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EverQuest Next Landmark lays out development roadmap
EverQuest Next Landmark Director of Development Dave Georgeson has posted a roadmap for the title's next few months last night, divvying up the upcoming features into three phases that are independent of alpha and beta labels. In the first phase that's coming in "the next few weeks," SOE will be adding in player ratings for claims, key mapping, voice chat, groups and grouping bonuses, social media integration, quick travel options, better building tools, underground caves, claim expansions, required upkeep for claims, and an improved chat system that includes links for map waypoints. Phase two will happen about four weeks later, with guilds, SOEmote, naming freedom, mini-hubs, health, dying, basic combat, buffs, plant harvesting, water, a tree harvesting revamp, a journal system, achivements, salvage, treasure chests, claim storage, and more movement options including flying. SOE was a little more vague about the third phase, saying that it will include PvP, advanced combat, more physics, and better AI. [Thanks to Michael18 for the tip!]
IBM develops 'instantaneous' memory, 100x faster than flash
You've got to hand it to IBM's engineers. They drag themselves into work after their company's 100th birthday party, pop a few Alka-Seltzers and then promptly announce yet another seismic invention. This time it's a new kind of phase change memory (PCM) that reads and writes 100 times faster than flash, stays reliable for millions of write-cycles (as opposed to just thousands with flash), and is cheap enough to be used in anything from enterprise-level servers all the way down to mobile phones. PCM is based on a special alloy that can be nudged into different physical states, or phases, by controlled bursts of electricity. In the past, the technology suffered from the tendency of one of the states to relax and increase its electrical resistance over time, leading to read errors. Another limitation was that each alloy cell could only store a single bit of data. But IBM employees burn through problems like these on their cigarette breaks: not only is their latest variant more reliable, it can also store four data bits per cell, which means we can expect a data storage "paradigm shift" within the next five years. Combine this with Intel's promised 50Gbps interconnect, which has a similar ETA, and data will start flowing faster than booze from an open bar on the boss's tab. There's more detailed science in the PR after the break, if you have a clear head.
GE's new phase-change based thermal conductor could mean cooler laptops -- literally
It's no secret: if your laptop sits atop your lap for an extended period of time, you're going to get burned -- okay, so maybe not burned, but you're definitely going to feel the heat. Luckily GE has been working (under contract for DARPA) on a new phase-change based thermal conductor that promises to cool electronics twice as well as copper, at one-fourth the weight. The breakthrough means big things for those of us who'd like to make babies one day, but we doubt that's why DARPA's shelling out the big bucks -- the new material functions at 10 times normal gravity, making it a shoo-in for on-board computing systems in jetliners. Using "unique surface engineered coatings" that simultaneously attract and repel water, the new nanotechnology could mean not only lighter, cooler electronics, but also an increase in computing speeds. Goodbye scrotal hyperthermia, hello cool computing! Full PR after the break.
Breakfast Topic: Most tense encounter phase
My guild has been steadily working working on the Lich King encounter on 25-player mode for several weeks now. We've managed to gradually chip away and gain some meaningful progress on the Defile and Twin Val'kyr phase. If it were just Defile, it wouldn't be a problem. Likewise, if there were only Val'kyr to worry about, we'd ace it easily. But combined, they present quite the interesting challenge. It isn't exactly the most enjoyable part of the encounter for me as a healer. After taking him down in the 10s, I can say the phase where all the spirits are flying around and waiting to explode on some player is enough to keep me on my toes, as well. The last boss I remember really holding my breath on would be the final phase when tackling Yogg-Saron. I suppose my best theory on that would be the longer I've worked on a boss, the more tense and focused I would get. Other encounters? There was one specific phase during the Illidan fight that kept me on my toes. The veterans of the game might remember the second phase where Illidan took to the air and impaled his war glaives on the ground, which summoned two fire elementals. They had to be tanked at a certain distance and a certain angle; otherwise, the elementals would completely fry the raid. Archimonde had the same effect on me. Can you guess which part? It was when players were thrown in the air and had to rely on Tears of the Goddess to safely land. I cheated and Levitated. A more recent encounter would have been Sindragosa. Every time she pulls players towards her and lights up an explosion, I get a little uptight. Someone seems to get hit. What about you? Which parts of a fight cause your back to straighten and your fingers to hold that mouse with a firmer grip?
