Renaissance
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Hyatt and Starwood hotel chains suffer credit card breach
HEI, the holding company behind a wide number of hotel brands including Marriott and (wait for it) Hyatt, has announced that it suffered a data breach via its payment tools. According to the outfit, hackers installed malware inside payment processing systems that harvested data at point-of-sale kiosks at 19 locations in the US. Specifically, those who made card purchases at specific restaurants, gift shops or spas between March 2015 and July 2016. In total, around 8,000 transactions are likely to be affected, with people's credit card numbers and addresses potentially at risk.
Remixing Renaissance art with help from a 3D scanner
Some of the world's oldest art is getting a bit of a facelift. Brooklyn artist Barry X Ball has developed a way to recreate Renaissance-era sculptures using 3D scanning. Rather than printing duplicates, Ball takes the statues "to the next level," by adding on to them. In some cases that means finishing details in the way he thinks the original artist intended, and in others he's looking to make something completely new. For instance, in one of his sculptures he replaced the roughed out head of Jesus in a famous Michelangelo sculpture with the original artist's head, a tribute to him since he died a few days after carving it.
Some Assembly Required: Is this really the sandbox renaissance?
It's funny, but this whole sandbox renaissance feeling has got me a little worried. I'm of course ecstatic at the number of sandbox MMOs currently in development, and I'm even happier that one triple-A outfit has finally acknowledged that MMOs are supposed to be sandboxes. EverQuest Next and Landmark aren't the only reasons to be amped, either, as games like Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, and The Repopulation are all putting their own spin on emergent virtual worlds and standing on the shoulders of genre giants. It's not all roses, though, and amidst the cautious optimism on display from starving sandbox fans, I feel the need to remind myself of the various personal pitfalls that still need to be addressed.
Grand Voyage introduces 16th century maritime trade to your MMO dock
If you enjoy sea battles and merchant trading in your MMO, but aren't necessarily a fan of playing as a pirate, then you must be a ninja. Or maybe you might just enjoy the new Grand Voyage from NGames. Set in the historically accurate 16th Century Mediterranean coast region, Grand Voyage is described as a late-Renaissance maritime trading MMO that lets you grow from small-time captain to legendary voyager in control of your own fleet. Since all trade prices change dynamically based on player actions, the economy allows for a stock-style way to buy low and sell high. But rest assured, there is combat in Grand Voyage, and captains must keep their ships in top working condition while battling opponents across servers. Grand Voyage is on the Game321.com online games portal, and you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter to find out more. [Source: NGames press release]
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Forbidden Island
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, Sean Wilson of international indie studio Button Mash Games explains how his iPad title, Forbidden Island, is contributing to the tabletop game's renaissance. What's your game called and what's it about? Forbidden Island is an iPad board game where one to four adventurers cooperate to capture the four ancient treasures hidden on a sinking island. As the game progresses, parts of the island sink into the ocean, making it more difficult to collect the treasures. The game is based on the award-winning board game designed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright. How were you able to create a licensed game as a brand new indie company? This was really a combination of confidence and luck. We reached out to Matt Leacock, the original game designer, and expressed our interest in making the game. We created a small gameplay demo and explained our passion for the project and Matt put us in touch with Gamewright. They believed in our enthusiasm and plans for the game so they agreed to work with us. They gave us the freedom to take the game design in the directions we believed were best, but pushed us to reach further than we would have if we didn't have any outside feedback. The game has tons of improvements directly because of their ideas.
Akai makes intentions clear with MPC Renaissance (video)
While the majority of technology execs are packing their cases for Vegas, for some it's all about Anaheim. Akai is clearly ramping up its NAMM campaign, outing the latest in its legendary MPC series: the Renaissance. While the new boy is no dumb controller -- it packs a full audio interface, USB hub and lots of I/O -- for the first time the MPC gets dedicated external software. Sound familiar? Well yes, it's no doubt a direct response to the popular Maschine hardware / software combo from Native Instruments, but Akai isn't just playing catch-up here. The new hardware includes a "vintage" mode that recreates some of that legendary MPC3000/60 crunch, and the standalone software comes with a massive sound library, instant VST mapping (so you can work with all your third-party synths) as well as the option to run in VST / AU / RTAS mode itself. If you're worried about the possible implications of a "tethered" MPC, take a peek at the promo video over the jump, which should soon allay your fears.
