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XKCD forum breach exposes details from over 560,000 user accounts
XKCD, the sarcastic webcomic revered by science and tech geeks, is now the butt of someone else's joke. Hackers breached the forum of the 14-year old site, stealing over 560,000 usernames, emails, IP addresses and hashed passwords. Security researcher Troy Hunt, who owns the data breach website Have I Been Pwned, alerted the site's administrators over the weekend. Hunt was originally tipped off about the breach by white hat hacker Adam Davies.
Library of Congress archives select webcomics for posterity
Webcomics have been around for a long while, and that's raising a question: who's going to preserve those comics for online viewing outside of non-profits like the Internet Archive? The Library of Congress, that's who. It just launched a Webcomics Web Archive that curates stand-out strips. Many of them are award-winning or otherwise stand-out comics that you may have read -- the nerdiness of XKCD and the historical spoofs of Hark! A Vagrant are among the initial batch.
Artist Omocat's surreal RPG Omori channels its inner Earthbound
Omori, a "surreal, exploration, horror RPG" from webcomic artist Omocat bears fleeting similarities to popular games like Nintendo's Earthbound, which may be what pushed it past its $22,000 goal on Kickstarter in just over one day. Omori has players traveling between two worlds, exploring their own memories and uncovering some "hidden truths" between turn-based battles, which are listed as "traditional," though they feature untraditional player statuses "based off real human emotions and conditions." The game is written, directed and illustrated by Omocat with a soundtrack courtesy of chiptune artists Slime Girls and Space Boyfriend, the latter of which directly cites Earthbound, Animal Crossing and Persona as inspirations for the game's music. It is in development for PC and will come to Mac if the project crosses its $50,000 stretch goal. Omocat expects to deliver Omori to backers by May 2015 according to the project's reward tiers, which includes a $15 level that grants donors a copy of the game. [Image: Omocat]
The end has come for this issue of WildStar's webcomic
WildStar's Victor Lazarin and Mondo Zax have interesting surprises in store for one another, according to the latest update to Carbine's Tales from Beyond the Fringe: Mystery and Mayhem Issue #001. This update marks the end of Issue #001, with the next issue likely to begin next week. Mystery and Mayhem follows the experiments of Lazarin and Zax, both leading innovators for their particular factions, as they create horrible creatures and generally do mad scientist-type things. Check out the exciting conclusion to Issue #001 over on the official site.
WildStar kicks off webcomic series Tales from Beyond the Fringe
Hey! You like comics, don't you? Of course you do, you're on the internet. Would you like to read a comic about WildStar? That's less of a given, but the team at Carbine Studios certainly hopes you'd like to take a look at the first issue of what promises to be an ongoing comic series. And because the creators know what webcomics are like, the first issue focuses exclusively on somewhat amusing sociopaths. The first installment of Tales from Beyond the Fringe is focusing upon Victor Lazarin and Mondo Zax -- or if you prefer titles, the maniac that accidentally cursed the entirety of the Mordesh to a perpetual undeath and the Chua so cleverly sadistic that he heads the Dominion's research division. You can take a look at the comic on the game's official site, with more slated to arrive on a weekly basis. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite game-related webcomic?
Geeks and webcomics go together like pennies and arcades, but finding a good gaming webcomic that also covers MMOs is sometimes a challenge. As gamers, we like to have fun, and it's assumed that with that sense of fun comes a sense of the funny. Luckily, we have some true works of art with such comics as Ctrl+Alt+Del, Penny Arcade, and Order of the Stick, which not only appeal to our deepest gamer sensibilities but also regularly cover MMO topics. New comics are popping up all the time, and it's good to see budding young artists trying their hands at the popular genre. But we want to hear your favorites! Which game-related webcomics do you enjoy the most? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Diesel Sweeties turns iBooks Author experiment into successful Kickstarter
A couple weeks ago, Richard Stevens decided to create a free ebook of with a month's worth of his webcomic series, Diesel Sweeties, using iBooks Author. We reported on the experiment then, but Stevens recently disclosed just how big of a success it was: More than 10,000 downloads in three days of the iPad book. Stevens has propelled that success into a Kickstarter campaign, where he will distribute his entire series to date for free in two forms: a PDF ebook and an iBook that will be more than 3,000 pages long. Stevens said he would be making the two versions simultaneously in iBooks Author and Adobe InDesign. Looking to raise $3,000 initially, Stevens already has raised nearly $17,000 with less than 27 days remaining in his campaign. I figured it wouldn't take long to see iBooks Author help drive a project such as this to a success, but I am surprised to see that it's happened within a month of the program's release. It'll be great to see final ebook, and I hope that iBooks Author can manage a project size that big!
