Another edition of the Weekly Grind for your earholes, covering lots of new and interesting tidbits from your MMO universe:
So grab a copy for a listen and get caught up!
Coming soon to a store shelf near you (in North America at least) will be Nintendo’s next console, the WiiU. There will be two models available, the Basic Set with 8GB of memory for $299.99 in white, and the Deluxe Set with 32GB of memory for $349.99 in black. It will be backwards compatible with the Wii, and as far as I am aware, will not play GameCube games. Most of the Wii accessories will work with the WiiU as well.
Specs-wise, the WiiU uses internal flash memory, but supports SDHC memory cards and external USB storage. It has a wireless adapter that supports b/g/n networks as well as 4 USB 2.0 connectors (2 in front, 2 in back) and they will support Wii LAN adapters. Video output supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, Wii D-Terminal, Wii Component Video, Wii RGB, S-Video, and Wii AV. The GamePad has a 6.2 inch 16:9 aspect ratio LCD touch screen with traditional controls and 2 analog sticks. It also has motion control with an accelerometer, gyroscope and geomagnetic sensor, a front facing camera, microphone, stereo speakers, rumble features, a sensor bar, a stylus, and support for NFC functionality. They’re using “WiiU optical discs” with 25GB of capacity.
They talked a little bit this morning about what is coming at launch for the WiiU as well. The interesting announcement was that Bayonetta 2 will be a WiiU exclusive.
A montage clip at the end showed a lot of publishers and games.… Read the rest
I’ll try to keep this as informative as I can without devolving into an extended rant about how religion should be about tolerance.
Vile Rat, who in our mundane world is known as Sean Smith, was the casualty in the Libyan city of Benghazi when militia stormed the US consulate there. But to the EvE community he was so much more.
He organized the first diplomatic arm of any corp or alliance in EvE for Goonswarm. He turned the tides of many now infamous battles with diplomacy alone. He was a spy, the one that infiltrated Lotka Volterra. He was a CSM6 member.
He was a friend, a teacher and so much more to so many in New Eden. And one of his friends can say it so much better than I can.
In game, memorials by way of renaming stations are happening everywhere.
Hats off to you Vile Rat.
I know, I suck and haven’t been recording podcasts, but I make it up to you now that I’m done having life drama.
This week I bring you news from:
And of course, more with my own flavor of tangents and bright shinies. So let’s do this, shall we?
Being one of those people who seems to have a bizarre need to collect all kinds of bright shinies, I tend to order the collector’s edition of a lot of games. I own the collector’s edition of every World of Warcraft release through Wrath of the Lich King, for example. I readily recognize that not all collector’s editions are created equal, but in this particular instance, I thought it was worth it since it had an awesome soundtrack and a Rytlock statue. Yes, I decided to pre-order the Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition, and like a complete dumbass, I pre-ordered it from GameStop.
Now, let me pause here to mention in the middle of all of this, I was buying a house. I figured this wouldn’t be a huge deal, because from all appearances, Guild Wars 2 wouldn’t release until the end of the year. Plenty of time! No problem! Then ArenaNet came out of nowhere with a WHABAM! Release date set, August 28th. Keep this date in mind, it’s very important.
Given this being a video game release, I presumed that GameStop would have their shit together and I’d see it ship on August 27th and I would get it the morning of the 28th. Being a good e-commerce denizen, I tried to log into the GameStop site long before my house closing (yes, I now own a house, don’t let people know I’m a grownup, ok?) on the 16th to update my shipping and billing address. I tried logging into the GameStop website, but my account wasn’t showing my order.… Read the rest
November 30th sees quite possibly the most heart breaking moment in gaming ever. City Of Heroes, the seminal, influential and inspiring MMO closes it’s doors forever. Of course, we don’t want this to happen and in a rare show of political outrage, we at Downtime Lounge ask you all to head on over to the links below and show that you want the game to stay online.
City Of Heroes has always been a big part of countless online communities with many nights whiled away saving the people and dispatching the badguys of Paragon City.
City of Heroes and it’s additions, Villains and Going Rogue is still a much loved game, this time it’s the heroes that need rescuing, it would be a crying shame to let such an important game in the MMO genre go.
It’s our turn to be the heroes now….
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncsoft-keep-ncsoft-from-shutting-down-city-of-heroes
Someone went to great lengths in compiling this list, only to have it deleted. Guess Blizzard doesn’t like being called out on false advertising and in general making a shitty product and calling it a game. Read and ye shall understand Diablostorm’s wisdom. I take no credit for the research, just passing the word along.
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Posted by Diablostorm:
I’ve followed Diablo 3 since the first video they released up until release day. I’ll attempt to keep this as simple as possible and allow you to judge for yourselves. I seriously feel after all this that Blizzard is trying to question my and everyone’s intelligence. Did you seriously think we would all forget?
I’ll start with the first video ever about Diablo 3:
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtotXRiYimg
Be sure to watch in High Quality.
