Warhammer Online Beta (and Amazon.com woes)

EA Mythic is offering some bonuses to people that pre-order Warhammer Online. Namely, you'll get access to the Beta beginning September 7th, you'll also get a three day head start on the live realms before general release. Also, depending on where you pre-order, you'll get a special in-game ring that gives a bonus in PvE enounters. There's also something called Rittenbach's Portable Camp, to "Rest your weary soul and heal your wounds between battles."

Since I figured I was going to try the game out anyway, I went for the pre-order. I read on some forums that Amazon would instantly put the head start and open beta codes in your digital locker as soon as you pre-ordered, and sure enough, that's exactly what happened, with one minor hitch.

Apparently, the open beta codes that Amazon is passing out are being recycled. I went to register my code so I could download the beta and it told me that the code I entered had already been used.

(read this next part in your best Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons voice) I immediatly logged onto the internets to express my dissatisfaction.

But, of course, several people already beat me to it.



It looks like this has been going on for a couple of days, based on forum posts and there seems to be no official response from Amazon yet, so I canceled my pre-order with them and pried my butt off the couch and actually left the house for a change.
GameStop had the pre-order bonus boxes stacked up right behind the counter so I put my $5 pre-order down and was in and out in under 5 minutes.

In the box:

• a 'rave card' with my open beta code and my live game head start and in-game bonus item code.
• Warhammer Online CCG Demo Deck.

Unlike the codes I got from Amazon, these worked for me when I entered them at EAMythic.com. I'm queued up to download the demo from FilePlanet and can't wait to try it all out on Sept. 7th.

My new Flip Ultra

My new Flip Ultracame today. Didn't get much chance to play with it other than to just fire it up and make sure it works. Took a video of my shamefully messy desk (reorganizing office, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) and posted up on vimeo, youtube and 12seconds.tv to try them out. Youtube publishing is the only one of those included with the software on the Flip.


My Messy Desk from ronbo on Vimeo.




My Messy Desk on 12seconds.tv

The waterproof caseand handlebar attachmentfor my motorcycle didn't arrive. The reason I bought the Flip was to have a cheaper camcorder I could use on my bikes or in other situations where I didn't want to drag along my MiniDV camcorder but wanted a little better quality than my cellphone or point & shoot would provide.

We'll see if I actually use it.

Edit: Added flickr. Forgot they are taking video now, too.

New Warhammer Online Trailer

The second trailer for Warhammer Online is up at Gametrailers.com:



Too sex-ay! I hope the game is half as cool.

New Star Wars: Force Unleashed trailer

and plenty of new gameplay vids, too:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/3067.html

This fall is going to flatten my wallet.

The Dude Abides

The 10th Anniversary release of the The Big Lebowski is coming out next month and it features the best premium DVD packaging EVAR:



Must have, because that, and the rug, really set off the room.

XR650 Shakes off Winter

After a whole Winter sitting parked in the barn (hooked up to the Battery Tender) the XR was looking a little crusty around the edges. Didn't have it covered like the VFR.



A couple hours later (and much oiling/cleaning/fiddling) and I took it out for a little spin. Quick trip to top off the gas turned into a little trip to Longbranch Marina down at the tip of Key Center.

Speedway reconsiders ordinances that targeted motorcyclists

The town leaders of Speedway, Indiana have had a sudden attack of common sense (or public pressure) and decided not to enact a couple of ordinances targeting motorcyclists during the upcoming MotoGP race in September. [See: Speedway to Motorcyclists/MotoGP fans: "Give us your money and shut the hell up!"]

Speedway leaders plan to withdraw the ordinances Monday amid concerns the town was targeting bikers and not welcoming the new race at the track.

[WTHR: Speedway nixes plan for motorcycle rules]

Watching the Olympics Online

Since I dumped my satellite provider and only get Fox OTA, I didn't think I was going to get to see much of the Olympics this summer. I shouldn't have worried. Thanks to NBC's Olympics live streaming site: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html I've been able to watch what I want, when I want.

There's an enhanced version available that uses a Silverlight application running in the browser. You can choose up to 4 live streams to watch in the 'Control Room'






or pick from any of the 'As Shown on TV' to catch the stuff you've missed. Everything I've watched so far has been in beautiful HD.

Stats from Mithun Dahr's site say the streaming coverage will include:

• > 3500 hours of Content streamed Live.
• LIVE coverage of every minute of competition from 25 sports.
• More than 2.3 terabytes/second of traffic on the MSN Portal

If I can resist the urge to play Team Fortress 2 every time I fire up the Xbox 360, I'll check out the NBC Olympics on the Go on the Windows Media Center, just to see the HD goodness on my TV.

[via Veni, Vidi, Velcro]

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at Comic-Con 2008

Best line: "If you're here, who's at home disappointing your parents?"

Reforged Killed Another Dragon

and I got a new pair of boots: [Thunderheart Treads]
(Yes, meaningless Warcraft babble to follow, non-WoWers are encouraged to move along.)

I also got the last two badges I needed for the Staff of the Forest Lord



(1110 AP increase in forms = yummy!)

Mstree is looking pretty pimp in 7 of 8 of Tier 6 armor [Thunderheart Harness]

The Tier 6 piece I'm missing [Thunderheart Waistguard] isn't a tanking upgrade over my Belt of Natural Power from SSC, but I'll still try to get it eventually just because I've never completed an entire armor set yet.

Entire Firefly series up on Hulu.com

Probably late to the party, but I just saw that all fourteen episodes of Firefly are up on Hulu.com

New Watchmen Character Posters

New character posters from the upcoming Watchmen movie:








[via Splash Page]