General Gaming Article

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• Google Acquires Nest Labs for $3.2 Billion
• 10 Coolest Things We Saw at CES 2014
• Where Will Acer's New CEO Lead the Company?
• SimCity Update Finally Adds an Offline Mode
• Sprint Keeps Mum on Decision to Axe One Up Early Upgrade Program
• Microsoft Reportedly Prepping Windows 9 Announcement
• Newegg Daily Deals: Seagate Backup Plus 2TB HDD, Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Pre-Order, and More!

Google Acquires Nest Labs for $3.2 Billion Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:48 PM PST $3.2 billion in cash for the makers of thermostats and smoke alarms Google has announced their acquisition of Nest Labs, a company that developed and manufatures the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect. According to the  press release no changes will be made to the Nest's leadership structure and will operate under Google's umbrella with its brand identity. The Nest Thermostat, priced at $249, is a self-programmable device that is capable of cooling and heating up a consumer's home once it becomes familiar with the owner's preferences. In addition to eliminating the need to manually adjust the temperature it will also indicate, with a green leaf symbol, whenever a change in temperature will cut the energy usage in a person's home. As for the Nest Protect, which is priced for $129, it is a smoke alarm device that will inform a consumer, by lighting up and speaking, whenever it is about to go off rather than immediately sound an alarm. This gives the consumer enough time to stop it from sending out a false alarm by simply waving their hand at it. Both devices can be operated by an app to adjust the temperature or receive a notification about smoke and CO detection while also capable of working together.  Despite being acquired by Google, Nest Labs co-founder Matt Rogers assured owners that the company will maintain their support of iOS, Android, and modern web browsers. Product warranties will also continue to be valid. No information was provided as to how Google's products and services will be incorporated into Nest and its devices.  Closure of the sale will take place within the next few months.  But is Google making a smart purchase by spending $3.2 billion on Nest Labs?

10 Coolest Things We Saw at CES 2014 Posted: 13 Jan 2014 02:20 PM PST Best of CES 2014: Steam Machines, Razer's Project Christine, and more The dust has settled on this year's CES and we are glad to report that the PC rocked the show. The highlight of the event was Valve's official unveiling of 13 Steam Machines and many of the small form factor chassis look awesome and we can't wait to try them out. It wasn't all about SFFs, however. CyberPower's lunch-box shaped Battle Box PC proved that there is still plenty of room for innovation with larger cases. And then there were new innovative PC gaming devices like the updated Oculus Rift and PrioVR virtual reality suit. In addition, the biggest surprise of the show was Razer's highly modular Project Christine PC.  The following list contains the 10 coolest things we saw at the show. Do you have a personal favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Where Will Acer's New CEO Lead the Company? Posted: 13 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST Tough road ahead for Acer Acer was riding pretty high back in the netbook era, sales of which helped the company post record revenue of $17.5 billion with net operating profit reaching $478.1 million in 2009. At the time, Acer predicted it would supplant Hewlett-Packard as the world's No. 1 PC maker by 2012. Instead, Acer saw its CEO Gianfranco Lanci walk away after a disagreement with the board, and not long after, the PC maker posted its first quarterly loss. Fast forward to today and all eyes are on Acer's new chief, Jason Chen. Chen delivered his first press conference on Monday and according to Reuters, investors were disappointed that he spent more time talking about the company's past mistakes than what its plans are for the future. As to the mistakes Acer made, Chen said Acer jumped the gun in investing in touch panels and ultrabooks rather than focusing on tablets. "We wanted to stimulate demand using new technology and we took the initiative more aggressively than anybody else, to the point where we got hurt," Chen said. "Hopefully we won't repeat the same mistake we made before." Acer is now the world's 4th largest PC maker, behind Dell, HP, and Lenovo (in that order), according to data by both IDC and Gartner. In the fourth quarter of 2013, Lenovo and Dell were the only two OEMs to post positive growth. Acer, meanwhile, saw its share of the PC market drop from 8.7 percent in Q4 2012 to Q4 2013. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

