heroes
Latest
Guild Wars: A guide to Heroes
Guild Wars has been an innovator in so many different aspects of the MMO genre, but none more than the introduction of ally NPCs to fill out a party and make soloing easier.This was nothing new to online gaming though. Diablo did it way before Guild Wars, but GW refined the process with Henchmen. They made it simple to hire a few NPCs standing around near the city gate and get them to join your party for their share of the loot. It started out simple enough, but it eventually evolved into something much more advanced (and exciting) with Heroes.%Gallery-22452%
Putting the story into MMOs
It's hard to be a hero sometimes. You wait in line behind a dozen other adventurers for your chance to hand in your twelve warg ears in return for some silver. You'd been sent to help clear the fields of wargs and even though there were several other heroic warg hunters slicing through the weeds for them, you eventually found yours. The old farmer was pleased, but he had a new job that only you -- and the hundreds of people like you -- could perform. There were more wargs out there! But this time, he would need their feet. As you headed back out into the night to continue warg genocide, you thought -- there has to be more than this. There has to be more to being a hero than hunting dogs and bears, then heading to a new town to look into their ant problem.What you're missing, is story. The game has been designed to make your story the same as every story. A long history of slaughtering trivial mobs, occasionally grouping with others to kill a greater monster who will be prowling the hills an hour after play ginsu with its spleen. In "It's Story Time, Boys and Girls!", Warhammer blogger Syp explores the different ways MMO developers try to add story to their games, some more successful than others. NPCs in City of Heroes will talk about your deeds and exploits as you pass. GM actors in EverQuest once presaged world-changing events with missions ordinary players could affect. Lord of the Rings Online slowly advances the plot of the war with Mordor with each update. Syp also wonders how quests might change if the decisions you made in the game slowly wrote your own unique story, and generated new quests based on it. Some great suggestions about a problem all too common in today's games.
Universal announces Blu-Ray plans; Heroes available in August
This is a post we've been waiting to write for a long time. Not only has Universal finally revealed their Blu-Ray plans for the coming months, but our favorite Universal property, Heroes, will be available on Blu-Ray this August. There's no word on a price or specific release date, but it's nice to know that both seasons 1 and 2 will be available later this year. Finally. Other Universal releases due out from July onwards include The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II and the Mummy trilogy. For more information check out Hi-Def Digest's report on Universal's announcement. Please feel free to squeal like little girls about the Heroes announcement in the comments after the beep.Beep.
NBC Universal brings Heroes to Blu-ray August 26
Heroes fans can get their full HD fix August 26, when the DVD boxed set of season two is released on DVD, it'll also hit Blu-ray and bring along season one for the ride. No word on price or what extras are in store (or if 1080p will somehow make the whole twins subplot less meaningless, just a thought), although the S1 set on HD DVD last year included HDi internet connectivity, and we don't expect anything less from BD-Live. Universal is going day and date with its movies starting with Doomsday, while NBCU's first dual-format feature film should hit shelves ahead of the holidays.
Massively Event Coverage: The NCsoft Europe Heroic Weekend
This column comes to us from our new blogger, Adrian Bott, reporting in from the field. Adrian is joining our team as a City of Heroes and City of Villains fanboy aficionado extraordinaire, so keep an eye out for even more in-depth CoX coverage here at Massively! "I cannot believe how polished this event is," confided visiting City of Heroes developer Melissa 'War Witch' Bianco, during a lull in the frenzy. Nor could we. NCsoft Europe knows how to throw a party.As we crossed from the gloomy streets of central Birmingham into the blazing techno-sanctuary of Omega Sektor, the professionalism and sheer hard graft of the NCsoft team gleamed from every splash-panel surface. Amid the sounds of hordes of happy Super Group members meeting up in the flesh for the first time, video screens showing looped footage of NCsoft games, and the wibbles and whoops of more than four hundred individual PCs, we struggled through to the admin desk. The organizers and their blue-shirted 'sidekicks', buoyed up by who knows what inhuman energy source (they had already been doing this for two days and showed no signs of flagging) gave us the rundown. There were PvP events, task force challenges, 'death races' and sundry other in-game activities. And huge, padded, Gladiator style superhero suits for real-life PvP. Seriously.
