customization
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Earthrise on the horizon
New details about the sci-fi themed MMO Earthrise have emerged, thanks to MMOCrunch's recent interview with Atanas Atanasov, the CEO of Masthead Studios. Gameplay in Earthrise is chiefly skill-based and Atanasov explained in detail the limitations of the skill system, or more accurately -- the lack of limitations. The game mechanics will not limit the skills available to a player character, regardless of faction chosen. However, many skills will only come into play through the use of equipment that utilizes them. As a skill-intensive game, Earthrise will not rank characters by level. A character's gameplay options are kept in check by their physical attributes (Physique and Intellect) and their genetic code. Gene modification is available at a cost and will allow players to tweak their potential, opening up new possibilities. This is in keeping with Earthrise's system of character customization, which they've stated is largely free of class restrictions.
ColorWare does the Air
Macs, in general, have always been works of art compared to their rivals, and the MacBook Air is a pinnacle achievement in the line of lust-worthy Apple computers. There's just never been a lot of color choice in the Apple's lineup. For the audacious souls who choose to express their personality through their hardware, ColorWare has been making Macs (et al) into vibrant articulations of individuality for 8 years. And now they'll deck out your Air, too. ColorWare recently announced the inclusion of the MacBook Air in its line of color-modded machines. Starting with a sleek black, the pigmentation possibilities branch out exponentially when you consider there are 34 other colors that can be mixed and matched in whatever combination best describes your individual taste. You can choose a metallic or solid type of color for the high-gloss, scratch-resistant, polymer-based coating. For a lot of us – well, me anyway – I'm pretty happy with titanium and white as I've never needed my computer to be a distraction in and of itself. I have enough applications designed for that purpose. But I know there are more than a few people excited about a black MacBook Air, probably even a few tickled about the pink option and many more in the spectrum between. You can send in your current machine ($500+) or buy one ready to go ($2568+). You can even play with the possibilities before you make the leap.
New bits about WAR's Trophy System
All right, when we first heard about trophies in Warhammer Online, we'll admit to being filled with an abundance of child-like glee. There's a reason that we're willing to admit it though and it's because trophies are one of the coolest things about the upcoming massively game. The idea that when you kill a truly impressive enemy, you not only get loot (in the case of PvE) but a trophy to wear -- as a badge of honor -- is something to get a little excited about.EA Mythic's Justin Webb has a great writeup over on the Warhammer Online website concerning the Trophy system. You can think of the it as another layer of visual customization for your characters in Warhammer Online. It's a system that exists alongside initial character creation, armor diversity and being able to dye armors. With a system like this there's a lot to cover, so feel free to check out the good n' gritty bits on trophies after the break.
Games that could be MMOs: Spore
Ever since I saw Spore being shown at Macworld this year, I've been thinking about how our characters progress, and likening it to evolution. The more you fight, the more you grow -- in levels, anyway. Here, however, death doesn't cut off your genetic line, but neither do you get to pass yours on. And while it's cool to watch your character gain abilities, hit points, new gear, etc., what if there were an MMO that let you actually evolve?Take Spore as our example: start life as a single-celled organism. Eat and avoid being eaten long enough, and you level up to the next step: evolving into something better adapted to the environment, so you can survive better, longer. Keep on growing until you've begun making tools. Organize a community. Explore the world, and eventually, space itself, and new worlds. This is what Spore promises, but currently it's a single-player game, with the only interaction with other players arising when spaceflight is achieved. But what if Spore started out as an MMO?
Player housing revisited, Blizzard still not interested
Of all the recurring topics Blizzard faces on the forums, player housing might be the most recurring-- since many other MMOs are more than happy to offer customizable spaces to their players in the game world, a lot of players continually ask Blizzard why they haven't. And the answer is only partially unclear: as you might expect, Blizzard isn't interested in doing something if they can't do it better than everyone else, and at this point they just haven't figured out exactly how to do it their own polished way.But in its current iteration on the forums, there's a bit of a surprise: many players don't care about player housing in the first place. As Drysc says, "support is not widespread," and considering everything that Blizzard is working on, there's no way they're going to jump into something as big as player housing without having a large portion of the player base behind them.Then again, players are always in favor of customizing their characters-- look at the hairstyles coming up in the next expansion. If Blizzard can figure out a way to give players a customizable space that was both great looking and easy to customize-- something players could show off to each other and store achievements in-- then there's no doubt that most players would probably jump at the chance.
