Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Continuing on the beverage theme from last week…

Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Comment below with your guess for the answer to this question.

What is the origin of the name of my main WoW toon, “Slig”?

Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Ah… an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle! Delicious! Plastic bottle? Not so much. (Bleh.) Sodas come in so many different containers these days, it must mean that everyone has a different favorite way of drinking them. I’m curious about what the balance is. My prediction is that since there are so many canned sodas on the soda aisle that most people are going to prefer cans. However, maybe it’s simply a convenience factor and really most people prefer to drink them a different way. Bust my myth people!

In the comments, let me know your favorite soda and whether you like it iced or room temperature.

Image credits

• Aluminum can by new1mproved
  
• Glass bottle by Muffet
  
• Plastic bottles by theimpulsivebuy
  
• Soda fountain by The DLC
  

Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Ah… an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle! Delicious! Plastic bottle? Not so much. (Bleh.) Sodas come in so many different containers these days, it must mean that everyone has a different favorite way of drinking them. I’m curious about what the balance is. My prediction is that since there are so many canned sodas on the soda aisle that most people are going to prefer cans. However, maybe it’s simply a convenience factor and really most people prefer to drink them a different way. Bust my myth people!

In the comments, let me know your favorite soda and whether you like it iced or room temperature.

Posted via web from Inside Natalie’s Noggin

Posted via email from Natalie’s Noggin

My first About.com post is up! Go check it out because I get paid more if there are more clicks. Plus, if you have any interest in playing Zoo World, it gives you some great tips. Click the image to read the entire article.

http://vgstrategies.about.com/od/facebookgames/a/Zoo-World-Facebook-Hints-Tips.htm

Posted via web from HB Nole’s Notes

At first look, you might think it’s just for kids, but Wizard 101 is a very fun, free-to-use MMORPG, no matter what your age.

Battle system

What intrigues me most is the battle system. It’s kind of a cross between Magic The Gathering and Final Fantasy style turn-based spell casting. You get a deck of cards that contains the spells you know. You can have up to three cards for each spell. During the battle, the game draws a random seven cards at a time from your deck. The next spell you cast must be one of those seven cards. During your next turn, you draw another card so that you always have seven in your hand.

In addition to choosing the right spells and relying on chance to give you a good set to choose from, you must manage your mana. You have a mana pool but it’s only parcelled out one “pip” per turn. Cards cost different amounts of mana to cast. For example, a very strong spell costs four mana to cast and a buff costs zero mana. If you cast a zero mana spell, the mana pips you didn’t use carry over to the next turn. It seems like there are a lot of rules, but the limitations actually make it more interesting to strategize casting your spells. The spells themselves are great fun to watch. They process pretty quickly, but they are creative and sometimes funny.

Social aspects

Another unique and really cool aspect of the game is how cooperative gameplay works. It completely does an end-run around the issue of looking for groups, ninja-ing loot, and having to struggle solo or put up with doofuses in parties. Intriguing, no? It works like this: While you’re fighting a monster, anyone walking past can jump in to help you — up to four people at a time can fight together. Sometimes you get to finish off that monster as a duo, but other times an extra monster will join the fight to even the odds for monster-kind. You never get more monsters than players, though, so you can’t get easily overwhelmed. Which means, you can join in to help others fight at any time also. The groupings are all ad hoc and you don’t have to play with anyone for any length of time. After the battle is over, you each go on your merry way. You can even “flee” in the middle of the battle if you want. No strings attached.

For example, if you see someone fighting a ghoul that you also need to kill, you don’t need to wait for a respawn, as long as there is one more battle pad (there are four battle pads for each battle), you can jump in. As long as you cast at least one spell, you’ll get credit for the kill. Loot is doled out privately so there’s no fighting for resources. You either get a drop or you don’t — and everyone else rolls for their own loot privately too. In theory everyone could get the same piece of loot from a kill.

Role playing

You get to choose a main school of magic and a secondary school. You can choose from the schools of Ice, Fire, Myth, Life, Death, and Balance. Choosing a school doesn’t mean you can’t cast spells from other schools; it just means your chosen school’s spells are cheaper for you to acquire.

You don’t customize your character through talent points like you would in World of Warcraft or Dungeons and Dragons Online. Instead, you customize with gear and purchasing cards, including one-time use cards called Treasure Cards.

Interface

Kids will clearly enjoy playing this game. Adults might find the graphics, story, and dialog a bit youthful, but it’s not so bad that it annoyed me at all. The gameplay drives the fun, not the storyline, so it’s not much of an issue. You’d have to be a pretty cynical, angry gamer not to get some enjoyment out of Wizards 101.

This game also has some great parental controls. And, if you’re like me, they can function as noob-repellant as well. Kids under 13 cannot type in chat, but can only used pre-formatted messages and can only talk with others of the same age. I think it’s a pretty cool way to keep weirdos away from kids and prevent them from getting into strange situations. I like it too because I don’t have to type as much!

Is it really free?

Yes, to a point. As with any of the micro-transaction style games, you can only get so far without ponying up a little dough. You can only create two characters and you don’t have access to all the parts of the world. Gear, pets, and mounts can also be purchased if you want further customization that you can’t get for free. I haven’t purchased anything yet — I’m still only on level 7 — but if the gameplay and strategy stays intriguing and challenging for me, I can foresee paying to access other areas of the world at some point.

Posted via web from HB Nole’s Notes

Still, below is a quote from the Battle.net email that Blizzard sent out, and here’s the blog post I wrote after Wrath came out. Your assignment: compare and contrast.

Our goal is to create the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with new community and communication features like cross-realm World of Warcraft chat, real-life friends lists, cross-game communication, and much more.

You decide.