- SteelWar Online Enters First Alpha Test February 16, 2012
Krypton Radio Newswire
Steelwar Online, now in alpha testing
Free-to-play is the phrase of the day – a new robot-themed simulation MMO goes online for alpha testing, and it’s PopPace’s SteelWar Online. The game has officially entered its first alpha test on Facebook. For the alpha phase, anyone participating in the game’s testing will have their in-game cash shopping points leveled back up to 60,000 every two hours. You can shop till you drop.
Steelwar Online is strategy simulation title with a solidly anime feel – you battle in high-tech mechs for dominion over a an interplanetary battleground. You can upgrade and customize your mechs as well. Players can battle side by side with their friends, or call them out and challenge them on the field of honor. Like most Facebook games, it’s aimed at the casual gamer, so you can put it away and pick up where you left off in an idle moment.
You can learn more about the game or sign up for the alpha test by visiting the game’s official Facebook page. You’ll need to a Facebook account to play it.
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- Wizards of the Coast Crowdsources Dungeons & Dragons Reboot January 22, 2012
by Gene Turnbow
Fantasy roleplaying gamers have been waiting for Wizards of the Coast to fix Dungeons & Dragons for a long time. The game, also called D&D, was originally by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson for TSR Hobbies in 1972. Then, as now, it was played using nothing more than hand drawn maps laid out on quadrille paper by dedicated Dungeon Masters (“DM’s”) and a small collection of dice having varying numbers of faces. A D&D game then, as now, was a social event, a fun way for friends to spend time together and play often to the wee hours of the morning fighting dragons and orcs, and adventuring in the fantasy world profoundly influenced by J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. Imagination was king, and the game is often credited with being the genesis of all modern RP gaming and fundamentally responsible for much of the current computer game industry.
The company does not release sales figures, but analysts and gaming experts agree that sales of the game, and all tabletop role-playing ones, have been dwindling for years. Ryan Scott Dancey, chief executive of the game company Goblinworks and a former vice president at Wizards of the Coast, said the overall market peaked between 1999 and 2003 and has been in steady decline since 2005. “My instincts are it’s slower than ever,” he said in an interview with the New York Times.
D&D has also been the center of controversy in the gaming community due to the various radical revisions of the rule system over its 38 year history. Basic, Advanced, Advanced 2nd edition, 3.0, 3.5, and most recently 4.0 which made its appearance in 2008. This last version, though, shifted the playing paradigm to combat rather than the roots of imagination that had been the essence of the game’s popularity to that point, and the fans rebelled. The new rule system appeared more closely modeled on World of Warcraft than anything else, and was seen as a move in a distinctly wrong direction. For the first time, a new version of D&D was not backwards compatible with the older rule sets. The magic system, used from the beginning, had been discarded. The open community participation previously fostered by Wizards of the Coast had snapped tighter than Tupperware, and they had stopped listening to the fans in any major regard and tried a bean-counter-driven mimicry of WoW. The fan’s response was a substantial exodus to other rule sets that bore more substantial similarity to D&D 3.5, such as Pathfinder.
Fortunately for all concerned, Wizards of the Coast has finally recognized that they screwed all this up in 2008, and they want to fix it. In a January 9 post on their web site they announced that they’re going to have open playtests of the new planned ruleset for D&D 5.0.
From the Wizards site:
[W]e are excited to share with you that starting in Spring 2012, we will be taking this process one step further and conducting ongoing open playtests with the gaming community to gather feedback on the new iteration of the game as we develop it. With your feedback and involvement, we can make D&D better than ever. We seek to build a foundation for the long-term health and growth of D&D, one rooted in the vital traits that make D&D unique and special.
We want a game that rises above differences of play styles, campaign settings, and editions, one that takes the fundamental essence of D&D and brings it to the forefront of the game. In short, we want a game that is as simple or complex as you please, its action focused on combat, intrigue, and exploration as you desire. We want a game that is unmistakably D&D, but one that can easily become your D&D, the game that you want to run and play.
So Wizards of the Coast is looking for fan participation. They have already started a small playtest for Friends & Family, which basically amounts to internal employees and friends. The next step is a special playtest at the D&D Experience convention later this month. The final step is the open playtesting that will involve the release of rules and other materials through the website.
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- Star Trek Online Now Free to Play January 19, 2012
by Gene Turnbow
Cryptic Studio's STAR TREK ONLINE
If you’ve been following the gaming news here on Krypton Radio, you may remember our article on the trend toward free-to-play MMO’s. This seems to be the new business model for online gaming: give enough of the game away for free that people get hooked on the experience and are willing to pay to get more of the same. The Star Trek Online MMO opened to mixed reviews almost a full year ago, but they seem to be listening to their customers and fixing some of the more glaring problems with the game – and removing some of the barrier to entry that was keeping many fans away.
Cryptic Studios’ Star Trek Online has adopted a tiered free-to-play (F2P) model where nonpaying “Silver” players will still get to have a robust Star Trek experience, while reserving some of the more advanced game features such as creating guilds and playing multiple characters for the players willing to shell out the monthly $14.99 subscription fee.
For many of the game’s features, simply playing 20 hours in the game will put the free-to-play player on par with those who have bought a subscription. Users who have made an in-store purchase or who have previously purchased a subscription will also gain many of the paid perks without paying a cent. Cryptic also said that it had added new weekly episodes, the name that the game gives to “quests.”
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Jack Emmert, chief executive of Cryptic Studios, in a statement. “Updating Star Trek Online to the popular free-to-play model removes those barriers of entry that previously kept fans and casual gamers away. Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”
Originally launching in March 2010, Star Trek Online included cinematic space combat, a wealth of possible player characters, and a disappointing away-team combat mechanic, according to a PCMag review – but we understand they’ve been addressing these issues as well.
We spoke with one player, Dan Vanderwood, who had been playing STO since beta and whom we had contacted via our growing Facebook fan base:
Krypton Radio: What do you think of how the planet surface scenarios are being handled now. Has their been any improvement?
DV: The away missions to the planet surfaces are still clunky, but easy enough to use. Combat is still a pain. All in all, I’m thoroughly enjoying it, and prefer surface to space combat. Turning radius on my little engineering ship is horrible. Mind, I’m only a lieutenant 3rd grade right now.
KR: What would you say to the negative comparison of the planet-side part of the game to Second Life? Anything improved about the parts of the game that rely on diplomacy?
DV: The two really aren’t comparable. Second Life has a freedom to it, while STO is just a game. It would be like comparing SL to Halo. There are diplomatic aspects, but everything I’ve run into so far eventually leads to combat (a Vulcan ambassador being an Undine/8472 for instance). Keep in mind, I’m not very far into the game yet, but it’s much more linear than SL.
Personally speaking, I’m intrigued. I’m going to go try it as soon as I’m done posting this article, if my notebook can muscle it’s way through the massive 3.4Gb download it’ll require. Enjoy the video, try and game and post your comments on the game. Is this going to help Star Trek Online rise, or sink? What do you think?
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- Steampunk Batman Video Game Cancelled January 15, 2012
A Potentially Wonderful New Interpretation of Batman is Silenced
By Staff Editor P.K.
1989 Comic Cover
Do you remember Steampunk Batman? Not everyone may, but back in 1989 Gotham by Gaslight was produced by DC Comics, in what would become known as the first of the Elsewords stories. Batman was taken out of his normal environment and set in the Victorian Era which is normally associated with the alternate history of Steampunk stories, where gears and steam powered inventions rule supreme. In a truly innovative story-line (as far as Batman goes), Bruce Wayne is framed and convicted for the murders associated with Jack the Ripper. Fast forward to modern day, and the one time Steampunk Batman comic is being considered for development as a full fledged video game.
