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Hyperspace Beacon: Don't be surprised if your website is mentioned here
The Hyperspace Beacon is your guide through the various twists, turns, and barrel-roles of the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is being produced by the super-duper developers at BioWare-EA. As we all wait anxiously for the open scroll of Star Wars: The Old Republic, more fansites are donning their Jedi robes and igniting their lightsabers. Some have have been around for a while now, and others are just getting off the ground, but all these holocrons of SWTOR lore are finding their true destiny in webspace. Some of these websites stand out as potential Jedi Masters, and I would like to take a moment to take note of them. A few months back, the first Hyperspace Beacon was launched. It recognized sites like Darth Hater and the Jedi Archive. Since then, more have proven to be beacons of light in the blackness of cyberspace. So, in an effort to keep the SWTOR community page up to date, I have explored the reaches hyperspace to find beacons of new hope. Set your navicomputer to follow me after the break. As Matt from TOROCast may say: Don't be surprised if your website is mentioned here.
Wasteland Diaries: Fansites
Finding your way through Fallen Earth can be daunting at times, but there is help out there. Sometimes the people in the game might not be the most knowledgeable or helpful lot. I said sometimes. Luckily for us, even though Fallen Earth has a relatively small community, it is populated with knowledgeable and helpful people. If something has you stumped, and you just can't seem to find anyone in-game that can help you, there are alternatives. Most of your simple problems can be solved in the help channel by a HazMat Team member or by other players in region chat. Some of your more complex problems may require a bit of research. Researching can be quite fruitless if you don't know where to look. After the cut, I'll give you several resources that you should bookmark immediately if you haven't already. Some of these resources are more up-to-date than others, but even out-dated information is still better than nothing.
iPhone OS 4.0 spotlight lets you directly search web, Wikipedia
Apple did quite a bit today bringing its iPhone OS up to feature parity (and sometimes beyond) when compared with other modern smartphone platforms, and here's one piece not discussed today that we've been long wanting: web and Wikipedia search directly from Spotlight. WebOS and Windows Phone 7 have had it since inception, and Android's had it since Donut, and we're pretty happy to say that our OS 4.0-equipped iPhone is now also among the ranks, just 13 months after it first got a search bar. There you have it, folks, iPhone Spotlight is now useful. [Thanks, Randy]
The Mog Log: Community guide to Final Fantasy XI and XIV
The great thing about being a fan of Final Fantasy XI is that you're not lacking in any sort of resources online. After such a long lifespan, pages have been created to suit almost any need the community might have. And for a game whose mechanics can be obtuse at times, that's a good thing. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? The Mog Log is Massively's new weekly column focusing on all things both Final Fantasy and online, meaning both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. For our first installment, we're taking a look at the multitude of fan pages, guides, and other resources for players. Needless to say there are a few more options for the former game than the latter (due to only one of them actually being released yet), but there's already a community building in anticipation of Eorzea's adventures.
Official Age of Conan database offers easy info
MMOs see updates quite frequently, and with games that have developers actively posting on forums an attentive community member can absorb plenty of useful information. However, not everyone is up to the task of tracking all news, dev posts and dev blogs on every little topic. This is where Age of Conan's "New Community Database" enters the picture. Handled by the community team at Funcom, the database will serve as an easily accessible source of pertinent game-related information about updates old, new, small and big. Everything from minor content stuff to full-on expansions, like Rise of the Godslayer. The website is still partially in beta as content is being added and knobs are being tweaked and dialed for maximum performance. So if in your venture for precious information you run aground due to a lack of content or technical issues, don't be all too surprised. Having an official wiki isn't a bad idea. With time and attention there's no doubt many a person will find the source of info highly useful. In fact, we've already discovered a great use for it right here, although that particular opinion is arguably of a subjective nature.
Official Aion website gets a make-over (redux)
We bring you this breaking news from the cluttered desks at Massively headquarters: Aion has launched! Oh wait, you already knew that? Darn. Well, maybe you haven't noticed Aion's official website make-over featuring all kinds of never-before-seen goodies like official forums, character and legion (guild) search, server status/statistics, Abyss control, and player rankings.The new look is clean, bright, and lightweight. NCsoft have updated their Powerwiki to include a number of player guides and lore articles (still no crafting info though). The official forums showcase the latest discussion on news, community, servers, classes, and technical support. Players can even show off a 3D model of their character including their latest gear/stats. The server statistics page is quite cool too, breaking down individual servers by race, class, level range, and the number of legions. Asmodians hold a slight advantage across most servers, but not by much. It seems NCsoft's strict balance policy is working decently so far.
