General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


HTC Reveals New Strategy at Mobile World Congress – The HTC One, Dropbox, and Sense 4.0

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 05:25 PM PST

HTC One

HTC unveiled its 2012 Smartphone strategy at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and the message was loud and clear. The EVO 4G, Sensation and many other devices did amazingly well in the market last year, but this scattershot approach failed to create the type of brand recognition Samsung has come to enjoy with the Galaxy S or, yes you know we have to say it, Apple and the iPhone. This year they plan to focus marketing efforts on a single lineup called the HTC One, which ironically enough, will ship in three variations.  

The HTC One X – High End – 32GB of Storage

The new flagship HTC One X is packing a ton of hardware, and will likely carry a price tag to match. The One X features a 4.7 inch 1280 x 720 Super LCD II display, quad-core NVidia Tegra 3 SoC running at 1.5GHZ, and support for 1080p encoding and decoding. The 9.27mm plastic body will house HSPA+ and LTE radios, along with 1GB of LPDDR2 memory. The 1.3MP front camera is capable of capturing video at 720p, however it pales in comparisons to the 8MP rear camera with a F2.0 lens assembly. HTC's response to Airplay requires an HTC Media Link HD dock connected to the TV, but otherwise should provide 1:1 mirroring of everything on the phone's display using a simple three finger swipe gesture.

The HTC One S – Midrange – 16GB of Storage

The HTC One S swaps out the Tegra 3 for a Qualcomm MSM8260A that is nearly identical to the Tegra 3 part, but without the LTE radio. The screen drops down to a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED PenTile display at 960 x 540, and the front camera also takes a hit dropping down to SD video only. The rear camera remains the same. 

The HTC One V – Entry – 4GB of Storage

The HTC One V is more or less a rebranded version of the HTC Legend which launched back in 2010, and rocks a measly 1GHz single-core processor. Optimizations to the camera  sound promising, but otherwise just check out reviews for the Legend.

Dropbox

iCloud and its puny 5GB of online storage might sound generous, but HTC's newly announced partnership with Dropbox sounds much more interesting. The handset maker will offer any new HTC One customer a free Dropbox account with 25GB of storage absolutely free for the first two years. Dropbox doesn't currently offer a pricing plan in this range, but doing a bit of back of the envelope math allows us to estimate an approximate value to you of $50 per year. Will Dropbox end up supporting the phone longer than HTC? Only time will tell.

Sense 4.0

HTC will still be skinning Android with its Sense UI, but they claim to have made many speed optimizations, in addition to increased support for Beats Audio, even in third party apps. Other improvements include redesigned camera utilities, along with an improved car experience which allows users to swipe between contacts, Google navigation, and music more effortlessly.

(Image Credit: TheVerge)

Nokia Surges Past HTC and Samsung To Become Biggest Windows Phone Manufacturer

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 12:48 PM PST

Lumia 800The Windows Phone team has been keeping the Champaign on ice for months now waiting for a reason to celebrate, and that moment may have finally arrived. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Nokia has surged pasted HTC and Samsung to become the single largest manufacturer of Windows Phone devices. This is pretty impressive when you consider that the Lumia lineup is only just now hitting the market in full force, and already accounts for 33 percent of all Windows Phone handsets sold. 

Many questioned Nokia's decision to throw its fate in with Microsoft, and while it's a bit too early to say Stephen Elop has saved the company, it is certainly a positive sign. With new handsets likely to be announced at next week at Mobile World Congress, the future is looking bright for the partnership which for all intents and purposes is only just getting started. 

RapidShare Throttles Download Speed For Free Accounts To Drive Off Megaupload Pirates

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 12:32 PM PST

RapidshareThe demise of Megaupload has left a bit of a void in the file sharing community, and rival sites such as RapidShare are beginning to struggle with ways to combat the influx of questionable content. Last month representatives from RapidShare boldly announced to Arstechnicia that they were "not concerned" with the government crackdown on Megaupload, because file hosting is a legitimate business if operated properly. Either way it appears as though they have had to make a few policy changes as a result of their new found popularity, and these measures are clearly an attempt to drive away the un-wanted traffic and legal attention that comes along with it.

