Armageddon
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‘Good Omens’ and the art of avoiding Armageddon
The world will end one day. That's a plain fact; what's unknown is the exact manner in which humanity will be erased from existence. Whether the oceans will boil us from below like a massive earthenware lobster pot, or a nuclear holocaust will strip the planet bare, or biological warfare will infect our evolutionary timeline, is anyone's guess, and everyone has a theory.
What's coming to Netflix in January: 'Kimmy Schmidt' and Star Wars
Most of us will have a couple of days off at the start of the year before getting back to work after the holidays, and Netflix hopes to keep us occupied with a slew of show and movie additions. January 1st brings the final season of A Series of Unfortunate Events, along with stand-up series Comedians of the World and Tidying Up with Marie Kondo -- perfectly timed to inspire a start-of-year clear out.
Armageddon PvP tournament VODs online
If you missed watching PvP Live's Armageddon tournament live on Twitch, you're in luck because the first day of competition has been posted on YouTube for your viewing enjoyment. So tune in, study top arena team tactics, and up your own game. If these early matches don't hold your interest, you can jump to the end and watch the grand finale: Skill Capped vs. Three Amigos. We won't spoil the ending for you, but if you want to be spoiled, catch our tournament recap. Also online are interviews with Brian Holinka and Kim Phan, as well as Swifty and Azael -- so if you're keen on PvP, you've got hours of viewing ahead of you.
PvP-Live Armageddon Tournament
Followers of official Blizzard Twitter accounts will certainly have heard about the well-publicized WoW arena "Armageddon" tournament, hosted by PVP Live, that took place this weekend just passed. It was great to see Blizzard get behind a WoW PvP tournament in such a big way, after years of other, less recognized tournaments. After some early issues with audio, which were mostly repaired by the Sunday, the tournament kicked off in style on the Friday night with a face-off to see which of the newer teams would claim the eighth "seed", by which they meant place in the tournament. Following that, the tournament continued, in a bracketed structure, commentated by the ever-outstanding Isaac "Azael" Cummings-Bentley and Jared "vhell" Coulston. They were joined by PvP-Live's "Mackaw" on a beautifully-crafted set to lead viewers through the tournament.
EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey
Tech 1 ships in EVE Online used to be arranged in tiers that determined the cost and power of the ship and what level of the appropriate skill was required to fly it. This gave a sense of progression back in 2004 when all we had was frigates, cruisers, and battleships, but developers have since filled in the gaps between ship classes with destroyers, battlecruisers, strategic cruisers, and tech 2 ships of all shapes and sizes. In a recent game design initiative, CCP has been removing the tiers from within each tech 1 ship class by buffing the lower-tier ships up to the same rough power level as the largest ship in its class. The recent Odyssey expansion saw the humble battleship buffed beyond all recognition. The Megathron, Raven, Tempest, and Apocalypse all became extreme damage-dealing powerhouses, but the Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon were buffed the most. Each of them can now fit several monster setups, dealing upward of 1,000 damage per second or completely disabling enemy ships with energy neutralisers and electronic warfare. The build costs of these tier one battleships were more than doubled in the expansion, but prices are only slowly rising due to the existing stock on the market. That makes the tier one battleships incredibly cost-effective PvP powerhouses at the moment, and players are beginning to take advantage of it. In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with PvP setups for the newly revamped Typhoon, Armageddon, Scorpion, and Dominix battleships.
