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Patch 4.2 New Hunter Pets: Ahnka
Patch 4.2 introduces two brand new daily quest hubs to Cataclysm called The Molten Front and The Regrowth. Yesterday, Blizzard updated the public test realm to include a new tidbit of information about eight new unique and rare creatures that would provide unique challenges to tame them by savvy hunters. 8 new rare tamable beasts have been added, each of which provides a unique taming challenge. Will you be the first hunter to tame Deth'tilac, the rarest and most powerful of them all? Players will need to progress through the Hyjal Regrowth and Molten Front daily questing areas in order to unlock access to the full gamut of taming challenges. source I hopped on to the PTR this morning and, lo and behold, found the first of these eight new challenges -- Ahnka, the spirit cat.
City of Heroes unleashes the Animal Pack [Updated]
Ever feel like howling at the full moon or flying into the sun on golden wings? We don't really need to hear about your dreams -- ours are freaky enough as it is. But if you've been looking for a way to express your inner animal in City of Heroes, NCsoft has you covered. With the upcoming Animal Pack, players on both sides of the conflict will be able to create even more superhero-beast hybrids than ever before. Not only does the pack include a number of new animal-themed options for the character creator, but the savage amongst us will enjoy creature-themed emotes and a new level 4 travel power, Beast Run. The pack includes over 60 new heads, body patterns, manes, and tails themed after cats, birds, minotaurs and wolves. Roleplayers should like the Sniff, Hiss and Feather Fly emotes, while everyone will be able to appreciate two unique auras. One of these auras, we kid you not, is a flea aura. Get ready to start scratching! The City of Heroes Animal Pack will go on sale on February 23rd at the NCsoft store. [Update: We've added the Animal Pack gallery below and the video after the cut... enjoy!] %Gallery-115975%
Field & Stream: Total Outdoorsman Challenge coming to 360 in May
It can be hard being a a total outdoorsman every now and then -- don't we know it! Sometimes it snows, or there are vicious bears, or maybe we're just feeling like snuggling up inside with a warm mug of hot cocoa instead of mercilessly hunting down animals for sport. Thankfully, development studio Beast understand our predicament and has announced a March release date for upcoming Xbox 360 hunting sim Field & Stream: Total Outdoorsman Challenge. Finally, a solution! At last, we can "brave the elements" of the wild without having to actually experience the raw elements that make us want to stay safely indoors. And considering that the closest we get to "the wild" is the local zoo, it's good to know that the game will feature "more than 30 big game, native, and fowl species across multiple environments." Heck, we can even polish up our lacking rifleman skills with F&S:TOC's free hunt and practice modes. How could we go wrong! What's this about Cabela's somethingorother, you say? %Gallery-83626%
iMac benchmarks and review say it's a beast
People have had their chances to put their grubby hands on those "incredible" iMacs that got released a few weeks ago, and the results are in. And they're great, apparently. First up, MacRumors has a collection of a few sets of benchmarks on the new machines, and the Core i7 processor (a $200 upgrade from the still very powerful Core i5) especially kicks up the speed to a place where it's competing with even the Mac Pro. In fact, in the second comparison, when pitted up against the single CPU Mac Pro, the iMac is virtually identical. Not only is it slightly cheaper depending on options, but you get that nice monitor for free. Electronista has a much more qualitative analysis, but they still love the new machine. Their "biggest" problem (aside from the usual complaints about the glossy screen and a lack of easy-to-reach ports) seems to be just the size of it. The 27" iMac is a big machine no matter how thin it gets. But they agree: with the i7 in there and all of the extra options, the iMac is a monster, matching up to the Mac Pros sitting in the lower atmosphere. Good stuff. I'm not personally in the market for a new computer, but man -- if I was ready to spend $2000 on a quality machine, it's tough to consider anything else a better purchase than the new iMac. UPDATE: Chart graphic is from Timon Royer, we regret the omission.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Hunter
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the twenty-fifth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. The Hunter is probably the oldest class in World of Warcraft. Before anyone in Azeroth took up an axe or sword, or learned anything of how to cast spells -- even before they learned to write -- they had to hunt for food. If they were like early Earth societies, the people of many nomadic groups would have relied on their hunters to bring in the meat they needed, as well as to protect the community from enemies. Back then, there would have been no such thing as fancy armor or complicated magical weapons. The relationship of a fighter to nature was just as important as the weapons he carried, if not more so.Modern hunters in World of Warcraft come from the ancient tradition of those who learned to keep themselves and their families alive by living in harmony with nature. They learned the essential mysteries of survival in the wilderness, killing animals with stealth and primitive weapons, trapping them, and eventually turning predators and prey alike into friends and servants. As time went by, those fighters who took up the path of the druid would learn to become nature itself; shamans would learn to call upon it; warriors and rogues would make battle their art, each in their own way. But hunters remained at that pivotal point between sentient races and the natural world -- they are connected to nature, but not manifestations of it; they work together with nature, but they do not worship it or call upon its spirits; they fight their enemies with the utmost passion, but they do it with the tools that hearken back to the dawn of civilization.
