Open beta client now available for download!

Open beta client now available for download!

August 27, 2009 4:56 PM

Following our recent announcement regarding the commencement of Aion's open beta, we have taken steps to ensure a smooth setup and preparation process for all participants. While our Launcher will incrementally update your client, the new and patched Aion open beta client has been distributed to a select few partners around the web to prepare for our open beta test. To get your hands on it, you may visit FilePlanet or download it from GamersHell (available later this week).

We have also added a new option that the Aion community has long anticipated: downloading the full open beta client via our BitTorrent tracker (md5 checksum). We have even arranged for a torrent patch for those of you who already have the closed beta client installed but want to get prepared for open beta!

As added extra spice, FilePlanet will--in addition to distributing the client--be giving away a load of open beta keys starting on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. Get on the starting line if you do not have an eligible Aion account already! Eligible accounts include any previous closed beta participants and those who have preordered or prepurchased Aion.

Remember to update your Aion game password if your Aion account was created prior to July 29, 2009.

Blizzcon: WoW Cosplay At Its Best

Video Games | BlizzCon 2009 | BlizzCon 09: WoW Costume Contest

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I'm going to order me a Meeting Stone costume for Halloween fer shure!!

Aion: Open Beta, Pre-Select and Headstart Programs

Are you ready to rumble?

Aion's Open Beta, Pre-Select and Headstart Programs

August 27, 2009 8:56 AM

Within the next four weeks, we will treat European and North American gamers to two opportunities to jump into the world of Aion and explore Atreia as Asmodian or Elyos characters ahead of its release in Europe on 25nd September and North America 22th September. Aion's Open Beta Test featuring version 1.5 will take place 6-13th September and will include numerous Western enhancements, including improvements to Aion's innovative character customization with a host of Western styles, as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests and continued game balancing and improvements. Open Beta will retain a level cap for both Elyos and Asmodians characters at 30 allowing players to focus on getting to the same level so they can explore the lands of Atreia together, as well as the Abyss.

Players who have pre-ordered Aion will be treated to a Pre-Select and a two-day Headstart period giving them the opportunity to explore, organize and progress through the game prior to the official launch. Pre-Select will take place on 18th September, while Aion's Headstart will begin 20th September. Players can still participate in the Aion's Pre-Select and Headstart programs by pre-ordering the game through several participating online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

MWLL: Weekly Update XX - August 09/03

Saus: http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/content/view/380/1/

MWLL Weekly Update XX - August 09/03

MWLL news

Written by AoP

Sunday, 23 August 2009

Welcome to the 20th Weekly Update by the team of MechWarrior: Living Legends, a Crysis total conversion modification, which covers the activities of the third week of August of 2009. This week's update features more texture work on the Clans' war machinery: the Mad Cat MKII has received its textures. In addition, we're presenting to you some of those things that will make MWLL Maps appear to be populated and fill them with life - some of the new level assets. As usual, several screenshots from the weekly playtest conclude this update. Textures done: Mad Cat MKII Last week, you've seen the Clans' Mad Cat/Timberwolf and Vulture at this place. This week, we've got the Timberwolf's bigger brother for you: the Mad Cat MKII in all its shiny new glory. New level assets Filling huge maps like those you'll find in MWLL is not an easy job. Level assets certainly have their fair share in creating a map's atmosphere. New ones are being added constantly and the two screenshots below show some of the most recent additions. Also, don't let the shots confuse you: they're being shown on SA_Extremity, but there's good chance you might encounter some of these on other maps, too. Playtest Impressions Again, here are a few pictures from this week's playtest.

MechWarrior 4: F2P Coming...Soon (TM)

I keep checking back at MekTek, but it seems that they're still working on upgrading their servers in anticipation of the traffic they expect to receive when they finally do put up MW4 for free. Here's the latest (kinda' old still) news about the process:

Mechwarrior4 FREE Release Update

Posted by Vam, Saturday, 15 August 2009 06:57 Comments(0), Read all Well folks its certainly time for an update regarding the the FREE release of Mechwarrior4 recently announced. I figured it would be worth mentioning considering this is the weekend of GENCON 2009 where all of the major players in the Mechwarrior and BattleTech world are expected to converge on Indianapolis this weekend. We have been receiving a wealth of requests for information regarding this release from gamers both young and old. As a game fan community development site such as MekTek, receiving such honor to release a million dollar product developed by Microsoft may be one thing but delivering on this release successfully is another. Currently, MekTek is working around the clock on pretty much everything in preparation for this free release. There will be a second media blitz when the release is ready as both MekTek and the release partners want to ensure the word travels far and wide regarding the official release. Also expect to see more info regarding partner developments around this time on BattleTech.com.

The reason we did not re-package the ISOs of Mechwarrior4 and release the game as is right after the release of the announcement is because we simply were not prepared. The news and announcement of the FREE release happened very quickly and was dropped in our lap almost as quickly as it was dropped in yours. Since the announcement, we have been diligently preparing for the release of Mechwarrior4 which has all of the digital protection mechanisms removed. Along with this development we have also been working on our MekMatch software. For those of you not familiar, MekMatch is a reverse engineered protocol developed for match making services in Mechwarrior4 by MekTek. This service was developed after Microsoft terminated the Zonematch service which officially supported Mechwarrior4 multiplayer. Our MekMatch software needed a serious overhaul to handle the amount of traffic we expect on our servers when the game is released. MekTek also plans to include MekPak3.1 with the free release of Mechwarrior4 which includes an additional 100+ new battlemechs, dozens of new weapons, maps, and other content developed by MekTek. The distribution will come as a single file self-installable which will be initially downloadable via torrent trackers and later provided in multi part volumes, ISO. Finally, MekTek is also releasing a new application which has been in development since this announcement which provides the community with the latest patches and software from MekTek. This software will greatly simplify the patching process of Mechwarrior4 and allow MekTek to push updates, such as our MekPak4, to the Mechwarrior4 community much easier than in the past.

The unfortunate aspect of all this great news is that all of these new developments could have been ironed out before the announcement but they were not. Our partners felt an initial announcement was necessary and so did we. We plan to release Mechwarrior4 for FREE when developments are completed and considered stable. We are also waiting on legal paper work from lawyers and as anyone out there that has worked in the professional industry knows, something of this magnitude takes time on all fronts. MekTek is not receiving any financial support from the partners regarding this release and obviously no one can quit their daytime job to get the job done faster either. The release has entered beta status and will be delivered to the world very shortly. MekTek is supported through donations from our community and thus far we have received 50% of our goal to cover server infrastructure costs. We hope the community will continue to support us during this very busy time to ensure we have the best possible hardware in place for this release.

Thanks for supporting us folks, while we work hard on something new and shiny, for everyone, for FREE!

So, let us continue to be patient, and if you want, go donate!

FFXIV: Extra Screenies, Monsters and Moar

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090821_310015.html

Some images of note:

The Tailor (that you transform into a la JEM, but equipping a Sewing Kit.)


And my fave, the Sabotender (though, this one isn't as cute as the old ones):

FFXIV: Famitsu Interview With Hiromichi Tanaka

After reading all those Famitsu articles drooling over the leaked gameplay footage, I'm really really looking forward to getting my hands on FFXIV. I plan on dropping everything--and I mean everything--to play it, and yes, I'll even sacrifice my little Elvaan WHM for the cause.

Ahhh, here's to rumours of the OB taking place in September being true!

