trials
Latest
Bionic eye closer to human trials with invention of implantable microchip
We've had our eye -- so to speak -- on Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) for sometime, and with the invention of a new implantable microchip it's coming ever closer to getting the bionic eye working on real-deal humans. The tiny chip measures five square millimeters and packs 98 electrodes that stimulate retinal cells to restore vision. Preliminary tests are already underway, and clinicians are in the process of screening human guinea pigs for sampling the implants -- the first full system is still on track for a 2013 debut. In the interest of future success: here's mud in your eye, BVA! Full PR after the break.
Hyperspace Beacon: Ready to face the Trials
We are often inspired by the Star Wars: The Old Republic videos released on Fridays. I'm not exactly sure why the community team started these weekly treats, but I'm going to speculate that it's a way to show the future players that the team will be there for them when the game releases. It's a kind of comfort. Many newer MMOs have increased community involvement in post-launch game design. Maybe the SWTOR team is looking to tell us, "We want you actively involved in our game development now and after the game is released." Good for the team. This week's video of Jedi progression definitely inspired my colleague on Gamebreaker, Gary Gannon, as evident in Sunday's broadcast. I thought he was going to jump out of his chair. I have to agree with him that there is a lot of stuff packed into that two-and-a-half-minute video; for example, we were shown some of the armor progression milestones for the Jedi Knight class. This inspired me to investigate the story side of Jedi Knight progression. After all, BioWare is all about story, right? So follow me after the break as I set a side my conscious self and let the Force flow through me.
RedLynx dates Trials HD 'Big Thrills' DLC for Dec. 1, gives away free Trials Legends PC bundle
Come December 1, RedLynx will unleash its latest Trials HD DLC, the "Big Thrills" pack, for 400 MS Points ($5). You'll find a trailer highlighting some of the ten user-created tracks selected for the DLC right after the break. Before Trials HD rocked Xbox Live Arcade, RedLynx was busy rocking the infotron with a series of smaller, free Java-based and paid games called Trials. Today, the Finland-based studio also announced it's making those classic Trials games from the early aughts available to all, free of charge, in one complete PC bundle. All you have to do is hit up RedLynx's Facebook page, give it a "like," then the Trials Legends download link will be revealed to you -- or, if you're too lazy to do all of that, just click this link. Trials Legends includes 33 different tracks ripped from the classic Trials games, six different rides to whip around in, 15 different attainable ranks, a track creator tool, and a brief overview of the history of the series. RedLynx also set up a dedicated forum space for Trials Legends, in case you want to share tracks with others or simply gab about how you narrowly missed that giant shark with the odd mohawk on level 26. Yeah, he got us a few times too.
Issues 20 and Incarnates previewed for City of Heroes
If you were one of the lucky fans at the recent City of Heroes meet-and-greet, you were treated to a wealth of information from Paragon Studios about the future of the game. If you weren't, however, you still get a fair slice of luck with today's reveal on the official site about the Incarnate system, complete with lore illustrating the start of what promises to be a far-reaching storyline in the game. We've also gotten a look at the event's presentation on future content, which should give fans plenty to look forward to. The Incarnate system is kicking off with the Alpha Slot in Issue 19, which will be focused on wide-ranging enhancements to all of a character's powers. Unlike Enhancements, Incarnate abilities can be slotted and removed without destroying them. Each slot will have several branches that players can explore as well, allowing for a great deal of character customization. Moreover, the most powerful Incarnate abilities allow characters to improve their effective level in battle past the cap. You can head to the official site for more details on the next major system of City of Heroes -- or you can take a look at the gallery for a preview of what's coming and the slides which give us a sneak peek at a new warehouse map, new costume pieces, and the trials of Issue 20. %Gallery-107010%
The Daily Grind: Are free trials good for MMOs?
A couple days ago we chatted about the nature of open betas, and whether or not any testing goes on in these periods. The overwhelming majority of respondents seemed to favor the notion that stress testing is the primary reason for open beta from a developer's perspective, while free trials and sneak peaks were the primary motivators for consumers. When it comes to MMORPGs, trials are an interesting beast. Early in a game's life cycle, it seems to me that trials do more harm than good, as the goal of every developer is to move a lot of product and/or convert a lot of the tire-kickers into subscribers or cash shop patrons. Extensive trials actively work against these goals, especially when games are new, buggy, and light on content compared to how they usually look a couple years down the road. If stress testing really is the main reason for an open beta, and MMOs are almost always inferior products at launch, why then do developers not simply stress test in closed beta phases, selectively screening their applicants for actual testers instead of the folks who are only interested in getting a free look at the game? What do you think, Massively readers? Have free trials (or open betas) saved you from purchasing an MMORPG? Do you think game companies are shooting themselves in the foot with open betas and early trials?
