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SOE takes services offline due to serious issue
This Monday morning, Sony Online Entertainment customers are waking up to discover that all of their games' services are down. Apparently, the company has discovered a serious issue while following up with the previous weeks' hacker intrusion and is taking steps to rectify it. The Station.com posted the following notice: Dear valued SOE Customers, We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday). We'll update this story as it develops.
London Underground to get 120 WiFi hotspots in advance of the 2012 Olympics
A big announcement arrived today if you live in or around London: to prepare to the onslaught of data-hungry visitors for the 2012 Olympic games that the city is hosting, 120 WiFi hotspots are being added to various locations along the Underground subway system's stations and platforms, in addition to other measures being taken to beef up tech. No WiFi will be in the actual tunnels, mind you, but it should definitely come in handy for all those tourists trying to find their way around the city. British Telecom has already tolled out a trial run at the Charing Cross station, with further installations expected in the lead up to the games.
Samsung's Central Station wireless monitor appears in Europe as SyncMaster C27A750
Back when we first laid eyes on Samsung's Central Station, we were excited by its wireless docking capabilities, and now it looks like the company's ready to let the monitor loose on European soil, albeit with a decidedly less American moniker. The SyncMaster C27A750, a 27-inch affair, uses Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology via a USB dongle to connect to your laptop. It touts a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and sports HDMI, VGA, and USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. The new SyncMaster will hit Europe by the end of April for about €600, but we've yet to hear anything about Central Station's ETA -- very sneaky, Samsung... very sneaky.
Japan takes vending machines to their logical, 47-inch touchscreen extreme
Time for us to admit another entrant into the hall of unnecessary, but cool inventions. Installed at Tokyo's Shinagawa Station yesterday, this latest spin on the vending machine dispenses with those silly windows unto what you're buying and furnishes its user with a 47-inch touch panel from which to make his (or her) selection. An embedded camera will recognize your gender and age, allowing the machine to recommend a beverage suitable to whatever stereotype is attached to your particular circumstances. And don't worry, it'll store your purchasing history too, so you can be freaked out by tailored ads every time you use it. 500 more of these WiMAX-equipped units are planned to be installed in and around Tokyo over the next two years, with operating company JR East expecting them to tally up 30 percent more sales than their analog brethren. More bling equals higher revenue? Sounds about right. [Thanks, Kyle]%Gallery-99194%
Better Place tests its EV battery switching stations on Tokyo cabbies
Not long after establishing a prototype EV battery switching station in Japan, Better Place is now partnering with Nihon Kotsu, Tokyo's largest taxi operator, to put the thing through its paces, swapping out batteries for up to four electric hacks scheduled to run from the Roppongi Hills shopping and office complex beginning in January next year. In Tokyo, cabs account for only two percent of the traffic, yet they produce twenty-percent of its CO2 emissions -- a fact that further drives home the point that greening our public transportation is an important first step in cleaning up the environment. The study comes hot on the heels of other deals in the works for Israel, Europe, and the San Francisco. Albert Hockenberry would be impressed. [Via PhysOrg]
3D TV channel coming to UK next year, 3D-ready set and glasses required
We can still remember the days, not too long ago, that HD channels were but a sparse luxury. Now of course they're a dime a dozen, but you can still look onward to the next big thing, which BSkyB is wagering will be 3D. The satellite broadcast is gearing up to launch a 3D television station next year to showcase movies, and sports -- the latter of which we're thinking will be the biggest draw. Any customer with a Sky+ HD box can receive the transmission, but you're also gonna need to look past that ragged old flat-panel HDTV and instead use a 3D-ready set and glasses. We can't imagine a huge demand for this anytime in the near future, but if the technology does take off, they'll be more than ready to capitalize.
Station launcher moves out of beta, adds voice chat support
So the beta launcher is finally un-betaed! Sony has officially pushed the Station Launcher into the "final version," dropping in voice chat, simplified menus, faster servers for downloads, and the ability to run the launcher without administrative rights as well.The fun stuff, however, is really contained within the voice update. This new voice, dubbed "station voice," lets you communicate with friends from within the game or outside of the game. Creating a room from outside of the game is done with your in-game character, letting people who are on the station launcher join you, or people inside of the game join your room from the inside, no launcher required.Plus, the other new features like the upgraded servers that will give more downstream bandwidth for game updates, are certainly nothing to sneeze at.This doesn't mean that Sony is done with upgrading and changing the launcher, as they've already pledged to continue taking user feedback and pushing that into their product to constantly make a better launcher.For the full patch notes, check them out on the EverQuest forums, located in this thread.