Microsoft stocks up on Heroes soda, clearly has a thing for lemon-lime
We're not exactly sure what's up with using sodas to celebrate the launch of something, but apparently, the folks in Redmond just totally dig it. For (at least) the second time in as many years, Microsoft has selected a lemon-lime beverage to create buzz (and fizz, we suppose) about a particular product launch. C'mon Microsoft, we know you like to stick to your guns, but what's a fellow got to do to get some rebadged NuGrape?
TurpsterVision: An Episode of Great Impotence
Every Tuesday think "T" for Turpster and take the "a" in "day", capitalise it, remove the little bit in the middle, turn it upside down and you get a "V". Put the two together and you'll have TV for TurpsterVision -- the best Internet video podcast on Massively! (Never mind that business about it being the only video podcast on Massively...)It's that time of the week again folks! For some people out there they have been going through withdraw symptoms since my absence on this week's WoW Insider Show. Have no fear, for Super Turpster is here! I have tried to make it up to you guys, even though my schedule is whooping my butt. Thanks to all the folks from last week who voted Bard, you all win a "Turpster-Patented-Internet-High-Five".I find it very tough in this job to ever be fair to an MMO; I only get a week to play it and produce the review. It's always tough to get a sense of how fantastic it is past the starting zone. That in mind, I do urge all of you out there to try every MMO you can get your hands on. There is so much more out there than just World of Warcraft (Blasphemy I hear you scream!) Then again on Massively I feel like I am preaching to the choir!Enjoy the show this week; it was a close shave getting it up in time...in more ways than one! (Join us after the break to find out if Turpster is really allowed to make such horrid innuendo.)
Game with Heroes producer fame
Xbox.com is officially calling this month SuperMarch and as part of the planned SuperMarch festivities, Heroes' producer will be on Xbox Live letting you Game with Fame.Executive producer of the Heroes television series Jesse Alexander (not Jason Alexander) will be on Xbox Live gaming it up in a little Frontlines: Fuel of War. So, if the prospect of fragging alongside Mr. Alexander sounds rather appealing, shoot a friend request over to snapmanifesto and prepare for Frontlines gaming on March 14th from 11:30PM-12:30AM eastern. And note, your abnormal super powers will not be allowed while gaming over Live.
Killing off our heroes left and right
This conversation seems to come up whenever a new raid instance is announced, and it looks like the Sunwell will be no exception. Vulpe from Venture Co. sends a shout out to Blizzard.. for killing all of our heroes. In Burning Crusade alone, Illidan, Kael'thas, and now Zul'jin have fallen to our raids, and in the coming future, we're going to see Kil'jaeden and maybe even Arthas bite the dust. And later in the thread, Melynda comes up with an even longer list of people deep in the lore whom we've seen fit to off.Sure, as Bornakk says, everyone who's gotten some has pretty much deserved it (and even though we don't know what's happening with Arthas yet, let's not forget that he murdered, y'know, all those people, including his father). And Blizzard has told us before that they feel that they have more than enough lore to go around-- even if they kill off the Warcraft stars, they've got other folks on deck to rise up into the storylines.But the most interesting thing to come from this iteration is that we have to kill these people-- if we didn't, we wouldn't be the heroes of Azeroth that we're supposed to be. Back when WoW first came out, the devs told us that it would take a raid of level 80s (this was back when level 60 was the max) to take down Arthas, and guess what-- when we see Arthas in a combat situation, we will actually be level 80. We may be killing off all of the heroes of Warcraft III, but it's only to make room for the new heroes of World of Warcraft-- namely us.
City of Heroes fans to honor real world heroes
Never let it be said that gamers don't have heart. In honor of the upcoming Veteran's Day on November 12th, a spirited group of City of Heroes players on the Virtue server will be holding an in-game event to recognize the exceptional deeds of some real-life do-gooders; not only the men and women fighting overseas, but also the firefighters and police officers who keep us safe at home. There will be guest speakers (including a special keynote speaker that organizer Dwarfstar didn't want to reveal to us at this time), both in character and out, talking about what the day means to them, as well as an open forum for whomever is inclined to show up.For those not on the Virtue server or who are unable to make it, The Cape Radio will be providing coverage of the event, including inspirational music and some additional comments. Make sure to log-in at 8 PM EST on the 12th if you want to take part in the festivities.
