General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Google Stock Tops $1,000 Mark for First Time

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 09:23 AM PDT

GoogleHow high can it go?

Google this week announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, and investors reacted in positive fashion to the news, sending the company's stock to an all-time high. The Mountain View company reported consolidated revenues of $14.89 billion, an increase of 12 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. That translated into a quarterly profit of nearly $3 billion, up an impressive 36.5 percent.

"Google had another strong quarter with $14.9 billion in revenue and great product progress," said Larry Page, CEO of Google. "We are closing in on our goal of a beautiful, simple, and intuitive experience regardless of your device."

Google said the number of paid clicks rose 26 percent year-over-year, and 8 percent sequentially. However, the cost-per-click decreased 8 percent annually and 4 percent sequentially. That didn't seem to phase investors who collectively flocked to Google's stock, sending shares of the company up to an all-time high of $1,007.40.

At present, Google's stock is trading at around $1,000 per share, valuing the company at over $334 billion.

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti Announced

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 09:19 AM PDT

Nvidia announces new flagship graphics card at Montreal editor's event

Nvidia has announced the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. The announcment was made at the end of Nvidia's The Way It's Meant to be Played editor's event in Montreal, Canada. 

Nvidia was very secretive about the announcement not revealing much other than the fact that it will release in mid-November. When we asked the green team how it stacks up in performance against the Titan and 780 GPUs before it, Nvidia simply said it isn't revealing any other details at this moment. 

We should be getting a review unit in soon, but until then check out the image of what the GeForce 780 Ti looks like below.

GeForce 780 Ti

As you can see, the 780 Ti uses a very similar PCB to the Titan and 780 before it.

It will be interesting to see how the card performs. Nvidia Ti nomenclature hints that this GPU will perform somewhere between a 780 and Titan, but we won't know for sure until we benchmark it.

This announcement makes the GPU wars much more heated as it wasn't long ago when AMD announced its new flagship R9 290 and 290X video cards. According to AMD, its new top tier 290X GPU outpeforms a GeForce 780 in 4K resolution running BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider.

As always, you can count on us to put all of these new cards through our extensive benchmarks to determine the new pecking order of GPUs! 

What do you think of Nvidia's announcement? Let us know in the comments below!

Nvidia Posts Details on GeForce GTX 760 Ti Graphics Cards for OEMs

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 08:54 AM PDT

GeForce GTX 760 TiMeet the rebranded GeForce GTX 670

If you poke around Nvidia's website, you may notice a new addition to its GeForce graphics card section for desktops. It's the GeForce GTX 760 Ti, a new part that's intended for OEM partners. Product images and full system specs are posted on Nvidia's website, and at a glance, this appears to be a rebranded GeForce GTX 670 graphics card. Let's have a look at what makes this thing tick.

The GeForce GTX 760 Ti has 1344 CUDA cores, a base clockspeed of 915MHz, boost clockspeed of 980MHz, and 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6GHz on a 256-bit bus resulting in 192.2GB/s of memory bandwidth.

It looks identical to the GeForce GTX 670 and features the same specs we just outlined. Both cards measure 9.5 inches (L) by 4.376 inches (H), have dual-slot coolers, and require two 6-pin power connectors.

No pricing information has been announced for the GeForce GTX 760 Ti, and probably never will be since it's intended for OEMs only. However, it fits somewhere in between a GeForce GTX 760 ($249) and a GeForce GTX 770 ($399).

As a point of reference in terms of performance, we awarded the Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP a perfect 10/10 with a KickAss rewarded when we reviewed it last year, as well as MSI's GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition. In other words, it's not a shabby card to rebrand for bulk OEMs to play with.

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SteelSeries Now Accepting Pre-Orders for Dota 2 and 9H Headsets

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 07:40 AM PDT

SteelSeries 9H headsetTwo headsets up for grabs

SteelSeries has begun taking pre-orders for two new pairs of audio gear, including its 9H headset and Dota 2 headset. Starting with the former, the 9H headset is "tournament grade" with a rugged industrial design that's lightweight, has custom enhanced sound, and three types of Dolby technology baked in, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Headphone, and Dolby Prologic IIx.

