Being a big WoW fan for a few years, this game looks as though its going to be serious competition.
Referred to as TOR or SWTOR (SWeaTOR).  This game takes place many thousands of years before the Star Wars movies.

I am helping a friend develop a levelling guide for SWTOR @ www.gavsswtorguide.com
Gav has written some amzing articles about the planets, races and Star Wars stuff in general.  All very informative, so if you ever wanted to read up on this sort of thing, then I recommend checking out his blog.

I have been looking after the technical web stuff for him, but he is a master writer (who knew!), and I always love reading his posts.  Hw covers almost the entire time-lines, theoretical histories and where things are placed into the timeline of games/movies etc.

Also, if your looking to play SWTOR (which comes out 20th December 2011), and you have no thought about guilds.  Check ours out.  We have half of our old WoW guild re-constructed onto the Dark Side (Empire), to fight alongside the Sith against the Republic.
You can find our guild @ http://www.swtor.com/guilds/24735/assassins-guild

Always looking for new (friendly) members, & Gav is one of the guild leaders.
So your sure to be kept up-to-date with our guides.

I hope to see some of you there =)

P.S. I have not purchased a pre-order for this game yet, but Gav has.  But I have already seen the Beta, and the story is certainly intense.

P.P.S.  Another open beta is coming later this month.  So if you were registered for Beta Testing before November 1, you will get a crack at this game.  Download size is about 30GB!

So I have been out of touch for quite some time, for personal reasons.  Which for those of you who know, its working out all good for now =)

Anyhoo,  rocked on around to a mates place on New Years eve, after work.  Had a good catch up, exchanged xmas gifts etc, sat down to have a cold beer while shooting the ... you know what.

I look down below his TV, and notice his PS3 is a little different. 
Me: "Hey, did you get a new PS3 slim mate?'
Mate: 'Yep, sure did.  Got the new Move controllers as well"

Me: "Whats up with your old one?"
Mate: "Well, it won't turn on any longer, light just flashes etc.  Not under warranty, and figured may as well get a new one, and there was a good deal on anyway."

Me: "Hmm, do you know whats wrong with it?"
Mate: "Yea, apparently its a Yellow Light of Death, or YLoD"

Me: "Never heard of it, mind if I steel your old PS3, see if I can get it going?"
Mate: "If ya think ya can, sure.  There are some videos online that show you how to fix it, was bit over my head"

Me: "Sweet, if I get stuck will ask my mate for help, lol"
Mate: "It's all yours, if you get it going, I will lend you some games =)"

-----------------------

So I take this big old PS3 beauty home, my mate supplied me with a power cable only.  Realised when I got home its just a standard jug cord haha. 

OK, lets see if we can get into this beast.....  many minutes later,,  nope,..  Man they make these well.
I had to look up a video, which shows me the 'hidden' screw that needs to be undone, before you can slide the top off revealing all the other screws.
After this, its fairly straight forward, pulling the PS3 apart into pieces.

I clean crap loads of dust out.  I mean, seriously, I have NEVER seen this amount of dust build up in my life in anything!  But it all goes..  yippie.

Put it back together, nope, still not working.
Find these VERY handy step-by-step videos.  Showing you absolutely EVERYTHING.
Already figured out to get the mainboard out, so skip ahead to the Reflow part.

Borrow a heat gun from a mate, and blast away, my mate is interested so he helps with a laser temp gun, to make sure we dont FRY the mainboard. 

1 Hour later, put the PS3 back together, and low an behold.  The beep and error light flash has gone, and now its solid green.  OMG.  I can hardly believe it.

OK, this is something.  I now have to hunt around for a HDMI cable, get it plugged in, it now wants to reformat the HDD.  Oh no, well my mate had already figured hed lost his old save games anyway.  This was not supposed to happen however.  But thats no biggie. 

Go back to my mates place, and borrow his old controller.  He loans me a game to try out as well.  Final Fantasy.

I head back home, plug everything in, and try and use the PS3, stupid controller wont work.  Had to get a blimmin usb cable.  $10 later & a trip to the pc store.  OK, up and running, wow.
All the user accounts still there, system updates, check, everything running sweet as.

