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Ultima Online inducted into new MMO Hall of Fame
Did you know there's an(other) MMO Hall of Fame? We first heard of its launch a few months ago, but thought it was a bit of a joke, considering the Geocities-era site design and strangely familiar logo. Oh, and the owners decided to induct Ultima Online -- a game for which we have something of a soft spot. In any event, the site features an MMO timeline, a World of Warcraft timeline, and a listing of UO releases, expansions, and special editions. You can also view the site's voting committee, which includes Blizzard, Sony Online Entertainment, and Wizard101 developers as well as MMO writers and fans. [Source: MMO HoF press release]
A giant pulsing blacklight for your iPhone or iPod
This has been out for a while, but in the same booth where Engadget found the Watch Your Bag crapgadget there's a giant blacklight dock that will pulse to the beat. Oh, and it has speakers. You can opt to leave the black light on if you want (no sync to music), or have it strobe. Naturally it'll work with iPods as well, so you can practically set up a nightclub in an instant. Provided you don't mind toting a 4-foot iPod dock around. At $149.99 from Sharper Image, I doubt these are flying off the shelves.
The Daily Grind: Do developers troll their fans?
Sometimes I honestly wonder what goes on in the minds of the decision-makers at Sony Online Entertainment. Case in point is the recent decision to add wings to EverQuest II's cash shop. I'm not opposed to cash shops per se, and I'm not opposed to flying mounts or the formerly nifty race-specific quest that allowed Arasai players to earn a pair of functional wings at high level. Now, though, any old ratonga, iksar, or troll can fork over 20 bucks and take to the skies with angel's wings on his back, and while the EverQuest universe has fairly inconsistent lore on occasion, I can only conclude that someone at SOE thought it would be funny to mess with franchise fans a little bit. If not, surely there are more fan-friendly ways to go about designing cash shop items or new means of transportation. This isn't the first time SOE has indulged its baser shark-jumping instincts, either. Ask a Star Wars Galaxies vet about the infamous Ewok-themed Valentine's Day if you need another example. And therein lies today's Daily Grind. Do you think that developers troll their fans? 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!
CIA's WTF to investigate impact of WikiLeaks
We're not quite sure what's prompted all the hilarious names today, but the CIA has now formed a new group with an acronym of the likes we haven't seen since the days of Nixon's CREEP (or the Committee to Reelect the President). The WikiLeaks Task Force -- yeah, WTF -- has been charged with assessing the impact of the leaked cables on the agency's foreign relationships and operations, and it seems that the acronym has unsurprisingly already become the normal parlance at HQ. No word if the CIA is planning on holding a WTF BBQ to mark the occasion.
Confirmed: Kin One and Two are returning to Verizon. Wait, what?
Unbelievably, against all odds and better judgment, we are able to independently confirm that Microsoft's short-lived Kin One and Kin Two are coming back for an encore performance on Verizon, possibly as soon as this quarter -- but it won't quite be the same product you remember from earlier this year. The phones were famously bashed for the unrealistic plan pricing model that put them head-to-head with actual, full-fledged smartphones -- despite the fact that the devices were targeted squarely at tweens, teens, and twentysomethings -- and we're hearing that the revised phones will be totally, completely debundled from data services. Data-centric features like the Loop "are out," we're told -- but the good news is that you'll still be able to use one of the product's most redeeming qualities, Zune Pass, over WiFi if you're not signed up for a proper data plan. Of course, the value proposition of a Kin without... well, without its only value proposition is questionable at best, so we're thinking this might just be a way to clear huge backlogs of hardware inventory before pulling the plug on the program. Seriously, who wants a Kin without the unlimited photo uploads?
Addon Spotlight: Best. Addons. Ever.
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. As Cataclysm draws near, some addons have begun to bubble to the top of the awesome pile, especially for the new leveling experience soon to be upon us. You've probably stressed over your user interface, getting ready for the new expansion in ... wow ... less than a month. Time sure flies, huh? Anyway, how about you hit the ground running in Cataclysm with the BEST. ADDONS. EVER.
The Queue: The Duke swings the Nutcracker
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today. In the spirit of the holidays, I'm going to throw a little Duke Ellington at ya' as today's listening music. In my prolonged stint as a music major in college (saxophone FTW), I always wanted to play his Nutcracker Suite, but never got the chance. But nonetheless, it's one of my favorite pieces of music -- holiday or otherwise. Enjoy it as we delve into The Queue today, starting off with a question a lot of folks have been asking. Many asked... "What's happening to the podcast?"
