HEARTHSTONE OPEN BETA!

 

 

 

Go check out Battle.net and sign up for the free beta RIGHT NOW!



 

WHATS UP MOTHAFUCKAS? Aw man, I really wish I wasn't sitting at work right now! Other than just not wanting to be here, I have a new reason to despise leaving mi casa: Hearthstone. So, this is a new game from Blizzard, the creators of 98% of lifes necessities (These guys made Warcraft, Starcraft, World of Warcraft and of course DIABLO...so besides those games you need a computer and some food and your set for life).

I hopped on the beta last night around 9:30. It was cool to see the new Blizzard "launcher" being beta tested for Hearthstone. It combines all of your Blizzard games into one simple page, so you can just launch and update games easily. The initial game download was around ~1 GB, and then you had to install around ~800MB of patches. Launching the game was awesome, I always love to see new Blizzard cinematics. The tutorial of the game sets you against 5 computer characters. Blizzard chose to start us (the beta testers) with a mage. It is really fucking cool how they incorporated all of the graphics and sounds from previous Warcraft titles. So, as a mage, you recognize tons of spells/minions/abilities if your familiar with Blizzard games. The game is a lot like Magic the Gathering, being that it is a card game, where you draw a card each hand, and control your character who has a set amount of hit points. The major difference from Hearthstone and Magic is that there are no "land" cards in H.S., but at the beginning of each turn you actually gain a mana crystal, which pays for creatures and spells you cast.

So, if you are on your 8th turn, you should have at least 8 mana crystals at your disposal at the beginning of that turn. There are also cards, like in MTG, that can add mana to your pool, making your army powerful a lot faster.There is also in-game deck editing, which I thought was wicked cool and user friendly. It is basically just a click and drag interface, for almost every aspect of the game. It was definitely made with the intention that you could pick it up and learn how to play almost instantly. After playing for about 2 hours last night, I realized that this game requires more skill than I previously thought. As you begin to play online against other people, you gain experience and gold. The experience will level your character up, and at certain levels you unlock other playable characters to battle with. From as far as I got last night, the gold you earn was used for buying new packs of cards, which from what I saw, are 5 to a pack. These packs are then added to each characters card bank, and you can go and custom build 30 card decks. I am eager to get the fuck outta work and battle tonight!

I also was downloading Eve Online while I was at work all day yesterday, and was able to log on and play the game for about an hour. This is an open space MMORPG type game, and it seems insane! You choose a character and board a space ship, and the rest of the game is totally up to you. I just began the tutorial quests, which taught me how to fly and attack, and harvest supplies. From what I've heard, the game is VERY advanced, and you can manipulate almost every aspect of the game world. I am excited to play it some more, I got it for a 14 day trial, and maybe if I really enjoy it I'll make the purchase. Life is so tough though, because there are so many video games but so little time!

OK , I'm done writing for now. I am going to try to end every blog with some music, so check out what I got for today...some Ski Bird Drum and Bass Chillout Jams...Paz =)