Hooff brought the ale to his lips, listening offhandedly to the conversation at a nearby table. The two Tauren were trading war stories back and forth. Some battle Hooff recognized, some he did not. Hooff listened more intently to the battles he didn't recognize. Ever since Hooff retired from the War with Deathwing, he'd lived a quiet life.
He decided to settle in Mulgore. After the guild had disbanded, he decided to retire. Hooff still thought of himself as a Drainei, regardless of what the mirror showed him every morning. Unlike other Drainei who were born too recently to remember before the crash, Hooff remembered the trip vividly. The Exodar held no more solace for him than the broken world he had left. There was pain and sorrow everywhere. A land filled with prairie grass seemed as good a place as any. Hooff quickly gained respect for the naturalistic Tauren. They too got used to have a "Belf" living in Mulgore.
Hooff made himself useful. He helped his neighbors, though they were few and far between. Sometimes he would even help some of the instructors at Thunderbluff, to train new recruits. He didn't do this often. It doesn't pay to get too attached to new soldiers in a time of war, they just don't last long enough. But he did what he could, taught what he could. The recruits needed all the help they could get.
Still, Hooff felt like more time had passed for him. It seemed ages ago that he was helping fight the invasion of Ogrimmar by fire elementals, though the calendar says it was barely a year ago. Barely a year ago when he saved the life of a young warlock. Fitting it seemed, to save the life of a young warlock, when his own life was saved by a warlock when he was young. Hooff thought of his old friends, his old family.
"Do you ever regret coming for me?" Hooff asked to his companion.
"Nope, I wasn't doing anything anyway... " a young Tauren sitting across the table replied. "Besides, who else would cover your back?"
Waash had arrived about a few months after Hooff arrived on this Azeroth. He travelled through the same interdimensional portal, had undergone the same transformation Hooff had. Outwardly a young Tauren, Waash's soul was still that of a Night Elf. Similar to Hooff, Waash had little ties to the old world, other than the "family".
Both of the companions were dressed in the drab, dull clothing of farmers and merchants. No one in the inn would have guessed that These two simple townsfolk had once fought with dragons and demons. That they had traveled to the heart of the maelstrom and done battle with the very elements themselves. Had assisted in the rebirth of Cenarius, and had helped liberate the Stonecore. No, these were simple townsfolk, listening to the tales of "true" adventurers, like those in the table near by.
------
Monday, December 17, 2012
Playstation Vita
Picked up a Vita because of work's Xmas deal. Received it a week ago, and its been a mixed ride. Long story short: Great system, good games, nice handheld. But burdened by price, proprietary memory cards, overly complicated routines and inept bundling.
Long story:
Received the Vita on a Saturday. Unfortunately I was also getting sick, so I just pulled open the package and turned the system on. I plugged it into my PC, hoping it would charge, and it seemed to. Woke up a few hours later, grabbed Unit 13 ( game from work) and stuck it into the Vita. Updated the firmware and ... got a message saying that I needed a memory card to play Unit13. No problem, I'm sure they stuck a tiny one in the package somewhere, just enough for a small saved game.
Nope, nothing.
Read online, and most games do require a memory card. I can't believe they'd sell a system that was so incomplete, that you couldn't play it RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. I can see this as a major disappointment on Christmas morning. Kids opening up the package, sticking a game in, and finding out that they can't play until they head down to the store and buy a card. Not a great first impression.
Unfortunately my Vita was a big, pretty, paperweight until I was able to borrow a card from a friend. I ordered a card for myself, but the order got screwed up ( which is a whole other fun story).
Memory Card:
Let's take a moment and talk about these memory cards. Even though they look very similar to mico-sd they are in fact a propreitary Sony memory card. Not just a Sony card, but a VITA memory card. Sony created a whole new, incredibly expensive ( currently), memory card format just for the Vita. Again, not a great way to gather good will from your customers.
There's a good write-up on the possible reasons why Sony did this: The Great Flash Memory Controversy.
I see that their points are valid, but the memory is still obscenely expensive. Currently the 32GB card is the best value at MSRP $100 ( $80 or so on a sale). With only Sony making the memory, prices will probably stay high.
