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The Perfect Ten: MMO prisons
Chillin' in the clink. Spending time in stoney lonesome. Thrown into the slammer. Checking in to the big house. Doing (perfect) 10 to life in the hole. Learning the ropes in juvie. Prison: The only fun thing about it is the slang that people have come up to describe it. And while you may never actually want to spend any time in the crowbar hotel in real life, chances are you've already done so in MMOs. Jails are an ever-popular locale in online gaming, and they almost always deal with an epidemic of escaped -- yet still milling around casually -- prisoners. So in today's Perfect Ten, we talked to the warden and got you a special glimpse into pixelated pokeys, if only to scare you straight. No more exploits and bots for you, young man or woman!
Wings Over Atreia: The top 19 ways to get your dungeon crawl on
You know 'em -- those places shrouded away from the everyday grind of the world where you can chill-out without being interrupted (excepting spouse aggro), a private nook where you know there is a definite beginning and end to your adventure, one that offers the best possible loot. They are areas often steeped in lore. They are... the instanced dungeons. There are actually 19 separate PvE dungeons currently in Aion where Daevas can get their dungeon crawl on. If you include the Fortress instances, you can add another 10 dungeons to this list. Adding PvP instances raises the number even higher. However, since fort instances are seriously lacking in lore and fort ownership is required (so availability is not assured), we will forego including them. We'll also omit the Dredgions and PvP arenas to keep the list PvE focused -- after all, there are times you really may not want to bother with fighting the enemy! This week, Wings Over Atreia explores the first half of the dungeon list for the benefit of both young whippersnappers and old-timer Daevas alike. Why would veterans need it? Because dungeons aren't just for certain levels anymore. For a change of pace or to break out of a rut, grab yourself some lowbies, mentor down, and check out one instance a day -- you'll pass two weeks before ever repeating. You might even have fun, meet new friends, and renew your enthusiasm for Aion.
The Game Archaeologist seals up 2011
You know what I love about the end of each year? The lists. Man, but I'm a sucker for lists, especially when they come in "best of" varieties. In the lull between Christmas and New Year's, there typically isn't a lot happening in the world of entertainment, so it's a good time to look back before we head forward. And so it is for The Game Archaeologist. 2011 marks the second year I've been doing this column, and it's been one of my personal favorite series to write. Every week I'm learning more and more about the history of the MMO genre, and I'm encouraged to see just how much passion and interest there are for the titles that started it all and got us to where we are today. So before we head into 2012, let's take one last glimpse back at the road we've traveled. If you've missed out on any of these columns or want to revisit your favorite classic MMO, I've compiled a huge list of everything I talked about this year, from histories to interviews to player stories. There's also a special request for you (yes, you) at the end of this column, so do me a favor and hit that jump!
The Perfect Ten: Most significant MMO stories of 2011
2011 was an odd duck of a year for MMO news. A huge chunk of the year felt devoid of significant releases, but that was mitigated somewhat by the major launches of RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Titles got shoved back to 2012 or beyond, MMOs that we thought never would go free-to-play did, and the industry continually surprised us with revelations, ideas, and controversy. So in my last Perfect Ten of 2011, I put together the 10 most significant MMO stories of the year. Ten seems like an awfully small number for such a great big field, so I had the rest of the staff members chime in with their nominations just to make sure I wasn't too off-base with any of these. It was a whopper of a year, and Massively was there for all of it -- the ups, the downs, the queues, and the QQs. It's time to wrap it up with a pretty bow and dedicate it to the history museum!
The Perfect Ten: Ways to prepare for the coming of SWTOR
Welcome to a very special edition of The Perfect Ten, the column that my two toddlers contribute to with their awe-inspiring counting abilities! With last week's dropping of Star Wars: The Old Republic's NDA, the internet has exploded with information, testimonials, and poorly spelled flamewars between the camps of believers and non-believers alike. It's a good time to be alive, eh? In the spirit of the NDA drop and the upcoming December 20th launch -- less than a month! -- I've put together a list of 10 excellent ways that a SWTOR fan can prepare him or herself for the coming MMOcalypse. I totally understand that it can be frustrating to be waiting for an anticipated game launch, feeling impotent with your inability to speed up time. However, taking action in other ways can help with the wait and make us feel like we're being productive. That's what I'm here for today. It's OK, there's no need to thank me. I get Light Side points for this.