Play dress-up in Japan's first casino game
With Japan yet to be treated to its first compilation of casino games on the DS, Success Corp is planning to bring SuperLite 2500 Tokyo Odaiba Casino to the region next February. At first glance, there's nothing particularly notable about the title, with the usual casino suspects all present: poker, slots, bunny girls, blackjack, and roule -- wait, bunny girls?Yep, it turns out that Odaiba comes with a rather unusual hook: the ability to dress up the game's casino hostess in a range of costumes that can be purchased once you've won enough virtual medals in the game. Indeed, further research indicates that said outfits are the only reward for playing through the game. Is this the vital ingredient that would have brought success with the lonely male demographic to western casino titles? Dear reader, we shall never know.Take a gamble and make the jump for shots of a further five outfits.
Exactly when did you get hooked?
Starting a new game is exciting, especially if it's one you know nothing about. When I look at the long, long list of MMOs available on the right-hand side of Massively's page, inwardly I give a little squeak of joy -- so many new experiences! I manage to forget how many of those experiences will reveal themselves as minor variations on a theme -- hack, slash, heal, quest, level up.Yet there's something that keeps me signing up for more, in search of that elusive something that means a given title is worth investing some time in. But what, exactly, is that crucial element? What aspect of gameplay is the eye-opener? Is it the way a quest's story unfolds? Is it a particular gameplay mechanic? Is it the character customization system? Is it, for heaven's sake, the ding? Hit me with what makes you keep an account, when other games lose you.
Bringing the mohawk to Azeroth
Mr. T hacked the game and put in a Night Elf mohawk of his own, but will we be able to do the same with the next expansion? Could be-- Bornakk says that he hopes every class gets a mohawk to choose from when the new hairstyles come down in Wrath of the Lich King, but the actual model from the commercial was custom-made for Mr. T.A mohawk might not be your first choice, but it will be nice to have some new customization choices out there-- I was showing off all of my alts to a friend the other day, and it occurred to me that I must have created an alt for almost every look out there. Not every combination of looks, surely (there's got to be tons of those), but at least every look that appealed to me. Just like many players, I'm definitely ready for new looks, whether they look like Mr. T or not-- if we've got the mohawk coming, does that mean we'll get a mullet for Blood Elves?
Change your gender? Blizz says no
Character customization is on its way into Azeroth-- when Wrath of the Lich King comes around (whenever that is), we'll be able to change the way our characters look more than ever. But Blizzard still isn't interested in letting us change the most major functions of our characters-- Vaneras over on the EU forums makes it pretty clear that gender changes are never going to happen.Gender changes are still a subject that inspires a little taboo in real-life, but actually, in World of Warcraft, it's something that a lot of players might want. Plus, while it's obvious that Blizzard wouldn't want people changing race or class (since there are actual abilities that go with both of those choices), there is no difference in the game between male and female, save for the cosmetic look. Sure, the story behind it would be a hard workaround (I'll let you imagine how that might play out, or, more likely, not), but allowing gender changes wouldn't upset the game, and would let those who feel they've made the wrong choice, err, "fix" things.The fact is, however, that just like race and class, the gender you chose when you rolled a character have probably determined that character's existence. While changing the character's gender is just a cosmetic thing in terms of code, it's not in terms of identity, and that's what Blizzard has a problem with. The idea of a role playing game like WoW is that you choose a role to play. And if you have the option to change that role at a moment's notice, what's the point of asking you to choose in the first place?
Turbine talks Korean LotRO, Book 11, Book 12, and more
There's a lot of buzz going for The Lord of the Rings Online. Book 11 was recently released, and it was the game's biggest update so far. Book 12 is in the works. Most importantly from a big-picture standpoint, Turbine has secured deals to launch the game in the Korean and Chinese markets.Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky talk to Ten Ton Hammer about all these things and more in a new interview. The Korean launch looks like it might go very well, and it appears that Book 12 will be all about "customization." We've already picked up some details about new options for player housing, but that's only the beginning. Players will soon be able to change their characters' hair at a barber shop.Book 12 will also introduce some sort of system that will allow players to "maintain what they present outwardly to the other players and modify their stats in two different channels," meaning a player will have options if he or she really wants that new piece of armor that has great stats but that looks ridiculously out of place on his or her character.Cool! No details yet on how exactly that will work, though.
