General Gaming Article

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• EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Review
• Zombie Games Roundup
• Enermax Posts List of PSUs Compatible with Haswell Processors
• Column: The Dangers of Deep Packet Inspection
• Intel's Iris Technology Will Get You Excited About Integrated Graphics
• Internet Explorer is Killing Chrome in Browser Wars, But Also Losing - Huh?
• YouTube Now Serving Up 6 Billion Hours of Video Each Month
• Newegg Daily Deals: WD My Passport Edge 500GB, Rosewill Stallion 700W PSU, and More

EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Review Posted: 02 May 2013 05:15 PM PDT EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Review Fastest single-GPU card? Yep. Fastest GPU? Nope If aliens ever land and say, "Take us to your single-GPU leader," you'll have to find a GTX Titan that's available for a viewing. The Titan is without a doubt the fastest single-GPU card available today, but it's not the fastest single video card, as that distinction still belongs to dual-GPU behemoths such as the Asus Ares II and the Nvidia GTX 690. A lot of people don't enjoy messing with SLI and CrossFireX, though, and for them the Titan offers the highest level of performance possible at this time without any dual-card shenanigans. It also brings some new technology to the table, has a smaller form factor and lower TDP than the GTX 690, and includes heavily revamped tuning software designed for quiet operation, making it one of the most well-rounded and impressive GPU packages we've encountered in recent memory.  As with the GTX 690, both EVGA and Asus offer Titans that are 100 percent Nvidia's design inside and out. The Titan has existed for more than a year in the supercomputer world in the form of the Telsa K20X, which costs around $5,000. It's Nvidia's Big Kepler GPU, meaning it's the most powerful implementation of the company's current architecture, and for context it's almost double everything compared to a GTX 680 GPU. It has twice the transistors, almost double the CUDA cores, triple the frame buffer, a wider memory bus, better double-precision performance for compute, and totally revamped tuning software. Given its massive parallelism and size the card runs at a much slower clock speed than a GTX 680, however, moving along at 836MHz compared to the 680's 1,006MHz clock speed. It's a half-inch longer than the GTX 680, but is a worthy successor to the flagship cards we tested last year, as it offers a sizable performance increase over all of them, dual-GPU cards excluded, of course.  In terms of new technology, its tuning software now lets you dictate a maximum temperature for the card, which helps keep it totally silent at all times. Out of the box it's set to 80 C but you can nudge it up to 95 C if you're feeling saucy; the card can handle it. You can also over-volt the Titan, which is a first for a "stock" card from Nvidia. The GeForce GTX logo is now controlled by software, too, so you can make it breathe and tweak its brightness level. It will supposedly also let you "overclock" your display's refresh rate, allowing you to bypass VSync to achieve higher frame rates.  In testing, we saw the Titan reign supreme over its single-GPU competitors, but it could not topple the Ares II, Radeon 7990 Devil 13, or GTX 690 cards. It's also not as fast as dual-card SLI and CrossFireX configurations, which isn't surprising, but the Titan is close to them despite using only one GPU, which is quite impressive. It also requires exactly half the power requirements, needing just one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe connector. Overall it's a good 10-15 percent faster than the GTX 680, which is great and all, but not for double the price. In the end, the main goal of the Titan is twofold: to provide a kick-ass GPU to fit inside the increasingly popular SFF rigs, and to convincingly take the single-GPU crown back from AMD's HD 7970 GHz edition. On both of these fronts it's definitely Mission Accomplished, which can mean only one thing: It's your move, AMD! Price $1019, www.evga.com

