game articles

Portable GameHouse Ricochet Lost World

2010-03-22T23:56:00.000+02:00

With its stunning visuals and sound effects, gripping soundtrack and compelling level design, Ricochet Lost Worlds could quite possibly be the most addictive game ever made. This remarkable breakout action game will entertain your whole family for hours on end! Throw into the mix a slew of innovative power-ups, a new “Ring Game” and a level editor where you can make your own levels and you have an unbeatable combination. You just have to download this brick-busting game… it’s a blast!

Download Link

[Rapidshare]

http://rapidshare.com/files/366688064/RicocheLW.rar

[Via http://rapid4game.wordpress.com]

Fox News Splits Screen, Shows Teabagger Protests During Stupak ...

Spin The World - Checkup

2010-03-21T20:35:00.000+02:00

Just wanted to show you what we have been doing. So far we have a moderately playable game. All that has been done on the game engine is spawn enemies correctly, add movement patterns to them (though some will be changed later), detect collisions accurately, set up a pause system, add some HUD icons, like an upgrade system, and more.

You can play the newest version here: http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1269200184

Its just over 3 megs(luckily we included a preloader). Don’t worry. We haven’t started optimizing the assets yet. We even have a single sprite sheet that weights over a 1,000 kb alone.

Please do provide feedback on anything you want. I would love to know what you think about it!

Cheers,

UnknownGuardian

[Via http://kdugames.wordpress.com]

iPhone app sites charging for reviews | iLounge News

Nintendo DSi Hardware Bundle - Black - $174.99 was $204.99

2010-03-21T12:24:00.000+02:00

The Nintendo DSi is a high-powered handheld video game system in a sleek, folding design loaded with features like touch screen control for a unique gaming experience. Snap photos with the built-in camera, edit and send them to friends, play back your music with Nintendo DSi Sound, or browse the Internet with the Nintendo DSi Browser. From playing games to just playing around, the Nintendo DSi does it all. Includes: Nintendo DSi System, Nintendo DSi AC Adapter, Nintendo DSi Stylus (2), Black Guard Case, Car Charger, Ear Bud Headphones, Easy Start Guide, Manuals (Basic & Controls) and Support Booklet. $174.99 List: $204.99 Save: $30.00 (15%) SB Link Address

Please click on the following link to visit this daily featured deal.

Deal Address Click Here

[Via http://shoppingbagger.wordpress.com]

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 News

Puzzle 221 (Fillomino Path)

2010-03-21T04:00:00.000+02:00

This is a Sunday Fillomino Path puzzle.

Puzzle 221

The meaning of the red squares is on the description page now. Basically each one gives one of the two endpoints of the path.

Perhaps not Sunday level if you use a bit of intuition to work this one out. A logical solution exists, but it is probably more difficult than a typical Sunday and requires a fair amount of if-then. Unlike any of my other Fillomino puzzles you will also need to do plenty of careful counting.

[Via http://mellowmelon.wordpress.com]

EVE Tyrannis expansion due in May News | MMO | Eurogamer

Exquisite Corpse

2010-03-20T19:29:00.000+02:00

illustration by Iguanodon

Linheraptor Exquisitus

A new raptor has been found in fantastically preserved condition in China by two British students! An Iguanodon likes to keep abreast of these things and I feel it’s my duty to inform you.

It’s scientific name ‘exquisitus’ reminds me of a conceptual symmetry between the work of a paleontologist piecing a broken skeleton together with his knowledge of what has already been found and his imaginative guesses at this animal’s particular adaptations and characteristics with the classic Surrealist’s game of exquisite corpse.

The early pictoral representation of my own kind is the classic historical example. For example, Gideon Mantell first imagined that an Iguanodon looked like this:

Silly billy!

Of course we now know that an Iguanodon looks like this:

Don’t mess!

[Via http://iguanodonstudies.wordpress.com]

Microsoft Contemplating 360 USB Storage? News

Dragon Age Origins: Return to Ostagar Review

2010-03-20T04:40:00.000+02:00

Did anyone leave a giant hole here?

There’s little chance we wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to explore more of Ferelden, the fictional setting for BioWare’s ambitious role-playing game, Dragon Age: Origins. So the release of Return to Ostagar is welcome not only for the mere fact that it adds another chapter to the original game, but also because it ties up a few loose ends from the character’s initial battle at Ostagar.

The Return to Ostagar option opens up after players move past Lothering. A quick trip to Bann Loren’s Lands on the map will lead you to an encounter with one of Cailan’s guards, who is, if you remember, now out of a job. He tells the Warden that Cailan wanted the Wardens to claim some of his possessions in case he died. The problem is that Ostagar is now completely overrun with Darkspawn, so you’ll have to fight your way through every single step.

It’s particularly cool to see the changes that have taken place in the ruins. I mean, they were already ruins, but now these are some ruined ruins. Getting a look at the demolished dog kennels or Duncan’s old fire really gives players a chance to mark just how far their own story has progressed from those first days with the Wardens. On a purely practical level, it also gives us all a second chance at that intriguing Mage Chest.

Of course, it’s not all reminiscing. Loads of Hurlocks, including several Elites, will block your path through the ruins, and to repay the time it takes you to slaughter them, you’ll be rewarded with the amazing loot they’ve taken from the fallen soldiers of the battle, including some choice pieces from Duncan and the King himself. A Genlock Necromancer will frequently pop up to taunt you and then run off just as you’re swarmed with other enemies. He’ll lead you through the ruins and into some new tunnels beneath the Tower of Ishal.

We won’t spoil any of the details here, but the fights are fun, even if the enemies are the same ones you’ve encountered a hundred times already, and the loot is plentiful. Fans of Dragon Age Origins’ story will also be happy to close the book on he final fate of King Cailan in a very emotional scene. In all, it’s an enjoyable couple of hours that works well to add a bit more weight to the game’s story.

Perhaps the only thing not to like about the Return to Ostagar is the incredibly disturbing conversation between Wynne and Alistair towards the end of the sequence. You may have thought it was awkward delivering condolence letters to widows or convincing innkeepers to go out and get slaughtered by Darkspawn, but it’s nothing in comparison to the discussion these two have after you retrieve the last of Cailan’s armor. Unfortunately, there are some great conversation options when you bring Alastair and Wynne (and the other companion) to the site of the battle, so you won’t want to make the trip without them.

Closing Comments

Return to Ostagar doesn’t add anything revolutionary to the Dragon Age experience. You’ll know exactly what you’re in for from the moment you load it up. With that said, it’s every bit as good as the content that came with the original game, and it gives the Warden a chance to tie up one of the campaign’s loose ends. Throw in a fair bit of impressive loot, some of which will actually stay useful through the end of the main story, and there’s no reason to avoid returning to Ostagar.

[Via http://singsex.wordpress.com]

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Big news: Altmire to vote no

A comment on Star Wars

2010-03-18T12:52:00.000+02:00

Individuals in the seduction community like to use the analogy of the Jedi, and specifically the dark side as a metaphor for the different styles and approaches for Game. The dark side is used as a warning, a pronouncement that something is wrong.

So in the spirit of those that see the Star Wars saga as a good analogy for practitioners of Game, it is time to look a little closer to the metaphor that people seem to miss, but has very strong implications.

What are Jedi forbidden to do? What leads them to the dark side? What leads Anakin to the dark side?

The answer is a pretty simple one, and one that will make some practitioners and advocates of LTR uncomfortable, or it should.

A Jedi is schooled to control his anger and feelings, but the one thing the Jedi is absolutely forbidden to feel is LOVE.

In the movies, it is love, and specifically the love of his mother and more importantly the love of a woman, Padme, that leads Anakin to the dark side.

Lets start with Anakin’s mother. She is a single mother, she is a slave, she will not admit to any responsibility on her part for bearing a son into slavery, Anakin just happened. Anakin, when offered the chance to be free and be a Jedi hardly looks back on his mother, despite his young age. Nor does he have anything to do with her for years.

Yet, when she is threatened, when she dies, Anakin is filled with such anguish and rage, that he cannot understand or control it.

Unintentionally George Lucas scripts a terrible indictment on single motherhood.

Then there is Padme. Anakin, despite living in the galactic capital suffers from obvious pedestalization of the girl as well as a scarcity mentality. He doesn’t see her for six years, yet he yearns for her the first moment he sees her again. He is forbidden to love her, yet he does.

What is it that leads him to the dark side? The risk of losing that love, the risk that something will happen to her and ultimately his love of Padme, his pedestaling of her, his scarcity mentality leads to his undoing.

Love, and specifically love of a woman leads to the downfall of men. That is the message of the films.

Now lets complete the arch. What is it that enrages Luke against his father? What is it that gets him to the brink of going to the dark side?

The love of his sister. A different love, but still a woman.

It is still the protective feelings for women, the love of women that Star Wars shows is what leads men astray, what destroys them, what tempts them to act out of balance, what brings them to the dark side.

What redeems Anakin in the end is not a woman, not a daughter, but his son.

[Via http://seasonsoftumultanddiscord.wordpress.com]

Nexus One | News and Updates

Puffle rescue game review!

2010-03-16T20:57:00.000+02:00

Hi guys mgg15 here and as most of you have noticed the new game puffle rescue came out a day late Well this game is about haha reswcuing the blue, pink or black puffle in different levels, Icy, underwater, and underground places.

The bad thing is that is only for members. :’( So here are some pictures from the game hope you like them Dont forget to comment If you liked the game , no Why? If youre not a member what do you think about this THANX!

[Via http://mgg15.wordpress.com]

Wakeboarding HD on PSN this week News | PS3 | Eurogamer

JX Online

2010-03-16T04:20:00.000+02:00

[Via http://kojikis.wordpress.com]

Bioshock 2 DLC was already on disc, claim fans | News

The Little Angry Leprechaun!

2010-03-14T20:51:00.000+02:00

Hey guys this is Jimbercane posting. I have made a new video, and it would be great if you saw it. It is a trailer of my newest upcoming movie: The Little Angry Leprechaun; It is a St. Patrick’s Day special. I know this video may be a bit late, but what can I do? The thought itself came to me late! Click here to watch it!

Digg my articles on Digg.

Follow me on Twitter.

Add me on Facebook.

Add me on Myspace.

Subscribe to me on YouTube.

jimbercane.wordpress.com

planet cazmo cheats

~Jimbercane~

[Via http://planetcazmocheats.net]

A.M. News Links: Remembrance at Iwo Jima, homecoming for Iraq War ...

Final Fantasy XIII: First and Final Impressions

2010-03-14T12:03:00.000+02:00

After spending one weekend on watching my sibling play Final Fantasy XIII, I have finally unraveled the mysteries behind why FFXIII is considered a fail game.

Disclaimer: Note that this is not a fully comprehensive coverage of the game as we have thrown in the white towel (it’s getting too annoying to continue). This would mean no spoilers either.

1. Lack of Japanese dub

The game developers can afford the time, energy and money to alter each scene such that the lips movement of the characters matches the English dub when they speak, yet the company is too stingy to even include the Japanese dub as an alternative track for the game. Srsly, don’t give me the crap about English voice actors being more expressive than the Japanese seiyuu. The entire game sounds like one big dragged-out melodrama where each line is either overly stale, or highly exaggerated. Where is my Sakamoto Maaya?! My Kotobuki Minako?! Ono Daisuke?!

2. Frustrating Characters

Source of pic: finalfantasy.wikia.com

There is only one cool-looking character in the game (Lightning), and even she sounds like one big arrogant bitch. My sibling points out how wrong this is, and that I might be squeeing over Snow’s unshaven face if he’s in a shining armor on a white horse, but F**K, what’s the point if he’s in that fugly for the entire game?! Hope might be cute if he keeps his mouth firmly shut, but I’m not a pedophile interested in emo useless boys. Don’t even get me started on Sazh or Vanille, and I hate Serah since she’s not voiced by Mina-chan. Honestly, the only lovable character is the baby chocobo.

3. Shortage of Music?

I mean, srsly, who the fark uses the theme song in a normal landscape? Theme songs are meant for special occasions, like when someone dies or is being revived at the ending, or emotional flashbacks, not when you are running around picking off minions while trying to get to the stage boss. Where are my epic battle music that inspires me to fight till the end or make me laugh at the irony of it all in the likes of a ringtone in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children? The only reason I can come up with is either a shortage of music (we need you, Uematsu Nobuo sensei!!!!), or that they’re trying to subtly brainwash us into worshiping the song. Too bad it’s having the reverse effect.

4. Non-existent Towns/People

Vandalized pic from Final Fantasy IX

Where the heck are my towns?! What’s the point of playing an RPG game in which I can’t raid old grannies’ homes and steal the last gil off from underneath their beds?! Or break every pot and vase in search of herbs or potions in their homes without fear of retribution? F**K, there’s no one I can talk to either, and the enemies I fight sure ain’t the least interested in conversing with me. Don’t the game developers realise that towns and sidequests are important distractions from the serious plot and fighting? 2-3 hours of doing nothing except non-stop clicking on the “Auto-Attack” command does little to improving the gaming experience. Even a monkey can do this w/o peanuts.

5. Endless Upgrades

Source of pic: ign.com

I wonder what or who gave Square Enix the idea that while gamers hate towns and sidequests, they looooooove to engage in mindless upgrading of each and every weapon (mind you, this upgrade is crucial cuz it also determines how much experience points you get in each battle) and each and every Role (eg. Attacker, Medic) for each and every character. And behold, the return of the dreaded sphere-grid as Crystalium in 3D! It’s more linear now, but heck, what’s the point of managing a linear sphere-grid when they could have done it automatically for us? -_-

Square Enix is totally going in the wrong direction for Final Fantasy games these days. The CG animation is top-notch, that I have no complaints about. However, what’s a game with excellent animation yet boring story and gameplay worth? Can’t they learn from stalking seiyuu blogs that even though Dragon Quest IX is only released on Nintendo DS (which does not have as amazing graphics as PS3), it is still able to make them squeeeeeeeeeeeee due to the gameplay?

I feel compelled to talk about why Chrono Cross remains my all-time favourite RPG, but I’ll save it for another day.

[Via http://rinerei.wordpress.com]

NewsDaily: Afghanistan eases ban on news coverage of raids

HeartGold and SoulSilver TCG News - Introducing Prime Cards!

2010-03-14T04:57:00.000+02:00

Well, after a long while, it’s finally time to update the site, Pokéfans!

This time, the news is on the new HeartGold and SoulSilver TCG Expansion Packs. The Pokémon Company has revealed more news about the cards to those who haven’t already bought a pack for themselves. Pokémon Prime cards are basically like other cards, except for a few differences – they are more powerful, they are foil cards, and they have ragged-looking edges around the Pokémon artwork.

Here’s some pictures of the new cards from the Pokémon website….

Ampharos Prime

Blissey Prime

Donphan Prime

As you can see from the screenshots above, these cards are definitely gonna look good in your hand!

* Read the original article on the Pokémon website here.*

[Via http://pokefanswebconnect.wordpress.com]

The Hockey News: Screen Shots: Screen Shots: Who deserves the Cup ...

iPad Available For Pre-Order

2010-03-13T20:51:00.000+02:00

So I pre-ordered my Apple iPad 16GB WiFi only yesterday. Some of you may be thinking; why, fag, gay. To everyone being condescending towards the iPad you have no reason to be. Most likely the reason your infatuated with your hate for the iPad is because it’s not called “iSlate”, or just because you don’t fully understand what the device is for. Its not meant to replace anything. Not the iPhone, iPod Touch, or Netbooks. For everyone gawking at the $499 price tag, your idiotic. People come on, the Amazon Kindle is priced at $399! All it does is read eBooks. I rather pay the extra $100 and get all of the added functionality, wouldn’t you? The big reason why I’m making this post on our site is because we are thinking of going multi platform with everything we make from now own. This would include the current title we are working on: ImperiumX – The New Frontier. Until April 3rd, I can’t wait to pick up my iPad, what about you? We’d love to hear your view’s be sure to comment .

[Via http://droidzer.com]

News From Across The Pond: Jennifer Aniston Says She Would Happily ...

A new home for my projects

2010-03-13T12:32:00.000+02:00

I thought it was about time to get a new central home for the XNA projects I’m currently working on. So this will be the place where I will put updates, ramble on random stuff, complain about broken things and generally try to give you, my dear reader, a little insight to various techniques.

Of course, this will be no complete how-to, as I simply don’t have time for something like that. Mainly, this blog focuses on the making of my two (game) engines, Gaia Engine and the yet unnamed 2D tile engine.

Gaia Engine is a realtime 3D-Engine that can render an arbitrary number of procedurally generated solar systems and planets within these systems seamlessly from space down to ground level. I am aware of all the other people trying similar stuff out there (as there are quite a few), but I decided to give it my own shot, as I already have an idea in my head for a pretty nice game that can be built around this.

2D Tile Engine is, just as the name implies, a 2 dimensional engine that can render tiles (the foundation for almost any 2D game). Yes, there are also a couple of them out there. But I haven’t seen one that does all the graphical stuff on the GPU. So, my take here is to make a simple – and later maybe full blown – tile engine using as much HLSL as possible.

[Via http://azaphrael.wordpress.com]

DOJ: Holder Omissions Wider Than Thought « Liveshots

MINDEF gig in 10 hours + Ground-Breaking Articles

2010-03-11T20:06:00.000+02:00

Hey people!

What can I say, it’s been a busy 2 weeks for me preparing for a series of programs as well as the Lifestyle Retreat 2010!

Private Instruction Day 1 at Shaw Towers, Singapore

The MINDEF gig is just 10 hours away and I cannot wait to conduct the ground-breaking Foundations Of Attraction Program for all the participants. The hype for the event was nothing short of amazing. In 4 days over the weekend, all slots were FULLY-BOOKED. This did not stop the applicants from trying, some even making personal phone-calls to me through the information on my LinkedIn page. This prompted Troy and myself to open an additional 10 slots, bringing the attendance of the event to a grand total of 40 people in a space of a week. I am expecting a fun-filled and thoroughly enriching program later on!

HerWorld Magazine Article

For those who are eagerly waiting (and those who e-mailed to tell me their disappointment in not being able to find the article in the March issue), I would like to inform you that since this is a pretty big article, there was not enough space for it to be featured in the March issue. This has resulted in the article being shifted to the May 2010 issue. There should be no further changes so be sure to get yourself a copy of HerWorld’s March issue!

Success Story from reading my Article

There has been a lot of positive feedback regarding my masterpiece from last week, the password-protected article, What Lies Beneath Conversation. I’ve had chats and phone conversations with some of you readers and I am glad to hear such an overwhelming amount of success.

Here’s what Roy Chua Kian Kiat, a 27-year-old Aerospace Engineer wrote in a formal e-mail, 1 week after reading the article :

“Hi Xavier,

i have to say that your micro-skillset article : what lies beneath conversation, was a really solid article. you werent kidding when you said this article was going to produce quick results. i have some results to share with you.

after reading it, i understood the rationale clearly from your article and applied the micro-skillset concepts to my first date with one of my university schoolmates and i made out with her right there and then, during dinner. i have never done this before, neither did i think it was possible but it felt so naturally after applying proximity and my new views on escalation.

i actually planned to make-out with her in my car haha, but things happened so quickly and i really have to thank you for everything else that happened that wild night. best of all, it was free. thanks for sharing and i am looking forward to more articles from you man!

Roy”

Thanks for the kind words, Roy. I am glad my article was able to solve some of the problems that you faced and I sincerely hope that you benefit more from the TDD site, newsletters as well as A Life To Love as time goes by.

Below is another ground-breaking article which I would like to share with you guys. The password is the same as the previous article so for those who have e-mailed me earlier on, just type the same password I gave you and you will have access to my article.

Macro-Planning : The Golden Solution, talks about what an effective Macro Plan is all about and HOW TO go about creating one for yourself. Coupled with Micro-level TDD Skill-sets like Foreshadowing and Leading, you will be pretty much DYNAMITE in the dating world.

Gaining Access To Password-Restricted Articles

Now, once again, this article is not for everyone. It is only for readers who are serious about their progress. I don’t care for people who do not care about their own success. I don’t want readers to come here every week and read a solid article or 2 and do nothing about it. I want you, dear reader, to really benefit from this. As such, this article will be password protected. In order to get the password for this article, you must do the following :

Send me an e-mail telling me the following 3 things :

1) How long you’ve been reading this site.

2) Why do you keep coming back.

3) What do you eventually want to achieve from all this.

Alright pimps, after the MINDEF gig, I am off to Guangzhou, China, for a TDD program and in a week, I will be off for the Lifestyle Retreat 2010! With the entire TDD Global Crew around, you can expect a series of video blogs on TDDTV.com as well as some breath-taking articles, videos and podcasts coming your way. Not to forget, one of my best friends, wingman and TDD Captain “monster” is going to be back in April so you can expect really explosive stuff coming from my site then!

Live and Love,

Xavier

xav@troydizondating.com

http://alife2love.com

Skype : xavierrrr

[Via http://alife2love.com]

The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » The Quintessential TV News ...

Dante's Inferno

2010-03-11T12:47:00.000+02:00

Oke kali ini saya akan membahas game yang bahkan saya belum pernah saya mainkan. But god damn it, it seems cool.

Memperkenalkan, Dante’s Inferno!

Well, untuk kalian yang sudah pernah membaca karya Dante Alighieri yang merupakan referensi dari game ini, tidak perlu ragu tentang betapa kerennya kira-kira game ini jika dibuat dengan benar (Ya, saya menunjuk ke kalian, game-game adaptasi film.)

Dan ya, Visceral Games ternyata tidak gagal. Alur cerita yang dibawakan cukup bisa menghipnotis pemainnya tentang bayangan neraka yang begitu dalam dengan 9 tingkatannya, dan perjuangan Dante dalam melewatinya. Hal yang menurut saya menarik disini adalah bagaimana setiap tingkatan ditunjukkan memiliki penghuni-penghuni yang seolah kita dapat merasakan derita-derita mereka. Bahkan Unbaptized Baby di level pertama pun terkadang membuat kita bergidik tak hanya karena bentuk mereka, namun juga pertanyaan yang timbul dalam diri kita, “Apa iya ini bisa terjadi?”. Tapi ya saya tidak akan bermain-main dengan kepercayaan masing-masing disini.

Dante memiliki 2 senjata, Death’s Schyte yang merupakan senjata melee dan Holy Cross yang merupakan senjata jarak jauh. Bagi mereka yang akrab dengan seri God Of War mungkin akan terbiasa dengan combat system yang digunakan dalam game ini, mengingat game ini memiliki kemiripan yang cukup signifikan dalam kontrol dan pertarungannya. Event “tekan tombol yang tepat” pun digunakan disini.

Yang saya paling cintai dari game ini, sekali lagi adalah ceritanya. Bagaimana seorang Dante yang menjelajahi neraka untuk suatu alasan (maaf, saya benci spoiler) dan drama-drama yang dilewatinya, tentang bagaimana ia akan bertemu dengan orang-orang yang dulu ia kenal, semuanya berjalan dengan manis. Percayalah, karya Dante Alighieri yang satu ini dinobatkan sebagai sebuah epic poem, saya yakin kalian yang belum pernah membaca karya tersebut pun akan menganggap game ini memiliki cerita yang cukup luar biasa juga.

Saya sarankan bagi kalian pecinta game action atau kalian yang menginginkan sensasi menjelajahi neraka, mainkan game ini. Hey, mungkin nanti kalian akan bertobat setelah bermain game ini.

Oh iya, Bang Zaki, kalau mau pake review ini buat edisi Maret, mangga atuh nya.

