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Win an Xbox 360 and Lips from Urban Outfitters
For some reason, Urban Outfitters (that kitschy-hipster clothing retailer) is holding a little giveaway where they're awarding three lucky winners Xbox 360 Arcade consoles and a copy of Lips. They probably just want newsletter subscribers. Anyhoo, if you want a shot at winning some Xbox and Lips goodness, jump on over to their "Ultimate Party Game!" giveaway and enter before the January 4th close date. If you win, know that we wouldn't mind if you shared your bounty with us. Really, we wouldn't.
Apple updates MobileMe control panel for Windows
Today, Apple updated the MobileMe control panel for Windows. Update 1.2 "provides better support for syncing a large number of contacts (more than 2,000) and prevents syncing of data between Microsoft Exchange Server and MobileMe, a configuration that is not supported."This control panel is required to use MobileMe syncing/iDisk on a Windows computer. This update requires Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2, or Windows Vista SP1 or later. You must have iTunes 8.0.1 or later installed. You can download this update from the Apple Support website.
Win an Anarchy Online-themed desktop from Funcom and GameRigs
It seems to be the year of the Science Fiction MMO-themed desktop PC. A couple months back, CCP and Commodore joined forces to sell us EVE Online enthusiast desktops. This time, GameRigs and Funcom put together the above-pictured Anarchy Online computer, and are giving it away in a sweepstakes.It looks sexy and all, but we were disappointed to see that the provided system specs are rather vague. It has an "Intel Core 2 processor" and an "NVIDIA GeForce graphics card." Well, that could be anything, but hey, it's free, ain't it? And do you really need a GeForce GTX 280 to run 2001's Anarchy Online? Not so much!It looks like you don't have to do anything but fill out a form to enter the sweepstakes. You don't even have to be an Anarchy Online subscriber. You do have to be a legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec; now that's not fair!), though.
Forum post of the Day: E-Sportsmanship
I played softball when I was just a little mandy. I was in right field, and I wasn't particularly good, but I had a blast playing. Some how I came out of it with a few championship trophies and a lot of great memories. At the conclusion of each of our games we would line up as a team and slap hands with the opposition. "Good game. Good Game. Good Game. Good Game. Good Game." I'm sure that a number of you have had similar experiences. We were taught to be good sports when we won and when we lost. The fascinating part of an esport is that we are not face to face. Rather than bringing out our magnanimous natures, we tend to get cranky in the wake of a loss, and sometimes even after a victory. Karelle of Hydraxis admitted in the general forums the he is a poor loser. He felt he was unjustly beaten by a team that overgeared him and was insulted when the team leader whispered "good game." Rather than repeating the greeting, the original poster /spit on the victor.
WoW Insider arena team vs. the Druid trifecta
Yesterday I posted a video of myself, Zach, and Mandy's boyfriend going up against a mage, priest, and druid combination. Today's video of Friday's matches includes the three of us going up against the "Druid Trifecta." That's one druid of each class: a moonkin, a feral, and a resto.We don't have a very hard time with this one, and we get them down without much trouble. The only real iffy point comes towards the end where I have to dodge away and get some bandages going on for myself, which isn't really a bad thing.Regarding the clicking that I'm doing, it's there for two reasons. First, to show you more clearly what skills and combinations I'm using. Secondly, I often times click to offset my keyboard use. Think of it this way: I have five or six skills that I'm using my main fingers for, and I have those skills planned out. I can position the mouse over the seventh skill I'll eventually use to make it easy to use when the time comes.
Spectral Tiger Safari
Until now, the elusive Spectral Tiger Mount has been a steed for World of Warcraft Trading Card Game players only. The Spectral Tiger will be the grand prize of Blizzard's latest contest. The complete prize breakdown: Grand Prize Winner: "Spectral Tiger loot card" from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, and one World of Warcraft TCG Expansion, "March of the Legion," booster box. Second Prize: "Robotic Homing Chicken Loot Card," from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, and oneWorld of Warcraft TCG Expansion, "March of the Legion," booster box. Three Runner's Up WinnersWorld of Warcraft TCG Expansion, "March of the Legion," booster box. You don't have to play the card game to win. In order to enter all you have to do is submit an exciting screenshot of your character. Only submissions that include a chat bubble that says "Safari" will be accepted into the contest. Judges will be looking for high-quality, unmodified screenshots. Blizzard reminds you to "Use all the elements you can to give some spice to your pictures: landscape, monsters, other players, etc." Why do you want a TCG card? The Spectral Tiger loot card has a code that translates into a rare in-game mount. The deadline for submission is 12:00 PM on March 5th. Check out Blizzard's official contest page for further information. Good luck, and good hunting.
What to do about perpetual losers?
