General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Microsoft Abandoning Hohm

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:46 PM PDT

Companies like Google and Microsoft have wide-ranging interests and are always on the lookout for fresh opportunities. But it's not uncommon for some of their ventures to come unstuck. Microsoft's Hohm energy monitoring tool is a case in point. Redmond has decided to bring the curtain down on Hohm.

"Microsoft is discontinuing the Microsoft Hohm service effective May 31, 2012," the company announced in a blog post. Blaming its decision on "slow overall market adoption of the service", it reassured both of Hohm's two users that the service would continue to function normally in the meantime.

"Microsoft will continue to focus on developing products, solutions and partnership that span a wide spectrum of industries, such as power generation, distribution grids, buildings and transportations systems."

This announcement follows close on the heels of Google's decision to shut down its own energy monitoring service called PowerMeter. Launched just a few months after Hohm's July, 2009 debut, PowerMeter will be shut down on September 16, 2011.

Google+ Demand High, Invites Shut Down Temporarily

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT

gplusGooglers are probably heartily patting each other on the backs up in Mountain View today. After a successful beta launch of Google+, demand for invites to the social networking service has been high. So high in fact, that the invite program had to be cut off late last night.

After a few hours of users sending out unlimited invites, Google needed to give their servers some time to catch up. Google's social chief Vic Gundotra said as much in a Google+post. "We've shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand," he wrote. We don't konw when invites will be back up. There are some loopholes to get invites out, but it's not terribly convenient.

Google+ is packed with features at launch, so some users might be a little confused. Although, many are praising Google's Circles feature that lets you sort contacts and curate the information you let them see. Users of Android phones are also getting some special features like group messaging and auto uploads of images and videos.

Considering the unmitigated disaster that was Google Buzz, this is going well for the Big G. Invites have even been on sale on eBay. Have you used Google+? How is it?

California Passes Online Sales Tax Bill, Amazon Not Pleased

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:45 PM PDT

cashRemember yesterday when we told you of the horrible dystopian future California faced as they considered forcing online retailers to collect state sales tax? Well, they're going ahead with it, causing an outcry from Internet retail giants including Amazon and Overstock. The change goes into effect Friday.

In conjunction with the move, the state's tax rate is going down 1-point to 7.75%. The California law takes advantage of the affiliate programs that many sites run where people can get commissions by referring buyers to a site. The law in California now considers those people employees of a sort. In response, Amazon and Overstock have cancelled their affiliate programs in the state. 

By not collecting sales tax up front, online retailers have had quite a price advantage over brick and mortar stores. It looks like that era may be coming to an end, but Amazon isn't going down without a fight. They'll probably pull the affiliate program out of any state they have to. 

Browser Extension of the Week: Evernote Web Clipper

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:16 PM PDT

If you follow Maximum PC in print or online, it's no secret that we loves us some Evernote. Why, in the past few days we featured the data collecting wunderkind as our Windows Phone 7 App of the Week. It shouldn't come as any surprise then that given how smitten we are for what Evernote has to offer, we've also decided that Evernote Web Clipper should also be hoisted up on our geeky shoulders and declared our Browser Extension of the Week.

In order to rock Evernote's Web Clipper extension in Chrome or Firefox, you'll need to have either a free or premium Evernote account. It's only fair: It is their extension after all. After installing Web Clipper and signing in, users are given the ability to save content  any website they're visiting with the click of a mouse. How much content you save on a given page is up to you--Just want to clip a single article? Web Clipper can do it up. Need to tuck away the whole page and read it later? Evernote's got you covered there too. If you're feeling indecisive, you can also opt to simply clip the page's URL and stash it away in your Evernote account for future perusal on your PC, Mac or the smartphone platform of your choice.

Thanks to Web Clipper's well thought out interface, once you've decided on what information you want to capture, your new data can easily be categorized, tagged and annotated for later review. Evernote Web Clipper is a must-have extension for current Evernote users or for anyone that wants to collect a staggering amount of web-based information at break-neck speeds.

