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'The Blackout Club' is a co-op horror game from 'BioShock' veterans
Many horror games are solitary affairs -- a little odd when horror movies are frequently shared experiences. Why not make games which play off the social side of fear? Question is trying just that. The group of BioShock and Dishonored alumni has unveiled The Blackout Club, a co-op horror title where survival depends on working as a team. You play as a group of teens who've uncovered a terrifying conspiracy in a small town, and they can only see the villains' central "boogeyman" by closing their eyes (part of the reason for the "blackout" in the name). If your group is going to live, everyone will need to keep watch -- you may save a friend who doesn't realize they're in danger.
Siri can learn how to pronounce your name in iOS 7
I've become a big Siri fan lately. After not quite getting the service when I first bought my iPhone, I've started using it to send a text without typing, grab quick driving directions and check the weather forecast. I just wish Siri loved me as much as I love her: Whenever she says my name, she always tells me, "Mike, scram!" My name is actually pronounced as "Sh-," like "Shramm," but Siri's never asked otherwise. Fortunately, in iOS 7, that won't be the case. The latest version of Siri, currently in beta and arriving with the rest of the new iOS this fall, will allow you to tell Siri when she's mispronouncing something, and even correct her pronunciation, or choose from a few different options. A 9to5Mac reader spotted the feature in the beta, and you can see the interface above. It's currently possible to correct Siri's pronunciation with phonetic spelling, but this way seems much, much easier. It'll be nice to have Siri call me by my name in the right way. This is just one of the new tricks she's picked up in iOS 7, too: Apple has also promised a clearer voice (that can be male if you so choose), more sources for content and new functions like returning calls for you, controlling the new iTunes Radio service and more. We can't wait to see and hear it.
The Summoner's Guidebook: How do assassins work in League of Legends?
In case you didn't notice, the title of this week's column is a question. It's not because I know the answer; it's because I've been thinking a lot about it lately and don't have a really good answer. Assassins are in a strange state when it comes to teamfights. In League of Legends, there's a period when teams tend to group up to fight over objectives. This marks the midgame in Summoner's Rift, it happens after altars unlock in Twisted Treeline, and it occurs anytime both teams know where the other team is on the Crystal Scar. We've discussed teamfights a lot already, but what is troubling is the presence of assassins in these fights. Assassins are best when they're able to jump in and kill an unprepared target, ideally before a teamfight starts. Once that's done, their team can jump in with a numbers advantage and take the objective or wipe out the enemy. When both teams are grouped up ahead of time, assassins lose a lot of their might. Assassins can't kill without exposing themselves to heavy risk, which makes them a liability to their team until they jump in. After they jump in, they're still likely to be the first ones to get focused down. What do we do about this? What's the solution? I don't have a clear answer -- but I can still share my observations.
PlanetSide 2 trailer asks what 'your FPS' can do
Sony's PlanetSide 2 is now available, and this video for the game asks (somewhat smugly) if "your FPS" can do what PS2 does. The point being conveyed, of course is that most games in the genre don't have the same scale as what's on display here.
'Ask me anything' Q&A with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop
It's time to open the book! We're live from Nokia's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, with Stephen Elop. The smartphone maker's CEO has set aside 30 minutes to answer your questions about anything and everything Nokia. If you haven't already submitted your questions, it's not too late! Head over to Twitter and give us a shout @EngadgetLive -- we'll be pulling our questions directly from there, along with the comments section of yesterday's post. Unfortunately we won't be able to get to everyone, but we will be setting aside the second half of the session to respond to your follow-ups, so keep an eye on the Q&A and fire off your queries. Click the image above to get started -- this page will go live just before the clock strikes 4AM ET.
Join us at 4AM ET for an 'ask me anything' Q&A with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop!
