MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News

WEBZEN to Attend E3 2012 with Blood-Burning Press Event

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WEBZEN to Attend E3 2012 with Blood-Burning Press Event


The next generation of F2P online games company WEBZEN Inc. announced its participation in E3 2012 game show with a press event. There are two core contents, including competition of '2012 C9 Championship Tournament' for the top 2 qualifying teams and the debut of 'ARCTIC COMBAT', in the press event. The following press release will tell you all the details.

Want the Fashion Show in Blade and Soul Come True?

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Want the Fashion Show in Blade and Soul Come True?


The outfits in Blade and Soul were aways so sexy that attracting lots of players come to play the next generation mmo. It must be a amazing thing that the outfits can be weared in a real person. Leave comments below to say your opinion.

Firefall Dev Blog: Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master

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Firefall Dev Blog: Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master


After six weeks of testing, Firefall developers make a decision to concentrate on rewarding hard core players according to the feedbacks and the original design concept of the game.

Spirit Tales: Play as A Dungeon Boss and Fight for Survival!

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Spirit Tales: Play as A Dungeon Boss and Fight for Survival!


Spirit Tales 1v5 Monster Boss PvP goes live on June 6. This exclusive new feature will give players the chance to compete in an epically fun battle as a massive dungeon boss, or as 1 of 5 daring challengers ready to take up arms in the fight for survival.

SOE: PlanetSide2 New Gameplay Footage Featuring Massive Air Battle

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SOE: PlanetSide2 New Gameplay Footage Featuring Massive Air Battle


Sony Online Entertainment today released the latest PlanetSide 2 gameplay footage. From the gameplay footage, we can see that explosions and jets fill the skies as thousands take part in massive air battles in the highly anticipated MMOFPS.

38 Studios Lays Off All Employees and Big Huge Games Shut Down

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38 Studios Lays Off All Employees and Big Huge Games Shut Down


38 Studios and its subsidiary Big Huge Games have both laid off all employees on Thursday, May 24th, 2012.

Next-gen 3D MMO TaoYuan Launched Open-beta

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Next-gen 3D MMO TaoYuan Launched Open-beta


The next-gen turn-based MMO TaoYuan of Changyou launched open-beta in china yesterday. TaoYuan is developed by Unreal Engine 3, introduces Cloud Class System and Full-screen Summoning of Generals which breaks the traditional turn-based online games mode.

Ragnarok Online 2(KR) to Update Two Brand New Instances

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Ragnarok Online 2(KR) to Update Two Brand New Instances


As both instances are much more difficult to pass than previous Babematt Yard and Arena, players can pass the instances and acquire powerful equipment by their skills and strategies.

RaiderZ VIP Test Shows Epic BOSS and Monster Hunting

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RaiderZ VIP Test Shows Epic BOSS and Monster Hunting


RaiderZ has just formally ended its VIP trial play, when the new videos of an epic BOSS and the monster hunting were shown.

Interview: Update Details of Supreme Destiny

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Interview: Update Details of Supreme Destiny


The evolution wind have started to blow on the world of Supreme Destiny once more to move us one step closer to the Xtreme Rebirth of our world. The evolution finally has begun.

The Beautiful World of TERA

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The Beautiful World of TERA


This is a video about TERA Online ! TERA is an action based mmorpg, which is absolutly amazing and beautiful in it's Details.Hope you will enjoy this.

Continue reading The Beautiful World of TERA.

Gorgeous Costume Show in Blade & Soul's 3rd CBT

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Gorgeous Costume Show in Blade & Soul's 3rd CBT


NCsoft unveiled Blade & Soul's open beta schedule shortly after they announced the full stop of the third closed beta test on May 23rd. Both of the exciting action effect and gorgeous costume are selling points of Blade & Soul.

Vampire Lord Online Announced! Overturn The Ancient Fate

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Vampire Lord Online Announced! Overturn The Ancient Fate


Insightsoft Entertainment, developer of online games in Taiwan, announced a brand new animated MMORPG: Vampire Lord Online.

Assassin's Creed Online? Ubisoft Massive Is Working on Next-gen MMORPG

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Assassin's Creed Online? Ubisoft Massive Is Working on Next-gen MMORPG


Things are coming to light but still full of questions. Ubisoft is no doubt developing a MMORPG, but could it be Assassin's Creed Online?