Warhammer 40K Armageddon gets details, coming in 2014
There are a couple of Warhammer-related titles on their way to iOS soon, but this is the most interesting yet. Developer Slitherine has revealed that it's working on a title called Warhammer 40K: Armageddon, a turn-based, hex-tiled strategy game coming to PC and iOS next year. The game will set Space Marines against Orks across 35 different scenarios, and feature over 100 units with upgradeable stats and attributes, along with a modding system and a separate set of maps balanced out for multiplayer. Armageddon joins a number of other Warhammer games in progress, including Warhammer Quest and the upcoming Space Hulk adaptation. This is an extremely popular game franchise, and iOS is quickly becoming the home of choice for its games. Unfortunately, we won't get to see Armageddon in action until next year at least, but we'll look forward to seeing it then. Show full PR text Armageddon™ invasion starts in 2014 Warhammer® 40,000® turn-based strategy videogame details are disclosed Slitherine and Games Workshop® are pleased to announce Warhammer® 40,000®: Armageddon™. Having announced an exciting partnership with Games Workshop a few weeks ago, Slitherine are delighted to release further details. Slitherine have acquired the exclusive rights to Games Workshop's "Battle for Armageddon" setting in order to create a series of amazing multiplatform, turn-based, hex-based games. Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon will make full use of Slitherine's expertise in creating compelling and challenging strategy gaming experiences. The initial game is set during the Second War of Armageddon and players will lead the Imperial forces of the Armageddon Steel Legion and Space Marines® from the Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Salamanders Chapters against Ghazghkull Thraka's massive Ork Waaagh! invasion through over 30 scenarios, on the hostile terrain of the planet and its gigantic Hive Cities. "It is very exciting to see a game like this come alive - I just can't wait to play it!", said Iain McNeil, Development Director of the Slitherine Group. "It's been almost 15 years since a turn-based strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe has been released and we think it is now time to deliver that experience to all fans around the world". "The Battle for Armageddon is a classic event in the lore of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, having been detailed in games, models and novels over the past 20 years." said Jon Gillard, Head of Licensing at Games Workshop. "Slitherine's masterful use of their classic digital wargame style applied to this seminal setting will delight fans of both." The game is currently in development for PC and iOS and will release in the first quarter of 2014. Main features of the game include: The game portrays the Second War for Armageddon™ in great detail, from the initial Ork landings to the final liberation of the planet; It contains a large branching campaign with 30 major scenarios, plus additional 5 tutorial scenarios that explore the story in detail; A complex plot, which can develop during a mission, right in the middle of battle, creating an engaging story line with unexpected twists; Players lead Imperial troops of the Armageddon™ Steel Legion, with supporting assets from a number of Space Marine chapters against the ferocious Orks; Fight alongside Commissar Yarrik and Commander Dante against the cunning Ork Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka; Carry over battle-hardened veterans from scenario to scenario, using their experience and upgrading their equipment; Detailed combat model with terrain, weather and morale effects; Extensive modding options delivered through a powerful and easy-to-use game editor. Some numbers: Over 35 scenarios; Over 100 unit types, with unique roles, stats and special abilities; 20 different units stats; A separate set of maps are designed and balanced specifically for multiplayer via Slitherine's PBEM++ system.
The Secret World creative director releases second End of Days video log
Tomorrow is that fateful day -- the one that has whipped The Secret World's creative director Joel Bylos into a frenzy. Will the apocalypse really be ushered in? Bylos certainly thinks so. And according to the video log, it's a good thing we caught up with Bylos yesterday to check up on him because he has now taken up residence in his bunker. In this latest End of Days chronicle and director's letter, Bylos issues goodbyes and an open invitation to his refuge from Armageddon before heading out for some last-minute preparations. Does anyone join him? To find out, watch the video after the break. And be sure to join Massively in a special End of Days livestream broadcast of The Secret World on Friday, December 21st @ 6:00 p.m. EST (assuming the world doesn't end before that, of course!). [Source: Funcom press release]
Exclusive: The Secret World's Joel Bylos vs. Armageddon
It's no secret that The Secret World's creative director Joel Bylos has been deeply affected by the most recent end-of-the-world predictions. He even started a video log to share his new-found convictions. In that first log, he advocated for the removal of subscriptions so that everyone would have the chance to enjoy TSW before the end came. Shortly after, the game indeed adopted the buy-to-play model. Then Bylos took off to begin preparing his survival bunker. But that video is over a week old. How has Bylos been coping with the impending Armageddon since then? I took a break from my Issue #5 adventures and caught up with the self-proclaimed end-of-days prophet to see how he's been faring, find out what he has learned about the apocalypse, and maybe get a hint on when the next video log will release!
