Brewed Plunder

Mythic Entertainment | Warhammer Online

2008-08-30T22:54:00.001-04:00

Quoted from http://www.warhammeronline.com/pressreleases/20080805.php:

Mythic Entertainment | Warhammer Online
EA PREPARES FOR WAR AND ANNOUNCES SHIP DATE FOR
WARHAMMER® ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONING™

Mythic Entertainment Declares September 18, 2008 a "Day of Reckoning"

FAIRFAX, Va. - August 5, 2008 - Hot on the heels of spectacular showings at E3 and Comic-Con, Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that fans will be able to enter the gritty fantasy world of Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR) on September 18th, 2008 when the highly-anticipated MMORPG goes live. After three years in development by Virginia-based Mythic Entertainment, WAR will open its North American, European and Oceanic servers and offer players a variety of flexible subscription options. Gamers who pre-order WAR in North American will enjoy special benefits including open beta admission, a live game head start, and bonus in-game items.

Based on Games Workshop's epic and longstanding tabletop fantasy war game, WAR is a unique MMORPG that features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) gameplay that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict for years to come. WAR has been recognized for its unique play style that appeals to novice MMO players while offering incredible depth for more seasoned players.

Consumer demand for WAR is mounting with all units of the game's Collector's Edition having been pre-sold in North America. In addition, the title is receiving significant media attention, picking up numerous critic awards at this year's E3, including "Best PC Game" from G4's XPlay, "Best MMO" from IGN and Voodoo Extreme, and "Top 10 PC Game" from Gamespy, as well as being nominated for the prestigious Game Critic's Awards "Best PC Game".

"The countdown has officially begun. Mark your calendars! September 18th is the Day of Reckoning," said Mark Jacobs, founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive."

Fans looking forward to laying siege to their enemy's capital city will have several pricing options available, beginning with a $14.99 monthly subscription. Additionally, collectible 30- and 60-day prepaid Game Time™ Cards will be available at many game retailers. WAR subscription options include:

Monthly Subscription: $14.99 USD
3-Month Subscription: $41.97 ($13.99 per month)
6-Month Subscription: $77.94 ($12.99 per month)

Players can now pre-order their copy of WAR to secure their spots on the frontlines with a special pre-order package that includes:

Open beta admission: Pre-order customers can experience the glory of battle and the thrill of WAR by participating in the open beta test.
Head Start program: Players can begin their adventures in the Age of Reckoning before the game's official launch.
Bonus in-game items: Players can equip their characters with two bonus in-game items by pre-ordering from select retail partners.
Universal Fighting System™ Battle Deck: The Emperor Karl Franz and Tchar'zanek, dread Champion of Tzeentch, go head-to-head in this exclusive collectible card game from Fantasy Flight Games. (Available in a limited supply from select retailers.)

Participating pre-order partners include Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Direct2Drive, EAStore.com, EB Canada, EB Games, Fry's, GameCrazy, GameStop, GoGamer.com, and Walmart.com. (Pre-order offers will vary by retailer.) The European pre-order program is scheduled to begin in late August. For more information about the North American pre-order program, visit www.warhammeronline.com/preorder.

Available for the PC, WAR is rated "T" for TEEN by the ESRB. WAR will be the first MMORPG to launch servers simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Oceania when it goes live on September 18th, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

###

About Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™
Experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm™! Declare your allegiance and join hundreds of thousands of mighty heroes on the battlefields of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the new MMORPG from Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot™. Enter a grim fantasy world of perpetual conflict to fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos). Invade enemy lands, besiege imposing fortresses, and sack sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. Wield devastating magic and deadly weapons, battle monstrous creatures, and join your brothers-in-arms in epic Public Quests™. Climb the Bastion Stair, carry your Guild Banner into battle, and unlock the infinite secrets of the Tome of Knowledge as you travel the world. Sharpen your blade and unleash your inner mutation; the Age of Reckoning has begun and WAR IS EVERYWHERE!

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS Freestyle™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO, Mythic Entertainment, Dark Age of Camelot, Public Quests, Realm vs. Realm, and Game Time are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Games Workshop, Warhammer, Warhammer Online, Age of Reckoning, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Warhammer world are either ®, ™ and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008. Used under license by Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective licensors.

2008-07-25T10:34:00.001-04:00

Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG. Finally Confirmed.

Exciting news! BioWare's secret MMO project has been unvailed and my hopes are being realized! Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Massively Multi-Player Online Game is slated for release in 2009, and if all goes well, this MMO will deliver where SWG failed.

BioWare has a track record of developing outstanding computer role-playing games including the recent XBox 360 game that took the world by storm, Mass Effect. That game company can weave a story that rivals the ability of BioWare and I have high hopes that they will be able to deliver on this MMO. Only time will tell!

July 2008 U.S. Store Closure List

2008-07-20T14:48:00.001-04:00

613 bits of good news for independent coffee businesses.

Quoted from http://www.starbucks.com/about us/pressdesc.asp?id=880:

July 11, 2008
July 2008 U.S. Store Closure List

As we announced on July 1, 2008, Starbucks will close approximately 600 company-operated stores in the U.S. beginning this month and continuing through the first half of FY09. Partners (employees) in the stores listed below have now been given notification that their stores will close by the end of this month.

Much thought and consideration was given to each location, because we know the impact this has on our dedicated partners, customers and the communities where we operate. The determination of each store’s closure date is dependent on several operational and contractual factors and events. We will be as transparent as possible and each month, after closure dates have been communicated to all affected partners, we will post a list of the stores that are scheduled to close during that month.

Starbucks is listening to customers, partners and the communities where we operate and is working to address their questions while we continue to transform the business.

