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Facebook will rank comments to make conversations more meaningful
Facebook wants to make conversations on public posts more meaningful. Today, it will start ranking comments to promote those that are most relevant to users. It will give priority to comments that have interactions from the original poster, as well as comments or reactions from friends of the person who created the post.
Opel Ampera popular in ye old continent, likely to meet sales goals unlike Volt
To say that Chevy's Volt hasn't had the smoothest inaugural year would be an understatement, but over on the other side of the pond, things couldn't be going more swimmingly for its badge-engineered cousin, the Opel Ampera. Sales are reportedly brisk with over 7,000 Europeans preordering the electrified hatchback, prompting the company to push its 2012 sales target from 8,000 to 10,000 units -- matching the figure Chevy had initially set, and then missed for its variant here in the US of A. That got us thinking, are Europeans the electrified forward-thinking mavericks we think they are? Or have they simply fallen prey to the Ampera's far better looks? Decide in the comments below.
Burning Crusade weapon models 'mogged the most
MMO-Champion recently released an incredibly interesting set of data about the most popular items used in weapon transmogrification, finding out that 62% of the top five transmog weapons across all classes are from The Burning Crusade. Only 20% of the top five items are from the classic WoW world, with 18% of the weapons coming from Wrath of the Lich King. 0% of the top five items are from the most recent Cataclysm expansion. The Burning Crusade is heralded as the golden age of World of Warcraft, a time when the genre that WoW perfected hit a beautiful peak, a wonderful balance between difficulty and accessibility, that appealed to the hardcore MMO veterans who dominated the genre until the Wrath of the Lich King days. Others hated it entirely. No matter which way you lean, it's clear that The Burning Crusade had strong art direction, with otherworldly weapons and armor juxtaposed against traditional fantasy tropes. The fact that Burning Crusade items are the most popular right now does not surprise me in the least. Check out all of the statistics, as well as each class' top five transmogged weapons, over at MMO-Champion.
The Daily Grind: Does a class' popularity influence your desire to play it?
There are a few constants that dog my adventures into every MMO. I will play a female character even though I am a man, I will go nuts over pet classes if they are available, I will probably create a legion of alts before ever hitting the level cap, and I will wear stylish hats even if the stats aren't the greatest. But above all of that, the biggest constant in my playing career is that I almost always refuse to pick MMO classes that are extremely popular. I think it's because I -- like probably most of you -- like to feel unique in games, even though it's usually difficult to achieve. Choosing a class that's in the minority helps with that feeling, and conversely, going with the FOTM or whatever the kids are calling it these days makes me feel like I've got my unique snowflake status revoked. So is this insane? Do you allow class popularity to influence your desire to play it, or do you just go with whatever sounds like the most fun? 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!
Shocker! The internet is not egalitarian, popular forum posters have it easy
Researchers at the University of Georgia analyzed six years' worth of Usenet posts, and you know what they discovered? Life ain't fair. The most popular two percent of posters who started discussion threads hogged 50 percent of all replies, while everyone else struggled for attention. What made some thread-starters more attractive than others? Thankfully it wasn't rampant flaming. The distinguishing trait was actually how factual they were: only 12 percent of posts by popular posters contained personal opinions or comments. However, posting a bit of news isn't all it takes to win followers. In a related experiment, 200 volunteers were unleashed onto "simulated" discussion forums and their behavior revealed an even more important factor. The slightly flummoxed researchers called it a "preferential attachment", which pulled readers towards posters who already had an excess of followers. In other words, life still ain't fair. For a delightfully factual breakdown of the full results, check out the PR after the break.