It features a double enclosure design that's supposed to isolate outside noise. The headset also has in-line audio controls for volume control and muting microphone, a retractable mic, and extra padding on the earcups for comfort. Specs are as follows:

  • Frequency Response: 10 - 28,000 Hz
  • Impedance: 32 Ohm
  • Sound Pressure Level (SPL) @1kHz, 1Vrms:-110 dB

As for the Dota 2 headset, the themed headset is based on the Siberia V2 design. It features "Dota Red" illumination with half a dozen different modes, a USB sound card providing virtual 5.1 surround sound, and a retractable mic. Gamers who purchase the Dota 2 headset will receive the Scythe of Vyse, an exclusive in-game item for Nature's Prophet.

Specs on this one include:

  • Frequency Response: 18 - 28,000 Hz
  • Impedance: 40 Ohm

The Dota 2 headset is available for $120 and the 9H headset for $160.

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AMD Back in Black After Inking Lucrative Console Gaming Contracts

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:52 AM PDT

PlayStation 4Finally, a profitable quarter

Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 consoles feature AMD hardware inside, and it's primarily because of those deals that the Sunnyvale chip designer was able to return to profitability this past quarter. AMD said it made a profit of $48 million on revenue of $1.46 billion in the third quarter of 2013, compared to a $74 million loss in the previous quarter and a whopping $157 million loss in the same quarter one year ago.

"AMD returned to profitability and generated free cash flow in the third quarter as we continued to successfully execute the strategic transformation plan we outlined a year ago," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "We achieved 26 percent sequential revenue growth driven by our semi-custom business and remain committed to generating approximately 50 percent of revenue from high-growth markets over the next two years. Developing industry-leading technology remains at our core, and we are in the middle of a multi-year journey to redefine AMD as a leader across a more diverse set of growth markets."

It's good news for AMD that it managed to turn a profit again, but also concerning in how that money was made. AMD's CPU business actually declined 6 percent sequentially and was down 15 percent year-over-year. AMD blamed the declines on decreased notebook and chipset unit shipments.

AMD's profit came from serving consoles. The company's Graphics and Visual Solutions (GVS) business, which includes semi-custom products like the chips found in the Xbox One and PS4, jumped up 110 percent sequentially and 96 percent year-over-year. While a little concerning, this isn't necessarily a bad thing for AMD if can continue to serve this market without hiccups.

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Newegg Daily Deals: Seagate 2TB Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drive, Corsair 750W PSU, and More!

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:13 AM PDT

Seagate 2TBnewegg logo

Top Deal:

Every new build faces what's becoming an age-old question: More storage or faster performance? Well, you can have your cake and eat it, too, because what good is a cake if you're not going to devour it? But we digress. The point is, if you're tasked with the same question, then perhaps you'll find the answer in today's top deal for a Seagate 2GB 3.5-inch Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drive for $120 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code EMCWXWR23). This HDD offers 2TB of storage space (7200 RPM) paired with 8GB of MLC NAND flash memory to speed up everyday chores.

Other Deals:

Corsair HX Series HX750 750W 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Power Supply for $105 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCWXWR26]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card for $240 with free shipping (normally $260 - use coupon code: [EMCWXWR47]; additional $10 Mail-in rebate; Free Batman Arkham Origins w/ purchase, limited offer)

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $60 with free shipping (normally $80 - use coupon code: [EMCWXWR24])

Seagate Solid State Hybrid 1TB 64MB Cache 2.5-inch Laptop Hard Drive for $100 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCWXWR24])

Nvidia The Way It's Meant to be Played 2013 (Day One)

Posted: 17 Oct 2013 09:11 PM PDT

The way it's meant to be played 2013Nvidia discusses next-generation graphics, new development software SDKs, and games at its Montreal event

We had the chance to check out Nvidia's The Way It's Meant to be Played 2013 event in Montreal, Canada. The two-day editor's event officially kicked off today and centered around the company's new promising game development tools which the green team asserts will usher in truly next-generation graphics. New graphical features like "Flame Works" and "FLEX" were announced along with improvements to existing tools like PhysX and more. 

Today covered more of the software and game side of development, but Nvidia assures us that day two of the event will focus more on graphics technology. Hopefully we'll hear some new hardware announcements! (A tech geek can only hope!)

Until then, you can check out all of today's slides below and let us know what you think of Nvidia's offerings so far in the comments below!

