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France threatens large fines and possible jail time for e-bike mods
France does not look kindly upon e-bike owners that hot rod their wheels. The country has just introduced a law that could see "offenders" slapped with a maximum fine of €30,000 (US$34,000), and up to a year in jail. And they could have their driving license suspended for up to three years.
The Roadie 2 gives you no excuse for an out-of-tune guitar
I have what has been described as a "really crappy guitar." It's not even mine. It belongs to my friend who, before handing it to me, said, "Yeah, I let my kid hit this thing with stuff. Also, I've never changed the strings." It seemed like the perfect test subject for a new peg-turning auto-tuner from the makers of the Roadie. Typically, the older the strings, the more an instrument slides out of key. Basically, if you even looked at this guitar the wrong way, it sounded horrible.
Sonos' automatic speaker tuning feature is available today
Sonos' new automatic tuning feature Trueplay is rolling out to the masses. The software addition adjusts the strength of various frequencies in order to compensate for a room's poor acoustics or an ill-placed speaker. The idea is that Sonos speakers should output undistorted music no matter where you put your them. Trueplay has been in private beta since October, but today is the day that it's widely available to anyone with a compatible Sonos speaker.
Destiny update tunes exotic weapons to feel more 'overpowered'
Bungie updated Destiny today, changing the game's exotic weapons and introducing "additional acquisition paths for destination upgrade materials." Version 1.1 of the game re-balances the exotic gear so the weapons "look, feel and sound overpowered," and they will no longer require Ascendant Materials to upgrade. Final upgrades to exotic gear will require that players have exotic shards, obtained by dismantling other exotic gear or trading in seven Strange Coins. The update changed a number of exotic weapons, such as boosting the magazine size and reload speed of the Thorn and the stability of Hard Light and Monte Carlo. Bungie's update blog features a full list of the changes made to the exotic weaponry, which will generally start at a higher attack value than the items previously did. The version 1.1 update also fixed a few issues such as Raid exploits and lowered frame rates for Xbox One players using party chat. Destiny's first major expansion, The Dark Below, will launch on December 9. [Image: Activision]
Class tuning hotfixes
Yes, turns out they're still at work adjusting class tuning before we go into Warlords of Draenor. Some classes saw buffs, other classes saw another round of savage nerfs. Death knights and balance druids saw some buffs, as did elemental shamans, while mages saw a 20% nerf to frostbolt's damage (rolling back a buff from October 17th) and warriors got pummeled. A complete list of the class changes will be posted after the jump.
Destiny balances weapons, shuts down another loot cave
Bungie updated Destiny to balance some of its weapons and fix a few bugs today. For starters, the developer swatted a bug where the Valkyrie-O5X ship appeared to be the same as the Aurora Lance and fixed issues related to quick weapon swapping. The base damage of scout rifles were increased six percent, whereas the damage of all auto rifles as well as the Vex Mythoclast was decreased two percent and 34 percent, respectively. The developer also shut down another loot cave, one located in the rocket yard area of the game. The hot new treasure farming spot, a room where Fallen enemies consistently spawned, surfaced after Bungie closed the first loot cave. "The Fallen have also retreated from their hold over the Rocket Yard to discuss a new takeover plan," Bungie wrote in its update notes. For now, Destiny looters will have to take the stairs, if you catch our drift. [Image: Activision]
EA addressing FIFA 14 balance issues in future update
EA recently acknowledged a few gameplay issues for FIFA 14 in an official forum post as items being considered for a future update. The three pieces of feedback from players regarding the soccer sim's on-field gameplay the developer will look to tweak are the reported over-effectiveness of goals scored on headers from crossed balls and corner kicks, overpowered finesse shots as well as the accuracy of lofted through-balls. It didn't list a specific timeline for when the game would be patched. EA also acknowledged continued reports of freezing during the game, an issue we encountered a few times during our review process, and will "continue to investigate these reports internally." The game's day-one patch addressed stability issues in FIFA 14's Skill Games and Creation Centre modes.