Preview EQII's Game Update 47, Storm Break: Part 2
The second part of the EverQuest II GU47: Storm Break preview has been unveiled at EQ2Players, teasing us with a few more features of the upcoming patch.Continuing in the vein of the first preview, there is more good news for lower level characters, as Adept I and Master I drops in the 1-20 range will now always be a spell that someone in the party can use. Moving up in the levels somewhat, Chardok, Sebilis and Karnor's Castle named mobs will be "less shy and more generous with the quality of their phat lewtz" -- though it's not 100% clear whether this means some brand new items, or just less of the crappy stuff. Sebilis and Chardok will also get extra spawn points to make life easier.As well as these changes, the preview introduces us to the star of Storm Break's Live Event, pictured above. So far they are labeled in their images as "beast", and they can show up anywhere in the world to take a bite out of you when GU47 is released. We've put together a Storm Break gallery for you to flip through, and if you decide that you just can't wait to be set upon by these new monsters, this update is available right now on the test server.%Gallery-28090%
Sacrifice a little time for new Buffy screens
By the time we actually get to E3, is anything going to be left? So much has been announced and revealed so far that we can't imagine what might remain for the actual show. In the middle of all the sensible, timely games, there's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice, and now, screens for the newly-announced game. Oh, don't mistake the tone; we're pleased as punch that there's going to be a Buffy game, and we've got high hopes. We're just a bit flabbergasted at the timing. Just as we are with the timing of all the media and announcements that've surfaced lately. These last few weeks have felt a little bizarre. We might as well throw a new Buffy game into the mix at this point. Really, why not?%Gallery-27523%
Buffy rises from the dead (again)
With the excellent season eight comics in full swing, it's not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer has disappeared off the face of the earth or anything (it's hard to lose track of one of the best shows of all time, after all), but the last thing we expected to hear about this week was a new game. That's exactly what we're getting, however. The title, from developer Beast, was written by Rob Des Hotel, who worked on several early episodes of the show, including "Killed by Death" and "The Puppet Show."Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice is set late in the heroine's storyline, however. The game takes place after season seven, but we assume before the comics -- if it even sticks to established canon, that is -- because the game follows Buffy in an attempt to re-seal the Sunnydale Hellmouth. We can only guess that means a lot of debris and rubble, considering the state the California town was in when last we saw it. The game is apparently set for a release this fall, and we hope to see a lot more of it before then.
WoW Moviewatch: Bitfilm Festival vote videos
(Today's Moviewatch features videos of the WoW Bitfilm contestants asking for votes, however we are not suggesting you vote for anyone in particular. We are only showcasing them as they pertain to WoW. As there are fans of all platforms here, we know that you will make your choice based on your own preference. In addition, despite the image on Olibith's video before you play it, it is harmless.)The World of Warcraft Bitfilm Festival nominees are really working hard for their votes! With just a little over a month left to vote, they've each created a video pleading their case. We previously wrote about their chance to win 1500 Euros earlier this month.The first one on the scene was Olibith, with a sentimental video about the contest, set to the Carpenters. Next up was Baron Soosdon, letting you know that if you don't vote for him, a "terrible curse" will fall upon you. The only one missing was Dopefish, whom I had to chase down to make a video in order to be fair.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...See the Olibith and Dopefish vote videos, as well as a full list of the nominees after the jump ...
All the World's a Stage: The passing of the Beast
All the World's a Stage isn't just a column for loony and creative geeks, playing with roles every Sunday evening.The Lunar Festival has been with us for a few days now, and I can tell you as one living in China, the real life version of this holiday, the Chinese Spring Festival, is quite the treat. Everyone seems to walk around charged with a special happiness, traveling all around the country, glad to be reunited with family after spending months away. Shops are closed, streets have more people walking than driving, and nights ring loud with the sound of fireworks bursting from all around you.The WoW version is a pale imitation, to be honest, but it does manage to capture a portion of the Spring Festival's spirit. While setting off fireworks is not the awesomest eye-candy, it's not that bad; also, traveling all over the world to visit the Elder ghosts scattered all around Azeroth is charming in its own way. The main thing that's missing, however, is a real understanding of what the holiday is all about.Few Westerners realize that the annual attack of the monster "Nian" (on which the story of WoW's Omen is based) forms the mythological backstory for the Spring Festival -- sort of an equivalent of the Nativity story of Christmas. The Chinese words for "Celebrate the New Year," Guo Nian, could also be literally translated as "The passing of the Beast." If we look at the symbolism behind this Chinese myth, it can give the Lunar Festival new meaning for our characters in Azeroth as well.
