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Massively exclusive: Pirate101 announces new advanced pet system
Pirate101's pet system is getting an update, and KingsIsle tells us that a new test realm will soon open its doors to showcase the changes. Pet owners will be able to send their minions on various world-based training missions which will raise their level, unlock talents and powers, and more. The devs are also adding the ability to PvP in a pet battle arena as well as a new quest that details the new advanced pet system. KingsIsle has penned a lengthy dev diary explaining how everything works. You can read it after the cut.
Whistle is like Fitbit for your dog
Whistle is a Fitbit for your dog, and more. This unobtrusive, durable and waterproof device attaches to Spot's collar and records data on his activities, day or night. Gather precious information for your vet, track progress towards fitness goals, view peaks and valleys in activity and even share photos with family and friends, all with the Whistle wearable monitor and companion iPhone app. My Boston Terrier Batgirl and I had a good time testing this out, and I'm very impressed. Here's our look at Whistle. Last June we sat down with Ben Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Whistle. At that time, his company had begun taking preorders for its namesake product: a wearable activity monitor for dogs. Today, my dog and I have spent some time with a Whistle monitor and the companion iPhone app. Not only is it an effective monitor, it supplies a wealth of data that you can share with your vet, which is vastly superior to the mostly anecdotal evidence that owners usually bring to an appointment. How it works The Whistle device itself is about the size of a US half dollar. It fits into a small holder very securely, which in turn can be attached to a dog's collar via the supplied, adjustable strap. The unit charges over USB in about an hour (USB cable also provided), and a full charge will get you about a week's use. It uses a three-axis accelerometer to determine if your dog is idle, walking around, playing briskly or running. The Whistle weighs just 16 grams and feels solid and well-made. While I wasn't able to test its claim of being waterproof with a dip in the lake, it did trudge through the snow without a problem. Finally, LED indicators make you aware of various states, like charging (red), connecting to Bluetooth (blue, of course) and ready to go (green). It's also quite nice that a charging base, USB cable and collar attachment piece are all well-made. Nothing feels cheap here. Even the packaging is attractive. Setup Setup is easy. Once the Whistle is charged, all you need to do is launch the app and follow the on-screen instructions. First you must connect it to your phone via Bluetooth, as that's how it shares its data. Next, connect it to your Wi-Fi network, as that's how it syncs data to the cloud. The next step is to create a profile for your dog, including age, weight, breed, and some info on his/her human (that's you). Finally, set an activity goal for Spot. The default is 30 minutes per day. The app notes most vets recommend between 30 and 60 minutes of activity per day. Once that's done, an animation shows you how to attach/detach the Whistle from its mount, and you're good to go! Use Ah, the fun part! I really wanted to see what the Whistle could do so Batty got a workout. Of course, you'll get an accurate, representative baseline of your dog's activity if you let her have about a week of typical days. Once that's done, you can compare that data to subsequent days to compare and contrast. At the end of the day, you can view a chart of our dog's activity. It's easy to spot his most active time and most restful. A pattern emerges the more you use the Whistle. Eventually you can see his total time spent active per day across five days at a glance. Simply swipe left or right to view newer or older data. The "Trends" view offers additional detail. This beautiful presentation is what I'd show the vet. You'll see the number of days your goal has been hit, active minutes per day in an attractive scatter plot and trends in daily activity (percentage up or down). Finally, you can review trends in resting. In addition, you'll find a "+" icon. Click it to reveal four options: Food. Record what and when your dog ate. Record any medication(s) taken, when and what dose. Add a note. Add a photo. I should point out that you can attach a photo to any of the above. Not only is this fun, it can be quite useful when sharing information with a doctor, dog sitter and so on. I was skeptical about this device at first. A FitBit for my dog? But now I'm a convert. It does provide useful information with no effort from me, setup is easy and the app is useful and pretty. I can recommend Whistle to gear-loving dog owners. You can buy yours online or at your local Petsmart retailer.
Get your low level battle pets up to 25 with this guide
Leveling a new pet from 1 to 25 can be a time-consuming slog -- but it doesn't have to be. Though you'll need to start with a few solid level 25 pets, you can let two max-level pets carry you while saving your third slot with a that needs the experience. Then, just fight your way through high-level pet trainers with this guide from Adventures in Poor Taste. The trick is in having the right level 25 pets so you can win battles without having to rely on your third, under-level pet. The guide walks you through the ideal pets for the job -- you might want to hit up their guide to the 7 best beginner pets while you're at it -- and gives you a play-by-play for what to expect from all of Pandaria's pet trainers (plus a couple of extras). So what are you waiting for? Break out your Safari Hat level your way up to the 30 max-level pets you'll need to enter the Celestial Tournament. Good luck!