The Perfect Ten: First impression turn-offs
A year ago our very own Shawn "The Mittani" Schuster wrote a memorable Soapbox column around the idea that MMOs had an hour to grab his attention or else he was out the door. No, don't go read it now. You're reading this! Stay! Good reader. I concur with his point that while MMOs may ask us to experience them for the long haul, first impressions still count. And if those impressions aren't favorable right out the gate, it's not likely that we will be around for hour two, no matter how good it is. I know what you're thinking right now: "What is this itching, burning sensation between my toes?" It's Athlete's Foot, and you need to get on that ASAP. You're also thinking, "But Justin, whose opinions I respect, admire, and use to teach my children, what drives you away from MMOs when you give them a try?" Again, it's an itching, burning sensation between my toes. No, not really. It's more complicated than that -- so complicated, in fact, that it requires a 10-point presentation on what turns me off when an MMO is making a first impression. Imagine that!
The Perfect Ten: MMOs in movies and television
While 1982's Tron explored what virtual life might be like inside a massive video game, it wasn't until fairly recently that real MMOs have crossed the divide between niche and mainstream to be referenced in television and films. Depending on how you see it, this mainstream acceptance of geek culture can be a thing to be either celebrated or shunned. What's for certain, however, is that we've only started to see the beginning of such mentions. In today's Perfect Ten, I cobbled together a list of the first 10 MMO references that I know of from movies and TV shows. Some might be nothing more than a background detail or a throwaway line, while others are completely centered around the advertisement, er, massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. I tried hard not to use "cheats" such as fake MMOs featured in shows like The Guild, so this list is all about real-world titles with no sugar substitutes. Ready? Insert quarter and hit player one!
Daily Mac App: Preflight
Sometimes super simple tasks work best when performed using super simple applications. List making might be one of them. Preflight is a free list-making app that's about as simple as they come. Type your list item in the "new item" box and hit return. Job done. If you want to delete an item from your list, select it and hit backspace. You can rearrange your list through drag-and-drop. The beauty of Preflight is that it's quick to load, create a list and does what it needs to do. However, if you need a bit more complexity, check out one of the myriad of to-do list apps that we've covered on the Daily Mac App including Wunderlist, Producteev and iProcrastinate.
The Perfect Ten: MMO mascots
Everyone knows that a good mascot can make a difference between a video game's death and rabid popularity. Mario, Master Chief, Duke Nuke 'Em, Pac-Man, Samus Aran, Pyramid Head -- each one of these mascots isn't merely an aspect of the game, they are the virtual spokesperson (or spokesthing) which represents the game itself. Yet when you think about it, MMOs have had a tougher time producing mascots than other video game genres, partially because unlike other games, you don't play as the mascots, and partially because when you have a cast of thousands of NPCs, picking out one to elevate above the rest is a difficult job. Difficult, that is, but not impossible. Today we're going to look at ten MMO mascots (MMOscots?) that studios have tried to promote as the face of these games, to varying degrees of success.
Tweetbot might replace your iOS Twitter client (video)
We awoke this morning to a deluge of hype surrounding Tweetbot, the version 1.0 Twitter client from Tapbot. So we sucked down some legal stimulant and ponied up the entrance fee to give it a go on an iPhone 4 (the app requires iOS 4.1 or later). Granted, we're still in the honeymoon period but we're definitely impressed. The design elements, animations, and audio tones are slickly implemented and the functionality is rich and intuitive. We're especially smitten by the right and left swiping actions used to reveal conversations and replies, respectively, and the customizable tab bar that gives quick access to lists and retweets. In fact, the list integration is so good as to finally make Twitter lists useful on a smartphone. We also applaud Tapbot's plucky release in light of Twitter Inc.'s preference that developers stop reproducing the Twitter client experience, especially since the result is superior to Twitter's own free iOS app. Sure, the user interface can be a bit overzealous at times (think HTC Sense vs. Windows Phone 7) but it's more fun than it is distracting, especially during these early hours. At $1.99 it's definitely worth a look -- just promise to view the video overview after the break first, ok?