[Via http://insanityisrelative.wordpress.com]

Steam News

Tejo

2010-03-11T04:32:00.000+02:00

We were lucky to have exactly one sunny day. And that day we spent on the beach to get some colour on our snow-white bodies. Meanwhile we played some „tejo“. And tejo goes like that: First we painted a field in the sand. Then we divided into two parties. Every party received five wooden disks, which look a bit like small frisbees. The snitch was a very small disc which you were supposed to throw your disk closest too. The rules are a bit alike the french game boule. I won with a big deal of luck – and a big little bit of help by Ezze – my first match!

[Via http://latourista.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: DMX, Lady Gaga, Stars, The Doors : Rolling Stone ...

Scissors.

2010-03-09T20:38:00.000+02:00

You sit there

holding hands in a circle

of other little girls

that wear skirts with no knickers

and strap-ons underneath their clothes.

You make daisy chains

of dew, milking out of sacred holes

that you give too easily.

Fingers delve in,

hard and probing

but they don’t probe into you,

who you are

and what you do.

You sit in your chain,

tied to a web

based on dating sites.

Has your Gaydar gone off yet?

Like cheese left out in the open,

you will grow bluey-green

with new holes in your naked

alien body

and bruises from gone teeth.

What happened to real love?

The girl you sit next to

tells you what you want to hear

and you listen, interested

and sincere,

only for you both to turn,

a mirror image of one another,

and repeat the same Ground hog words

to the smiling, interested

and sincere girl

next to you.

I smile and listen to your tales

of arrogance,

as you talk of girls you “blew off”

for other dates

and girls who cling and cry

like they are a game in an

amusement arcade.

Insert your silver in her slot

and watch her go.

I smile,

because somewhere in the circle

two links were broken

only for them to connect to each other

and make their own circle.

Not vicious, repetitive,

cheap or cruel,

but a circle of what real sisterly love is.

We lock legs,

create an instrument that wounds

but neither of us gets hurt.

[Via http://siliconebaby.wordpress.com]

Staged footage in ABC News Toyota “test”

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

2010-03-09T12:43:00.000+02:00

You pause for a moment. You know your teammates are on their way. But you can hear the tank trundle towards the ruined house you’ve taken shelter in; then an explosion. The bricks scatter to the ground, and you’re exposed. Do you hide, fight or flee?

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 stands alone in its ability to compose cinematic, adrenaline-fuelled events — and place you right at the centre. The huge, completely destructible environments constantly transform the tactics and the arsenal you’ll employ to swing the battle in your favour — not to mention keep you on your toes with the constant fear of your position becoming exposed. Your ability to adapt to the incredibly dynamic locale will be tested to the extreme.

Similarly, teamwork is an essential trait if you want to succeed. As in Battlefield 2, Bad Company’s multiplayer places a fair amount of emphasis on teamwork and rewards points appropriately. Medics receive points for reviving unconscious comrades, while engineers are rewarded for repairing the plethora of vehicles available, and so on. Squads also make a welcome return, allowing you to team up with four friends in the fury of 32 player battles in the PC incarnation. This feature helps immensely in strategizing and localizing the epic online tête-à-tête’s. The, now obligatory, perpetual ranking system is also in-tow, gifting players weapons and upgrades for their war efforts.

The game’s sound design is also worthy of mention. Whether you’re treading snow in Port Valdez or swatting mosquitoes deep in the Bolivian jungle, each sound vividly brings the location to life. The cacophony of bullets you’re likely to hear on the battlefield will also instantly fill you in with what weapons your opposition is packing and their probable position after a few hours of play.

Despite the vivid presentation of the solo campaign, however, the overall campaign is an anti-climax. While the multiplayer is certainly a recommendable substitute for the popular Modern Warfare 2, the single player campaign will inevitably leave you feeling let down. Bad Company 2 aims at achieving a cinematic blockbuster feeling but unfortunately misfires on several counts. Major points of the story – most notably, the fact that Russia is at war with the USA – are almost overlooked, while, overall, there is a serious lack of intensity in scale compared to the Call Of Duty series. Though it would be harsh to say that there is no fun to be had in the campaign, if you’re thinking of buying Bad Company 2 for the solo play alone, you’ll inevitably feel short-changed.

With regards specifically to the PC version, the most pertinent criticism thus far is reserved for the game’s stability. The game itself has crashed on several occasions on different machines and the game servers can be hard to connect to for one reason or the other. The user interface is also incredibly fussy – exceptionally so when using the server browser which lacks real-time updates, leaving you waiting until every server has been scanned before you search through the results. Hopefully, these are only teething problems.

Technical hitches aside, if you’re a fan of first-person shooters expect Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to keep you occupied for some considerable time.

[Via http://mediaq.wordpress.com]

Pitchfork: R.I.P. Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous

"Monkey Shaker"

2010-03-07T20:42:00.000+02:00

“Monkey Shaker” made by “Workavoidance.com” is one of those weird apps. The point of it is to shake your iPod and see how many shakes you can do in s certain amount of time, and for every shake it makes monkey sounds. You can shake it for 10, 20, 30 and 60 seconds to see how many sakes you can do. What I love about this app is the cheesy picture of the monkey in the background. I give this app a 3 out of 5 stars because it is can cancel when you are in the app because there is a glitch in the game but it is still fine.Please rate or tell me what you think. Press here to get or learn more about this app.

I found this app yesterday because I was bored and I just searched up monkey on the app store on the iPod, and it came up on the first 25 apps. My arms are sore from a school ski trip (because of the stupid tow rope) so shaking my iPod hurt, but I still thought it was clever.

[Via http://freetheapps.wordpress.com]

Stocks in the News: Marvell, Apple, TiVo - DailyFinance

Battle Moon Wars Series 1-4 (Full)

2010-03-07T12:39:00.000+02:00

Battle Moon Wars Series 1-4 (Full)

Battle Moon Wars is a PC-made series of Super deformed Tactical RPG games created by Dojin soft developer and publisher Werk.

The series has a basic similarity to the Super Robot Wars series and its Super deformed looks.

The game uses the crossover of Type-Moon’s visual novel and anime series,

including Tsukihime and Fate/stay night with several original characters made exclusive by Werk. Their involvement in the series are covered as Acts.

Platform : PC Windows

Genre        : RPG

Language : English

Year           : 2005-2008

Size             : 1.4 GB

Download Link

Hotfile

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945422/4dd4d7d/Battle_Moon_Wars.part01.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945418/b9f5495/Battle_Moon_Wars.part02.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945420/d78da5f/Battle_Moon_Wars.part03.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945419/fd9c09e/Battle_Moon_Wars.part04.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945435/0fe846b/Battle_Moon_Wars.part05.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945553/adf9fb1/Battle_Moon_Wars.part06.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945558/93c911e/Battle_Moon_Wars.part07.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945571/d2e38eb/Battle_Moon_Wars.part08.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945581/a8c66f3/Battle_Moon_Wars.part09.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945583/2a8fef2/Battle_Moon_Wars.part10.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945818/736a36f/Battle_Moon_Wars.part11.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945887/07992e3/Battle_Moon_Wars.part12.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945900/f0cbc85/Battle_Moon_Wars.part13.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945902/c5ac82b/Battle_Moon_Wars.part14.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/30945911/0e44897/Battle_Moon_Wars.part15.rar.html

Uploading

http://uploading.com/files/1ff8d8fa/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part01.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/c6mf91d2/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part02.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/b51c3a76/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part03.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/4719da11/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part04.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/8e671bbf/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part05.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/dc6ab38c/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part06.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/4ab844dm/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part07.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/acb43cdd/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part08.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/87emmf67/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part09.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/7a955959/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part10.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/mamb9dfe/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part11.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/2589b27c/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part12.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/af58d71m/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part13.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/28c46efb/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part14.rar/

http://uploading.com/files/em6e42df/Battle%2BMoon%2BWars.part15.rar/

Rapidshare

http://rapidshare.com/files/358192437/Battle_Moon_Wars.part01.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358192460/Battle_Moon_Wars.part02.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358192429/Battle_Moon_Wars.part03.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358192464/Battle_Moon_Wars.part04.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358193121/Battle_Moon_Wars.part05.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358194198/Battle_Moon_Wars.part06.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358194239/Battle_Moon_Wars.part07.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358194374/Battle_Moon_Wars.part08.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358194421/Battle_Moon_Wars.part09.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358194588/Battle_Moon_Wars.part10.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358195517/Battle_Moon_Wars.part11.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358195574/Battle_Moon_Wars.part12.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358195765/Battle_Moon_Wars.part13.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358195769/Battle_Moon_Wars.part14.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/358192482/Battle_Moon_Wars.part15.rar

[Via http://lordfridz.wordpress.com]

EXCLUSIVE: Conan O'Brien's First Twitter Friend Sarah Killen ...

Hide & Seek!

2010-03-06T12:09:00.000+02:00

Hide & Seek 1,2,3,4 by Aatos Beck © 06-03-2010.

Aatos Beck – Cat’s Daily Dreams (Video)

For more video’s by me, you can also look under the Post or Music Page.

Aatos Beck – Cat’s Daily Dreams © 21-10-2008

[Via http://aatosbeck.wordpress.com]

Sony should sue Microsoft - Jaffe News | Eurogamer

Ben Rothlisberger Arrested On Sexual Assault Charges Once Again!!!....Is He Trying To Be The New White O.J. Simpson????

2010-03-06T04:27:00.000+02:00

What part of the game is this?!@?!…

Two time winning Superbowl champion quarterback Ben Rothlisberger,28, has once again been accused of and arrested on charges of sexual assault….AGAIN!?@?!

TMZ.com sports reports that for the second time in as many years, a woman has accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault.(SOURCE)

The scene of the alleged assault is the beautiful city of Milledgeville, Georgia,where Rothlisberger was hanging out at the Velvet Elvis supper club before heading to the Capital City Club.

….two Superbowl wins, and two sexual assault charges.…is Big Ben trying to become the new white O.J. Simpson?

I am pretty sure a two-time Superbowl winning champion stud quarterback can get himself plenty of women that will freely do anything to him-without having to sexually assault them?!?

They are called groupies!!!!

On July 17, 2009, a civil suit was filed in Washoe County, Nevada District Court accusing Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting Andrea McNulty, 31, in June 2008 in his hotel room while he was in Lake Tahoe for a celebrity golf tournament. Roethlisberger is one of nine defendants listed in the docket report.(SOURCE)

Big Ben's Sexual Assault Accuser

TMZ is reporting that… the woman told cops she was inside the restroom of Capital City nightclub when the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback entered and allegedly assaulted her.

So…either Big Ben is being set up and falsely accused by these two women,…or, he is a serial sexual assault perpetrator who needs to get some help.

I wonder if this breaks the N.F.L.’s code of conduct and if he will be summarily suspended like the other not so famous or “in favor’ by the controllers and masters that own them in the N.F.L.???..remember how quickly the N.F.L. channel dropped Warren Sapp before his domestic battle charges had even been substantiated by the police???

…I personally hope that these allegations are false against Ben, and that he just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong times, but anything is possible.

Roethlisberger has still not been charged with a crime…and is considered innocent until proven guilty.

Follow the full story here…

TMZ.com

CNN.com

FANHOUSE.com

[Via http://jerrybrice.wordpress.com]

In White House Meeting, Sebelius Urges Insurers To Release All ...

Korean couple nurture their virtual child... and let their real baby daughter starve to death

2010-03-04T20:23:00.000+02:00

A computer-addicted couple let their real life baby starve to death while they raised a virtual daughter online, police said today.

The couple spent 12 hours a night at internet cafes while their three-month-old daughter was left home alone at their apartment in Suwon, South Korea. They were arrested today.

Police said they had become hooked on living online and were raising an avatar daughter through their profiles on a Second Life-style game called PRIUS.

The multi-role playing game allows users to choose a job, interact with others in the virtual world and earn an extra avatar to nurture once they reach a certain level.

Popular: South Koreans play online at a computer cafe in Seoul. The country is reeling after a couple were arrested for allowing their baby daughter to starve to death after spending 12 hours in a similar cafe

Father Kim Yoo-chul, 41, and mother Choi Mi-sun, 25, called police when they returned from one overnight, 12-hour session and found their daughter dead.

‘They called in last September to report that they found their daughter dead after coming back home in the morning,’ Detective Chung Jin-Won of the Suwon Seobu Police Station said.

‘They had spent 12 hours, all night at a PC bang (a Korean internet café)’.

Officers became suspicious of how severely dehydrated the child was and have charged the couple with child abuse and neglect. An autopsy confirmed she died of malnourishment.

Police said the Kims had become so obsessed with the daughter they were raising online that they appeared to have not taken their responsibility to their real daughter seriously.

The couple confessed they had fed the child rotten powdered milk and often spanked her.

Worried about their addiction to the games, Kim’s parents had been taking care of the baby – but, tragically, had returned her to her mother and father just two weeks before she died.

The couple met in 2008 on an internet chat site, it was claimed.

Online games are massively popular in South Korea, with professional gamers becoming celebrities through live televised tournaments.

But critics say the popularity, which also nets huge profits for tech companies, comes at a steep price, with ever more bizarre incidents hitting the headlines.

A 28-year-old man dropped dead recently after playing his favourite game Starcraft for 50 hours non-stop without eating and drinking.

In another incident, a gamer, enraged that an opponent had killed the character he had put so much effort into creating, quickly found out his adversary’s location through a chat built into the game, took a taxi across town and stabbed him.

bron: www.dailymail.co.uk

[Via http://wocview.wordpress.com]

Valve updates Portal end sequence News | PC | Eurogamer

Yakuza 3 - Demo Impressions (PS3)

2010-03-04T12:24:00.000+02:00

Having already played a couple of hours of the first Yazuka game back on PS2 I had an inkling of what to expect from this demo.

I suspect if you went into it with no knowledge you may find Yakuza 3 to be completely insane.

Basically the game puts you in control of Kazuma – one of the chairman of a family in the Japanese mafia.

The demo drops you into the story at an unspecified point – to be honest I didn’t have a clue what was going on and the lengthy in game discussions didn’t make much sense without context.

I enjoyed the demo and found the combat, in particular, to be very strong. Your standard light, heavy and grapple attacks are supplemented by a wonderful option to pick up various bits of random scenery (traffic cones/bicycles etc) that can be used as a weapon.

There was also the opportunity to indulge in some karaoke with a female companion via a series of button related rhythm mini games. It was a bit weird but shows the variation the game holds.

It took a while to get used to the controls and camera angle in places but overall this was good fun and I’d certainly say to people try the demo to see if you’re interested.

I’m not sure how much impact the story has from the first two games (as in whether or not you’d need to play them) but this could be a nice title to pick up when the game release schedule slows down in the summer. I probably won’t be buying this upon release but I may be tempted further down the line.

[Via http://greghorrorshow.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: Bonnaroo, Roots Picnic, T-Bone Wolk, Rock Auction ...

One Long Day

2010-03-04T04:25:00.000+02:00

I went and bought a reserved copy of the Final Fantasy XIII guide today–EXCITED about the whole game…even though I don’t have a system yet. (Or the game.)

My sleep appointment went well–despite us getting lost a couple of times.

I’m going to be hooked up and tested on the 18th–because of my severe insomnia and apnea issues:

Problems that have been plaguing me since I can remember and never addressed by either the state, the foster care system, or Social Security.

The job picture for Washington state has only improved slightly this past January. We added 12,000 new jobs for the first time in three years, but the new numbers didn’t make even a dent in our (Snohomish) county’s overall 10.5% unemployment rate.

There’s just too many people applying for any one job–six to one; from what I’ve read and heard.

The President can claim that he’s either created or saved jobs, but those numbers automatically evaporate because they aren’t sustainable by any means!

It doesn’t mean that this new administration’s approach to job creation has fizzled either–according to the hysterical claims by the right, the conservative movement and the GOP.

It just means that this recession is much more severe than anyone could’ve predicted (minus Yours Truly of course) and the job picture isn’t going to improve for several years at the most.

What needs to be fixed, corrected, and addressed is the housing and credit markets.

Without those, we’re just not going to get anywhere with this recession.

The GOP can bitch and whine all they want, but they are the ones whom landed us in this mess to begin with.

Their ideas of lowering taxes and upping the spending levels won’t create jobs OR save this economy.

In fact, it’ll just make things even more worse than when the bubbles broke under Bush’s watch.

[Via http://schuylerthorpe.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: Bonnaroo, Roots Picnic, T-Bone Wolk, Rock Auction ...

New tutorial from 3d-Palace - MT5 UDK Security Camera :: [Novo tutorial do 3d-Palace - MT5 Câmera de Sgurança em UDK]

2010-03-02T20:53:00.000+02:00

eng

This is a tutorial aimed at those people wanting to start in the game design and game development industries using UDK (Unreal Development Kit). Instructor Chris Perella teaches how to create a security camera that is able to detect movement and launch rockets at the enemy. This apparently complex task turns easy and intuitive with this new training produced by 3d-Palace. Some of the topics covered are listed above.

• BSP for simple level creation

• Unreal Kismet

• Unreal Matinee

• Practical applications of Booles

• Lopped sequences in Kismet

• Standard Unreal illumination systems

• Dynamic triggering volumes

• Player and weapon spawning

Click on the link above to learn more

http://www.3d-palace.com/cgshop/product_info.php?cPath=19&products_id=94

por

Este é um tutorial para aqueles que desejam iniciar na área de game design e desenvolvimento de jogos com UDK (Kit de Desenvolvimento Unreal). O intrutor Chris Perella ensina como criar uma câmera de segurança capaz de detectar movimentos e lançar foguetes em direção ao inimigo. Esta tarefa aparentemente complexa torna-se fácil e intuitiva com este novo treinamento produzido pelo site 3d-Palace. Alguns dos tópicos abordados seguem abaixo.

• BSP para criação de cenários simples

• Unreal Kismet

• Unreal Matinee

• Aplicações práticas de Booles

• Sequências em loop no Kismet

• Sistemas padrão de iluminação em Unreal

• Volumes de gatilho dinâmico

• Spawning de jogadores e armas

Clique no link abaixo para saber mais

http://www.3d-palace.com/cgshop/product_info.php?cPath=19&products_id=94

[Via http://3dbase.wordpress.com]

News in the Age of Participation

EleFun Games 93 Days Membership

2010-03-02T12:49:00.000+02:00

View larger image Quick specs Price: $39.95 Operating system: Windows 95/98/ME,Windows NT/2000,BeOS,Mac,Linux,WindowsCE,Palm OS,Other Platform,Windows XP,OS X – Macintosh,Mobile,Windows NT/2000/2003/SBS2003,PocketPC Date: 22-FEB-10 Short description: This Membership is devoted to the games. Download “EleFun Games 93 Days Membership” Now

Full description

EleFun Games Club for a period of 3 month — is an opportunity to get an access to all the games published on the EleFun Games site. Validity of your account is limited to 3 months from the moment of registration payment. All the games which you will download on your computer will be absolutely free from various limitations and advertisement. You won’t need to pay any extra money in order to get the full versions of the games. At any moment you will be able to extend the period of validity of your account for a month, for three months or for a year.

Download “EleFun Games 93 Days Membership” Now

[Via http://wularsoft.wordpress.com]

Free SEJ News iPhone Application Available | Search Engine Journal

The Poppit! Show

2010-02-27T20:07:00.000+02:00

Poppit? Puppet? Show? Just a coincidence or inspired “show”? No matter, its time to burst some ballons. Balloon-bursting, TV show fun! Play the hit game that is taking the world by storm.The Poppit! Show combines balloon-popping action and 3D graphics to deliver one exciting puzzle-adventure. Show and unlock different studios as you pop your way through to stardom! Balloon-bursting, TV show fun! Play the hit game that is taking the world by storm.

Download

[Via http://4castex.wordpress.com]

Caron Butler probable for tonight's game vs. Atlanta | Dallas ...

Amog'd, a fight (for once not involving me), and getting LJBF

2010-02-27T12:23:00.000+02:00

Went out with a girl for drinks. She notices the little red gift bag in the back of my car.

She knows of my reputation and comments on me having a present from one of my girlfriends.

“I don’t have girlfriends.” I say

She uses the “I am in a committed relationship” shtick, yet she’s drinking with me. She downs a couple sidecars, I have a couple beers.

We leave, I pay the tab, but say “You’re getting the next round and kiss me on the cheek.”

She just stops herself from kissing me then punches me, “Dammit I almost did that.”

I laugh.

We go to another bar. An UB3 comments on the fact that I am the only guy in there wearing a suit and wonders why.

“The devil always dresses up.”

She wants to engage more but that ain’t happening.

We’re drinking and a guy we both know comes over. I get work from the guy and he refers people to me all the time. His wife is at another part of the locale. He’s been drinking. He makes a comment on my appearance.

He’s an ex con and he talks about it. He also talks about his small penis, shows off a hernia the size of a golf ball and mentions repeatedly how much he loves his wife, mentions they’re good, but if she need something he couldn’t give he would be fine with her cheating (an out and out lie, he would kill the guy).

I tell him I’d take care of his wife for him.

These topics tend to repeat themselves. Which conveys quite clearly that he is sexually frustrated.

The interesting thing about all this is that is working for him.

The girl I am with adjusts her body toward him and starts twirling her hair.

Shit.

Another guy we know comes and joins us and brings two friends including a paper alpha.

It’s a fucking convention.

The paper alpha starts talking to the AMOGer and then as the AMOGer responds, the paper alpha turns away, mid sentence.

AMOGer goes berserk.

Threatens to tear the guy’s throat out and lunges for him.

“I’m done,” Paper alpha runs.

Bar staff intervene. The girl is calming AMOGer down, by trying to talk him through all this, but without acknowledging his point of view. She thinks this is de-escalating the situation, when in fact it is keeping him agitated.

Wife of AMOGer shows up and says she wants to go, but then mentions that Paper Alpha was being rude to her as well, making AMOGer ramp up again.

“No one disrespects my wife!”

I watch the interaction of the AMOGer and his wife. She pushes and pulls on the anger, first down playing it and soothing him, and then saying something that gets him agitated again.

Both women are now engaged with him

Cycling back and forth.

The girl I was with now has eyes only for AMOGer. She’s a lost cause.

The night is totally borked, the two of them are having an endless fucking conversation about the event and their emotions, his wife flits in and out, I can’t beat the fact that the guy demonstrated that he’s willing to fight on a dime. . .

. . . and then some douchbag that I don’t know keeps asking if I can get him some dope, because apparently only a drug dealer would wear a suit to the venue I’m in.

[Via http://seasonsoftumultanddiscord.wordpress.com]

Exclusive: What happens next in health care - Mike Allen ...

Its not just a game, its a WORLD!

2010-02-27T04:30:00.000+02:00

They called it the “WoW battlechest” but I called it the “Chest of Life” its a key to a new life^^

Haha we’re back on gaming topics again, guess I spent alot of my time gaming everyday Which was part of my everyday life actually, I work 6days a week Mon- Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-2pm. I woke up at 7.30am and get to play for more than 2hrs before I went to work everyday XD Yeah, your right I’m really a gaming maniac myself. I still live a normal and peaceful life in this small island

After a week in WoW, I feel like sharing something about my life inside the World! Heres a sneak peak of my forsaken!

Yup, this is me! My Forsaken Rogue “Beware the livings!!”

After 4days of trial, I’ve decided to get the “Chest of Life” myself, I’ve no regret and very happy to have the key to a whole wide adventurous world! I’m playing on Oceanic Frostmourne Server, if your playing on the same server with me do add me as a buddy! We can PvP, PvE, do instants and Raids together! But if your one of the alliance, dun come and kill me pls, hahaha

Long Live Lady Slyvannas!