Originally set to be made by Day 1 Studios and Warner Bros, word has come down from the artist who had been hired to develop some artwork to show what the game might look like; that the game has in fact been cancelled before it even got out of the pitch stage. For those of us who love Batman and the world of Steampunk, this is a true disappointment.
Graphic artist Julie A. Farrell, announced via her blog and twitter, that the concept art which she had developed for the game, had been rejected and that as far she knew, the game itself had been flagged as a no-go. She later updated to say that the studio along with Warner Bros. had asked her to take down the art, despite a previous agreement she could use it in her portfolio. Way to be a buzz-kill Warner Bros.
Fortunately, the artwork has survived on the net, and as shown below Ms. Farrell has through her work brought to life an amazing 3D look into the world of Gotham by Gaslight.
We can only hope, or better yet, if you feel strongly enough about wanting to have a Gotham by Gaslight game; contact the studio and demand they take a serious look at developing this into a full game.
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- Toronto Scarborough Museum Holds Superhero & Mad Scientist Classes For Kids January 12, 2012
Toronto Museum Finds Creative Ways to Entice Children to Visit
Krypton Radio Newswire
Anything for the Superkids Yo.
The Toronto based Scarborough Museum in Scarborough-Ontario, have found very creative ways to grab the attention of young children with innovative workshops and programs. One such program is their Saturday Adventures Club, which features alternating monthly themes and with each Saturday building upon the previous one on what the children learned. This month is for wannabe heroes with The Superhero School, running from January 7th, to the 28th of this year. The museum looked for ways to help the community and it’s younger members (with admittedly a benefit of bringing in more visitors to the museum), and initiated the special programs back in 2010.
The Superhero School allows kids 5-12 Years of Age to build emblems, masks and other Superhero attire, as they work on building their super-powered alter-egos. One of the wonderful aspects of the programs, is the level of participation by the children, being allowed to have a voice in upcoming programs; such as February’s Mad Scientist Workshop starting on Saturday February 4 and running until February 25.
Upcoming Workshops:
Mad Scientists
Saturday February 4 to 25
5-12 yrs. $60 / 4 Workshops
Course Code: 1884288
Saturday Adventurers welcome to the lab! See what crazy concoctions can be created. Strange science each and every week!March Mix-up Mania
Saturday March 10 to 31
5-12 yrs. $60 / 4 Workshops
Course Code: 1884289
Get into crafts, cooking and creative play. Mini adventures each week. Something new to taste, try and see!March Break Pioneer Adventure Day Camp - Ages 5 to 12
Monday March 12 to Friday March 19, 2012, 9 to 4 p.m.
Course Code: 1884378
Have a March Break you will always remember! Experience the life of an early settler. Cook food over the open hearth and in the wood stove, make early settler toys, play camp games, create a variety of fun historic crafts. Take nature hikes and enjoy the woods in beautiful Thomson Memorial Park, so dress for the outdoors! Pre-register online at www.toronto.ca/torontofun or call 416-338-4FUN. For more information call the museum at 416-338-8807. $152. Extended care available for an additional fee.Links:
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- Video Of the Day! Jan 7, 2012 - Real Life Mario Kart January 7, 2012
We knew the world of extreme sports would one day merge with video games, in order to up the stakes. And now we encounter this, our Video Of the Day and a harsh, gritty look at the world of Mario Kart in real life. Red shells mean business.
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- Krypton Radio Looking for On-Air Talent! January 6, 2012
Do you have what it takes to be our On Air Fan Talent?Krypton Media Group™ aka Krypton Universe™ / Krypton Radio™, is looking for original Fan Talent to host a morning show on Krypton Radio! We’re looking for individuals, or even a small group that is willing and able to produce its’ own show to be aired on Krypton Radio, with a minimum of three new episodes per calender week.
What is Fan Talent? Fan talent is like what you see on YouTube, people or groups using their talents to produce low-budget, yet high quality shows or series, in lieu of the millions of dollars some big budget studios pay to produce something of the same quality. We admit it, we’re not a huge station with 10 Million listeners, but we’re rising fast and looking for someone to jump on at the ground floor with us and ride to the top.
How We Can Help You
Let’s face it, everybody and his pet rock has a podcast these days. Google is full to overflowing with them. Therein lies the problem, though – how to you get heard in this tidal wave of downloadable content? When everybody has a podcast and a blog, how do you get noticed? Getting your show heard depends on having a high traffic web site to start with, developing a strong fan base and online community and having contacts with whom you can cross-promote it all. Krypton Radio has all this and wants to share it with you in exchange for being able to air your creative content on our radio station. We have literally thousands of listeners a month, in 109 countries all around the world. You can take the next three years and develop your presence on the web from scratch, or you can join ours and skip the hard part.
If you have an idea for a show that you want to do, we can help you by putting it on air for free (radio stations typically have hourly operating costs and normally charge for air time) and giving you assistance and guidance getting your show produced in a slick, polished manner. Producers for Krypton Radio will get the benefit of exposure to thousands of listeners each month, and the growing Krypton Radio fan base. We’ll work with you on cross promotions between your web site and ours, and we’ll coordinate with you on your ad campaigns so that you get maximum yield from your own advertising and promotion. We want to help you succeed.
Requirements for On-Air Production:
- You must have a clear and understandable voice.
- You must be able to produce/edit own show from home, with minor oversight from Krypton Radio (we reserve the right to review each episode before airing).
- Your content must be kept PG-13 or better at all times. Kids and their parents both listen to this station. No vulgar or explicit language or content. If you must use an expletive it must be bleeped or blurred out. (And obviously, we don’t do either politics or hate speech, but we hope that goes without saying.)
- You must be able to tape at least 3 shows per week on a consistent basis.
- Your show must be a half hour to an hour in length, or time can be varied for purposes of including advertisements (do not insert your own advertising).
- Experience with the fandom in any of the following themes is strongly preferred:
- Superhero / Comics
- Science Fiction
- Steampunk
- Fantasy
- Gaming
- Must have experience with Social Media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
If you’re interested in joining the Krypton Radio team and share our passion for the scifi/fantasy geekosphere and the awesome music that comes with it, e-mail thepitch@kryptonradio.com, include your full legal name, performance name (stage name, if any), and a working phone number. Tell us about yourself, your experiences, what you love about the genres we cover, and what you bring to the table. Please also include your ideas of what you would like to do with the morning show, and anything other information you feel is relevant.
Important Notes
- Yes, we can accept podcasts, so long as the podcast can be repackaged as a prerecorded show for broadcast on Krypton Radio. You must mention that your show is broadcast on Krypton Radio at the beginning and end of each episod. You are getting air time free of charge, this is all we ask for recompense at this time.
- We love the idea of syndication – airing existing podcasts as broadcast shows. It shows that you have your production process down and can deliver on a regular basis, because you’ve already been doing it. We may ask to receive a copy of a finished pilot episode if you’re new to this sort of thing so that we can help you assess where your weak spots in production values are and help you make your show the best it can be.
- If you’re doing a news show or have news topics in it, the material must be delivered in a timely manner.
- We are fully BMI / ASCAP licensed. Which means if you want to include a clip of some song or music in the body of your show, it’s legal.
- You agree that other than this, that you have acquired all necessary licenses, ownership and clearances for the material you present and agree to indemnify Krypton Radio from any legal ramifications that may result from your use of it in the body of your show. This means that you can have a show that talks about somebody else’s intellectual property or material, but you cannot, for example, make a fanfic show using characters from your favorite TV show, book or movie as characters in your own production. Unless you’ve got a contract that gives you the right to do that.
Don’t Be Shy About This
Lacking one or two bullet points may not stop you from getting your show on the air. We’ll help you figure stuff out, or figure ways around production problems. Remember that we’re fan geeks just like you. Let’s get you on the air!
