General Gaming Article

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• Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair CX500M PSU, Asus Maximus VII Hero Motherboard, and More!
• AT&T to Acquire DirectTV for $48.5 Billion
• Build It: Radeon R9 290X in a Shoebox PC
• GOG is Looking Into Ways to Offer Early Access Gaming Like Steam
• Ubisoft and IE Bring 'Assassin's Creed Pirates' to Web as Free-to-Play Browser Game
• Intel's Broadwell Launch Likely to Miss Back-to-School Season, Will Ship for Holidays
• Tipsters Supposedly Reveal Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Specs and Prices Ahead of Launch
• Google Reportedly Going After Twitch with $1 Billion Buyout Offer
• Fake AV Vendors Go Mobile
• Photos Show NSA Employees Installing 'Beacon Implants' in Routers

Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair CX500M PSU, Asus Maximus VII Hero Motherboard, and More! Posted: 19 May 2014 05:07 PM PDT Top Deal: You don't take a flamethrower to a birthday cake, and if you're looking to fill that small nook in the kitchen with a TV, a 90-inch HDTV is probably overkill. By that same token, you don't need a 1500W PSU to power a modest PC that will spend the bulk of its time surfing the web and streaming video. Are you in that situation? Then check out today's top deal for a Corsair CX500M 500W Modular Power Supply for $55 with free shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code: [EMCPEWE25]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). There's a fair bit of power here -- enough to be SLI and CrossFire Ready, and it's also 80 Plus Bronze certified. Other Deals: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force LGA 1150 Intel Z97 ATX Intel Motherboard for $195 with free shipping (normally $210 - use coupon code: [EMCPEWE33]) Seagate SV35.6 1TB 7200 RPM 3.5-inch Surveillance Hard Drive for $60 with free shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code: [EMCPEWE35]) Asus Maximus VII Hero LGA 1150 Intel Z97 ATX Intel Motherboard for $225 with free shipping (normally $230 - use coupon code: [EMCPEWE22]) Asus M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 ATX AMD Motherboard for $79 with free shipping (normally $89 - use coupon code: [EMCPEWE29])

