General Gaming Article

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• Belgian ISPs Forced to Block The Pirate Bay
• Kindle Fire Selling 2000 Units Per Hour
• Get It Together: Seven Apps and Services to Organize Your Life
• Mad Catz Cyborg Gaming Lights
• Fusion-io Announces Super Fast ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo
• Tech Champions: 15 Geek Heroes from Movies and TV
• Beware of Fake iPhone 5 Emails Containing Malware
• Apple Uncorks iPhone 4S, Same Exterior with Better Hardware
• Firefox Keeping Rapid Release, But Adding Silent Update Option For Irritated Users
• Intel Slips Four New Atom Chips into Low Power Lineup

Belgian ISPs Forced to Block The Pirate Bay Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:58 PM PDT A Belgian appeals court has ordered two Belgian ISPs to begin blocking The Pirate Bay or face fines. The ruling comes after a two year long court battle that originally had the ISPs protected from forced filtering. Now the ISPs have 14 days to comply with the ruling, but The Priate Bay says there is no reason for concern. According to Pirate Bay, they only see an uptick in traffic when an ISP blocks them. There are numerous methods for circumventing an DNS-level block. They cheekily added their thanks to the Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation (BAF) for the free advertising. BAF takes the situation much more seriously, though, saying that the ISPs were creating a safe haven for piracy. Digital rights groups are hopping mad, pointing out that the block censors all content, even that which was legal. The wide availability of alternative DNS systems and VPNs seems to negate any efforts to block The Pirate Bay, but copyright holders keep trying, much to TPB's delight. Do you think ISPs should block sites?

Kindle Fire Selling 2000 Units Per Hour Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:37 PM PDT Amazon has always been coy when it come to releasing sales numbers, and the case of the new Kindle Fire is no exception. But  if the newest leak is to be believed, someone working for the company is a little less secretive. A spreadsheet detailing the pre-orders to this point shows some incredible numbers. In just five days, over 250,000 Kindle Fires have been ordered. With a little math, that works out to over 2000 devices per hour, and it's not even shipping for over a month. At this rate, Amazon will have sold 2.5 million Kindle Fires be the time the device is out. That would surpass the numbers seen when the original iPad launched by a wide margin. It looks like the attractive price point is enough to persuade buyers to pick one up. Some analysts have speculated that Amazon might actually be making about $50 per device, and that would mean huge profits out of the gate for the Kindle Fire. The tablet would also be one of the most prolific Android devices on the market, and it doesn't even run Google's apps. Have you ordered a Kindle Fire?

