General Gaming Article

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• Wikipedia Back Online After Repairing Cut Cables, Summer School Students Rejoice
• Torrent Tracker Demonoid Goes Down for the Count
• Shared Data Plans Touching Down at AT&T on August 23rd
• John Carmack: Kudos to Valve, but Not Many Linux Users are Willing to Pay for Games
• AOC Rolls Out Ultra-Thin 27-inch e2752Vh Monitor at $50 Discount for Limited Time
• Lenovo to Launch Lighter ThinkPad Ultrabook Later This Month
• Samsung Accuses Apple of Sour Grapes for Swaying Expert Witnesses

Wikipedia Back Online After Repairing Cut Cables, Summer School Students Rejoice Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:50 PM PDT Online encyclopedia site Wikipedia was generally unavailable around the globe this morning after two cables stretching between Tampa, Florida and Virginia were cut this morning. Depending on location, Wikipedia was either completely dark or extremely slow loading, It took a little over an hour to repair the severed cables, and then another hour to restore service. According to a BBC News report, Wikipedia doesn't suspect foul play, though it's not yet known what exactly caused the incident. The outage caused a spike in activity on Twitter, as users flocked to the microblogging service to share their frustrations 140 characters at a time, many of them comical and/or snarky. One user wrote, "Breaking: Wikipedia is down. Millions on Twitter are prevented from being instant experts during online arguments." After service was restored, another user tweeted, "Wikipedia is back! Phew! For a while there I felt like Batman without his utility belt." Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Torrent Tracker Demonoid Goes Down for the Count Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:19 PM PDT Demonoid, one of the Web's largest torrent tracking sites and one of the most popular online destinations overall, has been snuffed out by Ukrainian officials. Demonoid's destruction doesn't come as a complete surprise following a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that knocked the site to the mat last month. Fans of the site hoped it was just a temporary blip and that it would be back up and running before long, but it doesn't appear that's going to happen. According to a translated page on Kommersant, Ukraine investigators made their way to ColoCall, the country's largest data center and home to Demonoid, and shut it down. The general consensus is that Demonoid went to some length to stay within Ukraine law, but fell into trouble when the U.S. got involved. Those responsible for running the site are still at large and believed to be in Mexico. What's more, Kommersant said it wouldn't be too much trouble for the site's admins to restore operations using a different set of servers, but they're reluctant to do so "because of the heightened world's fight against piracy." Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Shared Data Plans Touching Down at AT&T on August 23rd Posted: 06 Aug 2012 11:34 AM PDT Following in the footsteps of Verizon Wireless, rival AT&T will be rolling out new Mobile Share plans starting Thursday, August 23, the company confirmed in a blog post today. The new plans offer unlimited talk time and texting plus anywhere from 1GB to 20GB of pooled data to share between multiple wireless devices, negating the need for little Johnny to carry his own data plan for his smartphone. Like Big Red's plans, AT&T's Mobile Share plans can get expensive in a hurry, depending on how many devices you add. Here's how it breaks down: 1GB/month: $40 + $45 per smartphone 4GB/month: $70 + $40 per smartphone 6GB/month: $90 + $35 per smartphone 10GB/month: $120 + $30 per smartphone 15GB/month: $160 + $30 per smartphone 20GB/month: $200 + $30/smartphone That's step 1. The next step is to add any other devices to your shared plan, like feature phones ($30/each per month); laptops, LaptopConnect, mobile hotspot devices, and netbooks ($20/each per month); and tablets and game devices ($10/each per month). AT&T provides an example of two smartphones ($35/month for each one), a tablet ($10/month), and 6GB of shared data ($90/month), which works out to $170/month. That's not terrible, but throw a second tablet into the mix and a feature phone for junior, and you're now at $210 per month before taxes. Bump up the data cap and it gets more expensive. "As families prepare to send students back to school, many are looking for a convenient way to connect tablets and laptops or add new smartphones. AT&T Mobile Share plans are a great option," AT&T said. One thing that works in AT&T's favor versus VZW is that the wireless carrier isn't forcing its customers to choose a shared data plan; existing individual and family plans are still available. Unsure which is the best deal? AT&T has an online Mobile Share Planner tool to help estimate data usage across different devices. What are your thoughts on AT&T's new shared data plans? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

