General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Report: Nuance Acquiring Swype Keyboard for $100 Million

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 08:34 PM PDT

swypeswypeAccording to Uncrunched, Nuance has acquired mobile text input company Swype for a whopping $100 million. The deal has not been announced, but Arrington claims to have a source close to the matter, and this would be a match made in phone keyboard heaven. What does this mean for users of Swype?

Swype has been a huge hit on Android devices for the past year or two in beta form. The main business model of Swype has been to sign deals with OEMs to get their software pre-loaded. Users of phones without that access have been able to use the free beta, which is actually updated more often. Nuance is known mostly for voice input, but their T9 keyboard for Android does have a gesture system like Swype, it's just not very good.

It's unclear if Nuance will keep the Swype product alive, or if the technology will simply be rolled into the Nuance products. Any Swype users out there feeling a bit worried?

Intellectual Ventures Suing Motorola for Patent Infringement

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:45 PM PDT

motoIf you've never heard of Intellectual Ventures, get your confused face ready. This patent holding firm, which makes nothing but does hold about 35,000 patents, has filed suit against Motorola Mobility for patent infringement. IV says it has been in talks with Motorola for some time, but has been unable to reach a deal for licensing of the IV patent portfolio. Unwilling to allow "ongoing infringement," the lawyers are gearing up.

IV has made name for itself acquiring patents from all over the country, and using them to extract licensing fees from organizations large and small. Many of the patents are for extremely broad processes that could be applied to most pieces of technology. IV says that Motorola itself is infringing on six patents, but did not specify which ones.

It could be that Motorola is trying to wait out IV until the Google acquisition goes through, but that could take longer than expected. How do you feel about what IV does?

Nexus Specs Leak Out, Device To Be Called Galaxy Nexus

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:19 PM PDT

nxWith Samsung's CTIA event just days away, the Android leaks are really starting to hit. According to BGR and GSM Arena, the upcoming Nexus device has been dubbed the Galaxy Nexus, and will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless in the US. The site also got a spec sheet they say is final.

The Galaxy Nexus is expected to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich with no manufacturer skins or alterations. The 9mm thick chassis houses a TI OMAP 4460 dual-core SoC at 1.2GHz. Although GSM Arena claims the processor will be a 1.5GHz Exynos. There will also reportedly be 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5MP rear camera, 1.3MP front sensor, and NFC. 

The reason for the Verizon tie-in is apparently so the device can run on Big Red's fast 4G LTE network. BGR has been reporting some of these details for several weeks now, and other sites claim to have heard similar things. We'll find out for sure on Tuesday, but it's looking quite impressive if true.

The 18 Best Web Shows You've Never Watched

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 12:20 PM PDT

Raise your hand if you've heard of Epic Meal Time. Great. What about Leo Laporte's This Week in Tech? Excellent. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? If most of you geeks aren't raising your hands by now, something's wrong. Is your YouTube broken?

Thanks to the combined powers of the Internet, Webcams, and creativity, a world full of bored office workers now has access to some of the most interesting, funny, and downright weird video content at the mere click of a mouse. And when these popular videos all center on a specific theme, we call that a "show"—in some cases, a "channel," depending on who's hosting the videos. Get my drift?

But here's the age-old problem: There's just too much content out there. If you aren't an Internet sleuth, there's a pretty good chance you're missing out on all sorts of awesome episodic video content if it doesn't contain the words "Red," "Blue," or "Revision" somewhere in the title. And that's why I'm here: I'm not going to point you in the direction of super well-known video shows that you could (really, should) be watching. I'm here to show you some of the slightly less popular gems that might have flown under your Geek Radar for some odd reason. I'll wait while you make the popcorn.

How It Should Have Ended

Excellent production value, excellent comedy, and excellent use of creative, alternative storylines for all of your favorite movies and games: Welcome to How It Should Have Ended. If you've been hacked off at a less than stellar ending to something you've watched or played, then you owe it to yourself to check out this parody series' alternate, animated shorts. Doesn't World of Warcraft's Arthas Menethil deserve a vacation instead of daily heroic raid defenses, after all? I think so.

