General Gaming Article

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• 7 Pieces of Wearable Computing
• Are Smartphones Really Any Different?
• PS4 Material Cost Estimated to be $372
• Zotac Expands Zbox Mini PC Family into Haswell Territory
• AOL Pulling the Plug from Popular Winamp Player Next Month, Merry F***in' Christmas
• JPR Notes Second Quarter of Consecutive Growth in Graphics Chip Market
• Google to Open Six "Winter Wonderland" Pop-Up Stores to Demo Latest Products
• Gartner Sees an End to Big Declines in PC Shipments
• 1,000 Battlefield 4 Codes Up for Grabs, 'Like' AMD's Gaming Facebook Page for a Shot at One
• Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair HX Series 750W PSU, Asus Z87-Plus Motherboard, and More!

7 Pieces of Wearable Computing Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:56 PM PST Oculus Rift, Google Glass, and more! While we can't become androids by sticking microchips into the back of our necks just quite yet, we at least have some computing devices that we can wear. To honor some of these zany doodads, we decided to round up seven of the most interesting wearable computing devices. Do you think there is a strong future for wearable computing? Let us know in the comments below!

Are Smartphones Really Any Different? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 04:01 PM PST Breaking down the "advantages" smartphones have over PCs I recently bought a used computer from a friend. He had done a clean install of the OS before I started using it but something was still wrong. The battery kept running down far faster than it should have, the Wi-Fi reception was atrocious, and man, the occasional lag was horrible, and installing the Chrome browser killed performance. I had unfortunately installed all of my applications and didn't want to nuke it, but that's ultimately what I did, but only after booting into safe mode, erasing the system's cache—not once, but twice—and doing a complete reinstall of the OS, reformatting all of the drives and also running down the battery to recalibrate it. Are smartphones really all that different from PCs? I speak not of a used x86 laptop computer but of a used (but still practically new) Android smartphone. For the most part, the phone is performing where it should be now, but only after I spent four days trying to diagnose the problem and another day wiping it out and reinstalling. I still can't install the Chrome browser on it without performance going to hell, but I've given up on that one. My real-world anecdote is meant to counteract a common belief among the general population: Phones and tablets are better than PCs because they require zero maintenance and never break. I acknowledge that, for the most part, these mobile devices do generally work, but I also acknowledge that, for the most part, so does the average PC. And for the naysayers who'll contend that it was just an isolated event, or that I should have tried iOS, I challenge you to go to any cell phone carrier's website and cruise the support forums. People aren't there talking about sunshine and rainbows. They're pissed off and confused because X isn't doing Y. Don't tell us that phones don't have their fair share of issues as well. What's really a laugh is when people talk about how they're glad they're finally off the PC upgrade treadmill but then fawn over the latest eight-core phone with the 5-inch screen to replace the device they bought six months ago. What, the new GPU in the new SoC is 20 percent faster? Sign me up for another two-year contract! Let's not even get into the aspects of the OS upgrade lag. That's the time between when a new OS comes out and when the phone you bought five months ago finally gets it, some 15 months later, if you're lucky to get it at all. Finally giving up, the consumer just goes out and buys a new phone or tablet with the latest OS, instead. If the PC world worked like that, pitchforks and torches would line the road leading up to the castle overnight. If anything, maybe phones could learn a thing or two from the PC and provide timely security and OS updates to everyone, and actually work to improve drivers once in a while. Until then, while I still love my now-working phone, I still love my PC, too.