I review iPoo so you don't have to
The App Store has been accused of making some crap apps. Here's one: iPoo. In fact, iPoo isn't a terrible app. It features a dashboard of interesting factoids, like "how many gallons are being flushed right now." It also has a virtual bathroom stall interior, for you to indelibly make your clever witticisms while on the can. Plus, you can share the details of each poo in a Twitter-style list, complete with pictures. Thankfully those pics are artist renderings, not camera photos. There is no camera capability here -- just an oddball shot at fame with you and your poop. iPoo [iTunes Link] is $.99, but what price can you put on a social network for feces, really? %Gallery-80115% Disclosure: I was given an app code for this, but I'm no longer using it. I wouldn't have paid $.99 for this, but I'm not that preoccupied with my leavings.
Shoryuken see Everybody Loves Raymond's mom drop a shoryuken
This moment brought to you by the letters W, T, and F: After the break, a very special moment made up of three disparate, but equally important, elements: 78-year-old Doris Roberts (that's Everybody Love's Raymond's mom to most of you); the line "Game on!"; and an honest-to-goodness shoryuken (don't call it an uppercut!).We have the upcoming movie Aliens in the Attic to thank for the existence of this moment. To spare you the pain of watching the entire trailer, we've trimmed out the relevant scene from Hulu and tucked it away after the break. Overseas? Try this YouTube variant (but skip to 1:25! You've been warned!).[Via Capcom Unity]
Activist group finds LEGO Batman 'oppressive,' 'destructive' to kids
It's difficult to imagine a property as insidious as Lego Batman. Go ahead, try. Labeling the game a "symbol of commercialized childhood," an activist group calling itself the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has called out TT Games' cubic take on the Dark Knight. Wait, is this a joke? A riddle? A two-faced lie?The game was included among a handful of other toys as a finalist for the organization's inaugural TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award. Other playthings, including Hasbro's poop-happy Baby Alive and a Barbie tarted up as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, are also up for the dubious honor. But how many of these were also included in Happy Meals, one of the chief complaints of the Boston-based group? Only you can put the Caped Crusader over the top by voting for the "winner". Won't someone please think of the children?
Forbes profiles Kotick, calls Rock Band 'shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is the cover story for the latest issue of Forbes magazine, and the article's got one helluva quote -- and it's not even from the man himself. While you might balk at the businessman's lack of gaming credentials (read: he doesn't play games), this is the line, written by Forbes itself, that'll cause more than a few raised eyebrows: "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."The decidedly negative tone without attribution is uncharacteristic for the magazine, and also feels a bit ... off? We know the Harmonix-RedOctane schism can be a bit confusing, but when the creators of the hit franchise are the ones making Rock Band -- and doing the multi-instrument thing first -- is that really the best choice of words? [Via geoffkeighley]
Playing WoW off an SD card
This week at the popular Consumer Electronics Show (CES as everyone calls it) our sister site Engadget was covering all the hoopla. Some exciting technology was unveiled that will allow a theoretical 2 terabytes of data to be stored on a new SD card format called SDXC. An SD card is the kind of card you can put in your camera. Most desktop and laptops have SD drives built in these days, so you probably have access to one even if you don't know it.The cards are great for storing pictures and other data. I've used a 2 gigabyte one quite a bit to transfer around files, and in particular relevance to WoW, large addon and configuration directories (the WTF folder in the root WoW directory). It's much faster to put the 150 megabyte of WoW configuration files onto the card and physically transfer it than to deal with a slow and shabby WiFi connection.However with the introduction of this new technology an interesting prospect is raised: playing WoW off an SD card directly.
EVE Online's very own Corpse Bride
Massively multiplayer online games aren't just a passing hobby for many players out there, it's a real passion in their lives. At Massively, we frequently hear about unions of all types in MMOs -- titles which allow players to marry one another, couples who decide to tie the knot in-game, married couple experience bonuses, and now and again an inventive marriage proposal. But this is something new... EVE Online player Suva Orefinger is ready to settle down with her (real life) boyfriend, and he says he'll marry her... assuming she's willing to prove her commitment to him. In typical EVE fashion, her boyfriend's bargaining posture has led to a rather unique proposition. He's posed a challenge to Suva: fill a Charon-class freighter with corpses and he'll make his vows. This is no easy feat. A character must die for each corpse to be created in EVE, and the Charon is a massive ship, which can hold nearly 100,000 of these victims of New Eden's violence. "Something easily gotten is not highly valued," her boyfriend says. But if Suva can do it, he'll be all hers, 'til death do they part.
TGS 08: Street Fighter ... MOVIE
There's not much we can say to prepare you for the video after the break (which we carefully extracted from Capcom's TGS DVD). Let's go over the facts: Capcom is making a Street Fighter movie centered around Chun-Li (played by Smallville's Kristin Kreuk); that movie will be directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (who previously helmed DOOM); it will be terrible."Whoa, whoa, whoa Joystiq!" you exclaim. "Those first two statements are, as you said, facts. But that last statement ... surely that's just your opinion." We appreciate your concern, reader, but the smallest of sneak peaks – really, just a single frame from the film – is enough to convince us. Is Chun Li wearing a mattress?
