General Gaming Article

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• Vizio CA24T-A4 All-in-One PC Review
• Ask the Doctor
• Newegg Daily Deals
• ASRock's Specially Coated 8 Series Motherboards are Waterproof
• Futuremark Injects Battery Test Into Upcoming PCMark 8 Benchmark
• Store More Than Just Photos in Flickr's 1TB Bucket
• Former HTC Employee Encourages Other Staff to "Just Quit" the Company
• Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case Now Available in White

Vizio CA24T-A4 All-in-One PC Review Posted: 22 May 2013 03:55 PM PDT Bringing the sexy back—minus a few key components Smart TVs are basically dumb PCs, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Vizio—one of the world's most successful HDTV manufacturers—plans to grow by jumping into the all-in-one PC market. The Vizio CA24T-A4 is a surprisingly good rookie effort, but there is room for improvement. The tiny keyboard delivers surprisingly good tactile feedback. The 24-inch, 10-point touchscreen display is crisp, clear, and very thin (about .75 inches). It's an MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment) model, with an LED backlight. Resolution is 1920x1080 pixels, which is typical of this class of machine (Vizio also offers higher-end models with 27-inch displays at the same resolution). The display is mounted to a thin stalk rising from the pizza-box base that houses the machine's guts. The display can tilt from minus-5 degrees to plus-20 degrees, which is fine for using the PC from a seated position, but it doesn't tilt back far enough to use the machine while standing. Unlike the displays on the Asus ET2300 and Lenovo A720, it can't be folded flat. It also doesn't pivot or swivel left to right. The CA24T-A4's base is incredibly small—at just 1-inch high, it's even thinner than the svelte Lenovo A720—but Vizio removed two important components to achieve that profile: The computer has neither a discrete GPU nor an optical drive. You won't mind integrated graphics unless you're a hardcore gamer, and the absence of an optical drive won't matter if you acquire your movies, music, games, and other software online. But Intel's dual-core 2.5GHz Core i5-3210M CPU and its HD4000 graphics is a 98-pound weakling when it comes to modern gaming with eye candy turned up, and we were grateful to have a USB DVD drive on hand to install some of our benchmarks. Gaming performance on the box could have been helped with higher-clocked RAM, but alas, Vizio went with DDR3/1333. Vizio outfitted the CA24T-A4 with four USB 3.0 ports, two HDMI inputs (so you can connect both a satellite/cable set-top box and a gaming console or Blu-ray drive), and an eSATA port (which we'd happily trade for Thunderbolt for forward-looking compatibility). Everything except one USB port is in the back of the machine, so you won't have ugly cables sticking out of its side; and unlike many AiOs we've tested, Vizio doesn't hijack any of its USB ports to host a wireless dongle for keyboard and mouse. Actually, Vizio doesn't put a mouse in the box—it provides a wireless multitouch trackpad, instead. Vizio tells us that this is to take advantage of Windows 8 gestures, but we can't say we're enthused about it: Trackpads are necessary on laptops, but they don't deliver a lot of benefit paired with a desktop rig (unless you're using the PC from the couch, and that's an unlikely scenario with just a 24-inch display). Vizio's all-in-one delivers much better sound than we've heard from most computers, thanks in part to the presence of a subwoofer cleverly integrated into the computer's detached power supply (Asus offers a sub for its all-in-ones, but at additional cost with most models). There's a volume control and an HDMI toggle switch conveniently integrated into both the keyboard and the remote control. That's a much better solution than integrating these features into the display, as Asus and Lenovo do. You can also use the HDMI display without needing to power up the computer (the keyboard controls don't function in this situation, but the remote does). The Vizio CA24T-A4 delivered very weak benchmark numbers. If you care about performance, the similarly priced Asus E2300 crushes it, thanks to its higher base clock, larger cache, and dedicated GPU. But if you anticipate using the Vizio's HDMI display capabilities as much as its computing power, it's the better buy. $1,250, www.vizio.com