SimCity Update Finally Adds an Offline Mode Posted: 13 Jan 2014 10:30 AM PST SimCity fans are about to their most requested feature Maxis Emeryville has a New Year's resolution, one that you're going to like. It's to implement an offline mode for SimCity, which Maxis Emeryville GM Patrick Buechner said will roll out as a free download with Update 10 to all SimCity players. Users have complained since SimCity's release of the requirement for a persistent Internet connection, especially when EA's servers were having trouble. When the offline mode launches, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without having to check in with EA's mothership. As for when you can expect the update, Buechner says he and his team are in the late phases of wrapping up its development, which mostly entails testing final release candidates. "Bringing the game offline means big things for our wonderful community of modders," Buechner said in a blog post. "They can now make modifications to the game and its components without compromising the integrity of the online game. Modding is a big part of our studio's legacy and we're excited to see what you guys create." As for the online game, all of the benefits of being connected will stay intact, including access to multiplayer, the Global Market, and Leaderbords. All of your pre-existing saved cities and regions will also be accessible when you log into the online game. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Sprint Keeps Mum on Decision to Axe One Up Early Upgrade Program Posted: 13 Jan 2014 09:41 AM PST Sprint's One Up plan only lasted four months Wireless carriers are currently engaged in a high stakes game of one-upmanship as they each try to add more subscribers by offering increasingly tantalizing offers. Sprint's strategy was literally called "One Up," the name it gave to an early upgrade program it introduced just four months ago. One Up customers could purchase an eligible smartphone with no down payment (depending on the device) and spread out the full retail cost over 24 monthly installment payments. In exchange, One Up customers could upgrade their handset every 12 months and start the process anew. Now the program is no more. A support page on Sprint's website indicates the program was retired on January 9, 2014, though no reason is given. In its place, Sprint is now pushing customers to check out its new "Framily Plan," which is something completely different. By getting additional family members and even friends to link their accounts, individuals can enjoy group savings. "Sprint Framily offers unlimited talk and text and 1GB data while on the Sprint network for as little as $25/month per line with no requirement to share data," Sprint explains. "The consumer invites up to nine family members, friends, and others to join Sprint and save." The offer is eligible to new and existing subscribers. Furthermore, all accounts within a Sprint Framily group are billed separately and are individually liable for their bill. It's an interesting proposition, though it still doesn't explain why Sprint abandoned its early upgrade program, and did it so quickly after launch. Image Credit: Flickr (TheDarkThing) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Microsoft Reportedly Prepping Windows 9 Announcement Posted: 13 Jan 2014 09:10 AM PST Microsoft hopes new branding will help distance itself from Windows 8 criticisms There will be an update to Windows 8.1 sometime later this year, which isn't surprising because Microsoft never stops working on Windows. Beyond that, however, Microsoft is reportedly gearing up to announce Windows 9 during its Build 2014 developer conference in April. Should things go plan, Windows 9, or "Threshold" if you prefer to use the codename, will launch to consumers a year later. This is according to Paul Thurrott, who says that "Windows 8 is tanking harder than Microsoft is comfortable discussing in public." By Thurrott's figures, Windows 8.1 is installed on less than 25 million PCs, and one thing Windows 9 desperately needs to do is find a better balance between traditional PC users and those who are adopting newer touch-friendly form factors. "In short, it needs to be everything that Windows 8 is not," Thurrott says. But will it be? Well, one of the reasons Microsoft is dropping the Windows 8 brand in favor of Windows 9 is to distance itself from its current OS. A name change alone won't get things done, and while details are light at the moment, Thurrott says the Windows team will focus on maturing and fixing the Metro design language. A windowed mode that works on the desktop could be in the cards. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Seagate Backup Plus 2TB HDD, Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Pre-Order, and More! Posted: 13 Jan 2014 06:31 AM PST Top Deal: Hey, life happens. Floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and even popcorn (Real Genius, anyone?) can wreck your belongings. Obviously your loved ones take top priority, but once you verify everyone's okay, it's time to assess the damage. Maybe you came up with a formula to cure the common cold and saved it to your PC, which is now a piles of ash. It's a good thing you took backing up data seriously and saved your important files to an external hard drive, which you keep at a different location precisely for these types of catastrophes. If you're not doing that, or if you need to shop a bigger storage device, check out today's top deal for a Seagate Backup Plus 2TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for $115 with free shipping (normally $150 -- use coupon code: [EMCPWWP96]). It has a metal design, is fairly thin, and for your social media addicts, it has a feature tha allows multiple files to be uploaded to social networks at once from your PC. Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Pre-Order for $40 with free shipping ($5 promotional gift card w/ purchase, limited offer) Asus VS Series VS247H-P Black 23.6-inch 2ms Monitor for $140 with free shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWP48]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) BenQ GW2450 Glossy Black 24-inch 4ms Monitor for $120 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWP53]) G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (2x8G) 204-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory for $144 with free shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCPWWP87])

