General Gaming Article

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• Cooler Master Intros QuickFire XT Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
• Build a PC: Recommended Builds (July 2013)
• Who Wants Some Free Stuff?
• Ask the Doctor
• Newegg Daily Deals: Logtiech G19 Black Gaming Keyboard, Corsair 430W PSU, and More!
• Thousands to Join "Restore the Fourth" Protests Against NSA Spying
• Gigabyte Aims to Ship Record 20 Million Motherboards in 2013
• Newegg Launches a Daily Deals Site for Impulse Shoppers
• Neatgear's R6100 Router Boasts 802.11ac Connectivity for a Benjamin

Cooler Master Intros QuickFire XT Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Posted: 03 Jul 2013 04:21 PM PDT Available now in Blue and Red Cherry MX Switch models Gaming peripheral maker Cooler Master on Tuesday announced the addition of yet another product to its mechanical keyboard lineup. The all new Cooler Master Storm QuickFire XT is for those whose passion for numpads is just as intense as their love of gaming. In its press release, the company described QuickFire XT as  having "the same extremely solid construction that won the hearts of QuickFire Rapid owners," and the similarities in their designs are quite obvious. In fact, the QuickFire XT is, as the company put it, the numpad-less QuickFire Rapid's sibling, albeit a sibling with the full complement of 104 keys. Like the Rapid, the QuickFire XT also uses Cherry MX switches and laser-marked keycaps (comes with extra keycaps and key puller). All mechanical Cherry MX Keyboard Embedded Steel plate for extreme stability and durability Super slim keyboard body – more ergonomic and comfortable typing angles N-KRO for unlimited simultaneous key presses (PS/2) Command rate adjustments via key-combo (PS/2) Windows Keys can be disabled via key-combo Multimedia shortcuts via key-combos Detachable braided cable with full size USB plug The QuickFire XT is available now from the Cooler Master store in Blue and Red Cherry MX Switch models for $89.99 and $99.99, respectively. Although mentioned in the press release, Green and Brown Cherry MX Switch options aren't available yet. Follow Pulkit on Google+

Build a PC: Recommended Builds (July 2013) Posted: 03 Jul 2013 02:23 PM PDT Baseline, performance, and ultra PC builds! What time is it? It's time to build a PC with our Blueprints! This month, we've built three rigs at three approximate price points: Baseline, Performance, and Ultra. Baseline gets you a powerful, no-compromises rig, suitable for gaming and content creation at 1080p. Performance gets you more, and the Ultra is for those who want a killer PC. These rigs are lab-tested and editor-approved. Feedback is, of course, welcome. Tell us what you think! Don't confuse "baseline" with "underpowered," as the Intel Core i5-4670K hauls ass, and the rest of this rig is plenty powerful. This month, we upgraded the video card from an AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition to the Radeon HD 7950, since the 7950 also has more horsepower and an additional gigabyte of video RAM, which is handy for high-res textures and long draw distances. To get there, we downgraded the PSU and SSD, going from a 720W Cooler Master to a 500W Corsair, and a Samsung 840 Pro to the SanDisk Extreme. The new SSD is plenty snappy, and 500 watts is sufficient for a system with a single GPU. We're also retaining last month's transition to the OEM version of Windows 8. Most of the parts previously selected for this tier still deliver great performance for the price, so not much has changed this month. Corsair had a deal on its HX850 power supply, though, so we took advantage of that. It has superb build quality and a long seven-year warranty. Also this month, the 256GB Samsung 840 Pro was about the same price as the 240GB Neutron GTX we had in here previously, so we swapped them since the 840 Pro is a bit faster. As with the Baseline system, we're sticking to Windows 8. These are the OEM versions, which means that the activation code is tied to the motherboard. The trade-off is that it costs much less than the "full" version. After seeing two Nvidia GeForce GTX 780s work their SLI magic in our test rig, we were compelled to put them in the Ultra system, which had a single GTX Titan in it last month. The GTX 780 is basically a gaming-oriented version of the Titan, with two SMX units and double-precision compute removed. When overclocked, a GTX 780's gaming performance comes within spitting distance of its big brother, so two of them are truly a dream come true. This motherboard and power supply will also handle a third 780 without breaking a sweat. The BEFX power supply is one of the best in its class and comes from Seasonic. Since it's fully modular, you can replace all the cables if they get damaged or if you want to make cosmetic changes, and it makes for less clutter too. Its fan also uses a "hybrid mode" setting, where it doesn't even spin up when the system is idle, ensuring quiet operation when you're just surfing around or watching videos. The overall build quality is reportedly a bit better than the Cooler Master Silent Pro unit it replaces.

