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Google shows the waiting times at your favorite restaurants
If weird food trends (cronut, anyone?) have taught us anything it's that people are prepared to wait a long time for a seat at a restaurant, so whether you're visiting a popular local eatery or Time Out's latest gastro-pick, you're faced with two choices. Attempt to beat the crowds by having dinner at 4pm, or rock up whenever and hope the people in the line ahead give up before you do. Now though, in a development we can't believe didn't happen sooner, Google will show you the wait times of nearly a million sit-down restaurants around the world.
There's no point lining up for an Apple Watch
It's a fact of life that, shortly before Apple launches a product, gadget fans begin lining up outside stores equipped with a tent and some rations. That's why it was surprising to see new(ish) retail chief Angela Ahrendts discouraging the practice in a memo leaked to Business Insider. She wasn't joking, either, since the only way you can buy an Apple Watch, at least to begin with, will be to order one online. Let's just hope that you can return those vouchers for that Bear Grylls-style survival course.
Hulu's smart queue learns which shows you want to see the most
Many streaming video services let you queue shows and keep track of what you're watching, but they're not normally smart about it -- it can take some effort to see everything in the 'right' order. Hulu thinks it has a smarter approach. Its new Watchlist feature unifies your favorites, queue and watched shows in a single feed that learns based on your habits. If you always watch Agent Carter as soon as it goes online, the next episode will be bumped to the front; if you're not in a rush to see Scandal (or haven't watched it yet), it'll be further back. Watchlist won't automatically reach mobile apps and the web until later this year, but you can volunteer to use it right now if you're curious.
Scenarios, daily quests, and events in Warlords
It's true that scenarios still exist in Warlords of Draenor, but it's also true that their existence is radically altered - no more the easy three person content you can queue for at max level for easy rewards. Now, you may be trumpeting this as a grand thing, and in some ways you may even be right, but scenarios and heroic scenarios served a purpose in Mists and I'm starting to be concerned about their removal and the change in dungeons. One of the things to keep in mind is, with the removal of valor points and the conversion of many items to costing gold, we're essentially taking out the mechanism that once served as a consolation prize when it was first introduced back in The Burning Crusade. Furthermore, by removing scenarios as content players can essentially run whenever and wherever they wish, we're winnowing down options at endgame. The Timeless Isle model for endgame content has its flaws, and converting all of Warlords to it has some potential pitfalls. For starters, the heavy de-emphasis on daily quests combined with the lack of scenarios and the placing of heroic dungeons behind the proving ground barrier removes a solid amount of low pressure, easily accessed content. Considered separately these ideas aren't an issue, but when you put them all together you can start to see one problem - they remove choices for players, and in doing so offer no replacement. This may be by design. Some players lament that there's too much to do in Mists of Pandaria's endgame. Starved for choice is a real phenomenon, and it may be a good move to thin out those options. But it may not.
ArcheAge opens still more servers, promises compensation [Updated]
Trion's Scott Hartsman has delivered a "progress report" following another shaky weekend for ArcheAge's servers. He writes that patron queueing changes and three new North American servers (Ezi and Lucius Saturday and Calleil yesterday) have helped alleviate some though far from all of the login issues and queue times. To Europeans, he issues an apology, saying the new hardware for that region is still in customs and should arrive Tuesday. Daily restarts will also "flush out AFKs clogging the server," and he claims that around 10,000 botters and fraudsters have been recently banned. What about the reportedly long customer service wait times? "Our CS capacity has continuously been increasing even in the short time since launch. Chat wait times are about two thirds faster than what they were last week, even though the weekend's been the busiest time ArcheAge has seen as a whole. We're still pushing hard here to make sure even more people are wanting to help, and the next group of folks ready to help starts work first thing Monday morning." Hartsman notes that players will likely be compensated for last week's problems. "We are continuing to look into ways to make sure that everyone's made good for their troubles during this launch," he wrote. We have reached out to Trion to follow up. [Update #2: Hartsman has spoken to us about the game's launch troubles here.] [Update #1: Trion says the EU hardware has cleared customs early and is currently being set up.]