Video: Better Place's automated electric vehicle battery switch station is faster than Melvin Dummar
It's massive, costs $500,000, and is just a prototype; but you're looking at a possible solution for swapping out heavy car batteries from future electric vehicles. Kind of important if you're hoping to take your EV on a trip a bit further than the supermarket or city center without having to stop for a lengthy recharge. This switch station, unveiled in Japan by Better Place, can swap out a spent battery in less time than it takes to refuel the tank in that baby-killer of a car you hold so precious. These battery swap stations are just part of the enormous infrastructure required to support Better Place's subscription approach to electric vehicles -- infrastructure easily estimated to cost $250 million or so for countries like Israel or Denmark on up to the $1 Billion already pledged by San Francisco Bay Area mayors. Better Place admits that the swap technology is a work in progress but hopes to have 150,000 charging stations and about 100 battery swap stations deployed in Israel by 2011. Check the video after the break.
One Shots: Just passing through
On a good day, things are still dangerous on New Eden. You never know what's docked at the next station and if anyone hanging out there there is just waiting to nail you the second you undock. That's the way things are in EVE Online, where the risks - and the rewards - can be wide-reaching and (game) universe changing. Today's One Shots shows off one such place where danger may lurk - or not. Estevan sent in this image of an Amarr station with the following note: It may not be the most original image, but it includes new elements from their recent Apocrypha update with use of shadows, hdr, bloom. We're glad anytime our EVE Online readers check in with their screens!Find something worth sharing on your recent adventures? Just in the mood to show off what you've been doing? All you have to do is email your screenshots to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game it's from, and a quick note about what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you credit for sending it in!%Gallery-9798%
First Call of Duty: World at War map pack released
The first piece of downloadable content for Call of Duty: World at War is now available on Xbox Live and (coming later today on) PSN. For 800 ($9.99), you can pick up four new maps for Activision's WWII shooter: "Station," a close-quarters underground encounter; "Nightfire," a large battlefield depicting a bombed-out Berlin; "Knee Deep," a huge, jungle-based scenario; and "Verrückt," the promised Nazombie expansion, which, aside from meriting its own trailer (posted after the jump), contains additional weapons, Perks-a-Cola machines and "electroshock defenses." Man, we had no idea history could be so totally awesome.
Massively catches up with SOE Tucson director Dan Kopycienski
Sony Online Entertainment surprised us recently with the announcement that they'd acquired Octopi -- creators of the collectible strategy game PoxNora -- and that the studio would now be known as SOE Tucson. We had some questions about what this acquisition might mean for SOE moving into the future, as well as what changes are on the horizon for PoxNora.Massively caught up with the former president of Octopi, Dan Kopycienski, who is now Director of Development at SOE Tucson. Although SOE Tucson is still very much a studio in transition, he was kind enough to speak with us about where PoxNora is today, and what it may become with the newfound backing of Sony Online Entertainment.
SOE begins registration for Free Realms beta
We're not even going to pretend like you have any free time to squander on frivolous gaming excursions -- as it stands, you're likely enjoying one of the the hojillion great titles that have come out in the past month. However, if you do find yourself bored, strapped for cash, and, well, twelve years old, you might want to turn your attention to the official site for Sony Online Entertainment's free-to-play MMO, Free Realms. In addition to posting a slew of new previews for the title, Sony recently began signing up testers for the Free Realms beta.Want to know what you're getting into before spending your precious time on applying? Well, it's like Everquest, only cartoony, and with more minigames. Also, the title is apparently reaching for a mainstream teenage audience -- in turn, we can expect the usual shouts of "SoW PLZ" to be swiftly replaced with proclamations of "Did ne1 c grays anatmy last nite?". If this sounds like your cup of tea, you can find the sign-up form here.
Improvements made to SOE's Station Launcher beta
If you're a fan of SOE games, you may have noticed some big changes this week to the Station Launcher beta. Similar in function to the PlayNC launcher for NCsoft games, Station Launcher manages games, updates, and downloads, but it also allows you to chat with your friends across the SOE titles. While the idea of it is appealing, there have been problems with how the Station Launcher functioned. Dan Kinney, Senior Director of Platform Client Applications at SOE gave a rundown of the changes they've made based off of player feedback:
Pirates of the Burning Sea offers free trials
The MMO scene is absolutely dominated by fantasy titles. You may have noticed. Obviously this sits well with most MMO gamers who can't seem to get enough of the genre. But if you've ever wanted to try your hand at something different, something other than sci-fi, there's probably never been a better time to look at Pirates of the Burning Sea. In the past, to even try the game, you had to purchase it and hope it lived up to your expectations. Well, no longer. Flying Lab has announced that they're offering a public launch of 14-day trial keys. The prolonged absence of a trial was a barrier for some to checking out the game. There are a few conditions though: Only new Pirates of the Burning Sea accounts are eligible for the 14-day trial, existing accounts and Station Access accounts are excluded from the trial offer. If this caught your attention, be sure to check out the full details on their announcement page.
