spider
Latest
Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath Beta
Welcome to another edition of Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider weekly Hunter column. Daniel Whitcomb is your guest host again this week. So, we theorized about talented pets a bit quite a few installments of Scattered Shots ago, but now we have the actual trees live and testable on the Wrath Beta, and they seem to be firming up nicely. There's a few promised changes yet to come, such as the removal or lowering of focus costs on many major abilities and talents, and it's still very possible that Blizzard may make changes here and there before live, but I think they're solid enough at this point that we can look at each tree and make some solid predictions about how people will use them and how various talent builds might look.
Researchers tout progress in spinning artificial spider silk
We've seen plenty of attempts to mimic spiders in robot-form, but that's not the only bit of inspiration arising from our eight-legged friends, with a number of other researchers also doing their best to artificially replicate the way a spider spins silk. Now, according to the BBC, it seems that a team from the Technical University of Munich has made some significant progress on that front, which could one day lead to a new means of manufacturing strong but lightweight materials. Specifically, the team created a "device" consisting of three channels etched into a piece of glass, which allows for different combinations protein and salts to be mixed together and extruded as a fiber. They are quick to point out, however, that the resulting fiber is not of "particularly high quality," and that while it's a step forward, the whole idea is still "a very big puzzle and there are many pieces missing."
Choosing pets on the TTR
Mania has an interesting post about all the different pets available to Hunters on the Arena tournament realm (which, by the way, our own Arena team is making an appearance in this evening, along with some folks from some "Blizzard" company -- they're probably posers). The strange thing is not that Blizzard is offering pets to Hunters, but that they're only offering some pet families. So if you want to duck into the tournament with a tallstrider or a gorilla or turtle at your side, you just don't have the option.Interesting. Some of the choices Blizzard made are pretty obvious -- for high end Arena play, a crab probably isn't going to do much for you. But Mania's big problem is with Blizzard including the spider family, and excluding the gorilla -- spiders don't bring too much extra to the table, but gorillas bring Thunderstomp, an AoE damage effect that isn't necessarily overpowered, but can help in some cases. There may be other factors at play here -- 15 sounds like a round number that Blizzard may have had to adhere to, so maybe that's why the others aren't included.And if nothing else, as Mania says, making these choices might encourage Blizzard to look at some of the weaker families and beef them up a bit, either for endgame or PvP. And all Hunters, no matter what pet they choose, will probably appreciate that.
AMD launches "unlocked" Phenom 9600 Black Edition CPU
The fury has really been unleashed over at AMD, as the cats in 2nd place take aim at the pocketbooks lowdown, dirty overclockers. Feeling like getting into it? Then you'll probably want to get your hands on the extra-special Phenom 9600 "Black Edition" quad-core processor, which allows brave souls to tweak (i.e., overclock) to their hearts content by utilizing the company's OverDrive utility. It's not all rainbows and unicorns, however, as these chips apparently contain a bug which under extreme conditions can cause the CPUs to perform in a less than stellar manner. AMD says that it hasn't witnessed any of its production installations exhibit the errata, and that only its internal stress-tests have pushed the processor into the danger zone (cue Loggins). If you're really concerned, a BIOS patch will circumvent the issue, but may suck away 20-percent of your delicious speed. The choice is yours.[Via TG Daily]
AMD's Spider platform gets the early benchmark treatment
For the first round of benchmarks AMD isn't letting anyone else set up its systems for testing, but that doesn't mean we can't get a decent idea of how the Spider platform's going to perform in the real world. ExtremeTech got to test a machine that AMD set up with a 2.6GHz quad-core Phenom chip, but since those won't be shipping for a few months, they ET also downclocked the chip to 2.3GHz to give us a better idea of what AMD's hit the market with yesterday. The good news is that the sub-$300 2.3GHz chip should perform quite comparatively with Intel chips at a similar price point, but the 2.6GHz hasn't had a solid price set yet, and might have more trouble competing with Intel's GHz-happy line. We won't bore you with the benchmark nitty gritty, and you might want to wait for some true lab-based benchmarks before you make the jump, but it looks like AMD is headed in the right direction.