John Carmack: Kudos to Valve, but Not Many Linux Users are Willing to Pay for Games Posted: 06 Aug 2012 08:55 AM PDT Valve is forging ahead with plans to port its Steam distribution platform over to Linux and has even managed to tweak Left 4 Dead 2 to run faster on a 32-bit Ubuntu system than on a Windows 7 machine, but as far as John Carmack is concerned, the real challenge will be getting Linux users to open their wallets. Carmack, as you know, is the founder and technical director of id Software, and also an open source advocate. He's also a realist. "Valve announcing Steam Linux support changes things a bit but we have made two forays into the Linux commercial market, most recently with Quake Live client, and that platform just hasn't carried its weight compared to the Mac on there," Carmack said during his keynote at QuakeCon. "It's great that people are enthusiastic about it, but there's just not nearly as many people that are interested in paying for a game on the [Linux] platform and that just seems to be the reality." Carmack wasn't trying to cast a wet blanket over Valve's plans by any means, and he pointed out that one thing working in favor of Linux is that integrated graphics drivers are getting better, albeit they still have their issues. He praised Intel for being "completely supportive of open source graphics drivers efforts, that they have chipset docs out there," and said if he had the time, he'd work on optimizing them himself. You can watch the entire keynote on YouTube (skip ahead to the 45min 26sec mark to hear Carmack's comments on Linux). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

AOC Rolls Out Ultra-Thin 27-inch e2752Vh Monitor at $50 Discount for Limited Time Posted: 06 Aug 2012 07:28 AM PDT AOC is taking aim at gamers who want a large screen monitor with a low response time and budget friendly price tag by launching its 27-inch e2752Vh LED display. We're always wary of reading too much into rated specs when it comes to monitors, but for what it's worth, the e2752Vh is a thin and light display with a 2ms rated response time (GTG), 20,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and 300 cd/m2 typical brightness. Resolution tops out at Full HD 1080p (1920x1080), which isn't surprising considering the monitor's $250 price tag. AOC says that's a savings of $50 off the MSRP and will be valid from August 11 through 17 at places like CompUSA, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com, Newegg.com, and Amazon.com, though some are already selling it at the discounted price. Rounding out the feature-set are 5W built-in speakers and input options that include DVI-D and HDMI with HDCP support. It's also VESA 100mm wall mount compliant. More details can be found on the monitor's product page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Lenovo to Launch Lighter ThinkPad Ultrabook Later This Month Posted: 06 Aug 2012 07:04 AM PDT Today marks the 20th anniversary of the ThinkPad brand, which was developed by IBM and then sold to Lenovo in 2005. To celebrate the occasion, Lenovo today announced the release of its ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook model at a company-sponsored event in Beijing. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a 14-inch Ultrabook that weighs less than 3 pounds and boasts an 8-hour battery life. As the name implies, it's constructed with carbon fiber materials Lenovo claims adds to its structural strength and durability while maintaining the system's purported status as "the lightest 14-inch Ultrabook in the world." It's also fast and responsive, featuring a sub 20-second startup time, Lenovo says. Regarding the Ultrabook category's longterm viability given its inability to thrust the PC segment past a seventh consecutive quarter of flat-to-single-digit growth , Lenovo still feels confident in its decision to dive in. "Overall, the Ultrabook is the right direction. It's the start of the journey, so it's not the destination," said Dilip Bhatia, GM of Lenovo's ThinkPad business, according to PCWorld. "In general you will see notebooks get thinner, get lighter, have the instant on connected capability. So I'm not worried about it." Bhatia also said aggressive pricing will help drive Ultrabook adoption. Be that as it may, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is slated to ship later this month starting at $1,299, making it one of the more expensive Ultrabooks out there. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Samsung Accuses Apple of Sour Grapes for Swaying Expert Witnesses Posted: 06 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT It's too late to claim things are getting ugly between Samsung and Apple. The question before us now is, how ugly can things get? That depends on which court system you're talking about. Here in the U.S., Apple is peeved at Samsung for leaking rejected evidence to the public, and over in Australia, Samsung is accusing Apple of inappropriately meeting with expert witnesses to change their opinions on things that could affect the outcome of the patent trial. Samsung's legal team labeled Apple's actions as "most inappropriate" and is none too happy with the resulting report written by three experts who, after speaking with Apple, changed their minds and determined the Cupertino company's iPhone 4 and 4S models don't run afoul of any of Samsung's 3G patents, MacWorld reports. Samsung asked Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett for permission to cross-examine the witnesses prior to their "hot tub" testimony, which is a term Australian courts use to describe when multiple expert witnesses offer their testimony at the same time. Bennett, however, wasn't as concerned as Samsung and said it's not unusual for experts to change their mind. "The expert report is a piece of evidence but can be challenged in cross examination," Bennett said. The Australian trial has a long way to go yet and is scheduled to run intermittently for another nine months. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMO and SEO News from Gameforumer.com

