If you are wondering how Dragon Age: Inquisition is shaping up then we have got you covered. Maximum PC editor Jimmy Thang recorded over 15 minutes of Dragon Age: Inquisition gameplay footage for you to watch and assess.
The gameplay shown is an alpha build of the game, powered by DICE's Frostbite 3 engine, with Dragon Age: Inquisition executive producer Mark Darrah talking in the background and talking about some of the game's features. As an open world, action-RPG title Inquisition is the largest game in the Dragon Age franchise. The area shown in the footage, according to Darrah, is larger than the entire playspace of Dragon Age: Origins.
Players will be able to choose their character's gender along with four different races and three classes. The game also features mounts for the first time so that gamers will be able to travel more quickly.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, being developed by BioWare, is the third game in the franchise and takes place after the events of Dragon Age II. The land is being torn apart by a war between mages and templars with your character and allies trying to end it. During the game, players will be able to set up new camps, deploy troops, and fortify strongholds while trying to bring order throughout the land.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be released October 7 in North America and October 10 in Europe for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC platforms. An Origin account will be required to play the game on PC.
Will you be playing Dragon Age: Inquisition in October?
Maximum PC editor Jimmy Thang was able to interview Eve: Valkyrie lead designer Ian Alexander Shiels at E3. During their discussion Shiels talked about Eve: Valkyrie and how it is a VR-only experience.
Eve: Valkyrie is being developed by CCP Games, the studio known for its ever-growing sci-fi MMO Eve Online. But last year, when the Oculus Rift started to make waves on Kickstarter, CCP Games saw potential with the new device and backed the project. The developer received several Oculus kits and starting developing content that turned into Eve: Valkyrie, a sci-fi multiplayer, dogfighting shooter.
When asked if it could be played without a VR headset Shiels replied, "We are not interested in releasing a version without VR because we feel that the VR experience is so compelling and an intrinsic part of what the game is. The whole game has been designed to work in VR and so we feel that experience would be really lacking."
He went on to talk about the importance of a high framerate and the Eve: Valkyrie team's experience working with the Oculus Rift team and Sony's Project Morpheus team.
When asked when the game would be released, Shiels answered that its release is "related to the release of the hardware."
Be sure to watch the video for the entire interview.
Speaker makers don't pay as much attention to the PC market as they once did, though they haven't completely abandoned the sector, either. Proof positive of this is Logitech's introduction of the Z213, a brand spanking new set of compact 2.1 multimedia speakers designed for Windows and Mac computer systems, along with tablets, smartphones, and dedicated MP3 players.
"The Logitech Multimedia Speakers Z213 are for people who want great sound quality without breaking their budget," said Philippe Depallens, vice president of speaker products at Logitech. "With this 2.1 speaker system, you also get a setup that doesn't compromise valuable space on your desktop or in your living room."
Logitech's Z213 sports a down-firing subwoofer with a 4W four-inch driver and a knob on the back for adjusting the bass level. There are two 1.5W (RMS) satellite speakers plus a wired control pod with a 3.5mm audio jack. It's also compatible with Logitech's Bluetooth Audio Adapter, a $40 accessory that costs more than the speaker set itself.
The Logitech Z213 is available to pre-order for $30; shipping is expected sometime this month.
The first of several drives to boast "Made in the USA"
Edge memory is feeling patriotic these days. Never heard of them? According to the company's About Us page, Edge Memory's roots date back to 1986 when a 14-year-old took $2,500 that he saved from his paper route and began buying and selling computer parts in the Dallas Morning News. Now a full fledged business, Edge Memory's newest product is the Revolution, a 7mm solid state drive proudly made in the U.S.
"We are proud to support U.S. jobs by designing and manufacturing in our factory near Austin, Texas. While a vast majority of the competition has moved their manufacturing offshore, we have been manufacturing in the US for 27 years and counting", says Ray Agrella, VP of Sales.
The Edge Revolution is the first of what will be several "Made in the USA" brand certified SSDs that Edge releases this year. It's available in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB capacities with the following speed ratings:
120GB: up to 555MB/s and 25,000 IOPS read, up to 525MB/s and 80,000 IOPS write
240GB: up to 560MB/s and 45,000 IOPS read, up to 530MB/s and 80,000 IOPS write
480GB: up to 540MB/s and 78,000 IOPS read, up to 460MB/s and 42,000 IOPS write
Edge Revolution SSDs are SandForce driven and feature 256-bit AES hardware encryption, S.M.A.R.T. support, wear leveling support, garbage collection, and other standard SSD tidbits.
