General Gaming Article

---

• SteelSeries to Showcase New H-Series Headset Line at E3 2013
• New MSI Gaming Laptops Get Haswell and Kepler Treatment
• Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt 500GB Review
• GeForce GTX 770 Video Card Roundup
• Origin PC Adds Silverstone's SG10 Chassis to SFF System Lineup
• Uh Oh Microsoft, AMD Wants to See Other OSes (Android and Chrome)
• Microsoft Gives a First Look at Windows 8.1
• Newegg Daily Deals: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, Seagate Barracuda 1TB, and More!
• AVADirect is First U.S. System Builder to Nab Clevo's P375SM Gaming Laptop

SteelSeries to Showcase New H-Series Headset Line at E3 2013 Posted: 06 Jun 2013 08:28 PM PDT Range starts at $39.99 The  Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is right around the corner and gaming peripheral maker SteelSeries is super excited about the new products that it has lined up for this year's event. The company will be showcasing a trio of headsets at E3 2013, which gets underway on June 11, SteelSeries announced in a press release Thursday. The three headsets together form the new H-Series line and, according to the press release, have been designed to deliver "tournament-grade" audio. Featuring 7.1 surround sound, new sound isolation tech, a USB soundcard and a robust-yet-lightweight design, the 9H is chief among the three H-Series headsets. In fact, the $159.99 (MSRP) headset is not only supposed to be the series flagship, but the company says it is also "our best competitive gaming headset yet." At $79.99, the 5Hv3 costs half as much as the 9H, but has the same sound isolating double enclosure earcup technology as the latter. Further, it also packs a retractable microphone. Completing the triad is the entry-level 3Hv2, which costs just $39.99 and features next-gen SteelSeries audio drivers, extra-padded leather cushions, a retractable microphone, and in-line audio controls on its soft-rubber cable. The 5Hv3 and 3Hv3 headsets will be hitting the market this summer, with the 9H making its commercial debut "this fall in Q3." Follow Pulkit on Google+

New MSI Gaming Laptops Get Haswell and Kepler Treatment Posted: 06 Jun 2013 04:35 PM PDT Company announces refreshed GT70 Dragon Edition gaming notebook and more. MSI launched several new gaming laptops at Computex 2013 featuring Intel's new Haswell CPUs along with Nvidia's new 700 series mobile GPUs. MSI's new GT70 Dragon Edition is the company's flagship gaming PC. MSI's flagship gaming notebook is their GT70 Dragon Edition 2 Extreme which boasts a quad-core i7-4930MX CPU clocked at 3.0GHz with a turbo boost of 3.9GHz. On the GPU side, it features an Nvidia GTX 780M video card rocking 1536 CUDA cores and a core clock of 823MHz. Storage on the GT70 is MSI's flagship laptop which features its new Super Raid 2 specification that has a read speed of 1,500MB/s with three SSDs in RAID 0. Rounding out the laptop is a keyboard and touchpad from Steel Series and speakers from Dynaudio. MSI also launched a portable gaming notebook called the GS70 Stealth that is a slim 0.85 inches thick and a light 5.73 pounds. To give you a frame of reference, most gaming notebooks are 8.5 to 9 pounds, and usually have a thickness of two inches or more. When it comes to internals, the GS70 will be offered with an i7 configuration, but there is no word on what particular Haswell CPU it will come with. The laptop is also fitted with Nvidia's new GTX 765M discrete video card which has 768 CUDA cores and a clock speed of 850MHz. MSI's GS70 is one of a few gaming notebooks under six pounds. MSI also showed off a few other laptops at Computex 2013 called the GE 40 Dragon Eyes and GE70/GE60 which all feature Haswell CPUs and Kepler GPUs.

Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt 500GB Review Posted: 06 Jun 2013 12:50 PM PDT Designed for Mac users and priced accordingly PC users have been in a bit of a quandary about the new Thunderbolt interface from Intel. On the one hand, we're all about maximum performance, so given its sizable speed advantage over USB 3.0, at least on paper, we're eager to adopt it. On the other hand, there are three issues that have prevented us from jumping on the Thunderbolt bandwagon with both feet. The first is the fact that it debuted on the Apple platform. Granted, we're a bit sensitive, but this just rubbed us the wrong way. Second, Thunderbolt doesn't exist on LGA2011 due to a requirement for integrated graphics. And finally, we already have USB 3.0, so do we really need Thunderbolt? Sure, it's twice as fast on paper (10Gb/s versus 5Gb/s), but will we see that benefit in the real world, and is it worth the cost? To help us answer all these nagging questions we snagged a very special hard drive, the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt, which has both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports, allowing us to test both interfaces back-to-back and make an apples-to-apples comparison. The MiniStation has a belly-mounted white LED that "breathes" when there's drive activity; we dig it. Upon first glance, it's apparent this is a Mac-oriented drive, both in its Thunderbolt support as well as its aluminum exterior and rounded edges. It doesn't help that the documentation for the drive states that it comes preformatted for Macs, but don't prejudge the drive just yet—that's our job. In addition to shipping with both T-bolt and USB 3.0 interfaces, the drive also includes both cables, which is amazing since a Thunderbolt cable costs $50 alone. Inside the enclosure lies a 5,400rpm Samsung hard drive with 8MB of cache. The drive includes a 3-year warranty, is also offered in 1TB capacity, and includes no software whatsoever. To test the drive, we performed real-world and synthetic tests, and came to a somewhat unsurprising conclusion—in this iteration, with a 5,400rpm hard drive inside of it, this device is hamstrung by the drive itself, not the interface. In every test we ran, the drive performed exactly the same regardless of the interface we used, making the benefit of Thunderbolt in this instance primarily one of convenience rather than performance. For example, it would be useful if you are a person who owns both a Mac with Thunderbolt and a PC with USB 3.0, or an older MacBook with just USB 2.0 ports. Or you could be a PC user who wants the flexibility of using Thunderbolt and USB for file-sharing with buddies. Either way, the drive isn't any faster on either interface in its current form. Not only did it score the exact same write times down to the second when we copied 30GB of data, but it scored the same read and write speeds in HD Tune and ATTO, as well. For example, HD Tune clocked the drive at 80.7MB/s read speeds via Thunderbolt, and when using USB 3.0 it ran at 80.8MB/s. Now for the bad news: This drive costs $200 for 500GB, which is wildly expensive since you can get a Toshiba Canvio 1.5TB drive that is just as fast as the MiniStation for just $110. Thunderbolt could one day be the bitchin' interface we're all using, but for now it's too exotic and overpriced compared to USB 3.0. $200, www.buffalotech.com

