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The Art of War(craft): Gearing up for PvP
One of the most important things in World of Warcraft PvP, obviously -- as with all endeavors in a loot-driven game -- is gear. Epic items with Stamina and Resilience, PvP set bonuses and all that. Well, that's not what we're going to talk about today. Today we'll take a look at the metagame. What you do outside the World of Warcraft and how you can improve your PvP skills with so-called gaming gear and other factors out of the game.Over the past few months, my brother built a custom trail bike that he weighed down to the gram (it's about 10.12kg compared to the 15kg bike I currently use). It cost him something in the atmosphere of $3,000, and when I chided him about spending so much for it, he explained that since he doesn't have as much skill as other competitive bikers, he tries to make up for it with a better tool. It makes sense. Obviously, a superior athlete with a mediocre bicycle could and does outperform him in competitions, but he beats bikers of identical skill and athleticism with his new, lightweight, high-end bike.What does this have to do with the World of Warcraft, you ask? Well, my brother's reasoning applies to gaming, as well. While natural talent and skill for video games isn't something you can achieve or obtain overnight (if at all), it's easy enough to take steps to improve your metagame. Just as characters get an advantage through in-game gear, players can get an advantage using real life gear.
HP Firebird 802 gaming rig gets $500 price drop
Well, it's only been available for a few short months but HP has already seen fit to give its flagship Firebird 802 gaming desktop a fairly sizable price drop -- $500, to be specific. That includes a $150 cut to the $1,799 base price and a $350 instant rebate that brings the price down to a pretty darn reasonable $1,299, questionable keyboards aside. For those that haven't been pricing gaming rigs lately, that'll get you a Core 2 Quad 9400 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S graphics cards (with 512MB of DDR3 memory on each card). Of course, any price drop of this size also invariably bring of the question "why?" and, in the case, the reasons are still a bit hazy. While HP discontinuing the line outright seems to almost certainly be out of the question, a slight revision does seem at least possible, if not necessarily imminent -- although, any way you shake it, $500 off is $500 off, so we're not complaining.[Thanks, Ali]
Engadget Podcast 123 - 12.27.2008: Goodbye 2008 edition
Yes, it's that time of year again. The end of the year. This is the final podcast of 2008, but just the tip of the iceberg in the world of Engadget podcasting. Cuddle up by the fireplace and listen in as Josh, Nilay, and Paul reminisce about their time at the reader meetup, pontificate on Apple's exit from Macworld, speculate about the Adamo and VAIO P, and much, much more. Go on and listen -- you know you want to. Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Producer: Trent Wolbe Song: Jump 01:22 - Apple announces final MacWorld, Steve Jobs won't deliver keynote 13:15 - Thank you NYC! 20:26 - Dell confirms shocking truth: Adamo to rival MacBook Air 27:34 - Sony P-series "netbook" unveiled, underwhelming 37:51 - HP Firebird 803 tower with VoodooDNA leaked! 51:32 - Editorial: All I wanted this year was the best smartphone ever Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.
