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Solo Stove's fire pits are up to 56 percent off for Prime Day
Solo Stove products are joining the Prime Day follies with a bunch of products on sale at up to 56 percent off.
Weathering the economic storm: Start-ups speak out
It takes a special kind of crazy to open up a new game studio in an uncertain financial climate. Yet already in 2009 we've seen a handful of people do just that, many on the heels of having lost their previous jobs to downsizing or a studio closure. Recently we spoke with three individuals behind a trio of 2009's start-up efforts to ask them how they plan to weather the economic storm and, more importantly, if seeing the rest of the industry buckle around them makes them feel just a little bit demented for doing what they're doing. "We are crazy!" proclaimed Game Mechanic Studios president and former Electronic Arts senior designer Jason Alejandre, who noted that he saw layoffs four out of the five years he spent working at EA. "The one year that we didn't have layoffs at our studio there were still layoffs at the other EA studios," he recalled. "The leadership changed at the studio level three times and the executive management changed twice." Still, Alejandre doesn't necessarily believe that all of the closures and cutbacks are directly tied to the current downturn. "It's a combination of this is just how the business is, and the other part is due to the current economic crisis. This is our industry. I think [why] the media is currently focused in on this more so in games now than any of the previous years is because the topic is now under the 'Eye of Sauron.'"
Rippy: Ensemble Studios was a 'victim of its own success'
David Rippy, founder of Bonfire Studios and a lead producer on Halo Wars, believes Ensemble's death occurred because the studio was only known for -- and allowed to create -- RTS titles. In an interview with GI.biz, Rippy expresses that Ensemble couldn't get non-RTS project prototypes approved, stating that the group represented "the RTS guys." He notes that lack of diversity is something he'd like to avoid in the future with his new studio.Rippy states that Bonfire's first project will not be an RTS game, but that the company may consider doing one again in the future. He states that the game will be different than what the team has done in the past, while still offering "a strong strategy element." As Bonfire works on the new project -- which will apparently not be published by Microsoft -- the other studio born out of Ensemble's remains, Robot Entertainment, will continue employing "the RTS guys."
Ensemble Studio vets start a Bonfire
And then there were two. Two studios born out of the still smoldering embers of Ensemble Studios, that is. Last week it was Robot Entertainment, founded by the man behind Ensemble, Tony Goodman. Now introducing: Bonfire Studios, a start-up staffed by 35 former Ensemble employees and established by David Rippy, a lead producer on Halo Wars.In fact, all of Bonfire's employees had a hand in the creation of Halo Wars, which streets on March 3. The studio, based in Dallas, TX, is at work on an original IP -- genre unknown -- described on its site as "fast, fun and addictive," with "an in-depth story, combat and game play."Speaking about the pair of phoenixes rising from Ensemble's ashes, Rippy said that, "Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best," adding, "Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams." Now we have what will (hopefully) be two ... A-studios.
Breakfast Topic: How are you spending the last few days of the Midsummer Fire Festival?
The Midsummer Fire Festival officially ends on July 5th, just a few scant days away. That means no more Lord Ahune, no more chances to get the Deathfrost enchant, no more desecration, no more turning into a crab, no more Torch Tossing... Yeah, I'm a little bummed too. Still, we have a couple days left to make the best of it. Of course, the question is -- what exactly do we do with it? Myself, I'm torn. My enchanter still needs the Deathfrost enchant, so I may want to get a group together and go slay Ahune a few more times. Then again, I still haven't gotten some of the Midsummer loot on a couple of my 70s, so maybe I want to make a push to get the last few blossoms for those. But I'm also thinking that it would be nice to get my shaman to level 30 before Patch 2.4.3, and thus I'm tempted to just go out and slog through the last few levels with her, bolstered by the all the various Fire Festival buffs and the Ribbon Dance buff. I'll have to think about it some more, but in the meantime, do you have a plan for these last few days of the Midsummer Fire Festival? %Gallery-25803% The Midsummer Fire Festival is upon us! Check out WoW Insider's complete quest guide to collect those Burning Blossoms as well as our guide on how to spend them. Also, don't forget to eyeball our screenshot gallery of Midsummer events. Finally, find out how to kill Lord Ahune, and check out our break down of his loot table.
Midsummer Fun: Incense for the Summer Scorchlings
Incense for the Summer Scorchlings' Horde equivalent is Incense for the Festival Scorchlings. I arbitrarily decided Summer sounds better than Festival, so that is what I've used as this guide's title.This quest is about as straightforward as quests can get. The first step is to head over to a capital city that belongs to your faction, and find the Festival Talespinner (Horde) or the Festival Loremaster (Alliance). You are informed that there are emissaries of the elemental plane, spirits of fire, near each of the bonfires around the world. If you wish, you can take some Summer Incense to one of these emissaries to honor them.There are bonfires in just about every zone in Azeroth, including the newbie zones near whichever capital you've found yourself in. However, before you run out and finish this quest there, you might want to pick up your other Midsummer quests first and plot a more efficient route. You can probably hit a bonfire while you're passing through another zone for a separate quest. In this case, your best choice may be to do it in Ashenvale while completing Unusual Activity. Be careful on PvP servers, as many of these bonfires will be a warzone since there are prizes to be gained for desecrating the other faction's flames.Once you've spoken to the Scorchling and given him your incense, you'll be treated to a fun little scene and, of course, your reward: A single Burning Blossom.
Midsummer Fun: The bonfire buffs
When headed out to level, farm, or grind during the Midsummer Fire Festival this year, be sure to head to the zone's bonfire for your side (there's one outside of almost every Horde or Alliance settlement) and throw in a blossom. You'll be glad you did, no matter what your level. You'll get one buff right off the bat: The Fire Festival Fury buff. This 60 minute buff will not only give you a straight 3% to your critical strike chance, but you'll also get a damage shield that will do fire damage equal to your level to all who attack you. That's right, Thorns, eat your heart out. But what's even better is that it doesn't stop there.
Two upcoming RP events, on Steamwheedle and EU Moonglade
As I said the other day, we're always happy to give some more notice to various RP events happening around the realms, and here are two (one on the US and one on EU) coming up in the next week or so.First up, there's going to be a Horde hoedown (they're not really calling it that, I just thought "Horde hoedown" was a good name) on May 10th at 8pm server over on Steamwheedle Cartel. There'll be a concert with skits and performances (including prizes for the best one), a best dressed contest, and storytelling around a bonfire. Seems fun -- if you want to perform, they're asking you to post on the board, although if you just want to watch, you can probably just show up.And over on EU Moonglade, they're holding a belated May Day event on May 11th. That one starts at 8:30pm server, and they're asking you to come dressed in your best and brightest Spring clothes. It seems a little more formal than the bonfire, but there's no reason you can't sneak a good Spring Ale in.As always, if you've got events going on that you want people to know about, drop us a tip and we'll let people know about it.
A postmortem on Accordion Hero (with a little info on Guitar Hero, too)
Just in case you missed the Guitar Hero parody Accordion Hero reported here on Joystiq a week or two back, Gamasutra has now posted a tongue-in-cheek postmortem on the squeezebox simulator. It's cheeky.You'll learn not only "that accordion players get all the girls" (with female players, of course, getting all the guys), but you'll also get a handle on some detailed developer data such as the number of accordions broken during development (none) and the number set on fire during the same period of time (twenty-three).