ALABAMA

#10797 - DAUPHIN & DU RHU
9 DU RHU DR
MOBILE, AL

#11322 - OLD SHELL & MCGREGOR
4401 OLD SHELL RD
MOBILE, AL

#11429 - AIRPORT & FOREMAN
6601 AIRPORT BLVD
MOBILE, AL

#11774 - UNIVERSITY & OLD SHELL
5611 OLD SHELL RD
MOBILE, AL

ARKANSAS

#10883 - HWY 59 & RENA
2008 FAYETTEVILLE RD
VAN BUREN, AR

#11864 - HWY 264 & DIXIELAND
105 S DIXIELAND
LOWELL, AR

CALIFORNIA

#9583 - NATIONAL & 36TH
3506 NATIONAL AVE
SAN DIEGO, CA

#10630 - HWY 111 & RANCHO LAS PALMAS
71743 HWY 111
RANCHO MIRAGE, CA

#10710 - FLORIDA & SANDERSON
2801 W FLORIDA AVE
HEMET, CA

#10813 - CANYON SPRINGS & CORPORATE
2692 CANYON SPRINGS PKWY
RIVERSIDE, CA

#10888 - RAMONA & MISSION
4467 E MISSION BLVD
MONTCLAIR, CA

#11029 - LA PAZ & VALLEY CENTER
14689 LA PAZ DR
VICTORVILLE, CA

#11896 - SAN JUAN & MILLER
1280 SAN JUAN RD
HOLLISTER, CA

#13745 - PCH & BOAT CANYON
636 N PACIFIC COAST HWY
LAGUNA BEACH, CA

IOWA

#13570 - MAIN & 2ND
201 N HARRISON ST
DAVENPORT, IA

ILLINOIS

#13289 - 167TH & CRAWFORD
4019 W 167TH ST
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, IL

#13469 - NORTH & YORK
291 N YORK ST
ELMHURST, IL

INDIANA

#11846 - 16TH & SHARON
3021 W 16TH ST
INDIANAPOLIS, IN

#13201 - SR 1 & LOWES
2133 N MAIN ST
BLUFFTON, IN

KENTUCKY

#10779 - HUBBARDS & WESTPORT
285 N HUBBARDS LN
LOUISVILLE, KY

LOUISIANA

#11263 - I-10 & SIEGEN
6556 SIEGEN LN
BATON ROUGE, LA

#11264 - COURSEY & MARKET
14241 COURSEY BLVD
BATON ROUGE, LA

MARYLAND

#11799 - COLLINGTON PLAZA
3524 NORTH CRAIN HWY
BOWIE, MD

MINNESOTA

#9564 - FRONTAGE & PROSPECT
2221 E MAIN FRONTAGE RD
ALBERT LEA, MN

#10456 - RADISON RD & 109TH
2331 108TH LN NE
BLAINE, MN

#10457 - MAIN ST & HWY 10
2740 MAIN ST NW
COON RAPIDS, MN

#10642 - TYLER RD & MALL DR
144 TYLER RD N
RED WING, MN

#10871 - ROUND LAKE & HWY 10
13131 RIVERDALE DR
COON RAPIDS, MN

#11186 - W CIRCLE DR & 26TH
2665 COMMERCE DR NW
ROCHESTER, MN

#11635 - 66TH & HWY 252
615 66TH AVE N
BROOKLYN CENTER, MN

MISSOURI

#10834 - WEST FLORISSANT @ LUCAS & HUNT
8017 W. FLORISSANT AVE
JENNINGS, MO

NEBRASKA

#11527 - HWY 370 & 36TH
3811 TWIN CREEK DR
BELLEVUE, NE

NEVADA

#6633- DESERT INN & DECATUR
4810 W DESERT INN RD
LAS VEGAS, NV

#10393 - TROPICANA & EASTERN
2510 E TROPICANA AVE
LAS VEGAS, NV

#10462 - CHARLESTON & BRUSH
5181 W CHARLESTON BLVD
LAS VEGAS, NV

#10872 - LAKE MEAD & RANCHO
3720 LAKE MEAD BLVD
LAS VEGAS, NV

#11647 - SKY POINTE & BUFFALO
6515 N BUFFALO DR
LAS VEGAS, NV

NEW JERSEY

#9365 – CHERRY HILL MALL KIOSK
2000 ROUTE 38
CHERRY HILL, NJ 08002

NEW YORK

#10840 - CENTRAL ISLIP TOWN CENTRE
101 S RESEARCH PL
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY

#11280 - FOREST PROMENADE
1756 FOREST AVE
STATEN ISLAND, NY

#11976 - SOUTHOLD
53345 ROUTE 25
SOUTHOLD, NY

NORTH DAKOTA

#10459 - 13TH & 25TH
1310 25TH ST S
FARGO, ND

OHIO

#2525- 1505 5TH AVE
1505 W 5TH AVE
COLUMBUS, OH

#11883 - MAXTOWN
925 N STATE ST
WESTERVILLE, OH

TEXAS

#9675 - HWY 83 & BOCA CHICA
100 EXPRESSWAY 83
BROWNSVILLE, TX

#10877 - ILLINOIS & WESTMORELAND
3403 W ILLINOIS AVE
DALLAS, TX

#11302 - HWY 59 & HWY 36
27943 SW FWY
ROSENBERG, TX

#11565 - ZAPATA HWY & CHESTNUT
2201 CHESTNUT
LAREDO, TX

#13332 - VALLEY MILLS & WACO DR
4300 W WACO DR
WACO, TX

WEST VIRGINIA

#11213 - THE HIGHLANDS
36 FORT HENRY RD
TRIDELPHIA, WV

Blizzard Wins Key Judgments Against WoW Bot Maker MDY on Copyright and Tortious Interference Claims | Virtually Blind | Virtual Law | Benjamin Duranske

2008-07-18T15:12:00.001-04:00

Blizzard Wins Key Judgments Against WoW Bot Maker MDY on Copyright and Tortious Interference Claims

July 14th, 2008 by Benjamin Duranske

Blizzard has won its summary judgment motion against World of Warcraft bot maker MDY on copyright grounds. Blizzard also prevailed on its tortious interference claim. This means that liability for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and tortious interference is completely off the table and will not go to the jury at trial in September, assuming that the parties do not settle before then. The only issue before the jury on these two claims will be damages. This is a major setback for MDY, which originally brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment that its WowGlider (now MMOGlider) bot software did not infringe Blizzard’s copyright.

For the background of this suit, see Virtually Blind’s complete coverage of MDY v. Blizzard. Here is today’s Order re: Blizzard’s and MDY’s Summary Judgment Motions (.pdf).

The Court ultimately held that:

Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.

Blizzard had argued that:

In this Circuit, the “copying” element may be proved in software cases by showing an unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted software program in the computer user’s Random Access Memory (“RAM”). The Ninth Circuit has recognized that “the loading of software into the RAM creates a copy under the Copyright Act.” MAI Sys. v. Peak Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 519 (9th Cir. 1993), cert. dismissed 510 U.S. 1033 (1994); Triad Sys. Corp. v. Se. Express Co., 64 F.3d 1330, 1334 (9th Cir. 1995); see also Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. Cablevision Sys. Corp., 478 F. Supp. 2d 607, 621 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (agreeing with the “numerous courts [that] have held that the transmission of information through a computer’s random access memory or RAM . . . creates a ‘copy’ for purposes of the Copyright Act,” and citing cases.) When such a copy is made in excess of a license, the copier is liable for copyright infringement. Ticketmaster LLC v. RMG Techs., Inc., 507 F. Supp. 2d 1096, 1107 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (‘“When a licensee exceeds the scope of the license granted by the copyright holder, the licensee is liable for infringement.”’ (citation omitted)).

