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Ricoh adds a new lens and sensor to its lightweight GR III
Richoh's GR series is notable for combining its small, lightweight frame with a large APS-C sensor that the company claims makes it "the ultimate street photography camera." However, after a GR II refresh in 2015 to add WiFi and NFC, some of its features have lagged behind the latest camera technology available. Today at the Photokina event we're meeting the GR III which adds a "newly designed lens, image sensor and imaging engine" to the mix that should keep it as a competitive option at sub-$1,000 prices. We only have a single picture to judge by, but the design doesn't appear to have changed from its previous model The sensor has been upgraded from 16 MP to 24.2 MP, it has a USB-C connection and there's a new software interface to make it easier to use. It will be available in early 2019, but so far there's no word on exactly how much it will cost.
Ricoh unveils $800 GR compact with 16-megapixel APS-C sensor, continuous autofocus
Though it's a bit late to the large-sensor compact game, Ricoh just jumped into the fray with a model that might tempt the high-end grab and go set: the GR. Following a trail blazed by the likes of Sony and Nikon with its Coolipix A, Ricoh's new advanced compact packs very similar specs to the latter: a 16-megapixel APS-C-sized sensor, fixed 18.3 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 25,600 capability, pop-up flash, Eye-Fi card compatibility, 1080 / 30p AF video and 4 fps shooting with continuous autofocus for "fast-moving subjects." The similarities end with the price, however, since Pentax's owner is offering the GR for $800 compared to $1,100 for the Nikon, and has eschewed the optical low-pass filter to increase sharpness and further tempt high-end shooters. You'll be able to grab one stateside next month -- check the PR after the break for more.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: 2010's roguish review
I joked once, long ago, that I should never answer WRUP truthfully, because it will invariably result in a total lack of doing what I announced. Lo and behold, I had the time to play through a single Mission Architect mission amidst an intensely obnoxious virus (just at that level where you're sick enough to know it but not sick enough to avoid work) and the preparation needed to get my house ready for hosting an entire family. For the record? Never agree to do that for your family, no matter who your family is. So instead, we're going to take a look through the big news of the year, the five biggest stories that have affected City of Heroes in the past 12 months. I had originally planned to save this one for next week, but I doubt that we'll get an enormous piece of news between now and next week. It's been an interesting year for the game as a whole, so between an expansion, major updates, and tumultuous times in the larger MMO world, let's look at the five biggest stories pertaining to the city.
Paragon Studios answers our questions about Issue 19 of City of Heroes
Just three months after the major upheaval of Going Rogue, City of Heroes is getting another big update in the form of Issue 19. Bringing with it new task forces, the first part of the new Incarnate system, the long-awaited baseline Fitness pool, and several other quality-of-life improvements, the issue is packed to bursting with things for players to enjoy. So we naturally had a few questions, even above and beyond our first impressions of both the Incarnate system and the new Apex task force. Of course, this issue isn't the work of just one or two people within Paragon Studios, but the whole team. So it was fitting that we got our questions about the newest update to City of Heroes answered by several members of the team. Melissa Bianco, Matt Miller, Sean McCann, and Tim Sweeney all took the time to answer some quick questions about the substance of the update, so click on past the break to see our questions and their responses.
City of Heroes developer diary: Challenging the gods
Issue 19 brings a big change to characters in City of Heroes. There's always been a line of thought running through comic books that superheroes are essentially modern deities, but when you start stepping into the Incarnate system, the comparison becomes far more straightforward: You are wielding the powers of gods. Just like Statesman and Lord Recluse, player characters will be empowered beyond the ken of mortals and will begin the road toward a new apex of ability. Of course, when you're making such huge changes to the fabric of the game, you need more than just a quick stir in the patcher. A great deal of work went into elevating characters to deification, and that's precisely what the latest City of Heroes developer diary covers. Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney has penned an entry on what went into the design of the Incarnate system, so skip on past the break to see how players go from being mere mortals to Incarnates... within the game, anyhow.