MMO Updates

MMO Updates


Elite: Dangerous' seventh dev diary divulges alpha, beta plans

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT

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Elite Dangerous' seventh dev diary divulges alpha, beta plans
If the recent Oculus Rift announcement has you even more excited to get your hands on Elite: Dangerous, today's new video dev diary has some information you might be interested in, namely a little detail like alpha. In this seventh dev diary, David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, announced that alpha testing will begin in December. Starting with the combat test build, different aspects of Elite: Dangerous will be rolled out during the alpha phase and then brought all together into a complete package for beta testing. At the end of beta all Kickstarter backers will get the game and have access in their own gamma testing phase before retail release.

In the second half of the diary, Braben answers player questions about topics like mission failure and weapon systems on space stations. You can hear all the answers in the video below.

[Thanks to Peteris for the tip!]

Continue reading Elite: Dangerous' seventh dev diary divulges alpha, beta plans

MassivelyElite: Dangerous' seventh dev diary divulges alpha, beta plans originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tamriel Infinium: Selling your wares in The Elder Scrolls Online

Posted: 18 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT

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Tamriel Infinium Selling your wares in Elder Scrolls Online
When it comes to the economy of MMOs, I usually run the other way. I admit that I'm not an economist, nor would I consider myself a crafter by any stretch. But I'm not completely ignorant of how important in-game trading is for the overall health of an MMO. If the auction house or player stores are consistently stocked, then there is an organic element to the larger game. I find that exciting, and despite my aversion to crafting, I do enough material-gathering and playing the trading game to appreciate the finer details of a healthy, growing game economy.

Until recently, we have heard only bits and pieces of how the Elder Scrolls Online economy will work. Developers claim to have a robust crafting system, and given the history of the single-player Elder Scrolls games, I can accept that. But how do I get my wares into the hands of other players? Gameplay Designer Nick Konkle spoke to Shoddy Cast about that very thing. Surprisingly, he revealed quite a bit, and although it's a very interesting listen, I don't think any MMO has tried anything like it. I'm scared and very intrigued.

Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: Selling your wares in The Elder Scrolls Online

MassivelyTamriel Infinium: Selling your wares in The Elder Scrolls Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Guild Wars 2 will add the Edge of the Mists to World vs. World

    Posted: 18 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT

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    Guild Wars 2 will add the Edge of the Mists to World vs World
    If you're a fan of Guild Wars 2's large-scale PvP gameplay mode, World vs. World, there's some good news coming your way: ArenaNet is developing a new map called Edge of the Mists, and it's designed to add spice to WvW gameplay and help alleviate some of the ongoing difficulties with queue times. We were invited to a conference call with Game Design Lead Jon Peters, where he let us in on some of the details and philosophy behind this new content.

    Guilds can apply to be part of an upcoming beta test and help shape the development of this new addition as well. Following on the heels of recent WvW additions such as Borderlands Bloodlust and World Experience Points, ArenaNet plans for Edge of the Mists to be the gateway to even more improvements.

    Continue reading Guild Wars 2 will add the Edge of the Mists to World vs. World

    MassivelyGuild Wars 2 will add the Edge of the Mists to World vs. World originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Daily Grind: Is crowd control in MMOs dead?

      Posted: 18 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT

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      Neverwinter control wizard
      Crowd control used to be a major feature of MMO gameplay, so much that CC, not DPS, was considered the third element of the MMO holy trinity until World of Warcraft swept into the market in 2004 without a dedicated crowd-control class. Before that, crowd-control characters enjoyed an almost godlike status in MMORPGs. An EverQuest Enchanter was one class you never partied without, Dark Age of Camelot's RvR was infamous for its unbalanced zerg mezes, and City of Heroes embraced crowd control so closely that it named an entire archetype for it: the Controller.

      Not only did WoW begin the trend of deleting pure crowd controllers from game rosters everywhere, it also downplayed the importance of crowd control in general, so much that many of WoW's modern dungeons have little to no trash that'd require control in the first place. It's dramatically different gameplay from the style of the aforementioned City of Heroes, which literally threw huge crowds of villains at you to control and subdue in order to make you feel heroic.

      Are other modern games continuing the trend? Is crowd control, or at least crowd-control characters as we once knew them, dead? And are they a welcome casualty of the slow elimination of group-or-die MMO gameplay?

      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: Is crowd control in MMOs dead? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Guild Counsel: Is it time to shift your vision or just shut down?

