Other Platforms.

I own a PS3 and a Wii.  The Wii gets a workout with Just Dance, Lego games, and Sims Castaway.  The PS3 was recently resurrected after the video card came unseated.  Since hubby isn't really good at the more delicate fixes, I gave it to my brother for a project and bought a new one.  Sounds a little irresponsible, but since both controllers have vanished and I got a new game in the process, there really wasn't much more spent than would have been spent fixing it.

So, after a swim meet and Panda Express last night, we decided to renew our Gamestop reward card.  We need new games!  Of course, you cannot just go into Gamestop and not buy a game!  So, I shopped the used wall and found Little Big Planet 2.  The day before the kids were playing the stuffing out of poor Sock Boy, so I figured we needed it.  I found it later in the store for 2 dollars more brand new, so I swapped it out.  I know the kids will play it into the ground, so I really needed to make sure it had as fresh a start as possible.

It's Tricky! 

Another game I found  was SSX, and knew the kids would love it.  Back when hubby and I were first married, his PS2 had the original SSX and it was a rare weekend when the music wasn't blaring over the TV speakers.  This version isn't much different in that the music is fun to listen to and the game play is much the same.

With our new system we got Uncharted 3.  I love games with a story to follow, and this one has a two player mode, which helps with the "entertain all the children" attitude I have.  We haven't gone too far into the story yet, but if it is as good as the other two, I'm sure it will get played.

I am hoping to get Rock Band set up this weekend for a jam session.  I really have missed my Playstation!  Any suggestions on games to pick up? Even two year old titles are new to me.  No, I didn't buy the Move equipment, so no gymnastics games, please!

I Read It On My Phone!

Cover art for The Trial of the Red Blossoms

I mentioned while on the Twisted Nether the other night that I had downloaded The Trial of the Red Blossoms to my phone and read it from the Kindle app.  The link will take you to the beginning of the story, and if you open this on your phone, all you have to do is use the download drop down menu on the left and select your format.  Easy Peasy!  From there, with the browser window open I went to the options menu and selected downloads, then opened it from there.  It asked me what to open it with.  I chose the Kindle app out of the two choices (the other being some office suite that would have worked, but not the same way!), and started reading.  When I was done and closed it, it saved my progress, and the next time I wanted to read it I opened it from the downloads and continued from where I left off.

This story was great, as I can imagine all the others are, too. I hope Blizzard decides to back track a little and convert the other stories to a more phone friendly form.

Showing My Age.

Stringfellow Hawke in front of Airwolf.

Blizzard, I am sorry.  Jan Michael Vincent is not a gnome.  If you were to make a convincing nod to his character from the beloved series Airwolf, you could at least have made him human, if he has to be Alliance.

Hack. Indeed.  

I guess it was better that your version of him was a gnome, as I felt no sadness in taking the fool out of the sky.  Stringfellow is more suited to the Horde.  Stringfellow the Blood Elf and Santini the Tauren.  Yup. And the slick guy that sent him on missions? Definitely undead.

That's all I have.  Just had to get that off my chest.

Been Waiting A Long Time For This.

Last night was a whirlwind of old raiding for Delgada and most of the members of Void Where Prohibited. I logged in around 4:15 to find they were getting ready to kill Lord Jaraxxus for the daily quest in Trial of the Crusader to get some lower characters some justice points.  The guild had decided that they would be going for a few Wrath of the Lich King Raid achievements, and some of them required level 80 characters.  The plan is to gear up and stop experience gain on some qualified characters so that everyone has a chance at these achievements.  So, justice points would be needed for gear, and all the stuff no one wanted was disenchanted by me to add to the growing pile of materials in the guild bank.  Anyhow, Del ran around with them, then I pulled in Carlatta from Cenarius to run another.  The achievements started rolling in.

