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Meet the new, familiar faces of Fuse's Overstrike 9 team
Insomniac's Overstrike team-based shooter has turned into a game called Fuse, due out in the first quarter of next year on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. And the four characters in the game's co-op team are in many ways the same four that we saw in last year's trailer, but they've changed a lot as well. The names might be the same, but the looks (in some cases) are different, and the weapons, now powered by the alien element "fuse," have seen changes.So here's your guide to the four co-op characters in Fuse, that make up the "Overstrike 9" team, dedicated to fighting the villanious Raven force around the world. Players will be able to play any of these characters in online co-op, and Insomniac has also created a function called "Leap" that will allow any player to jump, at the press of a button, into any character not already being controlled (so a solo player can jump into any character, two players can jump into either free character, and so on). And all of these characters not only earn experience upgrades as they play, but they also build up fuse power into a "fusion mode" (activated by anyone on the team) that then rewards unlimited ammo and extra functionality in their fusion weapons. Finally, in addition to each character-specific fuse weapon, each character also gets two conventional weapons to wield (one heavy and light, per character), and grenades to throw as well.Read on to hear where these four characters come from, and what you'll find their strengths and weaknesses are as you play through Fuse.%Gallery-165036%
Pogoplug Team lets businesses tap into their own 'personal clouds' for $15 a year per user
Last we heard from Pogoplug, it had unleashed its Series 4 hardware (its current device for making any of your drives network accessible). Today, the company, known for its pursuit to make the cloud more "personal," has shifted its gears back to software, aiming directly at businesses with a new service dubbed Pogoplug Team. On basic level, Team is similar to the software-based version of Pogoplug, enhancing the experience with goodies like multiple accounts and full customization to match your businesses' look. Interestingly, Pogoplug isn't including storage options for Team's pricing scheme, but instead charging $15 a year for each user (minimum of three required) -- meaning your users dictate the amount of storage space needed with their own computers and drives, rather than utilizing remote servers as with other major services like Google Drive or SkyDrive. Better yet, current Pogoplug users can upgrade to Team if they're interested. Curious for all the details? There's a nifty press release just after the break.
Guild Wars 2 wants you to play with your friends no matter what
"Whenever we design a new feature we always ask ourselves how it impacts our players' ability to play with their friends," ArenaNet's Eric Flannum stated about Guild Wars 2. In an interview focused on connecting players together, Flannum made it clear that the team was looking for every possible opportunity to pave the way for social hookups. Flannum addressed the specifics of how Guild Wars 2's servers work in relation to transfers. While there is a traditional paid transfer service (which can be used only every seven days), all players will have the ability to hop over to friends' servers as a guest. Player team-ups are further made possible by the dynamic level-adjusting system that scales players down to the zone they're occupying. This process is made easier by ArenaNet's decision to make friend lists and guilds account-wide instead of specific to a server. So while each guild has a home server, other chapters can exist elsewhere. Flannum also said that the team is carefully structuring its PvP system so that it will be free from potential abuse by server guesting.
Apple initiates hiring drive in Israel
Apple has posted listings around the Internet for a Technical Recruiter based in Israel, signifying that the company is kicking off a hiring drive in that country. The main goal of the individual in that position will be to get involved in "identifying, engaging and securing world-class candidates for Apple in Israel," and presumably growing the company's operations there. The position asks for quite a bit of recruiting experience, particularly in the engineering, hardware, and semiconductor industries, and will also need to deal with "hiring ramps of 20+ vacancies," which again means there's probably a significant team headed to Israel. This isn't the first we've heard of Apple trying to move into Israel, and CEO Tim Cook has said in the past that as well as Apple is doing here in the US and overseas in Europe, the biggest potential for growth is in developing tech nations like Israel and other countries in the Middle East. A move like this shows that Apple is not only taking advantage of its cash pile and status as a company right now, but also looking ahead to grow even bigger in the future.