The Mog Log: Layers upon layers of questions
There's a lot coming down the pipeline for fans of both Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI. And there are a lot of questions to be asked, even though not all of them quite mirror those of your beloved author. (Those questions are generally shouted at the sky, insinuating it can hear me and that it needs to give me a beta key.) But while I'm not busy staring at a harsh, uncaring sky, I can certainly offer you a fair number of answers. hatri1181 asks: "I scored really low on the benchmark, but my system beats the living hell out of the min specs. Does that make any sense to anyone else?" Yes. The benchmark isn't totally accurate, as many people were screaming as soon as it was released, and it features several odd points. Points such as being sponsored by one of two major GPU manufacturers, and highlighting the most congested areas of gameplay with no options to turn settings down, only up -- the sort of things that have resulted in people being fully capable of running the benchmark and having scores telling them they could not.
Trials HD on sale for $10 today on XBLM
So you've managed to block out the siren song of Trials HD this long, have you? You're stronger than us -- but it might be time to give in. The game has been discounted today by 33 percent to 800 ($10) for a one-day sale. Can you really say "no, thank you" to that? It was voted 2009's best XBLA game, after all (and won the Best Nordic Game award at the 2010 conference just last night). Look at it this way: Your Microsoft Points could very well go to helping out the workers behind the scenes. That's right -- we're talking about the guys who sneak into the factory at night and set up these wicked elaborate stunt tracks. They have an extremely dangerous job, you know. Xbox.com: Add Trials HD to your Xbox 360 download queue ($10)
Trials HD trailer displays disasters and triumphs of player-created content
Rather than play that silly old full-motion video arcade game with motorbikes -- you know, that one that only exists in the trailer above? -- the latest video from developer RedLynx encourages you to pick up Trials HD instead and hop right in to the level creation tools. Beyond the initially jarring brutal crashes and eviscerations, the latter half of the clip displays the subtle elegance at players' disposal should they master the physics-based controls to the pixel-perfect precision the game asks of its users (we're especially impressed by the double front flip). And though we haven't seen any DLC for Trials HD since the last one in late December, it's good to see the developer supporting its game so long after release. But let's be honest here -- we'd could always use some more DLC. %Gallery-64987%
Verizon plays the obvious card: its 4G trials are faster than 3G
As the clock ticks down on Verizon's opening salvo of commercial LTE availability, PR noise is growing into a dull roar -- not to say we necessarily mind, considering how desperately we're looking forward to more 4G footprint in the States. Today, the company is reporting that engineers have managed to coax up to 40-50Mbps down and 20-25Mbps up out of its test networks currently deployed in Boston and Seattle -- not what we can expect in a real-world environment where you're on a train surrounded by obstacles and other people trying to use the network, but a pretty nice, round set of numbers nonetheless. In actual usage, they're reporting more down-to-Earth figures of 5-12Mbps down (count on 5) and 2-5Mbps up (count on 2), which still bests EV-DO Rev. A by a healthy margin. Of course, this is just the beginning -- LTE will get better over time -- so this sounds like a nice start.
RedLynx digital strategy pays off, 1.5 million games sold in '09
While the big fellas struggle to figure out how to make digitally distributed content profitable, smaller dev houses like RedLynx are handily succeeding. The Trials HD developer claims to have moved 1.5 million digital units worldwide (of all of its games) in 2009, though, as RedLynx itself points out, "most RedLynx games have also free promotional web versions available, bringing the company's key titles to an even wider audience." Aside from putting out the Summer of Arcade XBLA release Trials HD last year, the Finnish company also made Monster Trucks Nitro on PC and a couple of iPhone games, assuredly assisting that 1.5 million statistic. CEO Tero Virtala looks forward to the coming year, saying things look "even better," and adding that RedLynx is "bringing 8-10 new games to market." We really, really hope the company brings more copies than that if it wants to move past 2009's sales. Come on, guys -- simple math!
