Gaming

Facebook Game "Monster Galaxy" Coming To Graphic Novels May 17, 2012
Krypton Radio Newswire

Press Release: San Jose, Calif., Gaia Interactive, the world-class social gaming publisher of Monster Galaxy, recently announced a partnership with Yen Press to bring the epic Monster Galaxy video game franchise to life through a new series of graphic novels. Monster Galaxy readers will experience all new adventures with their favorite characters while exploring new worlds, meeting new characters and discovering never before seen monsters.

Kurt Hassler, Publishing Director at Yen Press, said of the adaptation, “Monster Galaxy is a fantastically addictive game — as evidenced by the fact that I can hardly pry our editorial staff away from it since we began discussions of an adaptation! We look forward working with Gaia to introduce both existing fans and new readers to new stories set within this marvelously engaging world in an entirely new medium.”

Readers will be joining over 25 million other users in experiencing the iconic battles, intriguing characters and fantastical world of Monster Galaxy. More details regarding the Monster Galaxy Graphic Novel will be announced at Comic-Con 2012.

“Expanding the world of Monster Galaxy through graphic novels gives readers the unique opportunity to experience new and exciting adventures including new characters, worlds and monsters while still incorporating classic iconic moments from the games,” said Christopher Castagnetto, Senior Marketing Product Manager at Gaia Interactive.

The Monster Galaxy franchise recently achieved a major milestone, crossing 25 million players worldwide, making it among the most widely recognized brands in online gaming. In addition to the upcoming graphic novel, Gaia has teamed up with Radar Pictures to work on an upcoming Monster Galaxy Live Action Motion Picture. Gaia and Radar have partnered with writer Reinhard Denke to develop a unique, fun and action packed script. The Monster Galaxy Motion Picture promises to deliver Gaia’s unique characters and fantastic world while leveraging Radar Pictures’ vast experience in the movie industry to make the project massively appealing to audiences beyond fans of the game. More details regarding the Monster Galaxy Motion Picture will be announced in 2012.

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Links:
- Monster Galaxy on Facebook
- Monster Galaxy on iPhone
Incoming search terms:
- a diagram panda skeleton
- travian 1000x reporty
- game engine of leon head
- chief travian
UNCHARTED Games Edited To Create Three Motion Pictures April 27, 2012
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by Gene Turnbow
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Uncharted characters Nathan 'Nate' Drake and Elena Fisher

Games and motion pictures have long walked similar paths. Much of the development cycle for a game and for a movie is the same. You need a story; you write a script, you have a cast of characters, a beginning, a middle and and end, just like a movie. You have to create the pieces that will appear on screen (called “assets”) and you have to rig them, paint them and animate them, and a sound track with a soaring musical score and dialog and sound effects. The only part that’s different for a game is – well, that you play it, and there can be multiple paths through the game to get to the end.

The Uncharted series of games from developer Naughty Dog in Santa Monica, California is without doubt one of the most cinematic ever done. This fact was not lost on Sony Pictures who had been working to develop the games into theatrical motion pictures. The last anyone heard of the project was in February of 2012, when director David O. Russell, who had backed out of the project in 2010, was replaced by Neil Burger in February of 2012, and writers Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer began working on the screenplay. The film, “Drake’s Journal”, is still technically “under development”, but a lot of projects never leave development.

One Reddit user identifying himself only as ‘morphinapg’ decided he couldn’t wait for Sony Pictures to get off their collective backsides and did it himself, editing the cutscenes and game play of all three Uncharted games into feature films, using as little actual gameplay footage as he could get away with to stitch the scenes together. The results are very watchable.

The experience of playing these games gives the player the sense that they are the central figure in a sweeping story line, and it’s already a remarkable experience both in terms of gaming and cinema. But if you’re more interested in the story than playing the game, you’ll enjoy watching these. Be warned – they’re full length feature films, each one of them, with the longest of them having a whopping 195 minutes running time.

