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Asics debuts a prototype smart shoe at CES (updated)
Japanese footwear brand Asics turned up at CES 2020 this year with a prototype of its first smart running shoe. The as-yet unnamed model harnesses technology made in partnership with Japanese sensor company No New Folk.
How to buy sneakers for the hypebeast in your life
It's hard enough to find gifts for your loved ones during the holidays, but hypebeasts in particular are a picky bunch. They only want the most hyped products and the rarest sneakers, which can be a complicated world to navigate as a shopper if you're not familiar with it. But we're here to help. Thankfully, there are many ways to find something hypebeasts might like online -- even if you have to spend more money and time than you had hoped for. Here's how you can buy sneakers, apparel and even fanny packs (they call them waist bags) for the hypebeasts in your life.
Foot Locker wants to reinvent itself with a dedicated app for streetwear
Whenever you think of Foot Locker, what probably comes to mind are its thousands of brick-and-mortar stores, because chances are you've visited at least one in your lifetime. But, as important as physical retail locations are to the company's business, Foot Locker is also having to quickly adapt to the new ways people are shopping for sneakers, apparel and other types of gear. That's why back in February it invested $100 million in GOAT, one of the most popular apps for buying shoes on the resale market. And now, it is creating its own incubator called Greenhouse, which has just launched an app that Foot Locker says will feature carefully curated partnerships that are going to "contribute to [its] modern resurgence."
Vine co-creators unveil their own take on live streaming
Vine may be on the way out, but two of its original architects are determined to carry the torch for mobile video apps. Co-creators Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov have launched a livestreaming app, Hype, that aims to do more than just broadcast raw footage. You can slip music, photos and videos into your stream, and customize the layout to suit your presentation. It doesn't just have to be about whatever you capture on-camera, to put it another way -- you can take a back seat. There's also more two-way interaction than you get with the likes of Periscope or Facebook Live, as the audience has direct ways of asking and answering questions, casting votes or getting their comments featured.
New Crowfall illustration hints at 'core game system'
Creative director J. Todd Coleman has posted a new update on the Crowfall boards that takes a look at the journey from concept art to game asset. There's also an "illustration that provides clues for both a core game system and one of our key narrative threads," he writes. Crowfall is a new virtual world currently in development at Artcraft, a new studio comprised of MMO industry veterans operating under the mantra of "real skill, real risk, and real consequences."
Bungie's COO thinks Destiny and games like it are hard to review
Bungie continues to hype its Destiny shooter post-launch, with the latest bit of messenging courtesy of COO Pete Parsons and an interview at GamesIndustry.biz. "The launch of Destiny was the starting line," Parsons says, before going on to explain how Bungie's Destiny operations center "looks like a NASA control room" and how "it's very difficult to sit down for nine hours, 11 hours, and write up a review of game like Destiny." Parsons takes that notion a step further and asks how similar titles will be reviewed in the future when game journos face "a nearly impossible challenge" due to an inability to experience PvP, the campaign, and endgame activities on a deadline.
Ubisoft's The Crew: Not pre-screened for critics
I used to love reading movie reviews in the local paper when I was a kid, though sometimes it puzzled me when a film was listed as "not pre-screened for critics." Generally these were B-movies that critics were prone to savaging, so the distribution companies figured they'd make more money if prospective customers didn't see Siskel and Ebert ripping a film up one side and down the other. Fast-forward 20 years and Ubisoft is doing something similar with The Crew. According to the latest company blog post, the open world MMO racer won't be given to media outlets in advance of its December 2nd release, ostensibly so that reviewers can experience the game in "optimal conditions" that include lots of other players. "The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it's only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world," the company says. "And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can't be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press." Ubisoft goes on to say that any reviews that do appear on release day will be built around media preview sessions from the title's beta phases and thus will not "reflect the finished game."
Stick and Rudder: Oh yeah, Star Citizen is a game I'm following!
I actually said the title of this piece out loud the other day. I was compelled to do so primarily because of a certain sandpark's launch as well as the fact that it's been dominating my game time for a solid month now. And yeah, I left off the Stick and Rudder part when I said the title out loud because "Stick and Rudder: Oh yeah Star Citizen is a game I'm following!" would've sounded even stranger than "Oh yeah, Star Citizen is a game I'm following!"
Global Chat: Blaugust triumphant
Last month, Tales of the Aggronaut issued a community-wide challenge for MMO bloggers to commit to posting (at least) once a day for all 31 days. This challenge was called Blaugust, and it caused a tidal wave of additional posts, top 10 lists, and random cat pictures as writers struggled to keep up with the rate of output. While not everyone who signed up succeeded in sticking out the entire month, it certainly injected some life into summer doldrums and got people talking. The 2014 Blaugust Wrap-up does a great job giving an overview of the challenge and a list of all of the blogs involved. If you're looking for outspoken opinions put forth at a prodigious rate, I'd suggest checking these out. Speaking of outspoken opinions, we've also got plenty of them in the form of the most interesting posts from the past two weeks! Global Chat... away!