Zombie Games Roundup Posted: 02 May 2013 03:05 PM PDT In the zombie apocalypse, your worst enemies might actually be humans. The rules used to be simple: Don't get bitten; destroy the brain. Zombie games like Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, and Resident Evil shared a vaguely similar approach, even as they offered terrific takes on one of horror's most ubiquitous subgenres. But zombie games have matured. They've mutated beyond simply being zombie-themed shooters, and redefined what we know as the zombie FPS into more of a genuine survival game. You still have to get headshots and avoid getting gnawed, but there are new threats to manage. Thirst. Hunger. Darkness. Scarce resources. Untrustworthy strangers. Who knew trying to survive the zombie apocalypse could be so fun? A gun can't solve every problem you have in DayZ, The War Z, and No More Room In Hell, in other words. These zombie games demand different skills: communication, leadership, a knack for navigation over open terrain, nerves of steel, and even a little deception will help you survive. In short, they're the zombie games we've dreamed of: demanding and realistic survival simulations that ask a lot of you, but reward players with unforgettable, self-authored stories of sacrifice, horror, and survival. If you're unfamiliar with any of these games, make sure to read on to prepare yourself for the horro that's in store. DAYZ Everything you learned about surviving the zombiepocalypse was wrong In April 2012, an unfinished mod developed by a former New Zealand military officer quietly released. The add-on was designed for Arma 2, a niche military simulation game from Czech studio Bohemia Interactive, known most as the creators of Operation Flashpoint. Initially, DayZ arrived with little fanfare. "I developed it, essentially, in secret and that removes a lot of ego, it removes a lot of promises," creator Dean Hall told PC Gamer last year. But DayZ would catch PC gaming by complete surprise. In just four months, it had drawn 1 million unique players. Hundreds of 50-player custom servers hosting the still-incomplete, alpha version of the mod sprung up in a matter of weeks. Almost 200,000 people were playing every day at the peak of the mod's popularity in August 2012. The zombie game that gamers had openly fantasized about on message boards - an open-world, do-anything, go-anywhere survival game—had appeared out of thin air, albeit in a rough and half-realized form. Even with placeholder animations, annoying bugs, and incomplete features, DayZ had a death-grip on gamers' attention. Relative to the zombie games that preceded it, it offered unprecedented freedom and made other facets of the apocalypse—including fellow survivors—as much of a threat as the undead. Its style of realistic zombie arose partly from the inspiration of its creator. Hall had originally pitched the mod as a zombie-less training simulator, having endured survival training himself during an exchange program with the Singaporean military. A lot of DayZ's appeal is owed to Arma 2, whose Real Virtuality engine forms a foundation for its authenticity. Arma 2's creators went to great lengths to create high-fidelity game technology, and DayZ benefits from sharing systems that model for vehicle fuel consumption and modular vehicle damage, a real-time night/day cycle, a working compass and detailed topographical map, voice chat that's affected by proximity, and an engine that can render objects over long distances. Loot is everything in DayZ. Your carrying capacity depends on the size of your backpack—a rare ruck can become a literal target on your back. DayZ's rigid and unintuitive inventory interface, unfortunately, is a well-documented shortcoming. A particular asset is Arma 2's ballistics modeling, which distinguishes it from every shooter in gaming. Bullets travel parabolically in Arma 2 and DayZ based on their caliber, so the behavior of a hunting rifle, revolver, and M4A1 assault rifle, for example, is all significantly different. Getting a knack for your weapon is as important as just finding one—someone that knows the nuances of a low-end gun like a Lee Enfield (a bolt-action WWI rifle) is arguably more dangerous than someone holding an AS50 anti-material sniper rifle but doesn't know how to dial-in its scope. Guns emit different amounts of noise, too—snipers usually find it safest to operate in teams for protection, as a single shot can ring a dinner bell for zombies two or three hundred meters away. For this reason, silenced sidearms and rifles are some of the most prized items in the game. Chernogorsk (aka "Cherno") is DayZ's largest death trap. Erm, city. To get your hands on high-end equipment, you need to scour the game world. You don't complete quests or levels or experience points in DayZ, so typically you're just worried about gathering useful gear—tools, food, and weapons—within the game's enormous sandbox. One of DayZ's masterstrokes is that the drive for gear always feels self-motivated; your needs and emotions naturally drive your goals. When you enter DayZ for the first time, you're unarmed. You instinctively want to find a gun, but to do it you need to put yourself in danger: weapons and items only spawn inside structures, and zombies lurk where structures dwell. Other survival mechanics operate as motivators too. You need to eat. You need to drink, but true to Arma's fidelity, you can't fill your canteen in the ocean. I've been in situations where I would've traded grenades for a can of pasta, or nightvision goggles for a soda. If you're injured, depending on your ailment, you'll need to find morphine, painkillers, or antibiotics. Surveillance is one of the pleasures of DayZ. It's a game that makes looking and listening a genuine skill. Scouting an area for dangerous players (which you'll need binoculars or a rangefinder for) is a good habit. This isn't a game where your health regenerates automatically, in other words. Actually, the quickest way to restoring your life in DayZ isn't even something that can be done by yourself. Eating food slowly restores any blood you've lost from injury, but in order to use a blood transfusion bag, you need another player—meaning friendship (or temporarily trusting another player, at least) is roadblock to healing yourself. And interacting with strangers in DayZ—other players that, like you, want to find better gear—is inherently dangerous. These intricate mechanics play out in one of gaming's most detailed worlds. DayZ borrows Arma 2's map, Chernarus, a 225km² country that's actually a satellite-modeled slice of the Czech Republic (see comparison photos and maps here). Basing Chernarus on real topographic data grants it a feeling of authenticity that isn't present in other virtual environments. Hills roll into unexpected ponds and forest valleys. Road signs are printed in Cyrillic. Powerlines run perpendicular to ruined castles. Villages and dense cities cling to the coast. The only downside is that Chernarus' realistic scale? To get where you want to go, you might have to run three or four kilometers in real time. DayZ's Chernarus map is actually one of several playable worlds available for DayZ. Modders have ported other player-made Arma 2 maps into the mod, including the tundra of Namalsk, the jungle of Lingor Island, and a dense urban desert called Fallujah. It's worth noting that modders—the ever-busy carpenter gnomes of PC gaming—have ported several Arma 2 custom maps into the game. A popular one is Namalsk, a connected by a half-kilometer railway bridge. You can spy it and the other four currently-available landscapes here.  DayZ's biggest innovation is the trust it places in players to find their own fun. Compared to conventional shooters, it's barren of any cinematic content. But DayZ leverages complex systems and difficulty in a way that produces incredible stories and interactions that don't exist in other games. Banal tasks like watching another survivor through binoculars and trying to determine where they're going or if they're friendly are meaningful safety measures. YouTube is full of funny, scary, and fascinating interactions between strangers and survivor groups, bandits and self-described axe murderers, do-gooders and kidnappers. For the patient player, the search for water in DayZ can be just as heart-pumping as a shootout. It's the first zombie game to emphasize stories over shooting, and the first that makes human nature an implicit part of everything you do. Click the next page to read about The War Z THE WAR Z A sincere form of flattery In July 2012, faster than you could horde canned goods, a DayZ imitator emerged. Within a month of DayZ's flash of popularity, a new studio told the gaming world that it was hard at work on its own player-versus-player and player-versus-zombie, open-world survival sandbox.  The announcement of The War Z was met with skepticism and cynicism flecked with curiosity. Its features were uncomfortably familiar: a huge, verdant open world dotted with mundane and military loot, a first-person and third-person camera, and dedicated servers, all laid out to support unscripted, persistent gameplay between zombies and other players. Even the look of its characters--baseball cap-wearing, backpacked survivors--resembled DayZ's. The War Z wasn't being subtle about its inspiration. Using separate real-money and in-game currencies, The War Z allows players to purchase some basic items—like melee weapons and food—before they spawn into the game. If you die, anything you're carrying is dropped. But if this blatant borrowing of ideas resulted in a good game, would it matter? More details snuck out as gaming press got early access. The War Z would include a player-written questing system, appearance customization, the ability to place bounties on other players' heads, an RPG-style skill system, and a microtransaction store for items. Perhaps most interesting was The War Z's promise to offer something called Strongholds—small, private instances like a cabin in the woods, a farm, a small town on a cliffside, or a trainyard that clans or individual players can rent for money. Even if these features don't appeal to you personally, they painted a picture of a game that was less of a clone than originally thought. "In fact, we're fans of the mod," The War Z Executive Producer Sergey Titov said to VG247 in October last year when asked about DayZ. "Ultimately, we hope gamers end up playing both The War Z and the DayZ standalone. It's difficult to compare at the moment, but although there are similarities, we tried creating a game that was a little bit easier to access and play, and that would allow players to be creative and create their own scenarios." There's some consensus that this isn't a "there's only room for one of us in this town" situation, but a sign that this sub-genre is simply in the process of losing that prefix. Competition between companies usually benefits consumers, and The War Z has a lot to live up to. Being built atop a military simulator, DayZ carries a lot of inherent traits that lend itself to survival simulation, and not all of them are easily reproducible. But the other side of that coin is that The War Z isn't burdened by some of DayZ's inherent quirks, and seems to benefit from being coded from scratch. It's offers a few simple antidotes to some of DayZ's issues, like confusing inventory management, inaccessible weapon handling, and rigid animations. It's also favoring accessibility more than DayZ. The War Z does have permadeath--if you die, you lose that character and their items forever--but only if you're playing with a Hardcore mode character. Normal mode simply temporarily locks your ability to play that character for 24 hours and removes any items they were carrying. Likewise, you can get a leg up on a new character by spending in-game currency that persists across all characters, so it's easier to recover from a death. A stamina mechanic is one of the small-but-significant differences separating The War Z from DayZ. You can't run forever, but the undead can—sprinting into a town while out of breath might be all it takes to doom you. The focus on accessibility extends to gameplay itself, where weapon behavior is more akin to games like Battlefield 3. An assault rifle or a pistol handles with the lightness and responsiveness you'd expect in an ordinary multiplayer FPS. You'll still have to keep noise in mind when firing—letting loose with a sniper rifle will make you awfully popular in your part of the map. There are also small but significant difference between DayZ and The War Z in player movement. You can crouch and go prone in both games, but The War Z has a jump button. But more realistically, you can't sprint infinitely in The War Z—running depletes a stamina meter that recharges over time, so you'll want to conserve your sprinting until you really need it. The War Z also features a few imaginative zombie types. "Sleeper" zombies deceptively lie dormant on the ground, but rise if they notice you nearby. The developers have also promised a rare "stem cell-carrying" zombie that only appears at night. "Visually they'll look very different from other infected, they're much more aggressive, fast and agile. They're rare, they hunt only at night, so the best place to find them will be larger cities at night time," says Titov. Killing one of these superzombies will yield stem cells, which are kind of a special currency within The War Z that can also be used to create a vaccine. Hammerpoint hopes that the relative difficulty of bagging one of these zombies will inspire some creative teamwork and competition among players. Nighttime in The War Z is inherently dangerous. Flares, chemlights, and flashlights will help you find your way around, but any light sources will inevitably draw attention from other players. These corpses lurk in a world about 160km² in size—about 70 percent the size of Chernarus in DayZ. Encouragingly, Hammerpoint has said that anyone who buys The War Z will receive additional maps that are released. The game's stock map is inspired by Colorado, a rocky wilderness pocked with outposts, lakes, and small towns. Click the next page to read about "No More Room in Hell" NO MORE ROOM IN HELL Expect at least half of your team to die. Unlike The War Z and DayZ, No More Room In Hell doesn't fit into the newly-born "outdoor survival game" category. It's fairer to call it an advanced, hardcore take on conventional cooperative zombie games like Left 4 Dead. In development for a decade before releasing over a year ago, the Source engine mod was selected through Steam Greenlight to release as a full, free game on Steam, but you can play it now by downloading it from www.nomoreroominhell.com. What NMRiH shares in common with DayZ (other than an awkward name) is the unapologetic way that it throws you into a brutal post-apocalyptic scenario with almost no instruction. You're fragile. Bullets are scarce. And zombies will infinitely spawn until you complete the map's tough (and partially randomized) objectives, like switching on generators or finding the keycode that unlocks a door. NMRiH's unforgiving approach to zombie co-op practically guarantees that a few of your teammates will need to die as you trudge from your spawn area to the end of the level. Your eight-person survivor group is twice the size of Left 4 Dead's, and a given round typically sees your team whittled down as players inevitably get separated, surrounded, and eaten. Though it resembles Left 4 Dead, what No More Room In Hell shares in common with DayZ and The War Z is that it often makes fleeing from and avoiding the undead preferable to fighting them. Most of NMRiH's zombies are of the slow, vintage variety. They're easy to evade, but much more durable in combat, so the danger arises from their numbers and players' modest agility. You can only sprint for a brief period of time, so wandering into a cluttered garage with a single exit, for example, is sometimes all it takes to doom you. A handful of speedier zombies jog after survivors (some of which—harrowingly—are children), but NMRiH otherwise lacks any undead with special abilities like leaping, acid-spitting, or tongue-lassoing. This gives the game a more grounded feeling; the molasses-speed creep of the horde gives you room to react, but the absence of a revival mechanic and the relative weakness of weapons has a way of turning small mistakes into permanent death. Also refreshing is NMRiH's emphasis on immersion. Like DayZ, the volume of voice communication is based on distance, meaning a far-off teammates' cries for help may go completely unnoticed. The game also doesn't place any interface, crosshairs, or HUD on the screen by default, and all of its maps are pocked with corners that are absolutely saturated with opaque, impermeable darkness. A small antidote to this is the flashlight. It mercifully doesn't require fresh batteries, but just as you'd expect in real life, you can't hold it and swing a sledgehammer or operate an M16 simultaneously. This design makes the seemingly banal role of "flashlight holder" a vital role for guiding teams through unlit corridors—being the guy responsible for shining the light on enemies while your teammates whack away with shovels or chainsaws is genuinely helpful. The melee weapons themselves take a lot of finesse to operate. Most of them swing slowly (and with a wind-up animation much lengthier than Left 4 Dead's), meaning they're nowhere near the weedwackers you wield in Valve's co-op zombie game. And despite their decomposing state, the undead are durable, taking multiple hits to bring down unless you skillfully connect with their skull. A typical hand-to-hand fight is a tense tango of bobbing and weaving, angling to position yourself to just the right distance where your axe or machete can clobber a zombie but the zombie can't hit you. This limited room for error makes individual zombie kills feel like a heroic effort. Zombies spawn endlessly in No More Room In Hell; this isn't a game that's afraid to overwhelm you with enemies. Some maps stack dozens of zombies directly outside the spawn room, only giving you a handful of bullets and melee weapons to deal with them. Firearms are also handled with a modicum more realism than Left 4 Dead. They're scarce, and pistols don't have infinite ammo—when you pick one up, it might have a meager six or seven shots waiting for you in the magazine. More, they're tough to aim: shots that look like a sure thing through ironsights won't always produce a kill. And like DayZ, most guns have a discrete ammunition type —you might find handgun ammo, but if it's .45 ACP and the only pistol you have is the 9mm Beretta M9, it's not going to help you. Appropriately enough, a lot of NMRiH's scares arise from the lack of room in its levels. Structurally, they resemble Left 4 Dead's meandering, point-to-point sprints, but because aggressive collision detection between zombies and even other teammates means that it only takes a few zombies to block a doorway. About a half-dozen maps, with the community and the development team filling in more. "Behind you!" The snail-speed crawl of zombies in NMRiH makes room for communication and decision-making in a way that isn't present in most zombie-themed shooters. My favorite, called Cabin, begins with a leap of faith. You spawn in a secure attic, and begin by combing dark corners for melee weapons, flashlights, and whatever you can find. But to start the level, you have to drop straight through a hole in the ceiling—a one-way trip that usually makes the first survivor in instantly popular . My usual tactic is to have this leading player lure zombies away from the entrance so the rest of the team can safely descend. They usually get beat up in the process, but it's preferable to throwing everyone into a crowded, panicked melee. A final twist on all this layered brutality is NMRiH's infection mechanic. Zombies will occasionally grapple you, and if you or a teammate is unable to shake them loose, you'll get bitten. You know what happens next: within minutes, you'll drop dead, and rise again as an AI-controlled zombie. It's surprising that the mod is the only zombie game we know of to model this classic horror trope. NMRiH is a stand-out take on zombie survival, and the scariest multiplayer game I've ever played. Unlike Left 4 Dead, trying to kill every zombie you meet is the surest way to have your human card revoked. Click the next page to read about the five most important zombie games. THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT ZOMBIE GAMES OVER THREE DECADES, THESE TITLES HAVE SHAPED (OR WILL SHAPE) THE ZOMBIE GENRE AS WE KNOW IT Zombie Zombie 1984 (on ZX Spectrum), Spaceman Ltd. One of the first games to feature zombies as its subject. Zombie Zombie had a very indirect way of dealing with the undead: You had to lure zombies up to tall buildings and then trick them into falling off to their doom. Coincidentally, it was one of the first games to use two-channel sound. Resident Evil 4 2007 (on PC), Capcom The RE4 PC port was particularly bad, but the game still stands as the best "actionization" of the zombie genre. Japanese difficulty, boss design, and pacing tempered by Western playability and an over-the-shoulder camera spawned hordes of imitators. Weapon customization lent meaningful progression to the dozens of brushes with undead creatures. Left 4 Dead 2008, Valve The reigning champ in zombie co-op, L4D's mildly forking level design and "zombie director AI" combined to create movie-like campaigns that wickedly and dynamically threw threats at your survivor group as you progressed through each chapter. Another L4D innovation, asymmetrical multiplayer, has been copied in games such as Dead Space 2. The Walking Dead 2012, Telltale Games Telltale's adventure spin-off of the Robert Kirkman comic book series has taken a novellike, "Choose Your Own Apocalypse" approach to the genre. Though it's modest on interaction, choices you make—from whom to rescue to which friend should get a candy bar—affect the content of future episodes. The five-episode series has already been renewed for a sequel. Dead State 2013, DoubleBear Productions Zombie shooters have been done to death; Dead State is a turn-based RPG. Described as Fallout-meets-The Walking Dead, it's being helmed by Vampire: The Masquerade writer/ designer Brian Mitsoda. You play as the leader of a group of survivors that've holed up in a Texas elementary school. The game earned $332,635 on Kickstarter in July 2012. Click the next page to read about the five most incredible custom Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns. FIVE INCREDIBLE LEFT 4 DEAD 2 CUSTOM CAMPAIGNS L4D2 MAY LACK REALISM, BUT IT'S STILL THE BEST ZOMBIE-THEMED ACTION GAME AVAILABLE. THE MODDING COMMUNITY HAS CREATED HUNDREDS OF FANTASTIC CUSTOM CAMPAIGNS THAT ARE A CINCH TO INSTALL Questionable Ethics Fight your way through a white-walled, underground, secret research facility filled with traps (like a ceiling that drops cars on you) and endless tricks. Almost Portal-like in its devious cleverness, Questionable Ethics is the work of a Korean modder. Play the sequel after you're done.  Helm's Deep Reborn   The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' iconic castle siege is reproduced here with almost 1:1 authenticity, with the exception of L4D's menagerie of uglies swapped in for Uruk-hai. This multistage survival map has you meat-grinding through hundreds of zombies, climaxing in a defense of—and then escape from—the throne room. Nonstop violence and calamity. GoldenEye 4 Dead An amalgamation of settings drawn from the 1995 Bond film, including a dam, runway, and a hidden space base in Aztec ruins. G4D is more than a pile of references: It's a genuinely taxing and creatively designed campaign, and one that takes clever liberties with its source material. Be on the lookout for Easter eggs. Let's Build A Rocket Instead of a sprawling campaign that has you racing to the safe room as a finish line, Let's Build A Rocket gathers the survivors around a small launch pad and hangar. Using a computer panel, you research new technology to unlock L4D2's weapons as zombies harass, juggling these tasks as you and teammates slowly construct a rocket to escape Earth. Suicide Blitz 2 A great example of the indulgent set pieces , Suicide Blitz 2 pushes the survivors through a bowling alley, maximum security prison, and finally to the 50-yard line of a football stadium for a titular stand-off against hulking zombie Tanks in football jerseys. Zombie games have come along way and are continuing to evolve. What's your favorite Zombie game?