PS4 Material Cost Estimated to be $372 Posted: 20 Nov 2013 03:47 PM PST IHS says PS4 almost breaks even Sony's selling each PlayStation 4 at a slight loss according to an analysis by IHS. The preliminary findings list the total material cost at $372 with an additional $9 manufacturing cost. Add in other expenses (like marketing and shipping costs) and the PS4 isn't profitable yet without the sale of additional accessories and games at its $399 price point. At launch, the PS3 cost Sony $840.35 to build, with a total material cost of $805.85. They were sold for $499 and $599—a significant loss.  Sony tried hard to cut manufacturing costs with the PS4. These cost saving measures mainly revolve around the falling price of optical drives and the integrated design of the PS4 which reduced the number of components. The relatively low starting cost of the system is good news for Sony with material costs expected to decrease over the lifespan of the console.  It's interesting to see just how fast some of the component prices have dropped. The 120GB hard drive in the PS3 cost Sony $38 whereas the 500GB drive in the PS4 is $1 cheaper at $37. Similarly, the optical drive in the PS3 cost $66 and is now only $28 in the PS4. The RAM might be more expensive, but that's because of the high price of GDDR5 memory. Follow Ben on Twitter.

Zotac Expands Zbox Mini PC Family into Haswell Territory Posted: 20 Nov 2013 01:42 PM PST Three new Zbox SKUs welcome Haswell to the mini PC party Zotac today announced a trio of new Zbox mini PCs built around Intel's 4th Generation Core processor (Haswell) family. Given the improvements in power management that Haswell brings to the table compared to previous generation processors, in addition to the other architectural upgrades, mini PCs are a logical choice for Intel's latest chips. In this case, Zotac opted to go with the Core i3 4130T (dual-core, 2.9GHz), Core i5 4570T (dual-core, 2.9-3.6GHz), and Core i7 4770T (quad-core 2.5.GHz-3.7GHz) processors. The Core i3 4130T is found in the new Zbox ID91, which also comes with two DDR3-1600 DIMM slots, 2.5-inch SATA port, Intel HD Graphics 4400, HDMI and DVI display options, 4-in-1 memory card reader, dual LAN ports, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and a few other odds and ends. Intel's Core i5 4570T processor is found in the ID92. It also comes with two DDR3-1600 DIMM slots, a 2.5-inch SATA port dual GbE LAN ports, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and 4-in-1 memory card reader, as well as Intel HD Graphics 4600, mSATA interface, dual DisplayPort and DVI-I connectivity, and four USB 3.0 ports. Finally, you'll find the Core i7 4770T in the Zbox IQ01, which shares the same feature-set as the ID92. All three configurations can be purchased in "Plus" versions, which come pre-populated with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

AOL Pulling the Plug from Popular Winamp Player Next Month, Merry F***in' Christmas Posted: 20 Nov 2013 01:09 PM PST Turn out the lights, the party's over This may come as a shock to the system, but effective December 20, 2013, Winamp will become a ghost of the Internet's past. AOL, which bought Winamp in 1999 for $80 million, has decided to shut down the popular media player service just five days before Christmas, officially ending a better than 15-year run as one of the most well regarded media players among power users. Winamp and all associated web services will cease to exist past December 20th. Additionally, AOL will no longer host downloads, though with the wealth of third-party download sites in cyberspace, we're sure it won't be all that difficult to find. If you want to play it on the safe side, however, you'll want to download the latest -- and last -- version before that date, AOL stated on Winamp's website. Arstechnica confirmed the announcement with Geno Yoham, Winamp's general director, though he declined to go into detail at this time, as did AOL. "Such a bummer. AOL had been trying to sell it for months. I even looked at it. Spinner was shut down first, it's the end of Music 1.0," venture capitalist Josh Felser, who founded Spinner.com, told Arstechnica. Former employees estimate that Winamp was pulling in around $6 million per year. The service also has millions of users around the world, though the general concensus is that it could have been much bigger if not for mismanagement. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

