In my stumblings around the internet I found a interesting video that uses World of Warcraft to talk about climate change. A Machinima in fact, called Azeroth Global Warming Video from the That’s The Badger Blog. Interesting as well, that this was done before the World of Warcraft Cataclysm upgrade was announced, sort of a prophecy 
WOW and Climate Change
The Elder Scrolls V
Anyone who is a fan of The Elder Scrolls series of games can’t help to have noticed the speculation about the fifth game in the series that periodically erupts around the web.
Today I found some actual news on the subject on the fantastic UESPWiki , albeit over a month after it was originally posted.
Peter Hines, Vice President of Bethesda Softworks in blog post basically clarified the situation. Yes there will in all likelihood be a another game but until such time that there is something to talk about Bethesda will make no comment. Also Bethesda themselves will not be working on an Elder Scrolls MMO. He said that Bethesda do not make MMOs, but that they have another division ZeniMax Online studios who do make them. Both ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks are currently engaged in new projects but are not ready to talk about what they are.
Personally I have loads of hours worth of Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3 still to play so I can wait a bit longer. Also I just started playing The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall which Bethesda have made available for free download. I missed it the first time around so its a real bonus for me.
New Toy – XBox 360
I tried very hard not to buy one. Mainly because I’ve been a Playstation fan since the PS1. Bought a PS2 (two actually but that is another story). Also I bought a PSP which I have found very dissapointing. When are Sony going to make a Keyboard for the PSP? In my mind the PSP had so much potential but it just hasn’t been realised. The PS3 was/is very tempting but remains out of my price range.
Also my son has a Nintendo Wii, and both he and my partner have DS’s. You can tell can’t you, that computer games are very popular in my house.
So I was determined not to have another games console. However, the more and more I went into game shops and saw the games coming out on the X Box 360 the more I wanted one. I’d recommend shopping around if you want to buy an X box 360. There are some great deals out there.
So far I haven’t bought any new games on release, my problem is basically the price, but that goes for all games really, PC and Console. The great thing about coming late to the world of the X box 360 is that there are so many great titles available and again new or second hand shopping around for X box 360 games can find you some great bargains.
One of my favorite games so far has to be Bioshock. The back-story is fantastic and the setting just beautiful, it is no wonder that talk of a film has bounced around the internet. The sequal Bioshock 2 promises to be equally good.
Another great game (or in this case 3 or 5 games depending on how you look at it) is Valve’s – The Orange Box. You get not only Half Life 2 – one of the best first person shooters, but also HL2 episode one and two, Portal – a captivating physical puzzle game and Team Fortress2 – a multiplayer team warfare game.
All in all I’m really enjoying the world of X Box 360, especially the recently added Games on Demand service which lets you download games directly on to the hard-drive, which is really convenient. In many cases there are free demos to try as well.
Wowing again.
For a very very long time I resisted World of Warcraft. I’d played the original games on the PC and really enjoyed them.
For me the first real Multiplayer game I heard of was Ultima Online. I remember being incredibly exited by the prospect. I’d played Ultima IV on the Atari ST. It was a real time sink of a game, I lost hours in the world of Britannia.
The difference graphically between the two games was incredible, I so much wanted to play UO. Sadly my budget at the time would not cope with a monthly fee paying game. However, some years after its release I found an unopened second hand copy of Ultima Online: Renaissance which included 1 month of game play. I was hooked!
I had many niggles about the game, the lack of real roleplaying was the main one, however what I did find was a thing called Ultima Online shard emulation and through that the world of Mytharria. All the fun of a MMORPG without the annoying munchkins! People really roleplayed on Mytharria. Sadly Mytharria suffered a few setbacks and closed but reappeared again using Neverwinter Nights but then the server went poof (if I remeber correctly). It is good to see that the world of Mytharria is still being looked after by a dedicated few.
So my online roleplaying needs were being met when WOW first appeared, I dabbled with Earth & Beyond and palyed GuildWars .
Then I think Blizzard did a free trial and oh dear I downloaded it. Hooked!
Wow is simply fun. There are many things “wrong” with Wow but I’ll leave them to the many detractors on the various forums. I had big hopes for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and I do play it from time to time. My biggest criticism of WAR though is that it is too much like WOW. I was a big fan of the Warhammer wargame and roleplaying game years ago, so a MMORPG set in that world was very enticing. It just doesn’t feel right though. I’m not sure why.
Jumpgate Evolution Delayed
I’m not as disappointed about this as I thought – after all it means that the game when it is released will be better all round
Jumpgate Evolution update from NetDevil’s President Scott Brown
Jumpgate Evolution promises to fill the “Elite” shaped hole that I’ve had for many years. I think Elite was one of the first games that I really became absorbed by. Although it has to be said that the X series of games from Egosoft comes very close.
More goodies from Bethesda
Not very important news for the majority of the planets population but for us happy few who are fans of Fallout 3 Bethesda have announced that they are planning two more down-loadable content modules. Point Lookout – which is set in a new swamp area and Mothership Zeta – that has the players character being abducted by aliens.