The end comes to Final Fantasy XIV
As of 1:00 a.m. EST today, the Final Fantasy XIV servers started the game's final event before the relaunch. At 3:00 a.m. EST, they shut down. Immediately following the shutdown, the last trailer for the game's current version was posted, showing the outcome of the final battle against the forces of the Garlean Empire by the unified Grand Companies of Eorzea. And if you've been following the game's story in any fashion, you'll probably want to see how it all ends. It's worth noting that the cutscene is both fairly long and lacking in context -- if you don't know the most recent lore of the game, you're not going to catch everything that's going on. But if you've been watching the final defense of the Eorzean city-states from inside the game or on the sidelines, you deserve a front-row seat for the last clash of armies. And even though you know how it ends, it's still going to pack a punch. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Crowd-funded group building asteroid-mapping telescope, saving Earth (video)
Just when you're numbing to robot, zombie and nuclear apocalypse scenarios, some old-fashioned asteroid paranoia pops up to surprise you. The B612 Foundation, which gets funding from, well, anyone, has just announced plans to launch Sentinel, a space telescope which will wander the vacuum cataloging asteroids in our inner solar system. Their goal is to track asteroid orbits and predict large impacts up to 100 years in advance, giving us plenty of time to find a solution (or enjoy our final days). Construction doesn't start til late fall, with the launch expected in around five years, so it won't be any use in disproving the 2012 doomsday believers out there. You can find out more about the project and donate to the foundation at the source link, or jump past the break for a video explanation, Aerosmith not included.
NASA building a harpoon to fire at comets, suddenly renders plot of 'Armageddon' plausible (video)
Whatever Michael Bay uses to propel that "high-concept" imagination of his, he's obviously passed some of it to the boys at NASA's Goddard Space Flight center. A team there is developing a hollow-bodied harpoon that can be fired from a cannon toward comets too dangerous to land on. Once landed, it fills up with sub-surface samples before winched back aboard the waiting space craft. It's currently being tested by firing the harpoon (using a six foot ballista) into a bucket of dirt -- if they fired it horizontally it'd travel about a mile. After the break we've got video explaining this madness in some detail -- which we promise is Aerosmith-ballad free.
EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle
When faction warfare went live with EVE Online's Empyrean Age expansion back in the summer of 2008, It was a magnificent success. It was intended as a way for newer players to get into PvP and as a stepping stone from the safe haven of empire to full-on sovereignty warfare. It wasn't long before large fleets were duking it out in low security space and for a time, it was great. Eventually, problems began to come to light that demanded developer attention. Capturing exploits and a lack of rewards were causing players to leave the war and after a year with no development, faction warfare was looking abandoned. Rewards were eventually implemented in an attempt to revitalise the ageing faction warfare system and promote PvP. With the Dominion expansion came the most anticipated of those rewards - new tier 1 navy battleships available only from the faction warfare loyalty point store. Since the announcement that they were coming, mission-runners have been farming faction warfare missions like crazy for loyalty points. The promise of unique rewards from the missions was intended to revitalise the game and give pilots something to fight over. But did the rewards really improve faction warfare and promote PvP or was it a huge mistake? In this three page exposé, I run down the history of faction warfare missions, from the development mistakes to the EVE corp that made almost enough ISK to build a titan. Did the mission buff revitalise faction warfare or did it put the final nail in its coffin? And just how did mission-runners make billions of ISK?
EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 2
The save came in the form of the previously mentioned unique items limited to the faction warfare loyalty point store. LP was given out for kills against the enemy militia and completion of missions. The hope was to get more people back into the war and give them some incentive to do faction missions that put pilots at risk of PvP.
EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 3
Certain missions that required the collection of an item from a wreck or killing a lot of ships were eliminated as they would take extra time or pose extra risk. With intense practice, missions ended up taking as little as 30 seconds each and at most a few minutes. By using a strong PvP presence to lock down the systems in which they took missions by force they were able to keep their mission-runners safe and run 45 missions in an average of one and a half hours.
