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New and improved Droid Bionic getting a 4.5-inch display and docking connection?
Since Motorola delayed the launch of the LTE-equipped Droid Bionic to carry out "several enhancements," we've debated if this might entail swapping out Tegra 2 in favor of a PowerVR GPU. But now leaked photos are starting to surface, and it would seem that Motorola went and redesigned the body, too. These pics reveal a phone what might be a 4.5-inch qHD display running Gingerbread -- not the 4.3-incher with Froyo that was originally slated to ship this spring. Even more intriguing, the revamped handset sports an Atrix-like docking connection, suggesting that new and improved user experience will include the option of a so-called lapdock. And, as an added flourish, Motorola smoothed out the rubberized back cover, nixing the pattern it had at CES. No further word on a launch date, but for now you can get your fill of spy shots at the source link.
Final Fantasy XI brings updates for adventuring fellows
While Final Fantasy XI's Adventuring Fellows have always been an excellent idea, some of the implementation hasn't been quite as strong. A combination of a short summon time and strict limitations on where your fellow can be active have always hampered the system. The next update for the game is aimed at addressing several of these issues, however, giving players more reasons to call a fellow out and more opportunities to do so throughout the world. Active duration for fellows has been doubled across the board, with new fellows staying for 90 minutes and increasing to 180 minutes at maximum bond. The number of enemies that can be engaged has been increased even more significantly; your fellow will initially engage 50 enemies before departing, rising to 100 enemies at the apex. Combine that with several new areas for Final Fantasy XI players to call their backup NPC, and there's the hope that your fellow will be less of an occasional buff and more of a near-constant companion.
Atrix 4G's 4.1.57 update spruces up a few things, patches known root methods
The HSUPA-enabling update? No, not yet. The voice call quality fix? In the pipeline. The mission-critical Bluetooth multimedia experience improvements? Oh yes, we've got those right here! Motorola is preparing to deliver an imminent OTA update to its Atrix 4G super phone, which will fix up battery performance, overall software stability, and car dock, headphone jack, and fingerprint reader performance, but will regrettably leave the two major drawbacks to the AT&T-riding phone untouched. Alas, if you've rooted your Atrix, you'll have to pay a dear price to benefit from these upgrades as users over at xda-developers, who've obtained the pre-release build, report the new 4.1.57 update disables their previous superuser privileges. C'est la vie. Update: Word is this update will be released to the general public tomorrow. Sit tight. [Thanks, Daniel]
Improvements on the way for EVE Online's contract system
There are many professions open to players in EVE Online, but it's the trading that often draws players to the game. Due to the number of players buying and selling on EVE's single server and the fact that items are destroyed on death, a savvy player can find countless opportunities for profit. To avoid overloading the market window with thousands of items most players will never need to buy, CCP limits rare and unusual items to being sold on the contract system. Items can be listed as auctions or direct sales, and players can search for items by name. The system has been working amicably for years, but recently several back-end performance issues were identified in it. As part of CCP's on-going war on lag, major back-end optimisations were made. Due to this restructuring of how contracts are handled on the EVE server, several new features have suddenly become possible. In a new devblog, CCP Atlas explains the back-end improvements and what they mean for the average player. Several features players have asked for over the years are on the way, such as the ability to put damaged items into contracts. Ammo in the guns of a ship being contracted will now be moved into the ship's cargo hold rather than the item hangar, and ship insurance will no longer be voided when a ship is contracted. A whole host of improvements are also on the way to make the terms of courier missions more obvious. Players will be informed of the dangers of a contract before they accept it, including dangerous systems en-route and whether the destination station might refuse them docking rights. The upgrades are already live on the EVE test server and will be hitting the live server as part of the Incursion expansion's third phase in January.
The Mog Log: The road ahead
I was originally going to take this week to start looking at building a character in Final Fantasy XIV, but then I got smacked in the face by something else. Namely, there was a gigantic explosion of news about the coming version updates for the game, the sort of thing that really takes precedent over my natterings about freeform character development. (If you were really looking forward to that, don't worry, it'll still find its way into the column at some point.) A lot went through my head as I was reading the updates listed. There were a couple of things that struck me as a bit worrisome, several things that I am psyched about beyond all reasonable points, and one strange little theory that occurred to me as being just paranoid enough to have some truth to it. And yes, were we promised customizable ships in there at some point? I can get behind that.