Jay Wilson:”We’ve also added a way to quick-swap between two mouse-based skills using the mouse wheel or the tab key. These additions make for a game that remains so simple you can play with just the mouse, but allows for easy skill combinations and deeper, more satisfying combat.”
Okay, what happened to this? You can’t play with just a mouse, there is no quick-swap and I also notice the barbarian using a pick-axe weapon, where exactly did those go?
Jay Wilson:”These new axes are enchanted with frost and electricity, enhancing their damage and allowing them to stun and freeze enemies.”
Alright, enhances damage, check. St–wait now, electricity stuns and frost freezes enemies? You at least had the courtesy to allow cold damage to slow but as far as elemental damage mechanics go in this game… where is the stun from electricity and the freeze from frost from the ITEMS?… Read the rest
Let’s see if Sony can keep up with Ubisoft!
Heavy Rain you say!? This should be good! Holy crap! New IP called Beyond: Two Souls. “Death is the biggest mystery of mankind, what will happen after we die will be unknown… but what’s on the other side remains unknown? Beyond tells Jodi’s story over 15 years of her life.” They’re not announcing much except that Jodi Holmes is played by Ellen Paige. They’re showing a bit of a trailer, seems like it could be in game footage. Wow. Holy crap. That was really impressive.
Oh boy a fighting game, Sony Smash Bros. …I mean Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale. And another old bit of music. God damn people. Turn a radio on. (Granted I like Lo Fidelity All Stars and the song “Battle Flag.”) This will be on Vita AND the PS3 as well as cross compatible. Big Daddy from Bioshock is confirmed.
They’re basically going to let you use the Vita like the big remote for WiiU. Aka “Cross Control DLC.” Now he’s wanking on about PSN and PlayStation Plus, selling it to everybody again, announcing they’re adding more games available to members free. Infamous2, Little Big Planet 2, Saints Row 2 are some of the titles. Sony makes friends by giving away 1 year of Playstation Plus to the audience.
PS1 classics are coming to Vita, like Tomb Raider and FF7. Crap. Sony might’ve just made me buy a Vita. HuluPlus and Crackle are coming to Vita. And Call of Duty?… Read the rest
Woooo fast drive home from work!
FarCry3, so far lots of jungle, blood and boobs. No big surprise there I suppose. Very acid trippy at the end there. Apparently there’s an entire archipelago of islands to explore during this one.
More Splinter Cell: Blacklist. This irritating twit who is “breaking in” well…he’s irritating. Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be stabbed. Nice audio artifacting going on right now. And here’s the trailer.
Avengers Battle for Earth… and the irritating break in guy again. And it’s coming for the WiiU.
Apparently Ubisoft is bringing Rayman to the WiiU. Are you detecting a trend here? They’re showing off how they’re going to use the game pad in the game. There’s apparently a 2nd version of the controller too? Interesting. It’s up to 5 player co-op. OK this level with the music is pretty cool.
A zombie apocalypse shooter, gee I wonder….. but it’s another WiiU launch title which is interesting. ZombiU ? Um. Huh.
Yes this interaction is flopping, please stop trying to be funny, it’s not working.
Another Rabbids title is coming for WiiU. Another Your Shape Fitness Evolved. Kart racing, Just Dance, Assassin’s Creed 3….
Speaking of Assassin’s Creed 3, it apparently takes place in America during the Revolution. Holy shit it looks amazing. They look like they’re demoing on a PS3.
OK, Ubisoft, these two hosts are fucking horrible. Never ever hire them again.
I don’t know what the hell this demo is for, but I’m bored.… Read the rest
OOOo Dead Space 3, Live co-op demo about to go on now. That is one big giant drill and lots of snarky comments! Guess they found the override switch. hahah that one guy is saying all the things I do in these games (“Come on, are you fucking kidding me?!”), gotta love it. February 2013.
Oh boy another sports game. *snore* Madden NFL 13 with the Infinity Engine. It lets you possibly shake off a tackle to get some more yardage, and makes the player stats matter. Career mode is a RPG? Wha? This does not mean what you think it means.
Maxis is on the stage, announcing Sim City Social is going to Facebook. They say it’ll be out in a few weeks. There’s a new Sim City coming for PC too. It’s the first multiplayer SimCity! Out February 2013.
And here’s Battlefield 3…. which is already out? Moo? They’re announcing a premium membership with bunches of in game stuff. Yay. Microtransactions.
Time for Bioware to shill Star Wars the Old Republic. Pardon my bitterness, but shilling the Legacy system as a HUGE first update is misleading, since it was promised at launch, and was scrubbed. July they’re turning on playing for free up to level 15. The HK-51 assassin droid companion, playable Cathar (called that one!), new war zone, new space mission, new “raid,” new world coming.
Medal of Honor War Fighter is now up. *gunfire* *pewpew* *yelling* *airstrike*
More social networking stuff for sports (FIFA, Madden, etc) First gameplay trailer for Fifa 13.… Read the rest
