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The Perfect Ten: Character creation options nobody uses
There are two types of people in the world: those who can't get through the character creation menu fast enough to start playing "LordBladezz" and those who spend hours crafting the perfect face that will be seen by the player only 0.03% of the time. I've heard rumors of a species of middle-ground player, but I've yet to see one. I think there could be a doctoral thesis for someone willing to investigate which visual character creation options most of us use and which ones we ignore. My hunch is that most of us are looking to recreate an impeccable standard of beauty or handsomeness, resulting in game worlds exploding with Abercrombie & Fitch models. Because exploring the "most-used character creation options" isn't as much fun, today we're going to examine the 10 options that pretty much nobody uses. And yes, you'll feel compelled to comment that you do indeed use one of these and prove me wrong, so let me give you a gold star in advance for doing so. You're awesome.
The Daily Grind: What character creation option do you wish MMOs would include?
I'm one of those players who takes forever and a day just to make it through the character creation process (forever and two days if it's a superhero title). It takes so long because I just agonize over every little aspect of how my character looks, even though I'll be spending the rest of my game time with them looking at his or her back. Because of this, it does frustrate me when games skimp out on character creation options. MMOs that have only three hairstyles, or identical faces, or nothing but an absurd standard of beauty have me gnashing my teeth. I don't need sliders all the time, but some interesting options to allow me some degree of personalization would be dandy. So what character creation option do you wish MMOs would include? Are there beards, hair styles, scars, or accessories that you never see but wish you did? 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!
BioWare documents the beginning of your SWTOR saga
The launch day of Star Wars: The Old Republic is upon us, and while most any interested parties are fully immersed in BioWare's mega-MMO, there are always those who are still on the fence about the game or haven't heard about it yet. To give a proper nudge in the right direction, BioWare's released an eight-minute documentary titled Your Saga Begins to give a broad overview of SWTOR's strengths and direction. The team spends the time making a case for not only why the game is special but how it should appeal to the Star Wars fan in all of us. Covering the bases of story, voiceovers, companions, exploration, graphical style, and more, the developers hit on all of the selling points of the game while giving first-time viewers a good reason to give this title a shot. Even if you're a veteran of the Mandalorian War, there should be a tidbit or two in this documentary that's new to you, whether it be absorbing the behind-the-scenes voice recordings or seeing just how big and bushy some of the devs' beards have become. You can watch the full documentary after the jump -- and don't forget to check out our comprehensive guide to launch and beyond!
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: City Tuesday
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, Chris Zukowski asks the tough questions about free will, terrorism and beards with his artistically charged indie (which was featured in the Xbox Live Indie Games Summer Uprising), City Tuesday. *Not an actual gun. Prices and participation may vary. Do you see yourself as part of a larger indie movement? Yes.
These are the MacBook moustaches you've been looking for
You'll never look at an apple the same way again. %Gallery-94815%
Medal of Honor screens lack renowned facial hair rendering
Click to bust into the image gallery! We've got some good news and some bad news for those of you eagerly awaiting EA's Medal of Honor reboot this summer. The good news first: Five new, high-resolution images of the game -- albeit stills from the debut trailer -- are in the gallery below. Now, the bad: We count only one Tier 1 Operator featured in the screens with a beard. We know, we know -- it shocked us, too! We'll make some calls and demand that the appropriate amount of facial hair rendering be included in the next batch. You can thank us later. %Gallery-85956%
The 'Medal of Honor' Beard Cover Interview
In early December, EA revealed the cover for its Medal of Honor reboot and all anyone could say was: "BEARD!" Well, after months of trying to get an explanation of how that grizzly (Adams) decision went down, Craig Owens, director of marketing at EA Los Angeles, has finally delivered the answers. Here are the declassified details of our exchange: Joystiq: How did you select the cover image for the Medal of Honor reboot? Craig Owens: What you see today as the key art (or box front image) is the result of a long process that's been going on for nearly a year now. When we set out to reboot the Medal of Honor franchise, we knew that the key art of the new game had to accomplish two very important things. First, it needed to stay true to the authenticity that the brand is known for. Secondly, it had to be unexpected not only for the brand but also for the shooter genre. After several months of reviewing many, many concepts, it wasn't until this past summer that the new face of Medal of Honor was born. During an agency pitch meeting with several creative agencies, our current partner – Ignition Creative based in Santa Monica, California – revealed a concept, using a photographed model with this real, epic beard. That concept was nearly identical to the final image you see today. When the development and marketing team first saw it, we immediately knew that was our guy. He was authentic to a Tier 1 Operator and unexpected for both MOH and the current characters out there in the gaming space. %Gallery-79326%
