Goals
Latest
Google Calendar helps with fitness goals by logging workouts
With its Goals function, Google's Calendar finds you space to squeeze in some exercise, but like a lazy coach, it doesn't follow up to see if you did it. Now, it'll take in data from either Google Fit and Apple Health, automatically mark an exercise session as "done" and, depending on your success, suggest different times.
Google Calendar wants you to achieve your goals
Google Calendar's latest feature can help you find time for the activities you want to do that always seem to fall by the wayside. Say, you want to start being more active or to learn a new skill or language: all you have to do is add it as a "Goal" and tell Google how often you want to exercise or study, along with the best time to do it. Calendar will then look at your schedule and figure out how to squeeze it in. It's like having a virtual coach shouting in your ear to stop procrastinating and get your ass in gear.
Sky Sports customers can now watch goal replays on their phones
With its live Champions League and Europa League TV rights, BT has proven to be a worthy sports broadcasting rival to Sky. The latter is now playing defence with renewed La Liga rights and a new deal with The Sun for mobile goal highlights. Sky TV customers with a Sky Sports subscription will get free access to Sun Goals, a mobile app that shows every back-of-the-net moment from the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and Scottish Premiership. Of course, it's not quite the same as watching the full match on your telly, but the app should be a nice extra for sports fans nonetheless.
The Daily Grind: What long term MMO goals are you working toward?
I've resigned myself to getting a fishing boat in ArcheAge round about 2017. That's OK, because there's a lot of other stuff to do in the game and I'm having fun with it, but good grief does 250 gilda stars and two thunderstruck logs seem impossible at this point. That boat is my goal, though, so I'm going to stick it out. What about you, Massively readers? What long terms goals are you working toward in your favorite MMO? 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 Nexus Telegraph: Habits that WildStar should keep
Last time around in this column, I talked about the stuff that WildStar desperately needs to get out of its system, and quickly. I'm pleased with it. With the scaling-back of the update pace and some changes that I expect to be coming, I'm hopeful on that front. (Incidentally, if someone has a link to an actual promise of monthly updates from Carbine Studios, pass that along, since I don't think anyone ever actually promised it so much as just wound up doing it.) So why am I still playing the game? Because it's got a lot to recommend it despite those failings. These are not bad habits that the game needs to kick but things that the development team should arguably double down on. They're arguably the best parts about the game and certain what makes it stand out the most. So in direct counterpoint to last week's article, here are the things that WildStar should keep doing.
EVE Evolved: Top five tips for new EVE players
I often hear people say that EVE Online is a lot more fun to read about than actually play, and I've even caught myself saying it jokingly to friends and writing it in articles. But the truth is that amazing stories like the recent world record-breaking Bloodbath of B-R5RB are a hell of a lot better when you're a part of the action or have the first-hand experience to put the event into a wider context. All of EVE was impacted by that battle, with its effects rippling through the in-game markets and reshaping the political landscape of New Eden. But to read about it, you'd think the carnage in B-R5RB ended when $310,000 US worth of titans went up in smoke. EVE has seen a huge influx of fresh faces since that colossal battle at the end of January, with thousands of new characters being created and the Rookie Help channel bursting at the seams. Whether you've always been a closet fan of EVE who has finally been convinced to take the plunge or you just want to join the ranks of the warring alliances you've read so much about, starting out can be a daunting experience. The sheer amount of information there is out there to absorb and sort through is overwhelming, and not all of it is up to date. CCP released a great new player guide recently to help newcomers assimilate, but I've still received several emails asking for advice on getting started. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into the new-player experience with a 14-day free trial and reveal my top tips for starting out on the road to creating your own sandbox story.
Another stretch goal hit for The Repopulation, another short story chapter posted
The second Kickstarter for The Repopulation is humming along at a decent clip at this point. It's already met its target goal, and now it's just a matter of smashing down stretch goals. The latest mark has funded the addition of calprate mounts to the game; they're the vaguely deer-goat-thing displayed in the header image, for the record. Except that one doesn't have a player-shaped bit of cargo on its back. Baby steps. In addition to looking forward future stretch goals, the team is also posting chapters of a short story to the official website. Chapter 4 of "Evening Star" is available to read now, detailing more of the world and feel of The Repopulation for existing backers and potential future backers. Or just people in need of a science fiction story to read on a Friday afternoon -- they're welcome as well.
Google shuts down its bucket-list service, Schemer
Not long after rumors of Google shutting down Schemer (its goal-sharing service) arose, confirmation has appeared. On its website, Schemer notes that user data will be wiped after February 7th, but you have the chance to download your saved plans ahead of that. Furthermore, the note suggests giving Field Trip and the explore function in Google Maps a shot to attempt replicating some of the now-terminal app's functionality. If those don't work and you need some company for your grieving, however, we're positive there are at least a few Google Reader users that know your pain.
