EA Confirms Battlefield 4 Beta Invite by Pre-Ordering Medal of Honor Warfighter

(Source: GameRanx)

Remember that little snaffu over the weekend by EA's Origin digital service? The one where they accidentally confirmed the existence of Battlefield 4 and how you can get in the beta just by pre-ordering Medal of Honor Warfighter? Well, if that banner pic wasn't enough, EA has now officially confirmed it...and with a multiplayer trailer commentary, to boot!

The multiplayer video is narrated by Warfighter Creative Director Kristoffer Bergqvist and shows us a couple of new footage from the game's multiplayer. It shows the Fire Team mechanic, class abilities, Support Actions and more. While this, in itself, is big news, it's sadly overshadowed by the announcement that DICE's next major entry in its Battlefield franchise is indeed getting a beta.

Obviously, no other details regarding Battlefield 4 has been revealed. So, does this mean BF4 will be a current-gen release? Sure seems like it. Let's just hope DICE somehow finds a way to let console players interact with more than 24 players at any given time, no?

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League of Legends - Mid-July Patch Preview Gameplay Changes

(Source and posted by RIOT's Phreak)

Welcome to the Patch Preview, summoners! In this episode we’ll discuss our changes for Sona, Malzahar, Jax, Xin Zhao, Evelynn, and Twitch! For more information about these updates, take a look at the video above!
Head to the video on YouTube to change your subtitles. Remember to comment on the video and subscribe to the Riot Games YouTube channel!
Stealth Rework

A lot of changes for this patch with the addition of League of Legends 101's champion, Zyra. Hopefully the Sona changes are enough to play AD again like her build oh so many patches ago early last year XD

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What’s New in the Final Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event

(From ArenaNet's Blog)

The final Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event is nearly here. From Friday, July 20 to Sunday, July 22, hundreds of thousands of players from Europe and North America will experience the beta version of Guild Wars 2 one last time before the game launches on August 28.
As you can imagine, this is an exciting time for everyone here at the studio. Guild Wars 2 launches in a matter of weeks, and with playable asura and sylvari characters and a lot of other cool content, this last Beta Weekend Event will be our biggest yet. Let’s take a look at what we’re all so excited about.

Create an Asura or Sylvari Character

Beta players will be able to create asura and sylvari characters for the first time this weekend, exploring each race’s fantastical home region, and experiencing the unique storyline options available to these races.

Lore and Continuity Writer Ree Soesbee, who was intimately involved with the creation of the sylvari, has high hopes for the debut of Tyria’s enigmatic race of humanoid plants.

“I hope players come away from this weekend with a better sense of the sylvari as a race—their personalities, quirks, interests, and setting,” Ree says. “I hope they’ll love the sylvari voices—the PC ones, in particular, are amazing!—and getting to see the Grove and soak in all its wonders. Personally, I look forward to hearing how players respond to the somewhat inhuman visual choices available for sylvari PCs—something that our artists worked very hard to create. It’s difficult to balance beautiful and not-quite-human!”

Players will also be able to create asuran characters for the first time this beta weekend.

Matt Barrett, the concept artist largely responsible for creating the asuran architecture, is confident that beta players will enjoy exploring Metrica Province and monolithic Rata Sum or matching wits with the treacherous Inquest. “Making the visually and culturally distinctive world of the asura was a huge, complex job, and I think players will be as intrigued by the asura as I was,” Matt says. “My challenge for beta players is to really explore the breadth and depth of their unique civilization and make the most of your chance to uncover the secrets of the asura.”

Brand-New Map – Brisban Wildlands


This brand-new map, recommended for players level 17-20, makes its debut this weekend.

“Brisban Wildlands is a remote jungle adjacent to the lands of the asura, sylvari, and humans. For decades the only inhabitants have been a few asura labs too secretive or volatile to occupy space near Rata Sum, and an ever-multiplying population of skritt. Protected by the secluded jungle, the skritt built the city of Skrittsburgh, and have attained an order of civility little seen in other areas of Tyria.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before outlaws began taking advantage of Brisban’s isolated location. The Inquest, Nightmare Court, and human bandits now flood the area, preying on skritt and disrupting lab operations. Worse still, each of these groups seem to have their own dark intentions—plots that could be catastrophic if left unchecked.

“The need for heroes is so great that many sylvari have been led to the jungle on their wyld hunts. Recognizing their common goals, the Peacemakers, wyld hunt valiants, and Seraph have pooled their resources in an attempt to keep Brisban Wildlands from falling to criminals.” 

-Kim Kirsch, Game Designer

Get Ready to Keg Brawl!


Introducing the first minigame activity playable in a beta weekend—the wildly popular, incredibly macho norn pastime known as Keg Brawl!

