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Twitter's Discover tab now snags popular stories and commentary from those in your Twitterverse
If you fancy seeing what headlines those who you follow on Twitter are chatting about in one compact list, some new functionality in the Discover tab will offer their insight in a few clicks. Essentially, the new feature tracks stories that your pals in the Twitterverse post and allows you to see what the commotion is all about via the "View Tweets" option along the bottom of each article link. From there, you can tweet the link yourself and include your thoughts on the particular matter. While the outfit boasts ongoing improvements to the Discover tab, this particular feature will see daylight on the web while hitting both iPhone and Android apps in the next few weeks. Go on. Navigate to your Twitter home page to take it for a spin yourself.
Rumor: Leaked Diablo 3 promotional video shows off 'followers'
The video embedded after the break was purportedly leaked from Blizzard Entertainment's Korean arm, and shows a longer look at Diablo 3's follower system, in which players can hire characters to help them with all of the hacking and slashing. As you can see in the video, there are a few different follower classes to choose from, including Enchantress, Scoundrel and Templar. The UI screens hint that you'll be able to equip weapons and rings on these characters, as well as choose various skills for them to use at different levels. Their appearance will also evidently change over time, though it's not clear whether that's determined simply by level, by equipment, by skills chosen or some combination of all three. Earlier builds of the game suggested you could hire more than one follower, but this glimpse shows only one at a time. The original poster of the video on YouTube reports that Blizzard has now "officially released" it after confirming the leak, but there's no sign of it on the official website yet, and we haven't heard anything official. If we do, we'll let you know. Update: Here's the official page. Looks like we were right: only one at a time, though each follower has their own story that "entwines" with yours as you play the game. Sounds fun!
EVE Evolved: Power players and player retention
As I mentioned in our coverage of the EVE Online Fanfest, the best part of the experience for me was discussing EVE with players who are as involved in and enthusiastic about the game as I am. On my first night there, I got into a fascinating discussion with a few players on a topic I hadn't really considered before -- power players. Every MMO has players who get heavily involved in their chosen game. EVE's Fanfest really highlighted this, as around a thousand of EVE's power players flew to Iceland just to talk about the game, contribute ideas in roundtable discussions and find out what the future holds for the game. Ultimately, the fate of EVE lies in its community. EVE's main strength as an MMO is the fact that with so many players in one game universe, people form very real ties with each other. Corporations and alliances are more than just collections of people; they're sub-communities with their own aspirations, internal politics, playstyles, personalities and even senses of humour. These organisations give people support and a place to call home in an unforgiving universe, and it's the power players of EVE who make all of that possible. In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore the importance of power players in MMOs and what the concept means for EVE's development.
Funcom offers prizes for friends and followers
Tis the season for getting cool things -- and for making new friends. Funcom obviously agrees, as they've got a contest going where they'll be giving away some pretty nice prizes for people who become friends, fans, or followers on their various Facebook and Twitter accounts. The idea is pretty simple: for every one of the Funcom accounts you link up with, you'll be entered in the drawing for prizes. So, with two accounts each for Age of Conan, Anarchy Online The Secret World, as well as for Funcom in general, there are 8 different ways you could land some sweet swag. Among the prizes for this giveaway are free game time; beta access to Age of Conan's next expansion, Rise of the Godslayer; a guaranteed spot in hotly anticipated The Secret World beta test; in-game items for Age of Conan and Anarchy Online; and "much, much more" according to their information. With Rhode Island and Florida excluded from the ranks (that pesky "must buy a bond for your prizes" thing we're sure) most everyone else can enter for a chance to score some sweet Funcom goodies. If you're looking for where exactly to link up your accounts, they've even listed the links on the Age of Conan site, making the clicky-clicky that much easier. Just make sure you've joined up before January 4th, 2010 when the contest ends. Good luck!
WoW Insider Show live today on Ustream at 3:30pm Eastern
Gonna be a good one (but is it ever not?) on our podcast today -- Contributing Editors Lesley Smith and Alex Ziebart will both be in the virtual broadcast booth with Turpster and I, and we'll be talking about the biggest stories in World of Warcraft over the past week, including patch 3.1.1 and all of the fixes that have been dropping lately, server outages and how bad they've been, what things are like in Ulduar so far, what the new 5-man might be, and the crack-in-a-twinkie that is Peggle in WoW. That's actually a lot of stuff -- we better talk fast.The show starts up at April 25, 2009 3:30 PM EST var date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); over on our Ustream page, or you can just click below to find the embedded Ustream feed in the second half of this post. And of course if you can't make it to listen live today, don't worry, because the show will be recorded and available in its entirety (well, minus the preshow and aftershow that we usually do for the live listeners) on Monday as usual.Oh, and we owe you readers a big thank-you: our Twitter page did in fact hit 9000 followers this week (actually, over 9000), so it looks like Turpster and I will have to gussy up and turn on the cameras for a video show. Stay tuned to the show today for more information on that, and keep an eye on the site here for when we'll be doing it. It'll definitely be something to see. Get it? "See"? Video?