Strife has entered closed beta
S2 Games has announced that its "second generation free-to-play MOBA," Strife, has officially shifted into closed beta. Fans of the genre will recognize S2 as the studio behind Heroes of Newerth, which itself is among the litany of games cast from the original Defense of the Ancients mold. According to the announcement, Strife is "focused on giving players an environment where they're competing with enemies, not their own teammates." S2 claims that existing MOBA issues like in-team toxicity, fighting over shared resources, and drama over designating roles have all been alleviated through the game's design. Strife's closed beta is not region-specific; invites are going out to players across the globe. The game is set for launch some time in 2014, and beta sign-ups are currently live on its official website. For a closer look, check out our hands-on with the game from August. [Source: S2 Games press release]
The 12 Days of iMas, Day 8: An iPad your dog can really sink its teeth into
Today is the eighth day of a 12-day feature where we'll show you the strangest Apple-flavored gifts we can find. Check out the previous days here: Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Day 8: Who needs an iPad when you can have an iPawd? Normally, if man's best friend gets his mighty jaws around your pricey Apple tablet, it would end in tears. But not so with the iPawd! The iPawd is a plush dog toy modeled after everyone's favorite tablet, and it's guaranteed to be more gentle with your canine's gums than any chunk of glass and aluminum ever would. Oh, and did I mention it comes with a bunch of free "apps" installed on its home screen? It's true! You'll be treated to built-in versions of "SaFurri," "FaceBark," "DogTube" and "Bark Street Journal." OK, so the puns are pretty bad, but the toy itself seems to be pretty high quality. The iPawd has fantastic reviews on Amazon, and at just US$9.80, it's currently being sold at less than half its normal price.
New collection tracking feature on Wowhead
Our friends at Wowhead hav just announced the launch of a new site feature that should make many players very happy indeed: a collection tracker! You can now use Wowhead to track your characters' possession of pets, mounts, titles, achievements, and recipes. The new feature was green lit thanks to the popularity of their recently-implemented quest-tracking feature, which has been a big hit. The new collection tracking feature includes options to exclude items that fall into certain categories -- the example used by Wowhead is that of pets only available from WoW's Collector's Editions. In this way you can hide any items you may not be interested in pursuing, either by blanking out entire categories of items (i.e. exclude anything Horde-exclusive), or you can manually select individual items to exclude as well. Hop on over to Wowhead's announcement page to check it out!
Massively's hands-on with WildStar's Engineer
It must have been serendipity that got me into the WildStar beta the week after the Engineer was announced (well, that or a PR push, but what are the odds?). As my friends, my family, and those who come within shouting distance of my voice know, I am always drawn to Engineers in video games. Whether the game be Team Fortress 2, Guild Wars 2, or Warhammer Online, if I have a big wrench, turrets, guns, pets, and/or lots of gadgets, I'm a pretty satisfied human being. WildStar's Engineer almost sounded too good to be true to me: a heavy armor-wearing ranged class that could DPS or tank while fielding combat robots. There might have been mention of a mech suit as well, but by that point I was twitching on the floor after suffering a happiness seizure. But would this perfect match on paper meet up to the cold, colorful reality when I got into the game? There was only one way to find out. Honey, take the kids out for the next two days, for I have space clobbering to do!
WildStar unveils its final class, the Engineer
If you're headed to a distant planet of untold dangers, you'll want to be protected. You'll want to bring along plenty of armor, you'll want ranged weapons, and you'll want some nice bulky robots to keep you safe in the most dire of circumstances. In short, you will want everything that the Engineer brings to WildStar. It's a pet class, a ranged tank, a sniper, and a whole barrel of explosive mechanical fun all in one package. Engineers have access to a stable of reliable bots to perform several functions, ranging from dealing damage to tanking to providing quick heals. The class also features a variety of ranged attacks, heavy armor, and a special exo-suit that allows them to bulk up and smash everything in range. Take a look at the latest edition of DevSpeak just past the cut to see the class in action, and check out the official site for a brand new installment of the Tales from Beyond the Fringe comic. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Wings Over Atreia: A guide to Aion's menagerie
What does every Daeva need while jetting around Atreia besides a sturdy set of wings? Why, a Daeva's best friend, of course! And there is certainly quite an assortment of pets to choose from in Aion, from the standard pooch to the very non-standard heavy machinery. Introduced three expansions ago in Assault on Balaurea, pets have become a common sight as you travel about the world, whether you are chillaxing in town or hot on the trail of some XP. Pets are even commonplace in PvP; practically every contestant in the recent PvP tournament had a pet out. That's because not only are pets fun, but they are functional, too. Just how many pets are there? Back when I first started this project, I had almost everything together in fairly short order. Then I blinked, and the pet population exploded! And every time I thought I had them all, more would pop up. So chances are NCsoft will throw another one into the mix by the time you read this, but we'll forge ahead anyhow; it's time to get this guide out there to help all those who wish to adopt the cute cuddliness of some little critter (just one look in those big puppy/panda/bulldozer eyes, and you know you're a goner) or even those who just want to know where that pet they just saw comes from. So regardless if whether you're in the market for one pet or just have the urge to collect them all, welcome to the Aion menagerie.
