First Impressions of the SteelSeries Siberia V2 Gaming Headset

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The past three or four years I had been using the same headset: the Corsair 1500 Vengeance wired headset. As a person with a small head and thick framed glasses, it is always difficult for me to find comfortable headsets that also provide good quality. So usually when I find a set that works, I keep buying that same set when the old pair wears out. Thus was the case with the 1500s. They provided good sound quality, didn’t try to pull my ears off my head, had nice soft velvet ear cups, and of course a pretty great quality microphone for a gaming headset. However the problem I always encountered with the 1500s was that the cable on either side of the in-line volume/mute button would wear out within a year or so. This last pair I had lasted two years, so they have been getting better. But when it came time to replace them I decided to opt for something different. The SteelSeries Siberia V2.

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New Addiction – Star Wars: The Old Republic

This Easter weekend, SWTOR was having a free trial weekend. Since Nav and all our friends had a 4 day weekend, we decided to all try it out. And by the end of the weekend we had all bought it.

I really don’t think I would have gotten so addicted without friends to play with. It’s a pretty good game, but not great or anything. Xhii from Roll One Hundred expresses similar sentiments. It’s a pretty new game, so I give it the benefit of the doubt for the most part. But as she says, it is definitely lacking some basic things. Hopefully with time they will get added.

I was the only one in our group to want to go Jedi I guess so we went Sith instead. Luckily with the way quests work, you can be a ‘good’ person despite being on the Sith side. Quests in SWTOR don’t work the same way they do in LOTRO or other MMOs I suppose. In SWTOR, every quest pick up and hand-in comes with a cutscene of dialogue between you and the quest giver. You can choose between a few kind of replies to give to the various things the questgivers say. You can be rude, you can be kind, you can be whatever. You really can shape the personality of your character more than just “do this quest” or “don’t do this quest”.

SWTOR Cithryth exists on the Asia/Pacific PvP server (there’s only one… so whatever that server is called, that’s where I am). She’s an Imperial Agent, which I guess I would describe as a cross between a LOTRO burglar and a witch-hunter from Warhammer Online. At level 10 you choose one of two ‘advanced class’ paths. I chose to go sniper – so more long-range damage type stuff. So far I’m only level 17 but it’s been real fun so far.

In case anyone is wondering, this is what the UI looks like. There’s no way to re-arrange stuff at the moment, but apparently the patch that is coming out this week (supposedly), 1.2, will allow you to rearrange UI elements. Yay!

You also get various ‘companions’ – basically like skirmish soldiers or pets in LOTRO. They can follow you around and help you fight, sell stuff for you and even do crafting quests. As an Imperial Agent, I don’t really like my first companion, Kaliyo. She’s creepy.

Texture Pack Review: LB Photo Realism

Just like with LOTRO and UI skins, I am loving Minecraft texture packs. There seems to be a pack for any kind of theme you could want. I have a variety currently installed so that I can use different packs for different worlds or projects. My newest project is a modernist style house, and so I really wanted a modern themed texture pack to match. I decided on the LB Photo Realism pack by scuttles. It’s an HD pack that is available in a couple of resolutions. I decided to go all the way and use the 256×256 version.

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