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Azeroth Interrupted: Escape from Los Angeles
Each week, Robin Torres contributes Azeroth Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with WoW.I love L.A. I really do. But there are times, like these, when I'm glad I'm a gamer and have a wide variety of ways to escape. I don't know if you non-Angelenos know what I'm talking about. Our local news gets all silly when a few drops of water are planning to fall from the sky, so it's hard to gauge reality from hype. On the other hand, celebrities have had to flee their homes! So there's a good chance that our local wildfires caused by high winds and a long drought have caught more than just local attention.I'm fine and my family's fine, but there are inconveniences and the air isn't so healthy and I just want to escape into my favorite game and relax. But I'm afraid that WoW is not going to provide the immersive experience I need right now. And I don't think it's Blizzard's fault, though there are some aspects of Azeroth that contribute to the problem. It's the WoW players.
Virtually Overlooked: Journey Escape
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Workin' hard to get my fill Everybody wants a thrill Payin' anything to roll the dice Just one more time Some will win Some will lose Some were born to sing the blues Oh, the Atari 2600 game never ends It goes on and on and on and on
Gamestop visits the future and brings back a list
Feel like planning your game purchases for the rest of the year? We can help, with this list of release dates and prices from EB/Gamestop's point-of-sale system. There's some reasonably exciting stuff on there, like Manhunt 2 (August 1st), Dewy's Adventure (September 3rd), and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (October 1st), as well as stuff that is slightly less mass-appeal, like Escape from Bug Island and CSI 4: Hard Evidence. There's a large cluster of EA stuff marked as being released on November 1st, but we suspect that date is a placeholder. For that matter, don't take any of these release dates as ironclad.The full list is available for browsing after the break. It's still useful even if you don't plan to go into Gamestop for some reason.
Escape sells GSM Chocolates, reception not included
Typically, we'd expect a company like Best Buy to be looking out for its loyal customers coming in to pick up some bleeding-edge mobile tech (by US standards, anyway), especially when they're willing to pay super-premium prices for the privilege. Imagine our surprise, then, to get a promotional email from Escape (Best Buy's pet project for high-end electronics in Chicago) advertising LG KG800s -- that's the original Chocolate for those not up to speed on LG's model numbering convention -- at a stiff $520. That in and of itself is neither surprising nor interesting; KG800s are relatively easy to come by, even in the States, and plenty of importers are willing to ship one to your door. What is interesting, though, is that the KG800 doesn't support GSM 850. Why would a giant in the American electronics retail market push crippled, not-intended-for-US-sale phones, knowing full well that the buyers are going to have a subpar experience? And furthermore, couldn't they come up with an actual shot of the KG800 rather than using Verizon's press photos of the VX8500, a phone that doesn't even look the same? We called Escape yesterday and were told that the phone had sold out pretty briskly after the promo email had gone out, which doesn't surprise us -- we wouldn't expect the average Escape customer to think twice about the compatibility of a shiny new phone in their showroom. If it has Best Buy's blessing, it must be at least usable... right?Update: To clarify, the KG800 being sold by Escape is a tri-band GSM model with reception on the 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands. While 1900 will buy you reception in the US, 850 is accounting for an ever-increasing percentage of coverage. We're glad to see a store like Escape accomodating the needs of cash-flush technophiles, but we'd like to see them make it a little clearer in the future when certain phones might not give the best experience -- particularly for 850-heavy Cingular customers.
Methods for escaping robbery with your iPod
It should already be fairly obvious that your iPod is a hot commodity, and the last thing you need is a crazed individual taking a stab at you, or worse, swiping your portable. You've already been warned by the NYPD that rocking the token white headphones is a big no-no, and Thomas Pink even designed a shirt and tie to keep iPod-jackers at bay, but the folks over at CNET UK have a few tricks of their own to keep you from becoming a statistic. As you may or may not be aware, gadget theft in Britain is out of control, and the methods were devised after a CNET UK editor was mugged, not too dissimilar from a situation of our own. The gaffer tape method consists of taping the iPod to your body -- using 15 rounds of tape -- so that your assailant gets frustrated with the challenge and hopefully gives up pursuit, while the paperback method throws back to secrecy of old by suggesting you remove an inner chunk of a novel to let your iPod reside, and since most thieves don't care about bestsellers, you'll likely avoid a tragic conclusion. For owners living in really sketch areas, the Christopher Walken method is nearly foolproof: for Pulp Fiction fans, the iPod's hiding location comes as no surprise. For more clever disguising options to keep you and your Apple tagalong safe, be sure to hit the read link for CNET UK's suggestions, complete with "Anti-mugger" ratings and all.
Video of The Darkness
Coming in at a whopping 47.1mb, this 720p video for The Darkness is worth the trouble to download. Developed by Starbreeze Studios, who are responsible for the excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher's Bay, and being published by 2K Games, The Darkness was one of the best three games I was privileged enough to see at E3, although it should be noted that it was demoed on a Xbox 360 when I saw it.[Via QJ]