Who Wants Some Free Stuff? Posted: 03 Jul 2013 01:43 PM PDT We're giving away a Crucial M500 120GB solid state drive and a three-year license for iolo's System Mechanic software We know there are two things that our readers love; Pure PC Power, and free stuff. Since we've always got your PC power needs covered, we figured you might need some gear, and we love running contests, so here's our newest one. In this contest one winner will receive both a Crucial M500 120GB SSD and a three-year license to iolo's System Mechanic software. You can check out the review of Crucial M500 SSD here on the Maximum PC website. Though we haven't reviewed System Mechanic software, we've heard good things about it.  Here are the official blurbs about the contest prizes: Crucial M500: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT120M500SSD1  System Mechanic: http://www.iolo.com/company/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=cebfe631-c315-4aac-8a86-2629b29da1c3  How to Enter Send an email to contests@maximumpc.com with the subject "Crucial and iolo Contest" and in the body your answer to this question – When discussing flash memory, what does MLC stand for? Along with the answer, email us your complete name, age, adress and zip/postal code. One prize winner with the correct answer in alignment with reporting by Maximum PC will be randomly selected by July 05, 2013. This contest is available to readers in the USA (excluding Arizona) and Canada (excluding Quebec). This giveaway has rules, so please read them on the next page. OFFICIAL RULES 1. SPONSOR; ADMINISTRATOR: This promotion (the "Contest") is sponsored and administered by FUTURE US, INC., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080, is in no way sponsored by Facebook, Inc., Crucial.com (Micron Technology, Inc.), or iolo technologies, LLC, and subject to the following terms and conditions.  Contest is being administered by Future US, Inc. ("Future US"), 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080, +1 (650) 872-1642.   2. ELIGIBILITY: Contest is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia (excluding Arizona, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. military installations in foreign countries, or in any other U.S. territories or possessions); and Canada (excluding the province of Quebec).  Void where prohibited by law.  Entrants must have attained the age of majority in their state and country of residence and citizenship (usually at least eighteen (18) years of age) at time of entry, and possess a valid form of unexpired government-issued photo identification. Employees of Sponsor, its respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, advertising, promotion, or production agencies, any companies who are promotional participants or prize providers, web masters and web suppliers, and the foregoing employees' household or immediate family members (defined as parent, spouse, child, sibling, or grandparent) are NOT eligible to enter Contest.  By their submission of entry, entrants warrant they are legally entitled and authorized to make such submission, either on their own behalf, or as to information submitted upon the express authorization of another on whose behalf the information is submitted.  In the event of a dispute as to the winner's identity for online entries received from multiple users having the same email account, entries will be deemed made by the authorized subscriber of the mail account associated with the entry.  The authorized account subscriber is the natural person who is assigned the email address by the internet service provider (ISP), on-line service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses.  Invalid or ineligible entries shall be excluded from consideration.   3. TIMING:  Contest begins at 12:00p.m. Pacific Time on June 24, 2013 and ends at 6:00p.m. Pacific time on July 3, 2013.  Sponsor's computer will be the official time clock for the Contest.  Online entries must be received by Sponsor by 6:00p.m. Pacific Time on July 3, 2013 to be eligible.     4. HOW TO ENTER:  Submit an answer for the following question "What is MLC stand for?" to contests@maximumpc.com along with your complete name, age, and zip/postal code.  No team entries and no corporate or institutional entries are permitted in Contest.   Limit one entry per household. 5. ORIGINAL WORKS.  You hereby warrant and represent that (a) you own all rights to all materials that you submit to Sponsor in connection with Contest ("Entry Materials"); (b) you have never submitted Entry Materials in another contest; and (c) all such Entry Materials are original works or authorship on your part and have not been copied, in whole or in part, from any other work and do not violate, misappropriate or infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right or any privacy right of any other person or entity.   6. PRIZES AND ODDS:  There is one grand prize package, which consists of a Crucial M500 120GB solid state drive and a three-year license for iolo's System Mechanic software ("Prize").  The Prize has an approximate retail value of U.S.$279.94.  Prize must be delivered to address listed on Winner's entry, and delivery may take 6-8 weeks. The odds of winning will be determined by the number of eligible entries received. Prizes cannot be transferred, assigned, substituted, or redeemed for cash, and must be accepted as awarded, but Sponsor reserves the right to substitute any prize with a prize of equal or greater value should the advertised prize become unavailable for any reason.  Prizes will not be fulfilled outside the United States and Canada; will not be fulfilled in Arizona, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. military installations in foreign countries, or in any other U.S. territories or possessions; will not be fulfilled in the province of Quebec; and will not be fulfilled where prohibited or restricted by law.  Winners will be responsible for all taxes (federal, state/provincial, and local) and all expenses not listed herein related to acceptance and use of any prize.  Any person residing in the United States and any United States citizen living abroad, who wins U.S.$600 or more worth of prizes from Sponsor in a calendar year will receive an IRS form 1099 after the end of the calendar year in which the prizes were awarded, and copy of such form will be filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Limit one Prize per one per household. 7. JUDGING: There will be one winner who is selected by a judging panel comprised of Editors of the Maximum PC staff ("Judges") who will take all of the correct answers and randomly select a winner from that pool of entries.  Judging will be completed by July 10, 2013.  Sponsor's decisions on all matters related to Contest, including Judges' selections of winning entries, shall be final and binding and within their sole discretion.  Winning is contingent upon compliance with all terms and conditions set forth in these official rules; any entry or any potential winner identified thereby found at any time to fail to comply with these official rules will be held invalid and ineligible for award. 8. NOTIFICATION:  Each Winner will be notified by email by July 10, 2013.  Each Winner so notified must within three (3) business days of notice of prize award, complete, execute and return the provided Affidavit, Waiver, Release and Indemnity Agreement including, where lawful, a Publicity Release (plus any additional documents required at the discretion of Sponsor).  Failure to comply with the requirements of this paragraph (or the return of any prize or prize notification as non-deliverable) may result in disqualification and in the forfeiture of any right to a prize.   To obtain any legally-required winners list, send a self-addressed envelope with sufficient prepaid postage to: Maximum PC, Crucial M500 120GB SSD and System Mechanic Contest, c/o Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080.  (Residents of Vermont do not have to include return postage.) 9. FUTURE US' USE OF ENTRIES.    