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'Dropsy' the clown wants to hug everything in the world, starting today
Dropsy looks like the kind of game that will produce one of two responses from anyone who plays it: People who like clowns will finish Dropsy huddled in a corner, terrified of circuses, suspenders and bright red lips for the rest of their lives. People who despise clowns will finish Dropsy with a new-found appreciation for the humanity behind the face paint.
Breakfast Topic: Life without transmog
If you played World of Warcraft before the addition of transmog to the game, you probably remember your first faithful trip into Outland, when you ditched armor you'd carefully collected since launch for brightly colored and mismatched gear. It's pretty clear that no one had put a lot of thought into how this gear might look when together, which made the clownishly colored gear a rite of passage... or maybe a punishment for daring to level beyond 60. The only thing that was clear was that Blizzard really didn't like us in order to deck our characters out like this. But these days, some players don't remember the time before transmog. They go out intentionally trying to find the worst-looking pieces of gear -- which are perhaps even those same Hellfire Peninsula greens that were so memorable to anyone who leveled through them. So today, tell us, readers: did you live through the famed clown suit era? And do you now transmog your way out of it?
Hotline Miami publisher to tackle crowdfunded point-and-clicker Dropsy
Devolver Digital announced that it will publish crowdfunded indie adventure game Dropsy. The game's Kickstarter project, which successfully surpassed its $14,000 goal, is slated to end on November 24. Designer Jay Tholen explained in an update on the project's page that Devolver Digital will help the developer with marketing, QA and localization of the game, and will top off development funds to ensure it reaches its stretch goals. In development since 2011, the PC, Mac and Linux game is a point-and-click adventure game in which characters guide a "misunderstood but cheerful" ex-clown named Dropsy through a "surreal, grotesque world." With his dog Eughh at his side, Dropsy journeys through the world to bring happiness to others, offering unwanted hugs to everyone, as he "doesn't recognize anyone as his enemy." Tholen notes in the game's pitch video that it is almost entirely text-free, replacing traditional point-and-click elements with symbols that players need to interpret on their own to reflect Dropsy's inability to speak. Devolver Digital noted that "any and all funds collected via Kickstarter will of course remain with the developer to fund the development of Dropsy," and that it "is not involved with money from backers nor do we have any say in how it is used." Tholen and his team sought funding on Kickstarter for the game twice before: The developer raised $1,613 in November 2011 before failing to reach its $25,000 goal in July of this year.
Steve Jobs' stolen iPad used by street performer
To close out the work week, here is a story from the Mercury News about the late Steve Jobs's iPad and how it landed in the hands of a middle-aged performer known as Kenny the Clown. As the story goes, professional clown Kenneth Kahn was given an iPad by his friend Kariem McFarlin. He thought McFarlin had bought a new iPad and was giving him an older device. Like any good clown, Kahn loaded the iPad with some music and used it in his Bay area performances. "I didn't notice anything special or anything like that," said Kahn to the Mercury News. It was only a few days later that McFarlin was arrested for burglarizing Steve Jobs's vacant house. As soon as McFarlin was in custody, police came knocking on Kahn's door to retrieve the stolen iPad and return it to Jobs's family. Kahn had no idea that the device he was holding once belonged to the Apple co-founder. "It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house," Kahn told the Mercury News, "It's bizarre; it's really bizarre." We would have to agree. [Image from Flickr member mark falardeau]
The Summoner's Guidebook: I hate Jack-in-the-boxes
Out of all of the characters in League of Legends, Shaco is probably the least fun character to fight against. His traps are highly annoying, fearing you and poking you with damage. He is extremely slippery and hard to kill, striking out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly. Just when you think you have him, it turns out that was actually his clone and it explodes, netting Shaco yet another kill. "Annoying" is the first word I'd use to describe him, and this is what Shaco wants you to think. He doesn't want you to know his weaknesses, so he keeps you on your toes, constantly afraid of jack-in-the-box traps and invisible backstabs. However, he has weaknesses, and this week, we're going to talk about how to put the killer clown back in his toybox.
Breakfast Topic: Not my rainbow gear!