Atari team rejoins to make mobile titles
Seamus Blackley is one of the co-creators of Microsoft's original Xbox console, and he put together a really interesting team of old-school Atari game developers recently to make mobile games. Blackley's new company is called Innovative Leisure, and while the website isn't anything more than a groovy logo, the devs he's got on board make for a pretty impressive list: Ed Rotberg (who made Battlezone), Owen Rubin (Space Duel), Rich Adam (who worked on Missile Command), Ed Logg (the creator of Astroids and Centipede), Dennis Koble (who programmed Shooting Gallery), Bruce Merrit (creator of Black Widow) and Tim Skelly (who is also an old school game dev, though not with Atari). The company is completely separate from Atari (which already has a pretty significant presence on the App Store), but the team has some money already and is reportedly working on prototypes and ideas for a first game. It should be interesting. The mobile gaming market is filling up fast, but there's no question that these guys know how to make solid and interesting arcade games. We'll have to see what they can do with iOS and other mobile platforms.
Steve Jobs and the Mac team, photographed by Norman Seeff
I really like these photos of Steve Jobs and the early Mac gang, taken by Norman Seeff. You may have seen one of them on the front cover of Time magazine, not to mention on the back cover of Jobs's recent biography. It's great how these photos show just how young and carefree Jobs and company once were, hacking away on computers that they then sold directly to other young and carefree computer users. The people in these photos aren't corporate billionaires or marketing geniuses just yet -- they're just having fun making cool stuff. But at the same time, I do see a little glint in Steve's eye, a realization that by posing with his computer on his lap in front of a fireplace with a beer next to him, he's got the opportunity to be "different" from everyone else out there. These were taken after Bill Gates's hilarious photos, and you get the sense that Jobs already knows history is watching. Great photos for sure. Thanks, Elizabeth!
Pepsi's 'Sound of Football' project lets visually impaired players see the pitch with their ears (video)
One one side of the field was a team of former pro soccer players. On the other, a squad of visually impaired amateurs. The two sides laced 'em up, stretched out their quads and went head to head in a scrimmage, though the matchup was a lot more even than you might expect. It's all part of something called the "Sound of Football" -- the latest experiment from the Pepsi Refresh Project. The idea was to level the playing field, so to speak, by forcing both teams to play a match using only their ears, and a pretty nifty tracking system. Created by Tracab, this system was comprised of 16 cameras covering the entire pitch (including two stereovision cameras placed at mid-field), and used jersey colors to distinguish the home team from the away team, and to identify the referees. This set up, which was deployed during the last World Cup, essentially tracked the position of each player in real-time. This information was then funneled into an iPhone attached to each player's headset, and converted into a surround-sound landscape, using an app created by a company called Society 46. Unique sounds were assigned to both the ball and the goal; turning your head in the direction of one goal would produce one sound, facing the ball would result in another. This allowed each player to get a better idea of his surroundings and of his spatial positioning, though, as many of the pros found out, it wasn't quite as easy as it looked. The designers of this system are now looking to use their technology in other, non-sports arenas, in the hopes of helping the blind and visually impaired "see" more of the world around them. Check out a pair of videos on the match and the technology behind it, after the break. [Thanks, Martin]
PlanetSide 2 opens up a comm-link to the players
Creative Director Matt Higby has stepped up to the plate to take a few swings at an introductory letter for PlanetSide 2 on the title's official website. Higby begins by laying out his past experience at SOE, citing his enthusiasm for working on the PlanetSide sequel and introducing the team working on the project. The meat of the letter comes as Higby presents the core pitch for the game. "Our goal with PlanetSide 2 is to create a game where you will fight against and alongside thousands of players, competing simultaneously and directly against one another in massive battles featuring intense infantry action as well as incredible air and ground vehicle combat," he writes. "All of these features come together to deliver what we feel will be not only the world's best MMOFPS, but the ultimate online FPS experience." Included in the letter are two brand-new screenshots from the game showing soldiers stalking the enemy on an alien world. You can check out those images as well as past PlanetSide 2 pictures in the gallery below. %Gallery-127964%
How the iPad is changing baseball
Baseball is undergoing a digital revolution thanks to the iPad and the iPhone. Sports fans, management and even players are using the iPad to improve America's favorite game. Fans can watch every Major League game on their phone or tablets. Managers can keep track of their rosters and players can analyze both their own performance and that of their competitors. Companies like Baseball Info solutions have embraced this trend. The service compiles the statistics for every player in the Major Leagues and makes it available to all thirty MLB teams. Sports professionals are not alone in this move to a digital future. Recently, we took a look at Extra Innings Mobile Instructor, an app which lets coaches and parents record and analyze the technique of both hitters and pitchers. And baseball isn't the only sport being transformed by the iPad. Recently, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handed out iPads to all its players and management to replace the paper-based playbook.