JPR Notes Second Quarter of Consecutive Growth in Graphics Chip Market Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:11 PM PST Intel, Nvidia emerges as winners in Q3 Overall graphics shipments rose 1.6 percent in the third quarter of 2013, marking the second consecutive quarter of positive growth, according to the latest data by Jon Peddie Research. At the same time, shipments in Q3 were down 8.8 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, JPR said. Q3 is typically when retailers stock up inventory for the holiday shopping season, and though the gain this quarter was smaller than in pre-2008 years, it still ended on a positive note. The three major players are AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. AMD's overall unit shipments decreased 4.2 percent sequentially, while Intel and Nvidia gained 3.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Total discrete GPU (desktop and notebook) shipments were mostly flat from last quarter with a negligible gain of 0.12 percent, and down 18.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago due to "problems plaguing the overall PC industry," JPR said. Overall, discrete GPU shipments are trending downwards with a CAGR from 2012 to 2016 of -5.7 percent. All tallied, Intel now holds a 63 percent share of the GPU market, versus 61.8 percent a quarter ago and 60 percent last year. AMD is in a distant second with a 20.7 percent share, down from 22 percent last quarter and down from 21 percent last year. In third place is Nvidia with a 16.3 percent, virtually unchanged from last quarter (16.2 percent) and down from 18.6 percent a year ago. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Google to Open Six "Winter Wonderland" Pop-Up Stores to Demo Latest Products Posted: 20 Nov 2013 09:47 AM PST Opening pop-up stores during the holidays is becoming a thing It's getting easier than ever to spend some hands-on time with today's tech gadgets before committing to ordering them online. For example, both Samsung and Apple have dedicated sections in most Best Buy retail locations to show off their respective wares, Microsoft has retail stores all across the country, and Intel is opening up pop-up stores for holidays. Now Google is getting in on the action. Pop-up stores are becoming a trend during holidays, and just in time for this holiday shopping season, Google plans to open six of its own. They're called "Winter Wonderlabs" and they'll open in New York City, Chicago, New Jersey, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. "Experience Google's new gadgets -- from Nexus 7 to Chromecast to the latest Chromebooks -- all in one place," Google says. "Take a break from the mall madness and listen to music, watch videos, play games, or browse web." In addition to showcasing Google's latest gear, each store will have a large snow globe with fake snow where customers can take videos of themselves. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Gartner Sees an End to Big Declines in PC Shipments Posted: 20 Nov 2013 09:07 AM PST Yes, tablets and traditional PCs can coexist in the market place You may find yourself wanting to gouge your eyeballs out with a used grapefruit spoon every time you see a headline declaring the end the end of the PC era. We're willing to concede that tablets and even smartphones have cut into traditional PC sales the last several quarters, and we haven't been shy about covering the decline in shipments, but the numbers just don't support the notion that the PC as you know is dead. Furthermore, at least one market research firm believes the market is close to bottoming out. Let's back up a moment. In October, Gartner said that combined desktop, notebook, and ultramobile shipments were on pace to top 321.6 million units in 2013, versus 184.4 million tablet shipments. In 2014, Gartner expects PC shipments to stay virtually flat with 321.4 million shipments, while tablets enjoy continued growth with 263.2 million shipments. The way we see it, tablets aren't replacing PCs, they're coexisting with them. Not only that, Gartner analyst Tracy Tsai told The Wall Street Journal that the days of double-digit declines in PC shipments are coming to an end. Tsai and company predict PC shipments will slow in the fourth quarter of 2013 to a 3 percent year-on-year drop, much better than the 8.6 percent decline noted in the third quarter. "The decline is at a much slower rate," Tsai said. "The global economy is stabilizing. Also, there will be more lower-cost, aggressively priced two-in-one (tablet with a keyboard) devices that are being launched in the second half of this year, which should help demand." This is all good news for an industry that's struggling to figure out how best to leverage both mobile and traditional PC sales. Acer Chairman J.T. Wang recently resigned after his company posted a record loss, and Michael Dell bought back the company he founded and made it private so that he wouldn't have to answer to shareholders. Meanwhile, Lenovo continues to post strong quarters with impressive desktop, notebook, and mobile PC sales figures. In any event, the bottom line here is that the days of declining PC shipments seem to be nearing an end. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

