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Shell aims to be a net zero emissions business by 2050
Shell is the latest oil giant to commit to carbon neutrality.
World of Warcraft player hits 90 without leaving Pandaren starting zone
The curious saga of World of Warcraft player Doubleagent has hit its pinnacle (for now) as the faction-neutral Pandaren character has maxed out his level at 90 this weekend. But why is this such a big deal, you ask? He did it without picking a faction, staying in the Pandaren starting zone, and mostly by picking herbs at 20-30 XP a pop. You can read more about Doubleagent's journey to 90 in this unique way over at the official forums, and be sure to check out WoW Insider's interview with him from earlier this year.
Neutral pandaren Doubleagent hits level 90
World of Warcraft may not have a third faction, but there is one player out there who has managed what seemed like a nigh-impossible feat. Doubleagent, the neutral pandaren who refused to choose a faction and leave the Wandering Isle, hit level 90 yesterday amid a crowd of cheering pandaren. Because he was stuck on the Wandering Isle, he had to obtain all those levels by picking herbs for a measly 20-30XP per node. Nonetheless, Doubleagent's patience won out, and now he has obtained the highest level he can currently get in game -- at about 174 days played on the account. What's in store for Doubleagent now? Waiting until Warlords, of course, at which point he can theoretically begin the long trek to 100. I highly doubt that anyone at Blizzard really expected a player to accomplish this feat, but one hopes that perhaps his perseverance will be acknowledged in some way. If nothing else, they could re-name the Herbalism trainer on the Wandering Isle after him, considering he's long since proved his prowess when it comes to picking posies. For more information from Doubleagent himself on the process of leveling sans-faction, check the thread on the official forums, and take a look at our interview with Doubleagent from earlier this year.
15 Minutes of Fame: Flower power pollinates leveling for true neutral pandaren
Crazy metagaming projects are among my favorite topics here at 15 Minutes of Fame. It's impossible not to catch the excitement of someone who's figured out a new way to spin Azeroth. Take for instance the curious case of Doubleagent , the "neutral" pandaren who's managed to make it to level 80 and still climbing without ever leaving the pandaren starting zone. In his case, staying put also means never having chosen a faction; Doubleagent is neither Horde nor Alliance but instead remains a neutral party. And the method to his madness? Flowers. Lots and lots of herbalism and flowers. Ticking through level 83 when this article was posted, Doubleagent continues to drift through the gentle fields leading to level 90 and beyond -- because oh yes, this is one player who plans to take his leveling project all the way to the top in the coming expansion as well.
World of Warcraft player hits level 80 without picking a faction
World of Warcraft player Doubleagent is going strong on his quest to level his Pandaren as a truly neutral character, recently hitting level 80 for his efforts. When last we saw Doubleagent in August 2013, he had reached level 60 by engaging in herbalism and inscription as his sole source of XP. WoW Insider reports that he just recently crossed the level 80 barrier and hopes to reach level 81 within two weeks. Doubleagent started his quest to level a true neutral Pandaran back in September 2012. You can check out the moment of level 80 glory in his video after the break!
Neutral pandaren Doubleagent hits level 80
You might think that WoW doesn't have a neutral faction -- every player, even the once-neutral pandaren, must pick a faction before advancing very far in the game. And while that's technically true, Blizzard clearly didn't count on the patience of Doubleagent, who just hit level 80 without selecting a faction. What makes this difficult is the fact that panadaren can't leave their starting zone without deciding to join the Alliance or Horde -- so Doubleagent has worked his way through the levels by picking herbs for experience. If you think this sounds particularly tedious, that's because it is: Doubleagent started this trek back in September 2012. So will Doubleagent eventually reach level 90? And will he ever be able to escape the Wandering Isle? And shouldn't there be some kind of achievement for this? We'll have to stay tuned to find out. In the meanwhile, read up on Doubleagent's quest on Reddit or watch his leveling video, which gives you an idea of how he's managed the trip to 80.
