>I once again have yet another new laptop and this one is capable of playing all of those PC games I have been interested in playing since meeting my DH four years ago. It isn’t a “gaming” laptop and it may not be graphics power horse his desktop is but it goes where I go and that is enough for me! 🙂
When we purchased the laptop about a month ago, we also picked up a copy of Guild Wars Platinum. It was the only online game I was interested in playing. I have to say I am loving the game. I can play with other people if I want to or I can play it on my own and at my own pace. It makes it so much easier to play and get things accomplished around the house at the same time. DH just informed my last night that he just purchased us both a copy of Nightfall so soon I will be immersed in that campaign as well. Maybe one day I’ll finish one of the campaigns. LOL
I particularly enjoy that everyone is capped at level 20. You don’t have to grind endlessly to achieve the next level and you don’t have to worry about other players having so much more skill than your character. Admittedly, the level cap is driving DH nuts! LOL He keeps wanting to have his character get bigger and stronger but then again he has been playing this type of game for twenty plus years.
Guild Wars has proven what I always thought to be true … you can have a truly enjoyable online experience and not pay a monthly fee on top of the price of the game itself. I mean honestly, why pay an additional $15 bucks a month or more to play online in addition to the cost of the software. It makes no logical sense. You’ve paid for the software once and then they continually ask you to pay for it monthly. Yes I know, the company has servers to maintain and expansions etc. to develop … but stop and think about that argument for two seconds and you will understand that it is logically inconsistent. The servers and expansions come out of profits or the corporate R&D budget, which is where they should come from. There is no way that the most die hard fanboy can argue the World of Warcraft or any of the other MMO’s out there aren’t cash bloated.
Guild Wars truly makes the argument that there is absolutely NO need for a monthly subscription fee to get stable servers, great story lines, immersive game play, or millions of subscribers. Yes I know that GW doesn’t have the numbers of millions that WOW does or the population might not be as consistently huge when walking into a town or outpost. But then again, it is pretty safe to say that those playing GW still, who are either new or old timers to the game, are there because they enjoy and appreciate the atmosphere and the story without all of the media hype and blind devotion.
For a break last night I downloaded a demo for Spore Creature Creator. There is no denying how unbelievably adorable the critters are and how much freedom there will be in Spore. However, if what I was reading about EA and DRM last night turns out to be accurate information then there is absolutely no way we will be purchasing any more games from EA. It is a slap in the face to consumers who legally purchase their software to continually have to validate that software. If you want to know that I legally own the software then force the disc to be in the drive but do not limit my “activations” to three and then force me to purchase new software. I understand the importance of protecting intellectual property and preventing piracy but punishing legitimate consumers is asinine. This is an issue I plan to watch closely before committing any money to EA software, no matter how much I’d like to play games produced by EA.