Category: OFF TOPIC

FFXIV Open Beta Delay + Minecrafting

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As you’ve probably heard by now, the Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta was abruptly delayed, just hours before it was supposed to go live. The official statement, as well as the follow-up statement are seen below.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test Postponed

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, which is scheduled to begin at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010, will be postponed due to a confirmation of critical bugs. New schedule will be releaseｄ at a later date.

Along with the postponement of FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, the issuing of registration code for FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test will be postponed as well. With the download of client software’s installer, it will be suspended at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

….

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League of Legends Beta Giveaway

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I have a handful (eight at the moment) of League of Legends beta invites to send out and all you have to do is leave a comment with your email or shoot me an email to iWinButton.jt[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject “LoL Beta.”

I’ll update this post once all eight of the invites have been taken care of.

For the less-informed, League of Legends is a spiritual successor to the extremely popular Warcraft III map DOTA (Defense of the Ancients). Check out the LoL site for more info.

Magic The Gathering Soda

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You are a Planeswalker with an arsenal of sorcery at your command…and a bottle of soda in your hand.

Jones Soda Co. and Magic The Gathering have teamed up to bring you limited edition customized Powerful Soda for Planeswalkers from the eagerly awaited M10 edition.

Magic The Gathering  picked some of their most iconic characters representing the Five Colors of Mana and Jones Soda supplied the labels on five great flavors. Add Purifying Fire, Elixir of Purity, Illusion Infusion, Necromancer’s Tonic, Beast Brew to your playing session.

These bottles are available for a limited time only and are unique among the Planes. Get yours before the Mana is gone.

For more information on Magic The Gathering visit www.magicthegathering.com

These beat the WoW-themed Mountain Dew in every aspect of awesomeness. Order them quick before they sell out again.

RL Aggro

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Haven’t had too much time to jump into any MMOs the last week or so, besides some Lineage 2 here and some World of Warcraft there. I’m still facing the dilemma in WoW where I can’t pick a damn character to stick with even having pretty much one of every class, most above level 30. Lineage 2 is fine and I usually have fun when I find a time to play. I hammer out a quick “kama” and try to find a spot to grind in, but I usually have time constraints and find myself having to log off by the time I get out to a grind spot and start to get in a flow.

My “real life distractions” have just been normal blips like car problems (needing an oil change and new tires badly), school (9 A.M. class doesn’t agree with late night gaming sessions, my usual habit), and monetary issues (needing to work more). Oh, the life of a college student struggling with student bills and keeping a roof over my head and food on the table. But, wait, this has nothing to do with gaming or massively multiplayer online roleplaying!?

Hey, look – I got a haircut.

What are you playing this weekend?

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After work tonight, I’m going to hunker down and try to knock out the last three Tome Unlock quests for the Bitter Rival’s event in WAR. I’m 7/10 right now, needing 8/10 to unlock Slayer/Choppa next week and 10/10 for the “Seriously Bitter” title. I don’t care for the title much, but I might as well get two more after unlocking the Slayer/Choppa at 8/10.

I installed the Vanguard Isle of Dawn Trial to check up on it, so I may hop on that and try a few classes. I really love how they start you off with a special armor set now, but at the same time, there is something fun about starting in rags and getting your first full set as you level up in an RPG that I’ve always found exciting.

I’m done with Darkfall. A friend and I have basically been sharing my preorder, and I just personally think the entire operation is a train wreck. Trying not to go on an uber nerd rage of disappointment from 5+ years of waiting, I’ll just say the game is not worth $50, is clunky in pretty much every facet of game design and execution, is the most sloppily handled MMO launch I’ve ever been a part of, and harbors a horrible player community (like most FFA pvp games). Some people seem to be having a blast in it, but I seriously can’t see why. I guess I just have higher MMORPG standards, now that the bar has been raised by over the years. The genre has evolved but Darkfall is living in the first generation of MMOs still with its buddies UO and AC.

Speaking of games I’m done with. I think I’m just over World of Warcraft. I want to get sucked back in, but I just can’t.

Other than that, maybe some Unreal Tournament 3 since it’s free on Steam this weekend. I’m mainly just counting down the days till March 10th and EVE Online: Apocrypha dropping so I can go pick up a copy in a store!

What are you playing?

Coming Soon™ to iWinButton.com

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Here are a few things I’ve been tossing around the ol’ noggin for a while – just thought I’d let you, my readers, in on the cutting-room floor.

  1. Video Content – I have a wide variety of ideas here, and is probably the most involved (both financially and time-wise) of my new feature ideas. I’m thinking Vidcasts, Video Reviews/Impressions, and definitely Video Taste-Tests for all the strange energy drinks I try. In addition to putting my mug on camera, I’m looking into capturing game footage and sharing that as well, which is already in the works and is just waiting for me to acquire a larger HDD, so I can work with more footage. I’m still just working out the foundation for all these ideas, but I’m super excited about them.
  2. Podcast? – I’ve been wanting to podcast for a while now, I just have the bad luck of not knowing the right people I guess and not knowing where to start first. I only have 1 friend who would even be equipped to go toe-to-toe with me on the topic of the genre and industry of MMOs, but I haven’t sold him on the idea yet. If anyone else is interested in co-hosting or (even better) is looking for a new co-host or member of their Podcast project, let me know.
  3. ????
  4. Profit

Internet memes aside, no joking around about the first two. I’m constantly trying to hone my craft and figure out the best way possible to reach my readers to not only inform you but entertain as well and keep you coming back. I’m playing more MMOs right now than I ever have and I’m doing it all for you! So many great virtual worlds to explore, so little time. What a drag, right?

If you have any comments or suggestions as to what you would like to see – let me know in the comments!

Stay tuned and as always, thank you for reading.

– James T.