Wicked.  Got me a PS3!!!!!  Best xmas pressie so far.  And it only cost me $10.
Cost my mate a bit more, he had to buy 2.  But perhaps this wont work forever, but for now, im enjoying my $10 PS3 (with borrowed games and controller)

Thanks guys.

Here is a link to the tutorial if anyone else runs into this issue.

http://playstationlifestyle.net/forums/showthread.php?s=cdafe7c2243fee4b91453ef81e511bfb&t=2376&page=1
The guys name who made the videos, is Gilsky.  Dont buy any manual or ebook that claims to hold the secrets.  The info is FREE everyone!

Peace. and Happy New Year.

Well first of all, I want to start with all the great things in my life, which I am ultimately happy with, and really really appreciate.

My Job:  Great job, very supportive and friendly.  Great co-workers and excellent working conditions.  Great pay, everything I could possibly want.  Love it.
My Friends: Amazing, who would have thought I would have such an amazing bunch of friends to grow up with and hopefully spend the rest of my life getting old with.
My Girlfriend:  Stunning, beautiful, smart, strong character, loves me, funny, Gorgeous.  How perfect we are for each other, not the same, but not too different either. 

How lucky am I.  I get to travel the world on holidays, buy what ever I want, go out and party, sit at home and do nothing, just enjoy life, the way I always wanted to enjoy life.  Just wonderful.

And then something happened, my partner has not always been 100% healthy.  We find she has a condition 10% of women have, and is usually misdiagnosed.  This is kinda sucky, requires some surgery, causes pain, inhibits our social life a little sometimes.  But all in all, its not that bad.

We are due to get married on the 17th September in Christchurch.  Big party afterwards (hired an entire club, with a DJ set for the night etc etc).  Alice in Wonderland Themed wedding.  We have saved heaps of money by taking a holiday in Thailand and collecting props dirt cheap, and making everything else ourselves, and buying stuff from op shops etc.  This is gonna be SUPER FUN!  I am actually surprised such an amazing women would marry me at all.  Haha, but loving it all.

About 1 month ago, we went to the doctor to find out more about her condition, only to find out there is a lump in her breast.  Yep, as it turns out, she has breast cancer.  How crap, and all this just before our wedding.  The happiest day of our future together.  Seriously, this is a real blow.  The emotions go for a roller-coaster ride, and we find out just how awesome our awesome friends actually are, with flowers, food parcels, visits, dinner, lunches, health care parcels etc.  I think how amazing our jobs have been, and how supportive of the fact we had already taken time off for the wedding, but now have to take a lot more extra time off for this situation as well.

Lots of doctor meetings, lots of ice-cream and chocolate, lots of tests (MRI's, Blood tests, Biopsies).  It is really UNFAIR that this has happened.  Our Hens/Stag night is this weekend.  The operation is next Wednesday.  That is the 1st of September.  We get married on the 17th!  Holy crap. 

We decide to continue with the wedding.  Our emotions are little more in-check.  But I am certain everything is going to completely explode on the day.  Haha, now im certain I am going to cry.  But hey, who cares.  It will still be the happiest day of my life.  The 1st day of the rest of our lives together.

We had to cancel our trip to Bali, and because we booked everything ourselves, we have to organise the cancellation of everything  as well.  Ooops, the laptop HDD died, completely unusable.  We have LOST all our lists, wedding invite list, the places we were staying in Bali lists, email addresses etc.  OMG this is a bit of a nightmare.  We kinda just ignore it, and hope they will email us back well in advance, so we do not incur cancellation fees if possible.

I mean, my new Wife will be taking on a full term of Chemotherapy after our wedding.  What a way to start.  I know the jokes about no more sex are actually real now =P  haha. But seriously.  It has been a really bumpy ride for my dear, lovely, and beautiful new wife to be.  And so I setup a blog for her to use, and vent etc.  So if anyone in the worlds interested in hearing how hard or bizzare the thoughts of this person who I hold so dear are.  Then feel free to read all about it/

http://thecheshirecatsgrin.com

Thanks for letting me vent.

