area
Latest
A tour of WildStar's upcoming Black Focus area
The next update for WildStar has some pretty big shoes to fill. Arriving on November 11th, it's the first update the game has seen since August, when the game abruptly peeled back from monthly updates to quarterly ones. It comes after a round of server merges. It needs to prove to fans who are still subscribed to the game that there's good reason to keep playing and that more content is on the way in the near future -- that there's a reason to hold out hope. Earlier this week, I toured the Black Focus, the five-person group content releasing in the new region of The Defile in the upcoming patch. Not all of my questions about the zone as a whole were answered since I didn't get to go through all of the quests leading into this particular encounter. However, I did get a chance to form at least some first impressions and see how well this bit of content holds up. And there's a new trailer past the cut if you just want to watch that.
WildStar shows off the Mystery of the Genesis Prime
The nature of the Genesis Prime is one of the major elements of WildStar's story as presented to players on the road to level 50. Even once you get there, though, you still have questions, ones that will hopefully be answered by the end of the game's next update. Lucky for you, a new trailer for the Mystery of the Genesis Prime update is now available, along with a look at the Defile region that should help bring much of this storytelling to a conclusion for the time being. Inside the Defile, players will be exploring solo content in the Sonic Plaza and the Strain Maw, taking on five-person tasks in the Black Focus, and fighting through large-group challenges with the Siege of the Lightspire. Carbine intends to have content in place for you no matter what your preference is. The update was originally scheduled to launch in November, but no formal date has been announced. Check out the trailer past the break, scope out the locations available, and get ready to find some answers to one of the game's biggest mysteries. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
ArcheAge's Auroria launches today
ArcheAge is scheduled to launch a big new update today on its North American servers. How big? Well, you can get a pretty solid idea just from the patch notes. The game is adding four new zones to be conquered and claimed by players, complete with space to build castles and houses once the claims have been made. There's also a new dungeon being added to the game, giving players uninterested in the land rush something to do with their time. New recipes have also been added for high-end weapons requiring Gilda Dust to craft. Vehicle stats have seen a rebalancing in an effort to make sure that no single vehicle is the unquestioned best in every field at all times; the vehicles retain unique abilities, but their performance is identical. Check out the full patch notes on the official site and start downloading as soon as you can since this patch is a big one. [Thanks to Robert for the tip!]
LEGO Minifigures Online shows off the Space World
Space is big. Really big. You wouldn't believe how vastly, mind-bogglingly huge it is. I mean, you might think it's a long way from your bed to your computer, but that's just peanuts compared to space. So while labeling a single area in LEGO Minifigures Online as the "Space World" might seem like a bit of an oxymoron, just think of it as a sampling of the mind-boggling hugeness of what space has to offer. In this case, it's aliens and evil space marines. A new video is now available showing off the Space World and everything that players can do therein: fighting off alien invaders, huge robots, strange wildlife, and flying saucers. Yes, it's all a bit silly and strange, but when you're marching into battle with a team consisting of a pirate, a DJ, a guy in a chicken suit, and a knight, you kind of expect to be thrown into strange scenarios. Check out the video just past the break. [Source: Funcom press release]
Final Fantasy XIV announces its first expansion, Heavensward
The Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival is currently underway in Las Vegas, and the keynote speech brought with it the big announcement many people were waiting for: The game's first expansions has been announced for spring 2015. Heavensward will focus on the city-state of Ishgard, as seen in the trailer embedded just past the break. Gamer Escape's liveblog of the keynote notes that the expansion will feature a level cap increase to level 60, new jobs, a new race (albeit with an as-yet-unconfirmed identity), new primals, and new high-end content. More information will be available at the London fanfest taking place next week. For now, players will just have to speculate a bit on what the future holds. (The smart money, of course, is on dragons. Lots and lots of dragons. It's kind of an Ishgardian thing.) [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Age of Wushu shows off the Silver Hook and Delightful Island
How would you like to go somewhere delightful in Age of Wushu? Odds are good that Delightful Island will fulfill that goal. Or possibly not; Delightful Island is a locale where literally anything goes, with no criminal ratings or pesky laws to restrict your behavior. There are also plenty of missions to be done and treasures to be found on the lawless island, so if any of that sounds like a delight to you, well, you've found your destination. Of course, first you have to get to the island, and to do that you'll need to board the hidden boat the Silver Hook, a gambling ship replete with intrigue and conspiracy. This special Forbidden Instance will test player abilities to cut through schemes and conspiracies while hopefully avoiding becoming a pawn of those same schemers. Jump past the break for a trailer, and look forward to taking your own delightful trip very soon.