WoW 5.0: Mists of Pandaria Login Screen Preview

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WoW 5.0: Mists of Pandaria Login Screen Preview


Here is the Mists of Pandaria Login Screen. It is very different from the previous login screens. Do you like it?

Pangya: Tomahawk Update Trailer

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Pangya: Tomahawk Update Trailer


Pangya has some challenging new content on the way in their upcoming Tomahawk update!
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMORPG Videos

MMORPG Videos

Rift: Conquest Mode Dev Diary

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT

Trion Worlds and the Rift team have produced a brand new developer diary that centers around the new 3-faction PvP mode, Conquest. They team discusses some of the unique characteristics of Conquest. Check it out!
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMORPG Reviews

MMORPG Reviews

Our selection of the 10 Best Browser Games of May of 2012

Posted: 24 May 2012 08:54 AM PDT

Today we offer this selection of the 10 best browser games of May of 2012. Here you can take a look to the 10 best browser games that most caught our attention this month. Feel free to leave comments or share experiences about these games! ## 10 ## DarkOrbit is a browser-based space shooter where [...]

3 exclusive videos of the illuminati from The Secret World’s Closed Beta

Posted: 24 May 2012 08:23 AM PDT

Today we bring you several videos of the Illuminati that we have recorded in the closed beta of The Secret World. With them you can discover the illuminati introduction, the city where they are headquartered, New York, and its weapons training. Illuminati Intro New York Illuminati Tutorial Combat Training

Gazillion Games has released the teaser trailer of Marvel Heroes

Posted: 24 May 2012 07:48 AM PDT

After many months of development, Gazillion Games has finally unveiled new details about her future MMO, Marvel Heroes. In the video, you will discover some rushes of gameplay interspersed with scenes that reveal a certain Victor Von Doom, who seems to have put his hand on titanium in what appears to be the Cosmic Cube, [...]

Perfect World International has launched its the latest content update, Imperial Fury

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:33 AM PDT

Perfect World International has launched its latest content update, Imperial Fury, and comes with many new features, improvements and bug fixes. This new update brings many new content to the world of Perfect World International. Imperial Fury introduces the brand new Advanced Endless Universe instance. Sweeping changes have also been made to the Lunar Glade [...]

Pangya has announced the Pangya Tomahawk update

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:22 AM PDT

SG Interactive has announced that its anime-inspired golf MMOG, Pangya, is going to release its biggest season yet with the Pangya Tomahawk update. Also to get players ready for the new season, there are two in-game events with plenty of rewards, happening now through June 6. - 606 Challenge Event ­– Players who complete 66 [...]

Star Trek Online has announced the launch of Season 6: Under Siege

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:23 AM PDT

Perfect World Entertaintment has announced that Season 6: Under Siege will be launched very soon in Star Trek Online and will implement starbases. For the first time in the game, players will be able to build and customize their own starbases and fleets are able to come together to build a virtual home.

Auto Club Revolution new update comes with the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Posted: 24 May 2012 01:43 AM PDT

The Auto Club Revolution team has announced the next content update for its online racing game and car community that brings the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The update includes the Indianapolis oval, with the infield road circuit currently in development and due to launch soon. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, known affectionately as "the Brickyard", opened [...]

Wargaming.net, has announced the Update 7.4 for World of Tanks

Posted: 24 May 2012 01:13 AM PDT

Wargaming.net, has announced the Update 7.4 for World of Tanks introducing a wide range of new gameplay features. The update comes with two new game modes – Encounter Battle and Assault. The Encounter Battle mode invites two sides to fight for one base. The Assault sets the players in the roles of attackers and defenders [...]

Innogames is going to unveil a new browser game at E3

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:41 AM PDT

After the release of Forge of Empires open beta, InnoGames has announced its plans to unveil a upcoming browser game at E3 in Los Angeles. The title, a co-production with fellow German development studio, Ticking Bomb Games, will be published later on this year. “E3 is the world’s largest and one of the most important [...]
Posted by Shri Krishna


General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Hello, Robotic Overlords: Intel's Making Tech That Learns And Adapts To Your Habits

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:41 PM PDT

When web surfers aren't busy calling each other Nazis on forums, they're often cracking jokes about greeting their future robotic overlords with open arms. It won't be funny forever; the groundwork for our eventual demise is already being laid by the best minds in the land. IBM announced that it had created prototype cognitive chips modeled after the human brain almost a year ago, and today, Reuters reported that Intel is launching a research project in Israel dedicated to creating smart tech that can learn the habits of its users. (That way, SkyNet will know the best time to strike.)