The LXD

It's hard to find a good place to start desciribing the LXD. Here are the essentials: The Web show takes place right in the brief period of time between 1920 to just around the year 3,000. Two rival groups are sparring for dominance: The League of Extraordinary Dancers (not Gentlemen, we note) and The Alliance of the Dark. But don't let the corny names dissuade you, for this beautifully choreographed Web series is nothing short of the best parts of So You Think You Can Dance combined with the best parts of, say, the X-Men. Episodes of The LXD is easily one of the more cultured ways you can spend 10 minutes of your busy day.

You Suck At Photoshop

You do. And I do. Becuase few possess the raw, artistic mastery of fictional PhotoShop guru Donnie Hoyle, exemplified in a series of video tutorials that really have to be seen to be believed. For you don't watch these for the tutorials per se; you watch these videos for the subtext—like that of Episode 3, where Hoyle shows users exactly how to use PhotoShop's clone tool by editing out his supposed wife's wedding ring from their official photos.

Unfortunately, Hoyle now sucks at YouTube, for the series only delivered 20 episodes in 2008. I'm not trying to bait-and-switch you with a legacy Web series on purpose. This is just one classic gem that's definitely worth an afternoon viewing session.

Troopers

Okay, this one's on College Humor, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily permeated Internet pop culture as much as a Samwell or a Tosh.0 or what-have-you. The Web series Troopers chronicles—what else—the lives of those poor legions of clones running security on a big-as-a-moon battle station that may or may not have a striking resemblance to another spherical battle station from a certain series of movies being constantly refreshed by that George Lucas guy.

Got it? Here's a spoiler: Never leave a suggestion in your workplace's suggestion box, especially if your boss wields the mastery of the Force.

Wreckless Eating

Take the average mindset of an Epic Meal Time contributor and exchange the love of bacon for a love of projectile vomiting and horror. What you've just created is the average plot for a typical episode of Wreckless Eating. In this show, as the name implies, the contributors do just about everything possible to put each other in a coma (not food coma) from the poor, poor ideas that they conjure up in the kitchen. I mean, really, who would have ever thought that a mustard-chugging contest was a good idea? Hilarious, yes! Good? No!

My Drunk Kitchen

Continuing the food theme, what happens when—instead of trying to make your friends throw up by drinking and eating vile concoctions (or massive quantities of alcohol)—you instead imbibe your booze yourself and attempt to make scrumptious meals? Welcome to Hannah Hart's kitchen, where the first recipe on the menu is: Get loaded. And the main course? Well, it's certainly supposed to be something. Hart's attempts to go from ingredients, to baking, to edible products are highly entertaining so long as she promises to never make you sit down at the table.

The Drunken Hobbyist

Straight from a Reddit thread to your YouTube, The Drunken Hobbyist is an emerging series for those who don't give a lick about drunk cooking, but would much prefer to watch some dude imbibe and attempt everyday tasks. Or perhaps every other day tasks, as it's not very often that you or I probably saunter up to the barre and attempt a few ballet positions—let alone attempt to recreate the best of Black Swan—after a brief warm-up at the wine bottle. The production quality isn't stellar on this video series, but the idea is certainly there…as is the hilarity.

Angry Video Game Nerd

Might not want to put this one on the ol' speakers at work, because the title reflects exactly what you're getting: Scathing gaming videos that combine clever cursing with creative commentary. James Rolfe might have a lot of inner rage—and a never-ending supply of old-school gaming titles—but he actually has some valuable insight lurking behind his angry showmanship. And here's how you know he's the real deal: Dude's even got his own feature-length movie in the works.

GOLD

Dungeons and Drago—er, Goblins & Gold—is serious business. And with the stakes higher than ever for the upcoming World Goblins & Gold Championship, a team of intense adventurers hit the tables, unzip the dice bags, and throw down critical hits across six episodes in this Web series' first big season. It's smart, it's funny, it's geeky: You aren't going to find more fun Dungeons and Dragons-themed Web videos unless they involve the phrase, "attacking the darkness."