Enter at Your Own Rift: 'Role' play
In retrospect, it was all my fault. I had gotten too used to just throwing RIFT dungeon groups together and assuming that with the flexible soul system we'd be able to provide everything necessary no matter what archetype mixup we had. I suppose it's a testament to Trion Worlds' design that an exact group composition wasn't a top concern -- the goal is just getting five willing players together for a fun run. We were running Darkening Deeps, and I decided to start a group so that I could show off the dungeon to Rubi. We had two Rogues, two Mages and a Warrior, and I felt pretty confident going in that we would prevail. And while the Warrior stepped up and said he would tank -- taking the burden off of my Riftstalker build -- everyone else was curiously quiet when I asked if there was another healer who could back up my Bard heals for boss fights. Nothing. Not a peep. The other Rogue didn't have a Bard spec, and the Mages were whistling innocently when I asked if they happened to have a Chloromancer role tucked in their back pocket. Oh crud. This was going to hurt. Six trash pulls into the dungeon later, I called it and said that we simply didn't have enough healing power to make it through the bosses. My bad, I said, thanks for playing!
The Mog Log: Eleventh-hour changing of the guard
When I woke up on Friday, I was greeted by a message from Square-Enix, and that alone was enough to make me start wondering what in the world was going on now. As a direct result of that message, the gist of which can be gotten here if you've somehow missed it, I'm going to have to postpone the column I had previously written on Final Fantasy XI and Abyssea. I apologize, but I'm hoping the column will work out like a fine wine and just be better with age. Then again, considering that Final Fantasy XI is sharing the same management bug as Final Fantasy XIV, perhaps not. And yes, wow, that was a big one. Tanaka dethroned, a new development team installed, and a whole lot of uncertainty about what this means for the future of Final Fantasy XIV. It could be a step forward, it could be a step backward, and unfortunately the official statements can be read in a multitude of different ways. Oh, right, and the free trial is being further extended until the development team can confidently outline a plan regarding the game's new direction... but what direction is that actually going to be?
Behind the Mask: Play nice with others
If there's one thing everyone here at Massively enjoys, it's playing MMORPGs with other people. Teaming with people makes almost anything fun. I have friends who play EVE who somehow claim that even mining can be fun, if done with friends. Unfortunately, Champions Online has a big problem with team play. It's hard for a team to share objectives, and the rewards for teaming are otherwise horrible. It feels a bit like World of Warcraft, yet much worse. WoW has real incentive to get into teams and run instances at the lower levels, and although many of these dungeons are skippable, WoW's focus on loot advancement encourages players to team up and get the best stuff they can use at any given level. This is just not true for CO. Many players just skip lairs entirely, even though lairs give great rewards. There are no "random missions" like there are in City of Heroes, either. Still, lairs are fun, because you get to play with other people.
