/writings/

Official blog and geeky manifesto of The Ruku

A piece of advice for those who don’t deserve it

March 31st, 2010 Posted in Rants
Mar, 31 2010
1 Comment »

NB: Might do this as a video on my YouTube channel. Will post here for the lazy fucks who can’t be bothered reading or would prefer something more humourous as opposed to callous and snarky.

The complete defeatist attitude in people these days is fucking insane.

There’s a saying I heard many a moon ago that you can’t help those who won’t help themselves…Or something like that. It was about me, so I decided to tune out and play Team Fortress 2 until they were finished bitching me out.

Thing is, the more I encounter people who fit this description, the more I want to throw my hands up and say “fuck it, you’re on your own”. In this entry, this is where I do that. A nice big “fuck off” to people who I can’t be fucked encouraging, helping, or generally being of any service to. Sure, we can still talk, just don’t expect me to play advice columnist because frankly, you won’t help yourself, so what’s the fucking point?. Whether you’re too set in your ways, too stupid, or too proud to take any advice into consideration is beyond my knowledge.

So keep making your excuses, keep saying “it’s too hard”, keep saying “I can’t do anything”. Fuck off already.

The real kicker is this: I am one of you. I am a nearly-25 year old whingy emo douchebag who cries at the end of movies(okay, one. Terminator 2, which was badass, so I feel I’m forgiven by manly men everywhere) who thinks constantly “why do I bother? I’ll never achieve anything I set out to do” and yet, I have achieved most things on my bucket list and set out on doing some more this year.

Me, someone who indulges in “Depresso lattes” almost on a monthly basis is telling you how pathetic, defeatist and fucking annoying you are. Wow, you really must suck.

A depresso latte: Like this, but black and garnished with the tears of emo cuntrags. At least, it's staying black until something darker comes along

Shit, there are some people out there who I was very close to, who -last I checked, all but fucking homeless with pretty much zero income. You know what they did? They weighed up their options, put on their adult pants and fucking got on with it. You’re not about to be trumped by some hobo, are you?

This guy is better than you.

So where do I get off telling you how to do things? I’ll explain via an example: 2009 was a shitty fucking year for all involved in my circle of friends it seems. I went through two relatively messy breakups, lost a friend, my father was diagnosed with major depression and had to stay at a mental ward in Sydney, had one of my relatives pass away and got into a metric fuckton of debt, in order to get out of a metric fuckton of debt. You know what I did? I had my moment, and kept on keeping on. I sat down and -with tears in my eyes and The Cure playing on Windows Media Player, I wrote, thought and reflected.

You know what I realized? In spite of all the shit that was (and sometimes, still is) going on, life isn’t that bad. I’m still (kinda) young and it’s not the end of the world just yet.

If you’re depressed, seek help from a professional. If you’re fat/unhealthy and aren’t too happy about it, go on a diet and/or exercise, if you don’t have a job, find someone who will hire you and lastly, If your life is indeed that shit that it’s “not worth living”, make it into something that is. I could go on giving advice to you shitsmears, but at the end of the day, if you do nothing, you’ll achieve nothing. That’s really all you need to take from this.

Also, don’t assume the “making something from nothing” maxim is something I’m pulling out of my arse. There are various situations where some average schlub managed to become a self-made person.

In saying this, I don’t have all the answers. If I did, I’d be writing this knowing millions of people will view it, not just the three or four who will click the link on Facebook. What you should do is start questioning what you want out of life and go and make it happen. Whinging to a text box on MSN doesn’t do shit, especially to me.

In closing, a message for those who do deserve help? Keep up the good work and keep on keeping on. Don’t take this as a completely selfish “I don’t give a fuck about anyone but myself” stance. I think Bioshock is the closest I’m getting to becoming an Ayn Rand enthusiast…

….At least until I’m loaded enough to build an underwater city.

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Ruku’s Picks: YouTube Edition

March 19th, 2010 Posted in Computers & Electronics, Misc/Other Posts
Mar, 19 2010
No Comments »

Seeing as I’m totally on my way to being TubeFamous (and because I’m far far too lazy to do a real update), thought I’d suggest a few other YouTubers out there. Some you’ll know, some you might not know, regardless, all are worthy of Ruku’s Seal of Approval:

Shut up, I'm a comedic genius

Michael Buckley/BuckHollywood

Michael’s the host of the ‘What the Buck’ show, which focuses mostly on celeb gossip. He also has two other accounts (BuckNews and Peron75) which he also posts to.

