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Fox 's new TV show 'Ghosted' will premiere on Twitter
Twitter is no stranger to TV tie-ins, but it's kicking things up a notch this week. It's partnering with Fox on a slew of streaming efforts to boost Fox's fall show lineup, including premiering a show on Twitter. You can watch the first episode of the paranormal comedy Ghosted at 9PM Eastern between September 21st and 24th, days before its October 1st debut on TV -- a "first" for Twitter, Fox says. Yes, this is ultimately an attempt to drum up buzz from fans and score strong early TV ratings, but it suggests that social video is becoming an important part of the networks' strategy.
AOL chief wants to turn the company into an ad empire
Verizon bought Engadget's parent company AOL for its ad tech, that much we knew. And the man behind that deal was none other than AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong, who The Wall Street Journal reports has an eye on building the company into a massive mobile ad empire. By 2020 Armstrong aims for AOL to jump from its current 700 million users to two billion, and generate between $10 billion and $20 billion in revenue. With that, Armstrong says AOL will be the top global media company.
Recon's HUD mask transfers your gaming skills to paintball
Recon Instruments and Empire Paintball's paintball mask is fun to wear — and I didn't even get to shoot anyone. The Empire EVS houses Recon's Snow2 heads-up display in bottom-right of the goggles, running on Android, with nine-axis sensors, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS, while the helmet itself looks like a color-saturated Darth Vader pretender -- and I mean that in the best possible way. Slipping into it is easy, and an armband control unit with directional buttons makes navigation through menus (as well as zooming in and out of maps) hard to screw up. The mask itself, coming from paintball equipment maker Empire has UVA/UVB radiation protection and doesn't fog up inside when the action picks up and your breathing gets heavy. The heads-up display (HUD) can also talk with action cams like the GoPro, which you can mount on your paintball gun to peek around corners and, as one Engadget editor calls it: "cheat".
What's on your HDTV: 'Community', 'Bloodline', 'Empire' season finale
March Madness indeed. While the NCAA kicks off its yearly (and ethically dubious) basketball tournaments (get the schedules for NCAA and NIT here), we're welcoming Community back on Yahoo. Besides season six of the goings-on at Greendale -- here's how to watch -- Netflix has its first season of its new series Bloodline, starring Kyle Chandler from Friday Night Lights, and coming from the team that brought you Damages -- and once you're through with that, Mad Men season seven is coming on Sunday. Fox's Empire wraps up its first season this week, along with finales from Glee, Girls, The Musketeers, Looking and Nightwatch. Troop Beverly Hills makes its long-awaited (by me) debut on Blu-ray to go along with Top Five, My Girl, Halo: Nightfall and Annie. Last but not least, gamers can choose from the Battlefield Hardline spin-off and a few remasterings with Devil May Cry Definitive Edition, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Jamestown+ and Bladestorm: Nightmare. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
The Game Archaeologist: Kingdom of Drakkar
You'd think that by now I would be running out of older MMOs and their kin to cover, but I just keep discovering more. Some of those discoveries are helped by Massively readers, who have urged me from time to time to investigate certain games. One such commenter, Space Cobra, has been after me for quite a while (as in years) to do a write-up about Kingdom of Drakkar, and I finally caved. Here you go, good buddy! Kingdom of Drakkar, also known as Drakkar or Kingdom of Drakkar II, is a really odd duck in the MMO history books. While being very small potatoes for the industry as a whole throughout its entire lifespan, it's notable for an extraordinary long run (it began in the 1980s, people!) that's traversed through several format changes and handlers. I've seen it described, somewhat unkindly, as a "shoddier Ultima Online," but I think that is a surface judgment that doesn't take the effort to get to know the game or its legacy. There must be something to this game if it's been around for three decades, yes? Let's find out!
Hyperspace Beacon: Exploring Oricon in SWTOR (Exploricon?)
Star Wars: The Old Republic announced a few weeks back that Update 2.4: Dread War would introduce players to not only arena PvP but also two new operations and a daily quest area by way of the planet Oricon. The next update has been sitting on the public test server for a bit over a week now, but unfortunately thanks to lag issues, I've barely been able to spend any time there. But now most of the lag seems to have disappeared, and I can give you my take on the new daily area and the story that goes along with it. Warning: I will spoil a lot of the story that leads up to Oricon!
