27
Aug

MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Announces Skirmish on Carlac

Posted:

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Announces Skirmish on Carlac


Today, join the Republic war effort in Skirmish on Carlac, the newest full combat-enabled world zone in Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures! While exploring this snowy world -- and collecting a myriad of new gear and housing items along the way -- players will face off with a brutal MagnaGuard patrol, infiltrate several Death Watch mercenary training camps and eventually face off with Pre Vizsla himself to prevent the destruction of a native Ming Po village!

Rift's Test Shard Hints At New Soul Names, Future Events

Posted:

Rift's Test Shard Hints At New Soul Names, Future Events


Rift's Public Test Shard is a lovely place to take a peek into the future. After the shard's most recent update, such peeks are of a particularly informative variety.

C9 Worrior PVP guide (vs all classes)

Posted:

C9 Worrior PVP guide (vs all classes)


In C9, melee classes are not bad. But compared with other classes, melee classes should be more careful and concentrated in combat, and it's hard for players become a master. Here, I just want to share my experience with those who are also playing the warrior class.

Blade and Soul (CN): Tencent Released Letter of Thanks to Celebrate CBT 1's Perfect Ending

Posted:

Blade and Soul (CN): Tencent Released Letter of Thanks to Celebrate CBT 1's Perfect Ending


11 days, 120 hours, the CN Blade and Soul CBT 1 has come to its ending on Aug.26th. During the test, Chinese players have the opportunity to experience the fantasy land and the beautiful characters in Blade and Soul, and of course submit bug reports and game suggestions. Tencent also released a letter of thanks to the players for their support and suggestions.

RuneScape: Behind the Scenes Video 15: Al-Kharid – Rebuilding a City

Posted:

RuneScape: Behind the Scenes Video 15: Al-Kharid – Rebuilding a City


Although players won't find bright orange construction cones littering the streets of Al-Kharid in RuneScape, developers are busy rebuilding the desert city.

WoW MoP Patch 5.0.4: The Ultimate Guide

Posted:

WoW MoP Patch 5.0.4: The Ultimate Guide


Bashiok (an ex-CM of World of Warcraft before moving to Diablo III.) has posted an extensive Survival Guide for Patch 5.0.4 that is going to get released this Tuesday. Players might get confused when logging in after the patch, due to the vast amount of class changes, new talent system and will need to sort out their glyphs and rotation.

Project N (KR) Released Debut Trailer

Posted:

Project N (KR) Released Debut Trailer


The maiden title for upcoming Korea developer, Nflodsoft, Project N is yet another MMORPG crafted by Unreal Engine 3.

Video Gamers Eager for the Launch of Guild Wars 2®

Posted:

Video Gamers Eager for the Launch of Guild Wars 2®


SEATTLE – August 24, 2012: NCsoft®, the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) and ArenaNet, developer of the renowned Guild Wars franchise, are ready to unleash Guild Wars 2 to millions of eagerly awaiting fans around the world on August 28. Eager fans who pre-purchased the game can log-in on August 25 as part of the Headstart Program, which allows them to experience the game's groundbreaking dynamic event system, action-oriented combat and meaningful personal story lines three-days early.

DOTA 2 The International Preliminaries Streaming Live Now

Posted:

DOTA 2 The International Preliminaries Streaming Live Now


DOTA 2′s second major tournament takes place at PAX Prime this coming weekend, but the preliminaries are going down even as we speak.Valve has put together a terrific, spoiler-free hub page for accessing streams and results, with a boggling amount of gameplay on offer for potential spectators in the form of replays as well as live feeds.

Dungeon and Fi​ghter Exceeds 3 Million Concurrent Users in China

Posted:

Dungeon and Fi​ghter Exceeds 3 Million Concurrent Users in China


NEXON announced that its MMORPG "Dungeon & Fighter" had exceeded 3 million maximum concurrent users in China as of June, surpassing the previous record of 2.6 million.

Knight Age Facebook Poll Reveals Favorite Features as OB Approaches

Posted:

Knight Age Facebook Poll Reveals Favorite Features as OB Approaches


Knight Age will enter open beta testing beginning August 28th. Soon everyone will have a chance to play this unique riding-action, 3D fantasy MMORPG.

Tribes: Ascend - CTF Blitz or just CTF

Posted:

Tribes: Ascend - CTF Blitz or just CTF


Hey peeps, a few days ago I reinstalled my Tribes: Ascend client and decided to give the game another go, the first thing I notice is that now the game have another gameplay mode, 'CTF Blitz'. Needlessly to say it, I played it like no tomorrow for a whole day.

Eternal Blade Comic: Thesis' Monstrosities Ends?

