Monday, March 24, 2008

The Guild: Extra Stuff!

While we've heard that The Guild is currently working on episodes 9, 10, and a much-awaited season ender, I decided to get my fix of The Guild on their YouTube channel.

So far they've had eight episodes posted:
But they also have a few other videos, which I've decided to focus on this blog post. The most recent is this one, where we have the crew show off their nice little ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production, right before they bagged the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007. I think it's just cute to see the whole bunch off-character every now and then.



Then we have a gag reel from a whole bunch of outtakes from the first three episodes, posted in mid-October of last year.



And finally, probably my favorite thus far, is this cute little Christmas montage they put together. Featuring the music of Don Schiff, with a creepy Santa and cute little Cubby :)



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Gamer in Felicia Day!

Now here's a lady who can easily be every gamer-boy's dream-come-true. Felicia Day, ladies and gentlemen: she's cute, she's funny, and most importantly, SHE PLAYS GAMES!

Seriously.

In a recent episode of Mahalo Daily with Veronica Belmont, we get treated to an interview with Felicia Day and The Guild co-star Sandeep Parikh. Of course, they talk about the online comedy series- what it's about, how they came up with the idea for it, and what's in store for The Guild in the immediate future.

Somewhere along the conversation, Felicia admits to being a gamer all her life- getting into PC games as early as 6 or 7 years old, and rattled off quite a few of the games I also played back then- more notably, the Sierra series of adventure games: King's Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry!

Woohoo! Man, I loved those games! And that was back when games came in antiquated 5-1/4" diskettes. Diskettes, man!

She also mentioned the Ultima series, a bad Diablo addiction in college, and as we all know now from The Guild official website, a two-year addiction to World of Warcraft!

Anyway, you can check the rest of the interview on YouTube, or right here, as I have conveniently provided for your viewing pleasure.



Check her out on her very own website, right here- where you could check out more pics (like the one above), and the kind of work she's done so far. Smart little lady has even done some branding and is doing a great job marketing herself online. Heck, she's even designed the website herself! Well done, Felicia :)

If you haven't seen it yet, go check out The Guild- it's a hilarious online comedy series which you can check out on the show's channel on YouTube, or on this great comedy site- Effinfunny.com. I've also provided some linkage (to all eight webisodes thus far) right here:
Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 8: "Tipping Point"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

In our last episode, Codex now knows why Zaboo is so weird, and all is not well in Cyd's household. Meanwhile, Tink shows off her babysitting skills, Bladezz gets back at The Guild, and Zaboo bids Cyd goodbye :) with an ethernet cord.

Guild drama continues in Episode 8: "Tipping Point". Enjoy!



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 7: "Home Invasion"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

We see more of the Codex-Zaboo drama in our last episode. The Guild goes on, despite the debacle at Cheesybeard's. And someone else decides to drop on in! We get to know more about our not-so-welcome guest right here on Episode 7: "Home Invasion"! Enjoy this one!



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 6: "Total Wipe"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

The Knights of Good all hang out at Cheesybeard's in our last episode, and as Codex tries to keep the meeting right on track, we get more on- and off-line drama with terribly disastrous (and funny!) consequences!

This next episode, "Total Wipe", was the very first episode I've seen of The Guild, and made a total fan-boy out of me. Checked out YouTube, the official websites, signed on as a fan on Facebook, and yes, featured them on my blog :D

Enough about me- let's watch some more of Codex, Zaboo and everyone else in The Guild! Enjoy!


Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 5: "Rather Be Raiding"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

In our last episode, The Knights of Good finally meet up at the local hangout, Cheesybeard's... and it was damn awkward. Also hella hilarious! The meeting at Cheesybeard's continues with Episode 5: "Rather Be Raiding". Arrr ye ready for another comedic clip?


Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Guild, Episode 4: "Cheesybeard's"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

I'll tell you why The Guild is such a huge hit for me- three things, really:

1. The Geekness- it refers to dorky games like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars and stuff. And, yes, I do play those MMORPG's, dork that I am.
2. The Ladies- wow, Felicia Day (who plays Cyd/Codex) and Amy Okuda (Tink, pictured below with the crew on set) are both sooo cute!

3. The Humor! Tell me it isn't funny, and I will fight you :) Online :D

Now let's get back to the story. In our last episode, the Guild deals with an in-game issue: Bladezz got banned for spamming at the Auction House. Zaboo shows off his Photoshop skills and his -uh- "magic carpet". Cyd wants to desperately get away from it all, and proposes the Guild meet up for a change in real life.

So the chicks and dudes all finally meet up in this episode, "Cheesybeard's". Enjoy!



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 3: "The Macro Problem"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

In our last episode, after not being online for more than 36 hours, Zaboo finally shows up- at Cyd's doorstep! Zaboo seems to be bent on taking their online "relationship" to the next level, much to Cyd's ever-growing dismay. Oh, and after a very long bus ride, he also needs to "drop some kids off at the pool" :)

Check out this next episode, "The Macro Problem". Enjoy!



Also worth mentioning: kudos to Eric McKenney on those great character sketches, Joseph Limbaugh for the animation sequence (after Cyd's cold open), and to Don Schiff for the cute little musical score. You really put it together with this one, guys.

Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

The Guild, Episode 2: "Zaboo'd"

Welcome to our continuing coverage of The Guild, my new online favorite, and winner of the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award, the YouTube Best Series Award for 2007, and the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production.

In the very first episode, we are introduced to Cyd Sherman, who goes around online in a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) as a healer by the name of Codex. Our series of webisodes takes a peek into her life (as though they were vlogs), and how she relates with her colleagues from "The Knights of Good"- her online playing companions.

We meet them all in Episode 1. Cyd/Codex is having a rather challenging time dealing with her MMORPG addiction. From their Facebook page, we read:

Quirky and a bit socially awkward, Codex was a violin prodigy as a child but then ... she grew up. She's at a major crossroads in her life, but it's much easier to play video games than make any life decisions. She's a healer in-game as well as in-life, always helping other people with their problems while ignoring her own.

Of course, we also meet the rest of her guildies:

Vork - The guild's resident "tank", or warrior. His real-life name is Herman Holden, and is also the guild leader. We see how his life revolves around gaming; his toaster, mini-fridge and indoor skillet is all within arm's reach of his PC.

Hmm, maybe I should set my room up that way too... Anyway, here's the blurb on Vork from Facebook:

Vork is the Guild leader of the "Knights of Good." He focuses all his energy on the Guild and rarely leaves his house because, "doing things costs money." Everything he needs to sustain himself is within arms reach of his computer, so he never has to get up from his desk. Serious but well-intentioned, it's easy to push his buttons, which his Guildies do frequently.


Tinkerballa- or just "Tink"- is the guild's hunter/ranger. She may look sweet, but she can be rather direct if she has to be (which is most of the time). She's one of the younger members of "The Knights of Good", probably in high school or college. Apparently has a constant need for gaming; we see her playing a Nintendo DS even while the rest of the guild is just talking.

This is what she has on Facebook:

Tinkerballa has a sweet-as-pie face with a mouth that will bust your balls. She plays a ranger class, so keeps herself distant from the group physically and emotionally. The Guild doesn't know a lot about her personal life. She acts apathetic but she's defensive of her Guildies when they need help.


Bladezz - is the guild's rogue. Also one of the younger members of "The Knights of Good". He has a tendency to hit on all the female guildmates. Also seems to be quite handy with cards.

Here's what we find out about Bladezz' character on Facebook:

Bladezz is the youngest Guild member and a bit of a loot whore. He's always creating drama, but it's "never his fault." He loves to push people's buttons, especially Vork's. Bailing him out of trouble is a full time job for the members of the Knights of Good.