Using iBooks Author to produce a comic
When iBooks Author was released last week, I saw the potential for using it to port the webcomic I co-create to the iPad to go along with our upcoming print edition. I'm not alone, as Richard Stevens of Diesel Sweeties immediately took the chance to test iBooks Author by creating an ebook with the most recent month's worth of comics. Stevens is offering the ebook through his website via Dropbox rather than through the main iBooks store, so those who want to test it out will need to manually sync it over, email it to themselves on the iPad or use an app such as Dropbox to add it on the iPad. Stevens said he would love to eventually get a collection to readers that's searchable, sortable by character and major storyline and more. For my own comic, I'd love to add in some of the historical information on the characters, the fairy tales used, etc. iBooks Author is a step toward making these sorts of interactive comics available, and it'll be create to see how other comics creators can bend iBooks Author to their will. [Via Macstories]
Sunday Morning Funnies: And they're off!
Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics. This week we have balloon races, wonderful AOE devices, babes in bikinis, a winged pet plot, an introduction to the monk class, and more. Do you know of a WoW-related web comic that we should feature here on Sunday Morning Funnies? Drop a link into the comment field! Kuo Fox Rain 19 Sara & Kleeyo Dress Rehearsal The Daily Blink Multiplayer Mode and There's a Darkmoon on the Rise and Confirmation Bias and The New Vendor
Storyboard: Problem children
Sometimes you have a character concept that just doesn't quite work. We've talked about that before, at least in the context of trying to make sure your awesome new idea doesn't wind up on your list of discarded alts. But there are also times when the concept is problematic long before you get as far as playing. There are certain archetypes and ideas that just do not work for various reasons or that (at the very least) require your square-peg character to be shoved in the roundest of holes. The loner, of course, is the classic archetype that people love to play without its ever working correctly. It's hard to have a proper loner in an environment where socializing is necessary. But there are other problem types that aren't highlighted as often, sometimes because they're not as common, and sometimes because the people who want to play these concepts get very enthusiastic about them. Here, then, are some of the major problem children among character archetypes, as well as some suggestions about how to make them work right after all.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Party time
Happy Thanksgiving weekend Canada! As for everyone else, well, you can enjoy the comics knowing that soon enough, you too will be feasting and we Canucks will have to hear about it. And watch all those mouth-watering food commercials. Daily Quests: A Simple Re-Quest. Battlemasters: You...I Remember You. This fairly new and awesome comic is still settling into its own artistic groove; something that was interrupted when Zach was separated with his art supplies. Now that he has replaced some of them, we can settle in and watch the two artists refine this comic's style. Dark Legacy Comics: Mr. VanCleef. LFG #294: This one reminds me vaguely of that Alien Ant Farm song, Happy Death Day. Teh Gladiators: Brewmaster's Revenge. NPC: Negotiations. These terms are genius. I wonder how long it will be before she stops tallying up /played to exchange for real quality time. NPC: Choose Your Butt. Careful; Cadychan draws a pretty nice cow butt! NPC: Noob Unleashed. She doesn't quite have the terminology down, but she seems to be settling in. Happy Belated Birthday, WoW, eh! Do You KNOW How Much Mats Cost These Days?! Beyond the Tree: Gryan the Fierce. Cru the Dwarf: Adieu. She really likes to give that Chapeau away. The Scout Report: Scout reflects on her situation. Fortunately, she meets someone interesting, although perhaps not in the way that she thinks. The Scout Report: All is revealed!
