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TUAW TV Live: Technical Difficulties Episode
What's the most annoying technical glitch you've ever run into? Have you ever found yourself cursing loudly at your "favorite" Internet Service Provider? Are you tired of apps that suddenly crash for no reason after they've been working just fine for months? Today on TUAW TV Live, I will dish on the crashes, bombs and flat-out customer service screwups that make me furious. Co-host Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd is busy remaking Joe Versus the Volcano (don't ask...). To join in to watch the live feed and participate in the chat, just click here or click that image you see at the top of this post. You'll join us on the AOL On Network. If you can't watch the entire show today, come back to this page within 24 hours to see the video below or visit http://tuaw.com/tuawtvlive to see the latest show. Past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel. Previously on TUAW TV Live:
RIFT world event extended due to technical difficulties
It looks as though the end of the world will be postponed -- at least for a week. Due to issues on RIFT's European servers, Trion Worlds has announced that the current world event will postpone moving into its second phase until Saturday, April 16th. In a post on the forums, James Nichols said "With the opening of the final phases of the River of Souls World Event in Europe we have identified several issues that only came to light in a live server environment." Originally, the River of Souls event was scheduled to head into Phase Two on the 9th, but issues cropped up that prevented this from happening. All told, RIFT's first world event will go through three phases before it is through. Because of the delay, Trion said that it is both increasing the event currency players can earn and the amount of rewards available for purchase. These changes will be rolled out during the week.
TUAW TV Live: Down due to technical difficulties
If you tuned into TUAW TV Live and you're seeing nothing, don't feel bad -- neither am I. We're having problems with our streaming provider. We will reschedule today's show with Sam Levin for sometime in the near future, and listen to Sam's podcast, AppMInute, to listen to some audio we recorded today. We thank you for your patience.
Mobile version of the site back up and running
We've been getting tips from people for several days that i.wow.com, the version of the site for users surfing from mobile devices, has been continuously redirecting to the regular webpage. That's obviously not something we want it doing, but our editors have been on the case. It looks like the problem was part of a network-wide issue that should be fixed now, so for anyone out there surfing from an iPhone or other mobile device, you should now be experiencing considerably less frustration (until you read one of my articles, but that's Working As Intended). If you'd like to check WoW.com from a mobile device, just remember to bookmark and use either i.wow.com (optimized for iPhones) or m.wow.com while you're surfing. Either should make it considerably easier to navigate the site on a small screen!
Guild Wars' Xunlai House Tournament temporarily shut down
Guild Wars and ArenaNet community manager Regina Buenaobra has announced that due to issues with the Xunlai House Tournament point distribution on June 18th, the decision has been made to temporarily halt Xunlai until the error has been completely resolved. Apparently, some players were getting the incorrect amount of points, while others weren't getting any points.According to ArenaNet, they have the correct point amounts for May and will be making sure everyone gets the proper amount, whether or not they reported a problem with their points. Currently, there's no date on which Xunlai will be restored, but Regina makes it very clear that they're working hard on getting the issues ironed out.It's not a fun situation for anyone, but we'd just like to say good on ArenaNet for jumping on the issue like a frenzied lion on a juicy antelope. Hopefully the dates for May point reissues and Xunlai's reopening aren't too far in the distance.
Xbox Live service experiencing technical difficulties [Update]
Users have been sending us tips and Xbox.com confirms that some Xbox Live members are experiencing technical issues with the service -- specifically with signing in. According to the Xbox.com Support page, Microsoft is aware of the issue and is working to resolve the problem. They also thank gamers for their patience and understanding but something tells us those thanks will fall on deaf ears. X3F will keep you updated as more information is released. Until then, go check out our Holiday Game and Rating Guide and get those wish lists ready for Santa. Or, get out the pitchforks. That works too, we guess.[Update: According to Major Nelson's Twitter, Xbox Live should be functioning normally at this time. However, Xbox.com now appears to be experiencing some problems. Is Xbox Live working for you?][Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Playtime credit for many European realms
Last Monday, July 21st, many European realms apparently underwent thirteen hours of additional maintenance. Players were understandably upset. Blizzard understands this too, which is why they're giving players with characters on any of those realms a one-day playtime credit, like they do. The battlegroups Cyclone, Nightfall, Conviction, Ruin, and Rampage were affected, which is to say the following realms: Anachronos, Balnazzar, Blade's Edge, Bloodfeather, Bronze Dragonflight, Burning Steppes, Darkmoon Faire, Darksorrow, Darkspear, Defias Brotherhood, Earthen Ring, Frostwhisper, Genjuros, Hakkar, Haomarush, Hellscream, Kor'gall, Laughing Skull, Lightbringer, Lightning's Blade, Magtheridon, Molten Core, Neptulon, Nordrassil, Quel'Thalas, Ragnaros, Ravencrest, Runetotem, Scarshield Legion, Shadow Moon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker, Steamwheedle Cartel, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Sylvanas, Terenas, The Maelstrom, The Venture Co., Thunderhorn, Turalyon, Twisting Nether, Vashj, and Xavius Anyone with an active account and a character on any of those realms will get a free day. That must have been some technical difficulty, since well over half the English-speaking European realms are on that list. Enjoy your playtime credit, my friends across the Atlantic.