LEGO Minifigures Online rolls out a mythological update
With a month or so to go before LEGO Minifigures Online fully launches, the game has brought forth its biggest update yet. So what does it contain? Nothing less than the new Mythology World, which also brings an increase in the level cap to 25 along with its new areas and monsters. The area also continues the main story if that's more of your thing. Aside from the new area, the Series 11 minifigures have been added to the game, along with the first batch of cash shop figures that includes the Yeti, the Mountain Climber, and the Pretzel Girl. Players can also find their friends more easily with the addition of a friend code, and the loot system has been overhauled to allow players a chance to build minifigures from loot. Check out the full set of update notes for more detail and get building in the game if it's just what you've been waiting for.
Previewing LotRO's Dead Marshes patch on the test server
The next major update for Lord of the Rings Online is up on the test server now. If you want to explore Update 14.2, you can. But what if you aren't in the mood for going through the process of a beta install just to wander around in the new area? Wouldn't it be easier if you could just get a quick look at the zone without having to roam about yourself? Good news, then, as a new video from LOTRO Players highlights the Dead Marshes and what players can expect in the new zone. The patch is quite large for a small update addition, and it contains some new enemy arrangements, some new pets, and plenty of new activities for players. Check out the full video just past the cut if you'd like to take a tour without going yourself. [Thanks to Andang for the tip!]
Destiny shows off a Venus trailer
What lurks beneath the cloudy exterior of Venus? In the real world, a blighted hellscape that's about as conducive to human life as the heart of a nuclear reactor. In Destiny, though, it's a lush landscape full of ruins, plant life, and stunning vistas, though considering the large number of gun-toting robots that appear to be popping out of the woodwork, one suspects it might not be all that comfortable for humans just the same. Yes, the latest Destiny trailer is giving a quick peek at the planet, and while it's not replete with detailed information, it's enough of a tease to get fans excited. Click on past the break to see the planet for yourself before the game launches on September 9th.
The Repopulation looks back at its July test updates
The end of the month means a new update for those on the outside looking in at The Repopulation, and July brought with it some sizable changes. For example, the game introduced 27 new areas, with several existing areas seeing new improvements and a lot of extra paths opening up. Any explorer has plenty of new stuff to see throughout the game, from new ways to see old regions to old regions just filled with new things. July also saw the inclusion of the training mechanic, which allows players to spend training points to improve various abilities. Pharmaceuticals, equipment fittings, and music also saw large-scale overhauls for players, and the development team launched a survey to get a better idea of the player types watching the game closely. You can see the full list of patch changes with the official update, along with more details on the overhauls and plans moving forward.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's first dose of Strain
The funny thing about launches is that they're like every other aspect of the game industry: They're based on momentum. Create the feel that you're coming out with new content on a quick basis and you get points from players, even if it's inevitable that some of this content is stuff that was almost-but-not-quite ready for launch and just had to be trimmed back a little before we first got to dip our toes in the official swimming pool. You can see the zones on your map in WildStar right now, even. Does it matter to me? Nope. I have to admit it doesn't. I'm satisfied. The bulk of the news this month has been about the game's first major patch, which is due for "early July" without a harder date. I have not yet gotten to go hands-on in this content; I've been too busy focusing on the live game and advancing there (up to 50 on one character, at least!), but let's talk a little bit about what's being added in the patch. Fair warning: Spoilers may ensue.
WildStar previews the zones of the Strain drop
The first major update for WildStar is due out in early July, and it's bringing plenty of content along with it including two zones for players to explore. Blighthaven and the Northern Wastes are being unveiled in more detail today, both of which contain plenty of opportunities for adventurers to take on all sorts of new challenges. Blighthaven is a landscape dominated by the Strain's mutated minions along with uncontrolled Eldan machinery, featuring such comfortable-sounding regions as the Cankertube Swamps, the Globellum, the Sanctuary of the Keepers, and the Genesis Chamber. It's prime territory for new content to explore what happened to the Eldan as well as understand the virulent opponent that is the Strain. The Northern Wastes, meanwhile, brings players back to the Northern Wilds after the events in the early game, with both Dominion and Exiles struggling to claim the territory... until a new threat emerges from the Eldan bio-labs in the area. New events, challenges, missions, and path content awaits players in the zone. It's all adding up to plenty of content for a first update; you can check out the official reveal page for a few extra details. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Trove empowers community to pitch biomes and classes
Trion Worlds is empowering the Trove community even further by inviting players to pitch ideas for a new biome and class to be added to the game. A Reddit thread has the details of how this process will unfold. Players will begin by brainstorming ideas for biomes, and after some time, the dev team will pick the best (and top-voted) submissions and allow players to vote on the very best one. Following that, the team will poll players for decorations, dungeon designs, and enemy ideas, and then get the biome into the game within the month. There are also plans for a similar pitching-and-voting process afterward in regard to a new class. On a phone call, Trion told Massively that it's looking to push the crowdsourcing aspect further and further as time goes on. The team is incredibly impressed with what the community has created so far with weapons, hairstyles, dungeons, and hats, and it can't wait to see what comes from this experiment. One thing that the team revealed is the upcoming addition of music blocks: Physical objects that make notes (and even chords) when walked on. We asked if Trion was looking to crowdsource the soundtrack for the game as well, and while the devs said that no players had yet stepped forward, they promised that if some did with great tunes, those would definitely be included into the game proper.