Be sure to check in with Maximum PC every Thursday for another edition of Browser Extension of the Week.

HP TouchSmart 610 Review

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:45 PM PDT

It's clear that HP sees the value in this category. The PC maker's new TouchSmart is sleek, polished, and is the first all-in-one we've ever seen to feature a subwoofer-out jack. HP makes a subtle but valid point here: The truth about these systems is that, regardless of where we set them up—kitchen, living room, garage—we find ourselves frequently using them as music stations, so why not aim for higher audio fidelity? Conveniently, HP has also integrated Monster's (and Dr. Dre's) Beats environment, allowing the TouchSmart 610 to pump out impressive enough sound to make people do a double-take.

HP's Touch Smart is fast, polished, and has a nice screen. It's also the only system of the batch that tilts up and down.

Beats notwithstanding, HP also packs some beef into this system, with a 2.93GHz Core i7-870, a full-size 2GB ATI Radeon HD 5570, 8GB of DDR memory, a 1TB 7,200rpm drive, a Blu-ray player, Wi-Fi, a TV tuner, and two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports. As far as CPUs go, the Core i7-870 is a little old, but the higher clock enabled it to blaze through our CPU-intensive tasks, beating out MSI's AiW by 20 percent in most tests and almost 50 percent in our Photoshop benchmark. It's not Sandy Bridge, but it's speedy. And, given the use of discrete graphics, Sandy Bridge is not necessary.

Game performance was another story, however, as MSI's 5730 Mobility Radeon part bested the 5570 by a few frames per second in Call of Duty 4. Again, you're not going to wow your friends by turning up the detail on Shogun 2's battle scenes, but you will be able to play through campaign mode without the CPU's turns taking days.

We like the 24-inch screen on the TouchSmart 610. It's not as nice as Sony's, but is still satisfying. We absolutely love the vertical slider on the back of the system, which allowed us to easily recline the screen into multiple positions. It is also wall-mountable. One other nice touch is the new version of its TouchSmart OS layer, which optimizes media chores and other OS functions for touch. As if to underscore the gaming potential of the 610 (and possibly the entire all-in-one category?), HP includes a free touch-enabled copy of the real-time strategy game Ruse.
 
This excellent, professionally crafted system demonstrates that while we're not quite in the position of being able to play power games on all-in-one systems, we're getting close.

$1,790, www.hp.com

Feds Shut Down Popular Online Poker Site

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 10:43 AM PDT

U.S. authorities continue their crusade against the evil and despicable world of...ONLINE POKER! Children are safer today, there are no more marital problems, and world peace is at hand, all because the U.S. Department of Justice pulled the plug on Full Tilt Poker, one of the most popular online poker sites and sponsor to several real life professional poker players, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, and several others.

Actually, this isn't just about U.S. authorities cracking down on online gambling, though that's a big part of it. According to a report in the L.A. Times, the gambling commission on the island of Alderney in the British Channel Islands suspended the licenses of Full Tilt Poker following an investigation prompted by indictments in the U.S. Those indictments charged Full Tilt Poker executives with bank fraud, money laundering, and other crimes.

The U.S. Justice Department maintains that online poker is illegal in North America under several federal and state laws, and has filed a civil suit against Full Tilt Poker and its affiliates seeking at least $3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. Full Tilt and other poker sites -- most notably PokerStars -- deny having done anything wrong, saying that U.S. laws covering online gambling are ambiguous. Up until the recent crackdown, Full Tilt and PokerStars controlled the majority of the online poker market worth an estimated $5 billion a year.

Google's Data Liberation Front Delivers Takeout

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:42 AM PDT

Google+, or Google Plus, has been a hot talking point ever since it was formally announced earlier this week. All this initial interest in the company's latest social networking effort is not difficult to fathom either. Generally, when something like this is announced a lot of other things tend to take a back seat. That's what happened with Google Takeout, another much awaited service from the Internet giant that was, interestingly enough, announced on the same day as Plus.

Takeout is the first product from Google's Data Liberation Front team, an engineering group tasked with the goal of making "it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products." That is indeed its raison d'être, even though its name might make it seem like some sort of brutal guerrilla outfit.

