Mail Call: Final Fantasy XIV at the TGS 2009

Pretty pretty Elvaans! I mean, "Elzens." *cough cough*

Follow the link to the TGS 2009 Trailer (JP):

http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/

MIA in Atreia <3

And loving it.

I know there's a gabamillion Chanters, but who cares. I love it.

See you guys on Israphel. (Asmodian side, of course!)

Also, I got the Aion SDTRK (along with some McFarland Toys knock off Daeva toy) in my CE. What a pretty little theme song to go with my pretty little game.

But more on that latah!

Aion: Server Names Announced

Aion Launch Server List Released!

---

Many of you have been curious to learn what the names of the Aion servers will be at launch. We've listed the server names below along with their associated time zones. The servers are aligned to those time zones (e.g. affecting fortresses) so that players on the East Coast as well as those on the West Coast can have blocks of game time to play during each server's prime time. Daylight saving will apply at launch.

Before the start of preselection (which begins September 18, 2009), we will also give our fans from the Oceanic region the chance to take part in an online community poll where you can indicate what server you'd pick unofficially if you want to play with your friends and neighbors. We hope to show instant results in the poll so that you can see which server provides you the best chance to meet them.

We are going to post a similar community poll for roleplayers. We have decided not to officially tag servers as roleplaying servers and enforce specific rules on them. However, we do believe that roleplayers are an essential part of our community, and we support their initiative to claim their own unofficial roleplaying server. Aion gives you the ability to create your own chat channel, and we are already seeing a lot of roleplaying groups out there who are defining their own rules and building up their own communities. Take your time to organize your group before the poll goes live, and then pick the server that would give you the best chance to find players with the same roleplaying interests.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Atreia on one of these servers at launch!


North America:

[West] Siel GMT-8/ PST
[West] Israphel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Nezekan GMT-8 / PST
[West] Zikel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Vaizel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Triniel GMT-8 / PST

[East] Kaisinel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Lumiel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Yustiel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Marchutan GMT-5 / EST
[East] Ariel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Azphel GMT-5 / EST


Europe:

[ENG] Spatalos
[ENG] Telemachus
[ENG] Castor
[ENG] Perento
[ENG] Gorgos

[GER] Kromede
[GER] Thor
[GER] Votan
[GER] Balder

[FRA] Urtem
[FRA] Vidar
[FRA] Suthran

SWTOR: Hutt Stuff!

I can't help myself. I love Hutts. They're something about them that's so damn seksi:

DC Universe Online: A Sneak Peek from GamesCom 2009

http://www.onelastcontinue.com/10953/gamescom-2009-dc-universe-online-impressions/

If you feel burned about Cryptic's "City of Champions Online," then keep your fingers crossed for "DC Universe Online"!

Source: One Last Continue

Back at Gamescom, we were able to meet with Wes Yanagi of Sony Online Entertainment in order to take a look at the upcoming cross platform MMO DC Universe Online for PlayStation 3 and PC.DC Universe Online, Yanagi told us, was designed to be a fast-paced MMO experience from the very beginning of the development process, more in line with the action-style of God of War instead of World of Warcraft’s grind-heavy hotkey system. As he walked us through the character creation process, it was obvious that there’s a great amount of variation with which to customize your character; not only with regards to their appearance, but also how their powers manifest themselves in-game. When creating your avatar you have to select three variables to define your superhero characteristics in order to stand out from your fellow players.

• Power: This dictates, rather obviously, what type of superpower your hero will specialize in. Will your hero have super-strength like Doomsday, or will they be able to fire out rays of cosmic energy from his bare hands?

• Source: Where will your hero, or heroine, source their powers from? Could it be in the form of a ring like the Green Lantern, or a secret magical power conjured from the depths of Hell? That’s up to you to decide!

• Movement Power: This one’s fairly obvious. You can decide to fly like Superman, be athletic like Batman or run with superhuman speed like The Flash, among other options.

