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Not to be underestimated: Guild Wars 2 Asura Week begins
The first highly anticipated installment of Guild Wars 2's Asura Week has arrived, courtesy of the ArenaNet blog. Matt Barrett is the first to weigh in with an in-depth look at the design process behind the look of the Asura race. There have been a lot of changes from the original appearance of the race as the artists worked to find a style that truly reflected who the Asura are, and Matt treats readers to the original look as well as later iterations. The blog post also includes a video narrated by Matt that shows off real-time creation of a piece of Asura concept art. Check out the video and details of Asura creation on the ArenaNet blog.
Guild Wars 2 Asura Week begins Monday [Updated]
The Guild Wars 2 development team has brought us Human Week, Norn Week, Sylvari Week, and Charr Week. Four of the five playable races have been covered, leaving fans anxious for the scoop on the final and most diminutive race: the Asura. ArenaNet announced today that Asura Week will begin Monday and cover character and environment design, animation, lore, and writing. The team will also release new audio, video, art, and even a "Hey Bookah" advice column that's sure to put we humans firmly in our place. Several familiar names will be pitching in for Asura week, including writers Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee. Asura week begins Monday, September 12th, and will continue all week. Check out the schedule after the cut for the full rundown of Asura Week! [Update: The ArenaNet blog has been updated with the details of Asura Week.]
The Daily Grind: Are tiny races persecuted?
We've seen it across the MMO spectrum: Gnomes, Hobbits, Halflings, Dwarves, Asura, Sprites, Danny DeVito -- they're all ridiculed, mocked, and often targeted by other players driven to an inexplicable rage at the mere sight of them. Small races may be fiercely loved by a segment of the playerbase, but their presence serves to infuriate even more. So what is it about short races that drives good men and women to near-madness? Is it their tenacity at overcoming odds? Their propensity for kicking shins? Or their "ooh lookit the cute widdle fella!" adorability? It's hard to say, although this writer personally loves them. So chew on that, tallies! But that's not today's question; today's question is whether or not you think short races in MMOs have become persecuted, to an extent. Are they unfairly targeted just because of what they are, and if so, does that mean we've traded real-world prejudices for virtual ones? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
PAX 2011: Massively's hands-on with the Guild Wars 2 Asura
The new demo has arrived to the United States! ArenaNet unveiled the newest demo version of Guild Wars 2 last week at Gamescom, and it was filled with new surprises. Orrian undead, one of Zhaitan's underlings, the Charr starter area, playable Asura and Sylvari, and much more captured the attention of fans. ArenaNet has returned to its home turf and was presenting the demo at PAX this weekend, and I had the privilege of diving into the game's new content. Follow along after the jump for the latest look at the Guild Wars 2 demo!
Gamescom 2011: Guild Wars 2 shows off 40 minutes of gameplay
Hey Guild Wars 2 fans, bummed that you're not at Gamescom right now getting your paws, claws, or ferns on the game? We have the next best thing: nearly 40 minutes of video footage for you to digest. On the Gamescom floor, ArenaNet's Chris Lye took time to walk Wartower.de through the full Guild Wars 2 demo for the event. During the tour, he shows us character customization, the Asura, and the Charr starting experience, capping it off with a giant dragon boss encounter. So what's Lye looking forward to playing the most when the game goes live? "I've already found it: the Asura Thief. I love the size, I love the animations on the Asura, and I love how great they are as Thieves." Grab some popcorn and settle in for the full video after the jump!
Flameseeker Chronicles: And this is a big deal why?
ArenaNet revealed some exciting news this week -- well, technically it revealed exciting news about upcoming news. Gamescom is just a few short weeks away, and Community Team Lead Martin Kerstein penned a blog post telling what fans can expect to see at the event. Fasten your seatbelts, Guild Wars 2 fans, because whatever you've been waiting to see is probably on the to-be-unveiled list for Gamescom this year. Sylvari, Asura, PvP, mid-level play, character customization -- you name it and it's there. While exciting, all of this upcoming news has the potential to be really confusing, particularly if you haven't been following Guild Wars 2 news closely for the past year or two. This week I've put together a little primer to help explain the history and basics of each of the big reveals coming to Gamescom. Follow along after the jump to make sure you're up to speed!
