Virtually Acceptable?

LOTRO LOGO

Have you ever wondered how well you know someone that you don’t really know? An odd question to be sure. Today (6/26/09) I came across a blog post entitled “Godspeed Gynnie, We Will Miss You“. The post, which was found on the 2 High Road blog, weaves a tale of pain, suffering, and virtual escape. By the end of the post, “Gynnie”, whom the entire post has been about, has died. This “true” story made sense to me. Someone using an online videogame to escape life and pain. However, “Gynnie” was not all she (?) seemed to be. An update on 6/23/09 states:

“The good news is “Gynnie” didn’t die after all.”

As fate would have it there was never a sick girl by the name of “Gynnie”. For all the author of 2 High Road knows, “Gynnie” could have very well be Steve. This brings several questions to mind.

  • 1. How well though do you know the people that you play online games with?
  • 2. Are we supposed to take people online at virtual face value?
  • 3. Is lying about your real life circumstances virtually acceptable?

Your thoughts.

Mythic Entertainment and Bioware Merge

Mythic Entertainment Logo

Today we have important news to share with the community. EA is restructuring its RPG and MMO games development into a new group that includes both Mythic and BioWare. This newly formed team will be led by Ray Muzyka, co-founder and General Manager of BioWare. With this change, Ray becomes Group General Manager of the new RPG/MMO studio group. BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer for the new RPG/MMO studio group. Rob Denton will step up as General Manager of Mythic and report to Ray. BioWare’s studios remain unchanged and continue to report to Ray.

Mark Jacobs, current General Manager of Mythic will leave EA on June 23, 2009. We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward. Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.

Mythic retains a strong team led by Rob who co-founded Mythic in 1995. Rob played a critical role in the development of Dark Age of Camelot. In his previous role as COO, he was responsible for all day-to-day management of the studio including all development, operations and support.

Please join us in celebrating the union of these two award-winning studios.

(As posted in the Warhammer Herald)

Passing Through: Most Hated of All Adversaries I

Passing ThroughEvery gamer has an enemy within… Join JBG as we look at the most annoying, memorable, and downright evil videogame enemies to date.

Diablo II Logo

Deep in the heart of the Kehjistan Jungle a most sinister enemy awaited players of Diablo II, the Fetish Shaman. Capable of resurrecting little fetishes (demonic, cannibal-like children) the shaman proved a worthy adversary to adventurers passing through. Nearly seven years after battling my way through the jungles around Kurast, I still vividly remember this Diablo II enemy…and my extreme dislike for the shaman with power over virtual life and death.

Final Fantasy XIV Online Announced

Due to the high amount of traffic JBG experiences in regards to Final Fantasy XI Online, we thought that this news piece was appropriate although somewhat dated. Enjoy!

FFXIV

LOS ANGELES (June 2, 2009) — Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix), announced that FINAL FANTASY XIV, an all new massively-multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG), is planned for simultaneous global release with language support in Japanese, English, French and German.

Adventure begins anew in the vast realm of Eorzea!

More information on FINAL FANTASY XIV can be found at http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/.

About FINAL FANTASY XIV

Platforms:
PLAYSTATION®3 & Windows®
*Details on required PC specifications to be announced at a later date
Languages:
Japanese, English, German, French (simultaneous release)
Genre:
MMORPG
Release:
2010
MSRP:
TBD
ESRB:
RP (Rating Pending)
Copyright:
© SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.