It’s not that I don’t like WoW.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But I don’t have the same time to invest in it right now as I used to.  And besides, once you’ve leveled up four or five characters and campaigned through all the add ons, you’ve pretty much seen and done it all.  I have grown to appreciate the finer points of self contained games since my World of Warcraft days.

Here is a great cinematic trailer for Diablo III:

Remember when games were “black and white?”  Actually, they weren’t.  Those are both colors, and all we had was monochrome, which is more like an absence of color.  Can you imagine playing classic arcade games like Super Mario Brothers or Galaga without any color at all?  It would have been possible, but not any fun.  And what about PacMan?  This infographic will show you all about how color got into our game worlds.

Bethesda’s recommended system requirements for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have been dubious from the beginning, and now that the game is out, people are finding it runs perfectly well on systems that are well below those specs.  For one thing, they recommend a quad core processor — yet, the game can only use two cores.  And there are other things, like the supported video cards.  Basically, most people are finding the game doesn’t really need all that to play perfectly well on their sub-recommendation equipped systems.

So, when the guys over at The Porting Team announced Saturday night that they’d managed to produce both Wineskin and Cider wrappers for Skyrim, I took back Windows 7 and started hacking.  The game runs fairly well on my mid-2009 MacBook Pro with Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.53 mhz, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, and 8 GB RAM.  Here is a link to a blog post, where one Mac user posted a video of Skyrim running on the same laptop I described above. By running the game from within a wrapper (which is really just a tiny virtual machine created solely for use with a specific application or game) I don’t have to use Windows at all.  That’s great news for Macheads like me.  So go out and get yourself a Windows version of Skyrim, crank up your adt security so no one will bother you for a few hours or days, and download a wrapper, and you’re good to go.

Likewise, games will take the trend with the available tech. So when things do actually come out you can bet they will either be slightly better version of the same or a giant leap toward a new standard.

Just the other day, a friend and I were discussing the upcoming release of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and how it just would not be the same without a mouse and keyboard.  It’s true:  PC gamers are definitely a special lot, and they just can’t settle for anything less.  So, let’s look at some statistics.  Below, the infographic will clearly show you that PC gaming is alive and well.  But what drives it?  Click to expand:

While pondering the role fate seems to have cast him in as the game’s villain character, the good natured and gentle Ralph opines, “I ask you, are there any medals for the sweet science of wrecking? Hah! No.”  Although Ralph is a philosophical soul, he does realize that he has been living the sweet life during his run as a successful video game character for 30 years straight, and that other video game characters have not been so fortunate as he.

The characters wind up at a meeting of Bad-Anon (an Alcoholics Anonymous type of meeting for villains starring in video games.)  Their motto is “One game at a time.”  It brings back to mind the Finding Nemo scene where Dori is attending an ‘Anonymous meeting with sharks, whose motto is “Fish are Friends, not Food!”

Here is Disney’s official statement following a very brief, sneak preview for the press:

Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer). Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes… so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan-win a medal-but soon wrecks everything, and accidently unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Ralph’s only hope? Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman), a young troublemaking “glitch” from a candy-coated cart racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it’s “Game Over” for the entire arcade?

Do you need a camera for home security?

In order to avoid server instability, a problem that generally plagues MMOs  whenever there is a massive influx of players and not enough servers to handle the load, EA has announced they will initially limit the number of copies of The Old Republic that are released.  This only makes sense, because who wants to unbox a shiny new copy of any game, only to be unable to register or log on because the servers are lagging or crashed?  Some people think EA is just trying to build hype by issuing a statement about restrictions in the supply, to puff up the importance of the game, making it seem to be more popular and wished for than it is.  Horsefeathers!  I’ve been playing a lot of years online, and I can tell you right now that it’s never fun to have to wait for days just to get started on a new game.  I say, let them keep the copies under some restriction while the servers get built up to capacity.

Prediction?  I don’t think The Old Republic is going to be a World of Warcraft killer by any means;  these are really two separate genres in a way.  But I think ToR does stand the best chance so far of all those other attempts by other games to compete.

(Be sure to keep your gaming gear safe;  invest in the best alarm home security systems.)

Xbox Live now brags over 20 million members around the world, and is the most complete online console experience available today. A “Gold” Membership tier is required for online gaming and access to the special features, and membership costs an annual fee of $50. Other gaming systems like Sony and Nintendo have traditionally offered their consoles’ respective online features for free, but Sony did recently announce its interest in developing tiered pricing for use of its online gaming network, too.

Xbox Live has plenty of downloadable games and game add-ons, and adds in the capability of buying or renting TV shows and movies, some of which are available in HD. Some movies can be transfered to Zune for viewing on your mp3 player, if you have one.

The Xbox 360 also offers streaming Netflix, Facebook, and Twitter apps,plus Last.fm and ESPN content right through the console. Streaming digital media from a networked Windows PC lets the 360 double as a Windows Media Extender for those running Windows Media Center.  It’s a nice, all around addition that really adds to the functionality.

And let’s not forget that the Xbox 360 is most importantly an excellent game machine. Most of the popular game titles are available on the 360, with the exception of a few PlayStation 3-only games.  The Xbox 360 has itsshare of exclusive games too, including the Gears of War, Halo, Forza, and Fable franchises.

As for accessories, there are plenty that can inflate the overall cost of ownership of the system. Extra game controllers and rechargeable batteries are the most frequently purchased add-ons, with  wireless headsets, charging docks, and messaging keypads also awaiting the swipe of your debit or credit card.

The older Xbox 360s did have a bad reputation for freezing up initially, and the Xbox brand has had an uphill battle in repairing customer relations following those dark times.  But now, things are all better. Grab a plate of your favorite nachos, squirt on some hot sauce and get playing!  I have to say the Xbox360/Xbox Live experience is probably the best your money can buy today.

I hope all the geeks who find this post really enjoy it.  Personally, I’m astounded that Double Dragon is rated so poorly!  I love that movie.  I mean, well, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen.  Actually, a lot of these movies are fine — but what about Super Mario Bros?  I don’t see it represented here.  Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

You can be safe tonight by following established home safety tips.