Get It Together: Seven Apps and Services to Organize Your Life Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:32 PM PDT In an increasingly complex world we're expected to think faster, do more, and rest less than ever before. In most occupations, multitasking is a must, making the ability to manage one's time and tasks effectively arguably the most vital skill any employee can bring into the modern workplace—and that's just during the work week. After hours and on weekends (if you're lucky enough to have them), keeping track of family events, time with friends and personal projects can be enough to bring those with even the sharpest of minds to their knees. Fortunately, there's a ton of technology in place to help you make the transition from being a failed life planning chump to an organizational champ. To get you started, we've put together a list of a few of our favorite organizational apps. No matter whether they're web-based, free or bound to your PC, they all have one thing in common: They'll help you organize that herd of cats you call a life.  Evernote When it comes to taking notes and keeping all of your ducks in a row, it's pretty hard to beat Evernote. For the low, low price of absolutely free, Evernote can be downloaded to most platforms including Windows, OS X, iOS, WebOS (sigh), Android and Blackberry's QNX Playbook operating system. Lacking that, your Evernote account can also be accessed via any modern web browser. Evernote makes it easy to take, edit, and review typed notes, lists, voice, and video memos on the fly. Should your workflow require you to keep tabs on online content, Evernote's got your back, offering up a web clipping extension compatible with most major internet browsers. Just click the Evernote icon in your browser bar, select the content you're interested in and then raise your arms like Steve Holt in a gesture of victory as the web content is clipped, captured and sent to your Evernote account for review at a later time. What what's more, the PC version of Evernote will even allow you to share all of that crucial content via a number of popular social networks including Twitter, Facebook and email. Additionally, power users can extend the service's functionality even further through the use of Evernote Trunk applications, which allow Evernote to integrate with popular mobile application like Quickoffice Pro HD for Android and iOS, Skitch, Reeder and Instapaper. If for some reason all of this still isn't enough for you, it's also possible to rock a premium Evernote account which'll allow you to transfer up to 1GB of content per month, upload and search through PDF files, and wicked fast image recognition.  To be honest, it's pretty hard for us to find a downside to using this user friendly, highly customizable service.  Google Calendar When it comes to organizing your life, it doesn't get any more basic than a calendar. For the majority of Westerners, the Gregorian calendar has been the way to go since first being introduced by Pope Gregory XIII back in 1582. In 2006, Google upped the Pope's Gregorian game by introducing Google Calendar—the free time management web application that we all know today. Subject to the company's legendarily long trial periods, Google Calendar didn't come out of beta until 2009, but once it did, the web app proved stable and reliable enough to become the de facto scheduling and task planning application for countless amateur and professional taskmasters around the world.  Google Calendar is free to use, but requires that each user of the web app sign up for a Google account. The greatest strengths of Google Calendar are the web app's flexibility, ability to be accessed via multiple platforms, and the ease of which it allows users to share their calendars and collaborate with other Google account holders. By using Google Calendar, you'll be able share your calendars with the important people in your life, compile tasks lists, set up multiple calendars to deal with a wide variety of scheduling duties, receive email reminders of impending appointments and tasks, and make it accessible via most smartphones applications and web browsers (as well as select calendar desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook).  Until recently, if Google Calendar had an fault, it was that it wasn't available for offline use. Fortunately, the good folks from Mountain View are now offering the web app's users the ability to access, interact, and edit their calendars offline through the Google's Chrome browser.  Microsoft OneNote If you prefer a little more freedom to decide how to organize your life, Microsoft's insanely versatile OneNote application might be the way to go. Available as an individual application or as part of Microsoft Office 2010, OneNote allows for free-form entry of your important information as you see fit. Users are invited to organize their information into virtual notebooks and pages, each of which can hold a wide variety of information including typed notes, screenshots, image files, audio, HTML, video, hyperlinks, handwritten text (provided your PC or Windows tablet supports it), tables, and information from other Microsoft applications like OutLook, Excel and Word. There are appliances to set up checklists, send snippets of text or whole notebooks to email recipients, and schedule meetings all from inside of the application. OneNote saves data automatically as it is entered, making it a great choice for over tasked academics or scatterbrained freelancers, and boast the ability to save information locally synchronize to a Sharepoint server or through Microsoft's SkyDrive service. As with Google Calendar and Evernote, OneNote users are also able to access their data through their smartphones, provided they're rocking an iOS, Android or Windows Phone handset.  Without a doubt, OneNote is a powerful tool, but it has a few serious faults. First, let's talk about the price: As a lone application, it'll set you back over $100. As part of Microsoft Office? Well, let's not get into how crazy expensive that can be. With so many other free alternatives out there, it's hard to justify forking over that kind of cash. Second, and perhaps more importantly, for individuals looking to organize their lives, the anything-goes nature of the OneNote could end up being more of a hinderance than an actual help, as even with powerful search capabilities, all of those free form notebooks and pages can quickly spiral out of control. Remember The Milk We'd be remiss if we forgot to enter Remember the Milk on this list. Ideal for individuals who thrive and survive by checklists, Remember the Milk has been an indispensable part of thousands of people's organizational lives for years. Using the service requires setting up a Remember the Milk account, but the two minutes it takes to complete the setup process will be amongst the best you've ever spent on an administrative task. Once you're good to go, simply navigate to Remember the Milk's homepage, sign in and get that life of yours in order. New tasks are entered into a field at the top of the screen, and can be sorted by priority, due date and category, making it easy to stay on top of what's important. While the web-based version of Remember the Milk is powerful on its own, upgrading to a pro account for $25 a year brings even more functionality to an already stellar service, by giving subscribers access to Android, Blackberry and Outlook synchronization. Additionally, subscribers who have iOS devices and opt in for pro account will be treated like the special snowflakes that they are by Remember the Milk's adding functionality to the iPhone and iPad's already very respectable Remember the Milk applications.  While there's no denying that Remember the Milk can be an invaluable organizational tool if used on a regular basis, the fact that it is so dependant upon an internet connection for most platforms can cripple it in some situations.  Toodledo Another great option in the same vein as Remember the Milk is Toodledo, Available for use via your web browser and as an app for Blackberry, Android and iOS devices, Toodledo keeps user's lives in line through the use of customizable filters, alarms and as with Remember the Milk, a checklist. Toodledo's interface is insanely customizable, allowing users to decide what tasking information appears in the service's user interface and where it shows up. While this may seem like a minor feature at first blush, having the ability to control the amount of information you're dealing with can have a huge impact on your productivity. As with Evernote and OneNote, Toodledo provides users with some basic word processing functionality through the use of a notebook interface. User generated notes can be organized into notebooks for easy reference.  There's also an option to Toodledo also allows users to import data from in a number of popular formats including CSV, XML, text files as well as offering support for Palm Pilots and iCal. In a bid to provide an added layer of security to your organizational life, Toodledo even offers users the ability to back up and restore their Toodledo database to their PC. Perhaps the most interesting feature offered by Toodledo is its ability to help users schedule their busy days and prioritize tasks through the use of a few sweet algorithms. In our experience, the service does a decent job of figuring out what's a priority for us, and was able to schedule tasks accordingly. Still, as with any mathematical equation designed to do our thinking for us, it's not an exact science. You may find that you and Toodledo won't always agree about what's important in your life, or where a task should be placed in your day's pecking order. Todoist Again with the online services! Designed for use by project-oriented users, Todoist makes project management planning child's play. When it comes to a GUI, it doesn't get much more user friendly than what Todoist has on offer. Users are invited to get the organizational ball rolling by creating a project, which in turn allows for the building of a task list. Tasks can be assigned completion dates, alarms and a priority rating. Todoist makes it possible to move tasks from one project to another, making it easy to modify your workflow as your priorities change. As with the other organizational apps and services discussed in this feature, users can also organize their tasks and projects with meta tags to make searching for data a breeze, even if your list of tasks or projects number in the hundreds. Firefox and Chrome users have the option of installing an extension to their web browser that adds Gmail integration, the ability to clip pages for reading at a later time and a number of other useful features into the mix. Should your day take you away from your desk (perish the thought), you can take Todoist with you thanks to the fact that as with Remember the Milk and Toodledo, Todoist also boasts mobile app versions of its web-based interface with support for most modern smartphones. As an added bonus, their mobile apps provide offline support, making it easy for you to manage your projects and tasks anywhere your life takes you.  Don't be fooled by the simplicity of its interface—Todoist is one powerful organizational tool that's more than worth your attention. Thinking Rock There's more than a few disciples of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) task management philosophy, and with good reason: by routinely taking stock of one's tasks, it becomes a lot easier to figure out what's a priority in your life and what can be pushed to the side for a while or discarded all together. That kind of task streamlining means less stress for you, and that, friends, is a win. Thinking Rock allows GTD devotees to get their task management on with a simple, but powerful, mind-map based interface that provides an at-a-glance understanding of what you've got cooking at any given time. Tasks entered into Thinking Rock can be filed into the traditional GTD categories of actions, projects, sub-projects, reference items, someday/maybe items, or goals.  Having the ability to structure tasks into projects and sub-projects provides invaluable organizational flexibility, making it easier to make sense of the chaos that comes from too many unwrangled tasks. Best of all, as Thinking Rock is Java-based, users can install it to Windows PCs, Apple computers, or Linux boxes and enjoy the same feature set right across the board. Unfortunately, unlike the other applications we've outlined here, Thinking Rock's mobile offerings are bleak at best. As far as we could see, there's no dedicated app allowing smartphone users to interact with their Thinking Rock database on the go, and as the Getting Things Done method to task management is fluid to say the least, the fact that Thinking Rock's developer suggests users take their GTD worklist with them on their Android or iOS devices as a PDF, or print it out as a Jasper or pocketmod note almost seems like a cruel joke.