GeForce GTX 770 Video Card Roundup Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:45 AM PDT Let the overclocking commence! The GTX 770 was released last week and along with that announcement came a flurry of new cards from video card vendors such as MSI, Gigabyte, Asus, and EVGA.  MSI MSI has introduced a pair of overclocked cards rocking its newest aftermarket Twin Frozr IV cooler. The two cards by MSI are the GTX 770 Lighting and the GTX 770 Gaming. Both video cards require two 8-pin connectors unlike the reference design which only requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector.  MSI's Lighting GTX 770 is the only card to boast a core boost clock over 1,200MHz. MSI's premium GTX 770 is the Lighting Edition card which sports a base clock of 1,150MHz and a boost clock of 1,202MHz sporting a price tag of $460. Meanwhile, the company's Gaming Edition GTX 770 features a core clock of 1,098MHz and a boost clock of 1150MHz and has a price of $410. MSI's Twin Frozr GTX 770 Gaming Edition video card comes in red and black. MSI also launched a new overclocking tool called MSI Gaming App as a result of many people not knowing how to overclock their GPUs. The company says the new overclocking software is extremely simple and has three predefined profiles called Gaming, Eco, and Default. The Gaming mode overclocks the card automatically while the Eco mode runs the card in silently by reducing the card's power consumption. The default mode runs the card at its normal clock speeds. Gigabyte's GTX 770 sports its intense Windforce cooler that comes with three fans for cooling. Gigabyte Gigabyte has released its newest GTX 770 the GV-N770OC-2GD which uses a beefy Windforce aftermarket cooler. According to Gigabyte, the cooler as much as 450 Watts. The card's core and boost clocks are overclocked to 1,137MHz and 1189MHz, respectively and retails for $410.  Asus has brought its' Direct CU II cooler to the GTX 770. Asus Asus's overclocked GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GTX 770 features its DirectCU II cooler along with custom VRM and enhanced power efficiency. According to Asus, the card consumes 30% less power and gennerates less noise compared to the reference design, while also offering 2.5 times the durability. The card is priced at $410 and is clocked at 1,050MHz core and 1,110MHz boost, respectively. Asus also came out with a new version of GPU Tweak which provides a real-time monitoring of your video card's temperatures, core clocks, and memory clocks. ASUS's GTX 770 is now supported by this overclocking tool as well. EVGA uses a ball bearing design for its ACX cooler which according to EVGA allows the card run quieter and cooler. EVGA EVGA dispatched ten GTX 770's following NVidia's GTX 770 release. Six of EVGA's 770 feature the company's new ACX cooler which supposedly runs cooler and quieter than a stock GTX 770 cooler. The ACX uses a ball-bearing design instead of a standard sleeved bearing which EVGA says gives the fans a lifespan of 12 years. The company has a couple cards currently on Newegg for sale which include its new ACX cooler and its reference cooler design. EVGA also has a stock-clocked card with its new ACX cooler which retails for $410. The overclocked version of the company's GTX 770 with the new ACX is $420 and features a core clock speed of 1,111MHZ core and 1,163MHz boost clock. EVGA also has a Superclocked GTX 770 with its stock blower cooler which retails for $420 and sports a core base clock of 1,085MHz and a boost clock of 1,137MHz. For the other EVGA GTX 770 cards you can check out its page here. EVGA also released a new version of its Precision X Software to support the launch of its new GTX 770s. Precision X offers overclocking tools as well as temperature, memory monitoring, and fan controls. All of the overclocked GTX 770s should provide decent improvement in performance and cooling over the reference design. Look out for the reviews of these cards in the coming months. Below are a couple of charts showing the differences and similarities between the new GTX 770 cards.