ArcheAge battles queues with new servers, character creation blocks
In a post on the official ArcheAge site last night, Trion Worlds confirmed that it had opened two new servers and shut down character creation on others to alleviate some of the queue congestion plauging players since the game's head start last weekend. The entry reads, We've added two new worlds to our North American server list: Ezi (NA) and Lucius (NA)! These servers were racked (physically installed) and imaged (updated with ArcheAge server software) in our Texas data center all in the past day. Here you can see Ezi (NA) and Lucius (NA) in their new home with Senior Systems Engineer Jonathan Johnson. These two servers will be on the new Auction House cluster 5 (AH5). These new servers are now online and available to play right now: Friday September 19 at 4:15 PM PDT (GMT-7). Critically, four US servers -- Kyrios, Ollo, Salphira, and Aranzeb -- have been "temporarily closed to new character creation," so we sure hope you aren't trying to join friends there today. The studio also says new European servers are physically en route to the Amsterdam data center. [Thanks, Siphaed.]
ArcheAge endeavors to quell queues, bugs
Following ArcheAge's official launch earlier this week, Trion has continued its work on bugs and queues and other issues affecting the game. Last night, the team said that it planned to increase the total capacity of the North American servers and EU server Kyprosa by 10%. Players have complained of long wait times to log into Kyprosa specifically; one Patron claimed to have waited nine hours in the queue. Other players have taken to calling the game "QueueAge." Trion also says that it is working on fixes for Patron status bugs, having "deployed a fix for accounts that were missing their Patron Time after this morning's NA server maintenance." Community Manager Scapes says a relog after server-up is necessary. EU's fix should be in now as well, tweeted Trion CEO Scott Hartsman.
The struggle between gear disparity and good play
Okay, truth time - I can solo any five player heroic dungeon in Mists of Pandaria, as long as it doesn't have mechanics that prevent me. If I'm even concerned that I'll take too much damage and die, I'll pop on my tank set and go prot, but many times it isn't even a concern. Blow all my DPS cooldowns, blow my defensive cooldowns when I'm at about half health, boss falls over. Done it in Mogu'shan Palace and Scarlet Monastery. And I'm hardly the exception here - the fact is, the Mists of Pandaria dungeons were introduced at the beginning of the expansion and tuned so that players in ilevel 450 gear could complete them. I'm at around ilevel 576. Even players who are just in flex or LFR gear out gear these instances immensely. If a DPS player in full SoO LFR gear goes into Mogu'shan Palace and decides to pull more mobs than the tank was ready or waiting for, he or she can probably DPS them all down before dying themselves, especially if they get a few heals. Meanwhile, even the tanks can often put out enough damage (while taking so very little and having various means to heal it up) that they can basically solo the whole place if they want to, leaving absolutely everyone in the group feeling very little need to actually play as a group. As many, many people point out to me on twitter, it's just assumed that everyone is going to pull like crazy, so even undergeared players in a specific role often assume it's going to happen and react. Maybe your tank doesn't want to pull like a fiend, but they saw your gear and thought they had to in order to keep control of the dungeon. The lines of group communication have broken down into a silence that masks intent - runs are zoned into and pulled with grim efficiency. Into this veil of silence enters you, the player. So what can be done about it?
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's Season Eight Preview
It's almost here: Season Eight in Star Trek Online releases tomorrow, November 12th! There is a lot of new material that will be implemented into the game when the season goes live, so much that there really hasn't been a single list of everything that's to come. So in today's Captain's Log, allow me to do a breakdown of all of the new content that Star Trek Online players can expect to see when they finish patching. You can also catch a quick glimpse of Season Eight's material by watching the official Season Eight trailer that Massively revealed last week. As you can imagine, this column will be chock-full of spoilers!
The Daily Grind: What's the worst (and best) MMO launch you've experienced?
So I finally got to log onto the Balmung server in Final Fantasy XIV yesterday afternoon. I'd been trying off and on for a couple of days, only to be thwarted by the 1017 monster. I dusted off my 1.0 character, went through the brief tutorial, and set about exploring the city of Ul'dah and oohing and ahhing over the newest AAA MMO. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but FFXIV's launch problems really didn't bother me. It's not the best I've ever witnessed, that's for sure, but I've seen far, far worse. What about you, Massively readers? What's the worst MMO launch you've experienced? How about the best? 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!
Netflix's new 'My List' replaces queues, lets users worldwide bookmark their favorites
Netflix's Watch Instantly streaming service in the US started with the same queue-based experience users were familiar with from its disc-by-mail rentals for bookmarking titles to watch later. But, internationally, the option has never existed. Now the experience is changing everywhere, as Netflix replaces the old queues with "My List." Outside the US subscribers will notice the biggest change, as they're able to curate their own viewing lists instead of relying solely on search or the service's automatically generated genre lists. Otherwise the selection process is mostly the same as we've come to expect, with a "+ My List" button single click adding it to the list of up to 500 items in each user's profile. My List should pop up on individual accounts over the next couple of weeks, check after the break for a breakdown of all the incoming changes and a quick video preview.
