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Northrop Grumman creates 100 kilowatt laser, could usher in World War III
Northrop Grumman's been plugging along on this little project for years now, and at long last, the company has surpassed the milestone that it's been striving for. According to a new release that's just beaming with pride, the defense company has reportedly achieved 100 kilowatts from a solid-state laser. For those unfamiliar with the back story, 100 kilowatts is the level needed to create a laser gun that could actually do more than cause temporary blindness on the battlefield. Sadly, it seems that lethal laser pointers are still a good ways away, with Dan Wildt, vice president of Northrop's directed energy systems program, noting that "it is still a little heavy and a little big." It's all good, Northrop -- we're down with backpack weapons, too.[Via CNET]
Time is Money: Selling your quest rewards
Kebina Trudough here, offering you the best gold making secrets they don't want you to know about! I was like you once, poor and homely, before I discovered my patented system. Now you too can fill your pockets with the good stuff without ever breaking a sweat! Why spend all your time toiling when you could be vacationing in the Hot Springs? I'm not offering these tips for 100 gold, or 90 gold, or even 50 gold! No, not even 20 gold! My system is yours for FREE! Satisfaction guaranteed or I'll give you a full refund (handling charges may apply).Today, I'm going to help you make the most out of your questing experience. The most gold, that is! Quests often reward hard-working Azerothians with items that are useless to them. The items are usually peddled off to a vendor at a price of their choosing. When given a choice of rewards, how do you decide which item to select? Some players pick at random, or because the item has an interesting name or looks cool. Some think that they have figured out the rules, and always pick plate over mail and weaponry over armor. What the average citizen doesn't know is that there's a complex, hidden system. It's practically a Goblin-Vendor cover-up, but I'm here to end all that. Goblin Rules of Acquisition, subsection K4, under the heading, Quest Rewards.
Tier 8 Ulduar weapon models previewed, Val'anyr included
3.1 and Ulduar are coming soon. No doubt a lot of you have been looking forward to seeing what your reward for hacking apart a variety of priceless Titan artifacts and servants of the Old Gods would be. MMO-Champion, as always, has your back! They've released a preview for the weapon and accessory models that'll be in Ulduar, and they look fantastic. The theme of the instance seems to carry through into all of its gear, and I'm going to love just how good my guild and I will look after a bit of time in there. The image above is a paladin holding one of the Ulduar shields and the much-touted Val'anyr, Gavel of Ancient Kings, and that's just the tip of the iceberg from MMOC, who promises a video of it in action very soon. Bear in mind these are still tentative models and the art may change, but even then, what are you waiting for? Santa won't get mad if you peek. Go go go! Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Vehicles, 200 weapons and hospitalized writers in Champions Online
All right, so maybe the 200 mundane weapons available in Champions Online won't fit into a vehicle -- but it makes for some startling imagery. Unfortunately, according to the panel which took place last weekend at the New York Comic-con, Champions Online is unlikely to launch with drivable wheels of steel or any other form of bodacious transportation. But don't feel like all is lost, because Cryptic was quick mention that situation would be remedied soon after CO-day.(Everyone calls launch day CO-day, right?)
Feral staves no more in patch 3.0.8
So back in another life, when I was a Druid, there was always something that got me a little hot and bothered: Seeing another class with a feral weapon. Sometimes it was a Night Elf Hunter running around Hellfire peninsula with an Ursol's Claw, sometimes it was a Gnome Warrior hanging in Shattrath with a Terestian's Stranglestaff. Whatever it was, it always bothered me a bit. I wondered if they had just taken it because there was no Druid in the group, or if there was some poor feral scrub out there wandering lost and lonely without a feral weapon because some guy who couldn't even use all that delicious feral attack power wanted it for the agility or whatever. I have to admit, though, many feral staves are some of the coolest looking items in game, so I wouldn't necessarily blame them for taking one. After Patch 3.0.8, they'll have even more reason to take them.
It's-a Mario World: Infuriating Items
Let's make one point very clear from the onset: The Mario Kart series has thoroughly rocked our boxers since 1992. Despite some shortcomings we still have pretty high praise for Wii's latest iteration, and most fanboys agree that there currently exists no better Nintendo Wi-Fi experience. For everything Mario Kart does right, though, there always seems to be a cheaply overpowered item that renders even the most skilled racer indefensible.So this is us venting. We have seen too many races (and online VR points) slip away on account of nasty item distribution. The series' long-standing method of reserving the best (or at least most destructive) pickups for trailing racers can be especially frustrating to those who would have otherwise earned a legitimate first place rank. Competition, in effect, is deadened by a deliberately equalized playing field. Mario Kart's algorithm for item probability is more at fault than the items themselves, but you know you've cussed out a spiny blue shell before. Now get angry with us in our new rant gallery. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. * * * Links of the week: SMB clone revived! | Mario Tennis comes out swingin'! | Delgrego disses the Party! Get him! | New Mario and Luigi 3 screens!