OWC's Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD is Mac bootable, strictly neutral
If you've ever tried to jam a regular SSD into your Mac, then you'll know that many off-the-shelf drives feel like they're tailored and tested for, ahem, someone else. Not so with OWC's Mercury Accelsior, which claims to be the only Mac bootable and Mac supported PCIe SSD on the market. Regardless of which platform you use it with, however, the dual-SandForce card promises some neat tricks with its 24nm Toshiba Toggle NAND. Sequential read and write speeds are around 50 percent higher than what you'd get from a regular SATA III drive, with the cheapest 120GB model ($360) offering 758MB/s reads and 743MB/s writes. Random performance is notched up too, with around 100K IOPS in both directions. The 960GB version costs a coldly precise $2,096, but still -- a potential side order for when the Mac Pro line finally gets another refresh?
BioWare: 'Gray Jedi' playstyle in SWTOR will reap rewards
Do you have aspirations in Star Wars: The Old Republic of becoming a neutral Jedi like Jolee Bindo -- but the light side/dark side alignment system is getting you down? Good news: The BioWare team is hard at work creating rewards for those who toe the line between naughty and nice. Speaking with PC Gamer, Game Director James Ohlen spilled a few more details about what he calls the "Gray Jedi" playstyle, which will be supported in an unspecified upcoming patch. Gray Jedis (or Gray Smugglers, Gray Inquisitors, etc.) happen when a player creates a balanced mix of light and dark side choices over his or her career and ends up staying in the "neutral" zone on the alignment meter. Because the game currently incentivizes strong light or dark side playstyles with specific rewards, neutral players are left out in the cold. Fortunately, the system that's coming will cater to these dirty, filthy neutrals. "We don't want to force people," Ohlen said. "Once we get to the next stage of our light side/dark side system, you'll see the rewards. Light side, dark side and the gray items will all get more powerful."
Breakfast Topic: Could there be more than two factions?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. As World of Warcraft grows older, perhaps it's time to shake up things a bit to keep things interesting. After seven years of a war between two groups being the focus of the storyline, could we return to a time of four factions? That's right, a return. After all, Warcraft 3 had four opposing armies: Humans, Undead, Night Elves and Orcs. Presently, we have 12 races among the two factions, and considering all the new class/race combinations implemented in Cataclysm, perhaps four separate groups are not as unthinkable as they once were. With the political climate of the Horde being what it is and Sylvanas going farther off the grid all the time, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the Banshee Queen pulling the Foresaken and her Blood Elf relatives out of the Horde, establishing her own nation in Northern Lorderon. (For the sake of racial number balance, maybe she bribes the goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel into joining her with a new home city of ... Gilneas!) Or frustrated by the unwillingness of King Varian to stop the Orc's systematic destruction of Ashenvale , could Tyrande (finally doing something in-game for once) decide to defect from the Alliance, bringing her Worgen and Draenei allies with her? Do you think additional factions would be interesting? How would they work in game? What do you think they would look like?
The Daily Grind: What motivates your faction choice?
Most MMOs have some sort of factional component, even if the mechanics and options aren't directly identified by a "faction" label. Whether it's heroes and villains in DC Universe Online, Alliance and Horde in World of Warcraft, or the Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard trifecta from Dark Age of Camelot, creating a character in an MMO usually requires some sort of alignment choice. Often this choice boils down to a good or evil stereotype, and while roleplayers and lore enthusiasts may argue that "the Horde isn't evil" (or similar arguments from other games and factions), the fact remains that the Horde's visual palette is filled with imagery and concepts that have signified evil throughout much of human history. In today's Daily Grind, we'd like to know why you pick particular factions, and if the visual or lore-centric baggage they carry influences your decision. Do you usually roll characters that are good? Evil? Neutral? Why? 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!
Anti-Aliased Special Edition: Net neutrality, the FCC, Comcast, and Glenn Beck
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/What_net_neutrality_is_and_why_you_should_support_it'; So today's Wednesday and yes, I know, my column usually doesn't run on Wednesday. However, thanks the recent ruling against the Federal Communications Commission in their net neutrality case, it seems that there's a very relevant topic to talk about as soon as possible. Let me open by saying this -- net neutrality isn't another one of those overblown media stories, or something that we should put off on the backburner. Yet, while everyone's talking about net neutrality, few people are really talking about what it is, why you should care, and why you can't trust everything you're hearing about net neutrality. I've heard more than a few mistruths about the subject recently -- including a whole string of mistruths from everyone's favorite comedy network, Fox News. So today, let's set some things straight and talk about net neutrality. This is very serious stuff for the avid MMO gamer, the casual online gamer, or, well, anyone who touches the Internet.