Trials developer put its own game on torrent sites for marketing
We all know the timeless adage: "If you can't beat them, then think of cleverer ways to entice them, then break down their spirits, showing them the error of their ways, which will ultimately lead to you beating them." Developer RedLynx employed this strategy when trying to make a foothold in the piracy-riddled PC gaming market when it released its motorbike platformer, Trials, last year. However, the method of this "release" were unconventional, to say the least: The studio actually beat PC pirates to the punch, and uploaded its own game to a number of popular torrent sites. The version the developer distributed was missing one key feature, however: Leaderboard support. According to RedLynx CEO Tero Virtala, who spoke on the bizarre distribution model at the Develop Liverpool conference, "leaderboards are the soul of the game." He hoped that pirates would fall in love with the leaderboard-less version of the game, then purchase the full version so they could compete with their law-abiding friends. Virtala admitted that he has no way of knowing how successful that strategy was, but we applaud the studio's unbridled chutzpah nonetheless.
The Daily Grind: Mainstream advertising
It seems like every website I visit these days, from MMO-centric wikis to the LA or New York Times has adverts on it. This is no big surprise as it's the perfect way of making money on free content but what does surprise me is the number of adverts for MMOs like EVE and WoW. Coming across such adverts on gaming sites is understandable but I get a little shock whenever I see them on news sites or even on TV. I watch quite a bit of Sky (British satellite television) and I've noticed more and more commercials for games over the last few years but the first time I saw one for WoW, my exclamation of amazement sent my cat scurrying for cover.But I wonder, constant readers, how much effect do such adverts have on people, especially gamers and folks who already play MMOs? Are you more likely to play an MMO if you see it on a gaming site or TV? Do the Flash ads offering 7/10/14 day trials entice you to defect, even temporarily? Have you ever seen one of the numerous WoW ads on the TV and been inspired to try the game? Do you think MMOs are just following the same trends as mainstream video games in order to attract players? Drop your thoughts in the box below.
Time Warner Cable to axe DOCSIS 3.0 trials without tiered billing?
If you're following the Time Warner Cable capping drama (and we know that you are), then you'll be interested in a short post published on GigaOm today. From the looks of things, TWC isn't just backing off of the tiered pricing plans that they'd proposed recently -- it also looks like they're fully prepared to take their ball and go home when it comes to DOCSIS 3.0 trials. Originally the broadband provider had been hatching plans to roll out the ultra-fast internet service in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, Greensboro, N.C., and Rochester, NY -- but attitudes seem to have changed now that they might not get the new cash infusion that pricey metered usage would provide. In a flurry of tweets from the company's cocky VP of PR, Alex Dudley, there seems to be an indication that with the consumption based billing (CBB to us industry types), so potentially goes the DOCSIS 3.0 trials. In his own, understanding words -- responding to Stacey Higginbotham's query about whether or not the company will pull the high-speed without tiers: @gigastacey it was scheduled as part of cbb trial, but we all know how you feel about that. Frankly, we're still not sure if the facts on this story are totally straight, since much of it is based on 140 character tweets, which -- believe it or not -- aren't that helpful when you need details. We can however, communicate this to Time Warner Cable: you are fools and bastards if you pull this testing because you can't make your tiered billing work. Read - TWC to Customers: You Don't Want Tiers, You Don't Get Super-fast Broadband Read - Alex Dudley's tweet
Upper Deck Day coming February 7-8, 2009
Our good friends at Upper Deck have announced a day of tournaments, demos, and giveaways at a hobby store near you. Upper Deck Day is being held February 7-8, 2009, and the event will feature a WoW TCG beginner's tournament, as well as on-site demos of the new WoW minis game. If you've never played either of these games, this is the perfect chance to check them out -- mark your calendars now, and bring a friend to check out the other ways to play World of Warcraft.They haven't yet released the list of locations for the event, but Upper Deck tends to use the same places most every time, so if they've held a previous event at a store near you, odds are that they'll be there again. Actually collecting both of these games can get pricey (and let's face it, is really only fun if you've got a friend or two to play with often), but that's what makes these events so perfect -- you can get a taste of what the games are like without having to break the piggy bank to pick up all the little doodads.And as always, if you go, be sure to snap some pictures and send them to us. We're always interested in what players of the offline World of Warcraft games are up to as well.
EVE Online offers free game time incentive to recruit friends
It was just the other day that we noted a 21-day trial for EVE Online through Steam. CCP Games is following suit and offering their own 21-day EVE trial (a jump up from their standard 14-days). But more significant is the new incentive to bring your friends into New Eden: Active subscribers who bring their friends into the game through the Buddy Program (login required) will receive 30 days of game time for each of those trial accounts that become subscribers as well.There are some rules and conditions that apply to the Buddy Program offer, so if this is of interest to you, check out the full announcement from EVE developer CCP Loktofeit, and be advised that this offer will expire on December 1st.