You may have since forgotten, but today was the original kick-off day for Nokia World 2012. With the big show canceled and the devices already launched, we instead opted to drop by the smartphone maker's headquarters just outside Helsinki. We're spending three days here in Finland, meeting with executives to get an inside look at the company's next-generation smartphone lineup. Our first face-to-face is with Nokia's chief executive himself, Stephen Elop, who has generously offered up 30 minutes to answer your questions. Because of the time constraints, we won't be able to accommodate every request, but we'll certainly do our best. There are two ways to submit your questions: leave a comment below, or you can send us a tweet @EngadgetLive -- once the session begins, we'll only be able to accept messages through Twitter, and you're welcome to ask questions before we start and as a follow-up to Stephen's responses, as well. In order to accommodate the largest possible audience, we'll be using our liveblog tool to post both questions and answers, so bookmark this page and hop on over there at 4AM Eastern tomorrow. As always, you'll also find the local time just below. Now about those questions... September 25, 2012 4:00 AM EDT
Thumb draws opinions from the crowd, enhances iPhone app
The opinion-based social utility Thumb, approaching its second birthday, has overhauled its free iOS app and added direct like/dislike voting to its core ask-a-question feature. The new 3.5 version of the service delivers tighter social integration, in-app messaging, leaderboards/rankings and an easy way to save likes or dislikes to your user profile. The basic experience of using Thumb is "take a picture, ask a yes/no question." Whether it's a product, a restaurant, a vacation destination or a lifestyle choice, within a few minutes you can get opinions and comments from scores of your friends or fellow Thumb users. It's like a focus group in your pocket -- an answer service like Quora, AnswerQi or Yahoo Answers but boiled down to hot-or-not simplicity and tuned for speed and fun over detail and depth. CEO Dan Kurani told me that the inspiration for Thumb came when he was among several recipients of an email from a family member. The subject line was "What do you think of this?" and the message was simply a photograph of an anniversary ring. Within hours, the replies started coming in, and Kurani began to imagine how a mobile service might deliver real-time, actionable opinions on questions like that one. Thumb launched in July of 2010, and has been evolving since then as Kurani and his team tweaked the platform to make it easier and faster to connect with other users. While they originally anticipated a tighter focus on consumer products and shopping, the audience led them to widen the category set -- "It turns out that people want opinions on everything," says Kurani. %Gallery-157477% While the 2.0 version of Thumb that arrived in November of 2010 included some social functionality and messaging, the new version "is all about embracing social discovery & [providing] more tools to communicate with fellow users," according to Kurani. Users who are particularly active and helpful in a category will get a star rating for that type of question, making them more likely to show up in future queries on those topics. The new version's ability to "pre-rate" an item with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down means that users can state (and share, to Facebook/Twitter/email or SMS) an opinion rather than just asking a question. Comments ride along with votes to provide additional context to user opinions. What's surprising is how responsive the Thumb community is, and how fast. Even a casual/gag question like "the coffee at the office: thumbs up or down?" garnered more than 40 votes and a handful of comments within minutes. For more weighty questions ("Should I buy this TV?" or "Is this assisted-living facility a good place for Grandpa?") the response rate shoots up dramatically. Granted, the depth of context and experience you might want for technical help or full product evaluation (such as you might find on gdgt or in our comments) isn't really there, but that's not where the service is aimed. It's built to help people connect around preferences -- creating affinity groups, if you will -- and it does that pretty nicely. Even if you're normally in the habit of turning to your Facebook, Twitter or other social networks for quick opinions, Thumb is fun and fast (and free); it's worth checking out. The new 3.5 version is available via the iPhone app and sister Android app, and via the soft-launched redesigned thumb.it website.
Ask the EVE developers any question you want
Back in 2008, EVE Online developer Arnar "CCP Zulu" Gylfason started a forum thread in which players could ask him literally any question about EVE and development at CCP Games. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with Zulu answering over a hundred questions on topics ranging from nullsec warfare to ship balance. As part of an ongoing effort to communicate more with the EVE playerbase, the devs at CCP have decided to revive this old habit with a brand new Q&A thread. If you have a burning question on anything related to EVE Online, you can post it in the question forum thread or on the official EVE facebook page. Questions will be posed to a think-tank of developers consisting of senior producer CCP Zulu, lead game designer CCP Hammerhead, producer CCP TomB, senior programmer CCP Tuxford, community developer CCP Guard and senior game masters GM Spiral and GM Lelouch.
