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Dragon Quest Metal Slime smartphone revealed by DoCoMo, looks more metal than slime
Atop a pile of gold coins, in a treasure chest. This is how you present a Dragon Quest collaboration smartphone to the Japanese public.
The Perfect Ten: Stock fantasy enemies from lamest to coolest
One theory of MMOs is that they represent several parallel universes, each with similarities and differences. This may explain why so many of them claim to be boldly original and yet carry the same monster DNA that exists everywhere else. Today we're going to carefully unpack our ancient collector's edition of stock fantasy enemies. Blow off the dust and smell that nostaglia, mhmm. Sure, they've seen better days, but they're still good, right? Still solid. Still capable of entertaining us, even if we've slaughtered their kin a thousand times over. Let me show you my collection of 10 stock fantasy enemies that we encounter all the time in MMOs. Just for fun, I'm going to order them from lamest to coolest. I would be number 11, by the way.
Slime molds could hold key to new kinds of intelligence, help Statue of Liberty walk
See that yellow amoeboid slime mold? It's up to something. A team of Japanese scientists at Future University Hakodate led by professor Toshiyuki Nakagaki has found evidence that physarum polycephalum -- or grape-cluster slime -- are capable of navigating mazes and can organize their cells to find the most direct route. Nakagaki and others believe this could be the key to designing bio-computers capable of solving complex problems. According to Nakagaki, the slime's cells appear to have a kind of information-processing ability that allows them to "optimize" the route along which the mold grows to reach food while avoiding stresses -- like light -- that may damage them. Over at Kyushu University, researcher Atsushi Tero told the AFP news agency: "Computers are not so good at analysing the best routes that connect many base points because the volume of calculations becomes too large for them. But slime molds, without calculating all the possible options, can flow over areas in an impromptu manner and gradually find the best routes." Tero and other researchers have expressed hope that slime mold networks could be used in future designs of new transportation systems, electric transmission lines and understanding the human nervous system. Just remember, if you're going to coat the interior of the Statue of Liberty with some pink slime you found in the sewer, make sure you play some upbeat music to go along with it. It's just a good idea in the long run.
Dragon Quest 25th anniversary merch features plushie slimes, business card cases
The legendary Dragon Quest series (originally published in Japan in 1986, and of course in North America as Dragon Warrior after that) turns 25 this year, and Square Enix is giving all of its gifts away. We've already heard about a Wii collection coming out, but as you can see above, some of the prizes are a little less practical. That's a pair of plushie slimes on the left, and on the right is a Smile Slime Crystal Mascot figurine, measuring about 6 centimeters tall. Both special slime items also have a DQ 25th anniversary logo on the back. Both of those will be 1554 yen, or about $19 US. Additionally, Square Enix is offering some special edition tote bags for the anniversary for about $26 each, and some Dragon Quest business card holders (with art featuring the first three games) for around $20 US. All of the swag is supposed to be available starting late July in Japan.
Dragon Quest VI shows its love with a trailer
Above is the t-shirt Nintendo included with review copies of Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation -- which just happens to have a Valentine's Day release date. We can only imagine this pun was the motivation for the scheduling. Nintendo also sent out something of wider appeal than this delightful, silly, pun-filled shirt, something in which we can all share: a new trailer, which you can see after the break. Dragon Quest IX players will notice right away that this remake looks different, with a huge avatar on the world map and 2D enemy sprites in battle.
FightSticks, lots of other accessories on sale at Amazon
Today's Amazon Deal of the Day is actually deals -- discounts on a bunch of accessories. If you look through the pages of deals, you'll hit upon some highlights like the Mad Catz Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV Round 2 Tournament Edition FightStick for $105 andthe Hori PS3 Fighting Stick 3 for $30. But our personal highlight is right there on the front page. Hori's wonderful Dragon Quest Slime Speaker Stand for DS, which is a DS stand with a speaker in it, that is shaped like a Slime from Dragon Quest, and is on sale for $30. All of these offers will be active through the end of the day or until stock runs out.
Yuji Horii explains the Dragon Quest Slime's origin
This Sunday, with the release of Dragon Quest IX, thousands of gamers will begin the time-honored tradition of slaughtering adorable Slimes, over and over and over again. Don't feel bad, that's what they're there for. But how did Akira Toriyama's cutest character design ever (take that, all Dragon Ball characters) come to be? "I was really hooked on Wizardry the PC game, and that's kind of where I got the inspiration for the Slime," Dragon Quest producer Yuji Horii told MTV Multiplayer. "There's ... slime-looking characters [in Wizardry], so I got the inspiration from it. I was doodling the slime-looking character and I took it to Mr. Toriyama, who did the character design, and he made it the Slime we see today." The Slime went on to appear not only in every Dragon Quest game, but also in its own games, along with plenty of adorable merchandise.