I am not a programmer, infact, my programming abilities are extremly limited.  I can understand very basic PHP and web html and CSS code.
But beyond that, I am a total n00b.

But it doesn't stop me from developing web projects, and although I do it more for fun rather than money, I sometimes come up with an idea which I cannot possibly start.

Hence this blog post, I came up with an idea for an iPhone game, that uses 3D modelling and lots of the specialised iPhone movement capabilities.  But there is no way I could possibly do it (not even a mac user).

So if anyone is interested in programming a rediculous mini game for the iPhone, has experience in C# on Mac and has worked on iPhone apps & 3D modelling projects before.  Please send me a PM.  Or if you know someone who might be interested or a better place to post this question, I am happy to hear all angles.

I do not have loads of money, so this is more of a 'build and see' kinda project.  I just want to project manage it.


Cool, thanks for reading. =)

Get in on the fun, Big night In, help donate towards a good cause.
My auction helps in so many ways, including to entertain (hopefully)

Support the big night In, 1st telethon in 16 years?  W00t.


http://www.sella.co.nz/general/home-living/heating-cooling/firewood/4s0djk/

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=223309871

You just have to read the new epic stor.. Trademe auction!

World of Warcraft is still dominating the world in MMORPG's, and I decided to help out any new comers to the game with an alternate FREE Leveling Guide for all races, on both Alliance & Horde from 1-40.

This guide is thanks to my work on www.WorldWarcraftGuide.com and any attributing help I have received in putting this site together so far.

What do you get when you sign up for my Free WoW Leveling Guide?
1. Mini gold and strategy guide
2. Leveling with quests from 1-12 for which ever race you pick
3. 12-40 Leveling guide for which ever faction you require

This does work best with a in-game quest helper, using the information I send out as a guide to which quests to complete and in which order.
But it still does not compare to other dedicated leveling strategy guides available out there, but is a handy resource for people who do not want to spend any money.

I hope this guide comes in handy for anyone who chooses to use it.
You will find the guide at http://www.worldwarcraftguide.com/world-of-warcraft-guides/free-1-40-leveling-gold-guide



Cheers
Johnny @ WorldWarcraftGuide.com

Last night in Thailand, Bangkok.  Moved back to our 1st hotel (we liked it more).

The last hotel had FREE WiFi, but only in the lobby, or you could use a coin operated pc in the lobby.  Of course we laped it up, checking bank details (how much more could we spend before going home) and getting my flat made back home to email me some clothing measurements I forgot to bring with me (phew).

So we checked our custom jewllery & tailored suits & dress, had to get 2 more fittings in to make sure everythiing was just right (some minor adjustments to the styles and the original guy stuffed up the number of shirts for me). 

Overall experience here, had a fantastic time.  My partner is over it, too hot, missing her pet dog & friends back home.
People are really friendly, or perhaps too friendly.  Always trying to sell you something.  But with masterful massage places all around, its just a matter of finding the cheapest or best looking.

Tuk Tuk drivers are constantly hasling you, but you get used to it, and haggle haggle haggle for EVERYTHING.  Picking up a new cell phone tomorrow (finally) nice wee 3g Nokia touch screen. Avg price over here between $620-750 NZD.   (will do a new review on that when I get home)

It is easy to cram so much in, in a little amount of time, but be warned, it is hot, and some things require lots of wallking (like a trek into the mountains, to stay a night with local mountain tribe people).

You are required to book everything via travel agents, so if you dont like the person helping you 1st time, go somewhere else, they are everywhere (just like the tuk tuk drivers).

Somehow we have managed to cram thousands of dollars of crap into our bags (clothes, toys etc) and still have room for more, so back to the markets tomorrow for a final bash before venturing home.

Back to the cold and weatherly states of Christchurch.

Ahhhh, Thailand!
It is hot and people constantly harass you for Tuk Tuk, Taylor, Message.  They will literally try anything.
Good thing we can relax in our Hotel Resort.  Unfortunately this one does NOT have WiFi.  1 out of 3 so far.

So far I have figured that most Hotels, although have WiFi (but not everywhere) you usually have to pay.  If they do not service the room you are staying in, you should be able to use it in the lobby.  And thankx to a Thai law introduced in 2008, everyone must have a username and password to protect them against internet crime.

