GVNR

WoW Catalcysm - Uldum to be new 5 man dungeon

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:19:00 +0000

Zarhym has recently posted on the Cataclysm forums that a new 5 man dungeon will soon be announced.

Uldum (pronounced: /uːl'duːm/), also known as the Land of the Titans" is an ancient desert located on the southern coast of Kalimdor, surrounded by the Un'Goro Crater in the north, Tanaris Desert in the east and Silithus in the northwest. It is the homeland of stone-cat people known as Tol'vir and is rich with Titanlore. Somewhere in Uldum is a some sort of superweapon.

<source>

A concept map of the dungeon was shown at Blizzcon 2009 giving a basic layout

Stone cat people, Titan's, Superweapon! Need I say more? Blizzard will hopefully release more details soon.

South Korea Starcraft gamers accused of match rigging

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:50:00 +0000

*Breaking News from the BBC website*

Police in South Korea are investigating allegations of match fixing by professional players of sci-fi-themed strategy game StarCraft.

The game, made by World of Warcraft developer Blizzard, is enormously popular in South Korea.

Leagues of professional players compete in televised tournaments and receive coaching and sponsorship.

However, some players and officials are alleged to have accepted bribes from gambling websites to rig the games.

There has been little coverage of the event in the country's mainstream media but the Korea Times website claims that the Korea e-Sports Association filed charges against individual players and coaches in March 2010.

According to the newspaper StarCraft accounts for 70% of so-called "e-sports" activities in South Korea.

A spokesperson from the Korean Embassy in the UK told the BBC that there had been no official statement from the Ministry of Culture but did confirm that an incident had been reported to the police.

Website Gamepron said the news was being compared with the 1919 Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team were found to have deliberately lost games

Blizzard Pet store causes protests!

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:32:00 +0000

"The Blizzard Pet Store has just been updated with a couple of fun new choices that you can get for your characters. Continuing in the theme of cute, miniaturized bosses, we have Lil' XT, and the CelestialSteed is the first-ever mount to be available through the service." It was anounced yesterday. Opinions are now flying all around Azeroth about the Celestial Steeds flying all
around Northrend.

Much of the talk in the trade chat around the servers, much of the grumbling I saw on othersites and on Facebook, complained about the commercialization of ingame items. 'They're destroying the game for profit,' or 'I can't believe they're just letting people buy their way through the game,' others complain. The heated debate has been raging for hours now, and there's not hint at it stopping any time soon. Maybe it will peter off when the 50,000 person queues in the Blizzard store lessen.

What do I think about the whole shabang?

The playerbase has been paying for additional content /fluff pretty much since video games began. Remember buying that Special/Collectors Edition with the extra gun/armor/map (whatever) or DLC (Downloadable Content) . Ultimately 'what can I get for my extra $10?' is a personal choice.

In today's society people generally strive to be different, stand out from the crowd an individual. Whether this is driven from a basic psychological need or not is up for guys like Dr. Phil to decide :) Driven by the need for bragging rights or individuality, this addition revenue stream is nothing new and will always be a part of gaming. How else is Blizzard supposed to compete with the likes of Farmville!

At the end of the day I have to agree with one quote I saw on a blog "It probably doesn’t matter beyond me just saying “Eh, I think it’s too expensive” and then I move on and forget about this tomorrow."

Personally, I feel sorry for the poor Lil' XT no-one seems to give a hoot about him. Which ever way you feel about this, one thing is for sure: Blizzard must be laughing all the way to the bank with all this ruckus!

What Light through Yonder Window Breaks? Windscape - Interactive Windows

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:06:00 +0000

A very clever yet geeky idea for jazzing up your pad. The innovative guys at rationalcraft.com introduce 'Windscape'. Real windows are interactive - unlike a painting on the wall. When you move your head in relation to a window, the view outside shifts up/down/left/right. If you want to see something in the window’s right periphery, you can move your head left to bring it into view.