AMD launches quad-core Phenom -- Intel shrugs
Just like we heard, AMD has gone live with Phenom. With it, we've got an entire new platform, codenamed "Spider." The Spider PC platform combines AMD Phenom quad-core processors, ATI Radeon HD 3800 series graphics, and AMD 7-series chipsets with CrossFireX and AMD OverDrive software for what AMD calls the "Ultimate visual Experience." That's the hype. Early reviews, however, are pretty much "underwhelmed" by the launch. Oh, the HD 3800 cards are ok (for mid-range graphics) and the 7-series chipset "is in good shape," but AMD needs to roll-on those clock speeds beyond the 2.2GHz Phenom 9500 ($251), 2.3GHz Phenom 9600 ($283) and 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz Phenon 9700 and 9900 (available in Q1 2008 for $300 and $350, respectively), and do it quick, if they hope to pull ahead of Intel's quad-core offerings. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely. Read -- AMD Spider press releaseRead -- PC Perspective benchmarkRead -- HotHardware benchmark
WowWee's Roboquad gets reviewed
Although you may expect all of WowWee's creations to start to bleed together at some point, reviewers over at PC Mag would be quick to deny such a claim, as it deemed the Roboquad a creature "unlike any toy or robot it had seen before." In a few hours of at-home testing (you know, with rambunctious children), it managed to get everyone involved and keep them from bouncing off the walls, and while controlling the critter wasn't always simple, it's "Autonomy" mode proved most exciting anyway. Overall, the Roboquad fits best into families where unusual and unique are commonplace occurrences, and if you think your offspring (or yourself, it's okay) could spend hours on end tinkering with a robot akin to a "drunken crab," WowWee's latest just might be worth your $99.
Robot lawnmower kills Danish man
In what we surely hope isn't the opening salvo of the robot insurrection, a 45-year old Danish municipal worker was tragically killed by an industrial robotic lawnmower this afternoon, after the unit tumbled off a slope and onto the poor fellow doing his job. Although we've seen quite a few robotic lawnmowers, we're not too familiar with the RC-controlled Dvorak Spider 01 unit the man was using; our only hope is that this is, of course, an isolated incident.
Mondo Spider robot walks, consternates onlookers
Joining the Land Walker, Robotic Giraffe, and the Anchorage Mecha as some of the most exotic, over-the-top ways to get from point A to point B is the Mondo Spider, which required a team of skilled engineers and "thousands of hours" in order to assemble. The creators seemingly spared no cost on the mechanical arachnid, as it boasts an impressive array of gears, linkages, and sheer quantities of metal to bring it all together. The man-driven beast cranks up like your average vehicle, but slipping it into first gear gets the spidey's legs a-crankin', and before long, it actually gets up to a respectable pace and commands respects from anyone close to its path. It may not shoot rubber balls or pass a state inspection, but we can't imagine too many vehicles standing up to this intimidating monster. Catch the videotaped demonstration in the links below.[Via Wired]
Forum post of the day: Hunters! Make your own mount!
Blizzard MVP Palehoof has come up with a pretty awesome idea in the Suggestions Forum: she suggests that hunters be able to tame their own mounts. Unlike paladins and warlocks, hunters would have to pay for their riding skill -- but after that, they'd be able to get unusual mounts. They could use Beast Lore to locate a creature that would be appropriate in size, shape and temperament (and not every member of every species would work!) and then use "Tame Mount" to turn it into a normal, inventory-based mount. She suggests that quests could unlock later levels of Tame Mount, so hunters could get epic mounts, flying mounts, etc. Also, rare reputation mounts like Wintersabers and Nether Rays could simply be untamable. I'm not a hunter, but I love this idea. Anything that allows players to make their characters individuals is fine by me. Just looking at Petopia, I can think of more than a few trainable hunter pets that would make great mounts. I'd love to see a troll go riding by on an albino crocodile, a tauren wandering past on a giant gorilla, or a night elf mounted atop a garish pink flamingo. In fact, I would like to see it mandatory that female night elf hunters be mounted atop garish pink flamingoes, but that's more of a personal prejudice. And no, Hordelings, you can't use gnomes as mounts. Stop asking. If I could pick my own mount, I'd probably try to tame the big dude pictured above. His name's Zarakh, and he's a spider boss found in one of the lowbie Draenei zones. Can you get any more menacing than that? What would you use as a mount if you could?
