pre-beta
Latest
The Daily Grind: Do you like staggered or modular launch schedules?
Regardless of your feelings toward Kickstarter or crowdfunding in general, you have to admit that it's starting to have an impact on the way games are made. More specifically, two of the larger crowdfunding projects -- Shroud of the Avatar and Star Citizen -- are doing away with a traditional launch date in favor of a staggered release schedule. Star Citizen has already released a playable piece of pre-alpha content, and just yesterday we learned that Shroud of the Avatar's initial client will be available as early as next month. What do you think about these newfangled rollouts? Do you like the opportunity to see games in their raw, pre-beta states, or do you prefer to wait on a more traditional or feature-complete release day? 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!
Aura Kingdom offers its first installment of story
Let's face it, every MMO's lore is fundamentally an explanation for why there's something to kill and what you hope to accomplish by killing it. But even in the games that only need the thinnest veneer of a plot anyway, there's still some lore, and someone's going to be happy to learn about it. Aura Kingdom is aiming at having a bit more than an excuse plot, evidenced by the fact that a large piece of lore has just been placed up on the main site prior to the game's beta test commencing. The crux of the game's history hinges around the Cube of Gaia, an immensely powerful artifact that was discovered roughly 1,000 years prior to the game's present. This first bit of lore covers the first empire to control the Cube, with a normadic warchief rising to worldwide domination through careful use of the Cube's power. Take a look at the lore, and if it appeals, go ahead and sign up for beta while you're there.
WIREDoo search engine gets running man stamp of approval (video)
MC Hammer already proved that you only need one hit record. But can you get by with just one search engine? Not if you believe his pitch to the Web 2.0 Summit this week, which promoted a "deep search" technology called WIREDoo. The rapper-approved tool emphasizes relationships rather than keywords, which yields very different results to Google's. Type in 90210, for instance, and instead of pages of links about the TV show, the pre-beta WIREDoo brings up stuff about the neighborhood -- schools, homes, the crime rate and other supposedly useful information. You'll find the full presentation after the break, but don't expect any nostalgic dance moves -- Hammer is serious about this, just like he was about those revolutionary tablets.
Halo: Reach 'Pre-Beta' video walkthroughs, gameplay footage
Note: This footage is best viewed in high definition. Click 'HD' to enable it. Halo fanatics will finally get their hands on Halo: Reach when the multiplayer beta, included with the purchase of Halo 3: ODST, is activated next week. You've already read our impressions but now you get to see some of the action, with hours of Halo: Reach Pre-Beta footage carefully trimmed down to the essentials. By showing the new armor customization options, control changes, comparisons to Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST and full gameplay matches in high definition, we're hoping to answer as many of your questions as we can before you get your own quality time with Reach on May 3.
Jolicloud pre-beta now available to download, walkthrough now available for viewing
Let's face it: Chrome OS has been snagging all of the attention in the OS world here lately, but let us not forget about Jolicloud. The Linux-based system, which was designed to be installed onto existing netbooks without much of a fuss, has finally reached its public pre-beta stage. In other words, the 600MB .exe file is now out for you and yours to download and try, and according to our good pals over at Download Squad, it's well worth the effort. They seemed to have no issues whatsoever installing it as a second OS on their machine, and they went ahead and deemed it superior to Chrome OS' earliest build due to its ability to support "both native and web-based applications equally well." Their own tests found it to boot in just 15 seconds on an Eee PC netbook, but if you're still curious if dipping your toes is the best move, hop on past the break for a lengthy walkthrough video.
GC 2008: New Killzone 2 footage shows game is 'pre-beta'
While not as high quality as the falsified chat multiplayer trailer, the Kizzy Dos (remember, that's our nickname for Killzone 2) footage from Leipzig GC 2008 above does reveal that the game is now in pre-beta. When we last saw the game about a month ago at E3, K2 was rocking a pre-alpha build. We're happy to see the game progressing smoothly, even if we have to wait until February to play the final build. Here's to hoping developer Guerilla Games follows in the footsteps of its peers and opens a public beta for the game.%Gallery-4719%
An early look at the lore of Earthrise
More information about the lore of Earthrise has surfaced, giving readers a preview of the post-apocalyptic MMO's setting of Enterra. Although still in a pre-beta stage of development at Masthead Studios, some details were already known about the organizations in Earthrise. The newest information comes from IGN's RPG Vault, which has released their first of three installments on the lore of Earthrise.The IGN pieces will focus on Continoma, the corporate entity that governs the lives of Enterra's citizens. "Continoma: The Beginning" looks at how the Continoma Project developed into humanity's only viable chance for survival, via genetic rebirth which followed the cataclysmic Third World War. If you're a fan of the lore in your MMOs and sci-fi is your thing, check out the full story over at RPG Vault.
Parallel Kingdom is a mobile MMO played in the real world
I just recently got my beta invitation to PMOG, the in-browser MMO game that lets you play around real-life websites. I haven't restarted my browser yet to get it installed, but I'm intrigued by the idea of a "meta-" or "exo-game," that places game values over "real" locations. In PMOG's case, of course, they're real virtual locations, but here's a game that is really real: Parallel Kingdom is a mobile MMO that claims to be able to use GPS in Google's Android phone to let players place game information on real world points.The game is still in beta, and since it requires an Android phone to play (and those haven't actually come out yet), it's really more of just an idea at this point. But yes, the plan is to use GPS to let players "mine resources, build buildings, craft items, trade goods, meet people, start kingdoms, lead wars, and explore the world." As you can see in the demo video above, various virtual resources will be hidden at real world GPS points, and odds are that you'll have to visit those points in real-life to perform activities and play the game.An interesting idea, anyway. It's hard to picture an ongoing game based around actual travel to real-world locations (although geocaching seems to pull it off pretty well), so it'll be interesting to see what these folks come up with.
Windows Vista pre-beta SP1 hitting the web?
Whispers that Redmond certainly can't be pleased about hearing are beginning to gain traction all over the 'net, as more and more individuals claim that they have Vista's Service Pack 1 pre-beta in their possession. Reportedly, the 6001.16549 build "sounds like it's the real deal," and could be the version that Microsoft has been "trickling out to more and more testers over the past few weeks." Of course, we aren't likely to hear anything one way or another from Microsoft, as the last tidbit that was let loose by it contained the phrase "not anytime soon." But as proven by the Vista Performance and Reliability Pack that just recently found its way into public hands before its intended release date, there's always a chance for leaks. So, dear readers, have any of you stumbled upon a pre-release version of the much-anticipated update?[Via ZDNet, thanks Mark]
