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Guild Wars 2 announces PvP tournament schedule
Guild Wars 2 has a full PvP dance card for the next few months, which is why ArenaNet posted a schedule today of the many tournaments and events coming up for the community. First up is the Electronic Sports League best-of-three tournament on Thursdays for EU players and an even bigger European Gw2match.net Champion of the Mist Tournament that's planned for January 24th. Both NA and EU can engage in the Good Fights Invitational on January 25th or the upcoming vVv Gaming Kings of the Mists 2 tournament on February 1st. Finally, there's a month-long open invitational in February hosted by Mistpedia.net that will have weekly events.
Tonight's VGX lineup features GOTY in the middle of a world exclusive sandwich
If you plan on camping out with us during our liveblog of tonight's three hour VGX 2013 awards show, you can get a head start on the evening's activities by checking out the schedule of events. Among the noteworthy events for the evening are 12 "world premieres" for games like Quantum Break, Titanfall and Broken Age. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will also take the stage for a game demo during the show's first hour. Given that an ad for a next-gen Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition showed up today, it would explain the slot for tonight's Tomb Raider-centric announcement during the first hour. Those that are in it for the awards will be interested to know that the Game of the Year winner will be crowned during the early parts of the show's second hour. Additionally, the Best Indie Game will be determined near the end of the show's second hour and Character of the Year announced during the third hour. A few of the awards segments will be determined by fan vote, dictating whether the the Best Action Adventure or Best Sports Game will be announced in the first hour and Best Shooter or Best Studio award will presented in the third hour.
The Daily Grind: How late do you play?
We all have different schedules, different timezones, different levels of engagement in our games of choice. But whether you're going to work at 5:00 a.m. or 5 p.m., you still have a schedule. Sure, you normally don't get home until 4:00 a.m., but if that's the case you should really have been in bed an hour ago but you want to get just one more dungeon run. It's not just about being hardcore or not. Some people will log in to World of Warcraft for a raid, run what needs to be run in an efficient two hours, and then be free for most of the evening. Others log in to Final Fantasy XIV and wind up roleplaying until hours past a more reasonable bedtime. So how late do you play? Do you tend to get on when you get home and stay on until bed? Do you generally play an MMO and then move on to other things, or do you make that your last stop of the night? 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!
Make your EVE Fanfest plans with the official program
EVE Fanfest is next week and the faithful are preparing to descend upon Reykjavik, Iceland, for the three-day convention. If you're one of the travelers who are heading there or are just looking to follow along on livestream, CCP has released the full program with the event's schedule. Fanfest will have three keynotes about the past, present, and future of CCP's titles, respectively. There will also be several panels, including one discussing EVE Online's inclusion in the New York Museum of Modern Art. EVE Online also released a new dev blog talking about the team's war on unauthorized client modification and violations of the EULA. Apparently CCP has taken additional steps to beef up detection and prevention, and the team wanted to be clear with players as to what is and is not allowed.