Tessa Violet/MeekaKitty

‘Meekakitty”s channel could be easily described as a bastard child of skits, personal vlogging with a dash of some good old-fashioned randomness and editing trickery.

Nick/Arthur40TwoDent

Found this guy through Angry Aussie. He’s done travel vlogs, personal vlogs, reviews and music videos -Most notably, four very creative videos for the song “Drive” by Johnathan Coulton. Awesome stuff.

Wayne Gladstone/Gladstonew

Yeah, okay. If you know me, you saw this one coming from a mile off. Gladstone is the host of the hugely popular web show ‘Hate by Numbers’, a columnist for various comedy websites and the owner of the website Kafka Lives in Maine. While his channel is mostly HBN-related, there’s a few other gems in there worth watching.

M.A.Ludwig/JudeMaris

JudeMaris mostly dabbles in original music pieces and photo restoration, with the occasional personal blog for variety. Being a photoshop geek myself, I find her photoshop work really interesting. She also has a bunch of stuff over at her other channel, TheBlueOracle

Well, it’s nearing 2:30am and I have to pretend to have a day job tomorrow. So I’ll call it here. Be good, kiddies! Don’t make me come over there!

Heavy Metal Vegan Cooking

Heavy Metal Vegan Cooking is pretty much what it says on the box: A vegan cooking channel, but smattered with the awesomeness of metal. Even Dethklok would be proud of this one.


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Something else to add to the resume: Beta tester.

March 5th, 2010 Posted in Computers & Electronics, Entertainment
Mar, 05 2010
1 Comment »

Can't argue with the classics.

Did this in a new WordPress plugin that Sally over at Antimatter Charge has designed called ‘Chibipaint for WordPress‘.

‘Chibipaint for WordPress’ allows you to draw images right onto your wordpress blog, via the “add image” prompt.

It’s still in beta, but still worth a download. Especially if you’re not like me and actually talented at drawing

For now, fear my Trogdor fanart, as it goes forth and burninates!

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More Symbian Love Action!

June 14th, 2009 Posted in Computers & Electronics
Jun, 14 2009
No Comments »

So since my last entry, my Nokia useage has waned somewhat in favour of my recently-purchased HipTop Slide. While I was thinking of getting another phone or changing my contract to keep the number, the lure of unlimited text messaging was a little too much to ignore. I still, however use it for some newly-purchased applications here and there.

The main one I’ve been using of these is Gravity, a Symbian/S60 client for Twitter. You can do everything you need to in Twitterland (including upload photos to Twitpic and a few other places) and a few other odds and ends. It also supports multiple accounts, themes, custom tabs and the ability to connect to another service known as Laconica which I’m unfamiliar with.

While it took a bit of fiddling, Gravity is one of the most intuitive and easy to use applications I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with. My main problem is that searching through your friends list is a bit of a pain, but that could be more of a PEBKAC error than a fault on the application’s part.

However, this little package of awesome comes with a pricetag of AUD$12.71 as of this writing. Not all that expensive, but if you’re one without disposable income or prefer a free Twitter experience, one may be turned off by the price.

The other application on the list is RDMPlus. RDMPlus is a remote desktop application that allows you to connect to a computer with the required desktop client. At first it all looks a bit daunting, but configuration and setup is pretty easy when it comes down to it.

The program itself is set up pretty well for use in a mobile client, and -with some shortcut modifications, I could do pretty much anything I wanted as if I was sitting at my computer… That is, if I wasn’t retarded and set up RocketDock to handle most of my programs.

That’s not to say the program is a breeze to use. I’ve noticed a bug where the application stops allowing you to zoom in and out, and a lot of commands are menu-based. There are ways around having to go into menus to do things, but it takes a little bit of work to set up it seems.

The one major gripe I do have is the cost. It’s US$34.95 for the full license and unless you’re actually in the market for a program like RDMPlus, the novelty wears off pretty damn quickly.

At the end of the day, RDMPlus is a pretty good program. Does what it’s supposed to and aside from the occasional glitch, not much has gone wrong with it when I’ve used it. I do, however recommend you have a data plan or are near a wireless network when you use it though. RDMPlus eats up a fair bit of data, and you’re going to rack up a pretty meaty phonebill otherwise.

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Symbian S60 Applications Roundup (and a quick review of the Nokia N95-3)

April 20th, 2009 Posted in Computers & Electronics
Apr, 20 2009
2 Comments »

After deciding that the Sharp Hiptop wasn’t really the uberphone I wanted in the end (though the contract you get with the handset is pretty freakin’ sweet), I went on a quick hunt for a new smartphone.