New charity Battle Pet coming to the Pet Store soon
A new Battle Pet is headed to the Blizzard Pet Store soon. The Alterac Brew Pup, pictured above, seems to be slated for release in the not-too-distant future. According to a page found by the fine folks over at Wowhead, the Brew Pup, like other Battle Pets in the past, will have a percentage of the proceeds from its sales donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The page also mentions that the cost of the Battle Pet will be $10 -- which is the standard rate for pets on the store. Although the purchase page was briefly visible in the Blizzard Store -- long enough for Wowhead to nab a screenshot, it has since been removed. This could be for any number of reasons: they may have simply jumped the gun on making the page available, might have just been testing the layout, or may have some changes to make to the listing page. Regardless, we now know where that perfectly adorable new Battle Pet will be found -- and now it's just a matter of patiently waiting until it's released. For more information on the Battle Pet and its abilities, check out Wowhead's Battle Pet database.
The Daily Grind: What type of animal do you like as a pet?
I love pet classes that allow you to capture, tame, and use an animal as your new combat buddy. It adds a lot of variety and choice to playing the class compared to pet classes that just stick you with the standard pet that everyone else gets. This was perhaps why I played a Hunter in World of Warcraft for so long. I was just nuts about collecting the most interesting and most unique pets. The highlight of my career was using a bunch of taming tricks to snag a Spectral Wolf back in Burning Crusade era that wasn't supposed to be tamable. I felt like the bee's knees when I had that guy running around with me. So when it comes to pet classes that fling animals at enemies, what type of beastie do you prefer? 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!
Be sure to pick up a Macabre Marionette pet for Day of the Dead
Though this short post-Hallow's End holiday is often forgotten, you should be sure to check out Day of the Dead (which lasts from November 1-3rd) in order to pick up the Macabre Marionette. Previously the Marionette could only be used during the holiday, but this year it's a full-fledged battle pet to add to your collection. To get started, go to your race's home city -- or try neutral cities Shattrath or Dalaran -- and head for the graveyard. There you'll find Catrina offering the quest The Grateful Dead. Follow a short quest chain and you'll wind up with your very own Macabre Marionette for the keeping. For a longer quest walkthrough, check out the Macabre Marionette writeup on WarcraftPets. And good luck -- though for a quest chain this simple, you probably won't need it.
Istaria preps for 10-year anniversary, big content patch
Can you believe that Istaria will be 10 years old in December? Well, technically the game was called Horizons way back when, and while the name has changed, the focus on playable dragons has not. Virtrium community manager Amarie Ancalimon has penned a new dev diary that features some exciting news for fans of the long-running fantasy MMO. Join us after the cut for this developer exclusive that talks crystal-shaping, pets, and more!
Breakfast Topic: Gotta catch 'em all
Let me just admit it: I have a collecting problem. That's not to say I'm very good at collecting -- right now I'm working towards Mount Parade very, very slowly -- but once I start collecting something I have an urge to collect everything. (Or, in internet vernacular, "ALL THE THINGS.") For a while, this made hunters the perfect class for me, because being able to pick out pets pleased my inner collector but the fact that there were only a limited number of stable slots meant I wouldn't wind up collecting every creature in the game. But now with tons of stable slots, when I play a hunter I'm inclined to spend most of my time hunting the perfect pet. And while I used to (mostly) ignore non-combat pets because it seemed dangerous to get started collecting them, with pet battles they're a lot harder to ignore -- and with 1000 pet slots to fill, I really do want to catch them all. But if I start trying, will I ever find time to do anything else in game? It's a conundrum that I still haven't solved. So tell me, readers -- do you have a collecting problem? How do you manage the urge to catch 'em all?
The Daily Grind: What vanity pet would you like to see made?
