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Choose my Adventure: Back for more!
With our busy March and April behind us, we're ready to bring back the ever-popular Choose my Adventure series to our readers. As a small refresher, Choose my Adventure is where we head into a certain MMO with a brand new character to play out a six-week adventure, but the kicker is that YOU get to choose what that character does. From the game played, through character creation and beyond -- it's all up to you. This time though, we've decided to tweak the series a bit. Instead of asking for you to join us in these chosen adventures, they will mostly be done through PUGs or occasionally solo. The reason we're doing this is to focus our in-game time with readers on a whole slew of events we have planned, much like the highly successful Nights of Eberron for DDO. So let's start this back up by having you vote for which game we'll spend the next six weeks with. You'll have until next Wednesday to make your vote, at which time we'll starts the votes on character creation and get the journey started. Keep reading below for the game poll, now including more game choices than ever!
Should the ESRB be on the App Store?
Here's an interesting topic of discussion from Slide to Play: Now that Apple seems to be going all-in on gaming with its Game Center app, should the Entertainment Software Ratings Board start looking at App Store games? The ESRB is the self-regulatory industry group that's responsible for passing out game ratings to game developers, and marking whether games are appropriate or inappropriate for younger gamers. So far, they've been pretty hands off on the App Store, relying instead on iTunes' Application Ratings to let consumers determine what's right for them. However, gaming on the App Store is getting bigger, and the ESRB has already shown interest in looking at App Store apps. Personally, I don't think this is needed; the App Store environment is already held down with an iron grip by Apple's editors, and if anything, it's probably too sensitive. Besides, as a former GameStop manager, I can confirm that the ESRB's ratings had little to no effect on most purchasing decisions in my store. Any parent who's responsible enough to monitor their child's game playing can probably already tell, even without an explicit rating, what's appropriate and what isn't. On the flip side of the argument , though, it could be said that if Apple wants to be one of the big boys in gaming, it should play by the big rules. What do you all think?
Square Enix reveals all of Final Fantasy XIV's races and clans
Square Enix has revealed detailed information about the five new "clans" found within the races of Eorzea, the realm in which upcoming MMO Final Fantasy XIV will take place. Clans offer up two slightly different character options within the five overall race choices -- for example, if you want to play as a burly Roegadyn, you can go with the paler and more subdued "Sea Wolf" fisherman clan, or heat things up with the rock-and-fire influenced "Hellsguard" clan. Information on all of the races and clans is now available on Square Enix's website. Unfortunately for Final Fantasy fans, we looked through the whole list of clans, and not a single one of the races lets you become a Sith Warrior. Sure, the Miqo'te Seekers of the Sun look cute and all, but is their one stated goal to kill Jedi? No? Pass, then, sorry. [via Massively] %Gallery-89790%
Magnetic waves distort the brain's ability to make moral judgments, tell which way is north
Morality isn't a topic discussed 'round these parts too often, but you mix in the geniuses at MIT and a boatload of magnets, and well -- you've got us interested. According to research conducted by neuroscientists at the institution, people's views on morality can actually be swayed by interfering with activity in a specific brain region. Past studies found that the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is extremely active when people think about the intentions, thoughts and beliefs of others, and in the new project, gurus disrupted activity in the right TPJ by "inducing a current in the brain using a magnetic field applied to the scalp." The result? The subjects' ability to make moral judgments requiring an understanding of someone else's intentions (a failed murder attempt, for example) was impaired. MIT's own Rebecca Saxe noted that the process introduced a certain level of "bias" more than an outright change of perception, but still, this definitely sounds like an awesome way to get just about anything you ever wanted. Within reason, of course.