How to tweak the Leopard Dock's color
Earlier, I posted about how you can revert those new lights in Leopard's Dock back to Tiger's old triangles (and I can't say I was too surprised to find out that most of you didn't want to revert anything-- do what feels right, man), and I said that the next thing to go would be Leopard's shiny Dock-top.And now, here we go-- Something Awful's echobucket has apparently found the files that need to be changed to edit the look of the dock. As with the triangles, the Dock elements have a few sizes to them, so replace the "scruve-x.png" files (where x is "l," "m," "sm," or "xl") in the Dock package's /Contents/Resources folder (make sure to back up the original files just in case, too), and then type "killall Dock" in the Terminal to restart it, and bingo, a slightly less bright dock.In fact, just by changing the color of those pictures, you can change the color of the Dock itself (here's an orange dock on a black background for Halloween, via Digg commenter HacKing). It can't be too long before some enterprising programmer figures out how to put all of this inside an easy-to-use app, but here's the real question: if it's all this easy, why didn't Apple offer us this kind of customization ourselves? Sure, when you hand the paintbrushes to the people, things can get ugly, but they can also get much more beautiful, too.[via Digg]
Wii Warm Up: Prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet
After discussing character creation and the lack of features (and faces) in Carnival Games, we spent a little time thinking about the different ways people approach customization in games that offer the option. We know a lot of gamers, after all, and we've noticed they all approach character customization differently. Some like to try to recreate themselves as closely as possible, while others will go all out with the craziest, most unrealistic avatars ever. Some people like to switch genders. Some like to recreate the likeness of a celebrity or a character from another game. What's your style? When given the chance to design your own avatar or character, how do you approach it? With Miis, do you use a Mii that resembles yourself, or something else?Also, bonus points (in the form of applause and kudos) to readers who are familiar with the literary quotation in the title of today's post. No fair Googling![Used this particular South Park character creation engine, with a little hair-help from Photoshop.]
More academic discussion of Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is more interesting than we thought, it seems! Whereas we (read: I) found the improvements in Wild World a poor trade for NES games, and not enough to hold our interest after a year or so of Gamecube Crossing, academics are speaking out in appreciation of Nintendo's pointless-by-design communication game.The latest essay on Henry Jenkins' blog, is an excerpt from a thesis by Kristina Drzaic, about "secrets" in Animal Crossing. The idea is that other games feature glitches that allow the player to redesign the game in small ways and alter the basic experience, whereas Animal Crossing features such "glitch-like" abilities as part of the natural design of the game, and allows even more customization than the engine was designed for. One example showed a player creating a narrative conflict between herself and Tom Nook just by trying and failing to buy some candy. We were just wondering aloud why customizable content was so compelling! Good thing there are people smarter than us out there.[Via GameSetWatch]
Polly wanna morph?
Last night we ventured back into Zul'Gurub, mudskunks in hand, for another unsuccessful attempt at the fishing boss. Although Gahz'ranka didn't see fit to drop my book, again, I was grateful for the opportunity. I don't know why I am obsessed with getting the third polymorph spell, but I am. In fact, I think there should be more of these little gems. I have often found myself in a group with another mage, and having a pig and a sheep certainly makes knowing who's target is who's that much easier. So I have been thinking about the polymorphs I have seen used by NPCs in the game, and the ones I would like to use myself. Yesterday, after the ganking discussion, I started a blood elf warlock on a pvp server. I didn't get far, but I managed to get some apprentice discipline in before I switched characters. There it was, another polymorph I hadn't even recognized, and although I don't really want to be able to turn people into boars, it's out there as a possibility. I've been turned into squirrels, frogs, rats, chickens, even flowers. All of these spells are in the game, albeit as NPC abilities, and I think should be available to the mages willing to slough through the difficult task of getting them. The way I see it, the more variety the more chance for personalization of the character, and it sure would be easy to distinguish one mage's poly from another in raids. Another idea on customization goes along with the concept of beauty parlors. Instead of having a lot of different animals, mages could quest for the ability to colorize their sheep. I've done it in other games, and this would be another way to distinguish targets. Plus, it would just plain be fun. What do you think? Which animals would you like to see added to the list of polymorphs? Personally, I'm voting for polymorph: panda.
