Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates


1UP’s Charity Sketch Auction Gallery

Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT

Over the course of September and October, I think the rest of the 1UP team started to hate me for making them carry sketchbooks — to the Penny Arcade Expo, Tokyo Game Show, developer offices, etc. The goal was to collect as many pen and pencil sketches as we could from people in the game industry.

We left the content up to them, and said we would auction off 100% of the profits for Red Cross disaster relief — in part to help victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, covered in our feature How Japan’s Earthquake Changed its Developers. The results originally appeared in the final issue of 1UP’s print magazine, and now it’s time to put the gallery online and kick off the auction.

So click on any of the images below to see full-size versions, and if you’re interested in owning the art, click the link at the bottom of each batch to bid on the seven bundles on eBay.

Shooter Bundle

Two BioShock Infinite sketches from Irrational Games’ Ben Lo and Robb Waters, Borderlands‘ Moxxi from Gearbox’s Scott Kester, five Gears of War 3 images from Epic Games’ Chris Wells and Demond Rogers, and Halo‘s Master Chief from 343′s Frank O’Connor…

Bioshock
Bioshock
BorderlandsGears of War
Gears of War
Gears of WarGears of War
Gears of War
Halo

Click here to see the above artwork listed on eBay.

Action and Fighting Bundle

Ninja Gaiden‘s Ryu Hayabusa from Team Ninja’s Masahiro Nose, Darksiders‘ Death from Vigil’s Joe Madueira, Soul Calibur V‘s Natsu and Ivy from Project Soul’s Takuji Kawano (signed by game director Daishi Odashima and producer Hisaharu Tago), and Tekken‘s Kuma from Tekken Project’s Kazuhiro Harada…

Ninja Gaiden
DarksidersSoul Calibur
Tekken

Click here to see the above artwork listed on eBay.

Cute and Cuddly Bundle

Three Disney sketches from Junction Point’s Shawn Melchor and Scott McSorley, Crash Bandicoot holding an angry bird from Big Red Button’s Bob Rafei (who was the original Crash artist at Naughty Dog), Lumines: Electronic Symphony collage from Q Entertainment’s Takashi Ishihara, and Mario from Twisted Pixel’s Jay Stuckwisch… [Note: Crash Bandicoot is a signed digital print.]

Donald the Duck
Lilo  Stitch
Mickey MouseCrash Bandicoot
Lumines
Mario

Click here to see the above artwork listed on eBay.

Check out page two for art from The Last Guardian, Meat Boy, Bastion, and tons more!

Find similar article at: http://www.1up.com/features/sketch-auction-gallery

PLA (CN)

Posted: 30 Apr 2012 04:40 AM PDT



First announced back in September last year (link), the game has finally gotten an official name, PLA, which apparently stands for “Passion Leads Army”. Developed by Giant Interactive together with the Chinese military, it is no doubt a simple twist on People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The game showed up over the past weekend at Nvidia Game Festival in China, and it is sporting awesome new graphics. The benchmark below is running on a Nvidia GTX 680.

PLA is now the first Nvidia 3D Vision Ready game developed in the world’s biggest country, and it is sporting DX11 compatibility as well. The game is set in 1973, with the city of Shanghai as the backdrop during a war. There will be 2 versions of the game, 1 especially for the military to use for training, while the other is the commercial client.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/pla-cn-official-chinese-army-game.html

ASUS G74sx ROG Gaming Laptop Review

Posted: 29 Apr 2012 10:40 PM PDT

Details:
Price: £1,599

Verdict:
Falls shy of cutting-edge PC gaming, but a great performer and an even better investment. 8/10

CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM (2.00GHz, 6Mb cache)
RAM:
8GB DDR3 1333MHz
GRAPHICS:
Nvidia GTX 560M 4058MB
HARD DRIVE:
2x 750GB SATA II
Screen:
17.3″ 16:9 HD+ (1600×900)/Full HD (1920×1080)/Full HD 3D(1920×1080 120Hz) LED Backlight
OPTICAL DRIVE:
Blu-Ray/DVD +/- Rewriter
Connectivity: 1 x Microphone-in jack, 1 x Headphone-out jack, 1 x USB 3.0 port(s), 3 x USB 2.0 port(s), 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for, LAN insert, 1 x HDMI, Integrated 802.11 b/g/n, 10/100/1000 Base T
Weight: 4.28 kg (with 8 cell battery)
EXTRAS:  EAX Advanced HD 5.0, THX TruStudio, Built-in Bluetooth™ V3.0 (Optional) webcam, 2-year limited International hardware warranty
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Web: Republic Of Gamers

What a lump. The ASUS Republic Of Gamers G74sx is really leaning on the definition of 'portable'. It's leaning the definition of laptop even: this beast is hot and heavy and we wouldn't want it on our laps for long. But it is spec'd out to its rubberised edges with some cutting-edge mobile gaming hardware – the epitome of a desktop replacement system.

For around the £1500 mark you get a pokey Sandy Bridge mobile i7 processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a mobile GeForce 560M graphics card with a generous 4GB of VRM. Very respectable – for a desktop, but eye-popping specifications even for a gaming laptop.

Your storage and memory needs are more than covered, though that mobile GPU doesn't quite cut it when placed under stress under the more graphically intese titles out there. While no one would expect any system to be capable of coping with The Witcher 2′s 'uber-sampling' setting, we did hope that the G74sx would hit a full 60 FPS with the graphical settings all on 'High'. It was a similar story for The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim, with judder and high frame rates only achieved with draw distances and textures pulled in from the absolute maximum.

Whatever you do play on the G74sx does tend to look beautiful though, and that's in no small part due to it's ultra-crisp backlit screen. The 17-inch display is full HD and 3D, which also makes it brilliant for watching films. That in itself is a massive selling point for this gaming laptop, but it's backed-up by a comprehensive set of multimedia features, including EAX/THX sound and Blu-Ray. As an overall package it's brimming with value, even if there are better laptops purely for gamingin a similar price range.


G74S3

G74S4

G74S1

G74S2

 

 

Find similar article at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/hardware/laptops/asus-g74sx-rog-gaming-laptop-review/

Firefall Asia

Posted: 29 Apr 2012 07:10 PM PDT


Just last week (link), Red 5 Studios confirmed a USD 23 million and record-breaking deal with Garena for Firefall in 7 Asian countries, spanning a total of 6 years. Not much was written about the man behind the deal, Mr Tony Park, who was the main architect in making this possible. Korean game website ThisIsGame.com speaks with him, a Korean who is fluent in both English and Chinese. Please note that not all questions and answers are translated.

A: The strategic plans for China and Korea is not confirmed yet, hence we accelerated the deal for these regions once Garena showed interest in Firefall.

A: We held discussions with Garena about the many online shooters in the region, and noted popular titles such as Special Force, Point Blank, Black Shot (under Garena) and Cross Fire. Firefall will stand out because of its additional large-scale PvE content, hence it will be different from other FPS. Garena also held this difference in high regards, hence the deal was signed. We feel that Firefall will have its own player base and stand alongside other FPS in the market.

A: Other than its interest, Garena is also the publisher for League of Legends in the region. In less than a month of launch in Taiwan, the CCU went over 100,000 players, making it the number one title in the country. In the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, the game did well in player numbers as well, perhaps one of the top 2 games there.

From what we have seen, Garena’s Black Shot in Singapore and Malaysia also reached a record number of players. The company’s founder is a fan of e-Sports and competitive gaming, knowing details of Firefall since it was announced.

A: It is hard to say which company communicated about the possible deal first. It happened last June, when we visited some game companies in Taiwan and we paid a visit to Garena over there as well. It happened that Garena had interest in Firefall, but did not know which side to contact, Red 5 Studios or Webzen.

A: After meeting them in Taiwan, our teams subsequently met at PAX, ChinaJoy and the recent G*Star in Korea. Garena sent a number of their folks to G*Star to try out the game. Red 5 did not have a Business to Business counter, hence they had to queue up like the rest of the visitors to try the game out. After that, Garena and us discussed about the deal.

