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The Daily Grind: Do you daydream about games?
I admit it without shame. When I'm not doing my job, which is to think about MMOs for a living, one of my little free-time hobbies is to daydream about MMOs for a living. I come up with elaborate ability sets for classes that don't yet exist, because for some strange reason I find that fun. The results that we get almost never line up with what I had thought of, but I've been doing it since I started playing Final Fantasy XI and I'm not about to stop. I fully recognize that this is odd, within the larger context of our odd little hobby. But do you do the same thing, dear reader? Do you daydream about what could be the next big thing in Star Trek Online? Do you construct fanciful possibilities about endgame content in World of Warcraft? Do you daydream about games, even when you know most of that daydreaming will come to nothing? 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!
Aion's medical professionals are on the scene to keep you healthy
Even though you might spend most of your time in Aion being healed by magical sources, the hard-working medical professionals of Atreia are still out there and keeping a close eye on your health. Did you know that cold weather is the fifth most common cause of death among Daevas, making it ten thousandth overall? If not, you may wish to stop by one of Atreia's many free clinics for a careful health examination. From now until January 29th, all Daevas may stop by one of the medical camps set up through the world for special benefits. Doctors provide potions and scrolls to players at level 10+, whilst the rotating nurses will provide players with a variety of buffs to improve their performance in battle. So are you keeping a solid watch on your health? Stop by one of the medical camps now, and ask the doctors if consuming large quantities of potion is right for you.
The Soapbox: The horror of embargoes
We're right on the cusp of one big holiday or another. Festivus, I think? I don't really pay attention to the calendar. So we're going to take this opportunity to talk about something near and dear to our hearts that a lot of you don't even know exists because you aren't working here. It's the magical miracle known as the press embargo. Embargoes work something like this. Let's say that Bungie is hard at work developing My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Online, and the company wants to reveal a new piece of information on August 9th. The company sends a lot of different press outlets a release with all of the information on August 2nd, mentioning exactly when the embargo lifts. So on August 9th, everyone can cover it at the same time! It sounds like a great way to ensure that the press knows things in advance and that every big revelation is nicely coordinated across all media. In practice, though, it's something less than beneficial due to failures to communicate and the very nature of the beast. Giving more time between the information and release just means more space for things to go wrong.
What do you do when you're away from WoW?
Right now, thanks to an ongoing saga of computer failure, I'm currently on an enforced hiatus from World of Warcraft. Readers, this is not how I want things to be! I've barely touched patch 5.4, I'm missing Hallow's End and all its glorious experience boosts for my alts, and BlizzCon is just a couple of weeks away. The timing for mass electronic failure just could not have been worse. Over the years that I've played WoW, my personal interest in the game has waxed and waned. I think this is probably pretty normal. We all go through phases where we want to play more than at other times. Maybe a person's interest is tied to the release of new content, or maybe it's tied to guild events, or maybe something else entirely. So it's not as if now is the first time I've been away from WoW for a while. What's unusual is that normally I'm away because I want to be, not because I've been forced to by circumstances beyond my control. So, because I'm stuck not playing WoW when I wish I could be playing WoW, I'm immersing myself in the game in other ways. These include things like researching transmog gear, meticulously planning out new alts (including names, backstories, and leveling routes), wistfully reading my friends' accounts of guild raiding progress, and some text-based RP with friends. Thanks to these efforts, I'm managing just fine. I just hope my new monitor gets here quickly. Have you ever been forced into an undesired WoW break thanks to forces beyond your control? What did you do, if anything, to keep yourself engaged with the game? Or did you take it as a sign and go dark for a while? Tell us all about it!
We may be in debt, but the chips on our shoulders are chocolate
Actually, we are not in debt. Not us, plural, here at WoW Insider. Just Olivia. Do you see that screenshot above? That is an IOU note on the wall of the Alliance PvP room in Valley of the Four Winds, where NPC Armsmaster Holinka (named after WoW PvP Director Brian Holinka) usually stands. And the initials of the unfortunate soul who now owes him one million cookies belong to none other than our very own Olivia Grace. It all began with the following: simple tweets back in June from Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and Brian Holinka about exciting, non gear-related PvP changes to come. And Olivia -- dear, rash Olivia -- replied to them saying that if said exciting changes were cross-realm arenas that she would bake them each 1,000,000 cookies. And now, in patch 5.4, PvP season 14, we have cross-realm arenas. Oh, Olivia! What fate has thy hasty words wrought. For now you must hold good on your promise, and Blizzard will not forget. They've written it into the very code of their biggest game, woven straight into the finality of binary, in black and white and ones and zeroes. I hope you can dual-wield your wooden spoon and spatula. No noodle cart can save you now.