Many Alliance players have this impression that the Horde is constantly united, more cooperative, and generally understands how to play better than the Alliance does. Whether this is true or not is not something I myself can speak for, though I have heard my Horde friends say they have just as many clueless PvP people as the Alliance does. So perhaps both factions can relate to Mendax's complaint that so many people seem to go into the battlegrounds with no idea how to win, and somehow fail to learn how, even in spite of playing a great deal and getting a lot of good gear. Their tendency is just to go in and lose over and over again, repeating the same old proven-to-fail methods for various reasons: possibly because they don't know anything better, possibly because they don't care anymore, and possibly because they've already identified themselves, their faction, or everyone else in their faction as born losers.In any case, Mendax thinks that Blizzard should make the battlegrounds themselves reward you for better play, so that the game mechanics themselves encourage you to play in such a way that you're more likely to actually win. First of all, they could provide more honor for kills near contested objectives (such as flags or towers), and secondly, they could deny all bonus honor if you lose. His first idea quite interesting -- I like the possibility that the reward system of the battlegrounds could somehow teach you to play better in itself, if that's really possible. However, while I can understand his reasoning in removing all bonus honor gain for losing teams, I think this would just make the "losers" stop queueing up altogether. We might be happy to get rid of whiners, complainers and all them, but in the end would the increase the waiting time in between battles be worth it? And in any case, would the "losers" really go away, or would they just look for ways to get around the system?
Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest (Win GoW!)
Reader Subnoise Rat's skill with squash fruit and kitchen knives has inspired the 1st Annual Xbox360Fanboy Pumpkin Carving Contest. Here's how it works: Carve an Xbox 360-related Jack O' Lantern based on a logo, game, character, etc. Send one color photo (at least 425 pixels wide) to x360f.contests+halloween@gmail.com before 11:00pm EST Monday, October 30. Include a title so we know what we are supposed to be looking at, your name, gamertag, and mailing address. 1 entry per person No stolen pics Richard and I will choose the top 10 pumpkins based on workmanship and creativity for a public vote to be held here on October 31 (also known as Halloween!) with winners announced and notified by email the following day.1st Prize: One NTSC copy of Gears of War shipped to your door via Amazon.com as soon as it becomes available. This prize is proudly sponsored by RockMeTV.com -- which, by the way, will be LIVE and Interactive Wednesday October 25th at 3:00pm EST. Tune in for a chance to win more free stuff.2nd Prize: One copy of Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged3rd Prize: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for Xbox Live ArcadeIn the event of a tie, the winners will be decided by a random drawing. Xbox 360 Fanboy reserves final judgement in all disputes.Happy Carving!
Advice for wannabe game developers
The days of the bedroom coder are mostly behind us, though casual games and mini-games still provide the opportunity for a single coder to make it big -- not to mention one-man projects like Rag Doll Kung Fu which don't quite fit into the above categories. If you're interested in running your own game development project, Download Squad has some business advice for you. Covering engines, team-building, documentation, project management, testing, marketing and the all-important "making money", this article is a useful starting point and gives a good idea of what's actually involved in a small-scale game development project. Of course, you'll want to do further research before embarking on such a project yourself.
Is Second Life your life?
Do you spend the majority of your first life in Second Life? Does your primary contact info involve telling people to download the client and find you in-game? Weblogs, Inc. wants you--we're hiring bloggers who know the world inside out and want to write about it!Please show us your stuff by sending three sample posts, a brief bio describing yourself and your experience with Second Life, and your contact information to winapply AT gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Rejoice, Rejoice. Comments are back!
Our technical elves were running themselves ragged over the weekend, and now all is as it was. Comments are back on, and we encourage you to share your wit, wisdom, and snark with us freely and copiously.Go on, comment on this post... see if you still remember how it feels.Update: Just got a phone call from an angry server elf. He let me know that comments can be submitted, but it might be a little while before they display on the page. We're getting there folks, so hang in there!The Update Strikes Back: Ok, so it looks like our comment woes are over.
Why is it so quiet in here?
Oh, I remember now. We still have the comments shut off! Are you pounding away with off-line comments in hopes of pasting them in our comment form once it's back? Cheer up! They'll be back soon. It's not as though we have a "comment server" and someone kicked the power plug on it. Actually, that reminds me to check on something.... *runs away* ...... *runs back* ....no it's really not that. Whew! What until you see the comments once they're back: they'll ALL be in high-definition! In fact, if you have a standard PC monitor, I'm betting you'll see no difference at all, so don't be surprised. Seriously, hold those thoughts in your head for just a little longer. If you're anything like me, there's room to hold a few comments in the brain. Heck, I'm good for at least two at one time!
WIN looking for bloggers who are fanatical about downloading
If you are a freak about downloading new freeware and shareware to your Mac or your PC at work, if you like to see how much spyware you can cram into your computer and discover all the interesting ways you can go about removing it without the IT guys in your department catching wind of your activities—in short, if you are an install new software junkie and you can write, Weblogs, Inc. needs you.
