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Antec to sell NCsoft-themed PC enclosures
So it's official, Antec and NCsoft are going out. OK, maybe it's not quite that creepy, but a new press release does note that the two companies have an "official relationship," which will be publicly consummated at next week's PAX Prime event. Antec, known primarily for its PC hardware and upgrade components, will be opening an online boutique featuring custom PC cases emblazoned with artwork from NCsoft franchises including Aion, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars. Antec's PAX Prime booth will also be hosting an exclusive City of Heroes Freedom demo for convention attendees, and you can read all the details via the full press release at MarketWire. [Thanks to Jessie for the tip!]
Gamescom 2011: Paradox releases new Salem teaser
A couple of months ago, we were treated to a sneak peek of Salem, the new browser-based MMO from Paradox Interactive. Aside from its colonial America setting and Salem witch trial underpinnings, the defining feature of this odd MMORPG is permadeath. Today, Paradox has a released a new trailer for the title at Gamescom, and though there's no gameplay footage to be had, the atmosphere conjured by the clip is nothing short of bizarre. The video runs a tad over a minute and a half, and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is a subtitle that shows up after the ending title and proclaims that Salem is "the crafting MMO." It's the crafting MMO with permadeath and a PvP focus, if previous Paradox releases still hold true, and if that doesn't tweak your curiosity, well, head past the cut and watch the video anyway.
The Daily Grind: Have you met your online friends offline?
MMORPGs make for some mighty strange bedfellows. We all approach these games for different reasons and from many different backgrounds. For some players, MMORPGs are firmly in the fantasy-not-reality section of their daily planners, while others form lasting "real-world" friendships with their MMO compatriots -- and some folks even make the effort to hang out with their online buddies offline. Whether you've traveled to a guild get-together, attended a gaming convention, or happen to live in the same town as your groupmates, today's Daily Grind is all about real-world meetups. Have you ever hooked up with your MMO pals in person (and if not, would you want to)? 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!
Trion details RIFT, End of Nations, and Defiance plans for Gamescom
Trion is one of many MMO companies gearing up for a big showing at this month's Gamescom, and a new interview with Adam Gershowitz, David Luehmann, and Rob Hill lets fans in on what they can expect regarding the world of Telara. For starters, there will be a lot of lip service given to RIFT's "Endgame for All" initiative, specifically the new Chronicle instances coming with the 1.5 patch. Gershowitz also mentions the Hammerknell weekend warfront and says its a way for Trion to "spice up the normal warfront grind" via new gameplay and additional rewards. Said new gameplay takes the form of a new mode called escalation, which is essentially the Telaran equivalent of capture-the-flag. The interview also touches on Trion's End of Nations and Defiance titles, both of which will also be featured at Gamescom (though it's worth noting that Defiance will be restricted to industry previewers as Trion says the title "isn't quite ready for its player debut").
World of Warplanes debuting at Gamescom
If you're curious about Wargaming.net's upcoming World of Warplanes MMO, Gamescom 2011 is the place to be. The World War II-based flight simulator's gameplay will be shown for the first time at the convention in Cologne, Germany from August 17th to August 21st. World of Warplanes was initially announced during this year's E3, but no media, gameplay footage, or web presence has been forthcoming as of yet. Wargaming.net will also be holding an open World of Tanks tournament at Gamescom, and the company has plans to announce its newest development project, according to a press release issued this morning.
Jagex announces RuneFest 2011
If you'll be in the UK on the weekend of October 29th -- and you're a fan of RuneScape -- you might want to drop by Old Billingsgate in central London for the annual RuneFest fan celebration. Jagex is pulling out all the stops for the browser title's 10th anniversary bash, and attendees can look forward to event favorites like the Insider Sessions as well as the Golden Gnome Video Awards. A Halloween after-party is also on the docket, as are plenty of opportunities to score swag and hob-knob with senior developers. Tickets aren't yet on sale, but you can keep up with RuneFest happenings and announcements via the official website and the dedicated forums.
Guild Launch sponsoring DragonCon 2011 MMO track
DragonCon isn't far over the horizon, and both genre fans and companies are making plans to descend on Atlanta for the annual Labor Day weekend nerd-a-thon in September. One such outfit is Guild Launch, and the hosting company has just announced via press release that it will be sponsoring the MMO track at this year's convention. Guild Launch, founded in 2006 and renowned for its ability to ease the HTML-ignorant into the creation and maintenance of their own guilld-related websites, will be participating in various MMORPG panels as well as exhibiting its services throughout the convention. "After attending DragonCon for the last few years we decided we wanted to promote the DragonCon MMO track more directly. We've found DragonCon to be an awesome place to meet the members of our service and we look forward to meeting more of them in 2011," says company founder Stephen Johnston.