The drives are available now through select retailers and are backed by 5-year warranties. A quick look online shows street prices hovering around $100 for the 120GB model, $160 for the 240GB model, and $290 for the 480GB model, depending on vendor.
This mini PC comes standard with an Intel Core i7 4800MQ processor
Stealth specializes in small PCs that offer up big performance, and it's newest model -- LPC-681 mini PC -- looks to be no exception. Measuring just a little bigger than a NUC, Stealth's new LPC-681 mini PC brings an Intel Core i7 4800MQ (Haswell) mobile processor to the tiny PC party, along with support for up to 16GB of DDR3L RAM (4GB included in the base configuration) and a 120GB solid state drive that comes standard.
If that's not enough storage space, Stealth also offers 240GB, 480GB, and even 1TB SSD options. As for the rest of the LPC-681, it sports integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 capable of pumping 4K video, a DisplayPort, two HDMI ports, GbE LAN port, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Serial port, two eSATA ports, audio in/output, and optional 802.11n Wi-Fi.
More than a few might find the system cost prohibitive -- pricing starts at $2,395 and goes up with each upgrade. For example, going from 4GB of RAM (standard) to 16GB adds $195 to the tally, and if you're lusting over that 1TB SSD, it's an $620 upgrade. The system does, however, come with an OS (Windows 7 Professional 32-bit or 64-bit).
Roccat experiements with peripheral design for the living room
A portion of PC gamers are migrating to the living room thanks to hard pushes by hardware vendors to build small form factor systems that look like game consoles. We've seen it with Valve and its hardware partners (Steam Machines), as well as boutique builders opting for Windows-based PCs that can take advantage of Big Picture mode in Steam. What's missing, however, are living room peripherals. This is where Roccat is stepping in -- Roccat is showing off its Sova keyboard prototype at E3, so we stopped by to take a look.
Roccat describes the Sova as the first fully realized modular wireless keyboard and mousepad combo. It's designed to make gaming from the couch comfortable and is specifically intended to sit on your lap. The final design, if it gets that far, could end up different than what's being shown, but the concept will be the same.
"Sova is the option for gamers wishing to expand their arena without sacrificing gaming experience," says René Korte, ROCCAT founder and CEO. "Platforms like Steam are fantastic, but the experience can be devalued by the lack of adequate gaming equipment. Gamers who wish to stream PC games to a living room television will no longer need to put up with latency issues and can now experience couch gaming at its fullest."
It has flexible and adjustable parts, multiple USB ports, a machined brush aluminum design, Cherry MX mechanical key switches, and battery life that's good for up to 12 hours of game play (he says 8 hours in the video, but Roccat states 12 hours in its press release).
No word yet on price or release date. For now, Roccat is looking for feedback, which you can offer here.
Boutique system builder Origin PC yesterday announced the availability of Nvidia's mighty GeForce GTX Titan Z inside its Chronos line of small form factor and micro tower PCs, which the company is promoting as the world's smallest 4K gaming system. We had to take a look for ourselves, so Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang made his way to Origin PC's booth at E3 for a video interview. Take a look.
Thang caught up with Origin PC CEO and co-founder Kevin Wasielewski, who was clearly excited about the accomplishment of fitting a Titan Z inside such a small chassis (Silverstone RV201). Wasielewski says the console-like chassis can sit either vertically, as shown in the video, or on its side (horizontally).
"It's perfect for your living room, it's perfect for your desk or dorm room, or whatever," Wasielewski says.
Configured with a Titan Z, pricing starts at around $4,000 (or around $1,700 without a Titan Z) and includes an Intel foundation and 600W Silverstone power supply.
If you want to purchase (or windows shop) a Chronos system with Titan Z, just head over to its product page on Origin PC's website. Also, be sure to check out the photo gallery below.
Want to know what we like most about generic, no-name power supplies? Nothing. Like a crazy ex-lover, generic PSUs are prone to self destruct when you least expect it and for no apparent reason. Don't do that to yourself. If you're in the market for a new power supply, have a look at today's top deal for a Corsair HX Series HX750 750W Power Supply for $90 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCPDWP24]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). This is an 80 Plus Gold certified model with modular cabling and a generous 7-year warranty.
If Wargaming.net is known for one thing, it's for being big. Nowhere is that more evident than E3, where displays for games like World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, and World of Warships typically dominate the show floor. Naturally this year's big reveal is the new Warships title. Although it's the third World of vehicles battler, gamers who haven't played the previous two won't be at a disadvantage.
That said, it's the hands-on with World of Tanks iOS version that really got my attention.