Activities like Keg Brawl are fun minigames that are available in many Tyrian cities. In the great norn settlement of Hoelbrak, players can speak to the Brewer NPC in the northwest corner to begin the game.

In Keg Brawl, two teams attempt to score points by toting a full keg of ale across an icy lake and turning it in to the Ale Collector that belongs to their team. Participants are free to tackle, pummel, kick, and otherwise rough up competing players in order to seize control of the keg.

Keg Brawl—you’ll never look at a keg of ale the same way again!

Kick Back and Enjoy the Vista

There’s so much to see in Tyria that sometimes you just want to pull over to the side of the proverbial road and admire the view. For this Beta Weekend Event, we’re introducing vistas, a new feature for sightseers, explorers, and those who just enjoy drinking in the view.

“Many of you have already spent some time exploring the world of Tyria battling through bandits, ghosts, and even other players. But how often did you get the chance to just sit back and look at the handcrafted beauty of the game? In the upcoming beta weekend, you’ll have the chance to do just that with our new vista feature.

“Vistas are a new addition to our map completion progress. We’ve placed visual cues of these hidden locations throughout the world. Once you have located and navigated to the vista, simply interact with it to activate a sweeping panoramic cinematic of the area.

“But don’t take my word for it; check out this vista from Hoelbrak below. Enjoy!”

-Crystal Reid, Level Designer

New PvP Map – Legacy of the Foefire

We’re introducing a brand-new player-versus-player map this weekend that we call “Legacy of the Foefire,” which draws some inspiration from the lore and design of the original Guild Wars. As with all PvP maps, players will battle over three capture points, but this new map includes NPC guards and team “guild lords,” powerful NPCs that are worth a lot of points… if you can manage to kill them.

“I think fans of Guild Wars will particularly appreciate the background of Foefire,” Game Designer Jonathan Sharp says. “And I think they’ll find the map layout reminiscent of some classic Guild Wars maps.”

More World vs. World


WvW isn’t just about spectacular sieges or brutal clashes between armies of players; there’s plenty for the small team or single player to do.

This beta weekend we’re introducing objectives for solo players called sentries. As you can imagine from the name, sentries are solitary NPC guards located on a capture point that are worth points if you can take them out. But be warned—sentries are no pushovers!

Reminder: Beta Info Will Be Deleted

Before this final Beta Weekend Event (and before Guild Wars 2 launches on August 28) we’ll delete all existing beta information. Every beta character and all information or items associated with them will be deleted. However, we will be preserving your beta account’s contact list so you can easily connect with your fellow beta gamers during Headstart Access or after launch.

Gem Store is Open for Business!


During the beta weekend, we’ll test our secure Gem Store billing system in a live environment, which means you can purchase gems with your credit card or through PayPal.
As we mentioned earlier, we’re wiping all our beta data before launch—including items purchased this weekend—but we’ll keep a record of how many gems you’ve purchased during beta events. When Guild Wars 2 launches on August 28, you’ll receive those gems back on your account.

Guild Wars 2 Beta Livestream on Twitch TV


Throughout the beta weekend, ArenaNet devs will be livestreaming GW2 gameplay on Twitch TV. From combat tips to PvP match commentary, our developers will give you a deeper insight into the game and will take your questions in the chat channel during each stream.
For more information, check out Twitch TV’s Guild Wars 2 channel.

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Tales of the Mists: Week in Review (7/9 - 7/13 2012)

Tale of the Mists Weekly Update

This week, Ren and I tackled on Signet themed builds, plus we have 6 additional builds to view. I also updated 3 builds.

Signet Challenge:

• [21] Elementalist: Staff "Signet" Build |PVE
• [22] Ranger: Greatsword & Dual Axe (Darius and Draven in One) "Signet" Build |PVE
• [24] Warrior: Dual Sword & Dual Axe "Raging Dual-ist" Signet Build |PVE
• [25] Thief: Dagger/Pistol & Sword/Pistol Signet Build |PVE
• [26] Mesmer: Illusionary Signets Build |PVE
• [27] Necromancer: Dagger/Warhorn & Axe/Dagger - Signet Build |PVE
• [29] Guardian: Zealously Radiant Greatsword Vanquisher (Signet) Build | PVE

New Builds:

• [20] Guardian: Spirit of Restorative Resolve - Mace/Focus & Staff (Heal/Support) Build |PVE
• [23] Necromancer: Staff & Scepter/Focus "Spectral Mark Mage" Build |WvWvW and PVE
• [28] Warrior: Sword/Shield & Mace/Shield - DolYOLKED Build |WvWvW and PVE
• [30] Thief: Assassin Cross (Dungeon Edition) - Dual Dagger & Sword/Dagger |WvWvW, PVE and Dungeon
• [31] Ranger:  Long Bow/Short Bow "In My Pet I Trust" |PVE
• [32] Elementalist: Theme - "Long Live the Beifongs!" |PVE

Updated Builds:

• [5] Mesmer: Greatsword & Staff - Phantasmic 2-Handed Illusion Shatterer | WvWvW and PVE
• [6] Mesmer: Theme: Loki, Glamorous of all Jotunheim
• [19] Warrior: Theme - Thor's Might of Mjolnir

And as always, you can leave feedback or submit a build through any of the links on the "Contact Me" tab page :)

Have a great weekend! 