Saus: ZAM

As Hiromichi Tanaka, producer of Final Fantasy XIV, hacked his way through a demonstration of a "Puk Extermination" Guildleve quest, Famitsu flanked him with some questions about their presentation and what it says about the state of the upcoming MMO.

Read on to see the full story and discuss it in the ZAM forums.

In the gameplay videos, we saw some people fighting dodos and others fighting puks. It turns out that the full scope of the quest requires one to defeat dodos until puks appear. Tanaka states that this is just one of the many ways they will incorporate puzzle-solving elements into Guildleve quests. Also, while there may be an expansive area to explore, later builds of the game will display your targets on the map, so finding those puks that need exterminating will be much easier. As an alpha version, the demo at Gamescom did not include this feature yet.

When the interviewer remarked on how beautiful the graphics were, Tanaka took the opportunity to give some hints about how powerful they will become. It turns out the background scenery was heavily compressed for the demo, and will be greatly improved to the point where individual trees will be rendered far into the distance.

At this point, Tanaka begins attacking some dodos and moves on to discuss the battle system. In Final Fantasy XI, the player would select the attack command and enter an Auto-Attack mode. To spice up the flow of battle, Final Fantasy XIV will require players to select commands each time they attack, and the combination of commands they choose will determine the technique they use. This will put all new emphasis on strategy and keep players engaged in battle.

Action Commands, as Tanaka calls them, are lined up along the bottom of the screen as icons. Those who are grumbling about a passing resemblance to World of Warcraft will be happy to know the layout is tentative and certainly subject to change. The current setup has players selecting an ability from the from the bottom which then appears as a command in your gauge. There are two gauges - one for the left hand and one for the right hand. For example, the character that Tanaka was controlling had a shield in his left hand, so the left-handed gauge had shield commands registered to it.

To activate an ability, the player needs to store up their "Action Gauge." The strength and accuracy of a technique can be further increased by storing up the "Power Gauge." The "TP Gauge" also makes a return, which when full will alter the effects of your technique in a variety of ways. The TP gauge will increase when the player attacks or is attacked by an enemy. During this explanation, Tanaka unleashes Red Lotus Blade with a grin, much to the delight of the interviewer, who immediately recognizes the sword technique.

Magic will be used the same way - through Action Commands - but will only be available if you are equipped with a weapon that allows their use. Swords give sword-based abilities and staves will give magic-based abilities. Also, there are skills that cannot be used until you have acquired enough skill in a particular weapon. In total, you can line up 10 commands in the bar of icons along the bottom. However, in future versions Tanaka states they intend to include a macro system, so players can customize and combine their favorite abilities to their liking.

Another bit of customization, to which players are responding positively, is the ability to drag-and-drop the various info boxes around the screen. There are default positions for each piece of the UI, such as Action Commands, player status, chat box and party status. These will all be movable, and the chat log will be fully adjustable as well. The camera position will have options as well, although the main position will be an over-the-should third person perspective. Tanaka expects there to be three different camera angle to choose from in the final version.

When asked why they decided to go with this battle system, Tanaka explained that first and foremost they wanted to get players more active in battle, which the auto-attack system discouraged. Final Fantasy XI focused on each job having a clear role, with players designing parties around combining those roles. However, in Final Fantasy XIV, they wanted to develop a system where players could easily enjoy the game alone, with a friend, with three people or more. The system is built around the concept of meeting each player's own playstyle.

Tucked in next to the Action Commands, the interviewer noticed a smiley face, which Tanaka revealed was a set of emoticons. In Final Fantasy XI, players were limited to creating emotes through text, but Final Fantasy XIV will provide a set of graphical smileys for users to express themselves. In addition, there are the motions that we all saw displayed in the video at Gamescom. According to Tanaka, these were created through the use of motion-capture technology. However, capturing facial expressions proved too difficult, so the developers ended up designing those manually. Unfortunately, players cannot use full-body emotes during battle at this stage.

At this point, Tanaka finishes up his quest and warps back to the starting point of the Guildleve and moves towards the Aetheryte. Although prevalent in the demo, transportation via Aetheryte will not be so common in the actual game. The majority of their use will be involved with the Guildleve system, as players need to travel to the site of the quest and back again. However, like the user interface, a lot can change before the final game is complete. Tanaka says the game is likely only 40-50% complete at this stage, and the demo cut out basically any elements that were not essential to displaying the Guildleve system. The main focus of the presentation at Gamescom was to show players how Guildleve worked, and how it delivered quests that were enjoyable and light on time. However, this is not to say things will be all fun and games. While the quests shown to players took only 15 minutes of their time, there will many more quests with varying levels of difficulty and time requirements. In addition, there will be hordes of other monsters roaming the countryside that will be sure to make completing your intended task a little trickier.

Tanaka admits that showing off an incomplete game can draw criticism from disappointed players, but he hopes that others may show praise for how far Final Fantasy XIV has come. Currently, the most advanced portion of the game is the graphics, so there are many areas that many completely change before the release date. The idea is that Square Enix will showcase new portions of the game as they continue development, allowing players to experience individual content before a complete beta is put together. While in Germany this meant a playable demo at Gamescom, there may be a playable version that users sign up to try out in Japan, more like, as Tanaka put it, a giant focus group. Players will be added gradually, and once the game is polished enough, and there is a solid base of users, they will initiate an open beta.

Whatever the shape it will take, Tanaka uses his closing words to assure fans everywhere that everyone will get a chance to play a demo of the game, saying, "The fruits of our labor are finally coming to bear, and the development team is working hard to get the game ready. We're planning to let everyone get a shot at a playable version like we have done here in Germany, so please look forward to it."

Source: Famitsu

Diablo III: I Cast Magic Missile!

...At the darkness!

Video Games | Diablo III | Wizard Magic Missile Gameplay

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

WoW: Worgen Transformation Video

Since I'll NEVAH defect, it was kinda' cool to watch. Can't wait to kill them on my Goblin Priest.

SWTOR: GC 2009 Walkthroughs!

Just a little something to whet your appetizzles! (I didn't' see no sexy Hutts though.)

Part 1: (Cinematic Dialogue & Bounty Hunter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQT8Jdc_RA

Part 2: (Smuggler & Sith Warrior)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRETcv6NUnE

Part 3: (Flash Points & The Choices You Make)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhBdMGFDOw

Part 4: (Team Work & Lewtz!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h0EWkMtyQs

Someone come mop up my slobber!

Champions Online: Beta Now Open to All

And you can check it out at FilePlanet:

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/champions-online/beta/?_cmpid=fp191

See for yourself if the game is truly innovative, or simply City of Champions!

WoW: Cataclysm Expansion Confirmed

And the info is all here:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

Woo!

And the Trailer:


I noticed that you could play a Goblin Priest, so guess who'll be switching up when the expac hits. Mwahahahaah! Little goblin on a fat kodo!

FFXIV: Updates from GameCom & Leaked Gameplay Footage!

Read it all here:

http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?/topic/424-ffxiv-at-gamescom-updated-all-the-time/

I'm totally jealous. Looks like they had a playable and polished version there.

And the vids? Sooo sekasi!!

Some leaked game play footage!

Aion: 1.5 Trailer From Games Con!

Where's my Aion Count Down Clock?

