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Hearthstone also displays your characters on Facebook
Last week, when we reported on the Facebook I Play WoW app reaching a full 100,000 users, a lot of commenters mentioned another app over there, Hearthstone, that's got a good reputation from the people who use it. I checked it out, and indeed, it's an excellent alternative (or addition -- there's nothing keeping you from using both) to let you show your WoW characters off on Facebook.Just like I Play WoW, Hearthstone pulls your character information directly from the Armory, and displays it in a number of ways around Facebook, including, if you so choose, on your profile pages or on your wall. A few of our commenters said they liked Hearthstone's display better, but I didn't see any major differences there -- they both display your character, class, level, and server, and both will click through to pages where you can see more stats and discuss the character with others. Hearthstone will also let you change your character's image to a custom choice and enter a bio, though I Play WoW has some customization options as well. Hearthstone has an "equipment history," so even if you shard those epics you can still brag about having them. And finally,Hearthstone will let you play with the characters right on Facebook, and you can /salute or /duel the characters of your friends.Overall, they're both worth checking out if you want to show off some of your World of Warcraft progress on Facebook. Obviously, I Play WoW is bigger, but as our commenters pointed out, Hearthstone has some excellent features as well.
Aion producer Brian Knox interviewed
Aion: The Tower of Eternity has been kicking ass over in its local territory of Korea, and we're sure that there's a growing throng of folks out in the rest of the world that are dying to try it out. Massive Gamer Magazine recently had an interview with Brian Knox, a producer for the game, and what he said didn't give us much hope for betas outside of Korea -- at least not in any meaningful form. He says (correctly) that gamers are quick to judge a title on its beta, and that they would prefer to have "exclusive preview events" to show off the game at its best instead. Having said that, Korea did have a beta before launch, and hopefully we will too.A lot of the interview is spent discussing Aion's high level of customization. Knox claims that the character creation system is so robust that it would be possible to "literally create your own race within a race" by tweaking the sliders. As players level up, they will have the chance to equip stones that will change existing skills or grant new ones, further adding to character uniqueness. The other aspect of the game that Knox seemed very keen to talk about is the flying mechanic. Far from being tacked on, flight is intended to be integral to the gameplay in Aion, and its strategic use will be of the utmost importance in combat. To find out more, check out the full interview, which is now available online.
Audio details and more character customization in the latest Ask Cryptic
It looks like character customization is still the source of many of the most burning questions for followers of Champions Online, and another handful of these are answered in the latest "Ask Cryptic" feature. We find out that, although there are a number of crazy costume elements like tails, fins and claws, that is all they are intended to be for now -- costume elements. No wicked tail-strikes for the time being, but they haven't ruled this sort of thing out entirely, so keep your flippers crossed.Another community member asked about the audio in CO, and whether it is an important part of development for Cryptic Studios. In response, they say that they have just tripled the size of their audio team, which roughly translates to "Hell yes audio is important!". Signature villains have unique voices, and ambient sounds and music are being paid particular attention to. The final question asked if the biggest villains (like Foxbat) would have their own musical themes; although it doesn't look like they had planned it before, they certainly sound interested in incorporating it now. Check out the full answers to these questions and a bunch more at the Ask Cryptic page.
The best of WoW Insider: December 9-16, 2008
It's that time of year again -- the trees and lights are up in Azeroth, and Winter's Veil is upon us. Father Greatwinter is giving out gifts in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, and Blizzard devs are busy giving players the gift that keeps on giving: nerfs and more nerfs. Follow all of the wintry action at Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider -- if there's something under your tree that you need to know about, it'll be there, along with the usual cookies and milk. News World of Warcraft PTR 3.0.8 patch notesThe first post-expansion patch is queuing up on the test servers, and here's the notes. Mount race restrictions lifted, Tauren rejoiceNow you can mount up on all of the faction mounts, no matter what race you are. Character re-customization added for a small feeBlizzard makes it possible to re-customize your character's look or gender, for a price. FCC Commissioner: World of Warcraft causes college dropoutsThe same woman who blamed television for child obesity blames WoW for people dropping out of college. Warcraft restaurant opens in BeijingT.G.I. Frost Mages? We would also have accepted T.G.I. Fordragon's. Or Arthusbee's, though that last one is bad. Features The great Hunter nerf of 2008 BM Hunters get smacked with the nerf bat. The achievements of Winter's VeilThe Winter holiday has begun on the realms, and here's how to get your holiday title this time around. Patch 3.0.8: Analysis of Death Knight changesChanges to the dead man class in the new patch. Working at Blizzard: Sunshine, rainbows, claymores, backrubsA look inside the doors of one of the best game companies in the world, both from an interview with the COO and our own blogger's experience. Addon Spotlight: AchievementsA few good addons for tracking down all of those new achievement points.
