MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News


LINE Wooparoo Land Reveals Special Wooparoo with Halloween Costume

Posted:

LINE Wooparoo Land Reveals Special Wooparoo with Halloween Costume


NHN Studio 629 announced that its mobile character fostering/collection game 'LINE Wooparoo Land' has started Halloween Special Event where it revealed new limited edition Halloween characters called 'Pumpkie' and 'Skeleroo'

Best-Selling Author R.A. Salvatore Discusses Neverwinter: Underdark

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Best-Selling Author R.A. Salvatore Discusses Neverwinter: Underdark


New York Times Best-Selling Author R.A. Salvatore visited Cryptic Studios to discuss his involvement with Neverwinter: Underdark

Who is the Hearthstone World Champion?

Posted:

Who is the Hearthstone World Champion?


The Hearthstone World Championship begins on October 28 at 9:00 AM PDT, as part of BlizzCon's Opening Week festivities. We have 16 extraordinary players fighting all the way here from all over the world competing for the championship.

Treat or Trick? 37Games Throws a Halloween Party

Posted:

Treat or Trick? 37Games Throws a Halloween Party


From Oct. 23th to Nov. 7th, 37Games will throw a Halloween Party. As you can expect, there will be many games and tons of rewards to give out

Have You Driven A Truck? Try It with TruckSim

Posted:

Have You Driven A Truck? Try It with TruckSim


You must have some experience driving a race car in many mobile driving games, but what about trucks? Drive and expand your company in TruckSim.

Colopl Rune Story Now Available for iOS and Android

Posted:

Colopl Rune Story Now Available for iOS and Android


COLOPL NI, Inc., in association with gumi Inc., today announced the global release of Colopl Rune Story for iOS and Android devices.

Catch the Memories in New Timewalking Dungeons in World of Warcraft

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Catch the Memories in New Timewalking Dungeons in World of Warcraft


Get to know the new features of World of Warcraft patch 6.2.3 with highlights of new timewalking dungeons and the return of valor.

Kung-Fu Sheep Starts Kicking on Mobile Today

Posted:

Kung-Fu Sheep Starts Kicking on Mobile Today


Kung-Fu Sheep, a new quirky 2D combat platformer, is now available for free on the App Store and Google Play with Windows Phone 8 and Universal Windows App launching later this year

Taichi Panda Gets Spooky in Halloween Patch

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Taichi Panda Gets Spooky in Halloween Patch


Taichi Panda, a mobile action RPG from Snail Games has released a new patch this week to get in the spirit of Halloween. The patch includes new Halloween-themed skins and outfits to celebrate the holiday.

Voice Chat of Battlenet First Tested in Overwatch

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Voice Chat of Battlenet First Tested in Overwatch


The beta date is coming closer and closer while Blizzard has new feature tested in Overwatch.The new function is called voice chat which is an addition can only be applied to Overwatch.

Devilian Online First Impression - Intense Action, Quick Paced and Flashy

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Devilian Online First Impression - Intense Action, Quick Paced and Flashy


While a first impression mainly only covers the surface of a game, a review of an MMO is much harder to make due to needing lots of time invested into a game before a full on review could be made. That's why I've resorted to making First Impressions instead to gauge if a title would do well in its genre/category or target audience.

Artanis Lands on Heroes of the Storm

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Artanis Lands on Heroes of the Storm


Artanis lands on the ground of Heroes of the Storm from the battlefield of Starcraft 2. He is here to reinforce and fight. Let's check the new guy and discuss a possible build with his skills and talents.

GDC China 2015 to Kick off on October 25

Posted:

GDC China 2015 to Kick off on October 25


GDC China 2015, the yearly festival for the game developers, is going to be launched at Shanghai International Exhibition Center from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27

Action MMORPG Devilian Online First Closed Beta Starts

Posted:

Action MMORPG Devilian Online First Closed Beta Starts


The action MMORPG Devilian Online, developed by South Korean studio Bluehole Ginno and published by Trion Worlds has entered the First Closed Beta phase today, October 22 at 10:00 AM PDT. And it will last until October 26.

Aion KR to Get A Big Expansion in November

Posted:

Aion KR to Get A Big Expansion in November


Aion KR has just revealed a newest original painting for its upcoming huge expansion. It displays a group of characters with wings who died on the wood piles.