Winscape features include:

• Custom Winscape software with configurable screen parameters
• Two HD plasma displays for great contrast and wide viewing angles
• Video playback resolution of 1920x1080 with sound
• Still-image resolution of 4096x4096
• Fully embedded in the wall for aesthetics and silent operation
• Tracking of one person in the room for proper perspective presentation
• Scheduled on/off
• iPhone and web control of sleep/wake/scene selection

"Ok so how much?" I hear you cry. Price-wise, they are targeting $2500 to $3000. Hell if you can pay $25 for a virtual horse then this is a bargain!

They have lots of scenes to choose from or if you are really creative you can make your own (with the right equipment of course). What would I choose? Hmm maybe they can get some scenes of Minas Tirith or Rivendell? Or maybe a trip to the London Dungeon for a more scarey scene. The possibilities are endless.

What scene would you choose?

Life is a game - what's your highest score? Game-Life Intergration

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:05:00 +0000

Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon University Professor, takes game-life integration to the extreme, describing a world chock-full of sensors, where you could earn experience points from a toothpaste company for brushing your teeth, or tax deduction points from taking public transport to work instead of driving. Companies and even the government could have a vested financial interest in engaging consumers and citizens through game-like elements.

Prof. Schell, also looks at world of game development which will emerge from the popular "Facebook Games" era. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (which gives out the Oscars of the video game industry) recently awarded FarmVille the title of social game of the year. The game has more than 79 million monthly active users on Facebook, making it the biggest online game in the world. And yet it wasmade in a matter of weeks.

Activision recently made a worrying risk assessment of World of Warcraft, claiming the MMO giant could be toppled - rendered "obsolete" - by the emerging social gaming scene. "We also compete with other forms of interactive entertainment," said Activision in its 10-K annual report, "such as casual games like iPhone applications and other mobile phone games, and games developed for use by consumers on social networking sites.

Games and real life are colliding in unique ways. One professor at Indiana University, Lee Sheldon, replaced the traditional grading system in two of his game design classes with a system that was based on experience points (XP). Students began the program as avatars at level one, which corresponded to zero XP and a grade of 'F'. They gained XP by completing'quests', 'fighting monsters' and 'crafting'-- in other words, giving presentations, sitting quizzes and exams, and handing in projects. Like in most MMO's , the students were grouped into 'guilds' and had to complete quests solo, as guilds, or as 'pick up groups' with members of other guilds. "What they are missing is that we are teaching the gamer, social networking generation," he says. "I have no doubt the students will respond positively to any number of non-game-related lasses taught in a similar manner."

Schell said that in the past, and even today, game makers obsess over creating fantasy, an escape from the real world, a disconnect. But thesedays, value of "realness" is rising. "We live in a bubble of fake bullshit, and we'll do anything to get to what is real" he added, "There's this hunger for reality," citing Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore's book Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want. Organic food, reality TV, McDonald's Angus Burger -- they're all billed by their purveyors as more "real" than the average product, and recent game successes feed the consumer's hunger for the real, Schell said. These trend-changers aren't only about psychological trickery. What these products have, from Wii Fit to Mafia Wars to Achievements, is the ability to break through to reality. Wii Fit happens on screen, but it can change your real-world physique. Facebook games let you interact with real-world friends. Achievements give you bragging rights in the real world.

Towards the end of the speech, he envisions the potentials of augmented reality. Schell took this game-life integration to the extreme, from health insurance companies giving extra benefits for walking to work instead of driving by use of a pedometer; to the government giving tax break rewards for reducing your carbon footprint. It could also be a world fraught with "crass commercialism," Schell said. An example of this already in the marketplace is Adidas Originals first Augmented Reality experience in footwear.

You don't believe any of this is possible?

Take a look at this video in which Pranav Mistry from TED is doing amazing things with The Sixth Sense. Mistry's work at MIT includes intelligent sticky notes, Quickies, that can be searched and can send reminders; a pen that draws in 3D; and TaPuMa, a tangible public map that can act as Google of physical world.

Please take your time to watch the video and post your thoughts in the comments.

