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All of the nightmares live in Five Nights at Freddy's
We found where the nightmares live. They reside at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a fictional children's eatery featuring animatronic singing animals that wander the crusty, marinara-stained halls at night. In Five Nights at Freddy's, you're the security guard who must keep the robots at bay each night. You watch the giant animals on a series of security monitors – until your limited power supply cuts out and the lights go dark. Then all of the doors are disabled and you're at the mercy of whatever lurks behind those giant, dead eyes. Yeah. Nightmares. Five Nights at Freddy's was Greenlit via Steam and is now out on PC for $5. One dollar for each night, or for the number of times you'll say "NOPE" and force quit the game. Per minute. [Image: Scott Cawthon]
Nightmare, Ivy cross swords in latest Soul Calibur 2 HD Online footage
Take one hulking, possessed Teutonic knight, one scantily clad sadist wielding a sword that doubles as a whip, add a solid framerate and high-definition visuals, bake on high, and suddenly you have a solid recipe for Soul Calibur 2 HD Online.
SWTOR podcast discusses operations design philosophy
Switch on the old Victrola because the BioWare DJs are back with the second episode of the official Star Wars: The Old Republic podcast. The podcasters chat with the devs about their daily routine, operations design philosophy, nightmare mode, and legacy perks. Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer Jesse Sky says that the design process of operations is organic and flows from a central idea: "Yeah we often just start with the theme, develop from there. One of the big things we try to do is differentiate the combat from the rest of the game. You're dealing with eight or 16 players at once; it's got a very different feel from most of the Star Wars-type combat in the game. You often fight humanoids in the rest of the game; we're often fighting big creatures and droids. And so a lot of the development centers around making that fun." It's a meaty podcast that can be enjoyed in several different ways, from reading the transcript to listening to it on YouTube. Give it a listen and see if you don't hear a few teasers for upcoming content!
Pony up $25 for TERA's new Night Mare mount
Remember when everyone was a lot of gamers were outraged that Blizzard dared to charge 25 bucks for a cash shop item in a subscription game? Well, times have changed, folks, because now such behavior is generally expected. Sony Online Entertainment jumped on the bandwagon shortly after the sparkle pony tipping point, Funcom followed suit, and dozens of other companies have done the same in recent years. The newest member of the double-dippers club is En Masse, which is offering up a fiery-hooved TERA Night Mare steed for $24.99. Frugal players can take solace in the fact that their half-the-price-of-the-whole-game mount is available to all the characters on their account, and you can read further details about the beast at the official TERA website.
Ride on streams of fire using the Glyph of Nightmares
We've been hearing a lot about the changes to glyphs in Mists of Pandaria. And sure, they all sound neat and all. But the most exciting glyph for our demon-loving warlock friends? It's the Glyph of Nightmares. This glyph lets you cross water without the services of a stinking death knight. Even cooler, you leave huge streams of fire behind you. Not sure if it'll look awesome? Check out this video from the beta -- streams of fire across water. Sure, it's no one-hit kill, but it's about the most visceral, awesome warlock effect possible short of green fire.
Two game-related music videos for an impromptu dance party
Two new videos combining game references and music have crossed our virtual desks, each approaching game-related music topics differently, and each really bizarre. And we're bundling them for a brief playlist that'll ... okay, we don't know how you're going to feel after this. First, Funny or Die presents the "Legacy Music Dance Party," an American Bandstand-esque presentation of actors dancing to vintage game soundtracks. Even if you're all about game music, and regularly dance at chiptune concerts, it's still pretty funny! Now that you're in a great mood from that energetic dance party, Lee Hardcastle presents a video for "Nightmare" by Love Automatic. It's a claymation clip loosely based on Capcom's 1989 horror game Sweet Home, and it does feature a clay Ghostbuster getting his face ripped apart. Enjoy!