Last remaning BlizzCon tickets go on sale at 8:00 p.m. PDT tonight
If you want to go to BlizzCon in October, you have one last window to buy your tickets: 8:00 p.m. PDT tonight. That's 11:00 p.m. Eastern, and 10:00 p.m. Central. This news comes from an announcement on the main page of the WoW website. The announcement further tells us that all the available tickets were sold out within minutes of the Blizzard Store coming on-line this afternoon.Considering there will be a third hall open this year, we believe around 12,000 tickets have been made available (this number has also been reportedly confirmed by phone sales reps), which is 50% more than the 8,000 that were sold last year. The World Wide Invitational that took place in June also sold out very quickly.In the case of the WWI, additional tickets were made available after the primary batch had sold out. However, and this is important, there is no indication Blizzard will do this again.We'll update with any further information when we have it.
Wii Warm Up: Rhythm-based downloads
The news that Helix would be gracing WiiWare got us to thinking about other rhythm-based titles on the download service. It seems like all the competition gets the love when it comes to the genre. Steam has Audiosurf. Xbox Live has Rez. Even iTunes has Phase. Guess we'll see if Helix becomes the Wii's killer music-based title ...But, we digress. Aside from the obvious (uh, Rez), what music-based game would you like to see available for download on WiiWare? Any of the ones listed above? A different franchise? Lay it on us!
Realm progression rankings for the Shattered Sun questline
The efforts to retake the Isle of Quel'Danas proceed apace. Some realms are going faster than others, but Drysc assures us that even the low-population realms will get the phases auto-completed for them eventually if they don't have the manpower to get there fast enough on their own. What if you want to see exactly how the realms stack up? We talked last week about a manually maintained forum post; however, that has problems with trustworthiness and the difficulty of keeping it updated.Edur, of Gorgonnash-A (EU), has created a web site that relies on game data form participants to rank the realms according to their completion of the Sunwell questline, and a very nice site it is. You can see all the US and European realms and where they stand both on the main phase quests and on the side accomplishments, like constructing the portal from Shattrath to Quel'Danas. There are also nice progress charts for each individual realm, and, most usefully, ETAs for when the objectives might be reached given current rates of completion.
Sunwell Isle Realm progression list
Are you interested in which phase each Realm is on in the race to complete the Shattered Sun Offensive? Well then Masterdragon has the list you need. He has compiled a list of all of the servers and which phase is currently being worked on. Drysc has blessed the thread with a blue post congratulating him on his endeavors -- and presumably to make the list easier to find.Masterdragon will be updating the list two or three times a day and requests that you check the list before posting your server's phase status.I'm impressed that Masterdragon is putting in all this effort to update this tracking list. It's too bad that Blizzard can't provide one for us so that he doesn't have to. An official list could indicate the percentage completed for each phase as well. But I suppose they have enough work putting a spin on the undocumented changes that have popped up in Patch 2.4.Do you think Blizzard should have an official list? Or are you just happy that a fellow player took the initiative to make one himself?
GDC08: Phase session not procedurally generated [update]
[Update: Somehow I missed it, according to IGN, Foster did say that Harmonix was looking into procedurally-generated note charts for Rock Band. Amazing!] Harmonix's Chris Foster decided instead to go ahead and manually write his postmortem on the design of the iPod rhythm game Phase. Throughout the talk, Foster returned to the point that in all decisions, the team went with the "fun" option to make an accessible game. Every decision was informed by the need to make a game that is just fun for a potentially non-gaming audience. The most notable feature, and the one that caused the most trouble for the development team, is the procedurally-generated gameplay. Since Phase works with the music on your iPod, note charts must be automatically generated. Foster talked at length about the issue of ensuring that these are fun, making sure that there aren't too many or two few and that they are consistent. Some important decisions that went into this: the "slider" sections in silent parts of the song, and varying note density not only by beats, but also by loudness, to ensure a dynamic gameplay experience. Sensitivity of the generator was tested with an eclectic set of 200 songs, including especially problematic Japanese noise music and Bjork.
