George Lucas Calls 'Spider-Man 3' Silly

Hey, isn't this the guy who invented ewoks and Jar Jar Binks?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270874,00.html

Middle Earth marriages

Since the folks who are making the Lord of the Rings MMO couldn't decide on whether or not to include gay marriage options in-game, the executive producer said, "Screw it, there will be no in-game marriage at all." Good for him, I say.

In-game marriage is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of; it should be banned in all games. Gay in-game marriage is the stupidest and gayest thing I've ever heard of. That is all.

Here's an MMO safety tip...

Don't give out your real name and address to strangers, and then dare them to come to your house and beat you up.  It's just not the thing to do.

http://www.funtechtalk.com/world-of-warcraft-player-claims-a-bounty-on-his-head-in-and-out-of-game/

Microtransactions

I just read an article about video game microtransactions for perishable in-game items. In case you don’t know what microtransactions are, they’re what happens when a game company (most often, a company that’s running a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG; sometimes another genre) decides to offer what’s been called “Premium Content” to players for a small fee (usually just a couple dollars at most). For example, if you wanted your character in your game of choice to wear a special color, the company night offer you that color for $1.99. Or, if you’re playing a First-Person Shooter (FPS), they may offer you a new map to play on for $2.99.

Perishable in-game items include things you’d use to give your character more health, or even in-game currency. Once you use those things, they’re gone until you happen to come across some more. So, to bring this all together, if the game companies start selling perishable items, then it’ll slant the playing field to those people who have more real-life money to spend. As it stands now, everything you get in-game depends on how long you spend playing the game, and what skills you have (and what cheats you use, but that’s another story; cheaters should find something better to do with their time…bastards).

If they want you to spend a little extra for a new map, or different colored armor, then I’m all for it. If they want you to use real money to replace tenacity and skill, then I’m 100% against it.

Tony Stark and Peter Parker...dark days ahead

Excuse me now while I proceed to talk about comic book characters like they’re real people. No real spoilers to Civil War #4 in this post.

Tony Stark has gone too far this time. Someone needs to put a serious hurting on him. Maybe it’s even time for a dirt nap. There are just some lines you don’t cross, man.

As for Peter Parker, it’s a well known fact that every time Spider-Man makes a seriously bad decision, the fallout involves the death of one of his loved ones. Uncle Ben paid the price for Spidey’s arrogance. Gwen Stacy paid the price for him not taking things seriously enough. Who’s going to pay the price for his siding with Iron man? Aunt May? Mary Jane?

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

So, now there is a study out there (conducted by the company that sued Sony for patent infringement, no less) that says that Sony is going to lose market share because the controller for the forthcoming PS3 does not have the “rumble” feature like the Xbox 360 and the Wii. I have never been one to play many racing games (and I think it may have something to add in that genre), but I don’t really see the appeal.

I think the feature was used well in one game, I think it had to be a Resident Evil title, where you began to feel your heartbeat when your health was low. That was kind of cool, but you still had to open a menu to find out exactly how badly you were hurt. For my dime, I’d just rather you put a health bar at the top of the screen.

Also, and maybe this is just me, after I’ve been playing a game for more than a few minutes, I don’t even notice the shaking of the controller. So, I say “good riddance” to the rumble feature. I also say that the price of the PS3 controller should reflect the lack of internal hardware as well, but that’s the subject of another post.