Origin PC Adds Silverstone's SG10 Chassis to SFF System Lineup Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:07 AM PDT Small but spunky. Small form factor (SFF) systems are growing in popularity, especially as PC gamers look to venture out of their bedrooms and into the living room. Luckily for them, SFF cases are increasingly capable of housing high-end hardware, which is thanks in part to optimized designs but also power efficient hardware. We bring this up because boutique system builder Origin PC just dropped us a note to let us know it's now building systems inside Silverstone's box-like SG10 SFF chassis. "Designed as the ultimate SFF with full support of standard size components such as ATX power supplies, full tower CPU coolers and up to dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 690s in quad-SLI, the SG10 has the ability to play any PC game, including popular AAA titles like Crysis 3 and Metro: Last Light at a visually stunning 2560x1600 resolution with buttery smooth frame rates," Origin PC says. "Who says power can't be achieved with a small footprint? With the new SG10 you can now experience the performance of a full-size desktop, but at a fraction of the size." Therein lies the main selling point: being able to cram big and powerful components into a smaller box that won't dominate the living room, or any other room you decide to plop it in. At present, we don't see the SG10 option on Origin PC's website, which still lists the SG08 as a $208 upgrade option over the BitFenix Prodigy in its Chronos line. It should be available soon, however, with support for micro ATX Z87 and X79 motherboards, dual graphics cards, and other high-end goodies. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Uh Oh Microsoft, AMD Wants to See Other OSes (Android and Chrome) Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:06 AM PDT AMD to bring chips to Google's OS party. Never has the future of Microsoft looked as uncertain as it does right now. Not only are PC sales down, but Windows 8 is such a drastic change over previous versions, it has OEMs and hardware makers looking at supporting alternative platforms. That includes AMD, which revealed at Computex that it's suddenly interested in developing hardware for Google's open source Android and Chrome OS platforms. Lest we overstate AMD's decision, it's not as though the chip designer is wiping its hand of the Windows ecosystem, or even just Windows 8. "We are very committed to Windows 8, we think it's a great operating system, but we also see a market for Android and Chrome developing as well," Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of global business units at AMD, said in an interview at Computex, according to PCWorld. Do you think AMD would go this route if Windows 8 was the raging success Microsoft had hoped? Not a chance. The company previously stated it wasn't interested in serving Android, but with Windows 8 failing to win fans, especially among mobile users, the Sunnyvale chip designer is singing a different tune. This is a trend Microsoft needs to nip in the bud, to borrow one of Barney Fife's commonly used phrases. While there's no immediate threat to Microsoft's business model, AMD isn't the only one looking at other platforms. HP, for example, launched a Chromebook earlier this year, and according to Amazon, Samsung's Chromebook is its best selling laptop. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Microsoft Gives a First Look at Windows 8.1 Posted: 06 Jun 2013 09:34 AM PDT First public demo of Windows 8.1. Microsoft last week formally introduced the world to Windows 8.1, an upcoming update to Windows 8 that will bring back the Start button (yay!) but not the Start menu (boo!), along with a handful of other features. Following up that announcement, corporate vice president of Windows program management Antoine Leblond joined Windows CFO and CMO Tami Reller and a few other top Microsoft executives on stage at Computex do demo the upcoming free update. Don't worry if you couldn't attend, the software giant also released a YouTube video highlight the release. Of course, the big news yesterday was that Outlook 2013 RT would be hitching a ride to Windows RT tablets via the Windows 8.1 update, but if you're not interested in Windows RT, there's still plenty to digest in the Windows 8.1 update. For starters, the lock screen is transformed into a cloud-powered photo stream. Once you jump into Windows, you'll notice some new tile sizes, both big and small. If you swipe up, you'll see a list of all the apps you have installed, which you can sort by name, date installed, most used, or by category. Have a look at these and other changes: Windows 8.1 will be available later this summer. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, Seagate Barracuda 1TB, and More! Posted: 06 Jun 2013 09:12 AM PDT Top Deal: Feeling blue because gaming graphics are pushing you around? Push back with a new high-end videocard and show those pixels who's boss. Lucky for you, today's top deal is for a Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card for $191 with free shipping (normally $240 - use coupon code: [EMCXPXP25]; additional $15 mail-in-rebate). If the price isn't enough of an incentive, just check out the free games you get courtesy of AMD: Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, BioShock, and Tomb Raider! Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive for $60 with free shipping (normally $75 - use coupon code: [EMCXPXP22]) Rosewill CHALLENGER-U3 Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $40 with free shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code: [EMCXPXP26]) Rosewill Green Series 630W 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply for $50 with free shipping (normally $90 - use coupon code: [EMCXPXP45]) Corsair Voyager Air 1TB USB 3.0 / Ethernet / WiFi External Hard Drive for $200 with free shipping (normally $220 - use coupon code: [EMCXPXP53])

