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ARGO Online celebrates new ranking system with contest
Games paying us to play? Ridiculous! What's next -- dogs and cats sleeping together? Mass hysteria? 'Tis true, dear readers; ARGO Online is rewarding top players with in-game AP worth hundreds of real-world dollars. This giveaway is part of a promotion to celebrate ARGO's brand-new ranking system, in which players can compete to see who accumulates the most XP in each level tier. There's also a second ranking ladder that lists players according to wins and losses. During this month, alaplaya is tallying up the initial pack leaders and will be rewarding the best of the best with in-game currency at the end of the 30 days. Lowest level characters have a shot at $50 worth of AP while level-capped folks can compete for $150. In total, alaplaya is giving out $500 just for players giving ARGO their all, which is a pretty sweet deal for those already into the game. If ARGO Online is an unknown entity to you, check out our first impressions and see if it's up your alley!
Eden Eternal update bringing raids, dungeons, and adorable mouse-people
Today, Aeria Games announced the first content update to its free-to-play MMO Eden Eternal. We've already taken a look at one of the new additions coming with the update, the adorably ingenious Zumi race, but now we have more information on what else will be coming to the charming little MMO. The update will add eight-player raids to the mix alongside Heroic Dungeons. The first of many planned Heroic Dungeons will be Angor Quarry, which players will recognize as the first dungeon they encounter on their journey, and it will provide Eden Eternal players with "new challenges, new items and new crafting recipes." And for those of you with a competitive streak, the game will be introducing ranking-based rewards, which will track the top players and guilds on each server and reward the top percentage with rare and unique rewards. To jump into the game yourself, head on over to the official Eden Eternal website.
Mythos guilds get buffed the heck up
Mythos is already going through a few growth spurts in its first few months of life. Aww, look at it -- isn't it adorable? It's trying to talk... it's taking its first steps... it's buffing guilds and adding in a ranking system! Guild buffs are exactly what they sound like: buffs that go out to every member of the guild. These passive buffs to experience, health, defense and more can be earned by simply leveling the guild up. The higher the guild levels, the better the buffs become. In Mythos, guilds purchase these levels with gold. And for guilds who are out to truly excel, Mythos now gives each group a rank depending on its guild level and how much time its members spend in the game. The best of the best will get an even better guild-wide buff to experience gain and luck. The game will hand out rankings once a week during maintenance. You can get into the nitty-gritty details of these systems on the Mythos forums!
Fujitsu K supercomputer now ranked fastest in the world, dethrones China's Tianhe-1A
Remember the K -- the Fujitsu supercomputer that promised to do a whopping ten petaflops by the year 2012? Well, it hasn't reached that threshold just yet, but according to the latest Top 500 supercomputer list, it's still faster than any other machine on Earth. In fact, the top-ranked beast is more powerful than the next five supercomputers combined, consumes enough electricity to power about 10,000 homes for a full year, and is capable of churning out about 8.2 quadrillion calculations per second -- three times as many as what runner-up (and former number-one) Tianhe-1A can process. Today's announcement marks the first time since 2004 that a Japanese creation sits atop Top500.org's rankings, but Fujitsu isn't exactly resting on its laurels. Before deploying it next year, engineers at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science are aiming to add about 100,000 cores to the K's collection of 548,352, which would provide it with even more computational muscle, and likely spell doom for all of humanity. Find out more in the PR after the break.
Apple tweaks app ranking system
Apple has reportedly modified its app ranking system to include criteria besides the number of application downloads. This change was noticed by ad network executives and other companies that monitor the ranking of applications in Apple's iOS App Store. Facebook, Skype and Pandora are three applications whose spike in ranking caught the eye of many people. Facebook moved from #13 to #1, Skype from #33 to #11 and Pandora from #22 to the top ten. Before last week, these apps were steady in their rankings, leading many to believe that Apple modified something in its ranking system to produce these jumps. Read on to find out what criteria Apple may have changed.
