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Sunday, June 5, 2011
SW:TOR starting to look good
I have also been very skeptical of SW:TOR because, let's face it, it's highly unlikely that another game will manage to dethrone WoW. Besides, how many "WoW-killers" have already flopped? Too many to count.
Well, I'm not saying that I've suddenly become a big SW:TOR fan but I do happen to be a big Star Wars fan. And just for the record, I hate episodes 1,2,3. I'm old school like that. Anyhoo, looking at some of the more recent previews of SW:TOR, I've started getting a longing for a different kind of universe than WoW.
There are two major universes that I absolutely love in games and in fiction: the fantasy setting (like JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) and the science fiction setting (like Star Wars and Star Trek). So far I've gotten my fill of orcs-and-elves fantasy. WoW was great but I really miss some high-tech action with lasers and spaceships.
I was indifferent to The Old Republic MMO because it seemed a bit shallow to tell the truth. I still don't think it will have the depth of WoW and I don't think it will be updated with new content (to keep it fresh) as often as WoW. Bioware simply does not have Blizzard's resources, though they are themselves pretty resourceful.
What suddenly piqued my interest in SW:TOR was the mention of space battles and the short clip I saw which shows some promising space combat. If a Star Wars game features ground-based combat only, in my eyes it fails. Throw in personal spaceships and space battles and you might have a winner.
One of the minor things that bug me in SW:TOR is Tatooine. I admit that I'm not a book of knowledge in regards to the Star Wars Universe but why the hell does Tatooine have to feature in every damn SW game? What's so special about that backwater dump of a planet? Yeah, I know what they are doing: they're just trying to keep things familiar by re-hashing all the usual locales: Tatooine, Alderaan, Corellia and so on, but sometimes I wonder if there are only a handful of habitable planets in the whole universe. Oh well, just a minor nitpick.
You know what else I adore in Star Wars? The unforgettable sound of lasers. Pew pew pew! That sound is unmistakable and makes me lust for a blaster.
At this point I don't have any way of knowing how good SW:TOR will actually be. Will it satisfy my urge of firing lasers and flying fast ships? Will it feel like I'm immersed in the Star Wars Universe? We can only wait and find out. If both SW:TOR and Diablo 3 are released this year though, I fear that one of them will have a strong competitor, as far as I'm concerned, and we all know which one it is.
6 comments:
I don't know, I guess I'm done with MMO's in general. Let's face it: you need to invest a LOT of time and if you have a real life with real stuff to accomplish... you can get in serious troubles.
I sill follow MMO-Champion because I like that site (like I enjoy your blog) but what really amazes me is seeing yet-another-tier for every class and craploads of "epic" items with higer numbers (soon to be iLevel 400).
It's the same stuff, over and over and over. Same models reskinned, same mounts reskinned, same items with higer bonuses. Same quests (kill 10x maggots, bring me 10x nuggets, ...), daily repetitive tasks, etc.
After so many years I would expect some serious innovation from WoW. Something like housing, for example (back to Ultima Online times, that was amazing). In the era of Minecraft/Terraria I would love the ability to shape/change the world to. I would love to see some physics, new models, more details, etc.
If Wow had a new-revamped 3D engine I would come back for sure with a fresh level-1 toon. Why? Because I love aesthetics and I would LOVE and enjoy exploring a new -more detailed- world.
I don't know about SW MMO but -like you said- too many wow-competitors have already miserably failed. To be a winner you must offer something amazing, something new, something that people will actually enjoy like never before.
This is why Minecraft and Terraria were acclaimed by the gamers: ultra-low price, high replayability, creativity, innovation and fun. All of this at the cost of a crappy graphic engine (Terraria is far better, in my opinion).
- June 6, 2011 at 1:47 AM
- Darth Solo said...
Yeah, you got it: the time investment for MMOs is too big. That's why I wasn't sure I would get into another MMO very soon. When I retire however... that will be another story :)
Unfortunately WoW is static, nothing changes unless the devs decide it to. A WoW-Minecraft would be nice but I don't know how that would be possible. It's the whole question of in-game real estate. Land, even in such a huge world as WoW, is limited. On the other hand, if you instance everything, it won't feel as natural. It would be nice if people could build anything they fancied, from mats they created (this would essentially limit building to how much gold you have, potentially making gold valuable again) but there are too many problems with this approach for it to be viable.
Ah, we'll see. I looked into SW:TOR some more and it's starting to look awfully like WoW (a poorer version) with a SF skin. What bugs me a little is that many things seem to be set in stone. Classes seem to be paired with specific companions and specific ships. Yawn.