You hereby grant Future US a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide license and right to utilize the Entry Materials you submit in connection with Contest.  The Entry Materials become the property of Future US and will not be acknowledged or returned.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge that Future US shall have the right to use, modify, reproduce, publish, perform, display on all forms of media, distribute, make derivative works of, sublicense, and otherwise commercially and non-commercially exploit the Entry Materials in perpetuity and throughout the universe, in any manner or medium now existing or hereafter developed, without separate compensation to you or any other person or entity.  You agree to take, at Future US' expense, any further action (including, without limitation, execution of affidavits and other documents) reasonably requested by Future US to effect, perform or confirm Future US' rights as set forth in this paragraph. 10.  PRIVACY POLICY:  By participating in the Contest, you acknowledge and agree that Sponsor may collect the personal information submitted by you and use the information pursuant to Future US, Inc.'s standard privacy policy, the terms of which can be found at http://www.futureus.com/privacy.php , which terms and conditions entrants accept and agree to by submission of entries pursuant to these official rules.  Each entrant/winner also understands and agrees that he/she is providing information to Future US, Inc. and not to Facebook, Inc. 11.  RELEASE:   By participating in the Contest and/or accepting a prize, an entrant/winner agrees to defend, release and hold harmless the Sponsor, Facebook, Inc., Crucial.com (Micron Technology, Inc.), and iolo technologies, LLC, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, advertising, production and promotion agencies, any companies who are promotional participants or prize providers, web masters and web suppliers, and the foregoing companies' officers, directors, shareholders, employees, representatives and agents (collectively "Releasees") from and against any actions, claims and/or liability for injury, loss or damage of any kind to persons, including death, or property (including the violation or infringement of any proprietary or personal right of any individual or entity) resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from participation in the Contest, and/or the use, acceptance, or possession of a Contest prize, and/or participation in a Contest prize-related activity, including any action, claim or liability arising from the unauthorized submission of any information, and/or for any printing, production, technical, typographical, human or other error in the printing, offering or announcement of any prize.  By participating in the Contest and/or accepting a prize, an entrant/winner consents to and gives the Sponsor the right to use, publish, and display a winner's (and where applicable an entrant's) name, likeness, city and state, and prize awarded, for the purpose of advertising, trade, publicity and promotional purposes in any media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide, and on the Web, in perpetuity, without review, notification or approval, and without additional consideration, unless prohibited by law. 12.  LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY:  Entrants agree that by participating in the Contest they release the Releasees from any liability in connection with: (a) Entries that are ineligible as a result of being lost, late, illegible, damaged, incomplete, inaccurate, delayed, unintelligible, non-delivered, stolen, postage due, or misdirected, or the failure to capture any such information; (b) Any typographical or other human or technical errors in the offer or administration of the Contest, including but not limited to errors in advertising, these official rules, the selection and announcement of a winner(s), or the distribution/awarding of a prize(s); (c) Any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay, misdirection, damage, availability, accessibility, miscommunications, injury, technical malfunctions or traffic congestion on the Internet/telephone network, or at any website, satellite, computer, telephone, cellular or cable transmissions or lines, or any combination thereof; (d) The unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries; (e) Jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions, computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or for any other errors of any kind, whether human, technical, mechanical, electronic or network, including, without limitation, any errors which may occur in connection with the administration of the Contest or in any Contest-related materials; and (f) Damage to en entrant or other person's system or equipment occasioned by participation in this Contest or downloading materials from the Contest website, or any combination thereof.  Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of the Contest or website, as solely determined by the Sponsor, will be disqualified (and all associated entries will be void), and Sponsor reserves the right to terminate such entrant's eligibility to participate in this or any other promotion offered by Sponsor.  Entries generated by robotic, programmed, script, macro or other automated means or by any means which subvert the entry process will be disqualified.   Sponsor reserves the right to modify these rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the term and conditions of the Contest.  In the event that the Contest is infected by a computer virus/worm/bug, or is not capable of running or being executed as planned (as a result of but not limited to an error, omission, defect, delay, misdirection, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, action of entrants, or technical failure) or any other cause which in the sole opinion of Sponsor corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest, Sponsor reserves the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any suspect entry or entrant and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest.  In the event of such cancellation, termination, modification or suspension, notice thereof will be posted at the entry website(s) mentioned above, and winner(s) will be determined solely by Sponsor from among all eligible non-suspect and/or non-disqualified entries prior to action taken or as otherwise deemed fair and appropriate by Sponsor.  In such event, Releasees shall have no liability to any entrant who is disqualified due to such an action.  Failure to enforce any term of these official rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. IN NO EVENT WILL THE RELEASEES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE WEBSITE OR DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE ENTRY WEBSITE(S) MENTIONED ABOVE, OR ANY OTHER WEBSITE ASSOCIATED WITH SPONSOR.  WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE ENTRY WEBSITE(S) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.  CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS. 13.  LAW:  Subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Void where prohibited or restricted.  All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants or Sponsor in connection with any drawing or award, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of, the State of California, without regard to conflict of law principles.  Any cause of action by you with respect to the offer (and/or any information, products or services related thereto) must be instituted within one (1) year after the cause of action arose or be forever waived and barred.  All actions shall be subject to the limitations set forth in above.  The language in these official rules shall be interpreted as in accordance with its fair meaning and not strictly for or against either party.  All legal proceedings arising out of or in connection with the offer of these official rules shall be brought solely in San Mateo County, California.  You expressly submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of said courts and consent to extraterritorial service of process.