Posted:

Eternal Blade Comic: Thesis' Monstrosities Ends?


Have been following the Eternal Blade's "The Nature of the Beast" ? The adventurous comic seems to come to its final ending. The Knight leads her companions to the laboratory of the evil scientist Thesis, whose experiments on animals created the monsters that attacked them in the forest. Now the final showdown has arrived: can the squabbling characters band together long enough to put an end to Thesis' monstrosities?

ROSE Online Launches an Unconventional New Mount System

Posted:

ROSE Online Launches an Unconventional New Mount System


Gravity Interactive have added a new series of mounts to ROSE Online. Players can, for instance, get hold of a wide variety of mounts with a twist.
Posted by Shri Krishna
26
Aug

General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Even Google has Crappy Jobs

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 10:03 AM PDT

GoogleA job a Google nets you free food, benefits for your spouse and kids should you drop dead at the keyboard, and even a salary that is second to none. All of these perks add up to make a job at Google one of the most coveted prizes for the modern geek, and yet, not every position is so glorious. A recent "Tech Confessional" exposed by BuzzFeed gave the chilling account of an ex-Googler was hired on contract to look at the very worst of the Internet so you don't have to.

Imagine if your job consisted of sorting through droves of bestiality, necrophilia, and body mutilation videos, along with beheading and suicide clips from YouTube. This facilitating account of an ex-Google contractor details a 9 month career in the life of just such an employee, and what it's like to be cut loose without support after enduring a year of hell. "So I went to get therapy. Google covered one session with a government-appointed therapist — and encouraged me to go out and get my own therapy after I left."

According to the anonymous source "no one talks about it. Like the guy I knew at YouTube. He was the guy who knew everything about child porn, knew everything about beheadings. I worked with him very closely and every time a new video by Al Qaeda came up, he was the first guy to see it. He had to see it for everybody. But he was a contractor and they didn't hire him. He has no idea why. His manager called the recruiters and said, do you have any idea what this guy does? They had no idea. If you're a contractor, you're just a name and a department".

It's a somewhat horrifying tale, but worth reading. Does Google have a responsibility to these contractors? Let us know what you think below.

Follow Justin on Twitter

Apple Attempts to Remove All Trace of its Crappy Genius Ads from the Internet

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 09:29 AM PDT

PrivateRemember when we said Apple's new marketing campaign was a "complete embarrassment"? Well apparently they agree with us. Apple has apparently removed all trace of its three genius ads from their website, and even the official YouTube channel. We can only hazard to guess that the company realized stereotyping its customers and clueless, needy, and panic stricken probably wasn't the quickest way to their hearts, and cooler heads prevailed. The ads saw very limited commercial air time during the 2012 summer Olympics, and while the company initially defended its decision to pull them from the airwaves, it would seem they are going one step further by erasing them history completely. 

Some have attempted to explain the decision to delete the ads claiming the campaign had simply run its course, however a quick peek at the Apple YouTube channel shows ads pre-dating the iPhone 4. Poor marketing campaigns are a dime a dozen these days, however it's a rare misstep for a company with such a strong track record. Love it or hate it, you have to admit the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" series of ads hit Microsoft where it hurt during the Vista years. By service pack 1 Microsoft had fixed the vast majority of issues with Vista, but the damage done by the Apple ads has fueled years of growth at the PC's expense.

The upside is that in the era of the Internet it's almost completely impossible to expunge every trace of stupid behavior. Here are links to the ads in case you'd care to mock them one more time.

 

Video #1 - Mayday

Video #2 - Labor Day

Video #3 - Basically


 

Follow Justin on Twitter

Activision Moving Slowly Into Mobile: Recognizes Hardware Almost Xbox 360 Level

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 08:58 AM PDT

ActivisionWhile it's difficult to compare the widely differing architectures of consoles, PC's, and phones, most experts agree we have almost reached hardware parity. Activision is the latest "expert" to chime in on the debate, and claim that by the time next-generation of smartphones hit the market, they will indeed have the equivalent amount of raw graphical grunt as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This has the company looking long and hard at its 30-year portfolio of more than 350 IP's to see what would work well in the mobile space. Vice President of mobile development, Greg Canessa met with the guys over at CVG, and detailed what they have in store for the future.

Canessa has acknowledged that Activision is a bit behind some of their competitors when it comes to releasing games for iOS and Android, but claim they are taking a "thoughtful" approach to the market rather than flooding app stores with sub-par products. Just for the record, we are pretty sure he's talking about EA. "I know there's another company that paid crazy money for mobile companies and spent a lot of time trying to mesh them together," he said. "That's not our approach. We are taking an organic approach, building things from the ground-up."