City of Heroes dev diary: Dr. Aeon's Guide on How to Make a Proper Interdimensional Invasion
With the upcoming Issue 19, City of Heroes is bringing in the long-awaited Incarnate system, the first step in improving and honing the powers of characters who have already reached the level cap. Of course, that would be rather unbalancing if there wasn't something new to challenge the newly-empowered characters, but the whole invasion of Praetoria into Paragon City and the Rogue Isles should give even the new Incarnates something challenging to handle. Two task forces are being added to challenge characters that have reached the apex of power. So how exactly does one craft a new invasion in City of Heroes? We were lucky to get a brand-new developer diary from Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann detailing how the Apex and Tin Mage task forces came into existence, from the challenges it presented in design to the result of all that hard work. Take a look past the cut to check out the diary, wherein we get a full rundown of how one launches an interdimensional war. (In the game, at least. Actual aggression against other dimensions is not covered.)
City of Heroes developer diary: Going Rogue, new powersets, new enemies, new problems
As of right now, City of Heroes is in a state of flux. Like any game with a new expansion, the superhero game boasts features that are changing and endgame structures that are being disrupted, and the changes of Issue 19 promise to introduce an actual endgame into a game that's long lacked one. But it all started with the most recent expansion, one that gave players the chance to switch sides back in August -- Going Rogue. Much like Rome, the foundation for the expansion wasn't laid in a day. We were granted an early look at a developer diary by Floyd "Castle" Grubb, longtime veteran of the Paragon Studios team and lead designer for the Powers and Entities team. Take a look past the cut for his diary, explaining the various ways in which the powersets of the expansion were developed and fine-tuned, as well as highlights the new additions for both enemies and players.
City of Heroes unveils the trailer for the Apex task force
At the best of times, the task forces in City of Heroes resemble the huge crossover events of comics at their finest -- sprawling events covering multiple titles that give heroes and villains alike a chance to really show what they can do. And if there were ever an occasion for some truly impressive superhuman antics, it would be the invasion of Praetoria coming in Issue 19. Paragon Studios has released the trailer for the first of two major task forces, and it should give some idea of the scope of what awaits. First shown at the New York Comic Con panel, the trailer features several shots showing the devastation wrought by Praetoria's machines of war, as well as the powers that heroes are unleashing to fight back. Some of these powers appear to be related to the Incarnate system, although the team was reluctant to definitively identify them as such. Take a look past the break for a sneak peek at what's coming next for City of Heroes, in all of its world-colliding glory.
NYCC 2010: The City of Heroes Issue 19 panel
It's the end of the convention season, and City of Heroes fans on the East Coast managed to get one last treat -- another chance with the development team that had long been anchored firmly on the other side of the country. The team's panel in March at PAX East saw the revelation of several new facts about the game, including the first announcement of Kinetic Melee and Electric Control, and the panel that closes out the year at New York Comic Con contained several interesting new facts as well. Melissa Bianco, David Nakayama, and Jesse Caceres were all in attendance, with the panel overseen by community representative Tia Parurahi. With Going Rogue having been out for nearly two months, this panel focused on the upcoming Issue 19 and what the changes mean for the game, as well as how much the development team is ramping up production to improve the game all around.
Layoffs hit Paragon Studios
A rumor has just broken that Paragon Studios, the team responsible for City of Heroes, has just undergone a round of layoffs. This comes following the launch of Going Rogue, the game's second boxed expansion and center of a major re-arrangement for the game. Among those rumored to be laid off is Christopher Bruce, known to the fans of the game as Back Alley Brawler and the senior animation lead for the studio. While there have been rumors for some time that the team had been expanding and working on an additional project, possibly a sequel to the now-venerable City of Heroes, it's unknown what long-term impacts these layoffs might have on both the existing game and any future projects. We contacted NCsoft and received official confirmation of the layoffs, but the company thus far has been unable to provide information on who, exactly, has been let go. Our condolences go out to all employees affected by the layoffs.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Because of reasons!