Dell adds dual NVIDIA 8800M GTX graphics to M1730: the be(a)st, now better
They may not be the first, but Dell's 17-inch XPM M1730 "Beast" deserves a warm welcome to the NVIDIA 8800M GTX club regardless. The dual-card update represents a 49% performance gain (3Dmark06) over Dell's previous top-end, dual 8700M GT card configuration. That puts the laptop on par with the DX10 performance of many new desktop rigs. Available now-ish in the US for $700 more than the dual 8700M GT option. However, orders placed today are estimated to arrive on February 20th with a cautionary footnote of possible delay. Ready for EMEA and AsiaPac regions sometime "soon." Now, if only Alienware would update us on their M17x availability we'd have our 17-inch, 8800M GTX gaming options sorted.
Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0
Hello talent fans, both new and old, and welcome to another Tuesday edition of Build Shop! It's been awhile since this column examined a Hunter build (a heavy Survival build way back in June), and I think it's high time we changed that. When it comes to grinding, farming, or straight up sustained DPS, there's arguably no better build for a Hunter than Beast Mastery. If you're new to the Hunter class, at first glance there doesn't seem to be much in the Beast Mastery tree that looks appealing. A lot of the talents in the tree seem to affect your pet more than you... and for the most part, this is true. BM hunters sacrifice increasing their personal DPS in order to buff their pet's. As such, pet choice matters a little more than it does for Marksman or Survival hunters. But it's not all about the pet -- there are some significant buffs to the Hunter (and the Hunter's party) further down in the tree. Read on, and take a closer look at a standard Beast Mastery build.
Cinemassively: Beast
Sometimes a video provokes so much emotion that you forget it's not real. In the words of Beast creator, Dr. Nemesis, "So far, facial animation has been very limited in Machinima. To get emotion across, most of us have had to rely on good acting, a well chosen sound track, and the viewers imagination, but not facial expression." In his current film, he uses Crazy Talk, Motionbuilder, and Sims 2, to overcome this issue.When the scene opens, you see two men. One is tied up and the other is yelling at him. As the story unfolds, you learn that the man in captivity has deeply wronged the other man, to the point where he has nothing left to lose. With each facial expression, punch thrown, and gut-wrenching confession, you feel his pain.While this is not traditional MMO Machinima, you can learn from the tactics he used. In the future, Second Life will be part of a hybrid-Machinima movement. Filmmakers are already using multiple programs to blend their works, such as MovieStorm, Poser, Crazy Talk, and iClone. As merging mediums becomes popular, I believe we'll see a whole new level of quality work coming from the community.
Dell's M1730 "Beast" officially gets official
Well kids, it's official... the Beast is loose. Dell's M1730, which had been extensively leaked over the past few months, has been made public on the Dell blog (they even go as far as naming us in the notice). As expected, the gaming laptop is crammed full of over-spec'd gear, like the Core 2 Extreme X7900 (which they say is now overclocked to 3.2GHz), dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 8700M GT GPUs, and a slew of other lap-burning components sure to make even the toughest dude start crying immediately. The whole fugly package is available for purchase on the Dell website right now, but approach it with extreme caution. Look, all we're saying is this: when the Beast crushes and dismembers everything you hold dear, don't say we didn't warn you.
Maingear offers up Quad FX-powered BEAST, throws in 1,000 watt PSU
Aw yeah, just hours (nay, moments) after AMD's Quad FX chip went official, we've already seen
Around Azeroth: The Beast
I know the first time I ventured into Upper Blackrock Spire, I found this guy pretty terrifying. (Now he just looks like a friendly puppy dog -- a miniature Core Hound.) For those of you who have never been here, Alistairover of Thunderhorn sends in this shot of the Beast in his bone-covered lair, some time before he's noticed a party of tasty looking adventurers. For first-timers, be aware that a Gnome is usually sacrificed to the Beast -- the first target he attacks he'll knock back and into the air, and every Alliance party I've run with has used this as an opportunity for a game of Gnome football.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part. If yours isn't posted immediately, don't fret! Shots are posted (more or less) in the order received, and yours will come up eventually.
