horses
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ICYMI: Animals can communicate better than we'd realized
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: We are adding horses to the list of animals who can communicate via some form of symbolic language, now that researchers taught a group of horses how to understand three symbols related to whether they wanted a blanket covering on or not. With that, horses, primates, dolphins and birds can all communicate with us -- and suddenly old masterpieces like Mister Ed and The Birds have a whole new significance.
This weekend's Kentucky Derby will be broadcast in VR
Television networks have already broadcast boxing, basketball and other sports live in VR. Heck, we've even stepped inside a soccer game. Virtual reality is becoming a regular part of live sports coverage, and that includes horse racing. NextVR and NBC are teaming up to stream his weekend's Kentucky Derby in VR for the first time. In fact, the duo says that this will be the first virtual reality broadcast for the sport of horse racing as a whole.
ICYMI: Robot running buddy, mechanical sea life and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-97080{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-97080, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-97080{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-97080").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A horse-sized, standing CT scanner has been invented to keep your equine pals from being tranquilized before images are taken; a sea urchin mouth was used as inspiration for a robot that could be sent to Mars to collect samples; and NASA engineers and MIT students created a robot for Puma that can be programmed to 'race' training runners. If you're less of a runner, more of an observer, the Kung Fu art of Tobias Gremmier may be more your speed. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Equine CT scanner can peek inside standing, conscious horses
Horses are majestic creatures, but one thing they are not is tiny. Well, not for long, anyway. That creates a problem for equine medicine. When an animal weighs just under an imperial ton and is six-foot tall at the shoulders, there's only so much a veterinarian can do while the animal is still conscious. To that end, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (phew) is partnering with imaging outfit 4DDI to make free-standing CT scans a reality. Dubbed "Equimagine," the setup uses a pair of robotic arms that can gather internal images of a horse while it's awake and standing on all fours.
Riding High might be the horse-riding MMO you've been waiting for
So how would you rate the horse situation in the games that you've played to date? Abysmal? Deplorable? Have you longed for the day when you could finally have your dream game that allowed you to take on the role of a horse in a third-person cover-based online experience? Riding High promises to let you do just that. Except for the third-person cover-based part. You won't be shooting anything here; you'll just be owning a virtual horse. While the official site is a little bare, the game's Facebook page has recently posted answers to a number of questions, confirming, for example, that the game will feature distinct personalities for each horse and that players will be able to engage in PvP activities. (Probably not horse fights.) If this really is all you ever wanted from online gaming, you can register for the future beta test on the official site. [Thanks to Zenaphex for the tip!]
Albion Online's mounts are for riding, not fighting
A new dev diary regarding Albion Online's mounts reveals that the beasts will be strictly for transportation only. "The player is unable to fight, gather or interact with any buildings while on horseback. Mounts will provide a number of buffs to the character, which are effective immediately when they mount, and deactivate when they dismount," the team posted. While mounts won't be trampling over enemy's corpses, they will come in armored versions that can shrug off more damage if a player is attacked. Mounts are not only represented by horses, but oxen as well, with the latter being more suited to transporting goods over long distances. You can see a quick video of Albion's mounts in action after the break! [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Minecraft maker's newest game blends cliffs, horses and Dogecoin
Markus "Notch" Persson is mainly known as the man behind Minecraft, but he's quickly developing a reputation for eccentric games that cover everything from speed typing to existential drama. If there's any doubt, you just have to look at his latest title, Cliffhorse. Yes, it's as absurd as the title suggests -- you play a horse pushing a giant ball around cliffs, and there isn't more to it than that. However, that barely-there design (which took all of two hours to build) is really the point. Persson describes the Windows-only game as a jab at developers who abuse early access programs by charging money for "minimum effort" releases, where most of the content theoretically comes later. And yes, he's aware of the irony given that he charged for Minecraft well before it was finished.
The horse riding simulator that pairs an Oculus Rift with an exercise machine
In the midst of the mind-boggling Nico Nico Chou-Kaigi, an event hosted by one of Japan's leading video streaming sites, there was no shortage of Oculus Rift demos for attendees to drop their jaws at. Our allies at Engadget Japanese toured military carriers, controlled robot arms... generally did a load of fun things and pretended like it was work. The Hashilus horse riding simulator looked to be the most intriguing, however. It combined a horse riding exercise machine with an Oculus Rift set (oh and a fan, for immersion), to offer a relatively straightforward no-bad-guys-to-kill race, up and down a few hills. It's a simplified experience, there's no steering here, but players can use the tambourine-ish controller to speed up, or slow down, their steed, all while drinking in that Rift-provided 360-degree view. Bikes, schmikes. Extra: It looks like Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey even got the chance to try it out earlier this month. You can see his reaction after the break -- he seemed to like it.