Facerocker

Technically, Facerocker isn't a show—it's a website, hosted by three cool Internet dudes: Matthew Arnold, Freddie Wong, and Brandon Laatsch. But their names aren't nearly as important as their video skills. From their presentation, to their funny, to their FX—well, OK, mainly their FX—these guys know how to cut right to a geek's core. I realize none of this is very descriptive to what the videos they make actually are, so I'll cut to the chase: Anyone who can augment a standard go kart video with fancy graphics to make it appear as if it was some kind of real-life Mario Kart is a win in my book. These dudes are definitely worth checking out.

Killing My Lobster

This series of comedy shorts is mostly themed around the San Francisco Bay Area, but don't just throw away this particular video project because you don't live in California. From time to time, the sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster transcends geography to bring some heartwarming, nostalgic narratives to the digital equivalent of the silver screen. Case in point: The group's tribute to outdated technology (except for those horrible things called fax machines) should bring a tear to the eye of any Maximum PC enthusiast over the age of 7.

The Legend of Neil

Raise your hand if you've ever played any games within the Legend of Zelda series. Ok. Now put your hands down, all of you. The very, very few of you that did not raise your hands are now tasked with borrowing a friend's Super Nintendo and firing up the greatest title of them all, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (no arguments!). And those of you that have indeed sampled this delightful game (or any game in the Zelda world) will surely enjoy The Legend of Neil. It's the story of a common man transported into The Legend of Zelda and tasked with, well, getting out.

My tip? Get Zora's Flippers, man.

(Thanks to Michael Lerch for the tip on this one!)

The Compatish

Three guys. One love of sportsmanship. Tons of idiotic ways to try and best each other. That's the entire premise of the YouTube series, "The Compatish." Think of it as a variant of all the various "Watch us eat tons of food and barf" Web shows on the Internet. Only, replace "eating food" with "awesome tests of skill and bravery," like the dreaded Belly-Flop competition, the silly Cup-Stacking competition, and good ol' fashioned Strip Spelling, and you've got the ingredients for a funny—but not all that disgusting—series of face-offs.

The Piano Guys

Alright, Maximum PC readers. It's time to class up the joint a little bit. The Piano Guys isn't just your average YouTube channel of people jamming to one of the following two scenarios: Songs you've never heard of, or the exact same rendition of Super Mario Brothers that you've heard 38,000 times. The Piano Guys—technically, a pianist and a cellist—both play a variety of songs themselves (musicals, pop covers, classical stuff, Charlie Brown, Star Wars, et cetera) accompanied by some beautiful cinematography on the production end. Ultimately, these guys are half-geeks, half-musicians, and all-entertainers. Now when do we get a video for the Halo theme?

Around the World for Free

I'm not going to spare any punches on this one: This show is absolutely nuts. Or, rather, the premise of the show is absolutely nuts: Tasking a person to pull a 21st-century Ferdinand Magellan and make it completely around the globe. The traveler comes into the journey without any cash whatsoever, just a backpack full of essentials and the power of the show's Internet-based fan base offering tips, help, and other assistance.

As the show puts it, Around the World for Free comes with, "no script, no itinerary, no security." These people are playing traveler on Hardcore Mode, and their adventures are pretty exciting to watch from the comfort of one's desk.

The Black Cab Sessions

Straight from London (usually), The Black Cab Sessions is an awesome simple Web series. Singers, bands, or any combination thereof are invited to come play in the rear seat of a typical British taxicab. Yes, these are going to be acoustic sets unless someone's found a way to power an amp with a cigarette lighter adapter (and then there's the issue of getting the amp in the car in the first place). No, the strange idea doesn't mean that you're just going to see a lot of bands in a cab that you don't really know. For the full lineup—no fare required—check out The Black Cab Sessions' site!

Little Cat Version of Me

It was bound to happen sometime: The art of developing successful YouTube videos got turned into a YouTube series itself. Meta, yes. Funny? Also yes. Little Cat Version of Me, as the name implies, follows two guys attempting to themselves follow the footsteps of the 58,041,413 cat videos on YouTube. The goal? Striking instant popularity through the exploits of their adorable cat, Meowla.