The road ahead for updates to Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV is a game that inspires rather energetic opinions, but even the game's most ardent defenders will say that the game has issues that need to be addressed. Square-Enix has acknowledged this and promised to start rolling out updates starting this month to address many of the most pressing issues. Not only has the most recent update the player site enumerated several changes coming to the game in November and December, it also outlines the changes due for implementation early next year, and it's quite the list. Among the more hotly anticipated changes are a set of UI overhauls aimed at mouse and keyboard usage and improvements to the market ward interface. The updates will also see adjustments to skill point awards to help ease out the somewhat spiky nature of current rewards and a reduction of the points needed to attain rank 20, both allowing players quicker access to longer-term content. If you're playing Final Fantasy XIV or simply wanting to see what was on the horizon for the large patches before making a decision, take a look -- there's a great deal of information to digest.
Microsoft set to up bit rate on Xbox Live voice comms, pwners everywhere rejoice
This might not be as sexy as its recent physical redesign, but the Xbox 360 is about to take what might be a major leap forward for many gamers. The console's voice chat codec is going to be tweaked in an upcoming system update to allow a higher bit rate, and consequently better audio, through. Originally put together to run on 64k internet connections with the original Xbox, the codec's finally catching up with our broadband times and should see itself renewed some time this fall, potentially alongside the retail launch of Kinect. Great, now when 12-year old kids destroy us in Halo, we'll be able to hear their high-pitched gloating with crystal clarity.
Champions Online looks to its one-year anniversary and beyond
It might be hard to believe at times, but it's true: on September 1st, Champions Online will hit the one-year mark. The development team has been fairly quiet of late, but judging by the latest State of the Game address, it's just been focusing on several updates and improvements. The Summer Update, with several new costume pieces, bug fixes, and visual treats, is scheduled to go live on Monday, but there are even better things coming around the bend, including the game's second adventure pack. Dubbed the Demonflame and aimed at a late September release, the newest adventure is meant to incorporate several pieces of feedback from the Serpent Lantern adventure. The goal is to make the adventure less repetitive and easier to follow from point to point for all players. Beyond that, the team has a long list of issues they're looking into and planning to work on, starting with pet improvements and stretching to scaling instances and better difficulty slider integration. Champions Online fans should take a look at the full update, and while the first year has had ups and downs, the future seems to be on the upswing. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our one one-year retrospective of the game around the anniversary, which should be coming right around the first of the month. [Thanks Clinton and Faryon for the tip!]
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Gonna be the future soon
This week's listening, if you by some chance didn't catch it, will be from the inimitable Mr. Jonathan Coulton. Not because the song is all that thematically appropriate (I did not leave a note on War Witch's desk, for starters), but because it's Jonathan Coulton. And it offsets the tone of this article, which is going to be... well... kind of negative. Not negative in the sense that City of Heroes is dying, because it's not. The game is full of life, flush with energy and diverse ideas. Rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated for well on a year or so now, and I personally couldn't be happier about the state of affairs. For every problem it has, it has five or six great points, and every time I'm cresting a hill on my enjoyment there's another hill of sliced, buttered awesome in front of me. But City of Heroes is going to need to start taking steps to ensure its long-term sustainability. It needs to start realizing that their good fortune is not going to last. And so today will be a bit negative, as the long-forgotten second part of the anniversary column... where we look to the future, and see what needs to happen.
Star Wars Galaxies livens up a theme park
Usually, references to theme parks when it comes to MMOs are meant as derogatory terms. Not so much the case when playing Star Wars Galaxies, where "theme parks" are areas with connected and in-depth quest lines designed to invest the player in the region's storyline. The most recent producer's letter for the game mentioned that Nym's theme park was due for an overhaul and revision, and more information has helpfully been provided by the development team. The overhaul is targeting both new and veteran players, with the additional quests available for those who've never done them and quests available for those who already experienced the original line. The original plan was to outright scrap the old content, but when the team got their hands on the volume of content, they decided instead to do an overhaul. That means that the original Nym content remains in the new questline, which has been vastly expanded and ties more personally to Nym himself. There's also a number of new optional bosses and collections added in the chain, to challenge and interest players of all stripes. Star Wars Galaxies has put a great deal of energy into the overhaul, no doubt hoping that people will be anxious to take a ride in the park.