Ask the Doctor Posted: 22 May 2013 03:30 PM PDT The doctor tackles Post-Upgrade Blues, Drive Order, Upgrading an XPS 700 , and more Post-Upgrade Blues I upgraded to Windows 8 on my laptop. Can you tell me how to reinstall Windows 7? I tried restoring the system from Windows 8 but did not have any luck. Is there a way to use my recovery discs or will I need to purchase a copy of Windows 7? - Michael De Matteis The Doctor Responds: If the recovery discs are the ones that came with your laptop, you should be able to use them to reinstall Windows 7 (provided that's what your laptop shipped with). Your product key should still be on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop. If not, you can download the Window 7 ISO that corresponds with your license here and use that to burn a new install disc. If that doesn't work, due to OEM licensing constraints, contact your laptop manufacturer; they may be able to get you (or sell you) a new recovery disc. Some laptops also have a recovery partition that you can boot into to reinstall Windows—when you boot, keep an eye out for any options to press keys to access a recovery feature. Classic Shell restores the Start button and menu, and even gives you a choice whether to completely eliminate the Start screen or not, so you can ease into it. If you want to downgrade because of program incompatibilities, go ahead and downgrade. But if you just miss the Start menu and hate the Metro interface, there's a way to keep the performance improvements of Windows 8 and get the classic Start menu back. Several ways, actually, but we like Start8 ($5) or Classic Shell (free). Install it and you can add a Start button back to your taskbar, and even disable Metro entirely. And later, when Metro gets more useful or you feel like experimenting, you can get Metro back without having to downgrade now and upgrade again later. SSD Program Sorting I recently upgraded my old computer with (among other things) an SSD. I don't want to fill it up with unnecessary stuff. I have installed Windows 7 and MS Office on it, but have directed downloads, documents, pictures, videos, etc. to default to a secondary hard drive. I'm wondering about programs. If they aren't frequently used, or maybe just a trial program, is it OK, performance-wise, to put a program on the HDD rather than on the SSD? Would this have any effect on the overall system performance? - Jack Orkin The Doctor Responds: In the future we will all have enough SSD space to install every program we want, but right now few of us can afford an SSD that big, so some programs invariably have to be installed on mechanical drives. This is perfectly fine. Putting your OS and your most frequently used programs on the SSD is the best way to take advantage of your SSD's access speeds, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with installing less frequently used or trial programs on the HDD. Your instinct is right on the money. They won't load as fast, of course, but who cares? If you wind up using them all the time, make room on the SSD. Otherwise, they're fine where they are. Put the Jumper Down A long time ago, there was an article in your magazine dealing with optimal communication/connection arrangements for hard drives and CD-ROMs via E-IDE primary masters/slaves and E-IDE secondary master/slaves. I am building a new rig that has SATA components: two SATA HDDs and two DVD drives. They are plugged into the mobo SATA ports: 0 and 1 for the hard drives, 2 and 3 are empty, and ports 4 and 5 go to the DVD drives. Is there a better way to connect these components to reduce communication bottlenecks? - Sunnie The Doctor Responds: The good news, Sunnie, is that the day of having to manually jumper your hard drives and optical drives are long over (although the Doctor will note that cable select worked pretty well at the end). SATA is point-to-point and does not feature a master and slave relationship like Parallel ATA had, so don't worry about that aspect. The only thing to really be mindful of when hooking up multiple SATA devices is which controller they go to. Modern boards usually have multiple SATA controller chips. Some go to the board's south bridge/peripheral controller hub, and others go to discrete controllers put on the board as a value add. Generally the chipset controller is preferred over discrete components. One other thing to consider is whether the port is SATA 6Gb/s. On AMD chipsets, all of the SATA ports are SATA 6Gb/s. On Intel, only two of the six from the chipset proper are SATA 6Gb/s. If you eventually buy an SSD that runs at SATA 6Gb/s you will get the best performance running it on a SATA 6Gb/s port. Since your hard drives and optical drives don't benefit from this (very much anyway), the Doctor recommends cracking open your motherboard manual and finding out which of the ports are SATA 6Gb/s. Plug your other drives into the SATA 3Gb/s ports and leave the 6Gb/s ports open for the day when you install an SSD. Mobo Five for