"Google Takeout lets you take your data out of multiple Google products in one fell swoop. Moreover, you'll find that all your data is in portable and open formats‚ so it's easy to import to other services quickly," the Data Liberation Outfit said in a blog post.

At launch, Takeout only supports five Google services: Buzz, Contacts and Circles, Picasa, Profile and Stream. But the outfit says support for other products is on the way.

AMD Officially Launches Llano A-Series Desktop APUs

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:34 AM PDT

AMD isn't letting a silly little thing like market share ruin its summer. Rather than hide under a rock from failing to make a dent in Intel's stranglehold on the chip market, even after the initial Sandy Bridge snafu, AMD has come out swinging this month with its Llano A-series accelerated processing units (APUs). Earlier this month saw the launch of AMD's mobile Llano chips, and now the Santa Clara chip maker is announcing the availability of two Llano A-series APUs for the desktop.

First up is the A6-3650 APU. This quad-core chip comes clocked at 2.6GHz with 4MB of L2 cache and a 100W TDP. The graphics engine is comprised of a Radeon 6530D with 320 cores, four SIMD units, 16 texture units, and a 443MHz clockspeed. Pricing has been set to $115.

The second and higher performing of the two is the A8-3850, another quad-core part, only this one is clocked at 2.9GHz. It sports the same amount of L2 cache (4MB) and TDP (100W), but boasts a Radeon HD 6550D with 400 cores, five SIMD units, 20 texture units, and a 600MHz clockspeed. This one carries an MSRP of $135.

Both chips are built around AMD's new FM1 socket and support DirectX 11, though neither one supports AMD's Turbo Core. These are the first two of six Llano A-series APUs AMD plans to launch this year, with the rest reportedly having a TDP of 65W, two to four processing cores, and support for Turbo Core 2.0.

Oracle: HP's Itanium Suit is a "Publicity Stunt"

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:08 AM PDT

Oracle chose not to mince words when responding to Hewlett Packard's lawsuit over the company's decision to stop developing software for Intel's Itanium platform. As far as Oracle is concerned, HP's suit is nothing more than a "publicity stunt" and is part of a "broader campaign to lay the blame on Oracle for the disruption that will occur when HP's Itanium-based server business inevitably comes to an end," Oracle said in a court filing. Oh snap!

HP's beef with Oracle is that it's decision to stop supporting Itanium violates commitments between the two companies and effectively strong-arms HP customers into using Oracle's hardware.

"The core allegation in this case -- which HP has aggressively sold to the press -- is that HP has a contract with Oracle guaranteeing that Oracle will develop new versions of its flagship database product (and apparently everything else Oracle makes) to run on HP's Itanium systems," Oracle said in its filing. "Such an important contract, if it existed, would obviously be a heavily negotiated, fully documented formal contract, with terms and conditions and payment obligations and all the other characteristics of real-world commercial agreements. But there is no such agreement for porting the Oracle database to Itanium."

Oracle points out that other companies, like Microsoft and Red Hat, have also chosen to discontinue software development for Itanium, and while Oracle will support the platform "for years to come," it's not willing "to pretend that itanium has a future when it does not."

"HP untenably has put itself and thousands of customers out on the end ofa  very long limb because HP, almost alone now, clings to a decades-old microprocessor architecture -- Intel's Itanium chip line -- that has no future," Oracle writes. "Intel has wanted to discontinue Itanium production for years, and HP knows it. The performance advantage over Intel's x86-based microprocessors that once justified Itanium is today effectively gone. But the end of Itanium is a business disaster for HP, which generates a large percentage of its overall profit from Itanium support agreements."

You can read the rest of Oracle's scathing court filing here (PDF).

IBM Announces Phase Change Memory Breakthrough

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:40 AM PDT

Engineers at IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland claim they've come up with a breakthrough in phase change memory (PCM) technology that, for the first time, would allow it to store data for longer periods, potentially paving the way for lower cost solid state chips that are faster and more reliable than today's multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory chips. The trick is in figuring out a solution to a problem called "drift."