WoW Insider Show Episode 84: The grass is greener
Good times as always on the podcast last Saturday -- we welcomed blogger Nick Whelan on, of his own Curse of Senility and the newest writer on our own Blood Pact column, all about Warlocks. Turpster and Michael "Belfaire" Sacco also joined us, and we answered your emails (including some follow-up on just how loyal you should be to your guild, even when they're not really progressing), as well as talked about the most popular WoW insider posts for the past week: why 25-man gear should be better than 10-man gear, new news out of patch 3.1 (which, if you listen to Turpster, is right around the corner), and all of the April Fools jokes that went around last Wednesday. You can download the show at any of the links below, or pick it up by subscribing in iTunes (and it's been a while since we asked you to leave some reviews over there, so if you haven't ever done that and really enjoy the show, please do tell people what you think). Also, don't forget that we're in the middle of a bit Twitter-drive: we're aiming for over 9000 followers on Twitter, and if we can pull that off, we'll be doing a video version of the weekly podcast, so you'll get to see our ugly mugs as we talk (and you could probably even convince us to dress up for it -- you haven't lived until you've seen The T in a tuxedo). And I don't want to put any pressure on you, but we're nearing our 100th show, and how cool would it be if we hit our goal by then and did the special show on the anniversary? Just sayin'.Enjoy this show this week -- we'll be back live next Saturday as usual.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show Episode 83 with Alex Albrecht
We had a great time on the podcast last Saturday, and it was a full house: Turpster, our friend Patrick Beja, Michael "Belfaire" Sacco were all on board, and we welcomed a special guest, Alex Albrecht of Project Lore. And despite the fact that we had so many people on, not only did we answer your email questions (apparently I'm the only one who believes in guild loyalty, even when progression isn't happening), but we talked some World of Warcraft as well: why Arena players have left the Arenas, what might be in that brand new battleground, and why a free iPhone Authenticator program is so great. (And thanks by the way, Blizzard, for that one.)The recording of the show is now out on the feed and at the links below, so download away. Huge thanks yet again to Alex Albrecht for stopping by the show, and congrats go out to him on his Streamys win on Saturday. We'll be back as usual next week, kicking off the show as always just a little bit before 3:30pm Eastern.And don't forget: we met our Facebook goal of 4,000 fans, and the song that came out of that turned out pretty darn epic, if we say so ourselves. But we've got another goal: we're aiming for over 9,000 followers on Twitter, and if we can pull that off, we'll do a live video version of the podcast. And who knows what kind of hilarity will ensue from that one. If you're on Twitter (or even if you're not) and haven't started following us, please do! And hey, we tweet all kinds of things that never show up on the site, so it's even more WoW Insider for your efforts. See you next week.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show Episode 79: Argently competing
We had a great time as usual last weekend on the podcast -- Dan O'Halloran and BigRedKitty joined me on the WoW Insider Show, and we chatted about the most popular stories in WoW from the last week. We answered your emails, including how to fill up your guild with quality raiders and what kinds of things you can do to make leveling an alt easier (including not leveling an alt at all).And of course we talked 3.1 -- a little bit of class changes, lots of information about the new dual spec system, what the equipment manager is like (and what it can do for you), Ulduar and the bosses we've seen so far, and finally, the Argent Tournament: what we know and what we don't know just yet. And of course we updated folks on Turpster's new song (almost done, but not quite mastered yet), and on our drive to get over 9000 Twitter followers. If you aren't following us yet, head over to Twitter and hit follow so we can hit our goal and do a video podcast.Was a fun show to make, and hopefully you'll have just as much fun listening to it. We'll see you next week.Update: As promised, here's BRK's intro in mp3 form. No idea what you all wanted it for, but there you go.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show live this afternoon on Ustream
Our podcast returns yet again this afternoon -- we'll be live for your listening enjoyment over on the Ustream page at 3:30pm Eastern as always. This time around, we'll be joined by our illustrious Managing Editor Dan O'Halloran, and (assuming that he's not too busy launching shuttles into space) our good friend BRK will also be making an appearance. And of course Turpster and I will be on as well -- we'll be chatting about all of the news out of patch 3.1, including the undocumented changes and the new dual spec and gear management systems in the game. And I'm sure the Argent Tournament will make an appearance as well.Whew. If you guessed it would be a busy show, you're probably right. Plus, if all goes according to plan (I know Turpster is having some issues with some of the musicians he's hired), we will hopefully have the new song all ready to play for you, as the reward for hitting 4,000 fans on our Facebook page. And don't forget that our Twitter challenge is still ongoing -- if we can get "over 9000" followers on our Twitter account, we'll do a video version of the podcast. So join Twitter (if you haven't yet) and get all of your friends to follow us as well!Should be a good time. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern, or 20:30 GMT, or whatever time that is in your neck of the woods, either over on the Ustream page or right here on the feed after the break. Talk to you then.
The Daily Grind: Leaders and followers
Today, our discussion topic is: When it comes to MMO groups, are you a leader or a follower?To tell the truth, I kind of prefer being a follower, especially when I'm first starting out in a new MMO. I want to let others lead the way, hang back, and reap the benefits of being part of a group without actually pouring all the work in to keep it going.But eventually, my personality (yeah, I'm bossy) and my desire to actually do group things usually turns me into a leader, whether I like it or not. When I want to participate in a group activity, and no one else is around to lead it, I kind of fall into the de facto leader position (and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but that's a discussion for another day).So when you're logging into your favorite MMO for the day, are you stepping into a leader role or a that of a follower? Are you up at the head of the pack or somewhere back near the middle? Are you leading your own guild or just kind of showing up when someone asks you to join a group?