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MMO Updates

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• Major Herokon Online update includes sequel to Blade of Destiny, new region
• Smedley expounds on benefits blunder and SOE's philosophy
• Play EVE: Valkyrie at Sundance Film Festival
• The Stream Team: Human Popsicles edition, January 13 - 19, 2014
• The Daily Grind: Are player councils a good idea?
• LotRO not working on new dungeons, has no plans to merge servers
• MMO Week in Review: The sustainability of the Elder Scrolls Online
• EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables
• Stick and Rudder: Five reasons Star Citizen isn't a dedicated PvP game

Major Herokon Online update includes sequel to Blade of Destiny, new region Posted: 13 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play Denizens of Aventuria have a lot more to keep themselves occupied thanks to Herokon Online's latest update. Not only has an entire new region opened up for exploration and adventuring, but The Dark Eye fans will get to experience the sequel to the Blade of Destiny campaign. Additionally, the level cap has been raised to 45, players can earn new achievements and titles, and a new world map provides a travel system. The new land of Thorwal, located in the northwest, is home to six new types of enemies and new NPCs and allies, some of which will be familiar characters that fans meet for the first time. Players will also find many new quests and Thorwal-specific weapons and equipment. For a taste of the update, check out the artwork and screenshots in the gallery below. [Source: Herokon Online press release] Major Herokon Online update includes sequel to Blade of Destiny, new region originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Smedley expounds on benefits blunder and SOE's philosophy Posted: 13 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST Filed under: EverQuest, EverQuest II, Interviews, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, DC Universe Online, EverQuest Next, PlanetSide 2, Dragon's Prophet When SOE first announced the membership changes coming to some of its titles, the company stirred up a storm that was completely unexpected, according to CEO John Smedley. After listening to the community, the studio reversed parts of the proposal and unveiled an extra benefit: a $14.99 All-Access pass. But even after a few extra posts explaining the changes and the reasoning behind them, there were still some unanswered questions and remnants of confusion from the quick succession of announcements. Why were some titles in SOE's arsenal listed part of the pass but others aren't? Which membership gift is actually the one going forward? When will these changes take place? And what about the European players? I sat down with Smedley to answer these questions and get some added clarity on these changes, Continue reading Smedley expounds on benefits blunder and SOE's philosophy Smedley expounds on benefits blunder and SOE's philosophy originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Play EVE: Valkyrie at Sundance Film Festival Posted: 13 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items If you want to strap on an Oculus Rift headset and give EVE: Valkyrie a spin, head to the Sundance Film Festival this weekend in Park City, Utah. CCP will be demonstrating the virtual-reality game as part of the festival's New Frontier presentation Friday, January 17th through Saturday, January 25th. Besides experiencing the game for yourself, you'll get to hobnob with CCP staff; CCP t0rfifrans, CCP BADCOP, GM Nythanos, and GM Ukulele will be on hand to answer questions and just chat with EVE fans. Play EVE: Valkyrie at Sundance Film Festival originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: EVE: Valkyrie goes to Sundance

