J presents Gears of war 3 – Fans decide story direction posted at Gamers Lounge. Pretty sure I saw this submission in a previous carnival I posted, but as this came in through the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers, I decided to give it a rerun since I’m still doing the whole transition over. The basic info? Purchase electronic product to determine the fate of a Gears of War character. Info inside.

Chris presents If Street Fights Were More Like “Final Fight”… posted at Martial Development. Basically, Chris takes a look at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the way fighting happens in Final Fight (and to be fair, many other brawlers of the  time). Most of these were simply limitations of the time the game was made, though some were also just oversights as the genre was coming into its own. An amusing read, so check it out.

dswtor presents Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta posted at dailySWTOR, saying, “We are a dedicated fan site to BioWares Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Here’s a quick blurb on some well-known info about SWTOR, as well as how to sign up for the beta test. (Can people still sign up for the beta test?)

Chris Cox presents Top 5 Most Annoying Gamer Personalities posted at Psytechology. He goes over the five gamer types he finds most annoying here. I really can’t say any of the ones listed really bother me. Ignore is easy enough for those you don’t wish to interact with. Still, I imagine this list carries some weight with people who spend a lot of time online, and either way it’s worth a read.

Michael Kotson presents How to Buy a Laptop posted at Test My Geek Stuff, saying, “An overview of the things to look for when buying a laptop.” A bunch of tips for choosing a laptop. Directed at all home users, most gamers will likely know these tips already, but if you’re new to PC gaming, this is some good starting advice. Veteran PC gamers may still find a useful tidbit or two as well, so don’t be shy in clicking on over.

Mark Graybill presents A Simple Java Video Game Kernel posted at A Beginning Programmer’s Guide to Java, saying, “A simple video game kernel in Java that new programmers can use to start writing their own video games.” This is a cool look at an aspect of video game programming, definitely of use to starting programmers, and I would say also interesting to those who are just curious about what might be going on under the hood of the games we play.

RateMeister presents [VIDEO GAME] Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 PC Review posted at RateMeister. A quick review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 here, the author seemed to think the game is ok, but with lots of annoying quirks. Which is too bad, since he also seems to think it will be the best PC soccer game to look forward to out of this year’s crop.

Steve presents ABC Monday Night Football posted at Every SNES Game, saying, “I play and review every SNES game ever released.” Another sports game review, and this one looks to be pretty bad (the game, that is, the review is quite funny). Anyone care to play as the “Dallas Dollar Signs”?

Robert Chapman presents Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “I started a gaming/television blog recently, and this is only my second ‘gaming’ related article. It’s on Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game.”  I still need to get out and see this movie, but this is about the game review. As Robert lays it out, we may just have another good beat ‘em up game this year. And in a licensed game no less. Seems like those seem to be getting better.

Martin Watts presents The depiction of terrorism in video games: where should we tow the line? posted at The Gaming Enigma. Martin takes a look at how we view terrorism, and what role video games might play in our understanding of terrorism depending on how they handle their depictions of it. Looks most closely at Medal of Honor, as they’re the ones in the hot seat right now. Definitely a good read, and provides something to think about both in terms of gaming, and politics.

Don Salva presents Fraps & VirtualDub: How to save disk space and enjoy good quality, small file size HD video clips | The Don’s Craptastic World posted at The Don’s Crapastic World. Here’s a guide to getting a lot more out of Fraps and VirtualDub while recording your gaming, without killing your frame rate. Good info for those looking to make videos out of their gaming.

Robert Chapman presents Fallout: New Vegas posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This is an article about the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas.”  A quick look at some highlights of New Vegas makes this game sound like a winner. Of course, I expect nothing less from Bethesda.

Mark Graybill presents Pathfinder RPG by Paizo posted at An Infinite Number of Cats on Keyboards, saying, “A look at the Pathfinder RPG from the perspective of a GM who has in the past kept going back to OD&D from newer rule sets. This may finally be the game that displaces OD&D for me.” In here, we see that Pathfinder continues to convert gamers to it’s sleek, sleek rules design, pulling all lovers of D&D to slightly better balanced gameplay and rules that are far more intutive than old editions, while still maintaining that classic feel.