The end result was the Nokia N95-3, essentially the original N95 with a few cosmetic and hardware upgrades. Armed with an 8GB microSD Card, I immediately went on the hunt for nifty little applications to check out and play around with.

In the short time I’ve had it, I love the phone to bits. While it certainly has it’s faults, it’s quite possibly the best phone I’ve had to date. It includes a 5.0mp camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and digital zoom, DVD Quality MP4 video recording, WiFi, GPS, Music player, Office applications and more. Armed with 3D hardware accelerated graphics and 128mb of RAM, the N95-3 is pretty much up there with last-generation computers in terms of processing power (seriously, you can run Quake 3: Arena on this thing).

Sadly, all the praise I’m throwing at this little phone of awesome comes with a price. The battery life clocks in at about 3 or so days of moderate use, the menu lags a bit and I’ve noticed the WiFi to be a bit touch-and-go with some applications. Firmware updates have amended the menu issue -among other things, but it’s still a bit of a problem if you’re without a charger for an extended period of time. The N95-3 also seems to be getting a raw deal when compared to it’s other bretheren, the N95-1 and N95i, Unlike these two, the firmware updates lack a few features and -for some inexplicable reason, lacks N-Gage support it seems, with my attempts only installing the base application and not have any games load properly.

Like seemingly every other Nokia on the planet, the N95-3 is pretty simple to get the hang of. The menu system -powered by the Symbian operating system is really intuitive and fully customisable. Being on the Symbian/S60 platform also means you can add your own applications and increase the basic featureset of the phone… Which brings me smoothly to the main point of this article.

For the sake of keeping this article informative, I’ll only be listing applications that provide added functionality to the phone. Later on I might do one for other applications, but I’d rather focus on some useful applications for now.

Gmail for Mobiles

While the minimalized website m.gmail.com provides a pretty decent service for the person on the go, Google have bought out a dedicated application for mobiles.

Gmail for Mobile's main window

The Gmail app provides basic email functionality, hotkeys for searching for or composing an email, support for multiple accounts and a special offline mode so you can read your existing email without having to connect to the internet. I couldn’t really find any faults with the application at all, though admittedly, it’s hard to bugger up a basic email application.

Gmail for Mobiles is available for Nokia Smartphones here

Google Maps for Mobiles

While the N95 and other phones already come with a working GPS, there’s nothing wrong with looking for an alternative, especially considering how the “Nokia Maps” application tends to be a bit finicky when it comes to getting a signal.

Like the Gmail app, Google have bought out their own “Google Maps” application for mobiles. Google Maps provides both overview and street view modes, Turn-By-Turn directions, business listings and a new feature called “My Location”, which provides you with your location within 3000 metres even if you don’t have GPS on your phone. When you need to head somewhere, Google Maps gives you directions for not only driving, but walking and public transport too.

overview mode

While the app certainly works and has a lot of features the Nokia Maps app doesn’t, it tends to be a bit dodgy at times in finding places. I’ve also noticed that the “My Location” feature is sometimes off by a long shot, though “My Location” is still in Beta at the time of this writing.

Google Maps is available for Nokia Smartphones here

You Tube Mobile

The last app I’m reviewing that’s associated with Google is the new YouTube application. The application provides very basic functionality for YouTube viewing. You can search for videos, see related videos or look for “most viewed” videos. That’s pretty much it. Other features are available on the m.youtube.com website that aren’t on the application for those looking to login to their account and upload movies.

YouTube Mobile, main window

YouTube Mobile, main window

I’ve also noticed not a hell of a lot of content is really available for the application. I’m not sure if the case is the same for the youtube mobile site, but it’s still a bit of a letdown.

The most I’ll say about this application is that it works well, but for those out there who want to do more than just watch videos are better off with the website. I’m hoping this is amended in later versions of the application.

You Tube Mobile is available for Nokia Smartphones here

Calcium

Calcium is a calculator application by S60 developer mtvoid. Calcium takes an already pretty simple application and makes it much more streamlined and easier to use. All basic fucntions (addition, subtraction, etc) are done via the directional pad with the “confirm” button being the equals-sign. Calcium has the look and feel of a normal calulator and in extremely intuitive to use.