The Stream Team: Human Popsicles edition, January 13 - 19, 2014 Posted: 13 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Polls, MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, The Stream Team Snow sharks one week, polar vortexes the next: What happened to just raining cats and dogs? The weather is a zoo! Maybe you were in a part of the country that didn't turn people into popsicles this past week; if so, count yourself lucky. Many of us couldn't leave our houses and were forced to game furiously to keep warm! Wait... maybe we were actually the lucky ones! Either way, we accepted our lot -- as trying as it was -- and found additional ways to add to our warmth. Did you know that good, hearty belly laughs at the antics of the The Stream Team can raise your core temperature? It's true! So if you find yourself needing to stay warm this week, tune into Massively TV and test it out for yourself. Continue reading The Stream Team: Human Popsicles edition, January 13 - 19, 2014 The Stream Team: Human Popsicles edition, January 13 - 19, 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Are player councils a good idea? Posted: 13 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind Turbine recently announced a new Player Council for Dungeons and Dragons Online. The company previously put together a similar panel for Lord of the Rings Online, but thus far we've not heard much in the way of initiatives or results. Back in the day, Star Wars: Galaxies had its own version of player representation that never seemed to actually accomplish anything. EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management has been meeting for years now, and it's probably the most impactful of the ones listed here, though whether that's due to the actual CSM or the fact that EVE is one of the few MMOs permanently affected by player action is up for debate. The question I'm coming to is this: Do you think player councils are a good idea? Would you like to serve on one? Why or why not? 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! The Daily Grind: Are player councils a good idea? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

LotRO not working on new dungeons, has no plans to merge servers Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Free-to-Play, Community Q&A Lord of the Rings Online Community Manager Rick Heaton spent time answering various player queries during a recent "Take the Hobbits to Isengard" event, and an enterprising player recorded the salient details to pass along. Heaton said that despite demand from players, the team is not working on creating any new traditional instances, raids, or Rohan housing. He did comment that one of the older zones is a "possibility" for a revamp during 2014 and that there are no plans to merge servers. For players looking to jump from the old Codemasters servers to the other ones, Heaton reported that a "significant technical issue" has kept this from becoming a reality. If you're curious about how many people are playing the game, well, you're going to be curious for a long time to come. "Unless we can say we have 10 million players and are bigger than World of Warcraft, what's the point?" asked Heaton during the event. LotRO not working on new dungeons, has no plans to merge servers originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Contains Moderate Peril

MMO Week in Review: The sustainability of the Elder Scrolls Online Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST Filed under: MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. This week, gamers, bloggers, and developers clashed over The Elder Scrolls Online's viability, homing in on the sustainability of its proposed business model, the effectiveness of its marketing reach, and the appeal of its gameplay for traditional MMORPG gamers. Meanwhile, the game spent the weekend in another round of closed beta, revealed the perks of becoming Emperor of Tamriel, and became the focus for some meaty combat analysis. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: The sustainability of the Elder Scrolls Online MMO Week in Review: The sustainability of the Elder Scrolls Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables Posted: 12 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, Previews, PvP, Endgame, EVE Evolved, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, Subscription, MMORPG Of all the major changes to EVE Online in the past few years, it's the introduction of personal deployable structures that has had me most excited. I've always been of the opinion that a true sandbox should let individual players and larger organisations build their own personal empires in empty wilderness. If it were up to me, everything from mining and manufacturing to research in EVE would take place in destructible structures and possibly even player-built deadspace dungeons. The Rubicon expansion took an important first step toward this brand of sandbox-style gameplay with the introduction of several new personal deployable structures, including an item hangar and refitting service that can be deployed anywhere in space. Four more structures were initially planned for the Rubicon 1.1 point release to expand the game's tactical possibilities, and this week two of those structures were confirmed. The Mobile micro Jump Unit is a game-changing strategic device that allows players any nearby players to jump their ships 100km forward, and the highly requested Mobile Scan Inhibitor physically hides nearby ships from probes and the directional scanner. Players on the test server have also discovered overview filter options for Mobile Jump Disruptor and Mobile Decoy Unit deployable structures, but developers were unable to confirm whether these would be part of Rubicon 1.1 or even if they'd definitely make it into the game. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look into the tactical possibilities of the Mobile Micro Jump Unit and Mobile Scan Inhibitor and why some players have reservations about these game-changing strategic structures. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Stick and Rudder: Five reasons Star Citizen isn't a dedicated PvP game Posted: 12 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, PvE, Sandbox, Stick and Rudder, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Is it just me, or does a new PvP-vs.-PvE fight break out on the Star Citizen forums every five minutes? In fairness to everyone involved, the jousting we've seen over the past few months is pretty typical of every early adopter MMO community. There's plenty of preening, pseudo-intellectualism, and outright trolling on both sides of the aisle as two player groups make their preferences known early and often in a blatant attempt at influencing game developers to develop something more to their liking. With Star Citizen, though, and with the all-PvP-all-the-time crowd in particular, I'm constantly left wondering whether these people have bothered to research the game they're backing. Continue reading Stick and Rudder: Five reasons Star Citizen isn't a dedicated PvP game Stick and Rudder: Five reasons Star Citizen isn't a dedicated PvP game originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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MMORPG News