The Daily Grind: If you could ask a dev any question and get a straight answer, what would it be?
Today, let's pretend like marketing, public relations, and corporate secrecy don't exist, shall we? And while we're dreaming up crazy scenarios, let's imagine that you got to sit down with an MMO developer of your choice and ask him or her one direct question. The catch? That dev would have to give you a direct, straight answer without any hedging, PR-speak, or "no comments." What would that question be and to whom would you address it? Would you want to know the top secret release date for The Old Republic or Guild Wars 2? Would you uncover the very real truth behind shady scandals of the past? Would you want to know what the devs say about players amongst each other? Or would you want to know their favorite pies? Today you get one question. Today is your... destiny! 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!
Final Fantasy XIV's December update goes live
Final Fantasy XIV players can take heart, as the first of two promised updates in December has just gone live. The game's last major update a month ago was centered on quality-of-life improvements, but this update is focused toward content as well, with the addition of several new guildleves and the promised notorious monsters. That doesn't mean that there's a shortage of improvements to the game's interface, however, with several persistent issues having been addressed or expanded, even beyond the previously known changes. Among the more welcome interface changes are the addition of visible timers to all status effects, an increase in the chat character limit, and improved display of an item's durability. As for content, players not looking to kill monsters can enjoy the first part of the promised recipe book and lessened spawns around gathering points, not to mention the option to abandon unwanted local levequests. Final Fantasy XIV players can look forward to a second update later in the month, that promises to build upon this update and offer further improvements to the game.
What would happen if you put your hand in the Large Hadron Collider? Er, well, um... (video)
Scientists, they've made our lives infinitely easier, healthier, and longer, but sometimes even their giant intellects can be stumped. Here we have a perfect example of such a scenario, where the seemingly innocuous question of what might happen if one were to dip a hand inside the Large Hadron Collider has generated a wide range of hypotheses, none of which sound particularly assured of being correct. The trouble is that, aside from the known unknowns -- such as whether the accelerated protons would crash and explode upon contact with your hand or just pass through -- there are surely unknown unknowns that will likely become apparent only once you try to do the act itself. So, any volunteers?
Ask Massively: Send us your questions!
While we here at Massively may not know everything about eggplant parmesan recipes or mathematical theorems, we do know our MMOs. In fact, we often get asked questions on every facet of MMOs, but don't have an organized place to receive or answer these inquiries publicly. Until now. If you have questions regarding anything related to MMOs, we want to hear! Are you confused about the lore in Aion? Are you wracking your brain trying to remember which MMOs closed in 2008? Do you sit awake at night trying to remember what Brad McQuaid is famous for? We might just be able to help. Welcome to the rebirth of Ask Massively! Simply send along your MMO questions to ask AT massively DOT com or leave a comment to this post and we'll take it from there. Each week, we'll present something resembling an answer to your question, or just make something up. Either way, fun should be had by all.
The problem of Outland in Cataclysm
Borex brings up a question I've heard ever since Blizzard first announced they were going to tear up Old Azeroth in Cataclysm: what's the deal with Outland? Up until now, continuity throughout the game has worked more or less the way it should: new content gets added on to the end of the game, so anyone leveling up sees the story as they're supposed to (more or less -- there have been a few elements that have had to be "dealt with" for sure, but for the most part Blizzard has just wiped those clean). But obviously, if Deathwing returns and starts messing with players right away at level 1, the whole continuity will get shaken up. Hence Borex's question: why will level 60s be bothering to go out to Outland and deal with the Burning Legion when, in the world Deathwing invades, the Burning Legion is no longer considered the most pressing threat? Is it logical for level 60s to leave the world, head to a distant planet, and then come back to Azeroth at level 70? Shouldn't they stay and fight?Bornakk's reply hints that Blizzard will probably just gloss over it as best they can -- they're not going to build a whole new 1-85 experience involving Deathwing. When you constantly update a five-year-old persistent world game like this with new stories and content, something's got to give somewhere. My guess is that Blizzard, being the perfectionists they are, will probably come up with a quest or two that gives a lore reason to go out there ("Hmm, you're too green to face the power of Deathwing, but our companions in Outland need help holding what's left of the Burning Legion at bay!"), and leave it at that. They may increase the XP and get you out of there even quicker, but going to Outland at 58 is still a gameplay necessity (Northrend shares the problem at 70, but of course we don't actually know what's going to happen with the Lich King quite yet). It's likely the lore will just have to deal. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgen to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
The Daily Grind: Do you know of any player-created MMO mini-games?
