Blizzard has implemented a new "Recruit a Friend" initiative for existing subscribers. If you talk a bud into signing up for 30 days then, you get 30 days of free gameplay. Talk them into sticking around for 60 days and you get a nice swift Zhevra mount. Some of the other bonuses are triple the normal XP gain and for every two levels your friend gains, "they can grant one level of experience to any one of your characters of lower level." That's not a bad deal at all.

Here's the FAQ copied from Blizzard's website with more details on the program.

Recruit-A-Friend FAQ


What is "Recruit-A-Friend"?

Our new friend referral system allows you to recruit some of your friends to join you in World of Warcraft by sending them an invitation email containing a trial activation key. With this key, your friends will be able to set up their own trial accounts.

To start this process log on to the Account Management section and click the Recruit-A-Friend button. This will take you to the actual friend referral page, where you can enter a friend's email address and name one at a time. If you want, you can also enter a message that will be included in the invitation email.



How can I earn the exclusive in-game mount?

For each person you refer who upgrades to a retail version of World of Warcraft and purchases two months of game time, you will be able to give a character on the account you sent the invitation from an exclusive in-game zhevra mount. This unique mount can be claimed through the website, is only available to Recruit-A-Friend participants, and can only be applied to a single character.



What in-game benefits do we get while the accounts we play are linked?

1. Characters on both accounts can summon each other once per hour.
2. While adventuring with your linked friend/family member, you will each gain triple experience.
3. For every two levels the new player earns, the new player can grant one free level-up to a lower-level character played by the veteran player.



How long will I be linked to my recruit?

The link between the accounts will last for 90 days from the date that your recruit creates an account. Remember that for the link to work properly, your recruit must create a new World of Warcraft account using the 10-day trial key in your invitation email.



When my friend/family member upgrades from a trial account to a full version of the game, will that break the link between the accounts?

Nope! Your friend/family member will have to upgrade to continue playing past the 10-day trial, and the accounts you play will stay linked until the full 90 days have passed.



If my friend/family member recruits another friend/family member, am I linked to that person too?

No, these benefits only apply to the person that you referred directly.



Are there any limits on when and where I can summon my friend?

You and your recruit may only summon new characters of equal or lower level to the character you are playing. There is a one-hour cooldown on this summoning ability. Also, once one of the characters reaches level 60, the summon will no longer function.



Do I always gain triple experience while I am linked to my recruit?

No, only when you are partied with a character on the linked account and both players are present when slaying the monster or completing the quest. Also, if the two characters are not the same level, only the lower-level character is given the experience boost.



Is quest experience tripled too?

Yes, but only if the quest was not trivial (gray difficulty) for either character.



Do normal experience rules apply?

Yes, if a monster is trivial to either player, no experience boost is given.



How does this affect / stack with Rest State experience?

While you are partied with a linked recruit, any Rest State you have accumulated is not consumed. Only the tripled experience from the Recruit-A-Friend program is applied.



What if I'm partied with multiple recruits who I'm "linked" to? Do I get quadruple, sextuple experience?

No, you can only ever gain a maximum of triple experience regardless of how many linked recruits you are partied with.



Are there any limitations to granting levels to characters played by the veteran player?

Yes. The recruit may not grant a level to a character that is equal to or higher than the current level of the character he or she is playing.
Additionally, the recruit may not grant a level to a character that is level 60 or higher.



How can I earn the free 30-day credit?

For each person you refer who upgrades to a retail version of World of Warcraft and purchases his or her first month of game time, the account you sent the invitation from will receive a free credit of 30 days of play time.



Can I use the free 30-day credit on a different account or at a different time?

No, the 30 days of play time are immediately applied to the account you sent the invitation from once your recruit pays for his or her first month.



Can I earn multiple 30-day credits and mounts with Recruit-A-Friend?

Yes! These rewards will be given to you for each account you refer that meets the criteria listed above.