Enermax Posts List of PSUs Compatible with Haswell Processors Posted: 02 May 2013 11:42 AM PDT Not all power supplies will support Haswell's zero load design, Enermax says. Intel's Haswell refresh is coming, and when it does, it will deliver better performance, much improved integrated graphics, and superior power efficiency that, according to Enermax, only a handful of power supplies are able to take advantage of. Enermax is referring to the new C6 and C7 states that are able to reduce CPU power consumption to a mere 0.05A. Some Ivy Bridge chips draw up to ten times more in a minimum power state. According to Enermax, only power supplies that support ultra low loads will do that feature any good. "The positive progress of the CPU technology is subject to certain restrictions, because only few power supplies will be able to deliver stable voltages at such low loads," Enermax says. "End users are therefore groping in the dark with no clues if their own power supply will be compatible with the new energy functions of Intel Haswell CPUs. PSU manufacturers usually do not state the possible minimum load of their products." Let's be clear, this doesn't mean your current power supply won't work with a Haswell processor, Enermax is just saying that certain models may or may not be able to utilize the so-called zero load design. If a PSU isn't able to supply 0.05A on the +12V rail, then entering a C6 or C7 state could trigger Under Voltage Protection (UVP), in which case you'd probably need to jump in the BIOS and disable the C6/C7 function. Enermax claims you won't have to worry about that on all of its PSUs dating back to the Revolution85+ Series released in 2008, which "deliver rock-stable voltages even at 0W load," and are therefore able to fully take advantage of Haswell. For a list of specific models, both old and new, just take a peek on Enermax's website. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Column: The Dangers of Deep Packet Inspection Posted: 02 May 2013 10:51 AM PDT A case of Big Brother watching? Over the years, there's been talk on and off about a technology called Deep Packet Inspection, but apart from sounding like the title of sysadmin-themed porn, why should you care? Technically, DPI is what happens when an ISP looks past the headers, or metadata, of the packets that carry information all around the Internet and into the content. On its own, looking doesn't hamper the Internet, but only that packet header is required by the machines that need to pump the cats through the series of tubes. Could Internet service providers be watching you? Like all technologies, DPI isn't inherently good or bad, but potentially either. Good uses include cleaning up spam and viruses, and useful traffic shaping. Bad uses include dystopian control of digital expression and perfect totalitarian surveillance. But let's break that down a bit. Because DPI looks into each packet, it can be used, as in the case of the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless wiretaps, to copy every packet. In the case of Comcast, it was used to identify Bit-Torrent traffic and disrupt it. In America, it's been used to very specifically target advertising. In other countries known to use DPI, like China and Bahrain, it could be (and likely is) used for specifically targeting political activists. DPI is the technology that allows violation of net neutrality, lets ISPs throttle competing services, and rights-holders to comb the net looking for content. But despite the dark side, given how easy and useful for companies it is, it's inevitable. Without rigorous legal protection, you'll never know if it's used on you. The only thing that slows down DPI at all is encryption, coded messages ISPs can look at but never make sense of. Fortunately, encryption tools are becoming available to everyone. DPI is the future of the net—and so is you encrypting your way back to free speech and privacy.