Mad Catz Cyborg Gaming Lights Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:09 PM PDT They're a trip, but are these lights fantastic? When we review something, we assign a verdict based on the strengths and weaknesses of that product relative to the other products in its field. When there are no other products in that field, things get a little weird. Such is the case with the Cyborg Gaming Lights, the latest member in the rapidly expanding family of Mad Catz PC gaming peripherals. This pair of lights uses amBX ambient technology to enhance gaming. You position the lights so they face the wall behind your monitor, plug them in, and then enjoy a display of colored lights that match the background of whatever game you're playing. So while you're in the Firelands in World of Warcraft, the wall behing your computer will be washed in a fiery orange-red light. The lights change color in real time as you play, they work with almost any game, and they can also be used while watching movies. The Cyborg Gaming Lights' three LEDs combine to form up to 16 million colors of backlighting. The lights may be unique, but we've seen the technology before. Back in March 2007, we reviewed a set of funky Philips speakers with the full amBX ambient setup: lights, fans, and vibrating wrist pads. Although the technology was ahead of its time, the main fail was paltry game support (one title to be exact). The Cyborg Gaming Lights suffer no such problem: Because they simply hook into DirectX to receive the color information, they work with almost any game. It's a little hard to visualize the Gaming Lights without seeing them in action, but the effect is actually surprisingly pleasing. They do next to nothing in a brightly lit room, but once you close the curtains and dim the lights, they add noticeably to your games' immersiveness. They're not without their downsides, though. There are some glitches in the software that occasionally cause the lights to not turn on with the computer or to not recognize a game that they're supposed to. The software glitches are a bit of a pain, but this is a new product for Mad Catz, and we expect that updated drivers will smooth things out. Less likely to go away are our qualms about the amount of wiring involved in the gaming lights. Each light has a USB and a power cable, adding substantially to the already terrifying wad of cords behing our desks. We shudder to think what it would look like to use more than two lights. In all, the Gaming Lights' effect is surprisingly cool. After a few weeks of playing games with them installed, we don't want to give them up. At $100, they're not cheap, and there are a couple of drawbacks that keep this from being an unqualified buy recommendation. But if you have the extra money, and you're looking for a novel way to enhance your gaming experience, you won't be disappointed. $100, cyborggaming.com

Fusion-io Announces Super Fast ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:29 PM PDT There are fast storage devices, like 7200 RPM mechanical hard drives with 64MB of cache and built on a SATA 6Gbps interface; really fast storage devices, like high-end solid state drives with snappy controllers; and then there are ridiculously fast (and uber expensive) hardware like the new ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo from Fusion-io. Primarily aimed at the enterprise (though enthusiasts with deep pockets are welcome to join the fun), these new drives boast nearly symmetrical read and write access (up to 1.5GB/s read and 1.3GB/s write speeds for the ioDrive and up to 2.6GB/s read and 2.4GB/s write for the ioDrive Duo), up to 2.4TB capacity (ioDrive Duo), 15ms write latency, over 700,000 read IOPS and 900,000 write IOPS, an intelligent self-healing feature called Adaptive FlashBack for complete chip level fault tolerance, and extended support for all major OSes, including Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris x86, ESXi 5.0, and HP-UX. Fusion-io will over MLC versions of the ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo in 365GB, 785GB, 1.2TB, and 2.4TB capacities beginning in late November, followed by SLC variants in 400GB, 600GB, and 1.2TB capacities shortly after. Pricing for Fusion's new ioMemory platform starts at $5,950. Image Credit: Fusion-io

Tech Champions: 15 Geek Heroes from Movies and TV Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:20 PM PDT Douglas Horton suggested that we should all be our own heroes as it's a lot cheaper than a movie ticket. While he might be right, we think it's a lot more fun to take in a film (or kill a few braincells watching TV). Additionally, these lean economic times demand a certain level of fiscal responsibility: Spending a few bucks on a movie ticket versus the hospital bill most of us would have to foot after taking on a bunch of thugs in a downtown back alley? Please--The math speaks for itself. We suggest staying safe and snug at home while more qualified individuals do all the difficult, dangerous work for you. Fighting evil with brains, gadgets and gear, these 15 geek heroes beat down evil-doers and ne'er-do-wells for the price of admission. Let's take a look at what you get for your hard-earned money...

Beware of Fake iPhone 5 Emails Containing Malware Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:04 PM PDT Apple's much hyped iPhone press event has brought the Web's worst out of the woodwork (we're talking about hackers, not Apple fanyboys, in case that's not clear) who are trying to get gullible users to click on malicious links. The email appears to come from Apple and seemingly provides details about "the new Apple iPhone 5GS," and that alone is a dead giveaway that something's fishy. Apple announced the iPhone 4S today, not the iPhone 5GS. According to security firm Sophos, the spoofed email contains links that direct users to Windows malware. Sophos detects it as Mal/Zapchas-A. The email has been making the rounds since yesterday, and now that Apple has unveiled its next generation smartphone, don't be surprised if the creators tweak the message to reflect the iPhone 4S. As always, safe computing practices apply -- rather than click on links in emails, type the URL directly into your browser.

Apple Uncorks iPhone 4S, Same Exterior with Better Hardware Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:48 AM PDT Apple's much anticipated "Let's Talk iPhone" press event is underway, and after lots of chest thumping over iOS, Mac sales, iTunes, and everything else, the Cupertino company has finally and officially unveiled its iPhone 4S smartphone. It looks just like the regular iPhone 4, including the same retina display, but there's plenty new underneath the hood, including a dual-core processor. We're wrangling details from various live blogs around the Web so expect some of the finer points to be left out, at least until Apple tosses up press release. Until then, here are the main things you should know about the iPhone 4S: It's equipped with an A5 processor, the same one found in the iPad 2. This is a powerful processor that purportedly makes the iPhone 4S twice as fast as the regular iPhone 4. It also sports an improved graphics core that Apple claims is seven times faster. The iPhone 4S has an updated camera with an 8MP sensor. It's capable of snapping pictures at up to 3264x2448 and has improved backlight illumination resulting in 73 percent more light. Other features include a hybrid IR filter, better color accuracy, more color uniformity, 30 percent sharper images due to to the five element lens, a new Image Signal Processor enabling face detection, 26 percent better auto white balance, and faster capture speeds. Apple says it takes 1.1 seconds to snap the first photo, and 0.5 seconds to snap the second. For the sake of comparison, it takes the Motorola Droid Bionic 3.7 seconds and 1.6 seconds to snap the first and second photos, respectively. 1080p HD video recording with video image stabilization and temporal noise reduction. The iPhone 4S has dual antennas to transmit and receive (up to 5.8Mbps upload and 14.4Mbps download). Being able to switch between dual antennas for improved call quality is a first, according to Apple.  Battery life: 8 hours of talk time on 3G; 14 hours of talk time on 2G; 6 hours of Web browsing on 3G; 9 hours of Web browsing on Wi-Fi; 10 hours of video playback; 40 hours of music playback. Includes "Siri," a new voice assistant that lets you use your voice to make calls, send messages, set reminders, schedule meetings, and more. You can see how this works here. The iPhone 4 will be available for pre-order on October 7th and ship October 14th. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon will carry the iPhone 4S with two-year contract pricing set at $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB). Like the iPhone 4, it will be available in both black and white. Live blog coverage: USA Today, Engadget, Technobuffalo Image Credit: Apple