Bioshock 2 Team resurrects X-Com for PC & XBox

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:40:00 +0000

Though the X-Com series is well-regarded for its tactical, turn-based strategy gameplay, 2K Games Australia has decided to go in a completely different direction with the latest entry in the franchise. Developed by 2K Marin, the team behind BioShock 2, the new X-Com will be a first-person shooter.

X-Com, the classic 90's turn-based strategy game pitting mankind against alien invaders, is
set to make a comeback as a first-person shooter, courtesy of the 2K studios behind BioShock 2.

"With BioShock 2, the team at 2K Marin proved themselves as
masters of first-person, suspenseful storytelling, and with XCOM they will re-imagine and expand the rich lore of this revered franchise," 2K president Christoph Hartmann said. "Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride."

It's funny, for years, people kept repeating the same rumour, that 2K Boston and Ken Levine would be making a new X-Com game. Don't think anyone expected it to come from 2K's other BioShock studio. Actually, I don't know if anyone honestly expected this at all.

WoW Cataclysm Class Preview / Paladin

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:51:00 +0000

MMOChampion have added the Class preview for the Paladin

Cataclysm Class Preview: Paladin

City of Heroes: Dark Mirror Enters Open Beta!!

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:03:00 +0000

Experience the many thrills coming with the next city of Heroes® content update before it hits the live servers. Crank up the graphics with Ultra Mode, experience brand new story arcs, revisit your characters thanks to even more costume options, and more!

To check out the Open Beta, all you need to do is log into the North American or European Training Room! If you are not familiar with the process to access the test server, please read this post for our North American players or this one for our European players.

Also please keep in mind that this is a beta version, which means you might encounter bugs or other gameplay issues. We strongly encourage you to report them using the /bug command ingame, and we'll be happy to collect any comments you might want to share with us on our official boards. Your feedback is as always very valuable to us!

To report your feedback, please make use of the following forums:

Issue17 Dark Mirror Open Beta: Chatter & Discussion

Issue 17
Dark Mirror Open Beta: Feedback

Issue 17
Dark Mirror Open Beta: Bugs

Have fun!

"Gears of War 3" Video Game World Premiere Trailer: "Ashes to Ashes" plus screenshots

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Gears of War 3, dubbed by the publisher to be the “biggest blockbuster game of 2011,” will be the “explosive finale to the landmark Gears of War trilogy” and will be available exclusively on the Xbox 360 in April 2011.

Epic Games will once again be handling development duties on Gears of War 3, which “plunges players into a harrowing tale of hope, survival and brotherhood” to complete the current story arc for the series. The last human city has been destroyed and the last remaining survivors are
stranded, leaving Marcus and his comrades in a race against the clock to save the human race from extinction.

The new game has playable female soldiers in it! Don't worry, it's still jam-packed with men who look like refrigerators, and mellow music like the famous Gears of War trailer which used the song 'Mad World' the sound track from the movie 'Donnie Darko' (in this case, Sun Kil Moon's
"Heron Blue".)

Watch the first trailer and ogle at the first screenshots for Gears of War 3 below. Titled ‘Ashes to Ashes,’ the trailer was created in Unreal Engine 3 by the same team behind the Gears of War video spots and captures a three-way battle between Delta Squad, the Locust Horde and
the new Lambent.

Halo MMO Cancelled - Details

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:23:00 +0000

Ex-Ensemble Studios staffer and current Windstorm Studios founder and president Dusty Monk has told IncGamers about the Halo MMO that was in development at Ensemble prior to the studio's closure.

Monk revealed to IncGamers that, from 2004 to 2007, he spent all of his time working on a project codenamed Titan, which you might know better as the cancelled MMO set in the Halo universe.

"It was going to be the Halo MMO, and it was absolutely going to compete against WoW,"
reminisced Monk.

"You have to remember that Ensemble came from a standpoint of being really good at competing against Blizzard Entertainment," he noted, drawing comparisons between the success of the Warcraft series and the success of the Age of Empires series. "We had a pretty good history of knowing the types of stuff that Blizzard put into their games to make them really successful, and the kinds of things we'd need to put into an MMO to compete against Blizzard."

