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Nintendo reveals new Monolith Soft game for Wii U, looks like Xenoblade
Nintendo has announced a new game from Monolith Soft, developer of Xenoblade Chronicles. A new trailer shows off gameplay and graphics reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicles, complete with grand, sweeping environments and massive monsters. The game will be directed by Tetsuya Takahashi and will feature music by Hiroyuki Sawano.The game has no title at the moment, though a large red X is displayed at the end of the trailer, indicating it probably fits in the "Xeno" series in one way or another.
Wings Over Atreia: Solo vs. group
OK, now get your collective minds all out of the gutter! There we go. Of course, the title speaks to gaming styles and preferences in Aion. Lately, I've had the topic of grouping crop up in different discussions, from the trend of decreasing group sizes (Star Wars Galaxies had groups of 20, then Lineage II had groups of nine, followed by other games with a maximum group size of six) to questioning the need to group at all. To group, or not to group: Is that really the question? I touched on this topic a bit a few weeks ago, but an adventure this past week brought my attention back to it; I discovered that you no longer need a full group for one of the more frustrating quests in the game (once you factor in trying to get a group when the rift is up and not have it camped on the other side by the enemy!). Instead, you can complete the quest with just two or three Daevas, a feat unheard of previously due to the difficult dungeon in enemy territory. Granted, we completed our quest, which would have been impossible otherwise given the circumstances. But on a broader scale, what's with the trend of phasing out group content in MMOs and catering to the solo crowd? This phenomenon puzzles me. When a game is an MMO (read "massively multiplayer"), why discourage grouping by making almost all content accessible to the solo crowd -- especially in Aion (where learning good group dynamics can be crucial in large scale warfare)? In a time when social skills seem to be struggling to survive, why open yet another opportunity for people to avoid interaction? Type /Invite and join me past the cut to examine this phenomenon and weigh in with your preferred gaming style in our comments.
Bigfoot Networks returns with Killer Xeno network card
Our hearts are aflutter this morning, as the long forgotten Bigfoot Networks has returned with a vengeance in order to fulfill desires of steroid-infused network interface cards. Nearly 2.5 years after the introduction of the original Killer comes the Killer Xeno, a next-gen NIC with more memory, an upgraded network processing unit (NPU) and integrated audio for hardware-accelerated voice-chat. Basically, this card promises that hardcore gamers / yappers will enjoy a "hiccup-free" voice experience while fragging, and if you reckoned you'd have to look far and wide to find one, you'd be mistaken. Today at the Game Developers Conference, Bigfoot has also announced a deal with Alienware, which will soon become the first exclusive PC OEM to ship the Killer Xeno Pro; beyond that, EVGA has become the firm's first exclusive third party AIB partner to license Killer Xeno. The Killer Xeno will arrive shortly in two flavors: the 256MB "Ultra" and 128MB "Pro," which will sell for $179.99 and $129.99, respectively.%Gallery-48349%
The UUCTOP Xeno: embarrass yourself on the Internets
Got 10 grand and a burning desire for Internet fame? Then grab that lightsaber son and prepare to dance, Xeno is ready to make all your dreams come true. In addition to sportin' a fine Soviet-era name, the UUCTOP Xeno is a full production studio cum broadcast server stuffed into a chubby laptop form factor. The device is apparently equipped with all the mixing and editing tools you'll need for its supported 4-channel video and 6-channel audio. Better yet, keep it real and just stream yourself live -- we won't laugh... promise.