[Via http://justifyurlife.wordpress.com]

Ultraviolet Freckles Start Fish Fights - Science News

First thoughts...

2010-02-25T20:33:00.000+02:00

This blog will be a development blog for myself. I really don’t know JavaScript all that well, but I’ve always been fascinated with it. These days JavaScript performance in browsers is steadily increasing for every browser release, so I thought why not learn to harness the power (Hah)?

So I decided, for my first challenge, to write a Chips Challenge clone. I love that game. Always had and I probably always will. I’ve played it so many times I know some of the levels by heart. Kind of pathetic, but true. So the first thing I did was to find a sprite containing all the images I needed. I’m no JavaScript wizard (or HTML/CSS for that matter), so I started out by figuring out how to show the extracts I needed to use from the sprite.

My next step is to write out a function to translate my map (which I simply store in an array) and figure out how to move around that freely. That should be a fairly interesting experience… Wish me luck! It will probably take me a year!

[Via http://jsgames.wordpress.com]

ABC News Expected To Offer “Hundreds” Of Buyouts Tomorrow (Update ...

THE BEST GAME VOCALS OF AKABEISOFT2

2010-02-25T04:38:00.000+02:00

Artist: Various

Release Date: 2007

Track List:

1. 魂響

2. 少年少女よ、大志を抱け

3. 天武の舞、暁の門

4. Be Natural

5. Realize

6. live

7. そらの隙間

8. かげろう

9. 祝福の大地、暁光の世界

10. 心ノ在リ処

11. 紅空恋歌

12. Answer

13. Close Your Eyes

Multiupload (320k)

[Via http://2ext.wordpress.com]

France News Round-Up - France

Lil Jon Rocks with R. Kelly, Game, and Soulja Boy on Solo Debut

2010-02-23T20:49:00.000+02:00

Crunk is set to make a comeback in 2010 thanks to Lil Jon. The rapper who popularized the genre will release his solo debut this summer. The King of Crunk’s first album in over five years, Crunk Rock, will arrive June 8 via his new label home, Universal Republic. Described as a lifestyle party album, the set boasts features from Game, R. Kelly, 3OH!3, Pitbull, Elephant Man, David Guetta, Soulja Boy Tell’em, Ying Yang Twins, and more. Tracks include “Miss Chocolate” featuring R. Kelly and Mario, as well as the LMFAO-assisted “Outta Your Mind.” Lil Jon shared his excitement about returning to music. “I’m finally ready to get Crunk Rock out there to my people!! It’s been a long time comin’ and the album has somethin’ for everyone on it,” he stated. “I gave them every kind of Lil Jon that they have ever heard on an album. From the crunk sh*t to R&B, to house, electro, and rock… The album is on a whole other level… I can’t wait for da people to hear it!!!” Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz’s last project, 2004’s Crunk Juice, went multi-platinum, spawning several smash singles including “What U Gon’ Do” and “Lovers and Friends” featuring Usher and Ludacris.

[Via http://mzrocklanta.com]

TRANSFORMATION 2010 LIVE: News And Twitter Updates From AAAA ...

Google CEO Eric Schmidt at MWC 2010 Puts Mobile First

2010-02-21T20:05:00.000+02:00

In his Mobile World Congress keynote address, Google CEO Eric Schmidt describes the mobile ecosystem as a confluence of computing power, connectivity and cloud computing, and proclaims a new focus for the industry: putting mobile first.

More from eWeek.com on Eric Smith Keynote:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Midmarket/Google-CEO-Eric-Schmidt-at-MWC-Mobile-First-694942/

[Via http://hoeksteen.wordpress.com]

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 2/21 - Arrowhead Pride

Nindou: Ninjutsu, Level, and Explanation

2010-02-21T12:24:00.000+02:00

Yare…. this is what I’ve been promised you…. As a Ninja, you’ll able to use Ninjutsu. Nah, what kind of Ninjutsu? This time, I give you the Ninjutsu and it’s level..

This is the list and the min level.

Lvl 007: Healball ~ with this Ninjustsu, you can restore your HP in small size

Lvl 010: Koban ~ You can use your gold as a dart. Actualy, I don’t like to use this Ninjutsu because many gold will be lost..

Lvl 013: Kusa ~ This is one of the Invisibility Series. I like to use this Ninjutsu if I use Sakura Maps. You will be looked like obscure pile of hay to misguise enemies.

Lvl 018: Steel ~ Increas your defense 50% within a short time

Lvl 020: Lightning ~ Kyaaa… I love this Ninjutsu.. You can act like Kakashi or Sasuke with their Raikiri or Chidori..

Lvl 023: Jinton ~ You’ll able to transfor your color into enemy’s color… Gwaaah… such a confusing Ninjutsu for your enemy.

Lvl 026: HealLight ~ Same usability with Healball but Heal Light can restore your HP in medium size.

Lvl 029: Dokuton ~ Toxic gas from you body… Your enemy will lose HP if he bumps you.

Lvl 031: Heat ~ Looks like Curry Pills… You can increase your attack 50% within a short time.

Lvl 035: FireBall ~ Just like what Itachi’s have. You can use fireball to attack your enemies.

Lvl 038: Hu-ton ~ Escape jutsu!!! Wind and sand will help you move to another place.. this is a cool escape jutsu!

Lvl 042: Bunshi ~ Kage bunshin no jutsu!!! I remember what Naruto did. Wkwkwk =)) Use this Ninjutsu and create your kage bunshin!

Lvl 045: Ishi ~ Transformation or Invisible series. You can transform yourself into a statue but you can not move anywhere.

Lvl 048: Steal ~ Bump your enemy and you can steal their gold with this Ninjutsu. Interesting! I’ll activate this jutsu if I reach the level.

Lvl 052: KingKong ~ Increase your team’s defense 50% within a short time. Nice!

Lvl 055: AirBlast ~ So sweet Ninjustu. attacking series with wind and flower petals.

Lvl 058: HolyLight ~ Restore your team’s HP (middle)

Lvl 061: Kami ~ Whoaaaa…. I want to use it!!! You can be absolutely invisible!!

Lvl 064: Wild ~ Looks like Heat Ninjutsu.. but it works for all the team members.

Lvl 067: Explode ~ Deadly!!! A huge fireball!!!

Lvl 070: Mokuton ~ Whuaaah… so cool! If a ninja attacks you, you’ll be replaced with a wood and you’ll be appeared behind the attacker! I remember what Kakashi did!

Lvl 073: Akaoni ~ THE REAL TRANSFORMATION SERIES. I don’t know what is Akaoni.

Lvl 076: Katon ~ Katon goukakyou no jutsu!! You’ll move to another place with explosion and the explosion has a power to attack.

Lvl 079: Freeze ~ Absolutely freeze all the enemies.

Lvl 081: Yasha ~ THE REAL TRANSFORMATION SERIES. I don’t know what is Yashai.

Lvl 084: Kinton ~ Gwaah.. I’ll never use it! You can not lose you hp although you’ve been attacked… but you lost your gold.

Lvl 087: Thounderbolt ~ Raikiri raikiri!!!! In a large amount!

Lvl 091: Storm ~ Wekz.. I’ve been attacked by this jutsu. You can send storm to your enemies and they’ll lose their hp.

Lvl 094: Seven ~ Seven unknown possibilities… I don’t know what will be happened too..

Lvl 098: IceArrow ~ the large amount of freezing ice attack

Lvl 100: Gama ~ SUMMONING SERIES!!! Summon a toad! You know, I remember Jiraiya and Naruto

Lvl 101: Angel ~ summon member to resurect one of your team but you need to sacrifice 70,000 golds. I’ll never use it!

Lvl 102: BluePests Waw… decrease 50% of enemy’s defense!

Lvl 104: Death ~ The enemy will die immediately… but low rate of success..

Lvl 105: RedPests ~ Decrease 50% of enemy’s attack

Lvl 106: Kubi ~ Naruto mode = on Wkwkwkw =)) Enemy’s Sp will be removed if it successfil

Lvl 107: Butsumetsu ~ A great destructive series but it expenses your own death

Lvl 108: Mouryo ~ Summon Mouryo ghost. Enemy will not able to apply ninjutsu…

Gwaaah….. I think it’s enough.. I”ll post the update if Nindou give us a special series again. ^_^

Next post: Dougou. Don’t miss it!!

[Via http://whitefangz.wordpress.com]

Some non-news - The Explosm Fora

Venice Deluxe

2010-02-20T20:00:00.000+02:00

Venice is sinking and only you can save it! From the floating fortress of your golden gondola youll restore the city by returning its lost treasures. Sling costly coins, launch lovely lyres and ricochet ruby rings into the corresponding spaces overhead. Use your arsenal of special shots to create cascading combos and earn bonus points along the way. So grab your gondola and get ready – Venice is a classic test of wits, will and skill!

Venice Deluxe

[Via http://topcasualgames.wordpress.com]

Find My iPhone now accessible from iPhone, iPod touch | iLounge News

Free Online Games

2010-02-20T04:00:00.000+02:00

How several tactics are there to experience game titles on the internet to pass the time, allow me count the tactics. Just kidding! But, I do contemplate myself an professional at wasting time by playing on-line video games, even though I’m confident I’m not the only one particular. Like a lot of accountable family members guys I’ve a employment. And although you can find nights when I get proper to function and seem to be being capable to function by way of the time without having any distractions. Then you can find these nights when I come across myself looking for any strategy to remain residence so I can participate in game titles on the net. I am confident I’m not alone on this just one either, am I individuals? Appear, it is not that I’m lazy, but you’ll find days to weeks I’m absolutely restless and must get my thoughts suitable with an on-line online game or 3. Okay, so it is not quite productive, but you’ll find situations when a guy’s sanity requires to arrive very first. As I am confident you understand, you’ll find a plethora of web sites to experience on the Free Online Games, and when you’re lucky adequate to discover one particular you get pleasure from, you could return to this similar internet site numerous instances to experience, so make positive you bookmark it. The way a number of these on the internet game titles perform together with your personal computer is usually a dilemma for some men and women. Some on the net online game internet sites may possibly call for one to get some thing in order to experience their on-line online game, and if you’re on what seems being a trustworthy web site, that may possibly not often be a trouble. Nonetheless, in the event you aren’t positive concerning the web page and you could have to get a hold of program in order to experience the on the net online game, then you definitely could prefer to search for that video game someplace else which you believe in. An additional aspect you must look at when you would like to experience on on the web online game web sites could be the speed of the pc. When most on-line game titles don’t demand from laptop or computer what shop purchased video games do, you even now cannot hope to experience on the internet video games having a relic. If you could have just started out your laptop or computer up, as well as the online game loads up speedily, you most likely will not have any difficulties. For some unknown purpose, when issues on your own pc will lock up all on their personal or you might have difficulty loading up a video game that typically plays just okay, try out to not panic. When this could be complicated to you, you ought to know it’s a typical issue. Very first, test closing down your Web browser after which opening a fresh one particular. If that does not repair the issue, you could possibly need to reboot your pc. It is a important soreness within the butt, nonetheless it generally fixes the issue. The items we go via just to experience an on the web online game so we can unwind. Occasionally, you might operate into an on the internet online game web page wherever you might have to spend to experience the on-line video game of the option. That is a individual option which you will ought to make. Ultimately, it’s going to depend around the on the net video game and how badly you would like to experience it. The on the web game titles that need cash to experience are typically fairly low-priced, as well as the video games they give are commonly much better. Occasionally, you could possibly come across a free of charge edition to experience, however the free of charge edition may possibly only be described as a cost-free trial that may not have all with the levels in free online game and is missing other components from the video game. Some on the on the web online game internet sites could give yearly memberships for you personally to experience limitless on the net game titles. It is not a terrible offer, but make certain they’ve sufficient video games which you will like to experience. Possibly I’ll operate into you some morning when we’re supposed being operating and we will participate in video games on the web together

How several tactics are there to experience game titles on the internet to pass the time, allow me count the tactics. Just kidding! But, I do contemplate myself an professional at wasting time by playing on-line video games, even though I’m confident I’m not the only one particular. Like a lot of accountable family members guys I’ve a employment. And although you can find nights when I get proper to function and seem to be being capable to function by way of the time without having any distractions. Then you can find these nights when I come across myself looking for any strategy to remain residence so I can participate in game titles on the net. I am confident I’m not alone on this just one either, am I individuals? Appear, it is not that I’m lazy, but you’ll find days to weeks I’m absolutely restless and must get my thoughts suitable with an on-line online game or 3. Okay, so it is not quite productive, but you’ll find situations when a guy’s sanity requires to arrive very first.

As I am confident you understand, you’ll find a plethora of web sites to experience on the net video games, and when you’re lucky adequate to discover one particular you get pleasure from, you could return to this similar internet site numerous instances to experience, so make positive you bookmark it. The way a number of these on the internet game titles perform together with your personal computer is usually a dilemma for some men and women. Some on the net online game internet sites may possibly call for one to get some thing in order to experience their on-line online game, and if you’re on what seems being a trustworthy web site, that may possibly not often be a trouble. Nonetheless, in the event you aren’t positive concerning the web page and you could have to get a hold of program in order to experience the on the net online game, then you definitely could prefer to search for that video game someplace else which you believe in.

An additional aspect you must look at when you would like to experience on on the web online game web sites could be the speed of the pc. When most on-line game titles don’t demand from laptop or computer what shop purchased video games do, you even now cannot hope to experience on the internet video games having a relic. If you could have just started out your laptop or computer up, as well as the online game loads up speedily, you most likely will not have any difficulties. For some unknown purpose, when issues on your own pc will lock up all on their personal or you might have difficulty loading up a video game that typically plays just okay, try out to not panic. When this could be complicated to you, you ought to know it’s a typical issue. Very first, test closing down your Web browser after which opening a fresh one particular. If that does not repair the issue, you could possibly need to reboot your pc. It is a important soreness within the butt, nonetheless it generally fixes the issue. The items we go via just to experience an on the web online game so we can unwind.

Occasionally, you might operate into an on the internet online game web page wherever you might have to spend to experience the on-line video game of the option. That is a individual option which you will ought to make. Ultimately, it’s going to depend around the on the net video game and how badly you would like to experience it. The on the web game titles that need cash to experience are typically fairly low-priced, as well as the video games they give are commonly much better. Occasionally, you could possibly come across a free of charge edition to experience, however the free of charge edition may possibly only be described as a cost-free trial that may not have all with the levels in the online game, and is missing other components from the video game. Some on the on the web online game internet sites could give yearly memberships for you personally to experience limitless on the net game titles. It is not a terrible offer, but make certain they’ve sufficient video games which you will like to experience. Possibly I’ll operate into you some morning when we’re supposed being operating and we will participate in video games on the web together

[Via http://buildmix.wordpress.com]

Stocks in the News: Banks, Dell, J.C. Penney - DailyFinance

You Can't Wish The Pain Away...

2010-02-18T20:36:00.000+02:00

Nothing never happens if you don’t take action towards it. If you just sit back and hope something goes your way, it won’t. Life is a hard and difficult road that everyone goes through. No body is going to do anything for you and you just can’t wish things to be your way. If something is going on and you are willing to do anything for it but everyone is against you, then you know that you should be thinking really hard right then and there to see if this is it. Do you want your life to be this way? Question is are you willing? Life is all about making the right decisions, if you make bad or just point blank dumb ones, than your not going to have the life you wanted. You may have to start over again in your life. Just always know that there will be some one there for you, its always like that. There’s always going to be that one person who cares and doesn’t want to see you like this. Just know…

[Via http://loungechair.wordpress.com]

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 2/18 - Arrowhead Pride

Dino Magazine: Videogamemaster, The Incredible Man

2010-02-18T12:46:00.000+02:00

Hey Dinos!,

Today our friend Videogamemaster is on the cover of Dino magazine! Isn’t that awesome? Tomorrow’s magazine will be something Pterrydactal suggested!(thanks Pterrydactal). This magazine, as I said before, is the first magazine I made with 2 pages plus the cover!

VGM: and I just flexed

put one of his awesome banners on your sidebar!

His one and only blog! http://bit.ly/aidQhG

ehh… this is the hardest magazine I worked on. I’ll be working hard for the next one too XD. Hope you dinos are liking my magazines so far

~Rikodou

[Via http://webosaursrikodou.wordpress.com]

Garriott starting social media project News | MMO | Eurogamer

Black Circle: A Carol Reed Mystery Game

2010-02-18T04:31:00.000+02:00

As summer arrives, English private detective Carol Reed is asked by a neighbor to look into the discovery of a dead body that mysteriously disappears. Carol must discover Hidden Objects and interview suspects and helpful residents to get to the bottom of this stranger’s death. What starts as a routine investigation quickly becomes something more as Carol uncovers broken alliances and a cult long thought to be inactive in Black Circle: A Carol Reed Mystery

[Via http://casualgameswizard.wordpress.com]

Jerry Jones on Miles Austin: He's going nowhere | Dallas Cowboys ...

Group of the Day: Espada Loyal Fans

2010-02-16T20:44:00.000+02:00

Group of the Day is “Espada Loyal Fans” for Bleach and Espada Fans this group Consists for more than 1700+ Members .

They have a Strict rule as a Quote “WARNING: Make any thread not mentioning the Espada and it will be delete”

Link: http://www.tinierme.com/tinierme/circleDisp.do?circleId=215

Enjoy Grouping

~KakashiHatake

[Via http://tinierme.wordpress.com]

Apple bans iPhone hackers for 'security reasons' | iLounge News

Aveyond: The Lost Orb Game

2010-02-16T12:46:00.000+02:00

Mel’s wedding day isn’t going according to plan. Her worst enemy has stolen her man, and a mysterious ghost has appeared to inform Mel that her evil ancestor, Mordred Darkthrop,has passed down his most precious possession to her: a magical orb with the power of death! Wanting nothing to do with her wicked ancestor, Mel must now seek out the orb and destroy it, before someone else with the power to use it discovers its location in Aveyond: The Lost Orb

[Via http://topcasualgames.wordpress.com]

Charlie Gasparino Goes To Fox Business News

Cooking Dash: DinerTown Studios

2010-02-16T04:47:00.000+02:00

“ Cooking Dash – DinerTown Studios “

Gilda, Flo’s college roommate, invites her, Cookie and Grandma Florence tothe set of her new show. Not surprisingly , as soon as the women arrivethey’ll be required to make use of their top notch cooking skills. New frenzy of fast fun in Cooking Dash – DinerTown Studios, the sequel to thegame critics called , fast-paced and challenging , colorful and charmingwith some new gameplay twists we haven’t seen before. ” Flo’s friend “ Gilda “ is having an awful time feeding the cast and crew at the DinerTownStudios. The actors demand the finest cuisine, the stagehands would give anything for a decent meal , and everyone’s threatening to storm off the set.

This sounds like a job for Flo! Help Flo and Grandma Florence save the day by cooking a scrumptious selection of delicious dishes inmore than 50 levels. Visit five all-new , TV-themed restaurants and serve an original menu of 2 and 3 course meals. Meet new characters including celebrities with star power and temperamental directors that want everyone back to work. Each fabulously fun location can be enhanced with over 25 decorative and functional upgrades.

Cooking Dash: DinerTown Studios

[Via http://topcasualgames.wordpress.com]

EIF teams with Media Guardian TV Festival | News

Ozone Magazine entrevista Game

2010-02-14T04:31:00.000+02:00

Aqui vai um pouco da entrevista (GIGANTE) do Game para a Complex,o titulo da entrevista é Bloody Mouth.

Dizem que gangsta está morto,Isso é verdade?

Isso é obviamente opinião de alguém.Não é a minha.Mas vou dizer que os manos que se consideram gangstas estão mudando.Como,os manos mais duros que eu já vi no gueto estão vestindo terno agora. Vestir-se. Ser mais profissional sobre si mesmos e visando mais em dinheiro do que os outros. Negros do gueto estão cuidando melhor da sua família agora, pelo menos, mais do que antes.Mas enquanto eu ter o Eazy Duz It e o Doggystyle tocando ,O Gangsta Rap nunca vai morrer.

Agora que esses jovens estão tentando ser Drake e Wale, em vez de Game e Snoop? Especialmente na Costa Oeste?

Estou amando a Costa Oeste agora. A maioria dos negros aqui estão frios e, como eu disse,mais centrado no dinheiro.Agora todo mundo está nessa merda fresca. Eu o chamo de “Drake Era”, e você pode imprimir em negrito. Eu fodo com o Drake, porque ele está conduzindo a este tipo de movimento que é contagioso agora no Hip Hop.Meu Desejo era que Pac tivesse vivido pra ver Cali nessa frescura !

*Acho que Melon Split é uma expressão então não achei uma tradução especifica a ela.

Entrevista em Inglês

[Via http://thisisrap.wordpress.com]

First iPhone OS 3.2 app appears on App Store | iLounge News

The Dark Hills of Cherai Game (Exclusive)

2010-02-13T20:52:00.000+02:00

Grandmother in the village of Cherai. She delights them with stories of a local treasure-hunter, Wyatt, who recently found something but succumbed to the accompanying curse. The children thrill to the story of the former King of Cherai and his treacherous court magician. The children go to sleep, visions of treasure, dark sorcery, and murder ringing in their heads. While it is still dark, the oldest, Tara, awakes to find young Arjun missing. Knowing that he has probably gone to find the treasure, she sets off on a quest to track him down before trouble can find him. Too bad that it’s too late.

Beautiful, dreamy quality. Exotic feeling. Inventive item-trading mechanic and ability to switch between multiple characters.

The Dark Hills of Cherai Game

[Via http://casualgameswizard.wordpress.com]

First iPhone OS 3.2 app appears on App Store | iLounge News

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual Game

2010-02-13T04:50:00.000+02:00

I’am Nicole Bonnet, everything starts in the United States where a new series of mysterious murders and especially wild talk of the town. The killer always leaves the scene of his crimes a doll dressed in the style of the 18th century. His initial investigations lead to the Paris and Marseilles to Spain and Cuba. As for Sylvie Leroux, following the death of his uncle who had made an important discovery concerning ancient Order of Knights Hospitaller, she tries to find us and travel from Malta to the Vatican via Istanbul.

This is an interactive puzzle style of game developed by City Interactive. It is based on a mystery of a hidden group from the age of the Crusades, known as the Knights Hospitaller. Set in present day, you play a character named, Sylvie. The premise is her uncle in Malta has made an archeological discovery and uncovered a mystery surrounding this covert group of the dark ages. It has been years since Sylvie has been here and she is a bit nostalgic from her childhood of running around the streets and neighborhoods as a child along her uncle’s side.

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual

[Via http://casualgameswizard.wordpress.com]

News Of The Day

Star Wars The Old Republic

2010-02-11T20:55:00.000+02:00

Late in the year of 2008, some time in October SWTOR: Star Wars The Old Republic was announced to be underdevelopment. Instantly Star Wars Galaxies leapt to mind, but the fear and apprehension of another Star Wars MMO failure was washed away in the knowledge of knowing that Bioware creators of the game of the year KOTOR: Knights of The Old Republic were also working on this MMO sequel of sorts. We all remember kotor right? The best Star Wars game byte for byte, great story, great game mechanics, and great reception! The game was just great!