Blood Pact: Warlock tips for the Plagueworks
Blood Pact is your weekly warlock digest brought to you by Dominic Hobbs. "Oh, Festergut. You were always my favorite. Next to Rotface. The good news is you left behind so much gas, I can practically taste it!" ~ Professor Putricide As with many of these raid/boss guides there's only so much that is specific to any class. The Plagueworks doesn't include any bosses that get us locks doing anything fancy or new. That said though they are great fights and interesting in their own right. This guide is aimed at warlocks but probably of use to all casters. No doubt the comments will be full of neat little tricks that I have missed but as I breached 2000 words I had better stop where I am and not start explaining how to one-shot things with Eye of Kilrogg and Dark Pact. Festergut Festergut is the simplest of the Plagueworks bosses but that doesn't make him easy. He's essentially a gear-check, though obviously you need to know how to apply that gear as well. The tanks get checked to see how hard they can be battered for thirty seconds at a time, the healers checked on how well they can swap from healing everyone a bit to healing one person a huge amount. Then there's the DPS, we may not be the drums of the raid group but you never tanked or healed a boss to death, we need to end the fight before those support roles fail.
The Daily Grind: MMMerch
You'd be hard pressed these days to find a popular item that hasn't had its brand expanded with a bunch of new products for consumers to snatch up. Games certainly follow this trend; for example, games that were originally planned as standalone works might suddenly spawn sequels if sales are higher than expected. Then there is merchandise. If you fall in love with a game's world or its characters, you might feel tempted to buy figurines, posters and the like to demonstrate your fandom. To see the kind of items that are out there, just look to Square Enix, one of the biggest providers of game merch (due to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in particular). That little slime is so darn cute.So, if you're an obsessive collector, now's your chance to brag about it. Do you have any MMO merchandise you're particularly proud of? Got a famous MMO mascot figurine on your desk keeping you company this very moment? How about non-MMO game merch? Or would you never, under any circumstance, pay for this stuff?
Mining the armory for Hunter pet statistics
With Hunter pet information recently added to the armory, Data Miner Zardoz has wasted no time getting his hands on the raw Hunter pet data and breaking it down. The data is only for level 80 Hunters, and only 10,000 of those at that, but it still gives a very interesting snapshot of what's going with the Hunter's best friends. It might not be too big a surprise that Cats are far and away the most popular pet at a count of around 9500, nearly doubling again the amount of Wolves, who come in just under 5000, which are in turn used in numbers over twice as much as the next popular choice, Gorillas, who are just above 2800 in number. Now mind you, this information does take into account pets that are in the stables as well, and there's certainly the possibility that a lot of them have just stayed in the stables for a long time.
DS Daily: Misleading displays of fandom
Do you ever want to buy an item associated with a particular game series even if you don't really care for that series? For example, I don't really play Dragon Quest games that much (basic inability to make the time commitment required of RPGs), but I am way into Slime stuff, and I adore Hori's Slime accessories, from those styli to the newly-revealed Slime Speaker Stand. I guess that makes me a poser? I don't care. Slimes are adorable.%Gallery-15248%
Hunter pet oozes with charm
Hunters have had a little secret for a while now, and my friend made a mad rush to 80 when he found out about it. You see, there's currently a bug with some quest mobs in Sholazar Basin that's tagging them, perhaps incorrectly, as beasts. The Oracles' daily quest A Cleansing Song sends you off to kill some evil spirits -- the Spirit of Ha-Khalan, a ghostly crocolisk; the Spirit of Atha, a spectral Hydra; and the Spirit of Koosu, your run-of-the-mill ooze.The Spirit of Ha-Khalan was tameable, so some Hunters got really cool, transluscent crocolisk pets. I mean, who needs Spirit Beasts? Entertainingly enough, the other two quest mobs were also classified as beasts and were likewise tameable. Eventually some Hunters were running around with a spooky hydra or, like my friend, a disgusting little pile of snot.
Five old world vanity pets you may have missed
It's a good time to be a pet collector. We're getting recognition, cool toys for our pets, and even an achievement series especially for us. If you're new to the world of pet collecting, or have just dabbled in it so far though, you may be struggling a bit to get those last few pets for the achievement. In the spirit of helping out my fellow pet enthusiasts, here's a few rarer or lesser known old world pets that you might have overlooked, especially if you started the game after Burning Crusade.