When asked about the genres that make the most sense to them on mobile, strategy seemed to be the area of greatest interest. Of course touch interfaces continue to be a concern given how limiting it is as an input, and will ultimately be the last piece of the puzzle. An Apple or Google branded gamepad is starting to look like a pretty good idea these days.

Follow Justin on Twitter

Apple Trounces Samsung in US Court: Jury Members Hit the Interview Circuit

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 06:24 AM PDT

samsungvappleThe high profile Samsung vs. Apple trial has finally come to a conclusion, and the Jury has delivered a stunning $1.05 billion settlement in favor of Apple. The fine isn't unsubstantial, but the bigger message here is that Apple now has legal president for many of the patents that cover the gadgets we love, and the rest of the industry will need to quickly fall into line. This will mean higher licensing fees, and ultimately, higher prices for consumers. The Verge did an excellent job of summarizing the verdict as it came down, but to put it in just a few words, this changes everything.

Interviews with members of the Jury have begun to trickle out to the various news agencies, and the most interesting of these is with 67-year-old Velvin Hogan. As an electrical engineer Hogan appears to have been instrumental in helping his peers understand the patent system, and in fact, is a patent holder himself. You could make the argument that Hogan was biased towards a broken system, however it sounds as though he carefully considered the evidence, as did his fellow jurors. "We felt like we were 100 percent fair, but we wanted something more than a slap on the wrist."  

Samsung and Apple have both responded publically to the verdict, and it sounds as though Samsung is already getting set to appeal. 

Apple Statement: 

We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung's behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right.

Samsung Statement:

Today's verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.

Let us know how you would have come down on the debate.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMO Updates

MMO Updates

Rise and Shiny: Vendetta Online

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Casual, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Sandbox

Vendetta Online screenshot
For the record, Vendetta Online has been in development since 1998 and launched an alpha in 2002. EVE Online was released in North America in 2003. So although it might be too close to call or lost in the foggy details of gamer's memories, it's safe to say that EVE Online did not invent space, spaceships, speedy space travel, trading, or ship-to-ship combat. Still, feel free to post fill the comment section with "EVE-clone," a common phrase that pops up whenever Vendetta Online is mentioned or shown.

Now that we have that out of the way, what is Vendetta Online? It's a multi-platform, twitch-based, science-fiction universe that offers free-form travel and character development. At least that's what I have read. So far in my time with the game, I have experienced only a smattering of what it seems to offer. I've traveled a lot, gunned down a few enemies, and read a lot of text. While I know I have touched but the tip of the iceberg, I still had fun this week. And yes, I pretended to "fly" my spacecraft by running through the house while playing on my Nexus 7 tablet.

And yes, I provided the WOOSH and BRAKKA BRAKKA sounds myself. (That's how you know it's space.)

Continue reading Rise and Shiny: Vendetta Online

MassivelyRise and Shiny: Vendetta Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Previously on MV TV: The week of August 18th

    Posted: 26 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT

    Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, Humor, Champions Online, World of Tanks, Family, Guides, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Dungeons, Previously on MV TV, Pirate101

    Previously On MV TV banner
    Ah, livestreaming. It's not for the faint of heart. Streaming a favorite title requires knowledge of technology, a solid internet pipeline, and the willingness to have your noobnessocity pushed live for all to see. It's not a thankless job, however. We livestreamers get to show viewers our favorite titles or titles that the audience might not have seen before. For me, it's a challenge to find new and interesting games, while the other streamers tend to enjoy showing off classic titles or new parts of modern hits. Variety is the keyword when it comes to our livestream lineup!

    So what did we show off this week? Well, let's start with MJ running through The Secret World and EverQuest II, followed by our favorite little Piggy taking on an hour's worth of Champions Online. Mike followed up with an hour in his favorites World of Tanks, EVE Online and Drakensang Online. I steered into worlds unknown by streaming some Vendetta Online and followed that up with an exclusive (first!) livestream of Pirate101, KingsIsle's soon-to-be-hit.

    Check it out, but be sure to bookmark our livestream page so you don't miss a thing going forward! Feel free to add suggestions in the comments section while you're here. We get a lot of our ideas from readers and always love to hear more.

    Continue reading Previously on MV TV: The week of August 18th

    MassivelyPreviously on MV TV: The week of August 18th originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Daily Grind: How long should in-game events run?

      Posted: 26 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT

      Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Patches, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

      Events should only run for a week. All other claims are libelous.
      If you were hoping to get yourself a nice Sand People outfit in Star Wars: The Old Republic's Grand Acquisition Race... well, you can still buy one, but you can't obtain the tokens to do so any longer. That makes the event a very brief one indeed, as it ran for just a week. You might argue this to be just enough time for players to enjoy the event if they wanted and not so long as to get annoying. Or you might argue that it's far too short for any sort of real pursuit of the rewards.