From there, they decided to run some trash runs on the Icecrown Citadel to gain some reputation with the Ashen Verdict.  After a few runs, they decided to see how people were progressing with their Glory of the Icecrown Raider achievement.  Before last night, my progress was pretty bad, with only maybe 4 of the requirements complete.  We ran all but the Lich King fight on heroic, and the only achievement I have left to complete is Full House, while some still need half of the Once Bitten achievement.  The raid went pretty fast, achievement spam flew after every boss fight, and Delgada gained the title "of the Ashen Verdict" after killing  Deathbringer Saurfang.  After defeating Sindragosa, everyone left the raid so it could be reset to regular so we could try for the achievement Been Waiting A Long Time For This.  Now, our first attempt with a group that consisted of a bear tank, a warlock, a hunter, a shaman, and Delgada running as discipline.  There just weren't enough heals with only Del healing, so we looked into our Real Id friends to find help.  I love my friends!  A friend from my original WoW guild on Smolderthorn came to help on his warrior, and a friend from Delgada's first transfer and guild on Drak'tharon brought his level 87 priest, who also ran as discipline.  The idea of this fight is for the damage dealers to stand and look pretty at one point just out of range of the mobs.  Another point in the center of the room was marked for people to run to when they got necrotic plague, and when they got there I would dispel it and they would run back, until such a time where the tank called for people to add their plague to his.  Then, when they were infected, they would run to him and I would dispel them there, and they would run back.  This continued until he had thirty stacks of the plague, then everyone went all out on damage.  The first attempt without my friends, and the second, I found I was running out of mana just after DPS kicked in.  So, no heals, we wiped.  With the extra help at heals, we just made it to the end, with the tank as last man standing.  When King Terenas Menethil resurrected us, the screen lit up with achievements!  Here is the proud group standing near Arthas after the fight.

The End.

That was the end of that fight, but not nearly the end of our evening.  Next, we did the Sartharion(25) fight with three drakes up, which took all of maybe ten minutes, netting most of us not only the Twilight Zone achievement but also the Gonna Go achievement, too.  The warlock won the drake, only to find he didn't have the right level flight to learn it. so he spent the time it took for us to travel to the Eye of Eternity stealing from his alts to get the money.  Malygos fell really fast, and Delgada finished the Champion Of The Frozen Wastes achievement, as well as You Don't Have An Eternity and A Poke In The Eye.  After that, we traveled to Blackwing Lair, where many got transmogrification pieces and achievements.  Then, we went back to Icecrown to run the Trial of the Crusader, which got many of us even more achievements. Finally, we left Northrend to run back to Kalimdor to slay Onyxia.  I had tried to solo this a while ago, to no avail.  I think it was set to 25 player when I tried, and was the reason I was unable to complete it.  I think after running this for the first time in a group that I will probably be able to do this alone, on ten man difficulty.

Busy night!  More importantly, Delgada and I are happy in our new home with people who are fun and like to do things together.  I have been missing this for a long time, and look forward to our next runs. Thanks for the fun, Void Where Prohibited!  Let's do it again really soon.

With A Little Luck, And A Lot Of Work.

Del has finally tamed Mazzranache!

OK.  Not really.  But still, after many grueling days of bombing chemical wagons, chastising chemists, and carving lovely bits from enemy kills, Delgada has her Swift Lovebird. There are only a few days left of this holiday to try for the mount that I cannot bring myself to name, and I am pretty certain I will be trying for this one again next year.  One out of two isn't bad.

When I land, I'm gonna take this apart and learn how to make it.

In other news, Dinnaeh the Pandaren Mage is on the cusp of level 35, almost where she needs to be for another dungeon run with the Channel Massive guild. This may be our last regular leveling group for a while, so we'll have to decide what happens while they are off playing other games. The guild needs levels!

 Now that she has Ice Barrier and Ice Block I have noticed her chances of survival increase.  Arcane is an easy rotation to learn, and if she is not top in damage done, she is on the heels of whoever she is behind.  She has bought her way ahead in engineering and mining, so everything she is mining in Desolace ( her latest zone change) has been green or grey and giving very few skill-ups. If the ore she has been selling continues to pay her way, she may just stay ahead, just because she is loving the gadgets.  She finished her quest and chose Gnomish Engineering for the gadgets, because explosions are cool, but gadgets are unpredictably fun and last longer!

Off I go to give Del her chance at that mount again.  Wish me luck, and I wish you loads of luck in whatever Azeroth or Earth has for you today!