Also good news for PS3 users is that the DLC will be available for them in the near future.
Congratulations Bethesda!
Just found out that Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks have recently won the 2008 Game Critics Awards: Game of the Year for Fallout 3. I would rate F3 as one of the best games I’ve played and definitely the best computer RPG.
Well done Bethesda!
Dumnonni Chronicles – March event
Friday 13th of March saw me off to the wilds of Devon once again for the Dumnonni March event. At this point in the story line the army of Balor of the Evil eye have made there way (slaughtering and pillaging any tribes in their way) to the lands where the fort/village of Culhaven stands. This was the last event before the extravaganza that will be Outlore 2009 and grim it was indeed.
My newly made spear was to “appear” in character so I had a sort of foreboding most of the day on the Saturday what had the refs devised to introduce the weapon into the game world? And more or less one thought “please not an honour duel”. An honour duel for those who don’t know is a one on one combat that none are allowed to interfere with. It has to be said my choice of a combat focussed character is not really ideal as I have no real skills in that area apart from what I like to think is a rather good warrior scowl .
My worst fears came true and I “won” my new spear in combat, thankfully the guy playing my adversary went easy on me and didn’t demolish me in the first few seconds (thanks mate) of the duel. It was an amusing battle with both of us tripping over tussocks of grass, he first and then I in my haste to get to and dispatch a fallen foe.
So with my new spear in hand I was more than ready for the next combat. During which I noticed a rather distressing kink to my spear head. After the battle I examined it and decided the foam must have split at the point where the spear head had joined the shaft. So with some dismay I hid the spear away, not wanting it to get used in combat as it’s safety was compromised.
The refs and crew kept all us players on our toes especially on the Sunday when it felt like the combat lasted all day with wave upon wave of adversaries trying to whittle us down. It was noted at the event “time out” that the usual exuberant cheer was somewhat subdued if not entirely missing. Not because the players had had a bad event but because we were all so exhausted. Once again the refs and crew gave us a fantastic event.
Outlore is going to be something else, an event that I am sure will go down in LARP legends. It is going to be one of the, if not the biggest Dumnonni event so far. The preparations began in May last year and recruiting of players and crew began in, I think it was February this year. It will be the end of an era, as the encumbent Ard ri (high king) comes to the end of his seven year reign. It is the culmination of many years storylines as arch nemesis of the defenders of Culhaven finally arrives intent on laying waste to all who oppose him. A high player character mortality rate is expected by all but the most optimistic, but in terms of the “Story” I think it will be glorious deaths all round.
In the future there will be larpers huddling round their camp fires wistfully talking of the event that was Outlore 2009.
Foam Smithing – Spear progress Pt 2
Have had a couple of very busy evenings trying to get the spear finished. Had a mini disaster when gluing the foam on the spear shaft. I was doing this in the garden where I’d been banished because of the fumes. Trouble was, and I’m guessing here, that the cold air was affecting the glue so as I was applying it to the foam it was not sticking and just rolling up into big gluey bogeys! So I had to wait until my partner (bless her pom pom socks) had retired for the evening and I could shut myself in the kitchen with the windows wide open.
To the latexing. Which was about the point when I realised something was missing. The spear was missing a ferrule (at least I think that is the right word). So that was the next step and after it was added I carved a exagerated wood pattern into the spear shaft and then began latexing with a black undercoat. I tend to build this up quickly with a lot of layers as I’ve found in the past that if you leave it too long to dry the new layer doesn’t adhere to the previous layer properly.
With the softer open celled foam you need to build up quite a few layers as the foam does absorb some of the latex. 
You can mitigate this somewhat by covering the foam with a layer of glue, but I found that the glue was disolving the foam a little and so this was not ideal. In the end I used latex thickner to get the latex to a consitency that was not being absorbed too much. This worked fairly well so after it had all dried I started on adding the “bronze” latex to the spear head. I’m pleased with the result. The spear doesn’t look brand new but has a sort of battered appearence which I hope suggest age. 
The photo to the left isn’t great but then it was taken early in the morning b.c. (before coffee!).
The next stage is to add colour to the spear shaft and then seal the whole thing. I’m in for a long night I think, which is ok as I have the day off work tomorrow but do need to get up at a reasonably early hour to get every thing packed for the event this weekend.
Foam Smithing – Coreless Dagger and Spear progress
The dagger went a bit wrong again as I was cutting the foam, but luckily I was able to re-carve the foam a little to make it fairly decent. The problem is definitely the size of the point of the dagger, it is to thin so keeping it still as you carve is very difficult (you can see a slight “wobble” at the end of the blade in the picture below). 
In the end the person I made it for didn’t like the bronze finish, it is a little on the orange side of bronze. My son however, really likes it
Had the chance to order some more foam recently so was able to continue with the spear. I covered the end of the fibreglass core with two layers of tough cotton to help prevent it pushing through the foam. Then after fixing the head of the spear to the core I covered the core with a layer of foam.
It looks a little on the thin side to me so I think that I’ll add another layer of foam to make the shaft a little thicker.