Rise and Shiny revisit: Star Stable
Sometimes you just need a place where you can chill out, jump on the back of your favorite four-legged friend, and go off on an adventure. During my week's revisit to Star Stable, I've simultaneously been researching zombie MMOs for an upcoming article, and after the third post-apocalyptic game filled with cursing juveniles, I had to cleanse myself by jumping back into the friendly, non-competitive world of Star Stable. It's a world in which you'll play a young girl who is loaned a horse. It's your job to work your way through a series of linear, story-based quests until you pay the horse off, save the town from evil corporations, help build a bridge to a new area of the map, explore, make friends, join clubs, and take care of your horse. And fashion. Let's not forget fashion. It's hard for me to find fault in the game, at all. Seriously. That's because I'm playing the game exactly as it's meant to be played.
Rise and Shiny: Star Stable
Star Stable is what many would refer to as a "kid's game." More accurately, it could be described as a game for tween girls who love horses, but during my time with the game, I found that most of the players I met and talked to and most of those I saw on the official Facebook page seemed to be between the ages of 17 and 40. The players I chatted with in game and during my livestream of the game were over 19 (some well over), so it would be most accurate to describe the game as a linear world of adventure for horse-lovers to explore. While on horseback. With other players on horseback. There, perfect. There is the slightly glaring issue of every character's being gender-locked as a female rider, but I have no issue with it. The MMO stems from single-player games about a young girl and her horse, as I understand it, so playing as a girl fits perfectly. No "sexism" banners need be waved; for every one example of a game like Star Stable I can show you 100 examples of games that force women to play as men or represent them as scantily clad weaklings. So how much fun is it to ride around on virtual horses all day? Pretty darn fun.
Rise and Shiny: Taikodom
I should have known something was up. I just should have trusted my gut and avoided this game, but no. No, instead I have to be the one who gives into curiosity and says, "Hey, I wrote about that game on my blog almost four years ago... what's it been up to lately?" There's something potentially dangerous about playing a game that has had an identity crisis for so long. Then again, I'm a huge Ryzom fan, and that game has been through the ringer more times than I can remember. Taikodom is now called Taikodom: Living Universe. I'm not sure when things changed without comparing back to that old blog post, but the changes are obvious. No more avatars? OK then. A different UI? That's fine. But -- and this is where my older gamer memory starts to get the best of me -- I distinctly remember Taikodom being sort of fun back then. The version I played this week was anything but fun.
Rohirrim war steeds highlighted in LotRO: Riders of Rohan behind-the-scenes video and screenshots
Turbine understands that in an expansion based on the Rohirrim, you need more than just your average horse -- you need strong war steeds. In the third episode of the behind-the-scenes video series for the Lord of the Rings Online expansion Riders of Rohan, Equestrian Specialist Chris Poller shows off the horses used to model for the storied steeds in the game. Online Art Director Todd Demelle and Design Director Linda Currie also talk about the history and importance of horses in Rohan. Check out the the new screenshots showcasing the war steeds in the gallery below and watch the inspiration behind them in the video after the break. [Source: Turbine press release]%Gallery-158706%
The Road to Mordor: Hands-on with Riders of Rohan's mounted combat
I remember the very first thought I had when Turbine announced Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan: If the mounted combat isn't very, very good, this expansion's going to be a big dud. I don't think we've ever had an expansion that leaned so heavily on a core system for not only the bulk of its gameplay but also its style. Crude my thought may have been, it felt like the truth. I don't know any other successful MMO that utilized mounted combat as anything but a sideshow curiosity. The LotRO team was putting too much emphasis on mounted combat for it to fizzle. I think I can breathe easier now that I've had a chance to spend an hour fiddling with mounted combat while talking to Senior Producer Aaron Campbell. What I saw was an alpha build of the expansion (the beta is scheduled to start soon, perhaps as soon as next week), but once I got used to careening over the plains at 88 miles per hour, it felt just right. It felt like LotRO.
The Tattered Notebook: A 'Top Gear' look at mounts
Previously, I've been writing about the weighty topic of free-to-play vs. live subscription servers in EverQuest II. This week, I'd like to switch gears, both figuratively and literally, to talk about speed. I've recently become a fan of the show Top Gear, a British program(me) that is completely devoted to the love of cars. I don't know why -- I'm not really into cars, and my Volkswagon Passat Wagon hardly qualifies as a car with a soul. But I was watching a recent episode, the one in which Jeremy was driving an Aston Martin across country, and I thought about how far EQII's mount selection has grown. Gone are the days when your choices ranged from a horse with brown spots to a horse with white spots to the really impressive horse with brown and white spots. The only unique mounts back then were the Paladin and Shadow Knight "fun" mounts. Today, there are dozens of different types of mounts that run, leap, glide, and fly. And they're not all just marketplace quick hits; several are easily attained from simple quests or live events. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'll look at a few of my favorite mounts with an ode to Top Gear.