Latest political smear: He's a Halo player
Video games and politics aren't strangers to one another. Since the days of the crusades against Mortal Kombat -- pretty tame nowadays -- and extending into the storied and humorous career of one Jack Thompson, video games have lingered in the halls of politics (let's not get into all the unsuccessful and costly legislation attempts). We think this is, however, the first time that claiming a political opponent plays Halo has been used as a smear tactic. And yet, there it is. In a politcal fact sheet produced for Arizona's Maricopa County District 1 Supervisor race, the fact that 26-year-old Ed Hermes is an avid Halo player is used in an effort to defame him."Skilled player of the popular video game Halo," the flyer reads, opposite a more politically relevant statment about Fulton Brock -- Hermes' 56-year-old opponent. It continues with a quote from Hermes made in a university newspaper: "I am addicted to Halo, and play almost every night."We find ourselves wondering if a young Fulton Brock was once accused by an elder statesmen of "Watching the boob tube," or "Reading the Devil's picture books."[Via Joystiq]
'Classic' PSP games coming to PlayStation Store
While it doesn't quite fulfill our wish list of PSP games we'd most want to purchase by download and run from a single Memory Stick, D3 Publisher's "classic" catalog is coming to PlayStation Store (the PC one) this September. Props for being ahead of the curve. Up for digital delivery will be: Cube ($9.99) Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords ($14.99) WTF: work time fun ($9.99) PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient ($9.99) PQ2: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 ($14.99) Dead Head Fred ($14.99) Once a true PSP Store is in place, we'd love to see all publishers follow suit. Now tell us that wouldn't send a chill up your spine GameStop!
D3 Publisher bringing Puzzle Quest, Dead Head Fred, more to PS Store
Finally! D3 Publisher, we applaud your decision to bring your PSP catalog to the PLAYSTATION Store. You're not bringing just one obscure game onto the Store -- you're making available a number of games, from big-budget releases to obscure cult classics. Best of all, you're making them available for cheap! Here are the releases:September 18, 2008 Cube - $9.99 Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - $14.99 October 2, 2008 WTF: Work Time Fun - $9.99 PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient - $9.99 October 16, 2008 PQ2: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 - $14.99 Dead Head Fred - $14.99 To find out more about each of these titles, simply click on their names. You'll find all our news, previews and reviews of these games.
WTF?!: sidescroller WoW parody
Warning: while this review is completely Safe For Work, the subject of the review is certainly not. You should wait until you get home before trying out the game.We received quite a few tips about the new World of Warcraft homage game called WTF?! Currently offering a "demo" version, WTF?! is a side-scrolling comedy, featuring two main characters available for your control. You can play the scarlet-topped Blood Elf Priest named "Phallicity" or the rockin' Gnome Rogue named "Lumpen."The premise of the game is focused on the world of...
World of Warcraft in two dimensions
With all the hullabaloo over the last several months speculating about the elimination or possible convergence of traditional single player experiences into the new massively multiplayer model, the last thing we expected to turn up in our daily lap around the web is one of the most beloved MMOs to date transmogrified into a single player platformer/RPG. While it's hardly the robust single player experience of a commercial product, the aptly named WTF?! takes a look at what would happen if World of Warcraft were condensed into two dimensions.You can play either a Blood Elf Priest or a Gnome Rogue, both of which play slightly differently even within the confines of two dimensions. The game is a little buggy (make sure you get the trinket from Hegemon before you try and take down Mary Daly!) and slightly misogynistic, but it's got a certain flare that is hard to not find endearing. Maybe it's the humor or maybe it's the Mario sound effects, it's hard to pin down. In any case, if you're bored at work this week but don't have the machine for WoW, check it out.[Via Broken Toys]
Soul Calibur IV's secret characters: Darth Vader and Yoda
Is it April already? A quick glance at our calendars confirms that it's still January, and an extended glance at 1UP's reveal of Soul Calibur IV's secret characters does nothing to evaporate the reigning feeling of utter confusion. The lineup of saucer-eyed assassins, scantily clad combatants and bizarre pain fetishists in Namco's anticipated fighter is set to be joined by the Sith's darkest lord and the Force's most diminutive master. Our little green friend can almost manage to fit in to Soul Calibur's ye olde fantasy trappings, but poor ol' Vader appears to have gotten lost and disoriented after leaping over some sharks on his space jet ski.Even better news can be found in 1UP's suspicion that even more Star Wars characters will waltz into Calibur's cantina, possibly via downloadable content. An interesting idea, but we reckon you'd save money by simply buying a copy of Masters of Teräs Käsi off eBay.Update: Gamespot reports that Darth Vader is reserved for the PlayStation 3, while Yoda will be included in the Xbox 360 version.[Thanks, Antonio]