Guardians of Middle-Earth: A fun game doomed by its business model
The MOBA genre has exploded in recent years, with global giant League of Legends becoming the most actively played video game in the world and competitive tournaments getting more viewers than some televised sports. Today's MOBAs appeal to casual and competitive gamers alike, but until recently very few had crossed the console barrier. Released on PS3 and XBox 360 last December, Guardians of Middle-Earth took traditional DotA gameplay and made the quite experimental leap onto consoles. I'm not much of a console gamer (you can take my mouse and keyboard away when you pry them from my cold, dead hands), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how Guardians of Middle-Earth stacks up against its PC-based counterparts. Monolith Studios has done great things in adapting MOBA gameplay to a console control scheme and audience, and the core game really is a lot of fun to play. But in charging an initial purchase price for a game that relies on having a large community, publisher Warner Bros. may have accidentally consigned Guardians to the scrapheap. In this hands-on opinion piece, I explore Guardians of Middle-Earth and ask why it's already a ghost town just three months after launch.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Dungeon Finder updated with reputation rewards
Recently, Blizzard revealed that they were adding another method for players to gain reputation in patch 5.2. In addition to fulfilling work orders for the various factions around Pandaria, players can represent a faction when they queue into a dungeon. In the above screenshot, you'll notice that the Dungeon Finder interface has been updated. When you click on the Choose Reputation button, your Reputation tab will appear. Choose the Pandarian faction you want and click Find Group. You can only cash in on this reputation reward once per day. My main has hit exalted with most of the factions. I'm still working on the Anglers but I have a hard time motivating myself to push for it. Work orders and the reputation rewards in the dungeon queue should help ease that grind up. I feel the same way with my alts. I have absolutely no interest at the present in doing all those dailies again (at least, not for a long time).
The Queue: Random cat pictures because I am sick
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew "Oh God I think I'm dying" Rossi will be answering your questions today. So yeah, I am crazy sick as I write this. We're in the grip of that seasonal hopping illness - you know, the one that someone brings into the house as a cough, and then it migrates to someone else as explosive sneezes and chills, and then it leaps back to the first person. I have no idea if we've even had one good illness free day the past two weeks. I realize this isn't in any way funny. I'm sorry about that. Here's a picture of my cat Sasquatch that some of you totally helped keep from dying. He's very cute. mazokuranma asks Could anyone possible help me with a LFR loot question? I'm having trouble finding a definitive answer through Google. I know you can only get loot once from a boss per reset cycle, but if you don't get loot from a boss, are you locked out from loot for the cycle (Essentially limiting you to running it once for any chance at loot)? Second, if you've already run it for loot and received some, can you spend another coin if you go again and still get a chance at bonus loot? If anyone can answer these questions (Or help me find an officail post related to them) I would appreciate it! From personal experience I can tell you that yes, even if you didn't get any loot, once you kill a boss in LFR you're locked out of looting him again. You'll see an icon saying You were not eligible to loot this boss. However, yes, you can spend a coin on a boss you've already looted and get an item. I know because I have done so.
The Queue: Benjamin Franklin created the internet to resurrect himself
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi is writing this sucker today. I'm kidding. Sort of. Ben is one of my personal heroes, though. In today's Queue, I answer a bunch of tanking questions. I know -- I was as shocked as you are. Matthew2 asked: I finally got around to making a DK and leveling it. (I'm a tank - my first tank!!!) Having said that: Is DPS in Blood Spec viable for 5 mans? I'm not a raider, I just want to learn my Blood spec and tank with it and dps with it in instances that I am learning about. Is it ok to use death and decay if I'm in Frost Presence when I'm DPS'ing? And I don't yet have unholy presence, so I'll pre-ask: "what spec should I be using as DPS in PvE [assuming i'm a blood dk if that matters]? Clearly, I don't know this class yet - any good sources to learn about being a DK?
