9 Jun 2010

Hobbits, Zombies, and Conventions

Sounds like a a post about cosplayers or something.

Lord of The Rings Online never particularly interested me before, but I've been reading Shamus Young's in-character diary of the game over at The Escapist, and I decided to take a closer look. I'd seen LOTRO before when a friend was playing it, and I really only had one thing to say about it; it's just WoW reskinned. I couldn't see the point in going back to a game which I'd already been playing for a year.
However, after reading the articles, I decided to have a look at the game's site to see if there was a free trial available, which there was. The specs for the game were a tad too high for the Toaster, so I decided to wait until the summer and my new computer to try it.
A few days later, Turbine announced that LOTRO was going free-to-play. Yet more evidence that the universe in fact does revolve around me. This is good news for me. It means I can play LOTRO as much or as little as I want, and also that there is finally a high budget game that's relatively successful that I don't have to pay for. I think my social life can take another hit.

I started playing a bit more of Nazi Zombies on the iPod recently, primarily because I have nothing else to play at the moment. I didn't realise that Treyarch had released Shi No Numa, but as it turns out, it was there ready to be downloaded. It's impressive that they've managed to squeeze the whole map (and all the weapons) onto the handheld, but the game still runs perfectly. Hellhounds are still a bitch, mind. In Apple related news, where's my fourth-gen iPod touch, Steve? HUH?

It's E3 next week, and normally I'd be excited, but for the third year in a row, my exams are getting right in the way. This year, I'm sure my uni has planned my exams around the show, with one every day starting on the 14th right up until the 17th. I swear, one day I'll be able to stay up all night watching live coverage of games I don't really care about. I'm only looking forward to a few things at E3; MI2 SE, New Vegas, Fable 3, the potential Half Life 3 announcement and the cost of Natal. I'm also kinda interested in the 3DS, but mainly from a tech point of view.

Until next time, I'll see y'all at the aftershow.