Turntable.fm releases Piki app, for music recommendations and streaming
Turntable.fm is one of the many social streaming music sites out there -- it allows you and your friends to stream music and even listen in together to your favorite albums and songs. The company already has its own standalone app for the App Store, but it's trying a new tactic now to grab attention in this increasingly crowded streaming market, releasing a new app called Piki (a misspelling of "picky," I guess) that's centered not just around listening to music, but also around sharing recommendations and favorites. Just like any other streaming app out there (Pandora, Slacker and Rdio are all popular variants on this), Piki lets you pull up radio stations that will automatically fill with music and stream it out to wherever you happen to be. The difference here is that instead of coming from a computer or even a radio producer, these stations are filled with music recommended by your friends and other members of the service. You can provide reactions to the music as well, and then those picks are incorporated in other users' music, too. I know Pandora does use user preferences to rate its various music streams, and while Slacker's big claim is that they're using actual radio producers to pick some playlists, this is definitely an interesting idea, especially if you've got friends using the app with some excellent taste in music. And the fact that Turntable.fm is branding it under a completely different name shows that things are getting hectic in the streaming business. They're doing whatever they can to nail down an audience of listeners. If you're down to put an ear on some new tunes recommended by your fellow listeners, Piki is currently available on the App Store for free.
Dev Watercooler: Watcher on encounter tuning
While it isn't quite the PvP watercooler post that some of you have been looking for, Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas, the Lead Encounter Designer for the World of Warcraft team, published a blog post earlier today regarding encounter mechanics. It offers excellent insight behind various decisions to nerf or buff bosses. He went on to deliver the reasoning behind hotfixes to Heroic Gara'jal earlier in the expansion and how the Ring of Frost talent for mages made Heroic Will of the Emperor easy. In addition, Ion covered: Creative use of ingame mechanics vs exploits Adjusting the difficulty of encounters Unintended strategies How mages make life difficult for encounter designers Read on after the cut to see the full post!
XBMC celebrates 10 years, latest build works in mainline PVR and Raspberry Pi support
First, we must congratulate the entire XBMC team on reaching the tenth anniversary of one of the project's first betas hitting the internet, when Yet Another Media Play (YAMP) and Xbox Media Player joined forces to create something beautiful. It's outlived the original console by far, powered other projects and spinoffs (Boxee, Plex, GeeXBox -- just to name a few) and is still going strong. Just to show how much progress it's making there's a new monthly build that adds two features most will have to wait for XBMC 12 Frodo to try out. If you like to live on the edge, the September cycle includes mainline PVR support, which pulls in TV broadcasts thanks to PVR add-ons like MythTV or MediaPortal, as well as integrated support for the Raspberry Pi. Other tweaks include performance enhancements on Android, better picture zooming and rotation on mobiles and much, much more. Hit the source links for a full changelog and details on what dangers running a build hot off the presses may entail.
HP's On-Screen Display Utility released, aims to alleviate Envy 15 screen color complaints
Back when we reviewed HP's latest Envy 15, we found a glaring issue with its otherwise spectacular 1080p IPS display -- namely, its less-than-pleasing color reproduction. Making good on a promise it made back in March, HP has finally released its On-Screen Display Utility software for the machine in hopes of quelling user complaints. If you'll recall, HP stated that the displays are of a higher quality than other laptop panels, which can make colors look odd in comparison. That said, while this gesture is certainly welcome, at least one tipster wrote in to complain that he "wasn't able to get a satisfactory change. It's basically just gamma adjustment and r/g/b sliders." Of course, we've only cited one anecdote here, so if you've got an Envy 15 you'd like to test this on, hit up the source link below. Be sure to let us know your results in the comments. [Thanks, Anthony]
HP acknowledges complaints about the HP Envy 15's color calibration, will release a tuning utility in the 'coming weeks'
If you remember, we had some mixed feelings about the HP Envy 15's IPS display when we took the laptop for a spin earlier this year. On the one hand, it offers wide viewing angles, deep contrast and rich saturation. (Not to mention, when are we ever going to complain about 1080p resolution on a 15-incher?) Still, as many disgruntled forum posters have pointed out, the color calibration seems off against other displays, with reds skewing orange and purples veering into bluish territory. At the time, we reached out to HP for comment and were told to sit tight while the company investigated the issue. Well, today we got an answer, and while the outfit is stopping short of admitting any sort of defect, it is willing to concede the color tuning is different, to say the least. Better yet, it's promising a fix for those incapable of un-seeing it. In a statement, HP's PR team said: HP understands that some customers have expressed concern regarding the appearance of the color red in the ENVY 15 full High Definition (HD) panel, and we wanted to reassure our customers that this panel is functioning properly. HP ENVY Series notebooks use optional premium LED-backlit display panels that have a higher color gamut (range of viewable colors), brightness and viewing angles than many display panels. This means that some colors may appear differently than they do on other displays. A company rep added that over the "coming weeks" HP will release a tuning utility that will allow users to adjust the color settings, making those reds redder, et cetera. It's still unclear how extensive these options will be (after all, HP is still steering the most discerning customers toward its DreamColor offerings), but something's most likely better than nothing, right?
