General Gaming Article

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• Linksys WRT1900AC Dual Band Wi-Fi Router is a Reincarnated (and Updated) WRT54G
• Quantenna QSR1000 MIMO Chipset Powers New Flagship RT-AC87U Router from Asus
• Lenovo's CES Blitz Part 1: Android Desktop, Cloud Storage Device, and ThinkVision 28 Smart Display
• Lenovo's CES Blitz Part 2: Y and Z Series Laptops, MIIX 2, and Refreshed ThinkPad X1 Carbon
• Lacie's Little Big Disk Combines SSD Storage with Thunderbolt 2 Connectivity

Linksys WRT1900AC Dual Band Wi-Fi Router is a Reincarnated (and Updated) WRT54G Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:30 PM PST This router packs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor Belkin has big plans for its Linksys acquisition, and it includes positioning the brand as an enthusiast name. More than just lip service, Linksys announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that it's bringing back one of the best selling routers of all time, the WRT54G, and giving it a makeover for the modern day Internet. Now known as the WRT1900AC, this dual-band wireless router wields a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM-based processor inside its familiar blue and black stackable chassis. It also sports four removable antennas, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports (one each), and an eSATA port. Why both connectivity options? Linksys tells Maximum PC that it decided to also include an eSATA port because it isn't as CPU intensive. Low power ARM processors tend to get overburdened by heavy USB 3.0 access, and the end result is that eSATA ends up being twice as fast as USB 3.0 (we wonder if this is also due to the host controller). Just like the popular WRT54G, the WRT1900AC will feature support for open-source firmware such as DD-WRT, Open WRT, and Tomato. It will also have 128MB of flash memory and 256GB of DDR3 RAM. "Our new Linksys WRT1900AC Wireless Router will be the most powerful router in its class on the market. We have spared no technology expense to make this router a prosumers' dream," said Mike Chen, vice president product management for Linksys. "The launch of the new WRT router is not only a celebration for the Linksys brand but for our customers too. We have brought back the WRT because our customers have asked for a router that had the reliability, functionality and open source capabilities but with today's AC wireless technology. The WRT1900AC is the result of all these requests." Indeed, Linksys has gone all out. As hinted by the model name, it supports speeds of up to 1.3Gbps on the 5GHz band and up to 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. You can't actually add them together for a super connection of sorts, but router makers like to market the combined speeds, hence 1900AC (1900Mbps total, 802.11ac). Look for the Linksys WRT1900AC to debut in the spring for $300 MSRP. Will it be worth it? You can bet we'll do our best to get our hands on one for a formal evaluation. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Quantenna QSR1000 MIMO Chipset Powers New Flagship RT-AC87U Router from Asus Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:02 PM PST 802.11ac speed with wired-like reliability If you haven't already, this will likely be the year you upgrade your home network to the 802.11ac spec. The market is quickly becoming littered with 802.11ac router options, including a new flagship model from Asus, the RT-AC87U. Asus jointly announced its new flagship part with Quantenna Communications, whose QSR1000 4x4 Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) powers what both companies claim is the world's fastest 802.11ac home router. Using Quantenna's QSR1000 chipset, Asus says its router can deliver up to 1.7Gbps on the 5GHz band (combined Wireless-AC and Wireless-N, no doubt). With Quantenna's "superior digital beamforming" technology, you can expect whole home coverage with wire-like reliability. "Our customers value high-performance Wi-Fi and know the impact a reliable wireless connection has on their ability to stream bandwidth-intensive data, including video content," said Tenlong Deng, associate vice president of Networking & Wireless Devices Business Unit for Asus. "As wireless devices in the home continue to increase and consumers' reliance on keeping connected at all times to live their daily lives is the norm, the importance people are putting on a great Wi-Fi experience is vastly elevated. That's why we are so pleased to create this latest flagship router product with Quantenna." Details are in short order, as are things like product images, pricing, and a release date, none of which Asus is willing to disclose at this time. However, we can speculate a little based on this being the company's new flagship router, a spot that was previously held by the RT-AC68U. That router offers up to 600Mbps in Wireless-N mode, has five GbE LAN ports, and dual USB ports (USB 2.0 and USB 3.0). We expect a similar feature-set out of the RT-AC87U. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Lenovo's CES Blitz Part 1: Android Desktop, Cloud Storage Device, and ThinkVision 28 Smart Display Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:01 PM PST Lenovo's bringing everything to CES but the kitchen sink One thing that's immediately evident from the rush of emails we've been receiving is that Lenovo, now the world's largest PC maker in terms of shipments, isn't planning to rest on its laurels. It's not all mobile products like smartphones and tablets, either. Lenovo is announcing so many PC-related products at this year's CES that we decided to break it up into two posts. This one will focus on a pair of ThinkVision displays, an Android all-in-one, and the company's first personal cloud storage device. ThinkVision 28 and ThinkVision Pro2840m Kicking off the announcements is the ThinkVision 28, a premium 28-inch display with a 4K (3840x2160) resolution. Unlike every other 4K display on the market, the ThinkVision 28 supports 10-point multi-touch. It also has multiple USB ports, three HDMI ports, a microSD card slot, audio ports, a DisplayPort, and even an Ethernet port. This isn't just a display. With the press of a button, the ThinkVision 28 turns into an Nvidia Tegra-powered Android 4:3 enabled premium entertainment center. Inside sits 2GB of RM, 32GB of storage, and full wireless capability including Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC support, Lenovo says. This one will