Calcium is available for S60 devices here

Opera Mini

This is the second time in about 3 years I’ve dealt with the web browser Opera. The first time was back when I did a reinstall of my desktop PC and gave it a go before switching to Firefox. Thankfully, my opinion of Opera Mini is somewhat higher than the PC variant.

Opera Mini is a minialistic web browser for java-based phones and boasts improved speed and peformance over the Nokia N95′s default browser. From the looks of things, all of the boasting seems to be correct. The data sent to the browser is compressed before being displayed, so it improves load times by a lot. It’s also capable of displaying full internet pages with little or no slowdown and suggests the user where to start. The homepage also lists your last-visited pages and bookmarks for quick navigation, and supports RSS feeds as well.

Opera Mini is also skinnable, allowing you to customise the look of your browser if the default white isn’t your thing.

I haven’t played around much with Opera Mini, but so far I’m happy with it. I’ve noticed it does spaz out a little when using a WiFi connection and tends to switch to the default browser when downloading files. Aside from that, nothing particularly major to report in the faults department.

Opera Mini is available for Java based phones here

Fring

One thing I missed about the Sharp Hiptop (aside from the full QWERTY keyboard) is the built-in MSN Messenger software. Sadly, the Windows-developed application is subscription-based, so I -being the incredibly stingy person that I am, decided to look for a freeware alternative.

I happened to come across a nifty little program called Fring, which -while it sounds like a euphemism for a multitude of swear words, is a multi-platform chat/IM program that supports Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and other services and social networking sites. It also allows voice-over-IP calls via Skype.

The latest version is their most stable and feature packed yet. On previous versions I had multiple dropouts and the Twitter feature wasn’t all that great. This time around they’ve included Twitter 2.0 (which looks more like the site itself, rather than a chat window) and it seems to drop out a hell of a lot less.

Fring’s UI is a little bit intimidating at first, and you’ll need to sign up for a Fring account to use it, but other than that I can’t think of any major issues I have with it.

Fring is available here

That’s it for this entry. Stay posted for a few more Symbian apps to check out and some other odds and ends.

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Ruku’s Picks (or ‘Too lazy for a proper blogpost’, whichever you prefer)

April 7th, 2009 Posted in Entertainment, Misc/Other Posts
Apr, 07 2009
No Comments »

So since I uploaded Gene Simmons’ mug, this little corner of the internet has been pretty neglected. I guess seeing his sheer ugliness made me lose my creative appetite.

It could also be the fact that I’ve been two parts busy and four parts lazy… But let’s ignore that for now.

To slowly adjust back into writing for an audience of spambots and the occasional person I send the link to, I thought it’d throw up a list of what I’ve been thoroughly enjoying on the series of tubes as of late.

Part One: Blogs

Bannable Offenses

This blog is written by one of the Game Master’s for Final Fantasy XI Online, known to his fans as [GM]Dave. Where any normal GM would assist the players where possible and do their job by the book, [GM]Dave takes the renegade cop approach and feeds the book to the very same dragon he feeds FFXI players to.

While it does tend to be more of a soapbox/blog for non-FFXI related things these days, it’s still a bloody hillarious read (doubly so if you actually play the game as you know where all the locations [GM]Dave mentions are and such) and hey, there’s the archives if you need your “retards being eaten by a dragon” fix.

Gear Diary

A fresh find while googling the hell out of applications for my Nokia N95. Gear Diary is a catch-all techie blog containing product reviews, news posts and other odds and ends run by Judie Lipsett. Most of these cover mobile phones and other portable devices from the looks of things, but they occasionally throw in other things to mix it up a little.

The aim behind Gear Diary is evident in its subheading: “Everyone can understand technology; Sometimes it takes a little translating”. While it doesn’t particularly explain things quite in layman’s terms, they do keep things pretty damn simple for anyone who aren’t up to date with their techno-jargon yet. Gear Diary may not revolutionize the whole e-Journalist scene, but it does it’s job pretty damn well.

Ready-Up!

Okay, this might be a little biased seeing as one of my good friends write for the site. But honestly, it has become one of the first places I go for some gaming love action. The articles available consist of both game reviews and commentary on all things pixel. Everything is well written and oftentimes a bit of humor is thrown in as well.

Part Two: Videos

Angry Aussie

Probably one of the few people that everyone likes when he gets angry, AngryAussie’s youtube channel is equal parts “variety/travel videos” and “angry soapbox”, the latter mostly done under the guise of the character “Mr. Angry”. He also has a blog, locatedin my sidebar, or if you’re lazy, here on WordPress

That’s about it for now. If there’s any more I can find, I’ll make another entry. For now though, look forward to a roundup of some of the applications I’ve been checking out for Symbian OS/Nokia N95. Some new, some old, some I’ve probably already blogged about.

