UI
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Blood Pact: FinalBoss interviews Sparkuggz and Shinafae
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill fails at predicting patch day. Whoops. So I was moving living spaces and then I thought it'd be only a week before the patch launched. I have the gear drops list set up, and I figured no one wanted 1000 words when the obvious numbers pass happened -- our DoTs went up and our fillers went down. But then the patch release date became September 10th instead of August 27th. You'd think I'd have learned this by now. What I have learned by now is to read up on other warlock things, particularly in aspects of WoW I don't personally play. I am in a 5/13 25H guild, but I doubt I'll reach world firsts any time soon, so it's fun to hear perspectives of warlockery from the likes of Sparkuggz of EU-Twisting Nether's Method and Shinafae of US-Illidan's Blood Legion. Fortunately, new video series FinalBoss.tv got the chance to interview both for its third episode about warlocks in Mists of Pandaria.
Sony's Shuhei Yoshida takes a quick tour through the PS4 dashboard (video)
Just in case you missed it during Sony's Gamescom 2013 presentation (and our live coverage), the company kicked things off in a fresh way, letting the PlayStation 4 experience do all of the talking. No words were necessary as Mr. @yosp himself, SCE prez Shuhei Yoshida, casually sat in a chair flipping through the new UI and loading up a quick game of Killzone Shadow Fall. Whether you have loved or loved to hate the PS3's XMB, this nearly three minute-long demo should fill in many blanks about what life will be like if you pick up one of Sony's $399 boxes on or about November 15th. Check out the video embedded after the break plus a list of launch window games while you weigh the pros and cons of pre-ordering.
Mozilla previews new, cleaner Firefox for Android UI on Nightly build
Before you know it, you'll be enjoying a cleaner, shinier Firefox UI on Android -- but not before Mozilla gets the more adventurous to test it out. The brand-spanking new interface merges the Start Page and the Awesomescreen, which is what you see after tapping on the URL bar. Thus, it will house your history, bookmarks, reading list and most visited websites in one place. While Mozilla UI engineer Lucas Rocha calls it the "biggest UI change in Firefox for Android" since the app was released, the update isn't quite yet ready. If you're unafraid of testing unstable releases, however, you can take the new UI for a spin via Firefox Nightly -- Mozilla's launchpad for new features. Everyone else, feel free to head past the break for a comparison image of the current and future interfaces.
Xbox One dashboard: what to expect
So, you want an Xbox One? Do you really want one though... like, really? How do you know? Maybe the interface is terrible. That's something you'll just have to ponder until you play one. Well, that's only partly true, we sat down with Microsoft today at Gamescom for a bit of a tour. The bad news? Microsoft wasn't quite confident enough to let us show you the interface with photos or video, due to its pre-release nature. The good news? We're going to paint you a word picture instead! The results await after the break.
The Elder Scrolls Online answers questions about its livestream
If you're a fan of The Elder Scrolls Online, you were probably glued to the livestream earlier this month. But a single stream doesn't give you nearly as many answers as you'd like to have. So the development team took the opportunity to answer questions that potential players had about the stream, from game mechanics to elements as innocuous as UI components. And even if you were watching the stream with rapt attention, there are probably details that you missed. For example, the answers reveal that the game no longer includes a minimap, using a compass instead to encourage more player exploration. The party seen in the dungeon was also roughly level-appropriate, meaning that the healing and damage on display was roughly indicative of what players can expect from actual combat. Several of the animations shown were more or less finalized, but other elements (such as first-person mode) are still being tweaked. You can catch a few more tidbits from the full set of answers on the official site.