Wikia turns a profit, thanks in part to WoWWiki
Wikia has been doing a little bit of press lately -- they're the for-profit company that has spun off of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation that runs the huge Wikipedia website. Wikia has announced, as reported in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, that they've hit profit early. While they didn't expect to actually make any money running ads next to user-generated content until next year, they've actually made some money this year already. They credit the growth of all of their miniwiki sites, which has expanded greatly over the last year.So why are we reporting all of this here? You may have already guessed: one of their largest sites, if not the largest, is the World of Warcraft-related wiki, WoWWiki (which we definitely read and use here at WoW.com all the time). WoWWiki is mentioned in a few reports as having 70,000 pages (almost 1/3 more than the next-biggest site in the network, a cooking wiki). In fact, at least one reports credits WoWWiki, along with the Twilight-related wiki, for the growth entirely. We're not sure how much of a part they actually played in the new reported profits, but they are definitely growing, and are a terrific resource for those of us in the WoW community.
Twisted Nether Wiki compiles a nice list of WoW utilities
A few folks over at the Twisted Nether Wiki have done a great thing and compiled a nice full list of all of those little online WoW utilities that we talk about every once in a while. From character improvement tools like Be Imba! to resources like Kaliban's Loot Lists and even humor sites like WoWBash, if it's online, WoW-related, and worth visiting more than once, it's on this list.And of course it's a wiki, so even if it's not on that list, you can add it. But it is cool to have all of those resources in one place -- we mention them, obviously, when there are updates to share, but if you don't bookmark them when you hear about them, they might have fallen off your radar. There are so many great and well-designed tools out there for players to use that something like this, tracking them all, is great to have.
Sony Pictures to smarten up Blu-ray with MovieIQ, the "killer app for BD-Live"
Are you one of the more than 4,000 people (86%) that answered our poll saying you thought BD-Live was a waste of time, or didn't see any reason to give it a shot? We talked to Sony Pictures recently and were promised that more useful reasons for hooking the internet to Blu-ray discs & players were on the way, and today at a press event it showed why it thinks that will come true. Check out the gallery for a few pics of its new MovieIQ app, quickly described as a "wiki for movies" that can tie into your discs and provide information from Gracenote on demand on nearly anything in the movie or even specific scene being watched, from actors & directors to background music. The first BD-Live discs with it should be available in September, we'll be back with more details shortly, for now just let the images do the talking.Update: Official press release is included after the break
Voodoo Pad 4.1 adds iPhone client
VoodooPad (which we've covered many times) is a bit of a different take on the classic snippet / information manager app, allowing you to create a personal wiki with entries for whatever you might like to keep track of. With the recently released version 4.1 Gus Mueller has added an option to export documents to his new, free iPhone client (iTunes link) for access to your wikis on the go. Like most iPhone / iPod touch syncing solutions, this works over WiFi on the same network as your Mac. This is in addition to the previously offered WebDAV syncing and iPhone optimized pages. VoodooPad comes in three versions: a free lite version, a $29.95 regular version, and a $49.95 Pro version that adds a few features, including a built-in webserver; demos are also available. The iPhone / iPod touch client is a free download from iTunes. [via Infinite Loop]
How to make an iPhone game
The folks at Gogogic asked Twitter if they wanted to see how the company's iPhone games were made, and since the answer was in the affirmative, we all get the benefit of looking into just how one iPhone developer put their game together. It starts with a wiki; the company keeps a collaborative site of all the ideas they have for upcoming games, and if the decision is made to go ahead with an idea, that wiki page branches out into the planning documents behind the eventual app. Concepts are drafted in sketches, conversations, and outlines, and eventually they feel like they have the idea "fully developed," at which point the game goes into a proposal pool, and then is eventually picked for production.That begins with an animatic, as you can see above -- before they ever write the first code line, they map out what will happen in certain game situations. It looks like they used Flash to put that together pretty easily, but you can see how well it shows off game design elements and how things should work during gameplay. After that, there's nothing to it but to do it -- the game is coded, art and sound elements are put together, and of course the usual run of playtesting and so on takes place (the company is going to show off how to test and publish games in a future post).The game above turned out to be called Symbol6 (Hexago was a working title), and is in the App Store right now. Thanks to Gogogic for sharing a look behind their process -- there are tons of developers working on apps at the moment, and it's neat to see how someone else does it.