At any rate, I won't be jumping into this game until I see some really good official reviews.
- June 6, 2011 at 7:17 AM
- Rick said...
I am really looking forward to this new game, I am a huge star wars fan and really want to get immersed in a universe that I have a deep familiarity too. I still enjoy WoW but am really looking forward to a change of pace and something different.
- June 6, 2011 at 5:32 PM
- Darth Solo said...
@Rick are you going to buy the game right away or are you going to wait for reviews first?
- June 6, 2011 at 8:27 PM
- Yow said...
Hey man I love ur blog, Maybe wanna Link my blog to yours and i do same to yours =)?
Girl gamer from finland =P
Writing is from 2.7k warrior POV :)
- June 9, 2011 at 9:03 AM
- Darth Solo said...
@Yow Thanks! You're added!
- June 9, 2011 at 7:52 PM


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- Amtrak Train
- Amtrak Train Pull String Train Pinata Kit
Product Description
- One 20 inch Round Shaped Pull-Ribbon Pop-out Pinata
- One Amtrak Train 18 inch Mylar (foil) Balloon
- Decorating Instructions for Pinata.
- How to Play Pinata Game Instructions.
- Safety Tips for Pinata Handling.
NOTE: Assembly Required. The picture shown above is how your pinata will look like when assembled. All have to do is attach your favorite foil balloon to the surface of pinata. You will need a glue (Elmer's glue, the kind that dries clear) or double-stick tape (less messy and faster assembly) to create your own unique train pinata.
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So glad you liked, Mumin! Our taste-buds must be similar :)
Raw pasta primavera recipe
Prep Time
Total Time
Shelf LifeSauce lasts in fridge for 4 days
Alfredo sauce
- 2 1/2 cups cashews
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon thyme spice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Noodles and fixins
- 4 large zucchinis
- 12 mushrooms (chopped)
- 20 cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
- 1 cup green pepper (chopped)
Recipe Directions
- 1. Make a batch of raw alfredo sauce.
- 2. Spiralize your zucchini.
- 3. Chop your "primavera" vegetables by hand. You can use any vegetables that you like. But remember that simpler actually tastes better, so don't add too many types of chopped veggies. Try to use 3 types of chopped veggies max. Ideas: button mushroom, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper, broccoli, chopped cilantro, etc.
- 4. Sprinkle with a bit of pepper once done.
The Rawtarian's ThoughtsBy The Rawtarian
Raw pasta primavera... mimicking the taste of good old fashioned Italian pasta in a creamy pasta sauce with fresh chopped veggies. Sounds gourmet, huh? It is! But not as hard as it looks, and no advanced prep is required.
You will require a blender and a spiralizer for this recipe. The blender is required to create the alfredo sauce, and the spiralizer is needed to make the fancy noodles. Alternatively you could use kelp noodles instead of the zucchini noodles. Or if you don't have a spiralizer you can use a carrot peeler to make "noodles" out of the zucchini, but they won't look as nice as mine do :)
Also, you can make this recipe in advance, but do not actually ASSEMBLE it until you are ready to eat. So... you can make the sauce and spiralize the noodles, but keep them in the fridge separately. (Don't actually combine sauce and noodles until ready to eat because "sogginess" will occur!)
Note about alfredo sauce: If you make a full serving of the raw alfredo sauce it keeps in the fridge very well for 3-4 days. One full batch of alfredo sauce makes 4 servings of pasta. (Also, do NOT try to make a half-batch of alfredo sauce because there won't be enough volume in your blender to spin and make the sauce properly, so you really need to make a full batch of alfredo sauce.)
Another alternative sauce: If you have leftover raw ranch dressing that could work instead of the alfredo sauce.
Nutrition Facts
- This recipe is low in Carbohydrates.
- This recipe is an amazing source of Vitamin C.
- This recipe is an excellent source of Protein, Iron, and Vitamin B6.
- This recipe is a good source of Dietary Fiber, and Riboflavin.
- This recipe is a noteworthy source of Vitamin A.
Amounts per 517 g (18 oz) suggested serving
|% Daily
|22 %
|20 g
|36 %
|38 g
|47 %
|38 g
|11 %
|Dietary Fiber
|6 g
|20 %
|80 mg
|8 %
|7 mg
|56 %
|646 mg
|28 %
Print This Recipe (PDF)
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Comments and Reviews
Do you have any suggestion for mushroom substitution?
