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Ubisoft details third Assassin's Creed: Unity patch
After Ubisoft issued a second patch for Assassin's Creed: Unity late last week, the publisher gave a glimpse of the next update for the game, which is expected to fix more of its technical issues. The third update will be "larger in scope" compared to the previous two, patching bugs "like Arno getting stuck on certain areas of the map," and issues with getting in and out of cover. AI and crowd behavior will be tuned in the coming update as well as co-op multiplayer matchmaking and connectivity problems. Ubisoft also expects to fix situations where the game crashes for players, missing menu items and HUD pop-up errors as well as some of the game's performance issues, such as framerate drops. While Ubisoft said the patch will "dramatically improve" the experience for Unity players, it noted that "this next patch won't solve every problem." [Image: Ubisoft/King_Anesti]
Hyperspace Beacon: A 2012 SWTOR reflection
To say that this year has been interesting for Star Wars: The Old Republic would be a major understatement. I think it's safe to say that in the course of this year this game has gone from being one of the most loved games to one of the most hated. Maybe I just like rooting for the underdog, but I still love the game. (There are other reasons, of course.) Love the game or hate it, 2012 has been a wild ride for the game and this column. As this is the last Hyperspace Beacon of the year year, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the past opinions and predictions I held, then test them against my current stance or the truth behind what happened. Before I get into the meat of this column, I want to make mention of an event. The Imperials of The Ebon Hawk server are holding a gala in the name of Darth Nox, commemorating the one-year anniversary of her ascension to the Dark Council. Players are invited to come ready to roleplay and participate in in-character games. Nox will conduct a scavenger hunt, items will be up for raffle and auction, and every participant should walk away with something. If you were looking for an opportunity to get into roleplay or just have some fun, be sure to visit the market area of Dromund Kaas (instance 1, coordinates: 20, 200) at 6:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 5th, 2013.
WAR producer's letter talks bug fixing, patch schedules
Hey kids, it's time for another Warhammer Online producer's letter (no, it's still not dead, doomsayers). The dev team is currently hard at work on the 1.4.5a patch, and in case you were wondering, that little "a" basically indicates additions to the previous 1.4.5 update. Said additions will take the form of "functionality, messaging, and tweaks to the fortresses and relics," all of which are still being discussed on the official WAR forums. Next up is the 1.4.6 patch, and Mythic has switched gears to focus on bug fixing instead of the previously planned open RvR tweaks. There are also some additional items of interest on the horizon, including a new live event and some changes to crafting. Head to the WAR Herald to read up on all the details. [Thanks to Benjamin for the tip!]
New APB Reloaded blog dishes on beta version 1.5.0
The newest APB Reloaded dev blog is up, and this week finds GamersFirst in the midst of an "insane crunch" to get the 1.5.0 version of the beta client ready for prime time. Bjorn Book-Larsson gives us the details in his latest dev diary, and he also takes the time to answer many of the questions that fans are likely to have as the week wears on. Most of the pre-emptive Q&A pertains to beta invites, and there's also a blurb relating to possible future character wipes (aside from the one that we know is coming with 1.5.0). In addition to participating in the question-and-answer session, Book-Larsson lists a few of the core changes that the GamersFirst team has already completed. These include a new spawning system, the witnessing mechanic, modifier tweaks, and fixes for memory usage (as well as a reduced client size). Despite all the progress, there's quite a bit of work left to do as APB Reloaded's beta rolls on, and you can read all about it on the game's official dev blog.
A developer's comments on Philip's Second Life vision
Tateru commented on Philip's blog post about the road ahead for Second Life, and generated some interesting thoughts. She is not the only one to so comment. Nicholaz Beresford, the "mad patcher" of the Second Life client, and the man indirectly responsible for most of my current viewer configuration (I also use the visual interface patch to have a green skin, it is restful to my eyes, and they mostly work well together) has also commented.His thoughts? Well, speaking as someone with a strong daoist leaning, they make a lot of sense to me. Why do I like his patch? They focus on getting a lot of the little things right, right now. The Linden Lab developers are focussed on getting things right at some future date. Even things marked "resolved, internally fixed" on the JIRA take some time (at least a month as far as I can tell, sometimes longer) to get out of the internal fix into the main client. That means, for a month, we, the users, are still complaining, whilst the developers are saying "No problem any more." Of course there must be some delay for QA in the main client, but it seems like a way to distress the users unnecessarily. Read his thoughts, think you own, let us know. Should Linden Lab release more "bleeding edge" clients with un-QAed bug fixes so we can get that bug fix we really want at the risk of less stability?