Jeremy Rooney -Detroit Performance Car Examiner presents Racer simulator combines RC cars and arcade games posted at Examiner. Ever wanted to drive an RC car? Well, you can’t, but you can get the same experience with this new arcade cabinet. Looks pretty sweet.

Robert Chapman presents Final Fantasy gearing up to go online… again posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This was my first post of my gaming related articles I’ve written. It’s all about Final Fantasy XIV and my thoughts on it. As well as some helpful links to other sites I found interesting related to Final Fantasy XIV.” Some thoughts on FFXIV, MMORPGs, and links to info on FFXIV. Take a look if you want to know more about Square-Enix’s new MMO.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. Join us next month for more great gaming info. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on September 30, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

Welcome to the July 2010 edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. This will be the last edition of this carnival in its current incarnation. The carnival isn’t ending, but James Newton has offered to let me host the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers on a regular basis, so from next month onward, this carnival will be the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. So thank you James for letting me take over the hosting of the carnival, I’m looking forward to it. Despite the title, I will still be accepting submissions for pen and paper rpgs as well, since I do cover them along with video games. This will give us all more great articles to read and more people to see what everyone has to write. For the next few months, I’ll leave submission pages open for both carnivals and accept submissions from both while I transition over. For those who haven’t seen James’ carnival before, you can find the original carnivals at The Collected Writings of James Newton. So, with all that out of the way, here are this month’s contributions.

Daniel Ros presents Used Nintendo 64 Console posted at Hottest Video Games and Cheat Codes, saying, “Find out the latest video games reviews, information on new games, beta testing, sales on video games and more.” He also has a brief discussion on the ethics and legality of roms and emulators, keeping it short and to the point. Following that, there’s a video showing off what looks like a store demonstration console.

William Huddy presents Computer Game Violence posted at Matters For Consideration. William takes a look at violence in video games, how he thinks it may effect children, and notes that while it likely would have some negative effects, we should really consider it in it’s place compared with all sorts of other violence children are exposed to all the time that we fail to consider might also have some kind of effect on children.

dswtor presents What is Star Wars the Old Republic | dailySWTOR posted at dailySWTOR, saying, “Great detailed review on BioWares new game in development, Star Wars the Old Republic.” And here we have some information about the new Star Wars MMO from Bioware. It sounds very interesting for an MMO, and that Bioware is taking a very good direction with it. I like the sound of gameplay being more action oriented than a typical MMO, hopefully they can deliver on that.

Adam presents Blizzard, “Write for Us” Starcraft 3? WOW2? Diablo 4? posted at AirborneGamer, saying, “Blizzard’s short story contest for gamers.” Write a story set in one of Blizzard’s worlds and win cool prizes? Sounds fun to me.

One Family presents Kids Video Game Software and Consoles – An Introduction for Frugal Families posted at One Family’s Blog. Here we have a guide for parents looking into picking up video games for their kids to get started with. While there’s definitely some good info here, I would argue that most kids who enjoy gaming will know about and be very interested in the “premium” consoles, that is, those of the current generation.

J presents Gears of war 3 – Fans decide story direction posted at Gamers Lounge. Want to have a say in if a character from Gears of War lives or dies? You can, but you have to buy something to cast your vote. Details inside.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. Join as next month as I take over hosting of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on August 26, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

Jimmy Lofton begins the carnival this month with The evolution of the DS at Phantasy Gaming. He briefly goes over the long history of the Nintendo DS and all of it’s iterations, and also has a few comments on Nintendo’s choice to release so many versions of their handheld so quickly. An interesting read, so head on over and check it out.

Eric Gargiulo comments on the current console war between the PS3 and 360 in his piece Console Wars: Playstation 3 Vs. Xbox 360 at CamelClutchBlog.com. For a piece comparing the PS3 and 360, he does have a lot to say about the Wii. Most of which I must respectfully disagree with, as I quite enjoy the Wii and the motion controlled gaming. I simply ignore shovelware and play the good games, just like I would on any console. However, after the Wii bashing, he gets into an extensive comparison between the PS3 and 360, covering a large area of console features in coming to his conclusion for his favorite for this year. Read his piece to find out which console he thinks will come out on top.