If my recruit cancels the account before purchasing subscription time, can I still earn the 30-day credit or the in-game mount?

If the recruit later comes back, reactivates the account, and purchases subscription time, you will still be eligible for the rewards. Additionally, you can always invite more friends/family members to try World of Warcraft through the Recruit-A-Friend system.

Finish What You Start...

It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as the latest episode of the ElectricSistaHood podcast, but we prefer to think of it as just another slice of life.

Magic starts it out by talking about the manga "Pet Shop of Horrors" and Ninja and Panda finish it up by giving their love to the new Soul Caliber IV. In between all that, they present another hour of hilarity for all of you.

Just get a load of the titles that were turned down for this episode:

Just Listen To It and Figure It Out

The Heartbreak of Numb Butt

When Naruto Met a Night Elf Chick

If a Tree Falls In the Woods, Does It Get Turned Into a Manga?

My Favorite Word of the Week Was Circle-Jerk

We Don't Really Have DILLIGAF For Kids

The Day WoW Was Not Played

Let's Not Talk About Boob Brutality

The Soul Caliber Unlockable for Windows? Clippy!

So Many Accessories, They Should Call It Sim Caliber

If Robert E. Lee Had Invisible Naked Chick Army, We'd Be Celebrating His Birthday

Soul Caliber Finally Realized I'm Fat

The T-shirt Has Yoda and Siegfried -- Where's Roy?

I Hate Being Pwned, But I Love the Attention

Maids Prefer To Think Of Their Hats As Tiaras

I Pahked My Cah Then Became a Shirt-Rippah

Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical Episode

Token With the Sistahs (Not, It's Not the New Cheech & Chong Movie)

So enjoy Episode 108: It's Like Food In My Mouth and don't forget to start sucking up to the Sistahs. You gotta get one of those tokens somehow.

Finish What You Start...

A lot of good trailers came out of Comic Con 08, but this one really caught my attention. Spider-man: Web of Shadows looks like it's going to be amazing! I like the combination of old suit and black suit Spidey. You throw a symbiote Wolverine in there and I'm practically sold.

Game Description:
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows immerse players in an all-new action-adventure saga that gives them unprecedented control, never before seen in a Spider-Man game. Armed throughout the battle and confronted by an unrecognizable New York City, players choose to play as a heroic web-slinger or a volatile, destructive anti-hero, fighting with or against a vast number of fan-favorite Marvel heroes and villains, switching instantly between sides, and deciding which missions to undertake to save mankind. An all-new combat system combines web slinging and customizable superpowers to give gamers the freedom to fight and explore in a free-roaming, open-ended environment. Battles blend Spider-Man's speed and agility with the landscape, challenging players to master fast moving acrobatic combat, powerful new web-slinging moves and destructive combo attacks, as they take the fight from the streets, up the sides of buildings and onto rooftops.

Finish What You Start...

Today is the day people. Are your thumbs ready? Did you do your exercises? Were you able to decide between the path of the Jedi or the Dark Side? I hope you have, because today is July 29th which means that Soul Calibur IV has hit the shelves.

To say that I am excited for the release of this game would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. I have missed playing a fighter worth the rental fee for over two years now. The last new release fighting title that I would even dare to put into the "good" category was DOA:4 which is now nearly 4 years old. Four years is way too long of a drought to suffer through, but I take solace in the fact that I am not alone in my misery.

Now before the naysayers and fanboys get up in arms, I know that there have been many versus games based on the Dragonball series, and they have not all sucked. In earnest, the Budokai series has some great gameplay going on in the game itself. That said, the Dragonball titles to me have never really felt like a fighter game title. They are a franchise that appeal to only an existing anime fan base that potentially game as well. The Budokai games have not been able to bridge the game and draw the casual gamer in to join their "legion of the loyal." In many cases, the exact opposite happened; people that would normal pick up every and every fighter title initially shied away from the title. So because DBZ:Budokai focuses on such a small piece of the market of the fighting genre I do not believe it fair to use it as a representation of the whole genre. If you don't like it, you can suck it.