ComScore: Microsoft becomes second for online video in one month (update)
Earlier this month, we got word that Bing had surpassed Yahoo! as the world's second most used search engine, and now Microsoft's solidifying its place as runner-up, coming in behind YouTube as the internet's number two provider of streaming video, with 48 million unique viewers in February. According to ComScore's latest ranking of online video providers, the software giant went from number seven to number two in just one month, bumping Yahoo! down to third place. Of course, YouTube is still way out in front, with over 140 million visitors, but given the speed with which it leaped ahead, we'd say Bing is doing something right. Check out more online video results after the break. Update: Well, as it turns out, Microsoft wasn't number two for video in February, after all. We received an e-mail this morning informing us that ComScore made a correction to its numbers, showing VEVO as the runner-up, with 49 million unique viewers last month. That doesn't change the software giant's leap ahead -- it's still holding down third place, with 48 million -- but it certainly looks like someone's got some stiff competition. Check out the updated chart above for the new numbers.
Google makes rich richer, poor poorer in search results
If you've been paying attention to the state of search as of late, you'll know that Google's between a proverbial rock and hard place right now. Some individuals and companies claim Mountain View's beloved search engine is losing to the spammers, squatters, scrapers and content farms by failing to weed them from the system -- though you can now do that on your own -- while others say it's squashing the little guy by unfairly downranking competitors in search results. We're not sure if either is truly the case, the company's made a mildly controversial move this week: it's tweaked the search algorithms to "reduce rankings for low-quality sites," and "provide better rankings for high-quality" ones. As ever, Mountain View's not talking about what that change mathematically entails, though it says about 11.8 percent of queries will be affected as a result. In short: some will be happy, some sad, some angry, and many won't notice at all.
iPod classic still the 5th most popular US MP3 player
Speculation has been poking around lately that the iPod classic's time is not long for this world, but before you start etching out the gravestone, take a look at these recent sales rankings from the NPD Group. According to the numbers, the iPod classic is still the fifth most popular MP3 player in the US, right behind all four versions of the iPod touch. Apple, in fact, claims 9 out of the top 10 spots on the list, but while the shuffle and the nano are down in the 6-9 spots, the iPod classic still reigns supreme when you don't need to have apps. That makes sense -- despite my iPhone, I still carry around an old 80 GB iPod, and I'd still maintain that for people who really want to carry their whole music library in their pocket, there's no match for the iPod classic and its, well, ... classic click wheel design. In fact, as we suggested, in opposition to all of the naysayers proclaiming the death of the old school iPod, a refresh is much more likely: Apple could add much more capacity, especially considering the improvements in memory lately. And while apps are nice, and 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity make for things like streaming music, some people just want to sit back and listen to gigabytes' worth of MP3 files. Long live the iPod classic!
Wings Over Atreia: Death of a legion
It happens. You might be trucking along, grinding your own business when BAM! Suddenly your /l chat is gone. What the... ? Yup, your legion just disbanded. Or perhaps the leader just disappears offline for an extended period of time. Could be that the leadership drives members away by its actions (or inaction). So the death knell tolls. With reasons ranging from real life (work, family) to game mechanics (boredom, frustration) to the most frequent culprit, drama (cyber-relationships gone bad, over-inflated egos, power-hungry control freaks), legions fold. It is a fact of gaming -- though not always a negative one. But in Aion, where reputation, ranking, and Abyss contribution are significant factors to players, the death of a legion can have more consequences than just missing a chat channel. If you are lucky and have forewarning, you can plan ahead to minimize the impact on your gaming experience. If your legion has folded -- or is about to -- what are your options? Let's drop our wings and dive past the cut to explore some available paths to take when this fact of e-life happens.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Siege war top 50
One of the fascinating aspects of an MMO is its ability to spark creativity. With so much to do in these large virtual worlds, it's almost inevitable that players will create wikis, fan sites, addons and anything else they can dream up. Runes of Magic is no different, and its siege war has given way to the creation of Siege War Top 50. The fan-made website aggregates siege war scores from all guilds on North American servers and spits it out in various lists. It has been consistently popular on the RoM forums for many weeks now and is a testament to how popular siege war is. Let's take a look at this site and see what makes it tick. Along the way, I share commentary about the site and siege war in general, and you'll get to see which guilds are in the top bracket out of all the North American servers.
