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Age of Wushu features Lingxiao City and a new game event
Trying to take a vacation in Age of Wushu must be a daunting prospect. So you think you've finally found a nice place to just take a load off and relax up in the mountains? A quaint city surrounded by snow? Nope, turns out that Lingxiao City is controlled by a power-hungry elder and there are a bunch of groups trying to overthrow him, like the people of Snow Valley, a group of hermit mages, and an eccentric band of monks... groups with which players will need to ally once they arrive, naturally. And you came up to this mountain to get away from all of that work, too. Even more relevant, there's a new event taking place in the area with the Path of the Departed. Players take a side with one of the four factions fighting for control of Lingxiao City and fight it out among themselves, but they can also take the role of the spy, secretly sabotaging one groups efforts. All of this makes the city a hotspot of activity, and probably a very weak vacation destination.
GameStop to close 120 stores, increase focus on mobile
GameStop intends to close 120 video game retail stores in the current fiscal year as part of its "GameStop 3.0" initiative, the company announced at its 2014 Investor Day event this week. Its plan to scale back gaming operations involves a bigger push into the mobile space, as it will open between 200 and 250 Spring Mobile stores, 20 to 25 Simply Mac locations and 100 to 150 Cricket stores, more than doubling all three retail efforts. The plan to shut down 120 gaming retail locations was first revealed last month in GameStop's guidance for the 2014 year during its fiscal 2013 financial results announcement. The number of stores it expected to close wasn't clear at the time; GameStop noted plans to shutter approximately two percent of its 6,600 stores, amounting to a reduction of roughly 132 stores. We've reached out to GameStop to find out which locations will close in the coming year and will update as we learn more. [Image: GameStop]
ArcheAge stream tours the in-game world
Trion is certainly gung-ho about ArcheAge these days, so if you've come around to accepting that it's coming to the West this year, the studio has a lengthy stream devoted to introducing you to the game's world and the story behind it. The stream starts out with the new CGI story trailer and is followed up with a discussion about the locations and lore of ArcheAge. "There is so much lore in this game that it is absolutely amazing," one of the devs mentioned, going on to say that XLGAMES sent Trion a 200-page summary to help the team understand it. You can check out all of the goodness after the break. [Thanks to Kari for the tip!]
LEGO Minifigures Online previews a world of pirates
It's a world of peg-legs and hooks for hands, it's a world of parrots and coastal lands. It's a giant pastiche on the wide-open seas, it's a pirate world after all. Yes, that's the obvious takeaway from the newest preview from LEGO Minifigures Online, showing off the game's nautical land of cutthroats and cutlasses for all to see. And as you might expect, it's playing the routine straight to the hilt. So what can you expect from the game's Pirate World? If you said "pirate ghosts, sea creatures, and gold," you've seen a movie within the last decade and you are entirely right. Still, it looks to be exactly the sort of broad-strokes swashbuckling that can provide plenty of fun. So if you're eager to slap on an eyepatch and say "arr" more than entirely necessary, hop on past the break to check out the full video.
Touring La Noscea and Thanalan in Final Fantasy XIV
My time spent at the Final Fantasy XIV tour didn't just include a preview of the areas to be found in the upcoming beta. No, we proud and few got the chance to also explore some of the game's other iconic areas, areas closed off at the start of the beta but slated for opening later on in the testing process. I poked around both of these regions, touring both the streets of Ul'dah in Thanalan and the cliffs and plains of La Noscea. These areas were admittedly still a work in progress. While the maps were mostly finished, the enemies in many of the regions were placeholders, and it was clear that the client we were using had a version with these regions in a state that's not ready for prime time. Still, it was interesting to look at both and see things that had been changed, updated, and in a few cases removed altogether. Before I proceed, a note: All of the areas under discussion are still being optimized and improved, so some elements such as lighting and geometry may change by the time you get to play with them.