The Road to Mordor: Dungeon-running with Turbine
As we talked about last month, Turbine's toting around a double-barreled shotgun full of content that it's preparing to unload. While the biggest blast will undoubtedly be Lord of the Rings Online's third expansion, Rise of Isengard, the team is working hard to provide us with plenty to do between now and then. Part of that effort is directed at Update 3, which is currently scheduled to go live on May 23rd in North America and after June 1st for Europe when the LotRO Global Service takes effect and all of the accounts are moved under Turbine's purview. I eagerly sat down with Turbine's Aaron Campbell and Joe Barry for a play-through of Update 3's two new three-player instances, Halls of Night and Inn of the Forsaken. Both of these scalable instances will be available to a wide swath of players, and they feature mechanics and sights never before seen in the game. Also, they're wicked cool. So join me today as I take you on a brief tour of horrors and adventures beyond imagination. Has everyone used the restroom before we go? Are you sure? It's a long article; I don't want you leaving in the middle of it. OK, let's ride!
The Queue: Cathedral picture
Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. I'm completely out of witty intros. It's Sunday! Deal with it! DarkSpade asked: Was the WoW miniatures game ever officially announced as dead or is it still out there flapping in the breeze? Any chance of it coming back? The license for the WoW Minis game was originally held by Upper Deck, a company with whom Blizzard no longer does business. Cryptozoic, who picked up the WoW TCG license, did not pick up the Minis license. I think you can probably extrapolate the status of the WoW Minis game from there.
Massively tours EverQuest's House of Thule expansion
The House of Thule. Not to be confused with the Summer Cottage of Thule, or the Awkwardly-Small-Yet-Expensive Inner City Apartment of Thule. Thule's house is a scary place, and it's a place that all denizens of Norrath shall soon be intimately familiar with. Sony Online Entertainment recently gave us a deep tour of its 17th EverQuest expansion, and it's the first time I've set foot in pre-EQII Norrath in years. Luckily I can report that Sony isn't letting EverQuest lie on its laurels. While this next expansion may not sound like much (it's just a house... or is it?), it's packed with enough content to send me through a two-and-a-half hour long developer tour. Plus, I should mention that I only got to see about half of the new zones, and none of the new raids. But why should we stand outside of this lovely home when there's so much madness hidden within? Come, journey with me, and lose all sense of what is reality.
Study explores link between gamers and lucid dreams
So, you know that recurring dream you've been having for the past three weeks? You know, the one where you're riding cross-country in a hot air balloon in the shape of Ed Asner's head? And then the balloon-face looks down upon you, frowns with disappointment, detaches the basket, and you fall into a volcano made of knives? According to a study conducted by Grant MacEwan University researcher Jayne Gackenbach, you might be able to take the fate of dream-you into your own hands. Gackenbach's survey concluded that gamers are more prone to reporting "lucid dreams" or "control dreams," in which they view themselves in a third-person perspective with complete control of their actions and the world around them. When faced with a nightmare, participants of the study claimed to have a proclivity to "turn and fight back," according to Gackenbach. So, next time you're falling, remember: There's been a jetpack under your sweater the entire time. [Via Fidgit]
So very disturbing: Bring me Steve Jobs' (cheese) head on a plate
Ken over at TheCooksDen has sculpted an edible Steve Jobs' head out of two blocks of mozzarella and some pepper. It's actually pretty impressive in a Hannibal Lecter kind of way. Ken, who admits he's a Mac fanboy and a foodie, thought that there was no better way to show his appreciation for his much-loved Apple products than to create a tasty sculpture in the form of Apple's venerable leader. Well all right then. He doesn't stop with just Steve's head either (as if you were worried about that). Ken offers three other recipes – all using Steve's head in some way – to show off your Apple gastronomy. The concoctions include the Apple Cheese Plate, the Spicy Steve Nachos Supreme, and my favorite, the iPad Thai. The full ingredients list and cooking instructions are on the site. So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking! [TUAW is not responsible for any loss of lunch/nightmares incurred due to viewing the photo above. Yikes. -Ed.]
