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World of Warcraft cities become insta-deathtraps, hacker suspected
Entire cities of players and NPCs in World of Warcraft are being wiped out in a solitary blow, WoW Insider reports. The death traps began on European servers, in the cities of Ogrimmar and Stormwind, and have since spread to Tarren Mill, Ragnaros, Draenor, Twisting Nether and other realms, and include US servers, according to player reports.A few videos document the phenomenon, showing level one characters insta-killing everyone in the area and the subsequent graveyards. The above video shows a level one Priest as he takes out everyone around him in Stormwind (the YouTube description reads, "The guy laughing is not the hacker!").Blizzard has yet to comment officially.
Apple's Tim Cook remembers Steve Jobs' life on the anniversary of his death
On the first anniversary of his passing, Apple has converted the front page usually monopolized by the latest shiny gadgets to a tribute to its late co-founder and CEO. "Remembering Steve" cycles through some iconic images and moments in the tech pioneer's life, including the memorable launches of the iMac and iPhone. It's a touching tribute, coupled with a hopeful note from his successor, Tim Cook, who asks the rest of us to reflect on Jobs' life, while adding that he considers the company's current output a tribute to his "memory and everything he stood for."
R.A. Salvatore details the lack of death in Project Copernicus
"To be or not to be" is not a question asked in most MMOs. Characters don't die permanently, after all. But Project Copernicus wouldn't have waved that fact off as an irrelevant necessity of game mechanics. No, according to R.A. Salvatore, the game world would have explored the meaning behind a world wherein no one truly dies and everyone is functionally immortal. Players who enjoyed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will recall that the game opens with the player character returning from death thanks to the Well of Souls. In Project Copernicus, the Well of Souls would have been active not just for one individual but for everyone in the world. Returning from death would be something that happens not just to players but to every part of the world. It's not hard to imagine the ways in which a world would seem different if death was no longer something to be feared or avoided. Salvatore laments that the concept is unlikely to see execution now, even with buyers looking to purchase the 38 Studios assets from the state of Rhode Island.
Breakfast Topic: Tell us about your most epic WoW death
Xigwa posted a list of epic ways to die in WoW over at the official forums. Some of them are doable in game, while others are just fun things to imagine, such as "Tell Garrosh his head is too small." Many forum posters chimed in with their ideas, including Blizzard employee Crithto: Crithto I'm actually quite fond of Stood in Fire. Each time one of my characters has died to the flames, I spend another several minutes maximizing my camera distance to gaze in awe at the firestorm. 07/05/2012 11:34 AMPosted by Xigwa 5. Plan your wedding in the middle of Orggrimmar and invite all your Alliance buddies. I have just found new motivation to locate the missus! source My favorite ways to die aren't exactly epic. I enjoy complaining about dying to the Undercity elevator boss -- and I get to complain very often. I love when The Spousal Unit leaves himself underwater while going AFK, only to find himself drowned when he returns. It's particularly fun when he does it in full raid gear. He's really good at that one.
Commodore founder Jack Tramiel passes away at age 83
Terribly sad news from the family of Jack Tramiel today. The Polish-born businessman is perhaps best known in the technology universe for his founding of Commodore International, the company responsible for the Commodore 64, 128, Amiga, etc. Tramiel's story is an inspiring one; he was born into a Jewish family, and during World War II, was sent to Auschwitz. He was rescued in April of 1945, and some 39 years later he purchased Atari Inc.'s Consumer division and formed the Atari Corporation that is so well recognized in gaming lore. As first reported by Forbes, Martin Goldberg -- a writer working on a book about the Atari brand and the early days of video games and computing with Atari Museum founder Curt Vendel -- had this to say: "Jack Tramiel was an immense influence in the consumer electronics and computing industries. A name once uttered in the same vein as Steve Jobs is today, his journey from concentration camp survivor to captain of industry is the stuff of legends." Tramiel leaves behind his wife, three sons and their extended families.