AVADirect is First U.S. System Builder to Nab Clevo's P375SM Gaming Laptop Posted: 06 Jun 2013 08:59 AM PDT Hello again, Haswell. The braggadocios system builders at AVADirect are hooting and hollering about being the first vendor in the U.S. of A. to offer Clevo's P375SM gaming laptop, a powerhouse machine built around Intel's new HM87 chipset for Haswell. Pricing starts at just shy of two grand for the 17.3-inch notebook equipped with an Intel Core i7 4700MQ processor, though there are plenty of upgrade options at your disposable if you have too much cash in your pockets weighing you down. A baseline configuration comes with the above mentioned CPU along with 8GB of DDR3-1600 memory, AMD Radeon HD 8970M graphics, Seagate 750GB Momentus hard drive, DVD burner, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, Thunderbolt support, eSATA, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and a few other odds and ends typical of a laptop system. "Since the release of Clevo's P570WM, end-users have become accustomed to receiving desktop-grade performance in a mobile platform. A downside to a desktop replacement solution is mainly attributed to the power consumption and battery life," AVADirect explains. "AVADirect's Clevo P375SM Gaming Notebook is designed to not only alleviate the concerns of power consumption, but set an industry-wide standard for performance and comfort in a new mobile platform. The AVADirect P375SM Gaming Notebook is uniquely high-end for its exceptional capabilities and AVADirect is the first to unleash it within the U.S." Indeed, one of the upsides to Haswell is better power management, though if you intend to mostly play games on this thing, you'll want to make sure there's a wall socket nearby, especially if you go with a dual-graphics option such as two Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M GPUs in SLI. The Clevo P375SM laptop is available from AVADirect now. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

You are subscribed to email updates from Maximum PC - All Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

MMO Updates

---

• Fates Forgiven is MOBA enough for PC but made for a tablet
• The Guild Counsel: Some finer points of raid leadership
• Neverwinter officially goes live on June 20
• Lost Continent: About that ArcheAge automobile
• Diablo III coming to Xbox 360 right along with the PS3 and PS4
• The Perfect Ten: Why I love collector's editions
• The Daily Grind: Do you aim for beta tester rewards?
• Shroud of the Avatar introduces layaway program for backers
• World of Warcraft's Stormwind Keep gets a price tag
• ZeniMax views TESO as more multiplayer Elder Scrolls than MMO
• SMITE wises up with Athena
• ArenaNet on the future of zergs and roles in Guild Wars 2's WvW
• Blade & Soul's 2.0 patch boasts weapon and skill upgrades
• Trion outlines RIFT's Empyreal Assault patch, F2P offerings
• DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 confirmed for PlayStation 4
• The Art of Wushu: Offense is the best defense

Fates Forgiven is MOBA enough for PC but made for a tablet Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, New Titles, Previews, News Items, Mobile, MOBA The MOBA market is pretty full these days, but Hammer & Chisel is trying to find a unique angle with Fates Forgiven. It's meant to have everything you'd expect from a MOBA, with the game outright calling itself a re-imagining of League of Legends. But you can't play this game on anything less than a tablet. No smartphones, no consoles, no computers, a competitive MOBA designed only for use on tablets. So what makes it uniquely designed for tablets? Fine touch controls, for one thing. Instead of clicking, you can use gestures to direct your heroes, and you can also activate special attacks specifically via the touchscreen. That opens the door for controls that would be tedious or unworkable on a PC and cumbersome on a smartphone. How successful this approach will be remains to be seen, but the game is aimed for a release later this year. [Source: Hammer & Chisel press release] Fates Forgiven is MOBA enough for PC but made for a tablet originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Guild Counsel: Some finer points of raid leadership Posted: 06 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Endgame, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous Whether you're leading a raid or running an in-game event, it's a real challenge to pull it off smoothly. Leading a large group of players in game is a combination of teacher and coach, minus the ability to be face to face. In effect, you're flying blind, but you still need to communicate, coordinate, and motivate in order to be successful. We've gone over some basics of leading groups of players before, but in this week's Guild Counsel, I'd like to offer up some finer points that often get overlooked but can make a big difference in making your raid successful (and also fun). While most of these are about raid leadership, they could be used for PvP or player-run events as well. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Some finer points of raid leadership The Guild Counsel: Some finer points of raid leadership originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Neverwinter officially goes live on June 20 Posted: 06 Jun 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, Launches, New Titles, Patches, Free-to-Play, Neverwinter Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios have announced today that their free-to-play MMO Neverwinter will be officially launching on June 20 of this year. This launch will also mark the addition of the Gauntlgrym content for level 60 vets and a public test shard named NeverwinterPreview. If that's not enough for fans of the Dungeons & Dragons MMO, the first expansion module, Fury of the Feywild, is said to launch this summer. Check out the Gauntlgrym trailer just after the cut below. Continue reading Neverwinter officially goes live on June 20 Neverwinter officially goes live on June 20 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Launch Announcement