Until that dark day, the machine learning tech being developed by the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Computational Intelligence (with help from Technion and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem) will work to serve man by helping him remember his car keys. No, seriously -- that was the example Intel used. If the smart tech's owner has a habit of leaving his keys in his house, Intel wants devices to learn to to remember where the keys are located and eventually even remind its owner to snag 'em on the way out the door. Intel expects its smart devices to become available in 2014 or 2015.

"All of these devices will come to know us as individuals, will very much tailor themselves to us," Intel CTO Justin Rattner told reporters. Actually, that sounds pretty decent when Rattner puts things that way… but then the president of Intel's Israeli arm, Moody Eden, added this terrifying tidbit:

"Within five years all of the human senses will be in computers and in 10 years we will have more transistors in one chip than neurons in the human brain."

Great, teach the robots to learn our ways, then give them human senses, then make them smarter than us. Just which side are you working for, Intel? Maybe the apocalypse will roll out of Jerusalem after all.

Diablo III Shatters PC Sales Records, Server Woes Postpone Real-Money Auction House Launch

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:04 AM PDT

Would-be demon slays ran into a big problem during Diablo III's opening week; nasty errors and server issues forced many first-day buyers into involuntarily sheathing their swords. The congestion highlighted concerns about the game's always-on DRM, but it turns out there was a good reason for the bad server woes: Blizzard claims Diablo III is the fastest selling game in PC history. Wait! Isn't PC gaming supposed to be dead?

Over 3.5 million PC gamers bought Diablo III within 24 hours of the game's launch, Blizzard said in a press release. Another 1.2 million World of Warcraft joined the party, too, bringing the total number of day one gamers -- many of whom were mere attempted gamers -- to a whopping 4.7 million.

That number jumped to 6.3 million players by the end of the first week of sales, though Blizzard is quick to point out that those figures "do not include players in Korean Internet game rooms, where Diablo III has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39% as of May 22."

Amazon.com's John Love says Diablo III shattered records for the online retailer, too. "Not only did Diablo III break the record for most preordered PC game of all-time on Amazon.com, but it also shattered the record for best day-one sales for any PC game ever on Amazon.com."

Speaking of Diablo III, if you're one of the aforementioned millions of players, you might want to swing over to the Diablo 3 forums, where the game devs just outlined past hotfixes, impending patches and account security concerns. Buried deep in the wall o' words in a brief announcement about the contentious real-money auction house; given the server issues, Blizzard isn't sure when the auction house will launch, but they know for a fact it won't be in May.

You know what we think about Diablo III. What're your impressions so far?

Corsair Shutters IPO, Launches New Force Series 3 SSD Upgrade Kit

Posted: 24 May 2012 10:14 AM PDT

Think you're having a productive Thursday? You've got nothing on the memory makers over at Corsair. It's barely past lunch time on the east coast and the company has already announced plans to drop its plans for a $78 million IPO thanks to "weak equity market conditions," and while the bigwigs were busy doing that, Corsair somehow squeezed in the time to launch its new Force Series 3 SSD notebook upgrade kits. Meanwhile, I'm barely through my second cup of coffee.

Corsair's been toying with the idea of going public for a while; in fact, the company even went so far as to file an S-1 with the SEC a year ago. This morning, Corsair said it was pulling back from the IPO and remaining a private company, at least for now.

"Corsair's board of directors has decided to postpone its IPO due to weak equity market conditions. Our business is growing, and is generating increasing profitability and cash flow. We have decided that we will re-launch when equity market conditions are more favorable," Andy Paul, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Corsair said. "While we do intend to expand our capital base through public capital markets, our existing capital structure and balance sheet provides sufficient capital to enable continued investment in our brand strength, products and people."

That continued investment in products reared its head quickly with the announcement of the Force Series 3 SSD notebook upgrade kits, which are obviously built around Corsair's Force Series 3 SSDs. The kits are designed to make transitioning to a new drive easy thanks to a handy-dandy bundled USB-to-SATA cable that connects the SSD to your laptop, letting you swap over files before you make the physical switch. It comes with software to help you move over your OS and system/app data, too.

The upgrade kits are available now and cost $140 for a 120GB model or $260 for a 260GB model. That's not too outrageous a premium over the SSDs alone; a bare 120GB Force Series 3 SSD will set you back the same $140 on Newegg, but that drops down to $120 after a mail-in rebate.