The bummer? You only get the 11 episodes you see. Apparently, Meowla wasn't that big of a success after all. It nevertheless seems fitting to include a commentary on Web video popularity within a list of popular Web shows, no?

Unskippable

Bad video game cutscenes suck—that's almost self-explanatory, I realize. That's why they deserved to be mocked in a fun, voiceover fashion, and that's exactly what The Escapists's Unskippable show delivers. Sit back, relax, and enjoy all the horrible video game cinematics that you've always mocked with your friends on couches in living rooms nationwide. And developers, please, do better than these

Overclocker Takes Unreleased Intel Core i7 2700K Processor to 5GHz on Air

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 12:17 PM PDT

There's reason to be excited about the upcoming launch of Intel's Core i7 2700K processor. News of this processor's existence and eventual release were leaked to the Web just a few weeks ago, and already engineering samples have fallen into adventurous hands. One person who got their mitts on one put the chip through its paces by overclocking it to 5GHz on air.

That's a nice bump over the chip's stock 3.5GHz clockspeed. Getting there required setting the BCLK to 100MHz and the multiplier to x50. The overclocked chip completed a successful SuperPi run through 1M and a CPUmark pass. It's not quite the same as Prime95 or Orthos, but it is an early indicator that the chip is stable well past its rated clockspeed.

In addition to running at 3.5GHz stock, the Core i7 2700K sports a 3.9GHz Turbo frquency, 8MB of L3 cache, Intel HD 3000 graphics (850MHz/1350MHz), dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory controller, and a 95W TDP.

Image Credit: Coolaler.com (u48802109)

Microsoft Considers Making Another Run at Yahoo

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:52 AM PDT

There's something about Yahoo that Microsoft finds irresistible. Maybe it's the fact that others are interested and it's driving Microsoft crazy, or perhaps it's because Yahoo rejected the software jock's advances three years ago. In any event, new reports are surfacing that suggest Microsoft still wants what it couldn't have and is considering making another bid for Yahoo.

According to Reuters, Microsoft is one of many companies preparing offers for the $20 billion search entity. The other parties don't have same name recognition as Microsoft -- DST Global, for instance -- but they're loaded with cash. Microsoft, while interested, has yet to fully decide if it will submit an official bid, and it's possible it would do so with a partner, Reuters heard from one of its sources. Despite all the chatter, not everyone is convinced Microsoft will make a move, or even should.

"I think it's unlikely because they have been down this path before," Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie Research, told Reuters. "In a lot of ways they've gotten what they want out of it already, with the search deal. I could make a case for a lot of synergies. But it's certainly not a strategic priority in any way."

BusinessInsider thinks the only way the deal makes sense for Microsoft is if it guts a large portion of Yahoo by firing "all the people involved in duplicate corporate functions -- HR, legal, the board of directors -- and then DOESN'T TOUCH ANOTHER THING." The upshot to an acquisition is Microsoft would end up with the most traffic and ad reach, surpassing Google by a significant margin.

Genius SW-G2.1 1250 2.1 Speakers

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:34 AM PDT

We don't bring products into the Lab just to beat them up, so we almost didn't bite when Genius pitched these speakers. We also try not to prejudge products, but we didn't have high expectations for this 2.1-channel speaker system: It looks cheesier than a wedge of Vermont cheddar and sells online for less than 50 bucks. We were fully prepared for a craptastic audio experience. Wow, were we ever off base.

Corsair needn't worry that Genius will bump its exceptionally good SP2500 speakers off our Best of the Best list—the SW-G2.1 1250 isn't that good—but it is better than we thought any $50 speakers could be. We're not sure if the weird hourglass shape of the ABS plastic satellite cabinets is supposed to serve a function or is just an odd design decision, and we hate the hardwired speaker cables that connect them to the subwoofer. But we have no complaints about how they sound.