The Daily Grind: Did you go to a game convention last year?
It is, in many ways, the ultimate gamer's pilgrimage -- to make the long trek to attend a gaming convention. Whether it be PAX, Dragon*Con, Fan Faire, BlizzCon, Leipzig or GamesCom, it's surprising the amount of money, time, effort and willingness to stand in line with sweaty people that we put up with just to see the latest games and talk to our favorite developers. It's hard to explain the allure of these conventions to outsiders, but there's something thrilling in seeing crowds of people who share your same hobby and get excited over all the same stuff you do. Plus, there's the swag. OH, the swag! Did you make your pilgrimage in 2010? Did you manage to get away to a fabulous retreat (from reality) and attend a game convention? And was it everything you'd hoped, or did it let you down? 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!
The Daily Grind: Got cons?
So the New York Comic Con is in full swing, and the fact that it's here already reminds us of just how many game-related cons there are scattered throughout the calendar year. Whether it's NYCC, Dragon Con, E3, GDC, or the various flavors of PAX, there always seems to be something just around the corner that calls for hotel reservations and airline tickets. More often than not, the next convention on the circuit sneaks right up on us before we manage to shake the jet lag from the last one. While we'd like nothing better than to shirk responsibilities and tour the world of gaming and pop culture conventions for a year, work must occasionally intrude, and most of us have to pick and choose our events. What about you Massively readers? Did you attend NYCC this weekend, and are you a regular on the gaming convention circuit? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our 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 The Daily Grind!
The pros and cons of Battle.net
Well it's finally happened -- as of next month, you'll be required to have a Battle.net login to get into the game, so you might as well head over and merge your account up right now. It's not like we have a choice in the matter any more, but that doesn't mean lots of players still have apprehensions about the process. Naissa puts some of the concerns together clearly over on her blog -- putting all of her accounts under one username scares her, and that's a legit point. Not only can Blizzard presumably cut access to all of their games for just one (or even one false positive) ToS violation, but presumably, one hacker could now gain access to all of your Blizzard games with one hack. The online profile is another concern -- Bungie already has something like this running with Halo, and from my online profile, you can see clearly just how bad I am. With the Armory, there's a level of anonymity (you can't see your account name, just character names), but if Blizzard starts posting profiles under account names -- or even worse, "Real IDs," which are apparently real names -- that's one more layer of separation lost. Surely, they'll have to have a way to opt out of that.Of course, the changeover isn't all bad.
The pros and cons of free to play Dungeons and Dragons Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online going free to play is undoubtedly an awesome announcement. But exactly how awesome of an announcement is it?Yesterday we were all over the announcement, covering the basics of what can be expected with this changeover from subscription based to free to play. But now, I'd like to break that down even further, and really look at the changes in an in-depth manner.Certainly not everything about the new version of DDO has been defined by Turbine, but we're going to take a look at the basics of what this new version offers and compare the ups and downs of what's being offered. By the time we're done looking over the new system, you'll be able to answer that one burning question that's plaguing your mind.Is free to play DDO worth it for you?