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- Video Of the Day! Jan 6, 2012 - Skyrim Theme Remix by Diwa de Leon January 6, 2012
Today’s V.O.D features one of our favorite artists, Diwa de Leon and his newly released Skyrim Theme Remix! Master de Leon is world renown for his musical contributions, including works such as composing the official music for Survivor Philippines GMA. One of his preferred instruments is the beautiful sounding two string hegalong, along with his work on the violin. He is a big fan of video games and has produced many cover songs and fan vids of some of his favorite games, which can be heard here on Krypton Radio!
Update: Thank you to Master de Leon for letting us know of the updated video link, all adjusted!
Links:
- Diwa de Leon’s Official Site
- Purchase Diwa de Leon’s New CD “Memories on Two Strings”
- Skyrim Official Site
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- Firefly MMO Still Aims to Misbehave January 5, 2012
Buffy and Firefly MMO’s May Yet Go Online, But Hurdles Remain
by Gene Turnbow
Crew of the "Serenity"
You may have been reading in other news sources that Multiverse, the development platform that was going to be used for the possible creation of MMO’s based on Joss Whedon properties Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, had to close its doors on December 7 of 2011. The source code lives on, however, – and has been snatched up by the newly formed Multiverse Foundation. Fortunately for the huge fan base of Joss Whedon’s scifi western, the idea of a Firefly MMO is too big to die.
Tristan Bacon, head of communications for Multiverse Foundation, says that the company has acquired the source code and is “starting work full-time on the actual MMO creation platform.” Bacon says that if there is still interest from fans, the team intends to use the platform to make a Firefly MMO.
And that’s where things get complicated.
When we went to the MultiverseMMO web site, we found a home page full of Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.. , which is a web designer’s way of saying “we don’t know what’s going to go in this space yet.” This doesn’t bode well. The parts of the site that do work indicate that all the work done since 2004 on the Multiverse MMO platform is now going to be open source for anybody to use. A statement on the web site describes the situation:
Right now, it takes at least three years and as much as $20 million to make a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), due to challenges in the areas of engineering, asset-creation, and marketing. That price tag means independent game developers simply can’t afford to enter this exciting and lucrative space.
Multiverse blows away these barriers to entry.
The Multiverse Foundation is the only company focused on delivering a complete Open Source end-to-end solution for MMOG and virtual world development. To solve the challenges mentioned above, The Multiverse Foundation gives developers ample code and content to get you started.
The development of a Firefly MMO depends a lot on Multiverse getting not only the technical help it needs to finish the platform, but on obtaining the all important intellectual property rights as well, which at this writing they have not yet secured. Since Bacon has made a public request for programmers interested in working on such a project, implying that money is tight, we have to wonder how they’ll ever manage the licensing rights to the Firefly property. They’ll have to go a long way to prove that they can not only finish developing the platform itself, but the creative content as well, then successfully set up and maintain the horrific pile of technology it takes to support any kind of MMO, let alone actually market it and make enough of a profit to make it worth licensing. There is a reason it costs $20 million to get an MMO online, and the very nature of massively multiplayer online technology is one of the hugest barriers to entry.
The challenges ahead for a Firefly MMO are not insurmountable, but loom large – but Fox was surprised in 2004 when there was enough interest in the property to get a movie made (Serenity, 2005). Still even there, while adored by fans, it wasn’t until it was released on DVD that the film even made back its production costs.
With much of the work done and operating well enough to demo, there may still be hope for a Firefly or Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMO in the future – if they can develop the content and get it released while these properties still have enough juice left in them to allow them to make enough money to be worth doing, never mind making a profit.
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- Game Reviews: "Doctor Who: Worlds in Time - Beta" December 29, 2011
It stinks! Or does it?
A Game
ReviewRant, by Staff Editor PK.
So I was poked with a stick this morning and asked what I thought about Doctor Who: Worlds in Time; not being a big gamer I hadn’t tried it yet, so I agreed to give it a whirl. Unlike many of the KR staffers, I’m not a huge game player, which sometimes in the case of reviewing new games is a good thing. If like me and you’re not a big gamer, or you just like to hear about the new user experience, then I’ll give an honest and fair albeit slightly cynical opinion on it. Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, from the BBC and Three Rings, is a web-browser Adobe Flash based game which looks like it was inspired by the artwork from Atomic Betty. And while I may not be a dedicated game player, I am a life long Doctor Who fan, and as such was interested when I was told about an MMORPG featuring everyone’s favorite mad man in the little blue box.I didn’t read anyone’s reviews or look up history on the game, I decided to dive headfirst into it and go from there. Loading up the site DoctorWhoWit.com, I’m greeted by the BBC logo and a small flash movie featuring the current Doctor (played by the amazing Matt Smith), in which a bobble-headed cartoonish Doctor, speaking in text balloons blathers on about how the time stream and universe is breaking apart into temporal shards. (This was somewhat of a disappointment right off the bat, as text balloons are no match for Matt Smith’s remarkable and spastic acting talent which he displays as the Doctor.) The initial impression was that this was going to be nothing more than a kids game, and as I slowly proceeded I discovered I was correct. After watching the short film, I saw that I was required to sign up for an account in order to play the game. Pretty normal, and it was painless as I was allowed to sign up with a simple connection to my Facebook account. You’re also allowed the option to sign up using a form asking for your personal information along with your e-mail, easy enough. I must say though, without even starting the game, it was already wearing a bit thin on me as a fan. There was no iconic Doctor Who music from the show, and they couldn’t even be bothered to get Matt Smith to voice the character. Nitpicking I know, but details count!
Signed up and ready to go, I loaded up the game and was presented with the character design screen. You’re given the choice of four species from the Doctor Who universe, which you can mix and match in ways. After choosing a foxish looking character, I find myself in pajamas with the Tardis in my bedroom. The Doctor leans out the door and invites me inside to have a chat, at which time he tells me about how I’m the right man/beast for the job to help him save the universe. Like many Doctor Who fans, we’ve all had the dream at one point or time to go with the Doctor on an adventure, and this seemed like the great opportunity to be one of the Doctor’s companions. Although from your character’s point of view, you’ve just been sucked into a strange blue box with a raving mad man in a bow-tie who says he needs you to save the universe for him. Without question or a real back-story, my character is given a Psychic Wand, which appears to be a poor-man’s sonic screwdriver. The Doctor then in so many words tells me to get to work, and I try, but he’s locked the front door. My first task in the game is to use the psychic wand to pick the lock of the front door to the Tardis, which you accomplish by playing a puzzle game, where you have to shoot pins into the lock and defeat it by matching colored metal rods to make them vanish.
An almost reverse form of Tetris ensues as you attempt to escape from the Tardis in order to begin the mission that the raving bow-tied one has assigned you; once I had finally finished the lock puzzle, I ran from the Tardis (still in my pajamas) out into modern day London. I’m greeted by the sight of people running from a clothing store screaming about how the mannequins had come to life and gone crazy; not to shrug off my new duties as a hero, I rush into the store and find a woman saying how stupid it was of her to have kept the back door locked during business hours. (Why I couldn’t just ask her for the keys, I don’t know.) The game indicates that I must once again pick the lock with my psychic wand, I do so and proceed outside. Finding a crystal shard guarded by two mannequins and another puzzle, this time I must…. give up. At this point I was becoming bored and the third puzzle had me convinced that the rest of the game was going to be like this. Nothing but inane micro puzzles from games that we played 10-15 years ago, and as I polled my friends who had tried the game and gotten much farther than I had, they agreed it was quaint and somewhat old-school. As you progress through the game you have the ability to work with assistants, and at some point you’ll get to work with other players such as yourself, it seems fun in theory, but falls a bit flat in presentation.