The SW-G2.1 1250's amp has a 1/8-inch headphone output and a 1/8-inch mic input in front (with a mic output in back). There's also a 1/8-inch aux input in back, which is handy for plugging in an MP3 player.

We're also not sure what Genius sprayed on the one-way drivers to achieve that shiny red finish. These are simple 3-inch paper cones with inexpensive foam surrounds, so we were quite surprised with their capacity for reproducing both midrange and high frequencies without dedicated tweeters. While listening to "He Was a Big Freak," from funk diva Betty Davis's They Say I'm Different, we found that the satellites rendered the drummer's high hat unexpectedly tight and crisp without compromising Davis's lusty screams and guttural growls.

The compact subwoofer's design is equally simply: a 5.25-inch paper cone driver with a foam surround housed inside a 9mm MDF cabinet. This isn't the tightest sub we've heard, and it's easily driven to distortion if you crank the bass dial much farther than the halfway point, but it does move an incredible amount of air through its rear reflex port. We thought the bar across the face of the compact sub might be there to protect the woofer, but Genius tells us it's just for decoration.

Most 2.1-channel speaker systems tuck the amplifier inside the subwoofer cabinet, but Genius houses this one in its own enclosure. And we suspect the amp is the component most responsible for this system's better-than-average sound. Most inexpensive active speaker systems utilize class D amps, but a more sophisticated class AB amp drives this system. The amp delivers just 9 watts RMS per channel to the satellites and 20 watts RMS to the subwoofer, though, so don't expect to fill a large room with sound using this system. It's plenty loud for near-field listening—including gaming—and the satellites don't distort, even with the volume control pegged.

The aforementioned hardwired speaker cables limit your options when placing the components, and having the amp in its own enclosure will add to your desktop clutter, but we like its large primary volume knob, and we doubly appreciate having a discrete bass control. This is no audiophile system, but we predict we'll kiss a lot more frogs before we find another set of cheap speakers that sound this good.

$50 (street), www.geniusnet.com

Western Digital Rolls Out New Generation WD TV Live with Spotify

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:18 AM PDT

We've been duly impressed with Western Digital's media streamers, handing out high marks to both the WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub in our reviews (here and here), each one faling just short of a Kick Ass award. Maybe Western Digital can get over the hump with the introduction of its next generation WD TV Live player, the first in its category to come with Spotify baked in, the company claims.

The new device sports a slightly updated look compared to its predecessor. You won't find a 1TB hard drive inside like there is with the WD TV Live Hub, or any internal storage for that matter, though WD did add 802.11n Wi-Fi and Full HD 1080p video support to the list of features. It also has two USB ports you can use to plug in your own external drives.

Western Digital doesn't appear to have skimped on its Spotify integration. Many of Spotify's popular features are included, such as being able to create and manage playlists, share songs, and subscribe to other people's playlists.

The WD TV Live is available now for $100 MSRP.

Nvidia Offers Work-Around To Unlock Rage's Hi-Res Graphics

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:08 AM PDT

Rage: more than a game, it's the emotion that many gamers felt when they got their hands on iD's long-awaited shooter. There have been a bunch of complaints leveled at the game – some of which iD claims is the fault of graphics drivers – but one thing bugging early adopters is the lack of graphics configuration options. iD left them out because Rage is supposed to automatically adjust detail levels to create the perfect blend of gameplay and "Oooh, pretty." Unfortunately, many gamers say that's buggered too, but Nvidia has posted a workaround to unlock those awesome, high-res visuals – and it should work for Radeon rockers, too.

The tweak involves the creation of a new config file named, appropriately enough, rageconfig.cfg, which will override Rage's auto-balancer program and force the game to play in hi-res. You can find step-by-step directions and file text over at the Nvidia website, but you'll only want to check it out if you have a beefy graphics card: author Andrew Burnes warns that you'll "almost certainly require a video card with 1.5GB of Video RAM to enable 8K textures, other graphical niceties and GPU Transcoding, though it may also work on systems with just 1GB of VRAM if said options are toned down."

