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GamersFirst talks Fallen Earth account changes
If you're a current Fallen Earth subscriber, you'll want to head over to the official Fallen Earth dev blog to get the skinny on the upcoming account shenanigans scheduled to take place on August 1st and beyond. In a nutshell, Fallen Earth's acquisition by GamersFirst has necessitated that all users acquire a GamersFirst account to log into the game. Never fear, though, it's a free account, and it's just another step in the changeover process. In fact, GamersFirst's Joseph "Linus" Willmon writes that the account gymnastics are part of "phase two, where we fully integrate Fallen Earth into the GamersFirst publishing platform." Phase one has already been completed, and it involved a lot of behind-the-scenes hardware moves and the like. This week's Fallen Earth dev blog contains a complete rundown of the rest of the changes scheduled to occur in phase two, including payment and subscription tweaks.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me merge my music accounts
Dear Auntie, Half of my music collection was purchased with an old Apple ID, using a defunct email address. I can play music from both accounts on my devices, no problem. But when iCloud comes out, I wonder how I'll be able to have it sync both accounts as one cloud in the iCloud? I wish I could merge accounts and be done with the old one. Best to you and your hat maker, Your loving nephew, Dan Dear Dan, This is where iTunes Match really can jump in and make your life easier -- with one small catch. For US$25, it gives you access to all your music. If your music is not DRM protected, you can just throw it into your normal library and Match will enable it in the cloud. The problem comes in with older purchases made before the iTunes Plus switch away from DRM. Auntie isn't sure that music from your older account will transfer over to the cloud -- and Apple hasn't clarified how iTunes will treat music that's authorized to play on your computer but DRM'ed to another account. Unfortunately, Apple does not allow you to merge accounts. They don't do it for partners getting married; they don't do it for transfer from MobileMe; they just don't do it. You are not alone in this -- Apple has resisted account merging for years. So as far as Auntie can tell, your only problems may arise with those older purchases. Otherwise, iTunes should not be able to differentiate between music copied from your old account and music purchased or ripped in your new one. (And if it does, there are any number of metadata stripping utilities you can google for.) Hugs and good luck, Auntie T.
The Lawbringer: Mailbag 3.0
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? Since last weekend was my stepsister's bat mitzvah, I was incommunicado down in Florida celebrating with family, eating a ton of delicious food, and getting sunburned within 30 seconds of stepping into the punishing Florida sun. The emails to Lawbringer never stopped, however, and I picked my favorites to answer while lounging next to the pool, happily oblivious. A lot of people sent me emails about the Blizzard earnings call that has been making the rounds in the gaming news cycle this week, for a few specific reasons. First, Diablo III's beta is coming between August and September, which is super exciting to me because of how much I want to be playing that game again. BlizzCon was not enough. Friends at Blizzard, send all beta invites to mat@wowinsider.com. Second, Mike Morhaime revealed that World of Warcraft is currently boasting subscriber numbers mirroring pre-Cataclysm subscriptions. Subsequently, the internet went crazy and collectively, shall we say, made a mess in its pants about the state of WoW's prominence. Let's mailbag.
The Game Archaeologist and the Forbidden RuneScape: The highlights
The Game Archaeologist is a lazy adventurer-slash-professor who dons his trademark cap for a weekly expedition through some of the most famous MMOs of the past few decades. Each month he chooses a different title to examine its highlights, talk with its developers, and invite its fans to share their experiences. I don't know about you, but when I first heard of RuneScape a few years back, it was sold to me as "the poor person's World of Warcraft." In fact, I knew several teens who couldn't afford a monthly WoW subscription and had to "make do" with RuneScape as an alternative, and so I mentally filtered the title as being outside of my sphere of interest and moved on with my life. That was when I started to crochet. All adventurers should know how to crochet as a survival trait. In retrospect, I should've ignored the stigma and checked it out for myself, because while the above may be true for some, RuneScape deserved a lot better than to be blown off by a dismissive comment. No matter how some have pigeon-holed it as being less than worthy of proper MMO status, RuneScape is a behemoth of a game in both size, features and playerbase. In fact, as of right now, RuneScape holds the #2 spot for players, boasting a population well into the eight digits. So as of this month, we shall endeavor to put away any ignorant stances as we explore one of the most popular and longest-running MMOs of our time. Join me after the jump as I share RuneScape's greatest highlights -- and exactly why none of us should underestimate this game again.
Blizzard announces automated account recovery form for hacked accounts
World of Warcraft accounts have been under siege for years, with hackers and gold-selling outlets stealing passwords, items and more to fill their coffers, selling that gold to unwitting buyers. Blizzard has fought back incessantly over the years to stem the tide of gold farming and account hacking, and as you can imagine, the scale at which this happens is very tasking on its customer support department. Blizzard has just announced a new, speedier way to get help and answered about your hacked account, stolen items, authenticator issues and more! Now, under the new system, you will not have to email or call Blizzard to get these matters into its queue -- simply use the Account Recovery Form.
