A Fine MMO

The future.

Star Trek Online (or, more simply, STO) is a game I’ve been following with much anticipation since it was first announced back in 2004, and then again when it was “reveled” – as such – by Cryptic at the Las Vegas convention in 2008. Shoot, I still have (my much too large) t-shirt they handed out at that event.

I was enthralled during the sneak-peak held at the 2009 Star Trek Vegas con, and thanks to Nadia, was able to both talk to some of the developers and get into the early invite only beta.

A beta that I played, off and on, both on my highly underpowered Macbook, and my highly overpowered iMac. I then transitioned to the open beta, again playing, learning and looking for bugs – of which there were many. I looked forward to the early head-start, which kicked off (barely) last Friday.

Which brings me to today – launch day, zero hour. When the servers are finally thrown open to the masses, to crash and – eventually – stand tall as a game others can enjoy for at least a couple years to come.

What do I think of this game, having two years of passive interest, and several months of play? Well, I bought the lifetime subscription, if that’s any sort of answer for you. (more…)

*Not an iPad

It was the first Apple product in living memory to have a reasonable price. Shortly after the announcement was finished, I received many calls and emails from friends and co-workers, asking 1) Had I heard about it and 2) When I was getting mine.

The best of the bunch had to be the email from Nadia:

wow the price is actually really cheap for tablet.
crazy.
and also NO camera.
You should GET YOU ONE!

Not only did just outright endorse, nay, command that I purchase one for myself, she did so by quoting Borderlands. How awesome is that? (more…)

Over the course of the past week, I’ve read the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. Yes, all five young adult books were quickly devoured over the course of seven days, thanks to their action filled writing, and the fact that I couldn’t put the damn things down.

It’s been too long since I’ve done an actual review on this site, so bare with me if I get it wrong.

The idea behind the books is, frankly, very reminiscent of the Harry Potter series: child from a broken home find out that the strange things that have happened all his life aren’t really bad, that he’s part of some other mystical world, and he’s plays a major role in their Big Prophecy.

Where Harry was a Wizard, Percy is a demi-god (son of one the Greek Gods); where Harry had Hogwarts, Percy has Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for others of his kind; where Harry had Hermione and Ron, Percy has Annabeth and Grover. Both have one main quest per book, with an larger story arc spanning the entire series.

What I’m trying to say here, is there are quite a few parallels between the two series. Frankly, a more cynical reader would – at this point – dismiss the Percy Jackson series as derivative, and move on. This is something I strongly, strongly caution against! The Percy Jackson series has a voice of its own, and is quite entertaining in its own right.

And, really – being Harry Potter with Greek Mythology instead of magic isn’t a bad thing at all.

(more…)

I recently went on a trip to Indonesia – the liveblog of events can be found right here.

In order to better facilitate the retelling of this experience, I’m going to tell it in chunks. So much happened that to try and tell it all in one big wall of text would completely undermine the wonderful and awesome experience that I had in Jakarta and Bali. Plus, trying to cram all that text out in one go is just unfeasible for me – I work best with smaller volume of words.

The first part found here. This is part two, of three

We touched down safely, offloaded slowly, walked off the plane and started taking photos of the airport: So began the first day in Indonesia.

After marveling at how bright and clean the airport was, a star comparison to the hellhole that is LAX, we made our way to customs and immigration – where Nadia was reunited with her mom. There as much running, jumping and squealing of joy (the majority of which was from Nadia; Her mom was a bit quieter) and then brief introductions were made.

Then, I made my way to the passport queue, to pay for my Visa and get my passport stamped. Because I was going to be in country four 8 days instead of a week (Well, seven days and three hours, roughly) I had to pay for the longer-stay visa, which cost more. Granted, the total cost was only $25 US, so it wasn’t all that bad – and it would allow me to stay in country for a full month if need be.

After that, Nadia’s mom “helped” us through customs. I’m still not entirely sure what she said to the nice guard fellow, but he simply waved to me and Nadia and allowed us both into the country, no questions asked. Really, nice, that – otherwise, we’d have been in the line for ages.

It was a quick walk from their to claim our luggage, then out to the awaiting van and her father. We had, in short, made it and managed to catch up with two thirds of her immediate family! (more…)