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Now Playing: Guild Wars 2 - Asura race

(Click "Read more >>" to see the video)
Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot and Mike Zadorojny from ArenaNet show off the Asura race in Guild Wars 2.

Some cool highlights I enjoyed after watching the video.

• new map implementation 'vistas'
• "/dance" function was shown.
• Oola's Skill Point Challenge
• An epic jump puzzle - entrance / sky
• Aurora's Remain's - ghosts of the Shining Blade and White Mantle still fighting!
• Skrittsburg - home hub for the Skritt!

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Champion Sneak Peek - Zyra, Rise of the Thorns

(Read full preview here)

Are you ready to meet one of the fiercest and deadliest champions ever to step foot out of the Valoran wilds? Meet Zyra, Rise of the Thorns. This floral femme fatale packs a lot of petals and punch, planting seeds directly on the battlefield and springing them to life into deadly plant allies.

Abilities:

• Queen of Thorns (Passive): Upon dying, Zyra transforms into a vengeful plant that fires one last shot before expiring.
• (Q) Deadly Bloom: Zyra grows a bud at target location. After a brief delay it explodes, launching damaging thorns at all nearby enemies. If cast on a seed, Deadly Bloom grows a Thorn Spitter plant, which fires at enemies from afar.
• (W) Rampant Growth: Zyra plants a seed, granting vision of an area for up to 30 seconds. Other spells cast on seeds will turn them into plants who fight for Zyra.
• (E) Grasping Roots: Zyra sends forth vines through the ground to ensnare her target, dealing damage and rooting enemies they come across. If cast on a seed, Grasping Roots grows a Vine Lasher, whose short range attacks reduce enemy Movement Speed.
• (R) Stranglethorns (Ultimate): Zyra summons a twisted thicket at her target location, dealing damage to enemies as it expands and knocking them airborne as it contracts. Plants in the area are enraged, increasing their Attack Speed.

Lore:

Longing to take control of her fate, the ancient, dying plant Zyra transferred her consciousness into a human body for a second chance at life. Centuries ago, she and her kind dominated the Plague Lands, using thorns and vines to consume any animal that set foot in their territory. As the years passed, the animal population steadily died off. Food became increasingly scarce, and Zyra could only stand by helplessly as the last of her kin withered away. She thought she would perish alone, until the appearance of an unwary sorceress presented her with an opportunity for salvation.

It was the first time in years Zyra had sensed a creature wander so close. Hunger drew her to the sorceress, but some other, deeper instinct compelled her. She enveloped the woman in thorns with ease, but as she savored this final meal, foreign memories invaded her thoughts. She saw great jungles of metal and stone where humans and animals thrived. Potent magic surged through her vines, and she devised an elegant but risky plan to survive. Using the woman’s memories, Zyra poured her newfound magic into the creation of a human-shaped vessel. She didn’t know what sort of world awaited her, but she had nothing left to lose. When Zyra opened her eyes, she was overwhelmed by the raw power ready at her fingertips. It wasn’t until she noticed the shriveled remains of the plant she once was that she realized how vulnerable she had become. If this body died, there would be no network of vines to retreat through, no roots to regrow her...but she felt truly alive. She beheld the world for the first time as animals did, and a dark smile crept across her lips. She was reborn, and there was so much now within her grasp.

“Closer to the flower, closer to the thorns.” - Zyra

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Play Asura and Sylvari in the July 20-22 Beta Weekend Event!

From ArenaNet's Blog

BY DAVID CAMPBELL JULY 9TH, 2012

For our final Beta Weekend Event (July 20-22), we’re making the asura and sylvari races available to beta players for the first time. Players will be able to create characters from any of the five main races of Tyria—human, norn, charr, asura, and sylvari—and begin their Guild Wars 2 experience in any of the five radically different home regions.