The Game Archaeologist: The PLATO MMOs, part 2
In our last installment looking at PLATO, the educational computer network that linked a thousand terminals across the US together, I don't think I stressed enough how awesome this system was for the time. In the 1970s, most universities had computers that required punch cards for input and spat back results on printers, grade schools simply didn't have computers, and if you wanted a PC at home, you'd have to build one from a kit that ended up being little more than a box with blinking lights. To sit down at a PLATO terminal was to jump forward a decade or more: sharp plasma displays, touch screens, speech synthesizers, email, message boards, and of course, the latest games. Often brewed up by students and programmers in their off hours, the PLATO games demonstrated the potential for online gaming, even if the games couldn't be put into every home. Last time we saw some of the innovations that would fuel MUDs and MMOs in years to come: networking, persistent characters, multiplayer matches with up to 32 people at a time, 3-D gaming in a virtual world, video game bosses, chat systems, and even crafting. So let's move on to the second batch of what I'm calling the "PLATO MMOs" -- not truly MMO as we know them today but uncanny pre-echoes of what the genre would become.
The Game Archaeologist: The PLATO MMOs, part 1
In tracing the history and pre-history of MMORPGs in this column, we've spent a lot of time outside of the 2000s and into the explosive '90s, the experimental '80s, and even the extraordinary '70s. Early pioneers like MUD1, Dungeons & Dragons, GameLine, bulletin board systems, Habitat, Island of Kesmai, and even Maze War have contributed to the development of these games we enjoy today. But I think we're going to outdo ourselves this week. We're going to go back further than ever before in the The Game Archaeologist time tunnel. When we arrive at our destination, we'll see that MMOs started germinating within a decade of computers being able to talk to each other. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 1961.
EVE Evolved: Colonising deep space
If you were watching the news coming out of this year's EVE Online Fanfest, you no doubt heard Senior Producer Andie Nordgren's incredibly ambitious five year vision. The past few expansions have been mostly filled with bug fixes and improvements to existing gameplay, but the goal is now to begin delivering an epic vision of deep space exploration, colonisation, and PvP raids on enemy infrastructure. The five year roadmap toward this goal includes the addition of player-built stargates and completely uncharted solar systems to locate, explore and build an empire in. If the very idea of that doesn't make shivers go down your spine, something may be wrong with your central nervous system. CCP has opened new space before with the addition of the drone regions in nullsec and some new lowsec systems for faction warfare, but it wasn't until 2009's Apocrypha expansion that we saw a true exploration and long-term colonisation effort get underway. I think the intoxicating draw of wormhole exploration was primarily due to the fact that the new systems were hidden and the information on them wasn't public. Just adding new solar systems to the existing stargate network wouldn't have had the same effect. Nordgren's vision may take up to 10 expansions to fully realise, but what kinds of features will we need in those expansions to recreate true exploration and deep space colonisation? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the challenges CCP will have to overcome to make deep space colonisation a reality and what small steps could be taken in each expansion to get us there.
Massively Exclusive: A closer look at WildStar's Cassians
WildStar doesn't shy away from giving its races plenty of personality. The introduction to the Dominion as a whole is given by character Malvolio Portius, and just a few moments of dialogue makes it very clear what sort of person he is. The latest entry on the original site features a mock-interview with the character that at once sheds more light on the character and provides more handy reference points about how Cassian humans think of themselves. Of course, there's more going on behind the scenes, and Malvolio's perspective on things is rather one-sided. (Not to mention smarmy.) To get a little more detail on the Cassian humans from a more neutral perspective, we had a chance to ask lead narrative designer Chad Moore a few questions about the Cassians and the Dominion as a whole. You'll have to wait a little while to learn more about the Draken and the Mechari, but the Cassians alone certainly feature elements that Malvolio won't discuss.
EVE Evolved: Retribution is freaking awesome!
Shortly after the Retribution expansion's deployment, a thread popped up on the EVE Online forums that proved to me that the expansion had been a massive success. In the thread titled So that's what victory in this game feels like, miner Tiberius StarGazer explained that he has always felt like he had no way to get back at people who wronged him. After losing millions of ISK in ships to pirate attacks, he was almost ready to give up on EVE. But when Retribution landed, he was able to sell his kill rights to the public so that every player vigilante who crossed his attacker's path could try to take him down without warning. After just a few hours, Tiberius got a notification that put a smile on his face: He had his first taste of revenge. He'd dealt more damage back to his attacker by clicking a button than had ever been done to him, and the attacker wasn't happy about it. He threatened to find Tiberius and kill him again, and that simple miner's reply said all I needed to know about how successful Retribution has been: "I have deep pockets. Every kill you make on me, I will add as a bounty on your corp; every kill right, I will sell. I can't fight you but others can and you will have to lose five times my loss for wronging me." Retribution has finally given industrialists a reliable way to get revenge and use their wealth as a weapon! In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the PvP that's springing up in empire space, how the new flagging mechanics affect baiting, and what the ship revamp means for new players.