Another interesting feature with regards to your appearance comes in the form of dynamic co-ordination between your costume and the loot you acquire. When you collect a piece of equipment which would benefit your character; be it a new cowl, material or weapon, it’s automatically configured to match the rest of your outfit. The reasoning behind this, Yanagi tells us, is due to every character under level fifty in World of Warcraft having that ‘hobo’ look due to mismatching tunics and other equipped items. When you replace a piece of your costume with a newer acquisition, the older item is automatically stored in your lair, meaning at any point in the game, you can instantly relive what would essentially be your Golden or Silver Age if you so desire.

After you create your character, unique as they are in the DC Universe, you next need to choose your affiliation. If your personal aim is to one day become an honored member of the Justice League, you might shack up with the heroes. On the other hand, if your desires are more keyed towards personal gain and destruction, the Legion of Doom is probably better for you. Of course, you won’t start out as a member of one of these groups; instead, the higher you progress toward the level cap, the more superhero/villain co-op missions your respective agency will have you participate in. Basically, until you prove your worth to them as a credible asset, then it’s just going to be player factions for you.

The controls for the PlayStation 3 version can be mapped to either a DualShock 3, which was the demonstrated control method on hand here, or you can plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. This is a good feature, as there aren’t many titles on consoles that support the mouse/keyboard combination; not only that, but we were also informed the PC release will also have DualShock 3 support. It all sounds pretty impressive when you consider that it allows people to be able to play the way that feels most comfortable to them on either platform – if you’ve never played an MMO before, the Dual Shock option might be better, while more seasoned PC veterans might prefer to use the mouse/keyboard layout. For the DualShock layout, your abilities (like the aforementioned God of War) are mapped to the controller’s face buttons, with the L2 and R2 triggers switching between offensive and defensive layouts respectively. The currently selected mode, be it defensive or offensive, appears on your HUD at the bottom of the screen; this allows you to chain up your actions, switching back and forth between offensive and defensive actions, in order to kick some severe butt.

Missions take place either as a ‘case’ or ‘caper’ depending on your alignment, and the demonstration shown at Gamescom took place in S.T.A.R. Labs with the Joker and Harley Quinn giving the player character a mission to complete. It seemed that a virus of sorts had been unleashed during some form of experiment and ended up infecting the scientists who needed to be taken out as a result. As we watched Wes plow through enemy after enemy, it became clear that DCUO has certainly nailed the combat aspect for an adaptation of the DC Comics license. When Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor and Bizarro turned up to help his player character take down a large mutant boss, it was certainly an interesting moment. The Joker then gave another mission to Wes; he was tasked to deliver the item to a specific drop off point in what’s known as a ‘FedEx’ mission. Delivery missions in most MMOs are relatively easy, but when Hal Jordan (the Green Lantern, for those of our readers who aren’t up with the current DC lingo) turns up to try and stop you, you know it’s not going to be a walk in the park. Needless to say, Mr. Luthor made short work of Hal and that was it for the end of the mission.

We knew going in that the game was still in the pre-alpha phase; despite this, the level of detail within the title was really quite impressive. If it weren’t for the fact that the game is clearly not finished, the visuals were looking good enough for it to even release tomorrow. Wrapping up our time with Yanagi, we had a couple more questions to ask him regarding DC Universe Online. Most importantly, we made sure to check in and see whether or not the title will be subscription-based or free to play like so many seem to be doing lately. In his response we were given a very strong impression that they are leaning towards the expansion-pack business model, as opposed to the traditional subscription fee although such matters hadn’t been solidified at that point over at Sony Online Entertainment. In another, albeit unsurprising, move the game will feature completely platform-open servers; this means the servers will be cross-compatible between the PS3 and PC versions, no matter where you play. Whilst this is all well and good, Yanagi neglected to further elaborate on the means through which the game will be making its money. Whether it ends up with a Free Realms-esque microtransaction service or a more Guild Wars-inspired system of free play supported by numerous paid expansions, we’ll do our best to keep you updated as time goes by.

Ahhh yeah! No hobo look for me!