You may say, "...Ninja? Didn't NamcoBandai release an SC title for the Wii? Wasn't that good?" My reply would be "Yes! And it sucked more wind than a brand new Dyson." [And the commercials for that thing say it never loses suction.] SC:Legends was a waste of time and money, and I'm sure NamcoBandai felt that way as well which is why it looks like they worked so hard in order to redeem the title's reputation. NamcoBandai press releases promise that,

"Soulcalibur IV has been retooled from the ground up to provide a true next generation experience."

And then go on to say,

"...the wages of battle are shown as protective armor can be broken off and visible lacerations of clothing can be seen with the inclusion of the equipment destruction feature. Adding depth to the unrivalled combat system, players can unleash Critical Finish moves to defeat opponents in one stunning blow."

The game sports an "improved" character creation mode that allows you to customize the hell out of an existing fighter or even create an original warrior. Oh yeah, it has online versus play as well.

Get thee to thou localist GameStoppery and pick this game up. SCIV is available on the PS3 [Dark Side, Vader style] and XBox 360 [Path of the Jedi].

You know the gamertag, let's star playing.

Finish What You Start...

I'm a huge fan of Stargate Atlantis and a small fan of Stargate SG-1, but I love the concept and storyline of both. That's why I'm looking forward to the upcoming mmo, Stargate Worlds.

This game shows a lot of potential. Check out the new gameply trailer. My only concern is that all combat seems to focus on gunplay, which I don't mind, but I'd like the option for hand-to-hand combat, kind of like Ronin and the entire Satedan race. I'm curious to see if that gets incorporated later.

Finish What You Start...

If you ever sit and ponder on the idea of people of a young-ish age drinking, let this new episode of the ESH podcast be the proof you need to "just say nay!"

This week, MagicMystic returns and brings with her balance to the force while Panda and Ninja enjoy some adult juice before, during, and probably after the episode.

This episode starts with Ninja talking about the new XBLive Arcade title Go! Go! Break Steady that she keep calling "Go! Go! Beat Street" reports on some of the feelings around the industry about E3, and the hopefully triumphant return of the fighting genre on the back of Soul Calibur IV. Magic chimes in with her new found XBox-y goodness and general discovery of "the new" as she shares first impressions of her new XBox 360 Elite as well as latent desires for an XBLive account, and then Panda brings up the rear and talks about the anime and manga series, Full Metal Panic. The gals are back to normal and completely off topic as usual.

Here are some of the random things said during the show that could have been used as titles, but weren't:

• Wallmart, Baby Come Back!
• The Big "E" Is Big
• MagicMystic Is Back, And Out Of The Closet
• Jobless Wonder To The Rescue-ish
• It's Not The Size of Your GamerScore, But How You Use It
• You Don't Wanna Waste Your Bombs
• Don't Pay The Toll When 5-0's On Your Ass
• This Podcast Is Abridged
• and finally
• FUSION DANCE OF PAIN!

Hope you have a hot cup of coffee on hand, because you want to stay awake for this one folks. I give you, ESH podcast episode 107: Friends Don't Let Friends Drink & Podcast!

Finish What You Start...

I just received a press release for a new magazine for multi-player videogames called Massive Gamer. it's being published by Jodie McIntyre, owner of an MMORPG fansite called mpogd.com.

I don't know Ms. McIntyre, but as a long-time veteran of the magazine industry, I just have three words for her:

DON'T DO IT!

I don't want you to get the impression that I don't like the idea of an MMORPG magazine. I love nearly all magazines. (I can't stand that dang Bassmaster, but I have my own reasons for that.)

Seriously, I have been in and out of the magazine industry for more than 20 years, as the executive editor of titles including Lost Treasure, Total Fitness, BASSIN' and Income Opportunities. Some of those mags had hundreds of thousands of readers. They were slick, full-color publications distributed from Hawaii to Maine.