be available in July 2014 starting at $999. Next up is the ThinkVision Pro2840m. This also boasts a 4K resolution along with 10-bit color, 300 nit brightness, and a 5ms response time. It has a full function stand that allows tilt, swivel, and rotate, and features connectivity options consisting of a DisplayPort, mini DisplayPort, HDMI (with MHL), and several USB ports. Look for this to ship in April starting at $799. A740 All-in-One and Beacon Personal Cloud Storage Lenovo is bringing to market its first personal cloud storage device called Beacon. The OEM says Beacon is intended for families or those who want to access their media library on the go. It lets users store and play back media from anywhere using their smartphone, PC, tablet, or TV. You can also upload files wirelessly or by using the built-in USB port. One of the main selling points here is that it's supposed to be easier than a NAS-storage type device, while still offering up to 6TB of storage. Beacon will be available in April starting at $199. Moving along, Lenovo announced the A740 all-in-one (AIO) with a 4mm thin display. It's supposedly the thinnest AIO in its 27-inch class, and unlike some other big-screen displays we've seen, the resolution isn't gimped down to Full HD -- this one wields a WQHD 2560x1440 resolution. It also has GeForce graphics, JBL speakers, 10-point touch support, NFC, up to 1TB of hard drive space, optional TV tuner, HDMI, and a few other odds and ends. This will ship in June starting at $1,499. Horizon 2 Table PC and N308 AIO While on the topic of AIOs, Lenovo's N308 is an affordable AIO starting at $450. It has a 19.5-inch display with a 1600x900 resolution, touchscreen support, 500GB hard drive, 720p webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an Nvidia Tegra quad-core processor. As such, it runs Android. The N308 will be available in February. Finally, Lenovo's hitting up the table PC category by launching the Horizon 2. This is a 27-inch system that measures just 19.5mm and has up to a 4th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, 10-finger touch support, and a few other goodies. When laid flat, the Horizon 2 loads up the Aura interface. It will be available in June starting at $1,499. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Lenovo's CES Blitz Part 2: Y and Z Series Laptops, MIIX 2, and Refreshed ThinkPad X1 Carbon Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:01 PM PST Don't expect Lenovo to lay dormant in 2014 This is the second of two posts outlining PC-related products Lenovo intends to show off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week (if you haven't already, check out Part 1). Lenovo is headed to the convention with guns-a-blazing, and in addition to everything that's been unveiled so far, the OEM will demo a new X1 Carbon ultrabook, a ThinkPad 8 tablet for professionals, some new laptops, and more. Yoga 2, MIIX 2, and Flex 14D/15D Starting with the laptops, Lenovo is bringing the Yoga back for a second act. The Yoga 2 gets smaller at 11 inches and 0.67 inches thin, wields more apps, and features up to a quad-core Intel Pentium processor. A 500GB hard drive comes standard. If you want something a little bigger, it will also be offered in a 13-inch model with Haswell processor options and a Full HD 1080p display. The 11-inch model will be available in January starting at $529 and the 13-inch in February starting at $999. Lenovo will launch a pair of convertible laptops, including the Flex 14D and 15D. Both will have up to an AMD A6 quad-core processor with Radeon graphics, and both can flip 180 degrees. These will be available in December starting at $499. Rounding out the convertible line are two MIIX 2 laptops, an 11-inch model and a 10-inch SKU. These have detachable designs and a flexible base that supports three different viewing modes. Both sizes come with a Full HD 1080p (1920x1200) display, the larger model featuring an IPS panel. The 10-inch model will be available in March starting at $499 and the 11-inch model in April starting at $699. ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad 8 Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon emerged as a fan favorite in the ultrabook category, and the refreshed model is being billed as the lightest 14-inch notebook in the world at just 2.8 pounds. It has better viewing angles than the original, an Adaptive Keyboard, Rapid Charge technology, and up to 9 hours of battery life. It's available now starting at $1,299. On the tablet side, Lenovo's ThinkPad 8 is a professionally-ready tablet with three modes: Use it as a tablet, connect to an optional keyboard base for Desktop Mode, or flip its optional Quickshot Cover to convert it into Tent Mode, Lenovo says. As for specs, it has an 8.3-inch Full HD 1080p display (1920x1200), Intel Bay Trial quad-core processor, up to 128GB of storage, micro USB 3.0 port, LTE connectivity, 8MP camera, and Windows 8 Pro. It will ship in late January for $449. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Lacie's Little Big Disk Combines SSD Storage with Thunderbolt 2 Connectivity Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST Fastest portable storage around Lacie has a lineup of products it plans to demo at CES in Las Vegas this week, and among them is the Little Big Disk, one of the first storage solutions enabled by Thunderbolt 2. According to Lacie, it's the fastest portable storage solution on the market. By stuffing high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) inside, the Little Big Disk delivers speeds up to 1375MB/s over Thunderbolt 2. That's several times faster than even the fastest mobile USB 3.0 solutions, made possible by combining a set of 500GB PCI-E Gen 2 SSDs in RAID 0. With all the speed, Lacie says users can stream and edit 4K or 3D video while in the field. No word yet on price, though Lacie says it will be available in the first quarter of 2014 and will come with a Thunderbolt cable. Lacie also announced Fuel, a portable and wireless hard drive for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It doesn't do Windows users any good, but if you own an iOS device, the Fuel adds 1TB of external storage that you can access wireless from your mobile gadget. That's enough storage to hold up to 500 movies, 160,000 songs, or 190,000 photos, Lacie says. It's also AirPlay compatible and has 10 hours of battery life. Fuel will be available soon for $199 MSRP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMO Updates