I exited the game and looked around the site for more information, which there is none. The F.A.Q, the forums, and anything else that would give the average game consumer in-depth info on the game or the appropriate player age is currently unavailable. I want to be fair and point out this is a beta version of the game, they call it a preview version. So while I was less than impressed, it’s possible the game will improve with time. However it appears this is aimed more at young kids, which is a bit of an issue. Unless you happen to be addicted to simple minded puzzles and bobble-headed Canadian cartoon style animation, then you may not want to embrace this game. Remember how I said my character was running about in his jammies? Well, you have the option to purchase upgrades using in-game currency, which you can earn, but mostly you’re encouraged to purchase with real world money. Much like buying apps for your iPhone, you can use micro-transactions to buy weapons and clothing for your character. But I have to ask, do you really want to? The game from what I’ve seen so far and been told about, is that it’s child safe, but junior will need mommy or daddy’s credit card to buy the upgrades he’ll eventually want.
As this game is in beta at the moment, I’ll reserve final judgement until I can look through a more complete version. But so far, as a big fan of the show I’m very unimpressed with this, and wondering why they didn’t spend their energy developing the other higher quality Doctor Who game into an MMORPG? If you want to play a truly fun game, check out Doctor Who – The Adventure Games. Downloadable gaming episodes where you can play The Doctor, Amy, and Rory in adventures based on episodes of the show.
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- "Star Wars: The Old Republic" Opens Today December 20, 2011
Krypton Radio Newswire
It’s staggering to think that most of the people reading Krypton Radio today do not remember a time when there wasn’t Star Wars, the archetypal heroic tale by George Lucas of a boy in whose hands the fate of the Republic lies. Most of us have at one time or another imagined ourselves in an X-Wing screaming down the Deathstar trench toward that exhaust port, closing our eyes and trying to reach out with our feelings to know the exact right moment to fire that torpedo.
If you’ve been dying to experience life in the Star Wars Universe, your wait is over. Today, the servers went online for Star Wars: The Old Republic, (SWTOR). This is possibly the most eagerly awaited MMO ever. The game has already won over a hundred awards from critics around the world. Last night, fans lined up around the block on the eve of launch at retail outlets in New York, Paris, London, Austin and other cities across the world, celebrating the debut of the game with gatherings complete with costumed characters and memorabilia giveaways. This morning, EA, BioWare and LucasArts continue the launch celebration by hosting the opening ceremony and ringing the bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange. The ceremony can be viewed at http://nasdaq.com. As the servers go live and fans flood into the game, BioWare customer support teams are managing the network infrastructure to ensure every player has a smooth, easy and fun experience getting into the game.
“Today represents an amazing milestone for BioWare, EA and Star Wars fans everywhere and we are confident it has been worth the wait,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder, BioWare and General Manager, EA’s BioWare Label. “The support and resources going into Star Wars: The Old Republic are not ending today. The innovations we’re bringing to the category are just the start of a journey and ongoing investment in our players that will grow, evolve and transform based on player feedback over the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Bioware put out a great deal of self-serving press about the game. Frankly, it’s not very exciting reading that. What is exciting is the game itself. They’ve spent over a hundred million dollars bringing this one game to fruition – for perspective, your average console game runs about $1.2 million. During the game’s extensive beta testing period, millions of players got to test out Star Wars: The Old Republic and formed over 78,000 guilds.
It’s purported to be thoroughly engrossing, detailed in ways that defy belief, and set to a dramatic musical score that we’ve come to expect from any Star Wars experience. This is a defining moment in online gaming.
Here’s one of the videos from the beta testing of the game. As you can see, the graphics are lush and detailed, and there are displays of all sorts around the user interface. A lot of this is simple text, and that’s a disappointment until you think about what that means: there is so much information of so many different kinds, that most of it has to be presented this way. This makes the game extremely flexible in terms of what kinds of experiences can be designed into it. Bioware claims there are thousands of hours of gameplay in this thing, and we believe it. The camera movement is stiff and distracting, and we hope they’ve done something to smooth this out before throwing the Big Switch and letting everybody in. We also think the animations are very good – but the code that handles them isn’t necessarily top shelf in terms of how it handles blends from one action to another. Once again, this footage is from the beta test period, and it may not be that way now that it’s released.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is subscription based, so be prepared to fork over about $70 a year or so to play it.
Next year (which is only a few days away now) will be filled with other exciting MMORPG releases, and some very well done ones. Next year is all about the upgraded graphics, fast-paced action, and of course, lots and lots of storytelling – and that puts MMO’s like Second Life in a massive bind. You can only push an online game platform so far before it starts breaking or needing a ground-up rewrite. For most MMO’s, even the successful ones, a retool like that just isn’t in the cards. If you’re already paying for a full membership in Second Life, for example, you’ll note that it’s about the same cost as SWTOR, and you may be rethinking your Second Life membership at this point.
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- "DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas" Debuts on Apple's App Store December 1, 2011
Warner Bros. Press Release for the kids!
Krypton Radio Newswire
New York – Warner Bros. Consumer Products www.warnerbros.com), one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world, and ScrollMotion (www.scrollmotion.com), creative leaders in the digital publishing business, introduce DC Super Friends‘ first-ever interactive storybook app for iPad®. DC Comics’ most beloved Super Heroes await a digital adventure this holiday season with the brand-new story, DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas, debuting exclusively on the App Store.In DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas, Santa is the guest of honor at the DC Super Friends’ holiday party – but he’s running late to the event. When Superman and The Flash decide to investigate, they realize that Santa is missing, and the race to save Christmas is on!
“We are thrilled to have created the first DC Super Friends interactive book app just in time for the holidays,” said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President, Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “Now kids can experience their favorite DC Comics Super Heroes in this innovative new format.”
This interactive Reader app features tappable surprises, puzzles, digital coloring pages, sticker activities, and hidden DC Super Friends Points that users can collect to receive an in-app reward – an exclusive emailable holiday postcard. The app also includes professional narration, sound effects, word highlighting, and record-your-own audio.
ScrollMotion Kids’ Stickers feature enables kids to create their own super hero scenes by placing digital DC Super Friends stickers atop animated backgrounds. Children can use multi-touch to grow, shrink, and spin the characters, and can also save and share their creations. Additionally, users can personalize their app by taking a photo with the DC Super Friends or importing a picture from Photos.
“Through the DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas app, kids are one step closer to the extraordinary action-packed world of DC Super Friends,” said Josh Koppel, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of ScrollMotion. “We’re proud to unite kids and long-term fans with these fantastic comic characters, and to present an entertaining and educational digital experience that continually surprises users along the way.”
DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas is made available through ScrollMotion Kids’ groundbreaking platform, which has revolutionized children’s books and is powering bestselling kids’ titles. Children acquire knowledge best through discovery and play, and ScrollMotion Kids apps provide hands-on interactivity to promote learning through technology.
To celebrate the launch, a 99 cents promotional sale of DC Super Friends: Race to Save Christmas app will take place Tuesday, November 29th through Sunday, December 4th on the App store.
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- iPad users can now download at http://j.mp/DCSFXMAS.
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- Valve Sued Over Breach Of Steam Servers December 1, 2011
Valve Software Hit with Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Over Breach of Steam Servers
By staff Editor PK
On November 30, 2011 – Lawyers for California resident Oliver Grigsby, filed suit on Wednesday, on behalf of all users of the online Steam gaming service, owned by Washington based company Valve Software.As previously reported on November 10, 2011 – Valve Software, announced that their forums had been breached and defaced. Ultimately it was revealed that the intrusion into their systems had been much deeper than initially thought; coded passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive personal information had been potentially exposed by hackers. Valve stated in its notice that it felt that this information had not been stolen by the hackers, even though they may or may not have had direct access to it, and that they were still investigating.
Customers of the Steam network were outraged to learn that Valve had waited to reveal that the breach had actually happened on November 6th, four days prior to the announcement. This anger along with what some feel is a rampant lack of digital security in the online gaming industry, has not unsurprisingly lead to a class action lawsuit against Valve. The charge being lead by an Oliver Grigsby, who has filed the suit on behalf of his fellow gamers in United States District Court – Central District California – Western Division. Grigsby alleges that Valve committed six major violations of California law:
- Violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Cal. Civil Code §1759 et seq.);
- Violation of Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Business & Professions Code §§17299 et seq.);
- Violation of False Advertising Law (Cal. Business & Professions Code §§17500 et seq.)