"Just to give you a couple of examples," Monk elaborated, "we were using a heroic stylised artform. This heroic stylised artform is exactly the artform that you see being used in Star Wars: The Old Republic right now. It's timeless. It doesn't age itself like a game that's built with a
strictly realistic artform does."

"We were developing a cover system. This cover system is in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We had the idea of quests - and like I said, this was between 2004 and 2007, before Warhamer Online had been released - but we had this idea of quests where you could participate and pull them together without having to be on the same team. This would be a public quest that everyone in a particular area could work on. That idea went into Warhammer Online."

Monk also notes that, since Ensemble's closure, a number of Ensemble staffers have since moved to Blizzard - not least of all Greg Street, known to World of Warcraft fans as Ghostcrawler.

"We had all this incredible talent, we had the right people, the right passion, we had a phenomenally successful IP - the Halo IP. We were going back in time for the Halo franchise to broaden the story a little bit, in the exact same way that Star Wars has gone back in time so they can tell a more broad story, and we had a company that had our back when we started and the funding to put together that type of project."

So what happened to the Halo MMO? "There was a bit of a changing of the guard at Microsoft at this time," explains Monk. "Microsoft, from its gaming division, was really changing directions. They were looking really hard at the Nintendo Wii and they were really excited by the numbers that the Wii was turning. This was about the time that Microsoft decided that its Xbox platform and XBLA really needed to go more in the direction of appealing to a more casual, broader audience."

"So part of this changing of the guard at Microsoft came along with the changing of the attitude to this very expensive, very long and very protacted $90 million USD project we were working on, which was Titan. To cut a long story short, Titan was closed down."

Today, though, Monk is still optimistic about the chances the MMO would've had. "Even though a lot of people talk about how you just can't build a WoW killer, I absolutely believe that we could have built an MMO, if Microsoft had maintained their commitment, that if it hadn't been a WoW killer it certainly would've competed."

Millions of Warhammer Fees Leave Many In Debt

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Earlier this week, many Warhammer Online players awoke to see multiple charges of fees in there bank accounts from EA's billing system. With upwards of 22 fees in some cases, some people are really taking this latest hit hard, with the charges totalling up to $500; which is more than many can afford. In one rare case, the fees even totalled up to $2000 dollars after this member was charged a total of 52 times.This latest bug has come at a tough price to the already
struggling game.

Located on on the Warhammer forums is a thread, "Billing error," that has become commonplace for gamers to vent their fury with the company, and how much distress they are in.
Many of them are upset with the lack of personal attention they are receiving from EA, after their monthly fee skyrocketted to 12-22 times the normal price.

In many cases, this extra payment, which has totalled to up to $329.78, not including overdrafts, has not only emptied bank accounts, but ruined credit scores, and has caused many
people to lose their insurance. The lack of effort it seems Mythic is putting into the problem has angered the community, and they arent afraid to let their thoughts out.

It is very unfortunate that this has happened, and it is warming to know that EA are doing all they can to fix this problem, although it seems they could do much more. Many have already been reimbursed and have had their financial institutions spoken to, but for those still waiting, I
am sure that pre-paid game cards are looking like a bloody good idea now!

<source>

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: April 2010 : April Updates

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:56:00 +0000

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: April 2010 : April Updates

The team at Tom’s Hardware has given us a list of the best gaming processors for all budgets. For people who are confused which CPU to get, and don’t have the patience or the time to go through the benchmarks, this list should be really come in handy when deciding to buy hardware.

This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, then the CPUs on this list may not be suitable for your particular needs. Pricing is based on some of the lowest US prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary. Of course, these are retail CPU prices.

Best gaming CPU for $85: Athlon II X3 440

From a stock performance standpoint, the Athlon II X3 440 only offers a 100 MHz speed bump over the Athlon II X3 435. However, the higher multiplier might help if your ultimate goal is overclocking. When you consider the big picture, this CPU really offers an attractive combination of multiple CPU cores, high clock speed, low price, and overclockability. It is such a great gaming CPU, in fact, that it almost renders most of the CPUs in the $100 to $130 range redundant. As a result, most of our recommendations in this range are aimed specifically at overclockers and users upgrading an older platform.