It's weird to say it, but City of Heroes feels like it's still on the cusp of a storm. Going Rogue was a fine expansion, but it doesn't have the sense of breaking that built-up tension, that feeling of something major just over the horizon. Or perhaps it's just me, perched out on my metaphorical porch and loudly proclaiming that this next one is going to be the big one, as I puff on my metaphorical corn-cob pipe and look across the metaphorical skyline of rural Metaphorbraska. OK, that one kind of got away from me there, but what I was trying to get at was that it's time for another question-and-answer session for City of Heroes and that I don't think I'm the only person feeling like Issue 19 might hold some great secret. We'll know soon enough, although right now it's time for Issue 20's super-secret beta, which even I don't know about just yet. I'm very curious. On to the questions!
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Party hardly
I think by this point I have a well-established reputation as being a fairly positive guy on the subject of City of Heroes. It wasn't a conscious decision or anything -- it's just that I've been pretty happy with the game's development and content, and I do tend to be a bit of a developer supporter. I don't expect the game to be something other than what it is, and I enjoy what it is. Not to mention the obvious fact that the game has given me a lot of enjoyment over the years. So I usually come down as being part of the sunshine and light crowd. But that's not by design -- it's just how things have shaken down. I hand out praise and criticism as the situation warrants. And this week I'm going to talk about something that most definitely deserves criticism. I'm talking, of course, about the Party Pack, the newest mini-addition to the game and one that's already produced more than a little fan rage. But it's deserved, and even if I can see why Paragon Studios went the route that it did, I find it a little hard to just dismiss it with the usual "if you don't like it, don't buy it" routine.
City of Heroes offers a new developer diary on the alignment system
City of Heroes players have been enjoying the newest expansion for just a little over a month now, bringing with it the long-awaited abilities for players to change their alignment. It seems like a natural extension of the game's comic book roots, after all -- you can hardly throw a rock in certain books without finding some major character who's a former villain. But with all that we've heard about the expansion's development, the subject of the alignment system has been fairly quiet, up until the most recent development diary by Shawn "Pit" Pitman. The diary goes into detail on the genesis of the alignment system from a concept into execution, as well as some of the larger changes put into place to facilitate the shift. For instance, one of the major shifts was that the alignment and tips missions would feature their own little gallery of recurring characters, rather than a steady set of existing major story NPCs such as Statesman. City of Heroes players curious about how the game bridged the gap between good and evil are encouraged to take a look at the full diary.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Community lives!
The community for City of Heroes got a big shot in the arm when the expansion came out. While it hadn't exactly died in the last few years, it was certainly on a lower pulse. These days, I can't log in without seeing pretty much every server near capacity. Even with a month having passed since the initial release, it seems that Going Rogue is doing a fine job of keeping people wrapped up in the game. You can rail about the lack of endgame all you want, but Praetoria's a pretty good starting ride. Of course, it's high time for us to do another community roundup post, so the fact that the community has rallied back serves my own purposes. We've got more than just a surfeit of content to talk about -- we've got a whole collection of new missions and gameplay types to work with. And, of course, there are those "just 20 levels" of starting content to chat about. So click on through to see what City of Heroes players have been chatting about for the past month.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: All the news that's fit from PAX
The revelations at PAX East were pretty darn big for City of Heroes, but they had a big advantage over PAX Prime. At the time we sat down in Boston, Going Rogue was months away, and we knew almost nothing about what it would bring us. This time around, it's been out for a couple of weeks, and most of the fancy pieces of knowledge are pretty well established. It would be hard, if not impossible, for the development team to hit us with the same one-two punch. I wouldn't argue that the team quite managed that -- there's no comparison to revealing two new power sets, the endgame system, and video demonstrations of much-awaited sets -- but Paragon Studios sure did manage to drop quite a bomb on us. As I've done frequently in the past, we're going to take this point by point, with a full collection of neat pieces of news that leave me wondering just how much interesting stuff is yet to come from the development team.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Because you demanded answers