Making the 'jump' from Guild Wars to Guild Wars 2
The second Guild Wars 2 press beta weekend has come and gone, and Massively was there every step of the way. Stay tuned throughout the day today for even more guides, impressions, videos, and Q&As to get you ready for the highly anticipated sequel to Guild Wars. Guild Wars 2 is on the way (when it's ready), and classic Guild Wars players probably understand that soon they'll be competing with a younger sibling -- a smarter, more attractive one who's sure to get more of mom's attention. And while we're sure that some of the more stalwart Guild Wars 2 fans are also Guild Wars players, not all veterans of the first edition are dedicated to licking up every drop of sequel info squeezed out of blogs, conventions, and betas. Those veterans might just be wondering, what exactly can Guild Wars 2 offer them, other than Hall of Monuments tie-ins? What's changed? What's the same? What will they love, what will they hate, and what could possibly make them jump ship to the new hotness? The first and most important thing you must know is that yes, you can jump in Guild Wars 2! Seriously, though, jumping is more than just a thing you do with your spacebar when you're bored; it's a symbol of boundlessness. Guild Wars 2 itself is trying to jump a lot higher than its elder brother, and probably the essential difference between the games is that feeling that the walls have come down and gravity is letting loose. That alone should urge classic players to take a peek, but if that's not enough for you, fire up your Jeremy Soule soundtracks (yes, he's onboard for an encore!) and read on...
Yesterday's gritty, gutsy style makes us excited for tomorrow
Welcome to the Renaissance.The point-and-click adventure is back and it has nothing to do with Tim Schafer, Double Fine or Kickstarter. This particular revolution is being led by Pendulo Studios' gritty, stylized PC thriller, Yesterday, which marks a departure from the developer's previous title, The Next Big Thing, in a few crucial and exciting ways: Yesterday is not a comedy, though the dialogue retains a brilliant wit. It has nothing to do with the film industry. It involves the psychological analysis of a homeless man who believes his son, who was definitely killed in a tragic subway-tunnel collapse, is still alive.Maybe you have to be just as disturbed as Pendulo's fictional homeless man to really appreciate that last one, but if you are -- boy is it a treat.Pendulo has a solid track record in the point-and-click adventure genre -- they liked it before it was cool, even -- with the Runaway series and The Next Big Thing, but the studio had something to prove when it boldly announced that it was giving up comedy to offer an original, dark thriller with Yesterday. The game retains Pendulo's trademark art style, exaggerated features and colors that appear hand-painted over 3D models, and it is just as appealing as it was in 2003. This time around, however, not just the story is darker, but the palate is as well, with much of what I played taking place in a derelict, abandoned subway channel (I bet you can guess which one).
Darksiders 2 introduces Death's swiss army scythe
Have you ever wondered what Death, the dude, is really like? Who hasn't? Thankfully, the Darksiders 2 devs at Vigil Games prepared this intro video for us, full of sincere remarks about a mythical horsemen of the apocalypse and how he acts in their upcoming game.
Pathfinder Online takes a look at death
No matter what happens, sooner or later you're going to die in an MMO. It's pretty much a given. So it's probably for the best that the fourth developer blog on Pathfinder Online is all about death -- what happens when you die, what happens when another player kills you, and what you can do about it. The death system is reminiscent in some ways of what would happen on death in EverQuest. You respawn at a predetermined location, and while you keep any equipment you were wearing, the rest of your inventory is on your soulless husk of a body. Retrieve it first and you get everything back. If someone else loots your body first, though, he or she gest a random assortment of items from your inventory and the rest are destroyed. The blog entry also covers the issue of bounties, player-killing, and attempting to dissuade others from killing players in lawful regions. Players can set bounties on their killers, potentially refreshing the bounty each time said killer is successfully killed in retaliation, making a bounty hunter or group of same very rich indeed. Those interested in Pathfinder Online should check out all the details and keep watching as the game moves through development.
Katy Perry bringing fruit dresses, more to The Sims 3 Showtime
Katy Perry has conquered the celebrity scene in reality and has moved to take over virtual realms, starting with The Sims. The collector's edition of The Sims 3 Showtime, which launches in March, will feature the Ultimate Stage bonus venue, Katy Perry themed items and a poster, as well as advertising campaigns featuring Perry herself, starting with the above music video. Not to brag, but we've listened to "The One that got Away" a few dozen times before, and we never imagined it as a story about the tragic death of anyone's soulmate, probably because it's actually about failed teenage love and the dangers of dating a boy who plays guitar. Maybe death sells more games, though. Maybe. %Gallery-144932%
Headphone-wearing pedestrian injuries triple as audiophiles stop noticing onrushing trains
The number of pedestrians injured or killed while wearing headphones has tripled in the last six years: 16 oblivious PMP users were offed in 2004, the number rising to 47 for last year. The research, carried out by Dr Richard Lichenstein at the University of Maryland found that headphone wearers became "inattentionally blind" to dangers such as passing cars and on-rushing trains. That's not us being flip either: 55 percent of the incidents involved locomotives. The majority of victims were male (68 percent) and under the age of 30 (67 percent): which puts your average Engadget reader in the center of the danger zone -- take it from us guys: sometimes it's better to press pause, "Baby, baby" will still be there when you've crossed the railway.