Ask the Doctor Posted: 03 Jul 2013 01:33 PM PDT The doctor tackles Recovering a Laptop RAID, PSU Questions, Wireless Uploads, and more Recovering Data from a Laptop RAID I have an MSI GT683 laptop with two 500GB hard drives in RAID 0. My motherboard failed under warranty. The laptop is not worth repairing, so they are sending me a new laptop. The new one is an MSI GT783R with two 750GB hard drives in RAID 0. The techs did send back the drives from the old laptop in the hopes that I could recover data from the RAID. Could someone explain how to remove the data from two hard drives in RAID 0 and reinstall on my new laptop? I have a stand-alone hard drive dock used to clone hard drives and also an adapter used to transfer info from one hard drive to another. Unfortunately, neither device works in my situation. How do I get the data from my old drives? - Dan Tiefenbach The Doctor Responds: It's difficult to restore data from a RAID without using the same chipset/RAID controller as was used to create it. However, given how similar the new laptop is to the old one, you may be in luck. Since you were able to remove the drives from your old laptop, you ought to be able to do the same on your new laptop. And since both are Sandy Bridge notebooks in the same general product line from the same vendor and both use the same HM67 chipset, your old RAID should be visible on the new computer once you have enabled it in the BIOS. Replace the 750GB drives in the new laptop with the 500GB drives from the old laptop. Hopefully, the RAID will be recognized and you can boot from the drives. If so, copy the data you need to an external drive. Then remove the 500GB drives and replace the 750GB drives in the same configuration they were in when you got the new laptop, and move the recovered data to the new laptop. If you're a bit skittish about swapping the drives, you can try file recovery software such as Quetek's File Scavenger available from Quetek.com. We've long been fans of File Scavenger as a recovery tool. Set your default Library locations to a storage drive to keep space-hogging files off of your SSD No More Room on the SSD Nine months ago, I put together a sweet little system. Almost every article I read recommended a 120GB boot SSD paired with a bigger mechanical-storage drive. This may have been practical then, as SSDs were notoriously expensive at the time of this build. However, it is nine months later and my SSD is nearly full! I have 6.89GB free! I wish I had bought a bigger boot drive, even with the exorbitant prices of the time. You are still recommending these small drives for your budget and intermediate builds. Let me give my advice to anyone considering building a computer with these miniscule drives: don't! I don't even have any games on mine. I've picked up bits and pieces of articles about how to conserve space on boot drives, but apparently not enough. Could you go through step-by-step all the ways you know of to make Windows send the proper data to the storage drive so I could at least put one game on my boot drive? Could you also recommend a good program that could clean the junk off of my boot drive? - Paul Lamb The Doctor Responds: You're right, SSDs are now cheap enough that you should be getting at least a 250GB model as your boot drive, to avoid the kind of trouble you're having now. Let's see if we can't free up some space on your 120GB drive now, though. First, make sure the default save locations for each of your media Libraries points to a folder on your storage drive. By default, those libraries save to your SSD. That's bad. Go to Explorer and right-click your Documents library and select Properties. Under Library Locations click Add, go to your storage drive, create a new folder called Documents, and then select Include Location. Back under Library Locations, select the folder you just created and hit "Set save location." Do this for each Library—music, documents, video, pictures, and any other libraries you've created. Be sure to move your public libraries, too, if you plan on sharing music on your network. Now, move any documents from their original locations on your boot drive (say, My Music) to the new location on your storage drive. Make sure they've copied over correctly and then delete them from your C:\ drive. This should free up a lot of space. You should also go back to each Library's Properties menu and remove the old C:\ drive locations. You should also make a Downloads folder on your storage drive and make sure your browsers download to that folder rather than the default, which is in My Documents. Finally, download WinDir-Stat (free, www.windirstat.info). Run it on your C:\ drive and it'll give you a visual representation of exactly what's taking up space. Move any lingering documents to the storage drive. Don't just go deleting large files willy-nilly, though. Three Questions about Power Supplies I recently upgraded my HP Blackbird 002 with a P9X79 Deluxe with a Core i7-3820, a Samsung 840 Pro with a Barracuda 3TB for archive, and 16GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum 1866. I'm still using the water cooler that came with the original system, and have two XFX Radeon HD 6950s in CrossFire. Every once in a while, the computer will trip a breaker forcing me to switch the computer onto one circuit and have my peripherals plugged into another. My questions are these: Would swapping out the 3-year-old power supply for, say, a modern Corsair modular PSU be more energy efficient? Is 1,100W overkill for my system as listed above? Would I be better served with an 860W PSU? Last, if I swap out PSUs, can I use the existing modular power-cabling or is that just a horribly bad idea? - Matthew Bryington The Doctor Responds: Yes, a modern power supply should be more efficient than the behemoth that came with the Blackbird. You mentioned Corsair and an 860W PSU, so you've clearly been doing some research. Corsair's AX860 PSU is 80 Plus Platinum certified, so it's very energy efficient. It's also fully modular and it should be more than enough power for your system. To answer your third question, no, you can't use the same modular power cabling. It won't fit and even if it did, it's a bad idea. Take the opportunity to do a fresh rewire. And don't worry—even though new PSUs don't have that 10-pin power connector for the SATA backplane, HP in its wisdom enabled the backplane to be powered by one 4-pin Molex connector or two SATA power connectors instead. That backplane will work just fine for your current drives, even the SSD, if you get a 3.5-inch-to-2.5-inch adapter that fits (IcyDock makes one). The backplane is just a straight pass-through and you will still get 6Gb/s SATA speeds out of a 6Gb/s SATA drive as long as it's plugged from the backplane into a 6Gb/s SATA port. You didn't ask, but the Doc thought he'd mention it anyway, since he had to figure this out recently.