You crazy for this one, Happy Giant: Jay-Z wants his Facebook game 'to be better than a Zynga game'
When Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter isn't busy keeping it real, he's got an empire to run. That means everything from his bread and butter (music production – it's perpetually Jay's "final album") to his assorted business ventures (everything from clothing to pro sports teams). And this week he added one more job to that list: game developer. Er ... not exactly. You see, Jay-Z has conscripted "high-end brand service" company Happy Giant to craft a Facebook game, entitled (fittingly enough): Empire.The game left closed beta this week, and we grabbed its creator, Happy Giant's Michael Levine, to discuss the game's famous progenitor, its mobile aspirations, and keeping it real. We're told that last one is pretty important to Mr. Carter."This is anything but a typical licensing deal," Levine said. Apparently, former Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola is a partner in Levine's other business venture, a kid-focused virtual world known as "Planet Cazmo," and he proposed a meeting with Jay-Z's former lawyer. "A guy named – and this is his real name - Michael Guido," Levine said.From there, Guido introduced Happy Giant to Jay. "We really worked closely with them for the last nine months, with Jay and his team, just trying to make everything as authentic as possible." How authentic, you ask? Apparently to the point of contention over which rule set the cee-lo minigame would contain. Again, we're told Jay likes to keep it real.
Hyperspace Beacon: Holocron Files -- Chiss
For some players, deciding which species to play in Star Wars: The Old Republic comes down to which skin tone is the coolest. Wasn't it said when the species were first announced that the choices were human with blue skin, human with green skin, bald human, human with head tails, and human with horns? Although hyperbolic, the sentiment contains an element of truth, especially when judged by aesthetics alone. Then again, no one complains in fantasy games when you have a choice between human, short human, and human with pointy ears. Elves and dwarves are viewed through the lens of pre-existing culture and folk-lore. The Holocron Files are designed to lay the cultural foundation for some of SWTOR's species. From the horned Zabrak to the red-skinned Sith Pureblood, each Star Wars species has a rich history and backstory. Thankfully, BioWare kept that in mind when considering which species you could play. In honor of my newest character, it's only fitting that we discuss the Chiss this week.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Smuggler and Sith Warrior fight it out
We know you're all busy, Star Wars: The Old Republic fans, but try to pry your eyes away from the shiny new game for just a minute because it's time for the final Choose Your Side video. This time, the match-up is between the wily, conniving Smuggler and the vicious, rage-driven Sith Warrior. So who will emerge the victor and who will be left eating the pavement? That's ultimately for you to decide, but if you'd like a little bit of help formulating your argument, just give the video a look and see what the game's developers have to say. All you have to do is click on past the cut.
Hyperspace Beacon: Best of...
If you pre-ordered the game early enough, then you should be in Star Wars: The Old Republic's early access by the time you are reading this. I hope you're having a good time. Look me up on the Lord Adraas server. My name there is Shaddoe. Don't be scared -- I may roleplay my character. Even if you didn't pre-order in time, you'll want your SWTOR fix, and I have the solution for you right here: the Hyperspace Beacon. Each week for the last year and a half, I have written a guide to the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic, covering everything from lore and game mechanics to speculation and community. Ultimately, I hope to better prepare you for the launch of this highly anticipated MMO. However, 67 articles can be tough to sift through, so I've narrowed down the list to the best of the best.
SWTOR: So you want to play a Sith Inquisitor
OK, enough of these goody-goody Jedi, all right? It's time to come to the Dark Side of Star Wars: The Old Republic, where the Sith Inquisitor reigns supreme. The Inquisitor fills a variety of roles within the ranks of the Empire, from healing to ranged DPS to melee DPS to tanking. There's an option for any playstyle, which makes the Inquisitor a great character for the indecisive among us. Also, you get Force Lightning, so that's pretty cool. On your journey as a Sith Inquisitor, you begin as a slave who has recently discovered his (or her) Force-sensitivity. As you arrive at the Sith Academy on the red planet of Korriban, you're faced with a simple choice: Become Sith -- or die.