Ciao for now!

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YouTube has its violence in Hi Def Ultra-Realism.

December 10th, 2008 Posted in Computers & Electronics, Entertainment
Dec, 10 2008
No Comments »

In the beginning, there was YouTube.

YouTube essentially gave the video-blogger community a place to upload their videos, connect with other users and an ability to speak out to a potentially wide audience. Effectively giving anyone with a camera and entry-level video editing software a chance to have their fifteen minutes of fame.

Some YouTube users have also been snapped up by industries for their videos. A recent example being Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, famous for his ‘Zero Punctuation‘ series on The Escapist.

As time moves on, things change and evolve. The downside to this is you can’t swing a dead cat around YouTube without smacking firmly into something filmed on a dodgy camera phone nowadays, but change also means something awesome has happened: YouTube has stepped into the realm of High-Definition video.

The “watch in HD” feature -alongside the addition of widescreen videos occurred late last month and allows users to watch videos in true HD format with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Naturally, you need to be able to record and encode your video in HD to fully use the feature but all the same, it’s a brilliant feature for people looking to produce professional-looking content.

Nate "Blunty" Burr in all his bearded glory. Standard Youtube quality
Nate “Blunty” Burr in all his bearded glory. Standard Youtube quality
To compare, the same picture (or as close as I could get it), this time in High Definition
To compare, the same picture (or as close as I could get it), this time in High Definition

While it may take some time for people to start using the feature, I’m already impressed with the results. The screenshots above really do no justice to the actual video itself which is available here. The downside to the higher quality however, is the fact it takes longer to load the content depending on your connection speed.

As someone who spends a considerable amount of time on YouTube (and intends to start using his account for a bit more than game videos and stick figure cartoons), this is one major step in providing original content on the internet that could rival network television -among other forms of entertainment.

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Fuck The Koreans! Nuke Them All!

August 4th, 2008 Posted in Gaming, Rants
Aug, 04 2008
No Comments »

So I’m a hardcore gamer. I’ll play pretty much everything.

Hell, I even bought DOA X-treme 2 (mostly for the lulz, partly because I couldn’t think of a better way to throw money at a wall).

That being said, if I can think of two game genres that needs to be culled, I think of the following:

1) Games starring Mario

2) MMORPG’s

Now, I’m sure even the most HARDXXXCORE Nintendo fan will sort of agree with me. Mario’s overstayed his welcome, he needs to go. Hell, even Sega’s original mascot, Alex Kidd knew when to quit.

But why MMORPG’s? A game genre I oh-so love? Let me explain.

MMORPG’s (or for you Yahtzee fans out there, MUMORPUGERS!) are saturating the market.

Don’t get me wrong, I love World of Warcraft, I love Final Fantasy XI, and hell, I’ll say it; Dungeons and Dragons Online was pretty cool too… But for every decent MUMORPUGER, there’s some half-made Free to Play Korean piece of shit that’s not worth a damn.

And here’s the kicker: They’re all the same. Badly-animated grindfests filled with fucking retards who couldn’t be bothered playing the real deal.

Some are over-cluttered and make Microsoft Access a more entertaining option (I’m looking at YOU! RF Online!)

Some are for people who like throwing money at a wall (I’m looking at YOU! Habbo Hotel and Tales of Pirates!)

Hell, I even found one for people into Cyber Sex!

I have a final solution for the genre: Nuke the fucking lot and start over. The Final Boss of the Internet needs to just keep all the ones worthwhile and cull the rest.
So some people will be out of a job. Big fucking whoop. They can pool their efforts and actually have a crack at a DECENT game for once.

All this being said, don’t get me wrong. There are some good options out there for those who can’t/won’t pay the $20 or so a month on the decent ones (although, $20 isn’t a wallet-killer, and you probably spend that much on shit anyway, so what’s the problem?), but for the most part, they’re shit.

Nuke the fucking lot and start over.

It also doesn’t help that I have to sometimes deal with the level of pure retard that plays these games. For example, this guy I know had a fortnight-long whinge about losing $100 worth of items on Tales of Pirates, a so-called “free” MUMORPUGER.

That’s right, he spent $100 on a fucking in-game item. WTF?

Thankfully, Karma kicked him in the ass and he lost the item, which caused him shit bricks, which -in turn, caused him to spew 20 page diatribes about how he was wronged and all this shit.

