The Midsummer Fire Festival is Here!

Yes, it's once again time to spend a week honoring the fires of your capital cities and dousing the fires of your enemies in World of Warcraft, the Midsummer Fire Festival kicks off today.

Players can earn various achievements for honoring and dousing fires, as well as take on the frost lord Ahune in the slave pens. There is a title to be earned, a pet to win, and various other rewards including limited time buffs available from the fire poles in the major cities.

If you're interested in chasing down all the Fire Festival achievements, I've written a Guide to the Midsummer Holiday Achievements over at Bright Hub. You can find maps to all the bonfires and details for earning each achievement. Check it out.

World of Warcraft Free Trial: Account Restrictions and Download/Registration Instructions

I personally find it hard to believe, but apparently there are people out there who still haven't played World of Warcraft. It's only the most popular MMO of all time, but somehow people still manage to get through life without the overwhelming urge to level a character to 80.

I recently wrote an article detailing the WoW Free Trial Account Restrictions and Download Instructions, and registering and downloading is really so easy these days, there's no excuse for having not played it. They've even introduced a streaming client download. Yes, you're no longer required to spend a day downloading before you can play the game, you start the download in the background and start playing the game almost instantly.

Pretty cool.

Dual Boxing and the World of Warcraft Recruit a Friend Program

So, awhile ago I leveled two characters, a Warlock and a Druid, to 60 using the WoW RAF program. I learned some interesting tips and tricks for playing both characters simultaneously, and I turned my experiences into a guide for anyone who might be thinking about trying something similar.

I also earned a sweet Zhevra mount for my troubles. It did cost a little money, but considering it probably shaved a month or two off of my leveling time, I'd say it was worth it. Triple experience is the only way to go, I doubt I'll level any future alts without it.

Anyway, here's the guide:
Dual Box Your Way to 60 With the WoW Recruit a Friend Program

And no, I don't play as a female gnome.

Red Faction: Guerrilla

So I spent a little time today with Red Faction: Guerrilla. I absolutely loved the original RF, back in the PS2 days. It was the first game to allow players to be truly creative with their destructive impulses. Locked doors were no problem, one could simply rocket launcher through the wall next to the door and go about their business.

The destruction is definitely back in RF: Guerrilla. Unlike other open-world games where plowing your vehicle into a building results in a spectacular fireball and no visible damage to the wall, in RF you can simply plow straight through, provided you have enough momentum. My favorite part is definitely the destruction objectives, and I spent most of today discovering new ways to tear apart buildings.

You can attempt to strategically place charges on load-bearing portions of the structure, if you like. You can also sledgehammer an entire wall into rubble, if you so choose. My new favorite tactic, however, is jumping into the largest vehicle I can find, getting up as much speed as possible, and trying to drive straight through the building before turning around for another pass. This has proven quite enjoyable.

The missions are kind of pissing me off, though. Volition tends to fall into the "make missions difficult by throwing impossible amounts of enemies at you" school of design. It was something that bothered me in Saints Row 2 until I unlocked unlimited SMG ammo, so I'm hoping a similar revelation will make Guerrilla slightly easier as well.

Until then, there are always buildings to destroy.

Final Fantasy IV: The Sequel

I can hardly believe it, but a fantasy (pardon the pun) of mine that I've harbored since the sixth grade has actually come true. Final Fantasy IV (II here in the U.S.) is perhaps my favorite game of all time. I played through it countless times as a teenager and always wished for a sequel of some kind, and now there is one. Available on the Wii Ware channel, I can now purchase Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

It was originally released as a cell phone game in Japan, I guess. I'm very stoked about this. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy some Wii Points.