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!
SWTOR adding killer Ewok companion in 2.3
Ewoks may no longer be number one on the list of George Lucas' crimes against humanity -- we'll give that joint honor to Jar Jar Binks and Howard the Duck -- but they're still pretty polarizing amongst fans of a galaxy far, far away. Naturally, then, BioWare has decided to add a new Ewok combat companion to Star Wars: The Old Republic as part of the forthcoming 2.3 patch. Dulfy.net reports that you'll need to have a level 40 legacy and a million credits to unlock the cuddly little booboo, who also happens to use heavy armor and boasts a heal and tank stance. Dulfy includes plenty of stats and spoilerific cutscene video in the preview article, so click through at your own risk! [Thanks Dengar!]
Your silliest WoW moment
This is a timely forum post, considering our topic the other day we had on our favorite ways to die. Mearl the gnome warrior asks, "What is the silliest thing that's happened to you in Azeroth?" A good number of the responses include people's own goofy deaths, but there are some more unconventional responses, too. I'm quite partial to Hippeaux's reply early on in the thread of the GM who clearly accidentally copied multiple people on a ticket, resulting in a baffling stream-of-consciousness-like list of instructions on how to accomplish a variety of things in game. Suddenly, I long for the day when something similar happens to me! As for the silliest thing that's ever happened to me in game, well, this isn't strictly silly, but it's a story I laugh about heartily in hindsight. When I was a wee druid, at level 14, I got the quest for swim form. You needed to collect two halves to an amulet, both of which were underwater. The amulet's first half was at the bottom of the lake in Moonglade. Easy peasy, that's where you got the quest!
Creative uses for App Store icons: Ransom Apps and App Icon Quiz
Brian Stucki is the developer behind MacMiniColo (the Mac mini colocation outfit in Las Vegas), and he recently sent us a fun project he's hosting called "Ransom Apps." It's just a silly little web app, but the idea is that you enter a phrase of text, and Ransom Acts returns your phrase written in App Store app icons. I don't know if there's a real use for it, but it's fun and creates some neat designs. Speaking of using App Store icons creatively, Ransom Apps reminded me of App Icon Quiz (free), which is kind of ingenious. It's a trivia quiz based around identifying App Store icons. The app uses real icons (with the permission of the actual developers -- more on that in a second) to create quiz questions, challenging you to match the icon with its app. It may sound goofy, but in practice, it's actually fun, especially if you spend quite a bit of time browsing the App Store. App Icon Quiz is clever in another way as well. The developers, GameVision, told me back at GDC that they're using the app to market and brand new icons, so users' feedback is going the other way as well. Developers whose icons are included receive information about how easily players ID their icons as well as the word people tend to associate with their images. Personally, I think that can be a little shady. There's no indication in the app's description that the "game" is being used for marketing purposes. But as long as you know and agree to that use, it could be a fun way to give feedback on an app's most important visual element. App Icon Quiz is available on the App Store now
YouTube lets you relive the old-school look of VHS -- in HD
Sure, watching YouTube videos in HD is great when you want clarity, but maybe you've been yearning for that grainy, tape-recorded look. Marking what's apparently the 57th anniversary of cassette-based video recording, the YouTube team has snuck a VHS tape-shaped button on select videos. Clicking it will throw a filter over the content, providing a highly distorted and nostalgic feast for the eyes. There's no official list of compatible content, but the option seems to be available on most of the videos on YouTube's native channel. We have a feeling at least one VCR enthusiast will be quite pleased.