Is BlizzCon bad for World of Warcraft?
Okay, I'm sure with a headline like "Is BlizzCon bad for World of Warcraft?" you're already thinking this is it. Rossi has finally snapped. But hear me out for a second. We've had BlizzCons since 2005, before The Burning Crusade was even released. While they haven't happened every year (there was no BlizzCon 2006 and no BlizzCon 2012) it's been fairly regular since its introduction. Last year, Warlords of Draenor was previewed at BlizzCon 2013 - for many of us it's the source of pretty much every opinion we have on the expansion. That, in fact, is exactly what got me thinking that it's possible that BlizzCon itself is bad for the game, for the game community at large, and for the future of the franchise. BlizzCon, by its very nature, is a hype machine. It's where we learn details about the expansion - its name, its features, its setting and goals - before they are even close to being ready for players. People play demos. Developers give talks about the games. In many ways it's very exciting. I've never been myself, but most of my coworkers and a lot of my in-game friends have. So my argument isn't that BlizzCon itself is bad. But looking over the past year or so, in terms of Warlords of Draenor and player interaction with it, I start to wonder if having the big reveal at the convention does more harm than good, overall. Expectations are set at the convention - looking at the recent player reaction to the news that Karabor and Bladespire wouldn't be capital cities in Draenor, the issue can in part be traced back to the fact that we were told they would be at BlizzCon. Players (like myself) had months to get excited about the idea of Karabor as a capital city. Then, suddenly, we were told (almost as an afterthought) that no, the capitals were moved to Ashran.
The Daily Grind: Has E3 become irrelevant to MMO gamers?
During last year's E3, I asked the Massively readers whether they thought E3 was slowly becoming irrelevant for MMO gamers thanks to 1) competing, gamer-friendly conventions like PAX and 2) E3's focus on tech and blockbuster non-MMO titles, not to mention 3) the expense of showing at a venue like E3 for smaller MMO studios and existing games. Lore Hound's Patrick Mulhern recently voiced similar concerns, suggesting that MMOs in particular show poorly at conventions partly because of the noise-and-visuals-induced sensory overstimulation of the arena but also because few MMOs provide a "hook" that can grab a typical attendee during a 15-minute demo. Consequently, he argues, it's not worth the trouble for studios or MMO journalists to attend. Massively writers are present at this year's E3 to report on MMOs, but we're curious what you think all the same -- has E3 become irrelevant for our genre? 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!
Unleashing the tech show hype beast
There's a technological revolution going on; innovation is at an all-time high; and we've seen it all before. While many of the devices we've seen this week are new and even exciting, the unending hymn of hyperbole that echoes through the halls of the LVCC is an old standard. For months leading up to the big show, small startups and tech giants flood the inboxes of tech journalists, attempting to catch their attention with bold and often ridiculous claims. And on the show floor, sprawling booths from the likes of Samsung and LG boast laundry lists of "world's firsts." Each year, we put all of that aside to bring you only the freshest goods CES has to offer -- until now. It's time to unleash the hype beast!
Here's an Elder Scrolls PvP Ask Us Anything
Ask Me Anything question-and-answer sessions are a good idea, in theory. But, like any other Q&A format in the publisher-controlled game journalism field, they're specifically designed to showcase the game in question as opposed to providing potential customers with complete or completely accurate information. Live AMAs are of course more challenging for devs and their PR handlers than email or forum questions, and it's the latter approach that ZeniMax takes with its latest Elder Scrolls Online publicity push. The AMA -- or really, AUA, for Ask Us Anything in this case -- focuses on ESO's PvP. Pre-screened questions include bits on bottlenecks, siege weapons, ranking systems, and the effectiveness of low-level players.
Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen and The Phantom Menace
It's May 1999 and nearing midnight. My best friend and I are standing in a swollen, sweat-soaked line of humanity that snakes through a movie theater lobby, out into the overstuffed parking lot, and around back of the palatial building. Imperial stormtroopers mill through the crowd. Kids armed with plastic lightsabers duel their friends, their parents, and armies of imaginary opponents. Nerds share pizza deliveries with strangers, and the whole enterprise is steeped in an air of electric expectation more akin to a championship football game than an evening at the cinema. And then my buddy turns to me and says, "What if it sucks?"
Stick and Rudder: What if Star Citizen fails?
