Minion in Elder Scrolls Online

Minion is a tool to manage add ons in various PC games, especially Elder Scrolls Online.  ESO University has information on how to install it and fix issues.

https://eso-u.com/articles/eso_addon_guide_installing_addons_and_minion_troubleshooting

Be warned.  If you downloaded ESO from Steam, that will add more issues to any add on or add on manager like Minion.  

Here is the Minion website to download.  It doesn't work on anything but PCs, however.

https://minion.mmoui.com

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Balder's Gate Enhanced Edition Due This Summer

Balder's Gate 1 and 2 are set for re-release this summer for the PC, Mac OSX (Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or newer) and iPad, with new content promised to add to this classic RPG.  Here's a bit about the game if you have never played.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-04-retrospective-baldurs-gate-1-and-2

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Kingdom of Amalur Play Tips

Tips for play--
http://www.tentonhammer.com/reckoning/features/ten-tips-for-playing-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

The Solo MMO Player thinks PC players have to load the game from EA's Origins servers.  It won't load from disk for him.  Obscene....

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Good Old Games Introduces Thief

GOG has the first Thief game available for download now. No word on whether Thief 2 will be available there.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/thief_gold

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The Morrowind Makeover Project UPDATED

Kotaku reports a huge makeover mod that adds a nice layer of polish to The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind.  It's a big 4gig download but if you are trying to make the time pass quicker until The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim comes out, it's worth a look at the YouTube videos and other info linked to here.
http://kotaku.com/5723930/the-elder-scrolls-fans-give-morrowind-a-makeover

The mod compendium website has lots of further info about where/how to download the files to update your Morrowind game.
http://morrowind2011.wordpress.com/

Here are videos of the result.
http://www.youtube.com/user/warwon

UPDATE: Apparently the person assembling the compendium of mods didn't ask permission of all the folks whose work was included and the mod is pulled for now.
http://kotaku.com/5727233/morrowind-mod-put-to-the-sword

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Microsoft's Games for Windows Site Opens

First impressions of the Games for Windows website.
http://kotaku.com/5690925/can-microsofts-new-online-store-compete-with-steam

Here is the direct link to Microsoft's new PC game download marketplace.
http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/

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A Game for While You Wait (Sacred 2)

Thanks to Karthias, the Solo MMO Player has found a game to play while waiting for Cataclysm.  It's called Sacred 2 and is available on the PC, PS3 and xBox 360. (Note the the original PC version is said to be rather buggy.)  Sacred 2 is a throwback game made in Germany, similar to Morrowind in the Elder Scroll series, but with  the detailed character creation of WOW.  If you think you are going to miss managing complex character elements when Blizzard streamlines it in Cataclysm, this game might be for you.

The quests are simplistic.  You will be constantly battling multiple enemy NPCs that come at you in waves.  There are six classes to choose from in the original game (and perhaps one more in the PC only expansion called Ice and Blood) but you won't be able to choose your sex, just customize hair color.  For example, if you want to play a Seraphim (similar to WOW's Paladin class in some ways) you have to play as a female and run around in high heels and a mini-skirt until you buy or loot new gear.

The camera views can be awkward, and if you are not used to a bird's eye view, you won't enjoy playing offline co-op.  There is PvP and online co-op available, but since this is an older game, there may not be many folks to play with.  Mounts in this game are similar to pets in WOW and you can use mounted combat.

The game has touches of humor, especially in the graveyards.  There is also an in-game heavy metal concert that seems to be embedded in one of the quests.

Sacred 2 can be downloaded from xBox Live or D2D, but apparently there is no manual available if you do this.  When you start playing, you are going to be pretty confused at first.  This is a complex game to master in some ways.

The most important online source of information is Sacred 2's wiki.  However, it is not very useful for new players as there is no real explanation of the basics for beginners.  If you want to search the forum postings you will have to sign up and create a login.
http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/SacredWiki

I found some basic information and a list of the main and side quests here.  This is a very big game with 200 levels spread across a wide landscape so you'll need some help keeping to the quests.  If you don't like leveling, this is not the game for you.
http://guides.gamepressure.com/sacred2fallenangel/guide.asp?ID=7236

There is lots of gear in the game.  This is a fairly complete list.  The way the game handles large inventory is pretty good (if you play the xBox 360 version, make sure you get the Bank Imp download).
http://pctalk.info/Games/Sacred2/Wolfes.Lair/Sacred2FallenAngel/S2FAItems.html

