Some Quick Site Housekeeping

With so much going on with the site I thought it would be a good time for some quick housekeeping items.

First up, the podcast. Over at Gaming Steve HQ I have installed a new recording setup which allows me to easily record pretty much anywhere in the world, but yet still maintain studio-level quality. This will not only allow me to (hopefully) record the show more often but also allow me to easily bring the show on the road. In fact, one of the first uses of the new setup was to perform several interviews including the development teams from City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and the upcoming Auto Assault. Look for those interviews, and much more, in future Gaming Steve podcasts.

Second, Gaming Steve Frappr! Frappr creates Google Maps for groups of people and incorporates their photos and locations onto a world map. I've created one for the Gaming Steve site, just enter your name and location (it works for the entire world and you don't have to enter any identifying info) and you can add your mark to the world.

Finally, I have removed the RSS 1.0 feed from the site as it was quickly getting outdated. With all the new features and technologies being added to the site only the RSS 2.0 feed will be supported from now on. If you have subscribed to the RSS 1.0 feed you don't really need to do anything as the site will automatically redirect you to the 2.0 feed. In the long run this will be for the best as RSS 2.0 is always expanding and updating it's protocol.

Now go add yourself to the Frappr map!

Super Mario Origami

I used to love origami when I was a kid (I guess it's just "one of those things" that all kids get into). Making paper cranes and flowers was pretty cool, but I really liked the crazy hard origami models, like cars and trucks and the like.

Well what could be cooler than making Super Mario origami! Make sure to check out the very cool Bowser model (all five parts, yikes!), the cute little red pikmin, and the always popular "Mario in a bunny-suit".

And if you're looking for more video game origami also check out the Advance Wars Papercraft.

eBay for Gamers

I don't know how many people out there are buying their video games from eBay (I buy my used games at EB) but a new site just launched dedicated to just buying and selling new and used computer and video games. Sort of like eBay for gaming, GameSwapZone.com launched a few weeks ago and it seems like a pretty interesting idea.

The site seems to contain your "standard" online auction capabilities such as rating systems and buyer feedback, an optional "Buy It Now" feature, and the ability for people to create their own online store. Plus, anyone can create listings, or even post "want ads" for specific games. It should also be noted that the site is owned by the same company that owns Computer Games Magazine and Now Playing Magazine for what it's worth.

So far their selection seems a bit limited but that's sure to grow over time, definitely an interesting idea for finding those rare and hard to find titles.

World of Warcraft: The Board Game Details Emerge

Later this year Fantasy Flight Games is releasing World of Warcraft: The Board Game and they just launched a new section in their site with details on the game (make sure to check out the rules!).

From what I have been reading about this game on other board game web sites it sounds pretty amazing. Fantasy Flight is no stranger into converting computer games into board games they came out with the very successful Doom board game last year. And from what I've been reading & hearing so far it appears that Fantasy Flight might have actually done the near impossible -- successfully translate one of the world's most popular MMORPG's into a board game while keeping all the essential gaming elements intact.

Let's see what's in the game ... all the races? Check. All the classes and their assorted special talents? Check. The ability to go on quests which are different for the Horde and the Alliance? Check. The ability to perform raid-style quests? Check. The chance to kill boss monsters? Check. The ability to level-up your character and gain skills? Check. The ability to ... well, you get the point. Pretty much everything which makes WOW so unique is in this game, and I can't wait!

The only downside I have heard about this game so far (besides the $79.99 price tag, ouch!) is that it takes several hours to play a single game. Somewhere from 4-6 hours for a single game, depending upon the number of players. Hum, I guess they really did get everything from WOW into the board game!

Rehab Clinic for Gamers Opened

You know gaming has finally come into it's own when the world's first Rehab clinic for gamers just opened in China. According the Associated Press report the clinic is officially licensed by the Chinese government an is located near the Beijing Military Central Hospital. The patients -- most of whom are between the ages of 14 and 24 -- are looked after by a team of 23 nurses and doctors. Many say that their addiction to gaming grew out of a wish to relieve everyday stress and pressure from parents to perform well academically.

Treatment sessions begin at 6am every day and consist of therapy sessions, medication, acupuncture, and exercise. Patients also spend time hooked up to a machine which stimulates nerve endings receiving 30 volt electric shocks to pressure points, and are intravenously fed a clear liquid said to "adjust the unbalanced status of brain secretions". Officials refused to reveal any more information about the medication.

A stay at the clinic costs $48 per day -- more than twice the average weekly wage for a Beijing citizen -- and the course of treatment generally lasts for between 10-15 days.

This might sound funny on the surface, but I have personally known of dozens of people who failed out of college because they were addicted to MUDs and MOOs back in the 1980s. And my roommate from sophomore year had to repeat a semester of work because he was addicted to Dragon Warrior for the NES. With the likes of World of Warcraft and Everquest I can only imagine how much worse this has gotten over the years.

Heck, I consider myself a hard core/jaded gamer and I myself was hopeless addicted to WOW for two months solid. And to this day I have friends that I never see because they would rather play WOW than go out and do things in the "real world". I wonder how long before 60 Minutes/Oprah does a show on this very real problem...

There Can Be Only One!

As every single gaming web site reported today GameStop has purchased Electronics Boutique and the new company will be known as GameStop Corp. Combined the two companies will have over 3,200 stores worldwide, about $3.8 billion in annual revenue, and nearly 22% of the total US video game market.

What will be interesting is that this new company will have a huge monopoly on the video game retail business and will pretty much be able to make or break a game release. And when you factor in Wal-Mart, the two companies will combine to control around 50% of the entire US video game retail market. The big get bigger yet again!

Added New Forum Section

Wow, thanks for all the interest in Spore and my podcasts! Since I launched this site all of a week ago over 50,000 people have visited the site and I'm getting lots of questions! So rather than trying to answer all my emails I instead created a new forum section to try to corral all of the various inquires, including a forum just for Spore.

You can get to the forum from the sidebars or you can link here as well: Jump to the Forums

You can also go directly to the crazy-popular Spore forum as well (over 14,000 posts 6 months after the original post).