Shaun Hudley tells how all of his family enjoyed playing video games on the Wii in his post The Family Gets Together at What Nintendo Did For The Hudley’s, asking, “What can Nintendo do for your family?” Well depends on the family, but if they’re anything like Shaun’s (and many more families than traditional consoles will reach), then likely Nintendo can get that family into gaming to give them something else they can do together.

Meg details her experience playing the alpha version of Fantasy University over at Simpson’s Paradox. It sounds a lot like Kingdom of Loathing for Facebook, but with it’s own original twists that justify it being it’s own game. It also sounds like it’s not going to suffer the pitfalls most Facebook wannabe games suffer from. Indeed, from what Meg has said, FU sounds like it’s shaping up to be a real game without any spamtastic tendencies. If this turns out to be the case in the final version, Facebook games will have a lot of good lessons to learn here.

Z. W. Van Kleeck has two pieces for us today over at Hit, Crit, or Miss: Gaming Insights. First up, he tells us that there’s more to RPGs than XP and items in RPGs Are Not Just Games Where You Equip Items And Use Magic. While he makes some interesting points, I think it’s safe to call games such as Final Fantasy RPGs. This isn’t because they provide choice, but because they picked they’re genre from their source material, and the original Final Fantasy played a lot like computerized Dungeons and Dragons. Now, I would never try to argue that games such as this are an RPG in the sense World of Darkness or Dungeons and Dragons is, but terms do evolve with time, and RPG is one that now has multiple meanings. However, he makes some good points about this, and they are all worth taking into consideration when evaluating if a game is an RPG, or a true RPG. I do, however, agree with him that it’s ridiculous to call anything with some RPG elements an RPG, I just happen to think the line is a bit fuzzy.

His second piece is Used Games v.s. Pirated Games: Which Is Worse For The Developers? Now, I try to by new whenever possible, which is basically anytime the game is still available new. For five extra dollars, I can afford to support the developers of games I like and who provide a quality product. However, I also support the right of anyone to sell the physical media they purchased as well. Yeah, I know you technically license the game, but by selling the physical media, you also sell the rights to your license, so still no problem. It’s the same thing as selling off your used TV set when you don’t want it anymore. However, this is something that should always be in the back of gamers’ minds when making decisions about purchases, since supporting the developers is what will get us more games in the future. Some good points in here that should get you thinking. I still say inconvenient DRM for any reason is bad though.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on June 24, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

First and foremost, I highly recommend you download and use Torchleech to manage and download your mods. It makes it very easy to find most mods you might be looking for. I won’t be including links to any mods that can be found on Torchleech, since I don’t have links to most of them and it’s just easier to use the mod manager in most cases. Now, onto the mods.

1. Darkfirebird’s Class and Pet Mod

This mod singlehandedly extends the life of Torchlight a hundred times over. It adds 14 classes, though two, the Warlock and Demonologist, are known to cause some problems. It also adds just about every possible pet transformation as a base pet, plus what seems to be some extras. It’s a bit on the powerful side, as some creatures make quite powerful starting pets, and there are some excessively powerful classes included as well, but on the whole, it’s all fairly well-balanced. It should be noted that Darkfirebird did not create the classes that are included, but rather compiled them all so they could be used all at once without a lot of effort on the part of the player mucking around with class locations and conflicting files. Definitely worth installing, will add tons of variety to the game. This is the one mod I’ve tried that’s not available on Torchleech, so I’ve provided the link.

2. Anya’s Gem’s Emporium, Baklah’s Finest Gear, and Spell Dealer (Zeris the Cursed)

I’ve grouped these together because they are all merchants. There are others available if these don’t cover what you’re looking for, but these three are the ones I’m using. They provide shops to sell gems, magic gear (including rare and unique items), and spells, respectively. If you like finding your gear as loot, it’s highly recommended you don’t use these mods, especially Baklah’s Finest Gear. If you’re like me, and prefer to have the pieces you want to build your character at hand, you should give these, and perhaps some other merchant mods, a try. These do, naturally, make the game easier by a bit, so be warned. It’s not massively easier, but better gear availability has its effect.

3. Better Balanced Sale Prices

What this really means is all your items sell for a bit more gold. For unique and rare items, they sell for a lot more gold. This mod is still balanced, giving the player what the mod creator deemed a more fair price for their items. I’m inclined to agree. This mod does make gold a little easier to come by, but it still remains a scarce resource. All in all, makes the game a little easier, but also makes you feel like your items are worth something and helps get you closer to your next purchase.