MechWarrior Online discusses the state of the game and the road to launch
MechWarrior Online has already gone into open beta with a functional cash shop, but the game still isn't officially launching until September. So how's the road to launch looking so far? According to creative developer Bryan Ekman, it's going quite well. Despite summer traditionally being one of the slowest times for games like MWO, the community has been strong and growing. The development team is also thrilled that response to the game's first charity drive was immensely positive, with Sarah's 'Mech raising over $40,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society on the first day of release. So what comes next? According to Ekman, the development is currently split into two teams, one focused upon major features and the other on content. A revamped UI and the Community Warfare system are the two biggest elements for the feature team, while a new map, Terra Therma, is set to debut next week. Third-person mode is also in testing for those who prefer to see their multi-ton death machines from the outside. Players would be well-served to look at the full letter for more dispatches about the game's future as September creeps closer.
Free for All: RuneScape 3's UI changes would be welcome in any MMO
Jagex just keeps surprising me with its flagship title, RuneScape. Almost every time I sit down to get some time in the world of Gielinor, I find something new. This time around, I want to talk about how the newest version of the game brings not only a fantastic world event and tweaks to all sorts of systems but offers options to the UI that are surprising and wonderfully innovative. The first thing I thought when I played around with the new UI options was, "Wow, why isn't this happening in more MMOs?" Another thought occurred to me as I slid, snapped and joined parts of my UI: This feels suspiciously like a tablet-friendly change. Jagex has mentioned the possibility of a tablet version of RuneScape, thanks to the new HTML5 client (which is still in beta), so could this new UI be the first of many steps to playing on our portable computers? I'll wait and see what happens with that, but in the meanwhile I wanted to show you the most impressive parts of the UI redesign.
EVE Evolved: Colonising deep space
If you were watching the news coming out of this year's EVE Online Fanfest, you no doubt heard Senior Producer Andie Nordgren's incredibly ambitious five year vision. The past few expansions have been mostly filled with bug fixes and improvements to existing gameplay, but the goal is now to begin delivering an epic vision of deep space exploration, colonisation, and PvP raids on enemy infrastructure. The five year roadmap toward this goal includes the addition of player-built stargates and completely uncharted solar systems to locate, explore and build an empire in. If the very idea of that doesn't make shivers go down your spine, something may be wrong with your central nervous system. CCP has opened new space before with the addition of the drone regions in nullsec and some new lowsec systems for faction warfare, but it wasn't until 2009's Apocrypha expansion that we saw a true exploration and long-term colonisation effort get underway. I think the intoxicating draw of wormhole exploration was primarily due to the fact that the new systems were hidden and the information on them wasn't public. Just adding new solar systems to the existing stargate network wouldn't have had the same effect. Nordgren's vision may take up to 10 expansions to fully realise, but what kinds of features will we need in those expansions to recreate true exploration and deep space colonisation? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the challenges CCP will have to overcome to make deep space colonisation a reality and what small steps could be taken in each expansion to get us there.
Creating the DDO: Shadowfell Conspiracy character of your dreams
Last week, we sat down with Turbine to look at Dungeons and Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy's new adventure hub of Wheloon. But running through these special missions and dungeons are only part of the expansion, as your character's growth and build are always at the core of DDO. So for our second sit-down session covering the upcoming expansion, Turbine chose to focus on the three new iconic classes coming to the game and the overhaul to the enhancement system that should make building the character of your dreams a lot easier. Prior to adding new enhancements, reincarnations, or epic destinies, DDO had only a meager 250,000,000,000,000 possible builds to choose from. No, we didn't fall asleep pressing the "0" key. But now the choices are even greater, which is why it's of increasing importance that players understand what their characters are capable of doing and how to best build a functional toon. After all, even Turbine admits that many of the 250 trillion builds "are not really great to play with." So what will be fun to play? And why should players be interested in rolling one of the new iconic classes instead of sticking with their tried-and-true Bards?
The Nexus Telegraph: Getting the message across in WildStar (before it kills you)
There are no two ways about it: A a lot of WildStar's combat involves getting out of the way of something. Combat telegraphs have been reinforced as a major element of gameplay, and we've seen countless videos explaining how the telegraph system works in varying degrees of depth. And much like pretty much every other element of the game, this is a major issue for some people. I can understand why this provokes a knee-jerk reaction. I mean, now you can see exactly what's going to happen next and where you need to not stand, right? How is that still a challenge? The answer is that there's still a lot of challenge involved, and allowing people to know what's going on around them ahead of time not only preserves the challenge but actually heightens it. And to talk about that, we're going to need to step back and talk about lots of other games and the different sorts of challenge you can face in games.
