Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

So MGS4 has finally been released. Is it worth the wait and does it live up to all the hype?? Yes it is worth the wait and technically no--to be exact, it surpasses the hype. MGS4 is the second game this year (and second game in nearly a decade) to get a perfect 10 from IGN. Every single aspect of the game, from the incredibly detailed and polished graphics to the perfectly delivered dialogs screams epic. The Metal Gear series is also known for its extensive use of cutscenes. This time around is no different (in fact, word has it that the longest cutscene in the game hits the 45 minute mark). However, this in no way detracts from the game. In fact, MGS4 is probably better than the majority of Hollywood films coming out this summer. It is the epitomy of art in the video game medium--it is what you can shove down Roger Ebert's throat while telling him to stfu (but I digress . . .) As it stands right now, MGS4 is THE reason to own a Playstation 3. Yes, I'm praising the game like crazy and yes, so is everybody else, but the truth is, MGS4 deserves every single accolade it receives.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Alpha Begins

The WotLK alpha has finally begun! This means that it is one step closer to being released (speculations across the internet point at a late 2008 release). So what's the big deal? The alpha being released is the first time that a lot of pepole will get to see all of the new content. Everything from the new areas, quest types, instances, spells, talents, and even the first hero class can be previewed through the alpha. However, alpha is only intended for friends and family of Blizzard employees. Be that as it may, that doesn't stop info from leaking and the WoW community across the internet from speculating. Here are some of the new spells and talents (again, this is all just conjecture) that may or may not end up in the final version of WotLK:

Deathknight spells:

• Army of the Dead - Summons an entire legion of your best Ghouls to fight by your side.
• Death and Decay - ${$m1+$AP*0.039} shadow damage inflicted every $t1 sec to all targets in the effected area for $d. Has a chance to cause affected targets to cower in fear.
• Chromatic Rune Mastery - Whenever a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune activates, it has a 6% chance of converting into a Chromatic Rune. This Rune counts as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune. Lasts 10 sec.
• Degeneration (Rank 3, Level 76) - Instantly attack the target, dealing 60% weapon damage and inflicting a disease dealing ${$m2*7} over 15 sec. This disease will corrupt an existing heal over time spell, removing it and dramatically increasing the damage dealt. While afflicted by this disease, other heal over time effects on the target will have no effect.
• Dancing Runeblade - Summons a second Runeblade that fights on its own for 1 sec per 10 Runic Power, doing the same strikes that you do.
• Hungering Cold - A wave of cold leeches all heat from the earth, freezing all enemies in the cone-shaped area, and causing 10 damage per Runic Power. The frozen terrain persists for 1 sec per 10 Runic Power and will freeze enemies that attempt to cross it.
• Unholy Blight - A creeping swarm of unholy insects surrounds the caster for a 10 yard radius. All enemies caught in the swarm take 120 damage and are plagued with a disease that can stack up to 3 times. Lasts for 1 sec per 10 Runic Power.
• Corpse Explosion - "Target a corpse, causing it to explode for 12 damage per 10 Runic Power to all enemies within 10 yards."
• Mark of Blood (spell or talent?) - "Place a Mark of Blood on an enemy or ally. Whenever the marked target is healed, all party members receive a fraction of that healing. If a marked target that grants experience or honor is killed, all party members are healed for 10% of their total health. Each person can be healed for a maximum of 3000 per Mark."
• Icebound Fortitude - Consumes all available Runic Power, causing the Death Knight to become immune to Stun effects and increasing armor by 50% for up to 12 sec. Does not remove existing Stun effects. [60 sec cooldown]
• Death Strike (Rank 1) - A deadly attack that deals weapon damage. If the target dies within 3 seconds and yields experience or honor, Death Strike heals the Death Knight for 405.