APB: Beta News

APB beta "weeks not months away"

APB, the cops-and-robbers MMO by Crackdown creators Realtime Worlds, will go into closed beta testing within "weeks", a spokesman told Eurogamer at last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

"We're weeks rather than months away from starting closed beta," community officer Chris Collins told our Tom after showing him an extensive demo of, according to Tom, "slick" gameplay.

APB beta registration is open if you want to stand a chance of trying out some open-world multiplayer driving, shooting, thieving and customising.

APB is due for release on PC "early" next year, with console versions under consideration but unconfirmed for release (as is so often the case with MMOs). EA is handling publishing duties. The game won't require a subscription to play.

You can read more about it in our E3 preview - or wait a couple of days for Tom's full report on the PAX demo, including an unexpected dose of the hot Mark Rein action we know you all like so much.

Aion: Letter from Aion Producer Brian Knox on Open Beta

Letter from Aion Producer Brian Knox on Open Beta

September 3, 2009 2:07 PM

Hello!

Welcome to the Open Beta Test for Aion in both Europe and North America.

Below you will find a list of the major changes and additions to Aion since you last participated in our Closed Beta Test. We have done our best to provide a comprehensive list of changes. The Open Beta brings the game content up to the 1.5 patch that is available in Korea; the same updates that were made to the Korean live servers are being implemented here, as well. While there may be some differences when comparing the official NA/EU notes to fan site translations of Korea's official notes, the game content is the same.

Not only does Open Beta bring a number of game improvements and additions, you'll also notice that we had a major terminology overhaul to complete our effort of Westernizing the game. Many skills and items have changed since the Closed Beta Test and should be a welcome surprise as you explore the world.

While we feel the Open Beta version will provide a complete experience, we wanted to note that this is not our final update before launch. Our launch version is in internal testing, and it will continue to flesh out the 1.5 update with the help of your feedback and experiences in Open Beta.

Please remember this is an Open Beta Test, and while our goal is to provide you with a flawless Aion experience, there are behind-the-scenes infrastructure tests happening to prepare for launch. One very important area that will affect everyone is that we will be balancing races as folks rush to log into the servers. As a result, you may get a "This race cannot be created" message because that server is starting to become unbalanced. It's important to us that we try and keep a balance of the races during the Open Beta of Aion. If you come across this message, please feel free to try another server or wait until the server balance has tipped back.

Another hot topic has been our Web site and whether we will be bringing over some of the services that Korea has provided to their community. The short answer is yes! Just like the PowerWiki, we will be bringing some of these services to our own site. We hope to begin rolling them out in the coming weeks.

Overall, we are very excited for Open Beta - it is a culmination of a lot of effort and the feedback of our community. For example, one of the most requested features during Closed Beta testing was a suggestion to use the left mouse button to change the camera. We also added more content both in the persistent game world and in instanced dungeons. You'll see this change and many others were added in this game update, including:

1. New Areas: Theobomos (Elysea) and Brusthonin (Asmodae)
2. New Instances!
3. Over 40 new default faces have been added to character creation.
4. Increased PvPvE rewards
5. UI changes (click-to-move has been disabled by default)
6. New items!
7. New skills + increased balance
8. Tons of new quests.
9. Advanced Stigma Stone System
10. Chat Channels
a. Class
b. Region
c. Looking For Group
d. Languages

Find a full list of patch notes here.

With this update there is a lot of great content and a very fun world to explore, and we hope that during Open Beta you will experience the magic that is Aion.

Open Beta starts 9 a.m. PDT (5 p.m. BST, 6 p.m. CEST) on Sunday, September 6th.

Brian Knox
Producer, Aion

You Play Like A Girl

I was playing a little COD4 the other day on Vacant when all a sudden some heated bitching about a noobtuber scrolls up on my screen:

"You fuckin' noobtubing pussy."

To those familiar with FPSes, pillow talk like that is pretty normal and actually, pretty tame faire, especially for the COD4 crowd. But for those of you who prefer MMOs and aren't familiar with FPS terminology, a noobtube is usually an over powered but easily accessible weapon that takes little to no skill to use (for example, a rocket launcher or grenade launcher with sexy splash damage that you kinda' sorta' mabbe' aim in a general direction and rack up kills with.)