Lost Continent: About that ArcheAge automobile Posted: 06 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Lost Continent I owe ArcheAge an apology. A couple of weeks ago, when XLGAMES released a trailer featuring steampunk-powered hot rods and an impromptu beachfront drag race, my kneejerk reaction was a boisterous what-the-funk! After I watched the clip a second time, I realized not only that the cars fit neatly into the world that Jake Song and company have created but that they tickled my fancy in the same way that numerous other elements in the game have done over the years. Continue reading Lost Continent: About that ArcheAge automobile Lost Continent: About that ArcheAge automobile originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Diablo III coming to Xbox 360 right along with the PS3 and PS4 Posted: 06 Jun 2013 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, Diablo III As reported by Joystiq, Diablo III is not only coming out for the Playstation 3, but also the Xbox 360 on September 3 of this year. Aside from the fact that the Blizzard game will also be coming out for the PlayStation 4 when that launches, the hints at an Xbox 360 release weren't exactly a secret. Still, it' s nice to have it official now. Diablo III coming to Xbox 360 right along with the PS3 and PS4 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Battle.net Via: Joystiq

The Perfect Ten: Why I love collector's editions Posted: 06 Jun 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous, Jukebox Heroes If you've ever wondered what kind of naive sucker would plunk down a semi-thick wad of perfectly good cash on an overstuffed MMO collector's edition, hi, I'm Justin. I do just that. I don't buy collector's editions for every MMO I pick up, but I do have a strong habit of purchasing them that dates back to the original World of Warcraft CE. I can't help it; I love collector's editions so much. In fact, my interest in them is so keen that the number one and two questions I have for any anticipated MMO in beta are: (1) When can I pre-order the CE and (2) what's included in it? I'm like a junkie, except that instead of burned spoons and constant trips to White Castle to stave off the munchies, my shame is marked by mountain-sized boxes that litter my closet. It's confession time for this collector's edition addict. What are my reasons for this undying love, this unbridled passion, this all-consuming need to own the best edition possible? You're about to find out. Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Why I love collector's editions The Perfect Ten: Why I love collector's editions originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Do you aim for beta tester rewards? Posted: 06 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Historical, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, War, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, World of Warplanes So, World of Warplanes is apparently gearing up for open beta, and I'm kicking myself for sitting on an alpha tester account that I've had for over a year. Why? Well because Wargaming.net is going to be giving away some sort of spiffy exclusive aircraft to beta testers. The catch is that you need to log 700 beta battles to qualify, and even if I were to somehow average 10 per day, it would take me... let's see, 700, divide by 10... 70! days to get there. Now, free-to-play open betas do tend to go on for-frickin'-ever, so maybe I have a chance. In any case, The Daily Grind isn't about my first world problems, it's about you and yours. So, do you aim for beta tester rewards, or do you just try to do your part to make the game better? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind! The Daily Grind: Do you aim for beta tester rewards? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Shroud of the Avatar introduces layaway program for backers Posted: 05 Jun 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Free-to-Play, Crowdfunding, Shroud of the Avatar, MMORPG Portalarium's Kickstarter campaign for Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues cruised past its initial funding goal of one million dollars, landing at $1,919,275 by the time the clock ran out. Though the Kickstarter drive has ended, the company is still taking pledges for the project through the official SotA website. In fact, SotA offers a whopping 22 different pledge tiers ranging from $10 to $11,000. If you don't have $11,000 in your pocket but would still like to pledge as much, Portalarium has announced a layaway program that will help backers contribute larger amounts of money by breaking the payments up into smaller chunks. The layaway plan, which should go live this month, establishes monthly payments for big pledges -- and assigns a monthly finance fee. The company is promising another update this month with more details on the plan, which was designed in part due to backer requests. The layaway plan will be available to both new backers and those looking to upgrade their pledge tier. [Thanks to FlyinBuddha for the tip!] Shroud of the Avatar introduces layaway program for backers originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: SotA Kickstarter Update

