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Seen@PAX East: PopCap plays tricks
PopCap's PAX East booth was carnival-themed this year, and featured a magician that decided to attempt a "social experiment" Saturday. Stepping down from the small stage, he instructed the crowd to gather closely around the Plants vs Zombies developer's booth, then stood among them. After a brief explanation, he incited a loud, manufactured applause from the crowd before taking the stage and starting his short, but charming routine.The magician believed that by kicking off the presentation with a cheering crowd, those passing by would naturally stop and join the audience. He was right; the video above shows a few folks gathering near our spot on the left side of the stage, but the total crowd gathering around the booth might have doubled in size from the time before the enigmatic performer began his instructions.
Holiday iPad magic to start your week
Simon Pierro is back again with his bag of iPad tricks this holiday season. The iPad magician has compiled his 24 Xmas iPad Magic tricks into a single holiday-themed video. You can watch the compilation below or peruse through the individual clips on Pierro's YouTube channel. [Via iMore]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite MMO pet class?
If you started playing MMOs at the beginning of the genre, you may be saddled with a prejudice against pet classes. In early Ultima Online, an Animal Tamer's pets, usually dragons, had a way of getting their master into notoriety trouble. In EverQuest, if ever a pull went awry, blame was placed on the Necromancers and Magicians, deserved or not -- obviously, those classes just had poor pet control. Even City of Heroes' Masterminds, implemented only in 2005, have a bad reputation for reckless behavior (not to mention for blocking party members' movement). Pet AI has come a very long way over the last decade and a half, though, and pet classes continue to be popular, perhaps because they allow players to micromanage a group without actually having to be in one. And some games, like Star Wars: The Old Republic, have made all classes pet classes by virtue of companions. Are you a fan of pet classes, and if so, what's your favorite implementation across the genre? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Leaderboard: Magic vs. melee
Magic and melee: the yin and yang of the fantasy world. It's hard to imagine one existing without the other, the spell-slinging wizard without the mace-wielding hedge knight, the Gandalf without the Conan. Do they exist in a strange symbiosis of mysticism and steel, or is one the clear superior of the other? On one side, magicians have all the power of the elements at their disposal, able to do supernatural feats of wonder with a snap of their fingertips. Of course, this comes at a cost: namely, a terry cloth bathrobe dress code and approximately six-and-a-half hit points. On the other side, melee fighters spend their lives honing their bodies to physical perfection, becoming the Olympic athletes of the fantasy world, if the Olympics had 50-meter Beheading as a category. Then again, fighters tend to have the intellect of a dull brick and try to solve every problem, including PTA meetings, by headbutting it. Who will be crowned the victor today: the wizard or the warrior? Cast your vote -- and the fate of humankind -- after the jump!
Magic Campus beta a success, gamigo announces
gamigo's new Magic Campus MMO has "passed the beta stage" according to the company's latest press release. The title is a tactical browser-based affair, and gamigo says that players will take on the roles of magicians in training and beast tamers bent on capturing the hundreds of critters that populate the "colorful anime world." The game boasts six classes, turn-based battles against both monsters and other players, and guild and crafting systems designed to offer an alternative to combat. Magic Campus is free-to-play, and you can find out more about it, as well as download the client, at the official website. [Source: gamigo press release]
Eden Eternal's Magician previewed in new video
Eden Eternal's beta is coming up fast (June 2nd, if you're keeping track), and today we've got another class teaser for those of you anxiously awaiting the free-to-play fantasy title from Aeria Games. Our last video focused on the game's Warrior class, but this time around we're taking a look at how the other half lives courtesy of the Magician archetype. Unsurprisingly, the Magician lives and dies by his ranged DPS, and thanks to Eden Eternal's switching mechanics, you can swap to one of the game's 11 other classes if you're dying a little too often. Chances are you'll do fine, though, as Magicians deal elemental damage, cast buffs, turn invisible, and provide party teleports. The staff is the Magician's weapon of choice, and he can also pick from eight class-specific skills and five branch skills shared with other magic DPS classes. Head past the cut for a closer look at the new Magician video.
A little iPad magic
Here's a little iPad magic for your Memorial Day afternoon -- turns out the iPad really is a "magical" device. I'm not sure what app video is being used here, but I think it's a proprietary one, and probably not something you could use yourself (unless you know how to do some of the great slight-of-hand stuff that this guy is doing). But the iPhone can definitely be used for magic, as we've seen before, even if you're not a highly trained magician. But even though this guy is a little late some times (his brain unfortunately falls out of his head, since he misses the timing just a little bit), he pulls off this series of tricks quite well. [via TDW]
Joystiq hands-on: Master of Illusion (DS)
I've always liked magic. Growing up, I learned card tricks, sleight-of-hand, and other ways to fool an audience. One of my great childhood memories was being driven downtown by my mom and rummaging though a magic store's disorganized racks. I picked out a small, mirrored box that could cause any object I placed inside to disappear.If that store had Master of Illusion, I would have likely bought it instead. The DS "game" teaches kids tricks through dozens of on-screen activities. Some even rely on the included deck of cards. The best tricks lead to performances for friends, while some activities -- like fortune telling -- seem better suited to slumber parties. A few other activities let single players amaze themselves, with the DS reading the gamer's mind in a series of logic-based tricks.While I'll try not to spill too many secrets about how Master of Illusion works, the game looks to be a unique tool for young magicians. However, I was disappointed that the DS is required in all activities; I wanted the game to teach stand-alone tricks that work with just the included cards. But at least the game explains ways to misdirect an audience, recover from a mistake, and other basics that could be applied to other performances.
Virtually Overlooked Special: A bunch of NES games I get mixed up with each other
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Last week, I asked for reader suggestions for this week's Virtually Overlooked. One reader suggested The Guardian Legend, and I thought that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. The Guardian Legend was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the NES era, and something that is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of Ys and Faxanadu.It was only later that I realized that I was thinking of Legacy of the Wizard. I get those two mixed up a lot. They both fall into that "sleeper" category, they were both published by Brøderbund, and they both have "Leg" in the title. They're practically the same game, except that one's a hybrid vertical shooter/Zelda-style adventure developed by Compile, and the other is a side-scrolling action RPG from Nihon Falcom. But other than that, the same game.Inspired by my inability to keep two similar things separate, I thought this week we could look at some more NES games I get confused about, either because they're so similar or because I'm so dumb.