Firefox Keeping Rapid Release, But Adding Silent Update Option For Irritated Users Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:04 AM PDT Firefox's relatively new rapid release schedule lets developers implement and unveil new features and updates quickly, but there's one thing we hate about it. No, it's not the headache it causes enterprise users, although that sucks, too. It's the constant update notifications. Geez, Firefox needs to update again, we get it already! Fortunately, Mozilla gets that we get that, and they're looking to move to silent updates sometime in 2012. "In the past we have been very careful to make sure people know something is changing with their web browser before it changes," Mozilla Chair Mitchell Baker said in a blog post yesterday. " Our position was to err on the side of user notification.  Today people are telling us — loudly — that the notifications are irritating and that a silent update process is important.  This work is underway." While Baker claims that some improvements will be made in the coming months, he pointed readers to a blog post by Mozilla dev Brian Bondy, who was assigned the task of quelling the update noise. Long story short, his solution is on track for an early 2012, Firefox 10-ish implementation and involves adding an optional "Mozilla application updater" to Windows services, which should stop the Windows User Account Control from prompting users whenever a Mozilla product – including Firefox – needs to update. Users will be able to disable or uninstall the updater service at any time. There's tons of technical information linked to in Bondy's blog post, if you're a nitty-gritty kind of Firefox user.

Intel Slips Four New Atom Chips into Low Power Lineup Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:47 AM PDT Everyone's attention is currently fixated on handheld devices like tablets and smartphones, but at least one chip maker hasn't forgotten about netbooks and nettops. Intel has quietly come out with four new Atom processors split evenly between these two segments, including the N2600 and N2800 for netbooks, and D2500 and D2700 for nettop systems. The Inquirer discovered the new processors outlined in a seemingly obscure PDF on Intel's website. Here's how the new silicon shakes out: Atom N2600: 1.6GHz or 1.86GHz, <=3.5W TDP Atom N2800: 1.86GHz or 2.13GHZ, <=6.5W TDP Atom D2500: 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz, <=10W TDP Atom D2700: 2.13GHz or 2.4GHz, <=10W TDP All four chips come with 512KB of L2 cache, and save for the D2500, support Hyperthreading. They also support up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, though it's limited to single-channel. Image Credit: Intel

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MMO News

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• Black Prophecy Celebrates World Space Week
• With Your Destiny Announces October Events
• MapleStory PvP Gameplay
• Golden Age Closed Beta Date Announced
• Dungeon Fighter Online releases Act XIII Update
• Bright Shadow Releases Halloween Expansion
• Uncharted Waters Online Celebrates 1st Birthday

Black Prophecy Celebrates World Space Week Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:40 PM PDT Black Prophecy, published by gamigo, has announced special features for space week, from October 4 to October 10. Players will earn 25% more experience from missions and defeating enemies.  Players will also receive a discount on items in the shop.  Both features are expected to grow stronger to push into the game’s latest expansion. gamigo also publishes King of Kings 3 and Cultures Online. Black Prophecy Gameplay Screenshot Source: Black Prophecy Celebrates World Space Week Hamburg, October 04, 2011 – World Space Week, taking place from October 4th through 10th, is the largest annual space event on earth. Since 1999, it has acted as both an important educational resource and inspirational tool that has led millions of people each year to better grasp how the world we live is constantly being shaped by what's beyond. In honor of this yearly celebration, the free-to-play space combat MMOG Black Prophecy will be conducting two special events that week. The first event will offer players an increase of 25% XP for missions and enemy kills. The second will offer an additional 15% extra cash on all packet purchases worth €9.99 or more. Both events offer wonderful ways for players to build up their ships before conquering warzones in the newly released "Episode 2: Species War" expansion while reminding them about the many wonders of the galaxy – which is the reason for World Space Week. Players can get a head start on the October 4th through 10th World Space Week XP and cash events by downloading Black Prophecy for free from www.blackprophecy.com. The latest Black Prophecy expansion, "Episode 2:  Species War" was recently released. The trailer for it can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/c36iyzsfhd0. Finally, players can keep up-to-date with the latest news, events and community ramblings at http://www.facebook.com/Black.Prophecy.MMOG.

With Your Destiny Announces October Events Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:31 PM PDT With Your Destiny, published by T3Fun, released details on five events for the month of October. The first is a team-based PVP encounter, with the winning side receiving valuable items and the losing  team still getting consolation prizes.  Players can also collect crystals from monsters for another event.  Players who spend money in the item shop will receive 20% of the funds returned.  If you follow the Twitter page for the game, you might have a chance to win double experience.  Finally, a Youtube video contest will be going on with trivia from their videos. T3Fun also publishes Hellgate and AIKA Online (Global) With Your Destiny Gameplay Screenshot Source: With Your Destiny Welcomes October With A Flurry of Events Los Angeles, California – (October 3, 2011) T3Fun and WYD Global team is happy to announce not one, not two, but five wonderful events that will surely provide you lots of treats this October. Christmas is still months away but the contests and prizes this month will make you feel a very early Christmas spirit. To start off is the much-awaited, "Red vs Blue: Match Awaited" Event! Enjoy fierce PVP battle as brave warriors from the Red Kingdom Akeronia fight against the honorable knights of the Blue Kingdom Hekalotia. The winning side will get valuable items like mounts while the defeated kingdom will still get consolation prizes for fighting until the very end. Another event which is making a comeback is "Crystal Miners II." All you have to do is defeat enemy monsters and gather their crystals! Players who can collect a decent sum of crystals will be handsomely rewarded. On the other hand, Nell, the premium item NPC, has decided to give back some of his fortune to his loyal patrons in his "Nell Gives Back" event. Players who will top-up and spend a minimum amount of Tcoins will get 20% of their spending back in kind. As an extra, Nell will also give upgrading materials for your armors and weapons. The WYD team is not done yet! Players, old and new, are encouraged to follow the Twitter page of WYD Global. In "Follow Me, Party Me" event, you can ask the Community Manager to party you, and you can be one of the twenty winners who will join the CM in hunting with x2 experience! If that's not enough, the CM will also trade surprise items to all the lucky winners! Last but not the least, WYD Global is also doing some video work. Simply subscribe at WYD Global's Youtube channel and participate in the "WYDeo Detectives" event. Test your detective skills as you answer questions that can be found on the video. Your hard work will definitely be rewarded with a lot of good prizes! For more information about With Your Destiny (WYD) and all its fun events, check the website at: http://wyd.t3fun.com/index.asp.