TUAW's Daily App: PSN Go
We've spotlighted a few different Xbox Live browsers here on the site before, so here's a little console balance. PSN Go is an app designed to let you browse and control your PlayStation Network account (the account that you set up when you've got a PS3 connected to the Internet). It's unofficial (not created by Sony) and made by a third party, but you can log in with a PSN name and password and browse through your friend lists, gamer profile, trophy lists, and other PSN information. Unfortunately, unlike most of the other "account browser" apps that we've seen, this one is priced a little higher than free -- it's US $1.99. While that's still not a lot, it is quite a bit to pay for just the opportunity to browse friends' lists when away from your console. Still, the app has a full in-app game database, and it's pretty well polished and runs great. Plus, it's getting updated; it's all set for the iPhone 4's Retina Display, and it's seen a few UI improvements and bug fixes already. If you find yourself browsing your PSN account quite a bit (especially when not at home), it's probably worth the couple bucks.
Google finally enables same-browser, multiple account Gmail sign-in
Hardcore Gmail users have been waiting for quite a few things from Google, but few are higher on the must-have list than this. In the past few hours, the Big G has quietly enabled some accounts with a multiple account sign-in option, which -- as you'd surmise -- allows users to sign into more than one Gmail account within the same browser. In the past, users had to use all sorts of tricks (or worse still, a secondary browser solely for their secondary email account) in order to view various identities at once, but now it's as easy as selecting the option and tagging a drop-down menu. Sadly, committing to this sort of sorcery has its drawbacks: Offline Gmail and Calendar will both be disabled (and this doesn't work on mobile devices), and there's no time table as to when those kinks will be worked out. For now, most of you will have time to think it over as you wait for your account(s) to be activated -- everyone else has no excuse for twiddling their thumbs.
'App farming' update: Apple says only 400 accounts compromised
The good news is, one crooked developer has been booted from the store. The bad news is, some iTunes accounts were pillaged to fund his rise to the top of the Books category. While Apple's official statement this morning simply reminded us to be careful out there (change passwords, check with your bank, don't get fooled again), some other sites have been continuing to dig into the App Store's funkier corners, turning up additional stories from users that had their accounts compromised (and in the process, dinging game developer Storm8, which was previously sued for collecting user phone numbers). More disturbingly, among the victimized iTunes account holders are at least a few who claim they did use strong passwords, didn't fall prey to phishing attempts, didn't have malware or keyloggers on their machines -- but one day discovered that hundreds of dollars of apps had been bought on their accounts. Creepy. The problem of Apple IDs being hijacked is not a new one -- developer Joe Streno pointed out the weak spots in the password change protocols when his account credentials were swiped back in June of 2009. In this particular go-round, late word from Apple (via Clayton Morris) is that fewer than 400 accounts were compromised, out of over 150 million accounts worldwide. Morris also reports that Apple will be tightening up payment security a bit, requiring more frequent entry of credit card secondary security (CVV2) codes. As always, if you've had an issue with unauthorized app purchases on your account, let us know below.
Security Warning: Phishing emails on the rise
Recently, Polar over at Securing WoW wrote about the latest phishing email being sent out by scammers. Account thieves are using the 2010 Arena Tournament as a way to lure you to their site to steal your login info. (Registration for the tournament ended on the 27th continues until June 7.) This is typical behavior by these crooks. Every time a Blizzard event is announced or even rumored, from the Cataclysm alpha to the StarCraft II beta, scammers take advantage it with legitimate looking emails. With the Cataclysm beta almost upon us, the expansion related phishing is going to get even worse. But there are also the tried and true emails that are being sent out daily, regardless of upcoming events. They spoof their email so that it looks like it is coming from Blizzard and fill the email with legitimate links, making their info-stealing site link look real. Also, the links have misspellings which are hard to catch at a quick glance, (like "starcratf2" or "worldotwarcraft") and lead to sites that look very much like the official ones. Blizzard has an excellent resource for protecting yourself from phishing attacks. In general, if you get an email that looks legitimate, type battle.net in your browser's address bar (spell it correctly). This will take you to the correct site for your region and there you can see the status of your account yourself. Some examples of phishing emails are after the break.
