General Gaming Article

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• Gaming Companies Quietly End Official Support for SOPA
• After Meltdown, Former N-Control PR Rep Attempting to Extort Company
• Success: Verizon Wireless Drops $2 Convenience Fee
• Cool Site of the Week: Anti-Resolution
• Aqua Computing Shows Off World's First Radeon 7970 Water Block
• Two Drool-Inducing Overclocked Setups: One Break Records, One Hits 96% CPU Overclock
• Lenovo Ditches 'Netbook' Moniker, Dubs IdeaPad S110 a 'Mini Notebook'
• AMD HD 7950 Launch Date Reportedly in Limbo
• Android Retains Pole Position in U.S. Mobile Market, comScore Says
• PlayStation Vita Sales Slump One Week Post Launch

Gaming Companies Quietly End Official Support for SOPA Posted: 30 Dec 2011 02:56 PM PST With each revision, the list of SOPA supporters seems to be shrinking. In the most recent silent update, gaming companies seem to be the ones pulling back. Sony, EA, and Nintendo are no longer listed as supporters of the bill, but were on the list in November. None of the companies has acknowledged the change in position.  SOPA and its companion Senate bill Protect IP, would place much more power in the hands of copyright holders. The broad wording of the bill could label many sites with user-generated content as "rogue sites," and expose them to domain blocking by US ISPs. Experts on internet infrastructure are concerned that modifying the DNS system in this way could damage internet reliability and security. All three gaming companies have an interest in limiting piracy of their games, but with SOPA becoming toxic withing their target demographic, it's no surprise we are seeing pull-back. Sony, EA, and Nintendo have joined GoDaddy in no-longer supporting SOPA, but we should note that none of these companies have actually come out against the bill.

After Meltdown, Former N-Control PR Rep Attempting to Extort Company Posted: 30 Dec 2011 02:28 PM PST The saga of PR failure from Paul Christoforo, the now former PR man for N-Control, is not over. After his verbal abuse of a customer led to some good old fashioned Internet justice, N-Control's new PR guy has let slip some details of how Christoforo is conducting himself and attempting to extort money from N-Control. According to new PR rep Moisés Chiullan, Christoforo has been claiming via email that his tantrum was the best thing that ever happened to the delayed Avenger Controller. He says the attention will make the company a success, and he wants compensation. Chiullan claims that Christoforo has been holding various email and social media accounts for N-Control hostage in an effort to get a favorable contract drawn up. Christoforo reportedly wants an upfront bonus, and ongoing compensation for the foreseeable future. N-Control is not backing down, and is evaluating its options for dealing with Christoforo. The new representative has clarified that the Avenger Controller website is not under Christoforo's control, so mail sent there should be answered properly.

Success: Verizon Wireless Drops $2 Convenience Fee Posted: 30 Dec 2011 02:09 PM PST Let it never be said that the Internet can't be used for good as well as evil. After a huge online backlash, Verizon Wireless has backed away from plans to begin charging a $2 "convenience fee" to customers for paying their bills online, or by the phone. The change was supposed to go into effect on January 15th. If Verizon thought they were going to sneak this one by the Internet, they were clearly mistaken. The outcry rang loudly from every blog in the world almost immediately when the change in terms was discovered. Verizon claims that the fee was going to support the aforementioned payment methods in the future. The only way to circumvent the charge would have been auto-billing, electronic check, paper check, or in-store payment. As if the negative customer feedback wasn't enough. the FCC started making noises about getting involved this morning, urged on by consumer complaints. Verizon folded faster than we expected. Do you think they're going to try to make up the difference elsewhere?