RapidShare announced on Friday changes to the way free accounts are handled, and it will be interesting to see if it has the desired effect. "RapidShare has been faced with a severe increase in free user traffic and unfortunately also in the amount of abuse of our service ever since, suggesting that quite a few copyright infringers have chosen RapidShare as their new hoster of choice for their illegal activities," RapidShare said, according to the TorrentFreak article. "We have thus decided to take a painful yet effective step: to reduce the download speed for free users. We are confident that this will make RapidShare very unpopular amongst pirates and thus drive the abusive traffic away."

RapidShare may not be concerned with all the new traffic coming its way, but that doesn't mean they want to end up like Megaupload either.

Netflix Has No Plans To Support Blackberry, Or The Playbook

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 12:12 PM PST

NetflixBlackberry has seen its fortunes fade pretty rapidly over the last couple of years, but despite the trends pointing in the wrong direction, they still have millions of users around the world. Netflix rarely misses an opportunity to serve its content to such a large user base, however Blackberry users have always been left out in the cold, and according to Netflix support, that isn't likely to change anytime soon.

netflix

According to the @Netflixhelps account on twitter, "We don't have any current plans to support Blackberry devices, incluing Playbook." Questionable grammar aside, the statement is pretty succinct. Blackberry just recently released its long awaited Playbook OS 2.0 update which included support for Android Apps, however it sounds like an easy port isn't on the table. 

VP of Developer Relations for RIM Alec Saunders responded to some of the backlash, but only time will tell if it is enough to get Netflix to change its stance.

RIM

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

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Pokemon Black & White 2 for DS: So Backward It’s Brilliant

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 03:07 AM PST

Nintendo’s been pumping out the weird Pokémon-related news of late, not least of which was an absolutely baffling crossover with Koei’s long-running Nobunaga’s Ambition simulation series. Nevertheless, today’s announcement just might take the cake: A direct sequel to last year’s Pokémon Black White is coming later this year to Japan and has already been confirmed for an indeterminate U.S. release. But it’s not the remixed “Pokémon Grey” version most people expected, and it’s not for 3DS like most fans hoped. Rather, say hello to Pokémon Black White 2… for Nintendo DS.

On one hand, it’s nice to see the series receiving what appears to be a much-needed shake-up. Black White were pitched to gamers as a significant overhaul of the Pokémon formula, though in practice they didn’t vary that much from previous generations of the game. The prospect of a proper sequel within a generation (rather than a glorified rehash per usual) shows a willingness by the franchise’s caretakers to put their money where their mouths are. Of course, these “sequels” could prove to be little more than a standard remix by another name. [Edit: Handheld blog Tiny Cartridge has astutely noted that the U.S. title is "Pokémon Black White Version 2," which sounds more akin to the iterative Yellow/Crystal/Emerald/Platinum updates we've come to expect from the franchise.]

Far more surprising — and disappointing for everyone hoping to see the series make the jump to Nintendo’s current handheld — is the fact that Black White 2 are being built for the original DS, a system that should by all rights be headed toward the retirement home. Besides being a letdown, this looks like a backward business move for Nintendo, which has been pushing hard to build its 3DS install base. A 3DS-exclusive Pokémon would sell a lot of 3DS systems, which Nintendo would love.

But of course, Nintendo may have the Pokémon brand all tied up, but the series doesn’t belong to them exclusively. Black and White 2 are being developed by Game Freak, and the franchise beyond the core games is managed by The Pokémon Company. Both companies are independent entities. Their mission is to make a lot of money by selling Pokémon games and goods, and they don’t necessarily care about Nintendo’s hardware business so long as they’re raking in dough.

And rake in dough they will: At last check, the DS is jockeying neck-and-neck with PlayStation 2 as the best-selling console of all time. The Pokémon Company stands to make far more money producing software for a system that 150 million people own than for a system that’s only sold a tenth that many units — especially since Pokémon sells to a young audience whose parents haven’t necessarily been willing to fork over the requisite $170 for a 3DS yet. Sure, you may love Pokémon and maintain EV and IV breeding spreadsheets for top-level multiplayer competition, but your kid brother and sister are still the series’ target audience. And, as the new games’ official announcement page is quick to point out, those old DS games play just fine on 3DS, so it’s not like 3DS fans are missing out on anything besides full-screen graphics.

In other words, Black White 2 may represent the turning over of a new leaf for the series, but they’re very much business as usual. And business — at least for the franchise’s caretakers — is likely to be very good.