Ask Massively: Free-to-play edition
Wow. Last week's Ask Massively brought out some passionate opinions from our readers on the topic of comment moderation. This week, we hope to shatter that feedback record with our latest topic: free-to-play games. We know it's a hot topic among MMO gamers lately, and our question this week asks the members of the Massively team to voice their opinions once and for all. No more assuming that everyone shares a brain; it's all out on the table now. Follow along after the jump to see how we answered this one.
Team Fortress 2 out for Mac Steam
Valve has released Team Fortress 2 for the Mac, along with a funny little video trailer highlighting the old PC vs. Mac fanboy wars (and a great comic featuring the TF2 characters' first visit to the Apple Store). If you've never played TF2, you're in for a treat -- it's a multiplayer team-based shooter with a beautiful art style, excellent balance, and a great sense of humor. If you're a shooter fan, it's definitely a must-play, and even if you're only into the top tier of shooters, it's worth checking out. And Valve is hoping you'll do just that -- the game is half-off right now, and this weekend, they're offering up a free weekend of play, so you can download the game on the Steam client, and give it a go through Sunday for absolutely free. It's not like the Portal deal, where you'll get to keep it forever, but if you like it this weekend, the full game is a steal at US$10, or you can get it with the whole Orange Box (which includes Half-Life and its two episodic releases) for $30 total. TF2 on the Mac? These are wondrous days we live in.
An interview with veteran supergroups in City of Heroes
Today is rather the day of City of Heroes, and with good cause -- six years old, with many changes and exciting new parts in the wings. And the game is still open to new players of all sorts, with plenty to enrapture players who've never once set foot in Paragon City. But there's also a special place for players and groupings that have been around for nearly all of the game's lifespan -- something that's quite an accomplishment for more than half a decade. We were lucky enough to have a chance to speak with two veteran supergroups as part of the anniversary celebration: ICONS and Fusion Force. To help compare and contrast responses, we asked both groups the same set of questions, and what follows is their responses. Some of them are close to one another (for instance, everyone seems to want to go into space), but others are very different, even with similar amounts of experience. Whether you're a City of Heroes veteran yourself or just curious about the game's history, jump on past the cut for our chat with some of the game's longer-running player groups.
New Square Enix RPG coming to the iPhone this year
A job posting on a Japanese developer's site has hinted that Square Enix will be releasing a brand new RPG on the iPhone sometime later this year. Media.Vision has posted that they're seeking to fill a number of positions related to building an RPG on Apple's platform in conjunction with Square Enix. The Final Fantasy Ring fansite says that the game will be called Chaos Ring, and will by produced by the same team that made the popular Wild Arms console series. FFRing also says (via Japanese translation) that the game will be a 3D title, and it will feature a storyline concerning five pairs of warriors who fight to the death for the right to eternal youth. Each game stage will consist of a ring of battles with a boss in the center, and some choice in how the player takes on enemies -- more challenge for more risk. It sounds intriguing. Square Enix has been seeing some success with its older titles on the iPhone, and we know it's got a few original titles already in the pipeline for Apple's platforms. It'll be great to see what they can cook up for the App Store. [via TA]
Farewell and thank you, WoW.com
I've told this story a few times before: I actually started out on WoW.com as a comment troll. A few years back, Jennie Lees was the lead blogger here, and she posted something silly about a wallpaper or a plush doll, I don't remember. I was also reading the forums at the time, and Blizzard had just dropped new priest patch notes. "Why are you posting this junk," I commented angrily, "when the priest notes just dropped?" She was nice about it -- she actually emailed me and said that the priest updates post was coming soon. And I felt so bad about it, I never activated the comment. But a little while after that, when WoW Insider posted that they were looking for some new writers, I applied, and said that I was sorry for that comment, but that I was working on becoming a writer and could help out with posting on the site when needed. When I started writing for WoW Insider (now WoW.com, obviously), I was working retail in Chicago, writing part-time in the evenings. The site itself got only a few thousand hits a month, with one or two weekly features and maybe ten comments per post. Now, over three years later, I'm a fulltime freelance writer, I've been to three BlizzCons, I've written over 1.7 million words in over 3,300 posts here about everything in Azeroth, and the site itself rivals some of the best blogs on the Internet, routinely garnering millions of hits a month. I helped build this site with my own two hands, and while I definitely can't claim all the credit (there was and is a huge team of people who keep this thing running), it's with a fair amount of sorrow that I'm here to tell you today will be my last day on WoW.com.