You can learn more about the upgrade kit on the Corsair blog.

Toshiba Launches AT300 Tablet with Tegra 3, Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:41 AM PDT

Tosbhia today officially trotted out its AT300 tablet with a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor tucked inside and Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) running the show. The AT300 features a 10.1-inch LED-backlit touchscreen display with a 1280x800 resolution and Gorilla Glass, 1GB of RAM, and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, upgradeable via a full size SD card slot.

Budding paparazzi will appreciate the 5MP camera with LED flash on the back and 2MP front-facing camera. Connectivity consists of 802.11g/b/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, micro USB and HDMI ports, and a combo audio output / mic input port.

The AT300 sports a pair of 1W stereo speakers with SRS audio and up to 10 hours of battery life with 100 percent video playback, or up to 12 hours of normal usage. It measures 260.6mm x 178.9mm x 8.95mm and weighs 590g.

Toshiba said the AT300 will be available in the U.K. in the second quarter for £329 (16GB) and £379 (32GB). A 3G model will come out in the third quarter.

Image Credit: Toshiba

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Lian Li Envisions Smartphone /Tablet Users Going Gaga for Three New Ultra Compact PC Cases

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:14 AM PDT

Apparently owning a smartphone or tablet means you're predisposed to favoring ultra-compact computer cases over mid-towers or those hulking full-tower hunks of aluminum and steel. Just ask Lian Li, which today introduced a trio of pint-sized brushed aluminum cases "for smartphone and tablet" wielding folk looking to build "personal data storage hubs for all your mobile devices." Interesting pitch, no?

First up is the PC-Q02 with a minimalistic and quiet design. It measures 5.86 x 9.06 x 7.87 inches (WxHxD) and supports mini-ITX motherboards. The case doesn't come with any fans, instead relying on vent holes on the side and rear panels to maximize natural air flow. Features include a single 5.25-inch drive bay, support for one 3.5-inch and two 2.5-inch HDD/SSDs, two USB 3.0 ports, and an included 300W power supply.

Second up to bat is the PC-Q03, a tiny fanless chassis with enhanced graphics capabilities. It's essentially the same as the PC-Q02, only slightly larger at 7.83 x 9.64 x 8.26 inches (WxHxD), which allows it to accommodate graphics cards up to 7.08 inches in length. It also has HD audio ports on the front panel.

Finally, Lian Li unveiled its PC-Q16, a mini-tower chassis that measures 7.83 x 6.29 x 11.41 inches (WxHxD). This one is built for storage junkies and can hold a single 3.5-inch HDD and up to three 2.5-inch HDD/SSDs, though it doesn't come with a 5.25-inch drive bay, which rules out an internal optical drive. Like the PC-Q02, this one ships with a 300W power supply.

All three cases will be available in the U.S. and Canada at the end of May for $150 (PC-Q02 and PC-Q03) and $160 (PC-Q16).

Image Credit: Lian Li

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Hewlett-Packard Reports $1.6 Billion Profit, Gets Ready to Print 27,000 Pink Slips

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:52 AM PDT

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2012, noting net revenue of $37.7 billion, a big number, though down 3 percent year-over-year. The Palo Alto company raked in a $1.6 billion (with a 'B') profit in its second fiscal quarter and returned $601 million in cash to stockholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases, which is far better than what 8 percent of its workforce will receive -- pink slips -- as part of a multi-year restructuring effort.

In a separate announcement, HP outlined a multi-year plan that it expects to generate annualized savings of $3 billion to $3.5 billion by the end of 2014. Getting there, however, requires axing 27,000 employees, which accounted for 8 percent of HP's total workforce as of October 31, 2011. Those who receive a pink slip will be offered an early retirement program.

In addition to headcount reductions, HP plans to cut costs through supply chain optimizations, SKU and platform rationalization, go-to-market strategy simplification, and business process improvements, HP said.

"These initiatives build upon our recent organizational realignment, and will further streamline our operations, improve our processes, and remove complexity from our business," said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. "While some of these actions are difficult because they involve the loss of jobs, they are necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company. We are setting HP on a path to extend our global leadership and deliver the greatest value to customers and shareholders."

HP said it plans to record a pre-tax charge of about $1.7 billion in fiscal 2012 related to its restructuring effort.