MapleStory PvP Gameplay Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:20 PM PDT To Learn More About the Game Check out our MapleStory Page. MapleStory is a 2D side-scrolling fantasy action MMORPG with cartoony graphics published by Nexon – the same company behind Dragon Nest, Vindictus, Combat Arms, Mabinogi and several other free to play titles. The video above features some PvP gameplay which was introduced to MapleStory in early-mid 2011 in the “Chaos” update. To learn more about MapleStory check out the official MMOHut MapleStory page which includes a detailed review, tons of screenshots, and additional videos.

Golden Age Closed Beta Date Announced Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:19 PM PDT Golden Age, published by Aeria Games, announced its closed beta will begin on October 19. Golden Age offers a browser-base RTS experience with classic RPG elements added in.  Several closed beta contests have been announced:  level events, forum contests and a Facebook raffle.  Golden Age will not require any download to play. Aeria Games also publishes Shaiya and Call of Gods. Golden Age Gameplay Screenshot Source: Aeria Games Reveals Closed Beta Date for Golden Age Exclusive Browser-Based RTS Title Begins Beta Testing on Oct. 19 SANTA CLARA, Calif.  – Oct. 4, 2011 – Aeria Games, a leading global publisher of free-to-play online games, today announced that Golden Age, its latest browser-based, real-time strategy (RTS) title, will begin closed beta testing on October 19, 2011. Golden Age blends traditional browser-based RTS gameplay with role-playing game (RPG) features to deliver a beautifully-rendered, immersive experience, playable from any web browser. Golden Age allows players to interact in Sanctum City, the game's side-scrolling, RPG-style town. Work together or fight solo to conquer territories and expand your empire in strategic player-versus-player (PvP) and player-versus-environment (PvE) battles. Aeria Games also announced a slew of events to take place during closed beta: Level Contests – Players who achieve the highest level or rank for their sire, city, army and alliance during CB will win prizes. Forum Events – Anyone can represent their faction and upload screenshots in the community forums during CB for a chance to win Aeria Points. Facebook Raffle – Facebook users who "Like" the new Golden Age Facebook page can compete for prizes in the upcoming CB raffle. Like all browser-based titles from Aeria Games, Golden Age is free to play will won't require a download. Interested players can sign up to participate in the closed beta testing phase here: http://goldenage.aeriagames.com.

Dungeon Fighter Online releases Act XIII Update Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:09 PM PDT Dungeon Fighter Online, produced by Nexon, has released the Act XIII update, featuring a new dungeon, mentorship system and more. The Altar of Infinity is the new dungeon, challenging players level 30-70 with several rounds of combat with new enemies in the mix.  Once a player has defeated the boss encounter, they have a chance to be given “The Chosen One” title every Friday.  Additionally, a mentorship program has been introduced, allowing high and low level characters a chance to team up for experience and gold boosts.  New skills and equipment will also be available. Nexon also produces Dragon Nest and MapleStory. Dungeon Fighter Online Gameplay Screenshot Source: Lucky Number XIII Altar of Infinity, mentorship system and all new skills now available in Dungeon Fighter Online The Altar of Infinity has opened up its gates in Arad this month during the Act XIII: Chaos Reigns Update in Dungeon Fighter Online. Nexon's arcade-style massively multiplayer online game now offers players the Altar of Infinity, a massive new dungeon featuring a number of new quests and monsters. Players levels 30-70 can now explore the Altar of Infinity, which is Reaper Dreyfus' third structure in the Valley of Fallen Souls. While the new dungeon may be familiar to players who have battled through the Tower of the Dead and the Tower of Illusion, at the Altar of Infinity players  face 15 rounds of deranged beasts to test their body and spirit. Once players fight through the Altar they will ultimately face boss monster Chaos Agares. Any Dungeon Fighter who challenges the Altar of Infinity will have the chance to be selected by Chaos Agares to become the Chosen One, a title that will bestowed upon the anointed ones each Friday at  5 pm PT. The Act XIII update also features a mentorship system which allows players to be both a Mentor (a high level character) and an Apprentice (a lower level character). By forming an Alliance, players can help each other's characters level up by battling through dungeons together as party-playing will grant both an EXP and gold bonus. A Mentor can have up to nine Apprentices under them, and after reaching the Alliance level ten, the Mentor and the Apprentice will receive rewards even when they are not party-playing with each other. Dungeon Fighters will also be able to experience even more power with the 2nd Chronicle Sets, which are exceptional items that can be acquired through specific quests, NPC Dorothy, and from dungeons run on King's Road. Each character class will have an enhanced new set of items giving them the edge against evil and other Dungeon Fighters. To learn more about Dungeon Fighter Online or to download and play for free, visit http://dungeonfighter.nexon.net. You can also "like" DFO on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dungeonfighteronline

Bright Shadow Releases Halloween Expansion Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:05 PM PDT Bright Shadow, published by Gamania, announced their Halloween-themed expansion for the month of October. The expansion will enlarge the game world and add several new zones and dungeons to explore.  You will also be able to change into eight different classes with this expansion.  Level cap has been increased to 69 to facilitate the scope of this expansion. Bright Shadow also implemented a mentor system, which allows higher level players to help lower levels with experience boosts to catch them up quickly.  More titles and capes are being made available with this release as well. Gamania also produces Lucent Heart. Bright Shadow Gameplay Screenshot Source: BRIGHT SHADOW GETS HALLOWEEN EXPANSION LOADS OF NEW CONTENT TO EXPLORE + MENTOR AND APPRENTICE SYSTEM Gamania Digital Entertainment Europe is happy to announce that it's popular free to play MMORPG Bright Shadow will get a long awaited Halloween expansion today. A new Mentor and Apprentice system will be a big help to new players and will reward veterans handsomely for their efforts in leveling up their pupils. Halloween starts early this year, so light your jack o’lantern and read on for more tricks and treats! NEW CONTENT The expansion will enlarge the current world by nearly twofold with many new areas and dungeons to explore. During your travels you will be able to fight new monsters such as goblins, vampires and mummies. When lucky you will be able to collect their spirits and 'imprint' them on collectible 'monster' cards which will enable you to spawn that defeated creature as an ally. Also you will be able to differentiate your character into 8 new classes when you have reached level 40. Furthermore, Bright Shadow will have numerous new quests to complete. Last but not least the level-cap will be raised from 39 to 69! MENTOR & APPRENTICE SYSTEM Mentors can help new players getting acquainted in the world of Luciena. When mentors and pupils fight together they exchange familiarity points, which in turn can be used to buy in-game titles and capes that can have a wide range of benefits and/or buffs. When both pupil and mentor are fighting together, both will earn an experience boost. The strenght of this boost depends on the rank of the mentor. The 5th (highest) rank can give a mentor 30% extra EXP for instance. The mentor attains his ranks through the levelling of his or her pupil. But there is more… mentors get access to exclusive mounts, such as the menacing Elemental Kirin and from rank 3, they will get the ability to teleport directly to their apprentice. HALLOWEEN EXPANSION KEY FEATURES: ·         Over 50 new areas and dungeons to explore ·         8 new classes (Knight, Demon Slayer, Archer, Gunslinger, Mystic, Illusionist, Taoist, Exorcist) ·         Raised level cap (from 39 to 69) ·         Over 200 new monster cards to collect ·         1000+ new quests to complete ·         Mentor & Apprentice System ·         50+ elemental titles and capes to collect Alan Lan, Product Manager for Gamania Europe said: "We have one of the most loyal and welcoming communities in the world and we are very excited to see how they will react to our Halloween expansion. We are especially looking forward to the Mentor & Apprentice system as it rewards both veterans as newcomers alike and will further strenghten the strong bonds that exist throughout our playerbase." To learn more about Bright Shadow and play the game for free, please visit www.brightshadowonline.com and follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BrightShadowOfficial and Twitter: http://twitter.com/brightshadoweu for the latest news and gossip!

