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This is the Modem World: Nothing is new. It's been done before.
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. It's funny how things come back around. When I was growing up in the '80s, music was looking back at the '50s and '60s and re-creating it into some of the best bands the world has seen. Paul Weller wouldn't have become the songwriter he is had he not grown up on the Beatles. Likewise, Paul McCartney wouldn't have become the genius that he is had he not been raised on Little Richard. And now, bands are looking back at the '80s and re-doing that explosive era -- with both good and bad results that I will not go into here lest I make new enemies. Culture is cyclical, and we're beginning to see that technology is bound to follow that same rinse-and-repeat formula.
The Daily Grind: Did you get yourself a gift this season?
When I was a kid, I always thought it was strange that my mother would get herself Christmas presents. It wasn't until sometime later that I realized that she did this so she'd open something she'd actually use instead of just another macaroni plate or a misshapen ash tray. Since then, I've been pretty lenient on folks who tell me that they purchased themselves a present during the holidays. So if you want to brag about what you got yesterday or this month, feel free in the comments below. However, I'm genuinely curious if you've decided to treat yourself to an MMO nicety for the holiday. Maybe you're giving yourself a marathon gaming session, that cash shop item you've always wanted, or a game that nobody thought to get you. It's okay to share, I give you permission! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Would you want an MMO for a gift?
We're into the part of the year when everyone's thinking about giving gifts. But for all that I like receiving games as gifts, I'm not all that happy at the thought of getting an MMO for a gift. It's kind of like someone buying you a pet -- sure, it's a nice gesture, but it's also going to ask for a lot of your time and effort in the future. This isn't something you pick up and leave alone for an extended period of time. On the other hand, sometimes MMOs can make wonderful gifts. I bought a friend a copy of City of Heroes in years past to help introduce him to one of my favorite games. Several of my friends wound up in World of Warcraft because I originally volunteered to purchase the game. So what do you think? Would you like to get an MMO for a gift this holiday season? Or do you think MMOs are really something you should buy for yourself? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
So, what'd you get?
Yeah, it's pretty unfortunate that you've got to work tomorrow (well, unless you're down with Boxing Day), but let's take it one 24-hour window at a time, shall we? It's not as if you've had any shortage of gizmos to choose from this year, and while you aren't likely to get a Transformer Prime, there's plenty of other stocking stuffers to look forward to. Speaking of which, what'd you find under your tree this morning? A Kindle Fire? That new laptop you've been longing for? A few new cables to do... cable-y things with? Let us know in comments below, and be sure to press play on your way there. Hopefully that's not your kid. When you're done, check out what people got jazzed about in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Breakfast Topic: What's the best WoW-themed gift you've given or received?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Several of us in my family play World of Warcraft. On birthdays and holidays, it's never a surprise. What could possibly be in that lightweight, rectangular-shaped package? Why, it's a time card! Huzzah! It's become somewhat of a joke at this point, as we trade time cards back and forth. I'm not sure who's ahead at this point. Occasionally we step it up a bit, and somebody gets a hoodie or a T-shirt (and thank goodness I haven't received any underwear yet). We've bequeathed Celestial Steeds and Lil' K.T.s to each other. One year, I got pretty creative (for me) and made a "treasure chest" for my brother. I included a time card (big surprise), beef jerky, Mana Potion energy drink and some cash. He tells me that he still has the chest and now uses it as a bank to store spare change in. Do you pass around WoW-themed presents in your family? Have you received any particularly memorable ones over the years? Have you given any that left you feeling strangely satisfied with yourself? Where do you find the best gifts? Do you scour the online stores and Blizzard's website, or do you have a creative streak and make them yourself?
Second part of EVE Christmas present revealed -- the Echelon
Two weeks ago, we learned of CCP's plans to remove learning skills from EVE Online. Learning skills have always been a problem for new players, and their removal has been an issue supported by players for years. As the first part of a two-part Christmas present to players, CCP announced that the skills would be removed with the Incursion expansion's December release. Speculation on what the second part of that present could be has run wild on the forums, with many older players even wishing lost features would make a come-back. CCP has just announced that the second part of EVE's Christmas patch will be a new ship called the Echelon. As with previous presents, Every subscribed player will have one of these ships delivered to them through the item-redeeming system. The Echelon is a unique CONCORD design aimed at fighting the oncoming Sansha menace. The ship boasts impressive hacking capabilities, with a bonus to the operation of specialised Sansha codebreakers. A limited-edition Sansha codebreaker will also be included with the ship. Until now, hacking has been restricted solely to a mini-profession for the gathering of invention materials and completion of static COSMOS missions. This announcement is the first hint we've seen that the Sansha incursions we're looking forward to in January will include an element of hacking.