If you have an Nvidia card, Burnes explains how you can further increase playability by adding more lines of text to the rageconfig.cfg file that affect GPU transcoding to "increase your frame rates, improve in-game visual fidelity, and reduce texture streaming issues."

Browser Extension of the Week: Tasks

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:06 AM PDT

tasksAs anyone who's used a computer will tell you, a service or application's usability is directly influenced by its accessibility. In other words, if you can't get to it, you're not going to use it. Google in particular has learned this lesson well. Their popular Google Calendar and Gmail services, which were once an online-only affair, were recently given a load of offline functionality by the Mountain View based company, making countless users around the interwebz very happy puppies indeed. Unfortunately, since Google hasn't gotten around to giving us the same offline awesomeness with Google Tasks, a third-party developer has taken it upon himself to make using Google's already very useful product just a little bit easier.

 Tasks is a Chrome browser extension that allows users to peruse, add, and check off items from their Google Task list from their browser's navigation bar. So long as you've got a browser window open, you'll have access to your tasks through a minimal or full sized Google Tasks interface designed to suit your needs no matter how much or how little you've got to keep track of.

 

For those of you out there who prefer their task management be left to other online services such as Remember the Milk or Toodledo, Tasks has you covered. Tasks offers full support for Remember the Milk users, and experimental support for other online task management services as well. Just right click on the extension, select options, and input your credentials. Nothing could be easier. 

 

 Be sure to check in every Monday for another edition of Maximum PC's Browser Extension of the Week.

 

 

MMO News

MMO News


Trickster Online releases new episode

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 12:17 PM PDT

The latest story arc in Trickster Online has received a new episode. Called “Songs of Love and Fate,” the large update adds more content than has been added before in a single patch.

The episode includes 23 new maps (including Chagan’s Mind, Gate of Nefertiti Temple,  Alteo Empire, and the one shown below), 41 scenario quests, 15 normal quests, 17 new monsters and 18 new NPCs. Players will be able to continue the story of Don Cavalier’s famous treasure and reach its final conclusion.

Trickster Online is published by SG Interactive, which also publishes Grand Chase and Project Blackout.

wonacott_sgi_tricksteronline_map4_09-30-11

Trickster Online Gameplay Screenshot

Source:

SG Interactive Launches Episode 6 for Trickster Online: Songs of Love and Fate

Trickster Online’s Biggest Update Yet Finally Reveals Don Cavalier’s Treasure

IRVINE, CALIF. – October 6, 2011 - Every love story must come to an end and the romance in Trickster Online is about to begin its final act for the current story arc. The new episode, titled “Songs of Love and Fate,” marks the biggest update since Trickster’s launch in 2006. The new content will allow players to discover the secrets behind numerous main characters and hunt the fabled treasure of Don Cavalier through added quests and maps.

The new Trickster Online episode introduces 23 new maps, including Alteo Empire, Gate of Nefertiti Temple, and Chagan’s Mind. Additionally, players will be challenged with all new quests, including escorting main NPCs through hordes of monsters. In total, the update adds 41 scenario quests, 15 normal quests, 18 NPCs and 17 monsters.

“The new episode will put the finishing touch to our storyline while providing engaging contents for all players, from beginners to high level players,” said Chris Lee, CEO of SG Interactive. “In addition to concluding the current storyline, this update marks the beginning of more new adventures in Trickster Online, andplayers should anticipate big celebrations in and out of the game coming soon.”

The Trickster Online story is about a bourgeois billionaire Don Cavalier, founder and former leader of the Megalo Company – the world’s biggest and best game company. Before he died, he hid his fortune in Caballa Island, a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Gamers and adventurers must dig for the lost treasure. Those who search and survive will receive the greatest treasure left by Don Cavalier.

To join the epic adventure to find Don Cavalier’s treasure hidden in a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Caballa Island, register to play for free at http://trickster.gamerage.com

Neverwinter to be free-to-play

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:54 AM PDT

Cryptic Studios has revealed to IGN that its upcoming RPG, Neverwinter, will be transformed from a cooperative multiplayer game to a free-to-play MMO experience.