Image Credit: HP

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Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:33 AM PDT

Strange things happen on the Internet all the time. The art of RickRolling was -- and for some, still is -- one of them, whereby for a short period of time it became vogue to trick people into visiting Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on YouTube. Even more strange than RickRolling becoming a thing is the fact that AVG Technologies managed to convince YouTube to pull the popular video yesterday.

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by AVG Technologies. Sorry about that," a message read at the destination for the original Rick Astley video.

Torrent Freak first reported the copyright takedown notice yesterday, which is odd not only because the video has been around for five years and amassed over 61 million hits, but also because AVG Technologies, makers of well known antivirus software, made the copyright claim.

Just another strange day on the Internet, though in this case, the original video is now back online. Oddly enough, Torrent Freak says this isn't the first time YouTube has yanked the 1980s hit offline, claiming it was also pulled in 2010 for -- you guessed it -- copyright reasons.

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Posted by Shri Krishna

MMO News

MMO News

Perfect World International: Imperial Fury Wants YOUR Questions

Posted: 23 May 2012 04:34 PM PDT

Hey MMOHut readers – we’ve got a job for you!

Perfect World Entertainment is looking for some questions and feedback for their newest Perfect World International update: Imperial Fury.  You can find details about the changes below. The expansion features new end-game content, new exclusive hard-mode dungeons and gear, as well as brand new skills for you to learn.  The skill books are also fully tradeable!

If you have any questions at all for the Perfect World International team, leave them in a comment below, and we’ll forward them on for you! In the meantime, keep an eye out for the return of your questions – and answers – from the team.

51657 420x310 pwi imperialfury screenshot

Perfect World International “Imperial Fury” Gameplay Screenshot

Source:


The end-game just got more massive with the launch of PWI: Imperial Fury, the latest content update for the North America-based version of Perfect World International, one of the most successful MMORPGs in the world. Inspired by Chinese mythology and based in the mystical world of Pan Gu, PWI is a graphically stunning and immersive world of adventure and chaos.

In the Imperial Fury content update, the heroes of Perfect World must execute a plan to infiltrate the land of Morai, currently under the foul influence of the Dark Lord Jian’rin’s, and retrieve the powerful City Essences that were stolen during the Descent wraith invasion. Together, they must stand toe-to-toe against Jian’rin’s most powerful emperors in a bid to keep the Dark Lord from manipulating these Essences to his own nefarious ends.

Features:

  •  NEW DUNGEON EXPANSION–ADVANCED ENDLESS UNIVERSE

Engage in combat with one of four evil emperors: Aohe, Chigo, Locen, or Aurogon, depending on your luck when entering the dungeon. Each variation also includes completely new and challenging instance mechanics that include timed events, using the environment to defeat bosses, and powerful NPCs that will fight by your side.

  •  EXCLUSIVE HARD-MODE DUNGEON BOSSES AND GEAR

The high-level Lunar Glade and Warsong City instances now have new extra-tough optional bosses. These bosses will be a challenge for seasoned players with rewards that can be used to substantially upgrade what is currently the most powerful gear in the game. PWI is the only version of Perfect World that has this particular content.

  •  BRAND NEW SKILLS

After clearing the new Advanced Endless Universe instance, players will have the opportunity to obtain multiple brand new skill-books for each class. These skill-books are also fully tradable, allowing players to profit tremendously in the event that they obtain one for a different class than their own.
Posted by Shri Krishna

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

Diablo III – Giving Blizzard the thumbs down

Posted: 23 May 2012 10:14 PM PDT


I still remember around 11 to 12 years ago, me in my school uniform, skipping my choir lesson just to queue up for a box of Diablo II. Man, I had so much fun with the game, the items, the challenging buy possible Hell mode... Well, that was the past. Fast forward till today, the much anticipated sequel left a really bad taste in my mouth. Diablo III itself is a 7/10 for me, but let us look at the problems besieging the game which frustrated gamers from all over the world. This is a borderline rant post, and definitely not a "professional" paid-to-write article, so spare me your criticisms.

1. Server capacity, Error 37

Yes, Blizzard, with 10 years of experience hosting World of Warcraft, couldn't predict "near" accurately the number of gamers logging in on launch day. Seriously? The last I know, they ought to have numbers of how many physical copies were shipped out to stores and how many digital copies were already paid for. I am no analyst expert myself, but as a multimillion company with the resources, how could Error 37 even happen in the first place, and for a few days at that. Although I did not apply for annual leave, various of my gaming buddies did.