Cool Site of the Week: Anti-Resolution Posted: 30 Dec 2011 11:27 AM PST   With Christmas and Chanukkah in the bag, the leftovers eaten and the relatives pushed out the door for another year, New Years Eve is the next big event you'll have to deal with. Between now and then, you'll no doubt reflect upon the last year's triumphs and failures, and then like as with years before, foolishly resolve to change your ways knowing full well that you'll never live up to your self-imposed pact in the weeks and months to come. This year, why not break the cycle of broken self-imposed promises with Anti-Resolution, our Cool Site of the Week. Anti-Resolution isn't against personal growth--far from it. Rather, the site is against broken big-picture New Year's Eve promises to improve out health and well-being, which, while made with the best of intentions, often end up being broken. Instead, Anti-Resolution suggests that you make smaller, easily doable personal pacts: To lose weight, save money, reduce your stress level, break an ugly habit or spend more time with your loved ones. Once you've selected one of these paths to self-improvement, the site will provide you with a few modest suggestions on how you could follow through. You'll find no difficult life changing courses of action here. Small acts that anyone has the willpower to follow through on are the name of the game with Anti-Resolution. Given the number of promises to ourselves most of us break on a regular basis, who couldn't do with an easy win? Be sure to check back every Friday for another edition of Maximum PC's Cool Site of the Week.

Aqua Computing Shows Off World's First Radeon 7970 Water Block Posted: 30 Dec 2011 11:08 AM PST Did you read our write-up of the spiffy new AMD Radeon 7970 earlier this week and find yourself getting all hot and bothered at the thought of kick-ass custom rigs built around the beast? Well, one company can help you cool down. The new graphics cards aren't even available in stores yet but that hasn't stopped the Germany-based Aqua Computer from putting the AquagrATIx 7900 up for preorder. What's that, you might ask? Only the first 7970 water block available on the market. Aqua Computter claims the water block should fit Radeon 7950 cards when they're released, too. There's not really all that much to say about the water block other than that. It's made out of what looks to be a single piece of copper with a stainless steel cover. It uses standard G 1/4" threads, though the fittings don't come included. Early adopters can preorder one now for roughly $116.

Two Drool-Inducing Overclocked Setups: One Break Records, One Hits 96% CPU Overclock Posted: 30 Dec 2011 10:39 AM PST Few computer-related acts bring the full Maximum PC ethos to bear as much as extreme overclocking. Damn the torpedoes; give 'er MOAR POWER! and so on. Fridays are always slow news days, and the Friday between Christmas and New Year's seems to be doubly so, so why not take advantage of the lull and shine on a spotlight on a pair of overclocking feats that showed up on the radar over the past couple of days? First up, Gigabyte. The company hit a bit of a rough patch this week when faulty firmware started burning up overclockers' motherboards. To their credit, the dust hadn't even settled when Gigabyte announced they would swap out any damaged mobos and released a patch to fix the software problem. To show the world that the F7 BIOS update was no mere band-aid, Gigabyte had an overclocker named "Hicookie" take an updated GA-X79-UD3 for a spin with an Intel Core i7-3930K, Kingston HyperX Genesis memory, a Corsair AX1200 PSU and some liquid nitrogen. Hicookie nailed a 5643.3 MHz clock speed with a base clock of 99 MHz and a 57x multiplier. Tom's Hardware reports that the setup killed the previous Super Pi 1M and 32M and PiFast benchmarks. Check out the video above to see it in action. AMD's no slouch in the overclocking department, either, and TechPowerUp is reporting that OverclockWorks (a Japanese specialty shop) achieved an even higher 5,875.5 MHz clock speed in a "suicide run" with an AMD A8-3870K Black Edition processor. The feat was accomplished with a 125 MHz base with a 47x multiplier and a 1.872V core voltage. The Radeon HD 6550D GPU built into the processor hit 1327 MHz, which is more than twice is 600 MHz rating. Number-wise, those turn out to be a 96 percent CPU increase and a 121 percent GPU increase -- not too shabby. Unfortunately, the turbo-charged setup was too volatile to run more advanced benchmark tests, but OverclockWorks thinks this may just be the world's best A8-3870K overclocking attempt. Check out this link for pictures.