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TERA Korea

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 01:27 AM PST


Before I start on this article, I must assure all you readers this is neither a spoof, a late April Fools’ joke nor a project by some rich, bored Korean millionaire. In fact, I am several months late with this news, having just read about it. Introducing the “TERA Bike”, developed by Korean company Amuseway Sportainment. As you can tell from the company’s name, it is merging sports and entertainment together with its products.

TERA is not the only one shown in the video, with even racing games under the compatible list. The latest online title to join the list will be Nexon’s Kart Rider, which you can see in the model design below.


Amuseway Sportainment’s website showcased 3 different models, including the exercise bike, elliptical trainer and treadmill. According to the description, World of Warcraft can be played using the elliptical trainer, similar to TERA. I do not have the prices for all models, but the Kart Rider bike is available at a measly USD 224.70. Is this the next generation of gaming, or a step back compared to motion sensor?


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Shadow Company

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 09:06 PM PST


[More info] Shadow Company, one of the latest online first person shooter (MMOFPS) to hit the Korea market, has been confirmed to be landing on North America, Europe and Japan after a publishing deal was signed. Developed by Doobic Game Studios, the creator of Combat Arms (link), Nexon will be the publisher in all 3 regions. Hence, they will be operated by Nexon America, Nexon Europe and Nexon Japan. Which means of course, an IP block.

Brought to life using Unreal Engine 3, Shadow Company distinguish itself from other generic shooters by having 4 different teams in a single map trying to KO each other. The other confirmed overseas server will be the Philippines, which will be operated by GameClub (link).


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Metal Gear Solid 3D Review: Neither Definitive Nor Terrible

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 03:06 PM PST

“Some say I’ve been lazy,” admits the King of All Cosmos in the opening sequence of Touch My Katamari. “Phoning it in.” This is meant to be hilarious — that crazy King, always so pompous, yet vain enough to be stung by criticism! — but the wittiness of the whole thing is badly undermined by the fact that Touch My Katamari is lazy. Namco is, in fact, phoning it in.

Of course, the best parody is that which rings of the truth. In that sense, sure, this game is pretty parodic. Damningly so, I’d say. The problem is that I don’t think it was meant to be self-satire; certainly it’s not an exercise in self-reflection. All this talk of apathy and flabbiness are meant to be loving, tongue-in-cheek pokes at the character, not a frank assessment of the software itself. So, it’s either a joke that reflects a jarring lack of self-awareness by the developers, or else it’s a snide middle finger to the player: Yeah, this game is warmed-over, recycled content, but we’re gonna fix that! By… making you do the exact same things you did in the last five Katamari games. Thanks for the 30 bones, suckers.



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The Lack of Itagaki’s Trash Talk Saddens Tekken’s Harada

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 01:27 PM PST

Katsuhiro Harada

Tomonobu Itagaki spent the better part of two decades at Tecmo and Team Ninja, where his major projects included developing the Dead or Alive fighting game series and making sure you knew the competition (Tekken in particular) wasn’t any good. He left the developer several years ago and is now working on action game Devil’s Third at Valhalla Game Studios. In other words, he’s no longer in the fighting game business and therefore no longer trash talks the competition — and it’s exactly that which Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada misses.

Speaking with 1UP at the Tokyo Game Show last month (look for a 1UP cover story on Tekken soon), Harada brought up the subject of Itagaki and how he’s sad that the notoriously frank developer is no longer around to spice things up.

“I’m thinking about Itagaki and when [former 1UP editor James Mielke] was with you guys that was a big topic — the ‘what are your five most hated games?’ article where he said 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all Tekken, right? If Itagaki was still making Dead or Alive, I’d like to ask, out of all the current Tekken titles we have planned, what’s his favorite. His answer would probably be Dead or Alive anyway, and that he hates all Tekken, but it’d be an interesting question.”

“In the past, Itagaki had always mentioned various things about Tekken and stuff, especially on 1UP in his articles with Milky,” he continued. “And there were a few times when I got pissed at what I saw, but I’m kind of realizing that when I saw what he was saying — after he quit Team Ninja, I think he was asked about fighting games and what he thought, and apparently Itagaki said, ‘Well I don’t make fighting games anymore, so I’m not really in a place to comment on that’ — I felt kind of sad when I saw that.”

Harada explained it used to be “interesting” to see what the competition was saying, and how both Tecmo and Team Ninja would frequently look at magazines to see what had been said about them by the other. It was “a lot more enjoyable to work when you have rivals like that, and when they continue to decrease it really is kind of sad,” he said.