Do the Harlem Shake with ElvUI for April Fools' Day
The above video shows what awaits for ElvUI users when they log in today. I must say, I've been using addons and UI mods for years now in WoW, but as one YouTube commenter says, "Trolled by an addon, that's a first for me." Personally, I got a good kick out of seeing this on my main and I'm looking forward to logging onto my alts, at least just to see my dwarf scream "DO THE HARLEM SHAKE" to Zangarmarsh. However, for those ElvUI users among you who may have been less than diligent about keeping on top of updates - and who can blame you really, I swear ElvUI goes out of date every three days - it seems that instead of the Harlem Shake, you get a message saying all your gold has been donated to the Orgrimmar orphanage. I personally can't confirm this, because for once I did update my UI as soon as it said to. Let us know if you can confirm/deny the orphanage joke! Big thanks to @Vixsin_LiG5 for bringing the video to our attention, as well as the other commenters who tipped us on ElvUI's goofy prank. Happy April Fools' Day!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pandaren flirts and jokes
One of the things that players look forward to the most with new races is what the heck they're going to crack jokes about, exactly. Sure, we've had emotes in the Mists of Pandaria beta since the beta went live, but we didn't have any sounds to go with them -- until now. MMO-Champion dug up a host of new info from the latest beta patch, including all of the assorted jokes and flirts for both male and female pandaren. While I love the sound and feel of the male pandaren voice, the female version was lacking something for me. The voice sounds fine; it just feels like the voice sounds a little too mature for the model design. However, the female pandaren jokes have all but changed my mind on that front. There's some of the usual pop culture references and some truly inspired (and very funny) joking around in light of the pandaren critics out there.
The Daily Grind: What are your favorite jokes of the day?
All right, we admit it, you probably haven't seen any April Fool's jokes just yet. It's early. But every year, MMO developers -- and the rest of the Internet -- delight in the absurd, the strange, and the blatantly false. Yes, the first of April is when everyone gets to troll the world just a little bit. And while some people are stalwartly opposed to a day during which you can trust no news and be sure of no announcements, the rest of us just accept nothing useful is getting done today and enjoy it. So go ahead and see what the various jokes are around the internet. Seriously, we'll wait. Then, let us know your favorites. Maybe it's something everyone loves, maybe it's something no one has seen yet, maybe you're just going to link something on YouTube. The point is, we want to know -- what's your favorite April Fool's joke this year? Every morning, the Massively bloggers meet to discuss the dark ritual required to summon back the most missed of all features: One Shots. So we're bringing it back today. If you can't trust the footer text today, then who can you trust? In other news, this is today's Daily Grind!
Sphero goes modular, spins out for a drive (video)
Sphero's hooked up with a new whip, albeit a retro-fitted one. Skylar, a Junior Developer at Orbotix, modded an old RC car with an Arduino board, H-bridge and a few trackball parts, enabling the remote control ball to serve as its brain. Just in time too -- there's only so much fun you can have getting the little orb stuck behind the filing cabinets. Still, it's certainly a leap beyond purposing it to pull an iPhone-toting chariot.Sean Buckley contributed to this post.
Breakfast Topic: What's your idea of good random in-game fun?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Imagine you are an elemental shaman. You notice that Arathi Basin is on Call to Arms and decide to queue up. You've got a bit of a crazy streak in you, so you decide to head up to the Lumber Mill. You're new to the path of the shaman and are still experimenting with your abilities. The battle is getting pretty overwhelming, and you know you don't have a lot of health. You really don't want that warrior getting too close. You decide to throw out a Thunderbolt in an attempt keep some distance and watch in awe as the warrior's frustrated body sails beautifully through the air and off the cliff to meet his certain demise below. That was awesome! You've just found your purpose in WoW. After the BG, you relate your experience to your friends. Before you know it, you've got a group of elemental shaman and boomkins queuing up for Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm with no other purpose in mind than to knock as many people to their deaths as possible. Unfortunately for the rest of your frustrated team, you don't care about winning or losing; you are having the time of your life. While it certainly is fun to have the best gear, down the toughest raid bosses, or reach that next Arena rating, sometimes we all need to step back from the seriousness and remind ourselves that we are playing a game. Sometimes we need to take a break from the emblem grinding and talent tweaking and just do something that makes us laugh until our sides ache. Whether it's forming a knockback brigade, repeatedly jumping off high cliffs, or dueling while under the influence of in-game alcohol, tell us what you do when you just want to have a good time.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite quirky dev studio name?