1,000 Battlefield 4 Codes Up for Grabs, 'Like' AMD's Gaming Facebook Page for a Shot at One Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:15 AM PST Entries must be submitted prior to December 2, 2013 When AMD originally announced its expanded game bundles for the holiday season, there was a bit of confusion surrounding which Radeon R9 Series product owners would receive a free copy of Battlefield 4. The original wording made it sound like anyone who purchased an R9 Series card starting on November 13th would be eligible, as long as it was from a participating vendor, but AMD later clarified that it would be up to each individual hardware partner and retailer to decide which SKUs qualify. To make up for the miscommunication, and also as a 'Thank You' to gamers who purchased a card prior to November 13th, AMD said it would be giving away 1,000 free copies of Battlefield 4. Here's how you can toss your name into AMD's hat for a shot at getting one. Simply "Like" the AMD Gaming page on Facebook prior to December 2, 2013 at 12 PM Eastern and you will be automatically entered to win a free copy of BF4. If you already "Like" the page, you can still enter by "Liking" the original comment post. That's all there is to it. AMD will then randomly select 1,000 winners on December 3. Have a question? See if it's answered among the legal mumbo jumbo in AMD's Rules and Conditions page related to the giveaway. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair HX Series 750W PSU, Asus Z87-Plus Motherboard, and More! Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:31 AM PST Top Deal: What's that you say, you're not building a $16,000 Dream Machine or a rig that rivals the Large Pixel Collider with four GeForce Titan graphics cards stuffed inside? Fair enough, we can't blame you for going the sensible route when nagging little things like a mortage and sending the kids to college eat away at the budget. And if you're not building a monster-sized system, then you probably don't need to overspend on a PSU with enough wattage to light up the state of Texas. Still with us? Then check out today's top deal for a Corsair HX Series HX750 750W Power Supply for $105 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code [EMCWWWL23]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). That might still be more PSU than you need, but for the price, it's hard to beat the feature-set consisting of modular cables, 80 Plus Gold certification, and Haswell support. Other Deals: Asus Z87-Plus LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard for $145 with free shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCWWWL34]) Corsair HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready for $105 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code: [EMCWWWL23]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX for $110 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCWWWL22]) Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $80 with free shipping (normally $110) G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C11D-8GAB for $68 with free shipping (normally $75 - use coupon code: [EMCWWWL29])

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MMO Updates

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• Age of Conan unchains three dungeons in overhaul
• Lord of the Rings Online posts Helm's Deep release notes
• The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds
• Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day
• The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?
• The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II
• RIFT's single most engaged in activity is artifact harvesting
• Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia
• Use your car as a bomb in APB: Reloaded
• Tree of Savior preview sparks imagination with complex class combos
• Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack
• Novus AEterno announces Kickstarter campaign, expected to launch in 'next six months'
• Star Citizen passes $28 million, 300K backers
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour
• Elder Scrolls Online beta keys are going out now
• Marvel Heroes now has PvP
• The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft
• 'Classic MMORPG' Arcane Hearts launches
• Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter
• Blade and Soul adds servers in China
• The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea

Age of Conan unchains three dungeons in overhaul Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, News Items, Free-to-Play, Dungeons Age of Conan players wanting more challenge in their dungeons have three more choices on the Unchained circuit. The Halls of Eternal Frost, The Scorpion Cave, and The Caravan Raiders Hideout have all received a major overhaul and have new Unchained modes to up the difficulty ante. Of course, new modes means more endgame loot! Besides what raiders and dungeon-divers will find in the dungeons themselves, those who a complete the full tier of Unchained dungeons are rewarded with a chance at some of the best dungeon loot in the game courtesy of a new mastery quest. Additionally, more treasures can be found in a variety of other dungeons throughout Hyboria. Age of Conan unchains three dungeons in overhaul originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Dungeon overhaulTwitter