PCM is nonvolatile memory technology that stores data in small cells of chalcogenide, a compound used in rewritable optical discs. Chalcogenide changes physical states between crystalline and amorphous when heat is applied, and because it's nonvolatile, it doesn't cough up your data when you flip the power switch like RAM does. The problem with PCM is that the cells randomly drift over time, leading to data corruption.

IBM has figured out a way to sidestep the issue of drift and created PCM chips that can store two bits of data per cell in a 200 k-cell array implemented in a 90nm process technology. By applying an advanced coding technique -- the geeky details of which you can read here -- IBM is able to correct for drift-related errors.

"We apply a voltage pulse based on the deviation from the desired level and then measure the resistance. If the desired level of resistance is not achieved, we apply another voltage pulse and measure again – until we achieve the exact level," said Haris Pozidis, manager of memory and probe technologies at IBM Research Zurich.

In a worst case write latency scenario of about 10 microseconds, IBM says the technology still represents a 100x performance increase over even the most advanced flash memory on the market today.

Image Credit: IBM
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMO Updates

MMO Updates

Behind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT

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The Grimoire is Champions Online's magic-using archetype, and it's one of the most functional archetypes overall. Many players, including me, consider it to be the most complete package of all the archetypes (free or otherwise), providing strong team support, offense, and defense all in one.

However, the Grimoire has a lot of quirks. He's not a blasty glass cannon, and leveling one up requires a lot of finesse and a totally different style of play. He lacks the ability to use easy damage attacks -- he can't draw a SMG or unleash mighty fire breath upon his foes. The Grimoire must approach battles much more tactically, especially in the early stages of the game.

Continue reading Behind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat

MassivelyBehind the Mask: I put on my robe and wizard hat originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated]

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:30 AM PDT

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Yeah, you read that headline right. Age of Conan: Unrated is now Age of Conan: Unchained according to a new Craig Morrison interview over at PC Gamer. Oh, and that free-to-play launch date we've been asking for? It's tomorrow.

Funcom is inviting both new and old players to check out a good portion of its Hyborian content on the house, and the company will also be unveiling its cash shop (complete with a new "temptress" pet that helps the title live up to its mature rating).

Unchained also marks the release of new content in the form of the Forgotten City and The Breach solo instances. As we told you last month, these new dungeons scale to your level and offer an experience designed to relieve the monotony of the well-traveled Noble District villas. Stick with Massively all weekend as we bring you the latest AoC: Unchained news and impressions, and don't forget to check out the Unchained launch trailer after the break.

[Update]: Funcom has also posted its traditional monthly dev update and it's focused on all of the new content coming soon to AoC (and there is a lot of it). In addition to the two dungeons debuting tomorrow with Unchained, players can look forward to the long-awaited House of Crom dungeon (no, really!), new tier four raids, the Savage Coast of Turan stuff, and of course Blood and Glory.

Continue reading Age of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated]

MassivelyAge of Conan: Unchained (a.k.a. F2P) starts tomorrow [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Win big in the Rusty Hearts beta giveaway

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT

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For some people, just getting to take part in a beta is reward enough. But not for you, right? No, you have higher standards than that -- you want to hit the jackpot as well! It's OK, ambition is an admirable trait, and apparently the folks at Perfect World think so too, since they're giving away an awesome prize pack during the Rusty Hearts beta.

Three Rusty Hearts limited prize packs are up for grabs, each containing a Logitech G510 keyboard, a Logitech F710 gamepad and a limited edition Rusty Hearts bear. This prize pack is valued at around $170, and it can be yours by simply redeeming a beta key. Players who enter in their Rusty Hearts beta key by July 3rd have a shot at this package (specific rules are on the official forums).

Don't have your key yet? We've got you covered -- head on over here to snag a key to this hack-and-slash title! Rusty Hearts' closed beta will begin on July 27th.

