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Major media giants to form joint venture for digital future, says WSJ
News Corp, Time Inc., Condé Nast Publications Inc., Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp. If this Wall Street Journal report is to be believed here, these five major media firms are preparing to announce a new joint venture tomorrow to "prepare print publications for a new generation of electronic readers and other digital devices." Details are a bit sketchy here, and what makes it more interesting / confounding is that many of these companies already have or have showcased separate initiatives, such as Hearst's Skiff and tablet demos from both Time and Condé Nast. We'll be eager to find out if there are any devices the group rallies behind (or even produces itself), but one thing's for sure: good old Rupert Murdoch will have something fun to say on the matter.
Are set bonuses outdated?
Well now, here's an interesting thought to consider this weekend: Zemeny on Barthilas suggests that maybe it's time to do away with a gear mechanic that Blizzard has used since Diablo. He thinks that set bonuses deserve to be put out to pasture. He doesn't go into his reasoning much, but we can probably fill that in; not only do set bonuses tend to either be overpowered or too weak (as in, you usually need to have a specific set bonus to make or break a class), but they make gear choices uneven, usually leaving you to choose between an upgrade or a set bonus. Zemeny suggests we do away with the whole thing -- create one set bonus per tier, leaving upgrades for the gear itself, or just turn the set bonus into an extra gem or inscription slot and give us more power that way. Ghostcrawler shows up in the thread and says that the game would be pretty boring if set bonuses weren't included -- I presume he means that you'd just upgrade your gear according to iLvl, and that would be that. He even says that he wishes the tiers varied more, but players really want to see "unambiguous upgrades" to their items. People need rewarding when they move up, so GC can't mix things up with the various bonuses as much as he might like.
Family-friendly Zombies on the iPhone
We have a lot of apps coming through our tipline, but this one caught my eye, not only because it is called Zombies (the stumbling undead always catch my eye), but because it offers up a bit of good old-fashioned fun in the form of a Daleks!-style remake. Gameplay is simple and straighforward -- you run, turn-by-turn in eight directions, from zombies, who pursue you at the same speed, and though the game runs at any pace you want (perfect for gameplay on the iPhone, in my opinion, since most of the time I'm just looking for a few seconds to a couple minutes of easy-to-pick-up action), the dread is real. Just like actual zombies, these guys shamble their way toward you with a hunger that only brains can satisfy. The game is on the App Store now [iTunes link]. I will say that it is a touch pricey at $2.99 (a simple arcade game like this seems made for the 99-cent price point, and it will probably end up there eventually), but who am I to begrudge the developers a couple of bucks? I don't need to drink that cup of Starbucks anyway. If you're in the mood for a simple, zombified twist on an old classic, this is it. While you're at it, check out the Zombies preview video we shot at WWDC last July.
Enter to win 25 Creative headsets, one for each member of your raid
We've been giving away these Creative World of Warcraft wireless headsets for a while now, one per week to one lucky winner (and grats to those of you who've already picked them up). But Creative also wanted to work with us to do something really epic, something only WoW.com could put together. And so we're going for the whole enchilada: we're giving away a set of twenty-five (that's right, 25, one per raid member in your group) Creative World of Warcraft wireless headsets. This is going to be the clearest, most amazing sounding group on Vent ever -- not a single person in your raid will have to say "sorry, no mic." So how do you win? Obviously an epic contest like this requires an epic entry, so here's how we're going to do it: after the break on this post, you'll find a list of five different riddles, each one hinting at a different place in the game.