When we told Harada we would be interviewing Itagaki the next day, he said, “I would like to tell Itagaki that I would love to see him work on another fighting game.” He thinks it would get people more excited if Itagaki were still around to make the sort of comments he used to.

Itagaki

It may all sound very friendly, but Itagaki could be very harsh when discussing Tekken. As Harada referenced, years ago 1UP asked Itagaki to list his five favorite and five most hated games. His favorites were very reasonable — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Dragon Quest II. His most hated were the first five Tekken games.

In a separate interview, he shared some thoughts about Tekken 5 in particular: “First they put in all of these half-finished ‘features,’ then they take them right out again. Tag fights, elevation differences, walls. I don’t know if it’s because they’re impatient, or because they lack the ability, but no matter the reason those guys are a pretty weird bunch. Any of those things would have become a bonafide feature if they took the time to do it right (laughs). Oh, and come on guys, let’s quit trying to hide the prehistoric nature of the main product by tacking on some absurd ‘bonus game.’ I have been saying this for 5 years, haven’t I? If you have the time to make an action-style ‘bonus game,’ why don’t you create an honest-to-god action game and sell it as a standalone product? Oh, and if you’re going to bother including such a ‘unique’ form of ball play, you should do a beach volleyball game instead (laughs).”

When we told current Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi about Harada missing the old rivalry, he wasn’t keen on rekindling it himself.

“I’ve only met Harada-san a few times, so we don’t have that deep of a relationship, but we are definitely trying to make Dead or Alive the top fighting game, and something that will put everything else to shame,” he said. “If you see the play video that we released, you’ll see that what we’re trying to do is take the fighting genre to another level. Essentially, it’s about what’s in the game. We’ll see whose game is better received.”

Asked if he’d rather focus on what his game is all about rather than talk, he said, “Basically yeah — we want to show it through the game. You know, we’re making the best game that we can. The rivalry between Harada-san and Itagaki-san and the comments that Itagaki-san might have made — those of course are part of the history — but we want to show through the game just how good of a game we can make, and have people feel that in the game. Otherwise it’s just words. And if we were to come out now, without showing anything, and just say, ‘We’re a new team; we’re going to make a new Dead or Alive 5 and we’re going to kick everybody’s ass,’ nobody’s going to believe us. So now we have something to show — we’ll show the game, and prove ourselves through the game.”

So while Hayashi would rather keep the focus squarely on the product Team Ninja is developing, what does Itagaki think about his former studio keeping quiet?

“That’s because they [Team Ninja] are ordinary Japanese people,” he said with a chuckle.

“Harada and I are crazy people. So I’ll say something — I’ll give him a call.”

[Image courtesy of Wikipedia]


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Asura’s Wrath Review: A Surprisingly Shallow Cataclysmic Action Game

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 02:52 AM PST

“Some say I’ve been lazy,” admits the King of All Cosmos in the opening sequence of Touch My Katamari. “Phoning it in.” This is meant to be hilarious — that crazy King, always so pompous, yet vain enough to be stung by criticism! — but the wittiness of the whole thing is badly undermined by the fact that Touch My Katamari is lazy. Namco is, in fact, phoning it in.

Of course, the best parody is that which rings of the truth. In that sense, sure, this game is pretty parodic. Damningly so, I’d say. The problem is that I don’t think it was meant to be self-satire; certainly it’s not an exercise in self-reflection. All this talk of apathy and flabbiness are meant to be loving, tongue-in-cheek pokes at the character, not a frank assessment of the software itself. So, it’s either a joke that reflects a jarring lack of self-awareness by the developers, or else it’s a snide middle finger to the player: Yeah, this game is warmed-over, recycled content, but we’re gonna fix that! By… making you do the exact same things you did in the last five Katamari games. Thanks for the 30 bones, suckers.



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Ragnarok II (KR)

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 02:52 AM PST


According to foreign reports and the official game website, it seems Ragnarok II once again is facing a rather old-school technical error on revival launch day. Other than the usual server lagging due to overpopulation, channels going down (happened just an hour ago) and the rather primitive web page launcher (I know it is for security reasons, but still ~.~), the game was closed for 5 hours to solve an item duping bug. And add in a few server checks which lasts around 10 minutes here and there.