Roleplaying and the lack of it in MMOs
We refer to our genre as MMOs in shorthand, frequently, as an abbreviation of MMORPG. Of course, there are entries that don't fit the mold -- Planetside makes no pretense of being an RPG, for instance, while Second Life is really a virtual environment rather than a game per se. But the roots of the term do define what most MMOs are fundamentally aiming at: being an RPG with a massive component of players. Which is ironic, because as We Fly Spitfires points out, they're not really RPGs at all. They feature the stats and the leveling, but nothing of the larger sense of place and story that the genre hails as its strengths. Compared to games such as Dragon Age: Origins or Oblivion, it's clear that for all the strength of options we might have in some MMOs, we lack any sense of real character specialization or unique progression. Part of the concern, of course, is content -- you don't want to necessarily force any player who didn't happen to make the right choices in a dialogue tree to miss out on a major endgame event. The ubiquity of communication also helps herd players toward a specific set of specializations or ability tree, with little to no deviation encouraged. But there's more that can be done, and games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic seem to have a greater intent to focus on individual story and progression. Even if you don't necessarily like the impromptu acting which is usually associated with roleplaying in the genre, it's hard to deny that a greater sense of individual choice and uniqueness would be intoxicating.
The Daily Grind: Ruining the blank canvas
It's the start of the new year, and that means you've got a huge number of days stretching out before you in which you can do almost anything, at least once you recover from your hangover. It's a sea of infinite possibilities, which is a good thing... for some people. Sometimes, when you roll the dice and you can be almost anything, you wind up... well, with a large man with freakish hands wearing a scarf and what appear to be cannibalized Gundam shoulders. We're not sure either. Since we have a sea of choice ahead of us for the new year, we're wondering how you approach games and situations where you have a wide variety of options. Games like Champions Online and City of Heroes give us a wealth of options in character creation, and games such as Fallen Earth let us build our characters in myriad ways as we level up. Do you build your character based on outside information, or do you try and make a decent guess at reasonably synergistic abilities? Or do you just pick things at random and hope it forms a cohesive whole in the end?
Best iPhone games of the year picks start to roll in
Gamasutra wins the award for being the first (that I've seen) to pick awards for their best five iPhone games of the year, and the list is respectable, if a little short for such a huge set of possibility. Unfortunately, they don't win any TUAW points for going with Skee-Ball over our preferred Ramp Champ, but Rolando 2 was a worthy sequel to a worthy game, Edge (now Edgy) and Eliss are both great games (too bad you can't play the former, but the latter was underrated for sure), and Space Invaders Infinity Gene deserves to be on almost any end-of-the-year iPhone game list. Good picks in there for sure. DigitalTrends also has a long list, though strangely, they tend to stick to big names and brands. There are a few gems in there -- Spider, UniWar, and Vay may be a couple good choices that you haven't heard of yet. And here's another top 10 list with some repeats from the ones above and a few more nice picks. I guess with the end of the year upon us, we'll probably have to choose TUAW's favorites of 2009, too, eh? Stay tuned.
Actions of BioShock protagonist debated by characters in sequel
Considering the dichotomy of the moral decisions (see: good or evil) offered to the silent hero of the original BioShock, many have wondered how the upcoming undersea adventure, BioShock 2, would take his actions in the first installment into account. Without a save game import feature (ala Mass Effect 2), how could the sequel register the player's decisions in the original? The answer was recently revealed by Bioshock 2's creative director, Jordan Thomas: Ambiguity, my dear Watson. Speaking to MTV, Thomas explained that, "the things that he did are being fiercely debated by the splicers, because we wanted to support any of the choices the player could have made in the first game." He later added, "It's become kind of a religious question; what he did at the end of BioShock 1." This plot device is probably for the best -- if the splicers in Bioshock 2 knew about our actions in the first game, all they'd debate about is why we spent ten hours wandering aimlessly around the city, desperately hunting for audio cassettes.