That was in the good, ol' days of magazine publishing when photographers were professionals and knew a few things about depth-of-field and F-stops. That was in the good, ol' days of magazine publishing when the writers were grizzled old newspaper hacks who knew their way around a past-participle. That was in the good, ol' days of magazine publishing when potential advertisers called you about buying space in your publication because it was the only way they could get their products in front of their audience.

As Susie Hinton would say, that was then. This is now.

Don't do it, Jodie. Don't start a magazine in 2008. It'll make you yell at your kids, divorce your husband and kick the dog.

Businesswise, starting up a magazine is a disaster. It'll be half a year before you see dime one. Here's why:

Let's say your first issue is a February cover date. February magazines actually come out in January. Why is that? Because if you see two similar magazines on the newsstand and one has a January cover date and the other has a February cover date, you'll buy the February one, thinking it has newer stuff inside.

To actually get the February issue to the stands in time for January, you have to put things into motion much earlier -- four months earlier. That's right. Monthly magazines are pretty much set in stone four months before they hit your mailbox. The stories have to be in place four months before the distribution date because most of the ads inside are based upon the stories that are written for the magazine.

This is the dirty, little secret of the magazine business. Ads are sold based on editorial. While the ad department goes out begging potential advertisers to buy space, the editorial folks scrape together photos and graphics and ship the whole business to the art department to start putting it together. The ad people fashion together a layout of advertising and the whole thing comes together around the first of November -- eight weeks before distribution.

You see, magazine companies don't have their own presses, like newspapers do. They depend upon a very few companies to print the things. And those companies are on a very tight schedule. If your magazine doesn't get on the press at exactly the time the printer has set, it might not get printed at all. And the printing companies don't mind telling you that.

My magazine Total Fitness was printed on the same press that they printed Rolling Stone. In fact, when they completed the run for Rolling Stone, they didn't even make a physical break in the paper web. They just took the Rolling Stone plates out and substituted the Total Fitness plates. For the first few dozen copies, out came a composite magazine that looked like it was called Rolling Fitness.

Once printed, half the copies went to the newsstand distributor and the other half went to the company that attached labels for issues to be mailed to subscribers.

Newsstand distributors -- there used to be dozens of those guys. Now there are very few. Most convenience stores have stopped selling magazines. Old-fashioned newsstands are closing up. Wal-Mart doesn't even let a magazine distributor in the door, choosing instead to deal directly with the magazine publisher -- and it's very hard for anyone to get in that door.

Remember Publisher's Clearing House? That used to be a great way to get a magazine out there. There was just one little catch: PCH took all of the subscription money for any magazine they sold. The publisher was relegated to begging the subscriber to resubscribe for the following year. That's right -- they gave away the magazine for free for the first year.

Not that subscriptions pay much of the cost of the magazine. Subscriptions are there for only one reason: to pay the postage to send the magazine to each subscriber. That's all.

A magazine publishing company makes money almost solely through advertising. Why do you think there are so many ads in a magazine? Have you ever tried to pick up a copy of Vogue? In order to maintain its cheap Periodical rate to mail a magazine, it can have up to 80 percent advertising in it. Of course, most magazines don't have that much advertising. You see, regular people don't really like that much advertising. Most magazine companies prefer to keep advertising down to the 50-60 percent range.

So half the printed magazines go to the newsstand distributor and the other half go to get labeled and mailed. For an issue marked "February," this happens during the last half of December. One frequent complaint about this process is that the issue usually hits the stands before subscribers get it in the mail.

So, once the issue is out, the advertisers pay the magazine company, right? Not so fast. Once the issue has been printed, the advertising department sends "tear sheets" to the advertisers, along with an invoice.

