It's Official - Arideni is Back!

AP— It was a sunny day in eastern North Carolina today when Arideni officially announced he is coming out of retirement. The self-proclaimed "28k Underdog Champion of the World" closed a deal this week as his new system went online. The modest holdings from Asus & Intel along with networking by Trendware have made the seemingly long-lost player come back into the spotlight, if only for a glimpse.

"I want to remain low profile doing my work, helping others, & having a fun time [in-game]," he said in an exclusive interview earlier. "Sure, I can reach a lot of people online over the Intarnetz, but what I really want is to go back there - to go back to level 1 & do it all over again. I want to meet the people, shake their hands, & really get into things."

The timing couldn't be better with the official release of 2.4 not long ago. All of the latest Badge of Justice rewards are ripe for the picking, should he choose to take them.

"I'm not sure what my gameplan will be yet, or maybe I'm just not sure what to reveal, but I'm thinking about finishing my 29 warlock & shadow priest on Ravenholdt."

So while he has some plans, nothing is definitive yet. Indeed, it will likely be Monday or Tuesday next week before anything concrete hits the public. Certain things must be done before being "battle ready" such as obtaining the latest version of World of Warcraft (the latest full patch is a whopping ~920MB). "I don't even have the base game installed on my system yet, though I do have at least one game installed so far," he said about his arrival.

Apparently, a hot topic this week will be his system itself as it seems the ambient temperature inside his PC case is hitting 38C (100F) degrees. Certainly not suitable for today's Core 2 microprocessors.

Stay tuned for more late-breaking news as it becomes available!

Recent News

Arideni Coming Back to World of Warcraft?

AP— This week in the news, former Hardcore-Casual Dial-up Champion of the World, Arideni, may be coming back to the game after all. Our sources are saying that it is very possible, at least for a short-term, the free agent will be back on the Illidan (US) realm assessing the current state of the game, working on the Auction House, & liquidating all assets in what appears to be a play to change servers. If this server change does happen, it isn't likely to result in a transfer. Rumors have it the once-renowned player will be moving to a different PVP server, possibly Ravenholdt (where he holds a retired 29 twink warlock), in an attempt to level up to three new characters (supposedly the warlock, a shadow priest, & another rogue). Other reports are suggesting Arideni is simply rolling a new Alliance warrior & rogue (Human males) on the same Illidan (US) server. Even still, there are rumors that the Maelstrom server may be getting a visit before the year is out. We do have actual confirmed reports indicating that Arideni has been offered lucrative tanking propositions on the Boulderfist (US) server. Many options remain on the table, but nothing is set in stone apparently. Arideni had no comment on this topic & our calls went unanswered.@

Computer Debacle Resolved, New Upgrades Planned

I recently purchased some much needed parts to upgrade my computer which I made in fourth quarter 2004. I purchased 2GB of DDR2 800Mhz RAM, an ATi X1650 Pro 512MB graphics card, a socket 478 Biostar P4M900-VM (micro ATX) motherboard for about $250 (with shipping). Everything seemed to work fine, except for the motherboard which doesn't seem to work well at all with my Serial ATA 1.5 hard disk drive (HDD). Long story short, I asked for a refund & recently got it (minus $8 restocking fee, plus about $10 shipping) for a total of about 47$ from a 56$ motherboard. I am expecting a $15 rebate on the memory purchased in the coming weeks, so that will shave off some red numbers.

Since I already have new memory & a new graphics card, required purchases from the bogus motherboard, I intend on upgrading (it's been a month since these issues came up) again. This time, I'm going to get what I want & should have gotten from the start: a new processor & motherboard which aren't obsolete. As it stands, I intend on getting an Asus P5K Pro & an E4600 Core 2 Duo processor. I'm going to take the time to also purchase a second modem & cable for the PC so that I may use the Internet on either computer (instead of swapping out parts from one to another). Without the modem & cable, costs come out to about $225 (without shipping). It's about another $30 (without shipping) to get the modem & cable adapter, but it's $30 which will help greatly in setting up the PC (being online with one, while working on the other is more than just a luxury, it's totally righteous).

Pick-up Truck Fixed & Road Ready

Today I got my pickup truck back, repaired from a minor wreck several weeks ago in which two deer (a doe & a fawn) ran in front of my truck, causing me to strike them with the front driver's side & headlights. My radiator was punctured, the driver side headlight & turn signal were broken, & my seat belt doesn't catch. Thankfully, I'm alright. Also, a family member fixed the truck for me in his spare time & got the parts necessary pretty cheap. It seems that, at least for now, the truck is working alright. However, there may be an issue with the transmission (might be leaking, which was a problem supposedly fixed a while back).