It's been another month, and you all know that means it's time for more questions and answers regarding City of Heroes. It's pleasing that I've been getting an ever-greater number of questions, but that also means that more and more I have to just pick a few of them to answer. So, if your question was not among those chosen, fear not; we'll get to it in due time. For now, let's move on past the preamble and into the meat of the column. Superfan asked: "Will hazard zones ever become co-op?" I'm going to do the unthinkable and attempt to predict the future here. Yes, hazard zones will become a place where both heroes and villains (and rogues and vigilantes, really) may group together, with nary a care for the alignment of their brothers in supernatural armor. City of Heroes will grow to embrace all of its players inside of these horrifying lands of insane spawns and maddening geographic layouts. While it might sound like I'm treading into ridiculous sarcasm, I'm really not.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Facefirst into Praetoria
It's finally here, and I have to admit, it's a little weird to realize it. After I spent the better part of half a year focusing on Going Rogue, the expansion has been released and is totally playable. To have the game sitting in front of me (metaphorically) after it's become such a huge part of my professional life is almost too daunting. I almost didn't even want to fire up the launcher to... OK, yeah, that part isn't fooling anyone. Getting to play around a bit while it was in beta to see how it would play was nice, but I couldn't get myself into City of Heroes fast enough to start leveling a Loyalist and going to town on the new side of town. At the end of the day, I'm just a player like everyone reading this column, and the game I got to play on Monday evening made me very happy indeed. There's a lot to see and do, and I've tried to recap some of the disconnected thoughts in this week's column. And as a bonus, there's a sad announcement at the end! It's like a bonus, anyway.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Community timing
Welcome to this week's installment of A Mild-Mannered Reporter, where we will not be talking about Going Rogue. Well, OK, that's a lie -- but we're not going to be doing our big analysis and in-depth look at the entire expansion. As of the time I'm writing these words, I've not actually even played the game. (This will have changed by the time you are reading the article, but that's the wonderful part about writing ahead. I'm sending messages to the future from the past!) So while there are going to be several community threads for City of Heroes in this column, there will not be any of the biting commentary you might have hoped to see. You can at least check out my first impressions of the expansion, if you'd like -- which also isn't written as of the time that I'm writing this, but will be by the time you read it. (Editor's note: Eliot's first impressions of Going Rogue launched Tuesday.) You know what, just jump past the break already -- I'm giving myself a Lost headache thinking about all the time travel.
City of Heroes celebrates the official Going Rogue launch with a new trailer
In case you've managed to miss the news, the latest expansion for City of Heroes has launched today. Well, technically it launched yesterday, but that was for customers who had pre-purchased via the NCsoft store. Today remains the official launch of Going Rogue, and to both commemorate the occasion and drum up more interest, Paragon Studios has released an official launch trailer for the expansion. And if you've somehow missed all of the ramp-up to the launch, well, now would be the perfect time to catch up. Going Rogue is a pretty big expansion for the game's core, and the video (embedded past the cut) shows off the many new elements while also highlighting the familiar City of Heroes engine. Featuring the option to switch between heroic and villainous factions as well as a revamped starting experience, it's the perfect time for a new player to jump on. And if you get in that mood after seeing the trailer, well, we do have a contest running at the moment...
First Impressions: City of Heroes Going Rogue
To hear the team talk about it, Going Rogue isn't simply an expansion for City of Heroes but a full-on reboot of the game in general. It's hard to see how, on some level; outside of the new powersets and a new starting area, not much is visibly being added with the expansion. But sitting down and playing through the starting area and the game's opening suddenly feels like an entirely different experience. It's not a new game -- but it feels like a leap forward from where the game had been just a few days before. I didn't get nearly as much time with the Going Rogue beta as I would have liked, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm biased when it comes to City of Heroes. But even with those standards set, I was impressed right away with how the game has been revamped from the start -- and what these revamps mean for the game as a whole and moving forward. Click on past the cut for the first impressions of the latest expansion, which launches today. (Coincidental, yes?) %Gallery-99455%
