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Blizzard Arcade now free, custom StarCraft 2 maps accessible to all
Budding game developers and the modding community just got a big boost: Blizzard has made access to The Arcade in StarCraft 2 completely free for everyone. That means that customs maps and modes developed for StarCraft 2 (as well as Blizzard's other games: Starjeweled, Auir Chef, and Left 2 Die) can now be accessed by anyone, not just the players who already own the game and use the platform regularly. Blizzard is basically giving the community the tools to build their own games and enlarging the pool of potential players -- all for no fee whatsoever. Check out the details in the videos below, then grab the starter edition and let your creative juices flow.
Free for All: The healing ability of instant access
Recently I received a diagnosis from my doctor that did not make me happy. While it was far from a death sentence, it was still pretty heavy news. Immediately I went into information-gathering mode, scouring the internet for other people's stories and possible outcomes. If any of you have gone through this sort of thing before, you know how this type of research can actually have the opposite effect on you, only making you feel worse. So, I decided to stop it. I had my medicine, I knew what I had to do, and I decided to concentrate on ending the speculative thinking. Worse case scenarios are just that, and life is filled with them. Worrying about what might happen in 40, 20 or even five years is sort of a waste of time. Yes, you must be prepared and need to make plans to cover any possibilities, but thinking about all those possibilities can cause stresses of their own, making the situation worse. I had enough of it pretty quickly. I'm not a down person most of the time. I wanted to forget about it for a while, so I sat down and loaded up a game that I had been missing lately. Click past the cut and see what I discovered.
Facebook launches free mobile access site for emerging markets... and Denmark
Following in the footsteps of Coca-Cola, Facebook is seeking to feed your addiction with a new zero version of its online service. 0.facebook.com leads users to a stripped down, text-only version of the social site, which will incur no data charges from your carrier. Of course, you won't be able to access any other sites or rich media without paying for it, but at least the core functionality of reading your friends' witty status updates and writing satirical responses will be there free of charge. This service is being rolled out primarily in the so-called emerging markets, though more mature environments like Belgium, Denmark and Finland are also present on the list (available after the break). SFR in France, 3 in the UK, and Australia's Telstra are also going to be joining in soon. Guess it's just a matter of finding a pliable carrier to accede to offering the minimal bandwidth necessary in exchange for being Liked by Facebookers.