        Posted: 17 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT

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        The Guild Counsel Is it time to shift your vision, or just shut down
        A big part of running a successful guild is having a clear idea of what type of guild you want to have and knowing how to make that work. Everything revolves around your vision for the guild, from recruitment to scheduling events to guild rules and even the overall tone and atmosphere. But what happens if your guild philosophy ends up clashing with that of the bulk of your members? Massively reader Mbbrazen, who commented on a recent Guild Counsel article, illustrated the issue:
        The other issue I've seen, which is not specifically mentioned in the article, is what should the guild leader do when the people who originally joined the guild because they all had similar interests are gone (burned out, gone to other games, etc.) and the majority of the new people have more varied interests? Should the guild leader shut the guild down or adapt to the new membership? I actually think a guild I was in recently is dying a slow death because the leaders needed to decide to either shut it down or adapt to needs of the active membership. Thoughts?
        This is a tough situation but all too common. Let's take a look at some options in this week's Guild Counsel.

        Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Is it time to shift your vision or just shut down?

        MassivelyThe Guild Counsel: Is it time to shift your vision or just shut down? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          APB Reloaded survives GTA V, engine upgrade coming

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:30 PM PDT

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          APB Reloaded engine upgrade
          Did Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online impact APB Reloaded? Well, of course. Rockstar's juggernaut affected the entire industry via its total sales and its mind-boggling ascent to the top of the all-time 24-hour sales chart. And that's "all-time" as in the history of all entertainment. Ever.

          Anyway, APB Reloaded. There's a new blog post on the game's official site that addresses the GTA impact as well as the addition of community management veteran Diane "Tiggs" Migliaccio to the team.

          Reloaded's Bjorn Book-Larsson also mentions the firm's plans for an APB engine upgrade. The game currently uses Unreal 3, which is basically the same engine that powered the 2008 edition of Epic's Unreal Tournament 3. Book-Larsson says that a "massive engine upgrade" has been in the works since July 2013 that will ultimately move APB to the same version of the Unreal engine that powers Epic's Gears of Wars 3.

          MassivelyAPB Reloaded survives GTA V, engine upgrade coming originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Watch an orchestra perform War Thunder's Symphony of Steel

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT

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          Watch an orchestra perform War Thunder's Symphony of Steel
          Gaijin is making a concerted effort to publicize its War Thunder World War II sim of late, and one of this week's more noteworthy reveals is a performance of the Baltic Symphonic Orchestra captured on video. The group is shown recording Symphony of Steel, a new track written for the game's upcoming ground battles.

          Feast your eyes -- and ears -- after the cut!

          [Thanks hilaryminc!]

          Continue reading Watch an orchestra perform War Thunder's Symphony of Steel

          MassivelyWatch an orchestra perform War Thunder's Symphony of Steel originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Cryptic tweaks Champions' alert system

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 05:30 PM PDT

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          Cryptic tweaks Champions' alert system
          Cryptic and Perfect World have patched in a significant update to Champions Online's alert system. For starters, rewards for Grab and Smash alerts have been swapped. Grabs now give XP while Smashes grant resources and a resource buff. Grab alerts will also require a level 10 character going forward, while Smashes will require a level 20 toon. This was done to prevent low-level XP seekers from signing up for something they likely won't survive.

          The devs have also tweaked Champions' queue structure so that "there will always be one Grab, one Burst, and one Smash available at a time." Click through the links below for more info.

          MassivelyCryptic tweaks Champions' alert system originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Jacobs pens new Camelot Unchained lore tidbit

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT

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          Jacobs pens new Camelot Unchained lore tidbit
          Camelot Unchained continued its semi-regular progress reporting earlier this week with a new lore tidbit focusing on the Bean Sidhe. The Banshee, as the race is also known, is the subject of a new Becoming tale penned by City State's Mark Jacobs.

          Following the story is a list of possible racial abilities including Scream of Fear, Shatter, and What the Hell is That Thing! After that you'll find some possible racial banes and a Hamadryad animation test. Oh, and you'll also find that last bit embedded for you after the break.

          Continue reading Jacobs pens new Camelot Unchained lore tidbit

          MassivelyJacobs pens new Camelot Unchained lore tidbit originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          LotRO gives 100% XP boost to everyone for a month

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 04:30 PM PDT

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          LotRO gives 100% XP boost to everyone for a month
          Lord of the Rings Online is granting everyone in the game a 100% boost to XP gain in the month leading up to Helm's Deep. From now through November 17th, the boost will give players a helping hand in getting their characters up to the starting line for the expansion. The boost was announced on the LotRO website's front page.

