metagame
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Witness 'The Metagame' in action, thanks to MTV
It ran at GDC 2007; we reported on it, but you didn't get to see it. Now, MTV has hosted a special edition of The Metagame game show, as part of their "Gamer's Week" Coverage, and Stephen Totilo has posted the highlights for mass consumption.The Metagame, designed and hosted by Frank Lantz of area/code and Eric Zimmerman of Gamelab, pits two teams against each other in a battle of video game smarts. Each round, teams move pieces on the game board to form comparative statements between two games (such as "Halo would make a better movie than Half-Life," or "Virtua Fighter is sexier than Super Mario 64."), and argue these statements to earn points. Vying for victory this time are MTV's Stephen Totilo and Tim Kash, versus Newsweeks' N'Gai Croal, and fellow journalist Heather Chaplin, author of Smart Bomb.The debate is heated, hilarious, and only the slightest bit pretentious. We'd definitely enjoy watching more designers, developers, and press-members argue the semantics and specifics of the industry's most influential games. Any chance of picking up the show full-time, MTV?Update: Due to silly legal restrictions, the video posted above is not viewable in the UK or Canada. Apologies for any confusion or irritation this might cause.
Patch 2.3: Twinks become gods
As you know, in patch 2.3, many of the previously ho-hum mid-level dungeon drops are set to actually become useful, worth the trip you make to go get them in the dungeon (in most cases). Overall, this is a blessing for players everywhere, either starting out with their first characters, or leveling up long-forgotten alts.Twinks, however, are going to become a much greater nuisance than they were before. Some of their old items are going to be upgraded by default as the new patch comes in and the old items all around the world get replaced with the new. New twinks, however, will have the privilege of setting their sights on the best of the best items for their particular class and level bracket, putting an even further distance between them and other players who just want to enjoy a bit of PvP as they level up. This is particularly true with new low-level epics such as the Deadman's Hand which, at level 29, seems designed to be the pet dream of twinks everywhere, regardless of race or class. Does Blizzard intend to support twinking? And what's the whole point of twinking anyway?