GDC08: Phase was originally a PSP game
You know how much we enjoy beats, the downloadable music game. But, iPod has something similar from Harmonix: Phase. That title was originally created for PSP as well. It was meant to be an "urban journey" and only used the shoulder buttons for control. We'd love to see a PSP version come to fruition as well, but for now, we'll keep on playing to our beats.
Apple offers Rock Band iTunes setlist ... for $75
Apple is hoping you can't get enough of Rock Band, promoting on its website a playlist featuring 74 songs of the game for a whopping $73.26. At $0.99 per song, that's a savings of exactly 0% -- in other words, resist the temptation to buy the whole package (iTunes link) and feed your Phase addiction by downloading the songs you like individually (from either iTunes itself or via one of its competitors). While the lack of savings might leave room for pause, at 74 songs (that's main setlist and quite a few of the DLC tracks), Apple still missed some of the best gems -- namely, every single bonus song. A quick search on iTunes led us to finding all but four of the bonus tracks ("29 Fingers," "Outside," "Nightmare" and the power ballad "Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld"). If you're looking for a more eclectic mix, search for the bonus 9 tracks available; that'll only cost you $8.91. Gallery: Rock Band iTunes Downloads [Via X3F]
Best of the Rest: Zack's Picks of 2007
Phase (iPod)A must-have game on the iPod? Yep. I'm as surprised as anyone. Apple's music player puttered through Tetris remakes, solitaire, and other obvious clones until Phase established some gaming muscle. (And sure, Musika gets some credit for being unique, but it's more visualizer than game.) Developed by Harmonix, Phase is a simple Guitar Hero-style beat-matching game. Tap a fifth-generation (video) iPod, Classic, or recent Nano's left, center, and right buttons in time with the music and on-screen prompts. Slide a finger around the wheel to catch falling dots. And that's it. The game becomes so much more because of its quirky visuals and ability to sync to your own songs. Nearly any genre works, especially music with a percussive bass line. While the console rhythm games let you buy new track downloads, Phase's unlimited replay with your own songs makes it a no-brainer for a portable music player.
TUAW Buyers Guide: Gifts for gamers
As we found out this past year, gamers have Macs, too. When you think of gaming gifts, you don't usually think of getting suggestions from a Mac blog-- most of (if not all of) the best games this year aren't playable on a Mac at all. But nevertheless, we're out there-- people who love gaming and Macs, living in two worlds both aimed at the same thing: having a great and beautiful user experience.If you're shopping for one of us this holiday season, here's a quick guide to a few good gift ideas.
Today's iPod-rocking video: Phase trailer
MTV Games continues to publish new music titles in its $500 million spree, with the latest Harmonix development, Phase. The original Phase news reminded some of us too much of (non) game, Musika to buy. But this video clearly shows simple pattern-matching gameplay that may rock pockets better than the portable Guitar Hero.Check out the video, and contemplate your purchase after the break.
TUAW Review: Phase for iPod
When I saw Phase in the iTunes store, I thought that for five bucks it was worth giving a try. Phase is the new music game that provides Tap-Tap-Revolution-style gameplay, albeit for standard iPods rather than the iPhone. I added it to my cart, charged it to my long-suffering Visa card, and synced it to my iPod to see how well it would play.
Harmonix releases iPod game 'Phase'
The more eagle-eyed among you may have spotted a new title on the roster of iPod games available through iTunes called Phase. If you're a rhythm gamer on the go it may be worth a purchase, especially considering that the game was created by Harmonix, the studio behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band.In fact, it seems that those familiar with the company's Amplitude and Frequency will be right at home with Phase, which lets you play along with favorite songs with an interface that's strikingly similar to Harmonix's PS2 offerings. Not that we're complaining, mind you, we're too busy downloading. ... Now, if we can just figure out how to get this thing on our Walkman.