MDY argued that loading a copy of the software into RAM is protected by Section 117, and was joined in that argument by Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group. The court rejected these arguments, noting that “the Court is not free to disregard Ninth Circuit precedent directly on point.” From the Order:

MDY urges the Court to follow the approach recently taken by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Vernor, 2008 WL 2199682. The Vernor court declined to follow MAI, Triad, and Wall Data, and instead applied an earlier Ninth Circuit case, United States v. Wise, 550 F.2d 1180 (9th Cir. 1977). Wise involved the application of the “first sale” doctrine under 17 U.S.C. § 109 to various transfer contracts between movie studios and recipients of movie prints. Vernor concluded that the critical factor in Wise for determining whether a transaction was a sale or a license was “whether the transferee kept the copy acquired from the copyright holder.” 2008 WL2199682, at *6. MDY urges the Court to follow Vernor and Wise and hold that the users of the WoW game client software are owners of the software because they are entitled to keep the copy of the software they acquire from Blizzard. The Court declines this invitation. Whatever freedom the court in Vernor may have had to disregard Wall Data when applying a different statutory provision – section 109 – this Court does not have the same freedom. This case concerns section 117, the very provision addressed by the Ninth Circuit in Wall Data. The Court is not free to disregard Ninth Circuit precedent directly on point.

MDY prevailed on some other other pending summary judgment issues and Blizzard prevailed on others, but the key result is that MDY has been found by the court to infringe Blizzard’s copyright through the sale of its WoWGlider (now MMOGlider) bot program, and to have tortiously interfered with Blizzard’s relationships with its customers through those sales. VB will be interested in seeing if MDY appeals.

Letter from R.E. Howard to P.S. Miller

2008-04-18T09:33:00.003-04:00

In the first part of this post I want to cover the essay sent to Robert Howard. This version of "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career" is the original, un-altered, and un-edited version as it first appeared in the Robert E. Howard fanzine, The Hyborian Age, published in 1938. A rough draft of the following essay was sent to Robert E. Howard shortly before his death by P.S. Miller. Howard, flattered that someone would be "so interested in Conan as to work out an outline of his career," then reviewed it, made some small corrections, and praised "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career," stating that Miller's timeline followed his visualization of Conan's career "pretty closely." Miller and Clark made the corrections indicated by Howard, added an additional Conan tale, and published the timeline in The Hyborian Age two years later. This essay and Howard's letter to P.S. Miller dated March 10, 1936 are the best starting points to begin to see Conan's history as Robert E. Howard may have seen it, un-edited and un-altered...

A Probable Outline of CONAN'S CAREER

By P. Schuyler Miller & John D. Clark, Ph.D.

The career of Conan, the Cimmerian adventurer, as described in thepublished chronicles dealing with his adventures, is divisible into a number of fairlywell-defined periods or stages. The chronological order of his adventures, asdeduced from the chronicles, is based largely on circumstantial evidence, save fora few definite and sometimes contradictory statements as to things which havegone before. Information on his earlier days, his age at various states in hiscareer, and on some intermediate periods has been taken from a letter from therecorder of his history, the late Robert E. Howard.

A. Conan, the barbarian, was born into a clan claiming an area in thenorthwest of Cimmeria. His grandfather was a member of a southern tribe whofled from his own people because of a blood-feud, and after long wanderings tookrefuge with the people of the north. Conan himself was born on the battlefield,during a fight between his tribe and a horde of raiding Vanir. There is no recordto show when he got his first sight of civilized people; however, at the age of 15,he received his baptism of blood at the siege of the border city of Venarium,between Gunderland and Cimmeria. At that time, though he was far from havingattained his full growth, Conan stood six feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. Afterthe siege of Venarium, he returned to his tribe and spent some months with a bandof the AEsir, fighting with the Vanir and the Hyperboreans. Captured by theHyperboreans, he escaped and made his way south into the thief-city of Zamora.At this time he was about 17. Green to civilization, and entirely lawless by nature,he found the most congenial life that of a professional thief in Zamora and later inthe small city-states to the west of that exotic kingdom. Taking service in one ofthese nameless states with the harried Prince Murilo, he has a taste of fighting as aprofession, and being tired of the decadent life of a thief he sets out to look overthe rest of the civilized world, with an eye to making it his oyster.

1. The Tower of the Elephant (Weird Tales, March 1933): The earliestof the published chronicles, and one of Conan's first adventures in the thief-city ofZamora. He is still a youth, more daring than adroit at thievery, and has yet toearn a reputation among other followers of his profession.

2. Rogues in the House (WT, Jan. 34): Conan may by this time be 19 oreven 20. He is temperamentally older and more experienced, as well as verydefinitely a harder customer. Getting his first taste of professional fighting andHyborian intrigue, he rather likes the idea, and with a horse of his own he sets outto crack the western world.

B. Riding westward into Corinthia, Conan becomes a mercenary soldierunder one of the many roving generals of that time. He fares well and learnsmuch of the art of civilized war among the Hyborian kingdoms. During a lull inthe wars, he returns for a short time to his native Cimmeria, but the love ofadventure again draws him south. He continues to prosper as a soldier, finallyarriving in the seacoast kingdom of Argos, where a brush with the law forces himto ship with a coastwise trader, southward bound. Off the coasts of Kush the shipis boarded by black corsairs under the Shemitish she-devil, Belit. Conan joins hercrew, becomes her consort, and for a long time they harry the Hyborian andStygian ports. During this stage of his career, Conan gains the name of Amra, theLion, which is to follow him throughout his later life, especially among the blacks. He becomes quite familiar with some of the more southerly Kushite kingdomsthrough raids for slaves and on traders. When, at length, Belit is killed by thesurvivors of an ancient race of winged men, Conan is left afoot somewhere on thesouthern coasts of Kush. Belit has been the first great love of his life, and he willprobably not follow the sea again for some time to come.

3. Queen of the Black Coast (WT, May 34): Covering Conan's careeras chief of the black corsairs and lover of Belit. He may be about 23 at the timehe arrives in Argos, and 26 or 27 when Belit is killed.