Lord of the Rings Online posts Helm's Deep release notes Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Launches, News Items, Free-to-Play Now that launch day for Helm's Deep is finally here, you'll still have to wait until Lord of the Rings Online patches before you can dive in. So while you wait, you can peruse the expansion's official release notes to see what's in store once your launchpad finally gives you the green light to play. The tidbits of information you'll find range from music to housing, classes to travel, and stats to crafting. For instance: music files to play now load properly on a Mac; players can send bags of coins through shared storage instead of the mail; housing chests can be expanded; stat caps have been adjusted; and monster players have access to six additional corruption slots. And that's just scratching the surface. There's even a category of known issues to give players a heads-up. So stroll on through the notes and prepare for the ride through Western Rohan. Lord of the Rings Online posts Helm's Deep release notes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Helm's Deep release notes

The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Historical, Patches, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Age of Wushu, The Art of Wushu, MMORPG Last time, I mentioned that I might talk about the new school instances in Age of Wushu's Infinite Scrolls expansion, but the truth is that very little is known. I haven't done them (I'm guildless and I'm not really looking), and the guilds that have done them are very closed-mouthed about what is in the dungeons. I've heard they're pretty easy, if it's any condolence. However, I do have something more fun to talk about, and that's killing other people. You guys may have noticed, but I like PvP a lot. Infinite Scrolls released a new system called Big Jianghu that rewards people for open-world PvP. I have wanted more consequences for PKing for a long time, so I was really excited about this feature. Unfortunately, as with many things in the new expansion, I was bound to be disappointed. Continue reading The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds The Art of Wushu: Rewarding good and bad deeds originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Choose My Adventure, Neverwinter, Player-Generated Content This past weekend, I believe I've worked out all the mechanics I will need to complete our Neverwinter Foundry quest. It contains a total of three boss fights. I don't want to give any spoilers at this point, but I'll say that one of them has a very cool mechanic that I made using the Foundry story tree. I admit that at first I saw only the limitations of the Foundry, but after diving in full-steam this weekend, I've realized that some of the tools are quite robust. One of my favorite tools is the dialogue tree. There are a few limitations on what dialogue can affect, but if you think outside the box as some creators have, you can actually make varying levels of difficulty for your dungeons or even allow players to bypass some content. Today's Choose My Adventure is a bit different from the norm. I've included the first half of my script for the quest after the break. There is no poll this time, but that doesn't mean that I don't want your input. After all, we are making this Neverwinter quest together. After you've read through the script, give your suggestions on possible changes in the comments -- I will certainly consider all of them. Enjoy! Continue reading Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day Choose My Adventure: On such a Neverwinter's day originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Expansions, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous It looks to be a good fall if you love MMO expansions, as they're all over the place. EVE Online fans have Rubicon, Lord of the Rings Online adventurers hope to dive into Helm's Deep, EverQuest II Ratongas are chewing up Tears of Veeshan, and the EverQuest faithful have Call of the Forsaken to conquer. And that's not even to mention the upcoming Galactic Starfighter for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Lineage II: Valiance. That's a lot of new content to explore, but only if you're in those particular games. So sound off: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? 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: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II Posted: 19 Nov 2013 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Classes, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Livestream, The Stream Team Character creation was never easy for Massively's MJ (Ratonga. No, Kerra. No, Ratonga... bah!), but at least this time around, the class choice was a given! She's always been partial to healers and pets, so how could she not give the newest addition to EverQuest II a whirl? It may have taken all week, but MJ's all set to go with her brand-new Channeler. Now all that's left to do is watch her figure out just exactly how poking things with an arrow is supposed to make people feel better! Join us live at 9:00 p.m. to watch this new healing in action, or even better, join us on the Antonia Bayle server and be a part of the adventures. Game: EverQuest II Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Tuesday, November 19th, 2013 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II The Stream Team: Channeling my inner healer in EverQuest II originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