Newegg Daily Deals: Logtiech G19 Black Gaming Keyboard, Corsair 430W PSU, and More! Posted: 03 Jul 2013 10:22 AM PDT Top Deal: You wouldn't bring a knife to a grenade fight, so why hop on the battlefield wielding a run-of-the-mill keyboard? You deserve better! Have a look at today's top deal for a Logitech G19 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard for $120 with free shipping (normally $200 - use coupon code EMCNXV35). It has a color LCD game panel, 12 fully programmable G-keys, and custom color backlighting. Other Deals: Corsair CX430M 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply for $50 with free shipping (normally $70; additional $20 mail-in rebate) Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 Video Card for $190 with free shipping (normally $240 - use coupon code:[EMCXNXV23]) Toshiba 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive for $115 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code:[EMCXNXV22]) Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory for $119 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code:[EMCXNXV25])

Thousands to Join "Restore the Fourth" Protests Against NSA Spying Posted: 03 Jul 2013 10:05 AM PDT Will NSA hear the rally cry? While many people in the U.S. are planning barbecues with family and friends, an evening of fireworks, and other ways to celebrate Independence Day, thousands of others are planning to join nationwide rallies in protest against recently revealed spying activities conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). Dubbed "Restore the Fourth," the effort was put together by Reddit and has drawn support from a number of other online entities, including Mozilla. "Reddit didn't take well to all the information about the news leak as far as NSA goes," says Michael Reed, Restore the Fourth's director of communications, according to Time. "So we started organizing there, and the next thing you know, we're organizing in over 100 cities and it's only getting bigger." Indeed it is. Rallies will take place all over the U.S. in cities both big and small. And in addition to Mozilla, the campaign has drawn support from WordPress, 4chan, Fark, and Cheezburger.com, along with certain celebrities. "How long do we expect rational people to accept using terrorism to justify and excuse endless executive and state power?," actor John Cusack said during a press conference announcing the protests, according to PCWorld. "Why are so many in our government, our press, our intellectual class afraid of an informed public?" Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA's surveillance program and the Internet companies it's been working with. He now faces a number of charges, including theft of government property. Restore the Fourth is, in part, an effort to draw the spotlight away from Snowden and back on the issue at hand. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Gigabyte Aims to Ship Record 20 Million Motherboards in 2013 Posted: 03 Jul 2013 09:40 AM PDT DIY sector is still going strong Is the PC market in a slump? That's all we keep hearing about from market research firms, but over here on the do-it-yourself (DIY) side, there's plenty to be excited about. We have new Haswell processors to play with (or Richland if you're rolling with AMD), and AMD and Nvidia continue to try and one-up each other with faster graphics cards and beefier bundles. Now is a great time to be in the market for a new build, and Gigabyte expects to cash in. According to Digitimes, Gigabyte shipped 4.8 million motherboards in the second quarter of 2013, bumping its total to 9.9 million units for the first half of the year. Gigabyte expects to ship even more in the second half, and if it does, the company will set a personal record of 20 million motherboards shipped in a single year. Not too shabby given all the gloom and doom in the headlines. Though Gigabyte's motherboard business is strong, the company has also resumed production of it own brand notebooks and tablets, of which it hopes to ship 230,000 units combined in 2013. In addition, Gigabyte dabbles in smartphone devices, though they're mainly sold overseas. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Launches a Daily Deals Site for Impulse Shoppers Posted: 03 Jul 2013 09:13 AM PDT An online sanctuary for spendthrifts It's getting easier by the day to blow through a paycheck, isn't it? Sure, gas prices are high from coast-to-coast, but if you're an impulse shopper with a Internet connection, you have about as much chance as Bill Paxton did in Aliens. That's because daily deal sites are all over the web. It's become such a 'thing' that even Newegg is getting in on the action with its NeweggFlash portal. Through NeweggFlash, Newegg offers daily bargains in a wide variety of categories, everything from technology and consumer electronics to housewares and skincare. Designed to sell out of inventory, you'll find deals for up to 75 percent off the regular selling price. Deals are refreshed each day at 9 AM PST. "We're thrilled to launch NeweggFlash and join in on the flash sale phenomenon," said Soren Mills, chief marketing officer at Newegg. "Newegg is proud of the deep relationships we've built with our vendor partners over the years. It's these relationships that allow us to offer very compelling deals on NeweggFlash and give us an edge over competing flash sale sites." Deals are for members only, though joining is free. If you already have a Newegg account, simply sign in and you're good to go. To kick off the grand opening of its deals site, Newegg is giving away a number of items, culminating in a grand price award of an Asus Automobili Lamborghini VX7SX-DH72 15.6-inch Core i7 2670QM laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. You have until August 31 to enter. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Neatgear's R6100 Router Boasts 802.11ac Connectivity for a Benjamin Posted: 03 Jul 2013 08:36 AM PDT A cheap upgrade to 802.11ac territory Now might not be the best time to upgrade your home networking equipment to 802.11ac since a final standard has yet to be ratified, but if you're gung-ho to make the leap anyway, there are plenty of companies that will oblige. Count Netgear among them. Not only is Netgear offering an upgrade path to 802.11ac, it's new R6100 dual-band router is $100, a relatively cheap price tag considering it's a next-generation router. The R6100 offers combined Wi-Fi speeds of up to 1,200Mbps (300Mbps at 2.4GHz 802.11n + 866Mbps at 5GHz 802.11ac), though that's a bit misleading since you can't actually create a super connection out of the two. Even still, 867Mbps is pretty fast, provided your networking equipment is compatible with 802.11ac. "In the last couple of years, there's been an explosion in the number of Wi-Fi devices connected to the home network. If it doesn't already, your house will soon have smart TVs, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and media servers in addition to smartphones, desktops, laptops and tablets," said Sandeep Harpalani, Netgear's director of product marketing for core networking products. "To future-proof your network and keep it humming along at peak performance, you're going to need to upgrade to AC wireless. The newest smartphones and Macs already have 802.11ac inside. It enables you to be more productive at home and to experience the world of entertainment available through the Internet in a seamless fashion." Other features include DLNA support, guest network access, built-in parental controls, advanced QoS, ReadyShare USB access, and a few other odds and ends. For wired connections, be advised it's equipped with four 10/100 LAN ports rather than 10/100/1000. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMO Updates