As Star Citizen's crowdfunding totals spiral ever higher, so too do the cries of the naysayers, negative nancies, and the ne'er-do-wells who seemingly exist to rain on the space sim sandbox's parade. Some of this hand-wringing is probably justified since with each new stretch goal, fan expectations for SC increase exponentially. Regardless, what the game has already accomplished is worth celebrating, and two of the most common reasons I've seen cited for remaining skeptical simply don't make sense.
Mac App of the Week: Hype 2.0 is a solid WYSIWYG tool for HTML5 animation and interactive graphics
When I made the transition from print designer to web producer in January, I wanted to make my graphic designing skills with me. PennLive.com, my day job, utilizes HTML5 to make the site desktop- and mobile-friendly and steers clear of Flash. While I knew some coding, I didn't know enough to create some of the elaborate interactive projects that other newspapers have done, such as the New York Times' Snow Fall and reshaping New York projects. In addition to custom components, the staff utilized jQuery and HTML5. Nothing beats a good, solid foundation in writing code, but as someone making the transition from designing full-time in InDesign, I wanted to work with a WYSIWYG editor. Adobe came out with Edge in 2011, but it requires a Creative Cloud subscription. Sencha Animator is available as well, but the US$99 price tag might be a deterrent. Then there's Hype. Created by two former Apple engineers, it is a low-cost, yet powerful tool for creating keyframe-based animation in HTML 5. Version 1 made its debut in May 2011, and 2.0 was released on August 20. Some impressive work has been done with Hype, including this graphic from the Los Angeles Times, and I was eager to try it. Design If you've ever used Flash, Hype will look very familiar. Most of the program centers around the stage, with timeline and properties bars beneath it. On the stage, you can expand various panels for adding scenes to your content or various elements. The preview button allows you to toggle among your browser of choice to view your project. Additional panels include an inspector, where you do the majority of your tweaking, a list of project resources, colors and fonts. Hype lets you bring your own fonts into the system through custom CSS or browsing popular open-source Google fonts, which is a really nice touch. In addition to the stage, you'll spend most of your time with the Inspector panel. The Swiss Army knife of Hype controls document settings, scene settings, metrics, elements, text, actions, and identity. There's a number of pre-set canvas sizes you can use based off standard monitors, iPhone and iPad screens. You can change stage sizes on the fly, which is good for when a project's demands suddenly change on you and you don't want to start over from scratch. Hype's Jonathan Deutsch equipped me with a copy of Hype and pointed me to the site's extensive documentation and YouTube tutorials. A lot of the newest tutorials addresses the features of Hype 2.0 -- the biggest being the ability to preview your work on iOS using the free Hype Reflect. To go along with this, Hype lets you build the ability to add touch and swipe events so your project is desktop- and mobile-friendly at the same time. Other new features include the aforementioned web fonts, audio actions, curved motion paths and more. Use I had a bit of Flash training about six years ago, and a lot of it came back to me as I played around with Hype. If you understand the concept of key frames and animating elements between those frames, you won't have an issue with Hype. You can bring in all sorts of material to Hype: images, video, HTML widgets and more. A lot of Hype's power comes from using the record button. In the timeline, either click where you want your key frame to be, or type in the time on the timeline. Hit the record button and either drag the object where you want it to go next or use the inspector panel to control things such as changing color, shape or opacity. You can establish different key frames for elements in the properties bar: movement can have one set of key frames, while opacity and color can have their own key frames. Creating some of the graphic elements is where my frustrations came in. I really wish there was an easy way to create something as simple as a triangle in Hype without having to mask part of another shape or bring it in as an image. Food for thought for a future release. Some of the keyboard shortcuts were a bit perplexing as well. I'd like to see a switch to using the standard zoom keyboard shortcuts (⌘+ and ⌘-) rather than the ones built into the app (⌘> and ⌘<), which didn't even work when I tried using them because they conflict with bringing up the preference panel. (Update: Deutsch explained that the keyboard shortcut match those for Keynote, which makes sense. Part of it was user error on my end as well. To zoom, I needed to press the shift key while doing ⌘> and ⌘<.) One of my favorite Hype features is an ongoing tracking of browser and mobile compatibility. I learned that no matter what I did, the animation I was developing was not going to be Opera-friendly. Internet Explorer hated my attempt at using background gradients. My test project concerned homicides in Harrisburg in 2013, and each new discovery in Hype added to our excitement for the project. We figured out we could link to our site's video player in Hype, letting us integrate previously posted videos into the graphic. You can see a version of the test graphic (note only one button is active) here. After creating the graphic, I added a couple of swipe gestures and did a preview through Hype Reflect. If on the same network as the Hype desktop client, your iOS device will show up as an available preview option. In Hype Reflect, you have the option to test your animation in mobile Safari, access console messages and utilize a mirroring option that lets you make changes on the Mac and see them instantly on Hype. Using Hype Reflect, I was able to see that the video link didn't work on mobile, and that the text rendered a bit differently than from the desktop version. Ah, well, back to the drawing board! Another feature I really like is the ability to export to Dropbox, in addition to exporting to a folder. That made it very easy for me to share the test animation with a couple co-workers. You can also export your project as a widget for use in iBooks or Dashboard. Conclusion If you're wanting to transition from doing Flash-based animation to HTML 5-based, Hype is a fantastic tool to start with if the thought of hand-coding interactive graphics sends a chill down your spine. I'm looking forward to using this more. The 2.0 release addresses a lot of issues reviewers had with the initial release two years ago, and the support system is excellent. Tumult features work being done with Hype on its site and is experimenting with doing live tutorials through Google+. Hype retails for $59.99 through the Mac App Store or Tumult, but is on sale for $29.99 until September 10. Those who purchased Hype 1.6 after July 20 are eligible for a free upgrade, and volume licensing is available. A 15-day trial is on site for those who want to give it a try.