XPS 700 I have a Dell XPS 700 that I purchased in December 2006. I purchased it with a four-year warranty. During that time, the motherboard had to be replaced four times. I ended up buying a new Dell after the warranty period expired and the fifth motherboard failed. XPS 700: To fix or to toss? That is the question. I would like to use the XPS 700 as my spare computer, but for that I need a new motherboard. I called Dell to see about a motherboard. They said they could order one for me, but they want $440 for it. I don't want to buy another motherboard from them knowing it'll fail after a year. I don't know enough about motherboards to buy one that's compatible with my computer but more reliable, and I don't know if $440 is too much. Is there a replacement board for this machine I can swap out without being too much of a geek, or should I just bag it? - Clair Bolton The Doctor Responds: $440 is an awful lot to pay to replace a 6-year-old motherboard model. It's even a lot to pay for a brand-new top-of-the-line motherboard. They don't make motherboards using the nForce chipset any more, or even in that form factor (BTX) any more For that amount of money you could nearly replace the entire XPS 700 with a faster computer—we've come a long way in six years. It's possible to get a modern ATX motherboard to work in that great-looking XPS 700 chassis, but it's rather more work than you'd probably like to do (See here). You'd still be stuck with an outdated system unless you replaced the CPU, RAM, and videocard, as well. In which case, as we mentioned, you'd probably just be better off with a new computer—unless you really love that XPS 700 case and own a Dremel that you don't mind using. DDR with No Bloody 2 or 3 I have an old desktop that was given to me a few years ago. It features an Athlon 64 X2 4800+ in a Socket 939 ASRock 939 board with 2GB of DDR, two hard drives, a GeForce 8800 GTS, and 300W PSU. It was running an early build of Windows 7, and one day it would power on but not get through POST. I finally got it running earlier this year after essentially unseating every part in the case and reinstalling it. The last part I reinstalled was the RAM, which seemed to do the trick. I used the rig this entire year until my IDE DVD drive started to act up, and when I powered off my system and replaced it with another IDE drive it wouldn't get to POST or the screen where it shows the BIOS checking your RAM and HDDs. After a bit of work, I was able to get my graphics card to display an image, but it only shows the motherboard checking the RAM then freezing. I personally think that my DIMMs may have gone bad, but after switching the configurations from 2GB (4x 512MB), to 1GB, and then to just one stick, I am beginning to believe it may be something else. I would just get more RAM, but seeing that I'm limited to using DDR (not DDR2, just plain DDR RAM) finding replacement parts has been hard. I cannot afford to build a new rig, which I would rather do than dealing with this crap. What should I do, and what exactly is my problem? - Wayne Strickland  The Doctor Responds: The Doc knows that it sounds like a broken record but the two most common failure points in an elderly system (other than HDD) are RAM and power supply. Since you don't have a spare bucket of parts, you should first try to diagnose with what you have. First, to ensure that your hard drive isn't going bad and hanging during POST, disconnect both hard drives' cables from the motherboard. It's unlikely to be the issue, but disconnect them just to be sure. You have pulled RAM, but how do you know the last stick of RAM in the machine isn't the one that's bad? Swap the last stick of RAM with one of the other sticks and try them in different slots. Remember: Power down your system completely and switch off or unplug your PSU for at least 10 seconds before removing RAM or PCIe devices. If that doesn't work, try resetting the BIOS. If that doesn't work, manually set the RAM timing in the BIOS to the timings supported by the RAM. With the box running, make sure the fan on the CPU is running and not blocked by cat hair, dust, or a mouse house. If you're still stuck, the next step will probably take additional parts to troubleshoot. Frankly, the Doctor believes the problem may lie with your PSU. The GeForce 8800 GTS came in numerous configurations, with some consuming more power than others. All of them are probably just a wee bit over-the-top for a 300-watt PSU, especially if it's a no-name PSU. And even if it has worked fine for many years, a PSU running at 95 percent of peak through long hot summers is likely to have a shorter lifespan than one running at 50 percent its whole life. So, the PSU should be one of your first suspects to replace if you can swing it. Usually when power supplies give up the ghost, they just stop working, but that's not always the case. It's possible the PSU has enough juice to POST and get to the RAM check before it gets overloaded and shuts down.