Masi Oka of Heroes signs up as OLPC ambassador
What's better than being the nerdy guy on a nerdy hit TV show? Being a nerd in real life, of course. Masi Oka -- you probably know him as Hiro from NBC's Heroes -- has it all going on, and has now signed up to be OLPC's "ambassador" to really flesh out his resume. The guy majored in Math and Comp Sci at Brown University, and did odd acting gigs while working at ILM programming special effects, so he's no pretender to this nerd throne. Masi's role as global ambassador pretty much means he'll be doing some TV spots to "promote the importance of empowering children with learning tools and Internet connectivity," but we're sure he can put some of those time-bending powers to good use to erase all that "$100 dollar laptop" nonsense of yesteryear.
Sunday ads: Heroes HD DVD and some free stuff
We woke up this morning thinking of all the great deals the Sunday paper would bring. We already knew about a certain Heroes HD DVD deal, but we were semi-optimistic about others. Anyway, speaking of Heroes, that offer is 100% valid, starts today and will net you a free Heroes: Season One HD DVD when you purchase the Xbox 360 HD DVD player at Best Buy. Other Best Buy offers include a free comic book with the purchase of Conan, a free wraslin' demo (which is available on the XBLM too) when you pre-order Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, and a free bonus disc loaded with gamer pictures, trailers and songs when you pre-order Mass Effect. And if you're looking for other deals worth mentioning this week, then sorry, but there really isn't any. Circuit City, Target and everyone else were let downs. But cheer up, because a little birdy told us about next week's Circuit City retail ads and all we're saying is a free guitar stand with Guitar Hero III purchase and a free Homer ball with The Simpsons Game purchase. Shhh, you didn't hear that from us.
Amazon.com giving away Heroes Xbox 360 bundles
Adding to our weekend list of contests you can enter, we wanted to give you a heads up and make sure you jump on over to Amazon.com for a chance to win one of their numerous Heroes themed Xbox 360 bundles. Entry into the Xbox 360 "Heroes" Sweepstakes is open right now and all you need to do is point your browser here, log into your Amazon.com account, and enter. Three winners will be chosen every day for the next month with each winner receiving a special Heroes decorated Xbox 360 console, HD DVD player add-on and Heroes: Season One on HD DVD. Sadly, there is no mention that entry into the sweepstakes will give you special Heroes powers. That's a bummer, but winning free 360 goods will cheer us up and make us forget about being a super special hero.[Via Major Nelson]
Xbox 360 HD DVD drive comes with free Heroes S1 set at Best Buy Sunday
Rumored all-in-one units aside, Xbox 360 owners looking for HD DVD still need an add-on drive and this weekend the deal could be getting a whole lot sweeter. Leaked scans of a supposed upcoming Best Buy ad reveal the $99 SRP Heroes: Season One seven-disc HD DVD set will be bundled for free; the recently updated five free HD DVD offer and existing King Kong pack-in combine to take make the $179 drive essentially free. We're not sure what will make the difference in the ongoing format war, but throw in enough free movies and even Michael Bay will have to shout.Update: This deal also appears to be in effect at Buy.com until 11/4.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Sunday: Get Heroes HD DVD free with player purchase
Per some leaked scans of Best Buy's October 21st retail ad, this coming week you'll be able to get Heroes: Season One on HD DVD for FREE instantly with the purchase of a new Xbox 360 HD DVD player. The free Heroes HD DVD offer (which is valued at $99) will go into effect this Sunday and piggybacks the five free HD DVD offer and King Kong movie that's already included in the box. So, as things stand, you can now get the player, King Kong, Heroes and five other movies for $179. This week may be just the time to jump into the HD DVD world, especially if you're a Heroes fan.[Thanks, eLiNeS]
Apple Geniuses are reportedly unbricking iPhones
Apple continues posting warning signs around their stores, cautioning customers that unlocked and modded iPhones fall outside their warranty. And at the same time, Apple Geniuses around the country quietly are reportedly accepting bricked iphones, slipping into the back and returning with functioning units. We're not sure whether they're doing a low-level reflash or just swapping units out. We have reports of at least four customers who walked in with iBricks and walked out with iPhones. It is unclear at this time whether these customers unlocked their iPhones or not--we're also receiving reports of iBricks from people who never unlocked or modded their units. Thanks to Ronald Ishak and "Martyn".Update: Bolding added to existing text for clarity and emphasis.