4. Better Random Quest Rewards

Ever feel ripped off after completing a quest, only to get paltry sums of gold, xp, and fame to go with that useless green magic item? This makes any quest reward that is randomly determined far higher in terms of gold, xp, and fame, and assures you that only rare and unique items will be quest rewards. This mod will make the game far, far easier, as quests are plentiful and the amount of xp and fame will let you level at a fairly steady clip. Only use this if you like leveling quickly.

5. Difficulty vs. Reward

Another mod that makes xp, fame, and gold bountiful, by giving you a bonus based on the difficulty level you play the game on. Of course, the bonuses to these items basically kills the point of playing on a higher difficulty as it makes the higher difficulties easier by providing you with more xp and higher levels on those difficulties. Great if you hope to level quickly, not so great if you wanted the harder difficulties to actually be harder.

6. Respec Mod and Easy Respecs

Both of these mods allow you to respec your skill points through potions available at the general store. The Respec Mod sets the base price of a respec at 15,000 gold, a stiff price, forcing you to use the service only occasionally but providing a reset button when needed. Easy Respecs sets this price at one gold, making it possible to respec whenever you like, for those who feel character builds should be fluid to allow you to experiment and find your playing style. Easy Respecs also allows you to respec your stats by buying potions to lower one stat to raise another, again, for one gold per potion. Respec Mod was released by one of the Torchlight devs, so some people might consider it to be more official and balanced. Whether or not you’ll like either of these depends on your attitude toward respecs. Neither makes the game especially easy, as it doesn’t allow you to do anything you couldn’t without careful planning, it just makes it easier to find your playstyle without making new characters all the time.

7. Epic Boss Maps

Be warned, this mod will cause you to level up insanely quickly and find copious amounts of loot. Do not use it if you want to enjoy the scenic route through Torchlight, or at least wait to use it until you don’t mind hitting level 100 in the next few hours. That said, it’s great fun to go into battle against champion after champion. The champion floors are accessed by buying map portals, so you can choose when you would like to head in, making it easy to decide when you’re ready to face them all. They will be a challenge on all but the easiest difficulty, so bring your best gear and lots of potions. A great mod, so long as you use it in the end game, or to try out new characters after finishing the game without the mod beforehand.

8. Gold Sharing Service

This nice mod adds a bank portal to town, bringing you to an area where you can buy deposit slips to put into your shared stash to transfer gold between characters. Very nice for those who wished you could keep gold in the stash and share it with characters like items. Deposit slips are bought and sold for the same amount of gold, so there’s no need to worry about losing any gold in the transfer.

9. Low-Res Texture Mod and High-Res Texture Mod

These do exactly what you would think. The Low-Res Texture  Mod is for those whose computers still struggle to run Torchlight. Install, and the low resolution textures should take up less memory, providing a smoother game experience. The High-Res Texture Mod is for those with modern computers that laugh at Torchlight’s minuscule system requirements and would like to add a bit more punch to Torchlight’s already wonderful graphics. Most likely, you’ll want to take a look at one of these mods, depending on the power of your computer. Completely cosmetic, but can definitely enhance the game.

10. More Stash

This does not give you anymore shared stash space, but it does give you 19 more chests scattered through town for all your gear storage needs. If you thought the measly space offered by the single chest wasn’t enough and found yourself making tons of mules, this should keep up with your storage needs for quite awhile. Very helpful.

11. Potions Stacksize

This handy mod will allow you to keep up to 200 potions or scrolls of the same type in a single stack. Far nicer than the original 20. Some might complain this makes the game easier, but I’ve never gone through more than twenty potions in a dungeon anyway, so all it really does is give you less bookkeeping, since you can just buy (or find) your potions all at once instead of swapping them out every time you get back into town without losing all your inventory space.

12. Shadow Vault+ (Bosses and Warps)

This fun mod adds boss fights back into the Shadow Vault. I personally get tired of just fighting the old monsters all the time and like to mix things up with additional boss fights. This mod adds in the old bosses you fought before, with scaled up levels to match the floors they’re appearing on. Very nice for those who like their boss battles. It also attempts to continue adding warps at all the boss floors, but only the first warp actually works, so don’t use the waypoints this mod generates, or you risk having to walk back to the floor you were at before.