All the World's a Stage: Possibilities for worgen and goblins
All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one man in his time plays many roles.Ever since word broke about the possibility of playing either a worgen or a goblin, I've been thinking a lot about how it would be to roleplay them. In terms of lore, each one fits in very nicely -- the goblins have the neutral city of Undermine not far from the great Maelstrom at the center of the world, and the worgen have lots of connections to other dimensions, possibly the Emerald Dream. Assuming the expansion is in fact going to be a combination of the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream, each race could have a lot to do with why the Horde and the Alliance are eager to go and continue the adventure after Northrend.Some others are talking about how and why these races would join either faction. The goblins seem a shoo-in for the Horde, since they've already got so many connections with one another above and beyond the ostensible neutrality the goblins maintain between the Horde and the Alliance. The worgen connection to the Alliance is a bit tougher to figure out, but there are two apparent possibilities: either the humans of Gilneas have become worgen and wish to rejoin their former brethren, or the original worgen from their own dimension somehow join up with the Alliance in order to fight off a shared enemy such as the Burning Legion or the "Nightmare" of the Emerald Dream.Today we'll discuss both of these possibilities and stake my claim on which I think is more likely, and look at a number of the story hooks that worgen and goblins could create for roleplayers if and when we get the chance to play them.
Spoilers: Wrath of the Lich King's peek into Druid lore
Recently in both Ask a Beta Tester and Ask a Lore Nerd, Druids have been asking a lot about their class. Not class mechanics and things like that, but their quests, story, and background. Will the old quests go away? (They won't.) Will we see more of Druid lore in Wrath?Yes, yes we will. And there's video! If you don't want to be spoiled about upcoming Wrath of the Lich King quests and storylines, I would advise against reading the rest of this post and the video within. Like that cinematic-that-shall-not-be-named from last week, watching it could really spoil an awesome game moment, so consider that your final warning. Oh, and it's long, so free up some time for yourself.
Know Your Lore: Hakkar the Soulflayer
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Alex Ziebart brings you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm. Today we're going to take a step back from out pre-emptive study of Wrath subjects and look at something a little more old school. We'll get back to catching up for Wrath of the Lich King soon enough, don't you worry about that. I'm far too excited about the expansion to not come back to it soon.Today we're going to look at Hakkar the Soulflayer, not to be confused with Hakkar the Houndmaster which apparently came first in the lore, but I don't really care which of them came first because the Blood God (that one's the Soulflayer) is way cooler. What the Soulflayer actually is is largely a mystery. He's a god, certainly, but Azeroth has many flavors of gods and demigods. He is probably just a Loa god, but our buddy Brann Bronzebeard seems to think he's more than that. Specifically, Hakkar might be the son of an Old God.
New screens from the Requiem: Bloodymare closed beta
When Gravity Interactive said it was making a horror title, they weren't kidding around, and these new screenshots from the Requiem: Bloodymare closed beta prove it. In these pictures you can see just a few of the shambling horrors that populate this terrifying world. For those who have been following along, one of these shots showcases a player during Beast Possession, and it's likely at least one of the others depicts the Nightmare mode, when the tougher monsters come out to play. Closed beta ends on the 17th of April; the final release date is still to be released. Enjoy -- once you've managed to peek through your fingers, that is.%Gallery-20417%[Thanks, Luis!]
More Soul Calibur Legends details
Gaming mag Famitsu has revealed some more details about the upcoming Wii exclusive Soul Calibur Legends. We assume that the creators of this action title felt that choosing a main protagonist from the existing fighters would cause unnecessary flamefests, so they felt fit to introduce the sixteen year old Iska. Among playable characters are Taki, Mitsurugi, Ivy, and Siegfried (Nightmare), though interestingly, no one mentioned Iska himself. Traditionally, the A and B buttons have mapped to horizontal and vertical slices, respectively. In true waggle fashion, Namco has felt fit to physically map these actions to the Wiimote. We're wary; the recognition will probably be fine, but seeing as how at least two-thirds of all moves in previous Soul Calibur titles involved the use of one (or both? What the heck?) of these actions, this might wear out its welcome very, very quickly. Also, the nunchuck is shaken for "evasion," whatever that means (guard impact?).The title will allow for tag-teaming against a boss, as a second player can join in for cooperative fun. There's traps and obstacles and all that lovely goodness as well; for some more minor details, check out the in-depth IGN report. With the announcement of the true Soul Calibur 4 for the PS3 and 360 yesterday, are you guys still excited for this?