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• AOC Rolls Out Ultra-Thin 27-inch e2752Vh Monitor at $50 Discount for Limited Time
• John Carmack: Kudos to Valve, but Not Many Linux Users are Willing to Pay for Games
• Lenovo to Launch Lighter ThinkPad Ultrabook Later This Month
• Review: Deponia
• Samsung Accuses Apple of Sour Grapes for Swaying Expert Witnesses

AOC Rolls Out Ultra-Thin 27-inch e2752Vh Monitor at $50 Discount for Limited Time Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT AOC is taking aim at gamers who want a large screen monitor with a low response time and budget friendly price tag by launching its 27-inch e2752Vh LED display. We're always wary of reading too much into rated specs when it comes to monitors, but for what it's worth, the e2752Vh is a thin and light display with a 2ms rated response time (GTG), 20,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and 300 cd/m2 typical brightness. Resolution tops out at Full HD 1080p (1920x1080), which isn't surprising considering the monitor's $250 price tag. AOC says that's a savings of $50 off the MSRP and will be valid from August 11 through 17 at places like CompUSA, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com, Newegg.com, and Amazon.com, though some are already selling it at the discounted price. Rounding out the feature-set are 5W built-in speakers and input options that include DVI-D and HDMI with HDCP support. It's also VESA 100mm wall mount compliant. More details can be found on the monitor's product page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

