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Maybe Ulduar drakes aren't going away in 3.2 after all
We had a bit of a minor freakout when we heard that the Rusted and Ironbound protodrakes might be getting removed as rewards for the Ulduar meta achievements in Patch 3.2, and then even more of one when the slow trickle of information about 3.2 turned into a firehose. Bornakk mentioned the change initially with the caveat that it was their intention to remove the drakes eventually, but that he'd seek definite confirmation either way as to whether it was happening in 3.2 or not. There's been no update about it in the past few weeks. Well, after a thorough reading of the 3.2 patch notes, I don't see a single trace of anything saying the drakes are getting removed. At the risk of counting my protochickens before they hatch, I think we might be safe, given how fast 3.2 looks like it's coming out. This is at least a relief for my guild, who's doing pretty well on 10-man hard-mode progression but ... is there a word worse than "dismal"? ... on 25-man hard-modes. Maybe there's hope for us yet.Should we get the soul-crushing confirmation that they'll be removed with 3.2, we'll be sure to let you know. There's still a lot of time for change on this one, though -- maybe it was an accidental omission, maybe it'll get decided on later -- but for now, you can breathe a little easier knowing you might be able to keep hacking away at those hard modes to get your undeniably awesome drakes even after the Argent Coliseum is commanding your guild's attention. Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!
Joystiq vs E3: Day 4
Here we are with Joystiq vs E3: Day 4. Today we tour the South Hall, where companies like Konami, Microsoft, MTV Games and Sega are showing off their wares. It was a long day (again), but at least we made time for pizza. Check it out.[Music: Phantom Jets - "When I'm Gone"]
Overheard@E3: ESA's Dan Hewitt thinks we should be happy with what we get
"You're lucky there aren't f**cking wooden benches in here. You can quote me on that!" With those words, ESA senior director of communication Dan Hewitt told Joystiq's own Richard Mitchell and Alexander Sliwinski -- in jest, we should strongly note -- exactly where they could put their handful of complaints about the lack of free soda and hot water for a cuppa tea in the press room. And considering the amount of stress the man at least partially responsible for this so-far seemingly successful E3 must be under, we can understand the response. After gabbing with us for a bit more, he noted with a smile, "Don't forget, wood benches, y'all!" Oh noes! Although we were thirsty, we were certainly thankful for our plush and soft leather couches.
Titmouse brings a pirate band to its pirate paaaaarty
So, we were at an E3 shindig for Seven Haunted Seas at Titmouse Studios last night. Seven Haunted Seas is a pirate game, you see, and so Titmouse desired to hire a pirate band to play the party. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Pirates Charles. The game wasn't actually there, incidentally. That's not important, though. Know why?Because there's a pirate band.
Joystiq vs E3 Day 3
Joystiq's third day in LA -- which was yesterday, incidentally -- was hectic. With loads of hands-on sessions, interviews, and more booth appointments than you can count, It's tiring and very, very stressful, but we do it for you. Today, let us walk you through your own personal tour of the West Hall. Enjoy Joystiq vs E3: Day 3. Music: Fugitive Souls - "Frames"
Joystiq vs E3: Day 2
Day 2 of our time in LA has nearly come to a close -- most of us are at least considering sleep anyway -- and E3 hasn't even officially begun! We saw some pretty impressive things today, along with some not so impressive things and some downright strange things. Thus, we bring you Joystiq vs E3 Day 2, which concentrates mostly on our time at Microsoft's press briefing. You might wonder why there's no footage of either the Ubisoft or EA briefings. You really shouldn't.[Music: Peach Stealing Monkeys - "Night Walk"
Joystiq vs E3: Day 1
Joystiq's first day in LA for E3 2009 is finally winding down. It was a busy day of getting everyone to the hotel, getting everyone fed and getting everyone registered. Of course, we took time to stop and take in some of the ambiance along the way, and we made sure to get it all on video just for you. Behold, Joystiq vs E3 Day 1.[Music: Admiral Twin - "Phone Call #27"]
E3 2009: The Joystiq War Room
So, this is it, your world exclusive first look at the Joystiq E3 2009 War Room, from which we'll be bringing you all the hot scoops and where we're bound to be told to quiet down at least six times. There's a lot of excitement in the air, and a lot of hunger, so we're about to make a burger run to the Apple Pan. See you tomorrow.
Next-gen iPhone photos leaked?