          Turbine also said that seven members of the player council will be visiting the studio on October 31st to discuss community, localization, development plans, and customer service issues. The studio said that photos and "comments" from the visit will be shared that day.

          MassivelyLotRO gives 100% XP boost to everyone for a month originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Black Desert beta vids show questing, fishing, cinematics, and more

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT

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          Black Desert beta vids show questing, fishing, cinematics, and more
          That darn Black Desert! Every time I learn more about it it moves up a spot or two on my must-play list! The sandbox title's Korean beta has started, and according to a post at MMOcast, testers can expect plenty of hands-on with questing, combat, housing, guilds, trading, "NPC relations," and PvP and sieging.

          The site also has a few gameplay videos that are worth a look. There's footage of the fishing and jumping systems, questing stuff, and the opening cinematic. See for yourself after the cut.

          [Thanks Dengar!]

          Continue reading Black Desert beta vids show questing, fishing, cinematics, and more

          MassivelyBlack Desert beta vids show questing, fishing, cinematics, and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          BlizzCon 2013 schedule is now online

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 03:30 PM PDT

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          BlizzCon 2013 schedule
          One of the major annual nerd pilgrimages is less than a month away because on the 7th and 8th of November, hundreds of Blizzard fans will be flocking to Anaheim, California for BlizzCon 2013. If you're one of those lucky pilgrims and you're looking to plan out your visit to Blizzard mecca, you're in luck because the convention schedule is now online.

          The opening ceremonies will kick off on Friday at 2:00 p.m. EDT, and throughout the next two days BlizzCon will be host to a slew of panels including the intriguing "World of Warcraft: What's Next," and exciting events such as the StarCraft II World Championship Series semi-finals and grand finals. For all of your scheduling needs, the list of events, locations, and a handy map await you at the BlizzCon site.

          MassivelyBlizzCon 2013 schedule is now online originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Grand Voyage introduces 16th century maritime trade to your MMO dock

          Posted: 17 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT

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          Grand Voyage introduces 16th century maritime trade to your MMO dock
          If you enjoy sea battles and merchant trading in your MMO, but aren't necessarily a fan of playing as a pirate, then you must be a ninja. Or maybe you might just enjoy the new Grand Voyage from NGames.

          Set in the historically accurate 16th Century Mediterranean coast region, Grand Voyage is described as a late-Renaissance maritime trading MMO that lets you grow from small-time captain to legendary voyager in control of your own fleet. Since all trade prices change dynamically based on player actions, the economy allows for a stock-style way to buy low and sell high.

          But rest assured, there is combat in Grand Voyage, and captains must keep their ships in top working condition while battling opponents across servers.

          Grand Voyage is on the Game321.com online games portal, and you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter to find out more.

          [Source: NGames press release]

          MassivelyGrand Voyage introduces 16th century maritime trade to your MMO dock originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            City of Titans gives a cab's-eye view of the city

            Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT

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            I now want a full series of Harvey Pekar-style stories from this gent.
            Superhero games aren't just about having fantastic powers; they're about the space you live in. Cities have characters all of their own; Metropolis is all gleaming idealism, Marvel's New York is like an enlarged version of the real New York, and Gotham City is approximately 85% gargoyles by volume. So it's important for City of Titans fans to know what Titan City is like before they start playing. And who better to explain the city than your average Titan City cab driver?

            As it turns out, pretty much every joke you can think of about superhuman battles has already been made. In a city filled with heroes, you know that every so often there's going to be a villain knocked through your office, and a support structure exists for dealing with just that eventuality. Read the full Kickstarter update for more details on how the game world works and how people can keep living in a city where you occasionally find a portal to nether dimensions opening right above your favorite Thai restaurant.

            MassivelyCity of Titans gives a cab's-eye view of the city originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            ArenaNet takes its first step toward Guild Wars 2 collaborative development with a call for topics

            Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT

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            Guild Wars 2
            Last week, Guild Wars 2 studio design director Chris Whiteside announced a new community initiative designed to better filter and address player feedback regarding the future and current state of the game. Today, Whiteside followed up by posting the first set of instructions for participating in the process ArenaNet is referring to as "collaborative development."

