Star Trek Online : Quick Review

First off, let me state that I am a total Star Trek nerd. I’ve seen all the movies, all the shows, and own novels and tech manuals. So, I am acutely aware that I am most likely too harsh in my criticisms of the game, from a Star Trek perspective anyway.

Prior to trying the Star Trek Online beta, I read a review that stated how immersive the game is; how it makes you feel as if you’re IN Star Trek. To be honest, I really don’t feel it. Besides the subset of ships that were actually taken from Star Trek, the game doesn’t really look like Star Trek to me. The interior design of the Space Dock, the bridge design, and even the “updated” uniforms look gaudy and “un-Trekish.” There are some good sound effects however, and the before mentioned starships are pretty cool to customize. (I currently own a Miranda Class vessel ala the Reliant from Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan.) That being said, from what I’ve seen the ships appear to just be skins. If I may, let me get really nerdy here… the Miranda-class starship from Star Trek II has 2 phaser cannons on it. Not the one in the game, however. Since its “Miranda-ness” is just a skin, the actual Star Trek lore specs of the ship aren’t there. The ship’s specifications are based on a basic configuration defined by what type of ship it is. (Cruisers, Escorts, and Science.) You then customize the ship by buying new weapons, sheilds, engines, etc. My second complaint about the ships is the size of the rooms. They’re HUGE. I understand why this is done. As a MMORPG, the rooms need to be large enough to accomidate all the player characters. Nevertheless, it hurts the “Trekiness” of the game.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate this game. It does have some good points. It’s a casual MMO, which I like. The space battles are fun. Shooting objects and enemies with your hand phaser is pretty neat. Oh, and I also have to mention the uber-detailed character creation options that always weem to accompany a game by Cryptic.

As a side note, one of the most common questions I saw on the STO Forums was “Will STO run on my MacBook Pro? If you have the 13” MacBook Pro, and Windows 7, the answer is “yes.” You can’t max out the graphics, but at “medium” it’ll run just fine. (Mine’s the 13″ 2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM.)

So far I haven’t decided if I like or dislike STO. I’m still feeling it out, and still learning all it’s aspects. It’s definitely worth a try so I recommend that you try out the beta, and decide for yourself.

Vinyl Record Sales Growing

[ Sales of vinyl albums have been climbing steadily for several years, tromping on the notion that the rebound was just a fad. Through late November, more than 2.1 million vinyl records had been sold in 2009, an increase of more than 35 percent in a year, according to Nielsen Soundscan. That total, though it represents less than 1 percent of all album sales, including CDs and digital downloads, is the highest for vinyl records in any year since Nielsen began tracking them in 1991.

Sales of CDs, meanwhile, have been falling fast, displaced by the downloading of digital files of songs from services like iTunes. Sales of albums on CD, which generally cost half as much as their vinyl counterparts, have dropped almost 20 percent this year, according to Nielsen. ]

Full article HERE.

Article asks “Are Ad Servers Slowing Down the Web?”

In a word, yes. Yes they are.

Slashdot excerpt and link to full article HERE.

Them Crooked Vultures – Album Releases Next Week

Comprising drummer Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age, vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Them Crooked Vultures’ album gets released next week, but they have already posted the album on YouTube.