Flyff's V18: Renaissance patch buffs Baruna weapons, brings bonus XP
If you were waiting on Flyff's V18: Renaissance update to check out gPotato's long-running MMO, well, you can stop waiting! The patch brings three new dungeons, over 100 new quests, and 60 new weapons to the free-to-play fantasy title. If that's not enough to wet your whistle, the devs are also running a couple of celebration events and giving away free items (not to mention double XP) just for logging in. The dev team has also updated Baruna items by adding new enhancement options that "mold them into powerful weapons capable of empowering their owners against the most elite opponents," according to gPotato. Be sure to log in today and take advantage of increased sunstone and moonstone drops, and don't forget to head to the official Flyff website to read all about the new patch. Finally, take a look past the break for the latest Flyff community Q&A video. [Source: gPotato press release]
Try the newest Flyff expansion exclusively from Massively
The open beta for Flyff's newest expansion has gone through a brief delay, not quite meeting its original set date of October 28th. While that's definitely not abnormal -- most MMO players prefer a polished product over one hustled out the door -- Flyff players are certainly looking forward to the day when they can get their hands on V18:Rennaissance. That day has arrived, and you can download the open beta exclusively through Massively. It couldn't be simpler; just use this download link and you're on your way! If you're looking for something to do while the beta client is installing, we've got you covered on that front as well. We've received some gift packages from gPotato, each containing seven event gift boxes, a pair of angel wings that last for three days, and 10 Scrolls of Amplification. Those can be used in the current live version of Flyff, so grab your code, apply it in game, and have fun!
Allods Online launches new Renaissance patch, reincarnation system
Allods Online has just published its first content update since officially launching earlier this year. The Renaissance patch delivers a lot of new stuff, and it's a good thing too since Allods recently surpassed 3.5 million registered players. Those players now have a unique endgame feature to look forward to in the form of the reincarnation system, which allows players to re-roll while keeping their main character. The main becomes what's known as an Ascendant, while the new character (called an Incarnation) inherits certain abilities from the main. Both characters share gold, mounts, potions, and other items, and the reincarnation mechanic "offers the most powerful players in Sarnaut the opportunity to become even more unstoppable," according to the latest Allods press release. That's not all there is to Renaissance, though. Allods players will want to explore new zones like the Twilight Isle and the Cave of Tka-Rik, and there's also a new astral layer in store for spacefaring characters. Last but not least, there's the Happy Hours and Happy Days event, and though it doesn't feature the Fonz or Richie Cunningham, it does bring some nice XP bonuses at least once per month on every Allods server. You can learn more about Renaissance at the official Allods website, and don't forget to head past the cut for the new Renaissance trailer.
The Renaissance comes to Sword 2
Sword 2 is a game that's still unique in many ways, from the game's overall aesthetics to the multi-character control system which serves as one of its hallmarks. But the game hasn't stood still despite that, with the latest expansion launching just recently. Dubbed Renaissance, the newest free addition offers players a take on the nigh-ubiquitous achievement system, letting players track and record their more memorable deeds for others to see. It also features expansions to PvP and a number of new UPCs. The new region of Castilla has also been added to the game, giving characters a chance to explore the Castilla Mines Raid and Castilla Temple among other regions. Along with the content updates, the game is rolling out a new and improved UI to give easier access to important information and controls. Sword 2 isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the newest update certainly might inspire a few people to take a look at its unusual setting and gameplay.
The Game Archaeologist and the Ultima Prize: The Players
Wow! The response to last week's inaugural Game Archaeologist column was phenomenal -- guess we're not the only ones who find MMO history and trips down nostalgia lane captivating stuff! Thanks to everyone who commented, sent in e-mails and (heh HEH) volunteered to be interviewed. Speaking of which, this week we move past the facts of the matter to the experiences. The Game Archaeologist scoured the globe, mostly between coffee breaks, to find some of the most passionate and learned players of Ultima Online. In the second part of our Ultima Online exploration, we injected a tiny bead of Hobi frog toxin into their systems, freeing their tongues to tell the truth and their limbs to jerk uncontrollably. Just what do Ultima old guard chat about at the club on the weekends? We extracted the full scoop from Ultima vets Adam "Ferrel" Trzonkowski, Brandon Crowe, "Professor" B.J. Keeton, Jon Craig and JD DMichael. Read on!
The gaming renaissance
In the early 70's, some clever chap programmed a pile of circuits to create a primitive game we all know as Pong. Fast-forward some forty years down the line and we're now battling Orcs in Azeroth and flying spaceships in the far-reaches of another galaxy. An entire games industry has erupted from those first simple arcade systems, with people designing and programming games for kids and adults alike. In the 90's, the first generation of kids that grew up with those early game systems became the ones making them and a virtual renaissance in game design ensued. Those kids that grew up wishing they could make their own games started to realise their dreams and the games industry as we know it came forth. More recently, the people that grew up with early MMOs have begun to hit the games industry and we're seeing a rebirth of the genre.In this article, I look at the games industry explosion and how it relates to the generations growing up with games. I ask whether the MMO genre is headed for its own great gaming renaissance and take a speculative look ahead at the future for MMOs and the games industry as a whole.