Intel's Iris Technology Will Get You Excited About Integrated Graphics Posted: 02 May 2013 09:50 AM PDT Select Haswell parts will feature Intel's supercharged Iris graphics. Nobody brags about integrated graphics, and that's because there's not much there worthy of boast. That's fine, but if manufactures insist on pushing thin and light platforms on the masses and shrinking the desktop, then is it too much to ask for an integrated graphics solution that either (A) doesn't suck, or (B) is better than just serviceable? Intel doesn't think so, and its Iris graphics might be just what the market needs. Intel Iris graphics will be available on select SKUs of the chip maker's 4th Generation Core processor line (Haswell) and will offer up to 2X the 3D performance of today's fastest mobile Intel HD Graphics solutions, the company claims. If you frequently visit Maximum PC, you may have caught a glimpse of Iris before. It's the official name for GT3/GT3e, which we previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year, and when we asked readers to guess which of the two side-by-side systems was running Iris and which was running a GeForce GT 650M, the responses were fairly split. Performance aside, Iris supports three-screen collage display, enhanced 4K x 2K resolution, OpenCL 1.2, and a few other goodies. It also delivers faster video and photo editing, and offers support for Intel's Quick Sync Video technology. Let's not kid though, it IS the performance we're most interested in, and according to Intel, Iris will have advanced integrated 3D performance in 3DMark06 by 75X since 2006. Pretty incredible. Furthermore, Intel says if consumers were to upgrade a four-year old notebook with a Core 2 Duo processor to a new Ultrabook with Iris inside (Core i5 4200U), they would experience a 25X faster graphics performance in games and 17X faster video conversions. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Internet Explorer is Killing Chrome in Browser Wars, But Also Losing - Huh? Posted: 02 May 2013 09:14 AM PDT Conflicting data makes it difficult to gauge the browser landscape. Depending on which data collection service you trust the most, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is either wiping the floor with Google's Chrome browser, or getting spanked by the relative newcomer. Starting with the former, NetMarketShare has IE way out in the lead with a 55.81 percent share of the desktop browser market, virtually unchanged from last month and up a little more than a percentage point from a year ago. In that same time frame, NetMarketShare's data shows Chrome on the decline, going from being the go-to browser 18.85 percent of the time to just 16.35 percent currently. Looking at the data set, you could conclude that Chrome peaked in 2012 and is now settling into a plateau. And forget about catching up to IE, Chrome still trails Firefox, which is in second place with a 20.3 percent share of the browser market. Don't care for the story that's unfolding at NetMarketShare? Head on over to StatCounter and you'll read an entirely different view of the online landscape. StatCounter has Chrome out in the lead with a 41.43 percent share of the browser market, up a little more than 10 percent versus a year ago. IE, on the other hand, continues to slide, goiing from a 34.07 percent share of the browser market a year ago to 27.39 percent currently, which is still ahead of Firefox at 19.73 percent. How can these two firms report such drastically different figures? It has to do with the way each one collects data. NetMarketShare collects data from browsers of site visitors to its on-demand network of HitsLink Analytics and SharePost Clients, giving it a pool of 40,000 websites around the world to work with. StatCounter, on the other hand, uses tracking code installed on more than 3 million sites globally. That's all well and good, but what are YOU using to browse the web these days? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