Blizzard's version of RMT
Real-money trading is one of the most debated aspects of MMO gaming at large -- some games don't actually charge a monthly fee, and instead what they do is sell ingame items for real world money. Want that hot sword for your character? Put in your credit card and pay up. Blizzard, obviously, has never really subscribed to the idea, since a lot of players think it's unfair to make how much money you have in the real world a part of the game you play. Nevertheless, there is a lot of money to be made in selling virtual items for real money, and Blizzard has come up with their own form of RMT in terms of server transfers, name changes, and now gender changes as well.Blizzard has rules for their RMT, though, and Zarhym lays a few of them out: they won't charge for any item that means anything in game -- cosmetic items and looks are fair game, but actual gear or "integral services" (whatever that means exactly) is a no for them. They won't charge for anything that was free before, so creating up to 10 characters on a realm, for example, will always come with the subscription (though adding more may eventually be possible with an extra charge). And Blizzard's RMT comes as a game mechanic itself -- they choose to charge for things not just because there's a cost for them, but also to "curb their frequency," to keep all players from doing them all the time.It's an interesting idea, and it's definitely a lot more player-friendly than charging for things like, say, horse armor. You could also argue, of course, that something like the WoW TCG is also a kind of RMT scheme, since you have to pay real money for real cards to get in-game items (even though Blizzard has made sure those items are cosmetic as well). But paying for transfers and changes is a little sneakier -- Blizzard is slowly wading into RMT, so far successfully dodging all the sharks in the water.
Forum post of the day: You stay classy
It seems Blizzard has been listening to the complaints and concerns of players. I've been taken aback by the implementation of paid name changes, PvE to PvP transfers and gender changes. For years, I've read clamoring for race, faction and class changes.Zarhym weighed in Wolfbite of Chromaggus' thread in the general forums requesting class changes. Name and appearance changes are purely cosmetic, while allowing class changes would affect the overall dynamics of the game. Later in the thread Zarhym stated that this is partially to avoid creating a "flavor of the month" class, and would prefer to address player concerns. Rerolling was the most common prescription amongst posters to solve the original poster's issue.
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?
G1 and BlackBerry Bold get the Colorware treatment, finally feel at home with your bippies and lightsticks
As you probably learned in grammar school, there's a time in every gadget's life when it gets the Colorware treatment -- and for the G1 and the Bold, the time is now. It'll run you $150 to dress up your current T-Mobile handset, or the company will ship you a brand new one $725. Prices for the BlackBerry Bold run $139 and $674 for the makeover and the whole phone, respectively. Sure, that's a pretty pile of change, but if you'd spent your formative years in the East Coast rave scene you'd know just how coveted and stylish a pink, blue and orange G1 really is. If the BlackBerry is more your speed, make sure you check out that sexy number after the break.[Thanks, Ken]
Customization and community power in latest Ask Cryptic
Character customization seems to be the big focus in the newest Ask Cryptic for Champions Online. Questions about multi-limbed heroes (not at launch) and different stances to give your character (big yes!) receive the more strikingly straight-forward answers. It wouldn't be a big leap of logic to imagine that four-armed characters will eventually be possible, with the revealing of Grond (pictured above) last Halloween. We also learn that Cryptic is planning for plenty of wings and tails from the get-go, which should please a lot of players.However, the most interesting question asks Cryptic whether or not any of these community questions have actually changed their minds concerning design decisions. The response is fairly frank, with lead designer Randy "Arkayne" Mosiondz saying that fan response has definitely shifted the way that the team was implementing certain things. He goes on to point out that there haven't been any complete re-designs of systems, though. It's not surprising that Cryptic's listening to their community, as they've always been a rather smart developer in that way.