Champions Online: First Impressions

Let me begin by saying that it took me pretty much half of Monday to get the game working. Yes, the Patch servers were being hammered (it's expected in any game), so I don't hold that against Cryptic, but I do feel gypped that I had pre-loaded an unbeknownst to me broken ass copy of the game from FilePlanet like a good little lemming, only to find out I had to download another version. That was also broken. Slightly. Add into the mix that it took about three hours to download the final 200 KB of a 74 MB patch (it would restart itself at 99.6% over and over again), suffice to say I wasn't a happy camper.

But I, like many others, trudged on, after a good 12 hours, made it to a shitty loading screen with a giant flaming monkey on it.

Queue my internet crapping out on me.

Yay!

So, in rolls Tuesday and I finally begin to make my character.

Character Customization: As promised, Champions Online has an extensive Character Creation System. It's pretty awesome, down to adjusting just whether you want your left or right eye pupiless or what not, to the cool looking 'Mecha options for your Super Hero Gundam dude. But if you have ever played the CoX series, you will not be *that* impressed. For as many things they added to adjust, it seems that Cryptic also recycles as much from CoX which while annoying, is not a game breaker in anyway. Additionally, I found the face selection--even with the sliders--lacking, and that only by scrunching the crap out of my character's face (I had to use a Mood to trick it), could I make an Asian sort of character. Plus, I couldn't really give her anything but ho bag skin tight pants, which wasn't the look I was going for. On the other hand, there were more power sets to choose from, from Force to Sorcery to Gadgetry and more, so I ended picking up dual blading, just because it seemed to go with my whole generic Asian super hero concept.


Graphics: I wasn't that impressed with the game world that I saw, and I did have stuff jacked up to the highest setting that I could. The environment looked cardboardy and plain to me, but I think that's because you can't get that detailed when you can break most of the scenery (lamp posts, boxes, rubble etc). As for the character models, the faces really aren't that great, but the over all characters themselves, and the effects surrounding them look pretty nice, in a cell shaded way.


Gameplay: Once your character is made, you get thrown into a Tutorial area, just like in CoX. You begin with 2 skills, an energy builder, then a bigger attack you can only do if you have enough energy. That means that you're always attacking, and the more energy you have, the more you can chain in your bigger and stronger attacks, ultimately ending a mob's life with a huge finisher. Pretty simple, and very fast paced--no real standing around in this game. You also have a "block" button, because every so often, mobs will do a BAM! or some other cheesy Batman Comic Book SFX attack which does a ton of damage. You will get ample warning, not to mention this giant bubble above your enemy's head.

As you level, you get talent points to buy more abilities, improve your abilities, add stats and so on, so forth, and as you do improve your skills, they get flashier and flashier. Pretty sweet, though some of the skills kinda' suck, but I imagine, those are a work in progress. You also get a travel ability at level 6 (pretty fuckin' soon), ranging from the standard super jump, flying, and then, tunneling. Like a mole. Stupid looking yes, but it gets you there and safely.

Leveling: Questing is done through the standard kill, collect and FedEx quests. AND, if you've ever played WAR, a complete and utter rip off of the PQ (Public Quest) concept, except without the ability to win sweet lewtz. It seemed to go pretty fast though, leveling you up within a handful of quest turn ins.

Lewtz: Since your outfit is whatever you created in the Character Creator, there's no real "gear". What you instead get are items you "socket" into primary and secondary categories. These are 1X each of a Primary Offense, Defense and Utility socket, then 2x each of a Secondary Offense, Defense and Utility. And example item would be, Wand of Magic Missile, Primary Offense, +10 Nerdiness +5 Geekiness +1.5 Spell Damage. A secondary version of this would be weaker.

PVP: Can't write much about this as I don't know how the PVP is first hand (the days I was playing, the queue was broken, but from what I read, it's not a huge part of the game). There is a camp of those who have tried it say it's super (no pun intended) fun...while the another group blames it for causing a bunch of unnecessary nurfs to their PVE power sets and hate it. I'd like to try it later on this week before the end of Open Beta to make a decision for myself, but I'm thinking big ranged boomers will dominate over charge-less melee types like myself.

Miscellany: WTB new voice actor for Witchcraft. Oh, and you can't play a villain, which is much much MUCH more fun. And probably reserved for an expansion of some sort. (Maybe you get to play as your Nemesis in the future? Hmmm?)

Overall: I played CoV for quite a bit a few years ago. I loved my Mastermind, and I loved seeing the goodie goodie two shoes Super Heroes get beat the fuck up--unfortunately, after a little while, for a hard core gamer like me, there's only so many times you can beat the same Super Heroes the fuck up, so I moved on. And CO, unfortunately, gives me the same feeling. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is quite a bit of fun...as in a burst of fun. But will it have long term potential? (By which I mean, longer than it takes to create your character?)

The other thing that I've been alluding to, is that Champions Online is nothing really new. If they said CO was the new expansion for CoX, I wouldn't blink. I bet if you got someone to play COX and told them it was CO, they wouldn't blink. Heck, even the names, CO and CoX are similar. The gameplay and ideas are just not that new to me. That being said, if you haven't played the CoX series in the past, you'll probably appreciate CO much much more than me. As for whether or not it will make you want to plunk down money for the game, a sub AND THEN possibly the in-game shop too...is a whole other can of worms.

And I happen to hate worms.

But still a week to go before the end of Beta. Maybe Cryptic will find a way to WoW me. ;) Or maybe WoW will WoW me again with some seksi reports from BlizzCon.

Champions Offline: The Patcher Boss Strikes!

I've had this downloaded for almost a week now and boy, was that a mistake. I guess Cryptic decided to release a different version of the download half an hour before the game went beta live and screwed the diligent folks. Silly me for thinking ahead.

And if you decided to download late, don't worry, the Patcher is fucked up too, so if it even starts up for you, you're in for a treat.

But first, a fix for anyone is in the same fail boat as me:

Patcher fix. has worked for me!!

---

Ok to much dismay and typical mmo release fashion.. champions online launch was far from flawless.. anyone who downloaded the fileplanet pre release before, you're slightly luckier then anyone who didnt.

Basically 2 weeks ago they released a pre launch was about 1.8gb to download and unlocked today, today they sent another prerelease version to fileplanet which is 1.9gb to download and was uploaded and hosted pretty much 5min before the game went live for open beta... if u did download the old version, you need to download the new version too, if u didnt download the old version, u have to download both versions to get the game to work with minimal frustration.

basically you have to install the old version first, then run the launcher, cancel it straight away and go into your game folder. in the folder

C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Champions Online\Live

or wherever you installed it to, you will see a heap of .hogg files, you need to cut these and paste them in the directory below overwritting the old files

C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Champions Online\Live\piggs

you will notice not all of the files will be overwritten (as in, they may have been left out of the release, who knows it's a mix up either way i'm guessing) and if you attempt to patch now, there is another 985mb waiting for you. at this point what you need todo is install the newer version of the beta client over the already installed game

go back into the

C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Champions Online\Live

folder and you will see those .hogg files in there again, cut and paste them into the same folder as before overwritting whatever isnt already there and then you should be good to start the patcher and find you only have to patch about 78mb which ill pause at regular intervals causing you to close and reopen the client untill it's completely updates and playable

I had to repeat this process twice because I soon found that the last step just ruined everything I had previously done for me. So just ignore it; do not go copy pastaing if you don't see any files, just run the patcher after you install the new copy of Champions.