The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode?
The permadeath-in-MMOs issue has been debated to death. Most of us have probably either played in a Diablo-esque hardcore mode or gaped at the stones required to publish a true MMORPG with permadeath (hi, Salem). But who says you need game mechanics to make permadeath a reality? I've gamed with roleplayers who took their characters deadly seriously and would delete their characters if they were killed off within the context of the game. (So much for the idea that roleplayers are casuals, eh?) Their web of self-inflicted rules is so complex (maiming? dice rolls? emote-combat?) that playing with such RPers can actually become stressful, especially if you don't want to be responsible for their having to delete and reroll. What about you folks? Do you play or roleplay in a self-enforced hardcore mode? Do you do it because it's fun, because it makes gameplay more intense, or because you like a good challenge? 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!
Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center founder Jacob Goldman passes away at age 90
Jacob Goldman, the man who helped found the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as Xerox's chief scientist in 1970, has passed away at age 90. PARC holds a special place in gadget lore, as it was responsible for creating Alto, the first modern computer with a GUI and a mouse, the first WYSIWYG text editor, and Ethernet, among many other innovations. Prior to his time at Xerox, Dr. Goldman was the head of R&D at Ford Motor Company, and after retiring, he served on the boards of several companies, including Xerox. The New York Times reported that Goldman created PARC to research "the architecture of information" -- and the fruits of PARC's labor listed above show that he's made an immeasurable and lasting contribution to the computing world, and consequently, life as we know it. Godspeed, Dr. Goldman, and thanks for everything. [Image credit: PARC]
Darksiders 2's latest tease gets up close and personal with Death
There's a possibility that the Darksiders 2 tease above is actually referencing Skeletor and/or Glenn Danzig, but we're pretty sure it's that other horseman of the apocalypse, Death. Either way, we're gonna go listen to the Misfits and watch Masters of the Universe for a bit. Just in case.
Charles Walton, father of RFID technology, dies at 89
We have some somber news to bring you today: Charles Walton, the man who pioneered the rise of RFID technology, has died at the age of 89. The Cornell-educated entrepreneur garnered more than 50 patents over the course of his career, but it only took one to cement his legacy -- a 1973 patent for a "Portable radio frequency emitting identifier." It may not have been the first RFID-related invention, but Walton's breakthrough would prove to be foundational, spawning many similar patents, including ten from the creator himself. It all began at the Army Signal Corps, where Walton worked after studying electrical engineering at Cornell and earning a Master's degrees in electrical engineering and economics of engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology. In 1960, he accepted a position at IBM, where he conducted research on disc drives before founding his own company, Proximity Devices, in 1970. It was at Proximity where many of Walton's patents came to life, including his initial design, which he developed alongside the Schlage lock company and eventually licensed to other firms, as well. He would go on to earn millions from his technology, though as Venture Beat points out, he may have been a bit too far ahead of the curve. Many of Walton's patents expired by the time RFID devices caught on with big spenders like the Department of Defense and Wal-Mart, thereby excluding him from any subsequent windfall. But that didn't seem to bother him too much, as evidenced in a 2004 interview with Venture Beat: "I feel good about it and gratified I could make a contribution."
John Opel, IBM CEO during onset of the PC era, dies at 86
John Roberts Opel, the former IBM CEO who helped usher in the PC era, died last week at the age of 86. A native of Kansas City, MO, Opel received his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1949, after fighting in the Philippines and Okinawa during World War II. Upon graduating, he was presented with two job offers -- he could either re-write economics textbooks, or assume control of his father's hardware business in Missouri. Not particularly enthralled with either opportunity, Opel decided to think things over during a fishing trip with his father and a family friend. As fate would have it, that friend turned out to be Harry Strait, an IBM sales manager. Strait offered Opel a sales position at the company, fortuitously setting the young grad on a career path that would span 36 years. Opel's career, in fact, began and peaked at two inflection points that would come to define not only IBM, but the computing industry as a whole. When he came aboard, IBM was still producing typewriters and other accounting devices; but that would soon change, with the dawn of the computing era. In 1959, he became assistant to then-chief executive Thomas J. Watson Jr. Just five years later, he oversaw the introduction of IBM's System 360 mainframe computer. He was appointed vice president in 1966, president in 1974 and, on January 1st, 1981, took over as IBM's fifth CEO, replacing Frank T. Cary. During his four-year tenure, Opel led IBM's push into the burgeoning PC market, overseeing the launch of IBM's first PC, the 5150, just seven months after taking the reins. He was also at the helm in 1982, when the Department of Justice dropped its 13-year antitrust suit against IBM, allowing the firm to expand its operations. Opel took full advantage. Under his stewardship, IBM's revenue nearly doubled and its corporate stature grew accordingly. In 1983, Opel made the cover of Time magazine, under a headline that read, "The Colossus That Works." He stepped down as CEO in 1985, served as chairman until 1986 and would remain on IBM's board until 1993. On Thursday, he passed away in Ft. Myers, FL, due to undisclosed causes. John Roberts Opel is survived by his wife of 56 years, five children, 15 grandchildren and a legacy that extends far beyond these 400 words.
