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Twitter will fund development of an open social media standard
Twitter is funding a team to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media. CEO Jack Dorsey announced the effort, called Bluesky, today. In a series of tweets, Dorsey said Twitter will fund a "small independent team" of up to five open source architects, engineers and designers, and that the platform will provide just one direction: find an existing decentralized standard to advance or create one from scratch.
Ford launches its own esports virtual racing teams
Ford plans to launch its own esports virtual racing teams. Under the name Fordzilla, the company will recruit top esports drivers for teams in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The company will also invite star players to form a European team with select members from each national team.
Formula 1's underdogs struggle with the technical challenges of the sport
As Renault approached the French Grand Prix, a lot was at stake. The race was on the team's home turf, at a make-or-break point in the season. Nobody was panicking. Yet. Despite having won twice in 2018 with Red Bull, new driver Daniel Ricciardo knew what he'd signed up for with Renault. The team was ready: It came in with both engine and chassis changes. But the Paul Ricard circuit at Castellet in France was not the best test for Renault, given the high speeds and the team's continuing aerodynamic issues. The changes to the chassis and motor didn't help, a fact confirmed in qualifying on Saturday. Ricciardo was on the fourth row in eighth place and Nico Hulkenberg in 13th -- not the results Renault was looking for.
Hacking Team boss thinks that he runs 'the good guys'
The CEO of Hacking Team has come out to defend his firm's behavior after a hack exposed the company's dirty laundry for all to see. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, David Vincenzetti said that his software was used to "fight the criminals" that are "operating on the border between the state of law and lawlessness." He went on to say that the company was relatively harmless since it doesn't "sell guns that could be used for years," and added that "we're the good guys." Sure thing, buddy.
The Daily Grind: What's the last team-oriented goal you accomplished in an MMO?
MMORPGs have gotten pretty solo-friendly over the years, but a few of them still boast challenging content for groups, raids, or whatever you'd like to call a team of players. I tend to play solo more often than not, but all of my memorable gameplay moments from the past 15 years happened while I was part of a team. What about you, Massively readers? Do you have any favorite teamplay anecdotes? What's the last team-oriented goal you accomplished in an MMO? 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!
EVE Online nixes industry teams
Not every new idea is going to take off and be a smash hit, as CCP definitely understands this as much as anyone. The EVE Online developer said that the implementation of industry teams earlier this year has been vastly underused, and as a result, teams will be removed from the game entirely in 2015. "We have been closely tracking all related industry metrics and dials and it is apparent to us that usage of teams has been very low relative to the goals we set for it -- with single figure percentage use in manufacturing jobs and near nonexistent use in research," CCP wrote. Industry teams had allowed players to hire NPCs to help out with industry jobs. The feature will be "methodically removed" over the next few months, although players will be able to use teams until they are forceably retired. On another note, EVE tweeted that it has freed up over six million names from former trial players and has made them available for general use.
League of Legends introduces the new Team Builder queue
You know what you're good at playing in League of Legends. Which is all well and good, but sometimes you choose to play something that requires a degree of support that's just not there from the rest of your team. Wouldn't it be nice to just choose your character and your playstyle right from the start, so you can form a team meant to compliment your strengths and weaknesses? That's what the new Team Builder queue is all about. Queueing up requires selecting both your character's position and role, then filling in the blanks by matching with other players who can support your initial decision. You can also invite friends in to the queue along with you, filling out the missing spots with other suitable candidates. A preview video is embedded just pas the cut, but you should take a look at the full article and FAQ for more information on forming a team that's the best it can be.
The Summoner's Guidebook: My goals in League of Legends
Whenever I enter a League of Legends match, I have a few goals set in mind. Of course, winning is a goal, but that's not the only goal. My agenda tends to be a lot more long-term, relative to other LoL players. We've talked a lot about meta lately, and it tends to be a hot topic with Season 4's preseason patches shaking up the meta quite a bit. There are a lot of reasons to justify not playing meta. There are also a lot of reasons to take risky decisions that might not pan out.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Avoiding LoL's wombo combos
If you've played League of Legends for while, you've probably been on both ends of a wombo combo. This amusing term describes what happens when two characters combine their simultaneous murdering efforts. You know you've hit with a wombo combo if your opponent dies to your combined assault without ever getting a chance to do anything except die. In LoL, wombo combos require quite a bit of setup. All participants need to be within striking distance of the enemy, or one of the attackers needs to pull the victim into his friends. Because of the limitations on positioning, most wombo combos are avoidable.