MMORPG Reviews

MMORPG Reviews


Dragomon Hunter Gameplay Commentary

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 08:05 AM PDT

Today we bring you a Gameplay Commentary of the Closed Beta of Dragomon Hunter, the new free MMORPG of Aeria Games where we can explore a vast world where we will face dangerous challenges, and will have to find and defeat and collect different Dragomon using them as mounts and battle companions. In the video below […]

The post Dragomon Hunter Gameplay Commentary appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.

October 2015 Top 10 Free Browsers

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 06:46 AM PDT

A new installment of our TOP 10 browser-based games is already here, and comes with interesting changes, the most notable? There is a new sheriff in town. Let us know your thoughts and feel free to share your experience with any of these titles here or on our Facebook and Twitter page.  10 – Nords: […]

The post October 2015 Top 10 Free Browsers appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.



General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Get Maximum PC Delivered To Your Door. US Subscribers Get Up To 11 Issues... FREE

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 02:08 PM PDT

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Maximum PC is considered by enthusiasts to be the number one source for the latest in guides, reviews, and in-depth analysis on cutting-edge PC hardware. Our team of experts give you the guidance you need to make the most informed buying decisions and deliver the best advice.

You've found the definitive reference on PC hardware.

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Big Update To Windows 10 Coming in November

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 12:06 PM PDT

Windows 10 Hero Official

When Windows 10 was still in the works at Microsoft, the company dubbed the eventual release as "Threshold." Now an unnamed source is telling Paul Thurrott that the company plans to release another big Windows update in November called "Threshold 2." This backs up previous rumors that the company was working on a cumulative update called "Windows 10 Fall Update" slated for next month.

According to the source, Threshold 2 won't be a full upgrade as we saw with the launch of Windows 10. Instead, customers will see improvements to the Edge browser, new Cortana features, an improved Media Creation Tool, and other changes and improvements. Customers also won't need to install the latest updates before downloading and installing Threshold 2.

To get Threshold 2, Windows 10 customers will receive it via Windows Update, listed as "Window 10 November 15." Thurrott says that Threshold 2 will be distributed as a security update, thus many consumers will likely log onto their PC one morning and the update will already be installed. No re-activating will be required, although Thurrott notes that there will be changes to the activation process.

"Windows 10 Fall Update will support activating with your PC's Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 product key. For this to work, the key must match the edition of Windows 10 using the same upgrade matrix," Thurrott reports. "If you upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7/8.1 after the Fall Update is made available, you will get Windows 10 Fall Update."

WinBeta adds to the report, stating that Threshold 2 is slated to roll out to consumers on November 2. This release supposedly adds features to Windows 10 that were originally slated to be included in the RTM but never made it into the final build. These features include texting phones using the desktop version of Cortana, a new Messaging app for chatting with friends on Skype, and new customization options.

Although the reviews of Windows 10 have been generally positive, the platform still has a ways to go before it dominates the operating system market. According to Netmarketshare, Windows 7 is the market leader with 56.53% of the market followed by the crusty old Windows XP platform with 12.21%. Windows 8.1 currently commands 10.72% followed by the just-launched Windows 10 with a 6.63% market share.

Windows 10 made its debut on the consumer market back in July 2015. Another major update to Windows 10, aka "Redstone," is slated to arrive sometime in 2016.

Newegg Daily Deals: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD, Asus 15.6-Inch Laptop, and More!

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:59 AM PDT

Samsung Brings 3D NAND to Mainstream with 850 Evo SSD Line

Top Deal:

A solid state drive is like an energy drink for your PC, only without the potential negative side effects. Replacing a hard drive with an SSD will boost performance across the board, and if you haven't made the transition yet, now's a good time to jump. SSD pricing is far lower than it used to be, as evidenced by today's top deal for a Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch 500GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Stolid State Drive for $150 with free shipping (normally $180 - use coupon code: [ESCKANK27]). It pairs 3D vertical NAND flash memory with Samsung's MGX controller to deliver up to 540MB/s sequential read and up to 520MB/s sequential write performance.

Other Deals:

Samsung D3 Station 4TB USB 3.0 3.5-inch Desktop External Hard Drive for $100 with free shipping (normally $129 - use coupon code: [EMCKANK23])

Asus Laptop X550ZA-WH11 (2.50 GHz) 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD AMD Radeon R6 Series 15.6-inch Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for $430 with free shipping (normally $540)

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SSC Gaming w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card for $180 with free shipping (normally $230; additional $20 Mail-in rebate; Free Heroes of the Storm Kaijo Diablo Bundle w/ purchase, limited offer)

WD Black Series WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $65 with free shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code: [ESCKANK22])

Eurocom Stuffs Potent Desktop Components into Sky X9 Laptop

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:48 AM PDT

True desktop replacement

Sky X9

There are desktop replacement laptops, and then there's Eurocom's Sky X9, a laptop with true desktop parts inside, including a socketed Intel Core i7-6700K processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 GPU.