Neverwinter unveils the Campaign system
The first major content addition to Neverwinter isn't just bringing new dungeons, it's bringing a new way to experience the game's content. The new Campaign system will see its debut in the region of Sharandar. This isn't just another name for a series of quests, but rather a new way for players to unlock both new rewards and new areas simply by adventuring and completing larger goals. The Campaign window is a new UI element that lists a number of Projects players can undertake. Questing in the area, running solo instances, or diving into the new dungeons will provide new rewards that can be spent on clearing projects, unlocking new regions, new dungeons, and so forth. Players can also earn new equipment by completing other Projects, which offers several methods to reap the benefits of hard work. The new system, like the rest of the content, is still due out for sometime this summer.
E3 2013: Final Fantasy XIV shows off PS3 UI
E3 is proving to be an exciting time for Final Fantasy XIV fans, especially considering that the title has been confirmed for the PlayStation 4 next year. One of the new videos that's coming out of the convention is a dev tour of the new UI developed for the PlayStation 3 version. While the developers speak in their native tongue, the video is subtitled and shows off a range of UI activities from character customization to combat. Gaze upon it with your terribly perceptive eyes after the jump and make sure to read our preview of the rebooted title from the show floor!
PS4 video reveals UI for sharing gameplay videos, multitasking, making friends
By now, most people ought to have dismissed the old stereotype that the male is the calm, rational opposite of the hysterical female. If anything, it's the other way round, which is why the short promo video shown right at the end of Sony's E3 press conference was kind of refreshing. It was also pretty useful, because even if the software it shows isn't final, it reveals how the PS4 user interface is likely to handle things like chat, gameplay video sharing and multitasking. Read on for a cut-down version of the fast-paced clip and our probing evaluation of what it says about PS4 gaming and human behavior.
EVE Evolved: First impressions of Odyssey
The Odyssey expansion has been live for a couple of days now, but it's already starting to have a massive impact on EVE Online. Traffic through low-security space has increased significantly for the first time in years thanks to explorers hunting data and relic sites, and some players are even hunting asteroid belt NPCs in lowsec for the new security tags. New wars have erupted in nullsec following the redistribution of moon wealth, mining has become a more valuable profession, and the rebalanced battleships feel powerful again. Unfortunately, Odyssey has seen its fair share of problems too. The new jump effect looks spectacular the first few times you see it, but long-term play is reportedly causing motion sickness in some players. Some players have also been objecting to the ice mining changes, and the revamped radial UI menu hasn't done much to fix the game's usability problems. Explorers in low-security space and nullsec are reporting incomes in the billions of ISK per day range thanks to the scan probe changes and new hacking minigame, but not everyone is happy with the new loot-scattering mechanic. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the early impact of Odyssey on the EVE Online universe and discover the secrets behind collecting all the valuable loot when hacking.
Gmail 4.5 for Android rolling out today with multiple tabs, slide-out navigation
Gmail's desktop inbox just went through some pretty significant UI changes, and we've just been waiting for Google to update its mobile apps with many of the same elements. The Android app, which Android Police reports is beginning its rollout today, reflects the new multiple-tabbed interface we've had the opportunity to play with for the last week -- it offers the same five tabs that are found on the desktop version, in addition to a new slide-out navigation interface. We're still waiting to get official word from Google about the update, but we'll let you know as soon as we have it. In the meantime, if you feel daring enough to try the new APK, head below to the source link to find a selection of available mirrors. Update: it looks like the update is starting to appear in the Play Store. Head here to see if it's available for your device. We've had the chance to download it, and can confirm that it offers swipe to refresh in addition to the features mentioned earlier.