Skull belt buckle / LED "display" / MP3 player wants to fight your battles for you
So, we're not going to say this is the greatest thing we've ever seen, because we've seen some pretty awesome things in our years and years of living on the edge, but it's pretty, uh... heavy metal. Regardless, the so-called "Punk Skull" belt buckle is one multi-talented reminder of Death: he holds up your pants, but can also play MP3s (1GB player included) or display fascinatingly terrifying LED light patterns (LED module included) -- though sadly, not both at once. If that's not enough uses for you, the manufacturer suggests that the buckle is solid enough for you to use "as a handheld weapon," which is great, because we suspect that suddenly, a lot of people are going to start wanting to fight you. Available now for wholesale, we're pretty sure they'll be making their way to high-end retailers near you soon, and that they'll be horrifically affordable. A few more shots of the carnage after the break. [Via Random Good Stuff]
Northrop Grumman's weaponized laser on sale now, definitely won't hug you
The last time we heard anything about Northrop Grumman's development of a weaponized laser system, they were telling us that the "hardest part was over," and it looks like they weren't exaggerating. According to today's PR released by the 4th largest defense contractor in the world, the units, dubbed FIRESTRIKE, are now "ready for sale." In case you haven't been following every detail of the story, the FIRESTRIKE is a solid-state laser (think raygun), which weighs 400 pounds, has an Ethernet interface, and can be chained together with up to 7 other identical modules to create a 100 kw beam. The unit's obviously not very portable, and we don't have any information on its price, but we're going to go ahead and assume we can't afford it. Enemies of Engadget: you're safe, at least for now.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Weapons between 70 and 80
Unfortunately we ran out of time in our Care and Feeding of Warriors series on gear for Wrath of the Lich King ;ast week, just as we were about to cover the weapons to be looking to acquire. This week, post launch, here's a concise list of blues to be had in the 70 to 80 Northrend instances. We've already covered rep rewards, but we may go over some of the same ground here for convenience.We'll be covering tanking and DPS weapons of both the one and two handed variety. Not all warriors will be taking Titan's Grip, after all. Oh, stop looking at me like that, you know it's true. I stated a fact, I didn't kick a puppy, you can turn off the big sad eyes now. Yes, of course I specced fury for leveling. Oh, I'll go back to prot once we're all 80 and raiding again, but there was no way I wasn't going fury. I've written ballads about this talent, you think I'm passing up the chance to use it? Oh my word no.What follows is all pre-raid gear. 5 mans, quests, heroics and badges, but no raids. It's light on PvP gear, because I figure you know how to get that stuff. (Hint: you PvP for it.) Sometimes I mention it if it feels like a category of weapon will be very empty without it, though. Axes, I'm looking right at you here.
SecuriScan shoe scanner could make travel safer, security lines shorter
Huge shocker here: removing your shoes at airport security causes massive headaches and makes the wait longer for everyone. Now that we're all good with Captain Obvious' latest headline, let us point you to one prototype that's looking to solve said dilemma. SecuriScan, which has been developed by Professor Wuqiang Yang at the University of Manchester, would theoretically be able to "detect and pinpoint suspicious objects instantly," all without requiring passengers to remove their kicks. Better still, the system uses electric and magnetic sensing instead of a radiation source, which could also address safety concerns while helping you get where you're going more quickly. Moving forward, Yang hopes to develop a more advanced and realistic prototype for testing, and just in case you were doubting this guy's determination, he's also investigating a handheld version that could hastily screen abandoned luggage or packages.[Via Physorg, image courtesy of ChangeAirportSecurity]
Wrath manual hidden in latest WoW files
If you just can't wait to read the Wrath of the Lich King manual, Maeglin of Khadgar made an interesting discovery -- it's already on your computer. Inside your World of Warcraft folder, if you go to the Data folder, and then "enUS" and Documentation, you'll see a PDF file called Manual_WLK. It's the Wrath manual in black and white -- there are good writeups in there (spoiler-free, as far as I could tell) on the story so far and Northrend, and some cool concept art for weapons and other sights of the next expansion. The credits are in there, too, and make sure to go to the very end to read all the thanks from Blizzard -- some of them are pretty funny.This likely isn't the final manual -- there's something in the Death Knight description that still says runes can be customized, and while we heard that earlier in development, it's since been removed from the class. And it's in black and white, while we'd expect the full manual to have color when it's finally printed. But it's a cool find, and something to tide you over until you can get the real thing on release day (which, as you can see from our countdown, is growing ever closer).Thanks, Wes R.!