Amazon Instant Video iPad app now available, iPhone and iPod Touch still left wanting
A day after upgrading its cloud music player, Amazon has delivered a native Amazon Instant Video app for iPad (not iPhone or iPod Touch, yet) to the App Store. It has access to streaming Prime Instant Video for subscribers, as well as downloaded or streamed video on-demand. Other key features include access to the Watchlist / queue, and automatic access to any shows subscribed to with a Season Pass the day after they air on TV. The free app is available in the iTunes store right now, however like the sudden appearance of Hulu Plus on Apple TV yesterday we don't have any official PR to share just yet. We've had a chance to play around with it and we must say, Amazon is really coming after Netflix with this one. The app runs smoothly, and while the video player itself gets just the bare bones iOS treatment, every other part of the app seems polished, including the Watchlist. Add in the fact that you can watch things via subscription and seamlessly jump to fresher / premium content available for purchase or individual rental (with the notable caveat that you can't actually browse the VOD content, or purchase or buy it from within the app itself) and there's a serious competition going on.
Google Play Music app update brings tweaks to Now Playing, Recent, playlists and widget
Ever since introducing the Google Music app in beta last year its developers have been hard at work trimming away the rougher edges and that's never been more evident than in the new 4.3.606 version now available for download. While Google Play Music's overall look hasn't shifted significantly, the changelog and a quick spin using it reveal nearly every screen has had some slight change. As seen above, the recently played screen now features larger album art, while the action bar has been adjusted with different transport controls. In this version, users have the ability to adjust and reorder music in the Now Playing queue, while a refreshed widget shows off album art and allows for thumbs up without opening the app. The settings menu has a direct link to the Nexus Q control app (assuming you can run it, and have one), hit the Play store for the updated version to try it out yourself.
Hyperspace Beacon: Four reasons you should come back to TOR for 1.3
Currently in Star Wars: The Old Republic, I am leveling up a couple of alternate characters. My main is a Sith Marauder, but I felt like trying the other Sith class and at the same time try the Jedi Consular class that I didn't finish during beta, mostly to see for myself whether the story gets any better. (It doesn't.) The mechanics are extremely awesome, though, and that's enough to keep me playing the class. But that's not the only thing that keeps me playing it. In fact, I think I can safely say that I would not still play the class if it weren't for update 1.3, which is just one of the reasons I believe players should consider coming back to SWTOR. Whether you're an altoholic or not, update 1.3 has finally completed the game. If the game had launched with the features that now exist in game, I don't believe we would have seen such a sharp decline in subscriptions after launch. I'm urging you to try the game again, not because I'm being prompted to but because I think these quality-of-life additions really make this game what it should have been all along.
Netflix goes 'beyond five stars' in a more detailed explanation of recommendations
The Netflix Tech Blog produced part one of a deep dive into how its recommendations work back in April and now the team is back with the other half. If you're among the many wondering why certain movies get pushed to the front of your recommendations and others don't, the key is their attempt to predict, mostly based on data from other users, what you will both play and enjoy. The most interesting bit we found? There's a lot more at play here than just popularity, as one graph shows ratings plus the team's other optimizations improving rankings over the baseline by 200+ percent. Data parsing heads should definitely dig hearing about logistic regression, elastic nets and matrix factorization (job applications are accepted at the end if you make it that far), while those of us that fall asleep when the spreadsheets come out can probably focus on the broader strokes of Netflix's testing methodology and approach.
Amazon Instant Video streaming is now live on the Xbox 360
If Amazon's video store is going to compete with the other online sources like Hulu and Netflix, getting on as many platforms as possible is key and it made a major expansion today by launching on the Xbox 360. The app launched on the PS3 back in April, and just like that version, this one includes access to Amazon's video on-demand and Prime all-you-can-eat subscription based streaming. Unique to the Xbox 360 app is support for the console's Kinect peripheral and its ability to recognize control by gesture or voice, plus a brand new feature for Amazon -- a queue. The Watchlist (for now only available on the Xbox 360, Kindle Fire and via the web) lets customers preselect programming they're interested in for easy access on the devices later, just like Netflix's implementation, however Amazon's VOD store means access to newer and higher profile content is just a click away. There's more details in the press release and video after the break, or you can just check out the app on your console right now (if you're in the US and have Xbox Live Gold, of course -- even if you don't have Prime, there's a one month free trial offer). Update: Major Nelson also posted availability of other apps and a free XBL Gold preview weekend, as Antena 3 launches in Spain, MLB.tv in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Muzu.tv in Australia and New Zealand. June 1st through June 3rd, XBL Gold access will be "unlocked", letting Silver gamers in U.S., Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Chile play for free and access the Amazon, IGN, Manga Entertainment and Muzu.tv apps. [Thanks, AtillaG!]