Yes, you read it right, players were taking advantage of the auction house’s coding error to duplicate items in the game. The auction house has since been taken down after the 5 hours maintenance until further notice. It has been ages since I actually heard of this loophole happening in online games in recent years. Either the companies covered those incidents well or Gravity Games has yet to learn from past mistakes about game stability. Credits to Gravity Games though, for being honest about the incident and giving some form of compensation to the affected players.


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Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Gets the Limited Edition Treatment

Posted: 25 Feb 2012 01:26 AM PST

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Limited Edition

Just because it doesn’t contain any new games doesn’t mean the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection can’t get its own special edition bundle.

The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Limited Edition was announced by Konami today and is fairly modest in terms of its contents. In addition to the games themselves, you’ll get specialized packaging created by Yoji Shinkawa, the series’ lead artist, and an exclusive, 248-page art book titled The Art of Metal Gear Solid. Unfortunately today’s announcement didn’t include any pictures of the book’s contents, though based on its title and length it sounds like it could be a must-have item for fans of the franchise.

The Limited Edition will be available on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 alongside the standard version of the game on November 8. No matter which you choose, included in the collection are the Substance and Subsistence versions of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, respectively. That means in addition to high-definition versions of those two games and Peace Walker, you’ll also be able to play the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

Konami didn’t mention a price for the Limited Edition, and it has yet to respond to 1UP’s request for comment on the matter.

With the standard version priced at $49.99, how much would you be willing to pay for the LE package?

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Limited Edition


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This Month in Misogyny: Exposed Minors, Hair-Pulling, and Advanced Elephantiasis

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:49 PM PST

So many racist/troll posts

Posted: 02/24/2012 by  stealth20k

I guess since they cant disagree with anything I said using fact like I did, they just throw out insults, how pathetic

 

A dev can make a haulocaust game for all I care. Sure, I might find the content VERY questionable. But I would never say to a dev dont make a game. Freedom. A dev should have the freedom to make any kind of game he wants too. More power to them.

Devil survivor and the character they bring up with big breasts. Who cares? Characters in japanese games can be a wide variety of proportions both laced with reality and not. But if a dev wants to do one thing, who cares

 

When neptunia 2 is a critical hit again, dont blame japan, you should be praising them that they are doing out there, wild, different things, that actually sell

 

It proves this industry has a future, and not the bleak one headed towards a crash we are down right now


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Conquering Death: How Games are Reinventing Loss

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:28 PM PST

I’m sick of dying in video games.

Please don’t take that to mean that I die unusually often in games, or that doing so frustrates me, or that the concept of challenge in video games needs to go away. Honestly, in many ways, it already has; few modern games exact much of a penalty for dying, anyway. It’s just that, after 30 years of playing games, I’ve seen enough of them that explore the concept of loss in interesting ways that I the use of death increasingly seems a simplistic way to denote failure state (Game Over, press Start to continue) to speak of a depressing lack of imagination on the developers’ behalf.

Most games equate failure with the death of your player avatar, and that obviously works; otherwise it wouldn’t be the medium’s standard. But there are so many more interesting things that can be done with failure in a video game. The forced restarts and checkpoint setbacks you see in most games are a holdover from the olden days of arcades, where the goal of a game was to extract as much money as possible from an audience. Those games toed the line between fun and unfairness to keep you hooked enough to drop in quarter after quarter without making it easy for any but the most dedicated to play more than a few minutes without failing. Few games operate on the coin-op payment model these days, though; why should they continue to be constrained by coin-op thinking?

Granted, one could just as easily ask why death should be a concern at all in video games. Ultimately, it boils down to a natural limitation of the medium. Conflict is at the heart of any narrative, be it film, literature, music, or something as simple as “eat dots, avoid ghosts.” The gaming medium is unusual in that it makes the audience an active participant, and as such the rules change; unlike a book or a movie, a game can’t simply get along with the player as a passive witness. On top of that, the fact of the matter is that violent conflict is by far one of the easiest forms of interaction to simulate; it’s a fairly binary matter of kill-or-be-killed, and the nuances of ragdoll physics or targeted damage are child’s play next to the more subtle shading required for convincing human interaction. Developers have to work many times as hard to create an eventuality for the many possible directions and outcomes of a conversation as they do for an armed encounter. Games are violent simply because violence is far easier to render than a convincing facsimile of the less exciting things we do on a day-to-day basis.