Hi Ainsley,
The mushrooms aren't integral at all - feel free to omit them entirely, or substitute for your favorite veggie, like sliced red bell pepper, celery or whatever!
Jan 03, 2015
Alex's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
My first raw meal ever and it was fantastic. Even my kids liked it!
Hi Alex, I'm sooo pleased to hear this. Yay! :)
jbubonia's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
YUM! I should have made this sooner. Simply delicious.
Indeed! Glad you liked it, Janace! :)
Sep 07, 2014
Kalie's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
Delicious!!! My favorite recipe thus far!
Hi Kalie! I'm glad this recipe hits the spot for you!
Aug 18, 2014
Catherine's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
Absolutely incredible!!! So filling and tasty! I don't know how I'm going to get through all of this sauce though... Can it be frozen?
Hi Catherine! Yes, you can freeze it and then defrost it later
Mike N.
Aug 11, 2014
what kind of spiral cutter do you use. your zucchini noodles look much thicker than the ones I get.
Hi Mike!
This is my spiralizer: http://tinyurl.com/bzrgrau (it comes with a few blades mounted underneath the unit - I always use the skinny one)
Alyssa S
Jul 13, 2014
Alyssa S's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
I bought a spiralizer to make this. Total game changer. Thank you for this recipe..it was amazing. I ate so much but feel light and energized =) Yay raw food!!
Hi Alyssa! Enjoy your spiralizer - such handy tool! :)
May 18, 2014
Gina's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
I loved this. I just used a peeler for the zucchini. I didn't have enough zucchini, so I used two zucchini and two yellow squash.
Good thinking, Gina. A peeler is all you need! :)
May 06, 2014
Linda's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
can this be made over brown rice pasta? I did try it with the zucchini and i really was surprised how much I liked it. def going to make it this way again the only thing is my noodles came out a little on the wide side cause i used a peeler lol. But would like to have other options. Thank You so much.
Hi Linda,
I am sure it would taste good over brown rice pasta, but it would not be considered raw. However, if you are okay with that then go for it!
Alexis Henriksen
Apr 30, 2014
Bought the app!! <3 so happy!
Lovely! Thanks, Alexis! :)
Alexis Henriksen
Apr 19, 2014
Alexis Henriksen's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
Thank you so much for these down to earth and not over ridiculous fancy recipes. These are basic and simple recipes that you can find the ingredients to at any local store. It saves money, time, stress and energy. I'm a mother of three and stay at home. I had to shop here, here, here, and there. Trying to find a way to be healthy, without compromising one of the above issues! I was pulling my hair out trying to find simplicity! Thanks for lifting one of my heaviest burdens by sharing these recipes.
Be still my heart, Alexis!! Your note just made my day. SO glad to be part of your daily raw journey. <3
Amanda @ Create N Plate
Apr 14, 2014
Amanda @ Create N Plate's Review
Raw pasta primavera recipe
I made this last night for dinner and it was out of this world delicious!! Mmm. I'm actually thinking about going to get some more zucchini for round 2 tonight ;)
Hi Amanda! I'm thrilled you like! :)
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text: This is a quick post about promoting your app store applications, in posters, flyers or online in blog posts, websites and adverts. Now that you have your iOS and Android app – if you don't then what are you waiting for contact us here – you want to be able to easily direct users to your app and indicate to them that you are on the app store that they use. Often on the underground you see applications advertised in carriages with the app store badges placed from various stores. Or you may see a television advert that displays these badges. On the web you may have come across these and clicked on them to grab an app. You too can display an app badge for both the Apple iTunes store and the Google Play store for Android. You can grab the icons here: Apple iTunes App Store badge Google play store badge These files include vector images so whether they will be printed on a flyer or blown up to be displayed on a billboard on the high street they will look perfect at any time. On our own website we had the following banner displayed: Here we used the android badge to link directly to the application This could be done with the above files however Google have a nifty little generator that allows you to input the app details and then generate a piece of html code for you to place on your website. It will ask for the package name, this is a section of the URL of the play store link. Example: Two Magazine on the play store has the following URL https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aptusi.android.twomagazine&hl=en_GB so in the package name copy and paste com.aptusi.android.twomagazine and then hit generate. Try it now. Google play store badge Generator


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Big Ten and "super league" hockey teams will need who they ditched
Wednesday's "super league" announcement in Colorado Springs will dramatically change the college hockey landscape, including how I cover the NCAA Tournament. The chosen ones — 2011 NCAA Tournament participants DU, CC, North Dakota, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha — will publicly announce their intentions to split from the WCHA and CCHA, respectively, and form a star-studded start-up league that they hope will eventually include Notre Dame by the time it debuts for the 2013-14 season.