The Road to Mordor: Inside Isengard
It's one thing to sit down during a beta and poke around on your own, making educated guesses about why what went where and who what is wherefore. It's another thing entirely to pick up the phone and go, "Hey Turbine? Drop everything -- no, not your pants! -- and take me on a tour of Rise of Isengard! Um, magic word? Oh! Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" The first approach is good, but I wanted to get a more in-depth look into the making of Lord of the Rings Online's third expansion from the people who actually made it. How does one approach fleshing out an area that received relatively little source support from the books? What is Turbine trying to do differently in its fourth year of LotRO development? And why should we be afraid of an old guy in a bathrobe who won't come out of his tower? See? These are good questions to ask, which is why I sat down with Bob Hess, Aaron Campbell and Adam Mersky, who graciously took me on a whirlwind tour of Rise of Isengard. I wanted to cut through the PR-speak and learn about the real stories of the making of the expansion and what we'll be encountering within, and the devs were happy to oblige. Hit the jump as we travel further down The Road to Mordor and take the Hobbits to Isengard!
Patch 4.3: Worgen racial mounts
Blizzard has finally seen fit to give Worgen players -- or more specifically, the Gilnean faction -- their own mounts. Worgen originally had no racial mount because of their innate ability Running Wild, which allowed the Worgen to be their own mounts, dropping to all fours and moving at mount speed. The new Gilnean mounts appear to be unarmored horses coming in brown and grey colors. It is presumed that players will be able to purchase these mounts if they are exalted with the Gilnean faction, much like how other factions' mounts work. Players were torn over Running Wild, mostly because each mount collected counts toward the achievement Mountain o' Mounts, which rewards a Red or Blue Dragonhawk to fly around on. Many Alliance players were upset over the fact that Horde players had an easier time collecting 100 mounts because of the Goblins' trikes. Horses make sense for Worgen, as Worgen are still essentially a Human nation, and Humans in Warcraft ride horses. These two particular mounts seem a bit plain, though. These new mounts are coming in most likely to ease the disparity between mounts when faction changes occur. All in all, this is good news for Alliance mount collectors.
ArcheAge video shows off unusual transportation options
We've stumbled across another ArcheAge video, and unlike the last such that focused heavily on PvP, this time around we get a good look at some of the sandpark title's unique transportation alternatives. There are a gaggle of mounts on display, and with apologies to our Korean friends who will no doubt correct us in due time, we're just going to call them like we see them. Aside from your traditional horse and rider option there's also what appears to be some sort of spotted lion as well as a curious cross between a tauntaun and a bunny rabbit. We also get a glimpse of some city-based transport systems including a steampunk-esque horse and floating carriage (with some sort of mechanical contraption filling in for the horse), as well as the hang-gliding option we saw previously in the ChinaJoy trailer. Finally, there's more footage of the famous airship that's been featured in several previous ArcheAge clips. Head past the cut to see the sights.
Wasteland Diaries: Car wars
Lately, I've been doing a lot of crafting in Fallen Earth. I have a lot of materials stockpiled, and it seems they are just taking up space. So I've been putting together some vehicles (Interceptor Speedsters, to be precise). They take about four days each to make; that's in real time, mind you. There isn't much of a demand for them right now. In fact, they sell very inexpensively on the auction house. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with them, but I guess it can't hurt to have a couple on hand. Fallen Earth is unique in the sense that you can't purchase a mount from a vendor NPC. You can get them from the rewards merchant or buy them from the Fallen Earth store, but the usual method of acquiring one is to craft it or buy it from the auction house. Some are even quest rewards. But the majority of the mounts out there are provided by the playerbase. In this post, I'll look at the evolution of vehicular combat in Fallen Earth and what we might hope and expect to see in the future. So put the pedal to the metal and zip past the cut for more.
The OverAchiever: Combining The Ambassador and Mountain o' Mounts
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we contribute to Azeroth's obesity epidemic by refusing to walk. Mounts: They get your ass from point A to point B, and if you're lucky, they'll do it as stylishly as possible. They're the most immediately visible status symbol in WoW and often give you a one-glance note on the kind of player at whom you're looking. People astride Invincible can be counted upon to be hardcore raiders from the Wrath of the Lich King era, someone riding a Violet Proto-Drake is never new to the game, and players rocking a White Stallion are seriously old school. Players who have been around for any length of time almost inevitably accrue a stable's worth of beasties to cart them around, but some folks go the extra mile for the Leading the Cavalry and Mountain o' Mounts achievements. In Cataclysm, these are a lot easier than they once were, although you should still be prepared to dump a ton of gold and time into them no matter what. Fortunately, the first part of the Mountain o' Mounts trek should also net you The Ambassador achievement and title.
Wasteland Diaries: Free ride
The Grand Canyon Province is where Fallen Earth is set. It is a vast place, and the public transit system is completely obliterated. Most of the towns are separated by kilometers, so walking (or running) from place to place would be sheer folly. Luckily there are alternatives to walking. If you've played Fallen Earth for any length of time, you probably know what I'm getting at. Transportation in the Grand Canyon can cost next to nothing once you get it figured out. The goal of this post will be to get a new player up and running in the wasteland. Actually, up and driving and/or riding, rather. Once you know what to do, getting around is practically free. There are a number of ways to get yourself a better ride. Some of them involve a bit of work in-game and a good deal of time (mostly while you are offline). But there are shortcuts if your goal is to be tearing up the highways of Fallen Earth on a motorcycle as soon as possible. After the cut, I'll give you a step-by-step method of providing yourself with better transportation right up until you have a bike.