SWTOR pits the Trooper against the Inquisitor
The second of the four-part Choose Your Side video series has been released over at Star Wars: The Old Republic, and this time it creates a hypothetical showdown between the Republic's Trooper and the Empire's Inquisitor. In it, four BioWare devs jaw about who would win in a fight and what each of these classes has going for it. These videos are proving to be a great way to get a better feel for classes' strengths and weaknesses, particularly in a PvP setting. On one hand, the Trooper is said to have an advantage in terms of health, armor and range, with plenty of tricks to keep the Inquisitor at bay and, er, dead. On the other hand, the Inquisitor's Force powers and double-bladed lightsaber may make for a completely unfair fight against the Force-less Trooper. The devs reveal a few tidbits about the two classes' philosophy while they're calmly laying out the smack talk. The Trooper comes off as a "shoot first and ask questions later" type of character, while the Inquisitor is portrayed as a mastermind pulling the strings from behind the stage. You can watch the full video after the jump!
EVE Evolved: Building a better empire
It's often said that EVE Online is 99% endgame, with only the tutorials and epic mission arcs really providing directed gameplay. Once you get out into the open world, the game is dominated by sandbox laws and social interaction. This is most clear in the lawless nullsec regions where alliances war over territory and build their own empires in the void. Last week I looked back at the early days of nullsec industry and examined the problems industry has developed over the years. With a massive nullsec revamp scheduled to begin this winter, I went on to speculate on how the game could be changed to bring back the glory days of nullsec industry. Although adequately incentivised local mining and production could transform player-created empires, those aren't the only areas of gameplay being revisited. Sovereignty mechanics, fleet warfare, small gang warfare, exploration and small-scale territorial control will all eventually be redesigned as part of the massive iterative overhaul. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the history of EVE's empire-building and territorial warfare mechanics, some of the problems faced by the sovereignty system, and how those aspects of EVE could possibly be changed for the better.
Hyperspace Beacon: Man in the mirror
On Friday, our friends on the BioWare community team gave us a second progression video for the Bounty Hunter in Star Wars: The Old Republic. As with anything on the internet, the video wasn't above scrutiny and complaint by followers. The complaints ranged from "we already have a Bounty Hunter progression video" to "why don't we have a Jedi Consular video yet?" But that doesn't hit on the real issue: There were no fiery explosions for the Bounty Hunter to walk away from in slow motion! He just can't be cool unless he turns his back on the destruction like he just doesn't frelling care. Despite the lack of carnage in the class progression video, we did glean insight into many of the class powers, some of which mirror its Republic counterpart: the Trooper. I know for marketing reasons and to keep from confusing the potential player, it's not a good idea to use the word "mirror" when describing The Old Republic classes. But it's hard to deny that the Imperial Bounty Hunter and the Republic Trooper are very much mirrored insofar as combat roles and abilities. After the break, I will explain to you what I see that is the same and what is different between the two classes. Then, in the end, I will let you decide whether the classes are truly mirrored or not.
Hyperspace Beacon: Human High Culture
BioWare games are notorious for interweaving allegories on racism in their plotlines. If you take Mass Effect, for example, Navigator Pressly was a human who had major issues with aliens -- especially Turians. Inversely, the Citadel Council was definitely prejudiced against humans because the human species was rather new to Citadel space and rising to power too quickly by the Council's standards. These undertones help give the Mass Effect story depth and real-world relevance. Although it's not an overt plot point in the Star Wars series of movies, speciesism does sometimes play a heavy hand in the Expanded Universe. In the Galactic Empire, this is known as Human High Culture. In the high political offices of the Galactic Empire under Emperor Palpatine, humans were regarded as superior to other species of the galaxy. Humans were, after all, most numerous, and they also did not originate from a single planet like most species. But the roots of the Human High Culture date back further than the events in Star Wars: The Old Republic. They may date all the way back to the first Dark Jedi to rule over the Sith people on Korriban. With this idea of Human High Culture in mind, I would like to talk about the species available to the SWTOR Imperial classes. In the May edition of PC Gamer UK, an over-ambitious reporter incorrectly announced a list of species and class combinations. What I would like to do today is make my own list based on what I know of Star Wars lore and announced species in the game. Continue after the break as I compile the list.
