Mini-map
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Titanfall's companion app mobilizes your mini-map
The mobile companion to Titanfall is now available to download, and takes some of the extra bits like the mini-map from the main game and pushes them to your smart device. Free to download, the app-tly named Titanfall Companion App offers game stats like players' total kills and favorite weapons. Once connected to an Xbox One, players can use the app to access an interactive mini-map of the Titanfall match they're playing at the moment and check out the ever-updating scoreboard. Titanfall topped another leaderboard recently, as it was number one on NPD's sales charts among video games for the second month in a row. The companion app is available on iOS, Android via Google Play and Windows Phone. [Image: Electronic Arts]
League of Legends cheating controversy puts $2,000,000 on the line
The competitive e-sports scene has exploded in the past two years, with top MOBA teams competing for prizes of up to an incredible $1,000,000 US from a single tournament. This weekend, MOBA fans tuned in to the League of Legends World Championship tournament, streamed live from Los Angeles. The crowd attending the event got front row seats to see the game's best teams battle it out over a total of $2,000,000 US in prize money, and with so much money on the line, it's no surprise that accusations of cheating have already surfaced. A huge screen showed the match in action to event attendees, with two smaller screens showing each team's in-game map with the positions of their players. Competitors were told to face forward at all times, but controversy erupted last night when livestream viewers at home noticed players turning their heads and looking up away from the screen. It was argued that those players were cheating by looking at the opposing team's minimap to check the positions of their players. Riot Games e-sports coordinator RiotTiza was lead referee for the tournament and released the following statement: "We keep a constant watch on all the players on stage at all times. We have cameras as well as live people walking onto stage to keep tabs in everything. All players are told that they need to remain sitting, facing forward, and with headphones on at all times, including during pauses. I can personally confirm that no WE player looked at the minimap at any point during the match."
Rune the day: Allods Online previews the Isle of Revelation and a revamped rune system
As Allods Online continues to march toward its humongous release patch, it is pushing previews out before the update like a train's cowcatcher throwing out bovines. GPotato is proud to reveal another new zone for Patch 2.0.02 called the Isle of Revelation as well as a much improved rune system for the game. Allods Online's Isle of Revelation is a level 45+ area that's been ruined almost beyond repair, although a resourceful player may discover its mysteries even so. The blasted landscape is also home to the Citadel, an endgame city for members of both factions that has all of the merchants and services that you may require. The devs are also reworking rune mechanics to make them easier to use. Instead of fiddling with runes in equipment slots, players will now find runes in their own special window. By detaching runes from gear, players can swap armor and weapons without having to worry about moving the runes too. Patch 2.0.02 is scheduled for sometime this spring and includes several additional zones, customizable mounts and a new minimap feature.
Preview of the new minimap mod SexyMap
The mod I'm about to talk about isn't some essential combat mod. It doesn't vastly change how you play the game. It won't help you in the arena or in raid dungeons, or even RP. What will it do? It will make your minimap look totally sweet.From one of the original authors of Omen and the maker of Chatter (among other things) comes the simply (and appropriately) named SexyMap. Using spell effects already in the game files (I believe the default uses Hand of Freedom as the outside ring and Hand of Salvation on the inside), SexyMap makes your map look... sexy. It's difficult to see just how awesome it is from pictures, but I don't have video handy, unfortunately. What you can't see there is the two rings are animated, one moving clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.
The Digital Continuum: Crafting conundrum
Whenever I start playing a new MMO my interest in crafting tends to go through two phases: hope and realization. During the hope phase I find myself wondering what sort of cool things I could create. I also think about being able to use those creations in useful and interesting ways. My head tends to float up into the clouds as I contemplate all the great times I'm about to have with a game's crafting system.Then there's the realization phase, where my crafting dreams are crushed. This is the point when I start playing with the crafting system and moving through its inner workings only to find the same old thing: Talk to an NPC, get crafting skill of choice, look at recipe, gather ingredients and proceed to select how many I want before clicking a single button to create my item. When will developers admit that this is incredibly boring and at least try to spice things up a bit. They don't have to re-think the entire system. I would be perfectly happy with some evolutionary changes.