These invoices give a discount to the advertiser if they pay within the first 30 or 60 days. Most magazine companies give the advertiser up to four months to pay the bill. As a result, a "February" issue that was printed in November will likely not see any advertising money at all until the end of April. In the meantime, the magazine company has had to pay everyone else along the way: employees, freelance writers, artists and photographers, printers, distribution companies and the U.S. Postal Service.

And consider that, in the space of the four months you have allowed the advertiser to slide on his payment, you have had to print and distribute issues for March, April and May. You won't collect the first penny from any advertiser until you are putting the fifth issue of your magazine on the stands.

And it couldn't be a worse time for the magazine business. Massive layoffs in the magazine industry have already occurred at such venerable publishers as Ziff-Davis Enterprise (eWeek, Baseline and Publish) and F&W Publications (Writer's Digest, How and Comics Buyer's Guide) and a hiring freeze at vertical publisher Penton Media. Dozens of magazines are going to die this year (already closed are Games for Windows, House and Garden, American Heritage, Talk, Success, PiQ, Golf for Women, Shoot, Quick & Simple, Elite VIP, Skope, Media Week, Imaging Retail News, Apply, Harp, Mass Appeal, BLU, Amusement Business (closing after 111 years), Spokesmen, Disciple, No Depression, Orange, Kitchen Sink, Pioneering, Resonance, Blueprint, Index and a Los Angeles magazine called Tu Ciudad). The entire industry is in a downturn that's never coming back.

Does the world need a massively multi-player online gaming magazine? Probably. Is this the right time to start one? I'm afraid not.

I wish you all the luck in the world, Jodie. I hope you can buck the odds and turn it into a success. Well, "success" is probably not the right word to use. After all, Success magazine has recently restarted publishing after closing a year ago -- for the third time.

Finish What You Start...

King Baby Duck here, making his first post as an official brother of the Electric Sista Hood (meaning my Blogger account is now linked with the site)! This week's Anime Calamity is not a TV show, but rather a movie that caught my eye. It's called "Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi," or "Summer Days with Coo."

A young kappa (a Japanese mythological water creature) witnesses his father murdered by a samurai, and then falls down a hole made by an earthquake. Almost three hundred years later a young elementary school student named Koichi finds the kappa fossilized in a stone. After bringing it home and washing it, the kappa comes back to life. Koichi gives the kappa the name Coo, which is one of the first things the little creature says. Coo adjusts to the lifestyle of Koichi and his family, and quickly becomes a member. However, the changed outside world makes Coo worried about his other kappa comrades. Koichi and Coo set out for the countryside to find more kappas, but to no avail. However, when Coo’s existence becomes apparent to the public, he comes face-to-face with the challenges of the outside world; which leads to Coo meeting with an ancestor of his father’s murderer. What the ancestor has in his possession freaks Coo out, and his actions lead the outside world to think that he is a danger. Will there be a happily-ever-after with Coo, or will he have to face the fact that he will never be accepted into today’s society? And what of his kappa comrades? Are they still alive, or have they disappeared with much of the nature?

The first thing I thought of after watching this film was how wonderful the storytelling is. The tale flows gracefully, even at its almost 2 ½ hour timeframe. Although a fantasy (despite many incidents of kappa being seen in Japan) the anime has a real feel to it. It has a lot of emotion, and it also teaches a lesson about not just fitting into society, but also about how nature must be preserved. Plus the humor in the film is top-notched, especially when it deals with Koichi’s little sister. She is the most realistic of the characters, with the jealous brat thing down to patch. One scene that pops into mind is when the sister brings home pet snails, which Coo eats; thinking they are food. This freaks the little girl out; especially when she discovers that some people eat snails, too, leading her to inspect every morsel of food on her plate to make sure she’s not eating little escargots. The soundtrack to the film, composed by Kei Wakakusa, almost sounds like a score written by top American country artists. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your taste in country music. Finally, the animation is also really good, almost up there with the quality of Miyazaki films. Its director, Keiichi Hara, who also directed some of the “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin-chan” movies, knows how to appeal to both kids and adults of all ages, and this film will surely entertain anyone; even with its long running time.