Cartel's CT-2000 in-car Bluetooth handset adds music control, can't shake the retro
Cartel's CT-1000 brought about lots of laughs here at Engadget HQ, and frankly, we're shocked and amazed (and glad) these guys are still hanging tough two years later. The newest in-car handset system is the predictably titled CT-2000, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled handset that's meant to be permanently installed within your vehicle and wired to your audio system. Once installed, all of your mobile calls can be routed to this -- because, you know, chatting on a corded phone circa 1992 is entirely more safe than chatting on your mobile or using a handsfree solution. The only difference we can spot between the new guy and the aged sibling is the addition of music control, a "slimmer" (albeit wider) design, room for your phone contacts and one-touch speed dialing. There's no mention of a price, but trust us, you're better off in the dark. [Thanks, Martin]
Eliminate now available on the App Store
Ngmoco's Eliminate has been building up buzz ever since it was announced, and now the first-person shooter is out on the App Store to try for yourself. As you can see above, it offers some relatively basic FPS gameplay when compared to shooters on other platforms (I've been having a lot of fun with Borderlands lately), but given that this is the iPhone we're talking about, this kind of twitch 3D gameplay is actually pretty impressive. You can play online over 3G or Wi-Fi, and as you play, you can earn credits and level up, which gives you access to more weapons and better gear. The game itself is free, but it's all based around a microtransaction system where you buy "energy" which allows you to earn those aforementioned resources. You get a certain amount of energy per day on your own, and if you use it up, you can't progress any further unless you get out the wallet or wait another day. And the game uses ngmoco's own Plus+ social interface to track leaderboards and accounts. Interesting plan, and we'll have to see if players vibe with it or not. Some have already voiced strong concerns about the in-game pay-to-play microtransaction system. If that doesn't vibe with you, and you'd rather play some old-school (and old business model) FPS gameplay instead, id's Doom Classic also got released on the App Store last weekend. That game comes at a cost of $6.99, but then again, with old-school Doom, you know exactly what you're getting into. And you won't have to buy any extra energy to charge your BFG and slay any demons you happen to come across.
Phat Loot Phriday: Ancient Hakkari Manslayer
We've had some requests for husky loot lately, and so here's an item that isn't quite phat these days (just a little husky), but used to be quite interesting.Name: Ancient Hakkari Manslayer (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic One-hand AxeDamage/Speed: 69 - 130 / 2.00 (49.8 DPS)Attributes: This is how you can tell this weapon is old-school: it has just one bit of green text, and that text is "Steals 48-54 life from target enemy." Which doesn't, on its face, sound quite that nice. But at the time this weapon was current (ye olde patch 1.7), that was a hot proc. Because the proc actually scaled along with spell damage -- if you had 150 spell damage, and this proc hit, you wounded the enemy for 150 shadow damage, while healing yourself with same. %Gallery-33600%
WoW latex Elf ears on Amazon
It's that time of year again -- I just saw a seasonal costume store opening up near my apartment here in Chicago, and that means that we're almost to October, when all kinds of official and unofficial Halloween costumes from all of the year's biggest brands appear. Last year we had some Orc masks and old-school armor and gear (and we may see some of that stuff again this year), but so far the only new thing we've seen is these latex ears, in Night Elf and Blood Elf style, over on Amazon. For just $12, you too can have inordinately large pointy ears, signifying that you're a magical creature from Azeroth.Cheesy? Maybe so, but then again, that's pretty much what dressing up on Halloween is all about these days. If you happen to see any other Warcraft-related costumes during the season (either officially licensed by Blizzard or knocked-off by some shady costume designer), make sure to take a picture and send us a tip. And of course if you enjoy seeing real people dress up as fictional Warcraft characters, you'll love our pictures from BlizzCon. Enjoy.%Gallery-70668%
Breakfast Topic: What classic loot would you want to see upgraded?
So this question was actually inspired by the photo Rossi put on his latest warrior column: That of a Worgen warrior wielding Ashkandi. It brought me back to the old days where that sword was pretty the dream in every possible way. It had good DPS, a decent speed, nice stats, it looked absolutely amazing, and it once belonged to the OG of Humanity, the greatest hero the Alliance has ever known, Anduin Lothar. Back in the day, pretty much every Arms Warrior and Retribution Paladin I knew lusted for it.