Clara - is the guild's resident heavy-damage-dealing gnome mage, which incidentally also uses her real name as her online name. Clara is a stay-at-home mom of three, cheerful and nice and all, but not exactly a model parent. You'll see :)

This is what we have on Clara on Facebook:
Clara is the mother of three children, but her real parenting skills come into play online. She is always full of buoyant enthusiasm regardless of logic and acts as a mediator during any crisis. On another note, she likes to giggle when she kills mobs. It's a little creepy over the mic.


Finally, we meet Zaboo - who plays a gnome warlock online. Apparently he thinks that he and Cyd/Codex have a "relationship" online, misinterpreting her normal smiley faces on chat as a genuine display of affection towards him. His real name is Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg, and is HinJew, a combination of Hindu and Jew. Also pretty handy with Photoshop.

This is what we have on his character on Facebook:

Zaboo is overly enthusiastic about everything and is always willing to help out a Guildie, whether they like it or not. He gives 100% to everything, and his trusting nature frequently gets him into trouble. He's a whiz online, and can find out anything about anyone: And he does. Grouping with him is always fun, his enthusiasm can put anyone in a good mood.

Now that we got to know the guys a little better, let's move on to Episode Two now, shall we? This little bit is entitled, "Zaboo'd". Enjoy!



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

'Til next episode! Cheers, everyone!

A Little More StarCraft!

Just a couple a days ago, my friends and I were playing this cool StarCraft boardgame. I suppose we all needed a break from the usual PC/Xbox360/DS gaming. We could have played a good ol' fashioned pen-and-paper RPG, but no one wanted to DM, so we played this one (as well as a couple of other board games) instead.StarCraft The Board Game is definitely a good change of pace. I'll write more about it on another blog entry. In between rounds, we'd also talk about the latest news in all kinds of gaming- and one of the highly-anticipated games for us was definitely StarCraft II. Heck, why do you think we were tiding ourselves over with the board game? :D

No word yet on when the game is officially going to be released, but the latest trailer was already out on Gamespot (you can check that out here). In the meantime, I thought I could get myself oriented on what else had gone on in the Starcraft Universe.

The original StarCraft game is one of those games that is installed in my PC to this day. It's definitely a classic- one of those games with great replay value, and still provides a great deal of real-time strategy entertainment even when there are a lot of new games out there.

Now most of us have the original game, as well as the Brood Wars expansion pack, but I just found out that there were a couple of other campaign packs not in my collection, namely Insurrection and Retribution.

StarCraft: Insurrection, according to Wikipedia:

Insurrection is the first add-on pack for StarCraft. Although developed and published by Aztech New Media it is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released on PC on 31 July 1998.

The expansion's story focuses on a Confederate colony during the course of the first campaign of StarCraft. As in StarCraft, the player takes control of each race in three separate campaigns. In the first campaign, Terran colonists attempt to defend themselves from the Zerg invasion of the sector as well as from a rising insurgency, while in the second campaign the player directs a Protoss task force sent to clear the Zerg infestation of the colony by any means necessary. In the final campaign the player assumes the role of a Zerg cerebrate, moving to crush all opposition on the surface. The expansion only contains new campaigns and multiplayer maps, it does not include new content such as units and graphical terrain tilesets. Insurrection was criticised by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game and as a result of its lack of success, it is not widely available. Although the add-on is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, they offer no comment on support or availability of the game.

StarCraft: Retribution, according to Wikipedia:

Retribution is the second of the two authorized add-on packs released for StarCraft. The add-on was developed by Stardock, published by WizardWorks Software and authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for the PC in late 1998.

Retribution is set during the second episode of StarCraft, revolving around the acquisition of a crystal of immense power connected to the Xel'Naga. Divided into three campaigns, the player assumes the roles of a Protoss fleet executor, the commander of a Dominion task force and a Zerg cerebrate, all tasked with retrieving the crystal from a Dominion colony and getting it off the planet as quickly as possible. As with its predecessor, Insurrection, Retribution does not include any new gameplay features beyond its single player campaigns and consortium of multiplayer levels. The add-on was not received with critical support, instead being regarded as average but at least challenging. As with Insurrection, Retribution is not widely available. Despite authorizing the add-on, Blizzard Entertainment offers no comment regarding support or the availability of Retribution.