- Breach of Express Contact;
- Breach of Implied Warranty (Song Beverly Consumer Warrant Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1792 and 1791.1, et seq.); and
- Negligence.
Grigsby who has demanded a jury trial, names among his chief complaints in the suit;
“VALVE failed to take reasonable measures to secure its online distribution platform, “Steam”, and thereby failed to take reasonable measures to security the personal and/or financial information of VALVE customers who gave that information in order to sign up for the service provided by Steam.”
What does this mean for you the consumer? It’s not clear at this time, Grigsby has demanded in his suit against the gaming giant; “Actual and/or compensatory damages, restituionary and equitably relief, costs and expenses of litigation, attorneys’ fees and all other available relief for Plaintiff and Class Members.” Amongst many other demands including an attempt to upgrade Steam’s security features.
While many may be cheering on Grigsby to get some form of compensation on behalf of Steam users everywhere; you shouldn’t hold your breath for a check in the mail from Valve. Lawsuits take time, and there will be undoubtedly countless motions by Valve and Grigsby’s attorneys. There also has been no word publicly, if any customers of the Steam service have actually suffered any credit card fraud or other damages, aside from a severe breach of consumer trust.
As the lawsuit has just been filed, it is also unclear how much money if any would be paid to all users of the Steam service. The main goal of this suit is to gain compensation for those who may have been directly harmed by the data breach, and force Valve to take responsibility for their alleged lack-luster security procedures.
Stay tuned to Krypton Radio for updates on this breaking story.
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Links
- Steam Forums Hacked – Original Story
- VALVE’s announcement regarding hacking
- Notice to Vermont and Maine Steam Customers
- Full text of court document via CourtHouse News
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- Machinema: Starfleet Dental presents "Pop Musik" November 29, 2011
We had no idea what to make of Starfleet Dental. The web site looks like a dentists’ professional organization, until you actually start reading the site:
Starfleet Dental is the galactic voice for dentistry, dedicated to the advancement and leadership of a unified profession and to the promotion of optimal oral health, an essential component of general health.
Okay. A little odd, you know, dentists don’t usually talk about being galactic in scope.
And then you go on and read:
Founded in 632, the Starfleet Dental is a non-profit professional association representing the galaxies billions of dentists, and Dental professionals.
Located in Coruscant with ancillary offices and stations across galaxy, Starfleet Dental serves its members and the public by managing key oral health issues and by coordinating dental health awareness programs across the galaxy.
And it’s at this point that you know you’ve been had. It actually appears to be some kind of shill site for the new Star Wars game from LucasArts, currently in beta and costing over $100 million dollars to produce.
But they have a great machinema music video they did using SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic). It’s not science fiction music, so it won’t end up on the Krypton Radio playlist, but what they did with the SWTOR engine was so cool that we couldn’t let this one go by without sharing it with you.
Enjoy.
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- Game Review - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim November 28, 2011
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks Genre: Open-world RPG Rating: Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol Game review by Wade Manns Reprinted by permission from eCorsair.com
Bethesda's SkyRim is the most impressive, immersive open world RPG to date, building powerfully on the previous Elder Scrolls titles. Bethedsa says they shipped seven million copies worldwide on the game's launch. Half of the game's "launch units" were sold in the first 48 hours and the studio says it is swamped for large reorders. Skyrim set a record on Steam with more than 280,000 concurrent players.
It’s here! The most eagerly-anticipated RPG for many followers of the epic Elder Scrolls series has arrived. Is it worth the hype and all the positive feedback? Oh, yes, it certainly is!
Like all other games in the series, you begin by creating your character from one of ten races, either male or female, and you can also fine-tune their facial and body appearance for even more customization! This is one of those games that let you truly own your experience; more on that later.
In the fantastical realm of Tamriel, in the snowy lands of the province of Skyrim, two hundred years after the last of the Septim emperors was lost, you’re a prisoner accused of collaborating with a dissident faction which threatens to rip Skyrim apart. You’re moments from your execution when—A dragon! Roaring out of the sky, blasting the little village to dust and cinder, Alduin, the Nordic aspect of the Aedra (ancient god) Akatosh, is back to devour the world, or so ancient Nord prophecies foretell. You are a very rare breed, the Dragonborn, or Dovahkiin, the similarly prophesied hero. You have the power to collect the souls of dragons throughout the land and power your Shout ability; this is an innate magic power that allows you to alter reality with your voice!
It’s certainly something to be able to bowl people over by simply shouting an arcane word at them, but of course more power exists that lies in wait for you to find. Simply penetrate to the core of a number of the many lavishly detailed, very beautiful dungeons littered throughout the land, and absorb the Word of Power that glows on the wall before you; then, with a collected dragon soul, you may equip it and partake in a little of its power! You must, however, find all the words in a set before the Words unlock their full potential…
The journey to become strong enough to defeat Alduin is a long one, but it’s far from dull. Every corner hides another mine, cavern, shack or small village that has secrets to be revealed. And the nine grand holds throughout the land (Whiterun, Winterhold, Solitude and Riften are four of them) serve as the cities from which you’ll do most of your questing.
There have been some changes to the previous Elder Scrolls formulae, including the fact that there are no major or minor skills anymore, and each leveled skill contributes to level up. Each level gained confers an increase to your choice of Health, Magicka (magic energy) or Stamina, as well as a perk (or special ability) that can be assigned to any skill you desire. This results in a more free-form character development experience, as opposed to previous games where you pretty much had to specialize.
It also may take some getting used to the interface: a button press leads you to a compass-style screen with your Skills, Magic, Map and Items arranged around it; you hold a direction to go into the desired screen. This appears to be a concession to console gamers, but I found it easy enough to get used to after a while. The PC version has some unbindable keys in inventory and conversation modes at this writing, requiring you to use the defaults which may be in awkward positions, but again, you can get used to that.
One of the potentially tedious things about the game is that it takes a long time to level up – but this seems to be more about the pacing of the game and how many hours you’re likely to pour into it. It’s not a fast blast through the experience meter by any means. You’re better off not worrying about that, and just deal with things as they come up.
Be warned: This world is incredibly deep and enthralling, and a little knowledge of past Elder Scrolls events will do you good, but is not necessary. That being said, I am seven hours into the game and am only at the fourth phase (of very many) of the main quest; expect to spend upwards of a hundred hours (and many more!) trying to find everything, if Oblivion and Fallout 3 were any indication. But like those previous Bethesda titles, this is an incredibly detailed and beautiful game, and I most definitely recommend it to everyone who can deal with the mature subject matter that these types of games have come to exhibit. Five out of five!
There are already bugfixes out for the PS3 version of the game, with X-Box 360 and PC patches on the way.
- 30 - About the Author
Krypton Radio game reviewer Wade Manns
Wade Manns is currently finishing his General Associate of Arts with a major in Journalism. In addition to his work for Krypton Radio, he also writes and edits for the Corsair, the student-run paper at Pensacola State College. His passion is video games, but he also likes reading science fiction, spending time with friends and engaging in social networking.
Links
- The official Elder Scrolls: SkyRim web site
- PC Gamer – 20 Best SkyRim Mods So Far
- Andrea’s Blog – Home of “Alchemy Helper”
- BnB Gaming – Little Details of Skyrim
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- Announcing Our New Listen Page! November 12, 2011
You can say goodbye to our racoon’s-backside ugly player page – you know the one you used to click to listen to us on the web and nobody could figure out?Yah. That one.