World of Warcraft's Stormwind Keep gets a price tag Posted: 05 Jun 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, News Items, Humor, Subscription Have you ever sat down with a realtor and tried to haggle down the price of a house based on the fact that it previously housed a scheming black dragon? Hopefully not, as black dragons do not actually exist. But if you have, you'll be happy to know that World of Warcraft's Stormwind Keep has now been priced out by what we are assured are reputable realtors with an eye toward setting this in-game structure's retail price in US dollars. About $10 million, as it happens. So why? Well, based on how much space it seems to cover and the value of a comparable real-world castle in Wales, the Keep winds up with a fairly modest price tag for a castle. Then again, there's only one accessible floor, and as we mentioned it does have a bit of a problem with dragons. (Exterminators can never really get all the eggs out.) So if you find yourself transported to Azeroth with $10 million that becomes the equivalent in gold, you can walk up and... well... not buy it, because it's not for sale. But you'd know how much it was worth. World of Warcraft's Stormwind Keep gets a price tag originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Movoto Via: WoW Insider

ZeniMax views TESO as more multiplayer Elder Scrolls than MMO Posted: 05 Jun 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, The Elder Scrolls Online Game Reactor has published another Matt Firor interview from last week's pre-E3 Elder Scrolls Online preview event. The ZeniMax game director had plenty to say about the game world, the social design elements, and the team's desire to draw in players who may not be MMO fans. "This is more a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game than an MMO. [You'll see] very limited UI, nice and clean, not a lot of bars," Firor explained. "The combat system is very much action-based. It's also soloable, you can solo almost the entire game. We wanted to get Elder Scrolls players who were unfamiliar with online games and MMO terms to get in, play, have fun and get introduced to the multiplayer aspects." [Thanks Jack!] ZeniMax views TESO as more multiplayer Elder Scrolls than MMO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Game Reactor

SMITE wises up with Athena Posted: 05 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Classes, Patches, Free-to-Play, MOBA How many gods are left in the universal pantheon for Hi-Rez Studios to exploit for SMITE? We guess at least one more because the team has patched in Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena is a melee tank who uses a bit of magic to help her allies and herself out in a fight. While she primarily relies on shield and spear, her passive ability gives her a ranged attack after using a skill. She also can dash up to (and through) enemies, taunt with a shockwave, summon ghost soldiers to form a shield wall, and teleport to an ally while protecting that ally from 50% of damage for a short time. You can check out the Athena reveal, including her lore and abilities, in the video after the break! Continue reading SMITE wises up with Athena SMITE wises up with Athena originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Athena reveal

ArenaNet on the future of zergs and roles in Guild Wars 2's WvW Posted: 05 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play ArenaNet designer Devon Carver has teased the team's vision for the future of Guild Wars 2 world-vs.-world PvP in a lengthy new blog post. The entry is broken down into an analysis of the feature's current state as well as ANet's immediate and long-term goals. Among the latter are plans to address the zerg, player roles, and matchups and matchup scoring. "Right now our game rewards you for holding an objective, not necessarily for taking it, and overwhelmingly favors the last server to log out for the day," Carver says. "We have some ideas in the pipeline to try to increase scoring when people are playing the game and to make it much more difficult to keep your territory without actively guarding it." In other GW2 news, the dev team released a new video yesterday that focuses on the lore behind the Last Stand at Southsun and how it affects the game's "living story." Watch it after the break. Continue reading ArenaNet on the future of zergs and roles in Guild Wars 2's WvW ArenaNet on the future of zergs and roles in Guild Wars 2's WvW originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Future of WvW