The Daily Grind: Locked out
You don't really know the value of account security until it fails you. Or, more accurately, you don't think at all about entering your password until that day when you type it in... and it doesn't work. You double-check it, and it still doesn't work. You don't know if you somehow forgot it, or if you've gotten hacked, or what the issue is... but suddenly playing the game becomes impossible. And suddenly, something as trivial as going in and doing your obnoxious dailies seems like it's an urgent matter. In the best-case scenario, you just forgot the correct password and it can be fixed fairly easily. In the worst-case scenario, you look and find that the recovery e-mail is an address you haven't used in years that no longer functions, and all of your contact information is completely wrong. Because who needs all of that, right? Except that you do now, and you're left kicking yourself for not thinking it through at the time. Have you ever found yourself on the wrong end of getting locked out of an account? What happened? Were you angry, upset, or just ambivalent? Tell us your story, because for better or worse, we've all had to wrestle with security at some point.
Officers' Quarters: Multiple personalities
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. Sharing accounts is an issue that I've talked about in the past (and I'm sure, in some people's opinions, beaten to death). Previously I've covered a few different situations. First there was a general question about the issue, which I answered back in 2007. Then there was an officer who shared his account with his girlfriend (which is still a terrible idea in my opinion). Finally, a guild leader's account was banned because he bought it from another player, and his guild's progression subsequently skidded to a halt. As if those examples weren't enough to convince you that account sharing can cause a lot of problems, here's another one: Recently, my fellow guild officers and I decided to kick a member from our guild, which also caused three other members to leave. The person who we initially kicked from the guild had asked our guild leader for a BoE Epic item in the "Ask an Officer" tab of the bank. Our guild leader responded by saying he'd ask the officers about it before handing the axe out. Not less than an hour later he asked another guild member to take it out of the guild bank for him. Being a good guild member, they asked the guild leader if it was okay. It was instantly perceived as being an attempt to ninja the item from the bank by trying to avoid the guild leader.
Hands-on with Puggable
We first heard about Vivox's Puggable service back at the Austin Game Developers Conference -- Vivox is a company that runs voice chat for online games, and Puggable is their attempt to target the WoW audience with a quick and easy way to put a group into voice chat. The site is still in a closed beta, but it's slowly opening up, and so as soon as we got a chance to jump in and test the service out, we took it.So what's the verdict? While Puggable's basic mechanics seem to work (by following their instructions, you can get a group into voice chat), the system itself is not quite ready for prime-time. Not only does it have an installation process that most cautious WoW account holders will scoff at (you have to install an Internet Explorer or Firefox addon, and restart your browser to use the service), but the real draw of the system, being able to browse and see player information at a moment's notice, aren't all there quite yet. Read on for our experiences.%Gallery-75677%
Darkfall's US server to launch today
Darkfall's first North American server, NA1, is due to launch today. The stage is set for the new server with the release of Darkfall's expansion, and July 13th is the date declared by both the website and the game's associate producer, Tasos Flambouras.However, beyond a single thread regarding how to download the new US client, the launch has been very quiet. The account page is now online, ready to take your payments of 49.98 for the brand new NA client. Edit: While the account management is working and you can create an account, the shop is currently offline and unable to take new purchases of the game.EU users interested in playing on the NA servers with their EU characters will still have to wait, however, as EU players will only be able to transfer to NA three months after the launch. Even then, EU characters will not be allowed to bring their possessions with them, transferring onto the server as a naked player. However, on the bright side, those who wait will not have to pay for a brand new account to play on the NA server.Update: The shop is now online. Have fun!
Ijji.com users can now access Atlantica Online
Users of ijji.com will be happy to know that as of today their ijji accounts can now be used in tandem with Atlantica Online, letting them jump into the game without any new signups or or registration processes. Any current ijji.com member can simply jump on over to Ndoors and grab the game's client and sign in with their ijji.com account, no strings attached.Well, there are strings attached, actually. Good strings. This opening also marks the start of the "A New Recruit" event, which awards new players with bonus mercenaries in their party when starting out and item bonuses for every new mercenary they get.While we realize that this may not be a story of earth shattering importance, it is interesting to note that the publisher, Ndoors, is letting another website enter the game's servers without actually creating a brand new version of the game. This isn't a group of stand alone servers, meaning ijji.com users will be entering into the already vibrant North American Atlantica community. Not a bad way to add more people to your servers, if you ask us.