Throne of Thunder raid release schedule announced
Today marks the launch of patch 5.2, and along with it comes a new raid to conquer. We have confirmation of the Throne of Thunder raid schedule, and staggered release of raid difficulties. As it stands right now, Normal Throne of Thunder launches today, with Heroic ToT and the first wing of LFR next week, with a new LFR wing released each week after until mid-April. Throne of Thunder Raid Schedule With the release of Patch 5.2: The Thunder King, the vast Throne of Thunder raid will become available. As in previous raid tiers, Raid Finder wings and availability difficulties will be staggered. To access the new Raid Finder wings you will need a minimum average item level (ilevel) of 480. This is our current schedule based on a planned patch release date of March 5. If the patch is delayed, or if we determine any change is needed, we'll update this article. March 5 – Normal Throne of Thunder March 12 – Heroic Throne of Thunder and LFR Wing 1 "Last Stand of the Zandalari" March 19 – LFR Wing 2 "Forgotten Depths" April 2 – LFR Wing 3 "Halls of Flesh-Shaping" April 16 – LFR Wing 4 "Pinnacle of Storms" source
Quickly sketch out class or meeting schedules with Weekly Schedule for iPad
With so many ways to share calendars and schedules, sometimes it's nice to go a little bit old-school with a blank sheet of paper, a Magic Marker and a little bit of time. Mobile Simplified's $0.99 Weekly Schedule app, just released to the US App Store for iPad, delivers some of that hands-on feeling as it lets you create sharable weekly agendas, monthly calendars and task lists. Weekly Schedule inherits most of its features from the $1.99 iTeach Pad, which also includes student management and lesson plan options; both apps share a UI aesthetic with a more "classroom" feel than most iOS offerings. The core schedule features are simple: on a time grid for the week, you add your event blocks and build out your schedule. If you want a specific event to repeat all week long (a morning meeting, for instance) just tap and hold to duplicate it. Blocks get a specific duration, color and name when you create them, and they hold onto that indefinitely. (You can also edit the names of the days, and it's easy to accidentally edit Friday when trying to tap the "add event" button.) The quick drag-and-drop rearrangement of the blocks -- almost as if you had paper cutouts on a cardboard schedule -- makes it easy to fit all the necessary schedule elements into your week, and know that you're not skipping anything. In the monthly calendar mode, you're actually getting an alternate view of your iPad calendar data one month at a time. It's not as flexible as dedicated apps like Agenda or Readdle's Calendars, but it's a nice overview. The Lists view gives you a basic task manager, with folders to group lists of individual to-dos. Each task can be checked off with a single tap. Sharing and exporting is an interesting -- and very constrained -- feature in Weekly Schedule. Nothing is cloud synced, dynamic or remotely editable (except events in the Calendar view, if your native calendars are shared); it's all local data, all on your iPad. For the weekly view and the calendar view, there's one way to get your work out to your colleagues -- you email an image of the schedule or calendar. Yep, that's it. For task lists, the email is text instead of an image, which is appropriate for that data type. I'd love to see some next-gen features (AirPrint, flexible export options) make it into Weekly Schedule down the road. In the meantime, though, if you have a weekly planner to make and only your iPad handy, it's a solid tool.
Real-time arrivals for some NYC subway lines now accessible on iPhone (Updated)
Update: The capable (not to mention iPhone 5- and Retina-aware) subway scheduler app NextStop has been updated to include the realtime info for the relevant lines. It's a much prettier and effective way to get at this info than the MTA's app, which should be considered a beta at best and a technology demonstration at worst. Pity the overwhelmed iOS-equipped NYC straphanger. Not only are owners of iPhones and iPads uniquely responsible for the increase in New York's property crime count this year (as victims, not perpetrators, we hope), but even if they can keep a grip on their much-prized tech, they have to cope with the increased hurdles to getting accurate transit directions via iOS 6's Maps app. It's not all darkness and grime for subway riders, however. Outgoing MTA Chief / mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, who led the heroic effort to bring the subterranean system back online after Superstorm Sandy, said that today is "the day that generations of dreamers and futurists have waited for" as he announced MTA Subway Time, the first mobile app to deliver real-time train arrival countdowns for subway riders. The WSJ notes that New York's initial effort lags far behind the time-aware apps from other transit systems. The Second Avenue Sagas subway blog has a