The Daily Grind: Do you like optimizing your character?
In some ways, a character in an MMO is like a car. Some people are going to have one that's just plain bad, because they don't care about it and just want the bare minimum of functionality. Others will take care of it to an extent, helping it blend into the great sea of average. But just like with cars, there are people who will spend days and weeks tuning a character to the absolute limits of performance, working hours on end just to eke out another fraction of a percent of stat bonuses. Either way, you're pushing the limits of what the engine can manage. Of course, to some people, optimizing your character is the only way to play. To others, it's searingly tedious when all you want is to just log in and have fun. So what do you think? Do you like trying to tune your character to be the best? Or would you much prefer to just play the game and take a more casual approach? Are there certain things you have to be the best at and others you don't care about? 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 Mog Log: Relaxing with community answers
Sometimes, all it takes to see an answer is a subtle change of attitude. For the past month or so, I have been trying to spend every ounce of spare time available on Final Fantasy XIV, but I'm starting to relax a little bit because I realized just how silly it is. I would rather enjoy the journey and get there when I get there; level 50 will come as it does, and hopefully by that point my fellow AETHER members will be able to craft spectacles. Until then, let's just relax a bit and indulge a few questions with answers, yes? Gente asks: Why is Final Fantasy XI the only game getting a holiday event? There's no Halloween event for Final Fantasy XIV this year, no. There will likely be one next year, however, as the development team has stated there are events in the works for as early as the end of the year. Considering past experience with Square-Enix and this most ghoulish of holidays, we can expect it will feature an inordinately useful item and a surfeit of ghosts within the city walls.
Stimmmopped lets you tune your axe with LEDs
Look, that BOSS TU-2 has served you (and eleventy billion other guitarists) well, but isn't it time for something a bit different in the pedal board mix? Stimmmopped is that very thing, which is a darling little contraption that uses LEDs rather than a microphone in order to tell you if your strings are tuned as they should be. Put simply, the device illuminates a string with a pair of lights, both of which are flashing at the frequency that the string should be vibrating at if it's in tune; if you're off, the illuminated part of the string will appear to be moving (thanks, stroboscopic effect!), and if you're on the money, the lights will appear fixed. Have a peek at the source link for more, but don't go building one yourself without a steady hand and a few vacation days to spare.
TC Electronic PolyTune tunes all your strings at once
We haven't seen much reason to trade up from our ancient Boss tuner in all the years we've been playing guitar, but the new TC Electronic PolyTune might finally persuade us. Billed as the "world's first polyphonic tuner," the PolyTune supposedly lets you tune all your strings at once -- you simply strum away and the display tells you which strings need a tweak. There's also a standard needle mode, two chromatic modes, a real-time stream mode that shows you pitch changes as they happen, and built-in memory so you can lock in your favorite settings. No word on price or availability, but we should find out more at NAMM this week. Check out a video of the prototype in action after the break. Update: Tipster Lane sends in a screenshot from our webOS Engadget app showing the PolyTune with a $150 MSRP and a $99 street price. Check it after the break. Thanks, Lane!
EverTune challenges Robot Guitar for in-tune supremacy
Gibson's Robot Guitar may have gotten off to a head start, but EverTune is here at CES with an automatic guitar tuner of its own that promises to keep your guitar in tune forever. To do that, EverTune makes use of a simple mechanism that relies on springs to maintain the same amount of tension on each string as the tuner post loosens, which should ensure that your guitar won't go out of tune even while playing (something that other self-tuning guitars can't account for). Unfortunately, EverTune isn't ready to announcing anything about availability (or pricing, for that matter), but it saying it will "soon be available on a wide range of electric guitars," and that it'll also be available as an installation kit through select retailers.