The iPhone blogs says they've uncovered the very first photos of a brand new version of the iPhone (the pictures are watermarked from a site called UMPC Fever), and while there's no actual indication that they're real (at the very least, it wouldn't be hard at all to make a picture and load it on the iPhone stream), they are worth a look, if only as ideas. The pictures hint at what's basically a dream roundup of new iPhone hardware: a camera with autofocus, a digital compass, and there are hints at a CPU log as well (which may be a developer function of some kind).A few people note that there is a percentage near the battery, but that's actually a known function of 3.0, and it's been possible on jailbroken iPhones for a while as well.To add to the mystery, commenter Dstreelm in the comments over there took a look at the metadata on one of the photos (the one supposedly taken by the iPhone), and it was taken near Hong Kong, just a day or so ago. It's definitely all rumors, so take it all with a grain of salt, but it does lend more credence to the idea that we'll be seeing a new version of the iPhone hardware very soon.
E3 2009: We're here!
Mark the occasion: 11:10am E3 Time (that's 2:10pm Joystiq Time). The first Joystiq footsoldiers have touched down in LA, taken up defenses in a local Starbucks, and begun planning for coordinated pickups from the nearby LAX transportation facility. For the next five days, our highly trained video game Blog Force will infiltrate the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and surgically extract all the "scoops" and "hot stories" our rusty old internet trucks can possibly deliver back to you, Reader. To that end, you'll want to make a note: for our fully optimized E3 experience, you can redirect your internet browser of choice to e3.joystiq.com where we're collecting not only all of Team Joystiq's stories, but also presenting stories from our colleagues at Engadget, Massively, Big Download, and GameDaily.Let's go!
Metamorial: Game writers remember Dave Arneson
Somewhere between co-creating Dungeons & Dragons and teaching at Full Sail College, Dave Arneson left an indelible mark on the gaming landscape. Every time we roll for initiative or challenge the dungeon master's ability to adapt, Arneson's guiding hand can be felt. We've gathered sentiments shared by our colleagues around the internet for you here, and encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments section below, about the man that helped move role-playing into the limelight of gaming.Ars Technica: "Get out your classic rule books. Invite some friends over. Keep a chair empty for a fallen friend, and play for a few hours. Not online, in person. Order a pizza ... Remember Dave Arneson, a man who wasn't satisfied with the game when his parents brought home an Avalon Hill title. When he began changing the rules, he began changing the world."
The Queue: You have been pwned by a grue
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.What is a grue?The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale. (source) Who wants to go start a WoW based mud with me?Jeni asked..."Regarding the shift in glyphs...what happens if you want to use a Glyph of Levitate in both specs? What if you don't care enough about your off spec to get new glyphs each time you switch specs (for instance, keep your holy glyphs when you switch specs to shadow to quest?) Does it eat up your glyphs anyhow?"
UPDATED: Brew of the Year removed from Brewmaster achievement on PTR
EDIT: Bornakk says that the achievement will be replaced in the meta achievement with one that requires you to simply sign up for the Brew of the Month Club. And for those who doubted my psychic powers: Noblegarden achievements are being added to Long, Strange Trip.Following the pattern of removing achievements that take a while to complete from the holiday meta-achievements, Blizzard yanked Brew of the Year from Brewmaster on the current 3.1 PTR. This means that anyone who was missing it now has yet another fair shake at getting their Violet Proto-Drake for completing all of the other holiday achievements for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. I'm pleased that players who missed that one achievement can still have a shot at the big prize, but man, there seems to be an awful lot of meta-achievement caving lately. It just creates the impression that complaining about something will get it changed, and I don't think that's what Blizzard wants players to believe.To be fair, it was physically impossible for Death Knights to get this achievement until sometime in 2010. This is a good change for them and I'm okay with that. And no, I'm not against Blizzard removing unfair achievements from reward-bearing metas. This was also the only achievement which was impossible to complete during the event itself. We'll see if the pattern holds after people miss another impossible-to-miss achievement in the Noblegarden set. Grats to those for whom this achievement change will make a difference, and early props for your purple dragon.
Lichborne: PvE Gems for Death Knights
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly dose of Death Knight discussion.Now that we've covered most standard pemutations of gear gathering in past Lichborne columns, I figured this week would be a good time to start talking about taking the extra steps to really trick out your gear. This week, will focus on gems. Not only will this help you take your gear to the next level, but it gives me a good excuse to talk about some new discoveries and discussions going on as we try to figure out the best ways to squeeze the most DPS out of a Death Knight. So to start, let's talk about which statistics you'll want to focus on when you gem.