The pros and cons of free to play Dungeons and Dragons Online pt. 2
The cons of the whole switchover Item malls that offer players the ability to purchase items or item upgrades degrade the gaming experience. We've been over this before -- letting Mr. Moneybags deck out his character at level 1 so he's 10x more awesome than everybody else is a major downer to people who don't have the money. While I've pored over the text that Turbine is released, it doesn't appear that they will be offering items like weaponry or armor. They will be offering "items of convenience" to the players. My best guess is things like potions, perhaps portals, resurrection scrolls, things such as these. Even though these are low powered items, they can still annoy you when Moneybags can teleport all over the place and you're left walking and taking the slow route. This con is, however, offset by the fact that points can be earned by actually playing the game. It sounds like they are attempting to make the cash shop available for everyone, not just the Moneybags of the world. This will be interesting to watch, as no other developer as truly tried this in the American market. "I could easily see some players offering up items in the auction house above the amount that a free player's wallet could hold." The big con to this is the limited play that free players get. Limited auctions and limited mail are two nasty inconveniences in their own right, but limited gold storage and limited chat seem to be the features that take the cake. How would you like it if you couldn't chat in all of the chat channels, or were restricted to how much you can say in game? Even worse, limited gold storage may mean that you might not be able to purchase the best items from the auction house simply because your wallet just doesn't hold enough. I could easily see some players offering up items in the auction house above the amount that a free player's wallet could hold. This is going to inconvenience the player further because it's going to restrict how the player can interact with the auction house and interact with the vendors in the world. Another two bites out of the pro pile are the fact that free players rank lower than DDO VIP subscription players in the login queue and free players don't get access to customer support. This means that a constant influx of DDO VIP players could easily keep bumping free players back in the login queue, should the server become overpopulated. While I don't exactly see this happening, it could become problem should the lines really get backed up. I know I wouldn't like to see that my place in line as number 27 get jacked backward to 30 or 35 just because a few subscribers chose to log in. Lastly is the fact that free players are stuck with the online knowledge base and the forums as their source of aid should they encounter problems. I can foresee some free players attempting to play the game, getting stuck on some odd technical problem, and then becoming unable to solve it simply because the knowledge base doesn't have their problem on file. You're going to inevitably lose some people over this, just because they don't want to deal with the frustration of attempting to make a free game work. It's a free game, so if it doesn't work, just move onto the next game. The bottom line? The final thoughts for all of this is you should weigh it for yourself. If you want to save some cash and you like Dungeons and Dragons, then this might just be the experience for you. If you're looking for a second quality MMO to have as a side-game, then this might also be what you want to pick up. If you're someone who's easily frustrated by limitations, however, then you might not enjoy this experience. Some of the stuff, like decreased auctions, gold storage, and chatting capabilities might hamper gameplay just enough to turn off some people. But, don't take my word for it. Judge the game for yourself when it hits free to play status later this summer. Turbine has just announced that Dungeons and Dragons Online will be moving to a free-to-play business model, and we have the inside scoop. Be sure to read our complete coverage of the changeover, and look for more info as DDO Unlimited approaches launch.
Mossberg, Pogue, Baig review the iPhone 3G
While most people are waiting in line for their soon-to-be new friend, pal and everyday communications device, the world's top tech reviewers have already been playing with the long awaited device. Below is a summary of their findings along with links to their full reviews of the iPhone 3G. Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal) Pros: Faster cell network data speeds, GPS Cons: Weaker battery life due to 3G/GPS Bottom Line: If you don't already have an iPhone and can live with the weaker battery life, then you should go ahead and buy; otherwise wait out for the 2.0 firmware update (hmm... I think I've heard this advice somewhere else) David Pogue (New York Times) Pros: You can talk and access 3G data network simultaneously, cheaper, improved audio quality Cons: 3G isn't wide-spread, AT&T pricing, Bottom Line: "iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade," 2.0 firmware update will make your original iPhone in most ways similar to the iPhone 3G Edward Baig (USA Today) Pros: Faster data network, cheaper, GPS, Visual Voicemail Cons: Slow EDGE speeds when not in 3G area, no video, no memory expansion Bottom Line: "The Sequel, is worth the wait," he also shows a side-by-side comparison between EDGE and 3G speeds As an interesting note: David Pogue says that the iPhone's GPS antenna is too small to provide you with turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps -- this is something that Apple has failed to note until now.
All the World's a Stage: Pros and cons of total-immersion roleplay
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.There are degrees to roleplaying. Some people like it "light," so that it never gets too intense, you never have to actually "work" to make your character profound or lore-worthy, and it's generally just a fun way to pass some time. Others like it "heavy;" they view their characters as works of art, taking special care to make their characters believable and interesting, and sometimes planning special roleplaying events for their guild to enjoy. Some even try to do everything in-character, from repairing armor to marking out targets with raid symbols.Recently I joined just such a full-immersion roleplaying guild, and have been trying out their particular style. To be fair, I still have a number of friends on my server that I usually speak out-of-character with, because that's what we're used to, but for everyone in this guild, I do my best to stay in character at all times, with everything my character says and does. To some this may seem like an unnecessary pain, but to others it's a fun experience. Here are a few of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of roleplaying.