John Carmack: Kudos to Valve, but Not Many Linux Users are Willing to Pay for Games Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT Valve is forging ahead with plans to port its Steam distribution platform over to Linux and has even managed to tweak Left 4 Dead 2 to run faster on a 32-bit Ubuntu system than on a Windows 7 machine, but as far as John Carmack is concerned, the real challenge will be getting Linux users to open their wallets. Carmack, as you know, is the founder and technical director of id Software, and also an open source advocate. He's also a realist. "Valve announcing Steam Linux support changes things a bit but we have made two forays into the Linux commercial market, most recently with Quake Live client, and that platform just hasn't carried its weight compared to the Mac on there," Carmack said during his keynote at QuakeCon. "It's great that people are enthusiastic about it, but there's just not nearly as many people that are interested in paying for a game on the [Linux] platform and that just seems to be the reality." Carmack wasn't trying to cast a wet blanket over Valve's plans by any means, and he pointed out that one thing working in favor of Linux is that integrated graphics drivers are getting better, albeit they still have their issues. He praised Intel for being "completely supportive of open source graphics drivers efforts, that they have chipset docs out there," and said if he had the time, he'd work on optimizing them himself. You can watch the entire keynote on YouTube (skip ahead to the 45min 26sec mark to hear Carmack's comments on Linux). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Lenovo to Launch Lighter ThinkPad Ultrabook Later This Month Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT Today marks the 20th anniversary of the ThinkPad brand, which was developed by IBM and then sold to Lenovo in 2005. To celebrate the occasion, Lenovo today announced the release of its ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook model at a company-sponsored event in Beijing. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a 14-inch Ultrabook that weighs less than 3 pounds and boasts an 8-hour battery life. As the name implies, it's constructed with carbon fiber materials Lenovo claims adds to its structural strength and durability while maintaining the system's purported status as "the lightest 14-inch Ultrabook in the world." It's also fast and responsive, featuring a sub 20-second startup time, Lenovo says. Regarding the Ultrabook category's longterm viability given its inability to thrust the PC segment past a seventh consecutive quarter of flat-to-single-digit growth , Lenovo still feels confident in its decision to dive in. "Overall, the Ultrabook is the right direction. It's the start of the journey, so it's not the destination," said Dilip Bhatia, GM of Lenovo's ThinkPad business, according to PCWorld. "In general you will see notebooks get thinner, get lighter, have the instant on connected capability. So I'm not worried about it." Bhatia also said aggressive pricing will help drive Ultrabook adoption. Be that as it may, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is slated to ship later this month starting at $1,299, making it one of the more expensive Ultrabooks out there. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Review: Deponia Posted: 05 Aug 2012 11:01 PM PDT LucasArts or Sierra: You could like both, but, more often than not, people tended to prefer one over the other in the golden age of adventure games. Though King’s Quest VI was my introduction to the genre (and the Windows operating system it was bundled with), Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island series, and Full Throttle were the games I obsessed over and showed to visiting friends at any opportunity. Daedalic Entertainment began as an interesting experiment but has quickly become one of the most recognizable names in modern adventure games, releasing The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav nearly a month ago and cult favorite The Whispered World a while before that. Its recent titles dealt with heavy subject matter and dark fantasy worlds that feel closer to Sierra’s flagship series. Yet, Daedalic got its start with silly, colorful games that imitated LucasArts. Deponia is the developer’s return to this style of adventure. Although it doesn’t hold up to LucasArt’s best, Deponia is a reminder of why some of us loved those games so much more than their contemporaries. Deponia (PC) Developer: Daedalic Entertainment Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment, Lace Mamba Released: August 7, 2012 MRSP: $19.99 Deponia smells like garbage, because it’s a planet made of garbage. Its citizens have made this supposedly uninhabitable junkyard of a planet into their home. Everyone except Rufus. Deponia to him is nothing more than the planet that his father abandoned him on. Now, he wants to return to his birthplace far away in the sky. Deponia (the game) is a lot of things: It’s an adventure, romance, and comedy all wrapped up into one goofy story. Rufus is a confident dope who bears much in common with Secret of Monkey Island’s Guybrush Threepwood. While his ambitions are a bit less, he possesses a similar wit and cluelessness in any given situation. He describes himself as “a cool version of herpes” but his friends and neighbors on Deponia would leave out the cool part. Though he is sympathetic, it took me some time to become attached to him. The same can be said about the game as a whole. Deponia has a lot more in common with Secret of Monkey Island than just sharing a similar lead character. Everything from the dialog to the comically-driven puzzles recalls LucasArts’s classic. As a result, Deponia doesn’t feel all that fresh. It doesn’t help that the game has serious problems with pacing and puzzle design in its first act (the lengthiest of the three). Things are slow-going at first. The game soon gives you a lot of ground to cover in a large city hub, but you’ll run into some obtuse puzzles that won’t make much more sense once you stumble upon the solution. The logic behind some puzzles relies too heavily on a comedic mindset rather than that of a sensible human being. LucasArts perfected their craft over the years, learning when to leave comedy out of the picture for playability. Deponia isn’t quite so discerning in its use of comedy nor is its comedic chops quite as cutting. The game prolongs dialog with bad joke after bad joke, at times. I can appreciate the spirit but I expect an adventure game to be more sparing in its humor. When every dialog option with a character doesn’t tell me anything about the game’s plot or characters, I start to become disinterested. I can’t stress enough though that these problems are mostly restricted to the first act. Even the comedy becomes stronger in the following acts -- it’s a very odd thing that makes me wonder what the production process was like behind the game. Rufus’ life becomes complicated once his plans to escape Deponia end up with him becoming responsible for a girl named Goal. He accidentally incapacitates her and decides to find a way to make her regain consciousness, hoping that she’ll help bring him back to his father’s home planet. While Rufus has some depth, he is a self-serving character that is hard to root for until the game’s second half. The main reason the first half sags, however, is that Deponia is kind of a miserable place. Rufus’ neighbors, ex-girlfriend, and even his best friend are all mean to Rufus and not very interesting characters. Despite Deponia being a rather nasty place, it's brought to life through a gorgeous hand-drawn aesthetic that recalls Curse of Monkey Island. The animation is very sub-par, with characters and backgrounds barely moving, but the design and art of the game’s locales are consistently interesting and eye-catching. Though the game is nice to look at, the dull animation is a constant reminder that this is developed by an indie with a modest budget. The same can be said of the English version’s hit-and-miss voice cast -- the game was originally voiced in German but there is no option to change to it. Thankfully Rufus sounds good and there are some quality performances later in the game, but it’s not top-caliber stuff. The grating voice effect on the game’s stormtrooper-esque Organon troopers is another chink in the game’s presentation. Despite a poor beginning and ending, I can’t shake off the warm feeling Deponia left me with. It’s a game with a big heart and some clever puzzles that recall a special time in the history of adventure games. The game lacks the consistency, quality animation, and hilarity of Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert’s work, but Deponia is a charming and creative adventure that stands above many of its contemporaries. You can deduce the game to being a tribute to the golden years of LucasArts, but isn’t that exactly what so many want right now?