Given all the recent excitement surrounding Aion, we've been paying a lot closer attention to NCsoft's new title lately. Today, we stumbled across an interesting developer blog post highlighting an in-game mini-game called Aion Spirit Soccer. This would probably be unremarkable if the developers had created it, but they didn't; the players did.The rules for Spirit Soccer are pretty simple. Each team consists of four forwards and a goalie. The ball is actually a neutral player who completely gives up control of his avatar. Both teams try to score on each other by using non-combat "Fear" spells and "Trap" abilities to move the "ball" toward and through two defined goal posts. After the predetermined amount of time is up, the game is over.You can watch a video of Aion Spirit Soccer after the cut. This is another great example of how player created content can enhance MMOs. Do you know of any other player created MMO mini-games?
Where in time is Azeroth?
There's a great question fluttering around the community lately: just when are we anyway? It's a good one for the Lore Nerd, actually, and maybe he can answer it in more detail than I can, but it's almost a question of relativity as much as it is of lore. The official lore says that World of Warcraft takes place four years after Warcraft III (hence the reason for the "four years have passed..." in the opening cinematic). And since then, we've heard from Blizzard that they consider every expansion to be another year in the history of Azeroth -- Burning Crusade takes place a year after the original game, and Wrath of the Lich King two years after that. But when, for example, did Van Cleef fall? Has it been just under two years since his plan to attack Stormwind was defeated? And what about our characters -- you'd assume that if you started from level 1 today, the story would be beginning four years after the events of Warcraft III again, so have our characters aged two years since they first stepped foot out of Elwynn or Durotar? And we'll ignore that when you get to Orgrimmar, you might see Death Knights walking around, who technically won't join the Horde until two years in the future.See how confusing? Of course, the right answer to all of these questions is "it's just a game," but there are plenty of interesting thought experiments here. Time and story in the World of Warcraft aren't necessarily connected, which is why Blizzard can get away with things like having Kael'thas in two places at once, but still tripped up by things like getting Onyxia out of Stormwind. Phasing helps a little bit (and who knows what WoW would be like if Blizzard designed it from the ground up with phasing -- we'll have to wait for the next-gen MMO to see how that works). The official timeline has Arthas brooding in Icecrown for around six years. But just like real relativity, our characters have experienced that time period in all sorts of different ways.
Relic beats Activision-Blizzard in developer showdown
Here's an update, albeit slightly unexpected, from The Escapist's big "March Mayhem" tournament that we reported on a little while ago. They were pitting Relic Entertainment up against Activision-Blizzard in a developer vote-down, and apparently, after a tie and a little ballot box stuffing, Relic, not Blizzard, has emerged out on top. Quite an upset in a number of ways -- Relic was seeded #12 in the bracket, and Activision-Blizzard was seeded as number one (the bracket also included Harmonix, Infinity Ward, and another big MMO developer, Mythic). In fact, Relic also went on to beat Harmonix, and is now facing Bioware for a spot in the final matchup.Is it fair to say, then, that the mighty have fallen? Blizzard was (and still is, for the most part) held in high esteem as a developer -- most of the games they've released in their vast history aren't just hits, they're classics. But even commenters here on our site felt that the "Activision" on the front of the dev's name was distasteful: Blizzard's new owners don't demand as much respect as the studio itself does. And Blizzard has definitely changed lately. Some might say that the developer that allowed Diablo 2 players to play for free on Battle.net (which, to be fair, has had its own issues) isn't the same company that's planning to sell Starcraft II three different times. And let's not forget that, ballot-stuffing or not, Relic has moved on to beat Harmonix, and still has a chance to win it all, so it could just be that they have a much bigger fan following than anyone expected. But does a loss like this mean Blizzard has fallen from their fans' grace?%Poll-28751%
World of WarCrafts: Garden art
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.If you're looking to enhance your home away from Northrend, you might find these WoW-themed glass and brass garden sculptures to be right up your alley! Constructed with solid brass, these stakes are said to be wind and water proof. FeralGlass offers a variety of punctuation, including yellow, gold and blue question and exclamation marks.