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Blizzard attempted to change the leveling process on many fronts -- easier XP, quests for dungeons at the beginning of said dungeon, and better quest flow. One of the more lively changes was quest loot being given more useful stats -- and more importantly, being made part of an overall more "matching" set. This meant that people who predominantly quest will find themselves looking put together, rather than wearing whatever scraps of material they roll over while trying to collect 20 bear bottoms. The sets may not always work with random "- of the X" drops, but overall, they look nicer and have a easily identifiable style and color scheme. I'm quite impressed with this change. The strange mish-mash of leveling gear from questing was not only hideous to look at, it never matched and often had really terrible models with garish textures. The new questing gear looks regal and not prone to as much strange skin-baring, either. It looks like you're moving up the ranks of badassery as you are leveling up. This is a good feature! For those who are more inclined to roleplay, it gives you access to some easy outfits that you can wear around Stormwind or Ogrimmar and look trendy. While I know this trend is going to stop dead in its tracks at Outland (which I will overcome by putting my heirloom gear back on), it is fun to see it present in the Azeroth leveling experience and further on in Cataclysm content. Are you happy about this change, or do you feel that the garish clown vomit outfits of years past were essential to people's game before the level cap? %Poll-56538%
Ask WoW Insider: The new look of Northrend
Most of the time here on Ask WoW Insider, we ask ethical questions of you, the readers, or sometimes we'll ask what you think of certain game mechanics. But this time, we've got an aesthetic question instead, from reader Lindelan.Let me say first that Wrath is awesome!! I LOVE it! One of my favorite things is the way they designed the new armor. That being said, one thing that has absolutely started to drive me crazy is the lack of diversity in armor! I can understand having the same models while leveling, however the fact that level 80 blues look just like the blues I got at 71 is just plain lazy! Has anyone else noticed this, and do you guys think Blizzard will step it up in the future? LindelanThis is an interesting issue -- Blizzard got some flak in Outland for the gear being a bit too colorful. "Clown" was a word that was used pretty often, thanks to all the glowing and neon extras that came on our gear last expansion. And in Northrend, we fortunately haven't had that problem: the gear looks a little more badass, made up of dark steel and leather with pointy and ragged spikes on it.But have we gone too far the other way? Does all of the gear look the same now? Personally, I just miss my Hunter's mail kilt from the Argent Dawn world event rewards, but I think the gear has been much better looking in Northrend. I'm just happy none of it is pink, so if I have to choose between dark blue or straight black, that's a choice I'm happy to make. What do you think?Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Latest Dead Rising screens focus on killer clown
No, not the kind of clown from outer space or anything, but one of the most challenging bosses in the original Dead Rising game: the insane, dual chainsaw-wielding clown. If you played the original Dead Rising, then you know that this individual is both tough to battle and completely insane. But, hey, if we were stuck in a mall filled with the undead, we might go a bit bonkers, as well.Hit up this link to check out the screens.%Gallery-28028%
The DS Life: Center of attention
Despite the aged look of this week's image, this photograph was actually taken quite recently, as evidenced by the DS Lite. The scene is a familiar one, especially at family get-togethers, when gangs of younger cousins, nephews, and nieces roam the house, desperate in their search for any entertainment. Join us past the post break for the full photo.[Update: Original image has been removed at the request of copyright owner. To see the image, please visit this link.]
[UPDATED!] A look at Wrath of the Lich King's Green quest rewards
When Blizzard half-seriously apologized for the brutally ugly Season 4 Brutal Gladiator gear by saying that their artists were hard at work on the expansion, they weren't kidding. If any of us were afraid that there'd be massive clown action, we can rest easy because from the look of things, even green items have an epic feel to them. The designers over at Blizzard have done a fantastic job making the green quest rewards in Northrend look impressive and even menacing that players won't feel embarrassed to equip them. I haven't checked out all of the armor pieces, but a quick perusal of the weapons shows that Northrend won't be a total circus when we finally get there. I mean, just look at the gun above. That looks really badass, specially with the skull and weathered metal. Check out pics of uncommon, or 'green', weapons found all over Northrend in the gallery below. [UPDATE!] By popular demand, I included a couple of green staves and as a bonus, took a sneak peek at the two blue quest reward items for Death Knights. I know they're not green, but they're pretty cool, nonetheless. %Gallery-28586%
