The way the movie should have been made!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6PPvUhR4c&feature=player_embedded

or if that link doesn't work, go here: http://spungella.blogspot.com/2011/05/cars-2-lego-trailer.html

This is the way Cars 2 should have been made! Enjoy!

Two more to look out for (maybe)

Marvel Universe Online (could be fun!) Is back in development and coming out sometime.. soon-"tm". Partricualrly intersting was this interview with the guy writing the story, Brian Bendis. I'll sum up for you if you don't want to read it:

The game will be Free to Play, it will be aimed at adults, not kids, and it will be female friendly. (Hopefully I can get my wife to play, if it's good) It will allow you to play your favorite marvel characters.. I hope it lets you make your own also though. Yes I know, I'm counter-cultural. And Maybe they will section off all the wolverines into their own instances to keep them from meeting or something.. lol (I doubt it.)

Second, in open beta today is Wakfu, a turn based strategy MMO with Square helping but mainly pproduced by Ankama games I believe. something I am definitely going to try since I liked the concept behind Dofus but it was too shallow of strategy for me to really enjoy.

Lastly..I'm having a housewarming party in our new home tomorrow. Cooking lots of yummy Filipino food tonight. Have a good weekend!

Lots of "Free" dom in MMO's these days

There's been a lot of free MMO's launching these days. Some that might have slipped under the radar by accident, others perhaps justifiably unnoticed. I haven't tried them so I don't know.

But here are some intriguing looking new releases for those of you with the time to examine the fruits of other's labors:

1. Mythos just went live in Europe and is open to US residents as well. This is defintely a game Keen and Graev should check out, as well as other Diablo fans, like my brothers.

2. World of Tanks launched not too long ago and looks loaded with panzer blasting goodness. I really ought to try it. I loved black and white Sands of Fire on the old Macintoshes and this has to be better ... right?

3. Ether Saga Odyssey launched yesterday in our country (USA). It looks to be an MMO with pet capture, growth and ..release? (I just added that last one to see if you were paying attention) Basically a Pokemon type MMO. Could be very fun. Or not, depends on the grind level inherent in this decidedly cutesy Chibi style MMO. Here's a link to the site which has a trailer https://register.perfectworld.com/esoad4

4. Lastly, Dragon's Nest. An action (and by that I mean it probably doesn't have you clicking on icons and waiting for your character to do things like WoW/Lotro) MMO with super simple plot and super simple purpose, to be fun. Here's a screenshot of a guy witha  sword that looks like a bat fighting scary ladies with big claws, just for fun:

Magicka on Sale!

Get it now, just a few hours left. Half off in promotion of the new Magicka:Vietnam Downloadable content. I just bought a 4-pack of copies to deal out to friends for just $15. There's also the full pack that includes the game, the Vietnam DLC, and the Wizard's Survival Pack, for just $8. I'll be playing this game some more with some friends! Go to www.steampowered.com to get it

Another vote for Magicka

Anton pointed me towards Magicka so I tried it and I am very impressed. Apparently it uses the same technology I was using to make our game, XNA creation studio. at 10 bucks, its worth checking out for anyone. Plenty of humor and creative spell casting with many combinations of elements. It gets an A for the day in my book.

Finally, somebody is getting the picture

Torchlight 2 is launching with no subscription fee. Finally somebody has figured out that while you might make more money for a month or two, you'll get a lot more customers (including me) if you don't put hurdles in the way for your audience. I really like the Pay for Content and then Own it Model that DnDOnline uses. Lotro uses the more questionable one which is "pay for content and stat increases..." not as cool, but still better than: pay 15 bucks a month whether you want to play or not, and constantly ask yourself, "Is this really worth my money? Is this money really worth worrying about? Can I play enough of this to get my money's worth and not get in trouble with my spouse?" I can't wait for Guild Wars 2. Definitely going to try it out.

Thumbs up, Thumbs down

I tried two AA Free MMO's this last week, EverQuest 2 and Champions Online

My feeling are mixed about each of them. They are bpth worth checking out for any of your fans of MMO's out there. It only takes a couple hours for Champions and less than an hour for Everquest.

Some of my feelings (this is not a review, just impressions) about EverQuest 2 are that it sure has a ton of types of crafting nodes, the quests are kinda neat, they show you what you can do in the game, and the zone I picked was very pretty. (plus) Nothing even got close to killing me so the challenge wasn't really there. (minus) And the combat isn't that hard with the caster I got. (minus) I wonder if its different for other classes. (?) I do think its interesting that it downloads content dynamically (big plus) and the quest tracker system made sure I never got lost wondering where to do things. (plus and minus) Overall it feels like a lot of chores to me though so I passed on it.

In regards to Champions Online, it feels less intricate than EverQuest and less well executed than City of Heroes at this point in its life, however, it is FUN (at least for me) However it wasn't fun for me when I tried in October (minus) so I think choosing a tank and making sure the graphics settings were set low enough to prevent lag might have had something to do with it this time. (plus)  It is a simple beat-em-up game with quests you find by exploring and some that have no obvious exclamation marks (plus) I loved the ability to pick up almost anything around me, including ambulances, giant rocks, etc.. and throw it at the enemy or at anyone(plus) Character creation is cosmetically kind of close to city of heroes level, but not quite there (plus) but if you aren't paying for your account, you have to take a preset character build which is a plus or minus depending on your personal preference. I am going to try and get my wife and some other friends interested in this one, since I can tell that playing in groups is where its at later.