Deathknight talents:

• Black Ice - Increases your Frost and Unholy spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Dirge - Whenever you kill a diseased target that yields experience or honor you have a 1/2/3/4/5% chance of the corpse riding as a free Ghoul. You can have a maximum of 2 Ghouls at one time.
• Spell Deflection - Reduces all spell damage taken by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 sec following a successful parry.
• Bladed Armor - You gain 4/8/12/16/20 attack power for every 1000 points of your armor value.
• Butcher - Whenever you kill an enemy that grants experience or honor, you generate Runic Power. In addition, Runic Power takes longer to decay outside of combat.
• Bone Armor (Rank 1) - "The caster is surrounded by 4 whirling bones. Each bone reduces the damage from the next spell or melee attack by 40% but is then consumed. Lasts 5 min." [Power type: 5, power cost: 25, cooldown: 30 sec]
• Chromatic Rune Mastery - "Whenever a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune activates, it has a 2/4/6% chance of converting into a Chromatic Rune. This Rune counts as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune. Lasts 10 sec."
• Rage of Rivendare - You do 2/4/6/8/10% additional weapon damage to diseased targets.
• Tundra Stalker - "You deal 2/4/6/8/10% more melee damage to targets under the effects of Icy Touch, Chains of Ice, Howling Blast or Hungering Cold."
• Deathchill (Rank 1, Level 56) - "Launches an Icy Touch at every enemy within 40 yards, dealing 4 damage per Runic Power to each target and causing a high amount of threat." [0 power cost, cooldown: 60 sec]
• Wandering Plague - "When the diseases you inflicted upon an enemy target cause damage, there is a 5/10/15% chance the disease will instead damage all enemies within 8 yards. This damage will not cancel spells normally cancelled when targets take damage."
• Improved Corpse Explosion - "While Corpse Explosion is active, corpses have a 10/15/20/25/30% chance to explode for increased damage."
• Crypt Fever - "Diseases caused by you or your Ghouls also reduce an enemy's attributes by 5/10/15% per disease."
• Ravenous Dead - "Increases the Strength of you and your ghouls by 1/2/3/4/5% and reduces the cooldown on Raise Dead by 30 sec."
• Pestilence - "When an enemy that grants experience or honor dies while suffering from one of your diseases, its corpse has a 10/20/30% chance of producing 1/1-3/3-5 Blood Worms. Blood Worms attack your enemies, healing you for the amount of damage they deal for 15 sec or until killed."
• Sudden Doom - "Your Blood Strikes have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to make your next Death Coil consume no Runic Power if cast within 8 sec."
• Scent of Blood - "After being struck by a ranged or melee critical hit, you gain the Scent of Blood effect, causing your melee hits to steal life from the enemy for the next 6 sec."
• Improved Icebound Fortitude - "Increases the duration of your Icebound Fortitude. In addition your Icebound Fortitude will dispel any damage over time effects and replace them with heal over time effects."

Warrior abilties:

• Shield Break (Level 75, 15 rage, 1m cooldown) - Break down the enemy's defenses, disarming any shield they have equipped or reducing the chance the enemy will block by 3% for 10 sec.
• Bloodbath (Rank 1) - Wound up to $I enemy targets within 8 yards, causing 244 damage and causing them to Bleed for 3000 damage over 15 seconds. If the target becomes Enraged, the Bloodbath bleed effect causes four times the normal damage.

Warrior talents:

• Titan's Grip - "Allows you to equip two-handed axes, maces and swords in one hand, but you attack 28/26/24/22/20% slower then normal." (Fury)
• Strength of Arms - "Increases your Strength and total health by 1/2/3/4/5%." (Arms)
• Shockwave - "Sends a wave of force in front of the warrior, causing ${$m3/100*$AP} damage (based on attack power) and stunning all enemy targets within 10 yards in a frontal cone for 4 sec. This ability causes a high amount of threat." [20 rage, 45 sec cooldown] (Protection)
• Sword and Board - "When your Devastate and Shield Slam abilities deal damage they have a 2/4/6/8/10% chance of refreshing the cooldown of your Shield Slam ability and reducing its cost by 100% for 5 sec." (Protection)
• Safeguard - ,"Reduces damage taken by the target of your Intervene ability by 20/40/60% for 6 sec. In addition, your Charge, Intercept and Intervene abilities have a 33%/66%/100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when used." (Protection)
• Trauma - "Your normal melee critical strikes increase the effectiveness of Bleed effects on the target by 15/30% for 15 sec." (Arms)
• Bladestorm - "Instantly Whirlwind all nearby targets and for the next 4.5 sec you will perform a whirlwind attack every 1.5 seconds. While under the effects of Bladestorm, you can move but cannot perform any other attacks or abilities but you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed." [25 rage, cooldown: 90 sec] (Arms)
• Furious Resolve - "Reduces threat caused by attacks in Battle and Berserker Stance by 4/7/10% and increases your total Stamina by 1/3/5%." (Fury)
• Bull Rush - "Increases the duration of the Stun effect of your Charge and Intercept abilities by .4/.7/1 seconds." (Arms)
• Unrelenting Assault - "Reduces the cooldown of your Overpower and Revenge abilities by 1/2/3 seconds." (Arms)
• Bloodsurge - "Your Bloodthirst critical hits have a 33/66/100% chance of reducing the swing time of your next Slam by 100% for 5 sec." (Fury)
• Critical Block - "Your successful blocks have a 10/20/30% chance to block double the normal amount." (Protection)
• Stalwart Protector - "You gain 1/2 rage every time you parry or dodge an attack." (Protection) [note: that's a two point talent granting 1 or 2 rage, not half a point]