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• Rise and Shiny revisit: Istaria
• One Shots: All outta soul
• The Daily Grind: To what lengths will you go for 'free' limited-time goodies?
• LotRO players put on Winterstock 2014
• The Repopulation's lead dev featured in three-hour livestream
• Norrathian Notebook: Are membership changes a benefit to EQII players?
• Battle.net beefs up parental controls
• The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's horse year

Rise and Shiny revisit: Istaria Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Video, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Casual, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Anniversaries At this point it's a sure thing for me to revisit Istaria, the old-school MMO by Virtrium, every single year. I look forward to it each time even though the game always feels basically the same. I don't want to imply that the game doesn't change at all. In fact, the indie developer team that works to run the game should be proud of the frequency of communications and patches. Around seven patches (large and small) were applied to the game in the month of December alone. On the surface, however, the game largely plays the same way and features the same systems that it always has. That doesn't mean I am familiar with them all or have come anywhere near mastering them all, but it's a comfort to know that the game remains familiar to those who are returning after some time away. The team added a larger patch in December called Crystalshaper. The game also turned 10 years old, a feat in itself. I thought that now would be a perfect time to take another look at it, and I even ran a livestream of the game, co-hosted by Lead Designer Jason Murdick. Continue reading Rise and Shiny revisit: Istaria Rise and Shiny revisit: Istaria originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jan 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

One Shots: All outta soul Posted: 05 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Screenshots, Aion, Culture, One Shots, Champions Online, Allods Online, Blade & Soul, Miscellaneous Man, there are few things worse in the gaming world than to see players of other regions get a hold of titles that have yet to make it to your neck of the woods. First comes the flush of jealousy, then the slow burn of envy, then the mountaintop proclamation of vengeance upon the studio in the middle of a rainstorm. Reader Dynatos is one of the fortunate to be able to try out this particular game: "I've recently stepped back into Blade and Soul with the Chinese release, and while I'm not very far along into the game (it's a little tough when I don't understand the language!), I'm completely in love with the art style and combat mechanics. Here's my Kung Fu master looking at the foreboding building up the walkway -- not very inviting!" I WILL RAIN HOT DOOM UPON YOU NCSOFT! DOOM! Er, sorry, I just advanced to stage three. Continue reading One Shots: All outta soul One Shots: All outta soul originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jan 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: To what lengths will you go for 'free' limited-time goodies? Posted: 05 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I like to think of myself as a person who covets his time and won't spend it frivolously grinding, but once in a while I fall for it. "It" in this case being a limited-time event in an MMO where a particularly tantalizing reward is dangled in front of me. Common sense will flee and I'll find myself neck-deep in an obsessive grind to get this free goodie. Neverwinter was the most recent that trapped me. I couldn't help it, you see. There was the promise of a cute little healing fawn companion if I'd only go fishing during the winter event. That sounded pretty doable, that is until I hit hour five of non-stop carp capture and realized that I was in for a real grind marathon to pull this off. Very long story short, I got the fawn but really wish I hadn't wasted so many hours doing it. That's my story. What's yours? 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: To what lengths will you go for 'free' limited-time goodies? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Jan 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