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• Free for All: You got your e-sport in my PlanetSide 2
• ArcheAge F2P today, adds houses and dungeon
• MechWarrior Online runs the numbers and announces a launch date
• A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superhero news of June
• RuneScape 3 launches July 22nd
• The Daily Grind: What should MMO tutorials include?
• Jukebox Heroes: Ultima Online's soundtrack
• TERA Korea adds five new dungeons, lots of gear
• GamersFirst adds Nixon masks, holiday event to APB
• CCP's Sean Decker and Hilmar Petursson on the future of EVE, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and mobile gaming
• Star Citizen tops $12 million in crowdfunding, outlines additional stretch goals
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Revamping rewards in Guild Wars 2
• Chaos Theory: Reflecting on The Secret World's first year
• Hyperspace Beacon: Breaking SWTOR canon one Ewok at a time
• Guild Wars 2 announces the Bazaar of the Four Winds

Free for All: You got your e-sport in my PlanetSide 2 Posted: 03 Jul 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Video, Culture, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Free for All, PlanetSide 2, MOBA I promised myself that I would not spend half of this column making silly jokes about e-sports. The simple truth is that I find e-sports about as exciting as collecting stamps. That might sound harsh, but remember how fanatical (and oblivious to my opinions) some people are for stamps. And that's just fine. What bothers me about e-sports is how the genre takes something that comes from a wonderfully chaotic place -- play time -- and wraps it in a set of rules and expectations. I used to say that humans could make a sport out of anything, and it turns out I was right. I joked that holding your arm into the air could be a game if they made rules concerning the activity. While it's not quite a spectator sport, I recently discovered that there are people in this world who literally hold an arm in the air -- sometimes for years -- to prove their dedication. All we need now is a bit of commentary and we'd have a sport. And now here we are with news that one of my favorite games, PlanetSide 2, is about to introduce major league gaming-styled instanced Battle Islands into a world that is unique because of its massive, open scale. This week I have heard the words "instanced" and "MOBA" and references to Team Fortress 2 enough to scare my pants off. Continue reading Free for All: You got your e-sport in my PlanetSide 2 Free for All: You got your e-sport in my PlanetSide 2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

ArcheAge F2P today, adds houses and dungeon Posted: 03 Jul 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Patches, Free-to-Play, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Dungeons, Housing Last month we learned that ArcheAge was switching payment models in Korea and ditching subscriptions. And now that change has come to pass. If a subscription was all that was holding you back from playing the new sandbox, today's update heralding the transition to free-to-play marks your chance to dive in. If, however, you're stuck in the western world where the game hasn't been released yet, your wait continues. This update didn't stop at just the move to F2P; Steparu.com reports that XLGAMES also introduced a new 10-man dungeon called Island of Eternity as well as new houses with underwater farms. Additionally, a new coin system has been implemented that will allow players to purchase potions to replenish labor points -- used in the game's non-combat activities -- up to three times a day. This last bit of news could be highly beneficial for the free players, since labor points will not naturally replenish unless an account is paid. ArcheAge F2P today, adds houses and dungeon originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Steparu.com

MechWarrior Online runs the numbers and announces a launch date Posted: 03 Jul 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, Launches, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, MechWarrior Online There are a lot of people stomping around in MechWarrior Online right now. More than one million, according to a recent dispatch by Piranha Games, which puts the total number of registered accounts at about 1.1 million. These players have collectively logged 9.6 million hours to the game, destroyed a total of 46 million 'Mechs consisting of 80 billion tons of metal, and fired more than 12.6 billion missiles alone. It's a bit of a violent game, in short. It's also a game about to finally shed the open beta title. Piranha Games has announced an official launch of September 17th, 2013. How much will actually change versus the current open beta is up for debate, but it's good to see a game fixing a launch date and sticking to it. So if you're a die-hard MechWarrior Online fan, get out there and start raising those destructive totals one 50-ton target at a time. [Source: Piranha Games press release] MechWarrior Online runs the numbers and announces a launch date originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superhero news of June Posted: 03 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, News Items, Opinion, Marvel Heroes, Champions Online, DC Universe Online, A Mild-Mannered Reporter June was definitely a month. And things definitely happened during it. And some of them could sort of be seen as relating to superhero games, so that's good. Unfortunately, most of them sort of... weren't. That's not entirely true, really. There was some news about superhero games all through June; it's just that most of it had very little to do with the here and now. Most of it focused around what will happen, where games will be going, and what players can expect in the future. There was a decided lack of news about what's going on right now. Still, that makes it no less worthy of review. So let's hop in the not-very-far-back machine and take a look at the news from June, which also featured some sort of gaming convention or another. I can't remember which one, exactly. It'll come to me in a minute. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superhero news of June A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superhero news of June originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