Mage spells:

• Shatter Shield (1200 mana, instant, 30sec cd, Level 80) - "Instantly shields you, absorbing 2000 Physical damage. Lasts 1 min. When the shield is destroyed, all enemies within 10 yards are frozen for 8 sec."
• Frostfire Bolt (Rank 1, Level 75) - "Launches a bolt of frostfire at the enemy, causing 629-732 Fire damage, slowing movement speed by 40% and causing an additional 57 Fire damage over 9 sec. If the target is more vulnerable to Frost damage, this spell will cause Frost instead of Fire damage."
• Mage Armor(Rank 6) - "Increases your resistance to all magic by 40 and allows 30% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. In addition, the duration of all harmful Magic effects used against you is reduced by 50%."
• Food: Sweet Potato Pie (75), Strudel (79)
• Water: Rain Water (74), Crystal Spring Water (78)
• Gem: Mana Sapphire (77, 3412 mana)

Mage talents:

• Arcane Barrage (Rank 3, Level 80, 610 mana, instant, 3 sec cooldown) - "Launches several missiles at the enemy target, causing 936-1145 Arcane damage." (Arcane)

(Rank 1, 60, 335 mana, 385-470)
(Rank 2, 70, 405 mana, 709-866)

• Burnout - "Increases your spell critical damage bonus with all Fire spells by 5/10/15/20/25% but every time you critical with a Fire spell you lose an additional ?[internal entry blank]% of your total mana." (Fire)
• Chilled to the Bone - "Increases the damage caused by your Frostbolt and Ice Lance spells by 1/2/3/4/5% and reduces the movement speed of all chilled targets by an additional 2/4/6/8/10%." (Frost)
• Deep Freeze - Stuns the target for 5 sec. Only usable on Frozen targets. [30 sec cooldown] (Frost)
• Netherwind Presence - "Gives your Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolt spells a 1/2/3/

Druid spells:

• Typhoon (Rank 1) - "You summon a violent Typhoon that does 530 Nature damage when in contact with hostile targets, knocking them back 5 yards."
• Nourish- "Heals a friendly target for 1550 to 1800. Heals for an additional 387.5 to 450 if Rejuvenation is on the target."

Druid talents:

• Living Seed - "When you gain a critical effect from your Swiftmend, Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch spell you have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to plant a Living Seed on the target for [broken]% of the amount healed. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec." (Restoration)
• Spark of Nature- "Increases the critical effect chance of your Swiftmend and Nourish spells by 5/10/15%." (Restoration)
• Improved Tree of Life- "Increases your Armor while in Tree of Life Form by 120/240/360%, and increases the effect of your Bark's Blessing by 1/3/5%" (Restoration)
• Nature's Fury - "Converts 2/4/6/8/10% of your bonus healing into bonus spell damage. In addition, your Wrath and Starfire spells have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance of applying the Nature's Fury debuff on the target. The Nature's Fury debuff increases Nature and Arcane damage done to the target by 2%. Lasts 10 sec. Stacks up to 3 times." (Balance)
• Starfall (Rank 1, Level 80, 866 mana, instant, 3 min cooldown) - "You summon a flurry of stars from the sky on all targets within 30 yards of the caster, each doing 500 Arcane damage, and an additional 170 Arcane to all nearby targets within 10 yards. Maximum 20 stars. Lasts 10 sec." (Balance)
• Infected Wounds - "Your Shred, Maul and Mangle attacks have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to cause an Infected Wound in the target. The Infected Wound reduces the movement speed and casting speed of the target by 10%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 12 sec." (Feral)
• Berserk - "Removes all Stun, Fear, Snare and Movement Impairing Effects and increases your energy regeneration rate by 100% while in Cat form, and increases your total health by 20% while in Bear form. After the effect ends, the health is lost. Effect lasts 20 seconds." (Feral)
• Flourish (Rank 1, Level 80, 450 mana, instant) - "Heals friendly party or raid members within 10 yards of the target for 665 over 7 sec. The healing is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Flourish reaches its full duration." (Restoration)
• Improved Moonkin Form - "Your Moonkin Aura also causes affected targets to have a 33/66/100% chance to gain 100% spell haste when they critically hit with spells for 10 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every few seconds." (Balance)
• Replenish - "Your Rejuvenation and Flourish spells have a 4/7/10% chance to restore 10 Energy, 4 Rage, [broken]% Mana or 10 Runic Power per tick." (Restoration)
• Gale Winds - "Increases damage done by your Hurricane and Typhoon spells by 25/50%, and increases the range of your Cyclone spell by 10/20%." (Balance)
• Owlkin Frenzy - "Attacks done to you while in Moonkin form have a 5/10/15% chance to cause you to go into a Frenzy, increasing your spell haste by 25% and increasing your damage by 10%. Lasts 10 sec." (Balance)
• Eclipse - "When you critically hit with Starfire, you have a 20/40/60% chance of increasing damage done by Wrath by 10%. When you critically hit with Wrath, you have a 20/40/60% chance of increasing your critical strike chance with Starfire by 10%. Effect lasts 12 sec." (Balance)
• Tree of Life - "Shapeshift into the Tree of Life. While in this form your movement speed is reduced by 20% and you can only cast Swiftmend, Innervate, Nature's Swiftness, Rebirth, Barkskin, Nourish, poison removing and healing over time spells, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by $5420s3%. Your heals also grant friendly targets your Bark's Blessing, increasing healing done to them by 25% of your total Spirit. Bark's Blessing lasts 8 sec." (Restoration) [Changed in 3.0.1.8303]
• Reinforced Hide - "Reduces all spell damage taken by 4/7/10%, and increases your Armor contribution from items by an additional 4/7/10%." (Feral)

Priest spells:

• Divine Hymn (instant, 10m cooldown) - "You recite a holy hymn, granting your party protection from attackers. Any attacks done to you or your party will cause the attacker to be afflicted by sleep for 20 sec. Divine Hymn will last 10 sec."
• Mind Sear (level 75, channeled, 545 mana) - "Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing 481-519 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all targets within 10 yards."

Priest talents:

• Improved Shadowform - "Your Fade ability now has a 50/100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when used while in Shadowform, and gives you a 25/50% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage when casting any Shadow spell while in Shadow form." (Shadow)
• Psychic Horror - "Causes your Psychic Scream spell to have a chance to Fear the target in horror for 4 sec." (Shadow)
• Dispersion (51pt shadow, 5m cooldown) - You disperse into pure shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%. You are unable to attack or cast spells, but you regenerate 6% health and mana every 1 sec for 6 sec. (Shadow)
• Persecution - "Gives your Holy damage spells a 4/7/10% chance to Incapacitate the target for 3 sec." (Discipline)
• Rapture - "Causes your party members to gain mana equal to 0.5/1/1.5/2/2.5% of the healing done by your Greater Heal, Flash Heal and Penance spells." (Discipline) [spell applies dummy aura - serverside script] [Values might be inaccurate]
• Divine Providence - "Increases the amount healed by Circle of Healing, Binding Heal, Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending by 2/4/6/8/10%." (Holy)
• Guardian Spirit (51pt holy, instant, 3m cooldown) - "Calls upon a guardian spirit to heal and watch over the friendly target. The spirit heals the target for 624 every 2 sec, and also prevents the target from dying by sacrificing itself. Lasts 10 sec." (Holy)
• Growing Pains - "Converts 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus healing into bonus spell damage. In addition, your Mind Flay has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to refresh the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain on the target." (Shadow)
• Serendipity - "If your Greater Heal or Flash Heal spells heal the target for less than 50% of its intended effect, you have a 33/66/100% chance to be refunded the mana cost of the spell. This effect has a 10 second cooldown." (Holy)
• Aspiration - "Reduces the cooldown of your Inner Focus, Power Infusion and Pain Suppression spells by 10/20%." (Discipline)
• Divine Aegis - "Critical heals create a protective shield on the target, absorbing 20/40/60% of the amount healed. Lasts 12 sec." (Discipline)
• Grace - "Your Flash Heal, Greater Heal, and Penance spells bless the target with Grace, reducing damage done to the target by 1/2/3%, and increasing healing done to the target by 1/2/3%. This effect will stack up to 3 times." (Discipline)
• Dark Spirit - "Increases your Shadow damage by up to 10/20/30% of your total Spirit." (Shadow)
• Test of Faith - "Increases healing by 5/10/15% and spell critical effect chance by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health." (Holy)