      The trick with any in-game event is to run it just long enough, but everyone's going to have a different definition of how long is too long. For some players, a week is enough time to get everything; for others, a month is still not enough. It depends on playstyle, it depends on how much there is to do, and it depends upon how neat the event trappings are. So what do you think? How long should an in-game event run?

      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!

      MassivelyThe Daily Grind: How long should in-game events run? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Tattered Notebook: Twitter highlights from the EverQuest II team

        Posted: 25 Aug 2012 02:00 PM PDT

        Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Community Q&A, The Tattered Notebook

        The Tattered Notebook Twitter highlights from the EverQuest II team
        A few days ago, the EverQuest II team made itself available for a question-and-answer session on Twitter. This session was unusual not because the team doesn't take the time to answer questions (communication through the years has had its peaks and valleys but is pretty decent overall) but because the venue is a new one for the team. As far as I can recall, this is the first time the EQII team has used Twitter to field questions, and it led to some juicy answers. In this week's Tattered Notebook, let's look at a few of the highlights!

        Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Twitter highlights from the EverQuest II team

        MassivelyThe Tattered Notebook: Twitter highlights from the EverQuest II team originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          The Mog Log: Final Fantasy and free-to-play

          Posted: 25 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT

          Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log

          The Mog Log header by A. Fienemann
          Subscriptions are dying. There's no two ways about it. Star Wars: The Old Republic is switching over, and whether or not they liked the game, fans of Final Fantasy XIV have no room to throw stones about the game's success. That leaves a handful of holdouts in the normal subscription space, and that doesn't include the next major release on the horizon, as Guild Wars 2 is under the same buy-to-play model as its predecessor.

          Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI are two of the holdouts. And in a world increasingly dominated by games without subscription fees, that's pretty significant. So the question becomes whether or not the games will embrace the free-to-play option, whether or not they should, and how this sort of option could work in the game's favor rather than against it. After all, there are some roadblocks to making the system work quite right, but there's a lot of pressure on the market for a change.

          Continue reading The Mog Log: Final Fantasy and free-to-play

          MassivelyThe Mog Log: Final Fantasy and free-to-play originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Posted by Shri Krishna

            MMORPG News

            MMORPG News

            Pirate Galaxy: Fight For Friends Event Announced

            Posted: 26 Aug 2012 07:58 AM PDT

            Fight For Friends Event Announced

            Beginning on Monday, August 27th, players will be able to participate in the Fight for Friends event. During the event, players are given incentives to invite buddies to play Pirate Galaxy.

            Scarlet Legacy: Celebrating Its First Anniversary

            Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:46 PM PDT

            Celebrating Its First Anniversary

            Scarlet Legacy is exactly one year old and the development team has pulled out all the stops to provide players with lots of exciting birthday activities in which to participate. Players have a chance to win anniversary satchels and check out a special birthday edition map.

            Uncharted Waters Online: Panama City Now Live

            Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:42 PM PDT

            Panama City Now Live

            Uncharted Waters Online players will want to head into game to check out the final portion of the Tierra America zone of the game. Panama City is now live and comes with a host of new content and features including ship upgrades and more.

            MapleStory: Mihile Coming as a Playable Character

            Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:36 PM PDT

            Mihile Coming as a Playable Character

            Nexon and the MapleStory team have released a new game play video featuring Mihile who will become a playable character when the "New Dawn" update goes into effect on September 5th. Mihile uses one-handed swords and has a special shield called the Soul Shield, which grows with him. It can gain experience and level up, and it is also automatically upgraded at each job advancement.

            ROSE Online: Unusual Mounts Introduced

            Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:17 PM PDT

            Unusual Mounts Introduced

            Rose Online developers have added a new series of mounts to the game. Players can, for instance, get hold of a wide variety of mounts with a twist. Lobsters are one of the offered mounts which players can ride piggyback.

            Eternal Blade: An End to Thesis' Monstrosities?

            Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:58 PM PDT

            An End to Thesis

            Danger awaits in Eternal Blade! The Knight leads her companions to the laboratory of the evil scientist Thesis, whose experiments on animals created the monsters that attacked them in the forest. Now the final showdown has arrived: can the squabbling characters band together long enough to put an end to Thesis' monstrosities? Find out what happens to them in the finale of Eternal Blade's "The Nature of the Beast" comic series by artist Elisa "LeeLee" Scaldaferri!
            Posted by Shri Krishna
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