As promised, this week I've entered the realm of double digits with the character you've helped me create. While my experience has admittedly improved since last week's write-up, I'm still finding WildStarto be a little too similar to the biggest MMOs of the last 10 years or so. But is that a bad thing if it's done right?
Last week I asked you to give me some suggestions on how to play through this week's adventure, and I wanted to not only explain what I've done as I reached level 11 but also touch on some of the suggestions I've followed from the comments.
I won't lie. I went to a meeting with publisher My.com thinking only of Skyforge. I'd heard about Armored Warfare and World of Speed but I didn't expect much from either title. I'd seen tank games and racing games trying to move into the MMO sphere, and while they were sometimes interesting, I didn't pay a whole lot attention.
And ultimately they weren't as interesting to me as Skyforge, but I did walk away thinking they are titles that will appreciated by a portion of the MMO audience.
I'm coughing. My head hurts. I'm tired, hungry, and thirsty. I'm not hearing things anymore, but when I close my eyes for too long, I feel disoriented. And this was before I got my hands on H1Z1! I'm sick at E3, but well enough to see through some spin while looking at a winner. If you're tired of hype, false promises, and pay-to-play alphas, come read between the lines with me as I recount the experience of my H1Z1 demo.
Is it possible that a hands-on demo of Elite: Dangerous and a talk with Frontier Development'sAdam Woods, producer, and David Braben, CEO, would make a space sim fan out of me? Yes! I liked what I'd heard about the game before, but after experiencing it for myself at E3 2014, I can definitely say I am hooked. And it isn't just because of the Oculus Rift. I got a tour of the newest playable build, a sneak peek of the upcoming system and space station, and watched a brand-new trailer on top of the VR time.
You won't catch me playing Landmark right now, although I am happy for those enjoying the building simulator that it currently is. I'm mostly holding out for the dev team to put in more MMO elements and to see what the community makes of all of it. Right now I'm not sure whether Landmark will be a full MMO in its own right or a not-so-sneaky testbed for the "real" game to come, EverQuest Next.
However, the tech behind Landmark does make me excited for EQN. The visuals are top-notch, as are the animations. I like what's being done with the destructable (and self-healing) world, and the structures that players have made have been often amazing. Carry this over to EQN and I might become SOE's biggest fan.
So does Landmark make you excited for EverQuest Next? Or have you already made your home in its wild frontier?
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 feature is called DOFUS -- Book I: Julith and will be fully animated. The project has cleared the pre-production phase and is going forward to meet the 2016 release date. The studio released a screenshot (above) from the film, illustrating its art style.
Ankama said that it doesn't know when or whether the film would be made available outside of France: "At this time, we can't announce any plans for the international communities, but if that changes, we will inform you as quickly as possible."
We're back to our normal programming format this week, as Justin and Larry dive into the thick of layoffs, new classes, dogfighting, and the quarantine of Tokyo. If time allows, they'll also have a pillow fight and engage in a "pun-off" battle. So, business as usual?
Get all of our opinions and analysis on the most important stories of the past week right here on Massively Speaking, the industry's leading MMO podcast. And if you have a comment, question, or topic for the podcasters, send an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!
Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page:
EverQuest Next's 39th round table video is now live, and in it, SOE Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani and Senior Game Designer Bill Trost pair up to discuss the EverQuest franchise's nemesis characters and which ones players want to see in EverQuest Next. Ambassador D'Vinn, the Dark Elf NPC who terrorized newbs as the deadly caboose of pretty much every train to the Crushbone zone line in classic EverQuest, won the player poll and will be featured in the upcoming MMO.
As to Fippy Darkpaw, Trost promises he, too, will be present in EQN. "I believe in his mission, and I hope someday he succeeds!" Trost joked.
The devs also highlighted the alignment of the Dark Elves and the curious nature of NPCs who have agendas independent of the players. Enjoy the full video on YouTube.
Trials of Ascension has launched a "Release the Dragons" campaign to encourage backers to chip in a little extra so that playable dragons will be added to the game. The game just crossed the $50,000 crowdfunding barrier, and the team promises that if it reaches $60,000, it will add in the draconic characters.
By donating funds during this campaign, players can recieve extra goodies such as a high-rez dragon poster and special dragon tail designs.
According to the official disclaimer, playable dragons will be a truly hardcore choice: "There will be no harder race to play in ToA than the dragon. You will be challenged at every turn. You will die. A lot. Seriously. Chances of your dragon character making it to adulthood will be near zero. This is by design so don't bother whining about it. If after reading this warning, you still want to try, by all means read on but understand we cannot be held responsible for broken keyboards or debts payable to your swear jar."