Leak hints Google may shut down its Schemer goal sharing service
We can't blame you if you haven't heard of Google's Schemer; the goal sharing service launched at the end of 2011, but it hasn't received much publicity (or traffic) since. Accordingly, the crew in Mountain View may be close to shutting Schemer down. Google Operating System has leaked an internal version of Schemer's website that includes an unfinished closure page inviting users to export their data. It's not clear how serious Google is about closing Schemer, however. The internal site may reflect real plans, or it could be a just-in-case placeholder; we've reached out to the company for a definitive answer. We won't be surprised if Schemer gets the axe, though, when Google has shut down more beloved services in the past.
EVE Evolved: Ghost Sites and PvE goals
PvE in most MMOs revolves around killing hordes of NPCs for currency, XP, tokens, or loot, and EVE Online is no exception. Players can hunt for rare pirate ships in nullsec asteroid belts, farm Sansha incursions for ISK and loyalty points, or team up against Sleeper ships in dangerous wormhole space, but most prefer the safe and steady income of mission-running. Missions are essentially repeatable quests that can be spawned on request, providing an endless stream of bad guys to blow up in the comfort of high-security space. Completing a mission will earn you some ISK and a few hundred or thousand loyalty points, but most of the ISK in mission-running comes from the bounties on the NPCs spawned in the mission sites. Similar deadspace sites with better loot are also distributed randomly throughout the galaxy and can be tracked down using scanner probes. But what would happen if the NPCs in these sites were a dangerous and unexpected interference that could get you killed, rather than space piñatas ready to explode in a shower of ISK? This is a question CCP plans to test with the Rubicon expansion's upcoming Ghost Sites feature, which promises to introduce a whole new form of high-risk, high-reward PvE. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at EVE's upcoming ghost sites and explain why I think its goal-oriented approach to PvE should be adopted in other areas of the game.
Take down rivals in Need for Speed progression trailer and screens
The latest trailer and screens for Need for Speed: Rivals show the progression of goals players face as both cops and racers in the game. Some tasks have players drifting for 500 yards while others challenge players to take down at least six racers. Need for Speed: Rivals will launch November 19.
Acer confirms 10-inch Iconia A3 tablet, wants to sell 10 million slates this year
Acer's senior VP Scott Lin recently confirmed that a new 10-inch Iconia A3 tablet will arrive this summer and was quick to include it in some very ambitious sales plans. The device (not pictured) has yet to be priced or specced (or even seen), but nonetheless, Lin hopes it'll make up some of the 10 million slates the outfit aims to sell in 2013. He also announced a refresh for the $150 Iconia B1 this summer with a dual-core CPU, updated design and 1GB of RAM, and said that 1.5 million units of that model have shipped so far this year. The company would like to move another 1.5 million by year's end along with 5 million of the recently announced 8-inch Iconia A1 tabs and 2 million Iconia A3s to make up the balance. Considering that competitor ASUS sold 3 million tablets in Q1 and has the hit Nexus 7 to peddle, it seems a lofty goal for Acer -- especially since it only reluctantly leaped into tablets not so long ago. Update: We've also received word that Mr. Lin confirmed that there is an 8-inch Windows 8 tablet in the works (the W3, perhaps?) and suggested it should be available by June.
City of Steam fans treated to dev humiliation video for reaching goal
Whether it was out of love for the game or just a wicked sense of humor, City of Steam fans banded together and supported the steampunk browser game enough to earn their first special dev humiliation reward on the Steam-o-Meter. So what type of public humiliation were the devs subjected to? How about FemGab and AndrewYunk starring in a live-action trailer of the beta itself! Check out the humorous -- yet eerily accurate -- depictions of character creation, the tutorial, looting, and PvP in the video after the break! And if you want to see how well the devs have lived this humiliation down, then tune in to Massively TV this Friday, December 28th, at 9:00 p.m. EST for a dev-filled stream spectacular. [Source: Mechanist Games press release]
Breakfast Topic: Are your in-game goals set by the game or your own sensibilities?
If you're reading WoW Insider today, it's a slam dunk that you've discovered something in Mists of Pandaria intriguing enough to keep you coming back for more. My morning coffee question for you this morning: Where does that motivation come from? Do you reach for achievements built into WoW's gameplay, or do you strive to accomplish internally set goals? Part of the reason today's WoW is enjoyable at so many levels is because the game itself is increasingly designed to reward players no matter what their playstyle might be. Leveling up, gearing up, and downing the big bads is only one slice of WoW life in 2012. My own game goals, for example, are divided between PvE/Alliance character goals and PvP/Horde character goals, and then subdivided further between things I want to do for my own enjoyment and things I want to be sure are covered for work here at WoW Insider. My lists by far exceed my available time. What I'm curious about today is what sets the pace for your in-game goals. Do you prefer to slave over accomplishments set by the game -- achievements, points, titles, items, or content downed -- or do you tend to follow your own muse? By the latter, I mean goals such as maxing out all the available professions among your stable of characters, leveling one character of each class or race, or building and maintaining a collection of something -- maybe even some relatively useless somethings. Are you munching along on one of WoW's many feasts of satisfying gameplay, or are you blazing your own path through Azeroth?
The Daily Grind: What goals do you set for yourself in an MMO?