The plan – driven by Cryptic’s new owner, Perfect World Entertainment – will transform Neverwinter into an action MMORPG similar to Vindictus. Neverwinter will also use a modified version of the engine used in Star Trek Online and Champions Online. However, unlike those games, content packs will remain free – premium (paid) content will stick to consumables and cosmetics. The changes will also push the game’s release date back to later in 2012.

neverwinter_screen_060711_06

Neverwinter Gameplay Screenshot

Star Supremacy

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:05 AM PDT

Star Supremacy is a 2D sci-fi themed browser based MMORTS where players build their own colony with several command fleets, recruit generals, and battle each other for the territorial control of the universe. Research advanced technologies to expand troops. Customize space shuttles with various weapons and modules. Raid or capture different planets in order to move up the ranks. In this real-time strategic adventure from Barbily Games commanders vie to win the intergalactic war between conflicting races for complete reign of the galaxy.

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Publisher: Barbily Games
Playerbase: Medium
Graphics: Medium Quality
Type: MMORTS
EXP Rate: Medium
PvP: Open PvP
Platform: Browser

Pros: +Nice graphics. +No download or install required. +Animated turn-based battles. +Ship assembly feature. +Generous reward system.

Cons: – Repetitive gameplay. –Small amount of quests. –Shop items limited. –Slow ship arrival/departure speed. –Game world could be larger.

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Overview

Star Supremacy Overview

Star Supremacy is a strategy browser based warfare themed MMO. Players become leaders in charge of establishing a fully-functioning colony base with powerful command fleets capable of destroying any opposing convoys. Construct various space stations. Research advance technologies, recruit high-ranking generals, raid, and capture resource nodes guarded by rival armada. Invest in special equipment or artifacts for an advantage in combat. Travel across the galaxy invading different planets. Similar to games like Dark Orbit, Space Invasion, Drakensang Online, and Immortal King Online players wage war in animated sequenced battles. Choose one of the three opposing human factions and a galaxy to start your new colonization. Each faction has a female and male character that players can select with set attributes.

Building Units – Industrial Plant, Detector, Farms, Lance Base, Commercial Center, Drilling, Aerophonics, Drilling, Research Facility, Ship Yard, Weapon Facility, Fuel Synthizer, Farms, Detector, Mine, Store, Industrial Plant, Colony Quarters, Hydroponics, Solar Panels, Engineering Facility, Power Station, Space Port, Base Control, High Energy Facility, Factory, Seismic Stabilizer, Colony Shielding, Missile Base, and Trade Platform.

Factions:

UEO – A sinister organization seeking absolute power and reign over the entire universe. They will stop at nothing to accomplish this hefty goal. The UEO has the ability to research battleship chassis and earns one additional action per colony.

Seeker – Seekers were one of the first travelers to colonize space. These explorers have the ability to refine nebula gas nodes and attain a 25% increase in the construction speed of buildings.

Altairian – Once part of the UEO this sect disbanded to form their own settlement using advanced technology. The Altairians have the ability to mine asteroid belts, nebulas, and rings. They receive a 25% increase in aircraft capacity for all fighter bays.

Star Supremacy Screenshots

Star Supremacy Featured Video

Coming Soon…

Full Review

Star Supremacy Review

By Ange Perdu

Star Supremacy is a 2D sci-fi warfare theme MMORTS where players become colony leaders establishing an intergalactic empire. Select a faction and choose whether to focus on gaining power, construction, or the advancement of your new colony's technology. Build dozens of structures for a prosperous colony. Perform ground-breaking research from Aerophonics to Interplanetary Engines. Create massive fleets with attached weaponry, recruit commanders, raid resources, or capture them for continuous use. Travel to distant planets to establish new colonies. Assault or completely obliterate other player's colonies in order to earn rank. In this space themed voyage explore unknown stars and seize the universe with your friends.

Expanding Your Empire, the Gameplay

Most of the gameplay in Star Supremacy involves the construction of colonies and fleets. After a brief tutorial players have to build and upgrade various essential structures in their base.