MassivelyWin big in the Rusty Hearts beta giveaway originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dragon Nest open beta date announced

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT

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Action RPG fans, rejoice! Nexon has announced that the newest member of its MMO stable, Dragon Nest, will be entering open beta on July 26th. You may remember that we had some hands-on impressions with the game at this year's E3, but what exactly should players expect from Dragon Nest?

From the looks of things, players should expect equal parts adrenaline-pumping action and good old-fashioned dungeon crawling. Players get to take on the role of one of four (gender-locked) classes -- Cleric, Sorceress, Archer, or Warrior -- and dive headlong into some combo-based hack-and-slash combat in search of phat loot and all that jazz. If this sounds like your proverbial cup of tea, head on over to the official site to register.

MassivelyDragon Nest open beta date announced originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wargaming.net forms partnership to expand into mobile gaming

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:00 AM PDT

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World of Tanks on an iPhone? Perhaps, perhaps not, but something similar might be a possibility as Wargaming.net announced that it's teamed up with mobile game developer DAVA Consulting. The two companies have formed a "strategic partnership" for a long-term plan to take the highly successful World of Tanks team into the realm of mobile gaming.

The partnership will allow Wargaming.net to start exploring gaming possibilities on mobile platforms, including iOS devices. DAVA is located in Eastern Europe and provides a wide variety of services from bottom-up application development, consulting, handling ports, and game testing.

Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi apparently wants to make as big of a splash on the iPhone as the company did with the PC: "Having known the DAVA team for some time, we are thrilled to have them spearhead our efforts in the mobile games and applications development. We are looking forward to establishing a strong presence on the mobile market and DAVA is the best partner to assist us."

MassivelyWargaming.net forms partnership to expand into mobile gaming originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Which character death did you find the most memorable?

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT

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Your character will die. You know this going in. Death penalties in some games are harsher than others, but every single MMO assumes that your character will at some point drop to zero hit points. By the time you hit max level, you'll usually have several deaths under your belt. Some of them fall into the category of doing something you knew was stupid at the time, some of them were just mistakes, and some of them... well, they were the sort of deaths that you remember.

Maybe you died because you were raising a teammate in City of Heroes and didn't think about where you were standing. Maybe you died from a knockback effect in Warhammer Online that threw you right off a ledge. Whatever the case, today we want to hear about your legendary death stories, the times when your character met his or her end in the most spectacular fashion possible. Which of the many deaths you've experienced still sticks in your head?

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: Which character death did you find the most memorable? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battlestar Galactica Online launches private 1v1 battles

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 07:00 PM PDT

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Bigpoint broke all the conventional rules when creating Battlestar Galactica Online as a browser-based MMO. Now, the developers are continuing to improve on this unique title by giving players the ability to challenge other players in PvP matches. These instanced matches can be 1v1 duels or ranked dogfights with members of the same or opposite faction, adding a little bit more excitement in the search for Earth.

If you're into PvP for the pure sport of it, you can duel any consenting player of any faction, rating, ship size, or class in a private 1v1 match. However, if your into the rewards or you want to prove that you are indeed the best, join in the ranked matches. The game's matchmaking system pairs up players of similar arena rating, ship size, and class in their own private portion of space for a battle to the death. The top 100 on the Top Gun Leaderboard will be recognized with a special icon above the pilot and ship name.

And when you're playing BSGO with the three million other registered players, check out the two new star systems in the Veil Sector: Nilfhel and Muspell. These two areas contain high-level NPCs for you and your allies to conquer.

For more information, visit the official website, or better yet, just play the game. It's free!

MassivelyBattlestar Galactica Online launches private 1v1 battles originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 06:30 PM PDT

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In case you were worried about a lack of new and accessible MMOs coming down the pike over the next couple of years, the king of casual is riding to the rescue. At least, that's what an analyst at Sterne Agee hinted at on Gamasutra recently.

Arvind Bhatia is quoted on the game industry website as saying that Blizzard's product pipeline includes "expansion packs for StarCraft and World of Warcraft, a new Diablo game, [and] a new casual MMO." That casual MMO is of course Titan, the secretive WoW followup that has reportedly gobbled up Blizzard's most experienced designers.