The Daily Grind: Has a mega-hyped MMO ever met your expectations?
The MMO hype machine is in full swing for SOE's forthcoming EverQuest Next. It's inevitable given the combination of a long-lived franchise, a big-budget studio, and plenty of update-hungry followers. We've been here before as MMO fans, though, most recently with mega-hyped titles like Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. While hype in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm curious how many of you feel like a much-hyped MMO has actually met your expectations. Has any game managed it? Which one? 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 Daily Grind: What must E3 deliver to MMO fans this year?
The 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo kicks off next week, and Massively will be on the show floor feeding opinions and news and videos back to you this year as every year. Our lineup is more than respectable when it comes to upcoming MMOs; we'll be looking at blockbuster MMOs like The Elder Scrolls Online, WildStar, ArcheAge, and Final Fantasy XIV as well as up-and-comers like HEX and Black Gold, just to name a few. But even with a full roster of games to preview, I've worried the last few years that E3 is being eclipsed, at least for MMO fans, by more player-friendly and MMO-friendly venues like PAX. What do you guys think -- am I wrong? What must E3 deliver to MMO fans specifically this year to seem more like a chance for the industry to showcase games in one convenient location and less like an advertising platform for the biggest companies as they trample each other with hype? Bonus question: What, above all else, do you want Massively's attendees to focus on at E3 this year? 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!
'Don't believe the ArcheAge hype,' lengthy fan review warns
Hyped about ArcheAge? We are too, but as with any MMO, great expectations can lead to great disappointments. That's why we're linking to another fan review of the game's Korean client. While the previous such post was largely high on the game from a dedicated player perspective, this piece at AltTabMe raises more than a few concerns involving AA's combat, sandboxiness, character creation, and more. While most of the combat complaints can be summarized by the subjectively nebulous it-doesn't-feel-as-polished-as-game-XYZ argument, the sandbox and economic concerns are a bit more concrete. "And like the pirate system that has no reward for serious consequences, the economy has the opposite, high reward with no consequences, except to those who also play the game," the author writes. "Without money sinks and a way to balance out the economy, ArcheAge is heading toward a flatline when it comes to worth." He also alludes to the possibility that the game's extensive housing and farming systems will be lost in translation from the social gaming culture in Korea to the isolationist achiever mentality prevalent in the West. "When you apply these [housing items] to the real world/game practice you see player-run towns that don't look like towns, but rather more like FarmVille: a homestead of the same resources in bulk, such as goats (which are the most profitable resource) filling every single bit of available space. So you go from being aesthetically pleasing to a resource farm," the writer explains. "The magic of a home and town is lost to min-maxing personal gain. ArcheAge turns into Men Who Stare at Goats." [Thanks Dengar!]
The Daily Grind: What great feature do you think deserves more publicity?
No one talks about The Secret World's stealth missions. A few people do, but by and large if you asked a random person about the game they'd mention investigation missions and then stop. Which is a shame, because while the stealth-based missions aren't on par with Metal Gear Solid or points related, they're incredibly clever and universally fun to play through. They're also a great way to bring in some of the sense of horror and danger that the game wants to create. It's hardly surprising that an MMO would have some features that get more or less advertisement; after all, there are a lot of moving parts in any given MMO, and it's easy to miss one or two things along the way. So today's your chance to rectify that. What great feature in a game do you think deserves more publicity? Is it a type of quest, a combat system, or even just a minor bit of visual customization? 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!