YouTube Now Serving Up 6 Billion Hours of Video Each Month Posted: 02 May 2013 08:40 AM PDT It would take many, many lifetimes to watch all of YouTube's content. Three ex-PayPal employees created YouTube just over eight years ago, but do you think any of them could have predicted just how popular the video sharing site would become? Perhaps, though it would have been hard to conceive of a service streaming out 6 billion hours of content each and every month, which is how much YouTube is currently piping through the Internet. YouTube announced the staggering stat in a blog post, adding that it now sees 1 billion unique monthly visitors, connecting 15 percent of the planet to its growing catalog of videos. When you think about it, YouTube may have barely scratched the surface here. The video sharing site is no longer simply a portal for crappy home videos (oh, they still exist), but also a place for major media companies to reach an audience fed up with cable and satellite TV. Underscoring that point, YouTube revealed that DreamWorks Animation has acquired AwesomenessTV, a popular teen network on YouTube with almost half a million subscribers and over 101 million views. Image Credit: Flickr (jm3) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: WD My Passport Edge 500GB, Rosewill Stallion 700W PSU, and More Posted: 02 May 2013 08:15 AM PDT   Top Deal: Everybody should own a USB thumb drive, but what about those times when you need to take more data with you than your flash drive allows? One well-timed solution is today's top deal, a WD My Passport Edge 500GB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive for $70 with free shipping (normally $110). It's convenient, fast (courtesy of USB 3.0), and far more capacious than that 32GB flash drive in your pocket. Other Deals: Rosewill Stallion Series 700W Power Supply for $50 with free shipping (normally $80 - use coupon code:[EMCXSTX34]; additional $10 mail-in rebate) Rosewill 3.5mm Gold-Plated Connector Noise Isolating Rosewood Earbuds for $12 with free shipping (normally $20) Accessory Power GOgroove BlueSYNC EDG Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker for $30 with free shipping (normally $50) On Light AQ6 High Performance LED Flashlight for $16 with free shipping (normally $50)

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Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

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• The Dark Art Of Batman: Arkham Origins
• Soul Sacrifice Review – Trading Your Time For Tedium
• A Comedian And A Rocket Scientist Walk Into A Bar, And Try To Make A Video Game
• Editorial: The Aliens Colonial Marines Lawsuit Is Wrong
• Panzar
• Ecol Tactics Enters Commercial Launch
• The FitBark Pet Activity Monitor Is A Reasonable Device For Pet Owners
• And The Winner Of TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 Is… Enigma!
• David Karp: Ten Out Of Ten Of The Biggest Hollywood Studios Now Advertise On Tumblr
• Yahoo Acquires Four Million User ‘To Do' App And Mailbox Competitor Astrid, Will Shut It Down In 90 Days