While no one outside of Blizzard has any inkling as to Titan's setting, mechanics, or target audience, Bhatia's prediction makes a certain amount of sense given the realities of the MMO marketplace and the costs inherent in developing and marketing AAA titles. Head to Gamasutra for the full report.

MassivelyBlizzard's Titan a 'casual' MMO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth announces cash shop sale

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT

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Even after the apocalypse, price-slashing still appears to be a running tradition. GamersFirst announced today that everything in the Fallen Earth cash shop must go! Or something like that, anyway. Many Fallen Earth cash shop items have had their prices lowered drastically, with the sale lasting until the launch of Alpha County on July 6th.

The selection of items on sale is extensive, with extra character slots -- usually $30 -- dropping to a comparatively dirt-cheap $11. Faction resets drop from $15 to $9, and many other items, such as a fashionable pair of brass goggles and a terrifyingly fowl (ha ha) prairie chicken mount, have had their prices lowered by 50% or more. So if you're a Fallen Earth player looking to part with your hard-earned cash, head on over to the official site for the full sale listings.

MassivelyFallen Earth announces cash shop sale originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT

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It's kind of fitting that I wrap up this series on archetypes in City of Heroes just before I begin a six-week stint of a game chosen by popular opinion (go ahead and check in on Choose My Adventure if you're curious) because it's time for the last of the lot, one that seems almost obvious in retrospect when you look at the pattern in which I've been talking about each archetype. Scrappers were followed by a hybrid melee class, Brutes, which were followed by the Tankers, followed by the similarly party-oriented Defenders. Then we moved on to the inversely powered Corruptors, then the similar secondaries of Masterminds... and so on.

Long story short, there's just one archetype left, and in many ways it makes sense that this one would come at the absolute end of the proceedings. After all, we're talking about a class that prefers to stay hidden, one that sneaks out of sight and destroys opponents through a sudden and unexpected blow to the vitals. That's right, it's time to talk about Stalkers, and whether you're new to the game or just the class, let's cap things off with the sneakiest player option in the entire game.

Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers

MassivelyA Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively Speaking Episode 154

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 04:30 PM PDT

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Massively Speaking Episode 154 returns this week with Shawn and Rubi catching up on the week of MMO news insanity. Topics include World of Warcraft's new extended free trial, Guild Wars 2's underwater combat and dungeons, EVE Online's macrotransaction explosion, and the upcoming shutdown of Star Wars Galaxies.

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to shawn@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Massively Speaking is the official podcast of Massively.com. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Shawn Schuster and Community Manager Rubi Bayer, Massively Speaking takes on the week's biggest news and dev interviews with plenty of opinion, rants, and laughs thrown in for good measure. Join us every Wednesday afternoon to listen in and see what we'll say next!

Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 154

MassivelyMassively Speaking Episode 154 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 04:00 PM PDT

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The calm before the storm. That's the best way to describe the RIFT screenshot above. As I puttered around and wasted time trying to frame my screenshot from the ideal angle, working that nomad model to his full potential, I was seconds away from a zone event opening up on my head. Instantly, about 50 gigantic desert warriors emerged to attack us for their leader's amusement. And for the next half hour, Fortune's Shore was overrun with warriors, stone golems, and dog people.

Fortune's Shore isn't the only place to experience chaos and danger, though. Whatever the Dwarves did in Hammerknell, it's finally caught up with them -- and with all of Telara. Abyssal and Endless Court forces are posing a real threat, and the Ascended are now tasked with repelling the invasions and charging back into Hammerknell.

In this week's Enter at your Own Rift, we'll look at a few of the changes from Update 1.3. Read on for a look at tithes, character transfers, trial servers, and towering colossi!

Continue reading Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3

MassivelyEnter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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City of Heroes' Intrepid Informer introduces new Freedom tutorial

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:30 PM PDT

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Paragon Studios has released a very special Intrepid Informer for City of Heroes players today, giving them a look into the new-player tutorial that will arrive with the advent of City of Heroes Freedom. In true superhero fashion, the new tutorial will incorporate a hand-drawn comic book by Paragon's own David "Noble Savage" Nakayama.