Star Wars: The Old Republic fills up the city planet
Think for a minute about what it means to have a city taking up an entire planet. No, really, think about it. Think about the scope involved, the huge numbers of people involved, the sheer scale of any kind of project or even the most humble buildings. It's a massively dwarfing concept, which makes it all the more interesting to see the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic which discusses the creation of Coruscant, capital of the Republic and home to a single, massive city.In the trailer, the designers mention many of the issues that they faced with designing the planet, chief among them the absolute lack of any terrain on the planet due to its nature and the difficulty of relating it to real-life places and things. It also discusses the events that lead into the beginning of Star Wars: The Old Republic -- the Sith sacking of Coruscant that leaves some portions of the planet still damaged and rebuilding. Coruscant is being set up to help establish the role of the Republic and the Jedi in the larger galaxy, a symbol of everything positive in the galaxy. We also see still more vistas of the city, which retain the polish that Bioware has been long known for.On the very real chance you're hungry for more visions of the universe after the trailer, the latest installment of Threat of Peace has also been added to the site. But that's only enough to whet our appetites for what's shaping up to be a truly massive and immersive game.
WoW Insider Show live this evening on Ustream at a special time
Our weekly podcast is broadcasting a special midweek edition this evening -- tonight at 6pm Eastern (so you've got time to listen in before the big Lost finale), we'll be over on the Ustream page doing what we always do: talking about the most popular post of the week. Our good friends and colleagues Amanda Dean and Lesley Smith will be on the show, and Turpster will probably make an appearance as well (given that we can convince him to stay up late enough). We'll be chatting about the latest PTR patch notes, the big changes coming to Wintergrasp, and what Blizzard legal has been up to lately (with both iPhone apps and webcomics). Plus, we'll answer your emails -- you can send us questions, comments, or insights at theshow@wow.com.Should be fun. Head on over to our Ustream page at May 13, 2009 6:00 PM EDT var date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); to listen in live, or just step behind the break on this post to find an embedded feed. And if you can't make it tonight, don't worry, we'll be back at our normal time on Saturday, May 23rd at 3:30pm Eastern in the afternoon for our long-awaited video show. Now that will be a great time.
Blizzard legal censures Shakes and Fidget
First the legal crackdown on fan-made iPhone apps, and now this: German-based webcomic Shakes and Fidget, a longtime sight in our Sunday Morning Funnies column, has apparently been smacked with a cease-and-desist by Blizzard. Our German isn't that great (and we've reached out to the comic's creators for further comment), but a translation of this forum page tells us that Activision-Blizzard's legal department suggested to them that there was enough similarity between the official game and the unofficial comic to cause a problem, and while they believe that they're covered under parody laws, they decided to take the "offending" comics offline anyway, and are apparently currently working on editing them so that they can be put back up without any issues.Obviously, since the comics are offline, we have no idea what material Blizzard objected to -- you could argue that depictions of certain gear created by Blizzard artists in the game or specific names are under trademark and thus could be protected under copyright law. But even then, Shakes and Fidget is one of many, many fan-made webcomics to obviously depict World of Warcraft and Blizzard-designed items specific to the game, and we haven't yet heard of any other webcomics that have been approached in this way.Still, as they might say in Germany, wir riechen eine ratte. Without knowing the exact nature of the comics that Blizzard had an issue with, this seems like a complete overreach on their part, especially considering that it's some of their biggest fans who are making these comics, and that many artists have portrayed many videogames in webcomics without anyone confusing the issue of whether they were official or not. We'll keep an eye out for more information (and we've also contacted Blizzard for comment) -- if you know of any other webcomics or fan artists who've been approached by Blizzard in this way, definitely let us know.Thanks, Henry!