Now let's talk about patching shall we? I kid you not, I only had 74 MB to download, but it's been about, ohhh, 3 hours now and I'm only at 35 downloaded. Again. Yes, since the patcher randomly decides to STOP THE FUCK UP AND NOT DOWNLOAD WITHOUT WARNING ERASING ALL YOUR PREVIOUS PROGRESS, you have to be on the ball and keep closing it, and reopening it again until it decides to load everything up. Trust me, this is HOURS of fun. Better than having to watch "Legally Blondes" or the fuckin' "Hannah Montana" movie.

So in the meanwhile, I've been reading all the Open Beta reviews that have been showing up, and WOW, there are a shit ton of bad ones. I asked my friend who skipped work and managed to get his game going in 7 hours as opposed to my 12, how it was, and he said, "If you like CoX, then you'll like Champions. You'll spend hours on the character creation alone."

And so I sit here, leveling my lowbie Warrior in hopes that maybe, sometime tonight, I'll get a glimpse at all the shit I'm missing. :(

AOC: Your Account Has Been Frozen

Dear Age of Conan customer,

We are sending you this mail to notify you that the subscription period for your account XXXXXXXXX ended on August 09, 2009.

Once you are ready to continue your adventures, please log in to https://register.ageofconan.com to reactivate your account. Your friends and enemies in Hyboria await you.

We wish to thank you very much for spending time with us and we hope to see you again soon.

And my love affair with "Age of Conan" is finally over.

Again.

I had really hoped that things had changed for the better. As I wrote when I first came back to Hyboria, Funcom did a great job fixing all little problems with loading, zoning and questing that caused super nerd rage on the forums when the game was first released. But once again, these are things that should have been there in the first place, not a year later. Sure, they added one area, and as pretty as it is, it's just too little too late. I couldn't bring myself to continue leveling--I had no drive, because even the "fixed" gear, was still kinda' off. (And ugly as sin.) My ToS didn't even have any new fatalities. Even worse, no new dances! BOO!

And try as I might to find a raid, I couldn't find anything going, much less a mini-game to get into. I sat in queue for about an hour and nothing but the same guy screaming over Global to get more 80s to sign up. The game felt so deserted from how it I remember it when I first played.

So will I be going back when the expansion is released? Absolutely not. Not unless it's for free, just to see what they've done. And even if it were free, I just don't know. Funcom broke my heart with AoC the first go around, and it broke it again when I went back.

WoW: "Cataclysm" Expansion Details Leaked

I won't post it all for you to see since if it's true--IF--it's pretty radical. Not only is the info coming from MMO-Champion though, but it's also nowhere near Tin Foil Hat April Fool's Day.

I will however reveal one sexy possibility: "Flying in Azeroth!"

So if your heart can take anymore, check it out!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=92919.0

We should be hearing something soon from BlizzCon.

TCoS: Free to Play FO YO FACE!

This is from the TCOS Developer's Blog:

It happens sometimes; a really good game will slip through the cracks. There are a lot of reasons why this happens and I know you will have opinions, but I’m not here to talk about that.

I feel like Spellborn was one of those games. A solid MMORPG with a twitch combat interface that meant that player skill actually mattered in PvP. Most of those who played it enjoyed it. And it did pretty well in the reviews online. It was originally a subscription based game with servers in EU and North America, and is now in redevelopment to be converted to a F2P. Acclaim still has servers running the original version and that is why I’m writing this.

We felt like people missed out. They didn’t get to see what Spellborn was really like. And we are going to fix that.

Today, as you read this, Spellborn as it currently exists is now free to play. Keep in mind that there will be no upgrades and no patches. It has become in effect, an Action RPG with superior Multiplayer. The only thing it will cost you to play is the time it takes to download.

So play it. http://www.tcos.com

Now because it is frozen in time, we will be creating events for the players and we will help support any players that want to make their own events. And if you have thoughts on how we might make this version more enjoyable as we wait for the New free to play version, we are glad to listen.

David Historian DeWald
Community Manager
Acclaim Games Inc.
community@acclaim.com

I did get a chance to play Spellborn, and I've got to say, one of the best parts of that game is the character "look" customization. I easily spent an hour making sure I looked spiffy in red and black. But as for the game itself, I didn't get very far because while I enjoyed the FPS like combat system, it just didn't grab me. It might have been me getting ganked by wolves along the road and dying in seconds, but ego aside, I didn't see enough in it to subscribe.

But now that it's free, I may just go back and check it out.

All Points Bulletin: Beta Sign Ups Open!

If you can get on to their website that is.

Looks like http://www.apb.com is experiencing a TON of traffic right now so you may experience some server time outs if you try to apply now.

So if you're impatient, WAIT a few hours and apply (or suffer the, I input everything but the server timed out so I gotta' fill in all that info again problem over and over again). And remember to name your DXDiag file:

firstname.lastname.DxDiag.txt

Don't say I didn't warn you!

And good luck everyone getting in.

Little Title Change

The old name was kinda' weak but I couldn't think of anything better...so ta da, a new name for the same old shitty ass blog. Yay?

I tried to make it SEKSI so I can get free epix in games. Send them nao!

WoW: Onyxia Returns!

Oh sisnaps!!

The Brood Mother Returns

She has lurked in her lair and done battle with the many brave adventurers who travelled to that familiar location over the years. Now, in honor of the World of Warcraft 5-year anniversary, the dreaded brood mother Onyxia is being revamped to make a return to the forefront of Azeroth, as part of our big plans for the upcoming 3.2.2 content patch.

This permanent update to Onyxia will convert the dungeon into 10- and 25-player modes. We will be adding new items to Onyxia’s loot table that have the same model as some of the classic loot from this dungeon, like Tier 2 helms, with stats updated to match the current level of content. There will be a special new item too: a normal drake-sized 310% speed flying mount modeled after Onyxia herself called Brood of Onyxia. We will also be updating the encounter mechanics to be more fitting for modern raiding, but we can guarantee players will get to experience the frightening horror of deep breaths once again.

Then for a limited time, after the 5-year anniversary event officially begins in November, anybody who logs in will receive an Onyxia Brood Whelpling pet.

We’re very excited to bring this classic encounter back to provide a fun new experience for both new and veteran players. Further details will be available in the near future, and we will be setting up the Public Test Realms soon to help test out this fight along with all the new content we have planned for the patch. Keep an eye on the forums for updates!

Sadly, I was advised that I was much harsher as a raid leader. :(

Fallen Earth: Battle Begins August 17 in Open Beta

I haven't heard very good things about it, but a free chance is a free chance!

Battle Begins August 17 in Open Beta

August 12, 2009

---

FALLEN EARTH, LLC announced today that the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer online (MMO) game of the same name will begin an Open Beta program August 17. Players who want to get an early glimpse of Fallen Earth on August 17 need only register on FilePlanet beginning Friday, August 14 at 1 p.m. ET (GMT-4).

Taking place in the Grand Canyon, Fallen Earth gives players the choice to rebuild the decaying world or participate in its destruction through use of the classless advancement system, real-time crafting and the seamless integration of first-person shooter and role-playing game mechanics.

“The Open Beta and Pre-Order programs give a much larger group of players the opportunity to experience Fallen Earth,” says Jessica Orr, product manager for Fallen Earth. “We are excited that players want to get a jump on the game, and we are including a little something extra for being among the first to order.”