A bit of [Big] Apple history: visiting Tekserve
It may have lost a bit of luster compared to the chrome, glass and steel of Apple's nearby retail stores (one within easy walking distance, in fact), but there's no denying the draw of New York City's original Apple emporium, the delightfully idiosyncratic Tekserve. Featured on an episode of Sex and the City, the venerable Mac repair and retail shop maintains its own clientele and distinctive look as the possibility of yet a 4th NYC Apple store looms large. Not to take anything away from the city's other indie Mac shops; we love them dearly, but they often find themselves overshadowed by the Big T. Since my office is roughly equidistant from both the W. 14th Street Apple Store and Tekserve (although, now that I've checked, I realize I'm slightly closer to Mike Volchok's Mike's Tech Shop -- noted for next time!), I decided to go old school today when I picked up my copy of Snow Leopard, and I snapped a few iPhone pics of the store while I was there. Enjoy! %Gallery-71241%
8-track Walkman makes the 70's portable, more funky
The evolution of portable music players toward greater storage in physically smaller dimensions is well known. Cassette tapes are now seen as a quaint anachronism from an era gone by, but what about the history that didn't happen? What about, specifically, the 8-track-playing Sony Walkman? Such are the questions that plagued the mind of one XenonJohn, who has spliced together the chunky beast you see above. Looking like something Maggie Thatcher might have used in her private moments, the portable (compared to, say, a fridge) device is composed of an audio amplifier from an old cassette tape Walkman and a dismantled car 8-track player. Another snap of the exposed components after the break, but if you must know how to recreate this great feat, or are just curious about the lengths people will go to in the pursuit of retro-glorious ideas, hit up the read link.[Via Make]
Old Azeroth through rose-colored glasses
Sometimes denial works for you, and I think that's why I like this forum thread so much. It's full of nostalgia for a simpler time, when PvP meant going to Southshore and murdering some Alliance, when the encounters in Molten Core were the most epic thing in the game, and speaking of epics, when seeing a player outfitted with all purples meant that they'd be raiding for weeks with 39 other people. This thread willingly looks back and sees things not as they were, but as we remember them: super fun, refreshing, and completely empty of the problems and quibbles we have to deal with today.Of course, Azeroth's past wasn't really like that. It was hell organizing 40 people to do one boss, much less a whole night of raiding, and if the organization didn't get you, the server lag and disconnects would. Southshore and Crossroads PvP made for great stories, but in actuality, it was really just a zerg fest, and no one actually won, it was really just everyone throwing away their nights because there was nothing better to do. And epics -- well, it was actually pretty cool when epic gear meant something. But boy was it disappointing when you went whole weeks of raiding without getting any loot at all, without even a Badge of Justice for your efforts. Or when you had to disenchant a tier piece because the Paladin set dropped yet again.Do we want to go back to those days? Probably not -- while there are definitely some good things about them, there were all kinds of issues that have since been solved (and that many of the nostalgists tend to forget about). But every once in a while, it's nice to look back through rose-colored glasses and remember when.
One Shots: Feeling nostalgic
You never really get over your first MMO. Even if the graphics were old-school like today's EverQuest One Shots, you spent way too long doing things you take for granted these days, or some of the mechanics may have been the harshest thing you ever faced, there's still that warm, bubbly spot in your heart for the game - and often, the people. Today's One Shots courtesy of Matthew G. is a real treat; a flash back to 1999, when EverQuest was shiny and new, and many of us were taking our first steps in Norrath. Matthew writes in: EverQuest's 10th anniversary has got me feeling nostalgic, so I took a look through my old screenshots of the game. This picture was taken in Qeynos Hills on my first character, and the original file is dated 5/11/1999. It certainly isn't as pretty as today's MMOGs, but damn, it looked nice back then.If you've got a really old screenshot from your first-ever MMO still running around somewhere in your files, why not dig it out, dust it off, and send it in to us along with your thoughts on what it was like to be playing back then? We love to look back at the way things were. Just email your screenshot along with your name, the name of the game it's from, and a description to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. We'll post them out here, and who knows? Perhaps other folks who remember when will pop by and tell us their stories too! %Gallery-9798%
The Daily Grind: We had to grind uphill, both ways!
One of the things that our new webcomic Grinders brought to mind were some of the things that used to drive us absolutely bonkers about the old-school MMOs we used to play. Speaking personally, I could list a whole bunch of things from original EverQuest; having to stare at the wall or the floor to cast heals for my party otherwise the spell effects caused my poor old computer to lag unbearably; the idea that you had to regenerate mana by staring at your spellbook for well on 5 minutes; dying, losing a level, and then running back naked and alone. There's a whole bunch more, but this morning we thought we'd ask you - what are some of the old-school things you remember as being totally normal and expected from your early MMO experience that just make you shake your head now?