Ever since I ran The Secret World's Issue #7 content and explored the Nursery, I've become fixated on the idea of owning a nannybot of my very own. I mean, they're ludicrous to the point of being awesome: a hulking RoboCop suit with an emoticon face (which is smiley for happy and frowny for you're-about-to-be-murder-punched). I'd love to see them made into pets, because I constantly need looking after. Assuming that you like vanity pets -- you do, right? -- then you probably have a wish list of critters or figures that you'd love to see implemented as such. Maybe there's a cool-looking animal or a mechanical doohickey or just something that would go perfect with your character. If you could make it happen with a wish, what non-combat pet would you like to see made for your MMO? 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!
Petcube will let you play with your furry friend via iOS app
"Pet parents" who go into full guilt mode when they're away from home and the pooch or cat is all alone will soon have a way to keep their favorite animal companion happy. Petcube is a Kickstarter project that just reached its initial funding goal (hence we're writing about it) and is now looking at stretch goals that will provide hours of fun for owners and pets alike. The Petcube is a small cube that contains a video camera, a microphone, a speaker and a controllable laser pointer. That cube sits on a floor or table, and is connected to your home WiFi network. When you're away, you can use a mobile app to not only see what your puppy or kitten is up to, but also converse with them. As if that's not enough, you can play the old "follow the red dot" game with your animal through the app. So what are the stretch goals? If the Petcube gets to US$150,000 of funding, the ability for you to receive push notifications when your dog or cat is making loud noises will be added. When funding gets to $200,000, the Petcube will gain the ability to record a laser dot exercise routine and play it back at any time, thus keeping your pet engaged even when you're busy. And finally, should Petcube pull in $250,000 or more of funding, the team will add the ability to notify you through motion detection of when your animal is near the cube and wants to play. The Petcube is expected to retail for $199 when it arrives on the market next year, but early backers can get a discount.
Breakfast Topic: Is the Timeless Isle still keeping your attention?
We're in the third week of patch 5.4 and the Timeless Isle is still buzzing, but the population does seem to have dropped somewhat. There's actual living mobs walking around for me to quickly finish the daily and I'm still working towards the achievement when I can, but I'm definitely not farming the Timeless Coins as fervently as I used to. I've instead found myself camping certain rares, like Garnia for the pet, while chatting and fishing with others who are doing the same. Overall, I like how the Timeless Isle turned out, but I think I may have gone a little bit too hardcore with it in the beginning, so I've decided to tone it down to avoid burning out. %Poll-84824%
Closed beta begins for Heva Clonia Online
Why should only a select few classes get to play around with pets? That's a question posed by Heva Clonia Online, a new free-to-play title entering closed beta testing today. Heva Clonia Online allows players to clone monsters encountered throughout the game, use them as pets, and even pit them directly against other pets in arena battles. This is somewhat reminiscent of a title from Nintendo, but it is completely legally distinct. If pets aren't so much your thing, the game also features a variety of minigames and two-person dungeons to break up the usual format of MMO gameplay. OGPlanet is also giving away a free gamepad to 10 lucky players who manage to reach level 10 between now and the time the beta ends on September 30th. If you'd like a chance to get in and start pocketing monsters, you can sign up for the beta test on the official site. [Source: OGPlanet press release]
We now live in a world with two pet-based social networking apps
I love my cats, and I take photos of them frequently and with reckless abandon. That said, I'm not entirely sure I need more than one specialized app just for sharing photos of Nibbler and Cinnamon (don't judge me). Regardless, a couple of months after the iOS version of Peterest hit the scene, we now have Petigram. OK, so pet photo apps clearly still need to work on original naming schemes, but we'll ignore that for the moment. Petigram offers the ability to share photos, follow other users, and post comments. Its main selling point, however, is the built-in photo editing tools that let you add borders, text and other obnoxious graphics. At the moment, the app is quite buggy (you can post blank comments, buttons are sometimes unresponsive, etc.) but for a 1.XX version, it's not terrible. If you really want to share photos of your furry friends somewhere other than Facebook or Twitter, I'd still recommend Peterest as your first stop -- it simply has a better layout and more-polished features -- though Petigram may also be worth checking up on down the road.
The Daily Grind: What MMO has the cutest pets?
The picture above is a Goobbue Sproutling from Final Fantasy XIV. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't fully convey how adorable it is, since a static image cannot occasionally shake its head and yawn, but you get the idea. Also not pictured above is the small spherical lizard that looks at you and squawks for food or the baby behemoth that tries to roar but succeeds only in looking ridiculously precious. The point is, cute minipets. Players love having pets in games since they can serve as status symbols as well as just being cute to look at (without the usual feeding/walking/waste management issues created by real pets). So as fluffy as they are, we ask you today about these little bundles of squealing joy. What game has the cutest pets? Is it a game you still play, one you've left behind, or one that you have never played but still squeal about when you spy its cute critters? 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!