(Videos after the break)

If Sony creates feature films from these on their own, it wouldn’t be the first time. Konami did it first with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on the PlayStation 2. The special edition of the game came with all the game’s cut scenes edited into a feature film.

Sony’s Uncharted franchise is getting a giant free shot in the arm from these motion pictures – and yes, that’s what they are, despite the venue. They’re motion pictures. We hope Sony recognizes their intrinsic value and lets them remain where they are.

Here’s what morphinapg had to say about his own work:

Considering this is the best game series I’ve ever played, and certainly the most cinematic, I decided to make them into movies. I decided that I would include every cinematic, and link them by the minimum gameplay needed to connect the cinematics without creating any plot holes. Obviously to do this I had to take out certain sections of gameplay, but doing so does not have any effect on story. As I was trying to make these as close to a real movie experience as I could, there were a few guidelines I decided to follow:

1. I would try to remove as many on screen references to this being a game as possible, such as chapter titles and button or new ammo prompts. Some of these would either be impossible or would too much negatively impact the quality of the film, such as the near constant ammo OSD, or the occasional “select” prompt for drake’s journal during puzzles.

2. I would try to include as much of the puzzles, in game cinematics and cinematic gameplay elements as I could. Some areas still needed to be cut to keep the movie flowing properly or, in the case of Uncharted 2 and 3, to keep the run length shorter than it would have been otherwise.

3. I tried to keep as much in game dialogue as I could, as I believe those really help develop the characters. However, as I said, I also had to keep an eye on how much gameplay I was using to make sure it didn’t make things too boring or make the movie too long.

In the end, my goal was to make a movie that would be watchable whether the viewer was a fan of Uncharted or not, and whether the viewer was a video game player or not. My initial reason was to find a way to show the story of these games to people in my family who don’t play video games. I think I succeeded.

Here are the movies for your enjoyment. If you have the tools to do so, you may wish to download them from YouTube so you can play them locally. Putting them on a thumb drive and running them on your big screen TV via your PS3 would absolutely rock.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune – 113 minutes

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 177 minutes

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – 195 minutes

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Incoming search terms:
- a diagram panda skeleton
- travian 1000x reporty
- game engine of leon head
- chief travian
Sony Corporation Files For Patent On Gamers Meeting In Public April 20, 2012
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An Editorial by Managing Editor, Gene Turnbow and Senior Editor, PK
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Could Sony Be Pulling a Fast One On the Patent Office And Its Competitors? We Think So…

This story caused a few choice words to be bandied about the office in regards to Sony and patent trolling, which is all the rage with some corporations these days.

Patent trolling is a term coined in the mid 1990′s, which more commonly refers to companies of any size filing usually very expensive yet frivolous lawsuits against other companies over patent infringement. Normally a company filing a lawsuit for patent infringement is not a big deal, companies have the right to protect their creations, but some companies have gone so far to make this part of their business model. They either look for technology and make some flimsy claim over it for violating one of their patents, or buy up patents in bulk from failing or bankrupt companies and then try to sue others for infringing on the newly purchased patents.

We caught wind of this patent application by Sony regarding online worlds, and our first thought was patent trolling. Back in 2010, Sony filed a patent application for what it calls: COORDINATING REAL-WORLD GATHERINGS TO PROMOTE ONLINE COMMUNITY. This idea is little more than a marketing scheme that involves promising special online and offline rewards for participating in real-world meet ups of users of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs or MMORPGs). If you’ve been using the internet for the past 10 years or more, you’ll know that isn’t the most novel idea. Even before the deluge of online worlds such as World Of Warcraft, Eve Online, Second Life, et cetera, companies have been using websites and other digital promotions to encourage large events that provided awards for participation.

So what is it that Sony is trying to patent, exactly?

Patent abstract:

Coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community, the method including: encouraging participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promoting familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering; and providing online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering. Keywords include socializing in the real world, community building and bridging the gap between the game world and the real world.