Best gaming CPU for $140: Core i3-540

Another one of Intel's new Core i3 processors3, the gaming data we have seen for this i3-540 looks promising. While it isn't going to perform all that much better than the -530, its higher multiplier will be a boon for overclockers, and the price might be justified for some.
Bear in mind that, although Intel launched this processor alongside the H55 and H57 chipsets, gamers are likely going to want to stick with P55 when they shop for an LGA 1156-equipped motherboard, even if it means ignoring the integrated graphics core built onto the Core i3-540. When used with Clarkdale-based processors, Intel's H55 and H57 chipsets aren't able to divide on-package PCI Express connectivity between CrossFire and SLI graphics configurations.
Best gaming CPU for $160: Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

A former flagship of AMD's Phenom II family, the Phenom II X4 955 BE has been relegated to second-place status by the newer Phenom II X4 965 BE model. Now at $160, it offers a very compelling price/performance ratio for a true quad-core unlocked processor with gobs of cache. We should also mention that the 955 is now available in the newer C3 stepping like its 965 brother.

Best gaming CPU for $180: Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

While the Phenom II X4 955 and 965 both share an unlocked multiplier, the new revision 965 model's C3 stepping has been shown to be quite overclock-friendly compared to previous models. If you're looking for an AMD processor with the maximum overclocking headroom, just make sure you're buying the new 125 watt C3 stepping of the processor, not the older 140 watt version.

Best gaming CPU for $200: Core i5-750

The new Core i5 brings top-of-the-line Nehalem-class performance at a $200 price point. We recently awarded it our Recommended Buy honor after seeing it stand up to more expensive CPUs in games and other demanding apps. For those desiring the best possible performance, the Core i5-750 can be overclocked to great effect, performing similarly to the $1,000 Core i7-975 Extreme at its stock settings when pushed a bit.

Best gaming CPU for $295: Core i7-930

Intel's Core i7 has proven itself to be the most powerful gaming CPU option available, based on the data we have gathered. The Core i7-930 is a great choice for systems coupled with multiple graphics cards in an SLI or CrossFire configuration. The motherboards and DDR3 RAM that the i7 architecture requires will bring the total platform cost higher than other systems, but the resulting performance should be worth the purchase price. While the Core i5 performs similarly, there are a few applications and games that can take advantage of the Core i7 900-series' Hyper-Threading and triple-channel memory features, so spending the extra money on the Core i7-930 can pay off, particularly if you plan to overclock. In addition, LGA 1156-based Core i5 and Core i7 processors are limited to 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes, but the LGA 1366-based Core i7-900s do not share this limitation, since they get their PCI Express connectivity from the X58 chipset. This makes the LGA 1366 Core i7 processors a good choice for CrossFire or SLI configurations with more than two graphics cards.

Best gaming CPU for $1090: Core i7-980X Extreme

This six-core monster has stolen the bragging rights for the world's fastest CPU from the Core i7-975 Extreme. Despite the fact that most games don't utilize more than three CPU cores, this is the fastest gaming CPU currently available for purchase as our tests have shown. Is it worth $1,090? If you have money growing on trees, are afraid to try to overclock the Core i7-930, want the ease of overclocking that the Extreme Edition's unlocked multiplier provides, and are willing to pay for the bragging rights of having six CPU cores capable of running 12 threads, then it just might be.

Otherwise, the Core i7-980X Extreme is a hard sell from a value standpoint; you'd be better off investing more in graphics or solid state storage.

Personally if I was in the market for a new processor I would seriously consider the i3. We previously looked at this processor here in our review "Is Intel's Core i3-530 Fast Enough For Performance Gaming?"