Samsung Accuses Apple of Sour Grapes for Swaying Expert Witnesses Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT It's too late to claim things are getting ugly between Samsung and Apple. The question before us now is, how ugly can things get? That depends on which court system you're talking about. Here in the U.S., Apple is peeved at Samsung for leaking rejected evidence to the public, and over in Australia, Samsung is accusing Apple of inappropriately meeting with expert witnesses to change their opinions on things that could affect the outcome of the patent trial. Samsung's legal team labeled Apple's actions as "most inappropriate" and is none too happy with the resulting report written by three experts who, after speaking with Apple, changed their minds and determined the Cupertino company's iPhone 4 and 4S models don't run afoul of any of Samsung's 3G patents, MacWorld reports. Samsung asked Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett for permission to cross-examine the witnesses prior to their "hot tub" testimony, which is a term Australian courts use to describe when multiple expert witnesses offer their testimony at the same time. Bennett, however, wasn't as concerned as Samsung and said it's not unusual for experts to change their mind. "The expert report is a piece of evidence but can be challenged in cross examination," Bennett said. The Australian trial has a long way to go yet and is scheduled to run intermittently for another nine months. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMO News

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Riot Games Reveals League Of Legends Championship Series Posted: 06 Aug 2012 01:20 PM PDT Riot Games has announced that it will launch its own professional gaming league, League of Legends Championship Series, in 2013. The Champion Series will include top professional gaming teams from North America, Europe, and Asia, offering salaries and prizes to professional players to give them a solid career  choice. It will feature a regular gaming season with multiple matches per week, regional playoffs, and a final World Championship. All events will be broadcast online in HD streaming. The top three teams from Europe and North America that are competing in the upcoming Regional competitions will pre-qualify for the league, so the tension is already high for the upcoming series. League of Legends Championship Series Source: Riot Games Shares Its Vision for the Future of eSports, Reveals Initial Details of League of Legends Championship Series New Pro League is an Unprecedented Advancement in eSports, Featuring the World's Top League of Legends Players, Salaried Pro Teams, and 100% Free, HD Broadcasts LOS ANGELES – Aug. 1, 2012 - Riot Games, the company behind the most-played PC game in the world, League of Legends, today shared its vision for the future of eSports. Beginning in early 2013, the best players on the planet will compete in the League of Legends Championship Series – a new professional gaming league with teams from North America, Europe and Asia, multiple regular season matches each week, and HD streaming broadcasts available globally for free. "Talking to players around the world, they repeatedly asked if we could kick League of Legends eSports into higher gear," said Brandon Beck, co-founder and CEO of Riot Games. "The new League of Legends Championship Series is our answer. Millions of fans tune in every time we support a major League of Legends tournament, so we’re broadening that support in an unprecedented way." League of Legends Championship Series key facts: · Global Operations: The top eight teams from both North America and Europe, plus top teams from Asia, will compete for regional and global dominance. · Millions of Dollars on the Line: Salaries, prize pools and other compensation for Championship Series teams will ensure League of Legends is a sustainable career choice for professional players. · Regular Season and Playoffs: eSports fans will get to see teams battling in the traditional format of organized sports – a regular season with several matches per week, culminating in regional playoffs and a World Championship, which will crown the world's best League of Legends team. · Free, HD broadcast events: League of Legends fans will watch Championship Series matches live online with HD broadcast streaming that is always 100% free. The upcoming Season Two North American and European Regional competitions have momentous consequences for next season's Championship Series: the top three teams from each region will pre-qualify for the league. The Regionals are: · European Season Two Regionals @ Gamescom in Cologne, Germany – Aug. 16 through Aug. 19 · North American Season Two Regionals @ PAX Prime in Seattle, Washing – Aug. 30 through Sep. 2 While the Championship Series will represent the absolute highest level of competitive play in League of Legends Season 3, the competition will also be fierce in the Challenger Circuit, which consists of events hosted by Intel Extreme Masters, Major League Gaming, and the IGN Pro League. "IEM, MLG and IPL are invaluable partners, and we'll continue to work closely with each of them in Season 3 as they foster the next generation of League of Legends competitors," said Dustin Beck, vice president of eSports at Riot Games.

MMOHut Weekly Recap #97 Aug 5 – SWTOR, Zentia, Elsword, World of Tanks, Knight Age, & More Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:24 PM PDT   A quick look and discussion for every major announcement and update during the week! This week we discussed updates from the following games: Star Wars The Old Republic, Zentia, Elsword, Jade Dynasty, World of Tanks, Microvolts, Pirate101, and Knight Age. Star Wars The Old Republic is going free-to-play, but players who pay will have access to greater things. Zentia is no more come August 13th but developers are turning their focus towards new things. Elsword introduces two subclasses for its newest playable character Chung. World of Tanks rolls into update 7.5. Microvolts introduces a new game mode called Bomb Battle… It’s all here in this week’s recap!