Warlock spells/talents

• Fel Armor(Rank 4) - "Surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell damage by up to 180 and allows 30% of your mana and health regeneration to continue while casting."
• Demon Armor(Rank 8) - "Protects the caster, increasing armor by 950, and increasing the amount of health generated through spells and effects by 20%."
• Haunt (Rank 1, Level 80, 650 mana, 30 sec cooldown) - You send a corrupted soul into the target, doing 800 damage over 2 sec. Haunt will continue to travel between targets who suffer from your Corruption spell. After traveling from up to three targets, the corrupted soul will return to you, healing you for 50% of the total damage done.
• Shadowflame (Rank 1, Level 75, 745 mana, instant, 15 sec cooldown) - Targets in a cone in front of the caster take 934-1020 Shadow damage and an additional 492 Fire damage over 8 sec.

Warlock talents:

• Everlasting Affliction - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Seed of Corruption spells gain an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus spell damage effects, and your Drain Life and Shadow Bolt spells have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to reset the duration of your Corruption spell on the target.
• Atrocity - "You devastate the area, causing Corruption (Rank 8) to all targets within 15 yards. In addition, your Corruption spell will do 434 Shadow damage to the target when it finishes its duration."
• Love Struck - "While the Succubus is active, physical attacks done to you or your Succubus have a chance to heal you or your Succubus instead of doing damage. The healing caused by Love Struck will not exceed 50% of the Warlock or Succubus' total health. This effect has a 6 second cooldown."
• Demonic Pact - "Increases your Spirit by 1/2/3/4/5% while your Demon is active. In addition, your pet attacks have a 7/14/21/28/35% chance to increase your party's total Health and Damage by 1%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 10 sec."
• Metamorphosis - "You transform into a Demon, with full health and mana. While in Demon Form, you gain Demonic abilities and your armor is increased to 360%, but your pet no longer is summoned."
• When leaving Demon Form, your health and mana is returned back to normal and your pet is re-summoned. Lasts 45 sec. [5 min cooldown]
• Decimate - Your next Shadow or Fire spell is instant cast, and does damage in the form of Chaos damage, ignoring all resistances, absorption, and immunity mechanics. After the end of the Decimated cast, you become exhausted, disabling you from casting a spell of the same school for 3 sec.
• Eternal Flames - Your Searing Pain and Incinerate spells have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to refresh the duration of your Immolate spell on the target, and increases the critical strike damage of your Destruction spells by an additional 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Empowered Imp- Increases the damage done by your Imp by 5/10/15%, and all critical hits done by your Imp have a 20/40/60% chance to increase your spell critical hit chance by 100%. This effect lasts 8 sec.
• Molten Core - Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 4/7/10% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec.
• Backdraft - Increases the critical chance of your Conflagrate, Immolate and Shadowflame spells by 4/7/10%.
• Torture - After you critically strike with a Shadow spell, your next Searing Pain or Immolate spells have a [broken]% chance to become instant cast. This ability has a 20 second cooldown.
• Eradication - Your Corruption, Siphon Life, and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell casting speed by [broken]% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.
• Fel Synergy - Your Summoned Demons share an additional 5/10% of your Armor, Intellect and Stamina, and you have a 50/100% chance to heal your pet for 15% of the amount of damage done by you.
• Demonic Empathy - When you or your pet is critically hit, the other has a 33/66/100% chance to have their casting or attack speed increased by 30% for 8 sec.