Massively interviews CCP Greyscale on the EVE Christmas gift
Early yesterday morning, a new devblog by EVE Online developer CCP Greyscale brought us an exciting first look at something awesome arriving in the upcoming Incursion expansion's December release. Speaking on behalf of development team Yggdrasill at CCP's top secret Iceland hideout, Greyscale explained CCP's plans to completely abolish learning skills in EVE. Learning skills increase a player's attributes, which decrease the time it takes to train skills. Since they take some time to train, however, dedicating time to them will only pay off after several months of subsequent skill training. As a result, new players are often advised to put off training for that ship they want or those useful industrial skills, as focusing on learning skills early on will pay off in the long run. This can stunt a player's progression in his early days, making for a very boring early play experience that can be distinctly off-putting. As part of the company's Christmas gift to all EVE players, the skillpoints we have invested in learning skills will be reimbursed so that we can add them to any skill we want. To compensate for the decrease in attributes and give new players a bit of a boost, all players will have 12 points added to every attribute. This is exciting news, as the removal of learning skills has always been strongly supported by the EVE community. We caught up with CCP Greyscale to ask a few important questions about what this change means for players. Skip past the cut for our interview with CCP Greyscale on the EVE Christmas gift and what the learning skill changes mean for players new and old.
iPad frozen into slab of chocolate, delivered to unsuspecting wife
So this fellow Stefan wasn't content with just getting his wife an iPad. No sir, he thought he'd put all the rest of us to shame by ensconcing the Apple tablet inside some fine chocolate from London and then transporting the frozen concoction nearly six thousand miles to Cape Town, South Africa. There's really not much more science to it than that, the chap wanted to surprise his better half and judging by the pictures on his blog, he succeeded spectacularly. Hit the source link to see for yourself.
The Daily Grind: Is space the "final frontier" for MMOs?
"Space: the final frontier." Sounds a bit short-sighted, doesn't it? I mean, no offense to the ghost of Gene Roddenberry, but we've barely scratched the surface of what's out there beyond our atmosphere. To claim that it is the "final frontier" to be explored, charted, and colonized may not be entirely accurate. But, it does make for a catchy slogan and a great series of TV shows, movies, and games (ok, games... historically, not so much).Thus far, "space" may appear to be the final frontier in MMOs as well, but to claim it as such is also short-sighted. The creativity of the human mind is a great thing. I'm sure we'll conjure up some novel concepts or twists on old themes or settings and make them work. The two biggest MMO sub-genres so far are undoubtedly Fantasy and Science Fiction (often space-oriented). Superhero MMOs are making a run for it and so are MMOs in post-apocalytic settings. There are even a plethora of oddly-themed kids games too. Are there any genres we haven't thoroughly tapped yet? What about Horror? Mystery? Crime? Modern warfare? As for settings, what about Earth present? Earth historic? Alternate dimensions? Fairly tales? What genres and settings are you itching to explore?
Breakfast topic: Wrath info poll
Most of the news coming up from Blizzard has focused on Wrath of the Lich King. We've been working to cover the most up-to-date information on the expansion while staying on top of current events in the existing game. I am excited for Wrath, but I'm taking my time to enjoy the now until it comes out. There are still plenty of interesting non-Wrath-related things going on. It can be a tough balance between sharing new mechanics and presenting spoilers. We've added features to the site like Ask a Beta Tester and Lichborne, which can be readily ignored if you're not up for spoilers. We've had some requests to slow down on the Wrath news, but many many more to keep it up. How much information do you want before the xpac is released? Take our little poll and let us know where you stand. %Poll-17952%
Father's Day discounts for iPhoto books through 6/15
If your father is anything like my father, he loves getting Father's Day gifts with that personal touch ... but since monogrammed golf clubs are a bit out of my budget range this year, I'm going with an iPhoto book instead. Nothing dresses up a coffee table like a professionally printed book full of pictures of the grandkids all slathered in mud.Apple is ready to help with the giftgiving; there's a 20% book discount (use code 'springbooks' at checkout) through June 15. Standard shipping books need to be ordered today (June 3) for delivery by Father's Day, and express shipping gets you an extra few days (June 8 order deadline).
The DS Life: I Still Know What You Did Last Unwrapping
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.Look at this girl. She is totally freaking out about her new DS. Just totally - freaking - out. We couldn't care less that Christmas is long behind us, as is the entire 2007 year; we felt it our duty to show you this photo of a girl going absolutely banoodles as she unwraps her gift. You've likely already deduced our intentions from the article image and title -- we're cashing in on last week's wildly popular installment of The DS Life with a hastily-put-together sequel. As is often the case with these repeat productions, we've done away with the charm of the original, replacing it with a bigger budget and an all new video cast!
