I’m sure some of you remember me mentioning that I was trying out the Dungeons and Dragons Online stress test a couple of months ago. Because of the NDA I wasn’t allowed to discuss it at the time, but I was really unimpressed with the experience.

However, it was a beta stress test and most of the issues I had with the game could be chalked up to beta status. So I was determined to give the game at least one more chance before forming an opinion. Last night I installed and fired up the latest stress test they are running, and I’m happy to say, things seem much better.

I’ve got today off (mostly) so I’ll be diving in to DDO to really get a feel for the game. At first glance, there are a lot of features that suggest it’s a quality offering. It’s often the details, the little things, that pique my interest in an MMO.

For instance, when creating your character in Dungeons and Dragons Online, you find yourself not sure what class you want to play as. Each class is accompanied by a short voiced-over in-game movie that explains the strengths and weaknesses of that class. Small detail, but very cool addition in my opinion.

Basic character customization is pretty diverse, which is always a huge bonus for me. I haven’t played the game enough yet to see how well armor/clothing varies, but hopefully I can see some of that this weekend. I’ll give it a good play and then talk more about it.

I’ve blown through the Empire at War demo with great enjoyment. I feel that this game accurately captures the look, feel and spirit of the Star Wars universe, while offering really good RTS gameplay. I eagerly await its release so I can try out multiplayer.

The demo for Rainbow Six: Lockdown has been released. I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m not too excited over this game. Right now I’ve got America’s Army on the brain, and I don’t see Rainbow Six topping it. But I’ll probably give it a try just for trying’s sake.

Now, if only Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter would come out for the Xbox 360… that would pull me away.

Rumors still say that Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is coming in the first half of 2006. Oh please, oh please, oh please let that be true.