Those who pre-order Fallen Earth at Direct2Drive get an exclusive in-game mount—the Wasteland Runner—which has four more points of defensive skills, 2500 more Stamina and six more pack slots than other horses. Additionally, pre-orders receive a guaranteed spot in the Open Beta and a five-day head start in the game, beginning September 4.

Keep up to date with all the Fallen Earth action on the Facebook and Twitter pages.

About FALLEN EARTH, LLC

Formed in 2003, FALLEN EARTH, LLC is a special purpose entity born out of Icarus Studios dedicated to the production of the independently produced and published, massively multiplayer online game (MMO) unlike any other, Fallen Earth. Set in the Grand Canyon in 2156 and mixing first-person shooter-style action with role-playing game design, players explore a post-apocalyptic universe in which players must craft, trade, and scavenge through the wastelands of the American Southwest to unravel the mysteries of the deadly Shiva virus. Fallen Earth is co-developed with Icarus Studios using the patented technology xScape™ Platform and available exclusively for the PC.

PUG Life: Why I PUG

Definition:

1. "In RL, a pug is a small, wheezy dog that looks like it had its face smashed in by brick wall."
2. "In online gaming, the acronym PUG stands for "Pick-Up Group," which is a group of players who've gotten together (or been thrown together) in order to accomplish a goal, a quest, or whatever. PUGs are oftentimes mix-and-match, hit-or-miss groups that are less than optimum for achieving a goal." (Courtesy of LagKills, A Glossary of Online Gaming Acronyms.)

Usage:

• As a noun: "Hmm, no one's on. I guess I'll just catch a PUG."
• As a verb: "Why don't I tank, and we can PUG a Healer."
• As an adjective: "No, it's not a Guild group, it's a PUG group."

Signature Examples:

• WoW: The group successfully rolls through the first 2/3s of a Heroic Dungeon. On a trash pull, the healer loses power, disconnects and the group wipes. A minute later, the healer returns, explains the situation, GETS CALLED A "NUB," by the Rogue pulling 800 DPS and the entire group disbands.
• FFXI: The RDM in the group doesn't have Refresh because he wants to be "unique," and not follow the crowd. The WHM decides to teach him a lesson by only using Hexa Strike, you wipe, delevel and the group disbands.
• DDO: You enter the Vault of the Night and notice the Rogue you've picked up to disable the traps is wearing Plate and wielding a Two-Hander. (Because she's also got 5 levels of PALADIN in case someone needs her to Tank--and 1 Level of Cleric for Cure Light Wounds.) The trap kills all the healers, a single, stray kobold kills everyone else and the raid disbands.

**NOTE** You may be thinking, "FFS JOIN A HARD CORE RAIDING GUILD SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUG, R-TARD" as you read through. But I'm done with 48/7 raiding dramz and am currently very very happy in a smaller guild of friends and family. Since we're older and work, not everyone can play every hour of every day, and while we can do 10/12 mans no problem, for bigger raids or off nights, I choose to PUG.**

PUGs get a lot of bad press. There are pages and pages of horror stories littering the Interwebz or announced over Global chat, and surely as a gamer, you have one or two of your own. Hell, you may even have been the culprit of a "fail" PUG when you were first learning. And though the worst possible PUGs can make you tear your hair out and never want to log in again, PUGging, really isn't all snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. It can be suger and spice and everything nice as well with a little bit of skill I call, "luck".

After all, in a group of competent people who know what their doing and are all on the same page, how often do you get in "trouble?" How often are you thinking on your feet rather than following the rote? And how often are you forced into doing something you'd never think of doing before in order to help your group survive? Oh yes, it's easy to be a "good player" when everyone else around you is good. But it's when you're standing at the very edge of the cliff that you either learn to sink or swim and hold your own.

And then there's the the flip side where you end up the low man on the DPS pole. Perhaps you're trying out a new spec, or new Job. PUGs are a great way to meet other folks who can help you with your rotation or guide you through a dungeon you've never visited before. PUGs can teach you new boss strategeries and give you great tips as well about gearing or what not (yes, I have a Warrior and Shadow Priest crush--you know who you are <3).>

Ah yes, no pain, no gain, and sometimes, lots and lots of pain and still no gain. But whether you're in a "WIN" or "FAIL" raid, one things for sure, a PUG can get the adrenalin flowing and the blood pumping...and hopefully not just because you chucked your screen out the window.

Aion: Intro Cinematic Trailer

Video Games - E3 2009 - X-Play

And you though all G4 was good for was Olivia Munn's tittays.

WoW: Add Ons I Can't Live Without

No no no, I'm not talking about Deadly Boss Mods or Omen Threat Meter. I'm talking about the really important add-ons you may or may not know about.

First up! And I guarantee that once you get this, you'll never go back:

1) BEJEWELED. Stuck dead in an instance because someone's wireless mouse ran out of batteries and they ran into the 4 Horsemen? No worries! Accidentally took the flight path to Booty Bay from Undercity? It's all good! Because Bejeweled can be set up to pop up in Classic or Timed mode whenever something goes horribly wrong for you. You can even compare your scores with friends and guildies and mock them for not dying as long as you. You can try PEGGLE too, but it's just not as fun as Bejeweled.

Just a warning though. If you don't pay attention when you're manually flying, your proto-drake can crash into a mountain and somehow fall (with you on its back) to its death. Of course, that means one thing...MORE BEJEWELED FOR YOU!

2) GearScore. Mouse over anyone at any time and see their Gear Score proudly displayed for you. Load up the GearScore Recount option and you can compare GearScore vs HPS/DPS. My warning for this one is that when you first get it, it's HELLA' addicting. I barely made it through to Krasus Landing from the Horde Inn in 30 minutes because I was having too much fun mousing over everyone. Hours of fun! Guaranteed!

3) Event Horizon. Didn't think I'd ever use something like this, but I tried it out and to my gerbil like brain, it's awesome. I can't stop looking at the timers. A great gadget for keeping your DoTs, HoTs and Buffs up. Unfortunately, it won't be getting anymore upgrades as the developers are quitting WoW. (I bet because of all the shitty ass players pouring back in thanks to 3.2).

Give 'em a look see!

SWTOR: Release Date Rumours

I just noticed this on MMORPG. Sounds about right...happy next birthday to me?

According to French site StarWars-Universe.com (English Translation) a release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been announced. The target is set for an October 2010 release, according to this report.

Keep in mind, we are currently classifying this as a rumor. We have no information to substantiate it at this time, so take it with a grain of salt.

WoW Patch 3.2: The Welfare Epic Extravaganzaaaaaa Rant

I'm not a 48/7 end game raider, nor am I a casual, log in for an hour or two a day player. I play enough to rival anyone in a raiding guild (whether it's productive or not is a different story), and while I'm not infatuated with WoW, I find it to be an entertaining, solid game to play while I wait for things like "Aion" or "Modern Warfare 2" to come out.

But 3.2 is driving me nuts.

In the new 5 man, Trial of the Champion, even on normal, you practically sneeze and a Naxx 10 item gets thrown in your face. Win at the heroic version, and it's Ulduar 10 level loot. And how guilty do I feel getting 5 Conquest Emblems for rolling through H VH!?!?! How many times did I have to suffer through dumb asses running into me with eye beams on Kologarn for one measely badge? HOW MANY?

What next, Blizz? Our own in game bot like in Jade Dynasty so the ridiculously easy road to 80 gets even easier? How about Epics for mounting and dismounting? Better yet, just for logging in?