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MMO Updates

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• Chinese government forbids MMO television series
• PlanetSide 2 will be available on Steam
• Leaderboard: Raid vs. small group content
• MV Guide: August 6 - 12, 2012
• The Daily Grind: Is it lazy to retool classic dungeons for endgame?
• MMO Week in Review: Keep calm and carry on
• EVE Evolved: Getting people to actually fight
• One Shots: Death by tentacles

Chinese government forbids MMO television series Posted: 06 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT OK, chances are that you weren't holding out hope that BBC One was suddenly going to announce Chuck Norris: Warcraft Ranger or Syfy was going to sign EVE Online to a three-season deal. TV shows based on MMORPGs don't happen -- at least not yet -- but if there was any place that you could imagine one being made, it would probably be in China. Unfortunately, it looks like this hypothetical daydream is off the table for the time being, as the government ruled that no TV show can be made from an MMO property. What gives, China? Why no love for the MMO? This strange restriction is one of several new guidelines announced over the weekend by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. Among the guidelines is the rule that broadcast TV can't be based on online games. The only current show on Chinese TV related to MMO is Rift in the Sky (which is based on the game Sword of the Yellow Emperor). Considering how popular MMOs are in the country, it seems odd that the government feels that they're unworthy of appearing on air. Chinese government forbids MMO television series originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Kotaku

PlanetSide 2 will be available on Steam Posted: 06 Aug 2012 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2 When dispensing news about Planetside 2, John Smedley has been utilizing Twitter quite a bit lately for everything from beta key clarification to keeping eager players notified about the status of the beta test. Now, after being queried about the PS2 launch on Twitter, the Sony Online Entertainment president has announced that the highly anticipated MMOFPS will be available via Steam. He tweeted, "PlanetSide 2 will be on Steam. Yes it will." Closed beta testing for PlanetSide 2 began today. PlanetSide 2 will be available on Steam originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: VG 24/7

Leaderboard: Raid vs. small group content Posted: 06 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Polls, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Dungeons, Leaderboard When it comes to partying up in MMOs, it seems like everyone has their own preference for what size is ideal. While I've dipped my toes into the waters of raiding, I found it far too chilly and impersonal for my temperament. Yet while I prefer small group instance runs, I'm not blind to the fact that raiding remains immensely popular among part of the population. Small group content offers a more intimate setting for you and a few friends (or strangers with potty mouths) to tackle an instance. Because there are so few of you, each one needs to pull his or her own weight and become a hero. These runs tend to be less stressful and far more accessible to the game's population. On the other hand, raids offer the most challenging content in the game. It requires all involved to be geared up, skilled, and knowledgeable in the ways of fight patterns. Participating in one can feel downright epic, especially when you consider that you can see content that many players will never witness. So let's put it to a vote! Which do you prefer: raid or small group content? Continue reading Leaderboard: Raid vs. small group content Leaderboard: Raid vs. small group content originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MV Guide: August 6 - 12, 2012 Posted: 06 Aug 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively Stream Team logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises each week, so you'll find a variety of titles to watch. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, or simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule, and let us know if there's a specific game you'd like to see streamed next week! Continue reading MV Guide: August 6 - 12, 2012 MV Guide: August 6 - 12, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Is it lazy to retool classic dungeons for endgame? Posted: 06 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Endgame, Opinion, Massively Meta, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Dungeons Over the last few expansions, Blizzard has been attempting to transform antique World of Warcraft dungeons into modern, heroic experiences, from Cataclysm's reimagined Deadmines to Mists of Pandaria's level-cap Scholomance. But most of WoW's dungeons -- and most dungeons in ever-changing MMOs period -- languish in the past with outdated mechanics and loot surpassed by overland quest drops. You might go there as a tourist occasionally, but no one takes those places seriously. I like a chance to go back to reworked older zones to get my nostalgia fix on boosted, endgame content. But I can see why players might object to the practice. After all, a fresh coat of paint doesn't really make it a new room. It can feel as if the devs cheaped out and just pasted some new textures and mechanics into an already-built zone instead of implementing something truly new. What do you think -- is it lazy to retool classic dungeons for a new endgame? 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: Is it lazy to retool classic dungeons for endgame? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: Keep calm and carry on Posted: 05 Aug 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. It's been a brutal week for both the old and the new guard of the MMO genre. World of Warcraft announced losses of over a million subscription players in the last three months, while Star Wars: The Old Republic dipped under a million subs and revealed plans to adopt a hybrid free-to-play model to counter its shrinkage. But don't panic! As analysts point out, WoW has Mists of Pandaria to look forward to, and F2P SWTOR will likely result in "significant profit" for EA, though Forbes predicts doom for Activision. The rest of our top MMO stories lie beyond the cut. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: Keep calm and carry on MMO Week in Review: Keep calm and carry on originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Getting people to actually fight Posted: 05 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox EVE Online has always been strongly focused on PvP, from the obvious activity of smashing ships together to the more subtle cutthroat nature of competitive market trading and corporate politics. EVE is testament to the fact that if you put enough people in one place and ask them to share and play nice, pretty soon they'll be tearing each other's eyes out. Though the lack of direct flight controls and steep death penalty turn a lot of people off trying EVE, I have to admit that I've yet to find a better PvP experience in any MMO -- when I can actually get a good fight, that is. Everyone who engages in PvP regularly will have stories to tell of some of the awesome fights he's had, but in truth they're few and far between. For every fight so spectacular that its story is retold for years, there are hundreds of quiet nights, failed roams, and encounters that end in disaster. Lowsec is particularly troublesome as the lack of warp disruption fields can make it hard to deprive enemies of an escape route and get them to actually fight. Warp bubbles bring their own problems, so what can be done to add more PvP opportunities to lowsec without allowing players to use area-effect warp disruption? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the factors that prevent good fights and stifle PvP in lowsec. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Getting people to actually fight EVE Evolved: Getting people to actually fight originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