C. Penniless after his long trek north through the black kingdoms, where hisreputation as Amra has stood him is good stead, Conan reenters mercenary servicein the western nations, working up to the position of captain under Amalric, theNemedian. Amalric has hired out to fight the battles of Yasmela, the queen-regentof the little border kingdom of Khoraja. Her brother, King Khossus, is thecaptive of the penurious King Amalrus of Ophir; and Strabonus of Koth, withother enemies, is eager to reabsorb Khoraja into his empire. Conan is chosen bychance to lead Yasmela's defense against an attack from the south, and has whatmay be the first brush with high-power sorcery, as dealt out by the resurrectedThugra Khotan of Kuthchemes. He wins the war and the queen, but his priderefuses to let him be "Mister Queen" to any woman, and he drops out of sightagain, to return for a short time to Cimmeria and possible skirmishes with thenorthern tribes, including his old enemies the Hyperboreans.

4. Black Colossus (WT, June 33): The Khoraja episode. At this time,Conan may be about 27. He stays in Cimmeria only for a short time beforewandering again.

D. Conan's life as a corsair and a mercenary have stirred the spirit of fightingand rich plunder in his blood, and when he hears of war in the south he returns tothe Hyborian kingdoms. A rebel prince of Koth is fighting to overthrowStrabonus, and Conan enlists with many of his ilk in the rebel army. Unfortunatelythe prince makes peace with Strabonus, and Conan, with his fellow mercenaries, isthrown out of work and reduced more or less to the level of an outlaw. Bandedtogether as the Free Companions, they harry the borders of Koth, Zamora, andTuran, and finally gravitate to the steppes west of the Sea of Vilayet, where aruffian band known as the kozaks has been building itself up over a period ofmany years. Becoming their leader, he ravages the outposts of the Turanianempire until King Yildiz sends out a small force under Shah Amurath, who routsthem for the time being. Escaping, Conan joins the Vilayet pirates for a time, butfinding his kozaks scattered, leaves them and works west again into the borderstates. Meanwhile, King Yildiz of Turan has died or been deposed, and hissuccessor, Yezdigerd, embarks on a program of imperialism which is to make himmaster of the greatest empire on Earth.

5. Shadows in the Moonlight (WT, Apr 34): The short episode betweenthe defeat and scattering of the kozak hordes by Shah Amurath and Conan's takingover of Sergius' pirates. He is about 28.

E. After minor adventures, Conan becomes captain of the royal guard in thefrontier kingdom of Khauran, on the eastern edge of Koth. Taramis, the queenof Khauran, is overthrown by her sorceress sister, and Conan's life is saved by aformer kozak companion, Olgerd Vladislov, who has become chief of the Zuagirtribesmen of the desert after the breakup of the kozaks. Conan promptlydeposes him, rallies Taramis' adherents to revolt, and retakes the kingdom, butchooses to remain with the Zuagirs as their chief. A year or more later, tiring ofthe desert life, he leaves them, far to the south in the city of Zamboula, thewestern-most outpost of Yezdigerd's growing empire. Here, after rescuing theTuranian satrap, Jungir Khan, from the magic of a priest of Hanuman, he stealsthe satrap's ring and heads north and west for Ophir, where the queen will redeemit for a sizable reward if no better market offers.

6. A Witch Shall be Born (WT, Dec 34): The adventure in Khauran. Yezdigerd's empire-builders are already being felt along the border, but thewestern states seem too busy with internal bickering and intrigues to notice thedanger. v Conan is 30 when he joins the Zuagirs; 31 when he leaves them.

7. Shadows in Zamboula (WT, Nov 35): Conan has just left the Zuagirs,far to the south along the north-eastern border of Stygia, where black slaves arecommon and dangerous. After his brush with a mixture of cannibals and sorcery,he sets out for Ophir with a gem and a horse.

F. Whether Conan reached Ophir and redeemed his gem, or lost it to somethief along the road, there is no record. In any case, the proceeds cannot havelasted him long. Perhaps he pays another short visit to Cimmeria, then, movingeast after his welcome has worn off, he hears that the kozaks have regained theirold vim and vigor, and are making Yezdigerd's life as miserable as possible. Arriving among them with nothing but his sword, and finding a few old friendswho remember his former leadership, he cuts his way through whatever oppositionmaterializes and becomes their leader again. His old friends the pirates are handin glove with the kozaks, and between them they succeed in making KingYezdigerd's position very uncomfortable. Efforts to trap him fail, and he managesto build up the kozaks into a pretty formidable gang before deciding to adventuresoutheastward to the borders of Vendhya. Here, as war-chief of the Afghulitribesmen in the foothills of the Himelias, he seriously annoys both the Vendhyansand Yezdigerd's frontier-breakers, who are busily carrying out the Turanian king'spolicy of expansion on the southeastern frontier. He thwarts one plot to defeatthe Devi of Vendhya, on the part of a group of sorcerers linked with theTuranians, and himself makes her eat dirt before he leaves his Afghulis to return tothe kozaks.

8. The Devil in Iron (WT, Aug 34): The height of the second kozakepisode. Somewhere about 32 or 33, he makes the kozaks a real threat to KingYezdigerd, before feeling the urge to be off and riding south to Vendhya.

9. The People of the Black Circle (WT, Sep 34): The Vendhyanepisode. Conan rises quickly to chieftainship of the Afghulis, who understand thelanguage of the sword, and may be nearly 34 when he goes back to his kozaks.

G. There are big wars in the west. Almuric, prince of Koth, has againrebelled against the unpopular King Strabonus, and this time has enough backing togarner an army from far and wide. Conan finds that most of his kozaks,ex-mercenaries like himself, have scented loot and joined in on one side or theother. Conan follows suit, signing up with his old employer Amalrus. The rebelcause fails, and Amalrus and his army are driven south, cutting their way throughShem and Stygia into the grasslands of Kush, where they are wiped out by thecombined black and Stygian forces at the edge of the southern desert. Escapingwith Natala, a Brythunian camp-follower, Conan heads into the desert, and after ashort session with magic at the forgotten city of Xuthal, reaches the southerngrasslands of the black kingdoms, where he is known of old. Making his way tothe coast, he is picked up by Barachan pirates and goes back to the sea for hisliving.

10. The Slithering Shadow (WT, Sep 33): The episode in Xuthal, withmention of the campaign with Amalrus. Conan should now be about 35, andbeing completely broke will not waste time in the relatively poor country of theblack tribes, south of the desert.