For asura players, this means beginning your tale in Metrica Province, a vivid, exotic jungle area full of high-tech laboratories, quirky golems, and competing krewes of mad scientists. Nearby, the massive monoliths of the asuran capital Rata Sum hum with technomagical power. These diminutive geniuses may seem cute at first glance, but never underestimate an asura…

Sylvari players begin their story in the Grove, a luminous living city nestled in the shade of the Pale Tree, the “mother” of every member of this young race of plant humanoids. The sylvari are an enigmatic race of chivalrous explorers who are driven by an insatiable curiosity and guided by a collective Dream.

If you’ve played in previous beta events, you know that each playable race has its own distinct regions, signature city, and personal storyline options. But above all, each race in Guild Wars 2 has its own identity, and the asura and sylvari perfectly illustrate this.

We can’t wait to see players drinking in the mystical atmosphere of the Grove or stopping alchemagical experiments running amok in Metrica Province during our last Beta Weekend Event before launch. If you want to reserve a spot in the beta, pre-purchase your copy of Guild Wars 2 today.

We’ll see you in-game on July 20-22! Excelsior!

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Riot teases 101st League of Legends champion, Zyra

(Source)

For many, League of Legends' 100th character is a milestone of sorts. For many, this next champion is a landmark for the game, which released back in 2009 and has since become one of the most successful MOBA games on the market.

Unfortunately, not everyone was happy about Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow. Many wanted something epic for the 100th release, but as Riot Games' lead champion designer Ryan 'Morello' Scott points out, "every champion needs to be a milestone of some kind".
Morello defended Jayce, while emphasizing Riot's stance of "if there was something more special we could have done here, why aren't we doing that for every champion?"

"While I maintain that Jayce's whole weapon-transforming thing is really fun, it's really not about some big mega-release milestone. It's a nice round number, sure, but I think it'd be kind of ****ty of us if we were holding something back for this that we'd had been capable of doing previously," Morello said in a post.

If we've learned anything from the release of Pulsefire Ezreal, it's that Riot will not release something unless they are 100% confident it's the best they can offer.

"I kind of see it as every champion needs to be a milestone of some kind - just trying to do something we hadn't done before in regards to gameplay, art, lore, or any mixture of them," he explained. "I'll talk more about a couple of the big issues (monsters, why 3 masculine-style males so close) in a future post, but for this I wanna focus on the specific "champ 100 thing." I feel if there was something more special we could have done here, why aren't we doing that for every champion?" 

A new video that takes a look back at the first 100 champion in League of Legends champions will be released next week. It will show some of the processes they use and reveal "the man behind the curtain". 

He didn't stop there though...He also revealed the 101st champion coming to League of Legends: Zyra - a rather sexy looking plant-like champion. 

"I probably shouldn't do this, but what the Hell. I'm really stoked about champion 101 too because I got to work much much more directly on it than I usually do and it's an archetype I think we've needed. I'll..," Morello teased, "plant a little teaser for you." 

"Hint, she's not made of flesh," he added. Morello didn't spoil any details about the new champion, but did tease she will have "something you've never seen before in MOBA." 

Small boobs maybe? You're guess is as good as ours. Judging from his not-so-subtle hint and the image, she will be plant-like. A female Maokai maybe? On first glance at the image, she looks like an AP character which is kind of cool since we've had so many bruisers and AD carries released recently. I'm excited for Jayce, but I have to say, Zyra look amazing! 

What do you think of the teaser for Zyra? What could her secret ability be!?

As much as I love Riot and League of Legends so far, there are times I question their creativity. In this case, the 101st champion being plant-like. I don't know about you guys, but a botanical humanoid sounds awfully familiar *cough cough* Guild Wars 2 race, the Sylvari.

Maybe she won't exactly look like a Sylvari, but you know I'm pretty sure their presence (especially of late as Guild Wars 2 is finally being released) has had some influence on it. Perhaps Morello has a secret love for them? Who knows. I am just now more curious to what she'll look like and where her skills will be rooted from.

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Guild Wars 2 Biography Template for Microsoft Excel

Download link here


With Guild Wars 2 nearing release, people are starting to focus on what kind of characters to make. One of the essential aspects to character creation in Guild Wars 2, is the in game biography. With the use of Microsoft Excel, I created an easy to use template so anyone can keep a record of their character's biography information. This is really useful for those who are planning to make plenty of character at release.



There are 4 different templates, Character Box (CB), which are separated according to the Profession Group:

Soldier: Guardian, Warrior
Adventurer: Engineer, Thief, Ranger
Scholar: Elementalist, Mesmer, Necromancer

This was done because of the formula length restriction on the drop boxes that I encountered earlier. Also,  the Ranger profession has its own CB because its profession choice is dependent on which race you choose.

The zip contains the original workbook file and an Excel 97-2003 version and a Read Me Notepad file.