quick take on the app, pointing out the features and flaws of the MTA's approach. On the plus side, the app and the companion website deliver the same data that appears on platform next-train clocks, giving riders the best possible chance to make their trains. Unfortunately, without cellular or WiFi access, you're stuck with the estimated timetables used by apps like Embark, iTrans and NextStop. Aside from the network access challenge and the rather utilitarian design of the app (not optimized for iPhone 5), other issues are somewhat more deeply knotted into New York's subway infrastructure. Rather than the reasonably modern and automated switching systems used on mass transit networks built out in the 1960s and later, most of New York's subway lines are still controlled via fixed-block signaling that was leading-edge back in the 19th century. That's why only the A Division lines (the legacy IRT lines, with numbered designations, plus the 42nd Street Shuttle) are getting this real-time support now; they have the signal upgrades that provide live train progress. Other lines with upgraded signaling already done (the L train) or planned (the 7 line) will be joining the app's list when ready, but the remainder of the system could be stuck in the data drought for years or decades until the signaling overhauls are complete. The MTA knows that third-party developers are eager to make use of this real-time train schedule data, and indeed those working on their own apps can get access to the live feed. Keep an eye out for updates to NYC transit apps early in 2013 featuring live train schedules. (Remember, if you loved Google's transit info, you can use Google Maps in hybrid mode with iOS 6 Maps now if you want.) [Hat tip Matt Flegenheimer]
Guild Wars 2's Wintersday event schedule announced
The most wonderful time of the year is heading to Tyria this Friday, which is when ArenaNet will be kicking off Guild Wars 2's Wintersday celebrations. It all begins on Friday, December 14th, in Lion's Arch, where Zommoros the djinn will transform his home, the Mystic Forge, into a giant snow globe. There, players can take part in a new jumping puzzle (which happens to be a giant snowman), have snowball fights with other players, and be part of a chorus of holiday bells. But that's only the beginning. Each day after that, Toymaker Tixx will be making his way to each of the capital cities of Tyria, with each stop featuring new and exciting holiday activities. He'll begin in the Sylvari Grove on the 15th and end his journey in Lion's Arch. But of course, Tixx's being an Asura means that his toys probably aren't the most stable of constructions, and the holiday event will go out with a bang as the toys in Tixx's workshop go haywire, bringing about Toypocalypse! It's up to players to "defend Tixx's present-delivering dolyaks and the gigantic toy-making machine from waves of maniacal toys." So get on out there, Tyrians; spread some holiday cheer and save Wintersday.
Guild Wars 2 updates Lost Shores page with video, schedule
Hey karka, leave our kids alone! If you find yourself saying this at some point this week, it's probably because you're neck-deep in Guild Wars 2's latest content update, The Lost Shores. ArenaNet's updated the official page of the update with lots of time-specific information as well as a teaser video for the big event. The first stage of Lost Shores begins on November 16th and tasks players to defend Lion's Arch. On the next day, the tides will turn as players seek to retake the town. The 17th is also when the new area, Southsun Cove, opens for business. Finally, there will be a one-time event on November 18th in Southsun Cove, where the invasion and counter-attack will come to a head. You can watch the trailer after the jump, and don't forget to check out our Lost Shores primer!
Blizzard shows parental controls for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and StarCraft II
MMOs and other online games have such a wide appeal that they attract players of all ages. Some MMOs simply add a minimum age requirement to the signup process and advise parents not to let their children play, but others implement strict parental controls. Blizzard recently released a new video explaining the parental controls that parents can use to monitor and control their childrens' play time in World of Warcraft, Diablo III and StarCraft II. Parents can use the system to limit the total number of hours an account can play each day or week or even schedule specific play times on a calendar. The controls can also limit the use of RealID and voice chat and even mute all of the game's chat channels if necessary. Parents can also disable Diablo III's real money auction house and use of the Blizzard forums. WoW Insider suggests that parental controls may actually be equally useful to students who need to limit their play time or any player who might want a weekly report of his activity. Read on to see the full video and find out how to use parental controls on your child's Battle.net account.