There's a wide variety of units to choose from. Set up structures like Commercial Centers, Engineering Facilities, Trade Platforms, Stores, Hydroponics, Hubs, and Solar Panels. Each building contributes to the empire in a different way. Industrial Plants refines ore into goods, Space Ports allow users to create trade routes connected to their colony, and Quarters increases an empire's population growth rate. Initially quests in the game serve primarily as a guide in the construction process. These tasks are often simple and vary from having a level 5 Commercial Center to researching the topic of agriculture. There are also daily repeatable assignments like assaulting the colony of a player or saying a word in the chat system. As players advance more specific quests geared towards security, combat, and commanding generals become available. Similar to games like Immortal King Online goods are not easily gathered. Valuable resources in the form of food or ore are produced in small amounts from farms and mines. Players have to venture out into the cosmos frequently to raid and capture resource nodes guarded by NPCs or other players in order to increase their colony's reserves. Although it can feel repetitive at times both actions usually result in a fun turn-based space battle with an opportunity to snag a high ranking commander. Raiding and capturing outposts is not only a major part of the gameplay but essential in leveling up characters as well.

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Bombers to Battleships

To raid or capture any resource location players must first have a combat fleet at their disposal. The ship assembly feature in this game is impressive. In the ship yard area users can design and create a variety of different space shuttles equipped with various weaponry. Choose from basic strike crafts and destroyers to bombers. Attach modules in the form of heavy armor or scramblers to protect against attacks. Add missiles, heavy gauss gun, lasers, heavy rail, and flak cannons. Once the fleet is constructed and assigned to a specific commander players can simply click to invade an occupied resource node. Similar to Dark Orbit battles are interactive. During combat each commander with their corresponding fleets take turns attacking their opponents' spaceships. Activate a standard attack or send in fighters and bomber crafts to attack each round. The last fleet standing wins. Battles earn experience along with a bundle of resources depending on location. When a player wages war against another player's guarded node or colony they have the option of initiating a full assault or complete obliteration. Assaults allow the vanquisher to steal goods while obliterations damage the defeated adversary's buildings. Strategy and research are also key components in Star Supremacy. Players have to strategize in the development of their fleet, topics researched, commander recruitment, and the equipment each character is equipped with. The extensive research option features multiple category topics that unlock dozens of ship designs, guns, and tools to enhance combat. Chances of a victorious win increases with higher level commanding generals and better equipment.

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Beam Swords & Heavy Firepower

The shop features a small assortment of equipment and weapons for players to invest in. Most of the items are rather generic in appearance. There's not a lot of room for character customization. Purchase Beam Swords, Energized Helmets, Space Units, Crystal Necklaces, Microcomputers, Gauss Telescope, Laser Accelerator, Missile Accurate Device, Trade Tokens, Energy Potions, Hyperspace Shields, and Satellite Spies. Buy rare items for boosts like the Heavy Firepower which increases ship damage during battles or Space Robots for accelerating the construction process. Non-equipment items cost B-Credits. Luckily, for gamers there's a generous reward system implemented in Star Supremacy which lets players earn credits for being online for a certain period of time. Users can easily rack up a large amount of B-Credits without spending real cash. It's a wonderful feature rarely seen in free-to-play titles.

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Final Verdict: Great

This is a great space themed real-time strategy MMO. Players will find themselves obsessed with conquering the galaxy. The ship assembly feature really makes the game. Players have the ability to customize each warship with the specific weapon and module of their choice. As a player levels up and conduct the appropriate research it's possible to build a massive fleet of unstoppable battleships. Destroy other players' colonies or steal their valuable resources for fun. The interactive combat has an almost RPG feel similar to Drakensang Online. Players can equip commanders with special equipment and gear for an edge in battle. Strategy is implemented into every aspect of this game giving novice to hardcore players a challenge. Fans of games like Dark Orbit and Space Invasion will definitely enjoy this sci-fi adventure. The extremely balanced credit system makes Star Supremacy a genuinely free-to-play RTS worth checking out.

Screenshots

Star Supremacy Screenshots

Links

Star Supremacy Links

Official Site

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