H. For a considerable length of time, Conan remains one of the Barachanpirates, but the organization of the various bands is rather loose, and Conan findslittle opportunity for one even with his background to gain a high position. Heslips out of a tight spot and is valiantly swimming the ocean when he is picked upby the Zingaran buccaneer, Zaporavo, whom he promptly deposes, taking over theZingaran's mistress, Sancha, with his ship and his crew for a long voyage to thesouth and west. Returning after an unpleasant brush with black magic on anunknown isle, Conan is for a while highly successful as a buccaneer, until otherZingaran ships bring him down off the coasts of Shem, and he is forced to escapeinland.

11. The Pool of the Black One (WT, Oct 33): The end of Conan's staywith the Barachans, and the beginning of his career as a Zingaran buccaneer. Heis about 37 at the end of this episode.

I. Hearing that wars are in the offing along the borders of Stygia, Conanjoins the Free Companions, a seemingly generic name for mercenary companies,under Zarallo. Dispatched to the post at Sukhmet, on the frontier between Stygiaand Darfar, he grows weary of black men and women, and when Valeria, awoman pirate who has joined the Brotherhood, leaves the camp and heads south,Conan follows her into the black kingdoms far to the south of Stygia and Kush. Here another brush with a lost race in the jungle city of Xuchotl leaves themstranded in the wilderness on their way west to the more familiar kingdoms whereConan is known.

12. Red Nails (WT, July 36): The end of Conan's buccaneer days, andthe story of his trek to the south with Valeria, to Xuchotl and its dragons, andother parts unknown.

J. Somewhere Conan loses Valeria. Hearing of the fabulous Teeth ofGwahlur, legendary jewels hidden somewhere in the black kingdom of Keshan, hesigns up as a trainer for Keshan's armies. Losing the jewels, he goes over to theneighboring kingdom of Punt to see how much he can make at simple swindling,from there to the trade-centers of Zembabwe, and via various caravans northwardinto Turan and the Hyborian realms.

13. Jewels of Gwahlur (WT, Mar 35): The adventure in Keshan. Conan may be a little over 38 at the this stage in his career.

K. After another trip home to Cimmeria, Conan enlists as a scout inConajohara, on the Aquilonian border, where a fierce war with the Picts is inprogress. Numedides of Aquilonia is a feeble sort of king, and when the borderbarons revolt against his injustices and his handling of the Pictish wars, Conanseizes his chance, kills Numedides on his throne, and becomes the king ofAquilonia.

14. Beyond the Black River (WT, May 35): Conan as a scout inConajohara, fighting against the Pictish wizard, Zogar Sag. This is very shortlybefore he seized the throne; he may be 39.

L. As King of Aquilonia, Conan's life is no bed of houris. His first majorconflict is a civil war in which an attempt is made to put an Aquilonian king on thethrone. This is followed by a plot between Amalrus of Ophir and Strabonus ofKoth, in which both enemy kings lose their lives. Throughout this battling to holdhis throne, Count Trocero of Poitain and his general, Prospero, remain faithful tohim. The greatest threat to his kingdom comes when Nemedia actually succeedsin deposing him for a time, but Conan overcomes hostile sorcery to return andregain his kingdom and the loyalty of his people. His career from this point, withthe more important of the barons, led by Trocero, solidly behind him, is relativelysmoother. There are more wars, both of defense and aggression - probably abrush with Turan as the two empires become more and more rivals - and duringhis life as king, Conan frequently travels into far corners of the world - in Khitaiand Hyrkania, and the regions beyond, and even to a nameless continent in thewestern hemisphere. At the time of the Nemedian war, he had no heirs, and noqueen, though it seems probable that he gave that honor to the girl, Zenobia. How far he spread the bounds of Aquilonia, or where his career finally ended,not even legend tells.

15. The Phoenix on the Sword (WT, Dec 32): The first revolt againstConan's rule. He was about 40 when he seized the throne of Aquilonia, and isnearly 41 at this time.

16. The Scarlet Citadel (WT, Jan 33): The war with Koth and Ophir. This is Conan's first war with other kingdoms. It follows very shortly after thecivil war, when Aquilonia is still weakened by revolt.

17. The Hour of the Dragon (WT, Dec 35): The last of the publishedchronicles, describing the war with Nemedia in which Conan came within a hair'sbreadth of losing life and kingdom completely. The episode itself takes well overa year, and Conan is about 45 when he finally regains his throne. He has still along and adventurous career before him, as king of Aquilonia and as a wandererover the face of the Earth. Zenobia, the girl who helped him in his escape fromNemedia, has become his queen, so that he will have heirs to carry on after hisdeath, unless the kingdom is split apart by quarreling barons.

Just three months before Howard's death, Robert reply's to Miller in a letter which sheds light on Howard's concept of Conan and of the setting for the stories:

Letter from R.E. Howard to P.S. Miller

Lock Box 313

Cross Plains, Texas

March 10, 1936

Dear Mr. Miller:

I feel indeed honored that you and Dr. Clark should be so interested in Conan as to work out an outline of his career and a map of his environs. Both are surprisingly accurate, considering the vagueness of the data you had to work with. I have the original map--that is the one I drew up when I first started writing about Conan-- around here somewhere and I'll see if I can't find it and let you have a look at it. It includes only tbe countries west of Vilayet and north of Kush. I've never attempted to map the southern and eastern kingdoms, though I have a fairly clear outline of their geography in my mind. However, in writing about them I feel a certain amount of license, since the inhabitants of the western Hyborian nations were about as ignorant concerning the peoples and countries of the south and east as the people of medieval Europe were ignorant of Africa and Asia. In writing about the western Hyborian nations I feel confined within the limits of known and inflexible boundaries and territories, but in fictionizing the rest of the world, I feel able to give my imagination freer play. That is, having adopted a certain conception of geography and ethnology, I feel compelled to abide by it, in the interests of consistency. My conception of the east and south is not so definite or so arbitrary.

Concerning Kush, however, it is one of the black kingdoms south of Stygia, the northern-most, in fact, and has given its name to the whole southern coast. Thus, when an Hyborian speaks of Kush, he is generally speaking of not the kingdom itself, one of many such kingdoms, but of the Black Coast in general. And he is likely to speak of any black man as a Kushite, whether he happens to be a Keshani, Darfari, Puntan, or Kushite proper. This is natural, since the Kushites were the first black men with whom the Hyborians came in contact--Barachan pirates trafficking with and raiding them.