*sigh*

I do like that casual players and non-raiders are now able to trick themselves out (my friends who don't get to play as much love the patch for allowing them to catch up on gear), but I cannot stand that every single awful, "terribad" player to ever exist is also now able to trick themselves out.

There was quite a bit of incompetance before, but in their sexy new T8s, I've had Tankadins scream bloody murder at me not to AOE because they can't hold aggro on 3 mobs, and cried just a little inside when I see Frost Manges having trouble pulling 1000 dps on the SPIDER WING trash mobs.

Somehow, Gear Score has been equated to being a good player, and the shittiest of the shitty now consider themselves the elite. Just yesterday in H UP, the following conversation took place:

1200 dps Warlock: "Dood, i keepz puling teh agroz i need 2 dps slowwer" (Gear Score: 4200)
1600 dps Paladin: "We r roooooooooling dis jizzoint!" (Gear Score: 4300)
Me: "How much slower can you get?"
Lock: "Nub"

Yeah, I was being catty, but that's after 15 minutes of him boasting about his UBAH dps. Now, I am not the best geared Shadow Priest, nor am I the best player, but suffice to say I was doing over their combined DPS and 20% more over all damage despite having to kite mobs when the Pally tank would forget to put on Righteous Fury. (This happened twice.)

Am I an elitist? Hellz yeah. Because if expecting someone to do their job is being an elitist, I am so there.

Curse you, Aion! September 22nd can't come quick enough. :(

As Seen on TV: Billy Mays Coke Death

So...yeah:

Autopsy: Cocaine a Factor in Billy Mays' Death

Posted Aug 7th 2009 4:33PM by TMZ Staff

A mighty shocking autopsy report concludes cocaine contributed to the sudden death of pitchman Billy Mays back in June.

The report, which was released today, lists "cocaine use" as a contributing cause of death -- along with hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease.

A Hillsborough County press release says "from the presence of metabolites of cocaine and the absence of cocaine itself, it was concluded that Mr. Mays used cocaine in the few days prior to his death but not immediately prior to death."

Mays died in his sleep on June 28 at his home in Florida.

UPDATE: Official documents show the following drugs were in Mays' system -- hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (painkiller), alprazolam (Xanax), nordiazepam (Valium), benzoylecgonine (byproduct of cocaine) and temazepam (anti-anxiety). Ethanol -- alcohol -- was also in Mays' system.

I understand that coke was a "factor" but I don't know, all the OTHER shit might have had something to do with it too. But I'm not a doctor.

Champions Online: State of the Game Letter

As open beta draws closer (Aug 17th, 2009), thought this would be of interest! INNNNTARESTING read.

State of the Game: August 6th, 2009

Posted by Chronomancer

Greetings, heroes!

I’ve been traveling all around this crazy continent telling people about the game. So much so, that I completely forgot that I was going to be in Los Angeles yesterday showing the game to the Associated Press and Game Trailers and wouldn’t be at Cryptic HQ to put out this week’s State of the Game. The good news is more and more people are hearing about the game at the same time we’ve been getting more beta testers in to play it!

Nemesis Clues

Heroes should start seeing clues at level 20 in the next week that lead them to creating their Nemesis at level 25. There’s something dastardly happening in the background…

Planning Your Pre-Order Rewards

Many of our retail partners are offering Cryptic Points as part of their pre-order incentive programs. These points can be used to make micro-transaction purchases from our store, thus allowing our players to choose their own pre-order rewards! We wanted to give you a sneak peek into some of the things you’ll be able to get when the game launches:

Special Edition Action Figures

• Defender
• Ironclad
• Witchcraft
• Kinetic
• Dr. Destroyer

Special Edition Toys

• Army Man
• Clown
• Pirate
• Robot
• Army Helicopter
• Civilian Helicopter
• Submarine

Crafting Specializations

Heroes enter into the research and development in one of the three crafting schools by talking to a trainer. After this, they also now choose which of three specializations within that field they want to pursue. There are different items available to craft within each specialization, and even some of the items that are similar across specialization may have different visual effects that players can choose to display.

A hero can change specializations at any time. To change specializations within a school, simply talks to the trainer and choose to switch to the new specialization. Be forewarned that there is a cost, however. All accumulated skill points will be lost when switching to a different school OR a different specialization within the same school. The skill point cap will also be set back to 100 in both cases. And don’t worry, blueprints are not be lost as a result of changing schools or specializations. They can, however, become temporarily unusable if your skill points are too low. Also, you can only buy blueprints that are in your field of specialization.

You can manufacture any item that is in the same school, even if it is a different specialization, as long as you have the blueprint and you match or exceed that blueprint's minimum required school skill points. This means that you never lose the knowledge required to craft an item, but if you want to hold more than a single specialization, you will need to rebuild your overall ability to create items within that school. Dedicated crafters can learn all three specializations within a school and then be able to craft everything within that field of research and development.

UNITY Missions

For players planning their Omega careers, here’s a quick rundown on the UNITY mission flow:

1. At level 40 heroes complete the perk Worshipped.
2. They then receive an e-mail from Dr. White inviting them to visit UNITY HQ.
3. This e-mail has an item attached which grants a mission with a waypoint to the UNITY door and has a UNITY key card.
4. Inside the UNITY instance, the hero talks to Dr. White to complete the mission. Dr. White offers membership in UNITY.
5. Accepting the offer enables use of the consoles and teleport pad in UNITY HQ.
6. Each day the hero can get use the UNITY console to gain a mission that sends them to 5 different global Hot Spots. Taking this main daily mission enables the hero to take the 5 missions that correspond to those Hot Spots.
7. If the hero completes all 5 Hot Spot missions, this completes the main daily mission and makes that hero eligible for the day's Special Assignment. Heroes must return to the UNITY HQ to turn in the hotspot list mission and get the Special Assignment.
8. Each hot spot mission gives 1 UNITY Merit as a reward. Each Special Assignment missions give 3 UNITY merits as a reward. Each mission also has a rare chance to grant additional UNITY merits, so a hero should average around 8-10 merits a day if they do all available missions.
9. Merits can be used to purchase rewards from Mentiac, the UNITY quartermaster.
10. There is a chance that Hot Spots and Special Assignments may have a Qliphothic tear. Players can gather Qliphothic energy from these tears to use in special UNITY crafting recipes.

FFXIV: Official Website Updated

I already know what I'll be playing come 2010.

The official website is gorgeous as always and the info attached is super schmexy. If you are a fan of the FF series, then get ye to the nearest PC and go visit:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/

Get to the choppah! Do it now!

There were rumours circulating back in June that Beta was scheduled for September 2009; one can only hope they're true. Guess we'll find out in a month!

StarCraft II: Officially Delayed to 2010

Oh noes! Who would have ever thunked this would happen to StarCraft 2? Next thing you know, they'll be saying that Diablo 3 is delayed too. CRAZY TALK! Did Blizz sub-contract Turbine or something? (Ba dump ching!)

At least my SCII online humiliation will be delayed as well.

StarCraft II Moved To 2010

The one delay every gamer expected.

by Jim Reilly

August 5, 2009 - Activison's quarterly financial reports bring some more delay news.

CEO Bobby Kotick announced that Starcraft II and Singularity have been moved to 2010.

"As we prepare for next year, we have moved the expected release dates for two games, Activision Publishing's Singularity and Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II, into 2010," he said.

