wings
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CTA debuts Wings for Wii, we beg them to stop
Oh, CTA: It was one thing when you wanted us to stuff our Wiimote into a phony bowling ball or rowing machine, but do you really expect us to strap on these wings and flap our arms like a bird? We don't even know anyone who will 'fess up to playing Bird's-Eye Bull's-Eye, let alone buy a useless accessory for it. Besides, as any good rave / goth / cosplay kid knows, people (and their pets) have been sporting much nicer wings for years now. Get a look at some of our faves below. %Gallery-93673%
Newest Tales of Fantasy developer diary explains wings
The Tales of Fantasy closed beta test is moving right along, and players are becoming familiar with the basics of the game. As they do, they're beginning to turn their attention toward more detailed aspects. One such aspect is the presence of wings in the game. While winged characters aren't a cutting edge new feature these days, they're still pretty popular, and they've proven to be a hit in Tales of Fantasy. The developers of the game offered up some hints on acquiring and using the wings in their latest developer diary. While the wings themselves have a few different functions depending on type, getting them in the first place is the focus of this diary entry. Just handing them out to starter characters right off the bat would make them less special in the opinion of the developers, so they opted to make them a little harder to get. Check out all the details on this fun feature over at the Tales of Fantasy blog.
Wizard101 is no friend of cheaters
You might think that Wizard101 is just a kid's game, which wouldn't be totally incorrect. But if you thought that meant they would just let you do whatever you want... well, nope, not in this playground. KingsIsle Entertainment is demonstrating that they are more than willing to step in and take the reigns when they're aware of an exploit. In this instance, it looks as if an exploit was found regarding the new wings available in the game's cash shop that work as a mount. Players had found a way to purchase their wings via gold alone, getting an unfair advantage on those buying them legitimately. So the game is clipping their wings -- clipping them off entirely, as it were. The wings will be removed from the player's account, all gold spent will be refunded to the player, and they will be reminded that exploiting the game client will lead to a permanent ban from the game. It's not the harshest penalty, but it comes as a stern reminder that no matter how fluffy the exterior might be, Wizard101 still takes cheating very seriously. So it's a bit more like school than you might have thought.
Flyff adds a new expansion, wings, and a reason to grind your life away
It's a Flyffy day today as the free-to-play game's newest expansion, "The Lost Continent" arrives on the servers and brings a whole new continent to the world.Centering around a darker atmosphere than the upbeat game usually provides, the new continent of Shaduwar adds in some dark dungeons and dangerous new enemies to the game. But, that's not all. Finally, for the game being centered around flying characters since its inception, they're adding wings to the game. It only took them, what, four years to add wings to the game about flying? Better late than never, if you ask us.Plus, Flyff users will now have incentive to log on and play in the form of a 35 day marathon "Play for Rewards" contest. All players have to do is simply log onto Flyff each day for one hour, and the game will tally up the days you do this. Every five days, the game will provide you with a rewards pack, and on the 35th day of playing you'll be entered in to win a 50" HDTV. The team is giving 4 of those bad boys away, making this quest certainly worth the hour per day grind.
Runes of Magic offers players wings, but only until tomorrow
We smell some Aion envy coming from Runewaker Entertainment, but we're not going to complain! We're being offered pretty wings in Runes of Magic!Starting right now and continuing until tomorrow, wings will be available for purchase in the Runes of Magic item shop. While it doesn't look like the wings do anything other than look really cool on your character, this is a very limited time item. Because of the limited window of purchase, these wings will most likely become a coveted item very quickly. (As long as they're not offered again later, of course.)If you're interested in grabbing a pair of these feathery wonders, you'll have to do it from inside the game's cash shop menu, under the "special offers" section of the store.
NCSoft announces Aion open beta dates, pre-orders get early access
If you're itching to try your hand at NCSoft's upcoming winged MMORPG, Aion, before its September 22 release, a recent press release has announced two methods of doing so. The first is probably the more noteworthy option -- the game is going into open beta for one week only starting Sunday, September 6. The sneak preview will allow players from both of the game's factions to reach level 30, and lets them fly, fight and fly-fight through every locale from the full game.The second opportunity to beat the release day rush is by pre-ordering the game -- those who pursue this option can pre-select their servers and character names on September 18, then start playing a full 48 hours in advance on September 20. Is the five-dollars-down worth the exclusive pre-launch access? Sadly, we can't make that decision for you. We can, however, tell you what to have for lunch: Nachos. You're welcome.
