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Hyperspace Beacon: Celebrating new SWTOR content
It's pretty crazy to think that BioWare's first foray into the Star Wars Universe, Knights of the Old Republic, turns 10 years old this week. For me, it doesn't seem that long ago that the game came out. Although I have trouble going back to play the game now (it's not aged well), I still appreciate what that game did to change a genre. At the time, the biggest story-driven RPGs tended to be JRPGs like the Final Fantasy series. Although Bethseda did a bang-up job with Morrowind, Knights of the Old Republic captured its audience by weaving in an amazing story with classic table-top style RPG elements. Happy birthday, KOTOR! To celebrate the tenth anniversary of KOTOR's release, BioWare gave every subscriber 500 Cartel Coins to spend any way he or she would like. And for a limited time, subscribers can buy the title Revan's Heir from the Cartel Market for 10 Cartel Coins, about 10 cents in US currency. But really this is small protatoes* compared to the new content coming out in Update 2.3, which includes Bounty Contract week, two new flashpoints, and a new daily area. With the recent update to the public test server, I was able to take my level 55 Assassin on a trip through the planet of CZ-198 (the daily area) to get a sense for what it's like to visit this Czerka-controlled world. Let me tell you that story. *protato -- a protein-enhanced synthetic vegetable, orange with no eye spots on the surface. Not to be confused with potatoes, which are vegetables shaped like Kessel that make Duros sick.
Wargaming.net goes on a road trip
The laptop-clad Hummer is fueled up and Wargaming.net is ready to roll out for its first road tour. The studio behind the "World of Deadly Historical Battle Vehicles" franchise is drumming up publicity for its titles by staging the least gas efficient Russian invasion ever. The Wargaming Road Tour's first stop is at the SXSW Interactive Gaming Expo this weekend. If you're attending and spot the hummer, swing by to get a first look at World of Warplanes and grab some nifty swag. Following the Austin expo, the Wargaming hummer will travel across the United States to spend time in major cities. You can stay abreast of the promotional trip on the official road tour website.
MacTech, Microsoft team up to offer Office for Mac support credential
Got Macs? Got Office? For support personnel who want to show the world that they know which end of a pivot table goes into a stylesheet and how to upgrade PowerPoint for full compatibility with Exchange Server 2013*, your opportunity has arrived. MacTech's upcoming seven-city BootCamp II tour, which provides a full day of seminars for people supporting the Mac in small to medium size business and other contexts, now has a frontloaded (and free) certification option for Microsoft's new Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional credential. For a half-day ahead of the BootCamp, attendees can learn all about Office installation, deployment, troubleshooting and much more. While the Office credential program, including the final evaluation and certificate, is free, MacTech BootCamp II itself is $299 for early-bird registrants, $499 for regular registration. The tour kicks off in Seattle in early March, so check to see when it's coming to your neck of the woods. If you do sign up, be sure to use our TUAW reader affinity link to make sure you get your special benefit! *Yes, those are nonsensical support challenges. Congratulations, you passed the first quiz.
Tour the lands and classes of Aion 4.0 in two new trailers
We've been teased with bits of information and still shots for various aspects of Aion's upcoming 4.0 expansion for quite some time. Today, we finally get to see it live! No, I don't mean the patch is live, sadly; rather, NCsoft has released two trailers highlighting the new lands, classes, and skills that eager Daevas can expect when the expansion finally hits North America. The first video highlights the new zone Katalam with its various landscapes, shows off a fortress siege, spotlights the new classes, and demonstrates a number of new skills, including the new intensity skills players charge for a more powerful effect. On top of that, it zooms through a host of new instances, introducing even more than those already revealed. It also appears to suggest a new type of character customization, but there is no additional information currently available. The second video focuses solely on the new skills coming to existing classes. Feast your eyes on all of the visual goodness in the two trailers after the break and tell us what you think!
