paladin born and bred, protege of Uther the Lightbringer, the greatest Paladin of the age, and the heroic Muradin Bronzebeard (who is, astonishingly, a level 80 Elite), [...]

After saving the galaxy, again: a postscript on Mass Effect 2

First, let me make it clear to the reader: this is not a review of Bioware’s Mass Effect 2. By this time, and so close to the release of Mass Effect 3, there would be a tonload of writeups by more professional writers, and not so professional ones, about this game. No: what you will [...]

Online homicide (or why divorce is bad even virtually, haha)

While doing my usual round of monitoring, I came across this funny little article from Wired: “Woman Arrested After Killing Virtual Ex-Husband.” In brief, a Japanese woman who plays Maple Story hacked the password of a colleague and used that person’s account to hunt her, uh, online husband and, uh… kill him. In two of [...]

Homeland Securing WoW II: Planning a Raid

When I made my earlier Homeland Securing WoW post, part of me had the thinking that it was plausible. Then again, I was also of the opinion that it was part of the standard, “fear every shadow” mentality that is actually fostered in intelligence operations, especially post-9/11. But, as this article in Wired points out, [...]

MMOs as science labs and classrooms

Found this wonderful article about how MMORPG play could actually be simulating now only our wildest fantasies but the settings in which the scientific method is instinctively being learned by young men and women. For the ones with a bit more preference for the scientific stuff, here’s the link to the draft of the study. [...]

Cats will pwn Mages

Ok, let’s get something straight: even in Shadowrun and Exalted, I have never, never, claimed that we Mages (or Magic user variants) can match up to the big bruisers in a stand-up fight. Raistlin Majere was feared, even by the gods of Krynn, because of his magical power, not his physical prowess. Which was actually [...]

PC gaming losing to consoles?

While site hopping (as part of my monitoring duties for the IRL work), my handy-dandy My Yahoo agregators found an… intriguing piece of news from industry titan id software. Actually, that’s the link to the full article as reported in Wired.com, but the original Wired article says it all: “Id Losing Faith In PC Gaming.” [...]

Homeland Securing WoW

Of all the absurdities… Fighting lack of sleep, fatigue, ennui and a general sense of boredom, I was hopping around the Net like any good Mentat lacking about six more shots of espresso when I stumbled into this Wired article: “U.S. Spies Want to Find Terrorists in World of Warcraft.” Now, this is a truly [...]

Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons, joins the ultimate Gamemaster and designer (read: God) , 2008

Gary Gygax, the man who made modern gaming possible with his creation of the Dungeons & Dragons system in the mid-70s, has left this mortal plane Tuesday this week in his home in Chicago, Illinois. He was 69. (click here for the article. Amazingly, it seems only ABS-CBN covered it) Gygax can be considered as [...]

Welcome to the Playgrounds

This now, in a sense, completes my blogging activities. As much as I am a Guardian (although that may not be the case soon enough), I am also a gamer. Eversince I picked up my first “Fighting Fantasy” gamebook sometime in grade 4 or 5, I’ve been a gamer in one way or another. And [...]