Coming Home to City of Heroes Homecoming

City of Heroes was the first MMORPG I played. After I found my online gaming home in World of Warcraft, I only dabbled in it briefly in 2008, and I never really went back before it closed around 2012 or whatever. But a year ago, the developers of a fan server worked with the original developers to bring it back. I finally gave that a try.

Alright. I installed it early in the day because I thought I could just let it do its thing while I went about my business, but it only took a few minutes. I suppose because it’s still essentially a game that was meant to run on low grade 2003 computers? I went to the character creation screen to see what was up before I reminded myself that I shouldn’t even give it the 15 minutes at that point in what was going to be a busy day.

I went on later in that night to make a character and realized that morning’s restraint was especially wise because the creation did not take 15 minutes. It was probably closer to an hour. I knew the customization system was deep, but I didn’t think it would take me that long. Satisfying though.

Then I played for a few minutes and chose the villain alignment purely because I like the Rogue Isles better than the early hero zones. But because my chaotic neutrality skews towards positive ends, I’ll switch later on because that’s an option now and enjoy the later game’s more interesting hero zones.

Whenever I actually decide to play. Not in a rush. A taste was fun.

Of Mice and Mechanical Failure

My computer broke at the end of July, and at the end of an arduous process, which included two onsite technicians and sending it to the factory, it finally seems to be working again. This is the second time it’s been repaired right before the launch of a Warcraft expansion. I was planning to buy a new computer soon before all of this, but now I want to push that back at least to avoid dealing with computer manufacturers again.

Anyway, in the interim, I was playing Warcraft on my basic work desktop after playing it almost exclusively on laptops for at least 12 of the 13 years I’ve been playing the game. Touch pad instead of mouse through all of that. It worked for me. I liked having both of my hands on one surface. But since I’ve been playing on the desktop for months, I’ve become accustomed to that, and when I got the laptop back, I quickly realized it was time to buy a mouse for it.

And I did.

Bonus Question!

Best mouse?

Mighty springs to mind.

PreciXion

Everyone’s saying that the name of the new Xbox console, the Series X, is leading all of these ill informed parents to accidentally buy the old Xbox One X consoles because of similar naming.

But I can’t imagine how that could happen on a significant scale. Was I the only kid who made sure to specify exactly what I wanted on my Christmas lists or whatever?

“To be clear. We want ‘Super Smash Bros. Melee’. We already have ‘Super Smash Bros.' We want ‘Super Smash Bros. Melee’ for Gamecube. It comes as a disk, not a cartrridge. ‘Melee’.”

Even my father understood that. And then he proudly ran back into the house from the store at the beginning of December to show it off to us before he wrapped it up and hid it away till Christmas.

So yeah, kids. If you don’t want another Xbox One X, just be clear. It’s just a good life lesson in general.

Bonus Question!

Best X?

Fortified Avengers

I’m enjoying the new Avengers game. While I was waiting for it to download, I saw that Fortnite was having a crossover with Marvel and decided to try it for the first time. It looks great! I like that kind of art style. I played around in it for 2 or 3 minutes as Thor before I confirmed that it’s just not my kind of game.

But the actual Avengers game! Kamala’s story is done with impeccable cuteness. I’ve gotten past the part where she and the Avengers look like characters from an early Tony Hawk game because of their shaggy hair and lack of costumes. Now it’s real stuff.

And I enjoyed how MODOK didn’t really mind being turned into a giant grotesque head. His problem was with the fact that the source of that transformation was superhero blood. He just hates those superheroes, you guys!

Bonus Question!

First floating head?

Zordon.