AT&T to Acquire DirectTV for $48.5 Billion Posted: 19 May 2014 03:53 PM PDT Another media consolidation in the works On Sunday AT&T agreed to purchase the satellite television operator DirectTV for $48.5 billion. In a conference call to investors, the multinational telecommunications company revealed that it would purchase DirectTV in a stock-and-cash transaction for $95 per share, the stock's closing price for the satellite company this past Friday. Commenting on the impending deal, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said, "This is a unique opportunity that will redefine the video entertainment industry and create a company able to offer new bundles and deliver content to consumers across multiple screens – mobile devices, TVs, laptops, cars, and even airplanes." "DirectTV is the best option for us because they have the premier brand in pay TV, the best content relationships, and a fast-growing Latin American business," Stephenson continued. "DirectTV is a great fit with AT&T and together we'll be able to enhance innovation and provide customers new competitive choices for what they want in mobile, video, and broadband services." The acquisition of DirectTV would bring with it the company's 20.3 million satellite TV customers to bolster AT&T's 5.7 million TV customers. Both companies have very little overlap which means that AT&T's access to consumers would significantly grow in the United States. The deal is the latest media consolidation for this year as Comcast plans to purchase Time Warner Cable. AT&T's purchase will need to be approved by the government before they can move forward.   Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Build It: Radeon R9 290X in a Shoebox PC Posted: 19 May 2014 03:42 PM PDT We know the Radeon R9 290X can go head-to-head with a GTX Titan, but can this extra-long, hot-running GPU hang in a small form factor chassis like a Titan can? For a while now, we've considered doing another Build It with a "shoebox" case like the Silverstone Sugo SG08 we used previously. If you recall, we wedged Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan into a mini-ITX system, and it provided a surprising amount of firepower to a system that was remarkably small. The Titan is able to hang in a tiny chassis due to Kepler's efficiency, making it highly effective in close quarters. Fast forward to the present, and AMD has its own powerful Radeon R9 290X, which performs about as well as a Titan but costs around nearly half the price. However, the R9 290X runs a bit hot under the collar, typically at 94 C, and is a half-inch longer than the Titan, as well. Though it's certainly competitive with Titan in benchmarks, we wondered whether the R9 290X can withstand the rigors of a small form factor build. To find out, we stuffed it into a new shoebox chassis from Cooler Master, and added a new Corsair closed-loop cooler designed specifically for small enclosures. We added a modular power supply from Seasonic that is also designed for SFF builds, so this should be one badass box Seeing Red Cooler Master sent us an Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX case a while back. It looked intriguing, but we had concerns about the lack of clearance underneath the power supply. The company seemingly read our minds when it produced the sequel, the Elite 130. This one has a recessed 120mm fan mount in the front, and you can slap a radiator on the back of it, with room to spare. There's so much room, in fact, that we decided to crank it to 11 and add a push-pull closed-loop CPU cooler, and Corsair's all-new H75 fit the bill. We'd used several of CM's other liquid coolers at this point, so we were familiar with their designs and we knew they worked well in these small enclosures. The H75 was also a new product as this issue went to press, so we were curious to test it for the first time. Since this is a high-end build with an Intel Core-i7 4770K CPU and a Z87 motherboard, we wanted an appropriately high-grade power supply. We chose Seasonic's "G-Series," which is a gold-rated model, and as you may know, Seasonic also makes well-regarded PSUs for Corsair, Antec, XFX, and NZXT. It also has modular cables, which is a must for a system of this size. Our motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI, which is fully loaded despite its size, and includes Bluetooth 4.0, dual Gigabit LAN, four USB 3.0 ports, dual-link DVI, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. All four of its SATA ports are SATA 6Gb/s, too. We also grabbed some low-profile Corsair Vengeance RAM, to stay out of the way of our cables.   INGREDIENTS PART Price Case Cooler Master Elite 130 $50 PSU Seasonic G Series 550W $85 (street) Mobo Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI $135 CPU Intel Core i7-4770K $325 (street) Cooler Corsair Hydro H75 $85 GPU AMD Radeon R9 290X $550 RAM 2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP $160 (street) SSD Seagate 600 240GB $190 (street) HDD 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black $90 Fans Windows 8.1 64-bit OEM $90 OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit $140 Total   $1,7 1. An Airtight Case If we'd gone with an air cooler in this build, we were pretty much stuck with low-profile units, because the design of the Elite 130 case puts the power supply right above the motherboard. Using a liquid cooler allows us to move the bulk of our CPU cooling system to the front of the case. Since the case's bundled 120mm intake fan sits in a recessed mount, there is enough space when it's removed to use both of the Corsair H75's fans. We just had to keep the tubes on the right-hand side of the case, out of the way of the video card. We needed a flashlight to properly guide the cooler's long bolts through the mounting holes, but installation was painless otherwise.  2. If the Shoe Fits With its "shoebox" style Elite 130 chassis, Cooler Master has embraced builders who want a PC but don't want a stereotypical tower design. It's about 14.5 inches long, 7.5 inches tall, and 9 inches wide, which might sound roomy but is quite compact for all the gear we're stuffing inside of it. On the other hand, Silverstone's SG08 is about one inch smaller on every side, and after building inside that unit, we know we prefer something a little bigger, mainly to make cable routing easier. Cooler Master's case can also fit a full-size optical drive and power supply (and the 5.25-inch bay can be converted to fit a hard drive or a control panel). The Elite 130 also costs $50 instead of the SG08's $200, mostly because it doesn't have that case's custom 600W "bronze" PSU pre-installed. We figured we could get a decent power supply for less than $150, and we succeeded. The Elite 130 also offers several spots to mount SSDs and HDDs, giving us more leeway in how to arrange our cabling. 