All the World's a Stage: The past, present and future of roleplaying
All the World's a Stage is a roleplaying column for thoughtful minds, published on Sunday evenings. "David and his ilk are the last of a dying species!" cry out the Scrooges of WoW, "soon the creature 'Homo Sapiens Theatricalus,' more commonly known as a 'WoW Roleplayer' will go the way of the dodo, only to be spoken of in the annals of gaming history! Roleplaying is dead! Long live cynicism!"Thus you may have heard -- but fear not: these rumors of roleplaying's demise have been greatly exaggerated. They're just reflections of a negative attitude on the part of people who don't really know what roleplaying is all about. Yet many roleplayers still get genuinely frustrated these days. "Things used to be so much better," they can be heard to say, "Back in the day, RP servers were just full of people roleplaying with everyone else... but now... <sigh>... it's just not the same." Indeed, Blizzard originally set up special realms specifically for roleplaying with their own special rules of conduct, and in the beginning these same roleplayers used to stand up for themselves when they saw others ignoring the rules that made their environment so special.But then the WoW population doubled, tripled, and again quadrupled. It's been good for Blizzard's business, but not so good for the RP community, who thrived on their tight-knit system of knowledge and interaction. Nowadays, some players who might hope to give roleplaying a try start a character on an RP server only to find that no one seems to be roleplaying there. "Where did all the roleplayers go?" they ask. "What ever happened to those roleplaying rules? And how can I find people to roleplay with now?"
Girl unwraps iPod, finds heavy-handed social commentary instead
As the unfortunate trend continues, yet another kiddo has found their Christmas PMP replaced with something that's, well, not a PMP. In today's episode, we find a Washington, D.C. girl that unwrapped an iPod earlier this week and discovered that the only Apple product tucked within was the inner packaging. Instead, a clever note was stashed inside (presumably with a paperweight of some sort) that read: "Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple store." Oh, and just in case you really needed more than one guess as to where this thing came from, here's a hint: it was sold by the same retailer who passed on Wii demo units due to "safety" concerns.[Via TUAW]
Returned DAP gets resold with loads of porn
We've seen returned / resold DAPs (among other things) ruin celebrations before, but we're inclined to say that this episode is a tad more disheartening than receiving a couple of rock-filled iPod boxes. Reportedly, an unspecified MP3 player purchased in a Tennessee Wal-Mart was wrapped and given as a Christmas present to a 10-year old daughter, but upon connecting said player to a computer, heaps of pornographic material and explicit songs were discovered. According to a Wally World spokesperson, stores aren't supposed to "return opened packages to the sales floor," but given that it already happened, the matter will purportedly be "investigated."[Via TGDaily]
The DS Life: Unwrapping
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/X_Mas_Unwrappings_Nintendo_DS_Lite'; The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.Provided they were on Santa's "Nice" list, hundreds of thousands of children (and adults, of course) woke up to find a dual-screened handheld under their tree yesterday. We like to imagine that these new DS owners held the system box high over their heads while The Legend of Zelda's "item fanfare" music played. We also like to picture them running to their computers shortly afterwards to load up and bookmark DSFanboy.com, as well.Rather than spend too much time dwelling over what their reactions might have been like, why don't we take a look past the break for photos from ten different post-unwrapping scenes?
AT&T gifts iPhone, Apple contemplates 3rd party software access
Your latest "anything iPhone related happens" post is here, this time with the news that AT&T has given away an iPhone to a member of the public, coupled with a recent statement that Apple is wrestling with the decision of whether to allow 3rd parties to develop iPhone apps. It's rather odd that the first iPhone to make it into the hands of a mere mortal didn't cost its new owner a single cent, but in a video taken at the commencement ceremony at West Texas A&M University, the CEO of AT&T Stan Sigman gave away an iPhone to one Dr. O'Brien. (At least, that's what the very crackly movie of the speech shot on a Treo appears to indicate.) The statement about the 3rd party iPhone software comes from a similarly authoritative voice -- Steve Jobs -- and through a clearer medium -- a phone-in of a recent Apple shareholders meeting. Jobs said that the company "is wrestling with" the decision to allow external developers to create their own software for the iPhone. Our wish is for Apple to open up the iPhone, or at least compromise and allow developers to create their own widgets. In the phone industry, standing still (which is effectively what Apple would be doing with a closed iPhone) is not an option: or, maybe it is. Hmm, we seem to have missed the smackdown.Read -- AT&T's Stan Sigman gifts iPhoneRead -- 3rd party iPhone apps?
All Mom wants for Mother's Day is a DS Lite
Chris Kohler's coverage of random stuff he sees while walking around in Japan continues with a note about Nintendo's latest DS advertising campaign. The sign says "Soon, it will be Mother's Day" next to a picture of a DS Lite playing Brain Age. We can't help but think that if this campaign works, it'll lead to a lot of disappointed moms this Sunday. We're not saying moms don't want DS's (some may not, but most people do!) The problem is that it's still pretty much impossible to get a DS in Japan, with the apparent exception of whatever store this was. Why would Nintendo even advertise the DS?
The comprehensive guide to presenting from your pocket
It's no secret that a combination of software and hardware can turn virtually any smartphone into a serviceable PowerPoint viewer, but tracking down the necessary bits and pieces can be a tiresome exercise. Comptuerworld's done us all a favor, throwing together a guide detailing the steps needed to get a slide deck fired up and shot out to a projector via BlackBerrys and Treos (both Palm and Windows Mobile-based models); iPods are also covered, but being that we're Engadget Mobile, we're going to claim ignorance and pretend we've no idea what an iPod is. Running $250 and up, the suggested hardware isn't cheap, but for the road warrior who can't be bothered to tote along a legit PC, $250 may be a small price to pay.[Via The Raw Feed]