Lenovo Ditches 'Netbook' Moniker, Dubs IdeaPad S110 a 'Mini Notebook' Posted: 30 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST Shakespeare once wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a netbook by any other name would smell as sweet," or something like that. Or maybe Juliet was rambling about a rose when she was justifying her secret relationship with Romeo. In any event, Lenovo's upcoming IdeaPad S110 is a netbook even if the OEM insists on calling it a "mini notebook" instead. The IdeaPad S110 mini notebook appeared in a promotional YouTube video pimping a handful of specs, including a 10.1-inch HD display, 98 percent full-size Accutype keyboard, USB 3.0, optioanl 2MP webcam, integrated Wi-Fi and optional 3G, and 16mm frame. So what makes us so sure this is a netbook in disguise? If you head over to Provantage, you'll find the IdeaPad S110 listed for $321 and change. In addition to a 10.1-inch screen and other netbook-like specs, this thing's rocking an Intel Atom N2600 processor, 1GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, and Windows 7. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can bet your lunch money it's a duck, even if someone wants to call it a mini Anatidae.

AMD HD 7950 Launch Date Reportedly in Limbo Posted: 30 Dec 2011 09:19 AM PST Every PC gamer who doesn't have an aversion to AMD would love to own a dual-GPU Radeon HD 7990 when it ships in March 2012, but not everyone can afford (or justify) an $849 investment on a graphics card. By that same token, $549 for a Radeon HD 7970 is also beyond some people's budgets, which is why AMD will also release a Radeon HD 7950 based on its Tahiti Pro chipset. Two questions come to mind: How much and when will it launch? Unfortunately, we're still waiting on answers to both. We can speculate that the HD 7950 will be priced in the neighborhood of $400, which will still be out of reach of some gamers' budgets, but certainly more affordable than the HD 7990. A bigger question mark is its release. According to Fudzilla, the scheduled January 9, 2011 release date is shaping up to be a paper launch, and "there is no way that this one will be available" for purchase on that day. Some major players in the add-in board (AIB) business tell Fudzilla the 7950 will still launch on January 9th, and you'll probably see reviews pop up on the Web, but those review samples will be coming directly from AMD. Based on leaked info, the HD 7950 will sport 1,792 stream processors, 28 compute units, 112 texture units, 32 full color ROPs, and 3GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit memory bus, and support up to six displays.  Clockspeeds and power draw are still unknown.

Android Retains Pole Position in U.S. Mobile Market, comScore Says Posted: 30 Dec 2011 09:00 AM PST Google's Android platform is having little trouble holding onto its No. 1 spot in the U.S. in terms of the number of mobile subscribers. According to comScore's mobile subscriber market share report for the month of November 2011, there were 234 million Americas age 13 and older who used mobile devices for the three-month average period ending in November, many of which are turning to Android. There were 91.4 million smartphone owners in the U.S. during the three months ending in November 2011, and of those, 46.9 percent were using Android, according to comScore. That's an increase of 3.1 percentage points over the three-month period ended in August 2011, enough to extend its lead over Apple's iOS platform, which accounted for 28.7 percent of all U.S. smartphone subscribers, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. All other mobile platforms struggled to compete with Android and iOS during the past three months. Research In Motion gave up the most U.S. smartphone market share, dropping 3.1 percentage points to 16.6 percent, though still enough for a commanding third place finish. Behind RIM was Microsoft with a 5.2 percent share (down 0.5 percent) and Symbian at 1.5 percent (down 0.3 percent).

PlayStation Vita Sales Slump One Week Post Launch Posted: 30 Dec 2011 08:40 AM PST Sony found itself scrambling to explain away early complaints lodged against its PlayStation Vita handheld console and quickly denied there exists a widespread issue of any kind. Not quickly enough. Following a flurry of sales during its first two days of sales in Japan, interest in the PlayStation Vita appears to have dropped sharply. The console maker racked up 324,859 Vita sales in the first 48 hours after launch on December 17, 2011, but sales through the week ended December 25, 2011 fell to just 72,479, according to data released by Media Create, a Japanese company that analyzes the digital entertainment industry, and in particular the Japanese console gaming market. For the sake of comparison, Nintendo's 3DS console notched 482,200 unit sales during the same period, up 31 percent from a week prior. Part of the discrepancy is undoubtedly due to the price difference between the two consoles, but even still, Sony can't be happy with the sharp decline in PS Vita sales so quickly after launch. Image Credit: Sony