And just to be safe I scanned the worksheet and zip file

So feel free to download it and give it a go. And I hope this will help everyone out there :)

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FINAL FANTASY VII for PC - Announcement Trailer

It has been 14 long years since Final Fantasy VII first appeared on computers, and 15 years since the game was released on the Sony PlayStation. The latter version is the one most people associate with the game because, quite frankly, the PC port just was not that great. It had numerous bugs and was not optimized all that well, but a lot can change over the years, and hopefully for the better. Square Enix has confirmed the rumors (mostly) and will re-release Final Fantasy VII on the PC later this year (hopefully). As was rumored, this re-release will include achievements you can compare against friends, cloud saving, and a "character booster" to give you maximum HP, MP, and Gil levels. That seems like a bit of an easy way out for some gamers, but maybe it is designed to remove the grinding associated with JRPGs.

The upcoming Final Fantasy VII will also be updated and optimized for modern PCs, but this is not a full-on HD remake. Minimum specifications are: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64-bit), 2GHz Processor or faster, 1GB RAM, and a DirectX 9-compatible graphic card. Give and get, I suppose, but hey, if Square Enix removes all those bugs from the original PC version then count me in. It will be available only from the Square Enix online store instead of any digital distributor, which is a bit odd to say the least and goes against the Steam rumor. There is no price mentioned, but I imagine it will not be much more than $10.

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Champion Sneak Peek - Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow

Read full preview here

Riot's League of Legends' 100th is coming! Here is a preview of Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow:

Abilities (Mercury Hammer):

• Hextech Capacitor (Passive): Jayce gains a quick burst of movement speed and ignores unit collision each time Transform is cast
• To the Skies!: Jayce leaps to an enemy dealing physical damage and slowing enemies.
• Lightning Field:
• Passive: Jayce restores mana per strike.
• Active: Jayce creates a field of lightning damaging nearby enemies for several seconds.
• Thundering Blow: Jayce deals magic damage to an enemy based on their maximum health and knocks them back a short distance.
• Transform: Mercury Cannon (Ultimate): Transforms the Mercury Hammer into the Mercury Cannon gaining new abilities and increased range. The first attack in this form reduces the target's Armor and Magic Resist.

Abilities (Mercury Cannon):

• Hextech Capacitor (Passive): Jayce gains a quick burst of movement speed and ignores unit collision each time Transform is cast
• Shock Blast: Jayce fires an orb of electricity that detonates upon hitting an enemy (or reaching the end of its path) dealing physical damage to all enemies in the area of the explosion.
• Hyper Charge: Jayce gains a burst of energy, increasing attack speed to maximum for several attacks.
• Acceleration Gate: Jayce deploys an Acceleration Gate increasing the movement speed of all allies who pass through it. If Shock Blast is fired through the gate the missile speed, range, and damage will increase.
• Transform: Mercury Hammer (Ultimate): Transforms the Mercury Cannon into the Mercury Hammer gaining new abilities and increasing Armor and Magic Resist. The first attack in this form deals additional magic damage.

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Guild Wars 2 Has A Release Date!

I'm a little late on posting this here as I'm more active on my tumblr at the moment XD.

Anyways, if you haven't heard, one of 2012's most anticipated MMORPGs, Guild Wars 2 has a release date. That date is Tuesday, August 28, 2012. However, those who have pre-purchased the game will have early access beginning on Saturday, August 25, 2012. I highly suggest pre-purchasing the game if you intent on playing it from the get go.

ArenaNet also confirmed their next and final BWE which will held from July 20-22, 2012.

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Help Us Stress Our Servers on June 27

From ArenaNet's Blog:

We were very pleased with how our servers performed during our second Beta Weekend Event, but we want to gather additional data on how they operate under load before the next one.

That’s where you come in.

All players who have pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 are invited to participate in our upcoming stress test. This four-hour test event will run on


Wednesday, June 27th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT (GMT-7).

We won’t wipe characters for this event, so if you played in our previous betas, you can pick up right where you left off. All we need you to do is log in and have fun—leave the stress to us!

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Blade & Soul Open Beta in Korea

PlayNC Korea kicks off their Blade & Soul Open Beta on June 21st, 2012! For those of you who aren't aware yet, PlayNC removed the fatigue system so you'll be able to level up to your hearts content. If you're in the US and lucky enough to have a Korean SSN, I suggest you check this game out. I would definitely recommend this game for players who are looking into a fast paced oriental fantasy action MMORPG.

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1UP's 2012's Best RPGs So Far... and Yet to Come

Read full article here...

Cover Story: Halfway through 2012, we take stock of the best role-players so far and up ahead.

