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EverQuest Next devs punt the question of guns and ninjas
Should "modern" concepts like guns and ninjas be included in EverQuest Next? At the risk of editorializing, we think guns and ninjas should be in every MMO, even the pacifistic ones. SOE took the question to the community, which was divided on the answer, and the studio tackled the topic internally as well... ending up with the team divided in a similar fashion. In a new roundtable video, the devs talk about the pros and cons of including a fantasy twist of these familiar concepts in Norrath. The main concern the team had for anything being put into EQN was that it pass through a lore filter to make sure that it wasn't going to be out of place. The devs aren't committing to a "yes" or "no" on these concepts wholesale but will be examining them on a case-by-case basis to see if there's a precedent -- and to keep their options open for now. You can check out the full discussion after the break. Don't forget to check out our EQN roundtable wrap-up while you're at it!
City of Steam fashions a pressurized skill tree
Many MMOs have skill or talent trees, but when you're doing a steampunk game, why not take a bland staple of the genre and turn it into something awesome? That's what City of Steam's Lead Designer Dave Winking is promoting when he shows off the team's ideas for turning the mundane into the fantastical. After taking feedback from previous generic builds, City of Steam's dev team revamped the skill tree's visuals and mechanics to entice a "whoa!" out of its players. The concept is that the tree is now a maze of pipes, boilers, and valves. Players will build up "pressure" over time, pressure that can be vented into different pipes. The more pressure in a pipe, the higher a skill goes, and once a skill hits 100% pressure, it's usable by the player. Winking says that players have more options than just filling up a pipe; they can also over-pressurize pipes to achieve higher skill ranks and take multiple paths to achieve better skills. There's even a mystery skill that Winking says will "make your character explode into pieces of bread with cat's heads stuck through them." Of course, he then says he's probably teasing about the last thing.
Steampunk USB cufflinks are as awesome as they are pricey
You wouldn't think something classifiable as "wearable storage" would look so darn dapper, but here we are, staring at just about the finest cufflinks we ever did see. Not only are these handmade shirt cuffs beautiful in the most steampunk of ways, they're also pretty useful as each features an 8GB flash storage chip with the utterly ubiquitous USB connector attached. Basically, they're what James Bond would wear if James Bond wore really awesome cufflinks. The general idea behind them might not exactly be original anymore, but we can't really fault the execution here. What we could probably find fault with is our lack of $225 of disposable coin, the price one will have to pay to sport this unique pair of hand-carved, walnut-enclosed memory sticks. [Thanks, Amelia]
Pac Machina displays a trivial love of the needlessly complex
Now, you may look at this little project and ask yourself, "what is the point of this thing?" but that would, in fact, be the wrong question. The Pac Man-loving creator of Pac Machina needs no reasons, and honestly, neither do we. While we wouldn't necessarily want one of these clock-like Pac Men in our drawing room, we admire the creativity and time put into what was surely a somewhat tedious project. We are huge fans of tedium, after all. Video is after the break.
Hand-cranked mechanical Pac-Man gobbles up our heart
Here's a thing we didn't know we wanted until the internet showed it to us: a hand-cranked, clockwork Pac-Man sculpture. Its creator, Jonathan Guberman, hopes to create a fully playable mechanical Pac-Man machine called "Pac Machina" -- but this proof of concept is cool enough for the time being.
Software bundle offered for school-bound Mac users
If you're on your way back to school this year, or you know someone who is, a new MacToSchool software bundle could save you some cash. Featuring twelve apps ranging in appeal and actual usefulness, this bundle offers $300 worth of software for $49.95. Included in the MacToSchool package are apps like Clockwork, a simple desktop timer, WriteRoom, the popular full-screen text editor that helps you focus on your writing, a family history app, a calendar-based financial planner and more. Pencils Down - a test building app for teachers - is even included, making this package appealing to the other side of the education fence that, as the husband of a high school English teacher can attest to, often doesn't get the attention and discounts it deserves. The typical price you would have to pay for even a few of these apps could easily add up to $50, so this could certainly be a valuable package. Each app at the MacToSchool.org site has a simple description page and a demo download so you can try everything before you buy, and there are also links to the orignal app developers' sites in case you need more info. Interestingly, this bundle was organized by the developers themselves in an effort to help spread the word about the utility of 3rd party software and to do something good for the education community.The press release we received says 'limited time only' but makes no mention of when the deal will end, so my advice would be to act sooner rather than later if you're interested.