EVE Online dev blog discusses Odyssey UI changes
The folks over at CCP have put up a new, puntastically titled post on the EVE Online site to fill players in on some of the UI changes coming in EVE Online: Odyssey. The changes range from the miniscule ("you can now make the input field in chat a single line and gain like 20 extra pixels! Yay!") to the more ambitious (such as a major reworking of the game's fleet management window), plus a few things in-between. To get the down-and-dirty details on all of the UI changes coming with Odyssey, just head on over and read the full post at the game's official site.
Pebble firmware update 1.11 arrives with UI improvements, Simplicity watchface
Pebble's smartwatch might have launched with limited capabilities, but the list of things it can do keeps growing. Now that the company has released firmware version 1.11, you can add a few more features to that list. The update brings notification and set time UI changes, multiple notification viewing, the wearer's current speed measured by RunKeeper, swaps the music app's next and previous buttons and squashes a few bugs. It also installs the Simplicity watchface on the device that's sure to make minimalists happy. Sadly, there's nary a hint of a new game in sight so you'll have to make do with Tetris and Snake whenever the mood for smartwatch gaming strikes. To get version 1.11, launch your Pebble smartphone app and tap "check for FW update." David Fishman contributed to this report.%Gallery-189749%
Samsung thinks the strangers who take pictures of you could do a better job
Everyone's found themselves in this situation at one time or another: you're in a picture-perfect setting, but a selfie at arm's length won't cut it. You want to be in the picture, so you wait for a friendly looking passerby and ask them to take it. But, now it's out of your control, and chances are the resulting snap won't turn out exactly as you'd imagined. Samsung knows you're too polite to hold the stranger up while you convey your vision, so it has come up with a camera feature that does the explaining for you. It's described in a recent patent filing, and the gist is that you select the backdrop and take an initial snap that acts as a guide for the next, similar to how some panorama modes work. With a silhouette of the desired scene now showing atop the live view, the designated stranger just needs to let you get in the shot, line the overlay up with the live scene, and hit the shutter release. The patent application also talks of editing the overlay, such as adding a circle to show the photographer where you'd like your face to be in relation to the backdrop. If you want the passerby to know how well they're doing, the claims explain an on-screen "composition score" that would rate their lining-up skills. And, if you'd rather trust the final decision to the camera, a ball-in-the-hole scenario is described that'll automatically engage the shutter release when the live view matches your ideal layout. This is just words and a few diagrams at this stage, mind, but if the patent gets granted, we could eventually see such a feature added to Samsung's smartphones or Galaxy cameras. Until then, you'll just have to put your trust in strangers and hope they have at least a basic understanding of the rule of thirds.
Reader UI of the Week: We've come a long way, baby
A little while back, I put out the call for UIs with a bit of history, a bit of evolution to them. I love seeing how my UI has evolved over the years, starting off with the basic Blizzard UI, until I realised that I could tinker with the overall scale, and then began adding unit frame addons, then action bar addons, castbar addons, and the whole thing got completely out of hand and escalated to the point where I started writing addon and UI columns for WoW Insider! And it's always interesting to see how others' UIs have developed, too. Today, we're delving into the past and present of Alphabot's UI. He's sent over several pictures, of both his current UI and his UIs past. So here, in chronological order, are UI shots one, two, three, four and five, and his current UI out of combat, in combat, and with everything on -- in test mode, so to speak. Let's move into Alphabot's email.
Roku's second gen players can get their grid menu update now
We dug the grid-style menu system that came along with the Roku 3, and now owners of some of the company's older players can experience it as well. The Roku 2 boxes, Roku LT, newer Roku HD and Streaming Stick are all eligible to download the new update, although it's not coming to the company's first generation boxes. It's been rolling out to limited numbers of users all month for testing, but tonight the company announced anyone can get it by prompting their box to manually update. All it takes is checking the update section under settings, otherwise it will be downloaded automatically at some point in the next few weeks.