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A game has to bring the player into the narrative somehow, and even those that suffer from lengthy, non-interactive cut-scenes (you know — the ones harshly decried as “interactive movies”) eventually involve the player on some level. Metal Gear Solid makes you sit and watch as characters talk about nanomachines and super babies for half an hour at a time, but eventually even Metal Gear overlord Hideo Kojima has to put aside his control-freak tendencies and relinquish control to the player. When that happens, the game shifts to conflict and the avoidance thereof. Players can slip around enemy lines and evade notice to reach their destination, but they can fight or sneak their way out of a fight (should it come to that) with an almost pornographically detailed array of weapons. Fail, however, and Snake dies; game over.

Well, usually. Every once in a while, Metal Gear games do something more interesting with death than have Snake’s radio operator shout his name as the screen fades to black. In Metal Gear Solid 3, for example, players face off against an elderly sniper named The End. It’s one of the lengthiest and most stressful battles in video game history (I spent about two hours on it), but Snake can’t actually die during the fight. The End might get the jump on you, and he might outshoot you, but he won’t kill you. Lose to The End and you end up in jail — a setback, but not a complete loss.

In the context of the game, this helps to establish The End as a unique and unusual foe. In the context of the series, on the other hand, it’s a surprisingly rare inversion of video game norms. Kojima is a demonstrable fan of subverting player expectations and playing with the “proper” mechanics of the medium, so it’s strange to think he’s so rarely disrupted the relationship between failure and death in the Metal Gear games. He’s even stated his desire to create a game that destroys itself when the player loses, giving them only a single chance to succeed — not exactly the most consumer-friendly concept, but definitely an interesting one. Kojima’s single-use game has been echoed in the urban legend of Killswitch, a purported Russian game that deletes itself from the player’s hard drive forever once the player loses.

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Then again, the idea of permanent failure for dying in a game isn’t precisely a disruption of the relationship between video game loss and avatar death — it’s more akin to the idea taken to its absolute extreme. A more interesting subversion can be seen in BioShock, a game that (perhaps unintentionally) bears a close philosophical resemblance to Metal Gear. Beneath their action trappings, both series question both cultural morality and the artifices of the video game medium in particular. Yet they each handle death in radically different ways. Death in Metal Gear is simply a fast ticket to a partial reset; in BioShock, on the other hand, death is barely even an inconvenience. The city of Rapture is densely populated with devices called Vita-Chambers, which restore the player’s character to life without resetting the surrounding world. There is almost exactly zero penalty for death in BioShock until the final battle, and players can advance through Rapture as carelessly and incompetently as they like. Eventually, they’ll chip away at enemy hordes and triumph through persistence, no matter how many trips to the Vita-Chamber it takes.

Many players cried foul about the way the Vita-Chamber defuses the tension of exploring Rapture, which is a fair enough criticism. But eventually, the Vita-Chamber’s true role — a narrative device — is revealed when the player at last meets Rapture founder Andrew Ryan and is forced to kill him by his own command. Ryan robs the player of the choice to commit murder while at the same time electing to die a true, permanent death: Once Ryan breathes his last and you again regain control over your actions, the first thing you discover in the back of your victim’s office is his own personal Vita-Chamber — a chamber which has deliberately been deactivated, driving home the point that Ryan was a man of his convictions. He died preaching about the importance of making conscious choices knowing full well he had chosen a true death. The Vita-Chamber thus becomes important subtext to a not-so-subtle set-piece; its role in the play mechanics seem almost secondary to this key point of plot- and world-building.


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Rise and Shiny recap: Dark Ages

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST

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Dark Ages screenshot
Some games grab you from the moment you see them. Sure, I get grabbed a lot, but I know when a game appears to be different or interesting. As I watched Adventure Mike play Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds on MassivelyTV over the last few weeks, I knew that I had to play it. But wait! Mike was playing it himself and doing a good job of exploring the game for the viewers. I couldn't just take that first impression from him and claim it as mine!

So I looked up KRU Interactive, found out its cool history with Nexon games, and decided to try Dark Ages instead. It looks similar to Nexus, so I thought I would be in for a great time.

The very first thing that I came across after logging into the game was a description of waking up in an inn room. It was a mysterious beginning, and I loved how the moment reminded me of how often our characters are just thrown into a world without much of a cutscene or explanation.

Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Dark Ages

MassivelyRise and Shiny recap: Dark Ages originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Previously on MV TV: The Week of February 18th

    Posted: 26 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST

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    Previously on MVTV logo
    It's time again to look back on the previous week of MassivelyTV and dig up the greatest moments that we could find! The best thing about this column is that if you have missed the earlier week's streams due to real life hassles, you can now sit back in the comforting arms of the weekend and watch hours and hours of livestreaming action -- only the choicest cuts picked by the staff.

