cannibalism
Latest
Netbooks are being 'cannibalized,' says Windows GM
Tablet sales affecting netbooks? Seems everyone's been suggesting that lately, from Best Buy to ASUS, with much of the blame placed on Apple's iPad for mining the gap, so to speak. Add Microsoft to that chorus -- specifically GM for Windows Product Management Gavriella Schuster. Referencing the pink netbook sitting between her and Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Nick Eaton, Schuster said, "These are definitely getting cannibalized... these are really a second device. But they are getting cannibalized" (SPI's emphasis, not ours). Given Windows' dominance in the netbooks, she's probably got some hush-hush numbers that color her opinion. Then again, speaking of color, perhaps she just doesn't like pink.
Spyborgs release bumped up a week to September 22
Capcom has just sent word that its upcoming Wii title, Spyborgs, will be available on September 22, a week earlier than expected. To celebrate the news, Capcom has also dished out some new screens and its first in a series of webisodes highlighting the title, which has such witty one-liners as, "I eat bots for breakfast," and, "Time to kick bot." ... but, if Stinger is part robot and he eats bots for breakfast, isn't that kinda cannibalism? %Gallery-69862%
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a troll
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the third in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.Trolls are based on the "wild savages" you've seen in the movies or on TV, from King Kong to Discovery channel. If you've seen people hunting with spears, walking around in the forest without many clothes on, or dancing around in costumes and face paint in some kind of ritual you've never heard of, you've seen the apparent inspiration for trolls in World of Warcraft. The culture of Warcraft trolls are a mishmash of all the different myths and rumors that have grown up about some of the earth's indigenous peoples that live outside modern society: Strange voodoo beliefs and rituals? Check. Bloodthirsty headhunters with a taste for cannibalism? Check. Witch doctors, shrunken heads, human sacrifice, and rampant superstition? Check on all counts.It's important to note here that troll culture is based on the myths about some indigenous people, not on their reality. Cannibalism, for instance, has been rare among human societies, nearly always viewed as anathema, but among the trolls of Azeroth, it appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Unbiased study of the world's primal religions has shown them to be far more sophisticated than early (and prejudiced) Western explorers ever imagined. Don't listen to the Jamaican accent trolls have in the game and assume that trolls are based on real life Jamaicans. There is nowhere near the correlation here that we might find with the dwarves and the Scots, or even the draenei and the eastern Europeans that they sound like. Indeed, one could argue that the choice of a Jamaican accent to represent the trolls and their culture reveals a great deal of ignorance we Americans have regarding Caribbean islanders -- but that's a discussion I'll not go into today.Suffice it to say that as a member of the Darkspear tribe, the only tribe of trolls to join the Horde, your character living in a time of great change for your people. Your tribe is the first to embrace the more modern values promoted by Thrall, to take up the spiritual practices of shamanism, and to integrate itself with other races. Although the Darkspears have officially given up human sacrifice, cannibalism, and now tell you to "stay away from the voodoo," these practices are all elements of religion and superstition that your character would have grown up with, and may find it hard to let go of completely.
Barrens Chat: First posts make me hungry
Greetings fellow travelers of time and space! Welcome to the first official posting of Barrens Chat, a soon to be weekly implement of random craziness. Although I know I'm not the first comic strip, and likely I wont be the last to grace these glorious virtual pages, I invite you to take a romp with me, Megan, as I drag forth those silly comments people make that they hope no one noticed, and glorify them with fancy colors, and ever-changing art.I will point out that although all of this is will all be incredibly funny to everyone who reads it, including me; it may end up being a "you had to be there" moment. In that case, come back next week! I'm sure it'll be funnier then. No really, it will. %Gallery-22361%
Breakfast Topic: Should Blizzard support Hunter pet diversity?
While looking over the new "fake" pet skills page at Petopia earlier today, one of the biggest things that struck me is that the whole Thorns skill that the temporary Crab pets get for the lowbie Hunter taming quests would be a great thing for normal Crab pets to get. Right now, They're stuck learning nothing but Claw, placing them right near the bottom of the pet pantheon - very close to Sporebats, who can't learn any special abilities at all. My two high level Hunters tamed a Carrion Bird and a Boar, respectively, so I'm lucky enough to have a good selection of skills to use, but I think there should be more options for people who love their offbeat pets like Sporebats or Hyenas or Crocs. They can even use some of the old rumored alpha skills for pets that popped up around the time of Burning Crusade's alpha. I'm hoping that Blizzard shows more types of Hunter pets some love in WoTLK with a wide selection of new skills, be it thorny shells for Crabs, a Cannibalism-type skills for Raptors, or anything else that lets us see Hunters fighting alongside fewer Cats and Ravagers (or in the case of arenas, Scorpids). What do you think? Should Blizzard focus a bit more on a wider variety of options for Hunter pets? Or should Hunters just take what they can get and be grateful for it? If the former, what types of new pet skills would you like to see?
Analyst downplays Wii, gets eaten by Nintendo fans [Update 1]
Oh, look. Another independent analyst stepped up to predict the outcome of the console war. This time it's Boston-based Yankee Group, and they're in with a win for Sony. According to their report, Sony will outsell the competition with 44% of the market share, and Nintendo will suffer a devastating loss in the "war" with 16% market share. They have Microsoft closing in on Sony with 40%.The biggest (it was a tough call) problem with this report, from our fan-centric perspective, is not the numbers or the predictions or anything else. It is the fact that Wii is being compared to the GameCube. Sure, there are similarities in hardware. But for the purpose of comparing market share? That's not the same ballpark. It may not even be the same game. If a comparison must be drawn, look instead to the Nintendo DS. Nintendo has opened a new world of potential by looking beyond just the gaming community. The proof is in the DS -- and unless there's some outrageous mistake on an epic scale in Nintendo's future, it's probably a safe bet that Wii will be nothing like the GameCube. Whether or not it'll fare better in the console wars is still somewhat up in the air (though it has price on its side), but comparing the two from a marketing perspective is something of a stretch. And predicting that the Wii will sell fewer units than the GameCube's 21 million? That's laughable.As for all these predictions ... in 2011, if anyone was right, will we even care?[Update 1: 12 is totally not 21.]
