http://www.r1ft.com Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:04:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's hard to try and delve into a subject as controversial as chauvinism or sexism without pissing a lot of people off almost immediately. I guess a good place to start is why I would pick a subject like this as a topic. Well, I suppose the idea came from ... http://www.r1ft.com/dev/the-chauvinistic-virtual-world/ For those that don't know, which is hopefully nearly everyone, I'm an ex-Air Force guy currently held prisoner in mainland Europe. I say this because it's relevant to what I'm about to say. I met a lot of people in my 8 years of service, and left behind a lot ... http://www.r1ft.com/rants/computer-go-boom/ Let's shed the formalities to get started here: Age of Conan, in all it's glory, is an unfinished and unpolished product. This doesn't mean it still can't be fun (and it can be quite fun) - and it also doesn't mean that we should, as consumers, silently ignore these blatant ... http://www.r1ft.com/age-of-conan/the-age-of-the-extended-beta/ While in the recent months I've expressed my dissatisfaction with the possibility of yet another Medieval/Fantasy sort of MMO, I'm also a believer if you do something, you should do it right. Today's discussion is about archetypes - more specifically, the Mage archetype - how Funcom and Age of Conan ... http://www.r1ft.com/dev/gandalf-tanked-a-balrog/ I've had a few friends wanting to try out the game recently and asking me what to play. As a leader of a guild it's my job to at least pretend to know something about all the classes. Here is my insight on how I think the current state of ... http://www.r1ft.com/age-of-conan/conan-may-class-overview/ So, AoC launch has come and gone. Aside from a few annoyances and a fetish with sharpening weapons, Funcom did a moderate job at not pissing a large portion of their customers off. I wouldn't go as far as saying everyone is happy - but realistic expectations must be set. ... http://www.r1ft.com/age-of-conan/aoc-first-pvp-impressions/ The Early Access program for Age of Conan launched this weekend. So, how'd Funcom do here? The Saturday launch was kicked off 3-4 hours after it's scheduled time. Servers came up between 8-9PM GMT, which gave us EU players only a few precious hours to dive in before keyboard facing on ... http://www.r1ft.com/age-of-conan/the-incredible-conan-and-its-sharp-weapons/ Tarib, a Swiss chap that plays Community Manager for the AoC forums by day, let the bomb drop today in the forums: The gates to Age of Conan open in just a few days from now and legions of adventurers can hardly wait to set foot on Hyborian soil. Many want ... http://www.r1ft.com/age-of-conan/age-of-conan-server-names-released/ Designing a game, much less a MMO, is no easy task. Developing a game of such magnitude is not a small endeavor. So, while I continue to mull over the other complications of designing such a game, I'd like to ask my readers for their input on the subject. This will ... http://www.r1ft.com/dev/your-ideal-mmo-classes-backgrounds-and-character-customization/ WARNING: If you're a GTA IV worshiper and gravel at the alter of Rock Star Games then move along, nothing to see here. So this past weekend (Saturday the third) the Bunny and I received a copy of what will probably be crowned game of the year ('08) Rock Star Games ... http://www.r1ft.com/zay/gta-iv-the-snooze-button/