Uncharted Waters Online Celebrates 1st Birthday Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:32 AM PDT Uncharted Waters Online, published by Netmarble, is celebrating one year since its release. Daily item giveaways and boosts are prepared for the entire month of October.  Players logged in at exactly 8:00am on October 8 will receive a Premium Ticket.  Also, players above 500 fame who log in once a day for seven consecutive days will receive various rewards for the next three weeks, starting October 5.  You will also be able to win prizes by participating in a writing contest. Netmarble also produces Mini Fighter Online. Uncharted Waters Online Gameplay Screenshot Source: Nautical MMO Uncharted Waters Online Celebrates Its 1st Birthday Rare items await those who log-in during UWO's celebratory events! Sunnyvale, California – October 4, 2011 Historic nautical MMO Uncharted Waters OnlineTM (UWO) is elated to announce the arrival of its very first birthday! Having originally launched via the Netmarble Portal, UWO has continued to grow and has proudly achieved a strong community of avid adventurers. Today marks one year of exciting service, and with North American partner gPotato, UWO anticipates many sailing expeditions for years to come. To show their appreciation to all UWO players who have traversed the high seas, the team has prepared daily item giveaways and boosts for the entire month of October! Premium Ticket Blast – During this event, players will receive a Premium Ticket if they are logged-in to UWO on October 8 at 8:00 AM exactly. This quality item is an adventurer's chance at trying out a coveted sailing vessel or other valuable prizes. Three Week Marathon Event – Players can receive daily items and boosts just by logging in!  During the week of October 5, those with a Fame above 500 will receive a different item each day if they log in for 7 days straight.  The following week players will automatically get 2X Skill Proficiency points, and 2X Fame points are available the week after that. UWO Sailors Writing Contest – Throughout the month players can test their literary skills with the 'UWO Sailors Writing Contest'.  Players are encouraged to submit personal stories and thoughts about their exciting adventures in UWO. The bestpieces will be nominated to win one of 13 desirable prizes including exclusive ships such as the Modified Royal Frigate, the Custom Schooner, or the grand prize – a Custom La Royale.  Find out more information on our Official Forums. Check out all the details about these birthday events and more on UWO's official websites: Play via gPotato (http://uwo.gpotato.com/uwo/main.asp ) Play via Netmarble (http://global.netmarble.com/uwo/main.asp )

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MMO Updates

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• Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic
• Wurm's epic cluster coming October 28th
• New website provides online opt-out services for game EULAs
• Fallen Earth kickstarts its second anniversary live event a week late
• Divine Souls is taking a time out
• The Daily Grind: How do you feel about AFK progression?
• Final Fantasy XIV prepares a new company page in anticipation of tomorrow's patch
• Not So Massively: Eurogamer Expo 2011 edition
• Lost Pages of Taborea: Fixing the economy
• City of Heroes thinks you deserve a facepalm emote
• Prime releases web-based guild creation tool
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Round two - Fight!
• Wings Over Atreia: Immersion 101
• Darkfall update talks camera, physics improvements
• Hellgate is cursed... in a good way
• BioWare founders: We make the decisions, not EA

Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, Legal, Miscellaneous It's been a couple years since Mark Jacobs abruptly left -- or perhaps was let go -- from EA Mythic, but curiosity around the split persists in the MMO industry. Yesterday, Jacobs opened up about the event that occurred after EA's acquisition of Mythic and BioWare. Long story short, the merge brought about changes and Jacobs wasn't on board with it: "They made a decision on a direction they wanted to go and obviously, as we put out in our joint statement, that wasn't a direction that had a role for me, or at least the role that I wanted. It really is as simple as that. Or at least publicly. Whatever went on behind the scenes, whatever we talked about, I have no intention of sharing that." Jacobs insists that EA has been kind to him in the subsequent years: "One thing I'll say publicly about EA, they have been very good in what they've said post-departure regarding me. Similarly I've been good about what I've said about them post departure." He has since gone on to form a new company to create social and mobile games. In an ironic twist, Jacobs says that the idea for getting into the social gaming market took root while he was at Mythic, but he left before acting on that notion. Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Eurogamer

Wurm's epic cluster coming October 28th Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Wurm Online, News items, Sandbox Onetwofree's latest news blurb features some good news for fans of the the firm's long-running Wurm Online sandbox MMO. The game's new epic cluster is officially set to debut on October 28th, and lead developer Rolf Jansson is among those psyched about the launch date. "The epic code is something I've been working on for several years, and it feels really good to finally release it," he says. Epic's aim is to "provide the players with a full circle of purpose and something really big to strive for," according to the Wurm website. The cluster features warring gods duking it out on the moon of Valrei, and players who complete missions (and multi-mission arcs called scenarios) will set dramatic events in motion. What kinds of dramatic events? The release mentions terraforming events tied to volcanoes, as well as the chance for players to become demigods and possibly even full deities complete with their own religion and a stake in the celestial battle royale. Wurm's epic cluster coming October 28th originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Wurm's epic cluster

New website provides online opt-out services for game EULAs Posted: 04 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous If you're like most of us, you don't read the giant wall o' legalese that serves as a speed bump on the way to your favorite virtual world. A group of Redditors have, and they've set up a new website designed to assist gamers in opting out of the clause that prevents participation in potential class action lawsuits leveled against gaming service providers. Apparently opting out requires that a physical letter be mailed to the gaming company in question, and GamersOptOut.com purports to do the tedious work for you (either for free or for a voluntary donation). The catch is that you'll need to provide personal information including your name, address, and game account name. The website's creators page lists the online handles (as well as Xbox Live, PSN, and Twitter identities) of those responsible, but given the anonymous nature of the site and the privacy concerns raised by providing your personal info, we suggest you proceed with caution. Currently the website features an opt-out form for Sony's PlayStation network and Electronic Arts' new Origin digital delivery service. New website provides online opt-out services for game EULAs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: GamersOptOut Via: Gay Gamer