Leg spines set to give robots better footing
Just what we need: an invention to make the robotic armies that will one day surely turn against their creators better scramblers. Regardless of future impact, researchers at the University of California and Pennsylvania University are envisioning "leg spines" that would allow robotic creatures resembling insects and spiders to scramble across gap-ridden surfaces much better than they currently can. The scientists carefully watched slow-motion footage of arachnids dashing across wire mesh and noticed just a 22-percent slow down from running across solid ground. Apparently, the little buggers are able to distribute their weight just so across their myriad of legs, so that there's usually one leg that catches another's fall and prevents the creature from getting too caught up. This biological method is being applied to robotic limbs, assisting crawling creatures to make it across less-than-ideal conditions by utilizing mechanical feedback. Look, we're down with eight-legged freaks, we're just not so fond of these things possessing an inhuman ability to track us down should a case of mutiny sweep the robotic world.
Phat Loot Phriday: Smoulderweb Hatchling
Technically today's item is called the "Smolderweb Carrier." But this item is most useful not for what it is, but for what it summons-- one of the best coolness factor-to-effort noncombat pets in the game.Name: Smolderweb CarrierType: Noncombat PetDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Truthfully, there ain't much to this thing. It doesn't grant any abilities, it doesn't affect your playing style. All it does is summon a little spider that follows you around, from Menethil to Molten Core. On the other hand, it summons a little spider that follows you around, and that's pretty cool. You could even name him if you wanted to! I call mine Peter Parker. How to Get It: But the reason why this noncombat pet is so phat is the relatively small amount of effort involved to get it. For most cool noncombat pets, you've got to pay money, or gold, or be really lucky on a drop, or have bought the collector's edition. To get this one, though, all you have to do is a quest: "En-Ay-Es-Tee-Why," given by Kibler in the Burning Steppes. It requires you to go into Lower Blackrock Spire, and crack open a few spider eggs there. It's not hard at all if you've got a careful party-- you'll need to clear out lots of spiders first, and then opening each egg gives a chance of more spiders, but with enough AoE and healing you'll be dandy. Run your spider eggs back to Kibler and you've got this baby.In fact, Kibler also gives "Kibler's Exotic Pets," which is another easy-to-do LBRS quest that will give you your very own Worg Pup, another cool looking noncombat pet. Personally I like the spider better, but considering how easy the quests are, there's no reason to have both. And if you're a druid or a rogue, Dianius on Terenas-EU has written up a comprehensive guide to how to do both quests solo using stealth. It's got pictures and everything (and check out the last picture on the page of all his pets!).Getting Rid of It: Peter Parker sells for 15s to vendors. But you know what happens when you sell your spider pet, right? Let's just say your spider ends up in noncombat pet heaven.
Spidey 3 on rails?
Supposedly, a blog over at IGN states that Spider-Man 3 on the Revolution will be "on rails" and the game will be entirely focused around the player utilizing Spidey's web with the remote. This blog cites a source over at AMN that was charged with interviewing Activision about said game, having sent an email to the blogger to spill the beans. While scrolling down to the comments below you'll see someone from AMN discreditting the information, the proposed concept is a very interesting one. This is more than likely not true, but in thinking about it, I'm not sure if this would be such a bad thing. Given that the game would need multiple pathways available to the player to get from point A to point B in order for the title to retain some replay value, the focus on Spidey's web-slinging and placing him on rails could actually work for the title. If the game managed to include the free-roaming feel of Spider-Man 2 between missions, objectives, etc., to allow for those of us who love to go swinging around the city to get some type of fix, this idea wouldn't be so bad.[Via Go Nintendo]