The role-playing genre may not be quite as dead as some people would have you believe. In fact, we've seen quite a few in the first half of the year, some of which were downright excellent. And you can expect even more in the months to follow. We've pulled together a dozen of 2012's standout RPG titles 2012 -- the six best RPGs we've played already, and the six we're looking forward to the most. This steady drip-feed of role-playing content guarantees we'll never extricate ourselves from the shackles of our consoles and PCs. There'll always be one more level to grind, one more super-boss to crush, one more piece of sweet loot to collect and equip. Ah well. It's a grim burden, but somebody's got to bear it.

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Destructoid Editorial Review of E3

Read full article here...

E3 is kind of bullshit. Though not many will say it, developers, publishers, investors, and media alike think it. And so, it’s not really a controversial statement, except for the one group that isn’t aware of the expo’s privy charades. I’m speaking of the general public. 


For a show that is supposed to inform consumers, E3, in recent years, seems to confuse and disappoint game enthusiasts more than anything. I continue to love the spectacle and insanity that E3 brings, but lately I’ve been wondering what purpose this show serves in 2012. It’s supposed to be about more than the press bellyaching over promotional practices and internet users getting upset when publishers show up without a surprise in tow, right?


It’s easy to forget, among all the giant LED screens and flashing lights, that E3 is an industry expo that is supposed to inform the media, the public, and investors as to what the future may hold. As much as I love the thing, it’s hard to deny the truth: It fails miserably at this. It has become a show where Nintendo can say, "Sorry, no price or release details," while publishers show flashy demos on the floor that only roughly resemble the products that will eventually hit store shelves.


This is the expo gaming our industry currently runs, but is it really the one we deserve?

...


I just worry about the consumers and dedicated gamers, like you guys, who are easily manipulated one way or other by the demos shown to the public at E3. Before you go aggro and write a silly article about how games are becoming homogenized, read our previews of the behind-closed-doors demos and don’t take the gameplay trailers posted on YouTube at face value.


E3 is bigger than investors, the press, and you guys. Now, it’s about everyone. It’s about getting CNN talking about the Wii U and some guy with a spray-on tan calling Far Cry 3 a “Halo-killer” or some shit because what the hell else is he going to say about a medium he barely understands? While publishers may continue to dress their games up in the most generic way possible to reach the most people, trust that developers will continue to evolve franchises and create something new, more often than not. 


You may think you have access to everything at E3 from your home, but there is still a hidden world only open to a select few behind closed door at the show. It’s in these rooms that E3 continues to be what it once was: A place where developers can show their games and players can get excited alongside them. Once you ignore the hype, see through the deception, and prepare for the inevitable disappointment, E3 is the same as its ever been. And by that, I mean's it's incredibly stupid bullshit.

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Is it Fun? Colin Johanson on How ArenaNet Measures Success

Read full article here...

To begin this blog post, let me pose a question: How do you measure the success of an MMO?

Historically, it’s been easy to point to success with traditional MMOs: subscription numbers were the ultimate means a company used to measure how well a game was doing, and customers typically looked at those same numbers as well to gauge the success of the game. The number of concurrent users—how many players are online at a given time—was also important, but that number was usually hidden from users, since it typically painted a less rosy picture of a game’s health when compared to the number of active subscriptions.

Now let me pose a second question: If the success of a subscription-based MMO is measured by the number of people paying a monthly fee, how does that impact game design decisions?

The answer can be found in the mechanics and choices made in subscription-based MMOs, which keep customers actively playing by chasing something in the game through processes that take as long as possible. In other words, designers of traditional MMOs create content systems that take more time to keep people playing longer. If this is your business motivation and model so you keep getting paid, it makes sense and is an incredibly smart thing to do, and you need to support it.

When your game systems are designed to achieve the prime motivation of a subscription-based MMO, you run the risk of sacrificing quality to get as much content in as possible to fill that time. You get leveling systems that take insane amounts of grind to gain a level, loot drop systems that require doing a dungeon with a tiny chance the item you want can drop at the end, raid systems that need huge numbers of people online simultaneously to organize and play, thousands of wash/repeat item-collection or kill-mob quests or dailies with flavor text support, the best stat gear requiring crazy amounts of time to earn, etc.

