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This electronic fairy jar is a charming mix of Pokémon and Tamagotchi
WowWee's new LCD toy lets children amass a collection of colorful fairies in a jar.
Leaderboard: Which additional ArcheAge race would you like to play?
ArcheAge is launching with four playable races. This seems like a small number for a fantasy MMO, but XLGAMES has hinted at additional choices before, namely the Dwarf, the Warborn, the Fairy, and the Returned. We've seen some visual evidence of those first two, but the Fairy and the Returned are still somewhat mysterious. Do any of those additional races sound appealing to you, ArcheAge fans? Which one, if any, would you choose to play if they were available? Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Left 4 Dead born from Valve's killed 'flying fairy' game
"We stabbed it," Valve project manager Erik Johnson tells PC Gamer of the studio's apparent "flying fairy game," as Gabe Newell puts it. The conversation with Valve, which includes marketing director Doug Lombardi, provides revealing insight into the creative process of one of the most respected developers in the industry. Described as an "action fantasy sort of role playing game" featuring fairies, the project went as far as a working prototype (with spells cast by mouse gesturing) and "it was so bad," says Newell. Still, it was "a useful failure," adds the Valve co-founder, "because It was so clearly dumb that it made us say, 'Okay, what are we actually good at that we can do instead?'" Cue the Zombie Apocalypse! [Image credit: PC Gamer]
MMO Family: A parent's look at Pixie Hollow
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. I wasn't planning to include a 2-D Flash game in MMO Family's initial sweep of children's games -- but then my daughter tried Disney's Pixie Hollow. Initially dismissive of the idea of slumming it in 2-D, she found herself utterly captivated by its magpie collection quests and friendly community of players. In the eyes of this 8-year-old road tester, Pixie Hollow delivers an enjoyable, social experience in an online world ... And I was forced to admit that this world suits her own interests as well as deeply immersive MMO worlds hold mine. We're not going to get into gender wars here. Obviously, some girls won't like the fairies theme, and we're sure grownups will continue their snarky debates over the game's recently added male characters ("sparrow men"). Beyond that, what's most apparent is that Pixie Hollow successfully snares both kids who are enthralled with the Disney Fairies franchise and those who simply enjoy a glittery, web-based spot to flutter and chatter.
Robots perform in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' said to outdo the cast of New Moon
Shakespeare's plays have a long, long history of being modded to fit the times. We've seen Macbeths do the running man, and Cordelias dressed like Susie Sioux -- and we've also seen Forbidden Planet, so we know that Robby was just a tinned up Ariel. So robots in Shakespeare? Sure, we've seen that before, but what haven't we seen intertwined into bad theatre? Well, Texas A&M's just staged A Midsummer Night's Dream to include robotic cast members. Working with Professor Robin Murphy, who heads up the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, director Amy Hopper hacked the script a bit to include an air robot -- which is about the size of a pizza, and has been used in military operations -- playing a fairy, and six small radio controlled helicopters. The robotics team used the opportunity to observe how cast and audience members reacted to the robots, and we're pretty sure the audience warmed to them far more quickly than they would to Christian Bale or Sean Penn.
RuneScape art director on the Zanaris redesign
RuneScape is a game with a long history and one that's attracted millions of devoted fans over the years. That said, we think most would concede that RuneScape was getting a bit long in the graphical tooth. Improving RuneScape's graphics seems to be a priority for Jagex Game Studios from what we've read in the latest dev diary by the title's art director Mod Joe. He writes about the redesign of the fairy area Zanaris, originally 'just a standard brown dungeon' which was later revamped to be blue, yet still didn't convey the 'magical' look the designers wanted. The first dev blog on the Zanaris improvements (of which two more are to follow) focuses on the concepts that needed to be re-worked, from the look of the fairies themselves to the environment they populate. Have a look at Mod Joe's development diary for more on the ways Jagex has worked to improve the look of RuneScape.
Palm Pre to be assembled by Chi Mei Communication Systems, fairies
Information about Palm's hotly anticipated Pre just keeps slowly trickling out... today, we hear that Taiwanese OEM Chi Mei Communication Systems will have the honor of assembling the smartphones. The company's not one of the largest out there, but it also manufactures phones for Motorola. This info comes to us courtesy of DigiTimes, so make of it what you will, but they also say that production could begin as early as March. Considering that it's March now, well... we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?[Via Brighthand]
Nintendo help for your fantasy baseball team
While we question the ability of McSweeney's to integrate classic Nintendo characters into a major-league squad, that's just the scouting report that's been released for this truly fantasy baseball roster.For instance, you've got a young shortstop who spends way too much of his time with "fairies" in Link and the token female pitcher (albeit one with a built-in arm cannon) in Samus, but these inclusions will always be overshadowed by that of the stocky plumber stalked by rumors of steroid abuse. Way to go, Mario.