    And this week we have some goodies for sure. Starting off, Richie jumped back into Guild Wars, Mike acted like a newb in 0.0 space in EVE Online, and Adventure Mike stole a time machine and visited Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds once again. Plus we saw more Guild Wars action with Adventure Mike, RuneScape on my Thursday stream, and a bit of Zentia!

    Make some popcorn, sit back, and click past the cut. Well, click past the cut and hit play first, then sit back. Unless you have a wireless mouse, then you can... well, you get me.

    Continue reading Previously on MV TV: The Week of February 18th

    MassivelyPreviously on MV TV: The Week of February 18th originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Daily Grind: Has a free trial ever blown you away?

      Posted: 26 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST

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      I enjoyed Star Trek Online at launch.  I'm a little reluctant to play it again because I don't have time and I worry I'd fall back in love.
      We all form opinions about games we don't play. That's just good sense -- it lets us figure out what games we're probably going to like or dislike based on what we've heard. But sometimes a game gives us either a free trial or the option to play without a subscription fee. And sometimes just that little bit of play is enough to bring us around from being ambivalent about a game to needing a subscription right now.

      Sure, most of the time, the trial just confirms what you already know -- or worse yet, it turns out to be far worse than you had expected. But there's always the chance, however small, that you'll be floored by the game; the designers certainly hope that's what happens. Have you ever experienced that moment? Or have all of the games you've tried for free wound up being the same as you expected from reviews and previews?

      Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

      MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Has a free trial ever blown you away? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Tattered Notebook: Breaking up the family

        Posted: 25 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST

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        soe

        This is the cartoon that launched a thousand posts. Well, maybe not a thousand, but it created tension on the forums and resulted in a temporary ban for popular community figure Morgan Feldon. With this week's news about the ProSiebenSat.1/Alaplaya deal, SOE fans were up in arms, and EverQuest II was at the epicenter of the protest. There were concerns ranging from account security to quality of player support, but the biggest concern was the fact that there would be a barrier between U.S. and European players going forward.

        I've written before about how tight-knit the community is in EQII, and that's probably why you saw some of the strongest protests originate on the EQII forums. That closeness extends to the EQII development team as well. I've been to a couple of Fan Faires and was surprised at how accessible the team always made itself. Combine that with a core community of longstanding, loyal players, and you basically have one big family. So when fans were hit with the second big news story of the week, the departure of Associate Producer Emily "Domino" Taylor, players reacted as if a friend or family member had moved out of the home. What do these two news stories have in common, and what can they tell us about EverQuest II?

        Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Breaking up the family

        MassivelyThe Tattered Notebook: Breaking up the family originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          The Mog Log: Ul'dah on 15 gil a night

          Posted: 25 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST

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          The Mog Log header by A. Fienemann
          In a way, each of the cities in Final Fantasy XIV resembles a non-capital city from Final Fantasy XI. Gridania has shades of Kazham; Limsa Lominsa has shades of Norg. But Ul'dah has a clear line to Al Zahbi, center of Aht Urhgan. It's the jewel of the wasted, barren region of Thanalan, a bustling hub of commerce, a place where even the lowliest adventurer might find fortune and fame in the arenas or via careful self-promotion.

          Of course, it's also the most dangerous. Sure, there are spirits woven throughout Gridania and pirates in every corner in Limsa Lominsa, but Ul'dah is filled with those who'd smile to your face and then shiv your spine as soon as you turn around. Beneath a glittering facade lies a horrid hive of cruelty, and the journey to the top the city is rife with backstabbing and strife. If you're not a native, you might not realize just how bad the place really is -- or how far the city's powerful members are willing to go to ensure that Ul'dah remains at the center of trade.

          Continue reading The Mog Log: Ul'dah on 15 gil a night

          MassivelyThe Mog Log: Ul'dah on 15 gil a night originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            The Road to Mordor: Purveyor of Odd Things

            Posted: 25 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST

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            LotRO
            Out of all of the factions in Lord of the Rings Online, I'm most partial to the Hobbit's Mathom Society (the Ale Association is my next most favorite). I love the concept behind finding quirky little objects that nobody really wants to keep, so the community set up a museum to hold them all. Plus, the benefits from gaining reputation are terrific, from a jar full of fireflies (great in Moria!) to a pretty decent rep pony.