Blade & Soul's 2.0 patch boasts weapon and skill upgrades Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Blade & Soul NCsoft Korea just updated Blade & Soul's weapon and skill mechanics. According to Steparu.com, it's a game-changing patch because it introduces weapon upgrades and version 2.0 of the skill system. The latter includes special sub-menus and enhancement options for each skill, and Steparu speculates that the patch could be NCsoft's response to players who are looking for something to keep them busy at endgame. The 2.0 patch also features crafting tweaks, a simplified repair system, and new belt and bracelet slots. You can see plenty of 2.0 screenshots at the source link below, as well as a gameplay video after the break. Continue reading Blade & Soul's 2.0 patch boasts weapon and skill upgrades Blade & Soul's 2.0 patch boasts weapon and skill upgrades originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Steparu

Trion outlines RIFT's Empyreal Assault patch, F2P offerings Posted: 05 Jun 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT Trion has published a preview web page for RIFT's Empyreal Assault update. If that name doesn't mean anything to you, how about update 2.3? Still no? OK, it's the free-to-play patch. Happy now? The patch also features Dendrome, a new zone boasting "lush jungles and windswept dunes." Let's see, what else does 2.3 have for you? It looks as if there's new open-world raid bosses, a new Chronicle called Queen's Gambit, a Sliver called Grim Awakening, and more. You can read all about it at the official RIFT website. Don't forget to check out the F2P page while you're at it, and mark your calendar for the June 12th launch date. Trion outlines RIFT's Empyreal Assault patch, F2P offerings originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Empyreal Assault

DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 confirmed for PlayStation 4 Posted: 05 Jun 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Super-hero, News Items, War, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, DC Universe Online, PlanetSide 2, MMORPG Sony's next-gen console may not have a fancy tablet controller or an all-seeing, always-on eye that watches you watch things, but it does look as if it's getting a couple of high profile MMOs. Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that both DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 are headed for the PS4 as free-to-play downloads later this year. DCUO is currently available on PS3, but PlanetSide 2 has yet to make a console appearance. This may be why more information is available as to the implementation of the former than the latter; DCUO's official Twitter account is currently fielding questions about the PS4 announcement, while PlanetSide 2's doesn't seem to be talking about it at all. For those keeping score, that's now at least four free-to-play MMOs due on the PS4 either at launch or soon after: War Thunder, Warframe, DC Universe Online, and PlanetSide 2. Larry Liberty (producer for DCUO) might have been onto something when he said the new console would be a "great platform" for MMOs. DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 confirmed for PlayStation 4 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: DCUO Twitter Via: IGN

The Art of Wushu: Offense is the best defense Posted: 05 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Guides, Age of Wushu, The Art of Wushu, MMORPG Previously in The Art of Wushu, we discussed the basic combat mechanics in Age of Wushu. If you have played the game for more than a week or so, you are likely familiar with most of it. A basic RPS mechanic is the simplest type of combat design, and many other games, especially those with "robust" melee combat, tend to have some RPS as the basis of its complexity. However, Age of Wushu focuses a lot on uneven risk and reward. It is not enough to simply have RPS elements. A combat design built around mixups should also have many different options between these mixups that create an inter-RPS. Let me explain broadly: Some rocks beat other rocks, but the other rocks provide better rewards when used against scissors. Some rocks might even provide benefits when used against paper! The series of mindgames interwoven into your attack choice are the focus for this week. Continue reading The Art of Wushu: Offense is the best defense The Art of Wushu: Offense is the best defense originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

You are subscribed to email updates from Massively To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610