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US allies accuse NSA of manipulating encryption standards
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is in the global bad books again after allegations surfaced suggesting it was trying to manipulate international encryption standards. Reuters reports that it has seen interviews and emails from experts in countries including Germany, Japan and Israel expressing concern that the NSA has been pushing two particular encryption techniques not because they are secure, but because the agency knows how to break them.
Trove adds pirates and promotes pets
Yesterday was a fairly important update for the blocky world of Trove, as the new patch introduced genuine, bonafide pirates to the game. Players can now hunt down pirate ships to plunder them for goods while looking forward to future sea-themed updates. Also notable in the patch is that player pets have been promoted to allies. It's not just a name change, either; allies have "extra special powers" that can be used to help players in their journeys. Check out the patch notes for the full details.
Dark Legends levels up its vamps, grants them allies
A vampire's life isn't just about torrid teen romance and counting from one to 10; it's a full-time career to battle back the other forces of the night and keep all of the goodies to yourself. Fortunately, Spacetime Studios is helping out the fanged population by increasing the level cap in Dark Legends to 26 and removing the energy requirement for 3-D missions. Dark Legends' most recent update doesn't just stop there. The game now has two additional campaigns, a cool flame aura for level 23-plus characters, and nightly rewards for regular players. Spacetime's added an allies system to the game as well. Allies are computer companions that are unlocked during the campaign. These characters can then be ordered to do one of three different jobs, each of which has a time requirement and a reward attached. Jobs do need to be collected by players within a certain window, otherwise some of the reward will be taken away.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's 1.3 update arrives today
Star Wars: The Old Republic's patch 1.3 has been in the news for a while, but the wait for it is finally over. After extended maintenance on the game from midnight to 4am PDT last night, the "Allies" update is up now.Those new features include the Group Finder tool, which is something that SW:TOR players have been seeking since launch. There's also the Legacy System, for players with more than one character, and Adaptive Gear, which is armor that can be modded in combat for other abilities. If you've been out of the game for lack of one of these features, now's the time to jump back in.
EVE Online bringing changes to war with the first Inferno patch
War is kind of a big deal in EVE Online. Obviously it's not the only thing that draws players to the game, but the huge player-run wars are a big part of what outsiders know of the game, and they're certainly engaging to be a part of. With the first patch to the Inferno expansion, CCP Games is making some changes to the war system, chiefly regarding allies and how they can be used in a war. The biggest change is that all ally contracts are set to a two-week timer with no option for automatic renewal. An ally can be re-signed immediately after the initial contract expires, but hiring a larger number of allies will also sport a cost, with that price getting higher and higher as you hire more allies. Allies will also be locked out of participation in mutual wars to help ensure fairness on both sides. Dedicated warmongers may wish to take a look at the full list of upcoming changes to plot out the next few moves in their private little wars.
SWTOR patch 1.3 bringing group finder, legacy perks
A long time ago on a server far, far away, the Imperial forces BioWare prepared a Star Wars: The Old Republic update to rule the online world: patch 1.3. Called Allies, patch 1.3 will usher in a group finder, character transfers, and legacy perks. The group finder will aid in banding together interested adventurers to tackle operations and flashpoints. Lead Designer Daniel Erickson said that the time is ripe for the feature, as players are spread out in levels and are rolling plenty of alts. Saying that BioWare wants to "respect the communities" that have formed, Erickson reports that the group finder will not be cross-server. He also revealed some of the other key features for patch 1.3. Additional perks to the Legacy system will allow players to customize their experience; we'll see new ports, earlier access to mounts, and bonus XP modifiers for PvP. The patch will also change social gear to fit the armor type of the class using it, server transfers, and the ability to add augments to any crafting items. Looking past 1.3, Erickson promises a "return to big content" with patch 1.4. If you're a fan of the SWTOR novels, you'll also be delighted to hear that Drew Karpyshyn announced that his next novel, Annihilation, is scheduled for November 13th. You can watch the patch 1.3 preview video after the jump!
Star Wars: The Old Republic has 1.3 million active subs, new content packs coming
We all know that the Star Wars: The Old Republic galaxy is a huge place, but thanks to some new numbers from EA's 4th quarter financial reports, we now know exactly how huge it is. According to the report, SWTOR is home to 1.3 million active subscribers (down from 1.7 million as announced in March). On top of that bit of information, the report also reveals that two new content packs will be available for players sometime in the first financial quarter. We don't know a thing about these content packs yet, except that they're (at least tentatively) titled Legacy (presumably the current Legacy patch) and Allies, so conspiracy theorists, start your engines. Let the speculation begin!
Stay on target: SWTOR's guilds begin to align with phase 2
Star Wars: The Old Republic's release may feel like it's always going to be in a "galaxy far, far away," but at least BioWare is giving guilds something substantial to do in preparation for launch. Following up the first phase of guild formation, today the studio announced that guilds can now progress into the second phase: alignment. During this phase, guild leaders can establish up to three guilds as their Allies or Adversaries (depending on the target guild's faction). Not only will this help to cement friendships and rivalries, but BioWare says that these connections "will have the highest chance of being placed in the game together, allowing these guilds to coexist on the same server." This won't happen if the guilds have chosen different server rulesets, however. Another new feature that's come with this phase is the ability for leaders and officers to begin inviting people to the guild by email. The SWTOR website has a helpful FAQ for all three phases of guild preparations. The third phase, deployment, is scheduled to occur shortly before launch and will begin placing guilds on servers if these guilds have met certain criteria.
