everyday gamer

via Pocket Lint

Found on capcom-unity via pikimal

The evolution of FPS shooters over the last 17 years.  Sad, but true.

This year’s Blizzcon has come and gone too quickly again and once again I find myself wishing I were a year in the future at Blizzcon 2011.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get tickets again next year.  Some quick thoughts on this year’s celebration.

1. People you know from online are probably different in real life.  I was quite surprised to find that one of my more mild-mannered and well-respected guildies was actually a bit of a party animal.  Likewise, it was interesting to find one of the “annoying” guildies to be a totally pleasant person.  It just goes to show that online personas are just that – personas; extensions of the characters we play in game.
2. Never ever line up for the loot elemental on a day where one of the following is not occurring at the same time:  Opening Ceremonies or a World of Warcraft  Panel.  Four and a half hours in line saturday (to win nothing, to boot) was a waste of time.  There really needs to be more than one of these.
3. Tenacious D was pretty awesome.  They fit the crowd a little bit better than Ozzy last year and my jaw dropped seeing Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters banging on the drums.
4. The streamlining of the competitions was a welcome change.  Dances dragged on for an eternity last year.  This year Blizzard grouped the dances together by type so that they only needed to play the music once, making sitting through the segment a lot more bearable.  Also, thank goodness they killed the /silly competition – I liked the general idea of the competition, but it was never executed well enough by the activity planners or the participants.  Good riddance!
5. The live band was awesome.  I wish I had a recording of that Starcraft medley they played before the competitions on Friday.
6. Jay Mohr needs no assistant.  No offense to Kat Hunter, but she was a bit out of her element as hostess off the competitions.  Jay, as with every year, was great.
7. I need to look more carefully at the Blizzcon presale merchandise.  I totally didn’t see the awesomeness of the Starcraft II Vinyl and the water bottle and wound up paying a pretty penny for both the week after.  Sigh
8. A third day for the convention would be excellent.  I definitely didn’t get to do everything that I wanted to this year, and while some of it might be attributed to the Loot Elemental line, I think I still would have run out of time this year if I skipped it.  Hell, there was an entire hallway that I didn’t get a chance to visit.

All in all, I miss Anaheim.  I miss Blizzcon, and I miss the tremendous sense of comradery that I get being amongst fellow Blizzard fans.  Making it out to Blizzcon 2011 is a no brainer and I’m already exercising my fingers in preparation!

According to Eurogamer, Sony is apparently patenting a device to solve backwards compatibility problems on the Playstation 3.

Eurogamer reports that the device is external and has its own processor, DVD encoder/emulator, graphics chip, and sound chip.

Is it bad that the first thing I thought of was the Sega Genesis Tower of Power?

I have a launch PS3 and don’t have to worry about this, but it does leave me wondering – is software rendering of PS2 games really that difficult on the PS3?