Looks:
The fit and finish of the Vita is top-notch. It sports the same black and glass look that the "Fat" PS3, and PSP has. The front OLED touchscreen is gorgeous, and responds well. The buttons feel substantial and have a satisfying action when pressed. The back touchscreen seemed responsive as well. I only, very briefly, tried Dungeon Hunter which uses the back touchscreen. It was very brief so I can't comment on how well the touchscreen fits into the control scheme.
My only gripe so far with the control is that, its difficult to use both thumbsticks and hold the Vita up at the same time. For Unit 13, you need to use both triggers, both thumbsticks and a few of the buttons. This leaves precious little room on my palm to support the (surprisingly substantial weight) of the Vita. I might look into a grib to give the vita a little bigger footprint. Something like the Sony Trigger guard possibly. I'm hoping I'll just get used to it and settle into a comfortable grip.
Graphics:
The graphics are great. The screen is wide and bright. You're not going to get 720p looks, but they're still pretty good. I tend to hold it up pretty close to my face, so its easier to see the individual blocks, but someone more normal won't be bothered.
Game Selection:
From what I've been reading online, there are 3-4 "must have" games for the Vita. 2-3 of those I already have, so I'll be playing those when I get time. So far I'm about 1/3 of the way through the Unit 13 campaign. I'll be trying Uncharted next, then Gravity Rush and maybe Resistance. I was skeptical about playing an FPS on the Vita, but it hasn't been that much of an issue. Unit 13 has a fair bit of stealth, so that probably helps with things. I'll see how Resistance ( which is a more classic, run and gun game) fares on the Vita.
I'm also keen to try Assassin's Creed, which I've heard is also very good. But it's more of a sandbox game, which I don't do well in.
Quirk:
One quirk I've noticed is how unnecessarily complicated charging the vita is. The normal charging process, Vita into charger into the wall, that's easy enough. The indicator is solid orange when its charging. If its flashing orange, then there's not enough juice for the vita to turn on.
Things get more complicated if you're plugging the vita into a PC to charge. Plugging the Vita into the PC to charge when its off, will function basically like the wall plug. If your PC does NOT have content manager installed, it will charge normally when plugged in, on or off. But if it does have it installed then it will TRY to charge when its on, but it MAY not have enough power to charge. This is because with content manager installed, the Vita will make a connection to the PC and will be using more power. If you have content manager installed, the easiest way to charge it is to turn the Vita OFF ( not sleep).
Its not that complicated, but its much more complicated than it should be. It should charge or not, regardless of what software is installed. Having things silently change behavior is a recipe for frustration.
Conclusion:
I'm liking the Vita more and more every today. It excels at its primary focus: playing games. There's nothing quite like having dedicated controls that are designed from day1 for the game you're playing. It runs youtube app pretty well, and has a decent camera. I am even less likely using the Vita to take pictures around town, but its handy for games. Some games are already using it for Augmented Reality, which is cool.
I think Vita would do very well if it was $50-$75 cheaper, and you could use normal memory cards ( or the cards themselves were half priced). The games are reasonably priced ( $40 or so) and there's enough to have a good starting point.
Disclaimer: The views here are obviously my own, and are formed based on my experience as a consumer, with retail equipment. These views are not endorsed by Sony, or any other company I may or may not be affiliated with. Blah blah don't sue.
Long story:
Received the Vita on a Saturday. Unfortunately I was also getting sick, so I just pulled open the package and turned the system on. I plugged it into my PC, hoping it would charge, and it seemed to. Woke up a few hours later, grabbed Unit 13 ( game from work) and stuck it into the Vita. Updated the firmware and ... got a message saying that I needed a memory card to play Unit13. No problem, I'm sure they stuck a tiny one in the package somewhere, just enough for a small saved game.
Nope, nothing.
Read online, and most games do require a memory card. I can't believe they'd sell a system that was so incomplete, that you couldn't play it RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. I can see this as a major disappointment on Christmas morning. Kids opening up the package, sticking a game in, and finding out that they can't play until they head down to the store and buy a card. Not a great first impression.
