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Meet Pantheon's undead minotaurs and be gored by them
You know the saying: You can't keep a good berzerking minotaur down. And in the multiverse of Pantheon, you won't have to. In a Pantheon dev blog posted today, the team introduced the Taurokians, giant, fearsome minotaurs plucked from their home planet and put on Terminus to survive: "Their martial prowess originated from their culture that was steeped in brutal warfare and ritualistic dark arts. They learned to master the secrets of steel and iron, forging some of the finest armor and weapons ever wielded on Terminus." While they did fine for a while, their small numbers coupled with a battle gone sour resulted in the Taurokians' extermination. But magic being what it is, the minotaurs came back as hulking undead skeletons looking for more fights.
Macmillan tests selling e-books to libraries in two-year stretches
Major publishers are taking wildly different approaches to resolving the woes surrounding e-book lending at libraries: they're experimenting with both the short-yet-cheap subscription as well as an expensive option to pay only once for perpetual use. Sure enough, we're now seeing the middle road. Macmillan plans to run a pilot project in the first quarter of the year that will charge libraries $25 per copy for a selection of 1,200 back catalog Minotaur Books titles, but give buyers better than usual lending rights for either two years or 52 loans, depending on the popularity. They'll only have permission to lend to one person at a time for each copy, although Macmillan's comments to LibraryJournal leave the door open to changing terms should the pilot struggle to gain traction. As it stands, the strategy could be expensive for libraries if they have to pay over and over again for a perennial favorite. It might, however, be palatable for those book lending outfits already planning to go all-digital.
Caverns of Minos offers minotaurs, Mothersheep through App Store
Jeff Minter's latest iOS installment doesn't directly involve goats, but it does bring back the illustrious minotaurs and disco-psychedelic flavor of classic Llamasoft style. Caverns of Minos has players grab minotaurs from the depths of vertical caverns to return them to the Mothersheep (yes, it's a giant, floating sheep), all in brilliant neon, old-school graphics. Caverns of Minos is available now in the App Store for $1.99 from Minter's Llamasoft, which self-supposedly offers "the finest minotaur-rescuing games on the entire App Store."
The Game Archaeologist uncovers Shadowbane: Your journeys
Every time I tackle a new game for this column, I keep rediscovering a key truth: that there are the bare facts of an MMO that you can research and process, and there are the memories and experiences that transcend the features bullet points on the back of the box. It's always terrific to see players come out of the woodwork and say things like, "You know what really made this game special...?" Shadowbane is proving an interesting case study as well. Because it flew so very low on my personal radar during the entirety of its operation, I naturally assumed it wasn't that good for the few souls who did play it. It turns out that I was wrong, considering just how many testimonies we've had from people who admit that if you could get past the graphical limitations and technical issues, there was a helluva game experience waiting for you. So to follow up from last week's interview with a blogger, this week we're going to hear from Massively readers who took the time to send in their favorite memories of Shadowbane so that they could be preserved in the hallowed Game Archaeologist vaults. Let's do it!
City of Heroes unleashes the Animal Pack [Updated]
Ever feel like howling at the full moon or flying into the sun on golden wings? We don't really need to hear about your dreams -- ours are freaky enough as it is. But if you've been looking for a way to express your inner animal in City of Heroes, NCsoft has you covered. With the upcoming Animal Pack, players on both sides of the conflict will be able to create even more superhero-beast hybrids than ever before. Not only does the pack include a number of new animal-themed options for the character creator, but the savage amongst us will enjoy creature-themed emotes and a new level 4 travel power, Beast Run. The pack includes over 60 new heads, body patterns, manes, and tails themed after cats, birds, minotaurs and wolves. Roleplayers should like the Sniff, Hiss and Feather Fly emotes, while everyone will be able to appreciate two unique auras. One of these auras, we kid you not, is a flea aura. Get ready to start scratching! The City of Heroes Animal Pack will go on sale on February 23rd at the NCsoft store. [Update: We've added the Animal Pack gallery below and the video after the cut... enjoy!] %Gallery-115975%
Disillusionment with MMOs
Because I never studied nor considered studying psychology, you may doubt my words, but I will still tell you that many people go through a phase in life in which things become less shiny for them. What, there really is no Santa Claus? Those awesome space battles on TV are just tiny plastic miniatures hanging from fishing-line? World of Warcraft didn't invent Naga? Sooner or later the curtain will be pulled back on something you found new or fascinating in your life. Losing that sense of excitement from something you thought was different or new can leave a gaping hole of disillusionment. The short history of MMOs is not immune to providing plenty of room for players to become disillusioned. Like television, movies, and books, MMOs don't use 100% new content that developers invented out of thin air. I've been on many MMO forums and have seen players at different stages of disillusionment seemingly frothing at the mouth about being sick of elves in fantasy MMOs, and accusing one MMO of stealing a name or even a similar-sounding name from an MMO they would defend as "more original." The fact is that most concepts and ideas have already been done, and it can just be hard to deal with. Who doesn't get a little disillusioned when he grows up and finds out his dad or mom really isn't the smartest or strongest person in the world? If I haven't disappointed you enough then follow along as I spoil even more of your favorite MMOs -- but hopefully I can also show you that disillusionment isn't the end.
