thomas
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One Shots: A deadly flower
In the southernmost areas of Stygia lies a dangerous, marshy area that contains a rare, beautiful, and dangerous flower that can be found nowhere else. No - we're not talking about the lovely lady standing in the middle of today's Age of Conan screenshot, although one could certainly argue that she's also beautiful and dangerous. We're talking about the purple lotus, favored by assassins for its poisonous properties. This picture was sent in to us by Thomas, who explains: Here's another [screenshot]: a full image in DX10 with Godrays! My character "Callypiso" is exploring the Purple Lotus Swamp. It certainly is lovely to see.If you're one of the Funcom faithful, playing Age of Conan or Anarchy Online, we'd love to see some screenshots from you. All you have to do to contribute is to email your image to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and a brief description. We'll post them out here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit. %Gallery-9798%
All the World's a Stage: Hallow's End and you
This week on All the World's a Stage, Michael Gray fills in to talk about how you can use Hallow's End specifically for your character. David Bower will be back next week to tackle "So you want to be a Blood Elf."Maybe more than any other Azeroth holiday, Hallow's End celebrates a significant event in the history of our characters. According to the offical community site, Hallow's End is Azeroth's celebration of the Forsaken's break from the Scourge. (Personally, this makes me even more happy that we got the new model for Sylvanas in the recent content patch.)The story of how the Forsaken broke free is certainly significant. But the fact alone that both the Horde and Alliance do celebrate this break is even more meaningful. Let's take a look at some of the impacts it can have for classes and races ... behind the cut.
Thomas Hawk Switches
San Francisco photo-geek and Zooomr evangelist Thomas Hawk has a secret. Two weeks ago, he walked into the Apple Store in Palo Alto and plopped down the cash for a brand-new MacBook Pro, which he says is "f**ing amazing!"For some reason I can't seem to fathom, Hawk felt so ashamed of this that he kept his new illicit love hidden from the world until he came to grips with his new OS orientation. Why the sudden change of heart? The standard PC user gripes apply; Windows is buggy, Dells are badly designed, and things tend not to work. More interesting to me than the simple fact of Thomas switching is this anti-Apple counter-culture which has become more prominent with the rise of the iPod. I know more than a few otherwise intelligent people whose only reason for not buying an iPod is that they don't want to be like everyone else. But my point to them is always that maybe everyone has an iPod because it's really the best out there! Why subject yourself to a sub-par audio player or computer simply because you want to be the "rebel." Now, I've only seen this philosophy present in people who are deeply involved in the circles in which I run; bloggers, designers, and as one called us, "The San Francisco Hippy Crowd." So I guess what I'm really observing is people trying to be the counter-culture to a counter-culture. Interesting, eh?
"I Hate You, E3," declares Escapist writer
Okay, so maybe not hate completely.The eye-catching title of an essay from the latest installment of The Escapist puts the emphasis on the negative aspect of the love-hate relationship many industry vets have with E3, but there's surprisingly a lot of love for the trade show here, even if you don't subscribe to the hardened "I hate E3 because I love it" theory of convention devotion.While the Joystiq staff hasn't been to quite as many E3s as the founder of the International Game Journalists Association (IGJA), we can certainly empathize with the world-weariness that might accumulate after years of weeklong death- press-marches and working in overcrowded, sensory-overloaded spaces. We just hope our love of the game(s) will stay with us as it has for Mr. Thomas, whether we're watching from home or working the show floor in person in post-apocalyptic L.A. The parties will be sure to be awesome.See also: Joystiq at E3 2006 mega-site The Escapist's big E3 issue this week, with references within to Joystiq's Paris Hilton story and some E3 party pics orig. from Joystiq The Game of Journalism -- the IGJA's official web site