We have a brand new listen page now, and it’s bright and clear, easy to use and just plain works – and you can pick what you want to use to listen in, too. You can stream right from the web page if a browser is all you have. Otherwise, you can select Windows Media Player, iTunes, WinAmp, or RealPlayer and get that great Krypton Radio music directly into your aural canals where it belongs.
Krypton Radio – it’s superhearing for your secret identity.
Ssh. Pass it on.
No, really. Tell your friends.
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- Game Review: Travian 4, the Online Multiplayer Game October 14, 2011
By Menedemus
Travian - a capitol village...
Let me tell you about a game I discovered two years ago: Travian. It’s a cool strategy game, like Risk, or Axis & Allies. It does take longer to play – sometimes as much as a year. You play it on the Internet, along with other players, just like World of Warcraft, or Second Life.
In Travian, there is nothing to download. It’s a massively multiplayer browser based game. Once you sign up, you’re ready to play (it’s possible to play Travian and Second Life at the same time). Travian is missing the dimension of sound, that’s one of the reasons why. You don’t hear swords clashing, or trumpets blowing.
Travian is a strategy game of resources and combat – you will first build a village, and then build troops to defend it. After that, you can raid other peoples villages. Later you can build more villages and expand your empire.
How to Start
First go to travian.com and sign up. Select what country’s server you want to play.
Travian is in several different languages, so if you Speak Arabic, or another language, then you can choose the language, or country that would best suit you. I always choose the U.S. server.The Tribes
Next pick your Travian name, and the tribe you want. You have three choices: Romans, Teuton, and Gauls.
Romans
Romans are great at both offense and defense. They can also build two things
at a time, and they can build outside of the village, and inside the village at the same time – so they can upgrade a resource field and a building simultaneously. Now the down side to being a Roman: Roman troops take more resources to make, and they take longer.Teutons
Teutons are great offensively. They can also reach inside of crannies, and get 1/5 of resources that they are hiding. Teuton troops are also cheap, and don’t take long to make. The best Teuton tactic is to make lots and lots of troops. Some players make more troops than they can feed, so they have to raid other villages over and over.
Now the down side to being a Teuton – while Teutons are great at attacking, they are not very good at defending. They also can build, but only one thing at a time. So if a Teuton player is upgrading a resource field, then he can’t build any thing in the village until the resource field is finished.
Gauls
Gauls are great at defense, and can build a trap device that can trap troops that are attacking or raiding. Their crannies can also hide more resources. Gauls also have the most fastest troops. The fastest Gaul troop, the Theutates Thunder, can travel at 19 fields an hour. With a level 20 tournament square, the Theutates Thunder can travel any where on the map in five hours.
The down side to being a Gaul is that they’re not very good at attack, though there are players with Gaul hammers, just as there are players that have Teuton anvils. Gauls are also slow builders, and can only build one thing at a time. Just like the Teutons.
The Servers
Server speed counts. A game on a regular server will last for about 11 months. On a speedier server, about three to four months.
After you have picked your server, you then pick which quadrant you want to be in, the southeast, southwest, northeast, or the northwest.
Your First Village
When you start out, you will have a village with a population of two . You will only have one building in your village. That building is the main building where the architects of your village live.
Your first task is to upgrade the resource fields, and the main building.
There are four different resources. Wood, clay, iron, and wheat.
If you start playing Travian on the first day that the server starts, then you
will have three days of beginners protection. In Travian, it is called BP.
That means that for three days, nobody can attack or raid you.So, you need to build a cranny early on. Crannies help protect your resources.
If a player has no crannies, and they get raided, then they will lose all of their resources. At level 10, a cranny will hide 1,000 of each resources,(Gauls 2,000).
While you have BP, you can raid other players. As long as they don’t have BP, then you can raid them.Once you have a level three main building, warehouse, and a granary, you can then build the market place. If you have a level three main building, and a rally point, you can then build a barracks. With a barracks, you can start making troops.
Once you have two or more troops, then you can start raiding. If you prefer to build an army and do lots of raiding, or attacking, then you might want to build the barracks first, and the market place later.
Some players prefer to build pretty villages and concentrate on commerce. In Travian, these players are called “simmers”, and are good for raiding since most of these will have few, or no troops.
Sending Out Troops
First click on the village you want to attack. Next, click on the “send troops” button. You’ll see three options:
- Reinf. – Send reinforcements
- Attack - Normal Attack
- Attack: Raid
If it’s just a raid, then you choose the third option. You choose option number two if you want to send catapults, if you have troops trapped in a Gauls trapper, or if you want to kill all the troops in a village.
Also, if you want to chief a village, then you will have to send an attack, and destroy the residence. You can’t chief a capital, or an only village. So if a player has one village, that village can’t be chiefed. It can be reduced to zero, but not wiped off the map.
To chief a village, you will need one of these troop types.
- Roman= Senator
- Teutons= Chieftain
- Gauls= Chief
To build any of the three troop types will take lots of resources. The first time I made a senator, I had four villages. I made three senators, and it took lots of resources, and it was hard. With 12 villages this round, I’m making 5 senators, and it is easier.
You can send raids, or attacks on other villages any time of the day, but your village isn’t exempt from attack either – so you should build crannies, and keep your troops out of the village. If they stay in the village, they’ll likely get killed. Later on, when your troop count is more substantial it’s safer to leave them in the village. Also, keeping troops in your village is like keeping your money under the mattress. If you are going to be offline for eight hours, then send them out for four hours.
That would be four hours out, and four hours back. The one exception is scouts. You should try to have at least one, or more scouts in your village. You will need scouts in your village, so that if your village is scouted, you will know about it. Also your scouts will help kill the other persons scouts. So if you have 10 scouts in your village, and someone send five scouts, to scout your village, then all five scouts will die. The person that scouted your village will not find out anything.
Later in the game, you should have at 20, or more scouts in your village. If you have just one scout in your village, and somebody scouts you with 200 scouts, then you won’t know that your village was scouted.
When sending out an attack, or raid, be sure to send out at least two or more troops. If you send out just one it’ll get creamed. Also, the first villages that you raid should have a population that is less than 10. Villages larger than that might have at least one troop. That one troop is going to be a rat. The rat is sent to a player, after they have completed a quest. The quests are for new players. People that have played before can also do the quests. Each quest, will tell you what to build, and in what order.
Don’t be a farm
A player that gets raided over and over and is losing resources is called a farm. At any given time, I might have about 20 raids going out. In my two years of playing Travian, I have farmed several players. Most of the players are no longer active, or they might play once a day. To play Travian, you need to be able to login at least twice a day. If not, then you’ll end up being a farm yourself. While you can have only one account on each server(multiple accounts will get you banned), several people can share the same account. These are called dual accounts. Most duals are made up of two people, but some can be as many as four, or more. Dual accounts grow very fast, and tend to have the largest amount of troops. Travian can be played on a Smartphone, or on an Iphone. Many people that play Travian, will check in from work on their Smartphone, so that helps with the problem.
Another way, to not being a farm is to have a sitter. A sitter can check in on your account, and build for you, and send your troops out. You can tell your sitter what you would like built. You can have up to two sitters, and sit for two other players. It is best that your sitters live in different time zones, and that your sitters come from the same alliance as yours. A sitter can send out raids, but not attacks.
Alliances
In order to succeed in Travian, you will need to join an alliance. Being in one lets you ask for reinforcements if you need them. Other players will send troops to your village, and help you to defend your village. It works offensively too – many players in an alliance can team up and attack other alliances. It is hard for a player to without being in an alliance. Players that aren’t in alliance are routinely raided by just about anyone.
To join an alliance, you will need an embassy at level one. If you wish to start your own alliance, you will need an embassy at level three. At level three, you can have nine players in your alliance. Each additional level you can have three more members, and at level 20, you can have 60 members.