This site lists the characters, their gods and the combat arts you can choose from.
http://www.bingegamer.net/2009/a-beginners-guide-to-sacred-2/

This site talks about skills and combat arts, and has a guide to some of the characters available.
http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/mmo/articles/15852.aspx

More basics including alchemy and some leveling information.
http://pctalk.info/Games/Sacred2/Wolfes.Lair/Sacred2FallenAngel/S2FAGameBasics.html

Here are some good tips.
http://www.co-optimus.com/article/1828/sacred-2-hints-and-tips-from-the-co-optimus-community.html

One of the big drawbacks to the game is you can't respec a character.  Whatever you choose in the beginning is what you are stuck with throughout the game, so if you decide you aren't happy with your build, you have to start over from the beginning to create something different.  Several folks have posted their builds to help newer players get started.  These are just a few good ones I found while looking for game information, but there are many more if you do a little searching.
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=619262

http://forum.sacred2.com/archive/index.php/t-65974.html

The Sacred 2 wiki has guides to all the characters that help you figure out the optimum build for you.  In general the dyad is a ranged caster/healer, the high elf is a caster, the inquisitor is a caster/melee/summoner, the seraphim is a caster/melee/healer, the shadow warrior does summoning/melee, and the temple guardian is a hybrid ranged class.
http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Character_Class

There's a YouTube Sacred 2 channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SacredWiki

This review for the PS3 version of the game makes good points about the game's good and bad points.
http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/sacred2-ps3/index.html

See you in Ancaria!

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Will My Computer Run Cataclysm?

The short answer is if your computer runs Lich King, it'll run Cataclysm per Gazimoff who is in the Cataclysm beta.  The long answer is here.  The article looks at the main performance settings with example screenshots to help readers decide which ones they want to go with, depending on their individual machine specs.
http://www.manaobscura.com/2010/08/will-my-computer-run-cataclysm/

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The MMO Forecast

I should subtitle this "Looking Into the Crystal Ball" as Pot is taking a look at various articles predicting MMO sales, that these games will be very popular in the East, and explaining why judging MMO success by whether they have more subscribers than WOW is wrong.
http://www.mmomeltingpot.com/2010/08/game-by-night-and-broken-toys-are-mmos-in-good-shape/

On the same topic, here is a preview of Guild Wars 2, which is a PC game that will be free to play once you buy the disk (or download the software directly) but which will have microtransactions inside the game.  It is due out in 2011.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/08/12/guild-wars-2-preview-omfg/

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Review: Steam's OS X Client UPDATED

How Valve's brand new Mac client downloader works in real life just after release.  The article is by a Valve user (and critic) who points out the service is brand new and that a lot of its success depends on game developers making their games playable on the Mac as well as the PC.
http://ctrlclick.com/2010/05/steam-comes-to-os-x-a-bit-bumpy-but-welcome-nevertheless/

UPDATE:  Steam is now releasing Prima Guides via their service.  They can be viewed inside the game and also read outside the game.  Interesting development!  Details, including the games with guides available so far, here.  Thanks to Kotaku for pointing this out.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179417

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The Five Minute MMORPG

How to level from 0 to 80 very very quickly.
http://kotaku.com/5532199/from-level-0-to-level-80-in-just-five-minutes

Here's the game site.  "Hot PvP action"
http://www.fiveminutemmorpg.com/

Obviously the Blog-o-sphere is obsessed with speed this morning.  If you are interested in zipping through the plot of the Star Wars classic trilogy as quickly as you level above, Big Red Kitty has a video for you.
http://www.dphowell.com/2010/05/05/bathe-in-the-awesome/

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Playing Old PC Games in Windows 7-Vista-XP

This program is essentially an updated front end to the DOSBOX emulator that allows one to play DOS games on recent PCs.  Thanks to Kotaku for mentioning this.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/12771/play-your-favorite-dos-games-in-xp-vista-and-windows-7/

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Playing Console Games on PC via HD-720 Box

This company is coming out with a box that plugs into your console, then connects via Wi-Fi to your PC so you can stream games to it.  There is a video of this in action if you are curious.
http://kotaku.com/5359435/play-console-games-on-your-pc-[update]

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Mini Ninjas and Shadow Complex Reviewed

If you are interested in a ninja game, Mini Ninjas might be of interest. Of Teeth and Claws has played the demo and gives it a good review.

http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/2009/08/demo-mini-ninjas.html

Kotaku loved Shadow Complex, which is an xBox Live download game.

http://kotaku.com/5338307/shadow-complex-review-genre-upgrade

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