That’s right, he shat bricks over an in-game item. WTF?

Sadly, I don’t have any quotable gems for you, but he not only gave me the low-down on a conversation topic I made clear I didn’t give a shit about (I even SUGGESTED another MUMORPUGER for him, to no avail.), but asked me if I knew how to hack into the Yahoo Mail servers so he could “exact revenge”.

Now, I know here I should really say “I’d probably do the same”, to grant this fool some sort of redemption from his stupidity, but let’s face it, I’m not that retarded as to:

-Play a crap game

-Play a crap online game that requires RMT to get the fancy shit.

ADDENDUM #1: RMT

RMT is short for “Real Money Trade”. A common practise in many MUMORPUGERs because people couldn’t be bothered earning all the good shit through hard work and grinding.

More often than not, you place an order with an online store, pay up, and in a day or two you get mass amounts of riches or they level up your character for you.

Nifty eh?

Well, not when you realize this is a massive Terms of Service breach and can get your character banned.

The reason it’s wrong is because it fucks up the in-game economy, which causes a less-than-enjoyable end product for the players.

That being said, there are variations (such as ones described above) that are part of the game, and are things I don’t really agree with. I don’t believe in crippling a game so players have to pay money for the good stuff (This means YOU! Habbo Hotel!). I understand we all need to make money somehow, but seriously. Start a premium service or actually make the game decent.

ADDENDUM #2: Redemption for the retarded

Ahoy there! Are you a MUMORPUGER enthusiast who recently got hit with a sack of stupid and spent $100 on cool items?

(I’m sorry Rifiki, but it’s like shooting fish in a barrel with you. Slow-moving drunk pants-on-head retarded fish who really need to master English.)

Or Are you someone new to the genre and would like to see why so many people are throwing money away to get addicted to the wonderful digital goodness which is online gaming?

Look no further! Since I spent a good hour ranting about shit online games, I’ve compiled a list of my favourites for you guys to peruse!

Just as an FYI, these are games that I’ve personally played. Don’t email me with your Age of Conans or whatever.

Here goes!:

World of Warcraft – Blizzard’s unkillable juggernaut set in the Warcraft universe.
US$15.00 per month or $40 for a 2 month timecard, $2 trial discs available from any decent game store.

World of Warcraft is your best bet if you’re an absolute newb and have money to burn. While one of the pricier games in the genre, it’s also one of the best online experiences you’ll have at the moment. Lots to do, excellent character creation options, and it doesn’t need an absolute powerhouse of a machine to run!

There’s an expansion available (The Burning Crusade), but it’s not 100% needed if you’re just starting out and aren’t too fussed about the extra races. There’s also another one on the way (Wrath of the Lich King).

EvE Online – Space combat/flight simulator.
$14.99 per month, timecards available but no-one seems to stock them, trial available to download.

EvE Online is a unique game in that there’s no plodding around to be done. It’s all about the spaceships, baby! Not a hell of a lot to do from what I’ve played, but then, I didn’t look too far into the whole combat thing (read: I sucked and kept getting my arse kicked). That being said, still worth checking out. If anything, for the absolutely jaw-dropping graphics.

PROTIP: You also don’t need to be logged into the game to upgrade skills. Unfortunately, it trains in real-time, which ranges from a couple of hours to days at a time.

I also heard they’re actually going to release an update to allow you to walk around space stations and interact with other players. If this is true, sign me the fuck up.

City of Villains – NCSoft’s stand-alone sequel to “City of Heroes”.
$14.99 per month. timecards available in some stores, Trial available to download.

City of Villains is a superhero-based MUMORPUGER where you can create your own supervillain and wreak havoc upon the city’s populace. It’s a unique setting, but kinda falls short, as it’s more of the same ol’ thing.

You can buy a copy of both City of Heroes and City of Villains for a decent price. Alternatively, if you’re already a City of Heroes subscriber, you can access all CoV content at no extra cost. Nifty eh?

Final Fantasy XI – Square-Enix’s online fantasy game.
$11.99 per month, trial available in some boxsets.

FFXI is what I’m playing at the moment. It’s one of the cheaper MUMORPUGERS out there. Falls short on the character creation options, but there’s still enough variety for it to work.

The cool part about FFXI, is that you’re not tied to one job. You can go back to your Mog House and switch at will. Sadly, you’ll also start off at level 1 again.

So far, no problems here. The PlayOnline software, however, will drive you batshit insane at first.

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