The Dark Art Of Batman: Arkham Origins Posted: 02 May 2013 09:04 AM PDT While art director Jeremy Price and the rest of the team at Warner Bros. Games Montreal are looking to the previous Arkham titles for inspiration, they hope to leave their own mark with a couple of key differences. Since this is a prequel, Batman is a mysterious force in the … Continue reading →

Soul Sacrifice Review – Trading Your Time For Tedium Posted: 02 May 2013 09:04 AM PDT Soul Sacrifice seems designed to fill the void for Vita owners who want a Monster Hunter-style experience. The two games undoubtedly share some similarities, and Soul Sacrifice even attempts to streamline the experience by minimizing busywork. It steps out of Monster Hunter’s shadow with fast-paced combat, but technical issues and repetitive … Continue reading →

A Comedian And A Rocket Scientist Walk Into A Bar, And Try To Make A Video Game Posted: 02 May 2013 09:04 AM PDT Michael Swaim (you might recognize him from this video) is known on the Internet as the sarcastic Tsar of video content for Cracked.com. Very few of the things he says while on camera can be taken seriously, which is by design. It’s no surprise that when he plugged his own … Continue reading →

Editorial: The Aliens Colonial Marines Lawsuit Is Wrong Posted: 02 May 2013 09:02 AM PDT Aliens: Colonial Marines will likely be remembered as one of the biggest disappointments of this generation of gaming. Sega and developer Gearbox have rightly been vilified for the game’s poor quality and their failure to deliver on the promises they made to fans. However, the class action lawsuit that has … Continue reading →

Panzar Posted: 02 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT In Panzar, players command their character, chosen from 8 different classes, in fierce and ruthless combat. Each battle pits two teams of players against each other, fighting for victory in a variety of game modes, such as Siege, Domination or King of the Hill. In stunningly beautiful combat, powered by … Continue reading →

Ecol Tactics Enters Commercial Launch Posted: 02 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT   Leading online game publisher GamesCampus today launches its first global browser title, Ecol Tactics Online. The turn-based strategy game moves from open beta to full commercialization. Players can enjoy the turn based strategic game by signing up now at http://ecoltactics.gamescampus.com/.   “After months of fine tuning Ecol Tactics, we … Continue reading →

The FitBark Pet Activity Monitor Is A Reasonable Device For Pet Owners Posted: 01 May 2013 04:50 PM PDT I don’t want to awaken the ire of any committed pet owners — because I think you can do whatever you want with your pets (and your money) — but I would be lying if I said I didn’t cringe a little bit when I hear about extreme pet products … Continue reading →

And The Winner Of TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 Is… Enigma! Posted: 01 May 2013 04:26 PM PDT Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. This year’s crop of Disrupt NY Battlefield startups has been one of our strongest yet, but out of the 30 that entered the fray only seven would go on to the final round. HealthyOut, Enigma, Floored, Glide, HAN:DLE, SupplyShift, and Zenefits emerged from … Continue reading →

David Karp: Ten Out Of Ten Of The Biggest Hollywood Studios Now Advertise On Tumblr Posted: 01 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Today, at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, Tumblr founder David Karp and Sequoia partner (and Tumblr investor) Roelof Botha took the stage to talk to TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington about how the blogging platform’s plans to take over the world. After a conversation about the merits of building a startup in New … Continue reading →

Yahoo Acquires Four Million User ‘To Do' App And Mailbox Competitor Astrid, Will Shut It Down In 90 Days Posted: 01 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT “Happier, healthier, more productive.” That was the goal of mobile app Astrid, and now Yahoo is taking up the mission as it’s just acquired the to-do app developer. Co-founded by a former Palantir engineer, Tim Su, Astrid says that it has four million users, who as of September 2012 logged 30 … Continue reading →

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MMO Updates

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• The Repopulation adds gore, stampedes, turrets, and more
• Camelot Unchained secures an additional $3 million in funding
• The Think Tank: Would you play a chat-free MMO?
• Ask Massively: A new era of soft launches
• The Daily Grind: Which classes would you like to see in Neverwinter?
• WildStar sneaks a peak at Stormtalon's Lair
• Free for All: Introduction to MUD May
• SMITE unchains the might of Fenrir
• Defiance bugs invade RIFT
• Dragon's Prophet shows off screenshots of Wynnadia
• Star Trek Online goes behind the scenes with Denise Crosby
• MMO sandbox TUG launches its Kickstarter
• Camelot Unchained meets Kickstarter goal
• Dyeing your armor the SWTOR way
• Choose My Adventure: Pouring the foundation in Darkfall
• A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Super news, super review
• TERA celebrates first anniversary, teases future content

The Repopulation adds gore, stampedes, turrets, and more Posted: 02 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Patches, News Items, Sandbox, Crafting, The Repopulation The Repopulation's end-of-the-month progress report is here, and judging by the sheer length of the thing, April was one for the books. The new update takes a high-level view of development and it states that since the majority of The Repopulation's features are complete, the dev team is now focusing on content creation and an enjoyable new player experience. Highlights from April's patch cycle include the new harvester system, player turrets, AI tweaks, stampedes, and gore options. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg, so be sure and read the full post for all the details. [Thanks J.C.!] The Repopulation adds gore, stampedes, turrets, and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: April update

Camelot Unchained secures an additional $3 million in funding Posted: 02 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, Crafting, Crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained, Subscription So Camelot Unchained surpassed its $2 million Kickstarter goal. It's kind of old news, we know, but there have been some additional funding developments since yesterday's milestone. The game will now receive an additional $3 million, $2 million of which comes from City State co-founder and MMO industry veteran Mark Jacobs. The remainder comes courtesy of unnamed investors. "The last 30 days have been an incredible journey," Jacobs said via press release. "We believed there's an audience for a highly focused game like ours, which has now been proven. What we didn't expect was how our community would come together so quickly and avidly. Not only is our average pledge off the chart, our backers have been just as intensely supportive in other ways, from providing immense amounts of helpful feedback to translating information into four languages (German, French, Japanese and Korean), and more." Camelot Unchained will use a proprietary engine optimized for large-scale battles and already battle-tested to the tune of 200-plus frames per second while displaying 1,000 simultaneous characters rendered with 12,000 polygons. The three-faction PvP-focused fantasy MMO also boasts a building-block crafting system that will allow players to construct individual cells and larger segments before assembling them "in nearly limitless ways." [Source: City State press release] Camelot Unchained secures an additional $3 million in funding originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Think Tank: Would you play a chat-free MMO? Posted: 02 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank Last month, Justin asked you in a Daily Grind article whether you'd play a chat-less MMO. His examples included The Endless Forest, where communication is done through emotes and symbols, and Journey, where players use visual cues to signal intent. As MMO players, we feel that massive communication is a must-have feature and socializing is just part of the game. So I was curious about the opinions of the massively staff members on this topic. Would they play a chat-less MMO? Continue reading The Think Tank: Would you play a chat-free MMO? The Think Tank: Would you play a chat-free MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ask Massively: A new era of soft launches Posted: 02 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Ask Massively, Events (Massively's Coverage), Miscellaneous, Neverwinter Neverwinter soft launched this week. What's a soft launch? It's when a game really shouldn't be launching yet and knows it and yet has to launch anyway for reasons probably involving money. Soft launches are incredibly confusing to old school gamers who are used to a certain kind of testing and release cycle, the uncomplicated kind that involves, you know, some testing and a release. Soft launches make games writers uncomfortable too. Why won't your weird special snowflake of a game launch fit into our perfectly planned box? Massively reader zmeul expressed his annoyance with us thusly: "I can't understand why some games get this 'soft launch' from you and others do not, even if the criteria are met." It's a brave new world out there, zmeul! Continue reading Ask Massively: A new era of soft launches Ask Massively: A new era of soft launches originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Which classes would you like to see in Neverwinter? Posted: 02 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, Neverwinter I haven't dipped a toe into the Neverwinter pool yet, but I'm doing a bit of preliminary research for some potential playtime this weekend. One of the things that I'm finding is that the game's class roster is a bit light on, well, classes. Specifically, there are five to start with, which seems somewhat spartan for a title based on Dungeons and Dragons. Notably absent is my preferred ranged DPS. There's the Control Wizard, of course, and he sounds mighty interesting, but the Neverwinter wiki says his primary role is crowd-control. What about you, Neverwinter players? What sorts of classes would you like to see available in the future? 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: Which classes would you like to see in Neverwinter? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