Breakfast Topic: Shirt of choice
Out of all of the things we've broken down and discussed on this site, I don't think we've ever really dug into this one: what's your character's shirt of choice? The shirt slot on your character screen is really the last customization-only slot we've got left, ever since the tabards were allotted to earning reputation. So today's discussion topic is: what shirt do you have in there?Unfortunately, the Shirt of Uber is only a PTR item, so no one is wearing it on the live realms, or else obviously that's what we'd all be wearing. The Epic Purple Shirt is probably a favorite since earlier this year, if you've been lucky enough to get the TCG code. I'd bet the Swashbuckler's Shirts are popular, and the Red Linen Shirt has always been one of my favorites. I'm sure the Tuxedo Shirt has its share of fans as well.So what are you wearing underneath that armor? It'd be cool if Blizzard actually beefed up our choices there a bit -- maybe they could put stripes on the sleeve to show rank, or have some special color or model for people who have met certain achievements (and come on, a Three Worgen Moon shirt? I'd wear that). Then again, maybe it's better that the shirts stay pretty low key -- every other item on our character screen has gotten a purpose lately, so maybe we're better off wearing whatever shirt we want.
"Because I don't play" isn't an option on Blizzard's quit page
Jason Burns points out, pretty insightfully, on his blog that of all the various options Blizzard lists for quitting the game, simply not having the time to play it isn't one of them. Whenever you decide to cancel your subscription, you get a little survey to fill out, with two lists of options to explain why you're leaving the game. In the past, we've found some pretty silly options in there (and actually, it looks like they've changed quite a bit since we posted about the Will of the Forsaken nerf on the list), but Jason says that as many varied and different reasons as there are for leaving, Blizzard didn't include his: he likes the game, he just doesn't have the time to play it and justify the subscription. Which is what he eventually typed in. Like so many things with Blizzard, it would be fascinating to see the stats behind the information they're getting here -- do they see a little bump in quitters every time new patch notes come out? Is customer support really the biggest issue people have, or is harassment a major reason for people leaving as well? Just boredom with the game seems like it would be a huge reason to me, but there's not really a clear option for that either. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know the real stats behind this -- Blizzard isn't going to be revealing why people are leaving their game anytime soon. But it does seem strange that some of the biggest reasons you'd expect aren't on their list of possibles at all.
Breakfast Topic: What sides have you picked?
Some people who play World of Warcraft really closely identify with one of the two factions, the Horde and the Alliance. They care about the ongoing lore of the divide, they argue back and forth about which side is in the wrong and who is doing what, or when which side committed a particular wrong or another. Now, we here at wow.com are no different in that regard, as you saw when you followed those links. We're passionate about the game, and that includes the lore.However, I've always been less a factional player (I have and love Horde and Alliance toons pretty equally, and I think both sides of the Horde/Alliance enmity have good and bad points) and more of a class partisan. I pretty much love shamans and warriors and don't really like playing other classes. I'll defend my chosen classes, gush about them, rant about what I think needs fixing, and play those classes to the exclusion of others even when I know that objectively those other classes might well be just as much fun. I just can't bring myself to support other classes, play them, or even in my heart embrace them as fully as shamans and warriors. I'm not pretending my behavior is anything more than the strange mental quirk of a particular player, but it got me wondering: what other strange divisions are out there in active play? My lovely wife, for example, won't tame a pet unless it has a unique skin or is harder than normal to get. She just loves the challenge.Do you find youself making a choice, whether it be Horde vs. Alliance, a specific class, a race, a profession, or a style of play that draws a solid line of demarcation for you in game? Roleplayers vs. non-Roleplayers? Will you only raid 10 man? Are you a partisan for PvP and barely even bother with instances? What do you cleave to in WoW, and what do you reject?
The Daily Grind: How do you choose your MMOs?
