Carnival of Gamers #21: It can drink now

Promote the Carnival: DIGG THIS!

[Image: carnival]
The way I see it, February is the perfect carnival month. Even in Los Angeles, the weather is cold and rainy, and Global Warming doesn’t seem so scary as the wind whips your plastic-thin parka from side to side and you shove hot-dogs into your mouth.

The best part though, is that the warm beer you bought twenty minutes ago is now crisp and chilled.

Seeing as how the Carnival has now reached the unbelievably late legal age of 21,* it can now drink in the United States, as well as everywhere else in the world.

But who reads the intro anyway? Links! Where are the links?

King Lord Almighty Carnival Creator The Buttonmasher has the perfect starting post: A look back at 2006. What rocked the 360, why the DS rocked, and…wtf happened to the PC?

A mysterious LJ: blueshinra - we find someone who disagrees with breaking game ratings down into tiny, bite-size, confusing chunks.

On the other side of life, Brinstar juts in with a touching tale of newfound gaming love: World of Warcraft has begun it’s slow infection of her workplace, reaching out like a gentler version of the new Zelda’s twilight to suck new gamers into it’s realms…

Game philosophy wizz-kid Corvus Elrod weighs in about a subject near and dear: What happens to the WoW endgame when you add 10 levels? And more importantly, what should happen to it? See what he has to say.

Have you ever sat back and enjoyed a good history lesson, and then wondered why the hell the Incans in CivII develop nuclear technology in the stone age? I know I have. Apparently so has someone else at Flash of Steel.

In case you were wondering what you wanted, Pocket Change has come to the rescue. Succinctly titled: I want that.

Have you ever wanted to know everything about the PS3 (including pictures) from someone who actually bought it? Look no further: ARogan did it in style.

Do you have a natural tendency to disbelieve numbers? I know I do. That sneaky little 7 isn’t really all that lucky. And 6 is far from perfect. Some Rampant Coyote has a bone to pick with the PC Gaming industry numbers.

Cirque de Zale. What is it? Who is it? How is it? And…should you play it? These and more questions, especially with regard to the “hero archetype” can be found at I Eat Games. (Also: ten extra points for populating MyBlogLog pre-carnival!)

To Dell or not to Dell? Often, this is the question. Corey seems to think that respectable gamers should steer clear of the Dellmonster. Personally, I’ve use an XPS sans-error for the past four years, so I dunno what he’s talking about ;)

Since I’ve already posted a link to everything PS3, it’s only fair that I give the same love to Nintendo’s Wii — fortunately, The Outboard Brain of a Geek has been kind enough to provide a few bazillion words on the topic. If, for some reason, you don’t know anything about the Wii yet, you will.

The MMO - it’s a fledgling format. In fact, VirginWorlds would argue, everything you find right now is 1st generation. Personally, I thought The Realm of Angmar was 1st generation, but maybe I’m just dating myself.

And to cap it off (hey, I had to stop somewhere), The Fanboys (specifically Mike), reveals a troubling trend in his gaming habits: less play, more talk. He does, however, list some good ‘casts.

That’s all folks. Thanks for stopping by.

There were about a bazillion entries this time around, so not all of them made it in. I picked a fair smattering, and some sites submitted more than once, so…none of this nonsense, please…and everything else will be diligently forwarded to the next carnival.
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* I know that technically last month’s didn’t happen, but this is still #21 in the COG HQ!