Video: Robohopper gets wings, Icarus complex
Remember the tiny 5cm robot grasshopper that could leap like a superhero but had trouble landing its, um, landings? Well, it still hasn't figured out those basics, but its Swiss developers are already marching ahead with plans to endow it with a pair of wings and light awareness. Now described as a self-deploying microglider, the wannabe locust will be able to identify light sources and fly toward them, an act known as phototaxis, which will make it about as intelligent as your garden variety moth. All the same, you can't stick a camera on a moth and use it to search disaster areas for survivors ... or can you? Videos of the underlying tech can be found after the break. [Via Bot Junkie]
One Shots: Ghost wings
The other day we had the great luck to be able to give away 1,000 Aion Closed Beta 6 keys. We love to give out keys where possible since that gives our readers a chance to check out upcoming games for themselves. With Aion, there seems to be a bit of a divide - some love it, some just don't care. This Aion screenshot comes to us from Veng who has been checking out the beta for some time now. She writes in to tell us a bit about what she thinks: Even the flight transportion in Aion is beautiful! Talk to the flight transporter in any village and you're engulfed in the diaphanous form of a spirit and flown to your destination at speed.Have you, like Veng, sent us screenshots before? Perhaps it's been a while since you mailed one to us? Why not update us on your current travels! Just email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here for everyone to check out. %Gallery-9798%
Ghostcrawler: There will (not) be at least 31 bosses in Icecrown
Ghostcrawler has posted an interesting little hint at the next patch (we know of) headed to the game. In response to a discussion about "tanking niches," he talks about Icecrown Citadel over on the forums, and just happens to mention that people might think of tanks as waiting outside until "boss 4, 17 and 31 (yes, IC is that big)." 31 bosses? More like Icecrowded, am I right?Blackrock Depths is the largest 5-man in the game, if not the largest instance, and it boasts over 40 bosses (that's mostly counting encounters, though -- you wouldn't count The Seven, for example, as seven different bosses), including lots and lots of optional bosses and even a holiday boss. Ulduar, by comparison, has about 14, and Karazhan is about that same size (though that depends on how you count random bosses, like the Opera Event). No matter how you slice it, 31 raid bosses is a ton of bosses to go through -- Icecrown could be a return to a really epic, large-scale instance.Of course, there will likely be wings involved (Naxxramas' Quarters have worked out pretty well, I think), and with the new changes to raid lockouts, Blizzard no longer needs to squeeze the raiding experience into an average of two or three nights a week (which is what it seemed like they were usually aiming for before). If yours is the kind of guild that likes to clear everything in one night, though, you might want to start freeing up some time now.Update: GC now says he didn't mean the instance would have 31 bosses, he was just throwing in some ridiculous number to prove a point. Our question: why did he say "yes, IC is that big" if he didn't mean it would be that big?
Anti-Aliased: Things that make you go kweh pt. 2
A wing timer? Seriously? Seriously? And now for the number one thing that drives me nuts -- Aion's flight timer. I know, I know, the other two topics were more universal and covered all MMOs. Plus I shouldn't be firing arrows into a game that hasn't even come out yet, but this just seemed to warrant my attention for how confused I was about this whole subject. Let me lay it out for you all, especially for those who weren't in the beta. At the very end of level 9-ish you get told that you are, in fact, a Daeva -- an immortal angel that protects your race -- and you are granted permission to go to your city of awesome in the clouds. There's a cutscene depicting an awesome ceremony where you're accepted into the ranks of the immortal and you "prove your divinity" by exposing your wings for all to see. It is one hell of a lead up and a great cap for the first ten levels. You come off of that story-arc feeling completely empowered, and it is awesome. Then, after grabbing yourself a very shiny new weapon from one of the other daevas, you go out to do some, well, angel-ish things? Honestly, the downer here is that things don't change that much from you being mortal. You're still someone's pool cleaner, except now you have wings. Of course, that's what you think until you hit the flight button and they slap you with a one minute flight restriction. Yes, that's right, you can stay in the air for one minute. A whole minute! Of course you can increase this timer with buffs and consumables in later areas of the game, as this restriction is supposed to make you think tactically about aerial combat. Yet, when your box art depicts a winged angel so prominently and one of your back of the box features is "where your character wields devastating powers and sweeping wings to explore a celestial world," you're kind of leading people into disappointment. Plus, it's not really a minute of flight in one direction. It's more like 30 seconds of flight in one direction, because you have to remember to reach a lower altitude before your wings die out. Yes, you will take falling damage if you're still lollygaging in mid-air when that timer hits zero. You may be immortal, but you're not immune to broken legs. And that's a wrap Well, that's all of the room I have for this week's senseless complaining. Tune in next week when I sit down and have a conversation with a moogle concerning mog slavery and mistreatment in Vana'diel. Good night, everybody! Colin Seraphina Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who is pretty much mentally unstable. When she's not writing here for Massively, she's rambling on her personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message her, send her an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow her on Twitter through Massively, or through her personal feed, @sera_brennan.