3. All Tied Up Our power supply's SATA cables terminate at right angles, which is increasingly common these days. Normally this isn't a problem, but since we're using a 3.5-inch drive and a radiator with two fans, we couldn't attach the power supply cable to the SSD given the aforementioned cable angle, so we flipped the drive upside down. There are no screw holes on the top of an SSD, so we threaded zip ties through the holes on the side and bottom, and passed those through the holes in the case. There are no moving parts in an SSD, so there's no risk of data corruption in doing this. We chose a removable side panel for the mounting plate (pictured). 4. Dressed to the R-Nines We've seen Cooler Master demonstrate this case with a Radeon HD 7990 video card installed, and that guy is 12 inches long. Since AMD's R9 290X is just 11 inches long, we figured there would be no surprises, and we were correct—installing it turned out to be the easiest part of the build. Granted, Seasonic deserves a lot of credit for endowing its PSU with highly flexible and flat PCI Express cables. Conventional rounded and braided PCIe cables would have been a different story. (For reference, the HD 7990 just barely fits; it touches the radiator's chamber, but there's no electricity going through the rad, so it won't cause a short.) The PCIe slot's retention clip is a little tough to reach once the card is installed, but a long screwdriver should do the trick. We threaded the front-panel audio cable underneath the card, since it was already running alongside it toward the rear of the case. 5. Enabling Cabling Even with our low-profile cooling installed, you can see that there isn't a lot of room to party underneath the power supply. We had to connect pretty much all the cabling first, then slide in the PSU. The USB 3.0 cable was thankfully bendable enough, and the fan headers, SATA ports, and front-panel connectors are all positioned within easy reach. The system comes with a 60mm fan that installs in the back-right of the case, but we left it out because we were already using the motherboard's two fan headers for the Corsair H75. Since this video card ejects almost all of its heat outside of the case, and the power supply is drawing in air through a mesh grill in the top, we weren't worried about heat buildup. (The video card would ordinarily block this entire shot, so we took it out temporarily.) Since we had just two storage devices and one video card, we didn't expect things to get too messy. Still, we put a chrome grill on the H75's internal fan, to prevent snags. You can pick up a similar grill for a few bucks online or at your local computer store. 6. Seasonic Boom You probably noticed the boxy area that extends from the back of the case. This compartment gives builders additional space to use standard-size power supplies. Our Seasonic unit is 160mm long and the box gave us plenty of room on the other end to manage its modular cables. The box is attached with four screws, so you take those out, slap the box on the back of the power supply, screw the box onto the power supply (using a different set of holes), then re-install the box on the back of the case. There's a large meshed grill above this area for ventilation, so the PSU went in upside-down to take advantage of that as an intake. This PSU is not fully modular, so the 24-pin and 8-pin power cables are permanently attached. We snaked those through first and tucked their spare length in the space in front of the CPU cooler. Because we had the SSD and HDD located close to each other, we were able to use just one SATA power cable to connect both storage devices. This PSU even comes with a short SATA power cable with two connectors on it, so it was like PB&J. Better Off Red? The system idled very quietly, partly because it has no case fans. We were able to get the Core i7-4770K up to a stable 4.4GHz just by increasing the Turbo clock ratio and increasing the core voltage in the UEFI. Mouse tracking in the UEFI was really laggy though, and keyboard navigation was a bit unclear, so we switched to "Classic" mode and used the keyboard instead. Prime95's CPU torture test got the CPU up to 80 C, but it ran much cooler during the other benchmarks, rarely going over 70 degrees. The Hydro H75 was also very quiet. When it's idling, you basically have to put your ear up against the front of the case to even hear air circulating through it. It doesn't integrate with Corsair's Link software, but there's something to be said for the simplicity of UEFI controls. It also makes the cabling simpler; just attach the fans to the bundled splitter cable, and attach the splitter to the CPU fan header. The pump plugs into any spare case fan header. The Radeon R9 290X hits 94 C at its stock "quiet mode" setting and begins to throttle the GPU's core clock, so there was no overclocking to be done. It wasn't any noisier than usual in this case since there's a large grill on the side that acts as an intake for cool exterior air. We let it loop the Heaven 4.0 benchmark overnight, and it was still running when we came back the next morning. When the GPU was cranked up to full speed, you could definitely hear it above the background noise of the office, but it wasn't bothersome. Overall, this system was surprisingly non-tedious to put together despite its compact dimensions and high-end parts. Its small size also made it easy to move around and fiddle with. All in all, we must say this is one killer little rig. If you're looking for a water-cooled, quiet-yet-extremely powerful SFF machine, you can't do much better than this build, unless you go with a bigger case and budget. Benchmarks ZERO POINT Premiere Pro CS6 (sec) 2,000 2,296 (-12.9%)  Stitch.Efx 2.0 (sec) 831 734  ProShow Producer 5.0 (sec) 1,446 1,246  x264 HD 5.0 (fps) 21.1 19  Batman: Arkham City (fps) 76 76 3DMark11 Extreme 5,847 4,585 (-21.6%) The zero-point machine compared here consists of a 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K and 16GB of Corsair DDR3/1600 on an Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard. It has a GeForce GTX 690, a Corsair Neutron GTX SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.