But what if your business model isn’t based on a subscription? What if your content-design motivations aren’t driven by the need to create mechanics that keep people playing as long as possible? When looking at content design for Guild Wars 2, we’ve tried to ask the question: What if the development of the game was based on…wait for it…fun?
...


his metric of success impacted a lot of our early content-related design decisions for Guild Wars 2. Some examples include:

• Fun impacts loot collection. The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don’t need them to be the best. The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it’s not required to play the game. We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.
• Fun impacts decisions. Every time you finish a dungeon you get tokens you can trade in for reward items that you want, rather than having a small chance of getting it as a drop, because it’s more fun to always get rewarded for finishing with something you want to have!
• Fun impacts development. Explorable dungeons have multiple paths you can take and random events. Because of this you don’t feel like you need to play the same dungeon over and over again if you want to chase the prestigious rewards at the end, but can instead mix up that experience to keep it fresh and fun.
• Fun impacts customization. The event and personal story systems allow you to get a sense of customization from your characters. Playing through the game, each character can experience completely different content, and the world can always stay fresh and new in the pursuit of new story lines, and an ever-changing dynamic event world. It means going back to a place you’ve already been with a character can be fun, and it means making a new character on an entirely different personal story chain can be fun as well.
• Fun impacts gameplay. The pursuit of fun in content led us to make many gameplay decisions, including:Everyone who helps kill a creature gets experience and loot, so you’re not competing with other players; everyone gets rewarded for events with karma they can spend to buy rewards they want, rather than get a random roll of stuff they might not want; content scales in difficulty, so if more people show up, there is still stuff for you to do; everyone is able to revive one another, so you view other players as assets that can help you achieve your goals, rather than people who might get in your way; everyone can harvest resource nodes and get the rewards in the world together, rather than racing other people to them who might steal it from you. All of these things are just more fun!

...

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RIOT: You Sneaky Snakes

Upcoming Ahri skin:

Firefox Ahri

But it all makes sense... when you put these other skins together

Explorer Ezreal

Chrome Ramus

Safari Caitlyn

Browser references FTW!

So which Champion will be Opera? I would like to think Leblanc, Karthus or Sona.

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Korea's Fair Trade Commission Raids Blizzard's Offices

Read full article here...

The tricky thing about company policy is that it has to be fair, valid and withheld within the countries they are operating in.

A reader has posted this:
"Korean Law gives them 7 days to return any software product if there is a problem with it and the problem is not the end user's fault. That's the main issue."

The problem is indeed Blizzard's fault as they have not prepared for the titanic of players trying to log in and play the game. Seeing South Korea as one Blizzard's main flagship countries, I'm not surprised by all the complaints of the Error 37 fiasco.

Playing Diablo III myself, I believe Blizzard were lazy about a lot of things in the development and release of the game. Shame really.

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Champion Sneak Peek - Draven, the Glorious Executioner

Read full preview here

Draven is brother to the previously released Champion Darius. Also, this will be the 99th Champion to be released by RIOT. I wonder what they have in store for their 100th.

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Announcing the Next Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend

For full article read here

To sum it up:


Beta Weekend Event 2 will begin on Friday, June 8th, at noon PDT (GMT-7) and will run until Sunday, June 10th, at 11:59 p.m. PDT (GMT-7).


Marked on calendar. Good thing that's a free weekend!

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New Guild Wars 2 Concept Art Revealed for Hitting 500k fans on Facebook

Shatterer Destiny

A little late, but here's the concept art in its glory... Actually it's an in game screenshot that one of their artists touched up. EPIC!

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Champion Sneak Peek - Darius, the Hand of Noxus

If you’ve ever been frustrated by your progress in a given position, you might want to look to Darius, the Hand of Noxus, for inspiration. In order to secure his own advancement, this determined champion has repeatedly employed the foolproof method of lopping his boss’ head off. So whether you believe that the road to power is paved with the headless bodies of your enemies, or you simply think that a good beheading is a rather expedient method of dealing with red tape, we think you’ll agree that Darius makes a fine addition to the League of Legends.

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Guild Wars 2 Stress Test, Monday May 14 11AM-6PM PST!!!

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New concept art from Guild Wars 2

Like they promised an their Facebook, a new concept art. Big world boss? I like.

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Massivity: Will 2012's Big MMOs Hit or Miss? Prediction Time!

For full article read here

"We're still a few months from finding out if 2012 will mark the end of the world, but five months in, I think it's safe to say that this year at least marks a new beginning for the MMORPG genre. For the first time in years, developers are producing games that seem like something other than World of Warcraft or EverQuest clones. TERA, Guild Wars 2, and The Secret World all have ideas within them that warrant some attention, and even Blizzard's mixing things up a little with Mists of Pandaria. All in all, it's a good year to be an MMO fan. But will these new games still be standing as tall this time next year? I'm no Mayan, but here are my predictions for how each of these games will perform in the coming months..."

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Guild Wars 2: The Avengers Theme Builds

As a fan of Marvel and Avengers and today's release of the movie "The Avengers", I took a moment to make some fun Guild Wars 2 builds. Don't take them too seriously, but I did make them in mind of their viability. I couldn't think of one for Mr. Hulk Smash, as in weapon set since he uses anything to smash things, but I did have thought of him being in the warrior class, hehe.

