Name’s Eastwood, Frodo Eastwood

Posted by on May 29, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

I don’t like guns in fantasy MMO’s. I just can’t wrap my head around it. Here’s why:

Imagine Lord of the Rings without Pippin and Merry. Why? Because they had been shot by Farmer Bolger on one of their mushroom heists. Or at least shell shocked and unable to help Frodo and Sam.

Imagine Bree and The Prancing Pony. The ring wraiths / desperados are stepping into the bar wearing a full cowboy outfit, each of them with a pair of six shooters made by Samwise Colt. Doesn’t matter if they’d get the hobbits or not, it’s just mind boggling.

Now to Rivendell where the ring is presented to the future fellowship. Gimli pulls his revolver, shoots at the ring and sends it in a high arc off into the waterfall. End of story.

Given to Frodo by BilboOf course Bilbo will hand Frodo his mithril shirt and his pair of duel pistols with ebony grips named Right and Left.

Moria! They’d never escape Moria. The goblins would be armed to their teeth with muskets and perhaps a cannon or two and no need for cave trolls. Those brittle walls would have crumbled to dust from all the cannon balls and all the ricocheting bullets.

Lothlórien would be filled with elven sharpshooters and their spotters camouflaged in the bushes. Forget the notion of a quiet enchanted forest. The noise from the shooting range alone would be deafening.

Eomer's Cavalry was equipped with Gatling Guns How about Helm’s Deep being defended by musketeers? It would probably work, until some fire arrows hit the building where the powder is stored. No need to send the bomb into the gully. The day will be saved by Éomer’s cavalry coming down the hill, revealing a battery of Gatling guns once the canvas are pulled off their wagons.

There are more occasions where things can go wrong when using fire arms in Middle Earth. Likely scenarios include the main characters getting killed in the crossfire someplace. You can get some comic relief from Merry and Pippin having used their single shot pistols and starting to use them to bash their opponent’s heads. Tragedy can be introduced by Samwise being unable to load his pistol, being way to nervous with his beloved Frodo under attack. It ends with him emptying his powder horn in one clumsy move and again a pistol being used as a club.

And finally at theMountainofDoom, how would you like an ending with Frodo  shooting Gollum in the back after his finger got bitten off. Good thing it wasn’t his trigger finger. But now Frodo has to live with shooting a man in the back. What a hero.



Read More

Off to Kingsmouth

Posted by on May 27, 2012 in Blog, The Secret World | 0 comments

I am on the road in New England this week, where they all talk like the people on Solomon Island. My internet connection will be spotty and I will be busy with other things. Chances are, I won’t be doing much blogging this week.

In case you can’t find Kingsmouth or the Solomon Island on the map, check “The Secret World”.


© Disclaimer: The Secret World
"The Secret World" is a registered trademark of Funcom GmbH. All logos, images and names are intellectual properties of Funcom GmBH unless otherwise noted. This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Funcom GmbH.


Read More

All the Cool Kids are Nerds

Posted by on May 25, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments


I am nerdier than 91% of all people. Are you a nerd? Click here to take the Nerd Test, get nerdy images and jokes, and talk on the nerd forum!
But who am I kidding, nerds are still not cool. I also feel misjudged. The quiz asks for my GPA score. I didn’t go to school in the US and don’t have a GPA score. I am at an age where nobody asks you about your GPA anymore. PSA level perhaps, but not GPA.



Read More

Weekly Zombie Survival Tip

Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Zombie ApocalypseWith the recent posting of my home for sale, I wanted to give a few tips for those who own and don’t own homes during a zombie outbreak.

It’s always best to at least know where the “weak points” are in a home. This includes (but is not limited to) low or first floor windows, doors and walkways. You have 2 options here:

1) Know where to get (or have handy) a supply of 2x4s and long strong nails to board up the windows and doors. Remember lots of hammering means lots of noise, it’s suggested to use hard-rubber mallets over iron hammers and have a few partners (or family members) handy to make it happen as quick as possible.

2) Alternatively if you live in a two story home, just take out the stairs with axes. It’s faster , you’ll only have 1 point of entry to worry about and the noise is more easily concealed. Just make sure to prepare for not having a down stairs PRIOR to taking them out.

If you are an apartment dweller you have more “people” to worry about, but the great advantage of having a 2nd+ floor full house option, thus limiting your entrances to the stairwells and elevators, which area easier to block and guard from zombie pests. When searching for a new apartment home, remember, NEVER the first floor. Cheers!



Read More

Introducing Tweak

Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

Yesterdays post about my gamer family wasn’t entirely accidental. My stepson has been posting regular zombie survival tips on his Facebook page. He has agreed to post them here as well under the account “Tweak”. I think they will be helpful for the upcoming release of “The Secret World”. Besides, being prepared will pay off, eventually.



Read More

My Gamer Family

Posted by on May 20, 2012 in Blog, Everquest | 4 comments

My wife and I  just dropped off my stepson at the airport after a weekend that was way to short. Many of the things we’ve been talking about this weekend were about our common interests: online games. He didn’t need me to get him a “Secret World” beta key, since he’s already pretty busy with other games: Diablo 3, Aion, Vindictus and Everquest on the retro servers at Project 1999.  I’ve known him since I met my wife ten years ago. We were all playing Everquest back then. Since then, we’ve been going more or less through the same online games: Everquest 2, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Runes of Magic, Rift and probably some others. Over time we’ve been bouncing game suggestions back and forth between the two of us. His approach to most games is the geek path: Get into it deeply and intensely. Once the last secrets of his preferred classes are explored, it is time to move on.

He his my wife’s oldest son. She got introduced to gaming through his console games, just to do things together with her kids. You know how moms are. However, it took her youngest son to get her to play Everquest. He had asked for it as a Christmas present and played it passionately over winter break. It took only three month until they got a second account and a second computer. They actually ended up with a total of four computers and four accounts over time, with the oldest son dualboxing. My wife now plays World of Warcraft, with occasional dips into EQ2, Rift or SWTOR, but she returns to WOW when I get bored with the new game I dragged her into. She favorites healers, but by now with all that time spent on WOW, she’s played all classes but hasn’t raided with rogues, hunters or warriors.

My youngest stepson plays mostly WOW with his friends on a pvp server. Ever being the social type, he gets involved into groups and instances quickly and raids frequently. There have been forays into other games like Rift, but he returns usually to WOW as well.

As for myself, there’s been told a lot about me already on this blog. But let me assure you, it is certainly great to have a family that is as involved into gaming as I am. There’s no need to justify extended play times or the frequency of gaming sessions. We are also our own support group to deal with raid or loot disappointments, or to ask the other to remind you when you crossed your own playtime limits. As a stepfather, it was also a great way to bond with my newly found family and as already said, it is still our common interest.

However, we do have a black sheep in the family. The middle child, the stepdaughter, never got into computer games, but went out to safe the world, one drug addict at a time. We occasionally get some flak from her about our gaming, but it hasn’t exceeded a groan here or there. She even tolerated a WOW playing boyfriend for a while and the breakup didn’t have anything to do with the game.

Okay, that’s four gamers in the family. What’s your situation?


© Disclaimer: Everquest

Read More
css.php