Now speaking for the kids, in Japan this is considered a family film; but because our standards here are a lot more strict than Japan’s it wouldn’t be for younger children. There’s a lot of blood in the first couple minutes of the film, and the scenes dealing with death might be too traumatic for children. Plus, you see Coo’s yarbles throughout the entire film; which, in a country where the mindset is “nudity is bad!!!” might leave parents uneasy. However if parents can look past the violence and kappa nudity, kids will be able to learn a valuable message from this film. I’d say this film should be PG here; but if your younger kids (who are, like, four or five) are okay with a little blood then I’d say they can watch it, too.

Since this is a movie review, I’m going to give it a star grade: 5 stars. It’s a wonderful tale that the folks at Disney should really look at to see how to properly do a family movie that is for anyone in the family, and not just the young tykes.

This is King Baby Duck: Ain't born to lose, baby! I'm born to win! I'm so Goddamn slick, baby, it's a sin!

Finish What You Start...

I went see The Dark Knight movie this weekend and although it was a great film and there were many awesome moments in the movie, I'd say the one part that really caught my attention and stuck with me was when Morgan Freeman pulled out one of the most badass-looking cell phones I have ever seen. I couldn't wait to get home and research it.

All I could make out from the movie was that the phone was Nokia branded. After some Googling, I found out that the phone is one of Nokia's newest models, the 5800 or Tube. I use an iPhone, but if anyone asks me who makes the best and most reliable cell phone in the industry, I'd quickly say Nokia. Although it looks like another iPhone copycat, it's being reported that the fuctionality of the phone is much better than Apple's "Jesus phone". Here's a Q&A video and the specs:



* 3.2-inch touchscreen display with 16 Million colors
* 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus
* Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM/EDGE radio

-3G UMTS/HSDPA

* Bluetooth 2.0
* WiFi
* GPS
* 3.5mm headphone jack
* TV-out port
* 140MB on-board storage
* 111 x 52 x 14.5 mm
* 104g

No official release date or carrier has been announced yet, but the phone is rumored to hit the market between the end of 2008 and 1Q 2009. Can someone get Batman on the phone? He might have more info.

Finish What You Start...

Dear Bungie,

I read in Variety this week that you have had some disagreements with your previous owner Microsoft and that was why there was no Halo announcement at E3 this year.

I know it must be difficult after so many years kowtowing to the likes of Steve Ballmer, and if you think that maybe it's time for a little payback, I've got an idea on how to have a little vengeance against the Evil Empire.

Give Steve Jobs a call. I understand that it may be a little difficult to get in. Between drinking macrobiotic shakes and counting all that money coming in from WALL-E and emailing to pals on the next version of the iPhone, he's a little busy these days. Tell him you've got an idea.

First, tell him you've mended your ways. You're sorry you sold out to Microsoft all those years ago and took all those fun games away from the Mac. Then tell him you've got a way to kick the likes of Microsoft, HP, Dell and all those Asian computer makers right in the tail.

The Halo Mac.

The Halo Mac is not just a Macintosh with a bunch of decals on it. It's a Mac designed to play Halo. Take a MacBook Air and give it a multi-touch screen, like an iPhone. Just throw the controller away. You have everything you need, between the multi-touch screen and the keyboard.

Inside, put a processor capable of bringing out the best in Halo, along with a solid-state drive and the maximum amount of RAM possible.

And keep all the great capabilities of the MacBook intact. The 802.11n network is superior to anything on a console. Voice and video chat is built in -- not an add-on. In fact, you could share your screen with other players. You could even capture your screen play and turn it into Machinima with the free iMovie program on the Mac.

Imagine the possibilities of a Halo-player that is as light as a MacBook Air and just as useful. The Xbox 360 is OK, but you only move that hot plate when it Red-Rings-Of-Death.

[MacBook Air photo credit: Tim Malabuyo]

Finish What You Start...