13. UniqueDrop + SuccessEnchant or Enchant Never Wipe

The first of these mods forces most item drops to become unique and set items, with the occasional rare and magic drops included. The rate of item drops slows down a bit, but the rate of unique drops is much higher. Both of these mods will prevent items from being destroyed through enchantment, though that is the sole purpose of the second mod. Though the first mod causes insane amounts of increased power, both will definitely make the game easier and should only be used if they fit the style of game you want to play. UniqueDrop is great for those focused on building a character, gear and all, rather than looking for loot. If loot is what you play for, UniqueDrop will kill your fun pretty quickly, in addition to making the game easier. If you play to build, this might be a good addition for you. Also worth noting is that if you combine this mod with Baklah’s Finest Gear, the new magic gear merchant will sell almost all unique and set items, making it easy to pick and choose the gear you want as long as you can get the gold. If what you want is to get insanely powerful items through enchantment, either mod is a good pick for you, though the second will allow you to continue experiencing the wide variety of items Torchlight offers.

14. XP Potions

This mod will destroy the game balance of Torchlight. However, if you’re simply looking for gold and XP, and lots of it, this mod is the ticket. XP Potions grant as high as a 150% XP bonus, and they sell for oodles of gold as well. Yes, they actually drop from enemies, with higher level potions dropping as you reach higher levels. If you’re willing to fork over a good chunk of gold, you can also buy them from the new XP Potion merchant in town. As they’re good for one hour, a single potion will go a long way. If you’re looking to build characters quickly, or create lots of heirlooms, this is a good mod for you. If you prefer a long(ish) grind to level to max level, or like the current balance of wealth, you should skip this one.

So there you have it, 14 mods for Torchlight that you might find worth checking out. Give any that sound interesting a try, and see if they improve your experience. Also feel free to share your favorite mods in the comments so we can give them a try.

Welcome to the April 2010 edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. My apologies for the late post, it’s been a busy day for me. Let’s see what’s in store for this month, shall we?

First up, we have Casey Markee with her post 15 Warning Signs You’re Addicted to World of Warcraft | Troubled Teens Wizard at Troubled Teens Wizard Blog, saying, “Who knew World of Warcraft could be so addictive? If you or your loved ones exhibit any of these 15 warnings signs seek help immediately…the life you save may be your own!” While gaming addiction is a real problem, I think it is usually overstated a bit by blogs like this. However, there are the occasional people who exhibit extreme symptoms who really do need to reevaluate things, and most of the things written in this post truly are things to worry about if you see them in yourself. Still, let’s remember this is a game, and the people who experience this kind of addiction are an extreme minority. I want to stress, most of us gamers are perfectly normal (aside from being a tad eccentric) and there’s nothing wrong with the hobby. Still, check it out, and engage in civil debate or support if you feel the need.

Mat Growcott has an Interview with Visceral Games for us at NonsenseGamer, saying, “A great interview we just managed to score with Visceral Games. It’s a fun read for any fans of Dead Space/Dante’s Inferno.” I remember the piece being a good one, but as of the time of this carnival the site is going through some reorganization and the post is unavailable. I’m placing the link here anyway so people can see it when the page goes back up.

Next, you should check out Meg’s post Passionfruit Hutong over at Simpson’s Paradox. Lucky girl got herself a chance to beta test Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box from Passionfruit Games. Since she’s been playing it for a bit, she figured it’d be good to give us a preview of what it’s like so far and where she thinks it’s going. While she can’t say too much, what she does have to say ought to get people who like this kind of game interested in giving it a whirl when it hits stores.

Finally, Natasha Rucker has kindly pointed out an issue some MMO communities suffer from in her piece I Swear I’m a Girl! at The Girlie Geek Blog. I haven’t played in the raids of any MMO, so I have no personal experience with observing this behavior (and being a guy, I also might not notice as much anyway), but my women friends who game online seem to have this issue as well. So, I find myself in agreement with Natasha, and bewildered that we can’t just treat the women who game online the same as the men. At home, we don’t have a problem with this in our local gaming circles, but it seems to be a big issue online.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on May 27, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

The game has three character classes, who fit the common archetypes of the Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, but with a bit of twist. They’ve been redubbed the Destroyer, Vanquisher, and Alchemist, respectively. And each class has some overlap with the others through their skills, which allows you to build characters that are hybrids of the traditional roles with a great level of ease. Add in spells that can be learned by anyone in addition to the class specific skills, and you end up with a game that, even though there are character classes, allows you to do a great deal of customizing when building your character.