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MMO News

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• C21
• Tales of Pirates II previews The Grand Line
• Rise of Immortals unlocks Immortals for New Year’s weekend

C21 Posted: 30 Dec 2011 03:26 PM PST C21: Steel Battle Chronicles is a robot-themed action MMO, where players choose from dozens of robots as a representative of the Neo Robot Force. Take part in ground and aerial combat, customize your robots, and defeat the Devil Robot Force. Publisher: Webzen Playerbase: ?? Graphics: High Type: MMO – Third Person Shooter EXP Rate: ?? PvP: Arenas Filesize: ~800 MB Pros: +Several PvE modes to choose from. +Many customization options available. +Can edit your robot’s skin. Cons: -Low quality graphics. -Limited PvP. -Linear gameplay. Overview C21 Overview C21 is an action MMO, set in a world where robots enforce the law. Players may choose from 100s of robots, which can be further upgraded and enhanced, and even re-skinned in a special graphics editor. Unlike Cyberstep’s similar MMO, CosmicBreak, C21 is focused on PvE rather than PvP. To that effort, players can go on missions, enter instances, and fight bosses alone or in groups. PvP is offered through a four player arena and special PvP maps. C21 Screenshots C21 Featured Video Click here to view the embedded video. Full Review C21 Review Coming Soon… Screenshots C21 Screenshots Coming Soon… Videos C21 Videos C21 Official Trailer Click here to view the embedded video. Links C21 Links C21 Official Site System Requirements C21 Requirements Minimum Requirements: OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 CPU: Pentium3 1.2GHz RAM: 256MB HDD: 800MB Graphics Card: VRAM 32MB DirectX9.0c Recommended Specification: OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 CPU: Pentium4 1.6GHz RAM: 512MB HDD: 800MB Graphics Card: VRAM 64MB DirectX9.0c