Kotick didn't explain the reasoning behind the delay, but added in earlier comments that this holiday would be very strong for the company.

Shortly after the news broke, Blizzard released the following statement: "Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service."

The delay isn't exactly a surprise, as Blizzard is notorious for delays, and rumbles about StarCraft II had been growing. Last month, Stearne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia predicted a delay.

Wheel of Time Online: Writer Announced

Hollywood Veteran Screenwriter Chris Morgan Joins Red Eagle Games as Story Director for Games Based on The Wheel of Time Series

Los Angeles, Calif. — Aug. 4, 2009 — Red Eagle Games announced today that film industry veteran Chris Morgan has been engaged by Red Eagle Games as Story Director for the company’s forthcoming videogames derived from the rich assortment of characters and storylines from Robert Jordan’s beloved fantasy book series, The Wheel of Time.

Based in Los Angeles, Morgan has worked in the film industry for nearly a decade. His films have grossed nearly one billion dollars in worldwide boxoffice receipts. Morgan’s screenwriting credits include Cellular, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Wanted and Fast and Furious. In addition to his involvement with Red Eagle Games, Morgan is currently working on the bigscreen adaptation of video game Gears of War, the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, and samurai action movie 47 Ronin.

In addition, Morgan will be joining veteran Electronic Arts Executive Tom Frisina; Barry Hirsch, a leader in the field of entertainment law; entertainment consumer products marketing and branding expert Peter Dang; Keith Boesky, founder and principal of video game consultancy Boesky & Company; and IBM Serious Games Program Manager Phaedra Boinodiris on the Red Eagle Games Advisory Council. Red Eagle Games has carefully assembled the Council to complement and support the Red Eagle Games management team’s skills and backgrounds, and the council members represent decades of experience in new media, entertainment and technology.

“As a massive fan of The Wheel of Time series, and a lifelong gamer, I jumped at the chance to be part of the Red Eagle Games team,” Morgan said. “The world that Robert Jordan created is so rich, the characters and storylines so varied and inventive, that I feel like a kid in a candy store. It’s really a dream opportunity for me.”

Along with the Universal Pictures feature film, to be produced by Red Eagle Entertainment executives Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon, a line of standalone Wheel of Time games is in the works for all major videogame platforms, including consoles, personal computers, handheld systems and wireless devices, to be distributed by Electronic Arts. In addition, Red Eagle Games intends to launch and operate a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game encompassing the themes, characters and world of The Wheel of Time novels.

The details of Jordan’s meticulously crafted series have captivated readers since 1990, when The Eye of the World, the first book in the series, was published. Eleven additional books, including one prequel, have since been added to the series and have consistently appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List with the last four of his novels in the series debuting at No. 1. Jordan passed away in 2007 at the age of 58, but his publisher, Tor Books, recently announced that a final trilogy of novels will bring his epic series to its long-awaited climax. The next installment in the series, entitled The Gathering Storm, is expected to be published in November of 2009 by Tor Books. This novel is being finished by fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson using notes, audio recordings and draft materials left with Jordan's wife and editor, Harriet Rigney.

Jordan’s wildly popular books have been translated into 24 languages, and have sold about 44 million copies worldwide. According to Tor Books, the publisher of The Wheel of Time novels, there are about 65,000 The Wheel of Time fan Web sites as a part of a vast global on-line fan community.

About Red Eagle Games

Based in Southern California, Red Eagle Games is a new video game studio initially undertaking the transformation of Jordan’s literary masterpiece “The Wheel of Time” into high-quality interactive gaming products for the personal computer, game consoles, mobile and wireless devices, and online play. Red Eagle Games was founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Selvage and Chief Operating Officer Larry Mondragon, who are also producing a live-action motion picture for Universal Pictures based upon The Wheel of Time.

Because the writing in "The Fast and the Furious" was so AWESOME!!! ........ (*slobber*)

WoW: 3.2 Call of the Crusade Goes Live!

Well, for some of us. Me, I gotta' wait for the end of "extended maintenance" ending "soon." (TM.)

Read all the patchy goodness here:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/implemented/3p2.xml

And definitely check out the trailer too!

FFXIV: Translated Famitsu Scans

Someone posted this image on the forums asking for a translation, so I went ahead and did it!

For the first image, the headline is: "Customize"

And the body pretty much reads as follows:

"When creating your character, we are told that in addition to selecting race, a player may also customize their characters' looks as well. It seems there will be quite a variety of things to choose from, such as face type, skin colour and hair style. It is still undetermined right now just how broad or detailed the customization will be, but we're sure that regardless, the process will be cause of quite a concern to the player...in a good way of course."

The image:

Come to me sexy face Elvaan.

I ended up doing a few more impromptu translations from what I could read (some of the scans weren't so good).

As for the rest of the translation:

The crafting pic is indeed titled, "Crafter" and as the first blurb I translated, the rest of the article is also speculative, so definitely don't take any of this stuff as canon and nerd rage blame me when official information comes out XD

Anyhoo, so the first piece explains that Crafters are craftsmen who manipulate manufacturing tools. "By equipping a manufacturing tool such as a blacksmithing hammer, a player can change into a crafter. We predict that there will be specialists in various fields, such as weaponsmiths, armorers and chefs." Finally, it says that representative classes under this category are: "Blacksmith" and "Cook".

Skipping the Talltaru pic and going to the "Sorcerer." The text is blurry in some parts but what I can make out for certain is that the representative classes are: "Shaman" and "Illusionist." The body reads, "A player can change 'job' to a Sorcerer when they equip a weapon that harbours magical powers. Other than the staff pictured in this shot, we're not certain what other weapons are available but, most likely, this job's function will be that of a support role, attacking or healing with magic."

The Rugadyn has some missing text, but mostly its an explanation about the various races a player can pick from at character creation. Here are the parts I can definitely make out, "The Rugadyn are a large-framed and muscular sea-faring folk mainly from the North Sea region.......Those that you might encounter in the Sea City of Rimusa Rominsa are probably members of the Ze-vorufu Tribe (a variation of Sea Wolf most likely) in the midst of a port call, but you will find other Rugadyn around Eorzea in roles such as mercenaries, bodyguards or perhaps even pirates. In the Uldaha region, you may also come across their mountain-dwelling counterparts, the Roengarude Tribe."

I also pieced a few more things together and noticed that there is mention of a broader job categories which include Fighter, Sorcerer, Crafter and Gatherer. These then break down into more specific "classes" such as Swordsman, Shaman and Blacksmith.

The WHM carrying the big axe is entitled "Gatherer" and is explained as "a specialist who manipulates gathering tools."??"As represented by the pictured Axe, a player can switch to Gatherer by equipping a gathering tool. This category will most likely feature classes which specialize in the collection of various materials. Could the Gatherer be that existence responsible for sustaining the populace of Eorzea?" The representative classes are: "Gardener" and "Fisher."

Next up you have the Hyuran (allow for some flubbing since some of the text was blurry.) "The most populous of the Eorzean races, the Hyuran are a race that have come from the nearby continents and islands to Eorzea over three mass migratioins. The technology and ideas that they brought with them from the outside world was a driving force that thrust the Eorzean Civilization forward. Though their strength lies in the many varied languages and cultural systems they possess, because of that variation, their unity as a race is low. They cherish their freedom. Hyuran are broken into two major groups; those that live in the lower elevations are called the Midlanders and those who reside in the higher elevations are the Highlanders."