Valentine's Day specials coming to the App Store
Ah, Valentine's Day, when Spring is just around the corner, love is in the air, and ... iOS games are on sale for 99 cents? Apparently -- since the holiday is largely made up by gift card retailers anyway, a bunch of big iOS developers are putting their games on sale for just a buck over the weekend. If you've been waiting to pick up games by Electronic Arts or Gameloft, this coming weekend will be your chance. There are actually multiple reasons for this -- not only is it Valentine's Day, but a lot of folks are receiving their new Verizon iPhones this weekend, so there's a lot of incentive to sell some games and break into the top paid and free app charts. We can probably expect to hear about more sales as the week goes on. Some games are also updating for Valentine's Day -- both Angry Birds and Cut the Rope have updates planned or shipping already, and we'll probably see a few more of those as well. Flower Garden is also going free starting Thursday for the holiday. Just be careful -- if your Valentine catches you playing any of this new content during your date next Monday, the rest of February might be a little more lonely for you.
The Game Archaeologist and the Asheron Recall: The highlights
It's hard being the youngest child -- you get the hand-me-downs, suffer through swirlies by older siblings, and eventually develop such a neurosis that it requires seven different brands of horse tranquilizers to make it through the day. Not that I would actually know, being an oldest child and all. But I suppose it would be a hard-knock life. In a couple ways, Asheron's Call was the youngest of the three MMO siblings that comprised the first major MMO generation. Ultima Online, the big brother, had prestige and legacy behind it, and middle child EverQuest quickly became the most popular at school. And then there was Asheron's Call, poking its head on the scene in late 1999 as a cooperative project between developer Turbine and publisher Microsoft. AC never got the recognition of Ultima Online nor the numbers of EverQuest, but this scrappy title became a fan favorite and endured even to this day -- beyond its own sequel, believe it or not. Instead of plowing through a stale history report of Asheron's Call today, I thought it'd be fun to come up with a list of the eight most unique aspects of this fairly innovative 11-year-old MMO. Ah lists, how I adore thee -- let me count the ways. Eight ways, to be precise!
Mac 101: Use the keyboard to navigate a Grid from the Dock
When I first got my Mac, it came with all the standard applications found in the applications folder. I used to find that opening an application from the applications Grid, on the Dock, was much easier and quicker than opening an application through the Finder. Over time, with more applications being installed on my computer, my applications Grid became larger and larger. Instead of seeing a small bunch of icons that I could easily recognize and navigate, I literally had dozens of icons on my applications Grid. This made it very difficult to distinguish the one application that I was looking for. It was like looking at a sea of multi-colored icons that were all blurring into one. Maybe you know what I'm talking about? Naturally, I had my most used applications accessible directly from the Dock, but for all of my other applications, I started using the Finder or Spotlight to locate and launch them instead. That is, until a friend showed me an obvious way to navigate a Grid and launch an application very quickly.
Capcom iPhone games on sale
Gameloft isn't the only company having a sale this week -- Capcom has also put most of its iPhone titles on sale for Comic-Con: You can pick up the great Phoenix Wright for just $2.99, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Dark Void Zero and Mega Man 2 for just 99 cents, or Street Fighter IV for $6.99. Good set of deals to choose from there. I think that big EA sale a while back set a precedent for price drops like this -- a nice discount on a game quite a few people have been waiting to play can definitely send it catapulting into the top lists on the App Store. Phoenix Wright is definitely worth $3 if you've never played it before, so that title specifically should really benefit from a sale like this.
How-to: manage your Facebook privacy settings with three simple lists
I used to love Facebook. I was in law school at Wisconsin when it launched, and everyone I knew on the site was basically a peer -- people who I'd known well or at least met in person at some point. Then... I graduated. Suddenly having a Facebook account full of pictures from blurry nights in Madison and Pulitzer Prize-caliber dirty jokes from my friends wasn't so awesome anymore -- especially once I started working for Engadget and lots and lots of people I didn't actually know (or, somewhat even worse, only knew professionally) started looking at my personal page. So I needed a system -- a way to still use Facebook to share personal stuff with friends, professional stuff with colleagues, and awesome stuff with everyone, all without blurring any lines or accidentally sharing too much with people I don't know. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/security/How_to_Effectively_manage_your_Facebook_privacy_settings'; Luckily, it's not so hard to do -- you just have to make effective use of a Facebook feature called Lists. By grouping all your friends into lists you can make sure you're sharing the right information with the right people -- pictures from last night's epic party with your actual friends, sanitized vacation photos with co-workers, almost nothing with strangers. But just making a bunch of random lists won't work -- you need a plan, and we've got one for you that involves making just three lists to solve all your Facebook privacy worries. How? Read on for step-by-step instructions.