            But it's perhaps the title gained on reaching Kindred that tickles me the most, as I can thus be called Purveyor of Odd Things. LotRO has a lot of weird titles, but this one takes the cake. It says that I'm just as likely to go jaunting off if a sparkly stone catches my eye as I am to fight that big dragon you guys are struggling with over there. It says that I am to be shunned at parties and talked about to children in a low, urgent tone.

            In the spirit of collecting odd things, this week's column will be a hodge-podge of topics instead of one overarching theme. Minstrel melodies, buried treasure, and Mithril Editions lurk just around the corner. Are you prepared in mind, body, and soul to hear what I have to say about them?

            Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Purveyor of Odd Things

            MassivelyThe Road to Mordor: Purveyor of Odd Things originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              Aion's Rallying the Troops event begins Feb 27th

              Posted: 25 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST

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              Aion screenshot
              If the recent news about Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play has sparked your interest or you had left previously but want to pop back in for a little look-see, NCsoft is offering the perfect opportunity to do just that! Starting February 27th, Rallying the Troops will allow Daevas and Daevas-to-be to jump into the stunning world of Atreia for free, getting a head start on preparing for the much anticipated 3.0 patch, Ascension.

              Each player, whether new, returning, or currently subscribed, will receive bonuses during that time, including double XP, a 30% boost in AP, and crucible insignias. New recruits need only make an account to begin playing a free extended trial. Returning veterans will play for free through March 12th. All those currently serving, along with the returning veterans, will benefit from more medals and relic loot drops from fortresses.

              As an added incentive, everyone who subscribes by March 12th will receive a free set of Daevanion armor. If you have ever had the desire to check Aion out, there is no time like the present... starting Monday, of course.

              MassivelyAion's Rallying the Troops event begins Feb 27th originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              General gaming

              General gaming


              Pokemon Black & White 2 for DS: So Backward It's Brilliant

              Posted: 25 Feb 2012 05:11 PM PST

              Nintendo's been pumping out the weird Pokémon-related news of late, not least of which was an absolutely baffling crossover with Koei's long-running Nobunaga's Ambition simulation series. Nevertheless, today's announcement just might take the cake: A direct sequel to last year's Pokémon Black & White is coming later this year to Japan and has already been confirmed for an indeterminate U.S. release. But it's not the remixed "Pokémon Grey" version most people expected, and it's not for 3DS like most fans hoped. Rather, say hello to Pokémon Black & White 2... for Nintendo DS.

              MMOGaming News

              MMOGaming News


              MicroVolts Spectate Update Trailer

              Posted:

              MicroVolts Spectate Update Trailer


              Rock Hippo Productions Ltd. has announced the launch of the Spectate Update for the cartoon style third-person shooter, MicroVolts. The Spectate Update features an all-new Observer Mode which offers an up-close and personal view of every MicroVolts match, along with new items in the Capsule Machine and the item shop and a new server called "Nickel".

              RO2 OBT Review: Inheriting Prequel + Innovation

              Posted:

              RO2 OBT Review: Inheriting Prequel + Innovation


              Ragnarok Online 2 (RO2), developed and published by Korea-based Gravity, officially kicked off its OBT on February 22nd. In comparison with its prequel, RO2 provides greater freedom and interaction including character emotes and social actions, as well as instances and cooperative monster hunting that don't exist in the prequel.

              Italian version of World of Warcraft Announced

              Posted:

              Italian version of  World of Warcraft Announced


              Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that it is in the process of creating a fully localized Italian version of World of Warcraft, its critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Upon release later this year, existing European players who prefer to experience the game in Italian will be able to download a free language pack, while new players will be able to purchase the Italian version digitally and at retail.

              Cartoon Style TPS MicroVolts Launches The Spectate Update

              Posted:

              Cartoon Style TPS MicroVolts Launches The Spectate Update


              Rock Hippo Productions Ltd. announced today the launch of the Spectate Update for the popular cartoon style third-person shooter, MicroVolts.

              One Million Dungeons Cleared in Mythos Global OBT

              Posted:

              One Million Dungeons Cleared in Mythos Global OBT


              After the launch of open beta on February 2nd, Mythos Global has now welcomed thousands of new players into the land of Uld. Hanbitsoft and T3Fun announce it has been a very successful launch for the team.

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