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Reminder: WoW Insider Show episode 11 live tomorrow afternoon
This show goes all the way to 11, and you can be there with us live tomorrow. Turpster and I (and a few other folks from WoW Insider and WoW Radio) will go live on WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST tomorrow afternoon for episode number 11 on the WoW Insider show.On this week's episode, odds are that we'll chat about World of Warcraft-- what's that? Oh, you want specifics? Patch 2.3 is the topic of the week-- everyone wants to know what's changing, how to deal with the changes, and why changes aren't happening (that last part is for you, Shamans). Also, after basically discovering that it's cheaper to buy the cards than the packs to get the loot cards, you might imagine that I have some interesting opinions on that, and you'd be right.So come check us out tomorrow afternoon at WoW Radio and on irc at irc.wowirc.com in #wowradio. See you then.
Chat live with the EverQuest devs on November 15
MMORPG.com will be hosting a live chat with the developers of EverQuest on November 15th at 7:00 PM EST. There will be a particular focus on the new Secrets of Faydwer expansion. You can either plug in through their web-based chat interface, or connect via IRC in the #mmorpg channel on forthegamers.org.EverQuest set the stage for the contemporary, DikuMUD-inspired MMO experience. Its subscriber numbers have dwindled over the years but it still retains a hardcore following. The new expansion aims to satisfy some of their cravings for new content, and to win back some old-timers as well.Also, check out our tour of the expansion.
iChat 4 adds IRC-style actions
IRC fans rejoice. Leopard's iChat 4 introduces IRC-style /me actions. Just enter /me followed by an action and iChat will properly attribute that action to you in the chat window. The action appears outside the "bubbles" in a central text. iChat does not yet support /describe but /me is a great place to start and shows Apple's ever expanding attention to non-AIM standards and capabilities. /me approves.
Colloquy for iPhone Debuts
%Gallery-7199% A new IRC client debuted on the iPhone today and is available for download from Installer.app. Like many other iPhone projects, Mobile Colloquy is still in its early days, taking baby alpha release steps, but it shows excellent promise. It allows you to create server profiles, enter your user information and, of course, connect to those servers and chat. Although Mobile Colloquy uses the same core as Mac OS X Colloquy, the two projects are not affiliated. For any issues with Mobile Colloquy, the developers request that you please file reports at the Mobile Colloquy Google Code site and not at colloquy.info.
iPhone double header: First native IM client AND first native IRC released
Big news today on the iPhone development front. This morning brings the release of both a native instant messaging client and a native IRC client. Apollo IM just entered Version Negative 1, an early beta release. It is available as well via Installer.app. Apollo IM has been developed by "Arminius" and offers iPhone-native instant messaging capabilities. Future releases will support file transfer as well as MSN/Yahoo/Jabber/Gtalk support. "Pogi"'s iRCm provides a GUI-based Internet Relay Chat client for your iPhone. You can join channels, issue raw IRC commands and take part in conversations. iRCm is available for download at Google Code, and packages have been loaded for both Installer.app and PXL. Both applications have been developed with Shimmer/PXL, the iPhone auto-updates library. Shimmer allows iPhone code to "call home" and update themselves when new versions become available. Both developers are looking for feedback and plan to use this update feature to allow the program to keep growing via its installed base. If you're interested in developing for either application, pop over to Google Code and download the latest SVN. Both projects offer a great opportunity to get involved in open source.Thanks to Dylan Kenney%Gallery-6412%
Apple IIc as a serial terminal to a Mac Mini
Hot on the heels of the Apple IIe-into-a-Linux-terminal tutorial we posted the other day, here's another mix of retro and modern-- Byte Cellar has hooked up an old Apple IIc (or //c if you spin that way) to work as a terminal to a Mac Mini. It's pretty neat-- sounds like they frankensteined the IIc's serial port to a USB connection, put ModemMGR on the IIc (which is three whole floppies), and now are using the old "luggable" as an IRC client, which is a perfect use for it, and, as Blake says, makes it feel "great to twiddle the //c's keys in a meaningful way every workday."There's also a photo gallery of the whole setup, which shows the spliced cable, as well as the whole setup in all its glory (yeah the XP box mars it a bit, but no one's perfect). Very cool. Makes me wish I still had one of those old clunky Apple IIs, if only to run IRC as it's mean to be run-- with nothing but green text on a black screen.[via Digg]
IRC on iPhone
Gear Live has a nice tutorial for getting IRC up on the iPhone. You'll need Colloquy, this plugin, and about 10 seconds to spend with Terminal. Once you're done with setup, launch (or relaunch) Colloquy and point your iPhone's browser to http://YourIP:6667. Visual learners may want to check out the walk-through gallery.Enter the password you set up in the previous step and you're all set! The UI is clean and readable. I've tried it and it worked great.