HDTV Listings for September 24, 2007
What we're watching: ABC, NBC and CBS are rolling out their fall premieres, with several returning shows and a few brand new ones. In between standbys like DWTS and Heroes, keep an eye out for the series premieres of Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and Journeyman. Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Mass Murder 101: How to be a hero
It's a fact that the majority of what we do in World of Warcraft is kill things. Nearly all the supplementary activities we engage in, from shopping to crafting, are all basically to help us improve the effectiveness of our violent capabilities. Many players have noted that if WoW were at all real, then nearly every one of our characters would be considered a genocidal maniac for all the people and creatures we have killed, and yet we view ourselves as heroes.The idea is, of course, that most of the lives we take are really evil anyway, so we're actually doing the real good guys a favor. We kill tons of demons, ghosts, zombies, dragonkin, giants, and rabid beasts -- even most of the humanoids we kill are bandits or wicked cultists of one sort or another. This way we do lots of killing, but still feel as though we are heroes.There are some situations in the game, however, that turn things around for us, in which our character is not the hero. While there are some higher-level instances such as the Black Morass, or the new Caverns of Time: Stratholme, in which one could argue either way whether what we're doing is good or evil, most of situations in which you are clearly the bad guy, as far as I am aware, have to do with the undead, and to a lesser extent the blood elves as well. Of course, you can argue that in general, undead are just misunderstood, and the blood elves are just tragically misled, but as in the case of quests in Hillsbrad that ask you to go slaughter human farmers, or help develop a new plague, there's really no denying that your character is doing something "morally wrong."
Free Heroes HD episode available on the XBLM
Coinciding with the release of Heroes season one on HD DVD, NBC is offering the first episode on the Xbox Live Marketplace in HD or SD and for free. So, if you're an obsessed Heroes fanboy or a Heroes virgin like myself then feel free to dabble a bit in what the show has to offer and give it a watch. Even if you only download it for the sole reason of getting a chance to watch a TV show in HD. The free episode weighs in at 599MBs for the SD version and 2.4GBs for the HD flavor. Happy watching.[Thanks, Bitter Kevin]
Breakfast topic: Saluting Azeroth's greatest hero, you
There's been a lot of talk recently about how twenty-five "unnamed peons" shouldn't be able to take down lore figures like Vashj, Illidan and Arthas. In many people's minds, we're all just rank and file soldiers in Azeroth's armies, killing boars and cleaning up the streets while the real lore heroes do their work. But they're wrong. You are a hero. Even if you've never killed Illidan, saved Zangarmarsh, or stopped the plans of the Black Dragonflight, you've done some pretty extraordinary things in your time. Unless you just grinded to 70 on buzzards, and even then, you could probably win a medal for buzzard extermination. I'm not a hardcore raider -- the biggest boss I killed before the expansion was the Twin Emperors, and my guild is currently starting SSC and TK. But now that I think about it, my rogue has done a lot in her 70 levels of existence. She's defeated two of the children of Deathwing and hung their heads up by the gates of Orgrimmar. She's become the Queen of the Ogres, showed Thrall his true heritage, and saved Stonebreaker Hold from Illidari invasion. She's killed the servants of Illidan and has been personally challenged to face him. She's helped keep the world together by stopping the timestream from being altered. And she's the hero of numerous small, Horde-oriented tribes and encampments in Azeroth and Outland, where she's saved babies, cured diseases, killed enemies and stopped environmental destruction. Do you think your character has accomplished a lot, or will you still consider yourself unworthy until you slay that big bad boss you've been working on? Are we heroes, or just foot soldiers?