As for Conan's eventual fate--frankly I can't predict it. In writing these yarns I've always felt less as creating them than as if I were simply chronicling his adventures as he told them to me. That's why they skip about so much, without following a regular order. The average adventurer, telling tales of a wild life at random, seldom follows any ordered plan, but narrates episodes widely separated by space and years, as they occur to him.

Your outline follows his career as I have visualized it pretty closely. The differences are minor. As you deduct, Conan was about seventeen when he was introduced to the public in "The Tower of the Elephant." While not fully matured, he was riper than the average civilized youth at that age. He was born on a battle field, during a fight between his tribe and a horde of raiding Vanir. The country claimed by and roved over by his clan lay in the northwest of Cimmerian, but Conan was of mixed blood, although a pure-bred Cimmerian. His grandfather was a member of a southern tribe who had fled from his own people because of a blood-feud and after long wanderings, eventually taken refuge with the people of the north. He had taken part in many raids into the Hyborian nations in his youth, before his flight, and perhaps it was the tales he told of those softer countries which roused in Conan, as a child, a desire to see them. There are many things concerning Conan's life of which I am not certain myself. I do not know, for instance, when he got his first sight of civilized people. It might have been at Vanarium, or he might have made a peaceable visit to some frontier town before that. At Vanarium he was already a formidable antagonist, though only fifteen. He stood six feet and weighed 180 pounds, though he lacked much of having his full growth.

There was the space of about a year between Vanarium and his entrance into the thief-city of Zamora. During this time he returned to the northern territories of his tribe, and made his first journey beyond the boundaries of Cimmeria. This, strange to say, was north instead of south. Why or how, I am not certain, but he spent some months among a tribe of the AEsir, fighting with the Vanir and the Hyperboreans, and developing a hate for the latter which lasted all his life and later affected his policies as king of Aquilonia. Captured by them, he escaped southward and came into Zamora in time to make his debut in print.

I am not sure that the adventure chronicled in "Rogues in the House" occurred in Zamora. The presence of opposing factions of politics would seem to indicate otherwise, since Zamora was an absolute despotism where differing political opinions were not tolerated. I am of the opinion that the city was one of the small city-states lying just west of Zamora, and into which Conan had wandered after leaving Zamora. Shortly after this he returned for a brief period to Cimmeria, and there were other returns to his native land from time to time. The chronological order of his adventures is about as you have worked it out, except that they covered a little more time. Conan was about forty when he seized the crown of Aquilonia, and was about forty-four or forty-five at the time of "The Hour of the Dragon." He had no male heir at that time, because he had never bothered to formaliy make some woman his queen, and the sons of concubines, of which he had a goodly number, were not recognized as heirs to the throne.

He was, I think, king of Aquilonia for many years, in a turbulent and unquiet reign, when the Hyborian civilization had reached its most magnificent high-tide, and every king had imperial ambitions. At first he fought on the defensive, but I am of the opinion that at last he was forced into wars of aggression as a matter of self-preservation. Whether he succeeded in conquering a world-wide empire, or perished in the attempt, I do not know.

He travelled widely, not only before his kingship, but after he was king. He travelled to Khitai and Hyrkania, and to the even less known regions north of the latter and south of the former. He even visited a nameless continent in the western hemisphere, and roamed among the islands adjacent to it. How much of this roaming will get into print, I cannot foretell with any accuracy. I was much interested in your remarks concerning findings on the Yamal Peninsula, the first time I had heard anything about that. Doubtless Conan had first-hand acquaintance with the people who evolved the culture described, or their ancestors, at least.

Hope you find "The Hyborian Age" interesting. I'm enclosing a copy of the original map. Yes, Napoli's done very well with Conan, though at times he seems to give him a sort of Latin cast of the countenance which isn't according to type, as I conceive it. However, that isn't enough to kick about.

Hope the enclosed data answers your questions satisfactorily; I'd be delighted to discuss any other phases you might wish, or go into more details about any point of Conan's career or Hyborian history or geography you might desire. Thanks again for your interest, and best wishes, for yourself and Dr. Clark.

Cordially,

Robert E. Howard

P.S. You didn't mention whether you wanted the map and chronology returned, so I'm taking the liberty of retaining them to show to some friends, if you want them back, please let me know.

A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard

2008-04-17T21:46:00.002-04:00

by Rusty Burke

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) ranks among the greatest writers of action and adventure stories. The creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, ‘El Borak,’ Sailor Steve Costigan and many other memorable characters, Howard (known as REH to his millions of fans), in a career that spanned barely 12 years, wrote well over a hundred stories for the pulp magazines of his day. While he is widely regarded as the ‘father of Sword and Sorcery’ and the creator of Conan the Barbarian, this reputation has been something of a double-edged sword. It has helped keep his work in the public eye for six decades since his death, but it has also obscured the astonishing breadth of his imagination, his talent for mastering a variety of genres and his ability to weave his magic in both prose and poetry.

Robert E. Howard contributed his most celebrated work to the pre-eminent fantasy pulp magazine of the era, Weird Tales. However, his stories also appeared in such diverse publications as Action Stories, Argosy, Fight Stories, Oriental Stories, Spicy Adventure, Sport Story, Strange Detective and a number of others. That his stories were a consistent hit with readers of the time is not surprising, for he created thrilling, vividly realized adventures populated by colorful, larger-than-life characters. He was a consummate and dynamic storyteller. Even after his death publishers continued for some time to publish his stories or reprint them under other by-lines. So enduring is the appeal of his work that over a half century later he continues to gain new fans, introduced to his tales through paperbacks, comics, and movies. His work has also inspired subsequent generations of fantasy writers and a loyal following that has taken to cyberspace to spread the word.

Robert E. Howard was born on January 22 (or possibly January 24), 1906, in the “fading little ex-cowtown” of Peaster, Texas, in Parker County, just west of Fort Worth. The confusion surrounding his date of birth arises from Howard celebrating January 22 as his birthday (this was the date he submitted to Who’s Who Among North American Authors), while his record of birth in Parker County reads January 24. As his father also gave Robert’s birthday as 22 January, it is probably safe to assume that is the correct date.

Link to the rest of the article.

What I found interesting is below.