There are two kinds of goal with any given game. The obvious goals are the ones that the game sets for you -- quest objectives in World of Warcraft, for example, are just things you have to do to clear a quest. But then there are the goals you set for yourself, like leveling one character of each advanced class in Star Wars: The Old Republic or taking down another player while in a mining ship in EVE Online. These goals aren't necessarily meant to make the game harder or easier, just to give you something else to shoot for as you're enjoying the game normally. So what goals do you set for yourself in an MMO? Have one alt of each class or character type? Master all crafting skills? What sort of esoteric objectives do you place alongside the goals that the game lays out for you? 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!
Mass Effect 3 enacts Operation Overdrive this weekend
The forces of Mass Effect 3 are back at it again this weekend, running a weekly event called Operation Overdrive. Just like the other events in this series, there's both a squad and an allied goal, with separate rewards for each.The squad goal this time will be to hit full extraction on any map in just 20 minutes or less, and that will nab you a Commendation Pack if completed. The Allied Goal is across all of the game's players, and asks for 200,000 extraction waves to be beaten in total. Completing that goal will get everyone involved a Victory Pack. Not to mention all of the lives that will be saved from repelling the Reaper invasion, right?
Breakfast Topic: What are your Midsummer Fire Festival goals?
The Midsummer Fire Festival begins today. Pyromaniacs, activate! The Fire Festival is a full-featured holiday complete with dailies that mostly involve torches, achievements that mostly involve setting fire to things, and a title that has the word Flame. Ahune The Frost Lord is the boss to kill for this holiday (since he's not so big on fire). You have to ice him if you want to get the meta for the Fire Festival, which is part of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. What the Midsummer Fire Festival also involves: traveling, more traveling, world PvP, and traveling. I highly recommend celebrating the holiday with friends, though maybe not quite so many as that one time. My goal is for my druid to finally complete it, to be one step closer to the Violet Proto-Drake. The It came from the Blog family of guilds will also be hosting a Fire Festival event, like we do every year. Stay tuned for an announcement soon™. What are your goals for the Midsummer Fire Festival? Are you going to go for the meta? Is there a particular item you are trying to get? Or are you going to ignore it completely? (Bah, humbug!)
EVE Evolved: EVE Online's top selling points
At E3 this year, EVE Online developer CCP Games said it wants the game to still be running decades from now, continuing its usual trend of steady growth. EVE has barely grown in subscriptions over the past year, and average concurrent logins have flatlined since 2010, but the Crucible and Inferno expansions helped start turning things around. Developers hope to get growth back on track and attract new people to the world of New Eden, but I have to wonder whether they're selling EVE to new people in the right way. EVE has always spread through word of mouth, with people being brought in by friends or starting fresh after hearing an epic story of in-game events or seeing an awesome video. More recently, existing online communities have been drawn to set up shop in the game and bring hundreds or thousands of members with them. People brought in by friends and people who join organisations in-game are more likely to stay in the game long-term, and it's this angle that I think CCP really needs to push. With its single-shard universe, awesome community, and massive scale PvP, EVE has some pretty huge selling points that no other MMO can match. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at a few of EVE's biggest selling points and how CCP could use them to attract new players.
Pathfinder Online blog on designing in the game and on the table
Pathfinder Online's Kickstarter project hits its goal this Friday, and that means the staff has been hard at work designing the game. That design includes both the world for players to explore and the module being released to Kickstarter backers. A new developer blog discusses designing the city of Thornkeep, both in the eponymous book and as a starting point for characters coming into the world of Pathfinder Online. According to writer Rich Baker, the first problem encountered during design was the fact that the book is written with Thornkeep as a somewhat lawless place, while Thornkeep in the MMO will be a starting point for new players. As a result, Thornkeep has a strong central leader with a capricious streak, enough to convey the sense of lawless air while still keeping things sufficiently safe for new entrants. The blog also discusses dungeon design for the book and the tech demo. If either one sounds interesting to you, you've still got a couple of days to jump on the Kickstarter wagon to help fund the development team.
Breakfast Topic: Did you meet your Children's Week goals?
Many players going for What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been leave Children's Week until last -- often not by choice. It is a truth universally acknowledged that School of Hard Knocks is the worst achievement required for any holiday meta. Even if you like PvP, competing with your region-mates for the same objective is frustrating, to say the least. And then there are the funsuckers who do their best to obstruct everyone trying. Ugh. I think that otherwise, Children's Week is rather fun. Being the minion of orphans who coax you into irresponsible actions is enjoyable, surprisingly. I love the scripted reactions of the NPCs, particularly Lady Sylvanas. (I'm so predictable.) I do miss taking Salandria to see M'uru, though. Having her rock out with the Elite Tauren Chieftains doesn't have the same impact. The pets are fun to collect as well. Sleepy Willy is a long-time favorite of mine. I did not try to get all of the pets on alts in preparation for Mists of Pandaria, however. I do think it's a great idea because all companion pets will become account-wide in the expansion. I just didn't make the effort. What did you enjoy most about Children's Week? Did you meet your goals? What pets did you get? %Poll-75075%