Year-end reflections and predictions roundup
All our prognostications, anticipations, best-of lists and year-end reflections -- in one handy place. Our favorite iPhone games of 2009 The first full year of the App Store is coming to a close, and so let's take a look back at our favorite games of 2009. Note that these aren't best-selling, most important, or even the best games... TUAW bloggers post their Apple predictions for 2010 It's the end of another calendar year, which can mean only two things. First, every blog is going to be posting lists of 2009 retrospectives, and second, there are going to be a lot of posts... Our Favorite Apps: Stuff that stayed on our phones in 2009 As the year draws to a close, we thought we'd shine a spotlight on some of the favorite apps we used this year. These are the "sticky" apps, the ones that lingered on our iPhones after we gave... Also of interest: Apple nabs four of Engadget's 10 gadgets of the decade January 1 reflections on my favorite things How early iPhone predictions fared in the face of reality Two broken promises from AT&T and Apple as 2009 comes to a close
Twitter unveils new mobile version
It's probably fair to say that Twitter clients were the first "killer app" category for the iPhone -- Twitterific lead the charge way back when, but Tweetie came quickly after and then the flood gates were opened. But now, a late and unexpected challenger has entered the ring: Twitter themselves. Mashable has the screenshots -- Twitter has always had a slimmed-down mobile client (and it's still up right now at m.twitter.com, while the new preview is at mobile.twitter.com), but this one's a little shinier, with almost all the features and graphics of the main site. A few things didn't make it -- you can't skin your page as you can in the browser client (although none of the third-party clients that I know allow you to do that from the mobile client either). And lists are missing as well, though perhaps that's because Twitter doesn't quite consider them ready for prime time yet. Still, it's a definite improvement from the other mobile version, and the official blog on the subject says that they still have lots of visitors, despite all the other third-party clients out there.
Tweetie 2.1 for iPhone ships with lists, retweet and geolocation support
One of the top Twitter clients for iPhone has been refreshed: Tweetie 2.1 is now available in the App Store [iTunes link]. Our friend Christina previewed the new features in 2.1 for Mashable last week, and the updated version delivers with support for Twitter lists, the Retweet capability, spam reporting, and geotagging of tweets (opt-in and optional, so don't worry that Tweetie is going to supercharge your stalkers without telling you). The full list of changes and features is on the app's iTunes page, and it's impressive. Among the many improvements and tweaks is a crucial bug fix for an issue that had caused many 2.0 users (myself included) to gnash our teeth in frustration: the older version had a lot of problems saving state, causing old updates to appear again and, in the worst-case situation, old tweets to be sent repeatedly. It was aggravating, and it kept me from using Tweetie 2 as my full-time iPhone Twitter client -- but now it's gone. Tweetie 2 is US$2.99, whether or not you own a copy of Tweetie 1 (it's considered a whole new app). If you're a busy Twitter user on your iPhone or iPod touch, you really ought to give it a try. [via MacNN]
Fortune names RIM fastest growing company... in the world
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that RIM is doing pretty well even in the face of an economic downturn, but it looks like it's been doing really well -- at least according to Fortune, which has just named the Canadian company the fastest growing firm in the world. That's apparently based on a combination of profits, turnover, and investment return over three years which, in RIM's case, translates an 84% growth in profits in the past three years, a 77% growth in revenue, and a total return of 45%. It's also actually the first time RIM has made the list, although that's at least partly due to the fact that Fortune didn't include non-US firms last time around.
Top 5: Jury's Still Out
In this little hobby of ours, there are undeniable classics. Only an utterly clueless fanboy will ignore Shigeru Miyamoto's contributions to gaming, and any Nintendo enthusiast can never deny the quality of a series like Halo or God of War. No matter the platform, there are games which make up the foundation of this medium as we've come to know it. Traditionally, the formula would seem to be game made by a respectable company + a few years to let it sink in = indisputable classic. Yet there are a few that still provoke debate. These are games that are neither universally adored nor hated. They almost always spark conversation, and are considered by some to be an acquired taste. Here are the Top 5 games that we all can't decide if they're classics or not. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