iPhone 4 rocketing to the top of Flickr's camera list
It's no surprise that the iPhone 4 is not only a popular smartphone, but also a well-liked digital camera. The 5-megapixel back camera doesn't have the highest pixel count of all smartphone cameras, and the specifications of that camera don't hold a candle to many of the digital SLRs and point-and-shoot cameras that are on the market. What the iPhone 4 does have going for it is an array of apps that make sharing those photos with the world insanely easy. The ability to share photos with social networks is why the iPhone 4 is well on the way to being Flickr's most popular camera according to TechCrunch's MG Siegler. Siegler reports that although iPhones as a group had taken the Flickr crown in the past, the iPhone 4 alone is about to pass the Nikon D90 as the most popular camera used by Flickr users. The inability of point-and-shoot cameras, such as the Canon PowerShot line and DSLRs like the various Canon EOS and Nikon models, to immediately upload photos to services like Flickr, Twitter and Facebook is causing the iPhone 4 to become a popular way to share photos. What's also fascinating is that although Android phones have more market share than the iPhone, no individual model is anywhere close to knocking the iPhone 4 from its lofty popularity perch. Siegler also notes that the iPad 2 is not being used much as a digital camera, and a look at the Flickr data shows a measly nine users a day uploading photos to the photo service. We won't know what the next iPhone model will have in terms of camera specs, but any improvement is sure to keep the iPhone family atop Flickr's "Most Popular Camera" list for a long time.
The Fingerist turns your iPhone into an iKeytar, available now
Remember The Fingerist, the guitar headstock-themed speaker and case for your iPhone or iPod touch? You know, the one with the shoulder strap for public (and private) performances with all of your favorite music making apps? Well, it seems that it's finally available in the states. Indeed, there has been so little fanfare behind this announcement that the company responsible, Evenno, hasn't even acknowledged it on its site. But don't worry: we found this bad boy for $150 on Amazon. And if that's not enough, iLounge has done a series of hands-on photos (see the More Coverage link, below). Or, if you're like us, you can skip the thing altogether and groove to Rick Wakeman after the break. We do have one more thing to say about the Fingerist, however: at least it's not endorsed by this guy.
The Fingerist finds fame, retail opportunities in Japan (video)
Japan tends to be on the weird side of any coin, and The Fingerist does nothing to undermine that reputation. This accessory for the iPhone and iPod touch was conceived at a "mutton BBQ restaurant" when one dude said to another that he needed an amp for his guitar app. Lo and behold, after an apparently successful CES appearance, the axe-imitating speaker thingie -- replete with a guitar strap and line-out to jack into real amplifiers -- is now on sale for ¥14,800 (or $150 for the rest of us). We can't wrap our minds around such an expense just for the privilege of fingering our touchscreens, but then you can make some pretty sweet music using these things (video evidence after the break).
The Daily Grind: Does popularity influence your play decisions?
Popularity can be an odd beast. For a fairly long stretch in World of Warcraft, there was one creature that could always be found in droves, no matter the time or place: the night elf hunter. While hunters are no longer the most popular class in the game, there's still no shortage of veterans who will look at you with suspicion if you have one. They became synonymous with inexperience and overplayed characters -- and as a combination of one of the most popular races with the most popular class at the time, it was all but inevitable. From Guild Wars to EVE Online, there are always certain things with seemingly endless popularity. Some players will flock to the flavor of the month, either because they believe it's overpowered, or due to the assumption that everyone else can't be wrong. On the flip side, some people make it their practice to find the least popular combination of abilities and play that, just to be unique. So where do you fall? Have you ever made your choice of character based on what was (or wasn't) popular at the time? If so, do you try to go with the flow or against it?
The best of WoW Insider: January 20-27, 2009
What a week in the World of Warcraft. We've had game-breaking bugs, gold ads on the official forums, and there's a rumor going around that the official WoW mouse might be broken, too. But don't worry -- when things break in Azeroth, as they definitely have this past week, WoW Insider is there to pick up the pieces. Check out our top stories of the past week below. News The disaster of patch 3.0.8Blizzard's latest patch is riddled with bugs, from bad to worse. World of Warcraft 3.0.8 patch notesHere's what's supposed to have happened. But most of this didn't actually work until late last week. Steelseries WoW mouse is dangerous in no uncertain Terms (of Use)Could an officially sponsored mouse get you officially banned? Breaking news: Arenas disabledYes, things got so bad last week, Blizzard temporarily took both Wintergrasp and the Arenas out of the game. Gold ads appear on Blizzard's forumsBlizzard suffers an amusing slip in its forum advertising. Features The Overachiever: Completing the Lunar Festival achievementsA guide to finishing up all of the goals for the Lunar Festival, now happening in Azeroth. The Queue: Who cares about 3.0.8, where's 3.1?Our readers wonder where the new content is. Breakfast Topic: Is 68 too low for Northrend?A daily discussion about when the right time to head north should be. The Art of War(craft): How 3.0.8 changes PvPPlayer vs. Player and what's different with the new patch. Two Bosses Enter: Keristrasza vs. CyanigosaOur showdown of in-game bosses is back for Wrath, with some dragon on dragon action.