GOG is Looking Into Ways to Offer Early Access Gaming Like Steam Posted: 19 May 2014 11:14 AM PDT 'Early Access' gaming is gaining momentum Gamers on Steam's digital distribution platform have shown a willingness to embrace the Early Access model, which entails paying for a game before it's finished and being allowed to play beta or even alpha versions in return. The developer then uses those funds to complete the title, and may take into consideration feedback it's received from Early Access gamers. GOG is also looking into the Early Access business model, but there are some hurdles to figure out. "We're obviously looking at it," Marcin Iwinski, co-founder of CD Projekt, the company that owns GOG, told Eurogamer in an interview. "As you know our concept is different: first of all it's DRM-free and second it's curated. I'm often very lost in a lot of stores -- apps being my example today. Or even Steam. I don't know what's happening; there's hundreds of releases a month, and I really believe -- and our community's clearly showing that -- there is a place for a platform which is choosing the stuff." One of Iwinski's concerns is that of bad Early Access titles. By way of the business model, the developer pockets a significant amount of money right away, and if the game turns out lousy, well, tough luck -- you paid for it, you're stuck with it. In less extreme cases, a game might not be outright bad, but just fall short of expectations. An example of the former is Earth: Year 2066, which was booted off of Steam for misleading customers. Iwinski believes it was Valve that ultimately refunded customers, but what if GOG gets caught in a situation like that and doesn't have the funds to reimburse angry gamers? That's one of the things he wants to figure out. Nevertheless, Iwinski is still interested in seeing if Early Access could work at GOG. "We would definitely consider it, but again it would be the GOG way. It would have to be curated and, we believe -- we are always saying this openly -- we are responsible in front of the gamer for what they're buying on GOG," Iwinski added. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Ubisoft and IE Bring 'Assassin's Creed Pirates' to Web as Free-to-Play Browser Game Posted: 19 May 2014 10:28 AM PDT First web-based Assassin's Creed game Microsoft's Internet Explorer team partnered up with Ubisoft to bring the first ever Assassin's Creed title to the modern web with HTML5, 3D WebGL graphics, and JavaScript. In the web-based version of Assassin's Creed Pirates, you play as Alonzo Batilla, a young captain, who races his ship through the Caribbean seas while dodging mines and other hazards in search of treasure. It's more of a demo than a fully fleshed out game, which was developed using the Babylon.JS open source framework. The free-to-play title is a serviceable time killer when boredom hits, though more importantly, it gives a glimpse of what kind of 3D gaming is possible in your web browser, especially on touch-based systems. "Unfurl the sails and with a swipe of your finger on the virtual wheel, steer the ship through the deep blue Caribbean. Race your ship through an obstacle course and compete with pirates around the world to obtain the highest score," Microsoft explains in a blog post. "Each time the game is launched, a variation of the original scene is delivered – with changes in the weather, time of day and location – giving you a new experience each race. Now, pin the game to your Start screen, and have it handy for those few minutes you have to spare. With split-screen browsing, you can group Skype your friends and race your ship, simultaneously." While IE partnered with Ubisoft on this project, we found the game to run fine on Chrome and Firefox browsers, as well. If you want to give it a try, head over to Assassins Creed Pirates on the web and click "Play Demo." Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Intel's Broadwell Launch Likely to Miss Back-to-School Season, Will Ship for Holidays Posted: 19 May 2014 09:43 AM PDT Expect Intel's Broadwell release in time for the holiday shopping season Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has gone on record saying his company's next-generation Broadwell processors will definitely ship in time to be put in PCs for the holiday shopping season, however, they're not likely to be available for the back-to-school shopping rush that will take place in late summer. Broadwell is the codename for Intel's 14nm die shrink of its Haswell microarchitecture. That makes Broadwell a "tick" in Intel's "tick-tock" schedule -- ticks are die shrinks and tocks represent a new processor microarchitecture. When Krzanich first demonstrated Broadwell at IDF last year, he said it would provide a 30 percent improvement in power use compared to Haswell parts from mid-2013. "I can guarantee for holiday, and not at the last second of holiday," Krzanich said in an interview with Reuters at the Maker Fair in San Mateo, California, over the weekend. "Back to school -- that's a tight one. Back to school you have to really have it on-shelf in July, August. That's going to be tough." While Intel would probably prefer to have Broadwell ready for the back-to-school season, the holiday shopping season is typically the much bigger one out of the two. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Tipsters Supposedly Reveal Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Specs and Prices Ahead of Launch Posted: 19 May 2014 07:13 AM PDT If leaked information turn out to be true, the highest end Surface Pro 3 will cost $1,949 Microsoft is holding a press event tomorrow afternoon in New York City in which it's believed the company will unveil at least one new Surface product line. Speculation up to this point has been that a Surface Mini category to compete with similar sized tablets and slates in the Android and iOS space is imminent, though there's also been chatter of a Surface Pro 3 line. One site even claims to have learned specification and pricing information for Microsoft upcoming Surface Pro 3. The folks at Windows Phone Central didn't say where they're getting their information from, only that they've come across details of the new Surface Pro 3 products. According to WMP's info, there will be five versions consisting of the following baseline configurations: Intel Core i3, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage: $799 Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage: $999 Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage: $1,299 Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage: $1,549 Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB storage: $1,949 According to WMP, the Surface Pro 3 is expected to be a larger model than previous Surface devices, perhaps around 12 inches. This would explain why the site believes Microsoft is also launching new Type Covers, which will come in black, purple, cyan, and red (may be limited to Microsoft Stores). Stay tuned -- we'll have more information tomorrow! Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Google Reportedly Going After Twitch with $1 Billion Buyout Offer Posted: 19 May 2014 06:02 AM PDT Twitch may have turned down a Microsoft offer to join forces with Google's YouTube service To borrow a line from "The Social Network," a million dollars isn't cool. Do you know what's cool? A billion dollars. There are a lot of cool offers being made in the tech industry, and the latest involves Google reportedly offering to acquire Twitch for $1 billion. Twitch, which is a video game streaming service, is said to be more interested in partnering with Google than Microsoft (which is also interested in Twitch) because of the potential Google's YouTube division brings to the table. Reports of the acquisition are all over the web, though it was Variety that first broke the news after speaking with "sources familiar with the pact." According to Variety, this is an all-cash offer that, barring any last minute snags, is expected to be announced any time now. Should the deal go through, it would be the biggest in YouTube's history, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. In anticipation of the deal being finalized, YouTube is already preparing for U.S. regulators to challenge the acquisition based on anticompetitive concerns. YouTube serves up more than 6 billion hours of video per month to 1 billion users around the world. Twitch, which lets users upload and watch free, live streaming gameplay videos, claims to have more than 45 million monthly users, with more than 1 million members who upload videos each month. Twitch also has deals in place with several partners to distribute shows including GameSpot, Joystiq, and Destructoid. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Fake AV Vendors Go Mobile Posted: 19 May 2014 12:13 AM PDT Recently, one paid fake AV app notched up over 10,000 downloads There has been an alarming surge in malware targeting Android in recent years. According to one estimate, the platform accounts for 97 percent of total mobile malware. Under the circumstances, it makes sense to use an antivirus app — especially if you happen to use a lot of apps downloaded from sources other than the Play Store. While we'd love to tell you which AV apps to use, it is not something we're going to indulge in at this point. Instead, let us tell you about the type of AV apps you should definitely avoid. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014 is one AV app you should avoid at all costs. Why, you ask? Well, because it is not a real AV app, but useless (and possibly harmful) "fakeware" that was until recently available from the Play Store. What's more, it had a $3.99 asking price and had been downloaded over 10,000 times before being exposed? It was, in fact, not the only fake AV app trying to pass off as a legit product from Moscow-based AV vendor Kaspersky Labs' stable. As Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014 was scaling Play Store popularity charts, a paid app called Kaspersky Mobile was trying to recreate its success in the Windows Phone Store. "The first fake app was discovered in Windows Phone Store. This in itself was unusual because scammers tend to target users of Android – via Google Play – due to the platform's popularity. The app in question went by the name of Kaspersky Mobile," Kaspersky said on its website. "The fact there is no such program in Kaspersky Lab's product line suggests the fraudsters didn't expect anyone to notice the discrepancy. Another interesting feature of this particular app was the fact users had to pay for it. This meant its creators immediately started making money without having to devise additional scams such as demanding payments to remove "malware" that had supposedly been detected on users' computers." "The second fake app imitating the Kaspersky Lab brand was for sale on Google Play and was called Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014.  Unlike the app for sale in Windows Phone Store, the creators of this fake app didn't even bother to add a simulation of a scanner – the functionality was limited to random series of statements appearing on top of an "official" logo."

