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BigRedKitty: Gorilladin
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.So fighting level 62 fel orcs with a level 74 hunter doesn't impress you? OK, we can see that. A Gorilladin -- gorilla + paladin = Gorilladin! -- has to be able to tank stuff his own level, right? Right.We're going to "spoiler" you then, and show you a Gorilladin at work in Sholazar Basin. If you don't want to see any new content, do not watch the movie.But if you want to boggle at the best grinding and leveling hunter-pet you've ever seen, and want to know why we recommend every hunter of every spec grab a gorilla and level him to 70 as soon as the next big patch comes out, click the movie, foshizzle.Gorillas will change the way you play your hunter. We're not kidding.You are invited to download the YouTube version (30MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (177MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Gorilla
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Gorillas are nothing new; they've been around forever. What is changing in Wrath of the Lich King is that gorillas are going to become AoE-Tanks.No no, don't /pshaw just yet.There are two keys to the Ascent of the Gorilla in WotLK. First, Thunderstomp's cooldown has changed from one minutes to ten seconds. Take 3/3 points in Longevity, and Thunderstomp's cooldown can be reduced to seven seconds. /blinkSecond, we're getting a hugely buffed Volley. It is totally losing its one minute cooldown, foshizzle, and we can Auto Shot while Volley is being channeled. Sweet? Sweet.Take a Tenacity pet with an AoE attack, add a Volley unhindered by a cooldown, stir in the "Auto Shot keeps cooking" bonus, and we get a hunter-pet combo that mimics a Paladin.Don't believe us? Watch the movie.You are invited to download the YouTube version (53MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (218MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath Beta
Welcome to another edition of Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider weekly Hunter column. Daniel Whitcomb is your guest host again this week. So, we theorized about talented pets a bit quite a few installments of Scattered Shots ago, but now we have the actual trees live and testable on the Wrath Beta, and they seem to be firming up nicely. There's a few promised changes yet to come, such as the removal or lowering of focus costs on many major abilities and talents, and it's still very possible that Blizzard may make changes here and there before live, but I think they're solid enough at this point that we can look at each tree and make some solid predictions about how people will use them and how various talent builds might look.
Sanyo rolls out 1Seg-packing "Gorilla" NV-SD585DT GPS unit
Sanyo's Gorilla GPS devices are certainly never lacking when it comes to non-GPS-related features, and it looks like its new NV-SD585DT model is no exception. This one shrinks things down slightly from the last model we saw with a 5.8-inch touchscreen, although you'll still get a 1Seg mobile TV tuner, 4GB of solid state storage, an FM transmitter, an SD card slot, and that same ECO driving mode seen on previous Gorilla models -- not to mention all the usual GPS-related features like weather and traffic information. No word on a price just yet, but those in Japan will be able to get their hands on one starting July 18th.[Via Slash Gear]
Take a peek at Champions Online's Monster Island
Over at the official Champions Online website you can find an excerpt from the upcoming Monster Island sourcebook for the Champions tabletop game. The cool thing of course is that this relates entirely to the digital world of Champions Online, which makes it a lore piece as well. The island itself is very much an homage to the Godzilla movies as it's located just off the coast of Japan. It's not all text, however, as Cryptic has seen fit to release three new screens featuring the Monster Island locale and we've gotta say the zone looks pretty awesome. There's plenty of lush jungle-scape and you just know that a giant dinosaur or an 800lb flaming gorilla is just around the corner.We've added all three of the screens to our Champions Online gallery, so feel free to check them out at your leisure.%Gallery-17946%
Majesco sharing a slice of Cake Mania with Wii owners
Sandlot Games' Cake Mania franchise is coming to the Wii for the first time via Majesco, as Cake Mania: In the Mix! The new Wii game combines the time-management-based gameplay of the first Cake Mania with the storyline of the sequel, and adds waggle to the baking and serving action in new minigames.Other new features include an unspecified "Shop Rating" feature that enables unlocks and a phone system that enables even more orders to come in.Majesco expects to release Cake Mania: In the Mix during this holiday season. It will be distributed by Codemasters in Europe for an early 2009 release. We're always interested in seeing how the PC casual games audience crosses over with the Wii casual games audence, and this is a perfect test case.
Choosing pets on the TTR
Mania has an interesting post about all the different pets available to Hunters on the Arena tournament realm (which, by the way, our own Arena team is making an appearance in this evening, along with some folks from some "Blizzard" company -- they're probably posers). The strange thing is not that Blizzard is offering pets to Hunters, but that they're only offering some pet families. So if you want to duck into the tournament with a tallstrider or a gorilla or turtle at your side, you just don't have the option.Interesting. Some of the choices Blizzard made are pretty obvious -- for high end Arena play, a crab probably isn't going to do much for you. But Mania's big problem is with Blizzard including the spider family, and excluding the gorilla -- spiders don't bring too much extra to the table, but gorillas bring Thunderstomp, an AoE damage effect that isn't necessarily overpowered, but can help in some cases. There may be other factors at play here -- 15 sounds like a round number that Blizzard may have had to adhere to, so maybe that's why the others aren't included.And if nothing else, as Mania says, making these choices might encourage Blizzard to look at some of the weaker families and beef them up a bit, either for endgame or PvP. And all Hunters, no matter what pet they choose, will probably appreciate that.