Samsung's folding keyboard brings a little starfighter to the cellphone
Looks like Samsung's elves have been busy thinking up new ways to cram a QWERTY onto all those touchscreen phones they've been selling lately: check out this patent application for a side-mounted flip-down keyboard. We're not sure if this would be comfortable, usable, or even stable, but we do know that we support any design decision that makes our phones look more like super-awesome space planes from the future. Carry on, Sammy.[Via PhoneArena]
One Shots: Do the wings make it better?
It seems like no matter where we turn, the buzz lately has been on Aion. A goodly chunk of the Massively staff has been sucked into the beta and they're reporting interesting things. Others we talk to aren't so thrilled, but are reserving judgment until they see something closer to release. Even our normal Darkfall contributor and fellow MMO blogger, Paragus, decided to send in a screenshot for us with his thoughts since he's a member of the press and not under NDA. He writes: After playing the Aion Beta Weekend, I find myself marveling at how stunning some of the graphics and character models are. In some games scenes like this are hard to come by, but they seem to be the norm in Aion. We'll have to see if everyone is as thrilled as launch gets closer. Remember, if you're in a beta - make sure you're not breaking NDA when you're sending in One Shots! Otherwise, they'll likely sit there for quite some time before I'm able to post them. If you've got non-NDA breaking screens to show off, email those to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post those up and let the world know it's all due to you. %Gallery-9798%
Delve into Champions Online's evil lairs trailer
Well look at this, a new Champions Online trailer has been released unto Gametrailers and thus, the world. It opens with an interesting winged angel superhero soaring into an intelligence meeting, but don't be fooled, this trailer's focus is solely on villainous lairs. Some of you would probably be more than happy with a video showcasing all the various wings and how they animate in flight (we spotted some Egyptian style wings in the trailer) but that's not happening today. Maybe there's a wings/flight video in the works, for all we know.There's some slightly cheesy voice acting and we're almost certain the narrator is attempting a commanding voice in the spirit of Optimus Prime, but the trailer is very enjoyable for what it is: campy superhero goodness. It may not be everyone's preference, but we're digging what we see and can't wait to raid some lairs come this September.Witness the full trailer embedded after the break.
Deep Flight Super Falcon winged submarine readies deep sea exploration in San Francisco
Inventor Graham Hawkes has been building deep sea exploration vessels for about 20 years. His newest submarine -- called the Deep Flight Super Falcon -- has a set of wings with a span of 10 feet, giving the 20 foot vessel a distinctly bird-like appearance. Hawkes has been working on the Falcon for several years, and it's just now ready to make its first deep sea journey. The battery-powered vessel is twenty feet long, can carry two people, and cruise depths of up to 1,500 feet at a speed of about 7 miles per hour. The winged vessel is extremely agile because of its animal-like shape, and researchers at Farallones National Marine Sanctuary are optimistic about it potential for studying and following exotic, mysterious sea creatures such as super sharks and the ever-elusive giant squid. The Super Falcon is set to fly around Monterey Bay from June 19th to July 17th, and will be on display to the public when not in use. Check out the video of the Falcon after the break.