Breakfast Topic: Would you play a neutral character?
The Spawn and I had The Spousal Unit run Itchee the Gnome Warlock through Deadmines and now Itchee looks like a pirate. Yar! Though we are still doing the same warlocky things, The Spawn is now claiming that her character actually is a pirate -- which, as a pirate family, we encourage. But this reminded me of a conversation I had with TSU a while back. What if WoW had a playable neutral faction?One of the great things about Star Wars Galaxies, when it was actually fun to play, was that you didn't have to fight much if you didn't want to. There were master artisans and merchant malls that were available for getting the best armor or outfitting your home or whatever. I would love to see WoW incorporate some of these aspects as well as some from other MMOs to make a more persistent world. And I think they could do this by introducing a neutral faction.
WoW Rookie: Introduction to Reputation
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. As a social game, it's fun to make friends in an MMORPG environment. In World of Warcraft, you must also make friends (and sometimes enemies) with members of various faction groups. Reputation (rep) is gained through killing a faction's enemies and completing quests to assist a particular group. Obviously, killing member's of a particular faction reduces rep. For example, killing Bloodsail Pirates increases rep with Booty Bay (Steamwheedle Cartel), while decreasing rep with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. There are many reasons why we may increase or decrease reputations. You may be asked to do so to as a quest objective or to gain particular rewards. By gaining exalted reputation with the major cities you have access to purchase their racial mounts (provided your they may be scaled to your racial model) and their guild tabards. Higher levels of rep also allow discounts on goods and repair services from vendors, and higher prices for selling useless items. For the next couple of weeks, we'll be taking a look at the ins and outs of reputation on WoW Rookie.
Tuskarr page stealth-edited
Although it only went live a few days ago, Blizzard's Tuskarr page on their Wrath of the Lich King site has already been subtly updated. I don't have a copy of the old page, but it used to say something about being beset by Taunka and Murlocs. Here's what it says now:...they are constantly beset by the Kvaldir and an arctic race of murloc-like creatures known as the Gorloc.As Blizzplanet speculates, it's possible that the Kvaldir are just a specific faction of Taunka, but their name looks more Vrykul-ish, and in fact seems to be derived from an Icelandic word meaning "to afflict torment" (credit for this theory goes to Drakhzor, of Deathwing-EU). It's also interesting that the Gorloc are listed as "murloc-like;" hopefully this means they won't be quite so annoying. Do they say "mrgllrgll" in a Northern accent?
Tuskarr info on official site
Slowly and steadily, the official Wrath of the Lich King site is getting fleshed out with some actual information. Today, they added a page about the walrus-inspired Tuskarr, a new neutral race in Northrend. The Tuskarr are nomadic and peaceful, with tribal affiliations inscribed on their tusks. Despite their pacifistic nature, they are frequently attacked by taunka and those pesky murlocs. They are excellent fishers, and catch whales, giant squid, and "unnamed leviathans."Although the info box at the right says "both" under "Horde/Alliance," the body of the text says "with the Horde's recent arrival they have found a new ally in the ongoing struggle against the hostile forces of Northrend." Not quite sure how to interpret that. Nethaera clarifies by calling them neutral in this forum post. Their faction name is "The Kalu'ak" (what is it with Blizz and apostrophes?), and their main settlement is called Kaskalka, in the Borean Tundra, with outposts at Kamagua in the Howling Fjord and Moa'ki Harbor in Dragonblight. Aside from a few bits of art and screenshots, that's all the new page contains; you can check it out here. More information on the Tuskarr is also available at Wowwiki.
Do summoning stones need neutral guards?