Over at the Asian server, the same thing happened. With Taiwan and Korea supposed to be under the Asian region, queues begun to form after the server capacity reached its limits. And Blizzard's comment? The maximum bandwidth has been hit, and players are encouraged to switch to either to The Americas or the Europe server, although characters are not able to go cross-servers. I mean, seriously? The good folks spent money, most probably just wanted to play LAN with their friends and offline single player modes, why must they, or rather, we, agree to this crap? Before you go "Blizzard did stated that the game was online only", people bought the game assuming the servers are stable and safe, which Blizzard touted.

To add salt to the wound, Taiwanese gamers found out that once they change their own IP to a Korean one, they can log into the Asian server, located in South Korea, with ease. What kind of gamers does Blizzard think the modern day ones are? Tech green horns? Subsequently, Blizzard blocked Taiwanese IPs from the Asian server, although I am not sure of the situation now. All in all, this situation should never have had happened in the first place if proper estimations were made. Or did Blizzard even kept track of how many copies of Diablo III they sold?

Finally, this just happened a few minutes ago. I got banned for 24 hours from the Blizzard forums for "advertising". Let me get this straight, everyone is so pissed about the auction house errors, the hacking and whatsoever, I thought posting something which I feel is a novelty might perhaps bring a smile to those wry faces. It is actually an image of a shirt from an online T-shirt store, which I mentioned the shop's name.

The shop is actually a partner of IGN, a games website where Diablo III is heavily advertised. I would be happy if I get a warning, but no, the easy way out, like how Funcom almost got my YouTube account banned, is to just swing the axe. No wonder the community and customer service folks are always on the chopping block first when there is a retrenchment exercise.


2. Items and equipments

I will have to admit, I was expecting a much improved Diablo II, something like a true sequel and not a total remake. Remake is fine, only if the changes are really convincing. What I got was instead a pile of ego lumped together in a much beloved franchise. Hear me out.

First, set items. When I was playing Diablo II, me and my friends actually took the initiative to collect all the set items, equip them and took screenshots signalling our successful "farming". That took place even before we hit level 99, had tons of fun. Now, set items in Diablo III are so rare, I have only seen 2 or 3 different sets before the level 60 ones. There is a serious lack of set items in the game, why so? Is it another easy way out?

End-act bosses, such as Azmodan and Diablo, will not drop as many yellow, rare goodies after the first time. It means the end of boss farming for drops. Blizzard argued that this is to prevent, well, boss farming continuously. So, at level 60, players who kill elite monsters and group mobs (which are often stronger than the final act bosses) will gain 1 buff, improving magic/rare items' drop rate. It can be stacked up 5 times. So now, players will have to run around maps finding these mobs to kill before teleporting straight to the final boss.


From the looks of it, it sound pretty novel. But in actual game implementation, it makes no sense to me at all. While Blizzard touted there will be many builds players can switch to according to different situation, the buff actually cancels when players change skills. Certain gamers have a set of skills for mass mobs, another set for single target bosses, so where the hell is the link to what Blizzard said?

Final note about the drop rate buff. Blizzard implemented this system to make sure players enjoy the full game content without traveling straight to the boss. If you happen to meet elite mobs which you are geared to kill, good for you. If you happen to meet those which are impossible to solo, such as enchanted with insane arcane lasers, walls, invulnerability minions etc, you will have to spend time finding others (buff ends in 30minutes, resets every time an elite mob is killed) or log out, which will cancel all buffs gathered.

I understand this new system is implemented as a time sink in order not for players to rush through the game. But let's face it, this is 2012, gamers' mentality has changed, they want some fast, engaging action without having to repeat procedures too often. This only happens mainly in MMOs, yet Blizzard claim Diablo III is just an online game, not a MMO. What?

3. Game was not fully tested before shipping, game design based on "assumption"

I was directed to this thread by another overseas Diablo fan, and was amazed to even read what was posted by Blizzard's community manager. He claimed that they, Blizzard, "purposely launched the game with Inferno being far more difficult than what we were able to progress in ourselves, assuming people would find it as difficult but with a few skilled players able to pull it off". In other words, the team was not able to clear the original Inferno difficulty themselves, yet shipped the game out with Inferno even harder and hope some skilled players are able to do so. What kind of excuse is this?


