YouTube Streamin’

I’ve begun randomly streaming on YouTube after a break from Twitch. That said, I’m not 100% sure if I’ll switch off of Twitch and solely stream from YouTube. I mean, the streaming deals and contract offers are piling up, don’t get me wrong, but one can’t rush greatness.

I honestly just wanted to see how it differed from the Twitch streaming experience. During these streams I’m going to be giving into this undeniable draw I’ve had to Warhammer & Warhammer 40K by playing some Warhammer and Warhammer 40K games. My first exposure to Warhammer was Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning back in 2008 and I’ve been drawn to the setting since then. I’ve never actually played the tabletop game or painted any miniatures, but I love the world and art of all things Warhammer and WH40K, so I figured I’d make a little project out of trying a variety of Warhammer/WH40K games.

Warhammer: Chaosbane (Test Stream)

I started out with the aRPG title Warhammer: Chaosbane but my attention has been recently drawn to Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr (and the Prophecy expansion), which is also an isometric aRPG but it seems to have a little more depth and be a little more systems-heavy, which I’m all about.

Trying out my first Tech-Adept

Trying out my first Heavy Weapons Crusader

So, yeah — I look forward to slowly trickling out more and more Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 content over the upcoming weeks and months. Stay tuned!

Just Finished: Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marine

In the midst of my “what game do I play today” shuffling, I managed to beat Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.  I enjoyed my time in it, mainly because the combat is just unadulterated gory fun, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was ready for it to be over before it was over. It kind of made me realize that I feel this way about most shooters and their single-player campaign. Without some sort of RPG or leveling mechanic in a game that is combat focused, it leaves you with basically all grind and no rewards. In single-player RPGs, I don’t mind the combat grinding, because I know it’s all going towards my character’s progression and will make the future combat more enjoyable with more abilities or items at my disposal. In Space Marine, I just kind of felt like I was going through combat rooms over and over, just to see the next one, and eventually the last boss.

The only reason I can look past the repetition and waves of mindless AI combatants is because Relic Entertainment completely nailed two aspects of the game: the graphics/art design and the combat. The graphical fidelity and art design is superb. Relic Entertainment knows a thing or two about making Warhammer 40,000 games and has become the master at expressing the table-top iconic units and world in video game form. Being Relic’s first foray out of RTS games since “The Outfit” in 2006, I think they completely knocked the combat out of the park. The feeling of picking off waves of Greenskins with your Bolter and slicing down Chaos with your Chain Sword is exhilarating.

The Good:

• Combat is fun
• Graphical fidelity and art design is excellent
• They nail the ranged/melee hybrid combat

The Bad:

• Level design is a bit dull, both in flow and art assets
• Without any real character progression, combat gets repetitive as story drags on

The Other:

• Enemies love to remind you who and what you are: “SPAAAAACE MARINNNESSSS!”
• If you’re getting the sound-stuttering problem, alt+tab and set spacemarine.exe’s priority to “High” in the Task Manager. Fixed it right up, for me.

Warhammer Online for $20

Gamestop is having a little sale, with some gems like Warhammer Online and Spore for $20. What are you waiting for? Go buy them if you haven’t already. I honestly think WAR‘s new price should just be $20 to begin with, could help with sales and get some new players into the game.

About time: Dwarf Slayer / Orc Choppa

I realize I’m not exactly on the cutting edge with this news, but I honestly wasn’t sold until I saw the NYC Comic-Con demonstration of the classes in action. I’ll definitely be reactivating my WAR subscription when Orc Choppas and Dwarf Slayers drop into the live game. They sound amazingly fun to play with their berserker combat mechanic and play style, not to mention the Dwarf Slayer’s top-notch art design. I’d have to give the nudge to the Slayer on the principle of style alone, because well, the Orc Choppa just looks like a Black Orc dual wielding.