EVE's Quantum Rise on Steam at reduced price, 21-day trial
EVE Online's latest expansion Quantum Rise is here. We've written a fair amount on this expansion thus far, but it's primarily been a multi-staged release that introduces some new features and enhancements to benefit EVE's industry-focused players. We just noticed EVE Online's Quantum Rise pricing on Steam -- it's $9.99, down from Steam's already reduced $14.99; the initial cost when directly dealing with CCP Games is $19.99. Steam also offers a 21-day trial which trumps the standard 14-day trial you get from CCP Games. Based on these numbers, Steam certainly looks like a good way to go. However, none of us at Massively have ever gotten our MMOs via Steam to date. We're curious, have any of our readers done so, and were the the lower pricing and other perks worth going through Steam in your opinion?
An MMO showdown: City of Heroes vs. WoW vs. EVE
For some gamers born and bred with traditional first person shooters and console games, MMOs are a daunting prospect, with an appeal that's not fully understood. The stereotypes (which are sometimes true) that persist are that "MMOs are boring, MMOs are too slow, all it is is kill quests, item gathering, stat-gazing and crafting -- and all those things are boring, boring, boring." Ludo and Dante from gaming-centric site Man vs. Horse refused to 'be slaves to those opinions' and put together a cleverly written MMO Showdown. They played the trials of City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online respectively and wrote about their experiences with these titles, having devoted roughly 7 hours of solid play to each game. Which MMO came out on top from the perspective of two experienced gamers, but MMO noobs? You might be surprised by the answer.
Ready Check: Applying and Trialling
Ready Check is a twice-weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and gear up people in T6 who then leave for the next rung up the ladder.Following on from our column about recruiting, in this Ready Check we're going to talk about applying and trialling with a raiding guild. Anyone looking to change guilds and start raiding different content, or guilds interested in different methods of recruiting and trialling players, read on for more on the subject.Applying for a new guild can often seem very much like applying for a job, and the interview and trial process also have strong parallels to the real world. Not every raider out there is an experienced job-hunter, so we'll look at a few concepts from the world of work to smooth out your raiding experiences. If this all sounds like too much work for you, bear in mind there are other options out there -- there are more casual raid guilds and alliances who will give you a shot just after a quick chat, for example, so whatever your needs in the raiding world there should be something to fit. Finding it, however, isn't easy -- which brings us to our first point.
Qualcomm plans multiple HSPA+ trials this year
Why can't we just have and enjoy the latest, greatest pre-4G technology for a few frickin' minutes without having our collective attentions immediately redirected to the next latest, greatest thing? Qualcomm has gone and spoiled all the fun by announcing that it'll be setting up HSPA+ trials with Australia's Telstra, Italy's Telecom Italia, Hutchison 3 in the UK, and Telefonica this year to deliver downlink speeds up to 28Mbps as an evolutionary upgrade to the networks' already-deployed HSPA systems. If all goes well, Qualcomm expects that the technology could be commercialized as early as 2009, potentially putting it head-to-head with the very first volleys in the race to true 4G via LTE. 28Mbps, 173Mbps... we think we know which one we'd rather have in our backyard.[Via MobileBurn]
Nintendo survey hints at Wii demo plans
It's inconceivable to us why Nintendo doesn't offer demos for its Wii games. Besides being a cool freebie to entice people to buy a system, easy access to demos leads to better sales of full games. Sony and Microsoft figured this out years ago, offering PlayStation, PS2 and Xbox demo discs with their official magazines and, later, downloadable demos for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Nintendo still hasn't caught up on this important front.So it's heartening to see the Big N mulling over demo availability in the new issue of Nintendo Power. According to a scan provided by a GoNintendo reader , the latest Player's Pulse contest poll asks readers how interested they are in Wii game demos, how they would like to receive such demos, and whether they would be willing to pay extra for them.While downloadable demos for full Wii games might be tough to cram onto the Wii's puny 512MB of built-in memory, a demo disc in Nintendo Power seems like an idea whose time has come ... ten years ago! And while we're at it, how about some try-before-you-buy demos for the Virtual Console too, eh Nintendo? We're growing increasingly impatient here.[Via WiiFanboy]
