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CTD's incredulous Dragonfly concept in the flesh -- needs a few more years in the oven
Don't get us wrong, we're completely enamored with the idea of having a real laptop-style keyboard in a pocket-friendly form factor, but based on our quick look at a very rough mockup of the device today, we're not so convinced that CTD's "crossfolding" Dragonfly MID will be the one to bring it to market. We spoke with Edward Bullister, an MIT grad with a PhD and some Intel connections, who is hard at work on the device, and while we admire his enthusiasm and DIY ethic, we'd say he seems a little overly optimistic when it comes to the tech necessary to pull this off.His plan is to stick a Moorestown chip inside, with Windows XP as a primary OS, but perhaps a dual-boot option to Moblin. He's totally serious about the two fold-up LED backlit LCDs, though he admits the dual-sided screens depicted in the renders will have to wait for a later generation. More incredulously, he claims the device will have "all day" battery life, and be ready to ship by the end of the year. Yeah... we doubt it. No manufacturer is lined up currently, and he seems pretty distant from even having a working prototype. Still, we can't deny how great the form factor would be for pounding out a writing assignment on a plane, or wowing friends and family members (though we're not stoked about his ideas for using an external mouse as a primary input). So, best of luck Edward -- we'd love to be proven wrong on this one.
A rocky start for Warhammer's 1.21 patch
Patch day in an MMO is always hit or miss, but according to a number of sources, Mythic's 1.21 patch for Warhammer Online broke many core components of the game that still haven't been fixed several days later. A public acknowledgment appeared on the WAR Herald this past weekend, but some players are still furious.The major issues revolve largely around end-game content, such as tier 4 open RvR, fortress raids, and city sieges. Many players in the endgame are experiencing debilitating lag, targeting issues in RvR, crashes, and even the inability to log back on to their main characters. A recent crash even created a rollback situation for some characters, which means they lost everything they had gained over a certain period of time before the crash (from XP and renown to Darkpromise gear).This is an unfortunate situation for Mythic because it seems to be overshadowing many of the great new features in 1.21, such as a new token system for RvR gear and enhanced keep siege options. The living guild interface received a major overhaul as well and many players were reporting that cast lag was nearly abolished before the other issues started cropping up.
WAR's Mark Jacobs on fixes and holiday experience bonuses
Fans of Warhammer Online will have noted a great deal of patching over the past few weeks. In fact, even the patches needed some patching. Some major issues Mythic Entertainment has been working to fix are the frequent crashes-to-desktop and other lockups players have been reporting. The latest word from Mythic's Mark Jacobs is that the client crashes have been drastically reduced, down by 75% (in North America). In fact, client crashes are now at their lowest point ever, either in development or since Warhammer Online went live, Jacobs said. But he wasn't writing to the Warhammer Online player base just to talk about patches and crash fixes. Jacobs also announced a holiday gift for all WAR players that doesn't involve dwarves and debauchery. Warhammer Online players now enjoy an experience bonus, as of December 18th. Jacobs stated Mythic decided to increase the rest experience multiplier bonus, while "...reducing the time that it takes you to earn rested xp while logged out of the game, especially in Tiers 3 and 4. This will result in players' time to level being approximately 10% faster in Tier 2 and 20% faster in Tiers 3 and 4." Jacobs didn't state how long this revved up leveling curve will last, but stated it would be for "a few weeks." WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
