I love to play computer games. My dad bought me my first computer 20 years ago, a Timex Sinclair 2000. I spent hours typing on the membrane keyboard from this book that had a few games written in basic. I was hooked on the games I was able to play.

The emergence of several MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) on the market in recent years has been my gaming focus. I love the idea of playing a game with thousands of others online, whether it’s in a cooperative effort or fighting against each other.

You may have heard of games like this, such as EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot or the recent Star Wars Galaxies. While I have enjoyed playing each of these games to some degree, none of these games was really able to capture my attention for months on end like most players. Star Wars Galaxies is enduring growing pains that ensures that the game is more frustrating than fun at the moment, and I will probably play that game again at some point in the future.

However, I really wanted to play a MMORPG now, so that I can escape from my world for a couple of hours a day and enjoy a different world entirely. I stumbled upon a game entitled Asheron’s Call 2. I had played the first version of Asheron’s Call, also an MMORPG, and found it to be the most enjoyable online experience that I had so far in this genre. Unfortunately, the game was plagued by massive cheating and the developers of the game didn’t do much to stop it. That’s really a show stopper for me in this genre, as I believe the games need to be fair considering how much time they ask of you.

Asheron’s Call 2 was released last year and was met with a very frustrated player community who felt the design of the game was flawed and that the product was released too early. While the design of the game isn’t fundamentally flawed (it’s just not anything like Asheron’s Call 1), the game did have a large helping of software bugs.

Today, Asheron’s Call 2 has lost many aggravated players, however the game is now stable. In fact, during prime time, there are only 1500 or so people playing Asheron’s Call 2, where Star Wars Galaxies has just reported that their subscription base is 275,000.

I decided that now would be the perfect time to give it a spin, and in fact, they are offering a completely free trial right now that requires no purchase of any software or even a credit card number.

I’ll be reporting on my experiences with this game in the coming weeks ahead, but if last night was any indication, this game is going to hold my attention for at least a few months. The game was designed and succeeds by letting brand spanking new players actually get into the game almost immediately. After only 2 hours of play, I had a real sense of accomplishment and enjoyed my time in their world. I can’t say that of any other MMORPG.

Here’s some highlights:

The first dungeon I found, I immediately became lost because there are no stereotypical right angles in the dungeon. It had a very natural feeling, almost like adventuring in an ant farm, and it was disorienting.

The game has been designed to eliminate down time and almost has a FPS (first person shooter) feel to it, although that may be an overstatement. It definitely doesn’t move as slow as traditional MMORPG’s.

The graphics are stunning and beautiful. In fact, they give you the option when installing to place very high resolution information on your computer. What a great idea! If you have a high speed computer, you can really press it’s capabilities and really enjoy your surroundings. If you don’t have a fast computer, you can install the normal detail graphics and ensure that you’re machine will keep up with everyone else. Neat! I was in awe of this little magical dagger I found that had a red glow infused within it. When I equipped the dagger, the red glow was actually a real 3 dimensional light source that acted just like any other light source in the environment. Swinging away at monster, you could see the shadows cast on the cave walls as the red glow swiped by the monster.

If you’re looking for something to play, for free in fact, you should definitely check out Asheron’s Call 2. Worst case, you’ll enjoy yourself for a few hours on someone else’s dime.

In studying to obtain the MCSD certification, I'm currently focused on Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Having obtained two difficult certifications in the past, I have found the certification process to be more of a chore than a valuable learning experience. Luckily enough, this time around, I’ve found myself enjoying the process, mainly because of a book entitled Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

I don’t know why, but I really enjoy books that fill you in on the things that shouldn’t matter, but they do. Most technical manuals give you the nuts and bolts, and are often incorrect and poorly written. Not only has this book nailed many technical subjects, it has provided insights into the decisions that Microsoft made when developing the product, and most importantly, how to take advantage of those improvements instead of ignoring them as most people do.

I agree with their point that SQL Server 2000 may be too easy to use, as is exampled in the common occurrence of poorly designed, insecure, inefficient and just plain bad databases. Those that know me know that I’ve been involved with Lotus Notes development for over 10 years. I have often remarked that Lotus Notes suffers this same fate; just because it’s easy to do a couple of things does not mean that you have any idea of what best practices to use in a large and complex database.

As icing on the cake, the book describes the history of SQL Server. I found it very interesting reading of how the timelines and market pressures that Microsoft, Sybase and IBM (OS/2) were exposed to resulted in the current products of today. I wouldn’t recommend the book to everyone, but those that are making a serious study of SQL Server should have it in their library.

I love when technology and the law collide. It always makes for interesting reading. In this round of fun, DirecTV has decided to file a ridiculous amount of lawsuits against citizens that may have illegal used their service. That's the truly interesting part. DirecTV doesn't really have any evidence, they have just acquired sales records for companies that sell smart card readers and such devices that may be used to intercept a DirecTV signal.

What's interesting is that DirecTV is probably suing the right people; people that stole their service. The downside of that, and the completely unacceptable part of that, is that people that had actual legitimate uses for the technology that they purchased are being sued and forced to defend themselves. That is just unacceptable and completely irresponsible. I hope the courts find a way to punish DirecTV.

Fascinating and sad.

I love retro technology things like this. This is stuff that could have been created on computers years ago because they had enough processing power to handle it. Just very cool.

Dave sent a link to me that is just classic. Japanese table tennis anyone?

Star Wars Galaxies is giving me carpel tunnel. I'm going to sue. :)

He's baaack. Yeah, well, yeah. Been a rough couple of months and just decided that updating this page wasn't worth it. Well, I may not do daily updates, but I plan on getting around to this a few times a week.

I'm currently addicted to Star Wars Galaxies. While the game has just launched, and it's a bit devoid of content, I am enjoying myself so far. I'm playing the role of an armorsmith and am enjoying the change in gameplay that this provides. Granted, it's not terribly exiciting, but I'm not bashing monster x over and over again either. Plus, I'm based in Mos Eisley, and that is just wicked cool.

My new toy is being built, and I can't wait to get a hold of it for all my gaming needs. :)

"It's totally stupid and gay!"

It amazes me how much aftermarket stuff there is Harleys but the thing that has got me the most involved is this thing called Tattooing and Body Modification http://www.bmezine.com The web is evil!


But this set of links take the cake for http://www.demonikaclothing.com/links.html