This is why I play Kingdom of Loathing. They have a spelling and grammar test you have to take before you are allowed to chat with other players.

Typically, I loathe San Diego Comic Con and all of the incessant corporate shilling that goes on there, however, I have to admit that any event that can result in photo ops like this can’t be all bad.

While recording a new SnarkCast with Krystalle, yesterday, we were discussing various bits of MMO news from all over the world.  Sure, there are lots of games going into beta… and lots of games that have just been announced… and lots of games which have announced that they’ll be free to play… but there is a huge “800 pound gorilla” in the room.

Cataclysm is almost here.

I’m going to be honest with all of you.  It is going to be very easy to find me next week, but unless you’re in-game, it’s going to be damned near impossible to get my attention.  I’ve already got my copy of the expansion, a metric ton of coffee, and vacation scheduled for next week.

Heck, I’ve already got my Goblin mount because I’ve already farmed my Bilgewater Cartel faction to Exalted.

Some folks might be wondering if Cataclysm is “all that”.   As someone who spent several months in the beta, let me assure you.  It’s worth it.  I avoided dungeons and end-game raids in the beta because I wanted to go in with at least something to surprise me, but the 80-85 level zones are very cool, and the re-worked world of Azeroth is fun to explore.  I’m sure some of the number crunchers and theorycrafters are going to have “head asplodey” moments with all of the changes, but most players will spend the first few months of the expansion flying around the world and saying “Oooh, SHINY!” a lot.

Here is a sneak preview for you to enjoy.

Our schedule for next year is pretty much done.  There are a few variables left to figure out, and we still need to lock down our guests for next year.  We have a pretty good idea of who they will be, but there might be a last minute surprise addition, you never know.

We also have a pretty good idea of who is interested in sponsoring our track for next year. (More to come on that once it is official.)

So basically, the only things left to do is figure out how many staff we’ll need and bring them up to speed.  We also need to get our signage designed for next year as well as come up with our trivia and other contests.  Since this is November, and we usually don’t start that stuff until July or August, I’m thinking it’s going to be a fairly quiet year for the DC*MMO staff.

That means we’ll have more time to actually PLAY MMOs!!!

Got my 25-man Icecrown Citadel drake this week.

Downed Heroic Sindragosa and Heroic Professor Putricide last week.  Next stop, Heroic Lich King!

By the way, my guild is still recruiting. =)  Drop me a line if you’re interested.

Enjoy!

That’s all the poetry you get from me for at least 3 weeks.  As of this post, I’m declaring a 3 week moratorium on any use of the word Dragon*Con. (My staff bet me I couldn’t do it… 3 weeks without doing anything for Dragon*Con? That’s just crazy talk?)

That is not to say that I will not snark on things.  Oh yes, the Snark must continue to flow.  However, if I say the words “Dragon*Con” anytime between 9/11/2010 and 10/2/2010, (and get caught… if nobody hears it, it doesn’t count) I lose.

To tide you all over for the next 3 weeks, I’m going to show you guys some videos that didn’t have the chance to be shown during our Machinima panels this year.  Thanks again to Romily for hooking us up with some Grade-A eye candy!

Don’t Make Me Get My Main

Halo, reminxed!

I’m on a Mount!

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw on Age of Conan

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw on Eve Online.

Thanks to the DC*TV guys for this image…

William Shatner is an excellent addition to the excessively large group of Dragon*Con’ers know as the “Look at me, Look at me!” crowd. However, I believe in his youth, Leonard Nimoy was probably President of that club.

I think Tara spend too many hours playing Red Dead Redemption or something, because she thought it would be a spiffy idea to invite me on the show as a guest this week. (We’re recording on Friday, and I’ll definitely be posting the link here when it goes live)

I think, in actuality, that this is payback for me making her sit on the infamous Meridian 59 panel with me all those years ago…

(That’s Tara on the left sitting next to me, Crumpster, and Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green back in 2006)

As an added bonus, here is conclusive proof that I do, in fact, wear costumes at Dragon*Con!

Tara was nice enough to write up her experiences back at the 2006 Dragon*Con on one of her other, very appropriately named, websites.

Maybe, one day, I’ll revisit the costume idea of “Jay and Pirate Bob”…

(Not that it will take much work to convince Muskulls to wear a pirate outfit again this year…)

You can see more of the pics from 2006 (and other years) in our Multimedia Gallery.

First, the “Before”

and, nearly 4 weeks of attempts later… The “After”

What does this mean for you guys?  It means you won’t hear me bitching about this fight anymore on The SnarkCast!

O yes, he did. And though this rendition of Vader is not from this video, it definitely reminds me of it (whiny ass Anakin, I swear!)…

"Have a great f*ckin day!"

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