Building high-end machines that blur the lines between desktops and laptops is something Eurocom's been doing for several decades now.

"In 1989 we created the first desktop replacement notebook, in 2015 we have now created the first 'desktop laptop' system with socket based desktop Intel processor support and slot based MXM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 desktop graphics support to go along with 64GB of DDR4 memory." said Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

The Sky X9 is a 17.3-inch laptop with either a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) or 4K (3840x2160) display. 

In addition to the unlocked Skylake processor and GTX 980 GPU, the Sky X9 rocks up to four storage drives (2 x HDD/SSD + 2 x M.2 PCI-E x4), up to 64GB of RAM, two GbE LAN ports, 6-in-1 memory card reader, backlit keyboard, Sound Blaster X-Fi external 7.1 channel audio output, a pair of built-inn Onkyo speakers + subwoofer, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, and various other odds and ends.

Sky X9 Components

All that hardware comes at a cost, both in terms of dollars and physical dimensions. With regards to the latter, the Sky X9 measures 428 x 308 x 45 millimeters (WxDxH) and weighs 4.8kg, or 16.85 x 12.13 x 1.77 inches and 10.58 pounds. In other words, it's portable only in the sense that it's not tied to a wall socket.

As for price, the Sky X9 starts at $2,631 when configured with a Full HD panel, and $3,266 when bumping up to a 4K display. For an additional $66, you can add G-Sync support, though only to the Full HD panel.

You can configure and purchase the Sky X9 here.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Michael Dell Disses Surface Pricing, Maintains Friendship Status with Microsoft

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:07 AM PDT

That awkward moment

Michael Dell

There's been a lot of chatter about Microsoft participating in the hardware space with products like the Surface Book and Surface Pro line of tablets, and not all OEMs feel the same way about it. Dell is more accepting of Microsoft's presence among hardware makers, which might be due in part to the pricing of Surface products.

During the Dell World 2015 event yesterday, Michael Dell stood on stage and made a playful comment about Microsoft's pricing strategy when asked if Dell and Microsoft are friends or frenemies.

"We're absolutely friends," Dell started off, according to The Inquirer. "When I look at what Microsoft is doing with Windows 10 and the Surface family of products, they're pushing Windows 10 into new spaces and driving the platform forward.

Mr. Dell said he's excited about the direction Microsoft is going because it's advancing the Windows 10 ecosystem, "but the volumes are not very high, and the prices are pretty high, but it's great."

According to The Inquirer, it was an intentionally sarcastic comment that drew laughter from the crowd but perhaps caught Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella off guard. Apparently he didn't know quite how to respond, so after taking a moment to compose himself, he simply ignored the comment and backed Mr. Dell in saying "at the core we're friends."

Dell is one of two OEMs now selling Surface tablets to enterprise customers, HP being the other. However, HP seems to be doing so reluctantly, while Lenovo recently said it sees no reason to sell a product that competes with its own offerings.

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YouTube Red Ad-Free Subscription Service Kicks Off Next Week

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 09:18 AM PDT

Say goodbye to ads (for a fee)

YouTube Red

Starting October 28, 2015, Google will let you bypass ads altogether on YouTube through a new YouTube Red subscription service. It runs $9.99 per month and includes a few other perks that extend beyond an ad-free video experience.

With a YouTube Red subscription, you can save videos for offline and background viewing on your mobile phone or tablet. It will also include access to YouTube Gaming and Google's new YouTube Music app, previously known as YouTube Music Key.

Where does Google Play Music fit into all this? Google says YouTube Red works with Google Play Music and that if you subscribe to one you automatically get access to other. That suggests that current Google Play Music subscribers will get access to YouTube Red, which extends across devices and anywhere you sign into YouTube. 

It's not clear if the same courtesy will apply to Google Play Music subscribers who signed up during the service's promotional period in which memberships ran $7.99 per month instead of $9.99. I'm one of those early adopters, so barring any official word from Google, I'll be able to answer that question next week when the service launches.

Beginning next year, Google says YouTube Red will up the ante with original programming "from some of YouTube's biggest creators." One of them is called Scare PewDiePie, which is a reality-adventure series from the creator and executive producers of The Walking Dead.

"PewDiePie encounters terrifying situations inspired by his favorite video games," the show's description reads.