The game will open by dropping new players smack in the middle of Galaxy City as it falls under siege by Shivan invaders. The villains of the Rogue Isles -- opportunists that they are -- aim to take advantage of the chaos to cause mayhem while the heroes work to thwart the threats to the city. The full post details the process that went into creating this exciting new tutorial and also includes a sneak-preview of Nakayama's stylish comic work, which players will see prior to the tutorial proper. To read up on all the fine details of the game's new introduction, head on over to the official CoH site.

MassivelyCity of Heroes' Intrepid Informer introduces new Freedom tutorial originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Champions Online adds Impulse archetype, delays Issue 5

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT

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You want the good news or the bad news first? Don't you hate when someone asks you that? Why can't it always be good news, you want to yell?

Champions Online has a little of both today. On the downside, Aftershock: Issue 5 is being delayed until tomorrow due to various unspecified issues introduced with the latest update. Hopefully the team can get them ironed out so that Issue 5 can be enjoyed to the max.

On the upside, free players now have another potential superhero archetype to choose from: The Impulse. Priced at 920 Atari Tokens (or free for gold players), The Impulse permanently unlocks a force field-using hero for your account.

According to the official description, The Impulse "allows you to knock foes back, keeping them away from you and preventing them from attacking while they fly through the air. You will gain the ability to shield yourself and allies, while also being able to dish out serious damage."

MassivelyChampions Online adds Impulse archetype, delays Issue 5 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Dressed to kill

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 02:00 PM PDT

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Today's One Shots comes from Massively reader and Anarchy Online fan Jerry:
The character in the black dress is Redmorgan, a level 220 Meta-Physicist. The black dress is a Halloween social clothes item earned from killing Halloween Leets near PvP Tower sites. The blue item in Redmorgan's hand is a bow weapon. The green monster behind Redmorgan is her pet, a mortig, which helps her do damage. MPs also have healing pets and mezz pets. Redmorgan is sitting down at a park in Omni Entertainment called "Checkers," so named because the park looks like a checkerboard on the map.
Ready to show off your gear? Send a screenshot of your favorite items to oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a paragraph or two telling us what your items are and how you got them! Don't forget that we're also planning for pet week next week -- send us your best pet screenshots and let us know all about them.

Gallery: One Shots: 2011

MassivelyOne Shots: Dressed to kill originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Choose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 01:00 PM PDT

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It took me some hunting to find a copy of Warhammer Online on shelves. I could have just bought one online, yeah, but I will admit to being a fan of sentimental clutter like retail boxes. Once I finally nabbed one -- an adventure in and of itself involving a trip around Farmington, CT in a dismally overcast evening -- I installed it and got busy making a character.

Or at least, I would have, if not for the fact that one of the polls was a dead heat from start to finish. See, while my faction and class were apparently pretty easy to assign by consensus, getting my ork-or-goblin's class decided proved quite an ordeal. By the time the class poll closed, ranged DPS and melee DPS were in a dead heat.

Well, I had to have a little executive initiative, right? Klurgind the Choppa was born on Gorfang and given the oldest and most intelligent ork face I could find. (I would have gone with Grignr, but it was sadly taken.) So jump on past the cut to see what I got up to during my first foray into Warhammer Online and to let me know where I'm going next.

Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra

MassivelyChoose My Adventure: Cue da ork-estra originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 12:30 PM PDT

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Lucent Heart has really gotten under my skin. While my recent schedule has not allowed me as much time in the game as I would liked, I have been poking around the official site and Facebook page and sneaking in a few quests here and there. I really enjoyed chatting with the devs from Gamania during E3, and they asked whether I'd a personal tour of the game afterwards.

We were finally able to hang out for a while, and I captured a lot of it on video for your viewing pleasure. We decided to look at the Cupid system and a bit of a dungeon, but we could have gone on for a lot longer. The fact is that the game, like many of its foreign counterparts, simply packs more gameplay and new systems into every square inch of its design than many Western MMOs. With the Japanese version of Lucent Heart two years ahead of the U.S. version, more content is guaranteed.