Fallen Earth dev blog explains game's post-apocalyptic religious zealotry
Fallen Earth is a massively multiplayer online game currently in development where, in the wake of nuclear and viral armageddon, humanity's survivors are left to fend for themselves in the wasteland. The scenario painted by Fallen Earth's lore is that the world's established religions have largely burned away or decayed along with most of the human race. What's left are sects whose experiences and hardships in watching the world die are reflected in their belief systems, extreme views that come in various flavors of post-apocalyptic zealotry. As Fallen Earth subscribers, the players will align themselves with certain belief systems when creating their characters, affecting their outlook on the aftermath. In a WarCry exclusive, Fallen Earth writer Grace Hagood explains the game's religious and pseudo-religious elements, and some of the fanaticism embodied by these groups. She writes, "Let's face it: religion is a touchy subject. A lot of game designers would rather steer clear of including religion in their work. However, a game like Fallen Earth, set in a future based on extrapolations of current society, can't ignore the reality of religious extremism. What we can do, though, is use our particular (and sometimes peculiar) filters to present religious fanaticism in a post-apocalyptic framework."
Phat Loot Phriday: Armageddon
Spellpower maces and wands and bows are cute and all. But sometimes you just want a big sword.Name: Armageddon (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDigger)Type: Epic Two-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 554-831 / 3.40 (203.7 DPS)Attributes: First, just look at that thing. This is clearly a sword that, when swung in an arcward manner, brings all sorts of death and destruction. +101 Strength, and +108 Stamina, which is (definitely not the first weapon ever, but) the first weapon I've seen that has two triple-digit buffs. %Gallery-33600%
Best of 2007: Worst attempt at a cash-in
During 2007, lots of companies realized that the Wii was doing good. Perhaps, too good. So, they scrambled to make games that they could port or "enhance" for the Wii, or other games that were made to take advantage of the console's adopters who were new to gaming and thus susceptible to spending money on crap games the unique capabilities of the Wii's controls scheme, causing a slew of cash-ins on the console that didn't necessarily bring anything new to the Wii other than another game sitting on the shelf. So, let's look at those games and you tell us what the most shameless and useless game of the lot is.
Mortal Kombat Wii lacks online mode, developer blames Nintendo
The Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon producer Shaun Himmerick has confirmed that the title will have no online functionality whatsoever. This is despite previous versions of the game having online play (on PlayStation 2 and Xbox One) and despite the developer's wishes to include online play.The reason, as Himmerick explains in an interview with Advanced Media Network, was not a technology issue but that "Nintendo didn't have their online system ready for us when we would have needed to implement it," he said. Himmerick said they instead focused on improving the single player aspect: creating an Endurance mode, including a new character and fine tuning the Wii remote controls.The news comes as further anecdotal evidence that Nintendo is not letting third-party developers put online in their gameplay. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, takes out its aggression on the Wii on May 29.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
PREPARE YOURSELF for new Mortal Kombat Armageddon screens
Is it okay to get nostalgic about Mortal Kombat? We know the series isn't that old, and, in fact, still exists. But, for example, we can't help but reference the old "PREPARE YOURSELF" slogan from the 1993 print ads when we're talking about any MK game. We miss the old games, and it took the new one to put us in that state.Looking at the big, empty environments of the new Wii version of Mortal Kombat Armageddon makes us long for the detail-filled stages of the old games, and the sort-of-plain character models remind us of how amusingly hokey the digitized sprites used to be. Those were the days, when we didn't need fancy polygons to enjoy virtually ripping some dude's spine out. We had Claymation bosses and we liked it. It was a simpler time-- a TOASTY!! time.Screens, with obligatory Wii-gesture diagrams, after the break.
Videotality: MK Armageddon on Wii explained
When Ed Boon recently sat down with Gamespot to discuss the Wii installment of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, it appears their was a video to go along with it. In the video, not only does Ed discuss the controls for the game, but demonstrates them (to a degree). We've done our thing and embedded the video past the post break, now do yours a give it a watch.