Breakfast Topic: Unpopular classes
Once upon a time, way back in vanilla WoW, it was common knowledge that rogues and hunters were the most common classes. Raids would regularly refuse to take more of them, and it was almost assumed that all hunters were noobs. Well, at least on my realm, half of that is true: hunters are still extremely popular. However, there's hardly a rogue to be found; it seems that druids (of all classes) have taken their place. My guild, for instance, has zero level 80 rogues. Druids were once one of the least played classes, but I see them all over the place now. I also see quite a few death knights, of course, and more shamans than I would expect (given that I play Alliance). I've also never been able to swing a stick on my realm without hitting a paladin. Warlocks are probably the next rarest class I see, after rogues. I'm aware that this varies realm-to-realm, though - what's the least popular class on your realm, according to your experience? %Poll-24837%
The Best of Massively: Our five all-time greatest hits
Our first birthday is this weekend and we're very excited -- so excited that we're giving away tons of stuff with reckless abandon. As you know, we've been leading up to it for the past month by listing our best work in the Best of Massively series. Well, folks, this is the last episode! We're wrapping it up by presenting what are arguably your favorites -- our five most viewed featured articles ever! Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy, and tune in Sunday for the first giveaways! Click to start >> %Gallery-35800%
Find popular builds with TalentChic
Since the patch hit, we've been flooded with requests for cookie-cutter builds for various classes, specs, and roles. We're working on it, but our bloggers only have so many hours in the day (if only haste rating worked in real life). However, I do have a new site to tell you about that might help with these types of questions. TalentChic is a web site that aims to determine what the most popular talent builds are for all nine classes, and it's very well made, in my opinion. The site makes use of Armory data, so it stays relatively up-to-date. Builds are organized by class and by primary tree, and you can also filter for playstyle (Raid/PvP for instance). Playstyle is determined by what kind of gear the player was raiding when their data was cached, so it's not foolproof (a raider could have been wearing their PvP gear and thus counted as PvP), but it's about as good as can be done with Armory data. As far as the information displayed goes, it seems reasonable to me. I'm a little surprised that Combat is still so dominant with Rogues, given that I've heard Mutilate got significantly buffed. And I'm very surprised that 0/61/0 is the most popular Holy Priest build; I haven't seen people talk about that one very much, and I certainly wouldn't want to be without Meditation. It does drop to only second most popular if I look at raiding Holy Priests. Are your own talent builds popular? Does TalentChic give you any ideas on how to spec?
BlackBerry Curve tops curious list of most popular handsets in US
There's a pretty substantial difference between "sales" and "popularity," as evidenced by the glaring dissimilarities between this here top 10 list and the one churned out earlier this month by NPD. AvianResearch got its data by polling 100 service representatives at retail stores to "gauge consumer interest in handsets available at the four major carriers in the United States." In September, RIM's BlackBerry Curve maintained the "lead," with Apple's iPhone securing a very distant second place. LG's Dare and the BlackBerry Pearl followed suit, while the LG Voyager, Samsung Instinct, LG Rumor, LG Shine, Palm Centro and Nokia 5310 closed out the rear. But seriously, since when has popularity trumped cold hard sales? Ah well, here's your cookie, Curve.
The Daily Grind: The most popular MMO or the underdog?
Everyone's always talking about subscription numbers -- including us! We're always speculating about which game is going to end up on top. Well, second to the top, anyway. But what impact does the popularity of a game have on your play experience?The conventional wisdom is as follows. If you're playing the most popular MMO out there, you're at the forefront of the gaming community's attention. You're seeing first hand every history-making event. You're suffering through every headline-making nerf patch. If you're in a smaller MMO, the community is more tight-knit. You feel like you're living in a small town, where everyone knows your name. Your feedback might even have a chance of impacting the direction the game takes.But is any of that true? Which would you prefer -- the most popular game out there, or the best-kept-secret, and why?