Tales of Pirates II previews The Grand Line Posted: 30 Dec 2011 10:28 AM PST Tales of Pirates 2 is preparing to launch a new version, The Grand Line. In this update, players will seek to defeat five pirate lords, to obtain pieces of a special treasure map and piece it together. These pirate lords are Gentleman Jocard, Privateer Kidd, Mistress Ching, Captain Sao Feng, and Captain Jack. Recovering these map pieces will put together a map to the booty locked away in the sunken H.M.S., created by Gol. D. Roger and split to the five lords on his deathbed. What awards or other changes may come in the update have yet to be revealed. Tales of Pirates 2 is published by IGG, which also publishes Wonderland Online and Voyage Century Online. Tales of Pirates II Gameplay Screenshot Source: Preview of All-new Version in Tales of Pirates II – The Grand Line The development team of Tales of Pirates II (http://top2.igg.com) has embarked on the creation of a new version, "The Grand Line", for the MMORPG. Players can look forward to a sensational gaming experience that will provide immense thrills and excitement. More than simply adding a mere instance, there will be a series of riveting quests that will allow players to hunt and explore for treasures galore, just the way a pirate should! It All Began When… In 1694 of the pirate world, the treasure-laden H.M.S set sail from Thundoria for Poseidon Temple Castle for its ritual worship. Alas, when the ship was navigating around Sorceress Coast, a storm came and sank her to the bottom of the sea, bringing down the trove of treasures along as well. For centuries, nobody had been able to find the H.M.S booty. That is, until Gol. D. Roger. This notorious pirate located the legendary H.M.S treasure after much tenacious efforts and almost got his hand on the hoard, if not for one strange and deadly illness that engulfed him. On his deathbed, he proclaimed, "All my lifelong labor are charted on the H.M.S treasure map. I have torn it up and handed the pieces to only the most powerful pirates in the world, one piece per pirate. Who will be my successor and lay claim to the H.M.S treasure? Fight it out, me hearties, and may the best buccaneer wins!" And thus the five nefarious pirate lords whom Gol. D. Roger had given the clues to, engaged in epic wars to fight for the entire map piece. However, the battles only left them exhausted of strength and drained of life. They decided to call it a truce and went back to their own reign, each guarding a piece of the H.M.S treasure map. Nevertheless, peg legs all over the world have not given up on this incredible treasure. The five pirate lords await those who are plucky enough to challenge and defeat ALL of them, so that the H.M.S treasure map can be pieced together once again. Peg legs all over the world call this journey to conquer the pernicious pirate lords and obtain the map in its entirety, "The Grand Line". The 5 Pirate Lords Instance 1: Gentleman Jocard Hailing from the Sorceress Coast, Jocard is a black man who once led a group of rebellious slaves to mutiny. Now this pirate lord rules over the archipelago of islands in Sorceress Coast with his crew of ex-slaves, plundering and pillaging passing merchant ships, enslaving the rich whites and freeing black slaves. Instance 2: Privateer Kidd Kidd owns numerous merchant fleets plundered from Autumn and Summer Islands. Besides the apprehension of being pillaged, ships sailing in the straits of Deep Blue often have to be subjected to Kidd's heavy taxes as well. His ability to instill fear on others is rumored to be unsurpassed. Instance 3: Mistress Ching Mistress Ching may be blind, but this feisty lady owns an impressive pirate fleet comprising of hundreds of ships and is known to be a total terror to the fishing towns, robbing and pillaging in broad daylight. When she became a widow upon her husband's death, she gained control over the entire pirate legion in Spring Town and engaged heavily in smuggling. Her sphere of influence spread far and wide to even the most remote villages. Ruling with an iron hand, the fearless Ching disciplined her men with strict rules and castrated any man who would commit rape. Instance 4: Captain Sao Feng Sao Feng reigns supreme in the Winter Islands. All primary sea routes in the Winter Archipelagos are under his rule and control. Notorious for his cruel methods of torture to his prisoners and slaves, this merciless pirate lord will stop at nothing to crush those who dare oppose him. Instance 5: Captain Jack The most powerful of them all, the name of Captain Jack often chills the hearts of even the bravest buccaneers. Few have seen his true face, for he often carries out the most dastardly deeds in various disguises. Ruthless and quirky, there is always an entire cabin filled with rum on his ship. Cursed by Davy Jones himself, he hopes that the legendary H.M.S treasure holds the key to unlocking the curse.

Rise of Immortals unlocks Immortals for New Year’s weekend Posted: 30 Dec 2011 10:06 AM PST Petroglyph announced in a Rise of Immortals email newsletter that it would unlock all Immortals this weekend for players to try out for free. This comes on the back of the arrival of a new Immortal, Kavashiir, a feline magical support. The weekend also offers a special sale of 50% off everything in the in-game store through January 1: including Immortals, Immortal skins, artifacts, and potions. Petroglyph is also offering a sale on its four board games (Panzer General: Allied Assault, Panzer General: Russian Assault, Guardians of Graxia, and Heroes of Graxia) for $29.99 on its website.

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MMO Updates

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• Bethesda and Interplay may be close to settling Fallout dispute
• Star Trek Online holds 'last chance sale' before F2P kicks in
• SWTOR's Daniel Erickson on pulling players' moral strings
• The Daily Grind: What are your 2012 MMO resolutions?
• Behind the Mask: Between this world and the next
• Ask Massively: Further answers to the same questions edition
• MechWarrior Online rolls out the '12 Catapult
• The Guild Counsel: Does SWTOR need a better LFG tool?
• The Perfect Ten: Most significant MMO stories of 2011

