[ 10082010 - | FEVO card ]

So, I got my hands on one of these over the weekend... and I've been wondering what to do with it.
It opens up a world of possibilities… let me explain WHY.
A FEVO prepaid MasterCard, works just like a credit card – you can use it overseas, or locally, or even online, as long as mastercard is accepted, you can use it!
There’s also a version which doubles up as an ezlink card… talk about convenience – money and transport all in one slim card.
The most important thing about the FEVO card, is that it is not linked to a bank account or anything like that. So, you can choose the amount that you’d like to top up the card to, and you can only spend within that amount.
The piece I have, is Asiasoft customized, and it has a pretty Audition skin - in my favourite colour. There are also non-customized versions available.

It’s the same size as a normal credit card.
I’m gonna start using it… stay tuned for my next update…
in the meantime, get to know more about it at http://prepaid.fevocard.com/

[ 06082010 6.29pm | StarCraftII - the first week (and a half) ]

The Removal of LAN from StarCraft II

i can't say that i really miss this function a great deal (yet) because i'm one of the old school WarCraftIII standard game players who started off on battlenet.

Blizzard's Rationale

servers have been set up internationally to accommodate players from different parts of the world. this means that you can only play with people in your regional server - asia with asia, US with US, etcetc.

this enhances the whole experience of the gamer in a couple of ways
1) the lag which occurs when playing cross continent games is GREATLY reduced.
StarCraftII runs on a shared lag system, so you could be the game creator with a really good connection, but if your opponent is from some obscure location from under the ocean, and playing on 14.4kbps dialup, you're gonna lag as badly as he does. (i'll just use the generic "he" here, but of course i do not discount the fact that it could well be a "she")

2) the creation of communities based on locale, language, ethnicity, and other divisions thus associated with regional differences
here, hopefully you won't have american's complaining about pinoys rambling on in tagalog, and you won't have koreans and russians competing to see who can mash out a greater number of symbols.
a bonded community is one which understands each other, gamer to gamer, admin to gamer, and where everyone is striving for improvement and a better gaming experience.

How that affects me.

most obviously, i'd have to buy an authentic copy of StarCraftII. but this could hardly be said to be a torture. yes, the pricetag is hefty, for a game, but for the number of hours of entertainment, adrenaline rush and escape that it would give me - its worth it.
i mean, a night out with my girls would probably make me blow close to 200.
even compared with other paid to play mmorpgs or mmorpgs with in game item shops, this one time payment of 100 bucks hardly comes close to the fees that you might rake up from playing computer games..
and, i like my stuff authentic. it keeps the company accountable to providing me with good service.
Battlenet saves me the trouble of having to repeatedly spam commands when i'm looking for opponent(s) [a la IRC/Garena] - they have their in house matchmaking system which pairs you up with people of your standard.
here however, i present what is my first (and maybe last) gripe.
being paired with people of my own standard means i'm probably going to be playing with mediocre gamers all my life - simply because i'm not a fantastically skilled gamer myself. this also means that the likelihood of me being able to go up against one of the best, and famous, is really slim.
it also is sorta sad that i can only add real id friends from the same server - this means that all my international friends on my facebook will not be able to see me when i'm in battlenet.
oh. right. facebook. did i mention what an fantastic idea it was to integrate facebook with StarCraftII? what better way to knit a closer community, than to import a naturally-formed one?
genius.

-in case you think i'm being paid/given something to write this, i'm not. i'm writing it purely as furryfish* the gamer who loves StarCraftII.-