Titans
Latest
EVE Trinity screenshots galore
The Trinity patch notes dropped yesterday, and apparently the new graphics also went live on the test server, so screenshots of all the new ships coming in the EVE Online expansion are flooding the forums.We've seen a lot of these before, both in trailers and official screenshots, but there are so many here that if you want to find your ship-- someone even grabbed some Titans-- it's probably here. Still, my guess is that nothing will compare to what we'll see when we log in on December 5th. Screenshots are nice, but I can't wait to see all these great graphics flowing in motion through the outer reaches of space.
Know Your Lore: Sargeras
Hard to believe that this friendly soul over to the right stabbing what appears to be an entire planet was once not just a good guy, but indeed, the goodest of the good guys, huh? (Goodest of the good guys? What, am I a drunken five year old all of a sudden? Sheesh, that's just horrible.) But it's true: the ultimate big bad guy in the Warcraft Universe, the ultimate evil, the guy who comes up with plans that involve possessing babies was once the champion of the Titans themselves, before he started stabbing planets and possessing babies.I guess there's no evil, be it big or small, that Sargeras won't engage in personally. He's a real hands on villain.So what's the deal with Sargeras, exactly? How did he go bad? Why did he assemble the Burning Legion in the first place? And what's he up to nowadays? With the Legion running around being killed for loot and Marks of Sargeras in Outland (seriously, what is the big plan for Outland, exactly? So far all the Legion seems to be doing is being mad at Illidan because he promised to be Kil'Jaeden's BFF and then went back on it. Did they pinky swear? I bet they pinky swore. That seems like the kind of thing Kil'Jaeden would do) you'd think ol' Sargy would be in the thick of it, but instead his sidekicks are running the show and he's nowhere to be found. Why?It doesn't help that some of Sargeras' history has changed in the telling. (Hey, I like the Draenei a lot, but you guys really changed the lore around.)Well, you may have a hard time believing this, but it turns out that his whole baby possession scheme wasn't such a good idea after all. I know, I know, how could picking on an infant have gone so horribly wrong? But rather than dwelling on that, why don't we start talking about Sargeras' early days.
A face in Searing Gorge
Folks are saying this has been around since release, but I've never seen this before, either-- Serevarno found a face in the landscape of Searing Gorge. You can really only see it on the minimap, and while it is pretty messy, it's too clean to have happened by chance. The image almost looks like that "Andre the Giant has a posse" picture, doesn't it?Bornakk jokes that the Titans left their face there before heading off to another world, but while that's probably not the case (Titans aren't that grubby), it is interesting that he should say the Titans leave their images sitting around-- we've already seen Titan statues appear in the videos for Northrend, and it's been confirmed there's a Titan instance up there. Leaving their images sitting around is definitely something they are wont to do.But of course it's doubtful this has anything to do with the lore-- at most, it's just a developer hiding an Easter Egg, and at least, it's just a coincidence. Still neat, though.
Know Your Lore: The Titans
Well, now that Elizabeth has given me her deceptively large shoes to fill, I must step up to the bat and deliver a KYL. The injunction against egg throwing is in full effect.Since Elizabeth is working on the dragons, I decided to talk about everyone's favorite life-making, ruin-scattering, not-gods-but-capable-of-killing-them meddlers, the gals and guys who created the Dragon Aspects, gave the Old Gods a whupping, banished the rowdier elementals to the elemental plane where they could get their brawl on with each other and leave Azeroth alone and who kinda, sorta let Sargeras go nuts and wander the cosmos corrupting and destroying everything in his path. Oops. Yes, I'm talking about the Titans, who I'm sure would hasten to remind you that batting .750 is a damn fine average.For folks who like to just show up on a planet and fix it up so that mortals, like every single person playing the game, can live on it, we don't know a heck of a lot about the Titans. Where are they from? Why do they travel the cosmos, straightening up the place? Are they stricken with a case of OCD or is there some purpose to their pursuit of order? The Titans themselves aren't telling and if anyone else knows, they haven't shared yet. But we do know that they are divided into two 'races', the Aesir and the Vanir. (Norse mythology alert #1, there will be more.) The Aesir are more into storms and oceans, think of them as your classic 'sky gods' while the Vanir are the more cthonic ones, with interest in and power over earth and stone. As a result, the Aesir are the ones who created the mountain and sea giants to take care of the mountaintops and sea floors while the Vanir are the ones who made the Earthen, and if you have ever run a group through Uldaman you know why that's important.Basically, the Titans are the reason that your character has places to go and things to do on Azeroth instead of starting gameplay underneath the tentacles of a horrible elder monstrosity. Sure, some of you might enjoy that, but for those of us who like our tentacles safely battered and fried up calamari style, it's safe to say that we all owe the Titans a solid. So let's talk about when the big guys showed up on Azeroth and what they did from there.
Wii releases for the week of October 1st
Plenty of games releasing this week, so if you're looking for something new to play, especially a sports game, then you should be good to go. Some other titles of note include Crash of the Titans (we're glad to see the bandicoot is back) and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. Titles releasing this week are: NBA Live 08 Spider-Man: Friend or Foe MLB Power Pros Dave Mirra BMX Challenge Crash of the Titans Balls of Fury Hot Wheels: Beat That! Ninja Bread Man So, any of you plan on picking up a new game?
'Crash' of the Titans headed to Nintendo systems
We weren't too impressed with Crash Boom Bang!, Crash Bandicoot's minigame-filled debut on the Nintendo DS. Crash Tag Team Racing DS couldn't even manage to drive itself out of the studio before the project was scrapped. Third time's the charm, maybe?Crash of the Titans brings the series to not only the DS, but the GBA and Wii. Screenshots of the Wii title indicate that the blue-jeaned marsupial will be thrown back into his natural, platforming/adventure-gaming habitat, freeing him from the wacky genres that've watered down the franchise. Players will be able to unlock extra elements in the Wii version with a DS copy of the game.We're much too cautious to let another Crash Bandicoot title get our hopes up, but we wish Radical Entertainment all the best with its development. Though the Spanish magazine that unveiled Crash of the Titans mentioned an October release, the game isn't guaranteed to arrive in the US at the same date. [Via NeoGAF]
Vince Young talks Madden curse on Jimmy Kimmel Live
It wasn't exactly a surprise, but last night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live did mark the official announcement of Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young as the cover star for Madden 08. Kimmel harped a bit on the Madden curse, joking that last year's cover star Shawn Alexander was "attacked by a shark" on field. Shark attack jokes? What is this, the summer of 2001?Young for his part, brushed off concerns that the cover shot will lead to disaster. "I done prayed about it and we're gonna go home and try to get to the playoffs and try to get to the Super Bowl. We'll see what happens," he said. We're not big gamblers here at Joystiq, but if we were we'd put some money against Young's confidence in his health this season.
Vince Young tapped for Madden '08 cover?
The Nashville City Paper is citing an unnamed "source with knowledge of the situation" as confirming that Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young will be the cover star of Madden '08. Young is expected to officially announce the placement during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight. Young is also one of three players tapped to star in a series of commercials for the game, along with New Orleans running back Reggie Bush and Chicago's perfectly fast Devin Hester. The ads will premiere during the NFL draft.Young would be a somewhat unorthodox choice for the cover -- a recent ESPN listing put him as the sixth most likely candidate. Apparently winning the Super Bowl is not as impressive as being a rookie QB "with a flair for the dramatic," as ESPN put it.[Via GameDaily]