Bethesda and Interplay may be close to settling Fallout dispute Posted: 30 Dec 2011 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Legal, Post-Apocalyptic, Fallout Online Is the long-running war of words between Bethesda and Interplay nearing its end? The two firms have been engaged in a legal tug-of-war over the Fallout IP (and its potential entry into the MMO space via Fallout Online) for several years now, but a new blurb on GamePolitics suggests that there could be some light at the end of the tunnel. GamePolitics cites a Fallout wiki entry and the leak of a partial court transcript from earlier this month that says "both sides have previously agreed to drop this from the case (Bethesda raised it, and Interplay agreed). The case now just concerns future Fallout games." The website points to another source that claims that Bethesda is attempting to seal parts of the case (which is often a harbinger for an out-of-court settlement). Bethesda and Interplay may be close to settling Fallout dispute originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Game Politics

Star Trek Online holds 'last chance sale' before F2P kicks in Posted: 30 Dec 2011 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Promotions Have you been eying that sexy cruiser, extra character slot, or those nostalgic uniforms you've always wanted in Star Trek Online? Then you may be in for a shopping spree during the final hours of this year -- and the first few of the next -- as Cryptic is holding a "Last Chance Sale" to give faithful players a chance to pick up a good deal or two over the holiday season. During the sale, players can snag anything they want -- excluding duty officer roster slots -- for 20% off the regular price. According to Cryptic, this will mark the last time (hence the name) that players can buy these items before the new free-to-play pricing kicks in. The Last Chance Sale begins today at 1:00 p.m. EST and will wrap up on January 5th at the same time. Star Trek Online holds 'last chance sale' before F2P kicks in originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: C-Store

SWTOR's Daniel Erickson on pulling players' moral strings Posted: 30 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, MMO industry, Star Wars: The Old Republic BioWare's Daniel Erickson said that for the writing team, the crunch time came way ahead of everyone else since the script for the game had to be done first. As such, the team has had plenty of time to reflect on how the game's developed while it's moved on to future content. In speaking with GameSpy, the Star Wars: The Old Republic head writer opened up about the difficulties and fun of penning a game with so many personalities, choices, and plot twists. Probably the most revealing is how Erickson admits that the writers are trying to pull players in multiple directions through a series of moral influences: the game's own light and dark side system, players' own morality, companions' own likes and dislikes, and multiplayer dialogue. Ideally, he said, one of the goals of the writing team was to make quests that would challenge players' set paths to make them want to change. "It's interesting to watch all those dynamic forces affect the player, see how they interact with the storytelling method," he said. Erickson also says that the project got initial pushback over the notion of centering it on story, because of the past limitations of MMOs and "the expected norm" that had grown over the years: "It was clear, when you played the early MMOs, that they were trying to put as much as they could in for what was there. There were people on each one of these projects that clearly cared passionately about the lore, and were really trying to get it across to the players. So we knew that that was there and we knew from the single-player games what did it." The interview continues to cover a wide range of writing challenges, including coming up with the script for Huttball, quests that the team was sure would get cut by the ESRB, and how the team enjoyed coming up with intricate stories, connections, and romances for companion characters. SWTOR's Daniel Erickson on pulling players' moral strings originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: GameSpy