In a letter to Lovecraft in April 1932, Howard outlined his latest creation: “I’ve been working on a new character, providing him with a new epoch - the Hyborian Age, which men have forgotten, but which remains in classical names, and distorted myths. [Farnsworth] Wright rejected most of the series, but I did sell him one - ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’ which deals with the adventures of King Conan the Cimmerian, in the kingdom of Aquilonia.” In a postscript to the same letter, he wrote: “Wright took another of the Conan the Cimmerian series, ‘The Tower of the Elephant,’ the setting of which is among the spider-haunted jeweled towers of Zamora the Accursed, while Conan was still a thief by profession, before he came into the kingship.”

Much later, Howard would tell a fan that “Conan simply grew up in my mind a few years ago when I was stopping in a little border town on the lower Rio Grande. I did not create him by any conscious process. He simply stalked full grown out of oblivion and set me at work recording the saga of his adventures.” To fellow author Clark Ashton Smith he said, “While I don’t go so far as to believe that stories are inspired by actually existent spirits or powers (though I am rather opposed to flatly denying anything) I have sometimes wondered if it were possible that unrecognized forces of the past or present - or even the future - work through the thoughts and actions of living men. This occurred to me when I was writing the first stories of the Conan series especially. I know that for months I had been unable to work up anything sell able. Then the man Conan seemed suddenly to grow up in my mind without much labor on my part and immediately a stream of stories flowed off my pen - or rather, off my typewriter - almost without effort on my part. I did not seem to be creating, but rather relating events that had occurred. Episode crowded on episode so fast that I could scarcely keep up with them. For weeks I did nothing but write of the adventures of Conan. The character took complete possession of my mind and crowded out everything else in the way of story-writing.”

While it wasn’t quite as effortless as Howard makes out, there is no doubt that Conan is one of Howard’s most fully realized characters. The “little border town” where he first appeared to the author is in all likelihood Mission, Texas, where the Howards visited in early 1932. On the typescript of Howard’s poem, ‘Cimmeria,’ which he sent to Emil Petaja was the comment “Written in Mission, Texas, February 1932; suggested by the memory of the hill-country above Fredericksburg seen in a mist of winter rain.” Apparently that “endless vista - hill on hill, slope beyond slope, each hooded like its brothers” triggered something in the subconscious of the writer. The first line of the poem is “I remember.” He explained to Smith: “Some mechanism in my sub-consciousness took the dominant characteristics of various prize-fighters, gunmen, bootleggers, oil field bullies, gamblers, and honest workmen I had come in contact with, and combining them all, produced the amalgamation I call Conan the Cimmerian.”

As with previous characters, however, Conan’s first adventure was not an original one. Following a tried and true pattern, Howard dusted off an unsold King Kull story, ‘By This Axe I Rule!’ and added a weird element and background about Conan. The end result was ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’ (December 1932), in which the readers of Weird Tales were introduced to the Cimmerian, who would, for the next three years, rival Seabury Quinn’s occult detective Jules de Grandin as the most popular character in the magazine. The Hyborian Age, Howard’s telescoped composite of human history and cultures, allowed him free range to place his character in myriad settings, to explore human nature and history, and to try out new types of stories. In the spring of 1933, Howard took on Otis Adelbert Kline as his agent, continuing to deal directly only with Weird Tales. Under Kline’s prodding, and because his need for money was made more urgent by his mother’s worsening health and attendant medical expenses, Howard began ‘splashing the field,’ trying to write as many different types of stories for as many different magazines as he could. Conan, because he could range freely throughout the world, provided a useful vehicle for a writer trying his hand at new types of fiction. Thus we have a Conan detective story (‘The God in the Bowl’), Conan pirate stories (‘The Pool of the Black One,’ ‘The Black Stranger’), Conan frontier stories (‘Beyond the Black River’), and several Conan oriental adventures (‘A Witch Shall Be Born,’ ‘The Man-Eaters of Zamboula,’ ‘People of the Black Circle’).

And the last paragraph of the article makes a great summery.

By the time of his death, Robert E. Howard had been spinning his tales of myth and mystery for a mere dozen years, only four of which he devoted to his most famous creation, Conan. Yet today, over 60 years after his death, the adventures of the Hyborian hero and much of Howard’s other work endures. Unlike many of his contemporaries writing for the pulps, Howard’s fertile imagination and powerhouse storytelling gains him new fans in each successive generation. His work has inspired countless imitations and has been translated not only into many other languages, but into other media as well - comics, movies, television. In their wake have followed fan clubs and publications, an amateur press association founded in 1972 and still going strong, and now a growing presence on the World Wide Web. Truly, Robert E. Howard, like Conan, is one for the ages.I recommend reading the whole thing. Its a brilliant story of about one of the most creative writers on the 20th century.

So you call yourself a Guild leader?

2008-04-16T21:31:00.001-04:00

A great guild leader at the core makes all their members feel like they make a difference and are important to the guild success.

One of the failings I've seen in guilds in the past is a leader who tends to over manage the guild instead of lead it.

Charisma tends not to play a role in leadership qualities but rather someone who can adapt to the constant changing within the game and the guild.

The best leaders can see what traits their members have and use that to inspire them giving them tasks within the guild.

This promotes members to take ownership in the guild and creates a strong sense of community.

Guild leaders cooperate with their members and officers and find ways to make the guild progress without demanding of them.

Guild Leaders are innovative and take some risks but don't push their ideas but rather get the guild involved.

They encourage creativity and try out suggestions.

There is always a better way to take down that dragon.

Nobody has tried it yet type attitude and they don't get mad when it doesn't work.

They keep a presence within the guild forums and ventrilo.

Ever have a guild leader that seems to be absent all the time?

Guild Leaders always try to coach their members in PVP and PVE skills instead of getting mad when you loose.

A good leader never storms off during the middle of a fight when the going gets tuff.

They are able to recognise changes in the game client and make changes to policy on a whim if need be.

Knowledge of the game is important to running a successful guild.

A guild leader always keeps his integrity.

This promotes respect from the members and sacrifice for the guild.

Pigeons from Hell

2008-04-14T22:13:00.002-04:00

This week Dark Horse comes out with a Robert E. Howard adaption of his horror story Pigeons from Hell.

Joe R. Lansdale puts a new spin on an old classic with this four-part
adaptation of master-storyteller Robert E. Howard's classic tale of terror
Pigeons from Hell. Set in the deep south, Pigeons tells the story of a damned
house with a wicked past whose vile form casts a shadow of death on all who dare
to enter. At dusk, as the sun slumps below the horizon, scores of pigeons can be
seen flocking from the house in waning sunlight. The pigeons, they say, are the
souls of the damned escaping from the very bowels of Hell itself.