Top 25 pop-u-lar Xbox gamertags
Microsoft's Trixie (Christa Phillips) released a list of the top 25 Xbox Live gamertags in 2007 over the weekend. The list is compiled "anytime the gamercard or profile is called up," with more "hits" resulting in a higher placement. Topping the list is obviously none other than Major Nelson, known in real life as the vowel-deficient Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's director of programming, the guru and go-to man for Xbox related issues and announcements -- especially when things go horribly wrong with the service.We're not exactly sure who a lot of the people on the list are (which can also be found after the break with an appropriate video clip), but Ms. Trixie comes in at number three behind other Microsoft personality Eric "e" Neustadter. Xbox Live "cheater" Gilbert Arenas bounced in at number six, while Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 developers made eight and nine respectively. Also, former X3F writer David "Knuckles Dawson" Dreger made number 19. Now, let's see if you all can fill in the rest of the names behind the gamertags.
Wii's most popular VC games
Siliconera's Spencer Yip put together the handy-dandy spreadsheet you see above featuring the most popular Wii Virtual Console games, available for review now following the recent Wii update. The list shows Japan on the left and the US on the right. Nobody seems to know how the popularity of these games is determined, after Siliconera made their list, it changed for Wii Fanboy, then again when we checked. Hopefully the system will become clearer in time.Look at all that Mario in the Top 10, with a heavy dose of Link for the US. This will certainly be an interesting chart to watch as more games become available. Maybe it will finally spur Xbox Live Arcade to get one. It would be interesting to know what's popular on XBLA, at least we know it wouldn't be Mario all the way down.[Via Wii Fanboy]
Popular Virtual Console games, according to the Wii Shop Channel
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Top_20_Most_Popular_Virtual_Console_Titles'; One of the most interesting new features of the newly-updated Wii firmware is the ability to see a list of popular Virtual Console games for your region. Now that there's a decent number of Virtual Console games, we can imagine having a hard time making a selection. Siliconera's Spencer Yip has provided both the Japanese top 20 (left) and the US top 20 (right) for comparison.We don't know exactly how the popularity of these games is determined. As Spencer mused, "It's not clear if these games are popular because they are the top selling Virtual Console games, most browsed games this month or most loved by the Nintendo staff (unlikely!)" What is clear is that the list is frequently updated. We found that some of the games had shifted around from their positions on Siliconera's list. Star Fox 64 and Shining Force, for example, swapped places, and Wave Race 64 and Zelda II have replaced Kirby's Dream Course and Excitebike.We couldn't be more excited about daily Virtual Console charts! Even if they show a disappointing lack of Devil's Crush on both sides.
Is HDTV finally ready for the mainstream?
It seems that this question gets posed by one mainstream media outlet or another every year or so, and what better time to ask again than following estimates that 50 million American homes will be HDTV-equipped by the end of next year? It's no secret that carriers are pushing HD more frequently in their advertising, and now that select basic cable channels are finally making the move to HD, we wonder if the currently satisfied viewers will get curious and follow along? Numerous analysts have suggested that consumers won't make the jump en masse to demand HD programming until a noticeable amount of non-network content becomes available in HD, and while CNN, Food Network, TBS, and A&E (for instance) are all going (or have gone) HD, there's still hundreds of channels out there that have yet to purchase the first piece of HD recording equipment. Is HDTV ready for mainstream? Our gut says not quite, but we're a lot closer today than we've been.[Image courtesy of PSBSpeakers]
Wii wins "best of what's new" from Popular Science
The Nintendo Wii, a stunning system aimed at totally immersing the player in the gaming experience like never seen before, has turned a few heads since its unveiling a few years ago at E3. Since then, through excellent first-hand impressions and a strong marketing campaign, the system has received quite the buzz. For good reason, as not only is the motion-sensitive controller just about the stuff dreams are made of, but a robust Virtual Console service holding some of the greatest in retro titles on an owner's system, allowing for play at any time is another feature not worth overlooking.Popular Science recently bestowed their award of Best of What's New 2006 on the Wii. They lauded its approach, of how the Wii took a step back from photo-realistic graphics and the raw processing power of its competition. Instead, they imagine the Wii as being the present reincarnation of gaming from old; a mixture of a simple control scheme and simple graphics, which together are sure to equal big fun.