Unfortunately my Vita was a big, pretty, paperweight until I was able to borrow a card from a friend. I ordered a card for myself, but the order got screwed up ( which is a whole other fun story).
Memory Card:
Let's take a moment and talk about these memory cards. Even though they look very similar to mico-sd they are in fact a propreitary Sony memory card. Not just a Sony card, but a VITA memory card. Sony created a whole new, incredibly expensive ( currently), memory card format just for the Vita. Again, not a great way to gather good will from your customers.
There's a good write-up on the possible reasons why Sony did this: The Great Flash Memory Controversy.
I see that their points are valid, but the memory is still obscenely expensive. Currently the 32GB card is the best value at MSRP $100 ( $80 or so on a sale). With only Sony making the memory, prices will probably stay high.
Looks:
The fit and finish of the Vita is top-notch. It sports the same black and glass look that the "Fat" PS3, and PSP has. The front OLED touchscreen is gorgeous, and responds well. The buttons feel substantial and have a satisfying action when pressed. The back touchscreen seemed responsive as well. I only, very briefly, tried Dungeon Hunter which uses the back touchscreen. It was very brief so I can't comment on how well the touchscreen fits into the control scheme.
My only gripe so far with the control is that, its difficult to use both thumbsticks and hold the Vita up at the same time. For Unit 13, you need to use both triggers, both thumbsticks and a few of the buttons. This leaves precious little room on my palm to support the (surprisingly substantial weight) of the Vita. I might look into a grib to give the vita a little bigger footprint. Something like the Sony Trigger guard possibly. I'm hoping I'll just get used to it and settle into a comfortable grip.
Graphics:
The graphics are great. The screen is wide and bright. You're not going to get 720p looks, but they're still pretty good. I tend to hold it up pretty close to my face, so its easier to see the individual blocks, but someone more normal won't be bothered.
Game Selection:
From what I've been reading online, there are 3-4 "must have" games for the Vita. 2-3 of those I already have, so I'll be playing those when I get time. So far I'm about 1/3 of the way through the Unit 13 campaign. I'll be trying Uncharted next, then Gravity Rush and maybe Resistance. I was skeptical about playing an FPS on the Vita, but it hasn't been that much of an issue. Unit 13 has a fair bit of stealth, so that probably helps with things. I'll see how Resistance ( which is a more classic, run and gun game) fares on the Vita.
I'm also keen to try Assassin's Creed, which I've heard is also very good. But it's more of a sandbox game, which I don't do well in.
Quirk:
One quirk I've noticed is how unnecessarily complicated charging the vita is. The normal charging process, Vita into charger into the wall, that's easy enough. The indicator is solid orange when its charging. If its flashing orange, then there's not enough juice for the vita to turn on.
Things get more complicated if you're plugging the vita into a PC to charge. Plugging the Vita into the PC to charge when its off, will function basically like the wall plug. If your PC does NOT have content manager installed, it will charge normally when plugged in, on or off. But if it does have it installed then it will TRY to charge when its on, but it MAY not have enough power to charge. This is because with content manager installed, the Vita will make a connection to the PC and will be using more power. If you have content manager installed, the easiest way to charge it is to turn the Vita OFF ( not sleep).
Its not that complicated, but its much more complicated than it should be. It should charge or not, regardless of what software is installed. Having things silently change behavior is a recipe for frustration.
Conclusion:
I'm liking the Vita more and more every today. It excels at its primary focus: playing games. There's nothing quite like having dedicated controls that are designed from day1 for the game you're playing. It runs youtube app pretty well, and has a decent camera. I am even less likely using the Vita to take pictures around town, but its handy for games. Some games are already using it for Augmented Reality, which is cool.
I think Vita would do very well if it was $50-$75 cheaper, and you could use normal memory cards ( or the cards themselves were half priced). The games are reasonably priced ( $40 or so) and there's enough to have a good starting point.
Disclaimer: The views here are obviously my own, and are formed based on my experience as a consumer, with retail equipment. These views are not endorsed by Sony, or any other company I may or may not be affiliated with. Blah blah don't sue.
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