Watch these videos from NY Comic-Con and be sold:

NYC Comic-Con 09: Call To Arms Walkthrough Part 1 (Dwarf Slayer)

NYC Comic-Con o9: Call To Arms Walkthrough Part 2 (Orc Choppa)

Both classes will be rolled out as part of the “Night of Murder” ongoing live event, specifically in the “Bitter Rivals” portion of the event. Be sure to check back here when those patches start to roll out, I’ll be sure to be checking them out and reporting back.

Warhammer Online: Reactivated

Chronicles of Spellborn combat left a LOT to be desired for me, World of Warcraft leveling is still a chore given that I’ve been doing it for 4 years, and Lord of the Rings Online just got lost somewhere in the midst of all that. In comes Warhammer Online.

Decided to reactivate because I still believe the pvp combat in that game is the most balanced and cohesive pvp in an MMO right now. Mythic knows their pvp. Giving a Bright Wizard a whirl (Taylorian on the Badlands server if you’re interested in saying hello or bashing my humey face in, either or) and I’m pretty optimistic so far. I’m looking forward to all the neat abilities that lay in wait for my lowbie BW, and scenarios are still a blast to pop in every so often while questing. I honestly think Mythic has made the most enjoyable “first 10 levels” of any MMO I’ve played. PVP as a means of leveling is genius, and I don’t know why it’s taken Blizzard this long to copy implement start planning to implement such a feature.

Warhammer Online June Newsletter is OUT + G4 Extended Interview

Check your inbox. The June newsletter is chock full of good tidbits and information.

• Guild Beta Update – It’s starting in July! (some guild take me in plzkthx)
• Magus Career Update Daemon Summoning
• Finally some PVE – first look at the Bastion Stair dungeon
• Career Mastery updates – Archmage and Disciple of Khaine
• And of course some more production videos

And if you haven’t already seen it, here is the extended G4 Interview with the lovely Morgan Webb. Too bad she spews WoW fanboygirl’ism

cliche introduction title for first posting

It took me multiple Backspace spammings to get this first line out, but, HEY, here it is. I don’t know what to say really. Making your first post on a blog is like sparking a conversation on a blind date with an attractive girl. You know you like what you see, you know what you want, but you just can’t spit out the right words at the right time.

I guess i should start with why I made a blog and why i feel the need to post it on the world-wide-web for anyone to read, as if they should care. Well you should care, because it’s fun to read other’s opinions, right?

Let’s get the business and formal stuff out of the way: I am a Journalism student at the University of North Florida and I’m just trying to get my feet with in the ol’ blogosphere and get some writing in when I’m able to pry myself from whatever MMO i am playing. I will be talking a lot about Warhammer Online (hell i almost even made it a WAR-centric blog) as it is the game i am currently most excited about (obssessing about). Waaagh!

Let’s get this straight. This will not be a live-journal, myspace blog, man-diary, disguised as a gaming and gaming industry blog! I am here to discuss all things gaming: the politics, the sales, the communities, and so-forth. Of course, as the name implies, my spceciality obviously lies in the Massively Multiplayer Online genre, and although this genre may ignite many of my rants and raves, it is not the only area of interest to me or this blog.

I’m a big time gaming-blog reader. I literally have 10+ gaming news and blogs that i will religiously check every time i open firefox. I really should get on that whole RSS feed train. Oh well. But my constant attention to gaming blogs is what helped motivate me to finally make my own. I find it encouraging to read simple blogs made by simple gamers like myself, and find that they actually have a nice following of active readers, so i hope to follow in the footsteps of many bloggers who have influenced me. That’s right, it’s shout-out time: Kotaku, wowinsider, massively, joystiq, the greenskin, and a fellow wordpress blog, Waaagh!. I thank those sites for giving me hours of good times and good reads.

So as i bring this icky first post to an end, let me say to the 3 people out there who will probably read this first post (including my girlfriend and mom) thank you and please check back for many more updates!

Disclaimer: I used the word “blog” way too much. I sowy.