Ask WoW Insider: Minimum raiding requirements
Every Monday, we put a question back to you readers, and see what you have to say about a current issue in the World of Warcraft. This week's question actually comes from our Guildwatch column -- Lugbruz is an officer in Reforged on Runetotem (they just downed M'uru -- grats!), and he has a question about how much you need to raid to be successful:Are there other guilds who have a 3 night/week raid schedule (or less) who have enjoyed success in high-end raiding? We killed Mu'ru before the nerf and don't know of any other crew has gone so far with so little time. Our primary competition of the server was at equal progression with us pre-nerf and they're a 5 night/week crew.We assume that 3 nights (4 hours per raid) is the minimum, but can endgame be done with less?Lugbruz
Ask WoW Insider: Loot rolls and seasonal boss summons
Time once again to put a question to you, dear readers, and see what you have to say about a current issue in the World of Warcraft. This time around, Rylia has a question about loot ethics with seasonal bosses -- everyone and their guildie is taking down the Headless Horseman (making the Scarlet Graveyard an actual destination, strangely), and Rylia wants to know what the policy is when an item drops:What's your group loot policy for seasonal bosses? (a) Use the usual in-game loot roller; everyone roll Need on the rare items (mounts, small pets, etc.) (b) Whoever summons the boss for that particular attempt gets the rare item drop from that attempt. The logic behind (b) is that it prevents people who've used up their daily summons from getting more than one chance per day (and thus making their groupmates get less than one chance per day). If someone who didn't have a summon in your seasonal group wins a rare roll, do you think that's a ninja?RyliaPersonally, I think all the summons should get settled before you enter the instance -- if you invite someone in without a summon (for example, because they're a tank, and you just need them rather than waiting for a tank with a summon), they're a part of the group after that and have as much chance as anyone else to win a roll. And yes, if an item drops that someone can use, it should be a Need roll. So if that mount drops, everyone's got a chance to win it. That's just me, though -- I can see the point about someone without a summon taking loot from people who entered with a summon.Though I have no idea what to do if a mount and pet drops on the same run -- would the person who won one not get a chance on the second? What think you, readers, both of general loot rules on season bosses and of Rylia's summon policy?Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Ask WoW Insider: Defining mains and alts
There's a ton of asking going on around this site lately -- between "Ask a Lore Nerd" and "Ask a Beta Tester," you guys are asking more questions than a two-year old who just learned what "why" means. But this column, Ask WoW Insider, is the O.G. of Ask columns here on the site, and unlike all of the other Ask columns, we put the question back to you readers. Chippen of EU Doomhammer sent in this great question this week:We are having a discussion in our guild whether alts have priority on loot before guild members and we do have different views on this. Some say that an alt is an alt, and need to wait to be geared up, while others can't really see the problem. What is a main and what is an alt? I suppose a main is the...well...I don't know. The first character I created? Or is it the character I play the most? Or is it the character I want to play the most and also enjoying playing the most? When does an alt become a main, and is it possible to swap between the two?If you're asking me, I'd say it's definitely possible to switch mains (I've done it a few times) -- your main is currently the character that's getting the majority of your playtime, and the one where loot matters the most to you. Some guilds ask you to declare a main, so that they can make a clear distinction for passing out loot, while other guilds just have players switch alts depending only on what situations require what.So let's show up those other Ask columns and give this great, open-ended question out to you, our dear readers: what is a main and what is an alt? And what's the difference between the two?If you've got a question for our readers to be posted right here in the original Ask column, be sure to send it along to ask@wow.com. And there's lots more Ask WoW Insider, including this question on abusing the /roll, and how to make friends and influence raiders on a new server.
