Friday, October 31, 2008

Thanking you........yours virtually!

A lot of us have surely experienced the fun and frolic involved in video games(or should I say consoles for a better term for the current generation and the next) with our friends or against the ever eager-to-try-and-defeat-you Artificial Intelligence(AI). These games allow us to have a virtual feel of life such as commanding troops to shoot down the oncoming assault or getting your next mission to slay that pesky monster. So sharpen up your instincts and especially your determination! For here is a virtual enemy that doesn't like to lose no matter what (Unless of course you are toasted at it's first attempt to destroy you).
We have seen the evolution of games from the classic arcade games to the popular nintendo 8-bit entertainment system(Remember those hours spent on mario? Aww comeon you must have been really frustrated of not having a save game option if you played it right now :D) to the basic DOS games on PC(Ahh classics!) and finally here we are looking at a wide variety of games across various platforms! There are various genres including action,adventure,sports etc but I'm going to try and cover one genre which has taken the gaming world by storm before and still is doing that right now. It is known as MMORPG(Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).
I won't go into the various MMO's as it is shortly referred to as right now. There are many of them and each one of them offers a different type of content which might attract certain types of users while others might prefer something else. This is because each person has a unique interest in different types of genres. MMOs generally offer a escape into a world filled with fun,other players,bad bad monsters,lag(Of course this is your first ever friend ^_^),still even more bad guys called bosses.......well you get the idea. One of the most important aspect of an MMORPG is its community. This is the reason why it is called as an MMO. If you would rather that you play alone rather than make friends and have even more fun socialising while playing the game, then well you are better off playing a offline game with only AI to stare at on the screen. Believe me it's much better and more fun to actually interact in a MMO.
I'm in India and this country has received the broadband type of connections a little later than other parts of the world. As you know broadband connections of atleast 256KBPS are required if you want to play an MMO smooth as it was intended to be played. The first ever MMOs here were Ragnarok and A3. I haven't played A3 but I have heard that it has amazing 3D graphics and all. Ragnarok well is completely different with 3D environments coupled with 2D style characters which look good as well. It's really fun playing the game as you start off from a basic character with nothing to lose and grow powerful one day, able to smash apart the big bad bosses themselves. The game is entirely built upon the levelling system which encourages the player to kill a lot of monsters and rewarding them with "levels" which enable the player to increase his abilities. All in all playing Ragnarok is fun but it can become so addictive that one day you might get up and scream "How in the world did one year go by?!!"
There are many other MMOs in the world. Some of the most popular ones right now are WoW(World of Warcraft), Age of Conan, Perfect World etc. Like I said each MMO offers different content, so one MMO may boast of many players with amazing graphics and gameplay while another may tell of a wonderful storyline with its own share of loyal players. Alright then I guess thats it for now. Just remember to keep a balance between the real world and the virtual world so that you don't get caught up in the virtual reality! Cyaz and have fun! ^_^

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Inevitable Writer's block (No I dont mean a building >.<)

As some of you must be wondering if I've gone mad looking at the unnecessary description given in the title then rest assured that I'am not! As many of you read novels and know a lot of writers, you must be knowing about the popular and yet infamous writer's block. In case you haven't come across it yet, I'll gladly explain with what little knowledge I have in the hope that you might be satisfied with it. ^_^
A case of writer's block is at large when an author is unable to write anything in his novel or proceed forward to another article. It generally means that either he doesn't get an idea or he is simply unable to bring himself to continue along the path the idea has laid out for him. The cause can be anything from personal preference to inability to implement the idea immediately. The cure? The only cure for this might be best to wait it out until you are comfortable to continue or probably do what I did in my case: force myself to write a post. :P
Yup you heard that right, I forced myself to break the long drought by writing this very post which you are reading right now! I couldn't get to post anything for about a month or so(as you would see if you compared the previous post's date with this one) which I did think was a little strange. I guess I was resigned to the fact that it was because I simply didn't get any suitable ideas to take the shape of a post. Still one month is a ridiculously long period for someone who is called a well...........semi-active blogger(:P). Just today I was having a conversation with one of my friends through instant messaging. I simply told him that I thought I might be having a case of the writer's block. He told that I might be right and he gave me a suggestion: "Why not title your next post as the writer's block?" This might be obvious to others but it just didn't strike me before this.
Ever since he said that, ideas sprang up into my mind for a new post: each daring the other one to go ahead of it as though they were fighting for utmost superiority. I really have to thank my friend for enabling me to finally break my "break" and for a new post written after a long time! Alright then people cyaz and have fun! Good luck! ^_^