I'd use it because it's just easier. You can preorder right through Steam, have it preloaded and ready to go when it gets released. Plus I already have a bunch of other games through it, so it's just convenient that I have most of my games in one spot. And I have a bunch of friends with Steam, which allows me to talk to them through the Steam client without having to alt tab and they can be in different games. I like Steam quite a bit, I wish more companies used it. It's nice not having to worry about misplacing CD keys and keeping track of everything. And for me at least, it works pretty flawlessly and is much easier to get updates for games. I wouldn't really personally worry about Steam going down. I tried the trial for EVE through steam, and you can actually run the game outside of Steam.

And no matter if Steam is great or not, it's still more exposure for the game which will mean more sales. It makes sense regardless if you see it or not.

There's no way I'd be able to recruit 6 people to play the game. Anybody I know that would be interested would have already tried the trial or bought the game. But those mounts are really cool looking. Definitely the best looking mounts in the game, and I'm so sick of my dwarf helicopter thing, I really wish there were other ways to get it.

I should have probably go into some of the negatives too. The combat is terribly boring, so far I have 2 abilities and the combat feels very disconnected. You just go in slamming both keys and kill things. It's way too simple and boring. Also, all combat is instanced. There aren't any mobs wandering around the world that can attack you. Instead you'll see like a crab in the woods, you walk up to it, and click on it. Then it loads an instance with a bunch of crabs that you can attack. It's very weird and doesn't work very well. But they wanted it that way so people didn't have to fight at all to play the game. And people don't need to worry about aggroing any mobs or dying. The quests are pretty generic and most just require you to run around. There are only 2 different character models you can use, and one of them is a pixie.

Most people who play MMOs won't be very interested in this game. I think people will have fun, it just doesn't have the staying power of other MMOs. It's very shallow and doesn't feel epic at all.

The game runs great though, the world looks really colorful and great. I think they have a great base to build off of, but they have a lot of work to do. I think making combat a bit more involved is a huge thing they need to fix. They should cater to the casuals more with the other jobs, but combat should be more geared towards the usually MMO players I believe. We'll see though, but I wouldn't get too excited if you're playing WoW, WAR, LotRO, or any of the other involved MMOs and are enjoying them.

I'm a 22 y/o guy and am currently playing WAR and LotRO and just got into the FreeRealms beta. I have to say it's pretty fun, but it's much different than a normal MMO. I think it's cool for free but they make you pay for a ton. An hour into the game and you already come across quests that you can't do unless you're a paying subscriber (4.99 a month). And most of the decent items in the game seem to require a membership, and half of the classes can only be played by members. Also, lots of gear requires microtransactions with StationCash. It's not much of a FreeRealm. But the minigames and world are pretty fun. I think it will be great for younger players and casual gamers. I know my girlfriend will probably love playing it, and it will be fun playing this with her. She's never been interested in the MMOs I play, but maybe this will be a stepping stone for her to get interested in the deeper games.

Yes, you can make phone calls if you upgrade. Although, you won't be able to downgrade to 2.2 once you update. So you'll be stuck with 3.0 and all the bugs that come with it. I also heard that it will put your phone into a dev mode or something, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to install the normal version of 3.0 once it comes out.

Eh I bought it as a donation like you said. I don't usually play with many friend offline anyways, but I figure it's cheap enough. And they'll probably end up updating the party pack in the future too.

Yarrrrr, me hopes I win.

Ugh just bought the annual subscription to Qore, thinking that I would get the past episodes too, but I guess that's not the case. Now to decide if I should buy the ones for the Resistance 2 and SOCOM beta.

Actually the WiFi limitations have already been cracked. Although it's not the easiest thing to do, and it's more of a bug than a crack. But in short, basically you patch the Zune so you can use it as a harddrive, then make a zip with any songs you want to send and rename all the .mp3's to .jpeg's. And you can then send it to anyone, and they can plug the Zune into their computer and take the zip off and the restrictions won't be on the files. But like I said, it's not the easiest or prettiest way to transfer songs. Would probably just be easier to email them.

I'm mostly excited about how the Zune will be updated. Firmware updates for the Zune should add alot. If the Xbox Live updates show anything about how Microsoft is updating their hardware, the Zune should continue to improve.

Obviously I would know more about it since I've owned both and I honestly will never look at another iPod (unless they finally release that full screen, touch screen one). It runs very nice and look amazing. Don't diss it unless you've tried it. I've had problems with my ipod and itunes before too, doesn't mean I'll say it's a crappy product. I don't hate Apple, I really liked their ipod and I like their macbooks (don't own one) but I just like the Zune better than the iPod. I don't have any company loyalty, whichever company comes out with a better product, I'll buy it.