Class updates for Cataclysm - WoW (Hunter, Druid, Mage)

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:34:00 +0000

More WoW - Cataclysm Class changes from MMO
Champion

Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter
Cataclysm Class Preview: Druid
Cataclysm Class Preview: Mage

#wow, #Cataclysm, #Hunter, #Druid, #Mage

'Green Day: Rock Band': Preview

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:48:00 +0000

MTV Games is about to drop Green Day: Rock Band,
the franchise’s second band-specific game after last year’s awesome The
Beatles: Rock Band. The game boasts 47 playable songs — take a look at the full list after
the jump, exclusively at the Music Mix. At its core you’ll notice three
albums from Green Day’s discography. The songs will be split among three different venues signifying
different periods during the band's career. The American Idiot
tracks are played at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, where they
recorded their live DVD Bullet in a Bible. More than a dozen
tracks will be played at the Fox Theatre in the band's home-town of
Oakland. Finally, songs from Dookie will be played at the
"Warehouse" -- a mock-up of the "house parties and squats" at which the
band got its start.

Green Day: Rock Band
track list

The Warehouse

Dookie (1994)

“Burnout”

“Having a Blast”

“Chump”

“Longview”

“Welcome to Paradise”

“Pulling Teeth”

“Basket Case”

“She”

“Sassafrass Roots”

“When I Come Around”

“Coming Clean”

“Emenius Sleepus”

“In the End”

“F.O.D.”

Milton Keynes

American Idiot (2004)

“American Idiot”

“Jesus of Suburbia”

“Holiday”

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”

“Are We the Waiting”

“St. Jimmy”

“Give Me Novacaine”

“She’s a Rebel”

“Extraordinary Girl”

“Letterbomb”

“Wake Me Up When September Ends”

“Homecoming”

“Whatsername”

Warning (2000)

“Minority”

“Warning”

Nimrod (1997)

“Hitchin’ a Ride”

“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”

“Nice Guys Finish Last”

Insomniac (1995)

“Brain Stew”

“Jaded”

“Geek Stink Breath”

The Fox Theater, Oakland

21^st Century Breakdown(2009)

“Song of the Century”

“21^st Century Breakdown”

“Before the Lobotomy”

“Last Night on Earth”

“Peacemaker”

“Murder City”

“¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)”

“Restless Heart Syndrome”

“Horseshoes and Handgrenades”

“The Static Age”

“American Eulogy”

“See the Light”

Downloadable Content (not included)

“21 Guns”

“Know Your Enemy”

“East Jesus Nowhere”

“Last of the American Girls”

“¡Viva La Gloria!”

“Christian’s Inferno”

<source>

8-Bit Dr. Horrible (Act 1)

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:37:00 +0000

What do you get when you cross Doctor Horrible with 8-bit?

Doctor Octoroc is Philadelphia based musician, artist and designer who
draws his primary influences from vintage video games. His brilliant rendition of the Josh Whedon's acclaimed musical. You can watch a high-quality
Flash version on his site.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog: Act 1, Part 1
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is the story of a “low-rent
super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from
the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” says Whedon. “Doctor
Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible,
Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of
dozens.”

Crysis 2 Reveal Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:01:00 +0000

We are so looking forward to this game.

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior/Death Knight/Rogue

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:20:00 +0000

More WoW - Cataclysm Class changes from MMO Champion

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior
Cataclysm Class Preview: Death Knight
Cataclysm Class Preview: Rogue

Coming next: The Hunter, Druid,and Mage previews!

World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta incoming

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:28:00 +0000

Blizzard has begun sending out invites to the World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta to the world's press. You know what that means: It's coming soon, folks.

Although it hasn't yet put a firm date on the expansion's release date, Blizzard is accepting media beta sign ups until April 15.
April 15 is not the actual date the beta goes live, however: Blizzard says it does "not currently have a date to announce for the start of the beta test."

Keeping a close eye on our inbox to see if we get an invite. (crossing fingers & toes)

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Official Trailer (HQ)

Class updates for Cataclysm - WoW

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:47:00 +0000

Here's the list of Class changes so far:

Cataclysm Class Preview:
Shaman with Q&A

Cataclysm Class Preview -
Warlock with Q&A

Cataclysm Class Preview:
Priest

Previews of the Warrior, Death
Knight, and Rogue
classes should be coming soon.

<source>

New York has just been destroyed by 8-bit video games!