Grand Theft Auto 5 promotional materials, in-game locations leak out
Retailers running preorders for Grand Theft Auto 5 (which is coming out in spring 2013) were supposed to wait until November 5 to give away any promotional items. Pictures of what appears to be a little keychain image viewer have leaked, both revealing that as a pre-order bonus for the game and showing off some locations to be included in Rockstar's latest paean to the West Coast.Looking through the viewfinder on the tiny accessory shows off not only the Zancudo River, but also the Vinewood Hills (a play on Hollywood), the Del Perro Pier (likely Santa Monica's landmark playground), the Vespucci Canals (with a view of downtown), and Grapeseed (a winery area that's likely a tip to California's Napa Valley).Fans have also spotted a poster promoting the game (which you can see after the break below) featuring a woman wearing a Love Fist t-shirt, and a few of the keychain viewers reference an air travel company called "FlyUS", so it appears that GTA's usual parodic shenanigans are in order. We'll likely hear even more about this one in the next month or so, as Rockstar's promotional machine for the game finally starts kicking into gear.
The Mog Log: Ul'dah on 15 gil a night
In a way, each of the cities in Final Fantasy XIV resembles a non-capital city from Final Fantasy XI. Gridania has shades of Kazham; Limsa Lominsa has shades of Norg. But Ul'dah has a clear line to Al Zahbi, center of Aht Urhgan. It's the jewel of the wasted, barren region of Thanalan, a bustling hub of commerce, a place where even the lowliest adventurer might find fortune and fame in the arenas or via careful self-promotion. Of course, it's also the most dangerous. Sure, there are spirits woven throughout Gridania and pirates in every corner in Limsa Lominsa, but Ul'dah is filled with those who'd smile to your face and then shiv your spine as soon as you turn around. Beneath a glittering facade lies a horrid hive of cruelty, and the journey to the top the city is rife with backstabbing and strife. If you're not a native, you might not realize just how bad the place really is -- or how far the city's powerful members are willing to go to ensure that Ul'dah remains at the center of trade.
Apple Store in Pasadena reopening this weekend
I just got notice from Apple that the store in the Old Pasadena retail district is re-opening this weekend, after an almost yearlong expansion project. The company even opened a temporary store a little bit down the street from the location, as it worked to expand the main store, adding a second level and lots more space for showing off Apple's products. But apparently the work is all done: The store will reopen this Saturday at 10 a.m., and the public will be able to enter and see what changes were made. Apple also says that the first 1000 customers to the revamped location will pick up a commemorative t-shirt, so come out early if you want one of those. The original Pasadena store dates back to 2003, and given the fact that it's so old and out here in California, it could be considered one of Apple's most important locations. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new store is like this weekend.
The Secret World's Blue Mountain revealed [Updated]
Funcom has taken the wraps off another locale for The Secret World, and this time the focus is on an area called Blue Mountain (no, not those Blue Mountains, Tolkien fans). The location is just west of Kingsmouth, and it boasts a deep, dark history that includes some sort of "desperate battle fought [...] long ago." Presently, the mountain is home to the Wabanaki native American tribe, which has fallen on hard times due to the greed and machinations of the modern age. Funcom says that an ancient evil is sleeping beneath the rock, and draugs, wendigo, and golems are overrunning the surrounding areas as a result. There's also a substantial government/military presence in the area, and players will be tasked with helping various agencies as well as reliving the mountain's dark past through the powerful magic of the Wabanaki tribe. [Update]: Funcom released an accompanying video late yesterday evening, and you can view it after the cut.
The Secret World's Innsmouth Academy profiled
Earlier this week Funcom treated us to a blurb about The Secret World's creepily atmospheric Atlantic Island Park. Today the official site has been updated with a new reveal centered on Innsmouth Academy. By all outward appearances, the academy is a private high school for rich kids. As per usual in The Secret World, things aren't always what they seem on the surface. Innsmouth Academy serves as something of a prep school for children of the Illuminati, "and a degree from Innsmouth Academy opens many doors for a budding magus and occultist." The school has a lengthy history, and originally opened its doors in 1798 before being rebuilt three times as a result of three different disasters (including the opening of a dimensional portal in the elementalism lab). Head to the official Secret World website to read more about the school and its faculty.