I think it's safe to say that we all love a good sense of humor from our favorite games. One way to spotlight that humor front and center is for the MMO's development studio to name itself something silly or creative. With some good ones out there like Working As Intended, OneTwoFree, and The Amazing Society, we can see that these companies don't take themselves too seriously -- and that's a good thing! But now it's your turn. Not only do we want to know what your favorite quirky dev studio name is (MMO or otherwise), we also want to know what quirky name you'd call your own studio, given the chance. 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!
The Daily Grind: What enemies are almost too cute to kill?
You probably know that in most games, your first enemies are not going to be dragons with jaws that could shred steel. They're going to be something that's fairly non-threatening. But sometimes that goes overboard, and when you step out to do your first quest, the enemies in front of you have all the traits of the most adorable critter ever. Five minutes later, you're finally working up the nerve to actually fight one of them. But you can't because you've already named him Mr. Snuggletimes and you can't stop typing that you'll always remember him. OK, perhaps that's a touch extreme. But there are enemies in almost every game -- mandragoras from Final Fantasy XI, foxes from Lord of the Rings Online, dragon whelps in World of Warcraft -- that are hard not to find so adorable as to defy your normal killing urge. So what enemies strike you as being almost too cute to actually kill? Given the choice, are there critters you'd rather snuggle than slay? 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!
Shake-to-Undo on the Mac via open source app
This is funny: I've only really ever used the "shake-to-undo" on the iPhone either by accident, or when it wasn't actually available (when I had to undo something, and thought the app I was using supported it). But it can be a handy feature for some, and because of that, someone (named Nate Stedman) has "ported" it over to the Mac, available for download on your laptop MacBook, MacBook Pro, or Air. In other words, install the app, and then whenever you shake your portable Mac, the accelerometer inside will try whatever Ctrl-Z does on the app you're working on, essentially implementing "shake-to-undo." Like I said, funny. This is more of a joke than anything else -- it's not really practical to be shaking your MacBook around every time you want to undo something. But "Shake-to-undo" is pretty cheesy as it is, and it's extra silly to be flinging your device around on a bigger computer. Apple's brought quite a few iOS features over to Lion lately, but this is one that should probably just stick to the smaller devices.
Go edging and win free games, your name in Edge, coming soon to MAS
You may remember Edge, the iOS game that picked up a little bit of controversy for a disagreement over the name's trademark. That disagreement has been settled, and the title is now coming out on Steam on August 11, and the Mac App Store a few days after that. To celebrate, Mobiegame and fellow developer Two Tribes are holding an "edging" contest with a very nice prize. Winners will receive each company's entire game catalog, including Edge, Toki Tori, the popular 2D RTS Swords and Soldiers and plenty more. Plus, the winner will get their name included in the Steam release of Edge. You'll be immortalized in the title forever. To enter, you need to take a video of yourself "edging," which is an activity similar to the recent fad of "planking," where you try to hang on to any overhead edge for as long as possible. You can watch the contest announcement video for some goofy examples of how to (and how not to) do it. Seems simple enough to me. Videos have to be submitted by August 15, so get edging right away. Good luck to everyone who enters!
No Comment: Friskies makes iPad web games for cats
So it's come to this. Originally, discovering that cats liked to play with the iPad was just a matter of coincidence -- Felix just liked to bat around the Magic Piano, and that was fine. But pet food maker Friskies has blown that idea right out, releasing a line of three full web-based games for the iPad meant to be played entirely by cats. It's true. Cat Fishing!, Party Mix-Up! and Tasty Treasures Hunt! are all games accessible from that website and built in HTML 5 just for the iPad, and as you can tell from the video after the break, all three of them are designed to attract your cat's attention. With bright shapes that move around in a jerky yet lifelike manner and flashy graphics that respond to paw touches, your cat now has its own games to play on your iPad 2. Friskies even warns that while cat claws can't scratch the iPad's glass screen, certain plastic covers might get scratched, so be careful. What they don't warn about, however, is that you might lose all of your Angry Birds free time to a game-addicted kitty. Beyond that, we have no comment. [via Laughing Squid]