Intel uses iTunes for benchmarking
Here's a bit of interesting for you from the folks over at APC: during a press event at CES 2010, Intel used iTunes to tout its latest processors rather than one of the other oft-used performance-testing suites. Specifically, they showed off an i5 processor not by running some complex graphics simulation or commercial benchmarking algorithm, but by launching iTunes and synchronizing with an attached iPod. Intel is attempting to make processor specifications more useful to normal people by focusing less on engineering statistics and more on actual applications. What is interesting here is that Intel is essentially admitting the difficulty in quantifying the improvements of their latest hardware. It is, however, easier to qualify their improvements by showcasing their hardware using applications people use everyday. This de-obfuscation of a processor's ability is a good thing. It means that my mother-in-law can stroll through Best Buy and understand that a given set of hardware is going to perform better at the tasks she cares about most. In the end, it really is less about GHz and more about GTD.
Warhammer Online drops 1.3.3 patch to live servers
Rumors of the death of Warhammer Online have been greatly exaggerated. The game is continuing to put out updates on a steady basis -- at an accelerated rate, even, despite the recent bout of layoffs. Patch 1.3.3 has just hit the live servers today, bringing with it new graphical enhancements and two much-touted features -- the Underdog system and the WAR Report. The former helps even the odds when one faction is outnumbered, while the latter helps pull players straight into the grinding maw of the game's PvP activities by allowing instant teleportation to "hot spots" nearby. If that's not quite enough for the discerning Warhammer Online player, there's also a holiday slated between December 16th and January 4th. Keg End celebrates drinking, talking about how great you are, and explosives -- which sounds like the perfect antidote to yet another Christmas special on TV. Take a look at the patch notes for the full details, as well as the usual array of bugfixes and balance tweaks. We haven't heard as much about the patches after this one, but whatever the next year holds for the game, there's a clear commitment to making it the best it can be.
Advancing the battlegrounds
With all of the hubbub around the new LFG interface coming in patch 3.3, we haven't done much thinking lately about that other form of group play in the game, battleground PvP. But Cassandri at HoTs and DoTs has, and she has some interesting insight about what players are doing in the battlegrounds and why. She notes that some people dive off on their own, like Lone Rangers. And she hints that maybe, if these people were so persuaded, things would go better if they fought together, rather than on their own. An interesting thought, for sure, and probably true -- while there are situations where I aim to be by myself in the battlegrounds (if I'm on my rogue and just want to hunt down some clothies), things almost always go better in there when you work as a team. So here's an idea: why not take the rewards implemented in the LFG system and apply them to better behavior in the battlegrounds?
Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update?
Despite Verizon's best efforts to ignore the obvious, RIM's BlackBerry Storm2 is not only official, it's (un)officially destined for Big Red's airwaves. If you're one of those slightly disgruntled Storm 9530 owners, however, you could be looking at a rather nice firmware update coming your way in the near future. According to phoneArena, the Storm and Storm2 will eventually be "practically identical" in terms of software, with a forthcoming update to add flick scrolling, tabbed browsing and threaded texting to the original. Of course, we should probably wait for VZW to confirm the existence of the Storm2 before expecting any formal word on this, but feel free to go about your day with cautious optimism.
Palm quietly improving Pre build quality, tweaking hardware
It's not the most comprehensive survey, nor is there any official confirmation, but the crew at PreThinking has checked in with a number of new Pre owners and discovered that Palm's apparently building its webOS handset better lately -- and what's more, it's even made some minor improvements. The biggest change appears to be a fix for that nasty bug that caused the Pre to reset or turn off when the keyboard was closed -- that bit of grey foam pictured was added to the battery compartment to tighten up the battery connection. There's a also word that the screen cracking and unintended rotation issues have been addressed, although time will tell on those, and the button color has changed from pearl to silver. As for improvements, well, there's a new battery model, and the Palm logo is now embossed on the carrying case. Yep, just little stuff, but it's good to see Palm addressing the build issues on the Pre, which are by far the most common complaint about the device. Let us know if you've spotted anything else, would you?