Newegg Daily Deals Posted: 22 May 2013 01:25 PM PDT Top Deal: One of the biggest upgrades you can make to your PC is to install an SSD. Today's top deal, the Samsung 840 Series drive, is a massive 500GB one that's on sale for $320 (normally $370 - use coupon code: EMCXRVW23). The SSD ships free and comes with a three-year warranty.  Other Deals: Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz Six-Core desktop processor for $540 with free shipping (normally $570 - use coupon code: EMCXRVW24) Western Digital Black 2TB 7200 RPM hard drive for $140 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code: EMCXRVW22) ASUS white 23" LED 1920x1080 monitor for $160 with free shipping  (normally $200 - use coupon code: EMCXRVW57) Rosewill 2.5" SSD mounting kit for 3.5" drive bay with 60mm fan for $5 with free shipping (normally $10)

ASRock's Specially Coated 8 Series Motherboards are Waterproof Posted: 22 May 2013 12:58 PM PDT Don't try this at home. Before self-contained liquid cooling solutions (LCS) became mainstream, water cooling enthusiasts would march over to places like Danger Den (R.I.P.) and order custom parts, fit them together, and then pray to Poseidon that he'd have mercy against leaks. Back then, water cooling aficionados sure could have used a board like any of ASRock's new specially coated 8 Series mobos. Using a layer of "Comformal Coating," ASRock says its treated mobos aren't afraid to get wet, a trait the company hopes the professional overclocking crowd will embrace. "The special layer of Conformal Coating makes ASRock's motherboards invulnerable to conductive liquids, so overclockers won't have to worry about accidentally spilling liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, or even clam chowder over their motherboards while they are overclocking," ASRock explains. "Along with conductive liquids, Conformal Coating also protects the motherboard against dust, corrosion and extreme temperatures. It is the ultimate armor for the upcoming 8 Series motherboards." ASRock demonstrates the feature in a short YouTube video, which we've embedded below. Bear in mind that the water you see being poured over the motherboard was routed to avoid the pins, which ASRock says still carries the risk of short circuiting. That means you probably can't get away with sticking one of these boards on the bottom of your fish tank, but should an accidental spill occur, there's a good chance your system will survive, or at least the mobo. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Futuremark Injects Battery Test Into Upcoming PCMark 8 Benchmark Posted: 22 May 2013 12:01 PM PDT Popular benchmarking tool receives a significant update. Looking for something new to test your hardware with? Hang tight for about another month and you'll be able to stress your components using Futuremark's upcoming PCMark 8 software. Futuremark received help from members of its Benchmark Development Program, which include Acer, AMD, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, SanDisk, Seagate, and Western Digital. "We believe that this open process of close cooperation with industry experts is the only way to create accurate and impartial benchmarks that measure performance fairly. Having high-level access to the industry's leaders also ensures that our benchmarks are not only relevant for today's hardware, but remain relevant year after year," Futuremark said. Like previous versions of the popular benchmark, PCMark 8 focus on tests that mimic real-world usage scenarios, such as browsing the web, photo editing, video chat, writing, and gaming. New to this edition, however, are additional benchmarks based on productivity and creativity applications from Adobe and Microsoft. Also new is a "Battery Life" mode that loops a test until the battery is almost empty. Testing battery life is the one trickiest things to do since everyone uses their PCs differently, so we're pretty interested to see how PCMark 8's test does with it. PCMark 8 is in the final stages of development and expected to launch by the end of next month. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Store More Than Just Photos in Flickr's 1TB Bucket Posted: 22 May 2013 09:38 AM PDT An end-around solution to storing common files in Flickr. In the process of overhauling Flickr, Yahoo announced that photographers would be allowed to upload up to 1TB of photos and videos for free, the only restrictions being the size of each individual file (200MB for photos and 1GB for 1080p videos) and length of clips (up to 3 minutes long). Other than those caveats, it's a generous storage container that's big enough to hold half a million photos shot at 6.5 megapixels. But what if you could also upload common files? There's a way you can do that. Thomas Claburn at InformationWeek discovered a piece of interesting Ruby code posted to Github called flickr-store. Developer Ryan LeFevre came up with the code, which lets users encode any file as a PNG so that arbitrary data can then be uploaded to Flickr. "This is mostly proof of concept right now. Don't do anything beyond tinkering with it yet," LeFevre warns. If it works as intended, then it's a pretty slick workaround that could come in handy for backing up certain files, though we wouldn't recommend using it to store critical data. The biggest reason is that it's not immediately clear whether such a method runs afoul of Flickr's terms of service. "I'm sure they frown upon it, but they claim you cannot upload anything that interferes with the services and I don't believe this does," LeFevre told InformationWeek. In other words, caveat emptor. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Former HTC Employee Encourages Other Staff to "Just Quit" the Company Posted: 22 May 2013 09:09 AM PDT Rough waters ahead for HTC. My how the mighty have fallen. It seems hard to believe now, but HTC was once a top dog in mobile. Having led the Android revolution with the introduction of the HTC Dream (you may know it as the T-Mobile G1), HTC for a long while was reporting record revenues and profits. More recently, however, HTC's been struggling to remain relevant in a category (mobile) that's largely dominated by Apple and Samsung, and it's slumping sales bear that out. Equally troubling for HTC as it tries to right its ship is that its crew is turning against it and jumping overboard. Eric Lin, former product strategy manager at HTC, took to Twitter to encourage other employees to quit, suggesting he's much happier after having done so himself. "To all my friends still at HTC -- just quit. Leave now. It's tough to do, but you'll be so much happier, I swear," Lin tweeted earlier this week. There are some funny comments that follow, including one that reads, "I like your subtlety; I almost didn't get that you were telling everyone at HTC to quit," but this is no laughing matter for HTC. Lin isn't the only one to jump ship. So did former chief product officer Kouji Kodera, who HTC said left to "pursue other interests," along with several others from marketing and communications positions, AllThingsD reports. The timing of the departures stinks for HTC, which is trying to reverse course and focus its efforts on building and marketing a small number of killer devices rather than bombard consumers with dozens of different models. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case Now Available in White Posted: 22 May 2013 07:39 AM PDT It's bigger on the inside You would be hard pressed to list mini-ITX cases capable of accommodating up to six 3.5"/2.5" hard drives. We also can't think of too many, but we do know that Swedish company Fractal Design's Node 304 is definitely one such deceptively spacious case — the Tardis of PC cases, if you will. The Node 304 has been on the market for quite a while now and, as some of you might recall, recently we even told you about a CyberPowerPC machine that uses it. But until now there was one big problem: it was only available in black. Thankfully,  Fractal Design has finally expanded the color options and the minimalist case is now also available in white. The Node 304, which has an MSRP of $89.99, can hold a lot of other things besides all those hard drives. Here are some technical specs: Mini ITX, DTX motherboard compatibility Two expansion slots Six 3.5" or 2.5" HDD / SSD ATX PSUs, up to 160mm in length (To fit in combination with a long graphics card, PSUs with modular connectors on the back typically need to be shorter than 160 mm) Graphics cards, up to 310mm in length, when 2 HDD brackets are removed (Graphics cards longer than 170 mm will conflict with PSUs longer than 160mm) Tower CPU coolers, up to 165 mm tall Includes three Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fans and a three-speed fan controller Fan filter for graphics card Two USB 3.0 ports on the front ( includes internal USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter) Case dimensions (W x H x D): 250 x 210 x 374 mm Case volume: 19,5 Liters Net weight: 10.8lb Follow Pulkit on Google+