Click past the cut to check out my hot date with Mark, Product Manager of Lucent Heart, and to hear a bit more about the game!

Continue reading Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart

MassivelyFree for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Faxion Online announces guild war system

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT

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You know that one guild? The one you hate? The one whose members you've ignored, and the one that makes your teeth grind just from the mention of its name? Well, UTV True Games wants you to do something about it! An upcoming update to Faxion Online will introduce Inquisitions, which will allow guilds to declare all-out war on one another.

These guild wars can last anywhere from a single day to a fortnight, throughout which the involved guilds' members will be free to gank one another to their hearts' content. Not a guild kind of person? Don't worry! Free agents can be hired on as mercenaries if they wish to join the fray. And if the guilds don't want to fight it out to the bitter end, the system also includes ways to negotiate a surrender or declare a stalemate, all the while tracking each guild's stats on a leaderboard. So get out there, don your halos and horns, and start killing one another! After all, you're already in purgatory anyway.

MassivelyFaxion Online announces guild war system originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All Points Bulletin: Reloaded dev blog discusses patch 1.5.2

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:30 AM PDT

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Citizens of San Paro, listen up, because TechMech has a new blog post to share with you lot and it's got a pretty solid amount of information for your perusal. The first point of discussion is the upcoming 1.5.2, which sees quite a few new items added to All Points Bulletin: Reloaded's development roadmap. The most important of these features are the new district recommendation system and skill-rating based matchmaking, which should make it much simpler for APB players to find a challenge suitable for their personal skills and character levels.

Other items of note include "meta-grouping for better PuG-ing, action grouping relaxation (fancy way of saying you will be able to shoot right as you stop sprinting instead of being blocked from shooting), 70+ different mission fixes, new clothing, new items and a boat-load of various bug fixes and improvements." The post goes on to explain why this big honkin' patch is going to miss the scheduled mark of June 30th, and then it outlines some of the current build's known issues (and possible fixes). For the full post, head on over to the APB dev blog.

MassivelyAll Points Bulletin: Reloaded dev blog discusses patch 1.5.2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bounty Hounds Online coming in both boxed and digital versions

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:00 AM PDT

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Bounty Hounds Online, an upcoming sci-fi action MMO, is going to give you a choice how you want it packaged: paper or plastic. Er, we mean "boxed or digital." The retail box will be released under the name Bounty Hounds Online Pro and will arrive in European shops this October. For the price of 10 Euros, players will get a leg up on this free-to-play title with exclusive content and in-game currency. Multiple language versions are planned for the box release as well.

The game puts players in the role of mercenaries tasked with cleaning up an intergalactic war on a planet known as Clear Sky. You'll get to choose between five classes and four military companies before heading into the battle, not to mention the awesome-sounding CTU transformable combat pets.

Recently out of closed beta, Bounty Hounds Online is slated for open beta on August 2nd. You can sign up by visiting the official website.

MassivelyBounty Hounds Online coming in both boxed and digital versions originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Tanks 6.5 patch debuts June 30th

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 10:30 AM PDT

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A new retail box isn't the only thing in store for fans of World of Tanks in the near future. Wargaming.net has just issued a press blurb confirming the action MMO's latest patch release for June 30th.

Update 6.5 brings two new maps to the battlefront. Redshire takes it inspiration from traditional British settlements, while Arctic Region is the game's first pure winter locale. In addition to the maps, 6.5 also features a new lineup of American destroyer tanks including the famous T95 "super-heavy monster."

The patch also introduces two premium light tanks (the American M22 Locust and the Russian T-127) as well as the M46 Patton, which is slated to replace the M26 Pershing. Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi says this tweak is the first step toward a global tech tree revision. "We constantly keep polishing the game balance, and updating World of Tanks to 6.5 is yet another important step in this direction."

MassivelyWorld of Tanks 6.5 patch debuts June 30th originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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