Guild Wars 2 reveals schedule for the Lost Shores
If you're a Guild Wars 2 fan, you probably don't want to miss a minute of the upcoming Lost Shores event. Of course, that means you need a little time to plan your days -- beg off of visiting relatives, pretend you're sick for work, stock up on canned food, and so forth. In foresight of precisely this eventuality, the Guild Wars 2 community team has revealed the event's schedule so that everyone can prepare accordingly before this one-time event goes live. At 3 p.m. EST on November 16th, the first event chain will kick off. This will be followed by another kickoff event on November 17th and a final culmination on November 18th, both mirroring the 3 p.m. EST start time. While the 16th and 17th will still have content for players who miss the starting bell, the 18th's event will run for several hours and will not come back around, meaning that if you only catch one part of the event, be there for the ending.
EVE Online readies $10,000 tournament
EVE Online is ramping up for its New Eden Open, a six-day tournament with a prize pot totaling $10,000. Currently, 524 players are registered to participate in 27 teams, although CCP admits that the tournament didn't fill up to the 32 teams it had hoped. The studio has, however, closed the door to any further registrations. A dev blog illuminates some of the nitty-gritty details leading up to the tournament, including where and when teams can practice and how the absence of a full roster will affect the elimination brackets. Of most interest, however, is the schedule for the tournament. CCP breaks the event down day by day as the New Eden Open proceeds from November 17th through December 2nd. The studio also announced that it will host contests and giveaways for viewers during the tournament, although details on these are still forthcoming. For more information on the New Eden Open, check out our EVE Evolved column on the event.
Atari announces iOS lineup for the rest of the year and beyond
Atari has dropped a press release announcing its mobile game lineup for the rest of 2012 and first part of 2013, and there are some really interesting titles in there. Here's the full list, for your viewing pleasure: RollerCoaster Tycoon (Q1 2013, iOS and Android) Dungeons & Dragons: Warbands (December, iPad) Atari Casino (Q4 2012, iOS) Outlaw (November, iOS) RollerCoaster Tycoon should be a fun addition to mobile platforms. Dungeons and Dragons Warbands is a D&D-themed game that sounds nice and tactical, and Outlaw is presumably either a port or an update of the old Atari game from back in 1976. Atari Casino is another old Atari title, but given how popular poker and other casino games have been on iOS, it's more likely that Atari is working on its own freemium gambling simulation rather than remaking the old classic. One thing you might not notice on this list is any of the Pong variants that won Atari's developers challenge earlier this year (for which I was a judge). Atari's reps have confirmed to us that those games are still under development, and not yet ready for a release announcement. But even without those Atari-published indie titles on the slate, this seems like a nice lineup for the company. We'll keep a lookout for the first two especially, and let you know when they drop.
SOE Live posts live cast schedule
SOE Live begins tomorrow, and chances are you already know whether or not you're attending. For those of you who would like to go, but pesky money or travel is getting in the way of your big dream, SOE has an electronic alternative: live casts. The studio is broadcasting the show through Twitch and CurseTV for all three days of the event. The schedule for the live casts is up, starting with the keynote address on Thursday and ending with the costume contest on Sunday night. SOE is making available plenty of the big panels including almost anything to do with PlanetSide 2 and several tournaments. EverQuest and EverQuest II expansion panels on Saturday morning are a must-see for players of those games as well. Massively will be on the scene in Las Vegas for the show, so stay tuned for all of the exciting information that we'll be channeling your way!
Ubuntu 13.04's final release slated for April, alpha to arrive in December
Quantal Quetzal won't properly launch until October 18th, but a tentative timeline for Ubuntu 13.04 has already appeared on the horizon. Come December 1st, the as-of-yet unnamed version will hit its first alpha and transition into its second testing stage on February 7th. After touching the beta milestone on March 7th, the release is just a small stretch away from its proposed April 25th launch. If the wait feels entirely too long, you can spend time perusing potential pseudonyms for the OS at the more coverage link below.