Many may wonder how SWTOR may fair alongside World of Warcraft, Warhammer, and Guild Wars. Well the truth is it is shaping up to be quite a game maybe even one to dethrone WoW. The official site for SWTOR can be quoted saying “SWTOR will be similar to other mmos but with several key innovations.” One of those innovation being something that bioware does well, telling a great story, meaning maybe we the player can escape from the killing of spiders for their venom sacs only to find out we need 12 of their legs as well only to find out it meant absolutely nothing to the overall story of the game.

Now we know about SWTOR in comparison to other MMOs but what about SWTOR compared to other Star Wars stories particularly its name sake? Well the games time line is 300 years after kotor and 3500 before Darth Vader lots of room for couple million sith jedi bounty hunters and the like to run rampant. More importantly, time for the Republic and Sith have strike up treaty and live a little to close together and 300 years is a long time so don’t expect to see any familiar faces to help you save a droid or two, but Bioware says to expect on seeing legacies of those gone. This game is ballooning in size too, the planet list is growing, and the factions are set the Sith Empire and Sith Lords and the Republic and Jedi Order. All of which are populated with their own classes and so far that includes troopers, smugglers, jedi knights, jedi consulars, bounty hunters, sith warriors, sith inquisitors, and imperial agents. We will cover class specifics as they come out in another post.

Right now this game looks really damn good and game tester sign up has begun. Believe me when I say this is without a doubt a game to keep an eye out for.

Let us know if the blog is informative, talks about what you want to hear, and keep up with our updates @ WordPress, Facebook, 1Up.com, Twitter, RSS, and our Email.

Photos Courtesy of http://www.swtor.com

[Via http://wasdrighttrigger.wordpress.com]

Attn. Twi-Hards! We MAY Have HUGE News! | PerezHilton.com

Haterade Power Rankings: Super Bowl Edition

2010-02-11T12:32:00.000+02:00

This past week was Super Bowl week … and what a Super Bowl week it was! The game itself garnered the highest ratings of any television program ever, and were the media not filled with so much goodwill, and the 60 minutes of football not so awesome, the lack of drama leading up to the whole thing might have been worthy of hating.

Source:

http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/02/10/haterade-power-rankings-super-bowl-edition/

[Via http://dailysportsreport.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: The Hill: 'Cracks are beginning to show in ...

[x360/ps3] Dante's Inferno Demo - Review

2010-02-09T20:20:00.000+02:00

Ето и поредната ми статия, за поредното демо изтеглено от x360 “Live”. От доста време гледам в Dashboard-а на xbox-а ми в Game Marketplace-a демото на “Dante’s Inferno” и се питам дали да го изтегля. Днес най-после се реших и го изтеглих. Легнах си на леглото и си пуснах играта. Нямаше менюта, само логото на EA Games и клипче, нещо като интро. Дори нямаше и меню, направо ме пуснаха с героя. А героя си беше набит, облечен в тамплиероподобни дрехи мъж, който имаше голям белег под формата на кръст на гърдите. В едно от клипчетата той започна да зашива рана. Камерата се доближи до нея и вместо прост белег там бе обрисувана картина. А споменах ли, че играта се развива по времето на третият кръстоносен поход?

Героят ни се казва Dante и всъщност играта се развива по поемата написана от самия Dante Alighieri – Божествена комедия. Става дума за Данте, който се опитва да спаси любимата си – Беатрис от Луцифер, заради което минава през деветте кръга на ада. Та, след като показват белега клипчето започва да придобива комиксов облик и след него ме пускат на първото ниво. Като за начало всичко ми изглеждаше познато. Сякаш съм я играл тази игра някъде. След няколко момента се досетих и къде. Всичко толкова приличаше на God Of War (PS3/Sony). Имаме две главни атаки – слаба(X) и силна(Y). Оръжието не е двата меча от GoW, а по-лошо…за лошите. След като свършим първото ниво и победим Смъртта, взимаме косата му, която ни позволява да взимаме така наречените – бели души, които за RPG маниаците ще нарека exp души. Тези ехр души могат да се обменят за магиики и комбота. Също и всеки РП маниак, знае че прахосването на ехр-то по скилове, които не ти трябват не е добре, така че внимавайте. Продължавам към комботата, за игралите играта с Kratos натискането на Y бутона ще им е много познато, защото след това копче Данте ще замахне с косата и след това ще скочи във въздуха заедно с противника си, дежа вю, а? После пък взех и първият скил в играта – Свещенният Кръст, който се използа за изпъждане на зли духове и така нататък. Той изтрелваше бяла светлина под формата на кръст, чрез която спирах някои от изчадията, и след това с косата ги разделях на две парчета. След време стигнах и някакъв дух, които ми даде първата магийка в играта – “Righteous Path”, Данте започва да бяга към противника и му нанася щети, а след него остава поле от лед. Много забавна атака. Края на демото започна когато се появи един от по-трудните мобове, яхнал нещо подобно на слон или мутант, така и не разбрах какво беше. Когато победих моба отгоре Данте заби косата в слончето и се качи върху него. Така започна да го управлява и разби портата към ада. Последва още едно клипче, което по-скоро беше трейлър на играта и демото свърши.

А сега да завърша.

Геймплея – Общо взето, като че ли целият геймплей е изкопиран от GoW, а само са сменени героите, в което няма нищо лошо защото играта с Кратос я няма за xBox и така ние x360 притежателите не се чувстваме ощетени. Иначе системата със скиловете и новите оръжия, отключвани поствепенно в играта също е хубава. Няма лош коментар в този аспект.

Графиката – Още нещо, за което не мога да спомена лоши неща. Графиката рулира, и CGI-а е добре направен. Един от клиповете, в който се показаха пръстите на Данте дори мрежичките на ръкавиците му се виждаха много детайлно, но то зависи от телевизора, на който го гледате. 42″вите плазми са за предпочитане

Звука – Музиката рулира!!! Няма такова нещо просто. Всеки трак, от 20 минутното демо си струваше на сто процента.

Като цяло долната картинка ще покаже какво мисля за играта.

[Via http://bytebite.wordpress.com]

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 2/9 - Arrowhead Pride

Losing is fun!

2010-02-09T12:53:00.000+02:00

What eats my nights and roasts my days is the imminent completion of the next version of possibly the most ambitious indie game ever, Dwarf Fortress.

I have a pressure in my sinuses, maybe brain cancer (always thought it would be a fitting way to go), probably the pent up urge to go and carve a new realm in granite and basalt. Everyone must try.

[Via http://aneasyblog.wordpress.com]

'Ghostbusters 3' News: Murray Confirms Rumors, Possible Villain ...

Gameboy

2010-02-09T04:39:00.000+02:00

The moment I’ve been waiting for..if you don’t understand what’s happening now then you have no idea what the fukk the mystical unicorn named Detox is..with Bishop dropped and 50 flopping it’s all coming together now.

“Game is back, the Aftermath chain is gone on”

[Via http://chuckcosby.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: GOP demands Obama kill House and Senate bills ...

Trip the Light Fantastic on the Sidewalks of New York!

2010-02-07T20:05:00.000+02:00

The Sidewalks of New York (1925 and 1929) are two cartoon short films made by animation pioneers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer, both films using the 1894 song "The Sidewalks of New York". Both films feature the "Follow the Bouncing Ball" gimmick, and are also known under the title "East Side, West Side" -- which is the informal title of the original song.

“The Sidewalks of New York” is a popular song about life in New York City during the 1890s. It was created by lyricist James W. Blake and vaudeville actor and composer Charles B. Lawlor in 1894. The song proved successful afterwards, and was once considered a theme for New York City. Many artists, including Mel Tormé, Duke Ellington, Larry Groce and The Grateful Dead, have performed this song. Governor Al Smith of New York used it as a theme song for his failed presidential campaign in 1928. The song is also known under the title “East Side, West Side” from the first words of the chorus. The song was also recorded, with slightly altered lyrics, by the Kidsongs Kids.

Shannon Quartet – The Sidewalks Of New York

Filmed on Twenty-Third Street, New York City (1901)

Words and Music by James W. Blake and Charles E. Lawlor

The song “The sidewalks of New York”, performed by Robert Sean Leonard. From “New York: A Documentary Film”, Ep 3, ‘Sunshine and Shadow’

Lyrics

While variations exist depending on the artist performing the song, the chorus has been consistent. The original lyrics are as follows.

Down in front of Casey’s old brown wooden stoop

On a summer’s evening we formed a merry group

Boys and girls together we would sing and waltz

While Tony played the organ on the sidewalks of New York

East Side, West Side, all around the town

The tots sang “ring-around-rosie,” “London Bridge is falling down”

Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O’Rourke

Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York

That’s where Johnny Casey, little Jimmy Crowe

Jakey Krause, the baker, who always had the dough

Pretty Nellie Shannon with a dude as light as cork

She first picked up the waltz step on the sidewalks of New York

Things have changed since those times, some are up in “G”

Others they are wand’rers but they all feel just like me

They’d part with all they’ve got, could they once more walk

With their best girl and have a twirl on the sidewalks of New York

About the Authors: “Died. James W. Blake, 72, author in 1894 of the words of Al Smith’s latterday campaign song, ”The Sidewalks of New York”; of cancer; in Manhattan. Mamie O’Rourke, Nellie Shannon, Johnny Casey and Jimmy Crowe, who “tripped the light fantastic” in Blake’s lyric, had been his childhood playmates. Though the song still sells 5,000 copies a year, it brought only $5,000 to Blake and Composer Charles Lawlor, who died penniless in 1925. Pensioned by the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers, Blake was hospitalized during his last illness through the offices of Citizen Smith.” Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,883418,00.html#ixzz0eskPD0AD

[Via http://bullerdick.wordpress.com]

CBS, News Corp. Grab For Station Retransmission Dollars Could Get ...

Community in Age, Part 1

2010-02-07T04:17:00.000+02:00

I found this game today while browsing someone’s YouTube account. It’s called ‘And Everything Started to Fall.’ If you’d like, I wouldn’t mind if you went out of your way to stop reading this post and go try playing the game for a while. Try it. It’s very interesting. The link’s right there in the first sentence.

If you’re the sort that’s not willing to play it, then go ahead and watch this video.

I bring this to your attention because the author of this game made three comments about the message this game brings.

The first message is found here:

A game about life and it’s unavoidable end , death and the things that could happen in between . A story told trough images . A pretentious attempt at making art trough play mechanics . Start as a baby and grow all the way into the grave gaining and loosing [sic] abilities as time passes you by.

The second message is found here:

The only intention behind this game is to present the reality that it doesn’t matter how you live your life the end is always going to be the same, death .

The third message is contained in the game itself (hit F1 when playing):

The world never stops moving representing the fact that time doesn’t stop to wait for us . A clock on the background not only spins faster as you grow but also shrinks representing how closer to death we get with every passing day , we are running out of time .

. . .

After this you simply reach a very old age in which you can do as much as when you were a baby , just move left and right gameplay wise , and someone is actually doing this for you since you are on a wheel chair . At this point you are not very far from dying so this is a very short stage .Once you reach the final ladder you no longer have control over the character , the clock starts spinning faster and backwards and you will start having flashbacks until you reach your tomb at which point the clock stops , the screen stops , your last memories fade away , is all over , you are dead .

Essentially, the summary is the same no matter what: you live, you do things, and inevitably, you die. Everything you do is in context of death. The choices you make, the memories you keep, the friends you make, career choices, whatever it may be – death hovers over you like an overcast shadow. As the sun sets upon your life, the shadow looms ever larger, eventually to the point that they join all other shadows and consume all that you have ever set your foot upon.

That is, the futility of life.

This blog is mainly for me to discuss community, and so here is the question I ask and also seek to answer in my short thoughts: How does community fit in with the futility of life, aging, and death?

The short game captures a sense of how short life really is. In a span of about three minutes, we watch a child being born, grow up, live, get married, perform work, age, watch people die, and then die himself. A vapor of the wind. Whatever actions we do are undone by the work of the sands of time. Empires that we build, relationships we forge, memories we make, all come crashing down by the weight of time. It is so easy to despair.

It is not unfamiliar to those who read the scriptures.

The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:14-17 (ESV)

So what then? What point is there in what we do? The same idea is expressed in the Bible that this game speaks out upon: no matter the choices you make in your life, you will die. Your fate is independent of your choices. You will die. You will become united with the ancient earth that you rose from so many years ago. You will kiss the earthen bride and make the earth your home once more. That’s it.

Our marriage to futility and meaningless death ended, however, with the Cross. Is that any surprise that I find myself coming back to the cross every time? Peter states it quite eloquently in 1 Peter 1:23-25:

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass / and all its glory like the flower of grass. / The grass withers, and the flower falls, / but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

First, it is through the Cross that our lives have been brought out of meaningless death and meaningless toil. In Christ, what was once imperfect work leading to inevitable death becomes redeemed work raised up to build His Kingdom with Christ as the cornerstone. Peter writes that first, we should no longer see ourselves as dust in the wind like all the seed and life on this earth. Instead, Peter exhorts his people to see that in Christ their actions have meaning and permanence. Their lives have permanence both figuratively and literally.

Figuratively, their lives have permanence as their works are insured by the guarantee of the Cross through the Holy Spirit. We have him as a down payment for the hope in the return of Christ, for the accumulation of the Kingdom Come. By the Holy Spirit, we are assured that our actions have purpose, meaning, and direction. We are sure because we know the end is in Christ’s return – therefore everything that happens from now until then will drive towards the inevitable conclusion. So like those in the early church, we, too in our work we can rest knowing we do not have to say ‘vanity of vanities!’

Literally, their lives have permanence because they will be raised again from the dead. As Christ bears the first-fruits of resurrection, so, too will the body raise from the dead and be given new, glorified bodies. They shall never taste death again. How, then, can anyone with a glorified body lament their lives as mere dust in the wind? And so with hope of the resurrection, we also understand that the choices we make become meaningful, as we will live to see how Christ brings our actions to fruition. We will live to see the day. We will rise and see the dusk bringing to light all our choices in the past. We will glory in God with all the things we do, then.

Tomorrow I will continue on by talking about how age and community interact in light of the promise of permanence through the blood of Christ. Good night~!

[Via http://communityquest.wordpress.com]

Steam News

Cataclysm - Blizzard announces next expansion!

2010-02-06T12:17:00.000+02:00

So Cataclysm has been announced, a specific date has yet to be set but we do know it is targeted for 2010 nothing more and nothing less, it is just a target for Blizzard to work towards, so limit the QQ’s if we do not see Cataclysm this year. Again, rumors are saying it will be realeased at the end of Summer, please bare in mind these are rumors, do not get your heart set on a date and find it doesn’t come out at that time, it is best to wait for Blizzard to officially announce a date to avoid any disappointment.

Just to clear up one thing as a lot of people have asked either in Wow forums or on Forums somewhere. When Cataclysm occurs it will occur for all players, you will be able to play in the new zones of Azeroth, however, certain aspects will be unavailable until you have purchased the expansion.

Flying Mounts in Azeroth

So this could be awesome except one thing, one thing I enjoy in World of Warcraft is hanging around Goldshire with mates, trying to get up onto the houses, getting on top of Stormwind roof, flying mounts will take this fun away from me and many others. Blizzard are redesigning the continents of Azeroth with Flying mounts in mind and are also determining whether they will make any restrictions on where you will be able to fly, at what level flying will become available, or whether you’ll need to do anything to unlock it.

New Class Combinations

Horde

Orc Mage

Troll Druid

Tauren Priest

Undead Hunter

Tauren Paladin

Alliance

Dwarf Mage

Night Elf Mage

Human Hunter

Gnome Priest

Dwarf Shaman

Nearly all the game’s original zones are being altered to some degree, but the extent of the changes varies by zone. The barrens are going to be split into two, one side for low level players and the other for high level players. Azshara is going to be a new low-level zone for Horde, It is connected to Orgrimmar.

New Zones for Level 80 or higher players

Uldum.

The Sunken City of Vashj’ir: The new underwater city containing the entrance to Abyssal Maw.

Deepholm.

Mount Hyjal: Containing the Gateway to The Firelands.

Twilight Highlands.

Level Cap

Blizzard have said they raised the level cap to 85 not 90 because they want to focus more on end-game content, Blizzard may be planning on more expansions before hitting the level 100 cap.

Goblins

Deathwing once again sought the services of the goblins, as slaves. Unable to refuse such an offer, the goblins were enslaved by him. A large group have resisted however. With their earlier homes devastated by the cataclysm, they escaping to an island off the coast of The Barrens. As they strive to recover, they come across an Orc captured on an Alliance ship and rescue him. The Orc turns out to be none other than Thrall himself, and in return offers the Goblins a place within the Horde. These events are carried out in a quest line, allowing players to experience first-hand the reasons behind the Goblins’ shift from neutrality.

Worgen

The cataclysm has cracked open the Greymane Wall, finally revealing what has happened to the kingdom of Gilneas and its citizens. With the Worgen curse taken hold, they have found a partial cure, allowing them to keep their Human minds even when transformed. Venturing forth from Gilneas and seeking help from the Alliance, they have decided to join them, to combat the new threats of Cataclysm.

New Hero Class

Unfortunately we will not be seeing a new hero class in this expansion, but this tells us, well most of us knew anyway, that Blizzard have more expansions for us, as when they bought the Death Knight out they said this is our FIRST hero class.

I am sure we are all looking forward to the release of Cataclysm and will be experiencing Blizzards best expansion yet very soon.

[Via http://leetgamerblog.com]

GREAT NEWS! (sort of….let's hope!) « Gretawire

Phantasm Adventures, 4th Edition

2010-02-06T04:02:00.000+02:00

This is the 4th edition role-playing game that I have been working on and off for the last twenty years. Ultimately, there will be five books covering a wide assortment of rules on the game.

In this 60 page PDF players learn how to create a character for the game. There are so many options available in this first book it is hard to know where to begin.

Please feel free to download the PDF and read through it. I would very much like comments about the book and the rules. I will be hosting a special podcast on designing characters for the game shortly.

Book II will concentrate on equipment and combat. Book III will detail all the magical spells and items in the game. book IV will be a huge compendium of monsters and gods, including basic world concepts. Finally, Book V will detail all the continents and major and minor adventuring spots of Monokon.

I look forward to hearing about the game

Phantasm4_book1

[Via http://emeraldtablet.wordpress.com]

ModNation Racers heading to PSP News | PSP | Eurogamer

World of Warcraft

2010-02-04T20:36:00.000+02:00

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.3.2

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Dungeons & Raids

Icecrown Citadel
- Frostwing Halls, the final stronghold of the Scourge and their Lich King, has been added.
Halls of Stone
- Brann Bronzebeard has been getting into shape and now feels comfortable walking faster when escorted.
The Forge of Souls
- The Devourer of Souls will now cast Mirrored Souls less often.
- The Spell Reflect ability has been altered on several creatures. It now has a cast time, only has 2 charges, and has a 75% chance of reflecting spells.
The Nexus
- Anomalus will now use the Create Rift ability only once, down from 3 times.
The Old Kingdom
- Elder Nadox now only gets one Ahn’Kahar Guardian during the encounter.
- Jadoga Shadowseeker now only ascends once during the encounter.
- Several enemies between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar have been removed or had their pathing altered.
Pit of Saron
- Players can now zone back into the instance if they are dead while encounters with Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost are in progress.
Utgarde Pinnacle
- Skadi the Ruthless can now be removed from his drake with 3 harpoon strikes, down from 5.
- Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Ritual of the Sword 1 time during the encounter, down from 3.
Vault of Archavon
- Toravon, the latest boss to join the Vault’s giants and masters of the elements, is now accepting challengers in 10- and 25-player formats.
The Violet Hold
- The time between a boss being defeated and a new portal opening has been decreased.

PvP

All healing abilities (including items such as potions) will be decreased in effectiveness by 10% when in Battlegrounds, Arenas, or Wintergrasp.
Arenas
- Season 8 has officially begun featuring all-new rewards!

Druids

Talents
- Balance
  - Earth and Moon: This talent now increases the druid’s spell damage by 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.

Shamans

Talents
- Elemental Combat
  - Shamanism: This talent now provides 4/8/12/16/20% extra spell damage to Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning, up from 3/6/9/12/15%, and 5/10/15/20/25% to Lava Burst, up from 4/8/12/16/20%.

Warlocks

Talents
- Affliction
  - Shadow Embrace: This effect can now stack up to 3 times, up from 2. However, the periodic healing reduction effect has been reduced from 3/6/9/12/15% to 2/4/6/8/10% per application.
- Demonology
  - Demonic Pact: The damage bonus granted the warlock by this talent has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%. The buff granted to a raid or party by this talent remains unchanged.
- Destruction
  - Conflagrate: The damage-over-time effect of Conflagrate has been increased to 40% of the spell’s total damage, up from 20%.
  - Empowered Imp: The pet bonus damage provided by this talent has been increased to 10/20/30%, up from 5/10/15%.
  - Improved Shadow Bolt: Damage done by Shadow Bolt increased by 2/4/6/8/10%, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.

Warriors

Talents
- Protection
  - Concussion Blow: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 50%, but its threat generation will remain approximately the same.
  - Devastate: This ability now deals 120% of weapon damage, up from 100% of weapon damage.
  - Shield Slam: The damage scaling from block value for this ability now diminishes faster and diminishes starting at a lower block value. The difference should be negligible for players in high-end tanking armor. In addition, the threat caused by Shield Slam has been increased by 30%.
  - Warbringer: This talent no longer allows Charge and Intercept to break roots or snares. Intervene remains unaffected.

User Interface

The party leader is now referred to as Guide in chat when a group is formed via the Dungeon Finder.
Fixed a bug where players with Raid Assist capabilities were unable to perform a Ready Check.
Fixed a bug where the first couple of tutorials were not displaying upon logging into the game.

Items

New strength-based melee DPS rings are now available from representatives of the Ashen Verdict.
Tier-9 Sets: The Aspirant vendors at the Argent Tournament grounds have worked out a deal with merchants in Dalaran so that all item level 232 set pieces will now be available on armor vendors in the city. Set pieces which require trophies will still be available for purchase only from vendors at the Argent Tournament grounds.
Tier-10 Balance Druid 4-Piece Bonus: Fixed a bug to allow for this bonus to properly trigger.
Tier-10 Elemental Shaman 4-Piece Set Bonus: Redesigned. Successful Lava Burst casts now increase the duration of Flame Shock on the target by 6 seconds.
Tier-10 Tank Sets: The gloves and chest pieces for warrior, death knight, and paladin tanks have had their stats adjusted slightly to provide additional armor value.
Tier-10 Warlock 4-Piece Bonus: This bonus should now correctly be applied to the warlock’s pet.

Technical Support

The cvar ‘processAffinityMask’ controls which CPU cores are available for the World of Warcraft client to use. Previously the game client was limited to 2 cores as a default which players could override in the configuration file. In the past this provided a performance boost on some CPUs and operating systems. We have identified several systems that are experiencing severe performance issues with this restriction and have removed it. Players who would like to restore the old behavior can do so by updating the Config.WTF file by adding: SET processAffinityMask “3″.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.3.0a

Bug Fixes

Soft Lock upon jumping on inclined terrain has been fixed

Several issues for Mac users have been corrected.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.3.0: Fall of the Lich King

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls

Looming over the stark wastes of Northrend, Icecrown Citadel awaits those who would see the Lich King and his Scourge brought low and the threat they pose wiped from the face of Azeroth. The heroes who venture within will face some of the greatest horrors yet seen. But before you burst into the front gate of the citadel, an alternate means of entry beckons. Journey through three separate wings of the new five-player dungeon, Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls, and follow Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner into the Lich King’s domain.