Funcom building a bridge between the real and the fantastic in The Secret World
Funcom has released a new dev blog focused on The Secret World, and today's entry is penned by lead content designer Joel Bylos. Much like with yesterday's video teaser, the focus is on the game's environments, and in particular, its localization in the real world. Bylos, who also served as a content designer on Funcom's Age of Conan expansion before moving to The Secret World, says that the game aims to capture the essence of the modern era while adding a supernatural and conspiratorial twist to places you think you know. "Above ground, New York looks just like the New York you have visited in real life. If you really wanted to, you could find the exact same area depicted in the game on Google Maps. But beneath the streets sprawls the corporate-industrial juggernaut of the Illuminati, known only as the Labyrinth," Bylos explains. The dev blog goes on to mention the game's mission system as another tool for grounding the narrative in reality. Whether you're burning zombies, performing an exorcism with a vacuum cleaner, or chasing ghosts with mirrors, The Secret World looks to use the mundane as a window into the fantastic. Check out the game's official website for the full dev blog.
Aliens, strongmen, clowns, and doom featured in new shots from DCUO
DC Universe Online continues to break the boundaries of what makes a great MMORPG. The action-based game by SOE and Warner Bros. features the amazing art of Jim Lee and WildStorm Studio. The riggers and texture artists at SOE's Austin studio have done their best to capture what it feels like to live and breathe in the DC Comics world. Today, the development team has sent us some brand-new screenshots showcasing the locations your legendary hero can visit in DCUO. If you're a Batman fan, you know Bane, the super-strong villain who pumps himself up on a serum called Venom. And if you don't know the Joker, then you don't know DC Comics. Of course, the Hall of Doom is the underwater fortress at which all the baddy-bads of the world can gather. Brainiac is amassing forces against the research centers at Area 51. Bane's Venom Lab, Joker's Amusement Mile, Area 51, and the Hall of Doom are all featured in the gallery below. After you check out the screenies, visit the official DCUO website to preorder the game. The next legend could be you! %Gallery-107324%
DC Universe shows off more location screens
It's Friday night, do you know where your alter-ego is? If you're lucky, he or she is logging into the DC Universe Online closed beta. If not, we'll point and laugh, but we'll also hook you up with some new location reveals via the latest screenshots courtesy of SOE. Feast your eyes on Green Lantern and friends flitting about Metropolis City Hall, Robin and Poison Ivy deep in the swampy bowels of the femme fatale's lair, and a few shots from around Gotham City (including the Botanical Gardens, East End Hotel, and Gotham University). You'll also catch a glimpse of a player character fighting his way free of the maniacal Brainiac tutorial missions. DC Universe Online is currently scheduled to release for PC and Playstation 3 platforms in early 2011. %Gallery-107324%
HTC Desire HD review
Did you know that the word "jumbo" originated from the name of an African elephant famed for being the largest of his kind? HTC will be well familiar with that tag having already rattled off the HD2, EVO 4G, and HD7 in a smartphone-dwarfing 4.3-inch form factor. And while that may not be the largest screen you can have your Android confectionery on today, it's arguably the upper limit of what we might consider a pocketable device. The HTC Desire HD follows, and seeks to improve upon, its laudable predecessors with an aluminum unibody construction, WVGA (800 x 480) display, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash plus 720p video, and a modern 1GHz CPU. That hardware is put at the service of Android's latest Froyo offering, complemented with an updated Sense that includes a web interface for controlling and discovering your phone remotely. It's a rich spec sheet, that much is unquestionable, but you're not just here for tenuous wildlife-related metaphors, you want to know if the whole is equal to, or perhaps even more than, the sum of its parts. Join us after the break for a deeper look at the Desire HD.%Gallery-105849%
TomTom maps get loaded onto HTC Locations, promise 'zero-wait navigation experience'
Look out, Google Maps Navigation -- here comes a little friendly competition from across the pond. While we'd heard the term HTC Locations bandied about a bit during the company's London launch of the Desire HD, now it looks as if both HTC and TomTom are ready to make their newfound friendship official. TomTom will be partnering with HTC in order to provide maps for phones loaded with HTC Locations, which is hailed as a new mapping system that results in a "zero-wait navigation experience." Initially, at least, it'll only be available on the new HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z smartphones in Europe and Asia, but the outfit promises to extend that to a wide variety of future phones and geographies. It should be noted, however, that while map and location content come preloaded on HTC Locations, turn-by-turn by guidance has to be purchased separately.