One Shots: Death by tentacles Posted: 05 Aug 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Galleries, Screenshots, Guild Wars, Massively Meta, One Shots, The Secret World, Allods Online, Miscellaneous Massively reader The Platypus knows the secret behind taking a good One Shots entry: a good death! He sent in this amazing shot from The Secret World with a quick note: Hey Massively -- long-time reader The Platypus here! Two friends and I decided to three-man the Polaris dungeon in The Secret World last night, and while it went more smoothly than I imagined it would, we still had a little trouble with the Ur-Draug (TSW's Cthulhu analogue). As I was dying the first time and the creeping inevitability of my fate overcame me, I did the only logical thing I could do with the last few seconds of life: I took a screenshot! Enjoy! Tentacles past the break. Hit it! Continue reading One Shots: Death by tentacles One Shots: Death by tentacles originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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MMOGaming News

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• GW2 – BWE3 Impressions: Brawling With Kegs?
• Sevencore Released a New Trailer to Celebrate Its Open Beta
• Amazing Fan-made Blade and Soul MV "The Sad Love"
• Dragon Nest New Level 60 Skill Names and Descriptions
• Lagoonia Introduces Profiles and Friend Rankings to the Islands
• Eternal Blade: "The Nature of the Beast" Comic Continues
• TERA Updates New Skills for Lancers and Warriors
• Firefall's EU Beta Tournament at ESL Arena
• Closed Beta Launched For Taikodom
• LOTRO Dev Diary Sneak Peek: Champion
• DOTA 2 Spectator Mode updated with community features, advertising space
• Dragon Nest (JP): Aya Hirano Dubbing for Kali
• Smite Revealed a New God: Anhur - Slayer of Enemies
• Allods Online Launches Mercenary System
• C9 - After 3 Days Worth of Gaming
• CABAL Online announces new free expansion Arcane Trace
• Ragnarok Online Announces War of Emperium

GW2 – BWE3 Impressions: Brawling With Kegs? Posted: As I'm sure every Guild Wars 2 fan knows, the Beta Weekend Event 3 just ended. The beta weekend lasted the whole weekend and show cased pretty much the same content as the last beta's besides the fact that the Sylvari and Asura were unlocked for play. This was exciting for some, but for me who is saving Asura till release, I was left with Sylvari who were a little weird, albeit well designed. Continue reading GW2 – BWE3 Impressions: Brawling With Kegs?.

Sevencore Released a New Trailer to Celebrate Its Open Beta Posted: Gala Networks Europe has released a new trailer to celebrate the start of the Open Beta of its fantasy with ultra-Tech elements MMORPG developed by the Korean studio Noria, Sevencore. Continue reading Sevencore Released a New Trailer to Celebrate Its Open Beta.

Amazing Fan-made Blade and Soul MV "The Sad Love" Posted: Gentle voice with sadness inside, beautiful scenery plus vivid settings, yes, you can find these touching elements in this Blade and Soul fan-made MV named "The Sad Love". Every scene in the video is so splendid that looks like a painting. You can taste a piece of bitterness in the story even though hearing the unknown lyrics. Continue reading Amazing Fan-made Blade and Soul MV "The Sad Love".

Dragon Nest New Level 60 Skill Names and Descriptions Posted: The following information has been found in the latest client of Dragon Nest by Duowan. And it is translated by Freedom guild leader Chaose. Continue reading Dragon Nest New Level 60 Skill Names and Descriptions.