Guitar Hero World Tour Monthly: Wings, Bob Seger, Shins, Incubus, Ryan Adams
Much like it did last month, Activision Blizzard has announced three new DLC packs for Guitar Hero World Tour due out in February. Let's hope this remains a dodeca-annual affair.Acoustic Track Pack (440 / $5.49) "Drive" - Incubus (160 / $2) "New Slang' - The Shins (160 / $2) "Wonderwall (Oasis cover)" - Ryan Adams (160 / $2) Wings Track Pack (440 / $5.49) "Junior's Farm" (160 / $2) "Hi Hi Hi" (160 / $2) "Jet" (160 / $2) Bob Seger Track Pack (440 / $5.49) "Old Time Rock and Roll" (160 / $2) "Her Strut" (160 / $2) "Get out of Denver (live)" (160 / $2) The Acoustic Track Pack is coming Thursday, February 12, followed by Wings and Seger on the two Thursdays after that, respectively, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Check out videos for the first trio after the break.
Guildwatch: Puppies can cause drama, too
This is Xander. You might think he's just a cute puppy, but no -- he's a drama-causing ball of AFK fury. A player in our drama section this week is the proud new owner of Xander, but the puppy caused so much AFK time for him that it rubbed his group the wrong way. Look in his eyes -- you can see he's got the power to split guilds and wipe groups at will!Lots more drama, downed news, and recruiting notices in this week's Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. Unfortunately, that's the only story that's puppy-related, but we've got lots of dead dragons and guild transfers. There's even a Blue appearance this week!
The Queue: I believe I can fly
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.So I made an oopsie yesterday. A rookie mistake! I referenced a picture that I used in The Queue a couple of days ago, and also showed off a picture of the character it may have been referencing. Only I used the same file name for both, so the original picture turned into the second picture. I'm pretty pro, I know. It's been fixed though, so if you want to see what the heck I'm talking about, check out Sunday's edition and then yesterday's edition and you will understand! Now, on with the show.Tim asked...I heard that there are new DK only facial features coming in the next patch. Will existing DK's get a chance to redo their toons or does Blizzard actually expect us to cough up $15?
Customization and community power in latest Ask Cryptic
Character customization seems to be the big focus in the newest Ask Cryptic for Champions Online. Questions about multi-limbed heroes (not at launch) and different stances to give your character (big yes!) receive the more strikingly straight-forward answers. It wouldn't be a big leap of logic to imagine that four-armed characters will eventually be possible, with the revealing of Grond (pictured above) last Halloween. We also learn that Cryptic is planning for plenty of wings and tails from the get-go, which should please a lot of players.However, the most interesting question asks Cryptic whether or not any of these community questions have actually changed their minds concerning design decisions. The response is fairly frank, with lead designer Randy "Arkayne" Mosiondz saying that fan response has definitely shifted the way that the team was implementing certain things. He goes on to point out that there haven't been any complete re-designs of systems, though. It's not surprising that Cryptic's listening to their community, as they've always been a rather smart developer in that way.
Aion: Tower of Eternity breaks all beta test records in Korea
While we had some grim news related to NCsoft's dip in profits yesterday, there may be a silver lining to this, in the form of Aion: The Tower of Eternity. A press release from NCsoft states that the Aion beta has surpassed all previous records for a beta test in Korea: "Concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history." That's a significant achievement, given how mature the market is in Korea. 11,000 people were logged into the Aion beta only two minutes after service began and hit 40,000 players within an hour. The rapid influx of players necessitated NCsoft having 25 servers running to accommodate them. David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle said, "The response we're seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting. Our Aion community in North America and Europe is rapidly growing. We've got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009." On the subject of Aion's launch, the press release lists Korea's commercial launch as being just a few weeks away. As Reid stated, the North American and European Aion launches are set for 2009, but NCsoft hasn't nailed down a specific launch date for these markets at this time.
Band on the Run takes a World Tour
For those of you who'd like to see The Beatles make their way into some music game, you might be able to have a nice consolation prize. Guitar Hero: World Tour has just been confirmed to include a plethora of new tracks, one of which is Paul McCartney & Wings' "Band on the Run." Whether you're a fan of the man's post-Beatles efforts or not, you have to admit it's a catchy tune. The full list of confirmed tracks is after the break.
