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The Firing Line: What DayZ means to core gamers
The death of the core gamer has been greatly exaggerated. Yes, MMORPGs (and gaming in general) have kowtowed to the influx of new-school players flush with cash but lacking time, and the genre has reinvented itself and turned its back on virtual world enthusiasts in the process. There's still hope, though, and so far it's not coming from any of the usual sandbox suspects in the MMO space.
Dark Souls PC's resolution issues fixed by modder in 23 minutes
A fan-made mod appears to have fixed Dark Souls: Prepare to Die's resolution issues, dramatically improving the game's graphics in the process. What's more, the modder was able to complete the fix within 23 minutes of the game's release.There had been concern leading up to the PC version of Dark Souls, with From Software acknowledging that Prepare to Die would likely release without expected optimization. Producer Daisuke Uchi had told Digital Spy earlier this month that the original game's frame-rate issues would not be fully fixed, while Eurogamer raised alarms over Prepare to Die appearing to be locked at 1024x768 resolution.With all that in mind, NeoGAF user Durante spent the week before the game's release preparing a 'dll framework' to fix the problem. When the game launched earlier today, he only needed 23 minutes to finalize the code required to render it at a higher resolution. What's most surprising is how much better Prepare to Die now looks, with Durante's mod seemingly curing the unmodded version of its blurriness. The before and after screenshots are striking.While fans are delighted with the fix, the speed of one modder's work to improve Prepare to Die's resolution so dramatically forces questions to be raised. We've approached Namco Bandai for comment but the publisher declined to say anything at this time.You can download Durante's fix here.
Gamescom 2012: End of Nations trailer spotlights customization
Whether they're sporting traditional or tie-dye or polka-dots, players meeting on the battlefield in End of Nations won't have to worry about blending in with the crowd thanks to the variety of customization options available in the Armory. Trion Worlds released a trailer at Gamescom 2012 showcasing some of these available customizations in the upcoming free-to-play MMORTS. The customization in the Armory, however, goes beyond just a colorful outer shell; players also use this feature to set load outs, design and create companies, and modify units. Want different armaments? The Armory is where you get them. Check out the variety of options as well as some in-game footage in the trailer after the break. And players interested in experiencing the feature for themselves can sign up for the beta on the official site.
Gamescom 2012: DayZ stand-alone to have instanced building [Updated]
Rock, Paper Shotgun caught up with Arma II modder Dean Hall at this week's Gamescom. The braaaaains behind the zombie-centric DayZ mod revealed that player-driven construction is in the works for the mod's eventual stand-alone client. Hall says that the feature will probably take the form of underground bases accessed via portals (think a grate in the ground). He's leaning toward having players dig out the space, pour concrete, set up hydroponics, and possibly even have the structure collapse around them if it's a particularly gruesome day. DayZ's stand-alone client will also feature a revamped Chernarus that features more buildings you can actually enter as well as more detail and "entirely new areas." [Update: There are also talks of the game coming to consoles.] Every summer, the gaming industry descends on Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment. Massively's on the scene in 2012, bringing you all the best scoops, impressions, and interviews from the MMOs at the show!
The Witcher 2 getting mod tool 'REDkit' on PC
If witching is one of your favorite things, you'll be happy to hear that a whole bunch more content is headed to the game industry's favorite witching game, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Developer CD Projekt Red announced late last week that its "REDkit" mod tools will be shown at this week's German game convention, Gamescom.Beyond the ability to make Geralt into a perfect facsimile of Laa-Laa from Teletubbies, the tools enable PC users to create "new, non-linear adventures," "great looking locations," and "much more." There's no word on when the tools will be available, but we'll be sure to ask CD Projekt later this week when we check out the mod kit. And yes, we'll ask about the possibility of turning Geralt into Po as well. Fine.
The Firing Line: This is not a PlanetSide 2 NDA violation edition
For the record, I really, really wanted to write about PlanetSide 2 for this week's Firing Line. Alas, NDAs or some such. Blargle, bollocks, and boo-hiss on all of that. Anyhow, there is more to the MMO shooter space than Sony Online Entertainment's sci-fi sequel, right? Guys? Yeah, OK, as intros go, this one is pretty weak. But like I said, I'd rather be talking about that time when I [edited] a Terran Republic [edited] outside of [edited] but it was [edited] [edited] [edited] Mosquito. That's not all, as we also [edited] and then [edited] [edited] by some [edited]. Oh, right. We can't talk about that just yet, so join me after the cut for this week's most interesting non-PlanetSide 2 shooter news.