Photos Show NSA Employees Installing 'Beacon Implants' in Routers Posted: 18 May 2014 11:43 PM PDT Router Unboxing, NSA Style The National Security Agency's (NSA) surreptitious surveillance activities are staggeringly alarming in their scope and size. The more you learn about them, the more you're filled with implacable repugnance. All the agency does, it seems, is try and figure out new ways to stalk people with its perennially askance gaze. But in case you are not done being disgusted and alarmed by the many NSA excesses exposed by Edward Snowden, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke the NSA surveillance story in 2013, has published a 272-page book that contains a number of "never-before-seen documents entrusted to him by Snowden himself." Among the fresh documents released with Greenwald's book, called No Place to Hide, is an article that sheds light on how the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit goes about planting backdoors in servers, routers and other such devices. According to Ars Technica, the said document, an article from a June 2010 internal newsletter, also includes a few ocular treats for its readers. One of the photographs included with the article shows NSA  employees carefully unpacking a Cisco router from its shipping carton in order to install "beacon implants." "Here's how it works: shipments of computer network devices (servers, routers, etc,) being delivered to our targets throughout the world are intercepted," reads the article. "Next, they are redirected to a secret location where Tailored Access Operations/Access Operations (AO-S326) employees, with the support of the Remote Operations Center (S321), enable the installation of beacon implants directly into our targets' electronic devices. These devices are then re-packaged and placed back into transit to the original destination. All of this happens with the support of Intelligence Community partners and the technical wizards in TAO." Image Credit: Ars Technica Follow Pulkit on Google+