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne

All across Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and the Horde first reached these frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward — and Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge’s power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an accord with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. This coalition’s strongest combatants, along with the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel. In the new Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon, Azeroth’s mightiest will face terrifying challenges before ascending to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver the heroes to their deaths….

Cross-Realm Dungeon Finder

The Dungeon Finder is now available, providing players with quick and easy access to five-player parties. This feature connects all realms within a battlegroup using an advanced matchmaking system, making it easier for players of all levels to find a dungeon group. In addition, players can reap additional rewards through the Dungeon Finder by choosing the Random option, which is available to both pick-up and pre-formed groups. Check out the User Interface section for more details.

Getting Started and Quest Tracking

A number of changes have been made to World of Warcraft’s introductory experience, including updated character and class information at the character-selection screen, more robust tooltips with images, improved health and mana regeneration at lower levels, and adjustments to various classes designed to make it easier for players to get started. In addition, all-new quest-tracking features have been added to assist players in finding objectives, including new interface functionality in the quest log, the map (“M” key), and the Objectives pane.

General

- Three separate 5-player dungeons — The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection — containing all new challenges and missions of discovery, await players in normal and Heroic modes.
- 10- and 25-player challenges await players in Icecrown Citadel. Only when all challenges have been overcome in the raid dungeon can players unlock hard modes for individual bosses. For more information on how the Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available, please visit our Dungeons & Raids forum.

Icecrown Citadel

Character Creation: The descriptions for races, classes, and race/class combinations have been improved to provide new players with a better idea of the roles and advantages of each class and race.
Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.
Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.
The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says “hello”), while the new /yw is for saying “you’re welcome.”
Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets.
Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.
Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.
Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.

Classes: General

Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, a spell normally hits each target for 1000 damage. With 3 targets, the multiplier is 1, so it doesn’t change. Same with 10 targets. With 20 targets, the multiplier is 10/20=0.5. So, it hits for 0.5*1000=500.
Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default.
Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.
Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.
Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player’s level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.
Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master’s resilience.
Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.
Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

Races: General

Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.
Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.
Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.

PvP

- All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.
- Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.
- All level 80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.
- - Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.
  - Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.
  - Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.
- You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:

Arenas

Battlegrounds

Wintergrasp

Dungeons & Raids

- Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron’s lair.
- Azure Ring Guardians agro distance changed from 50 to 40 yards.
- Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.
- Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.
- Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.
- Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider’s item level has been increased to make them more powerful.

Naxxramas

Oculus

Death Knights

- - Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. In addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 2/4 minutes, down from 5/10 minutes.
  - Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
  - Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.
- Unholy

Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.
Talents

Druids

- - Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cooldown for each type of Eclipse. In addition, Eclipse now grants a 40% critical strike chance to Starfire and 40% increased damage to Wrath, up from 30%.
  - Force of Nature: Health on the treants has been increased.
  - Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
  - Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.
- Balance
- Feral Combat
- Restoration
- Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.
Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.
Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
Talents

Pets

Hunters

- - Intimidation: If the hunter’s pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet’s next swing or attack.
- Beast Mastery
- Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
- Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet’s movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.
- Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.
- Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.
- Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.
- Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.
- Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
- Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
- Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet’s attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.

Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.
Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.
Talents

Pets

Mages

- - Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage’s party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.
  - Blast Wave: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.
  - Burning Determination: The duration of interrupt immunity granted by this talent is now 20 seconds.
  - Dragon’s Breath: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.
  - Firestarter: When this talent is triggered, it makes the next Flamestrike cost no mana in addition to being instant.
  - Improved Scorch: The debuff from this talent no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of Scorch.
  - Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.
  - Fingers of Frost: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.
- Arcane
- Fire
- Frost
- Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
- Mirror Image: Health on the mirror images has been increased.
- Water Elemental: Waterbolt mana cost reduced by 80%.

Talents

Pets

Paladins

- - Aura Mastery: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.
  - Infusion of Light: This talent now causes the paladin’s Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.
  - Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.
  - Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin’s health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases. Finally, damage which reduces the paladin’s health below 20% now cancels the effect early.
  - Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.
- Holy
- Protection
- Retribution

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Flash of Light: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the Infusion of Light talent.
Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.
Talents

Priests

- - Improved Devouring Plague: This spell now deals 10/20/30% of its total periodic effect instantly, up from 5/10/15%.
  - Mind Flay: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
  - Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.
  - Vampiric Embrace: This talent now provides a 30-minute buff that cannot be dispelled, instead of a target debuff and only generates healing for single-target shadow damage spells.
- Shadow
- Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Divine Hymn: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
Power Word: Shield: This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.
Talents

Rogues

- - Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.
  - Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.
  - Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
  - Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.
- Assassination
- Subtlety

Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.
Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.
Talents

Shamans

- - Elemental Mastery: This talent now increases spell haste by 15% instead of critical strike chance while active.
  - Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.
  - Earth’s Grasp: This talent now also reduces the cooldown of the Stoneclaw and Earthbind totems by 15/30%.
  - Improved Reincarnation: This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.
- Elemental Combat
- Enhancement
- Restoration

Earth Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Fire Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.
Reincarnation: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.
Talents

Warlocks

- - Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
  - Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.
  - Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.
  - Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.
  - Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock’s spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  - Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.
  - Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.
  - Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
  - Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%.
- Affliction
- Demonology
- Destruction
- Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
- Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
- Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
- Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.
- Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
Talents

Pets

Warriors

- - Damage Shield: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.
- Protection

Victory Rush: This ability is now trainable at level 6.
Talents

User Interface

- - A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player’s Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.
  - The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).
  - All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.
  - Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.
  - Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character’s current location.
  - This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.
  - Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.
  - This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.
  - The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.
  - Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.
  - If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.
  - The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.
  - This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).
- Players can now track quest objectives on the map (‘M’ key).
- Quest Log
- Map
- Objectives Tracking
- Quest Difficulty Tracking
- - - The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
    - The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
    - Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
    - Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the “Quests” section for details).
    - Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
    - Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
    - Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.
    - - Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
      - Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player’s current level.
    - Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
    - As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
    - Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
    - A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
    - Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.
    - If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.
    - A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
    - Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
    - The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.
  - Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
  - Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
  - Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
  - Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
  - Pick-Up Groups
- This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
- - Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
  - While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
  - Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader’s name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
- There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing “/LFR.”
- New option – Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.
- New option – Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.
- - Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.
  - Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).
  - Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.
- The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.
- Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sightlimitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).
- Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the Names tab.
- Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.
- Symbol “@” added as a synonym for “target=”. For example: “/cast [@focus] Flash Heal”.
- New macro conditionals: “vehicleui” (if the player has a vehicle UI) and “unithasvehicleui” (if the target of the macro has a vehicle UI).
- “registerForClicks” added to XML buttons.
- “MouseIsOver” has been converted to a “C” function for increased efficiency (e.g. /dump PlayerFrame:IsMouseOver() ).
- When an addon file is loaded, the addon name and an addon table are passed to the file through ‘…’. The same addon table is passed to every file loaded by a particular TOC file (example at the top of a Lua file: “local addonName, addonTable = …;”.
- “motionScriptsWhileDisabled” attribute added to buttons. This allows “OnEnter” and “OnLeave” to fire while the button is disabled.
- “GetFileHeight()” and “GetFileWidth()” added to Texture objects. 0 is returned if no texture file is associated with the texture.
- You can now query for a list of completed quests with “QueryQuestsCompleted()” then wait for the “QUEST_QUERY_COMPLETE” event, and call “etQuestsCompleted()”.

Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.
Quest Tracking Feature

Dungeon Finder

Looking For Raid

The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.
Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.

Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.
Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group’s dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.
Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.
Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu.
Unit Nameplates

Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.
Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups).
Players will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.
“/Settitle” command has been added.
Instant quest text is on by default.
Tentative status added for calendar responses.
Players below level 10 may not join raids.
Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.
Unit frames added for special encounters.
Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).
Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.
Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.
Macro Changes

Addon Author Changes

For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Graphics

A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi “d3d9ex”. For more information please visit our Technical Support forum.

Professions

- Enchant Weapon – Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster’s target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.
- Enchant Weapon – Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.
- The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.
- The all-new Kalu’ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Saturday beginning at 2 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren’t able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks’ favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.
- Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250.

Enchanting

First Aid

Fishing

Mining

Quests

Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan’dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.
For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur’thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.
Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.
Brittle Revenants, quest creatures fought for the Sons of Hodir daily quest “Hot and Cold,” no longer cast Shield Slam.

Achievements

The Achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective “Master of” Meta-Achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.
“The Party’s Over” has been removed from Achievements and is no longer a part of the “Glory of the Hero” Meta-Achievement.
“Master Angler of Stranglethorn” has been changed to “Master Angler of Azeroth” and can be achieved by winning either the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.

Reputation

- Argent Crusade
- Alliance Vanguard
- Horde Expedition
- Kirin Tor
- Knights of the Ebon Blade
- Sons of Hodir
- Wyrmrest Accord

Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran. Each badge costs 1 Emblem of Triumph.
Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g.
The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:

Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).

Items

- - Glyph of Icy Touch: Instead of granting additional runic power, this glyph now causes Frost Fever to deal 20% additional damage.
  - Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: This glyph allows for the druid’s haste to reduce the time between the periodic healing effects of Rejuvenation.
  - Glyph of Improved Scorch: Renamed Glyph of Scorch. This glyph now increases the damage of Scorch by 20%.
  - Glyph of Eternal Water: This glyph allows for a summoned Water Elemental to last indefinitely, but it can no longer cast Freeze.
  - Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph now increases the damage done by Mind Flay by 10% when the target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
  - Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain: The periodic damage ticks of Shadow Word: Pain now restore 1% of the priest’s base mana with this glyph.
  - Glyph of Shadow: While in Shadowform, this glyph causes non-periodic spell critical strikes to increase spell power by 30%, up from 10%, of the priest’s total spirit for 10 seconds.
  - Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Glyph of Fire Nova. This glyph now reduces the cooldown of Fire Nova by 3 seconds.
  - Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.
  - Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.
  - Glyph of Victory Rush: This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Victory Rush by 30%, regardless of the percentage of the target’s remaining health.
- Death Knights
- Druids
- Mages
- Priests
- Shamans
- Warlocks
- Warriors

Arena Set Bonuses: The two-piece set bonus for all Wrath of the Lich King Arena sets now provides 100 resilience and 29 spell power or 50 attack power. The current four-piece bonus will remain, however it also now provides 88 spell power or 150 attack power.
Bind-on-Account Items: Players can now mail Bind-on-Account items to characters on the same account and realm regardless of faction. Please note this only applies to Bind-on-Account items. Other items or gold cannot be sent via mail to characters on the same realm and account if they are from differing factions.
Death Knight Tier-9 4-Piece Bonus (Damage-Dealing): This set bonus no longer grants Frost Fever a chance to be a critical strike. It still grants that possibility to Blood Plague.
Glyphs

Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.
Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk’s Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper.
Icecrown Citadel Items: Normal and Heroic versions of Icecrown Citadel rings and trinkets are considered Unique-Equipped and cannot be used at the same time.
Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
Shaman Tier-9 4-Piece Set Bonus (Elemental): This set bonus now does an additional 10% of Lava Burst’s initial damage over time instead of increasing the size of the Lava Burst.

Bug Fixes

Items

Ancient Pickled Egg: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.
Brutal Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).
Costumes: Various costumes from holidays, items, and quests that previously were cancelled by getting on a mount will now cause an error message when the player attempts to mount instead of cancelling the costume.
Carapace of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
Crystalforged Trinket: Can now be refunded at its vendor.
Dragonslayer Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.
Drums of the Forgotten Kings: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
Drums of the Wild: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
Eating and Drinking: Eating and drinking are now cancelled and prevented while in a vehicle as a passenger.
Figurine: Emerald Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
Figurine: Talasite Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
Fire Hardened Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).
Giantstalker Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.
Gul’dan’s Regalia Set: Tooltip corrected to indicate increased damage for all pet attacks, not just abilities.
Husk of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
Idol of Flaring Growth: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.
Idol of Lunar Fury: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.
Idol of The Corruptor: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.
Insignia of the Alliance: Item level changed to 60.
Insignia of the Horde: Item level changed to 60.
Level 58 PvP Items: A variety of PvP items with a minimum level of 58 were not being translated properly when a player used the Paid Faction Change service. That has been corrected. Paladin- and shaman-specific items still will not be translated, as there is no opposite version to translate them into.
Liadrin’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.
Lightning Capacitor: Combat log tooltip for Electrical Charge updated to include more detailed information.
Nightsong Regalia Set: The bonus to Rejuvenation from this set will now work properly with the Idol of Rejuvenation equipped. In addition, the instant heal provided now has a correct combat log tooltip.
Noggenfogger Elixir: Players shrunk while under the effects of this item will now be able to mount.
Quel’dorei Channeling Rod: Spelling error corrected.
Quel’dorei Sash: Spelling error corrected.
Quel’dorei Guard: Spelling error corrected.
Qiraji Bindings of Command: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
Qiraji Bindings of Dominance: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
Reclaimed Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reclaimed Thunderstrike.
Reinforced Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reinforced Thunderstrike.
Reins of the Swift Frostsaber: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.
Runescroll of Fortitude: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
Seaspray Albatross: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
Sigil of Virulence: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.
Solace of the Defeated: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.
Solace of the Fallen: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.
Spirit of Eskhandar Set: This set no longer requires Eskhandar’s Collar to complete (that item can no longer be acquired).
Swift Horde Wolf: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.
The Egg of Mortal Essence: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.
Tier 2 Helmets: Looting these items from Nefarion in Blackwing Lair will no longer trigger the Onyxia’s Lair (level 60) Feat of Strength achievement.
Totem of Quaking Earth: This totem will no longer sometimes grant unintended bonus healing.
Turalyon’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.
Veklor’s Diadem: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
Warmth of Forgiveness: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
Windrunner Set: The set bonus which grants Greatness to the hunter’s pet will no longer spuriously show the hunter also gaining that buff.
Worldbreaker Garb Set: The Electrified effect caused by this set now has detailed combat log tooltips.

Racial Abilities

Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. In addition, this ability will now be properly noted and displayed as an interrupt in the cast bar UI.
Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability.

Classes

- Bloody Strikes: Now properly increases the damage displayed in the tooltips of Blood Strike and Heart Strike.
- Bone Shield: Tooltip corrected to indicate the player has the correct number of bones.
- Chains of Ice: This ability will no longer appear to land on targets which are immune.
- Desecration: The debuff from this ability will no longer sometimes appear as if it were cast by someone else. In addition, the visual and snare from this ability will now both dissipate at the same time. Further, this talent will now respect snare immunities, and no longer sometimes snare immune targets.
- Frost Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.
- Glyph of Bone Shield: Now updates the number of charges in the Bone Shield tooltip.
- Glyph of Dark Death: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil. In addition, its own tooltip has been clarified to indicate it also applies to healing from Death Coil.
- Glyph of Death’s Embrace: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil to indicate runic power is refunded.
- Glyph of Heart Strike: Now updates the tooltip on Heart Strike to indicate Heart Strike applies a movement snare.
- Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now updates the tooltip on Icebound Fortitude to show increased damage reduction.
- Glyph of Plague Strike: Now updates the damage shown in Plague Strike’s tooltip.
- Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now updates the tooltip on Unbreakable Armor. Tooltip on glyph modified to make its effect more clear as well.
- Master of Ghouls: Tooltip typo corrected.
- Night of the Dead: Tooltip typo corrected.
- Obliterate: This ability will no longer sometimes fail to do additional damage based on diseases on the target.
- Raise Ally: While this spell is active on a target, they will not be sent to the graveyard, prematurely ending the spell.
- Raise Dead: It is no longer possible under some circumstances to use a Risen Ghoul to cause neutral guards to attack opposite faction players.
- Strangulate: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
- Taste of Blood: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
- Unholy Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.
- Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.
- Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.
- Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.
- Nature’s Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.
- Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.
- Rejuvenation: Druids will no longer get a more powerful spell error message when attempting to overwrite a Rejuvenation they cast.
- Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.
- Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter’s attack power.
- Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.
- Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.
- Point of No Escape: It is no longer possible to gain benefit from this talent multiple times by having a target affected by multiple of the same hunter’s traps. In addition, Freezing Arrow will no longer incorrectly provide a critical strike bonus to players beyond the hunter with this talent.
- Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.
- Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
- Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.
- Arcane Concentration: The interaction of this talent with Arcane Missiles has been restructured. Instead of an Arcane Missiles cast triggering the talent, each missile has an independent (but reduced) chance to trigger this talent. In addition, the talent will no longer sometimes be triggered from misses by Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, and Blizzard.
- Blast Wave: Tooltip typo corrected.
- Blizzard: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Also fixed a bug where some trinkets were not triggered by this spell.
- Cone of Cold: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Dalaran Intellect: Mages will now be properly blocked from casting this spell when the target has a more powerful version of the buff.
- Deep Freeze: This spell will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost when it misses its target.
- Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.
- Frost Nova: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Frostbolt: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Glyph of Mirror Image: Now updates the tooltip on Mirror Image to show 4 images are summoned.
- Ignite: Now correctly benefits from the dispel resistance granted by the Arcane Subtlety talent. In addition, this talent will now properly include in its damage calculation any damage of the initial fire critical strike that was absorbed.
- Ice Lance: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Improved Scorch: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
- Mirror Image: The mirror images summoned will no longer sometimes appear as shades before taking on the appearance of the casting mage.
- Prismatic Cloak: Rank three of this talent will now properly modify the tooltip on Invisibility to indicate the effect is instant.
- Slow Fall: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.
- Winter’s Chill: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
- Aura Mastery: The animation for this ability will no longer be extra bright when used with Concentration Aura active.
- Beacon of Light: The effect of this ability will no longer sometimes continue past the duration of its buff. In addition, the duration when used with the Glyph of Beacon of light will now correctly be 1.5 minutes. Finally, the tooltip was corrected to indicate benefitting targets must be in the paladin’s party or raid.
- Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.
- Blessing of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
- Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.
- Devotion Aura: When in a party with another paladin using a different rank of this ability, it is no longer possible to see two different Devotion Aura icons displayed as buffs.
- Divine Sacrifice: This ability now properly counts all damage transferred against its limit, instead of not counting some damage.
- Greater Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.
- Greater Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.
- Guardian’s Favor: Corrected a tooltip error in rank 1 of this ability.
- Hand of Freedom: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the druid spell Cyclone. In addition, disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger casting this on oneself.
- Hand of Reckoning: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.
- Hand of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
- Heart of the Crusader: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.
- Judgements of the Just: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.
- Judgement of Righteousness: The damage from this ability will no longer sometimes increase when the paladin’s agility increases (only occurred with low strength and high agility).
- Judgement of Wisdom: Corrected incorrect information in the combat log tooltip.
- Retribution Aura: It is no longer possible under some circumstances for the UI to display buffs from two different ranks of this ability.
- Seal of Corruption: Tooltip corrected to list the actual amount of damage done instead of a higher number.
- Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal caused by this glyph will now correctly use the casting priest’s critical strike chance instead of the target’s.
- Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending.
- Levitate: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.
- Mass Dispel: Some trinkets which were not triggered properly by this spell will now work correctly when Mass Dispel is cast.
- Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect. In addition, this ability will now work correctly with [target=focus] and [target=mouseover] macros.
- Prayer of Mending: Inspiration and Divine Aegis can no longer be incorrectly triggered by this spell for priests who do not have those talents.
- Silence: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
- Spirit Tap: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of the priest’s Jewelcrafter Stone Statues.
- Ambush: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Backstab: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Deadly Poison: Another rogue using a higher rank of this poison will no longer prevent the lower rank Deadly Poison from being applied to the target.
- Eviscerate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Glyph of Rupture: Now updates the duration on Rupture’s tooltip.
- Killing Spree: Entering a vehicle will now cause this ability to halt, and attempting to use it while on a vehicle will result in an error message.
- Mutilate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. In addition, the damage from this ability can now be blocked.
- Sinister Strike: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
- Slice and Dice: Improved Slice and Dice and Glyph of Slice and Dice now update the duration of this ability.
- Throwing Specialization: Deadly Throw will no longer cause multiple spell interruption combat log entries when used with this talent.
- Glyph of Earthliving Weapon: Now updates the tooltip for Earthliving Weapon.
- Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave: Tooltip and functionality corrected to ensure this glyph will cause extra healing from Lesser Healing Wave regardless of which shaman cast Earth Shield on the target.
- Hex: Players are no longer able to use Battlemaster trinkets while under the effects of this spell.
- Mana Tide Totem: The tooltip on this spell will now be modified properly by the Glyph of Mana Tide Totem.
- Thunderstorm: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the Druid spell Cyclone.
- Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.
- Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.
- Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.
- Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.
- Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.
- Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.
- Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat.
- Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
- Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
- Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.
- Blood Frenzy: This debuff is no longer considered a Bleed effect that can be removed separately from the actual Bleed effect which caused it.
- Bloodrage: Tooltip now adjusts to show effect of Anger Management on this ability.
- Glyph of Cleaving: Now updates the tooltip of Cleave to show that more targets are struck by the ability.
- Glyph of Hamstring: Now updates the tooltip of Hamstring to indicate it has a chance to immobilize.
- Glyph of Vigilance: Now updates the tooltip on Vigilance to show that more threat is transferred.
- Mocking Blow: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.
- Rampage: Rampage now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
- Recklessness: Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw will now benefit from this ability and consume charges of this ability. In addition, Recklessness now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
- Sudden Death: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
- Sweeping Strikes: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
- Vigilance: The threat transfer granted by this ability will now reactivate when Tricks of the Trade or Misdirection cast by the Vigilance target expires.
- Warbringer: Tooltip typo corrected.

Death Knights

Druids

Hunters

Mages

Paladins

Priests

Rogues

Shamans

Warlocks

Warriors

Game Systems

Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target’s head indicating what type of effect has been applied.

Battlegrounds

Strand of the Ancients

The “Let the Battle for the Strand of the Ancients” message should no longer appear twice in round 2. It also now appears correctly at the beginning of round 1.
Storm the Beach should now be correctly granted to the Horde when they start round 1 on offense.
The east Antipersonnel Cannon at the Amethyst gate should no longer be able to shell the graveyard flag.
Fixed an order of operations issue where players would sometimes not be resurrected or clear their Inactive debuff at the end of the 1st round.

[Via http://3rr0rs.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: Glastonbury, Santana, Joanna Newsom, NBA All-Star ...

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City

2010-02-04T12:51:00.000+02:00

Reveal the mysteries of Isola with help of a castaways’ tribe!

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City Game

Embark on a journey with a group of adventurous villagers in their quest to populate a new part of the mysterious island of Isola! Lead your tribe to the answers in Virtual Villagers – The Secret City!

Virtual Villagers Game Features

Dragg a male onto a female… bring them a baby
Don’t forget about “milestones”
New technologies are important for survival

Virtual Villagers game screenshots

[Via http://virtualvillagersgames.wordpress.com]

Video: FOX News Cuts Off President Obama's QA With GOP

[Slave Material] Tifa Yuffie 3D Flash Game - 7heven / boob polygon4th

2010-02-04T04:49:00.000+02:00

Highly recommended. 2 Different games in this one made by the same company. This 3D flash game features Tifa and Yuffie from Final Fantasy. Enjoy!

Download Link

[Slave Material] Tifa Yuffie 3D Flash Game – 7heven / boob polygon4th

[Via http://redsector.wordpress.com]

Stocks in the News: Barnes & Noble, Dow Chemical, Hershey ...