The newest Guild Wars companions explained
With the recent news of two new allies joining the fray for Guild Wars, you may be excited about the new game mechanics that both the M.O.X. hero and the Fire Imp helper bring to the game. We may even go so far as to say that these game mechanics could be a glimpse into what's to come with Guild Wars 2 game mechanics. ArenaNet has already said that there will be a 'sidekick' in Guild Wars 2, but is the Fire Imp a precursor to that?Speculations aside, these two new companions have caused a stir lately. First, there are those who inevitably say that M.O.X. is overpowered. There are those who say the Fire Imp is simply a free ticket to the Survivor title. There are those who say that these are both ways for ArenaNet to scrape up some more money for Guild Wars 2 development. Whatever outlandish rumors you believe, they're here and they're changing the way we play the game just a bit. Follow along as we give these two a proper introduction and explain the facts about what they are exactly>>
It's-a Mario World: Friends & Allies
Oh, hello there! You startled us. For some reason we've been so wrapped up in Wario World for Gamecube lately that we forgot we're supposed to be talking about Wario's goody-goody brother. So what if Wario World is five years old and was somewhat shrugged off by industry critics? How else are we supposed to satisfy our lust for treasure before Wario Land: Shake It arrives stateside? And don't tell us to try playing an actual Wario Land game on Game Boy, because we already did that. Like umpteen times. While jamming out to new music and shouting "WAHHH" to nobody in particular.Ok, you're right: We have another month and a new Mario sports title before we should be getting too worked up about Wario. So, what is the discussion this week? The last couple of issues focused on persistent and underrated foes, so maybe we should drop all of our sinister, gold-hoarding schemes to acknowledge the friendlier folk of the Mushroom Kingdom. Which characters have helped Mario on his way? Hop over to the gallery and reminisce! It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. Still hungry for plumber pasta? Go feed on the latest issue of Virtually Overlooked, which is cooked with a Mario base and served with awesome sauce.
WWII Online: Battleground Europe to honor servicemen and women
World War 2 Online: Battleground Europe will be holding cease-fires today at 2 PM and 8 PM CST to honor the men and women who gave their lives during the actual World War II. This will mark the culmination of a week's worth of activities and events centered around the celebration of the game's seventh anniversary.The treats began on the 6th with seven days of free game time, and continued with events such as the veteran's brigade challenge on the 7th, and the best fighter pilot challenge on the 8th. The following days let players take arms against Cornered Rat employees in various locales, with the chance to win big prizes. Full details are available on their site.The cease-fire will last for 15 minutes and be held on the bridge at Dinant, and is open to all players, whether Axis or Allies.[Thanks, Al!]
Call of Duty 3 announced; leak confirmed [update 1]
Call of Duty 3's just been confirmed, and it looks like we were right on the money with our early leak of the WWII-related game.Back in early March, we printed the following information (and a whole lot more) on the focus of an upcoming sequel: "'CoD 3' ... is being produced by Big Red One dev Treyarch. ... The next Call of Duty World War II-based title will return gamers to the battlefields of Normandy as the Allies take on Nazi Germany to drive them out of France once and for all. This time around, American and British forces are joined by Canadian troops, Polish tanks, and French freedom fighters in a reenactment of the bloody Normandy Breakout campaign spearheaded during the summer of 1944. In the push to Paris, you'll get to choose how you approach each mission, free of menu screens and jarring non-interactive cut-scenes."Here's what IGN quoted from Activision for the announcement yesterday: "Through the eyes of four Allied soldiers, Call of Duty 3 brings players closer to the fury of combat as they fight through the Normandy Breakout, the harrowing offensive that liberated Paris and changed the fate of the world. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty 3 is the follow up to the #1 next-generation game and is scheduled for a 2006 release." Fingering the developer and the setting? Not too shabby -- while Joystiq pats itself on the back.Check out the IGN trailer below for a first-person look somewhat reminiscent of the FPS sequence in the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from TGS. At the end of the "official E3 teaser" trailer, a number of platforms are listed, with the major manufacturers (including a small "Nintendo Revolution" in text) and publisher/developer combo listed. We suspect that versions for the PC and possibly the current-gen consoles will be covered with ports as well. Now all we have to do is wait for the word on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. (Infinity Ward, we're looking at you!) More info obviously hitting at E3.[Thanks, icemorebutts, jason, & Hiro Protagonist][Update 1: Had to fix a verb. Thanks, Hiro Protagonist, John Q, & Jiiiiihad!]See also: Official E3 teaser trailer for Call of Duty 3 Next Call of Duty leaked: Modern Warfare tackles terrorists Rumor: Call of Duty joining the Revolution Kojima interacts in real-time with MGS4 trailer at TGS