RIFT's single most engaged in activity is artifact harvesting Posted: 19 Nov 2013 05:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Dev Diaries Trion data guru Barish Orhon is the author of the latest RIFT-centric dev blog. The piece touches on Trion's propensity for collecting game-related data and using it to improve the player experience. Topics include data collection systems as well as insight into the firm's daily activity report. Said report tells Trion "how a game is doing day-to-day, week-to-week, but it also breaks down every in-game activity by user." The post also provides a couple of interesting case studies as well as the answer to what is RIFT's single most engaged in activity (harvesting artifacts). RIFT's single most engaged in activity is artifact harvesting originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Dev blog

Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia Posted: 19 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Lineage 2, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Races Lineage II fans will have more than just a virgin continent and additional raids to contend with as the game expands with Valiance; they'll also have a brand-new race called the Ertheia to play. NCsoft officially revealed the Ertheia today, showing the fleet-footed "mystical" people to the entire world. So who are the Ertheia? Let's go to the official press release for help on that: "While a lot is still unknown about Ertheia and the impact they will have on the world, it can be rightly assumed that they will be quickly drawn into the ongoing conflict in Aden." Wait, that's no help at all. The Ertheia won't be released until next year to coincide with Lineage II's 10th anniversary in North America. You can watch the reveal trailer after the jump. [Source: NCsoft press release] Continue reading Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia Check out Lineage II's newest race, the Ertheia originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Use your car as a bomb in APB: Reloaded Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Real-Life, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, All Points Bulletin APB: Reloaded's latest dev update is here. Items on the discussion agenda include two new specialist contacts featuring 20 levels of high-end player progression as well as vehicle updates. Said updates grant you the ability to specialize in combat, whether it be via the mobile radar tower ability that highlights nearby enemies or the remote detonator that "turns your beloved vehicle into a bomb on wheels." Read all about it at the official APB Reloaded dev blog. Use your car as a bomb in APB: Reloaded originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Dev blog

Tree of Savior preview sparks imagination with complex class combos Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, Previews Take 80 classes -- some of which are hidden in the game world -- complex stats, and tons of skills, and then allow players to mix-and-match them. Chaotic? Genius? Tree of Savior might be both and then some. Steparu.com has translated a recent interview with IMCGames to pull some of the details about this Korean title. Tree of Savior has an interesting package that might be worth checking out above and beyond the intricate character development and its attractive visuals. The game will feature large maps, over 200 monster types, and automatic party formation and disbanding. Tree of Savior is scheduled to start limited focus testing in February 2014 in South Korea as the developer continues its hunt for a publisher. If you haven't already, you can check out the official trailer to get a feel for what this title has to offer. Tree of Savior preview sparks imagination with complex class combos originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Steparu.com

Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack Posted: 19 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-Play, Jukebox Heroes, Music Well this was a particularly pleasant surprise! As the resident Lord of the Rings Online writer around these here parts, I've been pretty excited about this week's Helm's Deep release. I totally did not expect Turbine to give away the entire soundtrack for free on SoundCloud a week ago, especially after selling Riders of Rohan's score as a digital album. But that's what happened, and I am very much not complaining. While the esteemed Chance Thomas did not compose the second part of the Rohan saga, the studio did make the effort to create an original score in-house instead of just rehashing previous tracks. The result is an album of 25 new tunes for us to evaluate in anticipation of the next chapter of LotRO. So I threw out my original plans for this week's column, microwaved up some coffee, and gave the new score a listen. It was difficult narrowing the field down to six standout tracks, but the coffee was strong and so was my will. Let's take a listen through Helm's Deep, shall we? Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Novus AEterno announces Kickstarter campaign, expected to launch in 'next six months' Posted: 19 Nov 2013 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, News Items, MMORTS, Sandbox, Crowdfunding Taitale Studios has announced today that its upcoming MMORTS, Novus AEterno, is nearing completion and is "expected to launch within the next six months." In order to gather funding for the final stages of the game's development, the studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign that aims to raise $200,000 US over the course of the next 30 days. Of the campaign, Taitale CEO Nick Nieuwoudt states that the studio is "excited to make the supportive gamer community part of the [development] process and part of our success." If Novus AEterno sounds like the kind of game at which you'd like to throw some of your money (in exchange for some nifty backer rewards, of course), you can check out the official Kickstarter at the link below. And of course, to learn more about the game itself, just head on over to the official site. [Source: Taitale Studios press release] Novus AEterno announces Kickstarter campaign, expected to launch in 'next six months' originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Citizen passes $28 million, 300K backers Posted: 19 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, PvE, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play It wasn't very long ago that Star Citizen eclipsed the unheard of (at the time) $10 million crowdfunding mark. Less than six months later, Cloud Imperium's sci-fi space sim sandbox has nearly tripled that figure with a whopping $28 million-plus in funding and over 300,000 individual backers. CIG chairman Chris Roberts marked the latest milestone with a new installment of his traditional producer's letter. In it, he announced a new starter ship (the Mustang) and a bit of a change in the way further stretch goals will be handled. We are constantly asked where the additional money goes. Surely new mocap hardware or a new starship design doesn't cost a million dollars. The answer is that the stretch goals are an example: One big thing we will be doing with some of the money. Every additional million means that we're hiring additional artists and programmers, equipping the team with better development tools and increasing the size of the talented outsource groups being trusted with aspects of Star Citizen's development. It means more actors and time for mocap studios, more reference for designers, greater variety in game characters, more options in clothing and armor and a large array of ship items and weapons. Every dollar improves the project. That isn't as sexy as spending large amounts of money on impressive, headline-grabbing stretch goals... but it means a significantly better game in the end. So, for the next several stretch goals, we're going to leave you with the knowledge that the money goes to improving all aspects of Star Citizen's development. Instead of specifying some new development goal, we're going to add a new ship to the game as a reward. Star Citizen passes $28 million, 300K backers originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments $28 million

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour Posted: 19 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Endgame, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Buy-to-Play I'm super into the idea of open-world endgame zones, which is admittedly strange because my experience with them hasn't been great. They usually involve a lot of dying in terrible places, kill-stealing, and people tripping over one another in a way that creates centuries-long mutual hatreds. Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares zone manages to mostly avoid the latter two by virtue of ArenaNet's core game design choices, but the first appears to be a defining feature of the content. If you haven't yet found yourself pushing up toxic daisies while Scarlet's minions casually play board games on your corpse, you haven't... uh... lived. It's pretty awesome. That might sound strange, but when everything comes together the tower plays like a big, magnificent dungeon where parties can form on the fly. It follows, then, that it's a lot less painful when approached as a dungeon rather than as a zone where the goal is to race to the instance at the end. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Elder Scrolls Online beta keys are going out now Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, News Items, PvE, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription, MMORPG If you've been eagerly awaiting your chance to get in on ZeniMax's Elder Scrolls Online, you might want to check your inbox. The company has confirmed that additional beta invites are being sent out right this very moment and should be arriving shortly. ZeniMax also offered a heads-up: Check your spam filters and don't forget the Gmail "Promotions" tab. If you didn't receive a key, don't worry -- ZeniMax will be sending more out in the near future. Elder Scrolls Online beta keys are going out now originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments New Beta Invites

Marvel Heroes now has PvP Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:05 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Marvel Heroes, MOBA, MMORPG Gazillion Entertainment has announced that Marvel Heroes' PvP mode, titled Fire and Ice, is now live for all players. Fire and Ice pits two teams of five (where have we heard this one before) in a battle that requires the guarding/attacking of giants as well as the assaulting of the enemy team's base. Defeating giants and other players rewards runestones that can then be traded for buffs and other utilities. If you're curious about Fire and Ice, check out last week's dev-hosted livestream of the new game mode on the official Marvel Heroes Twitch channel. Marvel Heroes now has PvP originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments PvP has Arrived!