The Daily Grind: What are your 2012 MMO resolutions? Posted: 30 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous Here we are at the end of yet another year and our list of promising MMOs just keeps growing. We try to play them all, but it's just impossible to keep up sometimes. After months of trying to juggle as many as we can, we usually enter some sort of plea bargain with ourselves to cut back or concentrate on only one or two at a time. But this never seems to work out. Curse you, BioWare! Ahem. So now we're curious about your own resolutions for the new year. Have you promised yourself (or your family) that you'll cut back on MMOs? Are you looking forward to returning to an old favorite to spite the new shinies? Let us know what your MMO plans are for 2012, and as an extra bonus, let us know if you kept 2011's resolutions! 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: What are your 2012 MMO resolutions? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Behind the Mask: Between this world and the next Posted: 29 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Lore, Opinion, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Behind the Mask One of the exciting things about writing about Champions Online is that there is a huge amount of lore and backstory behind the game. Although Behind the Mask has a definite focus on concrete game information (that's just how I roll), the lore is always something I'm excited to cover. It offers a look into Champions that can't be experienced with just the online game. This week we're going to look at alternate dimensions in the Champions universe. I was going to take a more indepth look at the background behind the war between Heaven and Hell, but unfortunately there is so much information that paints necessary frameworks for those story elements. It's unfortunate, but the information I have to go over this week is pretty crazy stuff. Before you go through this, you may want to check out some of my other lore articles, including my magic lore article and my general lore primer. I do restate all the necessary stuff here, but having a broader understanding of what's going on can do nothing but help. A lot of the information here is from The Mystic World sourcebook, but there's also a fair bit of stuff cobbled together from ingame lore and some other sourcebooks. Definitely check them out if you want more information on these subjects. Continue reading Behind the Mask: Between this world and the next Behind the Mask: Between this world and the next originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ask Massively: Further answers to the same questions edition Posted: 29 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST Filed under: New titles, Opinion, Massively Meta, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous Apparently, people like talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Or perhaps more accurately, people enjoy arguing about it. According to comments, the game is a huge hit and failure that is in no way an accomplishment but is still unparalleled, and you can tell it will succeed and fail using a variety of metrics. Me, I've just been playing the heck out of it. Also drinking cranberry juice, but you didn't really need to know that part. As you may have guessed, this week's installment is all about the persistent question of Star Wars: The Old Republic's getting a devoted Joystiq-flavored site. I suspect most of our regular readers are playing the game and not really thinking about asking questions. If you've got a question for next week, you can leave it in the comments below or send it along to ask@massively.com. Questions may be edited slightly for brevity or clarity. Continue reading Ask Massively: Further answers to the same questions edition Ask Massively: Further answers to the same questions edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MechWarrior Online rolls out the '12 Catapult Posted: 29 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Previews, MechWarrior Online Some people like to drool over car statistics, with their V-8s and turbo-injections and rearview adjustable mirrors. Others like to fawn over every last detail of fictional battle robots as if they were coming soon to a dealership near them. Both, in our opinion, are acceptable. If you're in the latter category, then you're going to love MechWarrior Online today, as the devs revealed the latest in the 26th century lineup: the CPLT-C1 Catapult. This heavy 'Mech may be a tad on the slow side, but it more than makes up for it with firepower and 10 tons of armor. The two-legged Catapult boasts missiles, lasers, and jumpjets, although it can only go a little less than 65 kph on the battlefield. The Catapult will be available to the Terran Hegemony and seems suitable for those who prefer slow, powerful brutes to quick, nimble machines. If walking piles of death metal are your thing, make sure to catch up on our preview of MechWarrior Online. MechWarrior Online rolls out the '12 Catapult originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MechWarrior Online

The Guild Counsel: Does SWTOR need a better LFG tool? Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Guilds, Opinion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Guild Counsel, Dungeons Often, this column has focused on guilds and communities in MMOs, both the good and the bad. With the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, it's interesting to look at the ways in which a community is slowly gelling on each server. Already there are players I'm bumping into more and more often, and while I tend to huddle around guildies most of the time, I find that I enjoy things much more when I'm surrounded by a good community of players. There's already been a lively discussion among SWTOR fans about whether the current LFG tool is good enough or something more is needed. Do we need something more "meaty" to help do the job of grouping for us or not? Read on for some pros and cons, and weigh in on whether more is needed to help bring the community closer. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Does SWTOR need a better LFG tool? The Guild Counsel: Does SWTOR need a better LFG tool? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Perfect Ten: Most significant MMO stories of 2011 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Aion, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Trek Online, RuneScape, Global Agenda, Champions Online, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous 2011 was an odd duck of a year for MMO news. A huge chunk of the year felt devoid of significant releases, but that was mitigated somewhat by the major launches of RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Titles got shoved back to 2012 or beyond, MMOs that we thought never would go free-to-play did, and the industry continually surprised us with revelations, ideas, and controversy. So in my last Perfect Ten of 2011, I put together the 10 most significant MMO stories of the year. Ten seems like an awfully small number for such a great big field, so I had the rest of the staff members chime in with their nominations just to make sure I wasn't too off-base with any of these. It was a whopper of a year, and Massively was there for all of it -- the ups, the downs, the queues, and the QQs. It's time to wrap it up with a pretty bow and dedicate it to the history museum! Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Most significant MMO stories of 2011 The Perfect Ten: Most significant MMO stories of 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 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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• EverQuest II: Age of Discovery Review
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Droid I Was Looking For
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Razer Gaming Mouse Review
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Guide to the HUTTBALL Warzone
• General: The MMO Report: Blooper Edition
• Tales of Pirates II: The Grand Line
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Write Us a PvP Guide, Make Some Scratch!
• Runes of Magic: Now In Browsers Everywhere
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Mercenary Player Guide
• The Secret World: The Sound of Silence
• Rift: Chronicles - Hammerknell
• General: Beam Me Up, Please