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MMO Updates

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• Age of Conan announces 5th anniversary event, new membership perks
• A tale of Forgotten Realms: DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy
• TUG offers your own private island with your rules
• The Art of Wushu: Learning the basics of combat
• The Daily Grind: How do you handle a closed MMO still on the shelf?
• Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says
• Blizzard congratulates itself on Diablo III's anniversary
• Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions
• Jukebox Heroes: Character select music
• MechWarrior Online introduces new map in which players can die painfully
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Catching crabs in Guild Wars 2
• EVE Online redesigns radial menu for Odyssey
• Massively Speaking Episode 249: Captain Grumpypants
• RIFT introduces loyalty rewards program for dedicated players
• World of Warcraft patch 5.3 goes live today
• Guild Wars 2 developers share APIs, hopes for the future
• Hyperspace Beacon: Does SWTOR's F2P work?

Age of Conan announces 5th anniversary event, new membership perks Posted: 22 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Events (In-Game), News Items, Free-to-Play, Anniversaries Just because it's a tough and gritty world in Age of Conan doesn't mean folks don't know how to celebrate. In fact, Funcom has announced fitting festivities for the fifth anniversary of this fierce fantasy world. Each day for five days starting Thursday, May 23rd, a new epic boss will begin roaming the lands of Hyboria, and each day that a boss remains unconquered it will increase its level of brutality. On the flip side, the chance for epic rewards for defeating one also increases by the day. All players, regardless, of level can join in the fight to take these monsters down, and everyone will have a chance at the rewards. As anniversary gifts, all players will receive a one-week pass to Khitai as well as other items that can be claimed from the item shop. Members will receive a double item store discount throughout the five-day event as well as a special gift. Starting tomorrow, membership will include account-wide double xp items, 200 bonus points per month, and a bonus AA point for every level (granted retroactively). Interested in becoming a member? Funcom is also offering a special deal through May 30th granting 50% more time with multi-month subscriptions. Age of Conan announces 5th anniversary event, new membership perks originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Anniversary announcement

A tale of Forgotten Realms: DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy Posted: 22 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Expansions, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, Races Dungeons and Dragons Online's second expansion will not be like the first. In fact, Shadowfell Conspiracy might even be seen as a pseudo-sequel to DDO, a game-within-a-game that's offering players a fresh start in a favorite land. When the expansion hits on August 19th, players will be able to ignore all of DDO's Eberron content to start a new character at level 15 in the Forgotten Realms. Between the Forgotten Realms content that Turbine's added to the game in the past year and the new missions coming with Shadowfell Conspiracy, players could conceivably level solely in this setting. It's obvious that Turbine's a little Forgotten-Realms-mad right now, although that's not a bad thing. The setting is a favorite among D&D fans, and while Eberron has its supporters, the studio obviously sees the Forgotten Realms as the future of this long-running MMO. While the expansion is still a couple of months away, today's Update 18: Disciples of Shadow update will serve as a prologue so that players can get started on their journey through this fresh land. We sat down with DDO's team to talk about Update 18, the new races coming with Shadowfell Conspiracy, and the pre-purchase program that promises to give you head start. Read on, or else the wrath of the owl bear will be upon thee! Continue reading A tale of Forgotten Realms: DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy A tale of Forgotten Realms: DDO's Update 18 and the Shadowfell Conspiracy originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