Get a glimpse of RIFT's Storm Legion in new video and Dimensions livestream
If you've wanted to get a good look at Storm Legion, you're in luck! With only one month left until RIFT's upcoming expansion launch, Trion Worlds is indulging fan curiosity with both a new video and a livestream. The video, however, is not just some brief sneak peak! For over 32 minutes, players are treated to a tour of new areas, questing, combat, and even a housing demonstration. The expansion more than triples the size of the world, and devs have filled that huge expanse with 11 new zones, seven new dungeons, three new raids, a new sliver, a new chronicle, new conquest maps, a new capitol city, and more. If the video doesn't answer all of your questions about the new housing system (which resembles world-building more than housing), be sure to check out the special livestream preview of the Dimensions system on Friday, October 19th at 5:30 p.m. EDT on RIFT's Twitch channel. [Source: Trion press release] [Thanks to everyone for the tips!]
Just Mobile talks about working with Apple and why it manufactures in Taiwan exclusively
For the average Joe that have managed to stay out of the Apple circle, the Just Mobile brand might not immediately ring a bell, but chances are you would've come across one of its peripheral designs at some point. The only problem is unless you knew the company in the first place, you'd easily assume that the aluminum or even plastic knock-offs are just based on generic designs, because there are simply too many of them. It's no wonder Just Mobile co-founders Nils Gustafsson and Erich Huang take imitations of all forms very personally (especially the ones they and their lawyers see at CES), but fortunately, we were spared from prolonged ranting when we visited the duo's office in Taichung, Taiwan recently. What we were treated to instead was an insight into how an accessory maker works with Apple and why Just Mobile manufactures exclusively in Taiwan, as well as getting a preview of the upcoming AluRack, HeadStand and AluBase that are due out this month.
Space Shuttle Atlantis hands-on: a look inside (video)
Space Shuttles Discovery, Endeavour and Enterprise have all left Kennedy Space Center for new homes, but Atlantis? She's staying. Come November 2nd, the orbiter will be wheeled out to a 65,000-square-foot exhibit, which is still being constructed at KSC's visitor complex. Though the craft's cargo bay doors will be open and its remote manipulator arm extended when its displayed, visitors won't be able to climb aboard it -- or any of the other shuttles, for that matter. However, we got the chance to visit Bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility, step inside Atlantis and give it the hands-on treatment. Look out below for the gallery or hit the jump for the full video tour.
SWTOR community tour announced
Do you like free food, free drinks, Tauntauns, and a chance to talk with your favorite Star Wars: The Old Republic devs? Then the SWTOR team has fabulous news for you. A new string of community meet 'n' greet events has been announced! Starting with the New York Comic Con, the SWTOR Community Cantina Tour will be visiting different parts of the US to eat, drink, and be merry with fans. A blog post before each event will have all detailed information about then meetup, so be sure keep an eye peeled so as not to miss out! For a full list of the four planned tour cities and their estimated timeframe, hit up the official blog post. If you're more concerned about what's going on in-game than a chance to meet up with devs, you might be happy to know that community manager Joveth Gonzalez has made a post on the official forums responding to complaints about issues in update 1.4.
Enterprise-D restoration fundraiser goes live: your chance to revive a slice of Star Trek is here
For sci-fi lovers, it's on. A fan-devised project to restore the Enterprise-D bridge from Star Trek: The Experience is now actively raising cash on Indiegogo with a newly estimated $240,000 target needed to make the dream real. Crowdfunding brings the obligatory perks for larger donations, although they take on a progressively nerdy bent once you get past the t-shirts. It peaks at getting replicas of Captain Kirk's original chair or an LCARS terminal, and you can even get a romantic evening on the deck with "complete privacy until the next morning" -- wink, wink. Outlandish? Maybe, but the project is getting official sponsors and has a shorter-term plan to get Captain Picard's chair ready for display by October. The whole bridge should be ready by late 2013. If you'd wished Paramount had preserved this piece of The Next Generation history for the ages, you now have your solution.
Around the world Tesla Roadster tour back on track after swift repair job
While we might not have enjoyed the full story arc just yet, we came within an electric whisker of seeing the electric Roadster's around the world trip derailed completely. The team at Tesla service in Munich, however, obviously love a fairytale ending -- which is why they pledged to fix-up the car in the fastest time possible. Just four days after that show-stopping accident, de Mestre is back in the game, and heading south to Barcelona. The journey won't end there though, as to make up some lost miles on the French Citroen team, he'll travel back up to Strasbourg, and in turn roll over the virtual 25,000 km finish line. Assuming no other problems along the way, we'll be mentally cheering the him along.
