It would seem that Team Fortress 2 is updating the game with .. a new class?!  Some details below the cut.

cut deeper, keep reading>>

I hated fighting against warriors. More than warlocks with their infernal Fear spell and life-leeching abilities, and vastly more than mages, with their devious blinking and Flame-Blasting ways. Even more than coming up against the hunter, whom was arguably designed to be a direct counter to beloved Seris – my rogue in World of Warcraft. The hunter was able to launch a flare into the air, which could pull Seris out of stealth and more than likely lead to her death. The hunter could place a mark on Seris when he saw her, preventing her from slinking back into the shadows she called comfortable, allowing him to see her no matter where she went or how craftily she hid. The hunter even could even train and command an animal pet, beasts pulled from the foulest corners of Azeroth, and then send them to slay me while he disabled the abilities I relied on.

But none of them – whether it be another rogue, an implacable paladin, or even the dreaded hunter – could instill in me the raw, unrelenting hatred that seeing a warrior could.
cut deeper, keep reading>>


So pretty soon one of my most beloved game franchises will be releasing a small expansion/DLC via Steam.  It’s to be set at 10$, and its focus seems to be primarily five new Native American factions.  Those five being the Iroquois, Huron, Plains, Pueblo and Cherokee nations, some of the more prominent and, well, warlike of First Nations Americans.  And by warlike I mean, not quite as willing to sit docilely by while European interests raped their lands.  Below the cut: some thoughts and concerns about what Creative Assemblies has already mucked up with the franchise.

cut deeper, keep reading>>

Any given sentence contains within its confines a host of meanings; that of the topical definition of the sum of words, that of an intended idea implied both in and around the meanings established through topical definition and, often, as a consequence of this composite, a potentially unintended meaning.  I personally hold that any given writer or speaker is responsible for the overall understanding of his words, whether intended or not.  Generally, this holds up well enough in the day-to-day life of reading and hearing and understanding through transitions between media types do not prove difficult.  With this in mind, I’ve chosen to look at a presumably unintended implication of a particular computer game: Command and Conquer: Generals.

cut deeper, keep reading>>

As has probably been fairly obvious, I’m completely enamoured with Heroes of Newerth and have been in the closed beta for awhile.  As a result of this, beta testers are occasionally given extra keys to invite other players into the game – and I’ve come across an extra key that ONE OF YOU JUST MIGHT GET! Read below the cut for more.

cut deeper, keep reading>>

Introductory post for class – gone as soon as credit is received.

Here are some things that I want to explore over the semester:

1: Can narrative be an actual game mechanic? 1a: how, exactly, is a game mechanic defined?  Is this a flexible or rigid definition, or has it even been solidly established yet?

cut deeper, keep reading>>