TUAW's Daily App: Theseus
Theseus isn't for everyone -- it's a little slower-paced and more thoughtful than a lot of apps in the store, and the puzzles included get hard fast. But if you're looking for a challenge and a little bit of brain-teasing on your iPhone, Theseus will provide just that. It's a puzzle game based on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. You control Theseus, represented by blue dot on a series of mazes. Your job is to try and get away from the Minotaur, the red dot, and make it to the exit on each screen. The catch? You only get to move one square each turn, while the Minotaur gets to move two. But he will always try to move toward you, so with a little clever planning, there's always a way to evade him and escape the Labyrinth. That can be fiendishly tough, but the game is solidly built, with a whole slew of ways to undo and reset the game if you run into problems. Trial and error can get you far, and if you get too frustrated, there's a hint button that will help you get through the game's over 80 levels. There's a free version to try out, and if you enjoy figuring out ways to get around the Minotaur, Theseus is on the App Store for US$1.99.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Druid
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the nineteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. Nature is a system of life energy in constant flow, peaceful one moment and turbulent the next. All living things draw their life from it, and depend upon its balance for their existence. Druids are the protectors of this balance, who harness the energies it contains and try to live their lives according to its laws and principles. In this way, they become intimate members of the natural system, embodying the very force that they seek to protect. The druid is not merely a spellcaster who draws on nature to do cool stuff -- he is nature, in himself, completely one with it in every way. The world is his body, and he is an inseparable part of the whole. It can be rather hard for those of us living in the concrete jungles of modern city life to get a feeling for what nature really is, or what it feels like to be a part of it. Perhaps if you have ever ventured off the paved highway into the distant reaches of the world, you will know the feeling of connection to the greatness of the natural world in which the human race evolved, long, long ago in a state of mind far, far away from billboards and electronic devices, pop culture and prime-time TV programming. It may no longer be possible for human beings to simply return to its ancient state, nor would that necessarily be a good thing. Today, people look out at the world outside the closed-off bubble of material civilization and wonder their new relationship with the ancient balance of nature could be.To play a druid in WoW as a class in a game is one thing, but to try and get inside the druid worldview and understand what they might be thinking is something else. To start, it would help to look inside ourselves and see what sort of connection to nature exists there. Is there a balance? What would balance look like? How would it feel to be in complete harmony with the natural world? What would it be like to channel all the power of nature through your body or indeed feel the world itself as an extension of your body?
GameStop LBP pre-order adds more God of War sackness
We had previously learned that a Kratos SackBoy would be available with a GameStop pre-order, but what we didn't know was all the extras that would also be included with the reservation. The GameStop website and a new commercial (found after the break) reveal the pre-order will also include Minotaur and Medusa costumes, along with stickers and level pack.The details on getting the redemption code vary between online and in-store reservation, with online codes being sent out a week before the game ships and store codes available at time of reservation -- while supplies last (call ahead). No word yet if the Heavenly Sword Best Buy exclusive Nariko SackGirl will come with levels, extra characters and a dose of a "twing-twang."[Via PS3 Fanboy]
