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The latest 'Fortnite' weapon lets you drop heavy stuff on opponents’ heads
Epic has another way to battle Fortnite's hated newcomer, giant mechs. Sure, the two-player B.R.U.T.E. mechs have 1,000 health, can travel hundreds of in-game meters in a few seconds and can blast you with rockets or stomp on you. But now, regular players can strike back by dropping something heavy -- like a dinosaur -- on giant mechs and other opponents.
SpaceX begins test-firing parts of its biggest rocket
Sorry folks, things are about to get heavy, by which we mean that SpaceX has begun test-firing the boosters for the Falcon Heavy. The company posted a clip of the event from last week, showing a side booster being put through its paces. Elon Musk subsequently tweeted that, when the Falcon Heavy launches, it'll be this powerful, but "times three." The CEO added that "one way or another, launch is guaranteed to be exciting."
NEC 52-inch table disguised as boring office furniture
The problem with Microsoft Surface is that it looks too much like fun. NEC has the right idea: affix some trolley wheels, brush some aluminum, give it a sedate name like "X-info Table" and then maybe, just maybe, traditional businesses will start buying into the idea. The specs, however, are easily sufficient to handle a few rounds of office Pinball HD (as in the photo above): a Core i7 CPU running Windows 7 on the 52-inch full HD screen, 6GB of RAM, three USB ports, support for multiple sub-displays, and a scanning function. There's no price yet, but you can probably expect to pay more for the 350-pound frame than for the computer itself.
Cyberdyne turns its HAL exoskeleton into an anti-radiation suit
The original Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) suit was designed to help those with muscle diseases, but it's now been upgraded to cope with a very different type of problem: handling radioactive substances. One of the few wearable materials that can stop radiation is tungsten, which is extremely heavy: a typical tungsten vest weigh up to 132 pounds. When worn in conjunction with a HAL exoskeleton, however, a vest can be worn for lengthy periods without causing fatigue -- potentially allowing greater access to hazardous sites like Fukushima.
Better know Global Agenda's Assault class
In an interview with Hi-Rez Studio's executive producer Todd Harris, Ten Ton Hammer discusses Global Agenda's Assault class at considerable length. For those looking for a simple analog, the Assault is like a meaty tank class wielding huge weaponry such as mini-guns. The interview covers such topics as ammo concerns -- as the aforementioned mini-guns chew up ammo like a man on a desert island drinks fresh water -- and several other matters that dig deep into the earth center of the class. Then again, if blowing stuff up is your preference, that's offered as well. Much of what we've seen of the Assault class tells us that it's going to be a favorite with players who generally enjoy inflicting damage in the most terrible of ways. And really, that's a whole lot of people; those who drool at rocket launchers and chain-fed ballistics weaponry.
Xbox 360 TF2 getting yummy sandvich by year's end
The much ballyhooed Team Fortress 2 Heavy Update that Valve released this past Tuesday will be heading to the Xbox 360 by year's end, according to Gamespot. At last, you can start cracking your knuckles and bone up on your sandvich eating skillz. Just watching those videos made us want to start playing TF2 again. We know, you're saying, "What?! Why'd you put it down in the first place?"New maps, new weapons, and new achievements? What's not to love? Anything that can extend the wonderment of TF2 is just fine by us. Now get cracking on a massive Portal update, already. The XBLA title is only going to keep us sated for so long.
Heavy is next in line for Team Fortress 2 update
First the Medic, then Pyro, and now Mr. Heavy. Valve has announced that the Heavy class is next in line for Team Fortress 2 class updates (i.e. new weapons and achievements). Additionally, Valve said it will "open up the process a little" in talking about how the update is designed. The goal of the update is to "make the Heavy more viable when he has no Medic to pair with" but in a manner that does not significantly change the Heavy's role in the game. We're interested to see how those ideas and constrants translate to new firepower.[Thanks, Andrew R!]
All the World's a Stage: Pros and cons of total-immersion roleplay
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.There are degrees to roleplaying. Some people like it "light," so that it never gets too intense, you never have to actually "work" to make your character profound or lore-worthy, and it's generally just a fun way to pass some time. Others like it "heavy;" they view their characters as works of art, taking special care to make their characters believable and interesting, and sometimes planning special roleplaying events for their guild to enjoy. Some even try to do everything in-character, from repairing armor to marking out targets with raid symbols.Recently I joined just such a full-immersion roleplaying guild, and have been trying out their particular style. To be fair, I still have a number of friends on my server that I usually speak out-of-character with, because that's what we're used to, but for everyone in this guild, I do my best to stay in character at all times, with everything my character says and does. To some this may seem like an unnecessary pain, but to others it's a fun experience. Here are a few of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of roleplaying.
Warhammer Online player-mounts displayed in concept art gallery
A recent newsletter for Warhammer Online gave us a glimpse at the concept art for some of the player mounts that the game will have, and TenTonHammer has posted these up in a handy gallery. Featured are mounts for the Greenskin, Dwarf, High Elf, Chaos, and Empire armies. For some races, we see a Light, Heavy and Medium version of the mounts, and the Greenskins have two different kinds of mount shown, boars and wolves.The newsletter that these images came from gave us a few scraps of information on some mount mechanics. There will be temporary mounts for rent, aimed at lower level characters, and riding into water will throw you off your mount. Similarly, you can be shot off your mount if you ride into battle (though no word yet on whether mounted combat will at all be possible). Missing from any of the concept art shown was a mount for the Dark Elves. The newsletter promises more details soon on mounts in general, and perhaps we will learn about their mode of transportation at that time.
Heavy Rain interview pours on the details
In this whopping 4 page interview with IGN, France-based development team Quantic Dream, who brought us Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit for you foreigners) discusses their title Heavy Rain. Founder and CEO David Cage, COO and Executive Producer Guillaume de Fondaumière, and Lead Character Designer Thierry Prodhomme were all on hand to reveal more information on the title than there was available at E3 a month ago. The interview reveals that Heavy Rain will not be a direct sequel to Indigo Prophecy and is a "dark film noir thriller with mature themes." The team is also tossing out the Sci-Fi elements of Indigo Prophecy and aim to ground Heavy Rain totally in reality. Heavy Rain is currently slated for a Fall 2008 release.
Dell XPS M2010 reviewed
CNET's staff just strapped on their bionic suits and hoisted Dell's 20-pound XPS M2010 into the lab for a full, hands-on review. Calling this desktop/laptop hybrid a "striking feat of engineering" (that's a compliment, we think), the reviewer fawns over the M2010's premium components, bright 20-inch glossy display, and 8-speaker system with subwoofer which is said to deliver "rich, clear" audio and more low-end sound than any laptop he's seen. The guy's equally stoked by the magnetically held Bluetooth keyboard and gyroscopic Media Center remote which includes a small LCD screen for peeping music and video track details when not flittering the thing about to control the onscreen cursor. The M2010 also proved to be an "able gaming machine" though not the best. However, the M2010 is still "absurdly expensive" with a $3500 base config rocketing upwards to $8000 fully spec'd and the battery only lasted about 2-hours while the machine simply idled. Oh, and the pig is just too heavy to be truly portable thereby limiting its appeal. Still, if you're a smarmy sales type, LAN party trust-funder, or Ivy league media troll looking for a single all-in-one desktop / laptop / home stereo / TV(via optional USB tuner) then this hulk of Dell-icousness might be calling you home. [Thanks, Chris]