Star Wars: The Old Republic launches update 1.4 and takes aim at faster patches
The fourth major update for Star Wars: The Old Republic is live right now, but some players may find patch 1.4 a bit lighter than previous updates. According to a new development blog, this isn't by accident but by design. Creative director James Ohlen explains that the development team's previous strategy of launching a single big update every few months did result in big patches but at the cost of long stretches without anything new for players. Starting with 1.4 and moving onward, the team is moving to prioritize more frequent updates. Ohlen places a rough estimate of every six weeks but notes that it's only an estimate and a target rather than a firm schedule. He goes on to state that the team is planning on three more patches by the end of the year in addition to the free-to-play conversion, with more large-scale improvements and updates due in 2013. If you're mostly just interested in cutting through 1.4's new raid mode, of course, most of this is immaterial, but you can still check out the trailer for the patch just after the break.
The Mog Log: It's the countdown
On November 1st, it's the end of the world as we know it. I'll let you know then how I'm feeling. All right, the game will still be online for another week or so, but November 1st is the last day that any progress is getting saved. You can go ahead and ignore Final Fantasy XIV after that last server photograph, unless you had an urge to spend all of your gil on airship rides but couldn't bear the thought of being broke. Not that you'll even need to worry about that after September 29th if you're not currently subscribed, as that's the last chance for people to come back even if it's just for a short period of time. It's hard to avoid looking forward to the end of the game as it stands, and the fact that we have a precise timeframe only exacerbates the problem. We've got 45 days until the ending hits, and while I've already talked about what to do with the time you have left, there are questions that need to be asked as we look at the numbers.
Google Fiber announces 180 qualified fiberhoods, sets approximate rollout schedule
As promised, the complete list of 180 (no more, no less) fiberhoods which qualified for Google Fiber service has been announced. With it, the approximate construction schedule has also been posted online, confirming Hanover Heights in Kansas (October) and Crown Center in Missouri (Spring 2013) will lead off the deployment for their respective areas. If you live in a qualifying area and have not signed up yet, you will be able to sign up or change plans when installations actually begin, which will be October 2nd in Hanover Heights. All of the info about Google's gigabit internet service and how to get it is at the blog and if you're still waffling, remember -- it has ESPN now. Update: If that wasn't enough, Google has also expanded its channel lineup a bit more with Boomerang, Cartoon Network, CNN, CNN en Español, CNN International, HLN, hTV, infinito, MLB Strikezone (as part of an add-on package),TBS, TCM: Turner Classic Movies, TNT and truTV.
Battleground Call to Arms not just for weekends anymore
Patch 5.0.4 introduced a new battleground schedule in which there is always a Call to Arms battleground instead of weekends only. The Call to Arms changes every Tuesday and Friday, so that players can earn bonus honor every day of the week. You may ask, "But, Robin, why aren't all the dates covered in that calendar over there? [points to the right sidebar]" Well, I'll tell you. The new Mists of Pandaria battlegrounds have already been scheduled on the in-game calendar, even though they won't be introduced until September 25. We are currently showing only the BGs that can be played right now, but we are also showing when the Temple of Kotmogu and the Silvershard Mines will be the Call to Arms BGs after launch. You can always verify the current schedule by viewing the in-game calendar. Just make sure the Battleground Call to Arms filter is selected from the filters dropdown menu at the top right of the calendar. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Isis mobile payment system primed for September launch, supported devices revealed
You've known it was coming, but Isis has been so quiet on the mobile payments front in the past few months that you might've forgotten the score. Now, the joint venture backed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon has announced that it'll debut its system in Austin and Salt Lake City next month. At least part of the delay is attributed to its shift in strategy, when Isis shelved its plans to process payments through the carriers themselves and instead work with MasterCard and Visa. Isis representatives have declined to elaborate on future expansion plans. Coinciding with the recent update that enabled Isis support for T-Mobile's Galaxy S II, MasterCard has come clean with a list of devices that'll receive similar treatment. Specifically, those in the US can expect the Droid Incredible 4G LTE, One X, Amaze 4G, Galaxy S III to gain Isis support. Naturally, the possibility remains open for other devices as well, and if you'd like to see the complete list of candidates, make sure to check out the PDF below.