LotRO players put on Winterstock 2014 Posted: 04 Jan 2014 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Events (In-Game), Free-to-Play, Player-Generated Content A new player event is coming to Lord of the Rings Online this month: Winterstock! To fit the season, Winterstock will take place at the frigid (yet welcoming) Thorin's Gate on the Landroval server from January 17th through the 20th. The four-day event will showcase 19 bands playing in one-hour blocks during the afternoons and evenings for entertainment and amusement. Winterstock could be seen as the counterpart to summer's Weatherstock, which has been going on for years now. The event is hosted by the Lonely Mountain Band and is available to all. A full schedule of the band times is up on the LOTRO Players site. LotRO players put on Winterstock 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments LOTRO Players

The Repopulation's lead dev featured in three-hour livestream Posted: 04 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, PvE, Sandbox, The Repopulation Can't get enough info about sci-fi indie sandbox The Repopulation? Here's a three-hour livestream featuring lead developer Joshua Halls that should quench your thirst, at least for a little while. The stream boasts a lengthy Q&A session as well as some never-before-seen footage in the form of world fly-throughs. The Repopulation is currently in closed alpha. The devs have also announced a second Kickstarter drive designed to fund additional gameplay features as well as a Greenlight campaign to increase exposure via Steam. The Repopulation's lead dev featured in three-hour livestream originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Twitch

Norrathian Notebook: Are membership changes a benefit to EQII players? Posted: 04 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Tattered Notebook, Norrathian Notebook While I had another, happier topic all ready to ring in the new year, SOE surprised us with a questionable decision this week that I felt necessitated an immediate response. So today we'll focus on this hot topic instead: All change is not good. And SOE's announced change in membership benefits for EverQuest II is really not good. Previously, with the removal of the remaining free-to-play restrictions, EQII subscribers saw their benefits whittle down to essentially a buff to mount speed and coin, AA, and XP accumulation (basically what was offered during the Gold Rush event) and the monthly 500 Station Cash allotment. While that seems as if players lost most of their advantages for subbing, there wasn't too much murmuring because at least we were happy that our comrades had the freedom to chose the classes and races they wanted and enjoy the game better. And besides, we still had the 500 SC, so we still had some worthwhile benefit. Well, now that's changing. SOE has decided that this last benefit must be retooled from 500 SC that accumulates until you use it to the ability to buy one single item for up to 2000 SC per month. While it may sound like a better deal on the surface, it's not -- not for SOE or for its customers. Continue reading Norrathian Notebook: Are membership changes a benefit to EQII players? Norrathian Notebook: Are membership changes a benefit to EQII players? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Battle.net beefs up parental controls Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, Kids, Diablo III, Subscription, Hearthstone Kiddies will find it tougher to spend money in Blizzard's games, as the studio is expanding its parental controls to include locks on in-game purchases. Blizzard is notifying relevant users of this change via email and on the forums. Starting January 7th, any Battle.net account with parental controls enabled will automatically prevent users from spending money in World of Warcraft's cash shop, Hearthstone's cash shop, or Diablo III's soon-to-be-closed real-money auction house. Account users will be able to enable those purchases by logging into their account and changing the settings. Battle.net beefs up parental controls originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Blizzard forumsThe Escapist

The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's horse year Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log, Housing As I steadily collect another set of holiday hats for little reason other than an inexplicable need to collect these things (and I'd really like to be able to store my Usagi Kabuto while I'm at it, thanks), it's a fair time to look at the next year for Final Fantasy XIV's development. The game launched well, has made some missteps, and the next year is really going to determine how well it can manage over the long term. I'm not pretending that I have a picture-perfect roadmap for the game over the next year, but I do think there are some pretty obvious things to be addressed. There are gaps to be filled in, systems that could stand to be improved, and more systems that would have a positive effect on retention and play. So let's look at what the next year will hopefully bring other than equine headpieces. Continue reading The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's horse year The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's horse year originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jan 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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MMORPG News

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World of Warcraft: Parental Controls Updated to Provide Purchase Security Posted: 03 Jan 2014 04:10 PM PST The parental controls on Battle.Net have been updated to protect user accounts from excessive purchases. The default setting will prevent unauthorized purchases in the World of Warcraft in-game shop.

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MMOGaming News

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Blade and Soul China : Preparing for Pohwan Instance, how should you gear up? Posted: What an exciting start for 2014! Pohwan Instance will be hitting the shores this January (I believe just before the Chinese Lunar New Year) So how should you prepare yourself for the fight! Below are my recommended gears: Continue reading Blade and Soul China : Preparing for Pohwan Instance, how should you gear up?.

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