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Felicia Day teaches Jimmy Fallon about World of Warcraft
I'm back and forth on Jimmy Fallon -- when NBC first announced that he was taking over the great Conan O'Brien's late night spot, I wasn't real impressed. But since then, you can't say he hasn't worked for it -- the show, which isn't even on the air yet, has been blogging and running all over the country to drum up some interest (including a little gig with the guys at sister site Engadget), and their latest stop takes then to the abode of our good friend Felicia Day to play World of Warcraft.As you can see above, Fallon isn't much for Azeroth -- while Felicia is rocking a pretty hardcore Warlock, Jimmy still has a tough time getting past the character creation screen. But he did drum at least one laugh out of me (which is one more than he ever got from me on SNL), so well done. I very much agree with the commenters on the blog -- if he can keep the show technology and geek-focused like this (and maybe get at least one character up to level 30 -- all Felicia had to do was say "roll on a PvE server," right?), he might have a chance at filling Conan's shoes.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Breakfast Topic: Are you an insomniac WoW player?
World of Warcraft lends itself to the night owl. The game is detailed enough where if you want to be effective at it you need to concentrate a little bit, and that usually means not having distractions around you like kids, a significant other, or your pets. The best time I find that I can get distraction free is in the late evening and early morning hours.I'm a night owl, if you will. In fact I'm sitting here typing this up at 2:15 a.m. CST. Quite late for most of my WoW friends even (however at least a few WoW Insider writers are still up and working on things).This leads me to ask for today's breakfast topic, what kind of player are you? Take a stab at the poll too and let us know. %Poll-24899%One of the best parts about playing late at night is a certain attitude that I find hits around three in the morning. It's the phenomenon when everyone is tired, nearly falling over on their keyboard, and suddenly somebody says over vent "Let's just do one more heroic."
Jimmy Fallon and Engadget: raw and uncut
We had a chance to get on the show floor at CES and chat with Jimmy Fallon (the new face of late night television as he's taking over for Conan O'Brien in March) on his gadget tastes, stock purchases, and jacket size. We hope you enjoy as much as we did.Special thanks to Trent Wolbe for shooting the video
The Daily Grind: How late is too late?
We know how it is. You get into a good group, the experience and loot start flowing freely, and before you know it, it's oh-dark-thirty. Sometimes the gaming groove is too good, and you just can't tear yourself away. For that matter, if there weren't enough of us doing this, the phrase "just one more level" wouldn't be quite so funny. For today's question, we'd like to ask you just how late is too late for you? Is there such a thing as "too late" in your life? Or are you one of the folks who have those real-life responsibilities and who turn into a pumpkin if you stay up past midnight? (Whatever you do, don't get busted napping at work after pulling a gaming all-nighter, lest someone put a picture of you out on the 'net!)
Time shifting
I've posted before about my insomnia and how it affects my WoW play: last night was a key example, as I ground AB marks on my Tauren Warrior, then ran Durnholde Keep on my Draenei Shaman, then went back to Arathi Basin on the bull until server shutdown. When I play in the afternoon or evenings, my PvP experience tends to be mostly positive, with the Horde winning about as many games as we lose and giving a good showing for ourselves even when we do lose. Last night was not like that. Instead, it was the Alliance rolling over us like a crimson zerg, crushing our faces into the dirt, every AB mark I managed to collect soaked with the blood and tears of a demoralized force that actually cheered on the eventual five caps as a mercy killing. As you might expect I found it frustrating enough that I took the time off to go run an instance on my Ally shammy, which went well enough... basically it was four 70's and a 69 (me) burning our way through Durnholde Keep, remarkably little strategy or tactical application of our abilities, very much the kind of 'Hulk Smash' run I usually hate. And I hated this one, too, as they talked to Thrall before I had a chance to and so I didn't get to finish the quest, so I'll have to go back there again to get that done.
Insomnia, or, I can't sleep so I play when no one else is on
One of the biggest problems I have is that, from time to time, I suffer from extremely painful bouts of insomnia. I've had this issue ever since I was a very young boy, and it still reoccurs from time to time. This has lead me to discover the joys and pains of logging on to play World of Warcraft in the middle of the night. Since I tend to play on servers in the same basic time zone as I am (Edmonton, Alberta if you're curious) this often leads me to discover that it can be an entirely different world when most of the server is asleep.One of the large positives is that I often catch the Auction House when a bid is about to expire - I got my BE pally a Sword of the Magistrate for practically nothing not an hour ago, for example. It's also a lot easier for me to do quests that involving farming mobs that are otherwise popular either because the quest itself is popular or because they drop something folks want, like the elementals in the badlands that everyone and their parents tend to farm.There are some big downsides, though. For starters, instances? Forget about it. If I can find two people on at my level at any given time it's a small miracle. Also, when you're bleary eyed from lack of sleep, that may not be the best time to try and do an annoying escort quest. Admittedly, I tend to find escort quests in general to be the second most annoying quests in the game, with "bring me x number of the eyes/hearts/brains of y" being the absolute worst, but I want to level my characters so I do them anyway.Is anyone else out there playing on the graveyard shift? It sometimes seems like I'm totally alone, but a few folks must be toiling away alongside me. Do you prefer it or are you just there sometimes? What's good, what's bad about it for you? I sometimes like the relative peace and quiet, but I miss being able to get a Sunken Temple group when I need one. And I can't say that playing the game makes me feel any more rested.
Late Show writer doesn't find humor in smoking G4 adapter
Looks like Justin Stengel of The Late Show with David Letterman picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue... since he was able to detect the acrid odor of his G4 power adapter scorching and sparking its way through the cord insulation. Whoops. The rather laconic response from the Genius Bar ("We've got those in stock, if you want to come buy a new one") is not going to win any points either, but it may lead to this:Top Ten Other Uses for a G4 Power Adapter:10. Works as mosquito coil to repel robot mosquitoes9. World's smallest curling iron for eyebrow use8. Hotwire Dave's car at the impound lot7. Secretly inside every Ronco Home Defibrillator6. Latest "Betty Crocker" version of apple pie calls for smoked Apple5. Gentle teasing -- spot-weld Biff Henderson's headset to his head4. Perfect excuse to use your iPhone, call i911 and report an iFire3. Cures under-desk fungus2. Get two adapters, play 'Dueling Banjos' with fritzing noisesand the number one other use for a G4 power adapter...1. Two words: DIY Taservia Engadget