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:22:00 +0000

A very clever chap called Patrick Jean has just created a video of New York getting destroyed by famous 8-bit characters. So if you’ve ever had sociopathic dreams of Donkey Kong fighting off planes on top of the Empire State Building or wanted to see Pong paddles destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, you’re in luck. Seriously, though, if you have been dreaming of this stuff; seek help. Like now.

Valve to Deliver Steam & Source on the Mac

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:47:00 +0000

Leading Gaming Service Expands to Mac Platform

March 8,
2010 - Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve's gaming
service, and Source, Valve's gaming engine, to the Mac.

Steam and
Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2,
Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in
April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to
entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open,
high-quality Internet clients," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve.
"The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."

"Our
Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million
Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac," said
Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. "Steamworks
for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new
feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the
product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of
charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud,
allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing
the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most
developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

"We
looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the
end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John
Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into
Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we
move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1
platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on
Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available
simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows
players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers,
lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers
and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation
currently in beta testing on Windows."

Portal 2 will be Valve's
first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. "Checking in code
produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so
the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, Portal 2
Project Lead. "We're always playing a native version on the Mac right
alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using
Source to do game development for the Mac."

<source>

Play Modern Warfare 2 MP For Free This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Looking for something cheap to do this weekend? Here's your
ticket.

If you don't already own Modern Warfare 2, then this weekend you're
treated to a chance to play the latest Infinity Ward war shooter for
free.

Beginning this Thursday, April 8, gamers around the world can play Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 2 multiplayer free of charge during a special Free Weekend
promotion on Steam. The definitive online experience, Modern Warfare 2
returns with a host of new perks and enhancements. Those who wish to
enjoy every moment of the Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer Free Weekend may pre-load Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer now.
There is no obligation to participate.

For the rest of you who have been playing MW2 since last year… well,
be prepared for an influx of newbies this weekend. It could be like
shooting fish in a barrel.

Check it out on Steam here.

Iron Man Fanatic Builds His Own JARVIS

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:02:00 +0000

An Iron Man fan has built himself his own personal JARVIS that can keep track of his Netflix and cook him dinner.

Like a lot of us, Chad Barraford watched Iron Man and lusted after a home-helper just like JARVIS. But, unlike most people, Chad decided making his own JARVIS couldn't be that difficult. Using a four-year-old old Mac Mini with built in speech recognition, Barraford managed to create a 'digital life assistant' that greets him by name when he gets home; tells him the how long he's been gone and lists the temperature of the house. It can also turn on and off lights; recognize his close friend Meaghan; tell whether the dog is inside or outside and can keep him updated about Facebook notifications, breaking news and FedEx Shipments.

It doesn't end either. Chad sometimes gets bad migraines. If he notifies JARVIS via text message on the way home, the lights in his house will be dimmed, his boss will be informed and there'll be a Facebook status notifying his friends list that he's not well.

The whole thing cost Barraford under $700 to make, including wall speakers and an xTag wireless microphone. You might expect someone with a homemade setup like this to be lusting after something more high tech and expensive that's purpose-built, but Chad is happy with his own make-shift system.

"I’m not a big fan of most of those technologies anyway. They’re overly expensive and clumsy to use," Barraford told Boston.com, adding that his DLA isn't about home automation; it's about home integration.

Check out the introduction to JARVIS below. More videos showing off JARVIS' talents are available on Chad's YouTube channel or on the Project Jarvis Website.

Is Intel's Core i3-530 Fast Enough For Performance Gaming?

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:29:00 +0000

So many times I have seen the hype from epeening players that you
must have the absolutely highest possible pc spec to play online games.
Tom’s Hardware take a look at Intel’s i3 and begs to ask the question is
it fast enough?

Some very interesting reading found here.

Action, Attitude Might Help Prince of Persia Break Game-Movie Curse

noreply@blogger.com (GVNR) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:23:00 +0000

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is due for release on May 28th. Chris Kohler from Wired asks the question if Jerry Bruckheimer's new film can break the curse when films that have their roots in video games.

Looks damn good to us! Any chance of free tickets to the premiere Jerry?