Week in Review - 06/30/03

Once again the wheel lands on Pic to do the week in review. As some of you know I put my own twist on things when it comes to articles I post. Whether it be a political satire, rant, or even the cold hard facts, I strive to bring you the very best from the underbelly of the video game world. So as we delve into our wonderful industry and prepare to present you with gaming news I would like to remind you that I am not the news guy at Snackbar. I am the artist and the "tangent man", as in my mind wanders off so many times that my articles are not guaranteed to be about what the first paragraph is covers. Without any further adu I bring you the Week in Review.

This week many things happened in the world of video games, so many things it's hard to talk about all of them so hell, I will just send you to Cone our news man. Email the "the frozen one" and he will answer all your gaming news questions, trust me he loves answering email. I will now take this time to talk about some real news. That news being Star Wars Galaxies and Dot's love for the vodka!

SWG's first full week is now in the books and already the effects can be seen on multiple servers. Seeing as how the game is an MMORPG, the players themselves dictate how much stuff is available. Needless to say the first players had to wait for an armor crafter to level up so he could in fact make armor then put it up for sale. It took forever let me tell you, but once the crafters started churning out stuff the Bazaar's were alive with auctions and items galore!

At first SWG was the coolest thing I have ever played, however the green eye of repetitiveness reared its ugly head as I began to loathe the missions. I did not see myself becoming an uber Ranger, so I took the RP route instead. Big mistake, as no one, and I mean no one, roleplays in MMORPGs. I was totally unaware of this fact and getting a conversation started up with another player is like Chinese Water Torture. I am a fan of roleplaying myself, and I love being my avatar. I chose the personality of a cockney English thug. Needless to say I was kind of like a soccer hooligan. So I started to frequent bars where again, no one would talk to you. I was about fed up with the whole non existent roleplaying in a game that mentions roleplaying in its genre, so I got an idea. Out of nowhere I claimed the local cantina in the town. I jumped behind the bar and started to roleplay serving drinks. This was well received by the patrons who tipped my character like mad as they roleplayed getting drunk. I made a load of money for literally done jack squat. Lesson here kids is missions are for suckers, and if you want roleplaying, involve some alcohol.

I am quite impressed with SWG the game, but unimpressed with the style of MMORPG. The lack of actual storyline is hard to look past. You in essence just power game, as in make your character as hard core as you can. This to me is in no way fun whatsoever. Damned though if this game is not one of the most alive and robust games I have ever seen. Then again it is a Star Wars game, and generally they all have to suck. While SWG itself does not suck by any means, there is no real point to playing, which of course makes the game in turn...suck. I mean what is it that I do? Do I go out kill, loot, make money and level up? If so, then why? So I can PK people that are lower then myself?

Funny thing is this is my first experience with an MMORPG and honestly it does not disappoint me at all. I got exactly what I was expecting. Power-gaming, no storyline, and fresh armor. These are your meal tickets in the wonderful world Mr. Lucas made, enjoy your monthly fee.

Vodka you say? Yes sir that is what I said! Our clear colored "go great with any juice" friend is a favorite of the crew. This week however our very own Dots had a bit too much. Note that the following took place at the Fourth of July party that we threw at Cone and Dot's pad. Some SB crew from the forums were representing and food and drinking were in full effect. We talked games all the while Dots is hooking an I.V. of the sauce to herself. Next thing you know there is no more Dots. No more cute faced wife of Cone to be found anywhere. It seems Mr. Vodka had put our friend to sleep, not after a bout of sickness and a rosy nose. This was worth mentioning cause it was damn funny.

Well those are the things that stand out to Pickle about this last week. Also I have adopted the word "Owns" instead of "Shreds". If you read the news posts you will understand what I am talking about. Thanks for reading.

Pickle owns.

Jul 8, 2003 - 1:46 am | 6 comments
Mike Carabajal