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LotRO's Kate Paiz praises community, addresses F2P switch
Over at Mordor or Bust, Lord of the Rings Online's new executive producer Kate Paiz sat down to talk about what's on every hobbit's mind: the transition to LotRO's free-to-play version this fall. Paiz took the reins of LotRO just as the F2P change was announced and is bringing her experience from DDO Unlimited's transition over to LotRO's team. In the interview, Paiz spends a considerable amount of time both praising the community and reassuring it that these changes will benefit the game as a whole. One of the issues she addressed was the lack of Player versus Monster Player (PvMP) combat for non-subscribers, saying that it was necessary for now, but that may change in the future: "While we plan to introduce [PvMP] at some point in the future to the rest of the playerbase, we wanted to first focus on delivering the quality PvE game that we have to players in a way that continued to drive great interest and fun in the game." While she declined to comment on whether Turbine would be giving refunds for lifetime subscribers who purchased that option shortly before the announcement of the F2P change, Paiz did say they'd like to offer lifetime VIP subscriptions again at some point. Paiz also said Turbine has "a lot of ideas" for additional classes, and it is working with the CDC to get LotRO launched in China. You can read the full interview over at Mordor or Bust!
Lord of the Rings Online coming to China later in the year
Lord of the Rings Online is coming to China later in the year, thanks to CDC Games and their partnership with Turbine. CDC Games is one of the largest online gaming distributors in China, and is said to be a pioneer in the 'free-to-play, pay for merchandise' business model in that country.Despite what are said to be significant changes in the game from the version now played in North America, Europe, Russia and South Korea, the Chinese closed beta has been going very well for CDC with an 80 percent activation rate. These 'significant changes' include an enhanced PvP function, which CDC believes will cater more towards the Chinese playerbase that they already know so well.Considering CDC Games' work with F2P games, we're curious about other 'significant changes' including a new business model for China, although there has been no official word on this.
GM touts new crash severity-predicting OnStar technology
OnStar has been working with the CDC for a few years now in an effort to deliver real-time crash information to first responders, and it looks like it has now finally come up with something that's ready to be put to use. That comes in the form of OnStar's new Injury Severity Prediction technology, which apparently takes some recent CDC findings into account, and uses a whole range of sensors in the vehicle (along with other crash data) to predict whether a crash is likely to have caused severe injury to the people in the vehicle. That information can then be relayed to first responders with a simple severity prediction of "normal" or "high," which OnStar says should be especially helpful in cases where crash victims cannot speak for themselves. While there's no exact date for a rollout just yet, OnStar says it should be available to OnStar advisors "early next year," and that it'll be available on all vehicles equipped with OnStar's Automatic Crash Response system.[Via GM FastLane]
DIY nailguns wrecking all sorts of havoc on hands
We typically take for granted that anyone with enough technical know-how to go out and tackle some of the DIY creations we've seen would also take extra caution when handling soldering irons, hammers, and other potentially hazardous power tools, but apparently, folks are throwing caution to the wind when concocting their own nailguns. We'll admit, we certainly didn't realize that home crafted, high-powered staplers were becoming all the rage, but according to a recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "injuries involving nailguns have risen 200-percent since 1991." Notably, around 40-percent of the 37,000 reported nailgun injuries last year were purportedly due to consumer negligence while not on the job, leaving us to assume that it's the haphazard consumers boosting the stats. Still, these issues pale in comparison to the mayhem we'd be dealing with if railgun equipment somehow slipped into local hardware shops.[Via El Reg]
OnStar signs with CDC to beam real-time crash information
While you'd probably agree that having a perfect stranger tracking your car's every move is less than comforting, we certainly wouldn't mind the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking a peek at our status in case of a crash. In a recent deal between General Motors and the CDC, the company's OnStar system will soon be working hand-in-hand with the agency by beaming "real-time crash data to help emergency services provide a more targeted response to those injured in a car accident." Basically, the OnStar system would alert emergency responders when one's airbag was deployed, but it would also send crash-specific information concerning the severity of the hit(s), where it was struck, and if it was rolled over. The idea is to provide more accurate information to officials that are required to make critical decisions regarding care, and this new system will purportedly go live sometime in 2008 -- if your OnStar will actually connect, that is.[Via MedGadget]