Undead Labs Q&A touches on health bars, death mechanics
Undead Labs has posted another question-and-answer session with fans of its upcoming Class 3 zombie MMO. The firm fielded a bunch of queries relating to healing, death, health bars, and assorted other topics. "You'll have a health bar so you won't have to guess how much health you have, but zombies won't. While we could have opted to have no health bar for you too, we wanted to emphasize the survival aspect of the game by having the damage you take stick with you until you can heal up," the dev team says. The Q&A also features some interesting tidbits about weight, fatigue and stamina, and the fact that zombies will respond to the noise generated by building survival structures (translation: Bring your duct tape). Read all about it at the official Undead Labs blog.
EVE Online adding implants to killmails
When a ship is destroyed in EVE Online, half of its fitted modules are destroyed and half are dropped as loot. When EVE was young, the list of modules destroyed and dropped in a kill was sent in an in-game mail to both the victim and the player who got the killing blow. Today the killmail is stored in a players' character sheet rather than clogging up his inbox, providing a record of all the ships he's killed and those he's lost in combat. When you destroy a player's escape capsule, however, all you're left with is a blank killmail and a tasty corpse floating in space. In a new devblog, CCP Masterplan describes the introduction of one of EVE's most requested features: implants on pod killmails. When an escape pod is destroyed, a list of all the expensive implants installed in the corpse's head will be added to the currently blank killmail, letting players put a much more accurate value on successful kills. This comes as good news to corporations and alliances judging their war performance using killboard valuations.
Steve reportedly worked on Apple's next product until his last day
A new interview with the CEO of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, seems to indicate that Steve Jobs did indeed work on Apple products right up until his last day of life. While talking to the US Ambassador to Japan, Son said that during a meeting on the day of the iPhone 4S announcement, he was speaking with Apple CEO Tim Cook, who apologized because he had to excuse himself. "Oh Masa, sorry I have to quit our meeting," Cook reportedly said. "He said, 'My boss is calling me,'" claims Son. Cook also said Jobs was calling specifically because he wanted to talk about the company's next product, which we haven't yet heard about. PC Magazine speculates that product was the iPhone 5, but whatever it happens to be, it appears Jobs was thinking about Apple right up until the end. That definitely fits everything we know about the man, who pushed for quality in his company and his products no matter what. It looks like we haven't seen the last of Steve's legacy just yet.
Robert Galvin, former chairman and CEO of Motorola, dies at age 89
We're very sorry to report that Robert W. Galvin, former chairman and CEO of Motorola, died this week in Chicago at the age of 89. Over the course of his nearly three-decade tenure at the helm, Galvin oversaw Motorola's transformation from a mid-level radio and walkie talkie manufacturer into one of the world's leading electronics makers. In the process, he cemented his legacy as one of the industry's most forward-looking executives. The Marshfield, Wisconsin native first joined the company as a stockroom apprentice in 1940, and would go on to spend his entire career there (save for a tour of duty in World War II). He was named chairman and chief executive in 1959, following the death of his father and company founder Paul Galvin. Under the younger Galvin's stewardship, Motorola expanded the depth and breadth of its operations, moving into emerging markets and focusing much of its efforts on the burgeoning cellular industry. Galvin spearheaded this transition, which saw Motorola introduce the first commercial cellphone in 1973, and the first cellphone network in the early 1980s. When he first took control, Motorola's annual sales stood at around $290 million. By the time he retired as chairman in 1990, however, that figure had ballooned to $10.8 billion. Galvin went on to serve on the company's board of directors until 2001 and, though he may have departed, his impact certainly won't be forgotten anytime soon. "We will continue to honor Bob Galvin's legacy here at Motorola Mobility," said current chairman and CEO Sanjay Jha. "He was committed to innovation, and was responsible for guiding Motorola through the creation of the global cellular telephone industry." Robert "Bob" Galvin is survived by his wife of 67 years, four children, 13 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
