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ArcheAge's 'unscheduled maintenance' stretches into day two [Updated]
Would you like to play ArcheAge today? Well, good luck with that! Two of the fantasy sandpark's North American servers are currently up but sporting a queue, which wouldn't be that big of a deal except for the fact that they've basically been down since November 30th along with several other shards. Trion community manager Evan "Scapes" Berman first posted about the outage -- due to "unscheduled maintenance" -- yesterday morning, and he continued to update the post as instability and latency issues occurred throughout the day and into the evening. Massively has contacted Trion seeking comment. [Thanks everyone who tipped us.] [Update]: Trion provided Massively with the following statement. "The team's been working all night and has already made a lot of progress improving things and are currently working on fixing the remaining problems with XL GAMES' help. We should have updates coming to the community in the next few hours." The firm also mentioned "extra generous" compensation for the downtime, and said it would have more info on that once the problems are fully resolved.
The OverAchiever: The good, the bad, the ugly, and the weird
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we reminisce on that auld lang syne ... that nobody really misses. It occurred to me recently that we've never really done a retrospective piece on achievements. Sure, we've rounded up stuff like entertaining achievements and evil achievements, but we've never really looked at their impact on the game as a whole. There's an article in that, but it won't be this one. New Year's Eve is tomorrow, and I'm in the mood for some brainless fun. While I was writing this article, a number of the achievements that came to mind were the product of tier 7 raids, and I think I know why. Wrath raiding achievements were the first time Blizzard had experimented with their inclusion in raid content, and the implementation occasionally had some bizarre results. There was also the pressure cooker of having to finish Glory of the Raider before the rewards disappeared (a very belated announcement), and there was never that sense of urgency with Ulduar or Icecrown achievements. Anyway, let me know what you think.
The Daily Grind: Careful where you point that thing
There are parts of the game that you look at it without a great deal of affection. They're bland but functional, the sort of thing that doesn't show up in pre-release screenshots for obvious reasons. Then there are the parts that you look at that could curdle milk based solely on the visuals. They bring you to a state of Lovecraftian horrible knowledge about the hideous true nature of the universe. Maybe something has been modeled to be something particularly ugly, or perhaps it's a combination of poor polygon counts and bad choices in terms of color. In creator-heavy games such as City of Heroes and Champions Online, you might wind up with a character whose calculated appearance is eye-searing. What's universal is that they are so ugly that even if you're used to playing games with unskinned conglomerates of polygons, they strike you as downright hideous. What have you seen in your favorite game that made you just recoil in shock, horror, and possibly disgust? Was it a badly-designed model, or something that was meant to be horrific and succeeded far too well? Did you take screenshots to prove how nauseating it was, or did you just get away and never look back?
Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Thaddius)
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week we're on our way to the last two bosses of Naxxramas -- but not without a stop at the ultimate boss of the Construct Quarter.If you didn't get to see Naxxramas at 60 but did the first boss of the Mechanar in Burning Crusade, you're already familiar with the major "trick" to the Thaddius fight. Actually, you can make a pretty compelling case that Thaddius is easier than Mechano-Lord Capacitus, mostly because the platform on which Thaddius is situated is ideally configured for the encounter. Mechano-Lord was usually a mess of planning beforehand about where you'd go if you were melee and your charge was different from the tank's, etc. That's not a problem here. But before you get to Thaddius -- who, by the way, is the source of most of the eerie cries you'll hear in this quarter -- you have to deal with a few mobs along the way.
Device converts controller rumble to electric shocks
"How much better would games such as Mortal Kombat or Streetfighter [sic] be if you were ELECTROCUTED each time you were hit!" No, that's not a rhetorical question (though our answer would be "not at all better") ... it's the web site introduction to the Mindwire V5, a new British product that replaces those annoyingly rough rumbling controller sensation with a series of gentle, soothing electric shocks. Ahhh, bliss.Using a special controller converter (pictured) and a series of five adhesive pads, the V5 sends force-feedback activated shocks that the web site compares to those of a muscle toning machine. While the device will work with practically any game, the site recommends using it to enhance fighters and first-person shooters (just be sure to stay away from Rez)Though the site advertises plenty of safety features, the litany of warnings makes us worry about how safe this device actually is. It's probably moot for us, though --- at £99 (about $196), this one is only for well-off masochists.Also see: Military sim "shoots" back[Via Pocket Lint, Thanks Foolio]
Sony hiring for God of War team
In what is sure to be a moment filled with shock and awe, it looks like Sony is gearing up to make another God of War game. Well, yes, we're stretching a bit there. Officially it's just to "join the God of War team," which could mean the GoW team is busy working on something other than the multi-million copy selling franchise. But, come on, 1080p true HD Kratos would be the hotness. You could count the pores on his shiny bald head and probably see the little wisps of rage wafting off his body.The two job openings are for a senior technical artist and a senior designer for "combat." So, even if the team isn't going to be working on the entirely expected God of War 3, at least it'll have combat -- and that team knows how to do combat. Worry not Kratos lovers, the God of War 3 announcement can't be that far away.[Thanks Kspraydad]