Feeling unsure about a subscription? If you live in the U.S., you'll be able to trial a YouTube Red subscription free for a month.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Samsung 950 Pro 256GB Review

Posted: 22 Oct 2015 07:00 AM PDT

At a Glance

(+) Wrigley's Extra: Great performance; good warranty; retail availability.

(-) Dubble Bubble: Still very expensive; requires M.2 slot (and NVMe BIOS for booting); needs Z170 to shine.

Tastier than a stick of gum

Never mind the small size; M.2 drives have the potential to deliver a ton of performance in a compact form factor. This makes them ideal for Ultrabooks and other thin-and-light laptops, and desktop motherboards are getting in on the action as well. With SATA topping out at a theoretical 6Gbps, PCIe is the way forward, and M.2 leverages the PCIe bus to deliver up to 32Gbps. Add in support for NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express), an optimized protocol designed to let SSDs reach their full potential, and this looks like the way of the future.

So, what's the problem? Until now, finding retail M.2 NVMe drives has been difficult and expensive. Samsung was the first to offer an M.2 PCIe SSD with their XP941, and they followed that with the SM951 earlier this year. Then they released the SM951 NVMe, a second iteration of the drive with NVMe support. Unfortunately, all of these were designed as OEM-only products, going primarily to laptop and notebook vendors where the OEM was responsible for ensuring the necessary features were in place. You could find those drives online, but typically without a manufacturer warranty and at high prices.

The Samsung 950 Pro aims to change all that, with a 5-year warranty plus some stellar performance for good measure. The change of heart likely stems from Intel's launch of Skylake and the Z170 chipset, which allows desktop M.2 to reach its full potential. For optimal performance you'll want a Z170 motherboard with an M.2 slot that supports x4 PCIe Gen3 lanes—anything less and you'll start bumping into a performance ceiling. Note that while the SM951 NVMe and 950 Pro might seem like the same drive at first blush, there are a few key differences, most notably the switch from planar NAND to Samsung's V-NAND (3D NAND).

Matters of Size

When it comes to SSDs, there are several aspects to consider. Naturally, there's the storage capacity: Do you want something that's only for the OS, some apps, and a moderate collection of documents and images; or do you want to be able to store everything on the SSD and forget about managing disk space? Depending on the user, 128GB may suffice, but these days, we draw the line at 256GB—and Samsung does as well, with the 950 Pro only coming in 256GB and 512GB models initially, and a 1TB model planned for a future date. Those who want as much storage space as possible may find the 512GB model to be on the smallish side, which is unfortunate, and while Samsung has 2TB SATA drives (with 4TB drives coming), we're not likely to see anything that capacious in an M.2 drive for a while.

The other matter of size to consider is the physical package of the SSD. M.2 sticks are about the size of a stick of gum and nearly as tasty (so we've heard), but it's difficult to fit more than 512GB onto an M.2 drive. Nearly all of the retail PCIe drives we've seen have standardized on the M.2 2280 form factor (that's 22x80mm, if you're wondering), and while it's possible we'll see smaller M.2 SSDs, those are more likely to be OEM-only designs for specific laptops. We might also see longer 110mm M.2 SSDs, but that creates a potential compatibility issue with desktop motherboards. Thus, 2280 is the most likely target, and it's a reasonable balance between physical size and potential capacity.

There is an issue with the size, however: cooling. With PCIe NVMe drives pushing a lot more data (up to 4x as much as SATA on the current models), the potential for M.2 drives to get a bit hot is certainly real. We've noticed minor throttling issues already (e.g., on both the SM951 and SM951 NVMe). Laptops have the flexibility to build around the requirements of their storage and add a custom heatsink if necessary (or dump heat into the chassis on thinner designs), but DIY desktops don't want to block expansion card slots. Asus has one solution where several of their high-end mobos include a heatsink for the M.2 slot. There's another possibility as well: just get a PCIe SSD like the Intel SSD 750. That's the heavyweight of SSDs right now, with NVMe support and a heatsink to keep things running smoothly.

M.2 isn't the only solution for fast SSD storage, of course. U.2, formerly known as SFF-8639, aka SATA Express, will allow for more traditional 2.5-inch type form factors for SSDs, and there's even M.2-to-U.2 adapters. The problem for now is that drives with U.2 connectors are relatively scarce (even more so than M.2), and the cables and connectors needed for U.2 are rather bulky and inflexible. You can also simply go with storage on a standard PCIe card, which is something we've seen for several years, going from RAID arrays to the latest NVMe drives.