I don't think much about it, since I've heard much better and much more original insults with that one, usually involving someone's mother, a donkey and some cheese.

"You can't aim so you gotta' fuckin' use the noobtube, you fuckin' noob?"

I check the score. The noobtuber's only rank 14/55. He probably hasn't been playing very long, and when you start, you pretty much got the noobtube and nothing else perk wise.

I continue playing, hear some more bitching and drop an Airstrike on B since lots of idiots like to hide there in them weeds. Score! Here comes my Chopper.

And then, something that catches my attention.

"You play like a fuckin' girl."

Whoa whoa whoa whoa.

I check the leader boards.

I'm second. Where are they? Ohhh, both somewhere on the bottom on a 32 man server.

And oddly enough, I get ticked. Ticked enough to speak out.

At the end of the game I type, "You just lost to a "shitty" girl, moron."

(I know I know, not the wittiest come back, but you don't have a lot of time to type between rounds!)

* * *

Some believe that women gamers simply don't exist, a myth like the mighty Chupacabra. But in truth, WE ARE OUT THERE--we're simply stealthy and elusive. Like a Ninja (or should I say Kunoichi), or better yet, the magnificent Jackalope.

You see, the majority of competent female players tend to keep quiet, going about our business whether it be topping the DPS charts, dropping air strikes on vital choke points or "melting your face" without ramming our gender down your throat. We are "gamers" just like anyone else as opposed to "ZOMGZ TEE HEE grrl gamers," and the few that you do encounter telling people to "LOL Stop shoting, I'm a girl," or "My DPS is low because I'm PMSing ^^" are the vocal minority that give us all a bad name.

We are confident in our skills and don't need to use gender as a crutch, we can get our own Epics, and we aren't just cannon fodder for your AK-74u.

So the next time you're online someone calls you a "girl" think about it.

Is it really THAT bad to play like a winner?

XD

WOW: Faction Change Service Now Available

Sass: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19717481652&sid=1&pageNo=1

Faction Change Service Now Available 09/02/2009 04:44:03 PM PDT

The new World of Warcraft Faction Change service is now live. As we mentioned previously, [ http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031079410&sid=1 ] we’ve been in the process of developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance for a fee. After purchasing a Faction Change for a character, a player can choose any race of the opposite faction that is compatible with the character’s class. For more information on the Faction Change service, please read the FAQ, [ http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&tag=FCFAQ ] or visit the Faction Change page [ https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/faction-change-intro.html ] to get started. Based on further community feedback, we have also decided to offer a race change service in the future. Players who choose to switch races will be able to change their race within their same faction and class. Additional details will be released at a future date.

MW2: "Leaked" Co-op & Single Player Game Play

Herky jerky, but still sekasi!

Go go fellow gamer geeks cheering in the audience. (But kinda' sad.)

Stallone readies for fifth 'Rambo'

Source: Variety

John Rambo's officially readying for a fifth mission.

Nu Image/Millennium Films has greenlit the franchise's fifth installment, with Sylvester Stallone starring and directing, repeating his duties from 2008's "Rambo."

The upcoming project's storyline revolves around Rambo fighting his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl abducted near the U.S.-Mexico border. Production will start in the spring.

The film will be produced by Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short and Boaz Davidson will exec produce.

Stallone had indicated in interviews that a fifth Rambo was in the works. He teamed with Nu Image/Millennium on the 2008 project, which grossed $42 million domestically and $113 million overseas.

Nu Image/Millennium is in post-production on "Expendables," starring Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke. The actioner's set for release on April 23 through Lionsgate.

Rambo first appeared in the 1982 pic "First Blood," followed in 1985 by "First Blood II" and in 1988 by "Rambo III."

WTS Wheelchair sporting a .50 Cal.

MW2: New MP Game Play Vid

WOWOWWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOW.

Soooo hot. SO FUCKIN' HOT. I cannot wait for this.