On one hand, I love this move because the super league will make a fine non-conference scheduling partner with the Big Ten (Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State). So the primary team I cover, DU, will mostly be playing big-time hockey programs on national or regional television.
The Big Ten will have the Big Ten Network, and the super league is rumored to have reached a deal — or will undoubtedly reach a deal with Notre Dame in the mix — with Versus/NBC to complement the network's NHL weekday coverage.
If that's the way it unfolds, I might have a better chance of covering Air Force in the NCAA Tournament than the Pioneers or CC Tigers. That is, if the NCAA Tournament doesn't tweak its computer selection model and increase the reward for strength of schedule and quality wins.
If the super league does indeed primarily create a nonconference schedule against Big Ten teams, any of those 12 or 13 combined teams will have to be awful good to approach the NCAA Tournament with 20-25 wins in a 36-game regular season. DU has produced a school-record 10 consecutive 20-win seasons, a current streak only matched by Michigan (24 straight). But for the Pios, qualifying for the national tournament after playing four combined regular-season league games against UND, CC, UMD, MU, UNO and hopefully ND (24 total), plus eight to 12 nonconference games against Big Ten foes, would be extraordinarily difficult.
Going 20-10-6 in the regular season would be considered outstanding, but it probably wouldn't put you in position for a No. 1 or No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed (eight total). Instead, 25-win teams from the ECAC, Hockey East or even the AHA would dominate the first eight seeds. You see, while the Big Ten and super leaguers are beating up on each other, the best in Hockey East, ECAC and AHA are reeling off 15 wins apiece by January.
It worked for Yale last season. The Bulldogs played one regular-season game against proposed Big Ten or super-league teams — beating CC 5-1 in November — and were 26-7-1 entering the NCAA Tournament, as the No. 1 overall seed.
If the formula doesn't change, many of the super-leaguers and Big Ten boys will go from perennial NCAA Tournament participants to spectators, having exchanged easier schedules and Frozen Four memorabilia for league television revenue and ticket sales in the regular season. To combat that (if the formula doesn't change), these very teams must schedule six to eight nonconference games against the non-Big Ten teams and those that didn't make the super-league cut. In the end, DU's schedule last season might not look that much different beyond 2014.
The days of Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage, Minnesota State, St. Cloud State and Bemidji State visiting Magness Arena aren't over. They just won't come every year, replaced every now and again by the likes of Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green, Alaska-Fairbanks and Western Michigan.
In the end, the Big Ten and super-leaguers will need the very teams they ditched. Question is, will teams like Yale and the spurned mid-majors in Minnesota, Michigan and Alaska want to play them?
Keep tabs with Mike Chambers on Twitter: @MChambersDP
Read more of Mike Chambers at All Things Avs.


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AMS-2 at ESTEC
The Large Space Simulator (LSS) in the at ESA's research and technology centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is used to test satellites and spacecraft before they are sent to space. It has seen all kinds of space hardware, but the AMS detector was a very special one.
Not only is it the biggest scientific instrument to be installed on the International Space Station, but also it is the first magnetic spectrometer to be flown in space, and it has the most powerful magnet ever used in space.
Assembled in Switzerland…
The AMS detector was built by a large international collaboration and it was assembled at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The first part of the tests was also conducted at CERN, when the detector was put through its paces using a proton beam from CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator to check its momentum resolution and its ability to measure particle curvature and momentum.
AMS's ability to distinguish electrons from protons was also tested. This is very important for the measurement of cosmic rays, 90% of which are protons and constitute a natural background for other signals that interest scientists. AMS is looking for an abundance of positrons and electrons from space, one of the possible markers for dark matter.
With over 300 000 data channels, the detector gathers an extremely large amount of data, which is then processed and sent back to Earth using the Space Station's power, communication and data infrastructure.
…tested and qualified at ESTEC
After a six-day journey from Geneva to Noordwijk, the special convoy rolled into the LSS building on 16 February 2010 accompanied by 20 members of the AMS team.
The LSS uses a huge vacuum chamber, complete with its own bright 'Sun' and walls cooled by liquid nitrogen, to reproduce the conditions of space, while various shakers, acoustic chambers and electromagnetic tests are used to mimic conditions during launch and operation in space. The test objects were treated to the hardships of a launch and space.
After the tests, payload managers decided to use a less powerful, non-superconducting magnet that enables AMS to operate through the planned life of the Space Station instead of a relatively short three years.