Being new on the Massively team, I've been getting to know the rest of the bloggers and learning about their MMO habits and they're certainly a varied bunch. I like to think I have a good knowledge of MMOs, even if I play World of Warcraft almost exclusively, but whilst chatting with the team, it became clear most of them are gripped either by WoW, Second Life or EVE Online. Personally I'm dying to play Aion.I've dabbled in most MMOs and virtual worlds but I'd never played EVE Online. So, after ascertaining there was just one server and quietly thanking the MMO gods, I downloaded the file, created a sexy female Reborn and logged in. Boy did I get a shock! After hundreds of hours playing WoW, I was stuck in a ship and the cursor keys didn't appear to come into play either! Talk about out of my comfort zone. I confess, I gave it an hour and then went back to the sanctuary of Azeroth.Anyway, I wanted to find out how you guys choose which of the numerous MMOs to play. I got into WoW because all my friends and colleagues were playing it and a friend sent me the box as a birthday present. Even then it took a good month for me to get hooked. Now MMOs are a dime a dozen and it seems physically impossible to play all of them, how do you pick which ones to play and which to let pass by?
A random pet macro for your noncombat buddies
This is pretty simple (I know there are a few versions floating around), and just a few minutes with the macro API will probably get you something just like this (or probably better), but if you, like Bornakk, have so many noncombat pets that you don't know what to do with them, this macro that a guildie gave me a while back might help. Plug this text into a macro, save it as "Critter" and throw it on your toolbar./run CallCompanion("CRITTER", random(GetNumCompanions("CRITTER")))As you've probably surmised, it'll choose a random critter from your noncombat pets and bring it out for you to play with. As I said, this is super-simple -- you could add /dismount on to the front of this and use it as a one-stop "dismount and summon pet" macro, or I'm sure our commenters (who are much better at this macro stuff than I am) will have lots of other ways to play. We posted a more complicated one a while back, and you can still replace CRITTER with MOUNT, but this one's even easier than that.But like Bornakk, I tend to collect way too many noncombat pets and I can never choose which is my favorite. A random macro like this helps pull out a friend I haven't seen lately.
Speaking up for what's right
This is a pretty insightful thread, from all sides, on what the forums and customer feedback are really for. Rekker on Detheroc makes a good point, and that is that while people will complain about anything, almost no one speaks up when things are working right. We talked a little bit about this on the podcast this past week: are Blizzard's decisions based on a player base that never seems to be happy, no matter what you throw at them, or on some arbitrary design guidelines that Blizzard has stuck with from the beginning? Ghostcrawler, as you might expect, says it's a little bit of both. Blizzard doesn't just do what players say -- they consider player feedback and then make decisions from there. But at the same time, they can't ignore what players say, either. GC agrees that the forums are not the best sample of feedback, for the same reasons that Rekker gives: players go there because something is bothering them and they want it changed, not usually because they really love something in the game and want it to stay the same.Of course, forums are not the only form of feedback from the community, and there are many places Blizzard can get feedback about things in the game that players like (ahem). But just like Blizzard does, whenever you look at the forums, you have to realize that you're looking at just a slice of the feedback. People don't make QQ posts about the stuff they appreciate and like having in the game.
On Blizzard and caving
Players complain that dual specs are available only at the highest level, and Blizzard drops them down to level 40 (and removes the reagent, to boot). Engineers complain they don't have a self-buff, and they get one. Hunters are finally getting that last bag back. Even after the Love is in the Air holiday ends, Blizzard decided to nerf the achievement so everyone can get it anyway. And when ghetto hearthing, a much-loved exploit, is removed from the game, Blizzard decides to nerf, of all things, the hearthstone cooldown. Is it just us, or is Blizzard doing a lot of spelunking lately?Not that it bothers us -- most of those changes are welcome. The good thing about Blizzard caving is that at least it'll make somebody happy. But on the other hand (just to play devil's advocate here), this game is great because the devs made it, not because the players did. If Blizzard caves in every time players throw a fit on the forums, won't that hurt the game?It's not happening, says Zarhym. He says the Hearthstone change, as well as presumably all of the other changes above, came about not because of constant pestering of the devs, but because they sat down and made the decision that it was right for the game. He doesn't say they never cave (we can probably all agree that the dual spec at 40 change likely came about from player feedback, even if it was very insightful feedback), but Zarhym says the devs won't move on stands they believe in. Given that patch 3.1 is like an early tax return with all of the bonuses we're getting back, we wonder what exactly those are. 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.
