Wii U

I will go out on a limb here and declare that I may be in the minority, but who really cares at this point??

I realize that Nintendo has about as a rabid fanbase as Sony, Microsoft and dare I say Apple. But the unveiling of the successor to the Wii just doesn't seem to interest me much at all.

Granted Nintendo is in possession of some of the most beloved of all of videogames franchises. And now they will apparently be coming to us in glorious HD.

But, I now, though I didn't intend this starting out, own all three current generation consoles. And I find I get the most use out of my PS3. That is in my case, mostly because of it multimedia capability.

But Nintendo seems like this new console, will be an upgraded Wii, with a modified iPad made into a controller. The preview I watched showed off a bunch of tricks, and stuff that you can use it for. In interaction with the main unit working with the TV. This would seem to make the controller something you'd want to be very careful with. Seeing as to how it apparently now has a touch sensitive screen on it. Are extra controllers now going to be like $200, as much as the Wii itself. Better not be too many four player games. And how awkward and heavy is that thing going to be to play with after a few hours anyway. And you better hope the kids don't drop or toss it, when they play or put it away for the night..

They just seem to be too late to the party at this point. And I agree with old opinions about the Wii when it came out. It was an electronic board game. Got taken out when people came over, or when there were parties. And put away the rest of the time. A novelty. For me, it's become a cheap Netflix box I can use on any TV in the house. But, I did only pay about $100 for it when I got it with extra accessories and Zelda. When I traded in my Gamecube for it.

Just seems like a new gimmick, and I know with the Wii after awhile it gets old. Maybe when we get real Star Trek Holodecks. And I don't know how much people are taking too the PS Move or Microsoft Kinect, but with who I know. You just want to sit and play a game and relax. Not be jumping and waving and flying all around everywhere.

Years ago it was mentioned that Nintendo may go the way of Sega. And close up on hardware, and just stick to what they do best. Software, with their real asset. Their IP. Maybe they should?? But then they did sell a lot of electronic board games. And still have the highest installed user base.

But then, at my age now. I don't seem to be Nintendos current demographic. And I'm sure there will be lots of people picking up the Wii U when it comes out, and will eagerly away the next Zelda, Metroid, Smash Brothers and Pokemon Stadium in HD.

I think I will just get an iPad whenever the price finally comes down.

Dragon Age 2

Downloaded the demo for the PC via Steam and on the PS3.. Would have tried the XBOX 360 but I need a gold account for that, and I don't have nor plan to get one.

Finished it on the PS3. It was pretty good, I like how it played. Similiar to DA1 but seemed to play smoother and better. Maybe it had to do with the frequent cut scenes and story elements thrown into the mix.

On the PC I found it to be clunky to play with mouse and keyboard.. Which I found to be somewhat odd, since I'm like a 12 year MMO veteran.. I should be used to the hotkeys and moving and mousing etc.. I did not finish it on PC.

I plan to rent it next week once it's released. DA1 only took me a couple weeks to run through as a Warrior once I sat down and worked on it. Oddly the same amount of time it took to finish Mass Effect 2 which I vastly preferred and I spent a lot more time in that two weeks on it.

I didn't play the add on for DA1 as by the time I had finished I had my fill of the game. Maybe sometime down the road they will release a DA mega pack with DA 1 & 2 as well as their add ons and DLC packs.

MMO Roundtable

Star Trek Online or World of Warcraft?? I've played WoW for 5 years off and on. Horde and Alliance, Raids, Dungeons, Solo, Battlegrounds.. Played Star Trek Online for a week less a few days, since it was so mind numbingly boring.

Don't get me wrong, ST:O looks fantastic, ship battles are just the way I hoped they would be. Reminds me a lot of Starship Battles. Ground combat was ok.. I guess it was just that I found myself doing the exact same things over and over.. The grind (tm).. The thing that every MMO has to some degree, and try their best to hide. Once you see that hamster wheel it's never the same again.

But ST:O being from Cryptic is very much like City of Heroes in space to me. I played CoH off and on since launch. And it's fun for awhile, but again very repetitive. And I would probably be still playing if it was $9.95 a month, or even better free like Guild Wars or Dungeons and Dragons Online. I would describe it as MMOLite. Just not enough meat to keep going long term.

But, contrary to all the bitching and moaning that goes on about paying a $15 US monthly sub. MMOs are very cost effective entertainment. Play as much as you want for that 15 bucks. You can hardly eat out once on your own for that. And forgetting about buying a console game for $70 now days, you can't hardly rent one for a week for less $8 or so. But, granted you can usually wrap most games these days in a week if your dedicated enough. And renting 3 games a month and we're back to MMOs being better bang for your buck.

So, I've landed back once again in Azeroth. My last trip didn't last more than 2 weeks before I closed my sub and didn't even log in the last two. I have a bunch of Alliance in the 60s, one in the low 70s and some horde in the 70s and 80.

Cataclysm sounds interesting, and supposedly will launch in November. I'd like to have two level 80s by then. So, I can try and play the next 5 levels from different perspectives. But, last time I had difficulty leveling through the same terrain all over again. And whether it was horde or alliance the difference from 70 to 73 seemed minor. And I was bored.. I didn't expect 74 to 80 to be any more varied.

I'd like to have a DPSer to go alongside my healing toon.. But I find oddly enough, that my two most prospective candidates are both healers. And I'm more bored working up a Mage in the 70s. And until Cataclysm launches I'm certainly not going all the way down down to level 1 again to try a Rogue (For the third time, one level 47 and One level 20 already.. ) Until I can try Worgen out and the new low level stuff.

I did play a fair amount of Lord of the Rings Online. And there is a lot to like about the way they did things. But WoW being out longer, just has more to do as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll talk about LotrO later.

And the odd duck of the bunch, Star Wars The Old Republic by Bioware I am looking forward to seeing more about. Looking like the MMO to break the MMO mold. And if anyone can do it, I would have said Blizzard. But since, they have WoW who seems to have sharpened and perfected the current EQ style. Bioware would be the next choice to upend the paradigm. But we have upwards of a year or so before we find out.