RuneScape 3 launches July 22nd Posted: 03 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, RuneScape, Free-to-Play, Browser If you're a RuneScape fan, go ahead and mark July 22nd on your calendar. That's the date that Jagex is unveiling RuneScape 3, which the company says is "the biggest upgrade in the game's acclaimed 12-year history." The browser-based game client will transition to HTML 5, enabling players to avoid Java or any additional plugins. The new client will also boast improved graphics, longer draw distances, an upgraded camera system, and superior audio, according to a Jagex press release. RuneScape 3 will also usher in a new era of user-generated content, with the future of Gielinor's inhabitants and scenery now resting in players' hands. The Battle for Lumbridge, a community-focused world event, kicks things off on July 22nd. [Source: Jagex press release] RuneScape 3 launches July 22nd originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What should MMO tutorials include? Posted: 03 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous A couple of weeks ago I jumped back into RIFT because of, well, its free-to-playness. I couldn't help it; it was as if there was a party going on and I had to go or else feel forever alone. Apart from the massive crowds that come with F2P launches, RIFT featured another surprising change from the last time I was there: Its tutorial was shortened. Trimmed down. Cut in half and then some. So what used to take me around 45 minutes to go through the opening tutorial zone now took me less than 20. It made me think a lot about what MMO tutorials should include. Obviously, you need to show the ropes to players who have never picked up an MMO before. You can't overwhelm those folks, either, so the ins and outs of the game need to come in measured doses. You also need to inform MMO vets as to what is different about this particular game than other ones. And it's probably a good idea to, y'know, allow players to skip tutorials if they've done them a couple of dozen times already. What should MMO tutorials include? 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: What should MMO tutorials include? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Jul 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jukebox Heroes: Ultima Online's soundtrack Posted: 02 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Ultima Online, Jukebox Heroes, Music, Subscription Ultima Online and EverQuest were bound in blood by their early place in MMO history, but both titles were also two of the very few MMOs that released with a MIDI soundtrack. I've talked about the charms of MIDI before, although I think that a good chunk of the modern playerbase has no idea how games used to sound. In short, UO's original score used to be 100% computer produced, but eventually the MIDI format was replaced by much better-sounding versions in MP3 files around 2002. The core game's music was done by a pair of composers, Kirk Winterrowd and Joe Basquez, both of whom worked on previous Ultima titles. There's not a lot out there about the duo's experience creating the soundtrack nor whom the game studio tapped for music duties after Origin Systems went away. What I find interesting about this score is that not only is it beloved by players who have fond memories for Ultima Online but it is part of the larger Ultima framework, harkening back to The Olden Days of gaming. Seeing as how I was never into any of the Ultima titles (for shame, I know), I'm going to have to fall back on a simple gut-check: Which of this music is appealing simply for its own sake? Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Ultima Online's soundtrack Jukebox Heroes: Ultima Online's soundtrack originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

TERA Korea adds five new dungeons, lots of gear Posted: 02 Jul 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, TERA, Dungeons Bluehole Studio may be focused on its upcoming TERA sequel, but it hasn't forgotten about the original game, either. MMO Culture reports that the Korean version of TERA recently received a massive update that included five new dungeons. The content is broken down into solo, 3-man, 5-man, and 7-man instances, with names that translate roughly as Wizard's Fortress, Ancient Underground Canal, Ship of the Red Pirates, Forest of the Giants, and Shrine of Barde. The site also features impressive screenshots of each dungeon's final boss, and it says that each instance will feature new gear drop. Older instances will apparently see improved drops. There is no word on the new content making its way to the western versions of TERA. TERA Korea adds five new dungeons, lots of gear originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MMO Culture

GamersFirst adds Nixon masks, holiday event to APB Posted: 02 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Real-Life, Events (In-Game), MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, All Points Bulletin, Crime If you're going to be in San Paro for July 4th, be on the lookout for Richard Nixon. Or at least, players wearing those goofy Point Break-style bank robbery masks that GamersFirst has added to its APB Reloaded cash shop. The firm is also putting on a holiday event of sorts, if your idea of a holiday event is literally killing everything that moves. G1 has locked up the game's Asylum action district until players meet or exceed 13,839,289 total kills for the week, after which point it will be re-opened for two weeks. The firm has even added some stretch goals, including an Asylum-themed weapon skin for taking part. GamersFirst adds Nixon masks, holiday event to APB originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