THQ brings some pep to the Wii
Games publisher THQ announced today that they're adding yet another Wii game to their repertoire (how many is this now?). The subject of the game is, oddly enough, cheerleading, making it the first of its kind.Unless you're a six-year-old girl, All Star Cheer Squad sounds pretty terrifying -- there's really no other way to describe "squad competitions and one-on-one cheer-offs." The game will also utilize the Balance Board, making it only the third confirmed Wii game to make use of the peripheral.In case you're wondering what a cheerleading game might entail, it's probably what you'd expect: you learn cheers, make up a few of your own, practice them, and then perform. So, tell us, readers: how funky is your chicken?[Thanks, John!]
THQ has spirit with 'All Star Cheer Squad' for Wii, DS
Gimme a T! Gimme an H! Gimme a Q! What's that spell? The publisher of the world's first competitive cheerleading game! Gooooo THQ! Yaaaaaaay!Come on everybody, join in! All Star Cheer Squad is its name, Wii and DS will get the game! DS players scribble hard, Wii owners use the Balance Board! Squad face-offs and one-on-one, Remote and Nunchuk join the fun! Choreographed by Tony G. -- he did that Bring it On movie!No release date in just yet, bet you'll wait with baited breath! Gooooo Cheer Squad! Whoooooo![Via GamingTarget, thanks John]
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup can feel it coming in the air tonight
The folks behind RPG-TV commissioned a short cartoon animation as a parody of the Cadbury Phil Collins Gorilla (original video after the break, for those confused). We enjoy anything that reminds us of Phil Collins, animals playing instruments and Rock Band, but we're a bit bummed to see no use of the kick drum, essential for the song.We're trying a different voting system today, which has the unfortunate side effect of not allowing for embedded links in the choices. So here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics: Uncharted G-Sus Load Runner Synesthesia, Revisited The World Owes You Back to Basics Worst Video Game Seminar Ever Voting will happen after the break, and be sure to let us know what you think of the new format.
Sanyo intros the NV-HD880FT "Gorilla" GPS navigator
Sanyo wants to navigate through this crazy world with you, or, more specifically, it wants you to navigate through this crazy world with its NV-HD880FT "Gorilla," a personal GPS rig sure to have even the most die-hard map users casting sideways glances. The new navigator features a massive 8-inch touchscreen, a 30GB hard drive, and dual TV tuners (12Seg / 1Seg and terrestrial). Additionally, the NV-HD880FT packs traffic updates, an FM transmitter, and emission reduction "thoughts" via the company's "Eco-Drive II information" (whatever that means). The navigator will be available in Japan on November 26th, for ¥225,750 (or around $1,956), no word on a wider release.[Via Akihabara News]
Sanyo kicks out two new 1seg-equipped navigators
Unfortunately for those in America, you aren't likely to see either of Sanyo's latest GPS units, but for those dwelling in Japan, here's the low down. Up first is the fairly attractive NV-SD580DT, which boasts a 1seg tuner, integrated media player, FM transmitter, built-in one-watt speaker, 5.8-inch display, and an SD expansion slot. The slightly less stunning NV-SB260DT (shown after the jump) packs a 4.5-inch screen and omits MP3 playback, but retains most of the other features on the aforementioned sibling. Both units are set to hit stores next month, and while the NV-SD580DT will ring up at ¥117,600 ($1,021), the NV-SB260DT will demand ¥103,950 ($902).[Via Impress]
Sanyo bumps the memory on its 1seg-equipped GPS receivers
When it comes to spec bumps, there's not much that's less exciting than a simple capacity boost, so you'll have to excuse our lack of excitement over Sanyo's new NV-SB250DT and NV-SD200DT Gorilla-brand personal navigation devices. Both models share almost the exact same feature sets as their predecessor, the NV-SD10DT -- 4.5-inch, 400 x 234 pixel touchscreen, built-in 1seg tuners with EPG, and 2GB of storage (up from 1GB on the SD10DT) -- and only differ in that the SB250DT sports a rechargeable battery where the SD200DT (pictured) takes replaceable ones (Eneloops, hopes Sanyo). April 24th is when these two 'new' models will hit Japan, with the 250 marked at ¥99,750 ($833.91) and the 200 sporting an open price. [Via Impress]
Guerilla (marketers) in our midst
A fictionalized comment: "Hey guys! I know this is a post about Atari, but I think this is the perfect time to tell you about this super awesome game I played yesterday: Rock 'em Sock 'em Space Wars! You gotta check it out ^_^ k thx bye!"If only it were that easy to spot an online guerilla marketer -- one who assumes the identity of John Q. Commentor and sells a product to his "fellow posters." In reality, OGMs are a lot more cunning and a lot more clever than we might realize. The Escapist managed to interview one such OGM, a particularly devious soul we'll call Jack. For four years, Jack has been working to infiltrate online communities and earn their trust, eventually pushing them toward titles favorable to his employers.Jack will spend anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks earning trust in online forums under different avatars -- "my personalities range from a 10-year-old girl to a 78-year-old man and across different ethnicities, stereotypes and ages," he remarks. Each with its own IP address from across the globe (thanks to IP spoofing, Jack can pretend he is a soldier stationed in Kuwait, for example). He even returns to recent posts and continues conversations, just to give the impression that each of his characters are real.We've caught sleazy marketers before, but their methods are a lot sloppier than what Jack has described. Jack is very good at what he does and claims to have never been caught. He reveals a guilty conscience, which is probably why he agreed to be interviewed, but he isn't quitting his day job. Should we really fault him, though, or should we be angry at the source?It's an inevitable phenomenon and one people are just going to have to be careful and avoid. The guerillas are amongst us -- many will probably flame this guy in the comments while privately laughing at the irony. Just be careful whose opinions you trust.