FunCom: "The Secret World" - Kingsmouth - Trailer 2010.02.02

2010-02-02T20:46:00.000+02:00

From/De: FunCom

Funcom reveals first in-game footage from `The Secret World’

– Mysterious in-game footage reveals a glimpse into horrific fate of Kingsmouth –

– First full color in-game footage to be revealed at GDC in March –

Durham, USA – February 2nd, 2010 – Funcom is proud to reveal the first ever in-game footage from the highly anticipated modern-day massively multiplayer game `The Secret World’. The location footage consists of grainy and distorted black and white shots that give a unique and mysterious glimpse into the town of Kingsmouth – one of the many locations from all over the real world to be featured `The Secret World’. In the game, as the video shows, horrific events have befallen the sleepy New England town.

“There are darker and far more terrifying things in Kingsmouth than the walking dead,” says Senior Producer and Director Ragnar Tørnquist. “The video simply scratches the surface and reveals only a tiny glimpse of what this location is all about. Kingsmouth harbors ancient secrets and dark conspiracies that players have to work together to uncover – along with a menagerie of evil, including creatures from myth and legend, and horrors from the sea. A mysterious mist has enshrouded the entire Solomon Island, and it will be up to the players to figure out what’s happened and to stop this terror from spreading further.”

Earlier this month Funcom executed an elaborate ARG (alternate reality game) initiative where the 250.000 members strong community surrounding the game were given clues that helped them discover the http://www.kingsmouth.com website – the online presence for the New England town. This provided them with a unique insight into the location that is featured in the game. Blood covered postcards featuring a `Greetings from Kingsmouth’ message were also mailed out to journalists all over the world. This initiative is now reaching its climax with the release of the Kingsmouth location video footage.

“The video consists entirely of in-game footage, except for the obvious color modifications and distortion effects,” says Erling Ellingsen, Director of Communications at Funcom. “One of the reasons why we have chosen to reveal the footage in this unique way is because we are saving the undistorted, full color in-game footage for the Game Developer Conference in March. Our plan right now is to showcase actual gameplay for the first time ever to the media at GDC, as well as releasing all-new footage to the public at the same time. Of course, much can happen before March and some of the gamers out there might want to keep their tin foil hats on and their eyes keenly open for more mysterious clues to appear.”

`The Secret World’ is Funcom’s third massively multiplayer game, having previously developed the award-winning `Anarchy Online’ and the best selling new MMO of 2008 `Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. The game features a modern-day, real world setting where every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend is true, and where thousands of players from all over the world must join one of three secret societies in the fight against darkness – and each other. For more information visit the official website.

ABOUT FUNCOM – Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent titles include ‘The Longest Journey’, ‘Anarchy Online’ and ‘Dreamfall: The Longest Journey’. For corporate information please visit http://www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit http://www.anarchy-online.com, http://www.dreamfall.com, http://www.darkdaysarecoming.com or http://www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

[Via http://elmundotech.wordpress.com]

Facebook Could Become World's Leading News Reader (Sorry Google)

Vox Day's Taxonomy Unnecessary

2010-02-02T12:00:00.000+02:00

Vox Day added his take on classifying men using various Greek letters. While interesting, it isn’t necessary and it makes the thing needlessly complex while pigeonholing men into various castes in the social hierarchy.

All that is really necessary is to understand the terms, alpha, beta and omega. Men are not all one thing, they have attributes of all three to varying degrees. It is better to think of something as being alpha, or being beta. When you say someone is alpha, what is really being said is that the majority of the man’s attributes are alpha, and a beta, the majority of his attributes are beta and so on.

Start with definitions:

ALPHA: Those attributes that are attractive to women. They relate to the power a man has. The more power he has, the more alpha he is. Wealth, a willingness to act violent, control over men, all are attributes of alpha.
BETA: Those attributes that benefit society and women more than the man himself. Useful characteristics that are not fundamentally attractive, but can be admired: Being a good father, being a hard worker, being dependable, being a Renfield.
OMEGA: Those attributes that are generally repulsive, an attraction killer or contribute less to society than they add: Playing Dungeon and Dragons, obsessions with porn.

What Vox describes as a Sigma, is really a man with a majority of alpha characteristics with a dash of Omega ones and little or no beta attributes. A serial killer is similar. People are often drawn to those things that scare them or repulse them.

What Vox describes as Lamdas are men with lots of beta characteristics, a fair amount of Omega and a dash of alpha.

A Gamma is a person with almost all beta characteristics with omega (no one likes a lickspittle) and no alpha.

Every man has his own unique combination of alpha, beta and omega, and each man can work on improving his alpha attributes and diminishing his omega ones. Vox’s example of Kissinger is a perfect example. The man is indeed an Apex alpha now, but I daresay that when he was a teenager he was viewed as more Omega than anything else.

So in looking at behaviors the question is merely “does this make me more attractive or does it serve society more than me?”

[Via http://seasonsoftumultanddiscord.wordpress.com]

ABC News Specials Breakdown: America's Health Insurance Crisis ...

24/365 :: Lo poly experiments

2010-02-02T04:42:00.000+02:00

Bleh. I’m sorry for not posting photos at all. Today was my first day of school and yesterday I was out all day snowboarding. Actually, I have photos. I should post those…

Anyway. All of my Blender life I’ve been using ridiculously many polys for my model detail. This, of course, leads to huge amounts of render times. Since I’m not willing to give up the photon mapping etc. I figured I should make my models more efficient. Thus, lo poly modelling.

It’s ridiculously hard!

Like minimalism in the visual arts world, it’s actually really difficult to take away from a model while keeping the general form still there. So, I have a new found appreciation for video game modelers and what they do. Kudos.

The above represents 2600 polys (which is funny, since it’s under 200 just the model without the cape…) and also setting all of the materials to be shadeless for a flat cutout look in the style of “Every Day the Same Dream” (which I loved, despite hating everything about it. Seriously, if you have some patience it’s the most ugly beautiful game you can ever hate to love.)

The plan is maybe an animation (I rigged the man, since his torso is only like 8 vertices) involving an office worker (see above game) who decides to rebel from his boring office grind to become a superhero by tying a red cape around his neck and running around.

Just an idea.

[Via http://icecalibre.wordpress.com]

Google News Blog: Starring stories in Google News

Game Reviews: Assassin's Creed 2 and Borderlands

2010-01-31T20:33:00.000+02:00

ASSASSIN’S CREED 2

One word: Yes. Get it now.

Whether you loved Assassin’s Creed or no, this one’s worth a look. The game is a noticeable improvement over the former, with all the features that made the original great and a host of new ones to add to the enjoyment. It’s a solo adventure, of course, but if that’s what you want, you’ll love every minute.

As sandbox games should be, the world is huge and beautifully rendered—a wonderful recreation of renaissance Italy. The world breathes and as you wander around, you truly feel the effort the designers put into making the environment—and its people—come alive. The story is tighter and more cohesive than the original and aided this time around by a terrific new character brimming with personality. Forget the mostly silent protagonist of the old. Character dominates the new guy, and it’s a great change of pace.

There’s tons of missions (and in much more variety than the first), weapons and stealth techniques to keep you entertained for hours on end, inside and out of the main plot. Plus: Double-assassinations. That’s all I need to say.

However, the game does begin to notably lose some of its glitz and glamor about half-way through, and the plot has a tendency to bog down after that point. I do wonder exactly why we have a sudden 10 year jump between missions (explained away by a 2 minute conversation with a fairly insignificant acquaintance of the protagonist–greatest. plot move. ever…not.), and also why the ever-so-delightfully hyped “flying machine” bits are restricted to ONE city for ONE mission, but despite these hindrances, the game still stands on its merits. Besides, I’m sure the 10 year gap has its purpose. *cough*DLC*cough*…see the “you greedy bastards” entry in your local encyclopedia. Also, the flying machine does now seem to have been met with some corrective measure–predictably, as I said, through the DLC. The first of the downloadable additions to the game (“The Battle for Forli”) now allows flight in new places, along with a new battle and additional plot, designed to extend playability for a few more hours. It’s a nice touch, really–it just should’ve been included with the game itself.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

BORDERLANDS

Despite coming out in October, this was one I hadn’t heard of until recently—but it definitely gets the thumbs-up.

A Sci-Fi trek through greedy bandits and mysterious alien structures, this game is all about the multiplayer. The playing time is decent and there’s a good variety of weapons. You’re given four unique and entertaining characters to choose between and a four player cooperative system to use them in. The art and style is also unique, adding some substance to an environment that could otherwise get admittedly boring (endless seas of sand can only be entertaining for so long, after all).

The story’s alright, but I wouldn’t get the game if that’s what you’re looking for. The same thing goes with the single player, except replace “alright” with “boring.” There’s just nothing there—it’s slow and you’ll tire of it quickly. Words also cannot begin to describe how downright pathetic the ending is.

Still, it’s a good game to rent for a few nights, and if you want a quality multiplayer game than it certainly meets my buy endorsement. Like I said, though, if solo’s what you want, stay far, far away. And remember: I warned you about the ending.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

[Via http://indoorreviews.wordpress.com]

Google news « BuzzMachine

join Star on Tetris!

2010-01-31T04:04:00.000+02:00

Posted by chocolate-starz at 07:25 PM on October 18, 2009

Hey guys! I’ve developed a new obsession over the game ‘tetris’!!! It’s really fun. Go to http://www.tetrisfriends.com/ and make an account! My user name is chocolatz_starz, so you can add me as a friend if you want! (I think that’s the correct URL….) Anyhow, give me a message, and you can see my high-scores! See if you can beat me at tetris XD. It might seem really hard at first, but the more you play, the more you realize how fun it is! It gets really intense at the higher levels. See you all there!

Yah, I should do my homework more instead of playing tetris all day, but it’s REALLY addicting! You just can’t help but play game after game! You’ll realize soon enough. My avatar on Tetris is a lamb, so you look out for a mad-lamb on Tetris!

Signed,

Star╰☆

[Via http://cloudydaysahead.wordpress.com]

Facebook Wants To Be Your News Source | WebProNews

New DECORATING GAME room option added

2010-01-30T20:10:00.000+02:00

I was going through the BLOG on Yoville and have noticed the note about new future

this is parts what Ninjas wrote…

We wanted to give you a heads up on a feature that will be coming soon to Yoville ……DECORATIGN GAME…. Basically this game is going to help remind you to decorate your rooms, level up your rooms, as well as give you some extra rewards in doing so!

…

Progress Bar

If that was a true then we should of level up after 500 room points right?

but look at this picture this is from my room after changing one item

as you can see I have over 550 room points but it says to me that I need 200 room points more…. so how much is one level ROOM POINTS really? I know it can;t be the same amount because if it was multiplying by 750 I would not be in level 6 at 6625 room points and missing 175 still… look at the picture below…

I wish there was a list how much do we need room points to level to the next one… it looks to me that to get to level 1 we need 750 room points… if I see me leveled I will tell you how much we need to level to second one… How did I level to LEVEL 6 as you see on the picture above, I just bought a lot of water pieces and few sand pieces and paid over 6000 for those, and did not know I will level up so quickly with those, but then again we can’t have every day so much to level up with…. we get only 1300 per day (and only if we have crew of 50 people, and if we visit factory at least 3 times…)

By clicking on the Room Icon in the bottom left hand corner of your room, you will be able to see the current level and your progress of the your room you have been decorating. If you hover over the icon you can also see how many more room points you need to receive to reach the next level.

Love that one but must say you need lots of yocoins to level up… as I said I paid almost 7000 for level 6 and I have only 44 % of finished room, how much we need to put in the room to have it done LOL… and if you just add one thing you are having only 4% per day so it might take you 25 days normal way to finish all rooms… wow, and then you will get REWARD I hope for that long time it will be worth it

look at the picture below

Leveling Up

Through reaching the next level of decorating of your room you will receive different types of rewards as well as see some of your friends come in and throw you a party!

I got to level 6 in one shot and did not get any REWARDS I noticed, except PARTY from friends…

Also by completing multiple rooms you will earn a special reward!! When you complete a room you will notice a new badge that you will be able to earn as well Plus more badges around decorating!

as you can see I did not finish one room yet, heck I do not have too much yocoins, and I can’t open freaken screen to change the room to at least make 550 per day LOL… so how can I level up…

To add to it you will get a screen when you level up… so do not panic you will know why you got those points… look at this pic (for some reason it reminds me of PICTURE GAME….coincidence or what?)

there is second page to this one, but I posted page one on the second it says

ATTENTION TO DETAIL +75

MISS KEY LANEY +50 (not sure what they mean by that)

there is also a small note if you can see in yellow splat, it says YOCASH puts you on the fast track to decorating success LOL…. that one cracks me up…

But heck they need to make money because the game is standing still in levels…. so maybe this is the only way they think they make more people pay… I was thinking if they really have about 15 million people they must be making great money… if only 100000 will buy aquarium today wow maybe I need to go into this business too you do not pay for sahipping and handling either, you do not use any materials to make it… anyone with great FLASH making experience I can do the graphics )))))))

Tips & Tricks

Here are some helpful tips that the devs have shared to help you all level up your room points faster by earning bonuses:

- Decorate all of your rooms in your home everyday to receive a daily bonus of room points!! (thats true 550 room points, but what if you have few houses LOL)

- Use the coolest items in Yoville (I think those for yocash pay more room points)

- Get Creative with your designs and the items you use (no difference in that because I checked few rooms already)

- Use multiple items in your room! Make sure to use the current themed items as well as try to tap into each category of items! (yes there is MIX MATCHED room pioints for that but not necessary if you really can’t get more than 550 if you do not buy anything new)

- Try moving old items around to create a new decor (that one works even if you move the chair and put it back in the same spot)

- Get your friends involved – Share your room on your Facebook Wall when you level up and your friends will be able to click in and get rewards (when you do that people will get some rewards in yocoins I think need to check that one more closely, when it will work finally so I can do that)

you will get it if you press any of your friends with this sign

[Via http://yovillanm.wordpress.com]

E-Readers Fall Short for News, Study Says | Sarmad Ali | Voices ...

Professional Wrestling

2010-01-30T11:58:00.000+02:00

Even in the 1800s professional Wrestling was great in his own grace. Back to the sport was compared quite popular. Maybe not as popular, and now, but certainly popular. It has always been something about us as people are able to watch people beat up on each other. The sport continues to achieve extreme followers until about 1920 when the challenge fakery came into play. What fakery in Professional Wrestling was planning on finding fights.

Promoters suddenly had to work very hard to keep sponsors to help them with financing. Many sponsors dropped their support quickly in fear of relapse in the so-called fans. No one really knew how many years supporters would respond to fakery. To surprise of donors and advertisers, it really wasn’t t’Wrestling began long before become even more popular.

In 1950 when television started to become popular professional Wrestling started to blow up. Now that people could sit on their TVs and watch the action more interesting characters could be created, and as nature was interesting word of mouth have more and more viewers Tuning in on a weekly basis. The explosion actually hit the mainstream in 1980 when the three began competing with one another.

[Via http://playallgame.wordpress.com]

Shakesville: News from Shakes Manor

Video Game Testing Jobs - Get Paid To Test Video Games

2010-01-30T04:06:00.000+02:00

FACT…

The video gaming industry is one of the world’s most profitable industries, reeling in more than $18 billion in revenue with, on average, over 260 million games being sold across all platforms, such as the PC,Wii, Xbox, and Playstation. And if those numbers so…unds good to you and you’re interested to knowing exactly how YOU can get some of that cash flowing your way, then we have good news for you because the simple fact is that, though the industry makes a lot of money, none of it would be possible if they didn’t have Game Testers to actually test the games before they are put on the market. Yes, game testers. It’s a real job and it pays very, very well.

Here’s why:

In every business that sells products to consumers, there’s something called field research and the video gaming industry is no different. Before Madden 2010, NBA Live, the new Grand Auto Theft, or any other game is released, it has to go through a series of testing to ensure that the game is actually fun to play, presents a challenge, the graphics are appealing, and that it seems real to gamers. And the only way to ensure that all of these things are in place is to have pro gamers like you to play and test these games for field research.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, it means that if you absolutely love playing video games, can stand playing and testing the newest and hottest games for a few hours a day prior to their release, and would like to get paid big bucks for it, then this is for you! And now that you know that there’s real money to be made testing video games, we’ll explain how YOU can get in on the action.

More Info

http://af31c9d7.linkbucks.com

Join to my group in Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=274830987325&ref=mf

[Via http://0nstore.wordpress.com]

Rihanna Leaves Bad News Baller Curbside, Riding Solo To Grammy's ...

Announcments

2010-01-28T20:48:00.000+02:00

Wow, so much to talk about!

Yes, it’s finally here! Chevy Ray has released his much anticipated FlashPunk, made to work with the program FlashDevelop. It allows you to easily create Flash games for free, without having to pay tons of cash for a complex program. Although it needs Adobe Flex (a free program), and the downloads and file sizes may seem large, if you want to program good flash games this is what you have been waiting for. Some programmer ‘friends’ of mine (really just people I sort of know) have already gotten busy programming games using FP. Noel Berry (Drazzke) has been working on a FP version of his previous game, Pixel Runner, which Chevy Ray himself said was his favorite so far being worked on. Matt Thorson has been working on a Flash Jumper 4 since even before the release of FP, since he was helping Chevy with the beta testing. Alexis González (Alexitrón) has made and released a remake of one of his simplest games, JetPod. Seriously, I suggest you check out both FlashPunk and Noel’s, Matt’s, and Alexis’ games, since each one is awesome.

I finally gave in after a friend asked me, so now I’m starting up an affiliates program again. Previously I hadn’t, because I didn’t want to clutter the site with added links and annoyances for visitors. However, having a few affiliate links shouldn’t bother you too much, and if it does, I’m sorry. I’ll only take it down if enough people actually complain (such as in an email or commenting on this). Still, having affiliates will help this site big time with visitors. For instance, you may be reading this only because of the affiliates program because you came from a site linking to here. Either way, please tell me your opinion on the matter by commenting on this blog post.

I’ve really come to hate the current layout, once again. The only problem is that I’ve been stupid with post headers (such as the images above) – they have white backgrounds (for some reason, it wouldn’t let me set them to transparent). This seriously narrows down the number of layouts that will work for me, as I need a white blog but I don’t want the entire site to be white (I’m leaving grayscale behind). A new layout would also mean a new logo, which, although it’s only been 6 months, would be really nice to have. Not that I dislike the logo; in fact I’m really happy how it turned out. I just need more color in stuff (more color, eh? I sure failed with the header image for this section…). Again, PLEASE comment with your opinions, especially if you use / have used WordPress. I’m just using the web based WordPress, so I don’t have too many themes to choose from. I may request someone with CSS knowledge edit it for me, I may not bother though.

Like I said….much to talk about. Please tell me your opinion, and definitely expect some playable FlashPunk game demos soon, as I’m really getting into it.

-turboRamble

[Via http://turboramble.wordpress.com]

Get Your Non-Apple News - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Parampaa Land; Game Super Ngeselin

2010-01-28T12:49:00.000+02:00

[Malang, 27 Desember 2010] Malam ini saya mau berbagi sebuah GAME yg SUPER NGESELIN yang bernama Parampaa Land.

Saya ngedapetinnya dari blog temen, dan jujur sampai posting ini ditulis saya masih belum bisa menamatkannya. Cobalah! Mungkin anda bisa menamatkannya, besok saya mau coba lagi…

Ciao.

[Via http://mbahjiwogoblog.wordpress.com]

Purported tablet images appear ahead of event | iLounge News

Wednesday Wisdom: Championship Point

2010-01-28T04:09:00.000+02:00

***I thought a lot about how this would be any different from the Monday Meditation. The best I could come up with is, if the Monday Meditation is to present food for thought and get other’s opinions, this is more to share with you what I THINK I’ve learned in the world. It’s also food for thought, and maybe you have opinions about it, but I like to think of this as my own advice/old woman’s column.

Today’s title is: Life is like a Tennis Tournament (in honor of the Australian Open).

Life is like a tennis tournament. There are certain concessions and governing rules that, if followed, with a little belief and hard work, along with preparation and perspiration, can ensure that you go fair, maybe even win. Here are a few that I’ve gathered from a couple of weeks of tennis:

1. Carry extra rackets and lots of balls. Sometimes changing the racket or the ball can change your energy and flow of the game. You can’t change the fact that tennis is played with a racket and ball, but you can change which kind you play with and how you use it. If the game isn’t going well, maybe a new racket is all you need, one that has more strings, tighter strings, a more aerodynamic head–whatever compliments the way you play the game, you can use it.

2. When you have nothing, you have love. Each time you have a new game, you start with love–love is the beginning. There are no zeros in tennis scores. What the eye sees as zero the announcers call love. Sometimes all you have is love, and that’s fine, to begin with. Everyone starts at love; it’s a good place to begin.

3. This game is all about position and placement. Your position dictates whether or not you can return a ball, whether you can reach a ball before it’s dead. Where you place a ball determines whether your opponent can return or if you have a clear winner. You have to be in a position to place things where you mean for them to be, where they will be the most effective.

4. Sometimes you just have to stay in the point and wait for your opportunities for winners/ opponent’s errors. You can’t always dictate the play or the pace of the point. Sometimes you are on the defensive; all you can do is respond to where your opponent places the ball. But you can’t give up. Sometimes, if you manage to hang around long enough, your opponent will make a mistake, or you will get the chance to step up and hit the winner up the line.

5. Just because you lose the game or set doesn’t mean you’ve lost the match. Even if you get down to the wire, you can still pull it out if you have the mental tenacity. Take Serena yesterday. She was down a set and the score was 4-0. She was two points away from losing the match. But she won anyway. She never gave up. She fought and scraped her way back from the brink of the ledge to the top of the mountain. It was hard work, but it wasn’t over until it was over. Don’t count yourself out until the match is over.

6.Know when to challenge/save your challenges for when they matter. One of the greatest (and worst) advancements in tennis is the shot spot technology. There’s no reason for a shot to haunt you. Was it in? Was it out? You can know for sure. But you have to use the challenges carefully, when they matter. Li Na challenged a call that saved her from going down a set (she eventually lost the set, but that reversed call bought her some time). Don’t use all of your challenges on petty calls that don’t effect the outcome of the point/game/set/match. You only get so many; don’t use them and be without when you really need one. Stand up for what you believe, but do it when it makes the maximum impact.

7. Each round has its own rewards. Now win goes unrewarded. Whether you win one round or the whole tournament, the number of wins you garner will be rewarded accordingly. None of your winning is in vain. You may not go all the way, but just moving forward gets recognition.

8. Some serves give you easy points. When you get the opportunity to dictate the point, give it your all. Go for the ace, the unchallenged point. Any point you don’t have to fight for is a rarity. Take advantage of the opportunity to avoid confrontation and pushback while still getting your point.

9. Might doesn’t always make right. Just overpowering someone doesn’t always work. Sometimes you have to know how to volley, hit a drop shot, finesse the ball in. If you hit too hard, the ball will land out of bounds. Power must be combined with position and placement to win the point.

10. Finally, ranking only selects your half of the draw; it’s anybody’s game. The only thing that matters is winning. An underdog can win it all, and often does. What position you start in doesn’t dictate what position you end up in. Win it all and you can move up in the rankings. Don’t let it your starting position deter you from trying to move up. The top is the only place you have to stop.

Yep, the Australian Open is a lot like life.

Serving for the match,

2blu2btru

[Via http://2blu2btru.wordpress.com]

John Atlas: ACORN Is Back in the News, but the News Still Gets it ...

Dragon Age Origins : Nge-Cheat

2010-01-26T04:08:00.000+02:00

He6x, beberapa minggu yang lalu, aku minjem game di rental. Judulnya Dragon Age : Origins. Game lama sih, tapi spek-ku baru bisa bwat maen game ini akhir bulan Desember lalu (- gara2 dapet kucuran dana segar dari Boz..).