We've got a new World of Speed trailer for you to check out today, fresh out of the E3 oven and into your eager hands. Careful, you wouldn't want to burn yourself on cars this smokin' hot.
The trailer's focus is on customization, both with a car's look and its gear. The message here is clear: that your build can and will make a difference on the race track. Check it out after the break and fantasize about what you would want in your ride.
The first of two official livestreams for Final Fantasy XIVhas just wrapped up at E3. While the stream focused on a variety of questions from the fans, two big points were hit during the discussion. The first was the revelation of a new class slated for introduction in patch 2.4: the Rogue class, which will lead into the Ninja job. This will be a damage-dealing class that dual wields knives and daggers, complete with enhanced movement skills and stealth abilities.
Producer Naoki Yoshida also announced that the game's marriage system will allow any two characters to be joined together, regardless of race, nation, or gender. The translated answer explained that in the world of Eorzea, it seemed inappropriate to restrict the system. Players will be given the options of having their characters pledge eternal love or simply eternal friendship, with the possibility of special mounts for the happy couple.
Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 10-12, bringing you all the best news from E3 2014. We're covering everything from WildStar and Landmark to Skyforge and H1Z1, so stay tuned!
Next up in Elder Scrolls Online's player-submitted build column is a look at the so-called "Dragonknight Healer." This build is primarily focused on survivability and support, creating a very durable character that can patch up allies on the fly.
"Though her build may be missing some of the advantages of Templar and Sorcerer healing, you give her a call if you need a healer that is sturdy and really hard to kill," player Ville Korpi wrote.
The build doesn't come without offensive abilities, as it contains both multi-mob and single-target DPS as the situation warrants. It's not a boss-killing build, but for those who can heal like this, chances are that they'll be invited to groups where others will do the dirty work while this build shines in the support wings.
Sci-fi MMORPG Skyforge has landed at E3 with a brand-new video and new screenshots. Allods Team and Obsidian Entertainment promise players "a glimpse of Skyforge's unique Ascension Atlas, the Sunken Temple location, and three new character classes: the weapons-centric Gunner, the ruthless Berserker, and the merciful Lightbinder." The atlas itself allows players to customize their characters in "billions of ways with adapted skills, talents and spells."
We'll have more from our E3 Skyforge demo later this week, but for now, enjoy the previews!
[Source: My.com, Allods Team and Obsidian Entertainment press release]
While a lot of attention has been focused on The Division, not as much discussion has gone on surrounding Ubisoft's other MMO-ish title, The Crew. According to a recent development blog, though, the game is totally an MMO, even if you're not necessarily taking all of it on as a group. The game is based around an asymmetric multiplayer model in a persistent world, and there are even different classes of cars for players to specialize in depending on preference.
Of course, you won't have to rely upon the word of the developers about that for much longer. The game has been given an official release date of November 11th, with beta starting on July 23rd. There's also a trailer past the break that shows in-game time-lapse footage of driving from Miami to LA, covering the entire United States during the trip. Check out the development blog regarding customization, game mechanics, and the game's MMO nature as well.
When WildStar went live earlier this month, there was one vital piece missing from its business model: the ability to buy and sell C.R.E.D.D. in the game. Today Carbine announced that it has activated the C.R.E.D.D. store, allowing players to buy, sell, and trade this item from here on out.
C.R.E.D.D. is an in-game item that adds 30 days of play time to an account. Players can purchase one for $19.99 to sell on the exchange or purchase one from another player for in-game gold. Basically, it allows you to buy more game time with in-game currency or to gain more in-game currency with your real-world dollars.
Do you like to gamble? Do you like video games? Do you like to gamble in video games? If so, you'll be super happy with the latest event coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic today, giving players a chance to spin the wheel and win on Nar Shadda. Yes, that's sort of what you do when downing a boss and hoping for loot anyway, but this time it's with an actual slot machine, complete with themed gambling outfits as a reward.
If you don't like gambling, though, there's still plenty of events coming in that will tickle your fancy, ranging from increased Galactic Starfighter awards to the next round of doubled experience. Players can also queue up for story-mode Operations without worry over the minimum item levels, allowing you to jump in and experience the content. It's plenty of events for anyone playing the game, and you can hop in and experience them now.
Game is coming along nicely
It's VR or nothing
The PC speaker market is still alive, folks!
The first of several drives to boast "Made in the USA"
This mini PC comes standard with an Intel Core i7 4800MQ processor
Roccat experiements with peripheral design for the living room
Billed as the world's smallest 4K gaming desktop
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 
Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 10-12, bringing you all the best news from 