Now what if you wish to have more than 60 members? Then what you do then is you have wings. I have seen alliances that had four, or more wings. Some alliances have taken up a whole quad. That is the goal that an alliance should try to meet before end game.
End Game
Now we get to what is called end game. There is a fourth race, called the Natars. The Natars are an NPC (“non-player character”) race. If you are playing Travian 3.5, then the Natars will spawn about three months after the server starts. These villages are called artifacts. You will need a treasure chamber at level 10 to house a small artifact, and a level 20 treasure chamber to house a large artifact.
Different artifacts can do different things. Some can make you troops go fast, spies stronger, or lets you build the great warehouse, or a great grainary. To get an artifact, you will need to send a hero. A hero is a regular troop that has been trained in the hero’s mansion. If your hero dies, he can be revived. You will need to destroy a treasure chamber in order to get the artifact.
About 10 months after the server starts, some more Natar villages will spawn. These villages are called World Wonder villages. In these villages are built the World Wonder,( or some times called WW). There are about 13 of these. Each alliance will try to chief one, or more WW villages. The WW villages that an alliance will chief, is going to be in the same quad that the alliance is located. So if an alliance is located in the SE, then it will chief a WW village in the SE. The first alliance to get their WW to level 100 wins.
An alliance’s WW village is just bound to be attacked. (You saw that one coming, didn’t you?) To defend a WW takes lots of troops. No one person, or alliance wing can build a WW – it takes several players in more than one wing to build and defend one. I have seen some WW villages being defended by as many as 5 million troops, coming from several players. Some players will send as many as 50,000 troops or more. Naturally, they’ll all need to be fed. Each player that has troops in a WW village will have to send wheat. There’s no limit to how much resources you can send to a WW village.Problems, and Rules
The amount of lag is about the same as you will find going to a website. You don’t need broadband – if you haven’t got it, it still works fine. I’ve known many people that play Travian using dial-up.
They’re pretty strict about language; when sending somebody a message, don’t cuss, or send any offensive language. You can get in trouble and get banned. You also can’t name your village after a swear word or use it to insult or defame someone. The Multi Hunter can change the name of your village. I have seen some peoples village name changed to Fluffy Bunny Colony. Since the company is located in Germany, you can’t name your village after Hitler, or send that word in a message to somebody.
Now lets get to sending resources. There used to be pushing rules. At one time, you could only send some one, one hour of production a day. If you sent too much, then you got banned. Now it’s built in and you can send up to 14 hours a week. Once you have reached that limit, then you won’t be able to send any more resources for one week.
So that is about all I will tell you about Travian. If you wish to know more, then I would suggest that you play the game. The game is free, unless you wish to buy gold – and that’s how they make their money running it. It’s playable and enjoyable without having to do that. Try it and find out for yourself!
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- Portal Fan Film "No Escape" Amazes August 28, 2011
Krypton Radio Newswire
We’ve seen a lot of fan films, but this one is truly impressive.
In director Dan Trachtenberg’s Portal: No Escape, Danielle Rayne plays a prisoner who comes into possession of one of the game’s portal-producing guns, and attempts to make her escape from the mysterious facility holding her captive.
Trachtenburg is a commercial director and the co-host of weekly online video series “The Totally Rad Show,” and also directed the short horror film “More Than You Can Chew” before taking on Portal. Portal: No Escape premiered during this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego, and received a standing ovation from the audience.
Have a look at this one – it’s deliciously portally.
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- Weekly Artist Spotlight: HOLY SEQUELS, BATMAN! July 29, 2011
It’s time again for another Friday edition of Weekly Artist Spotlight! First off a quick apology for our Monday edition not getting to press, every so often that wacky thing called life comes knocking, and we got a little sidetracked. So to make up for that, we’re doing a Special Edition feature today and we’re going to overdose a bit on everyone’s favorite brooding ,cave-dwelling billionaire, Bruce Wayne aka BATMAN!
Batman: City of Scars
Let’s start off with Bat in the Sun Productions, these folks have produced what has to be one of the most incredibly well made fan scripts for the Batman storyline. Not only did they write their own script, they’ve created a few extremely high-quality half-hour long dramas that could rival that of many major television networks.From the BITS site:
Bat in the Sun Productions is a self-contained film and music production company. We are based in the Los Angeles area, 10 miles north of Hollywood California in the city of Calabasas. The Company began in 2001 and was founded by both Aaron Schoenke and Sean Schoecnke, the work of BITS has collected many film festival awards and has received notable attention from the film industry as well as a loyal fan base.
Follow BITS at: http://www.batinthesun.com
Batman: Arkham City
After watching the exciting adventures of Batman, your inner Superhero nerd is probably jonesing for some interactive action with the caped crusader. So we’ll follow BITS up with Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to the hugely successful Batman Arkham Asylum videogame. Batman: Arkham City will be released on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on October 18, 2011.
From Wikipdia:
The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum.[10] Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to detain inmates, Sharp buys out a large section of Gotham’s slums and arms the perimeter with private military contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create “Arkham City”. The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as long as they do not attempt escape. To oversee the city, Sharp hires psychiatrist Hugo Strange who appears to have his own secret agenda for the city. Batman maintains a vigil over the city, worried that the situation may get out of hand.[4] Part of the setup for “Arkham City” was contained in plans in a hidden room in Sharp’s office in Arkham Asylum.[11]
The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, seeking to gain notoriety among the inmates and other villains outside the city, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman. Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering Arkham City.[4] Catwoman takes advantage of the chaos in Arkham City to acquire jewelry.[12]
A teaser trailer was released that featured Joker being nursed by Harley Quinn from the effects of the Titan formula (and the explosive gel punch from Batman) while Gotham descends into chaos.[13] The sequel was described by veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy as “really, really dark”. While relating the game’s dark nature to the animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Conroy also said, “It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area – it’s that dark.
Get the latest on Batman: Arkham City at: http://www.batmanarkhamcity.com
The Batmobile!
Great shows and what looks like a video game that will keep your inner Bat-geek happy for many hours to come, now we hit you with a video that will make you drool with envy. Even if you’re not that big of a Batman fan, car lovers will be on their knees begging to drive this beauty.
From their YouTube site:
This is the only Bat car created that makes fiction reality. It is powered by a military spec turboshaft engine driving the rear wheels through a semi automatic gearbox. It features a custom tube frame/monocoque chassis with fully independent suspension, disc brakes, and a sequential shifter. It runs on kerosene, diesel, or Jet fuel and has a power to weight ratio comparable to a Dodge Viper. The car is registered and insured for the road in the United States. Built in 2011 by Casey Putsch. Casey Putsch has the Putsch Racing facility.
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Coming this summer…
http://www.thedarknightrises.com Weekly Artist Spotlight, is Krypton Radio’s bi-weekly feature, to help raise awareness of the artists who you may not have heard about through mainstream media. All content used in Weekly Artist Spotlight, is used from publicly available sources, and is used solely to promote the artists we spotlight.
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- The Game Traveller Reviews "Lord of the Rings Online" July 15, 2011
Elf Country - a screenshot from Lord of the Rings Online
by Jeremiah C.
Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is a fantasy MMORPG from Turbine, Inc. and Midway Games Codemasters.
I’ve taken my sweet time getting to my latest review. And it’s not for nothing.
This is the first real entry of what is arguably one of the most popular fantasy series of the past century. Based first on a series of stories from J.R.R. Tolkien and then more recently on a series of movies directed by Peter Jackson, which kicked off an entirely new level of interest both in the fantasy genre itself, and in the world of Middle Earth, from video games and re-printings of the books to new versions of the table-top RPG.
As a fan of both the old tabletop RPG as well as the movies themselves, I found myself looking at the company that produced this and trying not to simply bang my head into a wall. God no, I didn’t want this to be another clog in the toilet! It took everything short of a hand grenade to get Dungeons and Dragons Online out of there!