Finally, you have the Fighter scan aptly named, "Fighter." The representative classes are: "Swordsman" and "Archer." "Those that wield weapons and seek the path of warring." (Some artistic license due to the blurry text.) "The player can change into this job when they equip a weapon. Their class changes depending on what weapon they choose to equip. Classes that specialize in physical damage are believed to fill up this category."

Oh noes! More work then I've done in a long time!

NSFW: Not Even Safe for Slacking! The Mario Sex Tape

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

MWLL: Weekly Update XVII

Read it here:

http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/content/view/377/1/

Obligatory Death From Above Jump Jets pic:


Meanwhile, when asked about a new release date (since the old one was...like, end of 2008/early 2009 or something--I forget), here is a dev response:

I'll be quite honest and to the point here and I'll probably be demoted for talking but I want to make an official statement here to clarify some things.

We have a date in our collective minds and it's discussed at every meeting.

There's a few key issues we want to address; namely stability. We're still adding new features, code and animations every playtest. The way we have it set up is that we are connected to a central database, and everyone uploads their work for testing. We have a core group of testers right now that are acceptable for our current testing procedures.

Due to the influx and implementation of new things every single day we tend to make changes immediately to address issues. The way this is currently set up means we'd have to pack a build of some kind for a large group of testers and release it via download methods quite often. This is time consuming. Changes happen so fast and so often that certain things people play with in a weekly playtest are changed for balance purposes, sometimes even during our large playtests and crash analysis are debugged and fixed on the fly.

The reason we don't have an influx of hundreds, if not thousands of people playing MWLL right now is because we are going to release it when we're ready, as soon as possible, and within the guidelines we've set for ourselves. A few of those guidelines are stability, balance, game-flow and level design. If these do not maintain a consistent standard of quality (not perfection) they will not be released as a package. We know everyone and their grandmother is going to judge the entire game within minutes, if not hours of playing and base their opinions on their initial impressions. Those impressions have to be good, and to do that, everything has to be constant and consistent.

We're not half-assing this game and we're not going to release unfinished. buggy, glitchy, unstable software to the masses. When we feel we have a solid build packed and ready to go, you'll all be the first to know. We apologize for the inconvenience of you all having to wait while we create the next generation of Mechwarrior. Believe me, it's just as painful to see you all -not- playing, as it is to wait for us to finish making a solid game.

And since they're doing it on THEIR time, I'll be the good guy and wait XD

Champions Online: Open Beta Beings August 17th, 2009 (FP Subscribers & Pre-Orders)

Exactly what the header says.

And yes, there will be QQ about paying for Fileplanet, but I've been with 'em for a year now and it's one of the best investments I've made!

Anyhow, the blurbage with exact date which I don't think was there before:

FilePlanet will be exclusively hosting the Champions Online open beta starting Wednesday, August 5th. Open Beta gameplay will start August 17th. Will you be ready?

Subscribers will be able to get a key and download the game early starting Wednesday, August 5th. Be ready to jump in the moment the game launches by subscribing today.

I will be there...will you?

Ever since I read more about the customization and feature list, I've been pretty excited about getting to check the game out. The Nemesis system sounds cool and being able to choose where I shoot my pew pew fireball out of is even more awesome! Hope its good so I can decide if it's worth plunking down the $49.99 come September 1st.

If you haven't really researched the game, check out this feature list from the official website. The only thing that I'm kinda' iffy about is that while CO is supposed to follow a standard MMO subscription model, it will also have microtransactions as well.

The official word on these microtransactions:

I know everyone has questions about microtransactions – what are they, how much are they, etc. I’m sorry we didn’t post something earlier; we’re really heads down in development right now. We’re going to release a WHOLE lot of information in the very near future about not just about microtransactions, but pricing in general. That said, here’s some basic principles about microtransactions to at least answer some of your concerns:

1) Microtransactions enable us to have a larger development team
2) Microtransactions are mostly aesthetic (costume pieces, pets, etc.)
3) If a microtransaction does have any sort of in game effect, then it can be also be earned in game.

I promise we'll read this thread, note any questions, and answer them more in depth soon. Heck, I'll try to answer the easy ones today/tomorrow/this week.

But I guess we shall see come August 17th, shan't we?

FFXIV: Information Released!

I'm so there if this no leveling, no boredom thing is real. Actually, what the fuck am I talking about? I'm so there any fucking way!

Final Fantasy XIV ‘Famitsu Wave’ Interview Pours Information

by Sal on Aug 1, 2009 11:36 am

The September 2009 edition of Famitsu Wave has released in Japan sporting a DVD containing an eight-minute segment on Final Fantasy XIV. A lot of new information has come out of the DVD and we've got it for you.

Eorza is the name of a region that's the main setting of the game and as a full world, Vana'diel (from Final Fantasy XI) is naturally a little bigger. The actual world the game takes place in is called Haiderin. The style of Haiderin will be different from Vana'diel, aiming for a "high-fantasy" style setting. They want the setting to be more modern in comparison to Final Fantasy XI's more middle-age setting. There will be advanced technology in the world, as you've clearly seen from the skyships in the trailer.

The races in Final Fantasy XIV will bring on a familiar look. However, the races of Final Fantasy XI are being reimagined. The Galka-looking character you've seen in the trailer, will not be called a Galka, but something else. Other changes will be in order as well.

Final Fantasy XIV revolves around character growth. There will be no experience points or leveling system this time around, and a new system will come in to play. Square Enix wants to deliver an experience where new players have the freedom to try out any quest and many different things, growing naturally from their experiences. A deep story will be in tact in Final Fantasy XIV, including cut-scenes, but they're going beyond that by also delivering a wider variety of stories and quests. They want players to enjoy the process of character growth.

Jobs were the lasting appeal of Final Fantasy XI. They want to utilize that concept, but stack more on top of it. The focus will be on weapons, determining how you play, grow, and fight. They'll be expanding upon the basic job system. He says this also explains the Final Fantasy XIV logo, which features weapons sticking out of the name.

The main idea for Final Fantasy XIV is to provide freedom of growth through the variety of quests offered. However, players can meet up with friends and set off on adventure or they can play solo. Players won't be left with nothing to do, bored.

Square Enix is considering large scale battles, however, regular battles will be against single enemies. During quests you can gather parties and fight against multiple foes.

The game's music is going to be composed entirely by Uematsu.

"This will be a Final Fantasy that brings the setting to a whole new world that you can experience with the new friends you will meet." Nobuaki Komoto, director of Final Fantasy XIV said. "I welcome you to join us in the world of Final Fantasy XIV and hope you enjoy your time there."

"You can trust that we plan to create a world of new possibilities that redefine the MMO. I hope you're looking forward to everything we have in store."

According to Square Enix, there's a secret message hidden in the trailer. Finally, you can watch the actual interview below.

Can you spot the hidden message?

Comic Con: Cosplay On Parade!

Most Cosplay is like a train wreck. Try as you might, you just can't stop looking at it, and most of the time, you see things (and folds) you don't want to see. For example, did you know Spider Man wears a FANNY PACK when fighting crime? I didn't either, until I checked out MaximumPC's Comic Con Cosplay Extravaganza!

But at any rate, definitely click the link above for some highs and lows from this year's Comic Con.

My personal fave:


Because no convention would be complete without a visit from Pedo Bear. He's my, an hero.