I understand that Blizzard wanted Inferno to be hard, but the least they could do is to ensure the right equipments drop time to time. I, having farmed Hell mode's Azmodan and Diablo a couple of nights with the drop rate buff at full, only found a couple of equipments which are a little better than what we were wearing, but no where near to ensure we will not be "1 hit KO" in Inferno's Act 2.The item stats are so random, we could be farming for the next 2 years to get something useful for Inferno. Yeah, the auction house. Don;t even get me started on that game breaking feature.


The thing is, gamers do want something challenging, not near impossible. I am looking at gradual scaling in terms of difficulty, not just bump up the mobs to ridiculous stats and say "go ahead and try it, even though we as developers couldn't complete it ourselves". What kind of game design philosophy is this? Based on assumption?

Too many negatives overshadowing an otherwise great game

I could just go on and on and on, but still, Diablo III is a good game, minus the non-stop technical hiccups since launch and flawed game design mechanics. The combat is fun, I love the fact Diablo is back, graphics is looking awesome and certainly unique classes such as the Witch Doctor. There are many issues to be solved right now, including a buggy auction house and accounts being hacked left and right. Given the promises of the game being safer, more stable etc in an online-only environment, it is not too much to say the game is a major letdown as well.


This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Blade Wars MMORPG Review

Posted: 23 May 2012 04:01 PM PDT

Blade Wars is a Chinese MMORPG with 2D and 3D elements presented with an isometric camera view. Based on Asian mythology, the game has three races, the Abyssals, Humans, and Immortals who are locked in a battle for dominance. Plenty of PvE and PvP challenges await players in Blade Wars.

 

 

Publisher: ChangYou
Playerbase: Low
Graphics: Low Quality
Type: MMORPG
EXP Rate: High
PvP: Arenas / Guild battles / PvP Flag
Filesize: ~ 1130 mb

Website: http://bw.us.changyou.com/en/

Pros: +Fast paced combat. +Play musical instruments. +Guild battles and PvP arenas. +Earn extra experience & coins in groups. +Create custom Combos.

Cons: -Dated visuals and interface. -Monsters provide no challenge. -Limited display options.

 

Blade Wars is the second MMORPG to hit Western shores by the Chinese studio ChangYou. Like Battle of the Immortals, it boasts '2.5D' graphics. This means the graphics and camera view are similar to many action-RPGs. Blade Wars has fast paced gameplay with a combo system and plenty of skills. Progression is fast paced and there are plenty of quests to complete. The five playable classes are broken down into three races.

Classes:

Assassin - Quick and deadly. The ultimate trained killers. Their skills are breathtaking to watch and their weapons of choice are the Twin Blades and Twin Rings.

Knight - Skilled with Swords and Bladed weapons, Knights excel at dealing consistent damage. They are natural born leaders.

Shura - Masters of fist weapons including Claws and Cestus, Shura distinguish themselves with their use of powerful Talisman.

Warrior - Brute fighters with are well suited to use Axes and Hammers. They have high health and defense making them ideal front line soldier.s

Warlock - The primary spell casters in Blade Wars. Warlocks possess long ranged elemental attacks. They also rely on fire and lightening abilities for defense. Their weapons of choice include Staffs, Wands, and Flails.

Races - Abyssals, Humans, Immortals

 

 

Blade Wars System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows XP / 2000 / 98 / Windows ME
CPU: 800 MHz Pentium 3
RAM: 256 MB
HDD: 2 GB Free
Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce2 MX 400/32M

Recommended Specification:
OS: Windows XP / 2000 / 98 / Windows ME
CPU: 2.0 Ghz Intel P4 or better
RAM: 512 MB  RAM or more
HDD: 2 GB Free
Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce2 MX 400/64M

Musings from the Public Domain

Posted: 23 May 2012 03:47 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF MAY 21 | WHAT IF?

Musings from the Public Domain

Cover Story: A view from a world where the "Mickey Mouse" copyright extension act never became law.

T

he spring release season is now fully upon us, and with it comes the usual trickle of new IPs and a torrent of sequels to comparatively recent franchises. The biggest deal of the season, however, has to be the absolute flood of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King games and films. A&E's blockbuster LotR miniseries is finally moving on to its conclusion, and It's pretty much impossible to visit a flash game portal without tripping over a Minas Tirith tower defense game. Meanwhile, Rockstar's open world take on Rebel Without a Cause has emerged as the definitive reimagining of the flick even against all the major studio remakes, to say nothing of the glut of halfassed student films. Finally, Edmund McMillan's deeply unsettling take on Lolita as a dungeon crawler played from the point of view of the title character is still looking for a bold enough publisher despite sweeping this year's IGF awards.