World of TheoryCraft

World of Warcraft has over 10 million active subscribers. Of those 10 million, there are a substantial amount that participate in guild life. They run raids, field arena teams, farm for mats, etc. And, they also have guild meetings every now and then. However, on May 9, there will be a different kind of meeting taking place in WoW. For the first time ever, there will be a scientific conference held in Azeroth. Yeah, you read right . . . forget flying out to Paris or Los Angelas--this conference is in WoW.

The conference will focus on the convergence between virtual worlds and the real world. Topics include how to research virtual worlds, relationships between virtual worlds and the real world, and what the future has in store for virtual worlds.

The fact that these people have decided to host a conference in WoW is a testament to just how much WoW has diffused into the culture today. The funny thing is, this is by no means the first time that academia has intersected with WoW. Simply going onto Google Scholar and searching for "Warcraft" will return plenty of papers that have already been written about WoW and other games (not too surprisingly, a lot of those papers turn out to be glorified troll forum posts however). As WoW (and other video games) grows in popularity, it'll be interesting to see how the real world (and the academic world) will adapt to them.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV is finally going to be released. The initial review over at ign.com gave GTA IV a 10. A perfect 10. The last time a console game got a 10 was nearly a decade ago (Soul Calibur in 1999). What does this mean?? Simply put, GTA IV = (all sorts of awesome)^(epic*legen--wait for it . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . . . . . . . dary).

From what I've been able to gather from reading the seven page review, it seems that every single aspect of the game is a paragon of greatness. The single player has been revamped with an engrossing story that can very well suck you in. In fact, I'm willing to bet that this story will be better than the majority of stories found in the rest of the movies for this year (or the next, or the one after that, or the one after that, etc.). One does not need to look any further when trying to find further evidence to contradict Roger Ebert's ignorant, prejudiced, and utterly asinine remark that video games can not be art. Put GTA IV in a cage with any movie out there. 99.47% of the time, GTA IV will eviscerate the movie.

Another impressive aspect of GTA IV is just the city and all the little details added to it (watching someone rear end a woman because he was too busy gawking at a chick on the street and then getting out of the car to make sure the woman is ok is one of the examples that ign gave). Liberty City is as close to a living, breathing city that you can get short of going outside into a city. Everything is beautifully rendered and pushes the 360 and PS3 to their limits (which is saying a lot). In addition, the inclusion of Rockstar's RAGE engine and NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine makes for some stunningly realistic physics and AI.

The feature that is something that is completely new to the series is an honest to God multiplayer mode also makes its way onto the game. No more having to wait for the PC version to come out and then downloading a mod (or playing on a tiny PSP screen)--no no, you can start wreaking all sorts of havoc in Liberty City right out of the box. Having access to a whole city (and along with it, many things that go boom) to do whatever you want with whomever you want. Anything and anyone. Sometimes, I wish Rockstar would've done this sooner--but who cares now? It's finally here and the wait was definitely worth it.

In one of the video reviews, the reviewer says something along the lines of "Even if GTA IV costs $300 I would still get it." I believe him. If I ever do end up getting a "next-gen" console (probably a PS3--yeah, I'm a PlayStation fan boy), it will solely be because of GTA IV. I for one am willing to pay $460 for it . . . now if only I had that much lying around somewhere . . .

DotA

Ahhh, yes, Defense of the Ancients. DotA is arguably the best custom map for WarCraft III--I would even go as far as to say DotA is to WC3 as CounterStrike is to Half Life. In fact, it is not uncommon for someone to purchase WC3 and TFT solely for the purpose of playing DotA online. Many other custom maps out there have tried to be as good and as popular as DotA. Few have succeeded.

On the surface, DotA may seem like a simple enough game. I mean, for the vast majority of the time, all you do is control one hero. One. One is a lot less than the forces you control in a regular melee game--which usually number in the dozens. Not to mention, all you have to do is go from one side of the map to the other and destroy the opposing faction's main building. So why are so many people out there drawn to DotA if it's so bland?