The gaming renaissance, part 2
Unlike the fledgling gaming industry of the 1980's, the industry today is a robust creature with a huge consumer-base and long-established development houses. MMOs are no longer seen as the risky ventures they once were and some have even secured eight-figure investment deals. Jobs working on a next gen MMO are possibly the most prized in the entire games industry and there is more competition for those spots than ever.
Breakfast Topic: Dialing back your game
Ever since the whole 10-man/25-raiding split for Wrath was announced, there's been murmurs of fear from many raiders that the large scale raid will become a thing of the past, as people decide that they can see content just fine in 10-man groups. I noticed the subject come up again today over on Lume the Mad's blog (not to be confused with the awesomer Lum the Mad's blog): A guild on Proudmoore, Renaissance, has decided to scale back to 10 man raiding for Wrath of the Lich King. They have why, but Lume opines a bit on why: easier bosses, less hassle herding 10 people than 25 people, and stuff such as that. The reminder of the debate actually sort of got me thinking in a less controversial vein. I myself scaled back my game a bit from original WoW to the Burning Crusade expansion. In the original game, I was a relatively dedicated raider. Not the most uber, and probably still more casual than most, but I did regularly participate in 40-mans and tried to bring my consumables and my resist gear and be on time most nights. However, with Burning Crusade, I decided to retire from the raid game. I felt I was just spending too much time farming stuff to raid, I had more real world obligations to deal with, and I felt that spending 2-3 hours in Ahn'Qiraj or Blackwing Lair 2-3 days a week just wasn't how I wanted to spend my playtime. So, come BC, I decided to stick to 10-mans. Not that there were many, but I figured Karazhan would be about the pinnacle of my game for BC, and that was just fine. So, anyway, here's my question: Are you or your guild planning to scale back your game for Wrath? Are you dropping 25-mans for 10-mans? Retiring from Arena play? Dropping out of raiding altogether? What reasons have made you decide to try a new slower paced playstyle in Northrend?
Marriott hotels to get LCD HDTVs with digital connectivity panel
We know how it is, out on the road with choices to make in regard to which hotel you stay in the for night, but booking a room in a joint that lacks high-speed internet of the free variety just isn't going to happen. These days, however, the gadget-packed traveler demands even more connectivity options, and apparently Marriott gets it. By the year's end, Marriott International plans to have 25-percent of JW Marriott, Marriott, and Renaissance guest rooms in the US and Canada hooked up with 32-inch LCD HDTVs that boast a nifty "digital connectivity panel" to encourage gadget integration. Guests will reportedly be able to plug in laptops, camcorders, digicams, video games, and iPods (we presume DAPs / PMPs in general) into the swank set, and the built-in PIP functions will allow the business savvy to check their corporate inbox while playing back a video clip in another window. Additionally, the firm plans on throwing in a bevy of new channels to delight couch-dwellers, and the rollout is slated to hit completion by 2009. So if you just so happen to be stopping in the San Francisco area and feel like checking this out, SF's Moscone Center has officially been dubbed the first to offer such niceties in 100-percent of its rooms.[Via TGDaily]
Couch co-op gives way to internet teamplay
Co-op mode in video games is often a very popular feature, probably because of the added intensity of competing with A.I. in partnership with a friend. Games like Halo and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory become entirely different (and better) games when played in co-operative mode. Of course, the early innovator was Contra, which, without a co-op mode, would have been just another side scrolling shooter. With the greats of the co-op gaming genre in mind, Vic over at Bits & bytes & pixels & sprites has written up a feature calling for a next-generation renaissance in co-operative games. Couch co-op has never been an assured feature with games, especially recently. Since 2000, developers on the PC platform have clearly ignored the co-op mode in favor of dedicated multiplayer modes with big name first person shooters like Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and Quake 4 skipping on the mode. Games with teamplay orientated multiplayer modes like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty have picked up the fundamentals of co-op based games and thanks to their easy accessibility over the internet, have become wildly popular as a result (especially in comparison to the limit of 2-4 players in a usual co-op game). There will always be developers that include couch co-op modes in their games (Bungie, Blizzard and Ubisoft come to mind), but there's unlikely to be a massive resurgence in the number of couch co-op games mainly due to an internet based takeover of team based gameplay. [Thanks, Daniel Zuccarelli]