TUG offers your own private island with your rules Posted: 22 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, New Titles, Miscellaneous, Sandbox, Crowdfunding In Nerd Kingdom's The Untitled Game (TUG), the focus is on complete freedom. One of those freedoms is the ability for anyone to make his or her own server in the form of a floating island with any rules. Official servers are broken into two categories: Survival, where your items are not safe, and Adventure, which follows more of a traditional RPG/MMO ruleset. But in the private servers, your floating islands will be yours to do with as you please. TUG is currently still in its Kickstarter campaign with 9 days and around $75,000 to go before the project is funded. Head on over to its Kickstarter update page to learn more about private islands and the other features found in this sandbox game. TUG offers your own private island with your rules originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: TUG Kickstarter update #18

The Art of Wushu: Learning the basics of combat Posted: 22 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, Game Mechanics, PvP, Free-to-Play, Guides, Age of Wushu, The Art of Wushu, MMORPG Many readers balked when I said Age of Wushu had the best combat in an MMO ever back when I did my first impressions piece. I admit, it was a bold claim. However, even after playing Guild Wars 2, TERA, and numerous other games with "deep MMO combat," I stand by what I said back then. Age of Wushu's PvP combat is the best in any MMO. If you're coming from a mostly MMO background, combat in Age of Wushu is a bit daunting at first. It's really nothing like combat in any other MMO. It has a bit slower pace than a typical action-MMO, but it is the first to really employ tempo control. Attacking recklessly is a patch to a quick defeat, forcing players to make tough tactical decisions. If you're like me and came to MMOs from a fighting game background, things readily click into place. Baiting common reactions and punishing them, punishing actions on reaction, and getting in the head of your opponent is better-rewarded than in any other MMO combat system. I don't want to badmouth games like GW2 that have great combat, so don't get me wrong; many other games have excellent combat. Age of Wushu's battle system is just even more fantastic. When I win a fight against an even-leveled opponent (or higher level, though that's rare) without taking an unblocked hit, I feel like a total beast. Continue reading The Art of Wushu: Learning the basics of combat The Art of Wushu: Learning the basics of combat originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: How do you handle a closed MMO still on the shelf? Posted: 22 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, The Daily Grind, Sunsets No, that header picture wasn't taken in 2007; it was taken 4 days ago at a Walmart near me. What's even better is the fact that I took a similar picture about two years ago of the same product in the same store, but nothing's ever been done about it. The question is, is it up to me to tell the store clerks about how wrong this is, or do I contact someone higher up at Walmart? Perhaps I should go straight to NCsoft with this one? I can't imagine the dismay in a child's eyes when he buys the game, rips it open and installs it, only to find out that no Bane will be dropping down in front of his leech gun any time soon. Think of the children! So, wise Massively readers, how would you handle this situation? Or have you seen a closed game on a store shelf before? Did you report it? Let us know! 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: How do you handle a closed MMO still on the shelf? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says Posted: 21 May 2013 11:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Screenshots, Video, Classes, Economy, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Previews, PvP, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, Events (Massively's Coverage), WildStar, Crafting, Housing, Player-Generated Content, MMORPG So who wants to hear some cool stuff about WildStar? Thought so! Massively's Gavin Townsley recently attended a WildStar media event in San Francisco, at which he was treated to a hands-on look at the upcoming sci-fantasy MMORPG's Scientist path and Esper class. He also chatted with Carbine Studios executive producer Jeremy Gaffney, who pulls a Gaffney (I'm coining that) and can't resist leaking a bit of new info about tradeskills while filling Gavin in on how endgame will work, why we should play the Settler path, and whether talent trees are passé. If you think making 10 pairs of cotton space pants sounds boring, then yeah -- you're going to like what he's got to say. Enjoy all three articles plus the brand-new path videos we've embedded past the cut! Hands-on with WildStar's Scientist path and Esper class There is something exciting about taking your first steps into the mysteries of a new planet. I was anxious to mingle with the locals, analyze artifacts, and even pick a few plants -- that is, until I saw a flower burst from the ground as a giant vine-like beast. WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on the Settler path WildStar's Settlers don't just build bonfires for sappy Explorers to sing around; these titans of construction will save you time in dungeons, establish bigger outposts, and open up new realms of quests for everyone. WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on progression, tradeskills, and endgame Jeremy Gaffney divulges the beautiful details on essential parts of the game: character progression, tradeskills that don't suck, and life in the elder game. Continue reading Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 May 2013 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard congratulates itself on Diablo III's anniversary Posted: 21 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, Diablo III, Anniversaries Diablo III is a year old, and Blizzard's celebratory anniversary gesture is one of those mile-long infographic things featuring selected statistics designed to make you ooh and ahh. Said statistics include 67.1 million characters created world-wide, 3.3 trillion monsters killed world-wide, and 22.4 million characters that have killed Diablo. Interestingly, Blizzard left off the number of hours lost to launch server login issues, nor is there any mention of D3's much-maligned real-money auction house. You can see the full graphic after the break. Continue reading Blizzard congratulates itself on Diablo III's anniversary Blizzard congratulates itself on Diablo III's anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: PC Gamer

Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions Posted: 21 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Previews, News Items, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, First Impressions, Dragon's Prophet I don't have many fond memories from Runes of Magic. I didn't play it long, and the thing I recall most vividly is being forced to hunt around Runewaker's cash shop for an item that would let me talk in global chat. Fortunately, negative vibes like that didn't affect my recent hands-on with Dragon's Prophet's beta, which, in case you're wondering, is Runewaker's followup to Runes of Magic. Unfortunately, I don't think the new game in its present state is quite ready for prime time. Continue reading Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions Massively's Dragon's Prophet first impressions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jukebox Heroes: Character select music Posted: 21 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: City of Heroes, EverQuest II, Final Fantasy XI, The Chronicles of Spellborn, Vanguard, Miscellaneous, WildStar, Jukebox Heroes, Music Character select and creation music has always fascinated me. OK, maybe not fascinated; it's interested me. I've always viewed such themes as the overture of the game, the interlude between the title theme and the game proper to come. These themes don't tend to be rip-roaring in their presentation because that's not their purpose. They have to be pleasant enough without being annoying when looped endlessly. After all, sometimes players spend a loooong time making their characters or sitting there at the select screen, and the last thing you want is for their ears to become fatigued by the experience. So here are six MMO character select and character creation themes that I've enjoyed over the years. And if you saw the title graphic up there and immediately started hearing this song in your head, then you and I probably grew up in the same era. Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Character select music Jukebox Heroes: Character select music originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MechWarrior Online introduces new map in which players can die painfully Posted: 21 May 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, Patches, News Items, War, Free-to-Play, MechWarrior Online MechWarrior Online's newest map, the Canyon Network, is riddled with slot canyons, steep drops, and high plateaus. As part of MWO's latest update, the Canyon Network is meant to provide a playground for snipers and strategic thinkers. The Blackjack has been named as the new Mech of the Month, with the Jenner donning the mantle of Champion Mech. As part of the content update, new cobra camo patterns and faction cockpit medallions have been added to the store. Skip below the cut to check out videos of the new Canyon Network and the Blackjack in action. [Source: MWO press release] Continue reading MechWarrior Online introduces new map in which players can die painfully MechWarrior Online introduces new map in which players can die painfully originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Flameseeker Chronicles: Catching crabs in Guild Wars 2 Posted: 21 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles My goodness, that lady's bikini is awfully close to body tone from this far away, isn't it? If the sun and sandy beaches didn't give it away, I've spent most of the last week or so of Guild Wars 2 time in Southsun Cove. Karka Island! Sunny Orr! Whatever you call it, I hope we can all agree that Southsun Cove is a terrible place filled with awful monsters that nobody in their right mind, in-universe or otherwise, would ever want to visit without the lure of titles and shiny -- literally, one of them glows, and the other glistens -- backpieces. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Catching crabs in Guild Wars 2 Flameseeker Chronicles: Catching crabs in Guild Wars 2 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Online redesigns radial menu for Odyssey Posted: 21 May 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, Subscription In looking to trim down some of the menu bloat for EVE Online's Odyssey expansion, CCP Games is resurrecting and redesigning the radial menu to be a "silver bullet" for this issue. The updated radial menu will be connected to the underutilized left mouse button and is confined to eight segments that will change depending on what the user is clicking. The studio wrote up a blog post on the subject, promising that the redesign is intuitive and will result in faster access to relevant commands. Initially, the radial menu upgrade will be for ship flight only, although CCP is willing to expand its domain if players find it useful. This feature is currently available on the test server. EVE Online redesigns radial menu for Odyssey originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Radial menu redesign