So this means I have to find myself a copy of Insurrection and Retribution and play the damn things before StarCraft II comes out. I've already checked out the official Blizzard website, and, yeah, there's a whole lot going on in there. Here's a trailer for the upcoming sequel to StarCraft, which I found on YouTube.




You could visit the official Starcraft 2 website for lots of artwork, downloadable trailers, even a recap of what has happened so far in the Starcraft universe.

In the meantime, it seems I'm gonna get more of my sci-fi RTS fix playing Warhammer 40K and blow away some Necrons- as soon as I install them into my PC once more.

Cheers, everyone!

Watch "The Guild" on YouTube!

I have to thank Mike of "The Mike Abundo Effect" for this great find- The Guild -a funny new channel on YouTube. If you've been into MMORPG's like World of Warcraft as much as I have, then you'll be laughing your ass off with this brilliant online comedy.

According to Wikipedia:

The Guild is an award-winning online sitcom about the real lives of the online guild "The Knights of Good", with webisodes 3-6 minutes long.

The Guild is based on guilds in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs. The first episode was posted July 27, 2007. It is broadcast on The Guild's personal website, effinfunny.com and YouTube. The show follows the life of Codex, the healer of The Knights of Good, in an attempt to lead a normal life, being dropped by her therapist as a lost cause, having a guildmate show up on her doorstep and facing the guild's internal troubles.

The Guild is written by Felicia Day (who plays the role of Codex), and yes, that's her on the picture to the left (ain't she a cutie?). The online series is directed and edited by Jane Selle Morgan. The series is produced by Day, Morgan and Kim Evey.

We'll feature everyone else in the cast as soon as I've done more research about them.

According to their Wikipedia entry, The Guild won the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production in March 2008, an inaugural award to recognize promising new digital series, as well as the 2008 Yahoo! Video Award and 2007 YouTube Video Award for Best Series.

At the time of this writing, there are some twelve videos on their YouTube channel. You can watch the first one ,"Wake Up Call" right here:



Read more about The Guild as I feature the rest of the other episodes on this blog, "Renzie On Gaming". In the meantime, you can check out their official website for lots of great insider stuff and exclusive video, or you could check them out on Facebook and MySpace.

Cheers!

My Favorite Games: Master of Orion 2 (1996)

I was playing Master of Orion 2 over the weekend. The game is more than 10 years old, and it still provides a great deal of entertainment. At least it's a break from the usual MMORPG and first-person-shooter.

Master of Orion 2 is a good old-fashioned turn-based "build-your-civ-and- conquer-the-known-universe- one-planet-at-a-time" kind of strategy game. When it first came out in 2006, it totally blew me away. I had already seen my fair share of space-empire-themed games like Reach for the Stars, Overlord, and the first Master of Orion- which were all pretty good games (and by "pretty good", I meant I could still lose myself in playing any one of em for hours- particularly the very first Master of Orion). For me, however, MoO2 has just the right amount of detail and micromanagement to keep things interesting.

The first Master of Orion was groundbreaking enough- it was simple and loads of fun, allowing you to explore your surrounding territory, expand your galactic empire by colonizing planets, exploit resources by developing your colonies and forming alliances with other races, and exterminate all those who oppose you.

Some people found the first Master of Orion a bit too simple and repetitive. The second one does give you a LOT more options for customization and micromanagement- you can decide what technology your scientists should research, what weaponry to put into your line cruisers, even how to allocate citizens of one your many planets into what kind of production: farming, industry or research.

You could read Gamespot's review of Master of Orion 2 here, or download the game here on the Atari website.

Cheers, everyone!

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