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MMO Updates

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• Why WildStar's name reservations were screwed up
• PlanetSide 2 shows off PlayStation 4 graphics
• The Nexus Telegraph: Preparing for WildStar's launch
• Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat
• EverQuest II's dino-tastic expansion pack is still in the works
• Shards is a full MMO and a private server platform
• The Daily Grind: Do huge dev teams give you pause?
• MMO Week in Review: NCsoft's dueling MMORPGs
• Star Citizen's Arena Commander is launching on May 29th
• Star Wars: The Old Republic housing will not disappoint, devs promise
• Go tent camping now in Wurm Online

Why WildStar's name reservations were screwed up Posted: 19 May 2014 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Culture, News Items, WildStar, Subscription, Buy-to-Play So WildStar's name reservation system didn't work quite right. It's working now, but when it went live it wasn't working at all, and for a first-come-first-served thing that's kind of a catastrophic problem. Compensation has been announced, but why did everything go wrong? Carbine's director of operations posted in the forums about how things went from bad to worse and where the breakdowns in communication took place. The short version is that it started when a big information drop introduced a lot of new assets to the site, causing even more load than was expected for the page when the name service went up. After that was handled, however, another problem surfaced with the site's feedback, leading to what is described as the server performing what amounts to a DDoS attack against itself. And once that was fixed, another problem surfaced. If you'd like to see the whole breakdown in detail to understand how everything got messed up, take a look at the full post on the official forums. Why WildStar's name reservations were screwed up originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Name Reservation Post-Mortem

PlanetSide 2 shows off PlayStation 4 graphics Posted: 19 May 2014 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Screenshots, Free-to-Play, Consoles, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2 Sony Online Entertainment is gearing PlanetSide 2 players up for the upcoming release on the PlayStation 4 by showing off a couple new screenshots with the PS4 graphics. These teaser images are photos of a screen (probably not the best way to show off new graphics to the internet), but of particular interest to fans is the inclusion of the PlayStation Vita in one of the shots. The strategic placement of the Vita and box hint that it's not accident, but we have no official word yet on the Vita's role in the game -- or a release date for the PS4 version either, for that matter. Check out the two new screenshots included after the cut. Continue reading PlanetSide 2 shows off PlayStation 4 graphics PlanetSide 2 shows off PlayStation 4 graphics originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Via: Joystiq

The Nexus Telegraph: Preparing for WildStar's launch Posted: 19 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Launches, Opinion, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play When you read this, dear reader, you will be less than two weeks away from early access to WildStar. Unless you've come here just to let everyone know you don't want to play the game, in which case you might want to find slightly more joyous hobbies? Just a thought. The obvious thing to do pre-launch, of course, is to reserve your name, but that didn't work out for everyone so well, and I'm betting that if you were going to do that by now, you would have done it. (Still have a little time if you haven't, though.) What else can you do? Open beta is over. It's just getting into the meat of the game and maybe taking a day or two off of work first, right? Obviously not; there's more stuff you can do to prep yourself for the launch psychologically and otherwise. So step into my metaphorical office, and I'll give you some suggestions about things to do before the game starts and once early access kicks off. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Preparing for WildStar's launch The Nexus Telegraph: Preparing for WildStar's launch originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat Posted: 19 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Housing, Shroud of the Avatar Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 is set to roll out this Thursday with a host of new goodies for backers to enjoy. Release 6 includes visual improvements, player-to-player secure trade, additional crafting animations, combat improvements, looting fixes, revised animals, a new iteration of the overworld map, and a "sanity pass" on NPC dialogue. The weekend's website update was primarily focused on the improvements being made to the game's housing system, including larger abodes and even new types of homes. The Founder Lord Town Home was scaled up to include more rooms and even a secret hiding spot. Meanwhile, the Benefactor Town Home was displayed in all of its glory, boasting several rooms (including another secret one) and twin decks. If living the high life isn't for you, the team also made a rustic barn house featuring two stories and four rooms. Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Update of the Avatar #73, Release 6 preview