Galaxy Note 10.1 just hitting shelves, already said to be rooted
Only two days after Samsung announced the availability of the Galaxy Note 10.1 (and its source code), it appears to already have been rooted. An XDA user named Zedomax claims to have pulled off the feat by injecting root into the stock European firmware, then installing the superuser'd version in conventional ODIN fashion. With the usual bricking caveats, that'll let you start installing unsanctioned apps to the pen-enabled beast, while apparently still getting OTA updates from the mother company. We'd love to verify it ourselves with our own GT-N8000, but we don't have one yet -- and neither does hardly anyone else, so you may want to wait for some other brave soul to confirm it before going ahead.
DayZ surpasses one million unique players
Less than a month ago, Arma II mod DayZ surpassed the 500,000-player mark. As of this morning, over one million of you have tried the game since its inception earlier this year. According to the counter on the mod's official website, players have killed over 22.5 million zombies and accumulated nearly 1,220 years of total play time since the game went live. DayZ is the brainchild of Dean "Rocket" Hall, and it transforms the modern military shooter Arma II into a post-apocalyptic sandbox infested with zombies and murderous fellow players. The object of the game is to survive as long as possible. Hall added injury effects as well as the need to eat and drink in order to heighten both the difficulty and the sense of realism.
Minecraft mod makes shadows more shadowy, water more watery
What's that you say? You love Minecraft's neo-retro styling but wish it flexed more of your super-expensive gaming PC's copious muscle? Well, first of all, you need to speak up; it's very difficult to hear someone through the Internet. Secondly, Sonic Ether's Unbelievable Shaders mod for Minecraft is exactly what you're looking for. As seen above, the mod adds dynamic shading effects as well as more realistic movement to vegetation and fire, and best of all, hyper-pretty transparent water cubes. While not yet fully optimized, the latest build of the mod is available here. Sonic Ether warns on his Facebook page that the mod is not bug free and should be used with caution. Conversely, older, more stable versions of the mod can be found here.
Custom steampunk Xbox 360 controller hits auction
eBay user "troxin_kustoms" is selling the custom (and working, he claims) Xbox 360 controller mod you see above, a painted beauty meant to resemble a less advanced, repurposed construction material. Alongside the custom paint job, all of the face buttons and analog sticks have been ripped out in favor of old typewriter keys.The auction is still going for just over two days, so best act quickly if you're in the US or Canada. Those are the only territories "troxin_kustoms" is willing to ship this thing, probably because the fuel for an overseas dirigible trip would be outrageously expensive.
The Firing Line: DayZ, Forge, and Rapid Assault
A couple of interesting items came across The Firing Line desk this week. One of them was the fact that PlanetSide 2's beta will be cranking up inside of a month. And there was much rejoicing. OK, now that that's out of the way, the other items concern games that are decidedly smaller in scale but no less interesting. Join me after the break for a look at the latest from the devs behind World War II Online (or Battleground Europe, if you prefer), and a new title called Forge. Oh yeah, and 500,000 of you are playing something called DayZ.
DayZ shooter mod reaches 500k users
What do you get when you cross a hyper-realistic open-world shooter with a zombie-driven third-party mod? A certified phenomenon with more users than your average MMORPG, according to our friends at Joystiq. "Congratulations everyone, with your support through tough times, mistakes, troubles, and technical problems, we now have over 500k users," DayZ dev Dean Hall tweeted yesterday. The mod has taken the shooter world by storm with its blend of realism, unforgiving gameplay, and brain-munching undead. The project turns Bohemia Interactive's Arma 2 into a desperate fight for survival in a world ravaged by zombie apocalypse. While the mod isn't technically an MMO, its persistence and massive world are certainly MMO-like. DayZ is on track to overtake the sales of the game on which it is based. "Currently we're running 22,000 concurrent at full peak, and 10,000 off peak, which is pretty huge numbers considering the original data structure and system was designed to handle 100 concurrents and two servers," he said.
CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along
Whenever there's a new version of Android, Steve Kondik and the CyanogenMod team tend to swing into action almost immediately with plans for a major revision of the fan-favorite platform overhaul. For Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, that swing will be faster than ever. The crew's early looks suggest that there will only be a few minor tweaks needed to merge Google's latest with the custom Android code, making CyanogenMod 10 a relative snap to produce. The update's release is still very much up in the air without the Android Open Source Project code available to modify; that said, device compatibility also isn't expected to be an obstacle. Any device that can run CyanogenMod 9 should run version 10 when it's released. As long as we're willing to wait for a stable 9.0 to emerge first, there are few barriers to making Jelly Bean that much sweeter.
Joyride to joystick: Atari controller custom-built from car seat adjuster
So you've survived the robot revolution and you're waiting for either a full-blown apocalypse, or Mr. Anderson. But how are you going to kill time when our new masters are eating controller PCBs for breakfast? With a steampunk joystick, of course. Jason Torchinsky from Jalopnik has done just that, making an Atari 2600 controller by repurposing a power seat control switch panel from a 1980s Oldsmobile. It's no Avenger Controller Elite, but it certainly does the job, and due to a standardized wiring layout it's functional on other hardware of the same era. And for all you MAME heroes, Jason says it would be no more complicated to hook it up to a PC or Mac using a USB keyboard encoder. Follow the source link for a neat walkthrough of the project and jump over the break to see a video of the seat switch in action, shot in the mancave of yesteryear. Update: We've removed the video at the owner's request, but you can check it out at the source link below.
