… or, "UI vs. Player" (not a FFXIV review). You get used to playing with games that have first-person view or an adjustable camera. Playing some old school (-style) games, I am reminded of how the third-person camera and the interface was used against the player. It is like my earlier post about how the Behind the Black is a post from: Kill T...

The closed beta just went 24/7, which is a good sign of movement towards release. I have not tried it much, because I decided it was not for me, at least not in the mood I am in this year, but I should say: as far as I experienced it, the game was more polished LEGO Universe Beta is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Via our good friend Darren comes this developer post. You should read it all because, holy crap, that is how you admit that the launch did not go well. It would take longer to summarize than for you to read it, so I give you this excerpt: The point is, the issue here is far Accepting Responsibility is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

PAX starts today, and of course I am on the wrong coast.  There should be a lot of great information flowing out of the last big convention of the year.  Guild Wars 2 is running another set of demos, but unfortunately will not have a live stream like they did from gamescom.  They will, however, Good Morning, PAX is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

I took on my raid – er, ultramarathon – and completed it in a little over 23 hours. The weather was perfect, the scenery was stunning and the experience was unforgettable but it was tough and apparently about 1 in 4 runners wiped. Many thanks to those who offered well wishes and thoughts after my Achievement unlocked is a post from: Kil...

Make things visible on the execution side of an action so that people know what is possible and how actions should be done; make things visible on the evaluation side so that people can tell the effects of their actions. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman — Decoration and interaction appear in non-user-friendly Display the Options...

I played a bunch of Guild Wars this weekend as I am slowly working on my titles.  17 more Nightfall explorable areas to completely vanquish of mobs, and I will hit "I'm Very Important" from the maxed titles achievement track.  This might come as a surprise to many of you who might think that I HoM-rizon is a post from: Kill Ten Rats...

Commenters elsewhere respond to Ravious's post on the GW2 Necromancer. Within 24 hours of first Necromancer information, the comments note that Necromancers are overpowered and that Warriors will devastate Necromancers. It is not just that people are commenting on balance for a game they have never played, for which they have no stats, where the Cl...

Following up from the official announcement of the Guild Wars 2 necromancer, Eric Flannum, the lead developer for Guild Wars 2 was able to answer a few questions about this dark profession. The role of the necromancer in Guild Wars was not easily defined, as it straddled the line between hexer, minion master, and even Guild Wars 2 Necromancer Inter...

or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the grind. (Our sponsors would like to apologise in advance for the slightly more personal and self-indulgent nature of this post. Thank you for your custom.) To achieve competence in sport necessitates training. Training involves doing the same thing over and over and over and over On the treadmill is a ...

Yesterday, ArenaNet officially announced the necromancer profession. Of course, the fourth profession for Guild Wars 2 has been known since the gamescom demos started going public. I am happy because in Guild Wars, my main is a necromancer. I can't say the profession is my favorite because ritualist makes the decision too close to call, I, Necroman...

Improvements can take place through natural evolution as long as each previous design is studied and the craftsperson is willing to be flexible. The bad features have to be identified. The [designers] change the bad features and keep the good ones unchanged. If a change makes matters worse, well, it just gets changed again on A Local Peak is a post...

After several tries, with my prior best being level 41, I have finally reached level 80 in World of Warcraft. It only took using the refer a friend program for triple XP up to level 60 and a total of 9 days, 16 hours, 6 minutes and 26 seconds to get from 0 to 80 Party Time – Level 80 is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

There are two game mechanics that really came to light at gamescom that seem to be hitting a nerve with the Guild Wars 2 communities.  I already gave my thoughts on the cooldowns for elite skills, and now I want to talk about Guild Wars 2 energy. Before I do, one of ArenaNet's programmers discovered Thoughts on Guild Wars 2 Energy is a post from: K...