Sebenarnya, dah lama aku vakum dari dunia game, terutama sejak kerja di perusahaan swasta yang ga ngasih waktu bwat istirahat walopun malem. Sekarang, beda cuy,.. Aku dah bisa keluyuran malem plus bisa ngapel ce tiap sabtu dan minggu. Ha666x

Kembali lagi ke Dragon Age… Aku dapet refrensi dari temen kuliahku (Sampe saat post ini aku tulis… dia lum lulus… ) Akhirnya kucoba maen dulu di PCnya sampe puas dan ketagihan baru aku minjem ma upgrading my PC.

Nah, yang aku oprek2 dari Dragon Age ini adalah save filenya. Pasti udah ad yang coba buka xml file tiap char-nya. Tapi ketika diganti… Jdunk.. ach, g da gunanya. Kayaknya ad yang bikin file konfigurasi xml itu sebagai cadangan doank, bukan sebgai databasenya.

Nah, tapi kan udah banyak tuh, script dan cheat bwat ngubah2. Kayak cuman nambahin tambahan dibawah ini setelah link di shortcut icon (Win only)

"path-file-program-direcory" -enabledeveloperconsole

Lalu, bwat ap dunk save2an-nya??

Jawabannya adalah :

“Kalo kita perhatikan di save2an-nya Dragon Age ada tag yang menunjukkan id dari skill, talent dan item ID char kita. Bayangkan aja kalo kita download char yang udah keren, dan kita pngen punya skill, talent atau item tertentu, kan tinggal contek aja idnya. Y g??

contohnya misal script untuk nambahin talent/skill ke char (ini berlaku ke seluruh char, tidak hanya main char) :

runscript addtalent x x = ID talent/skill

cheat yang beredar, id talent dan skillnya ngawur, jadi aku harus nebak2, tapi berkat save2an complete yang aku download, cie… idnya tinggal copas aj. Easy ne…

Enak kan??”

Ada tambahan lagi ?? misal item gitu ??

Jawabannya :

“He6x, yang satu itu, aku bingung. Ga ad skrip bwat additem kayak di Fallout atau Oblivion, jadinya ga asyik. Plus ad item yang hanya kita dapat kalo OL j. Tau ndiri kan internet di INdonesia LEMOTnya kayak ap?? Hhhh… Begitulah.”

Itu aja terkait dengan game yang aku maenin saat ini. O y.. Dragon Age ada game flash-nya loh. Aneh, tapi asyik. Coba aj liat di site dragonage.bioware.com, sip banget deh. Pngen maen expansion-nya, tapi nunggu yang satu ini kelar.

O ya, tambahan lagi, setelah dicoba2 ternyata antara The Last Remnant ma Dragon Age, gambarnya bagus Dragon Age, tapi spek-ku bwat maen The Last Remnant nyaman lebih berat dari Dragon Age. Game eropa emang hebat soal tekno yang bikin nyaman gamer dengan gambar bagus tapi ga butuh spek tinggi. Ajib dah ma ini game.

[Via http://devil4live.wordpress.com]

Dear News Media… | The Intersection | Discover Magazine

3d Model from Games ?

2010-01-24T02:12:00.000+02:00

Sebelum kita memulai membahasnya, kita kan pasti pernah bermain game console, nah tentunya jika game itu sudah menggunakan 3d dalam World serta karakter, pernah enggak kita kepikiran untuk menggunakan modelnya digame lain, atau memakai modelnya untuk keperluan lain, cukup repot untuk membuat ulang sebuah karakter sama persis, nah ada beberapa tools yang bisa dipakai dalam mengakses file 3d dari sebuah game, kita akan membahas beberapa disini.

Setelah maraknya berita FFXIII bisa dibuka Kepingan Blueraynya, salah satunya adalah FFXIII解析 #8 [makuchan's diary (MADOKA Park!) via はちま起稿] yang menunjukkan bahwa terdapat karakter tanpa busana diFFXIII yang tentunya berhubungan dengan Alur game tersebut.

Kita membahas Ps3 dan Kepingan Biru dulu (Blue ray) karena Model 3d Character dari ps3 sangatlah Detail dan bagus dibandingkan dengan model 3d dari game Ps1, berikut adalah Contoh kepingan Blue Ray yang harganya selangit,

Blue Ray Disc

Salah satu artikel yang Cukup menarik adalah sudah ada yang menembus kepingan biru Blue ray, berikut artikelnya

ReluctantRefactorer writes with an article in the Register reporting that Blu-ray copy-protection technology has been sidestepped by muslix64, the same hacker who bypassed the DRM technology of rival HD DVD discs last month. From the article: “muslix64’s work has effectively sparked off a [cat]-and-mouse game between hackers and the entertainment industry, where consumers are likely to face compatibility problems while footing the bill for the entertainment industry’s insistence on pushing ultimately flawed DRM technology on an unwilling public.” WesleyTech also covers the crack and links the doom9 forum page where BackupBluRayv021 was announced. [it.slashdot.org]

bukti telah meyakinkan kita bahwa BlueRay disc bisa dibrowse layaknya didvd biasa, sampai proteksi game bisa dibuka oleh team Madoka Park dan mengakses File 3d dari Game FFXIII,

FFXIII Lightning Model

Gambar diatas telah menunjukkan bahwa Model 3d dari FFXIII bisa diakses dan diview layaknya file 3d biasa, kemungkinannya jika file sudah bisa diakses maka pasti bisa di export ke format 3d lainnya sehingga bisa diedit lanjutan dan digunakan bahkan untuk game dan keperluan lainnya.

FFXIII Character Model

Setelah diteliti lebih lanjut, kita mengetahui software yang dipakai sebagai Viewer untuk membuka model 3d dari game FFXIII ini, yaitu Metasequoia,

Metasequoia is 3D polygon modeling software for 3D computer graphics and video game development. Though less capable than other, more professional 3D programs, the interface is less complex than that of similar programs and has proven a good intro for people new to 3D editing. Mainly written for the Japanese market, it is also available in English. This is accomplished through external text language files.[Wikipedia.org]

Software Metasequoia terdapat 2 jenis licence, Freeware dan shareware, untuk freewarenya dapat didownload dari Download, dan untuk shareware dipatok seharga 45$.

Metasequoia belum ditest secara Software oleh saya, tetapi beberapa teman saya sudah membuktikannya dengan mencoba membuka File 3d model dari Game Final Fantasy X, import option dan dukungan ekstension yang disediakan oleh Metasequoia sangat menguntungkan kita,

Import options :

Metasequoia Document (*.mqo)
DoGA CGA System (*.suf)
AutoCAD (*.dxf)
LightWave Object (*.lwo)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
Rokkaku daioh (*.rok)
Caligari Object (*.cob)
Wavefront (*..obj)
PlayStation (*.rsd)

Kita juga dapat Mengeksport kebeberapa ekstension terkenal, salah satunya *.3ds yang dapat diakses dengan 3d Studio Max,

Export Options :

Metasequoia Document (*.mqo)
DoGA CGA System (*.suf)
AutoCAD (*.dxf)
LightWave Object (*.lwo)
Caligari Object (*.cob)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
VRML 1.0 (*.wrl)
Direct3D Retained Mode (*.x)
SoftF/X Model (*..sce)
Wavefront (*..obj)
Ray Dream Studio (*.rds)
PlayStation (*.rsd)
POV-Ray scene (*.pov)
RenderMan (*.rib)

Model karater yang telah dibuka oleh Metasequoia ini tidak dilengkapi dengan Bone, hanya model semata, karena itu software ini kadang digunakan berbarengan dengan Mikoto

Software Mikoto adalah software yang digunakan untuk Memasangkan Bone ke Model 3d yang telah kita extract dari Metasequoia, saya kurang tau software mikoto ini adalah semacam Plugin untuk software 3d atau software mandiri, tetapi yang bisa dipastikan software/plugin ini gratis, hanya bahasa jepang diperlukan agar bisa memakai software ini, website yang menyediakan saja full bahasa jepang ;D

Mikoto

Okeh, cukup untuk Ps3, sekarang kita coba-coba ke Ps2, yaitu game Pilihan Final Fantasy X, memang ini trik lama, tapi masih banyak yang mencari, dan tidak ada salahnya jika kita kumpulkan secara lengkap disini,

Yaz0r.net pernah Menyediakan Tools untuk membuka file 3d dari game FF X, tetapi sekarang website/blog tersebut telah down, bahkan saya belum sempat mencoba tools tersebut, jadi kita akan mencari referensi lain,

saya menemukan FF Model Viewers sumber [Hongfire.com], ternyata setelah dilihat tools ini nampaknya cukup berguna, walau sampai tulisan ini dibuat, saya masih mendownloadnya saya akan mengupdate info untuk tools ini setelah saya mencobanya nanti.

sebenarnya ada beberapa yang telah Mengextrack File 3d sehingga kita tidak perlu memakai ISO / Disc game dari FFX tersebut lagi, salah satunya adalah [Neogaf.com] dihalaman forum tersebut, ada member yang telah Menemukan FFX Model yang dapat didownload dari website China [Squarecn.com], dan ada juga file yang telah direhost ke [Rapidshare.com], kalau saya sudah selesai mendownloadnya, saya akan mirror ke Host lokal, dan baru setelah itu saya akan update disini. Model yang diupload oleh mereka adalah berformat *.ffb , saya masih belum mendapatkan ffxview.exe dikarenakan Blog [Yazor.net] telah Down.

“]

Yuna 3d Model Preview by lunlunqq [Neogaf.com

*Updated, saya menemukan File ffxview dan Khview dari [papercraftershaven.charsisforge.org] sebaiknya cepat didownload karena link-link yang seperti itu kadang-kadang rapuh dan cepat sekali down, saya akan mendownload semuanya dan mirror dihost lokal A.S.A.P dan akan saya update disini.

sumber lain yang cukup menarik ada di [Facepunch.com] BowedYapper telah merip beberapa karakter ffx dan menguploadnya di 4shared.com yang dapat dilihat di Forum tersebut. cuman saya lihat kekurangannya, lightingnya cukup aneh karena membuat model berkilau, walau saya belum ditest, preview gambar yang disertakan telah membuktikan hasilnya, dia juga mengupload tools untuk viewernya yang dapat dilihat juga diforum tersebut.

Yuna Model by BowedYapper

Bagi yang mencari KH Viewer, barusan saya juga menemukan Link aktif di [Forum Ngemu], bisa dilihat, jika sudah Down atau file terhapus, berarti memang sudah lama, atau terhapus.

Salah satu forum Mod yang cukup terkenal adalah [Facepunch.com] mereka mempunyai sebuah sub-forum Garry’s Mod yaitu Modification untuk Game terkenal Half-Life 2, saya menemukan Thread yang cukup Menarik, yaitu [KOS-MOS model and possibly other Xenosaga models] dari diskusi yang terlihat, mereka membahas Karakter/Model 3d dari Game Xenosaga, dan tentunya Karakter seksi bernama KOS-MOS dengan HQ rendered, salah satu member mengatakan Memakai Plugin [3dripperdx] untuk Emulator PS2 bernama pcsx2. Walau diOfficial Site 3dripperDx tidak tertulis bisa merip dari Game Console menggunakan emulator, tapi setelah saya membaca-baca diforum [Facepunch.com] nampaknya bisa diakalin, ada muncul topik diskusi di forum [deep-shadows.com] yaitu [PCSX2(PS2 Emulator)] berikut gambar dibawah adalah Model yang telah diekspor dan dibuka di Software 3dsMax.

“]

KOS-MOS Rip By Sarah [facepunch.com

Ada satu topik yang cukup menarik, walau Model 3d telah diset untuk Gary`s Mod Half-Life 2, tapi siapa tau kita bisa mengedit file 3dnya, dengan software-software yang telah dibahas diatas [Mario's Request Corner!] ada banyak Model KH dan FF, yang kurasa juga dirip dari Game PS2 nya.

Segini dulu, ini topik yang sangat menarik, nanti saya post dan update lagi, tambahan untuk model dari game ps1 yaitu FFVIII, kita akan coba cek apakah modelnya dapat diakses

Lechovux

[Via http://lechovux.wordpress.com]

Uncharted 2 dominates AIAS Awards nominations | News

Russian Roulette at work

2010-01-23T11:44:00.000+02:00

Modern workdays have a habit of dragging out. There can be times when even popurls.com can’t keep you busy. While I can’t encourage anyone to actually play this game, I won’t actively stop you either.

Bored at work one day, I came across a fun little game. At least I thought it was fun, YMMV. I was playing around with tinyurl.com and decided to see what interesting abbreviations linked to. I started with simple things like my initials, first name, last name, et cetera. For example:

http://tinyurl.com/asdf
http://tinyurl.com/hello
http://tinyurl.com/abc
http://tinyurl.com/dvorak

The sample links above just go to pretty benign places. But the fun comes in that you just don’t know until you click it. So, you could be bouncing off Walmart one time, and something awful involving farm animals the next. You just never know. Basically, just play until you are sure you’ve risked enough, or IS comes knocking at your desk. Either way, it’s fun for the whole family.

The rules are simple:

use your own computer
be logged in your own account
do not use an HTML proxy
each round, pick a new tinyurl link
it’s more enjoyable playing with a friend, but be sure when they message you their latest find, they aren’t just setting you up for unemployment

At the time of creating the game, users of the URL shortener could not choose their own abbreviations, so what each link pointed to was truly random. Regardless, a quick google will reveal a plethora of similar URL shortening sites lacking that functionality.

Oh, and did I mention that this is certainly not safe for work?

[Via http://nivekco.wordpress.com]

On Tuesday, a Big Night for Fox News - Media Decoder Blog ...

Bill Collectors On Your Back? Just Sue

2010-01-21T20:16:00.000+02:00

Craig Cunningham beats the debt collectors at their own game, making money by suing the companies trying to collect on his debt.

He is a regular guy $100,000 in debt, and he’s become a radical enemy of the banking system.

Source:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2010-01-21/news/better-off-deadbeat-craig-cunningham-has-a-simple-solution-for-getting-bill-collectors-off-his-back-he-sues-them

[Via http://paolacomenta.wordpress.com]

The fallout: Democrats rethinking health care bill - Carrie Budoff ...

Download WWE SmackDown vs RAW PSP and PSP GO Game | ArticlesBase.com

2010-01-21T12:49:00.000+02:00

Download WWE SmackDown vs RAW PSP and PSP GO Game | ArticlesBase.com

Do you want to download WWE SmackDown vs RAW for your PSP or PSP Go? Do you want to know how and where you can download WWE SmackDown vs RAW for free? In this article I will show you how to download WWE SmackDown vs RAW form a top PSP & PSP Go downloading website called PSP Go Download Center.

Read Full Article Here: http://www.articlesbase.com/video-games-articles/download-wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-psp-and-psp-go-game-1760847.html

click here to read more

[Via http://dumpnewsspot.wordpress.com]

News to know: Apple Tablet; IBM; IE6; Microsoft-HP; Google-China ...

Descent: 6DOF

2010-01-19T20:38:00.000+02:00

Here is an interesting off topic post. Not much to do with World of Warcraft, or church, or personal life, or much of anything like that. It’s more of a nostalgic post with a bit of an attempt to draw some attention to something I personally enjoy. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I’m about to talk about.

So, with all of that in mind, I want to talk about something that I have been involved with for the last 15 years.

DESCENT

Descent was a video game for the PC that was made by Interplay back in 1995. It utilized a lot of the same things that made DOOM popular. The big difference was that it added a third degree of freedom to your play. Instead of running around on the ground (Hence the term “Ground-Pounder”), you were given the ability to move forwards, backwards, left, right, up, down, and rotate a full 360 degree clockwise and counter clockwise. This gave you unlimited freedom of movement. Interplay dubbed this “A full 360 degrees of freedom”, or as the player community called it “6 Degrees of freedom (6DOF)”. This was a HUGE advancement in game play that the other gaming communities just couldn’t compete with. The problem with this though was if you had a weak stomach, there was always the chance for vertigo to set in.

When I first found this game, it was the shareware version of Descent on my father’s laptop from work. I was enthralled by this concept. I played every chance I got. I was always a little afraid of dying in the game, or of getting in over my head, but I still figured it out and I loved it.

Fast forward a couple of years and Interplay released a sequel. Descent 2. It was the same successful formula of game play, but added better graphics, new weapons, new robots to fight, and improved multiplayer support. Now, this is where I get in to the meat and potatoes of this post.

Descent 2: Multiplayer! There used to be an online gaming community called HEAT.NET. Heat.net was awesome because you could talk to people on the internet in a chat room type of fashion, and when you wanted to play a game of Descent, you just clicked the icon, and you were able to play with up to 8 people in one game. It was great. I spend almost two years straight playing on HEAT.NET before they shut down. That was a sad day for me. But, I found a replacement. Kali.net. It was just as good, but it turns out that this is where the “greats” of Descent played. All those people that essentially ran the gaming community hung out here.

When I started playing on Kali, I used the free version of the software which would let you play in a multiplayer game for up to ten minutes at a time. Now, I have ADD so 10 minutes was an eternity for me, but I was happy to play like I did. After I realized that I loved playing this game as much as I did, I broke down and made my first online purchase. I spent $20 to buy a registration key for Kali. My addiction to 6 degrees of freedom only got worse at this point.

Then… I met Andrea!

I started dating the girl that I eventually made my wife. I would go over to her house and connect my 800 MHz laptop to her 300 MHz desktop by way of a direct serial connection and we would play Descent together. She died a lot in those games. A whole lot. But she married me anyways. Anyways, as we played in her guest bedroom, I would let her log in to Kali occasionally and play online with my friends. Then something happened. I figured out that I was serious about this girl. To this day, she still doesn’t know this story (Surprise Andrea!) How did I figure out that I wanted to be with her forever? Simple. I went home, logged on to the Kali.net, and I purchased her a registration key. I bought my girlfriend access to my online gaming community. Pretty dorky huh?

Fast forward a few more years. The guys that made the first two made a third. Descent 3. This added the ability to get out of the mines and fly around outside as well. This was a huge advancement. It added improved online play through Parallax Online (PXO) and the introduction of two new ships to fly. I’ll get in to the ships and all of that in a few minutes. But this made the addiction worse. I would get my friends to play with me. I would throw LAN parties where we would play descent until people just got so tired they couldn’t play anymore. It was amazing.

Then life changed. I got married. I joined the Coast Guard. I had a child. Then I picked up World of Warcraft. Then I had another child. Then I moved. Then I moved again. Eight years I was detached from the community that I loved. And now, here I am. I’m stationed on a boat that is gone for weeks on end. I am rarely home. And I had to find something to fill my time.

Something that I could do for a few minutes. Something that I could do for a few hours. Something that I could do without internet. Something that I could with the internet. Something that I could play that would keep my brain occupied while the boat rumbled around me for hours on end.

Descent!

That was it. That was the answer.

I went down in to my basement and I dug out my old joysticks. I pulled out an old copy of the game. I snagged a copy of those games and expansion packs that I didn’t have any more. I downloaded the add-ons, the level packs, the upgraded texture packs, and the art to make my own cases, CD labels, and game play books. I went to www.kali.net and I downloaded the software. I dug out those two dusty Kali.net registration keys and I plugged them in. I installed my games, configured them, hooked up to my trusty iPhone internet tether, and then it happened. The words that primed me for this post.

Prepare for Descent

I sat there for a moment. My ship hovering in the entrance corridor of level 1. The Lunar Outpost. This was it. I was playing again. I was actually doing it. For a few brief moments, life felt… happy. Nostalgically happy. I slammed the throttle forward, gripped the joystick tightly, and prepared to unleash hell in a game play environment I hadn’t touched in almost a decade. And it was good.

Now, this post is only about half over. While the words that I have typed are personal experience and I hope you can take some sort of joy or entertainment value from them, the next few paragraphs are the part that I hope pique your interest. I hope that you can read them and say “Wow, this looks kind of cool.” Or “Hey, I should really consider this.”. So with that, here it is.

DESCENT: The reason I have been flying blind since 1995!

Let me start with some of the technical aspects of this game. What it is, and what’s available.

Descent: First Strike – This is what started it all.

Descent 2: Counterstrike – The new and improved version. This is my personal favorite.

Descent 2: Vertigo – The expansion to the wildly successful Descent2.

Descent 3: Retribution – This was the amazingly beautiful version that took you out of the mines.

Descent 3: Mercenary – The expansion to Descent 3.

Doom didn’t just introduce the masses to a first-person, action 3-D shooter, it spawned a variety of first-person clones. Some of these clones, like Dark Forces, were welcome additions to the genre. Others were just more of the same. Only one 3-D shooter adds a whole new dimension to the field: Descent. No exploding body parts or fireball-vomiting demons here–Descent puts an industrial spin on the genre by taking you into the bowels of huge factory-like space stations to fight mining robots gone mad.

Consider this: in space, there is no up or down. Descent uses that concept to hit you like a 9G turn with a labyrinth environment and free range of motion on the x-, y-, and z-axes. Nudge your spaceship into a room, and watch out—attacks can come from your left or right, from above or below you. You’ll spin your ship around while firing missiles and lasers until vertigo isn’t just an Alfred Hitchcock movie, but a way of life. Surrounded by this chaos you must rescue scattered human hostages and gather powerups while trying to keep your firepower and shields at their max. A 3-D rotating map is available for those who can’t handle the bewildering turns of each level.

Now, the multiplayer for me is where the money is at. Shooting at friends is fun in things like Quake and UT2K4, but it gets even better in this kind of scenario.

Now, I wanted to try and explain a bunch of the facets of this game in this post, but I find that my creative prowess right now is a bit stifled. So with that, I’m just going to say what I’m thinking instead of making it awesome.

This game is fun. It’s TONS of fun. There is a high learning curve, I won’t dispute that. A lot of people that play it for the first time walk away after two minutes saying it’s too hard. But those of you that are reading this right now know that we play hard games. (World of Warcraft anyone? Crazy hard when the theory crafting is involved) So, seriously, take a look at some of the links that I have below. Do a little reading on it. Download a demo or two. Hell, try the full game. If you are interested in what you are seeing or reading, then shoot me a message and I’ll hook you up with some AWESOME stuff. But seriously, this game was epic before epic was purple. (Actually, the Fusion Cannon was purple and was considered epic.)

Anyways, I’m going to quit prattling on and get to the awesome resources that are available. Enjoy.

Forums and Message Boards:

http://www.planetdescent.com – This was the second most used forum for the game. The casual player went here for discussions and most everyone came here for downloads, demos, maps, and other sundries for the game. If you want the demo, this is the place to find it.

http://www.descentbb.net – This is where the hardcore players hang out. It’s primarily a forum, but still has good discussions considering the small size of the Descent community. A must for assistance with some of the more difficult aspects of the game.

Downloads:

Descent 1 Demo – The noise that started it all. Low-res, but a classic.

Descent 2 Demo – This was the mainstay of the multiplayer community for years. Better resolution, but still fairly low res. This one is my personal favorite.

Descent 3 Demo – This brought you out of the mines for a new experience. Better online support, better graphics, better sound, and an actual story line. If you want something single player that’s good fun with an actual goal, this is the one for you.

Improvements:

Now, Descent was awesome on its own, but to make it better for online play, there was an update made by a group from Denmark called D2X-XL. This made it so you could have insane resolutions and better network support. It’s a MUST for anyone who wants to play online.

D2X-XL Home Page

Online multiplayer support:

Http://www.kali.net – This is the chat interface that will let you find people to play with. This one is a must if you want to try it online (Which is recommended.)

http://www.slyclan.de/ – This is where you get VORTEX. It’s the software that lets you chat and play Descent 3 online. If you decide to pick up the game, then this is where you get your multiplayer from.