Finally an answer on Gnomes in the cinematics
We've very closely covered the lack of Gnomes in any of Blizzard's major cinematic pieces so far. We had hoped to see them in the Wrath cinematic, but of course Blizzard went a completely new direction with that one (retelling the story of Arthas rather than showing players fighting), and so they weren't there either. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that at least one person has remade the Burning Crusade cinematic, filling it with Gnomes just to see what it would be like. And while we've gotten some snide comments from the Blues before ("they're there, they're just too short to fit in frame"), Bornakk has finally given us an honest answer as to why the Gnomes haven't been show in cinematic form: they're just not awesome enough?Wait, that's not what he really said? Well that's what we heard -- he says that the cinematic folks go for what seems most awesome, and Gnomes have just never been a part of that combination. He says Trolls have gotten nearly the same treatment, and while that's true, you can see a Troll for a split second in the Burning Crusade cinematic -- they haven't had the complete shutout that the shorter denizens of Azeroth have had so far.In fact, Murlocs have gotten more screen time than Gnomes have. But the good news is that the more Blizzard leaves Gnomes out, the more awesome it'll be when they finally appear. The cinematic team can't leave them out of the game forever, right?
Ghostcrawler respondes to balance questions
Our buddy Ghostcrawler has appeared on the forums answering (or re-answering, as he says) a few concerns about the balance of the game. Most of his answer is about PvP: he says that Death Knights and Holy Pallies are overpowered, but that while Blizzard does believe there are more imbalances, debate is still raging about exactly where they are. And he does say that while burst damage is still a concern, he feels that Blizzard did a lot to combat that when they started Season 5, and that the bigger concern now is getting mana pools under control. Too many fights now have healers just going and going, and while they don't want fights to end super fast, they can't all drag out, either.He also talks more in-depth about the balance between gear you can get from PvP and PvE and how it needs to be fixed: he straight out says that 25-man Naxx is too easy to PuG, and agrees that Ulduar and future PvP weapons "should ideally require the same amount of investment." Likewise, when Blizzard tried to reset the resilience stacking at the start of Season 5, they had players facing very powerful weapons from the PvE raids like Kel'thuzad, which lead to, as he says, "a perfect storm for fast Arena deaths." Which is probably why so many players left the Arenas.The plan for the future? Ulduar's hard modes will be way tougher than Heroic Naxx, so players won't be able to PuG PvE and then go kill in PvP right away. Of course Death Knights are still cruising for a nerfing, if patch 3.1 doesn't bring them down off their high Deathcharger. And GC suggests that in the future, starter PvP gear may beef up resilience at the cost of offensive stats, so that players don't begin with gear that has great defense and offense right away.
Raid Rx: Sports can help you heal better
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a new WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related. This week we look at how sports can help you improve your game! Spring is well underway in Azeroth! Although in my area, it ends up taking a little longer than most. This is a great time time for you to get back outside and start participating in a variety of sports (literally, of course). Most of you that are familiar with me know that I love playing street hockey and volleyball! I've started participating in those activities again and it reminded me of several aspects that are transferable to us healers. Winning teams share a certain amount of traits. Likewise, winning healing teams are no different. Hockey teams employ different strategies. The New Jersey Devils played heavy defense during their cup winning years while Detroit plays a strong puck possession style with emphasis on controlling the play. Your healing team could have different combinations of healers. Perhaps your guild has 4 Resto Shamans. Maybe your guild doesn't have any at all. Here are a few common themes that I've noticed.
