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Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's PvP community steps up
Three weeks away from home and any legitimate connection to the internet can certainly make one feel a bit disjointed. However, I've discovered it can actually be a bit more disconcerting trying to reintegrate into the previous patterns that existed before the break was taken. When I left on my vacation, I seriously anticipated that very little news about Star Trek Online would occur. I expected the news about the 2012 Winter Event to come out, sure, but what I didn't expect was all of the other little bits of news that seemed to blindside me when I got back last week. Join me while I go over a few of the more interesting tidbits -- from the grassroots effort to reinvigorate PvP in Star Trek Online to the changes made to Foundry rewards.
This Week in MMO: MechWarrior edition
In this week's TWIMMO, Mike B aka Fony, Josh Allen, and Mike Schaffnit join host Gary Gannon for Gamebreaker.TV's weekly chat about recent MMO stories. They kick things off by pondering how a video stuffed with anti-gay slurs slipped by Blizzard Entertainment (and a lot of the folks in the live crowd, as well) at BlizzCon. They also gush like fanboys about the newly announced F2P MechWarrior Online MMO before spending some airtime on PlanetSide 2, World of Darkness, and RuneScape. Hit the break for the full show!
Runes of Magic starts official video podcast [Updated]
Don't change that dial! Frogster is hitting the airwaves with its very first official podcast dedicated to all things Runes of Magic, and you are in danger of being transmogrified into a frog if you ignore it. RoMCast, as it's titled, is hosted by Runes of Magic CMs Mike Kiefer and Matthew Rider. The duo is dedicated to talking about all of the exciting -- and controversial -- subjects surrounding this free-to-play title. The podcast is accepting player questions for possible future discussions. To appeal to as wide of an audience as possible, RoMCast is filmed in English but subtitled in German, Spanish, Polish and French. You can catch the first episode of RoMCast after the jump as Kiefer and Rider talk about the Chapter IV: Lands of Despair update, zombies, the new box version of the game, and the tricky topic of balancing! [Update: Our RoM columnist Jeremy Stratton points out that the U.S. division of Frogster has also recently launched a video cast, this one called RoM Nation. Now RoM fans have double the aural fun!]
Interview with Flagship's Max Schaefer
On their latest video podcast, the folks at 1UP had a chat with Flagship Studios' COO and executive producer of Mythos, Max Schaefer. He talks a little about Mythos' raison d'être as a sort of technology demo for last year's action MMO, Hellgate: London. It's taken on a life of its own since then to become the kinder, lighter action MMO, brighter and more just plain fun. In keeping with their more social goal for Mythos, there is full guild support, and they'll be adding in email, minigames, group-oriented content and, yes, an item mall. Following the lead of the Asian casual game market, Mythos is free to download, free to play, and though you may want to buy certain things to help you along the way at their item mall (though nothing overpowering -- you won't find the best swords or armor at the item mall), you will be able to see and do everything without paying a penny.Schaefer calls this new philosophy "Triple-A casual" -- top flight production values using the latest tech, but keeping development time short and focusing on the fun. We've been hearing a lot about Mythos lately; here's hoping they start their open beta soon so that we can all play.
TurpsterVision : Dancing in the Endless Forest [Updated]
Every Tuesday think "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! (Nevermind that business about it being the only video podcast on Massively...) Check it out after the break!If you want to know how EPIC the intro for TV would have been had Turpster not had the help from the fantastic, awesome, uber-talented, Johnny Voruz from Unforgotten Realms then be sure to check out the extra video we included after the break! We'd like to note that Turpster is a highly trained professional, and as such, you should not attempt to recreate anything you see in TurpsterVision!
More details on Blizzcast 2008
Blizzplanet got a hold of more details of Blizzard's newly announced video podcast. You read that right, it's not just a podcast, but a video podcast. And it's coming the first week of January.Along with the previously announced interviews with WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan about the upcoming Patch 2.4 Sunwell content and Art Director Sam Didier, fans will get their say as well. Blizzard will be soliciting questions from the players and giving replies to Community Managers Karune and Nethaera. I suppose that means we'll be seeing them on the Blizzcast as well.Video podcasting is tricky business. Production value can make or break it. Fortunately, Blizzard is known for their high level of production value in everything they do, so I am looking forward to seeing how this goes. Either way, the content may trump all since we all want to know more about Sunwell.But I'm also a little suspicious of the "first week in January" promise for the first Blizzcast. Coming out of a two week holiday, it will be a miracle for any company to pull off something as labor intensive as a video podcast. Time will tell.[via MMO-Champion]EDIT: After the writing of this article, Blizzard has confirmed that the first installment will be an audio podcast.
New Indie Superstar videocast available
A new episode of the independent gaming videocast Indie Superstar has just been released. The 8-minute episode showcases some of the most interesting independent games to roll out in the last few months. Topping the list is Frets on Fire, a free Guitar Hero clone for the PC and Mac, and an isometric adventure-RPG game from Moonpod, Mr. Robot. There's also a helping of old-school-style adventure games to appease the inner Sierra fan.The most interesting feature is OvO, a webcam game that lets you play by hopping around in front of your computer like a lunatic. Think EyeToy, but cheaper. OvO illustrates how indie developers don't always have to wear the 'Pants of Innovation', they can copy established ideas just like anyone else.
"The world's biggest backyard fence to talk over"
MacTV has posted a really interesting videocast 'flashback' on the early days of computing in 1981 (iTMS link), including news footage and computing expo coverage. An intriguing but brief interview with "multi-millionaire Steve Jobs" made it into the vidcast, and barring any discussions of how ruthless his Steveness may be, he exhibited the same kind of well-spoken zest for computing in 1981 that he still has on stage today. At the least, it's a short but fun glimpse at what all this computer stuff was like 25 years ago. If you haven't subscribed to the MacTV vidcast (or the iPod edition) yet, this is a great time to start. They consistently post interesting video bits like this both new and old, covering topics you typically won't see elsewhere.
MacTV releases screen capture video tutorial
MacTV (no, not that Mac TV) is a videocast that features all sorts of interesting Mac videos. Previous editions have included the Hal 9000 ad (one of my favorites), the original iPod TV spot and a formerly press-only video of Steve introducing the white iBooks (including Reality Distortion Field). This week they offer their first tutorial in collaboration with ScreenCastsOnline. It's a very thorough look at several methods for creating screen captures and working with the results. I imagine that many seasoned Mac users are already aware of most of the presented information, but you may still find it interesting, as I did. All of the MacTV videos are presented in H.264, meaning QuickTime 7 is required. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to the videocast in iTunes 4.9.