You can read more about it at the official Dark Horse site here.

D&D 4th Edition

2008-04-10T21:32:00.004-04:00

http://dnd4.com/

I'm really excited to see how D&D is implemented into an online experience. Outside of DDO (Dungeon & Dragons Online by Turbine) this will be a whole new experience into the world. You will be able to make a character online in an advanced character generator and play online with your friends.

What is Dungeons & Dragons?D&D is an imaginative, social experience
that engages players in a rich fantasy world filled with larger-than-life
heroes, deadly monsters, and diverse settings. As a hobby game, D&D is an
ongoing activity to which players might devote hours of their time—much like a
weekly poker game—getting together with friends on a regular basis for weeks,
months and even years.

For years D&D had been a table top game. It's nice to finally see them catch up with the rest of the gaming community and make this happen.

The Conan Completist

2008-04-07T21:58:00.002-04:00

I ran across this website a few months ago and I have to say that these guys know everything there is to know about Conan. The site is mainly about the John Milius film Conan the Barbarian. What you'll find here however is a plethora of knowledge related to the film, including inspiration and the history behind the scenes. From Howard's stories, movies, comic books, magazine articles, and video games. Its all here.

A few of these articles I wanted to post here because I think they are just so amazing and well done. The first is a thread about historical art and symbolism inspiration in Conan. The second thread was a real treat when I found it. It is about the how the film, Conan, influenced video games. You can read the thread here.

The main site in English can be found below.

http://www.conancompletist.com/EN/home.htm

The Gimp

2008-04-05T15:30:00.003-04:00

I'm not talking about the guy locked in the basement of your house. Gimp is a versatile graphics manipulation package. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.

I use Gimp for making forum signatures and banners like the one at the top of this page. Of course Photoshop is an excellent program as well but its not free. Here are a couple links to get you started using Gimp.

http://www.gimp.org/

Gimp Talk

I Listen to NPR

2008-04-04T12:15:00.003-04:00

I was listening to NPR the other day and was introduced to a band named Spottiswoode & His Enemies. Anyway I think they are pretty good and wanted to share. Here are a couple links for you.

Homepage

MySpace Page

TTH Running Best MMO Contest Ever

2008-04-02T21:49:00.002-04:00

Very cool contest. I quoted the details below

Contest of a Lifetime

From March 31, 2008 to April 18, 2008, we want you to tell us why you think
Age of Conan is the game you'll be playing for life. Just post your thoughts in
100-250 words for your chance to win some fabulous prizes. Ten Ton Hammer Age of
Conan Community Managers Machail, Martuk, and JoBildo will choose the 10 most
convincing and articulate forum posts as our finalists on April 20, 2008. Each
of those lucky contestants will receive an Age of Conan beta key. Those same ten
finalists will be entered into a random drawing to determine who gets our other
prizes:

5 Third Place winners will receive... an Age of Conan collector's
edition.

1 Second Place winner will receive... an Age of Conan collector's
edition and an autographed and framed concept art.

1 Grand Prize winner will receive... an Age of Conan collector's edition
signed by Gaute Godager and a lifetime subscription to Age of Conan.

Read the full details at http://www.tentonhammer.com/AoC4Life

Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

2008-03-21T12:18:00.001-04:00

Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Wise Kalanthes,

While minding my own business at my usual table at the cavern, this
welp of a man knocks the beer I was nursing from my hand and embeds a shoddy
knife into my table, inches away from my left hand. I like that table, so
naturally I was displeased. I demonstrated this by quickly inserting his own
knife back into his skull--handle first. The resulting mess caused a problematic
stain on my tunic which I have been unable to expunge, despite all manners of
effort spent on the cause. This also displeases me. Wise Kalanthes, help rid me
of this stain.

In your debt,
Fenris Nighte

I have seen several methods that work well. Cold water can help, if the stain is
still relatively fresh, as can spit (yes, spit). Using simple soap and cold
water may also help, and your local laundress can suggest various methods (or
even do it herself) if my advice fails you. Finally, you may consider spending
more time at the tavern, as getting in enough disagreements with knives can
result in your tunic having that particular stain all over it, turning an
unsightly mark into cutting edge fashion.

The whole feature can be found here.

New Priest Class Interview at TTH

2008-03-17T22:15:00.003-04:00

I don't have to say it twice. TenTonHammer has the inside scoop on all MMO news and interviews. Today they published an interview on the Tempest of Set player class.

The Tempest of Set is an evolution of many different class concepts which
eventually become consolidated into the class we have available to us today. The
Tempest combines almost all of the unique aspects of the previous Scion of Set,
Druid, and Stormcaller classes, focusing primarily on a mix of healing,
area-of-effect lightning damage, and crowd control.

You can read the whole article at their site. LINK

Spacetime Studios: Blackstar

2008-03-14T09:28:00.003-04:00

I just heard about this game in development yesterday and did some digging into what its all about. Here is a short clip from the recent GDC.

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/games/

A few faq's about the game from the website.

A new breed of game, Blackstar resurrects the dream of online space combat with real-time spaceflight featuring fast and nimble fighter-craft loaded with devastating sci-fi weapons.

You aren’t limited to the canopy: get out of your ship and hit the deck for fast paced ground combat on the surface of alien worlds and aboard enemy ships.

Combine spell-casting with real time shooting as you blast through enemies, collect loot, and gain levels in a variety of unique alien environments.

Join up with your friends in maneuverable fleet formations to take on capital ships and enemy starbases in epic large scale battles.

Play as a member of one of two galaxy-spanning factions: the hopeful and technologically advanced United Colonies or the dangerous, prophecy-guided Scorn Empire.

Choose your role in the fight from a variety of powerful classes: From deadly Assassins operating behind the enemy lines, to powerful Crusaders who shrug off damage and unleash volleys of blistering fire, pick the role that matches your style of play.

Participate in a rich story as the forces of futuristic technology and mind-twisting magic clash in a battle to decide the fate of the galaxy.

Declare war against other players and destroy them in action packed player-vs-player combat that serves all levels of skill from the freshest cadet to the deadliest ace.

My First Blog

2008-03-13T20:55:00.003-04:00

Well this would be the first blog I've ever done. I guess its kind of like a journal where modern man writes his thoughts for the world to read.

I'm going to be writing about video games, coffee, and whatever else comes to mind.

For anyone reading I hope you like it. I guess it will take me a few hundred entries to get the hang of this and actually develop interesting content.