EverQuest II: Age of Discovery Review Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:22 AM PST In early December, EverQuest II officially went 'free to play' and the "Age of Discovery" expansion was released at the same time. In our latest combo video and text review, we take a look at EQ II: AoD to see how it measures up to the glory days of the franchise. Check it out in your favorite format and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Droid I Was Looking For Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:02 AM PST Isabelle Parsley admits it: She's hooked on Star Wars: The Old Republic. In today's Player Perspectives, we examine that state of hookedness and why it's such an unusual phenomenon these days. Read on!

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Razer Gaming Mouse Review Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:41 AM PST Nothing says success like hardware branded around a popular MMO. In today's hardware review, we take a look at the Star Wars: The Old Republic gaming mouse made by Razer. See if it measures up and is useful for SWTOR players. Tried it yourself? Let us know what YOU think!

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Guide to the HUTTBALL Warzone Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:48 AM PST In the latest Game Face, MMORPG.com's "Pokket" takes a look at the Hutball Warzone from Star Wars: The Old Republic. You'll get tips and tricks for surviving this action-packed PvP zone. Check it out!

General: The MMO Report: Blooper Edition Posted: 30 Dec 2011 04:51 AM PST The MMO Report has been updated with the team's annual blooper edition. That easy charm and pithy wit doesn't always fall from golden lips and sometimes blasts forth with the fiery furnace of a hellishly twisted tongue. Check out The MMO Report: Blooper Edition.

Tales of Pirates II: The Grand Line Posted: 30 Dec 2011 04:47 AM PST IGG has let us know that developers are working away at an "all new version" of Tales of Pirates II. Players are promised new quest lines and several new instances in The Grand Line that pit players against five pirate lords.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Write Us a PvP Guide, Make Some Scratch! Posted: 29 Dec 2011 09:53 AM PST We recently kicked off a new series of Advanced Class guides for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and we're looking to branch out a bit, so we want your help!

Runes of Magic: Now In Browsers Everywhere Posted: 29 Dec 2011 07:39 AM PST Runes of Magic can now be played via browsers. The new site for beta version of browser-based RoM is now live. The beta is scheduled to run through January 9th.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Mercenary Player Guide Posted: 29 Dec 2011 05:08 AM PST With the amazing success of Star Wars: The Old Republic, players are often looking for direction on how to play their favorite classes. Today, MMORPG.com is pleased to present our Mercenary Player Guide. Check it out!

The Secret World: The Sound of Silence Posted: 28 Dec 2011 10:27 AM PST The Secret World has gone largely off the grid in the last month and a half or so. Is this a good thing for a game that is due to hit the MMOniverse in just over four months? Read on and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Rift: Chronicles - Hammerknell Posted: 28 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST In today's Chronicles of One Telaran, we find out that Caedryn the Dwarf has finally earned his first, albeit weird, mount AND is ready to take on the Chronicles. Caedryn describes Hammerknell in the way that only he can. Check it out and then leave us a comment or two.

General: Beam Me Up, Please Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:45 AM PST With last week's launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, many folks' imaginations have been opened to the idea of space-themed MMOs. In today's Coyote's Howling, we opine that the fantasy genre "needs a well-deserved rest". See if you agree and then leave us your ideas in the comments.

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