Apple TV: The first 24 hours
After spending a good 24 hours with a shiny new Apple TV, I agree with Mossberg and Pogue: this thing rocks. Apple has produced a great device that makes getting your iTunes and iTunes Store content from your Mac/PC to your TV and entertainment center, and with a nearly 10x lead in the digital media market at 118 million active iTunes users, they have quite an audience for it as well. As with everything else in life, however, the Apple TV isn't without its downsides. But instead of penning a post that did nothing but dog the device, I figured I would put together some pros and cons I've found from poking and prodding at the Apple TV: Pros My initial sync was performed via that iTunes wireless AirPort Disk setup I wrote about earlier this month. Just to see how far I can push things, I occasionally tried to watch a video that hadn't been synced yet so it had to stream while the sync was still going on, and I never experienced a hiccup besides a noticeably slower start time. Impressive. I must mention, however, that I'm using Apple's ideal setup: a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro upgraded to 802.11n, with an AirPort Extreme N-based router. As Paul Kafasis confirmed, the Apple TV doesn't require an HD TV, just one that has component (RGB) inputs. That's great news for me, and I can happily say that iTS videos look great on our 32" JVC SD (Standard Definition) TV. HD - what me worry? Thanks not only to Apple's sleek industrial design but also the entirely screen-based UI and minimalist remote, the Apple TV is by far the least intrusive piece of hardware in our humble entertainment center. It has but one tiny white light; no bright calculator-style numbers of blinking lights, unlike my clunky Comcast PVR box. You can turn off the Apple TV's display (holding down Play for a few seconds) during a sync. This 'powers down' the device in more or less the same way you power down an iPod; it isn't completely turned off, and the Apple TV still wakes up instantly at the press of a button. Cons This whole 40GB thing is for the birds. We're living in an increasingly digital society, and our libraries are expanding faster than ever. I currently have 28GB of music, 4.26GB of movies (and that includes only two truly feature-length films purchased from the store), 6.13GB of TV Shows and 4.05GB of Podcasts, which is arguably (one of) the most quickly expanding portion of virtually any podcast subscriber's library. While I am on the whole pleased with this device, 40GB is a borderline insult. This is 2007, not 1998. Parts of the UI definitely feel like they were designed specifically for HD in mind, though designing software for the strange, wide world of television can't be easy for anyone. For example: while browsing TV shows to watch, a block of text appears below the show's album cover that contains metadata such as series, show description, etc. Even sitting barely two or three feet away from my SD TV, this text is barely legible, and before you ask: my eyesight is tip-top. Social downside to using the Apple TV: I can't display what I'm watching/listening to in iChat. I'm no software engineer, but me-wagers Apple could easily fix this. While playing music, the Apple TV occasionally swaps cover art and the track control bar horizontally between the left and right sides of the screen. I can understand the desire to do *something* with the TV UI since whatever is on TV is supposed to 'do stuff,' but the effect is really cheesy. [Update: Commenters are pointing out that this is to prevent burnout in plasma displays. Complaint retracted, for the most part.] The Apple TV is a trojan horse: I *so* have the urge to start buying iTS content without reserve. A long time ago a friend bought Pirates of the Caribbean as a gift for me, but I never caught the movie bug. After playing with the Apple TV for a while yesterday, however, I began wanting to buy movies like never before because this setup just works. I buy, I download, I watch on TV - all from the comforts of my couch (since my MacBook Pro is on my lap). As long as Apple cranks out an iTreadmill sooner or later, I'll consider us even. The Apple TV doesn't seem to be able to initiate a sync while something is already playing on it. This is of course to be expected, and I debated leaving it off this list entirely, but I figured it was ultimately worth a mention. [Update: it appears I might be wrong. I'm playing music on the Apple TV and had to restart my MacBook Pro. Upon starting iTunes up again, it found the Apple TV and began syncing a bunch of new items in mid-song. My initial guess as to what's going on here is that, given the drive-intensive nature of video, the Apple TV can't perform a sync while it's playing a movie, TV show or video podcast, but song files are typically small, allowing many to be queued into memory which makes it easier to do two things at once. If anyone has more insight into this, do share in the comments.] But don't leave my pros and cons all alone here - feel free to voice your own! If you've snagged an Apple TV be sure to leave your thoughts here, and if you're still on the fence, we'll try to help you pick the yard with the greenest grass.
It's the little things that grab you
Now that many of us have had the time to get friendly with our Wiis and maybe toss a Wiimote around here or there, let's take a moment to celebrate the little things the small details. In the frenzy of anticipating and buying and box-opening, sometimes we lose track of the details, the really fabulous things about a new console that begin to shine after a few days of serious gameplay. Fanboys that we are, we like to pull those details into the spotlight and coo over them whilst giving our European friends an idea of what's in store for them. Thus, after the jump we've listed a few of the little things that warm our fanboy hearts -- and we wanna hear what you love most about the Wii as well. Of course, not everything is always perfect ... so we might have a few little beefs as well ....