Massively Speaking Episode 249: Captain Grumpypants Posted: 21 May 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous When a subscription MMO goes free-to-play, there's always a circus atmosphere surrounding it. The studios use it as an excuse to enjoy a "second launch," players pour out opinions on all sides, and new folks wander into the danger zone out of sheer curiosity. It's not just about F2P on this week's Massively Speaking; we have game launches, layoffs, previews, and tons of reader mail to cover. Will we have the words to do it? Or will we just end the podcast humming informatively? Jef's on it today, so there definitely will be a song and dance number at some point! Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 249: Captain Grumpypants Massively Speaking Episode 249: Captain Grumpypants originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

RIFT introduces loyalty rewards program for dedicated players Posted: 21 May 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Economy, Game Mechanics, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT RIFT is introducing an innovative new program that allows players to get items for free when they spend money or money-substitutes on other items! The new rewards program will give players Loyalty points as those players purchase or spend credits, subscribe as a Patron, or consume REX (RIFT's tradable currency that can be purchased for real-world money). Since REX is tradable between players, a particularly thrifty player could accrue loyalty points without ever spending a real-world dime in RIFT's store. Current and former subscribers will be awarded some Loyalty points based on how long they have been subscribed. Players will be able to use Loyalty to unlock exclusive costumes, the ability to change target icons, and unique dimensions. This is all part of RIFT's free-to-play initiative and will be going live on June 12th with RIFT 2.3: Empyreal Assault. RIFT introduces loyalty rewards program for dedicated players originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Introducing Loyalty

World of Warcraft patch 5.3 goes live today Posted: 21 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Patches, Endgame, News Items Another World of Warcraft patch day has come upon us. Patch 5.3, Escalation, is hitting the game today, bringing with it a whole host of changes from loot specialization to increased pet battle accuracy. The patch introduces a new Battleground, Deepwind Gorge, as well as a new Arena called The Tiger's Peak. Four new scenarios are being added, plus six new Heroic difficulties. The Escalation quest campaign adds new tasks for Alliance and Horde members as they prepare to remove Garrosh Hellscream from Orgrimmar. You can read the exhaustive patch notes on the official site, and you can catch up on all the nitty gritty details on patch 5.3 on our sister site, WoW Insider. World of Warcraft patch 5.3 goes live today originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Official round-up

Guild Wars 2 developers share APIs, hopes for the future Posted: 21 May 2013 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business Models, Culture, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play This morning, ArenaNet dropped the price point of Guild Wars 2 by $10 across all available editions. In a follow-up chat about some of the decisions behind that move, Game Director Colin Johanson talked a bit about community support, the game's regular update cadence, and the company's hopes for bringing Guild Wars 2 into new markets. While a $10 price drop is not an extreme move, Johanson is confident that the change will bring Guild Wars 2 to new people. The company seems to be currently focused on building up community support. Just yesterday, some APIs were made available to the public for the first time. We've already seen them put to use in real-time WvW tracking and event monitors. Johanson also talked about recent efforts to shore up the support for sPvP and how the additions of custom arenas and spectator mode has led to viewers for sPvP streams "more than doubling" in the last few weeks. The game appears to be moving towards a twice-monthly update schedule. Johanson said that while ArenaNet has "not ruled out" the idea of future expansions, the company is committed to the idea of the living story. Johanson mentioned that Guild Wars 2 is sitting solidly at "well over 3,000,000 copies sold" without tapping into the Chinese market. He added that the game just had its first closed beta test in China and that the team is optimistic. ArenaNet hopes to make the Chinese version of the game as similar as possible to the existing one. [Source: ArenaNet conference call] Guild Wars 2 developers share APIs, hopes for the future originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hyperspace Beacon: Does SWTOR's F2P work? Posted: 21 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Economy, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Ask Massively, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon Those of us who have played through the middle planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic know that chapter two is rather blasé. And as far as the free-to-play experiment is concerned, I really don't have anything new to report this week, or at least, not enough to fill a whole column. I will certainly have an update for you next week. This week, I'd like to talk about SWTOR's free-to-play model in general. Although the design team has received a lot of heat from fans and haters alike, the system does have merit along with legitimate flaws. I do like SWTOR, but I'm not ignorant enough to believe that everything the game designers have done is perfect. I am also not one to hate because the game wronged me a year and a half ago. No matter the game, I understand, given my three years reporting in the industry and many other years playing video games, that there will always be people who hate a game no matter what developers do to appease them. At the same time, there will always be those who love a game no matter what stupid thing the developers do and will see no wrong no matter what you say to try to convince them. I try to put myself somewhere in the middle. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Does SWTOR's F2P work? Hyperspace Beacon: Does SWTOR's F2P work? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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