If you have read this far, then you are most likely interested in what you saw. Just drop me a comment or an e-mail or hit me up on AIM (rubyhunter4) and I’ll do what I can. I’m looking to build the community. Maybe you want to help.

Peace out. Hopefully, I’ll see you in the mines when I’m not hanging out in Azeroth.

[Via http://politicalhealer.wordpress.com]

iPhone component supplier faces worker strike | iLounge News

Playstation 2 Is Sony's Second Video Game

2010-01-19T11:59:00.000+02:00

Author: sandeep srivastava

Source: articledashboard.com

The PlayStation 2 is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor of the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999 and was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000.

The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and has the fastest selling and perhaps the most dominant home video game console in history, with over 115 million units shipped worldwide in December 2006.Only a few million people had obtained consoles at the end of 2000 due to delays in production.

The PlayStation 2 was so popular after the release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves. Another popular option is to buy the console via online auction websites.Many analysts predicted a close 3-way Matchup, Games are "poison" says Venezuelan president // News

Kaboodle

2010-01-17T20:49:00.000+02:00

This is a cute puzzle game, move a given shape to fit combination of blocks of the same colour, these blocks will disappear and, if a star or bonus are there you collect them. The purpose of the game is to get the highest score possible as fast as you can.Try out a fun and colorful puzzle game for children of all ages.

Download

[Via http://thecastex2.wordpress.com]

Buy the Rumor Sell the News

Liar Game (リイアーガーム)

2010-01-17T04:50:00.000+02:00

I have just finish watching the first season of Liar Game. I was addicted to it from the very first episode. The story begins when an ordinary girl, Kanzaki Nao receives one hundred million yen and a video saying that she has chosen to take part in the liar game. The objective of the game is to steal another players money within the next 30 days. The winner of the game can receive the highest possible prize money of one hundred million yen while the losing player will have a debt of one hundred million yen. Nao’s target was her former middle school teacher. He had tricked her into handing over her money to him. With the police unable to help her she found out that a genius swindler was going to be release from prison, Akiyama Shinichi. She then asked him for help.

I don’t want to ruin the story for people who haven’t watched it yet but there are several rounds in the liar game and each round is different, more people are involved and more money is at stake or can be won. It is really entertaining to watch what tactics they use to win and there is a lot of lies and betrayal, it is also funny when Fukanaga is called kinoko (キノコ) which means mushroom. I think they call him that because of his hair style. I recommend this as a drama to watch!

[Via http://chiu1.wordpress.com]

Ravens Insider: Garcon gets a bit of good news - The inside scoop ...

iPhone App #1 Update #1

2010-01-16T20:19:00.000+02:00

It is 12:15 p.m. right now. This is my first update on my first application for the iPhone.

I have finished all of the graphical items needed for this game and I am going to move on to coding right now. Coding, I’m suspecting is going to take maybe 2-3 days and testing will be another 1-2 days. So we’ll see how it comes out right now. It is a game, by the way, but more on the details later.

[Via http://cstutor89.wordpress.com]

Expat opinion on this week's news during regular Friday pub tour - RT

Just finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2010-01-16T12:52:00.000+02:00

I think this is amongst the best FPS games ever. The first game of the series was also very nice. The story really gets you into the game. The only thing I can think of as a negative is that the single player campaign mode is a bit short. (Maybe I felt that way because of the excitement). Looking forward for a third game of the franchise.

[Via http://blog.erdincyilmazel.com]

Haiti earthquake updates: live blog | News | guardian.co.uk

I Like A Lot of Girls

2010-01-14T20:42:00.000+02:00

I like a lot of girls.

Japan, Los Angeles, D.C., Boston, Harlem, Brooklyn, Dominican Republic, New York. The girls I like are everywhere. They’re far away and down the street. Sometimes right in front of me, and sometimes on the peripherals. Out of sight, but on my mind. Out of mind, but in my sight. In my dreams, in my bed, on my phone and on my screen. Everywhere.

And all of that, all of that is just hard sometimes. I like them all at once, and one at a time. Seems impossible, I know, but trust me, it’s very possible. As a matter of fact, it’s too easy. My heart sometimes acts as a magnet for feelings that come from more than one woman at the same time, and like a kid trying not to laugh when they’re telling a fib, I’m a man trying not to feel when I’m telling a girl how I, well, feel. Of course I like the girl, but of course I like others. Actually I like to like them, and some would call that being a romantic but I don’t. I call it the ugly beauty of being single and social: Meet a lot of great women and in the midst of these chance encounters, get blind sided by a few who really know how to get liked back.

For the sake of clarity, what I’m not talking about is random hook ups and one night stands. I’m talking about liking more than one person at one time. It’s really that simple, and yet, people want to act like a heart comes whole; like it can’t be split off into bits, pieces, slices and slivers. If liking more than one person at one time makes me a player, pass me the ball.

I like a lot of girls. And a lot of girls like me back, but with all of them, we have this unspoken agreement they can like other guys too. Especially those who don’t live anywhere near me. They can make out, sleep with, go out with, cake with any guy not named Jozen and I can’t really have a problem with it. But I kind of, sort of, definitely, absolutely do. Kind of one day, sort of the next, definitely the day after, and absolutely usually by the end of the week. It all depends on how I feel and sometimes, it depends on how they feel about me too. Because liking a girl is one thing, but when the girls like me back, we are headed to the problem land.

This morning I talked to one girl I liked, one who doesn’t live close to me, so between her and I, we have this understanding there are others we like. Even if we might like each other more than the others, there are others. One of her others left, moved away, today, and she didn’t tell me immediately. She told me only after I pressed her to figure out what was wrong, even after she insisted there was nothing wrong in the first place. When she finally copped to it, and told me why, I couldn’t let a lull exist in our conversation, couldn’t show any sort of emotion. I had to keep going, keep talking. It was the information I asked for, and there it was, served cold. But honestly, it wasn’t the information that had me phased. It was the harsh reality the information exposed.

I like a lot of girls.

A lot of girls like me back.

Together we like each other.

Separate we like the others.

And so it goes…

[Via http://untiligetmarried.com]

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Bad news: Biden's Hennessy ad campaign ...

Girl Party

2010-01-14T12:43:00.000+02:00

Today Shannon came over and we sat around the bathtub with our feet in the warm water. It was really nice after being outside in the frigid below zero weather. We ate strawberries and drank sparkling cider out of champagne glasses. It was very fancy! Our feet were very happy with us, and we lotioned them and put them in socks to stay beautiful.

We were invited out to a tea date with Peter and Thomas at 5:30, so we showed up there and got some tea. We were meeting up at Sipping Streams, for all you Fairbanksians, which is an adorable tea place by Gullivers, off College, where Team Play used to be. The lady who regularly works there is so sweet. I’m a huge klutz and spilled tea multiple times. We waited for them for about half an hour, but they did show up. Shan and I shared a pot of the Midnight Sun tea blend, which was citrusy and good. After the boys showed up we talked until about 7:30.

Shan was getting hungry, so we decided to say good bye to Peter, who is leaving early this morning. We headed over to Pad Thai, for some pad thai. Understandably, they make the best pad thai in town. This is actually a reasonable compliment since there are about 12 thai places in Fairbanks. That was a really fantastic dinner and we actually finished all our food. We went home and hung out for a while, watched a little QAF, I repainted my toenails. Then I realized I had to take the mario game Max and I had rented back to the store, so we made a quick trip down to the inconvenient Blockbuster, and back home.

We watched a nature show about insects and other small creatures called Microcosmos. I was rather disappointed because there was nothing that explained what was going on, just video footage of weird things. The highlight for me was a very intimate scene with two snails joining together in some kind of mating thing to the sounds of opera music and slowly wriggling about. It was surprisingly sensual. To combat our lack of learning from that video we watched a few episodes of Bill Nye. The ones about Skin, Spinning Things, and Ocean Life. Shan fell asleep during Ocean Life and now I’m going to join her. Have a good night and a lovely morning.

[Via http://rachelandrea.wordpress.com]

Sarah Palin to Contribute to Fox News - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

Name That Font

2010-01-14T04:15:00.000+02:00

The Font Game challenges players to correctly identify 34 fonts as quickly as they can.

Being a designer myself, my hope is that I could name more fonts than someone who doesn’t share my profession, or at the very least name as many as the digits on each hand. Comes with the job, right? That’s not to say there isn’t a myriad of people out there that simply have a love of type and want to prove their dedication to themselves – or someone else.

Maybe you’re like me and occasionally build on your knowledge of the ever-increasing library of fonts out there; maybe you’re interested in just learning a little more about typography in an unobtrusive way; maybe you’re already a sucker for all things type related; whatever the case may be, now there’s a game for you. The aptly titled Font Game, an application for the iPhone and iPod touch, which can also be played online, challenges players to identify 34 fonts in as little time as possible – your score depends on it.

Go ahead; try it out and add at least a few more fonts to your ‘typographic repertoire’ – you’ll find there’s a lot more out there than Times, Arial and Courier… you want me to keep going?

[Via http://scottcreative.wordpress.com]

News Corp. Wants To Bring Fox News To The UK | Disinformation

Predicto TV Rocks Out with 'Big Time Rush'

2010-01-12T20:34:00.000+02:00

The puck-ish stars of ‘Big Time Rush’ — Kendall, Logan, James and Carlos — are melting hearts on the new Nickelodeon series about four hockey players who set out to become teen idols. They gave us a power play of pop predictions, including their take on Adam Lambert, this year’s Grammy Awards and what the future may hold for the members of that “other” boy band, the Jonas Brothers. Plus, find out which celeb crushes the four hotties are harboring in this interview exclusive!

Check out Episode 57 of Predicto TV now!

[Via http://blog.predicto.com]

Palin to join Fox News, according to reports - The Hill's Blog ...

EIC Day 7, New Find and Pepper-Soy Lemon Chicken

2010-01-12T11:54:00.000+02:00

Today’s class was a blind game. A direction game. I had the students follow the leader (me and co-teacher Youri), while they directed the blind with English commonds. When they got to me, they’d grabbed and pulled on my hoodie, even though I told them no grabbing and no touching after it happened the first time.

New find on a new route: really an old find but a new bus route–Home Plus, a super market mecca with a McDonalds, Baskin Robins and other yummy yummies. There while getting milk (and eventually some caramel corn–my new favorite thing) I found Cheetos–the cheesy kind. Of course I got excited, but decided to wait until I really wanted some cheesiness.

Then I went home where I made pepper-soy lemon chicken. If it wasn’t for the lemon the dish (which included carrots and mashed potato) wouldn’t have been so delicious. I must work on my mashed potatoes–which came out bland. I added salt, but nothing. Couldn’t find garlic at the small market I went to, so I did without. I want to make a pot roast but I DON’T HAVE A STOVE. It really sucks, but I know I can make good things on a stove top, even if I only have two burners. Also I want to find stuff to make broccoli and cheese casserole, but I’m not sure I’ll find everything because Korea isn’t home, so I’ll see.

[Via http://onlyinkorea87.wordpress.com]

Sarah Palin Becomes Fox News "Contributor" - The Hollywood Gossip

Farm Mania: Help Anna's grandfather in the family business - farming!

2010-01-10T11:57:00.000+02:00

Farm Mania (26 MB download)

Leave the noisy city and spend some time in the country! Anna’s bent on helping out her grandpa on the family farm for the summer. Plant vegetables, feed and water animals, and watch everything grow! There’s lots to do on the land, including protecting everything from from crows, hares and wolves, upgrading equipment, and selling your products for a profit. With fun mini-games, animals that grow up, and tons of tasks to master, you’ll never get bored of the farm life!

[Via http://fashiongames.wordpress.com]

Microsoft drops internal Natal chip // News

It's Game Time!!!

2010-01-10T03:54:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is game day. Kick off is at 12 o’clock noon on http://www.allamericangames.tv/fbyouth. I am playing for the West and I am number 94. I will be playing Defensive End and I am on all but 1 special team. Today was a fast day. We did walk throughs this morning and I hung out with my teammates the rest of the day. Tonight we had a breakout session. The two real life coaches from Remember The Titans were there. Vincent Papale, the real life person in the movie Invincible, spoke as well. I cant wait for tomorrow!!!

[Via http://jjdsportsblog.wordpress.com]

Perez Hilton: News Anchor Has A "Case" Of The LOLs!

1, 2, 3 - he's yours!

2010-01-09T20:20:00.000+02:00

so, how about a round of 1, 2, 3 – he’s yours?

I am watching an episode of season 1 just now where Lorelai and Rory play that game they made up themselves. and actually I’ve played this with a friend of mine and it was much fun! you should totally try it too

basically, you can do this wherever you can see the street and the people who walk by. the other player just points at any guy he/she wishes and asks if you want to take him or not.

here are the rules as Rory explains them:

“You can take the first guy that walks by, or if you decide to pass, assuming that there’s somebody better out there, you can take the next guy that walks by, or if you don’t take him you’re automatically stuck with the third guy.”

and of course you must marry the guy you choose (or get stuck with)

pretty simple, ain’t it? ^_^

[Via http://thegilmoreway.wordpress.com]

Casio new ultra Slim High Luminance portable Projector is also ...

Farm Frenzy 3 - American Pie: A bumper crop of fun!

2010-01-09T12:02:00.000+02:00

Farm Frenzy 3 – American Pie (72 MB download)

Join Scarlett as she puts robots to work on her land. Can you keep up with the latest advancements in technology as you grow crops, feed animals, collect produce and manufacture goods? Featuring 90 all-new levels packed with never-before-seen characters, buildings and challenges, Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie promises a bumper crop of fun!

[Via http://adventuregames.wordpress.com]

Indonesia » Current News Trends

Call Of Duty: Zombies!

2010-01-09T04:25:00.000+02:00

Explanation:

Call of Duty’s (CoD) widely popular minigame is big. How big? Well, its the ‘top grossing iphone app’ big, which is pretty big. Anyways, it is basically CoD Nazi Zombies, without Nazis (we have a hunch that Apple may have had something to do with it). It is good though, an almost exact clone of XBox’s version. You go around killing Zombies to see how long you can stay alive. You can purchase guns, new areas, and other hidden extras hidden in the game. The game also has a newbie’s tutorial. Since the game is taken from CoD, the graphics are the exact same (which is good). Activision has promised to update Zombies! with more maps, but none have arrived so far (but they are working on it). Also, no price range has been released for the new maps, which were gradually better for the XBox version.

Review:

9/10 Stars

The App store community has given Zombies! a rating of 4.5 stars/5 (which equals 9/10), and we agree. Graphics were amazing (+2) along with the sound effects (+2, the zombie moans never shed their creepiness). The music was the same as CoD (+1) and the story/ gameplay is awesome (+3). Finally, the fact that they made it from a CoD game gets 1 more star. The problems were that the controls were confusing (the tutorial didn’t go into much detail), it glitches (sometimes), and there isn’t supported multiplayer (except over a WiFi or Bluetooth network). Conclusion? The game was great and was enjoyable. And for the record, yes, I do get scared of zombies.

[Via http://thetechreviewers.wordpress.com]

Organizing for America | Cloe Axelson's Blog: Morning News

TinierMe - Tinier Gacha - ANIMAL PARADE

2010-01-07T20:27:00.000+02:00

A New site Maintenance and we got some New updates one of them is a New TinierGacha “ANIMAL PARADE”

Dress up as an Animal with Cute and funny Clothes and you can totally get the Female gacha items or Male gacha items because they both work on You So don’t forget the New Gacha Ends Feb 11th 2010.

[Via http://mangaxanime.wordpress.com]

Mouth Of The Potomac - NY Daily News

Play Mahjong Game Online

2010-01-07T12:39:00.000+02:00

When you play a game of Mahjong you open yourself up to a wonderful time. Mahjong is one of the best and most popular online games today. It is the type of Solitaire game where the player is to remove all the tiles by matching up pairs. Mahjong is a Chinese game, and it requires that the player is a skill, strategic thinking and quick to remind available moves.When the available online gaming sites, such as the Big Fish, Mahjong, the world has gone very high. It is quickly learned and easily understood, and is suitable for all ages. Is it young or old, Mahjong, you only need to know how to start your computer. You can visit the Big Fish Games and loads of different Mahjong game is to play only a few seconds, and a bit of money.

Play Mahjong, you’ll need to remove pairs of tiles is a free game board. Once you’ve mastered one game board, you can skip to the next. The best thing about this game is that when you play a few times, you, the player begins to develop its own technology. You can play for a systematic, picking a tile is best to remove the first, and you can play with more speed-oriented game, and when you click on the corresponding so little time as possible.Big Fish Games is the most exciting and versatile floor plan of the game, which I have seen. It is games that are story lines that you can follow, and the games that you can solve the tower and save the damsel in distress. You can download the game and play for an hour before you decide whether you want to buy the game is played. When you purchase a Mahjong game, it opens up more levels and towers, in which the player a better gaming experience.

[Via http://playallgame.wordpress.com]

AMERICAblog News: Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is retiring

Boot Camp

2010-01-07T04:02:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone!

This post is to let you know that there will be a pick up/game boot camp in the Denver/Boulder area this year. If you’re interested, feel free to email me questions (cost/location/topics covered/etc.), or you can post comments and replies here.

As of this post, the date, cost and venue are uncertain. However, it is locked in that there will be several Mentors and Moderators presenting quality ideas and topics at the boot camp. It will also include some field time with personalized feedback. I would suggest getting your name on the list before space runs out! This boot camp isn’t something you would find from the big national companies- it’s small, intimate, and infinitely more valuable. Since it is going to be intensive and very personalized, space will fill up quick.

[Via http://bronwynk.wordpress.com]

Canon releases EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM lens: Digital ...

Red Cross Emergency Response Unit

2010-01-05T20:45:00.000+02:00

Join the Red Cross and take a piece of what it really means to help people.The Red Cross gives help to people in need all over the world regardless of skin color, nationality, beliefs or gender. Working for the Red Cross might be the toughest job on earth.When so many people are suffering who are you going to help first? Yes…it’s a though call, but in the real world emergency situations are hard and sometimes breathtaking.Prioritize your tasks as lives depend on your decisions

Download

[Via http://thecastex2.wordpress.com]

Another week of GW News, January 3, 2010 : A Few Things Ill Considered

Brutal Legend - Review (PS3)

2010-01-05T12:15:00.000+02:00

After being impressed with the demo I was looking forward to playing Brutal Legend.

I like Jack Black and the music tracklist for the game looked great – Brutal Legend truly is a homage to the Metal genre.

The game tells the story of Eddie Riggs (Black), a roadie who finds himself in a mystical metal filled world and becomes embroiled in a battle to save it’s inhabitants.

I really enjoyed Brutal Legend, it’s mix of hack n slash and RTS (Real Time Strategy) didn’t quite do it for me but the story and voice acting carried me through it.

The main problem seems to be that the game couldn’t decide what it wanted to be – personally I found the driving, exploration and hack n slash sections to suit the music and story better than the RTS bits.

However that also may be because I’m relatively inexperienced with RTS games.

During the big RTS battles I’d often know what I was supposed to be doing but just couldn’t find the right combo of ’soldiers’ – even then most of the time the battle would just end with a victory without me having any idea what had triggered the win.

I guess this game might be a good way to find out if you might like the genre or not.

The universe created by Tim Schafer is a vivid one that evokes old album covers and even features Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne as characters.

The world is fun to play around in and the mix of axe and guitar attacks make the game a giggle at times. In particular the ‘facemelter’ solo always brought a smile to my face.

Overall I think Brutal Legend suffers from the indecision of it’s creators, or perhaps the grand ideas they had for the game as a mix of genres that just didn’t come off.

It’s a shame as there is a good story and a great game world there to be explored but it’s hampered by the somewhat clumsy RTS parts.

Rating: 6/10

[Via http://greghorrorshow.wordpress.com]

Dallas Cowboys Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas ...

Jojo's Fashion Show World Tour: Come strut your outfits on the runway and play the ultimate cat-walking fashion game!

2010-01-03T19:41:00.000+02:00

Jojo’s Fashion Show World Tour (213 MB download)

From Japan to Barcelona, racks full of vibrant clothes and lifelike new male and female models await in Jojo’s Fashion Show World Tour! Mother and daughter designers, Jojo and Rosalind Cruz, have finally earned a name in the fashion world. Now Ros is leaving the nest to pursue her own dreams and Jojo must find a reliable replacement. As backstage drama unravels, Jojo quickly discovers that fair-weather friends and ruthless enemies are closer than she ever suspected!

[Via http://newarcadegames.wordpress.com]

Dallas Cowboys Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas ...

Cat Wash: Where all the cool cats come to get clean.

2010-01-03T12:11:00.000+02:00

Cat Wash (43 MB download)

Shake your groove thing at the Cat Wash and go where all the cool cats come to get clean! Boogie down in this time management game through over 40 levels of disco and dance. When customers drop off their muddy pets, you clean ‘em up! Keep the kitties mellow as you wash, dry, clip and style them in your custom machines. Live it up, ’cause the party never stops at the Cat Wash!

[Via http://adventuregames.wordpress.com]

I Love To Watch - NY Daily News

Family Game Night

2010-01-03T03:59:00.000+02:00

Family Game Night

Introduction: This game is a fun collection of some of Hasbro’s most classic board and dice games to date. Including Battleship, Boggle, Sorry, Sorry Sliders, Scrabble, and Yahtzee. This fun collection of games is a nice package for gamers and non-gamers of all ages to enjoy. Joined along side with Mr. Potatohead, Family Game Night looks to make your gaming console the life of the party.

Good: The most appealing part of this is that if you only like one of the games offered in the packaged game, you can always purchase as many or little as you wish online as separate transactions. This game is a complete blast to play with family and friends. With online support, even if you can’t gather a group of friends inside your living room, you can still have fun with the online community.

Not only do you have the standard play type of each game, but each game has it’s own set of special rules that can be tweaked to your exact preference. Want to add wild dice in Yahtzee? Or maybe add rotating letters in Boggle? The customizable options are a fun and exciting twist to add to your normal game.

Bad: The only complaint I have is that the game could have a better presentation. Being based on game boards and dice rolling. You would think more time and effort would go into making better menus, alternate board skins, or even more unlockables. Hopefully they implement some of the examples in the next game released.

Conclusion: Family Game Night is very fun filled night out in casual gaming. It really does a great job of recreating the classic board game experience on the big screen. I would recommend this game to everyone. Even if you’re not too sure,download the trial versions of each game and buy the ones you and your family will enjoy the most.

Family Game Night gets 4 made up Boggle words out of 5.

-Nich Longe

January 2nd, 2010

[Via http://theendisnich.wordpress.com]

TWC-News Corp. Extend Talks; Scripps' HGTV, Food Go Dark On ...

Settings!

2010-01-02T20:47:00.000+02:00

Ever had problems with settings? Well I’ve had the problems of too much settings it seems…

[17:51] What I’m wondering about is… [17:51] … why does an erotic visual novel need so much setting? [17:51] =D [17:51] Just include some weird sex and everybody will want it [17:51] Even buy it [17:52] xD [17:53] We want it EPIC! [17:53] Epic sex in the forest? [17:53] * Ygg-chan got pwnd So um… ya, it will be epic, in all aspects of course! I’m going to write and search for more members to the team on this forum; VNProject.

[Via http://yggdrasilraisondetre.wordpress.com]

News Corp, Time Warner Cable Reach Deal Without Blackouts; Scripps ...