WildStar sneaks a peak at Stormtalon's Lair Posted: 01 May 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Previews, News Items, WildStar, Dungeons Making a new discovery on Nexus is always sort of a double-edged sword. The good news is that the Exile Academy of Science has discovered all sorts of fascinating details about the Thundercall Pell race living in the south of Galeras. The bad news is that some of this has come about as a result of discovering strange energy readings emanating from the caverns known as Stormtalon's Lair and the loss of a science team investigating the region, meaning that WildStar players will have to go in and deal with whatever ate the team that went in the first time. The latest WildStar Wednesday sheds some light on this early dungeon, explaining the motivations behind the inhabitants of the Lair and some of the mysteries still surrounding them. Players will be tasked with fighting their way into the depths, stopping the Thundercall High Priest from awakening the eponymous Stormtalon. Which means you'll probably arrive just in time to fight Stormtalon before it gets free, because really, how else could this end? WildStar sneaks a peak at Stormtalon's Lair originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Stormtalon's Lair

Free for All: Introduction to MUD May Posted: 01 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Business Models, Opinion, Races, Roleplaying, Free for All, Player-Generated Content For the month of May, I will be using this column to cover the world of MUDs aka multi-user-domains or dungeons. MUDs are text-based MMORPGs, and playing one is sort of like playing through a choose-your-own-adventure book with potentially thousands of other players. I'm not so arrogant to think that I could cover the decades of MUD development within the span of five articles, but I've had a go at it in the past and want to examine the topic more. Why? There are many reasons, and to kick off this series, I'd like to talk about them. After today, my columns will concentrate on interviews with developers and players to explain how and why MUDs still work, and I hope that all of this will encourage many of you who have never tried a MUD to pick one out now. The recent buzz surrounding Twine-based games and interactive storytelling is perfect fuel for MUDs to come back into the spotlight. Unless, of course, many of the issues with the insulated community of MUDers sabotage the perfect timing. Let's get started. Continue reading Free for All: Introduction to MUD May Free for All: Introduction to MUD May originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SMITE unchains the might of Fenrir Posted: 01 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA After many years, we finally have the answer to a rhetorical question: SMITE let the dogs out. Well, one dog -- Fenrir. But he's enough dog to count for all the others. If you hadn't guess, Fenrir is the newest deity added to the game, coming into the game with a full suite of melee abilities suitable for a wolf feared by the Norse pantheon. Fenrir's core mechanic is a stacking set of runes, with each of his abilities gaining a major buff when at a full stack of five. Normally, Fenrir can leap to do damage to an area, leap to do damage to a single target, or buff himself with increased damage and lifestealing. With a full stack of runes, his area leap stuns, his single-target leap becomes an AoE, and his buff becomes more efficient. He can also grow to a massive size, increase movement speed, and carry an enemy god around like a chew toy. Take a look at all of Fenrir's trick in the reveal video past the break, and read up on the full list of changes in the official patch notes. Continue reading SMITE unchains the might of Fenrir SMITE unchains the might of Fenrir originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Fenrir patch notes

Defiance bugs invade RIFT Posted: 01 May 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Events (In-Game), News Items, Consoles, RIFT, Promotions, Post-Apocalyptic, Defiance, Subscription Adventurers of Telara, you've kind of got a good news/bad news situation taking place here. The bad news is that RIFT is getting invaded, which was already the case. The worse news is that it's now being invaded by the Hellbugs from Defiance, which usually require a great deal of automatic weapons fire to be put down. The good news is that if you can somehow manage to overcome the distinct lack of any firearms and put down the invasion, you can keep a Hellbug around to ride! Wait, that might still be bad news. Yes, Trion Worlds is kicking off a cross-promotional event with new fire rifts that give players a chance at Defiance-related rewards, most notably the chance to pick up a Hellbug mount. The event is open to all players, even if you're just trying out the game's Lite version. No word on how long the event will last, but it's probably best to assume that it won't be forever -- which is also sort of a good news/bad news situation, unless you wanted to see the game overrun by Hellbugs. Defiance bugs invade RIFT originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Hellbug event