New details to feed your Dragon Quest IX addiction
It seems some people were concerned that in trying to keep Dragon Quest fresh, the upcoming iteration might be heading too far away from the basics of the franchise -- specifically, by moving away from a turn-based combat system in favor of something a little more action-oriented. But don't worry, DQ buffs; the rumors were just that, and according to the latest Shonen Jump, DQIX will in fact retain a turn-based combat system. Also, players will be able to customize the appearance of their characters, from height and weight to hair and face, and even their costumes. There's no word yet on how extensive this system may be, but even a small dose of customization can go a long way. Next month, we hope to see more than a trickle on the upcoming DS exclusive at the Square Enix party.
Emotive's Push Ringer overrides ringtones, pranksters overjoyed
Forget personalized ringtones and ringbacks, the next tween obsession has arrived in the form of Push Ringer, which "enables a caller to push an outgoing ringtone to the receiving phone -- allowing the caller, not the called person -- to set the tone." We're assuming you're either elated or sighing mightily after reading that, but there's 7.7 million reasons why you wish you would've implemented it first. A group of deep-pocketed investors have sunk $7.7 million into Emotive Communications' flagship idea, which temporarily overrides the phone's preset ringer, and moreover, allows the recipient of the surprise sound-byte to "instantly buy a copy" if they so desire. Notably, this very service has already taken the VoIP world over, as Skype users are probably more familiar with the RingJacker concept. Now, who's down for inventing the Push Ringer Reverser to send a "you got punk'd" clip back at the egotistical sender?[Via The Raw Feed]
Shades: application color customization
You know those paint color sample strips that you typically see in home improvement stores? They usually have different shades of the same color on individual strips so that you can easily compare and fine-tune your color choices. Shades 1.0 applies this same methodology of color selection to the standard Apple Color Picker within OS X. With this little utility installed, any application that uses the Apple Color Picker will be transformed to display a color grid once you select a center color, step size, and a constant color coordinate (of H, S, or B). And with this handy grid, you can tweak your color choice even further for precise customization. Ok, so this utility probably best serves only the truly obsessive among us, but the concept is still pretty nifty, I think. Shades is shareware, and will set you back $14.95 for a full license.
Color your iPod
ColorwarePC offers a distinct way to create a personalized iPod. They'll color it for you. For $74, they'll tint your iPod from their palette of 28 colors. Pick one color for the click wheel, one for the front housing, one for the back. Some of their colors are flat. Others have embedded metallic flakes that shimmer under bright lights. Don't have an iPod? They'll sell you a nano or a video model with custom coloring from their in-house stock of new iPods. Unfortunately, it's already too late to order one of these by Christmas. If you placed an order today, it would arrive early-to-mid January, meaning that you'd have to stick an IOU into someone's stocking. The coloring service, where you supply the iPod, is US-only. However, new purchases can be made from around the world. Contact the company to see whether they ship to your area.
Tutorial: Customize your disk images
MurphyMac has posted a video tutorial showing how to customize your dmg containers to make them look more professional. The tutorial walks you through the steps of creating a disk image, adding a background graphic, and saving the result for production and distribution. A fully customized dmg file offers a polished presentation so you can really impress the people you're distributing your material to.
Visage Login - customize Mac OS X's login screen
If the design of Apple's Mac OS X login screen just isn't floatin' yer boat, Visage Login might be worth a look. With two separate versions - one for 10.4 and another for 10.1-10.3 - this is one of the few apps I remember where 10.3 users have some features to brag about over Tiger users. As an app for 10.4 Tiger, Visage Login allows you to alter the login screen's logo and desktop image, while a preference pane for 10.1-10.3 has the ability to run screen savers as your desktop background, personalize system alerts, randomize the login screen background, and more.Visage Login is shareware with a fully-functioning 3 day demo. A single license costs a mere $4.95, while a 50+ machine license for businesses and corporations is $29.95.[via digg]