Looking at the wildlife of WildStar's Galeras region
If the pirates, bandits, ancient machines, and military forces in WildStar weren't bad enough, players are going to be contending with a lot of the native wildlife. Last week's WildStar Wednesday focused on the top-level overview of the Galeras region, but this week is focused on the local flora and fauna, which are just as dangerous as the invading armies with gunships. More so, in some ways, as a stemdragon doesn't care why you're on its land, just that you are. Stemdragons have been seen by fans before, having starred as the antagonist in the game's first trailer. Buzzbings and Scrabs are new, however -- the former is an insect the size of a small car that traps its enemies with honey, the latter is a cross between a beetle and a crab with thick armor and a propensity for burrowing. Read more on the tactics of these monsters and the lore surrounding them in the full article.
Pathfinder Online looks to Crusader Road
Goblinworks' upcoming Pathfinder Online was only just announced last month, but already the team is giving fans a look at what to expect from the online iteration of the popular pen-and-paper title. In a new post on Goblinworks' official site, players are given a glimpse of where their adventures will be taking place within the world of Pathfinder Online. According to the post, the entirety of Pathfinder Online at launch will take place in a 133-square-mile region known as the Crusader Road area. To get an idea of how absurd this is, look at this post's header image. See that little red box? That's the Crusader Road area. And the remainder of the map that it's shown on is only a small fraction of the entire Pathfinder world (as an image on the blog post shows), so players should likely expect a lot of exploration in a massive-scale world. For the full details on Crusader Road, head on over to the Goblinworks official site and take a look.
Topcon's IP-S2 Lite creates panoramic maps in 3D, spots every bump in the road (video)
You'd need only a smartphone app to pinpoint every pothole on your block, but to map out more severe structural damage, you'd probably need more sophisticated equipment -- which is where Topcon's IP-S2 Lite comes in. Unveiled at last week's 3D & Virtual Reality Expo in Tokyo, this road condition evaluation system is comprised of a 360-degree camera, GPS and an inclinometer. After using its camera to capture images at 16 frames per second, the IP-S2 analyzes the properties of every shot and uses this information to create 3D video footage. The contraption can also measure the height, distance and surface area of any given frame, allowing engineers to insert computer-generated images into the video (as pictured above) and to construct more accurate maps of disaster-stricken regions. In the wake of this year's devastating earthquake, for example, Japan's Geospatial Information Authority used this technology to map coastal areas of the Miyagi Prefecture, giving officials and rescue workers a better idea of the damage inflicted upon the region. You can find out more about the IP-S2 in the video after the break. [Thanks, Don]
Alienware launching new M15x laptop and Aurora / Area-51 ALX desktops at TGS
Wondering what all those teasers were about? So were we, and now we've got the skinny on what exactly is looming at the Tokyo Game Show. For starters, you may have noticed that Alienware has completely removed the option to purchase an Area-51 m15x gaming laptop except in refurbished form, and the only desktop remaining in the store is the Area-51 X58, which is conveniently discounted today. The reason? It's launching five of its most powerful creations yet on September 23rd (that's tomorrow, bub), including the quickest 15-inch lappie in the galaxy (the all-new M15x) as well as the dual-GPU Aurora / Aurora ALX desktops. Finally, a refreshed Area-51 and Area-51 ALX will also be on tap, though exact specifications for the whole lot won't be revealed until the 23rd. Oh, and we'll totally be on hand in Japan to provide all the hands-on media you can stand, so stay tuned![Thanks, Anonymous]
Live on the US Patch 3.1 PTR: XT-002 Deconstructor
Tonight from the Patch 3.1 PTR we bring you the Alliance Area 52 guild Symbolic Logic fighting against the XT-002 Deconstructor, a new Ulduar boss. They are scheduled to attempt it on hard mode, and we'll have to watch and see how it goes. You can watch it on the above stream or head over to their UStream page.For more information on the XT-002 Deconstructor fight, you can check out some great details over at World of Raids.Stream is over for the evening. Thanks for coming out everyone! Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Choosing your first pet
Another new service provided by Mania's Arcania is a series of in-depth articles about how to choose your first pet when you're just starting out leveling your hunter for the first time. She covers the starting zones for each race, and highlights the pros and cons of all the best pet choices in each zone. So far she's covered the orcish, night-elven, and tauren starting areas, and more are sure to come.If anyone is starting out with a hunter character for the first time, her guide is the best I've seen on this topic, especially if you really care about the details. Most beginning hunters just choose what seems nice to them at the moment, of course, (or whatever their friends recommend to them), but it's nice to have a special recourse for those who like to do all the right research and make such choices wisely.