Fallen Earth kickstarts its second anniversary live event a week late Posted: 04 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Patches, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic "At Fallen Earth? Our events are fashionable. We have fashionable events," the latest Fallen Earth blog begins. "How fashionable, you might ask? So fashionable that they arrive fashionably late." When the servers go back up today with the new patch, Fallen Earth's second anniversary live event will be ready to go. The six factions are duking it out over New Flagstaff and looking to recruit all the clones they can in order to win the war. Players can sign up for PvP or PvE service in any of the sectors and do their part for the glory of their faction (and a nifty novelty item awarded for participation). The live event will occur on Wednesday the 5th at different times for European and North and South American players. The patch contains a number of changes to the gathering and crafting systems in the game, and also puts in place the new cosmetic appearance system. Unfortunately for the fashionably conscious, you can look at the wardrobe but not touch -- until October 12th, that is. When Fallen Earth goes free-to-play on that date, GamersFirst will flip on the switch for the wardrobe and there will be much rejoicing. Fallen Earth kickstarts its second anniversary live event a week late originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Fallen Earth blog, Fallen Earth patch notes, Fallen Earth 2nd anniversary event

Divine Souls is taking a time out Posted: 04 Oct 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play, Divine Souls It's not you, it's them. Specifically, it's the development team behind Divine Souls. The game has been out for only a little while, but the team is apparently unhappy with the reception thus far, not to mention the game's bugs and other instabilities. So without any major notice, the game has been essentially put on hiatus, taking it offline so that the team can bring it back to the drawing board for more refinements and adjustments. While the game has already been taken down, there's no decisive frame for when it will come back online, with the closure notice acknowledging that it may be some time before the bug fixes and refinements are complete. Players will receive a partial refund for any in-game currency purchase since the game's launch, with the amount refunded dependent on how close to the closure it was purchased. It's not an ending, just a pause, but it's still sad news for the game. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!] Divine Souls is taking a time out originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Divine Souls hiatus announcement

The Daily Grind: How do you feel about AFK progression? Posted: 04 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous AFK progression is an accepted part of many MMOs these days. Crafting in Fallen Earth can be set up, started, and done while you're logged out. Come back after a certain amount of time and you've got a new vehicle and a load of XP. The newly-launched Glitch is another example -- you can learn your skills while you're doing other things in game, and learning continues while you're logged out. There are various other methods set up by developers here and there for players to advance while they're afk and logged out. On one hand, it makes quite a bit of sense. If crafting a vehicle in Fallen Earth takes over a full calendar day, for example, it can seem a little unreasonable to expect a player to sit there and work on it the entire time. On the other hand, many players argue that it's unreasonable to reward players for not playing the game. What do you think? Hit the comment button and let us know! The Daily Grind: How do you feel about AFK progression? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy XIV prepares a new company page in anticipation of tomorrow's patch Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lore, Patches, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV Tomorrow will see the truly massive patch 1.19 go live for Final Fantasy XIV, bringing with it a plethora of updates and expansions to the game as well as a renewed focus on the Grand Companies of Eorzea. So it only makes sense that before the patch goes live, the official page for the companies has been updated in full. Rather than providing a single and somewhat disorganized list, the revamped page gives each of the companies a spot for in-universe updates and a new feature honoring the recent heroes of each company. Starting on October 6th, the page for each company will track the contributions of players on each server, displaying the names of those individuals showing exceptional dedication to the cause. Each page also features one of the national newspapers reporting on the activities of the company, promising more lore and connected updates for players to follow. It's not the patch itself, but the page should give Final Fantasy XIV players just one more thing to look forward to in the coming days. Final Fantasy XIV prepares a new company page in anticipation of tomorrow's patch originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: The Grand Companies of Eorzea

Not So Massively: Eurogamer Expo 2011 edition Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, PvP, News items, PvE, Hands-on, Consoles, Not So Massively Welcome to Not So Massively, our weekly roundup of the top news from popular multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) and other multiplayer online games that aren't quite MMOs. Published every Monday, the column covers games such as League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Rise of Immortals, Bloodline Champions and more. It's been just over a week since Eurogamer Expo 2011, where countless upcoming and released games were demonstrated to attendees and made playable on the show floor. While some of them neatly fell into singleplayer or MMO categories, action adventure Dark Souls and the beautifully zen Journey sought to blur the line between those categories more than any game I've seen to date. Both are singleplayer games in which other players can seamlessly enter your world during play, a fascinating concept that I'm now dying to dig into. Red 5 resolved its dispute with Webzen this week, allowing Firefall to continue development unhindered by legal drama. Brawl Busters enters a new phase of closed beta, and we have a dump truck full of beta keys to give away. League of Legends reveals details of upcoming champions Xerath and The Nine Tail Fox, in addition to a new livestreaming site designed to collect money for gaming charity Child's Play. Rise of Immortals launched on Steam this week and released its first post-launch Immortal Trovoc, the Last Dragon. Finally, hints at a console version for Diablo III or console controls for the PC version have surfaced this week due to some cryptic forum responses by Blizzard staff. In this week's Not So Massively, I give some first impressions of Dark Souls and Journey from Eurogamer Expo 2011 and delve into all the latest news from games that aren't quite MMOs. Continue reading Not So Massively: Eurogamer Expo 2011 edition Not So Massively: Eurogamer Expo 2011 edition originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Lost Pages of Taborea: Fixing the economy Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Economy, Opinion, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea I've got one more article concerning the current state of Runes of Magic's economy. To round out my trilogy, I'm taking a look at actual fixes to what could be seen as a broken mechanic. If the current inflation is indeed seen as something that is broken and could quickly damage the playability in RoM, then the fixes would likely be band-aids. It would take too long to rework an entire system filled with thousands of items, each affecting the other. The fix would also need to be implemented quickly. That puts some limitations on our speculations. What does the fix need to concentrate on? The problem seems boil down to the excess amounts of gold that can be hoarded -- hundreds and hundreds of millions can be saved up. It's also possible for high-level, well-geared players to accumulate gold rather quickly. In this week's Lost Pages of Taborea, I want to take a look at gold sinks (including one Frogster is testing), gold-caps, and some other ways to tame the economy. Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: Fixing the economy Lost Pages of Taborea: Fixing the economy originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