That's just a small sample of a motley assemblage of games that all have one thing in common: They're all based on properties that entered the public domain this year. The yearly rollout of old properties, both celebrated and obscure, has long since become something we've taken for granted. We even make a point of taking a annual look at what will be emerging from the copyright cage once we're done breaking all our new year's resolutions, and we barely bat an eye when we're treated to a glut of weird furry Lady and the Tramp dating sims. Geeks around the world are already anticipating next year's Superman revival, or dreading his inevitable crossover appearance in every other comic in existence. It's so much a part of the culture at this point that it's easy to overlook the fact that it can all be traced back to a single momentous decision.

We certainly wouldn't be seeing so many films and TV shows based on Sherlock Holmes if the character were still the IP of a single publisher, and we sure as hell wouldn't be seeing him fight Dracula quite so often.

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The Nintendo Play Station: A Retrospective

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:52 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF MAY 21 | WHAT IF?

The Nintendo Play Station: A Retrospective

Cover Story: As Nintendo and Sony prepare to announce the Play Station 4 at E3, we remember the console that set the stage for modern gaming.

A

s we gear up for E3 2012, the biggest announcement expected to come out of the L.A. Convention Center this year is the latest generation of gaming's console goliath, the Play Station 4. Based on early reports from trusted third-party developers and info leaks from Chinese parts suppliers, the PS4 seems a given -- and with its arrival, the continued dominance of the games industry by joint Sony/Nintendo venture Taido should be a lock as well.

With the PS4 right around the corner, now is as good a time as any to look back at the history of the Play Station family and how two Japanese giants teamed up to put an entire medium in a 20-year hammerlock.

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Diablo III Sales Bode Well for PC Games, Poorly for Always-Online Haters

Posted: 23 May 2012 02:31 PM PDT

Diablo III

Diablo III was expected to do well, but with so many factors to take into account -- competition from Torchlight II, an always-online requirement, and complaints about a supposedly dumbed-down skill system and colorful art style -- it was hard to say for sure exactly how well it would do. It turns out it did tremendously well; Blizzard has announced the long-awaited sequel has already broken sales records, something the folks over at Activision are pretty accustomed to thanks to Call of Duty. However, Diablo's success may have more far-reaching effects than simply ensuring Blizzard and company are flush with cash.

More than 3.5 million copies of the game were sold in its first 24 hours of availability, according to Blizzard. This figure does not include the freebie digital versions handed out to those who signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass. Over 1.2 million people took advantage of that offer, bringing the total number of gamers with a copy of the game on launch day up to 4.7 million, good enough to make it the "biggest PC game launch in history." After the first week, that figure now sits at 6.3 million.

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Eve Online: Inferno out now

Posted: 23 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT

The 17th free expansion for subscribers to one of Iceland’s biggest exports, Eve Online, is now available.

While Inferno includes updates as wide-ranging as graphical enhancements, usability tweaks and fixes, the expansion focusses on delivering new and improved means to wage war on your enemies.

The ageing war declaration mechanism has been completely overhauled to remove exploitable loopholes and keep track of your ongoing battles be they for revenge, financial gain or simply for the hell of it.

Factional warfare has also had considerable (not to mention long-overdue) attention paid to it making the enlisting of your player or corporation into Eve’s universe-wide game of conquest more rewarding than its ever been.

Another brilliant addition to the mix is the Mercenary Marketplace, which allows players to pay for the best guns-for-hire or alternatively offer your PvP skills to the highest bidder.

"If you've ever had dreams of piloting a spaceship into a full blown Sci-Fi war of thousands of ships, EVE is your game and Inferno your expansion. Or, if you've been skirting the edges of conflict for years, there are going to be some pretty compelling reasons to put your hull at risk," says Jon Lander, Senior Producer of EVE Online.

The surprise star of the show, though, are the amazing new graphical effects for missiles and launchers, which is demonstrated rather nicely in the Inferno launch trailer.

Eve Online recently celebrated its ninth birthday and its ninth consecutive year of growth by launching an eve ‘Pod’ containing the names of all it’s players into the stratosphere before sending it hurtling back to Earth.

Posted by Shri Krishna
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