Apple adds queue time, contact info to iPhone developer pages
Small steps: reports from several iPhone developers indicate that Apple has showcased two key features on the Dev Center website that may improve the mood and attitude of anxious app submitters. Feature #1 is a queue status graphic (seen here), letting everyone know how long the approval wait should be -- like the line signs at Walt Disney World, only far geekier.Feature #2 is the presence of a new 'all issues' escalation email address, so developers with urgent bug fixes that need to be prioritized can get their questions answered -- something that the Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry specifically asked for in his wrapup of the 1st-anniversary state of the store. This email channel has apparently been open for a week or two, but is now being publicized on the front page.Several other tips & suggestions posts have also been updated in the past 24 hours, including notes on the keywording/tagging options and walkthroughs on changing your app name and assigning/adjusting the app's rating. If you're a registered developer, swing over to the Dev Center and take a look.[via the delightful Nik Fletcher]
Anti-Aliased: The Daze of Darkfall
I'm still not exactly sure what I've done. I remember pressing a few buttons on the Darkfall website, a really long download, and then a very large splash screen appearing on my desktop with the Darkfall logo emblazoned across it.I think I downloaded and installed Darkfall. The North American version, in fact. I thought it was just going to be a one night stand between the two of us, but I guess I was wrong. Looks like I'm back in with the game and I'm going in-depth. This time around though, I'm going to do some things differently. There's going to be no reviewing and less critiquing. It's just going to be a straight up re-telling of my experience in the "PvP experience of a lifetime" with a little snark added in, of course. You guys be the judges of Darkfall this time.This week's events include jumping in with a brand new clan, getting the newbie experience all over again, and the capturing of a city. Exciting stuff, right? Come with me, I'll tell ya all about it.
Tip: Show possible slot gear on character screen
I know for sure we've mentioned this on the podcast (in the ever-more-popular Turpster's Tips feature), but I'm not sure we've ever explicitly mentioned it on the site before, and this post from WoW Ladies is a great reminder to do so: next time you're checking out your character screen, try holding Alt as you mouse over the various loots you're wearing. You'll get a little popup with all of the gear in your bags that corresponds to that slot -- a (mostly) undocumented feature that showed up in patch 3.1 along with all of the other UI improvements.In fact, that's probably why this is just sneaking around now -- there were a lot of nice tweaks back then, and this one slipped through the cracks. Of course, now that the official Equipment Manager is in the game (you have clicked that checkbox in the Interface options to enable it, right?), you might not need to worry about switching your gear manually anyway. But just in case you haven't seen the Alt function on your character screen yet, there you go.
Payback driving game for iPhone updated to version 1.1, lite version added
We've posted about Payback before -- it's a Grand Theft Auto clone that's playable (and pretty impressive) on the iPhone. Apex Designs, the company behind the app, sent us a note that they've updated to version 1.1, and with that update come a nice round of fixes and improvements. As you can see above, the camera angle has been tweaked to take a little more advantage of the 3D engine, the minimap has been beefed up, and the display now rotates as you tilt the iPhone. Looks very nice.And there's even better news: even if you're not willing to shell out the $5 required for the full app, there's a lite version just released to the App Store -- it lets you explore one of the eleven cities available in the full version. Payback was impressive when released, and only suffered from a few gameplay glitches, but it looks like Apex is committed to ironing those out. It has developed into an even better game than before.
3D Armory offers a round of new improvements
We linked to 3D Armory a little while ago, and as Eliah says, it does what it says it'll do: provides a picture of your character as they are in the Armory in 3D. The site's founder recently emailed us about a few improvements, and as you can see over there, there's lots of new additions. All the different regions are now reachable, and while there was an issue with special characters in the realm name, it's been fixed, so you can get any character that's online into the 3D viewer. They've added character customization, so you can make sure that the model in the picture matches your model in game. Screenshots can now be taken, and even uploaded to Facebook through their Facebook app.And there are some inter-character features as well: you can now comment on character profiles, which might be a good or a bad thing -- you could mark a good player or maybe label a ninja (though we're not sure what kind of moderation there is for that. And finally they've created something called the PuGchecker, which lets you quickly and easily enter character names and see what raid achievements those characters have earned (so if someone says they've been to OS before, you can make sure it's true). And they've even got an ingame macro you can use to run the script from directly in the game.The rate of development over there is pretty impressive, and the site has definitely grown into much more than just your average Armory substitute. At some point you wonder just how many of the features are necessary (if you ever want to see your character in 3D, you can pretty much just log into the game), but they're definitely getting creative.