Visualized: world's most trafficked websites and their favicons
We knew Google Search was an iconic service (we had to), but seeing it dwarf the rest of the web like this is pretty humbling. This here map of the internets uses Alexa data from earlier this year to assign the favicon dimensions of each of the top 288,945 sites around the world. Oh, and if you don't have an icon sidled up next to your URL, tough luck, you're not on here. See how many you can spot before your eyes start bleeding, then hit up the source to look up your favorite sites. As to your absolute favoritest site of them all, you can spot us somewhere in the space between vBulletin and Wikipedia.
Apple tops media impact rankings in Q2
While we tend to hold Apple's feet to the fire on issues with their otherwise stellar products, the world at large sees a glossy coat of scratch-resistant awesome all over the Cupertino brand. According to General Sentiment (a media measurement firm somewhat obviously named), Apple was not only discussed more than any other brand in Q2 of this year, they are spoken of in high regard. You see, General Sentiment has developed a new metric called Perception Value and to show off the difference between "Impact" or how much a brand was discussed online, and "Perception" or how well-regarded a company is in those online conversations, they've focused on the Perception Value of Apple in their 12-page report on Brand Exposure Analysis. Unsurprisingly, BP made it to #2 in terms of impact, as the spill in the gulf was widely discussed on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. In terms of perception, BP isn't sitting so pretty. Apple, on the other hand, ranks #1 because of successful iPad and iPhone 4 launches. [via Macsimum News]
Nintendo once again tops the Develop 100
Develop magazine has published its latest Develop 100, a list of 100 video game developers ranked by the amount of money they made at UK retail. There's a digital version of the whole book online, but the list is available in quick-browse form over on the website, and there are plenty of big industry names. Nintendo has topped the list -- it did the same thing a few years ago before Blizzard stole the No. 1 spot last time around (down to No. 80 this year). Infinity Ward, a development house whose best days may be behind it, sits at No. 2. The biggest surprise in the top 10 may be Yuke's at No. 9, the company behind a long history of wrestling titles and creators of the popular UFC Undisputed line. It's been around this list before, though, having reached as high as No. 8 a few years ago. Midway Newcastle is on the list at No. 90, despite having shut down last year. The US claims both the most studios on the list (40 percent) as well as the most profit earned (£484.78 million). And, in general, profits are up from previous years -- Nintendo itself is making about £70 million more than it did the last time it was in first place. Remember, these are all UK totals, but Develop has worked hard to make a fairly representative list of worldwide developers.
Mytheon has both PvP and Co-Op on the menu
Mytheon wants to know: what's your poison? Do you want a tall glass of beatdown with live players, or a cooperative shot of teamwork in a PvE environment? We haven't heard a lot about this title over the past year, but Petroglyph is increasing the game's profile as launch looms for this "online multiplayer action RPG." As the beta period winds to a close, the devs are excited to reveal the game's two primary modes: PvP and Co-Op play. Mytheon appears to lean toward PvP, as Petroglyph emphasizes both the PvP arenas and PvP scenarios. The arenas -- such as the Ring of Destiny and Olympus -- are ranked, and come in either 1v1 or 2v2 varieties. If 4v4 is more your style, then head on over to one of their three PvP scenarios, such as the Forest of Despair. However, Co-Op mode is available for a different flavor of gameplay, challenging two teams of players to compete against each other in a PvE setting until there's only one victor, who then fights a unique scenario boss. All of these modes offer experience and loot as a matter of course. Producer Randy King encourages players to find their own style: "Giving players the ability to group together, or play against each other was only the start. It was important to us to use the rich setting of Greek mythology to provide these incredible scenarios that they can experience with others."