I play on RP servers only, but when they first came out, I tried an RP-PvP server for a while. I kept plugging away at it till I got to my mid thirties and finally gave up. Ever since then it's seemed to me that players on PvP servers are people who like their game to be extra difficult, and they don't mind if that means they have to suffer through the kind of situations that would submerge a "normal" gamer in intolerable frustration. They just accept that leveling up means doing lots and lots and lots of ghost runs, because other high-level characters will gank you and they will camp your corpse, and there's not much you can do about it. That's just the cost of being elite, to them -- having gone through it, it's as though they feel baptized by fire.That's why I'm always surprised when a player from a PvP server asks for some sort of help from Blizzard with such frustrating situations. A blood elf hunter named Arkdemon is asking for neutral guards at all summoning stones -- apparently he's had trouble getting to his instance when there's a bunch of PvP going on there. But isn't that the whole point? Isn't PvP on a PvP server supposed to get in the way of PvE stuff, just like all the other struggles these players go through leveling up? The fact that you can effectively conquer a summoning stone, raid entrance or otherwise important spot on a PvP server is the whole reason people play there. If you take away this sort of challenge, or nerf it until it's not so serious a problem for people who just wanna PvE that night, then what's the point of even having a PvP server to begin with? (Zul'Aman is a possible exception to this rule, since it's so much more accessible to the Horde than the Alliance, but even in that case, a number of hardcore PvPers cried out how much they hate the addition of guards there.)Bornakk seems to agree with me for the most part, but he mentions that Blizzard will indeed add guards (or indeed do whatever they want) if they feel it is necessary. What's your opinion?
Digital Playground goes format war neutral
Here at Engadget HD, we aren't ones to cover the adult film industry with any semblance of regularity, but when Digital Playground announces that it will indeed be going format neutral, it's hard to ignore. If you'll recall, it looked as if both high-definition formats could be green-lit to carry porn, but in an "eleventh-hour move" by Digital Playground, it chose to back HD DVD exclusively instead. According to founder Joone, the original decision came down to cost, as he noted that putting a title out on Blu-ray was simply more expensive. Nevertheless, reports are claiming that the studio will begin shipping its famed Pirates film on BD early next year, and at least for now, it will be "releasing to both formats until there is a clear-cut winner."
Warner scheduled to appear at HD DVD press conference at CES
While it seems a bit redundant at this point -- you know, considering Warner Bros. Senior Vice President and General Manager already denied the whole Blu-ray exclusive thing just a few days back -- we figured it prudent to show that the studio is indeed scheduled to attend an HD DVD Promo Group press conference at CES 2008. 'Course, just because Warner is written on the invite doesn't really mean much in and of itself, but it's certainly being used to "put to bed" any rumors of the studio parting ways with HD DVD. Let's just wait a few weeks and see what Warner has to say come show time, shall we? Now, get back to ordering those replacement discs![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Dalaran might be Alliance-only
Sorun is a rogue who loves his Horde-Alliance conflict. As he posted on the forums, he feels that every action and little quest in the World of Warcraft should reflect the reality of War that exists in that world, not the good old intra-faction get-together that Shattrath has turned out to be. If Dalaran is going to be a neutral city in Wrath of the Lich King, however, it could really mess up the lore and war-filled feeling of the game:Neutral Dalaran? How does that even make any sense when horde to this day have quests to go attack the ruins of dalaran and can and have been freely killing the wizzards [sic] all around that area. He's got a point there. What is Blizzard really going to do with Dalaran in the next expansion? Read on to see what Blizzard says about it.
US house Reps approve net neutrality bill, reveal semblance of sanity
We aren't out of the woods yet, but a U.S. House of Representatives panel has approved the net neutrality bill, a controversial proposal that would prohibit broadband providers from restricting access and impairing the speed of their competitors' content. Many feel this bill is crucial for market competitiveness and preserving the democratic nature of the internet. But instead of inciting a debate here at TUAW about a bill that is already setting media outlets everywhere ablaze, I'll just point you to a few resources to learn more about the issues, such as the Network neutrality Wikipedia entry, a Wired article and Macworld's report of the recent bill approval.