Meet the Team: Lemuel Pew
Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.What do you do for Massively.com?I'm a webcartoonist, I draw the weekly Massively feature, Grinders. That's pretty much the full and half of it. What is your favourite MMO?City of Heroes, hands down. I've played most of the MMOs that have come to market since EverQuest, looking for the Next Big Thing, and I didn't even realize I had found it until I was on my third year of playing City. I'm still going strong. The game has enough variety to entertain my short attention span, the gameplay, while unarguably repetitive, has a rhythm that really entertains and relaxes me, no matter what role on a team I'm playing. I never was a fan for loot ("Judge a toon not by the color of their armor, but the content of their attributes."), I blame this mostly on not growing up on Dungeons & Dragons. I'd rather spend points on stats behind the scenes than wear a hand-me-down piece of clothing from a corpse... seriously, am I the only person bothered by that?%Gallery-33889%
Sunday Morning Funnies: Scrapbooking profession
This week's list has some real gems, including a new comic: Awkward Zombie: Nicked. I love this one! Cru the Dwarf actually listens sometimes! Experience Points: It's time to dig up a little scratch. Dark Legacy Comics: The Oracle. Check out the latest Flintlocke vs. the Horde. GU Comics: Salted Yeti Cheese. This should be especially relevant to people who are still farming their polar bear mount! The latest LFG made me laugh out loud. I'm kind of glad that I wasn't sipping my drink at the time. My poor keyboard can't take much more. Monkey Punchers: Hopeless. NoObz: Ninja. The newcomer to the list is a web comic that is just starting up, called NPC, or Non-Player Character, by Mary Varn. Check out the first comics, Pandering and Lies. Teh Gladiators: At Least I Had Chicken.... World of Warcraft, eh?: Don't Tase Me, Bro. Grinders: Head in the Clouds. Penny Arcade: This is Actually a Real Thing.
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup thinks brevity is the sole of wit
... We might have an improper homonym there. We're all a bit worn out (har) from the multitude of conferences this weekend and had to kick (har) this to the until tonight. Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics, be sure to vote for your favorite! The Third Pillar (Castle Vidcons) Echochrome Auditions (2P Start)Magnum Opus (Penny Arcade) Legofied (PVP Online) Level Five Bully (Sidescroller) The Great Divide (Penny Arcade)Proto-Negotiations (Burn the Internet)
Comic Watch: Wonderella strikes a blow for our virtual elders
Those of you unfamiliar with The Non-Adventures of Wonderella rest assured: She's snarky like that all the time. Second Life residents, try to resist the urge to flame on. In the latest installment of her non-ongoing story, Wonderella decides to check out the world's favorite online hang out Sucking Life (subtle criticism!), with revolutionary results.Actually, we'd play a giant mechachicken any day of the week! Developers, are you listening?
Zero Punctuation draws out the webcomic template
This week's Zero Punctuation takes a long, hard and ironic look at the glut of gaming webcomics. Yes, Yahtzee fully realizes the hypocrisy of his words, but that's not going to stop him from flinging poo and keeping those traffic numbers high. We imagine it getting weird when Yahtzee's piece about webcomics spawns more comics about the subject and proves everything he's saying in the first place.The NSFW ZP review of webcomics can be found after the break.
Sunday Morning Funnies: It's heating up
Although we are in an awkward period, with no new content to look forward to until Wrath of the Lich King lands, things are not as dull as one might think. With arena season 4 just around the corner, leaking expansion information, and the exploration and mastery of patch 2.4 content still underway, life in the World of Warcraft is still heating up. To add to the entertainment, we have a new comic or two, as well as several with plots that are gearing up towards something great. Node from Dark Legacy Comics has fun with the new(ish) mini-maps. Just Walk Away... from Extra Life. The Map from Shakes and Fidget. I Would Guess from the folks at GU Comics. LFG #138. Puns bring the silly. Murphy's Law from Monkey Punchers. Ding! Hunters are smooth talkers. The first match from Teh Gladiators kicked off, with a surprising twist. If you didn't catch our recent highlight of The Scout Report, then you might not have caught yourself up on the storyline. Trust me though when I say that it is worth it! Although I recommend pawing back to the beginning of the archive, for the current storyline to make sense, you need only start here. If you're ready to vote, head on through the break!