Player vs. Everything: Singing the praises of Vanguard
I have a confession to make: While I was waiting for the Age of Conan launch, I decided to dip my toes back into Vanguard for a bit. It wasn't as crazy of a proposition as you might think. I've always liked Vanguard. It was never the design that was flawed -- it was the execution. Vanguard failed not because it was a bad game, but because when it launched it was a horrible, buggy, crashing, slow, unplayable mess. I know this because I was in late-stage beta, and that experience made me pass over the game when the launch date finally rolled around. However, a crack SOE development team picked up the pieces of the broken dream of "the Vision," as McQuaid called it, and they've been working feverishly to stitch them together into something both exciting and stable over the last year. Last week, spurred by a desire to just have some fun, I dusted off the copy of the game I bought this fall and rolled up a Necromancer. I didn't expect much. I was just killing time until the Age of Conan launch started. Surprisingly, Vanguard grabbed me. Without really intending to, I was having more fun in an MMOG than I had had in a long time -- so much fun that when the AoC servers finally came up, I was still playing Vanguard. All this week, while logged into AoC, I've been thinking about Vanguard. I'm seriously contemplating putting Age of Conan on ice for a while to go play Vanguard some more. I was enjoying myself that much. What's so great about this allegedly terrible game that I'm willing to play it over the brand new blockbuster flavor-of-the-month?
Turbine launches promo game, is crushed by its own success [Updated]
Turbine sent us a press release today, saying that it and Codemasters have launched a "new social gaming website" at unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Actually, that's the official website of the Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online, and it's been running since the expansion was announced earlier this month, but fret not -- there is something new here!The site has been updated with the first of its social games, called King Under the Mountain. It's a "tactical strategy game," and the schtick is that it's derived from a game played by the dwarf lords of Khazad-Dûm. It involves very Dwarven things like "caverns, gems, and fighting." You can play it alone or against your friends, and it's pretty cool.Actually, we're just assuming the "pretty cool" part because unfortunately before we could check it out for ourselves, the site was shut down for maintenance. Apparently it was hosed "due to overwhelming response" from interested LotRO players. It'll be back up at some point though, if it's not already by the time you read this, so keep checking back if you're interested.[EDIT: Site's back up. Enjoy!]
Wii Warm Up: Problems and issues
With all the new Wii owners who are surely lurking out there -- and the owners of new Wii games and accessories -- we're willing to bet that people are encountering some problems. Are you among them? Got sticky buttons or discs that won't read, or maybe just general problems? Share 'em here, and maybe through the power of community, we can sing and dance ... er, solve problems. Or, y'know, we can commiserate while you call Nintendo. Either way.
DS Daily: Reliability
Sure, the DS is known to have its problems -- like hinge cracks and shoulder buttons that sudden give up the ghost -- but how does your handheld stack up to your other electronics? We know many DS owners who are on their second (or third) PS2, and we don't even need to start comparing numbers when it comes to the infamous 360 red ring of death (because we can't count that high). Not every system has its problems, however, and even those that are common don't strike everyone. Some people just get lucky.What we want to know, however, is how reliable is your DS -- and your other Nintendo products -- when compared to those other systems? More reliable, worse, or about the same? Have you had any experience with Nintendo's customer service? If so, how was that?
Wii Warm Up: Technical difficulties
Since the release of the Wii, we've gotten a few e-mails from people reporting that they've had various problems with their systems -- and we're not talking straps here, but actual technical difficulties. In light of that, we figured it was a good time to open the floor to everyone and ask: have you had any issues with your Wii? Controllers not working, discs not reading, tears, recriminations, explosions ... any problems at all? If so, we want to hear about it.
Comments back up and running
Hello readers, Sorry for the technical difficulties over the long weekend; however, I'm happy to report that things should be performing more the way you'd expect them to now. Comments are back up and running. I just did a test one on another post. Thanks for bearing with us. More content to come soon...