EVE Online's Senior Producer on expansion plans
Some new directions for EVE Online were announced at Fanfest 2008 earlier this month. Torfi Frans Olafsson is the Senior Producer for EVE Online, who presented many of these new features. Eurogamer's Oli Welsh recently spoke with Torfi Frans about the Fanfest announcements and how they'll impact the game as it moves forward. The interview focuses heavily on the Walking in Stations expansion, which -- despite no small amount of negative sentiment from some of the playerbase -- has the potential to expand the limits of gameplay in New Eden. "The expansion is about growing EVE Online as the general-purpose science fiction simulator out there... the whole idea is just to deepen the experience," Torfi Frans tells Welsh.
CCP reveals Tech 3 coming in EVE's March expansion
CCP Games revealed some details on the as-yet unnamed EVE Online expansion, slated for release in March of 2009. "The unnamed expansion will introduce 'Tech 3' modular ship designs, branching epic mission arcs, further improvements to the new player experience, and exploration of uncharted space through unstable wormholes," writes Oli Welsh, reporting from EVE Fanfest 2008 for Eurogamer.Welsh also reports that the exploration system of EVE Online will be revamped dramatically, now allowing for 'true exploration' where EVE's pilots will use "new skills and modules to travel through wormholes into all-new, unconnected space. There they will find unique stellar phenomena and the resources and artifacts that will lead to the third level of technology in the game universe, Tech 3 -- the first such update since Tech 2 was introduced back in 2004," Welsh adds.
Fanfest details emerge on EVE's Walking in Stations expansion
In further news coming from EVE Fanfest 2008, CCP Games has given a press-only presentation detailing the upcoming Walking in Stations expansion for EVE Online. While this is an aspect of the game that's so far been a divisive issue among EVE players, the expansion will allow players to step out of their ships and interact as highly detailed avatars in ship station interiors and captain's quarters aboard their own ships (presumably while docked in a station hangar). Walking in Stations is a project that's drawn on the talents of "special effects artists from the world of television and movies into the video game medium, a number of whom have been brought on to the team at CCP," writes Jon Wood of MMORPG.com, reporting from Reykjavik.
MindFuse's The World of Gatheryn detailed, kinda dated
MindFuse Games, which a couple of weeks ago announced it had raised $1 million in funding for a Victorian-themed MMO, sent out a press release yesterday officially announcing and providing details about the game, which is called The World of Gatheryn. Gatheryn is not merely Victorian, as we originally reported -- there are steampunk elements too.The focus seems casual, although the graphics are quite strapping for an independent game. MindFuse promises character customization, apartments, and puzzles, while specifically singling out violent conflict as a no-go. It seems to be a mostly laid back, friendly, social affair, but aimed at grown ups rather than pre-teens, in contrast to a lot of other casual titles.When we say the game has been pseudo-dated, it's a bit of a stretch: the press release says it'll be released in 2009. When in 2009? Your guess is as good as ours, but we'll bet it's not soon.
Take a deep breath and dive into LotRO's Legendary Item System
Turbine has put together an immensely deep look into the Legendary Item system coming in the Mines of Moria expansion. If you ever had any questions about, well about nearly anything regarding how the whole thing works, you should find your answers now. Our impressions are that it's certainly a cool and interesting attempt at enabling players to craft the weapon of their choice over a period of time, similarly to how you would an actual character. That being said, our only beef with the system is that it doesn't seem to support any kind of visual customization options. Everyone loves to personalize their stuff, so it seems likes a no-brainer. Hopefully, in time, we may see something of this nature.For now though, we're happy that Turbine is going the distance to try something new and possibly very evolutionary within the genre. The developer diary states that they'll be making any required adjustments in the future, too. So this is something of a work in progress in that sense.
Changes to custom alliance logos in EVE Online
One of the nicer aspects of establishing an alliance identity in EVE Online is that you're not stuck with the standard mix-and-match of graphics to create a logo. You can submit your own custom image which then becomes your alliance logo, viewable in-game. EVE dev CCP Loktofeit stated that there are now going to be changes with the Alliance Logo System which should cut down on the time between submission and when your logo is visible in-game.Unfortunately, as this new submission process goes into effect, any alliance that has submitted their logos but have not yet received approval will need to re-submit. Loktofeit said, "All previous submissions have been purged form the database in preparation for the new system." If this situation affects you or your alliance, you'll need to review the updated submission criteria, and read up a bit on the new submission/review/acceptance processes as well, which are detailed in CCP Loktofeit's dev blog and being discussed on the forums.