Returning to Azeroth the long way around
Ethic at Kill Ten Rats has a post up about something that a lot of you have probably been through: more and more I'm hearing about people returning to the game. I've been playing ever since I signed up a few years ago, but that's really only because I'm writing about it -- I'm pretty ADD when it comes to games, so left on my own, I probably would have walked away from WoW a long time ago. But Blizzard is really good at bringing players back by tweaking the game in exactly the way they woud like. I feel like if I had left, I would have definitely come back in for a while, if not with Burning Crusade than definitely with Wrath. Of course, Ethic's issues aren't really with deciding to return or not: he's having more issues actually trying to get his old accounts back. There's a laundry list of rules and limits to contend with, between dealing with having or not having the expansions, the limits on the Scroll of Resurrection program and the trial accounts, and dodging all of Blizzard's various limits on how to start and use new accounts to the game. Man -- if I had left and was planning on coming back, and I read Ethic's post, I might not even bother.But quite a few people have come back, and I'd guess that even though there are confusing things about trying to find your way back into the game, a good number of you have done it. I'd like to know, so here's a poll: how many of you have left and come back, and how many times?%Poll-31240%
An Authenticator in your Visa
This is only slightly WoW-related, but it's worth a mention, I think, considering that when it happens, you'll be able to tell all your friends just what these things are. Our good friend Relmstein reports that Visa is planning to put an authenticator, of all things, in their credit cards. We of course all know how the Blizzard Authenticator works: you punch a button on the Authenticator, it gives you a code, and then that code can be used to synch up with the server. The Emue Card that Visa is testing right now works the same way: you punch in a PIN, it'll give you another code to enter on an online shopping site, and thus no one who just gets your card information can actually use your card (much like right now with a Blizzard Authenticator, no one who just gets your password can actually sign in). But it's all built in to the normal credit card.Very interesting. What Visa's doing with their credit cards might not be completely relevant to WoW, but it is relevant to note that of all of the accounts and passwords in your life that you might like to keep secure, a Blizzard account with an Authenticator attached is probably the most locked-down. Companies have started using Authenticator-like technology to have their employees log in to local networks, and obviously credit card and banking companies are testing things like this. But when it comes down to actual widespread usage, Blizzard is way ahead of the curve. Odds are that your WoW account right now is even more protected than your checking account. We'll likely be using the same authenticator system for other secure connections in the future.
A Lapse of Loyalty
As they say, you never forget your first time, and to the brand new MMO player, it isn't immediately apparent that there is a substantial genre behind the acronym, spanning into the hundreds of titles. Indeed, the acronyms themselves are probably things that make little sense. For the true newbie, there is only The One Game, an unexpectedly deep and broad game, which swiftly becomes as much a place to be as a way to pass a few hours of an evening. Mine happened to be EverQuest, but it could be any of the increasingly broad list of MMOs available today.Content with their choice, they might continue to be a steadfast participant to the exclusion of all other gaming, for many months or even years. Their depth of involvement brings the game to life for them, and in turn, that life becomes a significant part of their own. Such a player may not even be aware that there are other games out there; other worlds and other communities; what could any of that offer that they don't already have?Others might have a different view. Driven by months and years of similar repeated experiences, the grass does indeed seem greener in these other games. Perhaps an urge for similar kind of gameplay but in a new and unexpected setting, or a craving for something entirely different, some game with completely different rules, skills and objectives. For these gamers, variety is the spice of life, and the more the merrier!What makes one player a loyal mono-gamer happy with the game of choice, and another a flighty poly-gamer, playing many titles in quick succession or all at the same time?
Officers' Quarters: Account sharing + officer = bad
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.I've covered account sharing before. I gave some details about Blizzard's policies on it and how it could affect your guild. This week, I received an e-mail from someone who found out that an officer of the guild he was applying to shared the account with his girlfriend. He's wondering if he may have overreacted to the situation.Hello ScottI have a question about guild relations (both as part of leadership and as a member) with regard to people sharing account info.I've always had a very strict stance on account sharing, driven by three concerns: it's against the ToS, it opens up guilds to things like guild bank theft, and it breaks the idea that when I whisper a character, I know who I'm talking to (or at least that it's the same entity from session to session). In my relations with guilds, this had lead to considerable friction with other people. As an officer, if I ever see account sharing going on on a member who has access to our guild bank, I demote them and all their alts to a rank without such access. When I talk with the other officers about this, they typically don't see the issue. In some cases, I've found out that other officers have shared account info themselves, between siblings or friends, and don't see it as an issue.
Blizzard rolls out new Battle.net accounts
We gave you a heads up a bit ago on the preparations for the new battle.net accounts, and now they're here, both for the EU and, apparently in the US only for now. We saw a "preview" of these accounts back during Wrath of the Lich King Beta, when we signed in using our email addresses and got a pet penguin in the mail "as a thank you for signing up for a Battle.net account," But now they're here and they're live.
Worldwide cellphone use hits 60 percent, developing nations largely to thank
Outfits like Nokia have been just rolling in profits from selling oodles of low margin handsets in developing nations across the globe, so it's no shock at all to hear that those very countries have propelled the worldwide usage tally well above the 50 percent mark. According to a wide-ranging United Nations report, around six in ten people across the globe now use mobile phones, and as expected, fixed line subscriptions have increased at a much slower pace. If you're wondering just how significant this figure really is, chew on this: in 2002, just under 15 percent of the global population used a cellie. Impressive, eh?[Via TG Daily]