CCP's Sean Decker and Hilmar Petursson on the future of EVE, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and mobile gaming Posted: 02 Jul 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Business Models, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Mobile, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Sandbox Earlier today, CCP Games announced that industry veteran Sean Decker is coming on board as Senior Vice President of Product Development. Sean's laundry-list of industry experience includes a recent 12-year stint at EA, where he headed up the Play4Free division. This has naturally led to some trepidation within the EVE Online community, which has been extremely wary of free-to-play and microtransaction-based business practices since the Monoclegate scandal in 2011. I caught up with Sean Decker and CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson last night to get the low-down on Sean's role, how he will influence EVE and CCP's other products, and what the future has in store for DUST 514 and EVE-VR. Sean is to be the head of product development across all of CCP's games, not just the free-to-play titles, but I wouldn't worry about EVE going free to play any time soon. "I don't think [free-to-play] is the be all and end all business model," Sean told me, adding that he understands that the subscription model better fits some games. Read on for more information on the future of EVE Online, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and CCP's first foray into mobile gaming. Continue reading CCP's Sean Decker and Hilmar Petursson on the future of EVE, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and mobile gaming CCP's Sean Decker and Hilmar Petursson on the future of EVE, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and mobile gaming originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Citizen tops $12 million in crowdfunding, outlines additional stretch goals Posted: 02 Jul 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Star Citizen's recent 24-hour livestream saw the game's crowdfunding total roll past $11 million. Last night, Cloud Imperium posted yet another milestone as the game eclipsed a whopping $12 million in community funding, which basically means that the sci-fi spaceflight sandbox raked in a cool $1 million over the weekend. The milestone also means that Cloud Imperium will be building a pro sound studio to replace the "current home office" used for the game's audio production. What happens if the crowdfunding totals top $13 million? Star Citizen will get a new playable ship class (the frigate) as well as command and control center functionality. This means that larger ships like the Constellation and the Idris will allow pilots to tie all of their ships together "and assume central command from the third seat." If the community manages $14 million, a fourth landing spot on Earth will open up -- possibly London or Berlin -- along with a feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary film and a hibernation mode save-game system. Star Citizen tops $12 million in crowdfunding, outlines additional stretch goals originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

Flameseeker Chronicles: Revamping rewards in Guild Wars 2 Posted: 02 Jul 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Buy-to-Play ArenaNet has improved the reward systems in Guild Wars 2 this year by adding new features such as world vs. world skill trees, laurel and guild merit vendors, and better loot for world boss encounters. However, many players still feel that there should be more tangible incentives urging them to log in each day and engage in the content that they enjoy. Fortunately, Colin Johanson agrees and has taken to the forums several times to tease an upcoming reward revamp for all areas of the game. This redesign involves adding rewards for hitting certain thresholds of achievement points, creating more uses for blue and green items, and making fighting champion-level creatures more worthwhile. This month, we should expect to hear more about ArenaNet's plans for the second half of 2013, akin to the road map laid out back in January. While we wait for the official word, check out the video edition of the Flameseeker Chronicles for some loot-themed speculation. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Revamping rewards in Guild Wars 2 Flameseeker Chronicles: Revamping rewards in Guild Wars 2 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Chaos Theory: Reflecting on The Secret World's first year Posted: 02 Jul 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Opinion, The Secret World, Anniversaries, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play Bring out the cake and light the candle! Exactly 365 days ago today, the MMO stork delivered a new bundle of joy to gamers, one with a modern setting, cerebral challenges, and a unique take on the genre. And now that little bundle has sprouted up, weathering its share of growing pains over the last 12 months to carve out its niche in the MMOverse. Happy first birthday, The Secret World! To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I was going to burst out in a traditional song, but then I got an even better idea. I decided to instead do that other mainstay staple that happens at the celebratory gatherings for youngsters: bring out the baby scrapbook! As both new friends and old gather together to help celebrate this milestone, join me in flipping through the the pages of TSW's memory album chronicling the ups and downs of its first year of life. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Reflecting on The Secret World's first year Chaos Theory: Reflecting on The Secret World's first year originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hyperspace Beacon: Breaking SWTOR canon one Ewok at a time Posted: 02 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Lore, Patches, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Roleplaying, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon, MMORPG Well, BioWare's done it. It dismantled Star Wars canon with one small fuzzy teddy bear. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases update 2.3, it introduces players to a new possible companion: Treek, the Ewok. That's right: the Ewok. It makes my soul hurt; my inner canon-lawyer is screaming. I don't want to admit that the developers were out of their minds when they created this creature, but they probably were. Maybe this is a call-out to the five year old child in all of us who actually enjoyed watching stuffed animals beat the crap out of Stormtroopers. OK, let's give this furball a chance; maybe she's actually awesome. Let's take a moment to examine her abilities. We can tackle that canon thing later. Players constantly complain about not having enough companions, plus Treek represents some new story content. It's about time that we received new content that doesn't require a Cartel Market purchase. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Breaking SWTOR canon one Ewok at a time Hyperspace Beacon: Breaking SWTOR canon one Ewok at a time originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Guild Wars 2 announces the Bazaar of the Four Winds Posted: 02 Jul 2013 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play After four hours of tantalizing speculation, Guild Wars 2 has officially announced the game's next major update, the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Once again, there's something coming in from the sky, but this time it's not a group of pirates that seek to murder you and take all your stuff; it's a group of traders and merchants on the Zephyr Sanctum, bringing a new air of excitement to the normal proceedings of the eponymous bazaar. In a more practical sense, the update offers three new minigames (with one sticking around as a permanent addition), a reward system for account achievements, and a new PvP map. The improved achievement UI should help getting those rewards a bit easier, while the addition of Build and Repair Mastery in WvW should help out players more prone to smashing one another with weapons. So get ready for drinking, racing, exploration, and trading when the update touches down a week from today. Guild Wars 2 announces the Bazaar of the Four Winds originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Bazaar of the Four Winds

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