The download for this game is massive. I mean MASSIVE. The SMALL download was 9GB. I’m old enough to remember when that was the size of your whole bloody hard drive! The large version ranges from 11GB-13GB depending on which you want. I went out of my way to find a copy that was NOT downloaded from Turbine’s servers (Yes, that’s a good idea, put a file in one piece and force your fans to download it at near-dialup speeds. Brilliant!) be it a torrent or simply a hosted file on a gaming site somewhere else.
The Town of Bree - screenshot from Lord of the Rings Online
Once I had it downloaded – the install process began. And for this one, I suggest getting a copy of the movies and sitting down to watch. It’s a ridiculously slow installation, even on a computer with 4 CPUs and a pile of RAM.
A meal and a few thousand unblinking stares from Elijah Wood, and we’re installed. A few laughs and some Orcs running across a field, and the patching is done too. I went out of my way to get the largest download, the size justified by very high resolution files, which were of a formidable size.
So it began – the character building software was very good, easy to use – with a neat little video for each race and each of the various classes. There are four available races for free players – Human, Elf, Dwarf and Hobbit – with the classes available varying between them.
Hobbits make good sneak-attackers and poor tanks, Dwarves make good tanks and front line fighters, Elves make excellent support characters and spellcasters, while also making formidable ranged attackers and front-row fighters. Humans are soft of a balance between the others,
not really having advantage or disadvantage.On to the game – Elves and Dwarves begin in the mountains, Humans and Hobbits in Bree-land and the Shire. I can’t emphasize enough, just how
gorgeous the world actually is! Not the same scrub and trees everywhere, but a whole world, hills to mountains and everything in between – all in full color, using a great palette of colors. Holy crap! You can even find Tom Bombadil! You know, that laughing lunatic from the books that didn’t make it into either the radio show, or the animated movie, or Peter Jackson’s movies?Gorgeous textures, very good gameplay, and all the characters from the books?
Brilliant!
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- Online Gamers Seize Freedom! July 2, 2011
Krypton Radio Newswire
Though in this case that means freedom from those monthly bills just for connecting. Major publishers must all be taking notes from one another, because three major titles all went to a free-to-play model within about the last week, with a fourth having build the “free to play” idea in from the beginning.
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Valve Software has just announced its new free to play offering, Team Fortress 2. Initially it was going to be free to play for its first week in the middle of last month, but has recently announced that the game will be free to play forever. Now even people on a budget can join their buddies on line and whip the tar out of who ever the other team is this evening. Instead of selling memberships, Valve plans to make its money selling items in-game that make the game more pleasurable or enjoyable.
Team Fortress 2 is available right now (for free) for PC and Mac, via Steam.
World of Warcraft
Not to be left out of the party, Blizzard Entertainment lets you play for World of Warcraft for free. Blizzard’s calling this the World of Warcraft Starter Edition, and it includes some of the content from the first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade. You can now play WoW for free – until you hit Level 20. After that, you’ll need the Worlds of Warcraft Battle Chest, which will run you about $20.
Guildwars
Guildwars from Aranet is still running, and was the first in our four games to feature free trial play. A Dungeons and Dragons style gaming environment, it features that traditional hack and slash gameplay that was more novel when it was first introduced following the initial success of Everquest, in 2003. The longevity of this MMO speaks to its satisfying game play and solid design.
Age of Conan
Age of Conan
Nobody thought Age of Conan was going to do very much when it debuted in 2008 despite its sumptuous graphics and rich story interaction, but it has grown into a gamer’s favorite in the past three years. Originally titled Age of Conan: Unrated, the F2P version of the game is now titled Age of Conan: Unchained. The free to play version gives you access to the lands from the original game (Aquilonia, Cimmeria, and Stygia), four classes (Barbarian, Demonologist, Guardian, and Priest of Mitra), two character slots, and access to on-premium dungeons. Most of the Rise of the Godslayer content is reserved for paying players as is the AA system, offline levels, and veteran points, but you can now get some practice with that big broadsword you keep in your closet for free. Just try not to hit the furniture.
Battlestar Galactica Online
This is unlike the other three games in two ways: first, you play it right from your web browser, but don’t let this put you off – it’s a fully realized 3D fighter combat simulation. And second, it was designed from the ground up to be free to play, and like Team Fortress 2, the creators plan to make their money from the in-game sales of equipment and upgrades. It’s fast and responsive – and if you don’t mind the slow grind to earn your goodies the hard way instead of just paying for them, you can play for free pretty much indefinitely. You don’t get to pilot the Galactica though – so if you were hoping for that, sorry, but Commander Adama’s job is taken.
This Battlestar Galactica game is not the first game based on the popular franchise ever to see the light of day. Sierra Online produced a Windows game after many years of false starts, to release it at last in 2008.
Freedom!
Gamers rejoice – you now how quite a variety of choices for online gaming you don’t actually have to pay for, and the list of titles is increasing all the time. Try ‘em out – let us know how it goes.
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Links
- Blizzard Entertainment – World of Warcraft Starter Edition
- Guildwars
- Age of Conan
- Battlestar Galactica Online
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- The Game Traveller Reviews "Knights Online" June 10, 2011
Jeremiah C. reviews "Knight Online", a fantasy MMORPG offering from GamersFirst.
Moradon City, from GamersFirst's "Knights Online"
Where do I start with this thing?
Knights Online is a 3D fantasy MMORPG set in the middle ages. The back story is long and rambling, and if there were any central characters that didn’t classify as sentient forces of nature, it might have been an interesting read.The graphics engine is competent, though not astonishing, and it’s the same one used in about a half dozen of GamersFirst offerings, all downloadable from the same web site.
You start off having to find the server that works best and has the fewest crowding of random spam – ah, I mean players. You have to choose your faction, right at the beginning. You must choose between Dated Graphics Floaty Red Crystal Bighead Faction, or Human-y Townlamp Slightly Okay Faction. And if you want to change factions, or even create a character in the other faction, you must delete ALL characters in the original faction.
The game has the four boring stereotypical hey-we’re-crappier-than-D&D classes, Warriors, Magicians, Priests, and the Slightly-More-Squishy-Than-Warriors-But-Stabbier Rogues. The Townlamp Faction has three “races”, one Big Hulking All-Warrior-Grunt-Grunt-Conan Barbarians, Male We’re-Actually-Humans and Female We’re-Actually-Humans. Well, that’s an exciting selection.Big musclehead warriors, or boring humans.
Only the Crystally Bighead Faction, for some reason, allows female characters to be spellcasters, so you’re left with Big Muscleheads, Big Megabrains, or More Boring Humans.
Once you are in the game, there are no tutorials, and no real direction – just a note at the corner of your screen that says “By the way, if you could find this lost kid that we forced you to try to find, despite not telling you where the hell she actually is, or giving you any real clue how to find anything in the game..?” And the tens of thousands of merchant stalls. I’m serious. It is like walking into a farmer’s market, if every farmer from the Western hemisphere decided they were going to dude out in their best suit of armor and stand around with a big sign over their head saying “BUY MY THINGS, EVEN IF I NEVER TELL YOU WHAT THEY ARE!” Never mind that armor would rarely if ever have been worn in a medieval marketplace.
It suffices to say, without any real clue where to go or what to do, I decided to check out that other faction.
But you can’t delete characters without a premium account.
And you can’t log in to any of the other 25 servers without a premium account.
It’s important for a game to put its best foot forward when trying to attract new players, especially for an MMO. “Knights Online” does not satisfy.
Links
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About the Author:Jeremiah C is a player of video games and a traveler of virtual worlds with thirty years of experience. His reviews cover his experiences not only with Massively Multiplayer Online games,but single-player games as well. Visit his blog site,http://gametraveller.blogspot.com/. This review reprinted with permission. Game Traveller can be heard each week in its special segment in Vagabond Carter’s STARK REALITY.
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