            The Guild Wars 2 team is asking players to begin by choosing three priorities from each area of gameplay and listing them in a response to the initial post. For example, a player's PvE priorities might be ascended items, world events, and roleplaying. ArenaNet will then take the top item in each section and start a separate thread in which players and the team will share opinions, brainstorm, and converse.

            Our own Anatoli Ingram tackled the initial announcement in this week's Flameseeker Chronicles. As for this first round of feedback, players have "a couple" of days to add their thoughts before ArenaNet compiles the list.

            [Thanks to Mikey Moo for the tip!]

            MassivelyArenaNet takes its first step toward Guild Wars 2 collaborative development with a call for topics originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Blizzard All-Stars is now Heroes of the Storm

            Posted: 17 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT

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            Heroes of the Storm
            Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the studio's upcoming MOBA, formerly known as Blizzard All-Stars (and Blizzard Dota before that), will officially launch under the title Heroes of the Storm. The announcement comes after about a month of speculation regarding the Heroes of the Storm name; Blizzard filed the trademark in late September, and guesses ranged from entirely new game to World of Warcraft expansion. Unfortunately, the video doesn't provide any further information on Heroes of the Storm, meaning its release date is likely still "Soon[TM]."

            Check out the announcement video after the break.

            Continue reading Blizzard All-Stars is now Heroes of the Storm

            MassivelyBlizzard All-Stars is now Heroes of the Storm originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Final Fantasy XIV promises 'fairly substantial' first update

            Posted: 17 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT

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            Final Fantasy XIV promises 'fairly substantial' first update
            Final Fantasy XIV Executive Producer Naoki Yoshida wrote that the upcoming first update for the relaunched title will be "fairly substantial" in several categories. He said that the update will contain more activities for players to do, including daily quests, treasure hunts, new dungeons, primal battles, housing, and the return of the Good King Moggle Mog.

            Update 2.1 will go on to introduce a character salon, a party search function, changes based on player feedback, an item-sort function, and the return of a character from the old version of the game.

            Yoshida said that before the update hits, the team will tweak tomestone drop rates to make them easier for players to obtain and fix an issue with the Binding Coil of Bahamut that's keeping players from completing it.

            MassivelyFinal Fantasy XIV promises 'fairly substantial' first update originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Ask Massively: The dilemma of the free-to-play sandbox

            Posted: 17 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT

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            Shroud of the Avatar
            Reader Sharvis recently emailed the Massively Speaking podcast with a question I felt deserved more than just a quick verbal reaction on the 'cast. That, and we just discovered that the ask@massively.com email address went dead approximately three weeks ago, and I've not been receiving your letters there (so send 'em again!). In the meantime: Sharvis.
            What makes a sandbox so susceptible to its business model in comparison to a themepark? I'm not experienced with sandbox titles, and I can only guess on some of the implications. For example, selling boosters in a themepark is fairly acceptable, but in a sandbox, as Jef pointed out [in his ArcheAge column earlier this summer], that'd be cutting into one of the main features of a sandbox. I'd guess it has to do with these sort of MMOs being more player-centric, and that's a very delicate system to be messing with.
            See? I told you this was a juicy one.

            Continue reading Ask Massively: The dilemma of the free-to-play sandbox

            MassivelyAsk Massively: The dilemma of the free-to-play sandbox originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              WildStar implores Dominion citizens to go space-west in a new arkship

              Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT

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              Space-wagons, move space-forward!
              Do you feel the lure of the frontier? WildStar's Dominion certainly hopes you do. But as a citizen of the most powerful organization in the known galaxy, you won't be heading out into the frontier with nothing more than a spacesuit and a poorly written star chart. No, you'll be cruising to Nexus in the finest vessel ever built by the Dominion shipyards, the arkship Destiny! Assuming you pass the tests to be sent out there in the first place. The Dominion can't just send the rabble, after all.

              The latest installment of WildStar Wednesday details the luxurious amenities in all their glory, ranging from VIP lounges and ample recreational space to training simulations and a fully functional church. Those selected for the journey will be given every opportunity to excel once they touch down on the planet's surface, with experienced travelers given the option of bypassing most of the tutorial experience for a trip straight to Nexus. Take a look at the full rundown to get a better idea of how the Dominion travels in style, which will likely be contrasted by the Exiles arriving in a spacesuit with a poorly written star chart.

              MassivelyWildStar implores Dominion citizens to go space-west in a new arkship originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Oct 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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