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The Road to Mordor: Rep pony riots
Last week I received a note from a LotRO player named Shawn who was concerned about one of the controversies revolving around the LotRO store and was wondering if I was going to touch on it. Now, it's no personal surprise that the store was going to have controversial aspects to it -- I can't even imagine a scenario in which it wouldn't -- but I assured him I'd tackle the subject and more after downing a few strong drinks and subjecting myself to 414 straight pages of forum rants. My reluctance to talk about this is due to a combination of (a) not feeling that strongly to the point of frothing at the mouth about a lot of these items for sale, and (b) the fact that no matter what position I'd take, I'd lose with at least some readers. Hard place, me, rock. So what the hey, why not take the reputation horse by the reigns and see how I can muddle through this and come out with a majority of my skin unflayed! I'm only going to do this with one provision, however -- that next week I get to talk about what I actually like about the store. There may be hugs and ballads involved. To controversy and beyond, tallyho!
Amazon casual game pricing causes waves with publishers
Amazon's pricing structure for its casual games digital distribution service is apparently not sitting well with publishers. VentureBeat reports that the PopCap cartel won't offer its games on the service, and neither will iWin, which finds the $9.99 or less pricing "completely unacceptable."VentureBeat's piece rightly points out that casual titles can be found all over the intertubes for far less than the $19.99 MSRP. The main point seems to be that casual game publishers aren't happy that the Amazon price point starts at under $10. Casual publisher profits depend on keeping that $20 price for as long as possible.[Via Big Download]
Breakfast Topic: Should raid progression even be tracked anymore?
With the ease of Wrath of the Lich King raiding we're seeing guilds kill boss after boss at an alarming rate. And I'm not just talking about 5-man heroic bosses (those seem a bit hard, actually). I'm not even talking about 10-man bosses (easy cake). I'm talking about the big bad sorry excuse for a boss that is 25-man raiding.Some guilds can roll their face over the keyboard and kill something.Others just have their cat play with the mouse and keyboard for a couple hours.Still others are hiring 25 monkeys to sit in a room together clapping their hands while throwing feces at the screen. The occasional flick of their tail hits the keyboard and presses any of the numerous iWin buttons currently in game that automatically kills a level 83 mob. While the monkeys are doing this and other disgusting acts, they're also writing Shakespearian dramas, fixing the economy, bailing out the auto industry and homeowners, and ending all wars through creating world peace.This is what 25-man raiding has become. It's so easy a caveman monkey could do it!Do boss kills even count for anything anymore? Not really, no.
I am Ugly Baby
Babies are pretty harmless -- well yeah, they can't even walk. Most people think they are cute, while some aren't huge fans. No big deal either way. That is, until Babysitting Mania came along.This new gallery is an insult to babies all over the world, featuring pretty ghastly renders of a stereotypical bald little tyke. Babysitting Mania. It's a time-management simulation game, featuring teen girls taking charge over piles of babies in the most efficient way possible. These kinds of games can turn out to be pretty addictive, but the cuteness-challenged mascot isn't doing the game any favors so far.%Gallery-24673%[Via press release]