The story is pretty cookie-cutter, but it does it’s job of motivating the game. In a nutshell, there’s an ancient evil below the town of Torchlight. As the hero, it’s up to you to investigate and stop it. Done.

Now, the click-fest fighting, on the other hand, is actually like nothing I’ve seen in an action rpg before. Yeah, Diablo and Diablo 2 had click-fest fighting. But not like this. You will be swarmed, charged, and ambushed. You will uses aoes, regardless of class, to decimate hordes of enemies and watch them go flying before you, only to be replaced with more than you just wiped out. In short, you will be awesome, but the hordes of monsters will keep up with you and drag you down if you aren’t careful.

On another, more mechanical note on the fighting, if you liked the way hotkeys worked in Diablo 2, you can assign hotkeys to F1-F12 and switch between them just as you did in that game. However, there is also the option to assign them to hotkeys 1-0, in which case pressing the button uses the skill. I much prefer the second way, but anyone who likes the other method is free to use it.

All characters also have a pet who fights with them, who can also be sent to town to sell junk you don’t want to keep lugging through the dungeon. They can also learn spells to cast in combat, which is very handy to have. The most useful bit is not needing to leave the dungeon until you want to go back to town to turn in quests or buy more swag.

Once you finish the game, there is also an infinite dungeon, the Shadow Vault, which is basically more of the same gameplay, at a level of difficulty appropriate to your character level. There are quests to do every floor, so those who like something to do will certainly have it. No bosses in the Shadow Vault though, so champion monsters will be the toughest you can hope for in the base game. There are plenty of champions, however.

You can also retire a character upon finishing the game, which gives you a chance to build a new character and gift them a single item from the retiring character. This item is called an heirloom, and it gains more power than it had before and has less stringent requirements for it’s use. Passing the same item down many times will make it very powerful and easy to use, though most of the benefits do cap at some point from what I’ve read.

The one thing I wasn’t impressed with was the load times. For such a small game (about 400 MB), it takes a long time to load. I’ve actually taken to browsing the internet while the game turns on and dungeons load. I usually make it 3/4 of the way through a moderate length article during a given load. Still, while annoying, it’s a minor gripe in an otherwise great game.

Finally, there’s the modding scene. Not enough content for you? Modders can make new classes, new pets, new items, new levels, new npcs, and completely new campaigns linked to the town of Torchlight. They can build standalone static levels or work them into the random level generator. They can tweak xp, fame, and gold, boost the level cap, change what you get on level up, and anything else they want. The GUI can be changed, and there are even texture packs to increase graphics quality, or in the event your computer doesn’t meet the already very low system requirements, texture packs to reduce graphic quality to boost your framerate. Absolutely everything can be changed or added to, and you can probably find a mod to bring the game closer to what you would like.

So, as you can tell, I think Torchlight is a game that’s definitely worth playing for anyone who likes action rpgs, and it might even convert a few new players to the genre. When I’m looking for some action rpg fun, I’ll be coming back to this for quite awhile.

Meg put in the first submission of the month with her post Silkroad Society at Simpson’s Paradox. In it, she takes a look at a problem that plagues MMO’s that I actually haven’t spent a lot of time on here: the lack of politeness in many MMO chat channels. Noting that Silkroad Online is currently attempting to combat  this problem, she goes on to examine some reasons why people act like this as well as talking about some solutions, all with their good and bad sides.

Luke Geraghty has two pieces for us today at Luke Geraghty.com. First up is 101 Classics: Diablo 2. From Luke himself, “With Diablo 3 looming on the horizon, I take a look back at its predecessor and argue that it should be heralded as a classic in the RPG genre.” This one is a slam dunk. My friends and I still play Diablo 2 to this day, Blizzard continues to run the ladders and people still flock to play, the newest balance patch was released two days ago, and the game came out nearly ten years ago. Going strong for ten years sounds like we’re headed to classic territory to me. Next he tells us what he thinks about The Future of ‘Tomb Raider’. In his own words, “‘Tomb Raider’ is a gaming megabrand with its heroine perhaps outshining the video games themselves. With the latest title ‘Underworld’ in mind, I dissect the past and present games in the series and ask: ‘What exactly lies in store for ‘Tomb Raider’?'” While I was never a fan of the series myself, I recognize it as an important series. The new action game idea does intrigue me though, and I may have to check it out.