EverQuest II's dino-tastic expansion pack is still in the works Posted: 19 May 2014 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Expansions, Previews, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries EverQuest II folks, fret not, for SOE has not abandoned you for shiny new sandboxes. The recent producer's letter mentions several projects that the team is working hard on, the biggest of which is the upcoming unnamed expansion pack. "We are working on a variety of themes again, one of them we have hinted at with dinosaur-like creatures," the letter teases. SOE goes on to say that expansion previews will be happening soon, and come June there will be a "Gear Up, Level Up" promotion aimed at preparing the playerbase for the release. All players will receive bonuses that month, although All Access players will get the better end of it. It also looks as though there will be an expansion discount for those who pre-order in June. The team is also working to improve its matchmaking code, add a new Tunaria PvP warzone, create a Fabled Deathtoll dungeon zone, and toss in dressable NPC mannequins for housing. EverQuest II's dino-tastic expansion pack is still in the works originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Producer's Letter

Shards is a full MMO and a private server platform Posted: 19 May 2014 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding Shards Online released a video update to its Kickstarter project over the weekend, along with a huge wall-o'-text focused on lore. Citadel Studios boss Derek Brinkmann stars in the clip, which addresses one of the most common questions about Shards so far. "Is Shards a game, or is it a platform? The answer is it's both," Brinkmann explains. "First and foremost it's a full game. It's built from the ground up with its own rulesets, live content, real-time events, moderation, updates, developer support, PvP, PvE, crafting, housing, the whole kit and kaboodle." In terms of the title's platform aspects, Brinkmann says that you don't have to be a programmer or a modder to run your own Shards server. He also explains how private servers are simply one of the game's many options, since the official Shards servers will offer full MMO functionality. You can view the video after the cut. Continue reading Shards is a full MMO and a private server platform Shards is a full MMO and a private server platform originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Update

The Daily Grind: Do huge dev teams give you pause? Posted: 19 May 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Star Citizen, Skyforge We recently discovered that the Skyforge dev team numbers nearly 300 people. Star Citizen's team is over 200. Those are pretty crazy numbers, even for alleged AAA games and even for full-featured massively multiplayer online things. Taking into account that budgets vary wildly from project to project and company to company, do large numbers of devs on an MMO project give you pause? Why or why not? 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: Do huge dev teams give you pause? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 May 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: NCsoft's dueling MMORPGs Posted: 18 May 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. In spite of name reservation system struggles and subsequent compensation for players, NCsoft's upcoming MMORPG WildStar surged onward into its final open beta phase this weekend, emphasizing its raid design and business model. Massively's podcast even hosted Carbine's Creative Director Chad "Pappylicious" Moore for a Q&A. Meanwhile, players of NCsoft's Guild Wars 2 will be treated to a fresh festival and the start of the rebuilding of Lion's Arch after its destruction during the last living story campaign. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: NCsoft's dueling MMORPGs MMO Week in Review: NCsoft's dueling MMORPGs originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 May 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Citizen's Arena Commander is launching on May 29th Posted: 18 May 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Star Citizen fans, mark your calendars for May 29th. If all goes well, you'll be playing at least a single-player version of Arena Commander as Cloud Imperium begins to roll out portions of its long-awaited dogfighting module. CIG chairman Chris Roberts has posted his weekly recap, which contains the tentative date and a preview of what to expect. "The goal is that every backer will have access to the single-player Free Flight and Vanduul Swarm games mode on this day, and the very first batch of multiplayer testers will get access to the game's multiplayer game modes," Roberts writes. "We will scale up the multiplayer as quickly as possible starting on that date, increasing the number of players as it is stable and stopping to fix bugs where needed." There's much more to the weekly studio report, so click through to the Roberts Space Industries website to read it! Star Citizen's Arena Commander is launching on May 29th originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 May 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Weekly report