Ask Massively: The better to stalk you
Long-time reader and podcast-listener Avaera recently posed a question to the Massively staffers clearly designed to send our egos into the clouds: Is other any chance for Massively itself to somehow integrate the wonderfully reflective and personal blog entries that you and the other writers maintain separately from their paid work? Even a round-up style column of some of the best MMO blog posts of the past week, or on a particular theme, would be fascinating. My first thought was that most of us put most of our work on Massively because if we can get paid to write, we'd be fools not to do so! I didn't think there'd be enough writing material to even justify a roundup, and that's probably true; I update my own ranty blog only every other month, for example. But who's to say blogs are the only interesting thing we do? So I polled all of Massively's staffers about where they write their writings, video their videoings, and tweet their twitterings. If you have a serious urge to stalk us, you're in the right post!
Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix
Fans of the Ultima series should be happy to hear that Shroud of the Avatar has added Starr Long to its roster as executive producer. Don't recognize the name? You should; according to Richard Garriott, Starr Long is the reason that Ultima Online existed in the first place. As Garriott puts it, while there had been discussions about doing an online installment of the series, Long was the one who was insistent that Ultima Online needed to happen. He was so much the driving force behind it that Garriott points to him as the push that kept him working on the game. A formal announcement will be made on Saturday at RTX 2013 alongside a special demonstration of Shroud of the Avatar, which will be available via livestream. If you've been hoping to see some of the key players behind UO back together, it looks as if you're in luck. [Source: Portalarium press release]
The Daily Grind: What was the last good grouping experience you had with strangers?
I'll admit that I'm not one to actively seek out strangers for grouping. I've been burned in several bad pick-up groups and am somewhat of an introvert, so teaming up doesn't come naturally. Still, I've been pushing myself to get out there and do it more, which has created several positive moments. The other night in The Secret World I ended up grouping with a newcomer to the game who was beyond polite and friendly. In turn, I helped him navigate a few quests and answer questions about his build. I logged out feeling as though I had created a good memory, not just racked up a few more quest completions. So what was the last good grouping experience you had with strangers? Let's focus on the positive and not on snarky, "I've never had one!" answers, please and thank you! 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!
Madden 25 will let you move to 17 different cities, revive historic teams
In Madden 25's Connected Franchise career mode, players can take on the role of team owner and perform a number of new tasks, including relocating teams to new cities. Madden's Creative Director Mike Young told Joystiq today that the mode is designed to limit the franchise relocation option to 17 different markets. The 17 cities include Brooklyn, London, Dublin, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Austin, Columbus, Orlando, Portland, Oklahoma City and Memphis. Additionally, some locations with an already-established NFL presence can receive a second team, such as Chicago and Houston. Players will have the option to retain their team name, logo and uniforms when moving or select from three different preset options for each city, including the Brooklyn Beats. The mode also grants players the option to reboot now-defunct teams from the NFL's history, such as the Columbus Panhandles, London Monarchs or the Houston Oilers. Players can opt to turn off the team relocation feature, disabling the option entirely. EA Sports provided us with a new trailer for the game in which Young discusses the move from Madden 13's Connected Careers mode to this year's Connected Franchise mode. Madden 25 will launch August 27 for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Wunderlist announces Wunderlist Pro for Mac, iOS and the web
The folks behind Wunderlist, the excellent to-do app that recently updated to version 2, have announced that Wunderlist Pro is almost ready for prime time. Wunderlist is a free service and is remaining free, but Wunderlist Pro is a new premium service that's designed to help get Wunderlist working with teams of all sizes, from just a few people to much larger groups, on all of Apple's platforms. The full feature list for Pro hasn't been announced yet, but it will be a to-do app for working across multiple people, with shared lists, an "Assigned to Me" smart list for everyone involved and a number of new backgrounds and cosmetic features. Developer 6Wunderkinder also says that the core features in the first release will be a starting point as well -- the company has grown Wunderlist quite a bit over the years, and Wunderlist Pro will undoubtedly grow into its own in the future as well. The new service will cost US$4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. The company's CEO has more on his own blog about what Wunderlist Pro will be. In the meantime, we'll stay tuned for a full release to see just what the company has in store.