Surprise! Introducing our DS and Wii tabs
You know what happens when you grow too quickly? Growing pains. With most of those nasty growing pains under control – after Monday night's relaunch of Joystiq, and rebranding of the DS and Wii Fanboy sites – we're happy to let you know that you can now filter Joystiq Nintendo for Wii or DS.How does one do it? Easy, when you see a story on Joystiq Nintendo, you'll notice it will either have a Wii tab or a DS tab (sometimes both). All you have to do is click on that tab and you'll get everything sorted for that particular platform. Only want DS news? Well, then go ahead and bookmark this link. Only want the Wii stuff? Then bookmark this link. You can subscribe to either of those links in your favorite RSS reader and absorb the site that way as well. It's that easy. And if you don't want to be bothered with scrolling down the page, you'll notice the top now has a Wii and DS tab next to the Nintendo tab. Progress, ain't it grand?When you're viewing the front page, you'll see these tabs sprinkled throughout posts; however, when you're sorting by each platform tag (DS or Wii), then you won't see those tabs (we think that makes sense). Let us know what you think in the comments below or head past the break for a guide on using the new tabs, if all of this still seems a bit over your head. Wii-only feed DS-only feed
Scattered Shots: A PvE gem and enchant guide for Hunters
Welcome to this week's edition of Scattered Shots, which is dedicated to shiny things and dust.So by now you've seen our normal dungeon gear guide, our heroic dungeon gear guide, our reputation gear guide, and our holiday gift guide. Between all of them, you should be able to put together a nice solid set of gear that should let you tackle 10-man Naxxramas pretty easily. But grabbing the gear is the easy part. To go the extra mile, you need to grab those gems and enchantments. Let's look at some of the best gems and enchantments you can take along to secure your place in the DPS charts in Naxxramas.
X3F's top stories of 2008
Now that 2008 has come to a close with both team X3F and the X3F community deciding the best games of 2008, we're feeling a little '08 nostalgic for some reason. Maybe we have an attachment disorder or are just in awe of how amazing 2008 was, but whatever the case, we wanted to revisit last year. So, we dug through the official X3F statistical library and uncovered the top fifteen most trafficked stories of 2008. All of which can be viewed in their news glory after the break. According to the traffic reports, Rock Band, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Xbox hardware revisions and NXE Avatars were all the rage in '08. Interesting stuff. Oh how we miss you already 2008. You were good to all of us, even the bad fanboys. But now, we say goodbye and welcome 2009 into our hearts as we look forward to what gaming news is yet to come.
It's Thanksgiving Day, now pass the gravy
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a national holiday when friends and family come together to gorge themselves, eat various poultry and pour on extra helpings of gravy. It being Thanksgiving also means you'll be seeing less news on X3F today (collective sigh ... ), because we'll be doing the whole family thing, taking it easy and doing a lot of gaming. For our fanboy friends in Europe, Canada and every other worldly place that isn't the U.S., we wish you a very happy un-Thanksgiving and hope you get a chance to participate in today's overeating ritual. On behalf of all of us at X3F, have a wonderful Thanksgiving (or un-Thanksgiving) and be sure to find time to express your gratitude to your 360.
iPhone and mobile users: read X3F at i.xbox360fanboy.com
Attention to all you snazzy iPhone users out there, X3F is proud to announce a brand new version of Xbox 360 Fanboy formatted specifically for your phone of choice: i.xbox360fanboy.com. Mobile users have been enjoying our regular mobile offering m.xbox360fanboy.com for some time now, but this new mobile site is built with iPhones in mind. However, if you're not rocking Apple's latest wallet-sucking wonder machine, you'll be happy to know that i.xbox360fanboy.com works great on regular mobile browsers too!You get all the same information posted on Xbox 360 Fanboy and now i.xbox360fanboy.com even includes comments! Next time you're on the go and have a hankering for some Xbox 360 news, give it a try. It's still considered to be in 'beta,' so be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.
X3F and Joystiq's E3 reader meetup: Thursday, July 17th in Santa Monica
Our community is oh so important to us, so whenever we get a chance, we love to chat it up with our fellow fanboys face to face, person to person and mono y mono. That's why we're doing it again this year, partnering with our gentle overlords over at Joystiq for the second annual E3 Joystiq reader meetup in Santa Monica next week! At Mahalo's headquarters, no less!The E3 reader meetup will feature plenty of social fun, free food and drinks, a bunch of video games to play (hooked up to a few very expensive projectors) and hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of swag will be given away. Over 200+ pounds of swag, ranging from video games to faceplates to peripherals to wearable swag. All being given away for FREE at the meetup! Though, we must admit, the most important reason you should attend is to meet the X3F crew. Yup, Richard and Dustin will both be in attendance along with a bunch of the Joystiq bloggers. Good times will be had!Be a social butterfly, stop by Mahalo HQ next Thursday, mingle a bit, win some swag, get your game on, meet the blogging crew and smile from ear to ear. Everyone can attend and don't forget to RSVP.When: 6-10:00PM pacific on Thursday, July 17thWhere: Mahalo HQ, 902 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (map it!)Who: Every man, women and child of every age. Yes, even YOU can attend!Why: Because it's "good times".RSVP: Facebook