Star Trek fans rescue Enterprise-D bridge, plan to restore it to former glory
A trio of Star Trek: The Next Generation fans have rescued the junked remains of the Enterprise-D bridge from Paramount Pictures, with an eye to restoring it to its former glory. The fibre glass set was built for Star Trek: The Experience, after the original (wooden) set was unsurprisingly destroyed filming Star Trek: Generations. When the group knows how much the project will cost, they'll go to Kickstarter to raise funds, with the hope of exhibiting the set to the public. If you feel you might well-up at the sight of your childhood heroes' home lying in pieces in a parking lot, we advise you not to click on the gallery below, and instead kick in a couple of bucks when their appeal goes live. %Gallery-163436%
More Project Copernicus videos highlight Jottunhessen
Is it harder waiting in anticipation for a game that may never be or mourning a game that could have been but died? Unfortunately, MMO players who were looking forward to the completion of Copernicus have the opportunity to test that question for themselves, and more videos are revealing just what the players will be missing out on. Yesterday we shared a Copernicus video fly-through highlighting parts of the game. Today, two more videos give viewers a virtual tour of the splendor of the city of Jottunhessen. Check them out after the break.
Inside NASA's Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center
At the dawn of the Space Shuttle program, NASA's Launch Control Center (LCC) was placed off limits for public tours. On June 15, however, busses embellished with Kennedy Space Center (KSC) decals began whisking visitors off to the control complex for the first time in more than three decades – nearly a year after the final shuttle mission last summer. More Info NASA opens up Launch Control Center for public tours The end of an era: what the space shuttle means to Engadget Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off one last time (video) After clearing a security checkpoint, our bus wheels its way deep into Kennedy Space Center, NASA's 240,000-acre property on Merritt Island, Fla., that doubles as a wildlife refuge. The monolithic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) comes into view and grows larger as we approach. Referred to by NASA employees as the heart of the operation, the VAB houses spacecraft as they're pieced together. Once complete, a 6-million-pound crawler-transporter sidles up to the structure, gets fitted with the craft and ferries it over a gravel roadway to the launch pad 3.4 miles away. The LCC, which staff dubbed the brains of the system, is adjoined to the VAB by a slim corridor protruding from its boxy, white exterior.
Massively Exclusive: Seeing the sights in City of Steam
I can't recall the last indie MMO that was making any waves while still being in the pre-alpha stage, but that's the strange power that Mechanist Games' City of Steam has. Word-of-mouth and a clever setting have made this a must-see title, and we were pleased to join Editor Gabriel Laforge for a developer tour of the game in its current state. City of Steam is an indie MMO, but don't let that put you off; the team is substantially larger than you'd expect and brimming with talent. The steampunk title loads extremely quickly in your browser, thanks to the Unity web player and a ridiculously small client size. In its current state, City of Steam has four large overworld zones and around 80 instanced dungeons, and yet the total size is -- get this -- 70 megabytes. It's so tiny that some of the dungeons are only a few hundred kilobytes apiece. With the repeated caveat that this was all still pre-alpha and subject to change, Laforge let me log in and explore to my heart's delight. What follows is raw and shocking footage from that journey.