The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL melts special snowflakes
Never let it be said that I don't listen to feedback. Recently, one of you readers suggested that I write about following the metagame, and I thought, "Hey, why not?" This was largely spawned by the Penny Arcade comic suggesting that somehow, a player should pick the champion he wants without regard for what his team needs. Who actually believes that this is a good thing to do? League of Legends is a team game. Characters in LoL are designed with strengths and weaknesses. It is not only important but natural to pick characters that fit together. The natural evolution of this thought process is the metagame: a series of standard roles that characters can fill on a team. I've talked about meta before, and you guys seem to have differing opinions than I do. "Meta is for the sheep," you say. I don't think that picking the right man for the job makes you a sheep. I think of it more like running with the pack rather than being a lone wolf.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Winning LoL games takes good decisions
Decision-making is a broad topic, so I am a bit hesitant to cover it directly. It's the little things that contribute to victory in League of Legends, and decision-making is not a little thing. It's a big topic with a lot of ground to cover. As I've said many times in the past, experience is the best teacher, and I can only tell you what to look for. However, I wanted to bring the column back around to talking about what it takes to step up your game. By now, you've heard me talk at length about mechanical things -- things like last-hitting or aiming skillshots that you can sit down and practice. I've talked more on narrow things like how to make a good team composition or execute ganks. Now I'm going to begin to put everything together and talk about what things you should think about before you click to move on the minimap, place a ward, or ping your team to go for dragon. Good decisions win LoL games, and whether you're a pro or an amateur, you can improve on the choices you make.
Kickoff for Mac adds planning to group chat
Imagine iChat, Messages or IRC merged with your favorite to-do system like Things, Clear or Taskpaper. You get Kickoff. Now available in a public beta, this OS X Mountain Lion app helps groups coordinate and plan together. It's superficially similar to the 37 Signals web chat tool Campfire, but in convenient app form. The app offers strong team features including separate message threads for tasks, a main chat "room" and easy file sharing. Just drag a file into the chat and it easily replaces email distribution. Even better, the conversations and chat threads are preserved when you leave, so you can scroll back and pick up where you left off, catching up with whatever tasks, discussions and updates have been covered. I do worry, a little, that among chatty teams (and trust me, the TUAW team is full of chat), the amount of back and forth may distract from catching key info. Being able to move important matters from the primary discussion to actual to-do tasks helps mitigate that worry. Overall, I was very impressed with my initial testing. I think Kickoff is definitely a product to keep an eye on. Here's the Kickoff promotional video.
Wikipad delayed on launch day, 'refined and upgraded bundles' to be announced soon
The upcoming Android gaming tablet Wikipad was set to launch today, but the company's representatives have sent along a statement from the development team (which you can read in full after the break) saying that the launch has been delayed. According to the statement, the device's release was moved in order to take advantage of a "last minute opportunity" to "ensure our first customers are completely satisfied with the Wikipad." Unfortunately, no new launch date has been set yet.The team says that it's working with GameStop on dealing with current pre-orders, and that anyone who's already pre-ordered the product will not only get the "refined and upgraded" bundle when it's eventually released, but "a special bonus gift" as well. Again, there's no indication when that might happen, so we'll just have to wait and see what Wikipad's plans are going forward.
Romo the iPhone robot is back, Kickstarting version 2
Romo is a little iPhone-powered robot that showed up on Kickstarter around this time last year. It was successfully funded and distributed out into the world, making everyone happy by cycling itself around with the buzz and whirr of tiny mechanics. But as is usual with these things, the team behind Romo had even more ideas and other thoughts about how to make Romo work even better, and do even more things. So they did what worked before: They're back on Kickstarter, this time trying to put together $100,000 to remake a next-generation Romo. In addition to a redesigned circuit board and a friendlier base, this robot will have advanced functionality in terms of moving around and navigating the world. Plus, the team wants to work on some really advanced procedures, doing things like facial recognition, two-way telepresence (so you could see what the robot sees and show up on the screen yourself), and other features. The production line for this robot is already set up, says the team -- it's the software that they are Kickstarting for, as well as the actual product costs, obviously. There is one big drawback, and it's that this new Romo won't work with an iPhone 5 -- the production line that's set up currently works with the old dock connector, not the new Lightning connector. That could be an issue, since lots of early adopters will probably already have moved on to the new dock format. But the Romo team says the next robot is set to work with the iPhone 5 (and be female, by the way), so the hookup is coming, at least. At any rate, if you like the project and want to support this once-successful team yet again, the Kickstarter page is open right now. [via Engadget]
Sword of Fargoal 2 crosses the Kickstarter finish line
Sword of Fargoal was one of the earliest great games on the iPhone (after making the transition over from the Commodore 64 version a long time ago), and as we reported previously, the developers behind the game recently took to Kickstarter to try and pick up funding for a sequel. They held a livestream of interviews all this past Friday and Saturday (which they kindly asked me to join for a little bit), and as of early Saturday morning, the drive was still about $10,000 behind. But that money was made up in the last few hours, because Sword of Fargoal 2 reached its Kickstarter goal of $50,000. Congrats to the whole team over there -- that's very impressive for a mobile game on Kickstarter. The good news for all of us is that the game can finally get production underway, and it should be set for the expected release sometime next May. Backers of the Kickstarter project (above the lowest level) will all get copies of the game when it arrives, and the rest of us will have to look for it in the iOS and Mac App Stores later on next year.