OR

You can drop down to the local bar (Aussie Owned!) Which has FREE WiFi, just make sure you can get it working 1st, before comitting to drinks.  They don't mind.  Ahh the luxery continues.  Sipping on nice Cold Beer and Cocktails while using FREE INTERNET.

OK, so review time...  of the Acer Aspire One
----
After initially setting it up, and installing the Free 60 day trial of McAfee, the damn ting was VERY slow.  Always chacking everything you opened, and taking 3 times longer than you would hope.  Well, this just wouldnt do for my partner (who is very impatient) and so, after removing a few more key programs that were pre installed, the Acer Aspire was now much quicker. (maybe twice as fast).

Not as quick as a full blown laptop.
But still, not too bad.
Much more compact and easier to walk down 2 blocks to the free internet with drinks @ the bar

So far so good, and because it is your little computer, internet access feels a lot safer to do a few internet banking jobs while on the move. (if you can remeber the passwords)

So far so good, and im sure the hotel back in Bangkok will have WiFi at a cost.  But it is defiantly not as expensive as internetational phone calls frm your hotel room!

Expect the next update not from this bar in Phuket, but from the comfort of our room in Bangkok =)



Happy holidays continue.

I have been playing World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and decided to give something back, even though there are plenty (and I mean plenty) of these guides, which are all free.  I wanted to join in the fun.

I have comprised a guide for mining areas, including information on mining nodes, expected returns, additional items, trainers, suggested areas & some tips along the way from original WoW to Burning Crusade, to WotLK.

It was also my 1st attempt at working in a Drupal site, which was kinda neat.  But I do not think I will repeat the process.

Here is a snippet of the 1st few mining suggested areas.

World Warcraft Guide - Mining Guide 1-450


------------

Mining 1-65
Mining [Copper Ore]

You will need to mine approx 30 mining nodes (each node will offer more than 1 [Copper Ore], maybe upto 5)

Mine around 50 copper and then smelt them. We suggest the following areas, try and do quests here as well, otherwise just find copper as you go.

Handy Tip: Make sure to retrain after level 50, to become a Journeyman Miner. Max level for Apprentice is 75

Handy Tip: Stay close to Hills & Mountain Ranges to find more Ore deposits (nodes)



Horde Mining 1-65
Undead: Follow the Hills!

South -> Deathknell - The Undercity - The Bulwark
North -> Scarlet Monastery to the coast
West then South -> down to Agamand Mills - Deathknell

You should get around 30-40 [Copper Ore]



Tauren: Run around the circle of hills!

Start somewhere in Mulgore and work your way around the cliffs.
Don't forget to hit up the Venture Co mines.

You should get around 40-50 [Copper Ore]



Orc & Troll: Durotar is FULL of copper, but try this small route.

West -> From Razor Hill - Quilboar grounds - the river
North -> Orgrimmar
East -> farmstead
South -> drop into the canyon - exit
South East -> Razor Hill

You should get around 25-30 [Copper Ore] on this route




Alliance Mining 1-65
Human: from Goldshire

East -> Goldshire - Crystal Lake - Logging Camp
South -> follow river - Elwyn forest and Duskwood
North West -> Goldshire (make sure you visit the two mines on this route)

You should get around 30-40 copper ore



Night Elves: Darnassus HAS NO ORES! Go to Darkshore & do a figure of 8!

East -> Auberdine - cliffs
South -> entrance of Ashenvale
West -> coast
North -> Auberdine
East -> Auberdine - cliffs
North -> follow the cliffs - edge of map
South -> - coast - Auberdine

You should get around 40-50 copper ores



Dwarves and Gnomes: Holy cow - Dun Morogh! Just wing it! Seriously, copper is EVERYWHERE!
You should easily get around 40-50 [Copper Ore] running around here.



SMELT! (this should get you to 60ish)

------------

Check out the complete guide here.  World Warcraft Guide - Mining Guide 1-450


Thanks for reading...
Johnny Dominic @ WorldWarcraftGuide.com