Stratics Chat: Live with the Devs
As promised, I'll be reporting on anything and everything going on in the Stratics chat. I'm hopeful that the devs will pick some of the truly tasty questions that have been offered up to answer. For those who want to join us on IRC for this, you can get all the pertinent information here. For those of you who are unable to get on IRC but still wanting to keep up with the action, just refresh this post periodically. I'll add my running commentary here via edits as the chat progresses. (Please note that all timestamps are EST.) Pre-show: Had a lovely chat with TotalBiscuit from WoWRadio and caught some of his Devchat pre-show while waiting. Great guy -- and a great site. If you haven't checked them out, be sure to do so! 5:45 pm: Drink? Check. Snack? Oh man. I knew I forgot something...5:50 pm: Wow, this channel is packed. There are easily several hundred in here. Of course, considering the guests of honor, that's really no surprise.6:00 pm: Brannoc has said they'll begin shortly. So far, so good. Eyonix, Drysc, Neth are here as well as Kalgan and Tigole. More official people seem to be joining.6:07 pm: They're going through the introductions now. -- Ah, first question. Wants to know when Azeroth will begin getting a significant revamp as it's a ghost town now.6:09 pm: Tigole says that they're looking at revamping some older zones at some point. Also planning future expansions, mentions Karazhan and CoT as examples of future content plans. (The rest lives behind the jump)
Stratics dev chat: live coverage
Well, it's time to get some answers, hopefully! Here I'll be covering Stratics' Q&A chat with WoW lead developers Kalgan and Tigole, as well as some of the CMs. I will keep this post continually refreshed with everything the devs say, so feel free to reload for updates.Edit: The chat has been postponed until a week from today: Tuesday, May 22, at 6:00 PM Eastern time.5:55: Chat starts in five minutes. Drysc, Eyonix, Kalgan, Tigole, and Nethaera have just joined the room.5:59: Kalgan left, but I'm sure he'll be back. Several people are present with nicknames like "HELP_Shamans."6:02: I estimate there are about 900 people watching the chat. That's quite a few. Looks like there are some set-up issues, as Eyonix has now left too, Kalgan isn't back, and nobody's said anything yet.6:10: Here we go! Welcome to the first ever Stratics house of commons chat with the developers of World of Warcraft! We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guests and then jump straight into the questions. The full logs will be available at http://wow.stratics.com shortly afterward.6:12: Introductions time.Nethaera: Good afternoon everyone. I'm Nethaera and one of the World of Warcraft Community Managers.6:20: The developers are experiencing some minor technical problems, it should be corrected in a moment.
Get your questions in for the Stratics chat
I wrote a week ago about Stratics hosting an IRC chat with WoW's lead designers, and now they day has come. You've still got several hours to submit your questions to Stratics' army of question taker bots; the chat will start at 6 PM Eastern time (3 PM Pacific). In fact, since I'm such a nice guy, if you don't feel like going over to IRC yourself and sending in your question, post it here and I'll submit it for you, as long as the bots keep accepting questions. If you do want to join in the madness, point your IRC client at irc.stratics.com, port 6668. The chat itself will take place in #StraticsHoC, and discussion can be had in #worldofwarcraft. And don't forget, I'll be covering the chat live as soon as it starts, so check back on our home page for updates.
IRC Q&A with the devs at Stratics
A week from today, WoW Stratics will host a live IRC question and answer session with Blizzard developers Tom Chilton (Kalgan, pictured) and Jeff Kaplan (Tigole). Kalgan and Tigole are the WoW lead designers in charge of game systems and balance, and world design, respectively. The chat will last an hour and start at 3:00 PM PST on Tuesday, May 15. Stratics will be collecting questions for 48 hours before the chat and screening them ahead of time; no questions will be fielded during the chat. If you ask me, that somewhat defeats the purpose of a live chat, but I'm not complaining; it's nice to get any insight from the designers. And I can understand why they'd do it this way; the amount of shouting that would go on during a live Q&A would probably prevent very much communication from going on.Only a few people (presumably server ops and the developers) will have voicing in the main channel, but there will be a separate channel available on the same server for simultaneous discussion. And if you can't make it, Stratics will almost certainly put a log up on their server. All the IRC details, as well as instructions on how to submit a question, are on Stratics' site. I will also be in attendance at the chat, and I'll be live-blogging it for WoW Insider, so you'll be able to tune in here next Tuesday for live updates. But until then, what would you like to ask the developers?
Reminder: FASA IRC chat and final day of Shadowrun beta today
We just wanted to remind everyone that FASA's holding an IRC Chat today at 2:00 PM PDT to 6:00 PDT to celebrate the end of the Shadowrun beta. There prizes given out, as well as the opportunity to ask the developers any questions you might have about the June bound FPS. The chat will be on the #Shadowrun.FASA chat channel, on the Gamesurge server. Will you fellow testers out there be playing to night and shooting the breeze with the devs?
Linkinus IRC Client
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is the grand-daddy of all instant messaging protocols. My modest IRC needs have traditionally been satisfied by the nice donationware application Colloquy, but reader Jago writes in to tell us about a new OS X IRC client: Linkinus. The three-column interface appears attractive and is probably worth a look-see for the heavy IRC user.Linkinus is $19.95 and a demo is available.
Shadowrun Devs to have IRC chat with fans
Matt Webster, aka fall over at the Shadowrun Forums, has announced that since the beta is ending on the 30th (We know, it sucks), the devs at FASA Studio will be having an IRC chat that Monday, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM PDT. There are going to be prizes available, so if the fact it's Shadowrun didn't sway you, free swag should definitely do the trick. It will take place in the #Shadowrun.FASA chat channel, on the Gamesurge server. Will you join in on the fun on IRC, or the beta itself on its last day?[Via HushedCasket]
Macworld IRC Backchannel
Backchannel, noun The practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks.In other words, a backchannel is a conference specific chat-room which provides a virtual round-table at which conference attendees can chat and make snarky comments. In my experience, the backchannel is often one of the most enjoyable parts of any given tech conference. Additionally, for those unable to attend a conference, the backchannel provides a digital analogue to actually being there which allows users to get a feel for whats going on, even if thousands of miles away. For this year's Macworld, Chris Forsythe of Adium and Perian fame has set up a dedicated IRC backchannel on the freenode network. Whether you're here at the conference, or stuck at home at your computer, I invite you to open up your IRC client of choice and join the conversation./server irc.freenode.org/join #mwsf2007