Lagoonia Introduces Profiles and Friend Rankings to the Islands Posted: An update to the south sea browser title, Lagoonia, introduces rankings, as well as customizable profiles, into gameplay today. Rankings show player standing in several aspects of the game, including "collecting, harvesting & producing", "planning & building", "neighborly help", "population" and a handful of others. All rankings can be sorted by friends only or a global list, and are available as weekly, monthly or "all time" numbers. Continue reading Lagoonia Introduces Profiles and Friend Rankings to the Islands.

Eternal Blade: "The Nature of the Beast" Comic Continues Posted: Monsters attack in the forest of Eternal Blade! The poor Mage is caught unaware, but lucky for him, the Knight shows up just in time to rally the group. And of course, it's not a real battle until the Berserker shows up! Find out where these evil beasts came from as "The Nature of the Beast" comic series by Elisa "LeeLee" Scaldaferri continues. Continue reading Eternal Blade: "The Nature of the Beast" Comic Continues.

TERA Updates New Skills for Lancers and Warriors Posted: With the Argon Queen update, warriors and lancers get new skills for their already-impressive arsenals. From Reaping Slash to Wallop, read on for how you'll be even thougher and deadlier when The Argon Queen arrives. Continue reading TERA Updates New Skills for Lancers and Warriors.

Firefall's EU Beta Tournament at ESL Arena Posted: Get your weapons and jetpacks ready and head for Firefall's EU Beata Tournament. The Electronic Sports League (ESL) and Red 5 are offering the visitors to gamescom a first: All supporters and fans of eSports will be able to take part on Europe's first Firefall Beta Tournament which takes place from 15th to 19th of August in Cologne, Germany. Continue reading Firefall's EU Beta Tournament at ESL Arena.

Closed Beta Launched For Taikodom Posted: Taikodom: Living Universe is not a game in which you pilot a mining spaceship, nor is it a game in which you work through ornate political structures to accomplish your goals. It's a game in which you pilot a spaceship at high speeds and blow things up. It's the newest title from GamersFirst, and it's just entered its first wave of closed beta testing as of today. Continue reading Closed Beta Launched For Taikodom.

LOTRO Dev Diary Sneak Peek: Champion Posted: The Champions Dev Diary was released. Will talk about the main updates, changes and improvements. Their primary focus for LOTRO was on survivability and threat management. Continue reading LOTRO Dev Diary Sneak Peek: Champion.

DOTA 2 Spectator Mode updated with community features, advertising space Posted: Valve has updated the DOTA 2 client with an emphasis on Spectator Mode. The patch has added a number of beginner-friendly features like the opportunity to check out heroes and their abilities as they're chosen, as well as the ability to rate matches and leave comments – but also adds a couple of banner ad spaces. Continue reading DOTA 2 Spectator Mode updated with community features, advertising space.

Dragon Nest (JP): Aya Hirano Dubbing for Kali Posted: The new Dragon Nest character class Kali is waving her hand to DN players as if bringing more fun and excitement for the game. In Japan, Aya Hirano, a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer who has had roles in several anime, visual novels, and TV commercials will lend her voice to Kali in Dragon Nest(JP). Continue reading Dragon Nest (JP): Aya Hirano Dubbing for Kali.

Smite Revealed a New God: Anhur - Slayer of Enemies Posted: Hi-Rez Studios has produced a brand new trailer featuring a new god called Anhur - Slyer of Enemies soon to be introduced into Smite. Continue reading Smite Revealed a New God: Anhur - Slayer of Enemies.

Allods Online Launches Mercenary System Posted: Allods Online: New Horizons is on course to launch early this month. In a new dev diary, the mercenary system is dangled right like a plump morsel in front of a starving crowd. Continue reading Allods Online Launches Mercenary System .

C9 - After 3 Days Worth of Gaming Posted: C9 or known as Continent of the Ninth Seal is an Action MMORPG. It excels in combinational-input combat. That is you don't just press a few buttons and watch all your animations play (i.e. Silkroad Online, WoW, etc. Sorry if I offended anyone with these examples.). Continue reading C9 - After 3 Days Worth of Gaming.

CABAL Online announces new free expansion Arcane Trace Posted: To celebrate the end of a massive month long 6th anniversary event, Games-Masters.com has announced an upcoming expansion -- Arcane Trace, for the perennial MMORPG Cabal Online. The free expansion will be published in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish versions. Continue reading CABAL Online announces new free expansion Arcane Trace.

Ragnarok Online Announces War of Emperium Posted: Gravity Interactive has announced a new event for players of Ragnarok Online. Called "War of Emperium", the event will pit players against one another to gain control of dimensional cracks. Continue reading Ragnarok Online Announces War of Emperium.

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