The Classifieds: Buttering up the Panera Bread WoW Man
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. Remember back during the holidays, when we had a nice cozy Breakfast Topic chat about the fellow who's been spotted schlepping his entire iMac to the local Panera Bread to play WoW? Sharp-eyed reader Paul discovered a followup article at Gizmodo, featuring five questions with the Panera Bread WoW Man. It's no headline news, but it's an interesting peek into how a fellow WoW player gets his fix. Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: WoW player/MMA fighter on the mend
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. In news from the WoW community, guildmates of MMA grappler Haydn Clasby, aka Croc of <Defiant Hearts>, US Bloodscalp-H, are rallying in support after he suffered a broken neck in what was called a freak accident during a match in New Zealand last month. Friends and fans are publicizing a Recovery Fund to help Croc out with the medical costs of the devastating accident. Our friend Jens "Little Evil" Pulver, also an MMA fighter and inveterate WoW player (and seen in yesterday's 15 Minutes of Fame), offered these words of support for Croc: "My heart and thoughts go out to you, brother. Make sure you keep your spirits up and tackle this with the same grit and guts you used to get in there in the first place. Take the time to heal and get well soon. Chin down, hands up and always come out fighting; don't let this stop you. I wish you all the best." Best wishes, Croc, for your continued recovery! Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: News briefs on guilds and players
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. Welcome to our first installment of The Classifieds, an evolution of our former Guildwatch feature. As more and more players move into endgame raiding, we thought it fitting that our guild news should evolve, too. The Classifieds gives you more of the news you can use: who's progressing, who's marking milestones, who's recruiting. But it's not only about guilds. Because we're all down there in the trenches of Dungeon Finder groups at every opportunity, The Classifieds lets you send a shout-out to that player who made your last PUG a thing of real beauty (whether through pure technical finesse or a winning attitude). And if you're curious about how WoW intersects with the world at large, we'll be passing along links to academic research studies seeking participants, as well. Editor's Note: One thing you might notice missing in Guildwatch's new incarnation is the "Drama" section. In the interest of fostering community growth and positive interaction, we're checking the drama and negativity at the door. Let's open the Classifieds!
J.D. Power smartphone study ranks iPhone #1 in customer satisfaction
I don't know about you, but when I hear the name "J.D. Power and Associates," I think of customer satisfaction for automobile manufacturers. The company also does customer satisfaction surveys in a number of other industries, and yesterday they released the 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Satisfaction Survey and the 2009 Wireless Business Smartphone Satisfaction Survey. As you might not expect after all of the commenter griping we see about the iPhone, Apple nabbed the number one spot in customer satisfaction in both the consumer and business surveys. As you can see in the regretfully fuzzy screenshot above, the iPhone took first-place honors in the consumer smartphone index with a score of 811 out of a possible 1,000. More importantly, the iPhone was the only smartphone to get a five-circle ("Among the best") Power Circle rating. LG was the surprising second-place contestant, with only three circles ("About average") and a 775 overall score. The iPhone is no slouch in the business world, grabbing the lead in the business smartphone satisfaction ratings (see below) with an 803 index ranking. Businesses surveyed agreed with consumers and gave the iPhone an "Among the best" Power Circle Rating, significantly better than RIM's BlackBerry devices. The J.D. Power and Associates ratings tend to have the respect of many enterprise CIOs, so this should be good news for Apple in terms of increasing enterprise iPhone sales.
Aion and Fallen Earth dominate Steam/D2D charts
Aion. Champions Online. Fallen Earth. Three MMOs intended for three different audiences and yet they all have one thing in common: September gaming sales chart domination! The latest numbers on Steam and Direct2Drive show a bit of a re-shuffling compared to the last time we checked in.Steam (9/20 - 9/26)1st - Aion Collector's Edition2nd - Aion Standard Edition3rd - Fallen EarthDirect2Drive (9/20 - 9/26)1st - Aion Collector's Edition 2nd - Aion Standard Edition 3rd - Fallen Earth8th - Champions OnlineChampions Online was launched a few weeks before both FE and Aion, so we believe that might have something to do with their now lagging sales (according to these charts). Be sure to check out our one-month checkup on CO. Both Aion and FE appear to be doing quite well for themselves since release. Considering the lack of marketing behind FE and its more design, we're happy to see it up ranking so high. Actually, it makes us warm and fuzzy to see any MMO selling well, so kudos to all!
Fortune names RIM fastest growing company... in the world
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that RIM is doing pretty well even in the face of an economic downturn, but it looks like it's been doing really well -- at least according to Fortune, which has just named the Canadian company the fastest growing firm in the world. That's apparently based on a combination of profits, turnover, and investment return over three years which, in RIM's case, translates an 84% growth in profits in the past three years, a 77% growth in revenue, and a total return of 45%. It's also actually the first time RIM has made the list, although that's at least partly due to the fact that Fortune didn't include non-US firms last time around.
