Friday, December 19, 2008

Top 5 picks for gamers’ wish lists

Hello gamers and holiday shoppers! If you haven’t started your holiday shopping, here are five good choices for Christmas presents:
5. ‘Guitar Hero: World Tour’
For all major consoles. Prepare to rock! For the longest time I avoided this franchise, and then last year my little brother got one, and I became hooked on his. Even though it was fun, I still insisted on not owning one.
That was the case until I picked up the newest addition, “World Tour,” which seems to boast the largest collection of songs. Most importantly, it has the largest variety of musical eras.
You can literally go from playing music from The Doors to Korn’s “Freak on a Leash.” If you want this game under the tree, or if you want Santa to bring it, you better get one now. The coolest thing about this addition? It’s no longer a solo guitar deal - this version brings the whole band together, the guitar, base, drums and microphone. They will be rare the closer we get to Christmas. This game will keep you glued to the TV for months.
Bonus points: Want to get a little something extra for the “Guitar Hero” fan in your life? Try a Guitar Hero action figure as a stocking stuffer.
4. ‘Wii Fit’ for the Nintendo Wii
I thought this thing had already run its “everyone has to have it” course. However, that’s not the case. A certain somebody I know was looking for this thing back in the summer as a Christmas present for his wife. He just found one last week! So, if you want to get this innovative workout simulator, you better get jogging to the store now.
3. ‘World of Warcraft: Wrath of Lich King’ for PCs
This is an expansion pack. I don’t like the “Warcraft” franchise. However, I know a great gaming gift when I see one. Not only is this game affordable ($40), but it is a gift that keeps on giving. Since “Warcraft” doesn’t have an ending, your special someone can keep on receiving a new gift every time they turn on the PC. In this version, you take on the Lich King and a bunch of zombies. Hey, even though I hate the series, 13 million logged-on users can’t be wrong. There is no threat of this game selling out.
2. Xbox 360
Yes, you read that right. Even though it is going on 3 years old, the 360 is a hot commodity since the price dropped. It’s really no surprise that Microsoft dropped the price. And with the new price comes new interest. For instance, parents who may not have wanted to pay that much last year can now get a 360 with two games, a trial run of Xbox Live, and a shot at Netflix. How much for all of that? $200. You really can’t beat that. But when word gets out of the special deal, you might be hard-pressed to find one the closer we get to Christmas.
1. Nintendo Wii
Are you surprised? The Wii seems to be the hardest console to find for the third Christmas in a row. With its innovative controls, fun gameplay and affordable games, the Wii is the console of choice for many kids this holiday season. Add the “Wii Fit,” “Guitar Hero: World Tour” and a host of other “get you off the floor” attachments, and you have an innovative system. This will be a mad season trying to find this console, which just so happens to be my favorite pick on this list.
There you have it, the most wanted games and consoles of the season. If you want these, you better get an elf to help you find them and a reindeer to help you fly above the traffic. Happy holiday shopping season — don’t get yourself hurt out there.

 

Posted by JImmy at 06:15:29 | Permalink | No Comments »

World of Warcraft’s completely malleable online universe

World of Warcraft （Buy wow gold ）is the most renowned, massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world. At last count, World of Warcraft had approximately 5 million registered users. It’s also important to note that playing WoW is not free. Each of these 5 million players has to pay, depending on the country, at least $15 per month.
World of Warcraft is like Tolkien’s library pixilated, modified and then personalized. Online, a gamer begins by selecting a character from a host of fantasy-contrived magical races. As cash from gamers’ wallets is pumped into the game, levels are advanced, skills are learned; as enemies are defeated, weapons, armor and currency are earned. Having a completely malleable online world gives gamers total control over their character. Having certain buildings and realms off-limits to new characters lends incentive to devote more time and money to level up.
WoW, like many other games, lets the players create an online persona from scratch. Initially, this character is weak and technically unarmed. As one devotes hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to this character, however, it becomes personalized as the gamer chooses what role the character plays, what weapons it uses and what clothes or armor it wears.
Created years after StarCraft, WoW‘s programmers constantly update the game’s depth of story and overall length. Due to software updates and expansion releases, there is no end to the myriad of activities or quests that a gamer can play. There is always something else to do. Rather than purchase, enjoy, win the game and move on, to progress in WoW, gamers must bind together in “guilds” or “clans” and go on “raids.”
Raids are elaborate real-time online gatherings where upward of 40 people will log on simultaneously to achieve a certain goal, like killing a certain large and powerful enemy. Though purely an online experience, these guilds can create real-life friendships. Even if raiding gamers never meet offline, they do speak in real time using microphone headsets. The added psychological draw to WoW is that it is much more cooperative than any previous online game.

Posted by JImmy at 06:14:09 | Permalink | No Comments »