IndieCade 2009: The finalists
IndieCade 2009 was held in Culver City, CA this past weekend, and the local art galleries and restaurants were filled with independent games and their developers from all over the world. The festival billed itself as the "video game Sundance" and lived up to this self-made reputation, putting 29 different indie games on display, both throughout the weekend and during a Thursday night opening ceremony MC'd by Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand (shown above with festival founder Stephanie Barish).We've rounded up the festival's finalists in the gallery below. You may be familiar with a few of them, including Twisted Pixel's The Maw and a selection of well-known iPhone titles, but all of these titles deserve your attention -- and a playthrough!%Gallery-74606%
Count the beats: Tuning and more with Guitar Toolkit for iPhone / iPod touch
Any musician worth his/her credit knows that accurate tuning is a given. It's a crucial starting point to playing any instrument at home, on the job, in the studio, or on the road, and an embarrassment when it isn't. Some time ago I was doing an unplugged acoustic gig when my regular stomp box tuner broke down mid-rehearsal. I was in desperate need of a reliable tuner, without a music store in sight. Roll on Agile Partners Guitar Toolkit [iTunes link] for the iPhone/iPod Touch at £5.99I had heard about various tuner apps on the App Store, but I was reluctant to try any of them. I could not believe that a tuner on my phone would provide the same accurate and reliable tuning that my current (expensive) tuners could. However, I was desperate, so I took the plunge.Utilizing the iPhone's built in microphone (or the iPod Touch with a microphone headset), Guitar Toolkit's chromatic tuner performed just like using any other quality tuner. It was simple, effective and to my delight, it got the job done. After the gig, upon further inspection, I soon realized that there was much more than just a common guitar tuner in this app. Guitar Toolkit comprises a chromatic tuner, a metronome, a chord section, and a scale section too (practice your scales!!).The chromatic tuner can be used to tune a variety of stringed instruments. By changing the 'mode' selector on the tuner, from standard 6-string EADGBE guitar tuning to 'all notes' tuning, you'll be able to tune almost any musical instrument. Or, you can preselect a particular stringed instrument, from a custom list, for that instruments specific tuning arrangement (guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, etcetera). If you're feeling creative, why not come up with your own custom tuning arrangement and input it into the tuner for later reference, or choose one from the alternate guitar tuning selection. DADGAD anyone? For advanced tuning, you can alter the standard reference pitch from 440.0 Hz to whatever you'd like (some orchestras play at varying reference pitches). I've used it to tune a violin perfectly, and for all you bass players Guitar Toolkit, using the iPhone's microphone, picks up those low notes as well. There are a few noticeable nice touches here and there. On the tuner, there is the option to alter the display to a 'high contrast mode' for tuning in low ambient light conditions. Also, when the app is open, the power saving/auto-lock features of the iPhone are disabled so the tuner remains usable until you're finished.Short of being able to plug an instrument line directly in, I can't find a fault with the the Guitar Toolkit tuner.
Wintergrasp lag a big issue after patch 3.1
Zarhym has got some answers to the widespread problem of lag in Wintergrasp after patch 3.1 the other week. He says Blizzard figures the problem is simply population based -- there are many more people playing in the battleground than there were before the patch. For that reason, they're having trouble coming up with good solutions: the battleground is designed to be non-instanced, and that's why a lot of people like it, so putting a limit on the amount of people in there is not the way to go. Hardware isn't a solution either -- Blizzard's hardware is already top-of-the-line, and not only would upgrading it take a while anyway, but my guess is that most of the lag issues come not from Blizzard's side, but from the connections between players and them, which they may not have any control over anyway.So yes, we're more or less out of luck -- as long as Wintergrasp is extremely popular (and even Zarhym remembers the naysayers before the release with a smirk), there will always be a certain amount of lag in there. There are a few good suggestions floating around the comments thread -- one is that Wintergrasp should always be conquerable, which seems like it would keep down on the flood of people, though of course there'd be other issues if that were implemented.At this point, Wintergrasp lag may just be something we have to live with. Eventually, you have to think the population will drop back down, and then those of us still in there will enjoy lag-free battles again. But Blizzard has taken on quite a goal trying to do non-instanced PvP full of vehicles and towers without any lag at all.