Final Fantasy XIV gets a version update and another developer dispatch
The bad news about the most recent version update for Final Fantasy XIV is that, despite player hopes, it does not yet contain the heavily awaited first revision to the market wards. That's planned for next week, according to the patch notes themselves. The good news is that it does contain a number of bugfixes and helps clean up several chat oddities. Accompanying the notes on the main page is another dispatch from the developers about how the game works, this one on the topic of character creation and disciplines, and while the developers give some vague answers, they also offer some useful, concrete information. For example, while there are no game differences at the moment based upon a character's birthday or guardian deity, both are in the works -- and if the benefits that are ultimately awarded for your chosen deity disappoint you, Square-Enix will be giving players the chance to change their guardians. The new dispatch also provides a full listing of where to get tools and weapons for every discipline at the start, allowing players from any nation to change class right from the beginning. Final Fantasy XIV players are encouraged to check both the patch notes and the latest update and to keep their eyes peeled for what promises to be a large update next week.
HTC Desire HD detailed in appropriately HD video
Feeling like you're insufficiently saturated with Desire HD info? HTC's got your back, as usual, with one of its expansive video overviews, setting the specs and features you already know about to a background of soothing music and cutesy visuals. Nothing wrong with that, we say, and it makes for a great sales pitch if you're trying to convince your significant other of the life-changing benefits of purchasing said handset. Skip past the break, set your eyeballs to 720p mode, and enjoy the show.
HTC Sense's new map pre-caching demoed on video
If you were paying attention during HTC's keynote earlier this morning, you'll have noted Peter Chou dropped a big old promise on us all: no more waiting for maps to load when zooming or scrolling. Pre-cached maps are one of the headline new features in the upgraded Sense that accompanies the Desire HD and Desire Z's announcement today, so we naturally had to go have a peek for ourselves. Requiring no internet connection, the Desire HD on hand sauntered through the streets of Sao Paulo and it was true that there were none of the aggravating grey squares of doom that we've grown used to when panning around. What isn't true, however, is HTC's claim that there's no waiting to be done. Responsiveness on these maps is far from perfect and patience will still need to be exercised. Notably, HTC said that you'll be able to download city maps free of charge, but navigation and other additional services will cost you. A final note is merited for the use of the phone's digital compass to rotate the map with you -- so that the map adjusts itself to whatever direction you point the phone. A very classy little inclusion. Eric Lin was on hand to answer the question of when this new Sense might trickle down to the classic Desire or other handsets in HTC's portfolio. Well, his answer was a non-answer: no roadmap or schedule has been set and HTC isn't ruling anything out just yet.
TERA welcomes you to the northeast
There are a lot of things about TERA that have helped push it to the forefront of people's minds without having seen much of the game, but the lore is certainly a big part of it. Aside from being a fine way to wave away fantasy inconsistencies, there's something infinitely unique about a world being dreamed into existence. But life in Northern Shara (with Shara being the eastern continent) is anything but a peaceful dream, as it's the site where the unnatural Argon first burst into the world. A new lore entry on the official site goes into detail about just what is happening in the besieged environment. Argon forces are both the core threat of TERA and the biggest danger to the region, but they're not after simple conquest. They've imported vast machinery to help them terraform the world into a more fitting environment, crawling across the landscape and distorting it. Still, within the city of Kaiator, the Valkyon Federation (presumably including the player characters) works to stem the flow of invaders and disrupt their efforts. Take a look at the full description for a better picture of the world's first battlefield against what seems to be utter annihilation.
MyTown updates to version 3.1, adds collectibles and social features
MyTown is one of the hottest things going on the App Store right now in terms of social apps. As we mentioned in the interview with CEO Keith Lee a while back, they've actually got more users than Foursquare. The company has just released version 3.1 of the app, which introduces more collectible rewards earned by checking-in to certain local, real life locations (which you can then use to customize the properties you "own"), as well as more social features. You can now browse through the top trending properties, see your most frequent check-ins, and browse through where your friends are going out to and checking-in from. Additionally, Booyah tells us that the app is growing by over 100,000 players each week. They're suggesting that the average player of the game spends "more than an hour a day within the app." That's kind of incredible, but if it's true, that's one heck of an attachment rate. In fact, those are exactly the kind of usage stats that Ngmoco's Neil Young would drool over. Considering that MyTown just made an appearance in Ngmoco's We Rule splash screen, odds are that the two companies are at least sharing notes and, at most, possibly primed for a partnership. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