Blu-ray releases on December 16th 2008
With about a week to go until Christmas and a week after The Dark Knight, it's no wonder this week's lineup is way less than exceptional. So because there really isn't anything to get too excited about we're going to prop up a title that we'd bet will be a classic one day, Old School. If you haven't seen this one and you enjoy a good laugh, what are you waiting for? If you have, and can't wait to enjoy it all over again for the first time in HD, then say it with us, "You're my boy blue!" Also this week, Criterion's long awaited titles finally hit the street along with plenty of catalog titles form Paramount and Universal. Universal has what is arguably the biggest day-and-date title with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, but it's IMDB score of 5.2 has us unimpressed. Next week slate isn't much better, but it does have one we're looking for with Burn After Reading. Bottle Rocket (Criterion) The Cheetah Girls: One World (Disney) Chungking Express (Criterion) Coach Carter (Paramount) Death Proof (Weinstein) The Heartbreak Kid (Paramount) Hot Rod (Paramount) In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (Fox) Into the Wild (Paramount) Mamma Mia! (Universal) The Man Who Fell to Earth (Criterion) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Universal) Old School (Paramount) Planet Terror (Weinstein) The Third Man (Criterion)
Legacy Entertainment's Atari-style joystick isn't as old as it looks
There are plenty of reasons to return to the classics: maybe they're better than the currents, maybe it's an ironic move (like listening to Kajagoogoo and wearing giant eyeglasses), or maybe you're just aged and yearning for old-timey days. Regardless, Legacy Entertainment's classic controller looks exactly like an Atari joystick, but it's Windows / OS X / Linux compatible, and connects via USB. The company assures us that it runs with "nearly any emulator," so you and your friends should be 80's-style partying in no time, if that's what you're into. $14.99 and it's yours -- if you have any moola left after you buy that tubular car-phone-looking Bluetooth handsfree.[Thanks, Silver Serpent]
Joystiq goes to i am 8-bit
Last night was the opening night shindig for the latest i am 8-bit show, and it was by far their biggest event yet. We arrived early as part of a press event to mill around and quietly take photos, but by 9PM the place was packed with people checking out the art, listening to the whomping sounds of Computer Jay, DJ R-Rated, and Leeni (check her out in the Pac-Man dress, along with her 8-bit tattoo). There was a massive line of people outside waiting to get in, and it had turned into the hottest ticket on Hollywood Blvd. Which, yes, is actually saying something.They had turned the entire storefront of the World of Wonder (didn't they used to make Teddy Ruxpin?) into a huge display, featuring giant Piranha Plants from Super Mario Bros., and they had an old-school setup where you could play games ranging from an NES to a full-sized arcade cabinet, right there on full display to everyone passing by. It probably didn't hurt that some of the Nerdcore calendar girls took up residence here later and played Game Boys and quarter-eaters in their underwear.Read more after the break, and be sure to take a spin through the huge gallery which shows off the more than 200 pieces in the show, and how crazy the whole scene became.%Gallery-28797%
Doctor Who wants to time warp, play retro games
Most of us have probably dabbled around with a Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator before, but have you ever crammed one into a TARDIS? Those things are supposed to be bigger on the inside than the outside. Anyhow, one man decided that having a dedicated stand-up gaming cabinet wasn't enough, so he built this pillar of geek awesomeness.Check out the two different sections, one on the building of the iconic blue Police Box, and the other on the console. He even had the 7th doctor, Sylvester McCoy, autograph the thing. Is it still a sin to covet thy neighbor's sci-fi gaming cabinet? If so, mark us down in the "sinner" category.[Thanks, Douglas!]
Breakfast Topic: Old school
At this point, the thread that inspired today's breakfast topic is, itself, pretty old-school, but anyway, here's the question: What is the most obscure old-school thing you remember? The OP's contribution is when he looted a BoP axe in his first instance, thinking he could give it to a friend, but he is quickly trumped by the second poster: dwarf mages. As for me, I have a pretty terrible memory, but I do dimly recollect taking tailoring on my first character, a Hunter, because I'd heard about shirts and they sounded cool. But that fits more in the "noob" category than "old-school" proper. Inner Fire raising attack power and not having charges? Throwing weapons that couldn't have their quantity refreshed? Reck bombs? Decursive? I haven't been playing since beta or anything, so none of this is too crazy. What's your favorite memory of WoW past?
One Shots: A sunny day in the Dark Age of Camelot
For today's One Shots, we jump back in time again to show off a lovely sunny and peaceful day from Dark Age of Camelot. This screenshot was sent in to us by site regular Ghen as part of the batch I mentioned previously. Of course, his original title for thisi image is "My lifeguard" with no further commentary on why. Perhaps he'll shed a bit more light on just precisely what that means in comments! (Of course, the other thing that strikes me is that -- short of the avatar -- this could be any one of about a half-dozen MMOs/VWs from the early 90s. Interesting how far we've come!)Have you played an MMO recently, or will be playing one soon? Know where your print-screen button is? Well then what are you waiting for! Send those screenshots in to us at onelook@massively.com and let us all share in your adventures. Your images and story could be next!%Gallery-9798%