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• General: This Week's Live Stream Schedule: The Repopulation & More
• Lord of the Rings Online: No New Dungeons in the Works
• General: SOE's Smedley on Re-Imagining the All-Access Pass

General: This Week's Live Stream Schedule: The Repopulation & More Posted: 13 Jan 2014 04:33 AM PST Our band of live streamers have come up with their plans for the upcoming week and we've got the schedule to share. Check out the best games, times and your favorite commentator to join in at the appropriate time!

Lord of the Rings Online: No New Dungeons in the Works Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:27 AM PST According to a post at ContainsModeratePeril.com, Lord of the Rings Online players aren't going to be treated to any new dungeons in the near future. Compiled from a chat script, Community Manager Sapience confirmed the rumor and further confirmed that no server merges are planned at this time.

General: SOE's Smedley on Re-Imagining the All-Access Pass Posted: 12 Jan 2014 01:28 PM PST This past week John Smedley of SOE has been talking about some moves towards an open price model with a flat fee for players. With such a huge slate of games under their mantle anyone playing an SOE game on the PC will soon have a chance to open a library of games. Whether it is Planetside 2, EverQuest, DC Universe, EverQuest 2, or even the upcoming EverQuest Next, you will soon get a lot more options for your money.

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MMOGaming News

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• Blade and Soul China : Intro to Pohwan + Suggested paths for completing Daily Quests
• MMOsite Morning Call: Weekly Cosplay Highlight [01.13]
• Give me five, Make it Happen
• Storm's View : Top 5 MMORPG's 2013 My Take On It
• 2 Upcoming X-Legend MMORPGs For 2014

Blade and Soul China : Intro to Pohwan + Suggested paths for completing Daily Quests Posted: Few more days before Pohwan is released! How are you guys today? I was busy over the weekend getting myself into Test Server and recording some videos of my Pohwan 24 men experience. Now, let me share with you what I find over there. Continue reading Blade and Soul China : Intro to Pohwan + Suggested paths for completing Daily Quests.

MMOsite Morning Call: Weekly Cosplay Highlight [01.13] Posted: MMOsite Morning Call here to meet with you again. This week we also have a great many of awesome cosplays, let's take a look together. Continue reading MMOsite Morning Call: Weekly Cosplay Highlight [01.13].

Give me five, Make it Happen Posted: If there is something to look forward to, it must be the New Year, which is full of hopes and dreams.With your hands, you can realize them in the coming days.Before that, GIVE ME FIVE, and make it happen Continue reading Give me five, Make it Happen.

Storm's View : Top 5 MMORPG's 2013 My Take On It Posted: Once again this is just my list. By all means make your list and tell me all about it. I will not judge you or belittle your thoughts. Everyone is different and it's interesting seeing what everyone thinks. Continue reading Storm's View : Top 5 MMORPG's 2013 My Take On It.

2 Upcoming X-Legend MMORPGs For 2014 Posted: Little is known about Dragon Slayer and Project E, but from the sounds of it, X-Legend intends to create an anime version of Monster Hunter Online and name it Dragon Slayer. Continue reading 2 Upcoming X-Legend MMORPGs For 2014.

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