EVE Visual Guide: Before you undock
There are a few essential things any pilot in EVE Online should do before they undock from a station and get themselves into a potentially hostile situation. Come to think of it, anytime you undock there's at least some chance of hostility. Keeping that in mind, think of this as a visual checklist you should go through before entering space, as you're not only risking your ship, but your skillpoints if you bite off more than you can chew. This happens all too often, to novice and veteran pilots alike in EVE. So to help you avoid this fate... Head to the guide >> %Gallery-30109%
TurpsterVision: Saturday Night Fever
Every Wednesday think, "That's a day late again, I hope he isn't making a habit of this" and take the "T" for Turpster and take the "a" in "day", capitalise it, remove the little bit in the middle, turn it upside down and you get a "V". Put the two together and you'll have TV for TurpsterVision -- the best Internet video podcast on Massively! (Never mind that business about it being the only video podcast on Massively...)It might be a day or so late but at least it's here! Thanks for stopping by once again to the internet's favourite almost-every-weekly MMO review show. This week gives you a little taster where you can see the game that you WILL be playing this Saturday (14th June – 6pm EST) and a slight indication of how much you are going to get owned in the face by my mad team killing skills!If that little teaser doesn't tempt you to join us after the break then lets just pretend that there are some leaked spoilers and exclusive news – there isn't, but I wont tell if you don't.
UK getting new, superior DS Download Stations
Until recently, the UK supposedly had 600 DS Download Stations dotted about its high streets. Exactly where these were located will probably forever remain a mystery -- this blogger resides in one of the largest UK cities, yet still hasn't seen a single Download Station in the wild. Fortunately, that could be about to change, and soon. The latest issue of Official Nintendo Magazine reveals that Nintendo has plans to launch a bunch of new 'DS Download Center' stands to UK retailers and supermarkets, including chains such as GAME, Gamestation, HMV, and others.These aren't just any old DS Download Centers, either. With the old style of Download Center now extinct in British stores, this new breed will come equipped with a DS Lite for trying out demos (we give the styluses a week before they're swiped by ne'er-do-good street urchins), along with a video screen so that annoying curious passers-by can peek in at what's happening on your screens. Nintendo is also promising that many demos will be downloadable, and will feature some of the latest games; which should make a change from the drab offerings we currently have here on the Nintendo Channel.
Video of CCP artist's Ambulation presentation available
CCP character artist Ben Mathis gave a 30 minute presentation at the New York Comic Con last month. He talked mostly about the forthcoming Ambulation expansion, which will allow EVE Online players to leave their cockpits and walk around the interiors of space stations with customizable, 3D avatars. Ten Ton Hammer has a Flash video of the entire session.We saw some of the presented content at GDC earlier this year, but there's some new stuff in this video, too. As we've noted before, CCP isn't holding back; Ambulation is very technically impressive. It's ironic that EVE -- a game focused almost entirely on spaceships instead of face-to-face interactions -- might soon carry the most advanced avatar creation tools on the market.Players will be able to customize every thing from body fat to the materials from which their clothes are made. Female avatars will have makeup customization options so powerful that the differentiation between lip gloss and lip stick will be noticeable. New animation blending technology will enable realistic transitions between disparate facial expressions. Infinite morph points will be available when faces are molded, thanks to creative use of shaders. CCP's ambition is astonishing -- let's hope the reality lives up to the promise in the end.
EQ2's Live Gamer opening postponed
SOE has informed EverQuest II players via the game's official community website that the opening of the Live Gamer service has been delayed. The originally stated launch date was March 31st. No new date has yet been provided. The Station Exchange -- the service Live Gamer is to replace -- ceased operation Thursday. In this new announcement, SOE noted that it will update a status thread on the official forums with new information at some point.If you're not in the loop about Live Gamer: it's a company that works with game publishers and developers to provide legitimized RMT (Real Money Trading) services to users of MMOs. SOE has had all sorts of problems in the past with credit card fraud and gold farmers, and it hopes the folks running Live Gamer will have much better luck. Is this delay just technical in nature, or have new concerns arisen? It's a bit late for second thoughts, so this is probably just a technical bump in the road, but we'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for updates.Oh, and if this is all new to you: before you raise your eyebrows too high note that, as with Station Exchange, Live Gamer service will be limited to the specified RMT-friendly servers.
Extra Legends of Norrath drops, new cards this weekend
SOE is promoting its new-ish Legends of Norrath online card game with the not-cleverly-named "Legends of Norrath Promo Weekend." The event begins at 2:00 PM PST this Friday (November 30th) and ends at 11:59 PM PST on Sunday (December 2nd).Players of the game both new and old will "enjoy an increased rate of card pack drops." Additionally, two nice new cards called "Laricel the Gatekeeper" and "Skyshield Maiden" will be obtainable only this weekend. So if you're a hardcore collector in the game, you'd better get to playin'! If you're not already familiar with Legends of Norrath, it's a trading card game playable inside EverQuest and EverQuest II as well as on its own through the Station portal. Players can receive special drops in both games that add cool new cards to their decks. Think of the card game in Final Fantasy VIII, only, y'know ... less lame.