The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Hands-On, Final Fantasy XIV, Livestream, Dungeons, The Stream Team It's dungeon time in Final Fantasy XIV and this week's underground excursion is Tam-Tara Deepcroft, a dark, gloomy place harboring nasty monsters and a whole lot of trash pulls. Join Massively's Jasmine live at 3:00 p.m. EST for all of the gloomy monster fighting you could possibly want on a Tuesday afternoon! Game: Final Fantasy XIV Host: Jasmine Hruschak Date: Tuesday, November 19th, 2013 Time: 3:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below and a highlight of the dungeon's boss! Continue reading The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft The Stream Team: Diving into FFXIV's Tam-Tara Deepcroft originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

'Classic MMORPG' Arcane Hearts launches Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Browser Looking for a brand-new MMO to play today? G4Box probably wouldn't mind if you checked out Arcane Hearts, which transitioned from open beta to launch on this momentous date. Arcane Hearts is a self-described "classic MMORPG" that mixes medieval settings and mythological motifs. The free-to-play title works in a browser and challenges players to explore the world from an isometric perspective with three classes: Warrior, Mage, and Shaman. Among the standard features are guild battles to establish dominance, an auto-hunting function that allows you to "level efficiently" without the grind, and party teleport so that members can meet up with each other easily. G4Box is celebrating the launch with in-game events and giveaways. [Source: G4Box press release] 'Classic MMORPG' Arcane Hearts launches originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Expansions, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guides, Hyperspace Beacon For about a month now, I have been playing the new expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Galactic Starfighter. Granted, I haven't logged as many hours as some of those crazy people who have extensive guides on what each component does and how it compares to other similar components, but I have spent about 20 or so hours trying out different builds and testing my skills against other players. I certainly don't consider myself the best, but if I have the right equipment, I can hold my own. I've realized that not everyone jumping into SWTOR's new expansion will know what to do when getting started. I don't think I have to go over the basics like how to hop into your first match, but there are some things a person of average intelligence should know before tackling his first dog-fight. He should also set some goals for his first upgrades. I intend to help you out with that. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter Hyperspace Beacon: Getting started with SWTOR Galactic Starfighter originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blade and Soul adds servers in China Posted: 19 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, News Items, PvE, Rumors, Blade & Soul, Miscellaneous, MMORPG Blade and Soul's closed beta appears to be going quite well in China; Tencent has just expanded the number of live servers from 19 to 33. Additionally, rumors indicate that the Chinese version of the game will be entering open beta sometime in early December. No new info is available for western gamers waiting for Blade and Soul. The last update on the official site is dated December 5th, 2012 and claims that details will be delivered "when the time is right." NCSoft and Team Bloodlust are working on the western version of the title. Blade and Soul adds servers in China originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Steparu

The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea Posted: 19 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous While handing players the keys to a high-level character isn't something brand-new that studios are doing, it does seem to be more en vogue these days, from TERA to EverQuest II and now to World of Warcraft. It's a topic that has caused a lot of discussion and debate in the community, not to mention a lot of disquiet and dismay in my heart. In last week's Soapbox, Massively's Mike Foster advocated instant leveling by saying, "There is no downside to giving players a chance to skip to the start of new content." With much love and respect to my fellow Massively writer, I think Mike is completely wrong on this front, as are others that are giving a thumbs-up to any MMO that allows players to jump past content and into a high-level character. It has nothing to do with elitism and ego, as was suggested, but has everything to do with cheapening our mutual experience and the very foundation of MMOs. There are many, many downsides to this disturbing trend, and I need to get this off my chest so that at least I've said it somewhere. Continue reading The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea The Soapbox: Instant high-level characters are a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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