A: Yes, you can say that G*Star actually helped. Earlier in July, the conflict with Webzen was not resolved yet, hence Garena could only stand at the side and observe the proceedings. Then on October 21st, we set up Red 5 Singapore, and in November Garena’s CEO paid us a visit after G*Star 2011 ended. The talks to finalize the deal lasted 3 days.

A: The correct term for the rights is “other than North America and Europe”. Before acquiring back, we weren’t able to talk to potential overseas partners. That was a sensitive period in terms of the law, which was known throughout the gaming industry.

A: Yes, Webzen will be getting a share of the profits, including some of the USD 23 million which was just signed.

A: The last time I did this was a long time ago *laughs*. Perhaps that is the reason I decided to attend. But in actual fact, Garena’s CEO was there for the signing as well, I had to show my sincerity. Firefall is a very important game to us, but I did the negotiations with my business team as well, not just me alone.

A: To be honest, luck plays a part. The hard work for me is to understand our own titles and understand the companies we are dealing with. We have to know what their concerns are and provide them with answers and whatever information they need. Once done, we can all settle down and discuss a deal. Having a playable build over at the previous conventions helped the deal as well.

A: If you are not part of the development team, one of the founders or an investor in the company, it will be hard to become the company’s representative. The gaming industry is still young, hence there are not many people in the industry who have reached the retirement age yet.

A: I am currently considering a new setup in the company. From our pool of Game Masters, we will handpick a few and groom them to work in the business or product planning departments. I think this is the only way to ensure they are still in the industry after 50 years old.

To people outside, my advise given to my own staff as well is to work on on everything, no matter how easy or hard the task is. I may look like a Superman on surface, but I am a very hardworking man as well. I don’t think I am smarter than people, hence I work every of the smaller tasks to perfection.

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2011/12/firefall-asia-man-behind-deal.html

Guild Wars 2

Posted: 29 Apr 2012 04:40 PM PDT



[Game website] The Beta Weekend event will be ending in less than 12 hours, but I think I have seen enough for now. As the first public beta with many, many more players, there are obviously various technical hiccups, though none are really serious. I tried out 2 classes, Necromancer (level 10) and Engineer (level 18), and surprisingly I decided to stick with the latter. This most is mostly about how I find the game, I can’t help it if you have different opinions :)

Dynamic events are really fun. Without any parties, players within the same area gets the buffs other players cast and everyone who helped out gets graded from Bronze to Gold, with different rewards. Yes, even if you joined in late, you still have a chance to get a Gold grading. This is also the first time in a MMO I have seen so many players helping to revive each other, since any class, race or player can do it.

Though fun, there are still instances for single or partied players to enter, mostly during the main story quests. I am not sure how other solo players find them, but for me, they are really, really tough. Going into such instances at the recommended level usually gets me killed in no time, along with the NPC aids as well.

I seriously wish these story instances are part of the dynamic quests system as well, but since it is tied to the “My Story” records for each character, I guess something has got to be personalized. A short search led me to believe there is no option to do a skill reset (not traits), and this is something I am not really pleased about.



Through exploring, I found a cave which requires players to jump across platforms to get to the end, which most probably offers a secret reward like an unmarked skill point. Easy, you might think, but not when ravens are swooping down and threatening to knock you off and shamans transforming into beasts to crush you. And if those are not bad enough, there are really strong creatures below waiting to devour you… Argh, I think I must have tried this map around 10 times. Someone over at ArenaNet is a hardcore Tomb Raider fan.



I have 2 minds about the scaling system, part of me says it is not needed while the other part of me says it is to make sure the game is fair regardless of character level. You see, entering areas with lower level mobs will scale your level and stats down. Note the green level and stats in the screenshot below.



I have yet to try World vs World vs World (WvWvW), the PvP map, but I will keep it for the next Beta Weekend since ArenaNet said there will be a couple more before launch. All in all, there are just minor complains and personal preferences on my side, nothing major to criticize. Gameplay and the various systems in Guild Wars 2 certainly provided me with fresh air, hopefully more of you guys will join the game once it goes live :)

Find similar article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/04/guild-wars-2-beta-weekend-thoughts.html

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