Introducing the Stargate Worlds YouTube channel
Firesky has launched a Stargate Worlds channel on YouTube, and has promised that a new video will go live every week day from here on out. So far there are six videos, all of which are brief, punchy developer interviews related to the various weapons in the game.A few of them are a little painful to watch due to extreme geekiness, but there is a somewhat amusing running joke about the flamethrower weapon being a terribly kept secret. Its existence is unconvincingly denied in most videos, and in one it is confirmed but the developer insists that flamethrower gameplay is not ready to be shown to the public. He says this while a monitor behind him displays all kinds of in-game flamethrower carnage.Firesky proudly brags that the channel was the #1 most subscribed on YouTube during the week of the 21st, and that it sits comfortably in the top 25 for the whole month of September. That said, most of the videos have only had a couple thousand views, except for the very first video (the flamethrower one), which had 8,000 views. Huh; that's kind of like a microcosm of the monthly lifecycle of an MMO! Anyway, we've embedded the flamethrower footage on the other side of the jump.
Meet some of the weapons of Dead Space
Fancy a look at just a few of upcoming space-based survival horror Dead Space's weapons? Then you're in luck. GameTrailers has three videos, each showing one of the game's weapons in action. Our favorite? The Line Gun. Using it to slice through enemies looks extremely visceral and satisfying. Having said that we have a soft spot for the Pulse Gun's secondary fire too.In reality, it's just an excuse to watch more gameplay footage, which we're always happy to do. Dead Space will be out in less than a month, so this is a perfect way to ramp up the hype a bit. The videos can be found after the cut.
Lichborne: Dual wielding and weapon scaling
Welcome to Lichborne, your (slighty late this week) weekly window into the zen of being a Death Knight. As the dev team works to firm up Death Knights and get them ready for release, there is a debate that rages on among beta testers and the Death Knight community at large. I don't mean whether the recent huge nerf to Death Knight damage was justified. Rather, the argument I'm talking about is over the clash of 2-handers and dual wielding. 2-handers have been the Death Knight weapon of choice in the modern era of the game up until recently. Frostmourne, the ultimate Death Knight weapon, is a massive two-handed claymore. In the early to middle part of the classic end game, Baron Rivendare was the Death Knight that loomed large in everyone's thoughts, and he too wielded a much coveted two-handed runeblade. Because of this, many Death Knights have no plans to ever pick up 2 weapons. The massive bloody two-handed runeblade is the classic Death Knight emblem. It's part of the lore and the feel of the class and, they say, there's no reason to change it.. At the same time, many other Death Knights say that dual wielding is here to stay. New prominent Death Knights such as Lord Darion Morgraine dual wield. It's now part of the lore, and 2-handed lovers should just suck it up.
Weapon Mastery as a single weapon skill stat
Forum poster Exodeus has made a suggestion that I heartily endorse: abandon the weapon skill mechanic for a universal weapon mastery system. It's not just for the reasons he suggests that I'm on board. His examples (of a hunter having to go AFK on Dr. Boom after getting a new gun drop because he's always used bows, or a rogue having to mindlessly slaughter low level mobs to get that dagger skill up) resonate for sure... we have a talented DPS warrior in my guild who had to go buy a green 2h axe because he hadn't used one since the old Arcanite Reaper days and he was supposed to be using the 2h legendary in the Kael fight, so I know how ridiculous the skilling up process can be... but because his suggestion makes sense in light of all the other ways the folks at Blizzard are unifying things like spell power, hit rating, crit rating and so on. His point about how the introduction of Expertise effectively made the whole system obsolete is dead on in my eyes.I personally even like his proposed mechanic, but adopting it wouldn't be necessary: I'd be fine if they simply abandoned weapon skill entirely and just based everything on your character level to start with (so that if you were a level 80 paladin and you got a new hammer, you'd automatically hit with it as if you had a 400 weapon skill, no muss, no fuss) if you're dead set on keeping things simple. No matter how they go about it, since training dummies still don't provide weapon skill on use, I'd have to believe that some change or revamp of the system would be a very nice improvement to the gameplay. Getting a nice drop shouldn't send you into the Blasted Lands to find Servants of Razelikh. Those poor guys -- not only are they cursed to be unable to die, but they get smacked in the head by guys way higher level then they are all day. It's a hard life being an unkillable mob.If Blizzard was a pixie one could make wishes to, this would definitely be one of mine. Also, I'd try and keep them safe from Captain Hook.