Redmongoose would like us to see Mistwalker Releases Concept Art for New Wii RPG at Red Mongoose. I have to say, the concept art for Last Story is looking good to me. Here’s hoping it turns out to be a good game. With a name like Last Story, if it turns out to be an excellent game, we could see this become the next Final Fantasy, going on forever despite a name that implies this should be it. Doesn’t bother me, but it can be amusing when people take the name too seriously.

Douglas Byrd takes a look at the tightrope a GM walks between challenging PCs and survivability in his post DnD: Keeping the game safe, but challenging for new players at Novacorp. This is a common problem GMs face, and it’s good to have a look at ways to deal with it. He has some good suggestions for starting GMs so they can get a feel for the game, so you should check them out. Covers both combat and puzzles. I think the puzzles are something many GMs could use a lesson or reminder in. Myself included at times.

Matt Willard has Today’s Really Kick*** Moment – Excalibur Sonic at Giant Robot Invasion! Click on over for a for the video. An amusing take on Sonic and the Black Knight. Not sure how I feel about the game since I haven’t played it. I kind of like the mystical tack the series has taken, at least when the gameplay stays fun. Others, such as Matt, disagree, but still see the good that exists.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on April 29, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

According to the article linked above, the servers went down around 8 AM GMT this morning, and weren’t back up as of the time it was posted. For those who want to play their legally purchased copies of the game, they seem to be out of luck until at least tomorrow, as that’s when Ubisoft said they’ll be looking at the issue. If I had actually purchased this game, I’d be incredibly angry about this. Luckily, it’s not my problem.

So, for those gaming companies who insist this is necessary, are incidents like this enough? Since the DRM system is already cracked by pirates anyway, and it’s likely only a matter of a few days before  it’s specifically cracked for Assassin’s Creed 2? When are you going to stop punishing your actual customers for the actions of people who were never going to buy your game in the first place? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I will not buy or play any game that uses any inconvenient DRM technology. If you want my business, and that of countless other gamers, fix this. And by fix this, I mean stop using these DRM schemes. Though Ubisoft also owes it to their customers to get their servers back up as soon as possible, and they should have been working on them already. Of course, what they should really do is release a patch to remove this awful DRM scheme, then never speak of using it again.

To be clear, I do not condone piracy. However, the measures Ubisoft has taken while attempting to protect their game are, in the end, a spectacular failure of customer service, and I’m willing to bet in the next day or two they’ll be shown to be a technical failure as well due to some pirate group releasing a crack. Then, the pirates will be heralded as heroes for fixing the game and releasing it as it should have been released in the first place.

Tony Huynh has Greatest Video Game Trailers, God of War III (3) Release date and cover for us, posted on LimitlessUnits.com. His words say it all: “A countdown to the greatest video game trailers of all time. God of War III release date and cover finalized.” Props to him for including the Gears of War trailer in his list of great trailers. I’ve never played the game, but the trailer is a great one. Of course, he picked some other good ones to include as well, so allow him to take you on a stroll down memory lane while you wait for God of War 3 to release.

Meg gives us Game Review: Funky Farm 2 which she has posted at Simpson’s Paradox. The review is full of personality, much like she says the game is, and if you’re into farm sims like Harvest Moon, you may want to check out this review to see if Funky Farm 2 might also be a good fit for you. Of course, you could also check it out just to support other bloggers who play games or if you’re in the market for something different from your usual.

Curtis has some tips in his post How to Obtain Crop Mastery in Farmville | FarmVilleTime.com at FarmVilleTime.com. As he succinctly put it, “Farmville on Facebook – Tips, Secrets, and Hints”. This is, of course, for those who like the Facebook game Farmville and are looking for some help on obtaining crop masteries. I don’t play myself, but Curtis lays out the process for those who do and are looking to figure out how it’s done.