City of Heroes thinks you deserve a facepalm emote Posted: 03 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Contests, News items, Free-to-play, Roleplaying, Giveaways If you've been enjoying City of Heroes' recent F2P conversion, then you're probably aware of the one great truth of the superhero genre: Customization is everything. You can never have too many costume pieces, auras, capes, and emotes. Perhaps that's why Paragon Studios is giving away 10,000 /facepalm emote codes as part of its ongoing series of Facebook contests. The contest is open to large parts of North American and Europe for the duration of October, and all you have to do is subject yourself to the wilds of Facebook and click a "like" button or two to get your exclusive emote. What are you waiting for? The plebes of Atlas Park await your well-placed /facepalm. City of Heroes thinks you deserve a facepalm emote originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: CoH Facebook Facepalm Round 2

Prime releases web-based guild creation tool Posted: 03 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items It's been rather quiet at the Prime Battle for Dominus camp lately, and aside from last week's guest appearance by Warren Weems and John Kenison on our Massively Speaking podcast, we haven't heard any new info about the sci-fi title in some time. Happily, Pitchblack Games has just sent out a press release revealing the availability of a guild creation tool for its three-faction PvP game. The tool requires an account on the Prime website, and players may search for an existing guild or create their own. The creation process results in a unique section of the Prime site and also reserves the guild name in the game itself. [Source: Pitchblack Games press release] Prime releases web-based guild creation tool originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Flameseeker Chronicles: Round two - Fight! Posted: 03 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Game mechanics, Patches, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, Flameseeker Chronicles Winds of Change part two has arrived to Guild Wars, and there was definitely much rejoicing. I've been looking forward to this content for a while now for many different reasons. Many of you probably know I dived in headfirst with a nice-sized audience with a livestream event an hour after the update arrived, and let me tell you: There's nothing like stumbling through unfamiliar high-level content with a few hundred people watching. Including some of the people who created that content. That's right, ArenaNet team members John Stumme, Andrew Patrick, John Foreman, and Joe Kimmes joined the livestream chat room. They watched the livestream, offered tips, talked Winds of Change with the viewers, and answered questions. I want to take a moment to extend my thanks to these guys. They were incredibly gracious and wound up staying in chat for not only the entire livestream event but over an hour afterwards as well. I think everyone attending really appreciated that they took those hours from their busy schedules for this. What about the rest of Winds of Change? Follow along after the jump and let's talk! Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Round two - Fight! Flameseeker Chronicles: Round two - Fight! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wings Over Atreia: Immersion 101 Posted: 03 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia This week's course: What were they thinking?!? Maybe it was running smack into the garish sugary confection amid the beauty of Pandaemonium. No. Honestly, it was a combination of many things that finally exploded my synapses; the sight of that gaudy cake that made me whip my head around looking for little Hansel and Gretel was just the catalyst. I may be missing something, but I just don't quite understand why a game -- one that obviously put a lot of effort into not only making a visually stunning world but interweaving lore throughout the entire experience -- would toss in such jarring breaks of immersion. There is no denying (even the hating haters agree) that Aion is an extremely beautiful and detailed world; the team even rolled out a graphics upgrade to enhance it. The developers have also obviously spent time developing lore for the players to experience: The campaign quests give personal cutscenes sharing this lore. This implies, at least to me, that the devs want you to immerse yourself and envelop yourself in their world. So why in the Seraphim Lords' names would they toss in things that not only break the suspension of disbelief but yank players out of it so forcefully that they are left dizzy and disoriented? Join the class beyond the break for Wings over Atreia's look at immersion, why it is important, and what destroys it in our favorite game, Aion. (BTW -- the cake is not a lie!) Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Immersion 101 Wings Over Atreia: Immersion 101 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Darkfall update talks camera, physics improvements Posted: 03 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Sandbox What's up in the lands of Agon recently? Quite a lot if the latest Darkfall dev update is any indication. The lengthy wall o' text touches on current development tasks including the possibility of an improved third-person camera, momentum mechanics, and ragdoll physics for the game's animations. Starter areas are also getting a makeover, and Aventurine producer Tasos Flambouras says that new and more powerful guard towers will deter newbie ganking without creating full-blown safe zones. Additionally, there's a bit more explanation regarding the ongoing siege and clan tweaks, and the devs continue to work on Darkfall's new armor specialization mechanics. Unfortunately there's still no word on either character wipes or a timeline for Darkfall 2.0's release, but there is quite a bit of other info available to peruse on the game's official site. Darkfall update talks camera, physics improvements originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Darkfall epic bog

Hellgate is cursed... in a good way Posted: 03 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Patches, Hellgate: London, Free-to-play, MMOFPS Just when we thought we'd be stuck in London forever, Hellgate Global took us across the world to the ravaged vista of Tokyo late last month. To celebrate the good times and charred corpses all across virtual Japan, the resurrected MMOFPS is bringing a set of new challenges for players to overcome. For those who scoff at curses and camping out on top of primitive burial grounds, Hellgate dares you to activate your Curse of Dawn mode and attempt to take out Imhotep and Anaksunamun. Those who do so will be on the receiving end of rewards beyond imagination. Also, in-game currency. Other challenges heading into the game include a guild battle system, and the return of Boss Time Attack. It's not all work and no play, as players will enjoy bonus supplies, free gifts at specific levels, and XP boosts. For a limited time champion monsters will drop lucky coupons, which can then be exchanged for rare items. These will only be in the game until the end October 15th, as luck can only last for so long. [Source: T3 Entertainment press release] Hellgate is cursed... in a good way originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

BioWare founders: We make the decisions, not EA Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic BioWare has a message for critical fans who blame the company's perceived inadequacies on its corporate overlords at Electronic Arts. "I always chuckle because we are EA, we're BioWare -- we're both, and we still have huge autonomy in terms of what we do," co-founder Greg Zeschuk recently told Eurogamer. Zeschuk and partner Ray Muzyka cover a lot of ground during the sit-down, and the docs indicate that they still play BioWare's games despite delegating day-to-day development duties to various project leads. "Most of our games, before we ship them, we finish them several times. The Old Republic, we're probably at that level or higher, in terms of hours," Zeschuk says. Times have changed though, as both men acknowledge that today's BioWare is not the same company that made Neverwinter Nights or MDK2. "Way, way back, years ago, we didn't even consider those [commercial elements], we just made stuff," Zeschuk explains. BioWare founders: We make the decisions, not EA originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Eurogamer

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