Fallen Earth's hit and damage system explained
Let's face it, we love to kill stuff in our games. It doesn't even have to be a multiplayer game where we kill each other; we just like to kill stuff, period. In this regard, when a new MMO releases, we're always curious about the combat system. Age of Conan's combat system seems to be a big hit among players, which adds so much to the overall game experience.So when we hear about the hit and damage system in Fallen Earth, and how it will work within the game, we're even more excited about this upcoming Icarus Studios title. Apparently, as we already know, there will be a first-person and third-person view mode, but these will also change while in aim mode. It sounds to us that the whole aiming process will be handled much as is done in Tabula Rasa, except not as much of the automatic or "sticky" aiming. There's also a good discussion on weapon types and weapon damage in this article, some of which gets fairly specific when it comes to what damage these weapon types will do exactly. The rest of the damage system seems fairly straightforward, with defense skills, attributes, resistances, mutations and special items all playing a role in how protected you will be from the various weapon damage.
Sony not amused by Uncharted replica gun
Sony Computer Entertainment has declared its intention to take "the most appropriate action" against an online retailer making its Beretta and butter from a replica air gun. The weapon, based on one wielded by the goofy, treasure-hunting protagonist of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, is currently listed for $169.88 on the King of Swords website. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a Sony representative noted that the "PS3 Uncharted Drake's Fortune Full Metal M92 Airsoft Gun" was in no way an officially endorsed or condoned product, despite its use of the game's artwork in advertisement. This isn't the first time a publisher has rushed to arms over the sale of replica weapons. In February of this year, Square Enix took stern legal action against those hoping to sell real things based on fake things.
Main hands and one-hands after 2.4.2
I only slightly mentioned this back on the podcast, I think, but there was a fairly interesting change that snuck in the patch notes on 2.4.2: lots of formerly main hand weapons have become one-hand weapons. There are a couple of theories poking around about why this could be -- dual wield is first and foremost, of course, as this change allows classes who dual wield, including Rogues and Enhancement Shammies, to have a little more choice as to what weapons they can use. Death Knights will also be able to dual wield in the expansion, and this will open things up for them a bit as well. And Blacksmithing weapons were apparently changed as well (in addition to losing their "unique" status), so Blacksmithers have a little more leeway, too.But there is one thing that, according to Blizzard, will always keep weapons in one-hand status. Caster stats, according to both Drysc and Hortus, will mean that weapons will always stay one-hand. So feel free to do as much switching around as you want in terms of speed and melee damage, but there'll be no stacking of healing or spell damage bonuses (with Shamans or Death Knights).Which isn't really a big loss -- it means that Blizzard has much more leeway in creating healing and spell damage weapons than they do while making melee weapons. But it does mean that if you want to play around with weapon combos, you have to go melee -- healers and casters get to choose one and stick with it.
Tauren weapons unshrunk
Before I start this post, I should warn you that every single post we do about the size of something ingame must, by contractual obligations, contain a risqué double entendre somewhere within. Be warned.Reader Veras was nice enough to point out to us that as of the 2.4.2 release, Tauren two-hand weapons have returned to normal size as planned. It seems to me that this got fixed fairly quicker than other size issues that Blizzard has had. We still have no idea how their code works (and what they're changing that causes all of these weird issues), but at least they're getting better at fixing things.Of course, as any Tauren Fury Warrior will tell you, it's not the size of your two-hand weapon -- it's how you use it. Contract fulfilled.
Battlefield: Bad Company demo dropping June 5
Anyone who wasn't lucky enough to experience the closed beta of the slightly controversial EA first-person comedy-shooter (not kidding), Battlefield: Bad Company, will soon have their chance. Today EA announced that a demo for the DICE developed title will hit the Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN on June 5. The single and multiplayer demo promises to showcase what was in the beta as well as the wacky characters found in the campaign mode. Gamers who decide to pre-order the title from select retailers will be treated an early download of the demo beginning May 29. For those at home keeping score you'll remember pre-ordering and playing the demo will give gamers access to two of the five controversial weapons found in the beta. Pre-ordering gives gamers access to the QBU88 Sniper Rifle while downloading and playing the demo nets players the UZI Submachine Gun. Battlefield: Bad Company ships on June 25.