James Feudo gives us some life advice in his piece Life Lessons From Video Games | Overnight Sensation – Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development posted at Overnight Sensation, telling us, “If you’re looking for evidence that video games help you in the game of life, then look no further.” In this piece, he draws some parallels between life and gaming, using ideas such as playing to your strengths, obtaining power-ups, and managing your growth. It’s an interesting read and you should check it out.

Finally, because I would like to see at least one post on the topic of tabletop rpgs in the carnival, I’m leaving a link to post by yours truly. Leveling by Plot Rather Than XP, posted right here at Gaming My Way, describes some alternative methods to leveling up characters for the purposes of plot advancement instead of just handing over some experience points. While not for everyone, the ideas could certainly be useful for some styles of gaming.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on March 25, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

That’s right, it’s me with some more reasons MMORPGs, particularly World of Warcraft, are bad, bad, bad. Of course, you already knew that, so let’s take a look at some of the best reasons.

5) They’re addicting.
No joke. Seriously, just check out the top reason for some of the withdrawal symptoms if you don’t believe me. I have friends who play hours upon end trying to get their fix of one more epic item. They give up lots of social opportunities in order to do “one more raid” in the hopes they’ll find what they need and not have it looted by a guild mate. Or enough gold to buy what they want from whatever vendors may be available. Most people will try to turn this around into a compliment about how awesome the game is. Now you’re prepared for it so you don’t fall into the same trap.

4) They turn you into a wimp.
“Warriors are so overpowered!” Ever hear that line? It’s the line of someone who just lost PvP to a warrior. Now, in most games, you pick up your character and try again. In an MMORPG? You go onto the official forums to let the devs know that the enemy class needs to be nerfed or yours needs to be buffed… preferably both! MMORPGs are so based on stats that the way to win is to have higher stats first, more skill second. This, in turn, leads you to looking to other people (in this case, the devs) to solve your problems for you, instead of you solving them yourself (such as by getting better at the game then winning). So much for self-reliance. And all of this is without even considering the physical aspects of wimpiness from a lack of exercise. Perhaps this isn’t a good life lesson. Apparently it works in MMORPGs though… after all, they want you to be happy, so you keep playing and hand over more of your hard earned money. Speaking of which…

3) They’ll drain your account dry.
Low on money? Too bad! It’s the end of your subscription period. If you want to play more, you must renew! I bet now you wish you didn’t leave your job to play games. Now, the smart thing to do here is cancel your account and run away as fast as you can, never to return to the game. Unfortunately, you’re addicted and need your fix (see point 5). So you dig into the college fund, or the rent money, and pay your bill to keep playing. This could also lead to some unpleasant social situations, including…

2) Losing your girlfriend (or boyfriend).
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Plenty of girls play MMORPGs. This is true. Plenty of them will still ridicule you if you make any one of these MMORPGs your life’s work, particularly if it means you pay less attention to them. And girls, you don’t get off the hook either. There are plenty of guys who will leave you too if you leave them in the lurch for a game. After all, I know very few people who will tolerate “Sorry I was late for our date honey, but there was a raid I had to finish before leaving the house.” It’s far, far worse if you miss the date entirely. Also, your significant other will see all this money you put into the game and wonder why it couldn’t go towards them… perhaps to make that date a bit more interesting.

1) Lose your soul.
Seriously, people say this like it’s a joke, so I have a story for you all. I lived in a dorm at school which was heavily into gaming. About half the dorm picked up World of Warcraft at launch. We didn’t see much of them after that. Once in awhile, however, the server might be down, or the internet on campus would go down. At this point, the WoW players would leave the comfort of their computers and virtual worlds, to wander the halls with a glazed look in their eyes. Many would lament their inability to play the game at the time, and it seemed to be all they could think about. They had lost their souls to WoW and become zombies for the MMORPG.

Still not convinced playing one of these games is a bad idea? Try it out for yourself then. Just have a support group ready to bring you back from the brink when you find out how truly bad these games can be for you.

Note: Once again, in case you missed it at the top, this piece is not at all serious. Don’t take it as such, and you’ll hopefully enjoy it. And if you’re one of those watchdog groups that thinks games are bad, this piece is not the place to do your research. I’m making certain claims because they’re funny, not because they’re true.