Barrens Chat: One Tauren's trash
You never realize how much junk you have until you have to move. It is the same in World of Warcraft. You never realize how much junk you're carrying around in your bags until you get a really great drop, followed by the "inventory is full" message. There is never enough bag space.Sometimes it's the junk I pick up that makes me giggle as I play. It makes me wonder, just what sort of people could come up with a joke like that, or an obscure reference that is stretched to the very edge, but still very recognizable.Either way, your guess is as good as mine. So, what do you think he's doing with that particular item in tow?This comic is dedicated to, and somewhat inspired by, my friend Jesse. I almost introduced a new character from the Alliance, but I know how much he hates Horde, so I had to use my Tauren to spite him.See you all next week! %Gallery-22361% Barrens Chat is a weekly comic strip about everything from well used jokes, to picking fun at the things of the future. From Engineers to vials of tears, nothing is safe from the insanity of Megan Harris. Check in every week for a new addition to the madness!
Another way to get Dragon Quest into your DS [update 2]
[Update 2: Pretty sure you get two.] There just aren't enough Slime products for us. The hundred bajillion or so that currently exist fail to completely cover every aspect of our lives. Square Enix is working to make sure that we never have to not look at a Slime again, starting with the outside of our DS Lite. For just $7, you can get one of two adorable Slime styli that fit into the Lite just like the normal ones, with one important difference: a pleasantly vacant little Slime peeking out from the stylus slot. Preorders are set to ship in July, just in time (we think) for the Dragon Quest IV remake.
World of WarCrafts: The secret of the ooze
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Being a mom of two boys, this is definitely a good recipe to have in my bag of tricks. Slime is ultimate fun, and the ingredients are super cheap. The secret to this ooze is clear glue and a small amount of Borax solution. Here is what you will need: 1/2 cup of clear Elmer's glue 1 cup of water Borax Solution (1/4 cup of water + 1/4 teaspoon of Borax) Food Coloring Skull Optional supplies: Broken Weapon Coins Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-22373% DISCLAIMER: Common sense here; don't eat the slime. Definitely don't eat the Borax.
Xbox Live down Monday morning for spring cleaning
Did you know that every foul obscenity, racial slur, and homophobic epithet collects in the corners of Xbox Live, much akin to the mood slime in "Ghostbusters II"? It can cause some serious latency issues -- though unfortunately, it cannot be cleared away by a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne. It takes hours of tedious chiseling and scraping to clear this hate plaque from Microsoft's servers, during which time Xbox Live is made unavailable for CoD4 grinding and piñata swapping.Unfortunately for those 360 owners with online gaming on the docket for this coming Monday morning, Xbox Live will be down for said maintenance for eight hours. Before you get your hopes up, Gamerscore Blog assured everyone that this is not the fabled spring update, just some routine sprucing. We know the thought of division from the gaming hivemind is unbearable, but we trust you can go without from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. PST (that's 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST, or "Too Legit 2 Quit" to "Pumps in a Bump" in Standard Hammer Time.)
A Slime inflates!
Even though you kill them by the truckload in Dragon Quest games, when we see a product in the image of the winsome Slime, our thoughts are far from violent. The Hershey's Kiss shape and blank smile inspire a feeling of euphoria. We love the little guys. NCSX is accepting preorders for an inflatable blue Slime, to ship out in June. The Smile Slime, which "stands" about a foot tall, would make an absolutely terrible beach ball. For some reason, though, we think the transparency of this plastic Slime makes it more "authentic" and appealing than a plush option. The $13.90 price isn't bad, either.
Square Enix launching US online store
Role-playing game powerhouse Square Enix have put up a teaser site for an upcoming online merchandise store. Though we're not expecting software titles to be sold, figurines from Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are likely (we saw a huge display of fine-crafted figures from those series at Tokyo Game Show last year) and probably clothing with various logos.Our prediction for best-sellers? Anything with a Slime character on it: key chains, styluses, plush dolls, etc. Our prediction for worst-sellers? Anything sold with actual slime on it. Ew. No date has been given for the grand opening of the store.[Via 1UP]
Puyo Puyo screenshots, no Bean Machines to be seen
Sega's Puyo Puyo franchise is heading to the Wii, to be released in Japan on July 26. It actually exists on the Wii right now in the form of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on the Virtual Console. So why would you want to buy a full-priced Puyo game when there's a perfectly serviceable entry available for cheap? We actually have an answer for this one (the best kind of question, we think): sumptuous four-player Puyo-ing. Check out some screens and decide for yourself if that and the wacky new play modes (co-op, a single-player dual-Wiimote mode) are worth the price of admission. Of course, there's another possible motivator for wanting this version over the Genesis version: fear of Dr. Robotnik and his foul machine.