Star Wars: The Old Republic housing will not disappoint, devs promise Posted: 18 May 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Screenshots, Events (In-Game), Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Community Q&A Housing in a galaxy far, far away will be "nothing like any system" we have seen in MMOs before, say the devs. At a recent Vancouver Star Wars: The Old Republic cantina community event with the devs, McSleuth Gaming took down detailed notes from the Q&A session and intermingling that followed. One of the questions probed the type of housing that Galactic Strongholds will offer, to which a dev replied, "I will say though it is nothing like any system in any other MMO out there right now; it is completely different and a new style. I promise you, as a fan of housing you will not be disappointed in how our works. Seriously. We have put a lot of thought into making it customizable." If you're hoping for looser free-to-play restrictions, well, don't hold your breath. "Every time something new is added for F2P it actually is simultaneously taking something away from subs perks," the devs hedged. "So there needs to be balance and that is something we are always looking at changing." Meanwhile, Massively's Larry has several pictures of the new casino event and stronghold construction coming to the game, so check them out! [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!] Star Wars: The Old Republic housing will not disappoint, devs promise originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 May 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Hyperspace Beacon, McSleuth Gaming

Go tent camping now in Wurm Online Posted: 18 May 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Previews, Wurm Online, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Sandbox In a game that allows you to carve out a swath of wilderness and create a home, it seems strange that Wurm Online previously lacked anything between the "sleep on the hard ground" and "set up shop in a full cabin" territory. Well that's all changed thanks to the addition of tents, including a newbie variant that is handed out at the start. Wurm's also updated the game to include timber frame walls for houses. The team spent some time in this week's news post to talk about upcoming projects, including a pavilion-style tent, progress with collision detection on bridges, a meditation animation, and the Xanadu release. [Thanks to Tom for the tip!] Go tent camping now in Wurm Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 May 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: News Update

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MMORPG News

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• General: This Week's Live Stream Schedule
• Legend of Silkroad: Open Beta to Kick Off May 20th
• Star Citizen: Arena Commander Weekly Report Contains Big News
• Destiny: Reinventing the First Person Shooter
• Elite: Dangerous: Alpha 4 Hyperspace Jump
• World of Warcraft: Blizzcon, Nelfs & Naxxramas

General: This Week's Live Stream Schedule Posted: 19 May 2014 07:54 AM PDT We have posted out weekly live stream schedule to give you ample opportunity to check out the games and the times to be sure you don't miss a moment of the hottest MMO streaming around.

Legend of Silkroad: Open Beta to Kick Off May 20th Posted: 19 May 2014 07:42 AM PDT JC Planet has announced that the open beta for Legend of Silkroad will officially kick off on Tuesday, May 20th. According to the development team, the closed beta phase produced good results and that fans were pleased with the overall systems and features.

Star Citizen: Arena Commander Weekly Report Contains Big News Posted: 19 May 2014 07:36 AM PDT Fans hoping to get a look at Star Citizen and who have backed the project will finally get their hands on a portion of the game on May 29th. According to the latest Arena Commander Weekly report, the Free Flight and Vanduul Swarm game modes. In addition, the first group of multiplayer candidates will be invited to help the team bug fix. The post indicates that the pool for multiplayer testers will be expanded over time and as quickly as possible.

Destiny: Reinventing the First Person Shooter Posted: 19 May 2014 07:29 AM PDT According to a new video released on the PlayStation YouTube channel, Destiny will 'reinvent the first person shooter'. The video shows multiplayer action with all classes represented and includes a look at special skills that require specific button combinations on the PS controller. Destiny is scheduled to begin beta testing later this summer.

Elite: Dangerous: Alpha 4 Hyperspace Jump Posted: 19 May 2014 07:22 AM PDT An Elite: Dangerous fan has made a new video from Alpha 4 to show off the way that hyperspace jumps will happen in game. E:D uses a unique system to send ships hurtling through space. Watch and learn!

World of Warcraft: Blizzcon, Nelfs & Naxxramas Posted: 17 May 2014 05:12 PM PDT Welcome to All Things Warcraft - the new name for the previous WoW Factor column. The name change is to more accurately reflect what this column will be about going forward, Warcraft. This week we discover a source to find wild BlizzCon tickets, we check out the new female Night Elf model and see what's going on in the world of Hearthstone.

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