Psychonauts encyclopedia wants your brain
Double Fine has (thankfully) not forgotten its beloved platformer, Psychonauts -- and neither has its legion of fans. The developer recently launched a wiki-style "Psycho-pedia" to flesh out the game's 'verse, offering up articles on all of its important people, places, and things. Oh, so many things.What's more, Tim Schafer and crew have opened the tome of knowledge to ... your knowledge. By creating an account at the site, you can update the articles with info that (gasp!) even the developer might have overlooked. Double Fine is also soliciting fan art, fan music, cosplay photos, and "any other art you may have created while under the influence of Psychonauts." We can see this getting fittingly weird.
Philosony: Give a sackboy a level and he'll play for a day...
Teach a sackboy to make a level and he'll play for... well, an additional day. Or so it seems.I'll be honest. This post is apt to be all over the map. There's so much that could be said and yet so little that has been said about LittleBigPlanet that I'm at a loss for where to begin. I've been trying to hone my thoughts on the game into something bloggable for more than a month now, but a recent post by Michael Abbott got me teary-eyed at the thought of little neglected sackpersons crying from loneliness. I even had a nightmare dream two-nights ago of walking into a store and seeing new copies of LBP selling for $8 (the horror!).So for the sake of some kind of organization let me break down this discussion into three open ended questions:#1: Why has LBP seemingly fallen off the radar?#2: Is it possible to have truly "community made" levels?#3: Should we think of LBP as more "toy" than "game"?
CCP Games launches EVElopedia beta
As anyone who's ever tried to use EVE Online's item database knows, it's woefully out of date. Given the complexity of EVE, and the fact that the collective knowledge of the players is a resource unto itself, the developers announced they would create a sort of Wikipedia for EVE.This player resource, dubbed the "EVElopedia", would also be available via EVE Online's in-game web browser, as confirmed in July. Indeed, CCP Games is putting more emphasis on making EVE into a game that's better integrated with the web and social networking in general. What we didn't know, however, was when this would actually start to happen. At least, not until today. EVE developer "CCP VonSometime" announced this afternoon that a beta version of the EVElopedia is live, and already has over 6000 pages of content. The official EVE wiki is still in its infancy, but already it's looking to be a useful resource that EVE players didn't have before (beyond combing the forums.) Have a look at the EVElopedia and see for yourself. Or, in the words of CCP VonSometime, "Go forth, explore, and grow the EVE universe. Your community awaits it."
VoodooPad 4.0 provides WebDAV sync
VoodooPad got a major upgrade today; after an intense beta period, version 4.0 is live. For those of you not familiar, VoodooPad is a personal wiki, a brainstorming and note-taking tool and the ultimate "geek's notebook" (my term, not theirs). With the ability to import a variety of files and link others, it also makes a great project management hub. I use it in combination with one of my other previously-mentioned favorites, Curio. It's had a fair number of mentions here in the past, and the 4.0 update is certainly something to talk about. Among the new features is the ability to sync using WebDAV. You can sync pages or entire documents in both directions, allowing for collaboration or just providing the ability to work on multiple machines. There are instructions available for setup on the Flying Meat wiki. I've been testing the sync feature for a while, and it works superbly. The web-publishing capabilities have been expanded, including iPhone-optimized output. There's also a new feature called "The Bucket" for gathering text -- via a system-wide hotkey -- from any application. PDF output, faster speeds, and a new layout for palette windows all add up to a great release. Organizing notes and files is simple, and linking together pertinent pages, snippets, Address Book contacts and more is a breeze. For those of a scripting persuasion, the reason I call it the "geek's notebook" is VoodooPad's ability to execute pages as scripts (Python ... Lua is being deprecated), and also the ability to extend via a plugin API. This can be used to work in HTML, Markdown and Textile support, set up GTD systems, even publish a blog. VoodooPad 4 is going for $29.95USD, and version 3 users can upgrade for $14.95USD. The Pro version is $49.95USD, upgrade for $19.95USD. There are free demos of each on their respective pages, and there's also a "Lite" version available for free, no strings attached. VoodooPad customers who purchased version 3 after August 1st, 2008 get a free upgrade. Check the full release notes for version 4 (and prior releases), as well as the features page for more information on VoodooPad and the 4.0 update.
