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The Road to Mordor: Believing in Isengard
I find it's always awkward, to say the least, when someone tells you outright he dislikes something and then asks you to convince him otherwise. "I hate marmalade, it's so sticky! Why should I think it's awesome?" "Uh... you sound like you've made up your mind already." However, if the person in question isn't being an outright marmalade troll, I'll do my best to answer him because usually contained in that bizarre request is a frustrated non-understanding of what he wants to like, what others seem to like, but what he cannot quite grasp. Sometimes a better perspective helps us appreciate something we may have formerly disliked, so there's no reason not to engage such queries. This past week, a Massively forum poster expressed disatisfaction over Rise of Isengard, citing an abundance of kill 10 rats quests and a lackluster storyline. He finished by throwing down a challenge: "If anyone has some good things to say about Lord of the Rings Online that could convince me I am wrong, I would love to hear them." Now, I'm not here to say that he's wrong; that's a matter of opinion and taste. But I'll gladly step up to the plate and share why I don't think this is the worst expansion yet -- far from it, actually. Without presenting a full post-mortem on Rise of Isengard, I can tell you what I do think is worth a player's investment of money or TP in this expansion. Hit the jump and the Road to Mordor will take you there!
V-Studio 100: not a piece of cake but a great piece of hardware
Most aspiring musicians, at least those of us who are computer nerds, have spent time recording their music to distribute it digitally ... to Grandma. Most of us pass GarageBand with flying colors, graduate from Logic Express and eventually get a masters in Logic Pro. I'm admittedly in the learning stages of Logic Pro. I've graduated from my analog mixer and have just begun to learn the real world of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). Please keep in mind that I'm admittedly not a sound engineer, just a musician who likes to dabble with audio recording. Recently, we were contacted by the awesome folks at Cakewalk who asked us if we'd like to review the V-Studio 100. I jumped at the chance to test it out and was pleasantly surprised at how versatile it really was. For the last two weeks, I've learned the hardware and software included in this package that helps you sound good: the end goal of any musician. I'll just do a brief overview of what's included because there's a lot there and the conclusion is that it's a winner. It's a lot to learn, especially if you're not familiar with the software or DAW controllers for that matter, but it's a huge step up from my analog mixer. Hit the read link to learn about its abilities.