Storage Tug o' War
Samsung 950 Pro Specifications
Capacity 256GB 512GB
Interface M.2 PCIe x4 Gen3
Form Factor M.2 2280
Controller Samsung UBX
Memory Type Samsung V-NAND
Max MB/s Read/Write 2,200/900 2,500/1,500
Max IOPS Read/Write 270,000/85,000 300,000/110,000
Endurance 200TB 400TB
Warranty Five years or TBW (Endurance)
MSRP $200 $350

As with the SM951 NVMe, Samsung elected to send us its 256GB model for testing. Mostly that means lower write speeds, and slightly lower read speeds. The specifications aren't all that different from the SM951 NVMe, and in fact, the write speeds are slightly lower. The benefit, of course, is that the 950 Pro is less expensive, both to manufacture and to purchase, thanks to the use of V-NAND instead of planar NAND. But how do the raw specs translate into actual performance? For our SSD testing, we're running a Skylake processor in a Z170 motherboard. Below are the full specifications.

Maximum PC 2015 SSD Test Bed
Platform LGA1151
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K (4–4.2GHz)
Mobo ASUS Z170-A
GPU Intel HD Graphics 530
SSDs Corsair Neutron XT 480GB SATA
Intel SSD 750 NVMe 1.2TB PCIe x4
Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2
OCZ Trion 100 480GB SATA
OCZ Vector 180 960GB SATA
Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SATA
Samsung 850 EVO 2TB SATA
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SATA 2x in RAID0
Samsung 950 Pro NVMe 256GB M.2
Samsung SM951 NVMe 256GB M.2
PSU be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850W
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x8GB DDR4-3000
Cooler be quiet! Dark Rock 3
Case be quiet! Silent Base 800

In terms of price per GB, there's a big gulf between SSDs and HDDs, and a moderate gulf between SATA and NVMe SSDs. At the top of the ladder, the Intel SSD 750 runs $900 for 1.2TB SSD and $350 for 400GB—so a range of $0.75 to $0.875 per GB. The new 950 Pro is a bit better, priced at $200 for 256GB and $350 for 512GB, or $0.684–$0.781 per GB. Either one is a pretty tough pill to swallow, especially when you can get 2TB for just $710 ($0.355 per GB); the least expensive (decent) SSDs, meanwhile, will run as little as $160 for 500GB ($0.32 per GB). So at best, the current crop of NVMe drives basically double the cost per GB. If you're wondering, the lowly hard drive continues to provide vast quantities of storage at bargain prices, with the least expensive HDDs going for around $0.03 per GB—a full order of magnitude difference (with an equally large difference in performance).

Both the earlier Samsung SM951 and the new 950 Pro have a feature called Dynamic Thermal Guard. In certain heavy workloads, it's possible for the NAND chips and controller to heat up and potentially malfunction, so the 950 Pro may throttle at times to avoid overheating. Samsung states that it "do[es] not anticipate any performance drops due to thermal throttling," but we found that performance was up to 10 percent higher in random write tests when we had a fan blowing at the drive. It's not a huge difference, but it's something to keep in mind; our charts show the performance with the fan blowing over the SSDs.

By the Numbers

The 950 Pro is fast, certainly, but it can't quite top the Intel SSD 750 in many of our benchmarks. Part of this is the smaller form factor of M.2, part of it is due to capacity, and some of it just comes down to controllers and features. The SSD 750 is a performance monster, but it also takes up a PCIe slot and has a heatsink. In contrast, the 950 Pro is tiny and tucks away in between PCIe slots on most motherboards.

The 512GB model 950 Pro would be higher up the charts, but it's unlikely to catch the 1.2TB Intel SSD 750—though it would be interesting to see the 400GB Intel as a comparison point. Even at 256GB, however, Samsung wins out in the real-world file copy and PCMark 8 tests. There's also the compatibility aspect; the SSD 750 will work in virtually any motherboard (note that you still need NVMe BIOS support if you want to use it as your boot drive). The 950 Pro, on the other hand, is a viable option for laptop users, and we expect to see it used in many laptops during the next year.

Samsung 950 Pro NVMe 256GB Box Back

Samsung's 950 Pro may not win out in pure performance, but with better pricing and availability, it's an easy win for anyone looking for an M.2 NVMe drive. It's a jump in pricing compared to SATA offerings, and it's clearly geared toward recent hardware platforms. But if you've got the funds and the necessary M.2 connector and NVMe BIOS support, the 950 Pro makes even the best SATA drive look sluggish.

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