Some Assembly Required: Desert homes of Vanguard's Qalia
Player housing. Now there's a topic you don't hear from me much. Oh, come now, I talk about other topics, too... sometimes... once in a while! You have to admit, it's hard not to talk about housing. It's by far one of the best canvasses for showcasing player creativity available in MMOs. And Vanguard has top-notch player housing. Back at the inception of Some Assembly Required, I took you on a tour of housing on Vanguard's island of Kojan. Of the three continents, Kojan was an easy first choice; from the very beginning I wanted a house there to soak up the unique flavor of the area. However, Kojan is by far the smallest continent with the fewest housing plots; contrast its six housing isles to the 22 chunks with housing available on Qalia and you can see that more opportunities abound to find the perfect home-sweet-home in the land of Arabian nights. By the sheer volume of plots involved, you can see that touring Qalia is quite the undertaking! Not one to shirk my duties of bringing demonstrations of player creativity to you, I forged ahead to highlight the advantages of Qalian living and compile this gallery of amazing ingenuity -- including a Foosball table!%Gallery-158807%
NASA opens up Launch Control Center for public tours
The NASA control center, responsible for a huge chunk of space-faring history, will open its doors to tour groups for the first time in over 30 years, celebrating the Kennedy Space Center's 50th anniversary. Starting this Friday, a "limited number" of tours will take bright-eyed enthusiasts into the Launch Control Center, where all 152 launches were counted down -- visitors will even get to peer at the very same clock. NASA has also granted access to the "bubble room", which is surrounded by windows showing what went on in the firing room just below. The daily tour also throws in a drive-by viewing of one of the shuttle launch pads. The tours will run through the end of 2012 -- adults will need to fork out an extra $25, while kids will cost $19 on top of the typical entrance fee. [Image Credit: Britannica Online, 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com]
Wings Over Atreia: Touring Tiamaranta
If the eeriness of the truce between the Elyos and the Asmodians in Aion's new land of Sarpan wigs you out and makes you long for a good old-fashioned tussle, you can always head on over to Tiamaranta. Although the entire zone is not open for PvP, all four corners and the center are cordoned off for your opponent-bashing pleasure. In fact, Tiamaranta's Eye is often hopping as both sides contest mobs and try to land one of the bosses. But even if you aren't in the mood for a bloody round of patty-cake, there is plenty of PvE and exploring to be had in this ecologically diverse land with a variety of new mobs to see (and dispatch) and new tasks to accomplish. Not able to make the trip yourself right now? Join Wings over Atreia's guided tour and get a taste of Tiamaranta.%Gallery-153202%
Miyamoto's DS patent offers upgraded tourist hunting techniques
The DS Lite could see society's next great advancement in GPS technology, at least in tourist-heavy areas such as museums and haunted-home expeditions, a patent from Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto suggests.The patent describes a system where an overhead grid of infrared "positional information transmitters" reads a user's DS to light up floor patterns and potential walkways. The user can then pick which route he'd like to take, reading tourist facts along the way.Nintendo has already infiltrated the museum scene with the 3DS giving guided tours in the Louvre, and it's doing a pretty great job, from what we hear. There's no guarantee that a patent will translate to an actual product, but the thousands of infrared beams hovering over the Mona Lisa fulfills a few of our own spy fantasies, so we'll hope this one works out in some way.
See Guild Wars 2's Lion's Arch for the first time
Lion's Arch was a staple city in the original Guild Wars, so its presence 250 years later in Guild Wars 2 excites many hardcore fans of the lore. In this last weekend's beta event for Guild Wars 2, participants got to see the new Lion's Arch for the first time, answering several questions about its appearance and function in this more modern Tyria. Our own Richie Procopio ventured into Lion's Arch to grab some video footage for those who didn't get a chance to see the city during the crazy weekend. The video shows a walk-through of the major features, including some amazing bird's-eye views and even a bit of the city at night. Click past the cut to watch the entire video.
Google Maps offers photo tours of popular destinations, won't make you leave the couch (video)
Looking to get a better feel for that Yosemite National Park expedition this summer? Google Maps is looking to go beyond the regular ol' snapshot and offer an experience that feels more like an actual visit -- only you won't have to leave your sofa. The folks in Mountain View have added photo tours to over 15,000 sites around the globe from Italy to the aforementioned Half Dome in California. A search for your virtual destination of choice will indicate whether or not a tour is available for that particular locale. How does it work? The outfit uses user-contributed Picasa and Panaromio photos -- only those listed as public -- alongside some fancy computer techniques to provide a 3D tour. Along the way, Maps selects the best possible path through the highest quality images. At the bottom of each photo, contributor credit is given and Goog says when more shots get shared, these tours will improve over time. You'll need Google Maps with WebGL to get the sightseeing started, though. If you're looking for a quick preview, hit the video just past the break.