CyanogenMod nightlies reach Samsung Galaxy S III, Nature UX critics unite
Let's say you're a fan of the quad-core processor and giant screen of the international Galaxy S III, but Samsung's Nature UX just leaves you feeling cold. Thankfully, the first CyanogenMod 9 nightly builds have arrived to warm you up. They both bring the OS closer to the official Android Open Source Project version while adding the extras that we've seen before, such as theme support, an audio equalizer and gesture shortcuts on the lock screen. Nightlies are well away from becoming polished releases, so don't be surprised if your Galaxy S III goes awry -- the team is already advising starting from a completely blank slate. But if that desire to get more control over the OS is still strong enough to throw at least a slight amount of caution to the wind, the source will provide all the downloads and details needed to give Samsung's interface the boot.
Open-mesh PC case keeps heat, dust bunnies at bay
If you haven't done it in a while, opening your PC case can be like a slasher flick -- you know you'll see something disgusting, but you're never sure what. Taiwan's YoungYear Electronics claims to stop the horror with its Green Mesh case, which has neither fans to suck dust, nor filters, and keeps your components cool with a "chimney effect" instead. It's this same action that repels dust out the top, so that only one quarter the usual amount of filth is drawn in -- according to the company. The only downside is that with poor heat dissipation, the maximum power supply unit size is 300 watts -- which probably scratches it off the list for most modders or power-users. For the rest, if you don't mind your computer's innards blowing in the breeze, at least you'd have no nasty case-opening frights.
Skyrim Online MMO-ish mod gaining momentum
Skyrim Online isn't really an MMO. Heck, it's not even a fully functioning mod yet, nor will it ever be officially supported. It's pretty cool, though, particularly given that its aim is to enable co-op play within the sprawling world of Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls epic. When we first heard of the mod last winter, it was pretty rough, with other players displaying as inanimate prisoner NPCs sans any clothing or armor. Now, though, the devs have managed to add some armor, basic run and walk animations, and general chat. There's still a lot left to do, including a party system, trading, AI synchronization, and PvP, but you can see a video clip of the recent progress after the break. [Thanks Sandboxer for the tip!]
Ben Heck's Android-controlled pot-stirrer does (most of) the cooking for you
Ben Heck is always thinking up gadgets that make life easier, from completely hands-free luggage to a sensor system for improved cycling safety. His latest mod is meant for those of us who have burnt Ramen a few too many times. His so-called Ben-Stur Remote Control Android app works with a pot-stirring device, freeing users to stray from the kitchen while their meal is cooking. The app works via Bluetooth, and the pot-stirrer consists of an actuator arm, a chip clip, a timing belt and, of course, a wooden spoon. Heck used a Google ADK and an Arduino Uno for the control mechanism that communicates between the app and the stirrer. In the tablet app, users can check their food's temperature and control the speed of the spoon's stirring. If that whets your appetite, click the source link for more info -- and check out our Maker Faire interview with Mr. Heckendorn himself.
Steam Workshop's Skyrim mods top over 13.6 million downloads, Macho Man is pleased
Between Valentine's Day and now, 11.6 million Skyrim mods were downloaded from Steam, totaling 13.6 million. That's a lot of hanging out with space cores and dragons modeled after Randy Savage.The top mods represented on Steam's Workshop as of this writing aren't adding or subtracting major things from the original game. Many extend the experience in minor ways – bolstered sound offerings, more robust map markers, new spells – while a few add whole new quests. Thankfully, Skyrim's mod community moved away from its obsession with clean faces. At least for today.
aTV Flash (black) for jailbroken Apple TVs updated with NFS support, more
FireCore just updated aTV Flash (black), an alternative software package for the second generation Apple TV. With a jailbroken Apple TV and the FireCore software, you can use the media device to surf the web, stream content from a NAS, play back popular media formats (MKV, AVI, MP4) and more. The latest version of the aTV Flash (black) package brings the software to release version 1.5. This version adds support for NFS streaming, subtitle timing settings, new language translations and a bunch of improvements and fixes. FireCore is still working on both the untethered version of aTV Flash (black) for the Apple TV2 and the version for the third generation Apple TV. You can grab the $30 software from FireCore's website and follow the instructions to install it to your jailbroken AppleTV. Current aTV Flash (black) users can update through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu. You can also download the update to your computer using the download link found in your account under the Downloads tab.