Dragon's Prophet shows off screenshots of Wynnadia Posted: 01 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, Dragon's Prophet Despite the name of the game, Dragon's Prophet does not exclusively feature dragons and prophets thereof. It also has lands for all of that to occupy. The Wynnadia zone even has houses and people living there, providing a rich background for all prophet- and dragon-related antics. It's a pleasant zone filled with rolling hills, farming communities, undead monstrosities clawing their way up from the depths, and charming beaches. Wait, do we need to go back to that middle one? Once in game, players will be tasked with exploring the Accursed Tower and the Nameless Keep, full of dark secrets and alluring treasure. But it's not all monster-stomping day, as the zone is also home to the cities of Zarland and Lilia, with the former composed mainly of outcasts and refugees and the latter serving as an impressive naval stronghold. While we're assured that there's danger in the zone, all of the pictures in the gallery below look more inviting than deadly. [Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release] Gallery: Dragon's Prophet Dragon's Prophet shows off screenshots of Wynnadia originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Trek Online goes behind the scenes with Denise Crosby Posted: 01 May 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, Expansions, Lore, Previews, News Items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play When Star Trek Online launches its first expansion, Legacy of Romulus, players will find themselves facing off against the formidable Empress Sela right from the start. The return of Sela also marks the return of veteran actress Denise Crosby to the game, and the community team behind STO had a chance to speak with Crosby about returning to the franchise and to the same characters she portrayed years ago on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Crosby mentions that while she enjoyed the chance to reprise the role of Tasha Yar (a character she jokingly says simply refuses to die), revisiting Sela is a chance to dive deeper into a character who was not fully realized during her first appearances. Sela's life is the Empire, and she feels that any means necessary to restore the power and prestige of her people is more than justified. Click past the break to see the full video and learn a little bit more about the face of the Romulan Empire in the expansion. Continue reading Star Trek Online goes behind the scenes with Denise Crosby Star Trek Online goes behind the scenes with Denise Crosby originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO sandbox TUG launches its Kickstarter Posted: 01 May 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Trailers, Video, Business Models, Game Mechanics, Lore, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crafting, Crowdfunding If you're the sort of sandbox aficionado who's more into crafting and exploration than griefing, then this post is for you. Brand-new to Kickstarter today is an MMO called, well, The Untitled Game, or TUG for short. Inspired by the likes of Minecraft, Zelda, and EVE Online, TUG promises an immersion-driven, "massive procedurally generated world to explore" along with such features as combat, crafting, building, an organic UI, modding tools, hidden civilizations, animal taming, "logic engineering," day/season cycles, realistic weights, support for roleplayers, and no DRM. Like rival Shroud of the Avatar, TUG will be playable solo, on a private server, and on the official MMO server. Developer Nerd Kingdom styles itself as "a collective of scientists, researchers, technologists, economists, content creators, artists, modders, and gamers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds" with a "deep passion for the nerdery of academic sciences, art, and technology," but in spite of its academic background, the studio promises a survival sandbox/multiplayer RPG hybrid without all the associated spreadsheets and number-crunching. The game is targeting 2015 for launch with an alpha this coming July; the digital download edition of the game can be secured for as little as 10 bucks on Kickstarter now. See whether the videos behind the break don't convince you. Continue reading MMO sandbox TUG launches its Kickstarter MMO sandbox TUG launches its Kickstarter originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: TUG Kickstarter

Camelot Unchained meets Kickstarter goal Posted: 01 May 2013 02:05 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained Oh ye of little faith. Of course Camelot Unchained got funded. Niche MMOs with die-hard fanbases never say die, even when they're up against an 11th hour Kickstarter goal that looked mighty challenging just yesterday. And that's pretty much all we have to tell you at the moment. Other than the fact that Massively's Kickstarter watchers can officially get back to work. We'll bring you more details about the newly greenlit project as soon as they become available. Camelot Unchained meets Kickstarter goal originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Kickstarter

Dyeing your armor the SWTOR way Posted: 01 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Crafting Let's make a quick list of items Update 2.1 for Star Wars: The Old Republic will bring us: a new species, an appearance designer kiosk, name changes, and armor dyes. It's understandable why this update is named Customization. Details about each about each of these systems are trickling out slowly, and the latest crop of information comes from MMO fansite Dulfy.net. Dulfy spoke with BioWare about the armor dye system and scrounged up some very specific details about how it works. After the release of 2.1, players will be able to find a total of 48 different dye modules: 25 from the Cartel Market, 3 from the security key and collector's edition vendors, and 20 made through Artificing. There are three types of dyes modules: one with a primary color, one with a secondary color, and one with both a primary and secondary color. Unfortunately, not all armor with be able to be dyed. BioWare explained that the Knights of the Old Republic-inspired outfits will not have dye slots, so that those costumes can remain true to Star Wars lore. Sorry, no bright pink Bastila Shan outfit for you, sir. Dyeing your armor the SWTOR way originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dulfy.net

Choose My Adventure: Pouring the foundation in Darkfall Posted: 01 May 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Polls, Darkfall, Classes, Opinion, Races, Choose My Adventure It's relocation time! Although there were plenty of tempting properties spread around various locales to choose from, once the bidding wars began, Darkfall Unholy Wars grabbed the lead and refused to let go. So we're packing up our tools and moving to Agon to get this Choose My Adventure project started. And considering the whole neighborhood just went through a recent renovation, I'm sure we'll fit right in building our new retreat. Now, we just need... hm, where did we put those blueprints? Do we even have blueprints? No? Well, no matter; you can just give me the instructions as we go. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we've got five more weeks to work together to create this new retreat. I've got to tell you, I'm quite excited for this venture. One of the greatest things about the CMA series is that it forces us to finally dive in and check out games we've been wanting to but never quite "found the time." Once it becomes a part of your daily job, you have no choice but to make the time! Darkfall was always one of those games for me, and my curiosity and interest was piqued even more with Unholy Wars. So let's get this started. First, we need a foundation. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Pouring the foundation in Darkfall Choose My Adventure: Pouring the foundation in Darkfall originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Super news, super review Posted: 01 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, News Items, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Marvel Heroes, DC Universe Online, A Mild-Mannered Reporter, Infinite Crisis It's been a fairly quiet month on the superhero front, which is the way of things. Some months it seems as if you can't go a day without a new launch; others you realize belatedly that it's the end of the month because another round of bills are due. Possibly including subscription fees. It all ties together. Of course, the superhero arena has been quiet for a little while now, but we're seeing signs of life cropping up once again. There are titles in development, new content approaching, and a launch in about a month that should really be getting a bit more marketing support. That's a topic for another article. So as we do once per month at A Mild-Mannered Reporter, it's time to look back over the past month or so and talk about the news stories that have cropped up relating to the genre of men and women in spandex punching robots. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Super news, super review A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Super news, super review originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

TERA celebrates first anniversary, teases future content Posted: 01 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, TERA, Anniversaries Fantasy action MMO TERA turns one year old today, and En Masse is celebrating by throwing a month-long party through the end of May. The firm is awarding players with in-game raffle items, mystery boxes "filled with rare and valuable prizes," and a new 10- and 20-person Kelsaik raid. TERA's future looks bright, too, as En Masse has a 20v20 battleground update complete with strongholds, tanks, cannons, and airships waiting in the wings. The devs also have a new player-driven alliance system scheduled for the very near future. Finally, En Masse has put together an anniversary infographic filled with esoterica like the number of accounts created (over 1.5 million), the ratio of male to female avatars (44.18 percent to 55.82 percent), and more. View the full graphic after the cut. [Source: En Masse press release] Continue reading TERA celebrates first anniversary, teases future content TERA celebrates first anniversary, teases future content originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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