ArenaNet revealing Guild Wars 2 PvP and customization at Gamescom
Europe's largest game expo is getting ready for plenty of Guild Wars 2 goodness, as ArenaNet will be bringing its highly anticipated fantasy MMO to the Cologne convention that runs from August 17th to August 21st. In a new post on the company blog, Martin Kerstein gives us an idea of what we can expect from the NCsoft demo booth. The playable GW2 build will include all seven professions revealed thus far, the complete Charr starter experience, and a mid-level demo featuring powerful Orrian enemies (and Sylvari and Asura playable characters). Last but not least, gamers will finally get their hands on Guild Wars 2's character customization system as well as its PvP component. Hands-on PvP experiences will be available, and players can also watch exhibition matches between developers and select European players.
It's a rat, it's a bat, it's Guild Wars 2's Skritt!
Don't call them Bat-Men, Skaven or Reepicheep; you'll address them as "Skritt" and do it with respect if you know what's good for you. In a new ArenaNet blog post, Ree Soesbee reveals the latest Guild Wars 2 monster to plague the land: the "horribly, wickedly tricksy" Skritt. Skritt are a humanoid blend of rats and bats that live in massive colonies under the surface of Tyria, emerging to mooch and presumably harvest spoons from their victims. One interesting fact about this race is that Skritt share intelligence in an unknown way, and the more of them that congregate the smarter they become. It's this tenacity and hive-mind that have made them mortal enemies of the Asura, who are adamant that all Skritt be wiped out. So what prompted the creation of Guild Wars 2's Skritt? "We hadn't explored the idea of a hive-mind in our world before, but we didn't want to just repeat the old standard-an insectoid race. We went through many ideas, and eventually settled on the concept of a rattus rattus based horde. A major consideration in their creation was that this race had to challenge the asura on their own terms, but not be just another super-intelligent species."
AvP game engine Asura 'fully functional' on NGP
Go ahead and add Aliens vs. Predator to the list of console games that are possible on Sony's next-generation portable. Rebellion has a "fully functional" version of its Asura game engine ready -- and ready to be licensed -- for NGP game development, reports CVG. According to MobyGames, Rebellion has used the engine since 2003's Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death, with the most recent incarnation powering last year's multiplatform FPS AvP. The studio says it has an Asura-based, multiplayer third-person shooter demo running on NGP. "We'll be attending DICE [this week] and GDC to show what we have created and look for business partners," pitched CEO Jason Kingsley. "The technology, design and art teams have worked incredibly well with Sony's newest device," boasted Kingsley. "We have managed to make our engine fully functional and looking great on the hardware in double quick time." Okay -- but does the frame rate hold up in triple time?
ArenaNet releases Edge of Destiny Guild Wars novel
Looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for that discerning Guild Wars fan on your list? ArenaNet may have just the thing in the newly released Edge of Destiny, the second novel tie-in to the popular gaming franchise. Penned by J. Robert King, the book takes place prior to the events chronicled in the original Guild Wars novel, Ghosts of Ascalon, and approximately five years before Guild Wars 2's time frame. The novel features the exploits of an adventuring company that you'll meet in the new game, including Rytlock Brimstone (a charr warrior), Snaff (an asura inventor), and Caithe (a mysterious sylvari). You can grab a copy of the novel on Amazon, or sample the first chapter at the official ArenaNet blog.
Analyzing the newest Guild Wars 2 trailer
ArenaNet has a very early, very wonderful holiday gift for Guild Wars fans this morning: a brand new Guild Wars 2 trailer. (Take a moment to cheer, then we'll move on.) The trailer is amazingly beautiful, something we've come to expect from ArenaNet and particularly Guild Wars 2. But if you don't let yourself get distracted by the eye candy -- something that is admittedly hard to do -- there is a lot of new information here, including more details on people and places we've already heard of, and some fascinating possibilities to explore. Take a look at the video here, then follow along with us as we explore this new information from ArenaNet. If you're unfamiliar with Guild Wars 2, this will help you get acquainted, but we also have some deep lore speculation for current Guild Wars fans. (The video can also be found at the official Guild Wars 2 site.)