Hardware check before WotLK
All right, so not only are the system requirements out for Wrath, but new MacBooks came out yesterday as well, and we're just now heading into the holiday season. So now might be a great time to do a hardware check on your computer, and see how it stacks up to how you'll be playing WoW.So here's a quick look at who will be able to run what where in the future. Keep in mind that Blizzard is extremely kind on system requirements -- they design their games to run on almost anything (which is one reason why they have so many fans), so odds are pretty good that if you run WoW well now, you'll run it well after Wrath (though you may also have to tweak the ingame video settings a bit, and you may not get the benefit of the cool graphical touches they're adding in). But if you do want to upgrade the way you see the game, there are a few things you can do, from upgrading a few parts to getting a whole new computer.
WoW paid character customization button discovered, Brack confirms
When curious World of Warcraft players investigated currently-unused images hidden in a build of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, they uncovered a button labeled "UI-PaidCharacterCustomization" which was associated with the character selection screen. Needless to say, that discovery raised some eyebrows. At Blizzcon, Lead Producer J. Allen Brack was asked to clarify.According to WarCry's write-up for the event, Brack first dodged the question, but eventually decided it was necessary to address it. He confirmed that a paid character customization service is in WoW's future, but said that the developers haven't decided what it will entail or how much it will cost yet.Perhaps players will pay to make changes not supported by the barbershop, or perhaps all-new premium customization options will be introduced. If it's the former, then WoW is not headed towards a more microtransaction based future, as that sort of option is similar to the already-existing service that allows players to pay for a name change. If unique premium options are being introduced though, that's a whole different ball game. [Via Rock, Paper Shotgun]
Get into the Halloween spirit with a screen saver
With Halloween only a couple weeks away, it's time to get your Mac into the holiday spirit ... with a screen saver! The free Jack-o-Lantern screen saver from Killer Robots does just that -- without the mess of carving a pumpkin. It has over 25 pre-made designs, but you can also create your own pumpkin designs in Photoshop using the carving template provided by the developer. The screen saver features a very realistic pumpkin that rotates against a black background. You can control many settings including: seconds between pumpkin design changes, camera rotation, quality, and screen glow. In addition, you can select which designs you want shown. Check out our gallery of screenshots to get a feel for the quality of this awesome screen saver. You can download the screen saver from the developer's website. If you want even more customization, check out the Icon Factory's Halloween section for free icons (compatible with Candybar from Panic). Do you have another favorite holiday screen saver or icon set you like to use? Let us know in the comments! %Gallery-34299%
New Star Trek Online screenshots reveal character customization depth
The newest trio of screens to come out for Star Trek Online give us a taste of what to expect from the character customization options touted in the MMO. But simply calling it character creation would be underselling it. Cryptic is promising fully-featured racial creation tools here, which explains why the lady in the upper right of the image above looks like a green Klingon. Don't get us wrong, we're totally cool with green ridge-head ladies -- they're just the bee's knees. Though in truth we've always had a soft spot for Betazoids, if we're going to be honest here.Aside from this visual tease, the other two images focus on the game environment like most of the previous screenshots we've seen. We're happy to be getting a little bit more information out of Cryptic, even if the offering has only made us lust for more customization details. Consider us on watch for visual starship customization examples.%Gallery-28615%
38 Studios acquires MMO newsletter tailored to player characters
As time moves on, we're slowly getting more information about MMO developer 38 Studios and their plans. 38 Studios, which brings together Red Sox pitcher (and MMO fan) Curt Schilling, comic book creator Todd McFarlane, and author R.A. Salvatore, is known to be developing a fantasy-MMO codenamed "Copernicus." When it comes to news regarding this game studio, we're primarily interested in Copernicus here at Massively, but our sister site WoW Insider turned up something else interesting involving 38 Studios. It turns out that they've acquired Mentor Media, creators of a custom World of Warcraft newsletter called Azeroth Advisor, which offers personalized information about WoW as it pertains to your own character. Could this be a sign of what's to come with Copernicus, and would you appreciate a customized newsletter offered in tandem with your MMO of choice?
