Now that we’ve touched upon the scenery and epic scale of the new World of Warcraft expansion, it seems like a good point to go into more detail about the content you’ll probably be spending a future paycheck on. As the beta test continues, more and more videos are posted to youtube while the unwitting watchers cry about the lack of balance between the classes. Specifically death knights. Before I go on, let me remind everyone that the expansion is still in the beta testing phase. Nothing is particularly set in stone in terms of talents/spells/etc. The developers have been very good about watching the forums and taking in new suggestions as well as listening to concerns that the players have.

Beta warning aside, I’m not going to get into most of the class mechanics, mainly because I’ve only played three of them in depth. Because of that, I feel I’m unqualified to theorycraft or whine on the unfairness or imbalance in the game. Besides, like I just said, they’re not finished yet.

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Plot advancement, receiving a new weapon, even unlocking skimpy female costumes… whatever it is, when we play a video game, we need an objective. Without anything to look forward to, a game simply becomes an exercise in futility. And what better way to push us forward toward objectives than to threaten us with the hulking beast that spells out our virtual doom, the ominous Game Over? I don’t know about you, but I’m quivering in the corner over here.

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With much fervor and anticipation, the three of us fought through the crowded hallway to the door that read “Rows A-F”. Already, the room was full. Most of the seats were already occupied.

Did we even have our tickets? Were we going the right way? A quick flash of our all-access passes reassured us as we made our way down a full row to our seats. Of course they were the obnoxious movie theater-styled seats that you had to hold down with one hand and try to maneuver your butt onto.

That was fine, though. Because it was Friday night, 8-o’clock sharp, and we were getting ready to witness one of the finest displays of orchestrated music in the gaming world: Video Games Live in Louisville, Kentucky.

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The internet is all a-twitter with excitement over Blizzard’s recent release of the Wrath of the Lich King beta. People are bouncing between extreme anticipation and extreme disgust. Some are whining about beta keys and others can’t wait to get their hair cut. Seemingly forgetting the fact that in a couple of months (this is me making a wild estimation) the expansion pack will be readily available for everyone. But I digress.

With a shaky hand I double clicked on my beta shortcut (after the long download, of course) and the sight of the new title screen coupled with the befittingly chilling new music only served to further my tingly anticipation. I would not have said this about The Burning Crusade but this time Blizzard has done it. They have managed to re-capture all the excitement and epic qualities of World of Warcraft into an expansion that will blow both old and new players away.

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Looming over your head within the menacing dark clouds of marketing, the decision of which console to purchase taunts you. “Playstation 3!” the sky roars. “Xbox 360!” “Wiiiiiiii!” You look up, hoping maybe some light will shine through the gloomy amassment of advertisements and point you in the right direction. Instead, lightning strikes, singeing you as well as that money already burning a hole in your pocket. Well, at least that made your decision a little bit easier.

All right, all right, it’s a little morbid to believe that death is your only escape from the console wars that the gaming industry wages daily. It’s nothing new. There’s been competition in the market for video game consoles since we first picked up our controllers, and these current generation consoles have been out for years now. But every piece of gaming equipment is more expensive than ever, and I’m trying to look at prospective purchases a lot more cautiously than I used to. The most glaring reason to buy a system these days is simple: exclusives.

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I’ve always wanted to be a ninja.

Unfortunately, I haven’t the athletic prowess nor the patience that such a trade necessitates. Thankfully, there have always been numerous games in which I can live out that fantasy: Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Tenchu, and now N+.

After being given the opportunity to take the PSP edition for a test drive, I come bearing two gifts for you, dear readers. One, a review of the enhanced port, and also a bit of helpful information: being a ninja takes patience. A metric ton of it.

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