Balance. Balance is what brings players back for game after bloody game of DotA. The number of available heroes to choose from number over six dozen. The number of items that can be equipped on said heroes also number over six dozen. And, to top it all off, everything is (mostly) balanced. There is no overpowered hero that everyone will want to choose. There is no overpowered sword of truth that everyone will try to obtain. DotA, after going through countless iterations, still manages to be a game based more on skill than luck. And what makes it so damn fun is that because of the huge number of heroes and items, no two games will play out to be exactly the same. There is no set "build order" to follow in the early game. There is no fail proof strat to build towards for the mid and late game. Rather, DotA manages to be a complex, multi-dimensional game that emphasizes a player's skill. If only there were more games out there like DotA.

Viva La Revolucion

Project Revolution, a.k.a. Starcraft 1.5, is a mod for Warcraft III that will basically allow you to play Starcraft on the WC3 engine. And we're not talking about the custom-made maps that use the models that are already included in WC3. No, no, no . . . we're talking about real Starcraft. Everything from the unit models, to the animations, to the sounds, and even the interface has been made to look like Starcraft. Just think of it as Starcraft in 3d.

Keep in mind that this is project is one that was/is undertaken by fans and not by an actual company. It's pretty impressive what can be done when there is a lot of passion for something (oh, and also free time would help too). Project Revolution is also by no means the first mod to come out looking polished enough to be a game developed by an actual company. Perhaps the most famous example of such a game would be Counter-Strike. Originally developed by two fans of Half Life, Counter-Strike became immensely popular--so much so in fact that Valve eventually teamed up with the creators and turned it into a stand alone game.

With so many talented programmers out there that are not officially part of any gaming company, I can't help but wonder how many awesome hardware/software we're missing out on. For instance, there's this one guy who recently wrote some software for the Wii that allowed it to have head-tracking capabilities. He made a video of it demonstrating it and at the end of the video, he says: "So if you're watching this and you're a Nintendo lead game developer . . . I wanna see more games!" What he should've said was "So if you're watching this and you're a Nintendo lead game devloper . . . I want a job!" I think the gaming world would be much better off it the latter was true.

If RL Was A Game

So I was recently reminded of the news story about some kid who uses what he learned from playing World of Warcraft in order to save his sister and himself from a moose attack. After reading, I naturally wondered what would happen if real life took on gaming properties. This is what I have concluded:

• Everyone will have an athletic build and walk around in bitching outfits
  
• Acquiring and wearing body armor automatically makes everyone target your armor first--no cheating and aiming for the head until the armor is gone!
  
• Carrying around health packs/first aid kits is generally a good idea because they can be used to treat anything--it doesn't matter if you just suffered multiple paper cuts or multiple gunshot wounds . . . you WILL be good as new
• If you take out someone, their friends will start a man-hunt for you, but then ADD will kick in and they'll go back to doing whatever it is they were doing--never mind the fact that their friend is unconscious/bleeding/dying/dead
• It is possible for farmers to be growing crops of gold
• Physicists have already invented a way to access an alternate dimension and have given said technology to almost everything that can be killed/looted; just go kill a small rat and loot it--that Barrett M107 you just procured is irrefutable proof that there is an alternate dimension out there
• Everyone will be an expert in all sorts of weaponry . . . pistols, SMGs, rifles, swords, crossbows, you name it
• Giant complexes/mansions will be raided daily for the phat lewtz that lie within
• Mushrooms will be the new steroids--making everyone bigger, faster, and stronger
• Earth will become a war zone--aliens, zombies, vampires, Nazis, werewolves, cultists, and even enraged/crazed animals will turn Earth into a battlefield . . . apparently, everything and their grandmothers wants us wiped out of existence
• Princesses are a dime a dozen and most of them will probably need rescuing
• Any hard encounter (finals, sports games, dealing with the mother-in-law, etc.) will always turn out to be an epic multi-phase affair
• Traffic signals/signs will be ignored 100% of the time
• An ice cream truck that can transform into a robot is something to run away from (despite how delicious ice cream is and how cool robots are)
• A lvl 70 can pwn a lvl 20 in the face--not like now where a 70 year old will get pwnd in the face by a 20 year old
  
• The cake is a lie

What a twisted, crazy, yet strangely enticing world that would be . . .