Breakfast Topic: To re-customize or not
Paid customization has come to the game, and with it, some big decisions for a lot of players. We've asked for a long time to be able to change our gender or look in the game, and now that we can, we have to decide if we will or not.Personally, I'm torn -- way back when I first started the game, I created a female Night Elf Hunter, thinking along the old classic lines of "if I'm going to stare at someone's backside for hours and hours, it might as well be a woman." But since then, I've gotten a lot of flak for being a dude playing a female character, and since I've played all male characters since then, I think I better identify with male characters anyway, even if the view isn't as good.But on the other hand, I'm used to my Hunter now -- she's looked the same for almost 80 levels, and it would be weird to suddenly see a Night Elf guy on the screen in her place. So I'm torn -- change my character to a male and make being social in game much easier, or stay the same and keep my character familiar to me?What do you all think? Are you facing the same situation or is the choice easier (or even harder) for you?
Breakfast Topic: The leveling curve (and bending it)
This forum thread talks about a person who dinged 70 while still back in Nagrand, and while I didn't finish off the run to 70 that early (he probably did lots and lots of instances), it is possible to bend the leveling curve a little bit, especially in Outland, where there are so many quests to go around.So how far have you bent the leveling curve? Early on, it's pretty clear where to go to level up -- there are only a few areas you can go into at each level, and while there are definitely more quests than you need to do (especially in the newer Dustwallow Marsh content), things are pretty laid out for you. In Outland, though, things get a little squished -- Blizzard really went overboard with quests, and so it's possible now to hit the last level without ever seeing one or two of the zones.Fortunately, any XP that you would have gotten at 70 is translated back into gold on a quest reward, so even if you've finished early, there's still lots of reason to go back and see what's out there (and there is some must-see stuff later in the game). But how off has your leveling been? Anyone hit 70 even before Nagrand?
Ask Engadget HD: HD projector or HDTV?
Though this may not be The Great Debate or anything, it's still a point of contention between quite a few home theater enthusiasts. Here's your shot at chiming in:"I'm about to move into my new apartment and I've got big plans for the entertainment system. However, I don't know whether to go with a HD projector or a HDTV (LCD, plasma, DLP, it doesn't matter). I only need 720p because quite frankly, I can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p; plus 720p is cheaper! I realize that both have their pros and cons (size, mobility, inputs, cost, etc.), but I just can't determine which would be better. I'd love some actual recommendations from both sides to consider."Time to get your arguments in order, folks. Should this guy go beamer or flat-panel? Let us know which (and why) in comments below.Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Poll: How many options do you have for HDTV programming?
We've already discussed just how many HD channels you swell folks have on your current provider, but with the frenetic (through not nearly frenetic enough) pace at which alternate mediums are expanding, we're curious to know just how many choices you have. Granted, most everyone here in the US has at least two -- DISH Network and DirecTV -- and those close to local towers can toss up an antenna for some of that beautiful OTA action. But there is a certain sect among us with numerous cable, satellite and even fiber providers jockeying for their business, and yes, the rest of us not in this elite circle are immensely jealous. Toss in your vote below, and feel free to let us know which providers are available in your neck of the woods. [Image courtesy of AT&T] %Poll-12938%
Insight asks customers to select most wanted HD channels
Call us looney, but asking actual subscribers which HD channels they'd like to see most seems like an... astonishingly fantastic idea. Lo and behold, Insight has gone and done exactly that by hosting a survey for its customers to submit. Essentially, it asks respondents to select the top eight channels they'd love to see added to the high-def lineup, input what zip code they're in and toss in bonus comments if the mood strikes 'em. Of course, there's nothing there saying that the carrier will be using this data to bolster its high-definition offerings, but really, why else would it bother?[Thanks, Matthew]