And yes, go watch The Avengers!

Loki
Thor
Captain America
Hawk Eye
Black Widow
Iron Man

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May the 4th Be With You

The Dark Side... is the Best Side

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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: A Marriage That Works Despite Its Differences

Read full article here


"... And yet here we are, mere months away from the arrival of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, which manages to one-up Funky Fantasy both in terms of its preposterous design and its silly name.



Nonsensical as the game may seem on the surface, in practice it's surprisingly fun. Rather than going the DDR route, Square Enix has instead chosen to base Theatrhythm's play mechanics more on the Elite Beat Agents model: Players drag and tap the 3DS's touch screen in time to on-screen cues synched in turn to the music. The input methods lack the hand-crampingly manic style of EBA, though on higher difficulty levels the prompts fly almost too fast to keep up with, and the similarity of the three input styles (tap, hold, swipe) in some ways make the game extremely difficult in the heat of a more demanding play sequence since it's easier to twitchily make a miscue between such near-identical motions.

The other big difference between the fictional Funky Fantasy and its real-life monkey's paw incarnation is that Theatrhythm doesn't simply stop at being a rhythm game. It's also a 25th anniversary encapsulation of the franchise, which means that Square has somehow managed to do a Dissidia and make an RPG out of it, too.

"But that's preposterous," you sputter incredulously. "How can a music game be a role-playing game as well?"

The answer, as it happens, is encoded in the title of the game: Music performances are staged -- literally staged -- as Final Fantasy-style battles. The game's visual style presents 25 years of familiar heroes and villains as felt board puppets marching across diorama battlefields, like a saccharine-cute puppet show based on great music and deeply nerdy underpinnings. Hence, "theatre"-"rhythm." ..."

This game will be pure nostalgia for me :D 

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Varus, the Arrow of Retribution Revealed!

Full post here

Abilities:


Living Vengeance (Passive): On kill or assist, Varus temporarily gains Attack Speed. This bonus is larger if the enemy is a champion.


Piercing Arrow: Varus readies and then fires a powerful shot that gains extra range and damage the longer he spends preparing to fire.


Blighted Quiver: Varus' basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and apply Blight. Varus' other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage based on the target's maximum health.


Hail of Arrows: Varus fires a hail of arrows that deal physical damage and desecrate the ground. Desecrated ground slows enemies' Movement Speed and reduces their healing and regeneration.


Chain of Corruption (Ultimate): Varus flings out a tendril of corruption that immobilizes the first enemy champion hit and then spreads towards nearby uninfected champions, immobilizing them too on contact.


Lore:


For his incomparable skill with the bow and his unquestioned sense of honor, Varus was chosen to be the warden of a sacred Ionian temple. The temple was built to contain an ancient pit of corruption so vile that Ionian Elders feared it could envelop the island in darkness. Varus prided himself on his position, as only the most exceptional Ionian warriors were selected for the role. He lived with his family in a nearby village and led a quiet life of disciplined routine until the day the forces of Noxus invaded Ionia. Their shock troops left nothing but death and desolation in their wake, and the temple lay in their path. Varus was forced to make a decision. He was bound by honor to stay and defend the temple, but without him the village's few inhabitants could offer little resistance against the oncoming war machine. Gravely, he chose to fulfill his duty as a warden. The corruption could not be allowed to escape.


His arrows sundered the troops who tried to wrest the temple from him that day. However, when he returned to the village, he found that it had been reduced to a smoldering graveyard. Remorse at the sight of his slain family gave way to overwhelming regret and then to seething hatred. He swore to slaughter every Noxian invader, but first he needed to become stronger. He turned to that which he had sacrificed everything to protect. The pit of corruption would consume him wholly, as a flame devours a wick, but its abominable power would burn within him until he was lost. This was a path from which there could be no return. With grim resolve, he condemned himself to the black flames, feeling malevolent energy bond to his skin...and with it, the promise of ruin. He left, seeking the blood of all Noxians involved with the invasion, a grisly task that eventually led him to the invasion's most infamous perpetrators in the League of Legends.


''The life of an arrow is fleeting, built of nothing but direction and intent.'' - Varus


I've actually been waiting for this champ. Will buy :D

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Guild Wars 2 Builds - Mesmer: 2-Hands Greatsword/Staff Illusion Spammer for PVE

Click here for detailed guide

I tried out the Mesmer profession last Beta weekend test, and had lots of fun using the Greatsword and Staff. I hope to test out in the next beta weekend in sPVP and WvWvW. This build revolves on spamming your Illusions/Clones, let them do damage and then use your shatter skills...

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