Check out the Star Wars: The Old Republic wiki
Just like with any highly-anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic now has an unofficial wiki for fans to go and obsess over during the multiple years' wait for the BioWare KotOR-based MMO to be released. There's already a bevy of information to sift through on the wiki, although most of it is from the official website or the waves of information that's likely already washed over everyone in the past couple of days -- you can even check out the first developer interview via the site. However, if you missed the features the hit the web during the deluge that was Star Wars: The Old Republic announcement day, then this wiki is the perfect way to catch up.
Back to School: collecting and organizing information
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. Read on for high school & college-level help. I covered a few good research tools for students in my last post. Before I dive into some of the excellent writing tools and packages available, we're going to take a look at some methods and applications for putting thoughts, notes and references together in a format that makes the actual writing part much easier. Whether you're taking notes as you research, collecting documents or actually mapping out the first draft, these tools can be vital for organizing research, overcoming writer's block and making sure that things flow smoothly once writing begins.
WotlkWiki starts streaming live video
WotlkWiki, which has been a great source for all kinds of information about Wrath ever since the Friends & Family alpha started, is launching a new attraction, which they're calling WotlkWikiTV. It will consist of live broadcasts from players in the beta, which is pretty cool for those of us who still haven't gotten beta keys. (I maintain hope!) Their first stream is live right now: Death Knight leveling! They've got a source in beta who will be on "pretty much every day," so if you want to get a good look at what the DK will be like to play, head on over to their streams page and load it up. Personally I'm torn as to whether I want to watch or not – I am really curious about the class, but I'd kinda like to see it for myself before I see someone else doing it. We'll see if if my impatience or my desire to remain spoiler-free wins out. This is another step in an interesting trend of "WoW TV;" Nihilum has been streaming a few raids for a little while now, and SK-Gaming apparently just did one as well. Does anyone see a new cable network in the future, or is the potential viewership still a little too small?
Blizzard deals Alpha leak site a potential killing blow
The Wrath of the Lich King Information Wiki, the primary source of leaked information from the friends & family Alpha, is currently not hosting any information on its site. Reports say that the WotLK Wiki team has been served a Cease & Desist order by Blizzard's legal team and given stringent restrictions on hosting Alpha information. A brief message on the site explained how the site administrators were contacted by a legal firm. The issue dealt with a few key points, such as the site referring to themselves as the "Official WotLK Alpha Wiki" despite not being endorsed by Blizzard; not having a copyright on any of the information, necessitating the inclusion of a copyright line to the main pages; and an order to remove all of what Blizzard considered "over-the-line" content such as leaked screenshots.The WotLK Information Wiki formerly had detailed information on the spells and abilities of the new hero class, the Death Knight, as well as new 51-point talents for most classes. It also hosted and updated a copy of the latest build of the Alpha client, and showed previews of numerous models in the expansion such as speculated vanity pets and armor sets. None of this information is currently available, although the site's message states that they are "having a little trouble" and "hopefully will be back shortly". The current refuge of Alpha-hungry players are in an IRC channel called #wotlkwiki in irc.mmoforge.org, where the header cryptically (or not-so-cryptically) states that "THE MEN IN SUITS, THEY TOOK THE WIKI ON VACATION TODAY. Might return tonight." If the Alpha wiki team succeeds in conforming (or going around) the rules laid by the intellectual property firm, it might return to serve up information sometime soon. We'll keep a close eye on these developments; whatever happens, we've learned that it's tough to keep a good secret from getting out.
Allakhazam gets a refresh
Well, this was certainly unexpected. Allakhazam, one of the WoW database sites that has been around the longest, has undergone a complete revamp. There are all sorts of new features, including: User-editable pages Tagging Profiles, with 3D model viewer and upgrade searching Not to mention a re-skin which makes it look much more up-to-date. That's not all – they're currently running a contest, wherein every contribution to their wiki, forum, or comments, for the entire month of June, has a chance to win one of the following: One of 72 60-day game cards One of three Wii Galaxy bundles Grand prize: a gamer-friendly laptop So go forth, and make Allakhazam a more complete site. Overall, I like the redesign; it makes Allakhazam feel much more relevant, and helps answer the quest of what's going to differentiate it from sister sites Wowhead and Thottbot. I'll still probably go to Wowhead most of the time, but that's just me.
