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Google lends support to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a wide-ranging and controversial trade agreement between 12 countries that President Obama has strongly supported throughout its creation. Today, he received a major ally in the form of Google -- the company endorsed the plan in a blog post. "We hope that the TPP can be a positive force and an important counterweight to restrictive Internet policies around the world," writes Google SVP and general counsel Kent Walker. "Like many other tech companies, we look forward to seeing the agreement approved and implemented in a way that promotes a free and open Internet across the Pacific region."
City of Titans reaches its Kickstarter goal after five days
After launching its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign on October 2nd, City of Titans has met and exceeded its $320,000 funding goal. The self-proclaimed spiritual successor to City of Heroes still has 27 days left in its campaign as over 2,200 backers chipped in to see the project become a reality. Community Manager Lauren was thrilled at the news: "Well, that'll brighten up a Monday! As a special thank you to everyone for your support, your patience, and everything you've done for us, we've decided to unleash the beard! Everyone who backs us in the Kickstarter will be given a very, very special costume piece: The one, the only Nate 'Doctor Tyche's' beard, complete with animated eyes. Wear it with pride in Titan City. Thank you, guys. Watch this space for stretch goals and heartfelt thank yous from our developers. You are all amazing. Never let anyone tell you differently." Future stretch goals for the title include an Android port of the avatar builder at $350K, an iOS port of the avatar builder at $400K, and a MacOS version of the game for launch at $450K. [Thanks to Zjeven for the tip!]
The Phoenix Project dubs itself City of Titans and launches on Kickstarter
So how have you been doing since the closure of City of Heroes? If you haven't been doing so good, City of Titans is certainly meant to be your sort of game. If you've been fine... well, maybe you'll still want to check it out. One of the fan-made spiritual successors to City of Heroes, this game was previously known as The Phoenix Project but now has both a finished title and a Kickstarter project available. The game is taking aim at a modest $320,000 goal (and is already $60,000 toward it as of this writing), with the funding paying for servers and necessary production software. Developers are promising that the game is meant to focus on character attitude rather than skills or classes; players choose how a hero wishes to do something and abilities changed based upon that. Whether you're an old friend of the movement or just like the idea of a different sort of superhero game, consider throwing a few dollars toward the campaign. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; when life kills your favorite game, you make a better one in its honor. That's the philosophy behind The Phoenix Project, and a recent interview with the team behind Missing Worlds Media talks about what it's like to try making a new game after the closure of City of Heroes. And one of the game's core design principles has come about precisely because of that closure, because the team wants to make sure that even if the game isn't a major hit it can keep running in maintenance mode. Kickstarter is not the last chance for the project, as the team has no plans to shelve it if funding goals are not met, but no outside sources have been approached yet. The interview also stresses that the game is not meant to simply be a clone of City of Heroes, with a development focus on including the best parts of the game rather than simply copying everything. For a deeper look behind the scenes, read through the full interview. [Thanks to Asteria for the tip!]