After reading over the application itself and doing a little digging on applicable laws, it looks very much as though Sony is trying to file a patent on the method or process of coordinating in-game promotions with real world events and meet-ups. For a patent to be valid, it has to describe either a machine, or a transformative process. Sony’s application does neither. They do seem to be trying to imply that user’s computers qualify as the “machine” part, because the whole patent is about offline interactions with online games. We think this won’t fly, and here’s why:

What if the entire game were played by mail? There once were (and still are) play-by-mail games, and until the advent of the internet, some were very popular indeed. If one staged real world meet-ups of participants in play by mail games, and offered prizes for participation, you would have essentially the same process as described in the Sony application, but without any machines at all. It would still work. Therefore, the fact that the game requires technologically based tools is not relevant to the concept described in the patent application itself – and that means there’s no “machine” in the concept.

What about being transformative? Unless you count player dollars being “transformed” into Sony dollars, what transformation is taking place? We can’t figure this one out. Can you?

And the last reason we think this stinks and that it is nothing more than patent trolling is that there’s a ton of prior art. One word: BlizzCon. So what is Sony trying to pull here?

We think it’s something called “a fast one”.

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Links
- The Sony patent application
- United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Ruling on Marketing and Patents
- “Signals” Not Patentable Subject Matter
Text of Patent Application: (Due to warnings on the Patent Office’s website of bandwidth restrictions, we’re going to post the text of the patent in the article)

United States Patent Application 20120094763

Kind Code A1

Khan; Mohammed April 19, 2012

COORDINATING REAL-WORLD GATHERINGS TO PROMOTE ONLINE COMMUNITY

AbstractCoordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community, the method including: encouraging participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promoting familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering; and providing online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering. Keywords include socializing in the real world, community building and bridging the gap between the game world and the real world.

Inventors: Khan; Mohammed; (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA INC.
Foster City
CA

Serial No.: 904077

Series Code: 12

Filed: October 13, 2010

Current U.S. Class: 463/42

Class at Publication: 463/42

International Class: A63F 9/24 20060101 A63F009/24

Claims

1. A method of coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community, the method comprising: encouraging participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promoting familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering; and providing online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the online community is a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and the participants are players of the MMOG.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the incentives include allowing the participants at the real-world gathering to form a clan within the online community.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising encouraging the participants to physically participate in a social interaction with other participants at the real-world gathering, wherein the social interaction includes a game to introduce each other.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the participants can physically participate in the social interaction using a mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the game includes an assignment to find a certain number of different character types of an online community at the real-world gathering.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein a reward for those participants physically participating in the social interaction includes a power up buff in the online community.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: enabling online participants of an online community to track the real-world gatherings on a map; and allowing the online participants to send and receive messages or tips to and from the participants at the real-world gatherings.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the participants can participate in the real-world gathering using a mobile device; and allowing the participants to provide the positional data of the gatherings and the participants to the online participants.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising leveraging a current game network system to: allow the online participants to monitor the real-world gathering; and allow communications between the participants at the real-world gathering and the online participants.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering are provided from data collected within the online community by a promoter.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: encouraging online participants of an online community to organize and host the real-world gathering by providing additional perks or points based on a number of people who participate in the real-world gathering.

13. A non-transitory tangible storage medium storing a computer program for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community, the computer program comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to: encourage participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promote familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering through a mobile device used by each participant; and provide online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering.

14. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 13, wherein the online community is a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and the participants are players of the MMOG.

15. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 13, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to communicate with the mobile device to encourage the participants to physically participate in a social interaction with other participants at the real-world gathering.

16. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 15, wherein the social interaction includes an assignment to find a certain number of different character types of an online community at the real-world gathering.

17. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 16, wherein a reward for those participants physically participating in the social interaction includes a power up buff in the online community.

18. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 13, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to: enable online participants of an online community to track the real-world gatherings on a map; and allow the online participants to send and receive messages or tips to and from the participants at the real-world gatherings.

19. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 18, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to leverage a current game network system to: allow the online participants to monitor the real-world gathering; and allow communications between the participants at the real-world gathering and the online participants.

20. The non-transitory tangible storage medium of claim 13, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to encourage online participants of au online community to organize and host the real-world gathering by providing additional perks or points based on a number of people who participate in the real-world gathering.

Description

BACKGROUND

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to promoting social interaction, and more specifically, to coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community.

[0003] 2. Background

[0004] The Internet influences our lives to cause tremendous changes in our behavior. For example, online social networks have become the new meeting grounds and have caused many aspects of our everyday lives to change. The Internet is providing instant access to people of similar mindsets, and is enabling us to form partnerships with more people in more ways than ever before.

SUMMARY

[0005] The present invention provides for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community.

[0006] In one implementation, a method of coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community is disclosed. The method includes: encouraging participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promoting familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering; and providing online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering.

[0007] In another implementation, a non-transitory tangible storage medium storing a computer program for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community is disclosed. The computer program includes executable instructions that cause a computer to: encourage participants of the online community to participate in a real-world gathering by providing incentives for the participants; promote familiarity among the participants by providing and introducing online community titles of the participants at the real-world gathering through a mobile device used by each participant; and provide online benefits or rewards to the participants for participating in the real-world gathering.

[0008] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a process for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community in accordance with one implementation of the present invention.

[0010] FIG. 2A shows a detailed description of the benefit/reward for the participant who checks in at the real-world gathering.

[0011] FIG. 2B shows a detailed description of the reward for the participants who play a game at the real-world gathering.

[0012] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community in accordance with one implementation of the present invention.

[0013] FIG. 4A illustrates a representation of a computer system and a user.

[0014] FIG. 4B is a functional block diagram illustrating the computer system hosting the event coordinator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Certain implementations as disclosed herein provide for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community including massively multiplayer online games (MMOG). In one implementation, a system can be created which allows players to organize or attend local rally points or gatherings for online players who live in a certain area. The players can be provided with incentives to host and join these gatherings using in-game rewards. After reading this description it will become apparent how to implement the invention in various implementations and applications. However, although various implementations of the present invention will be described herein, it is understood that these implementations are presented by way of example only, and not limitation. As such, this detailed description of various implementations should not be construed to limit the scope or breadth of the present invention.

[0016] The game providers are always working to expand the user community of their online games because a strong community leads to increased customers for downloadable contents provided or promoted by the game providers, franchise loyalty, and a rich user experience of their online games. However, making friends through traditional online games is currently limited to people already known to the player in the real world and a few strangers online. This is because it is difficult to form deep connections online with strangers due to anonymity and the lack of real-world connection.

[0017] In one implementation, coordinating a real-world gathering involves encouraging players of online game(s) to come to the real-world gathering, and promoting familiarity among the players by introducing titles, characters, and/or guild memberships of the players within the common online game(s) at the real-world gathering. For example, a promoter (e.g., a game service provider) can use the data collected within the online game(s) to introduce a player by identifying an online character of the player using communications with a mobile device carried by each player. Although the participants at the real-world gatherings are referred to as “players,” they can be users, consumers, or participants of online social networks other than games.

[0018] In another implementation, each player checks in at the real-world gathering and obtains some benefit within online game(s) as a reward. The reward can be tied to a specific online game action, such as forming a clan with other players who were at the real-world gathering. Thus, the player can organize and host event(s) and gain additional perks or points based on the number of people who participate in the event(s). This type of reward system promotes growth in size and interest of the online community and enables expansion of social networking to the real-world. That is, when the players are able to network and meet other players in person and actually become real-world friends, the game will be a common bond and the friendship will increase the loyalty of the players to the online community as well.

[0019] In yet another implementation, GPS enabled mini-games can be created for the mobile devices used by the players at the real-world gathering. In one example, once the players are in a same location of the real-world gathering, they are encouraged through the mobile device to find a certain number of different character types (e.g., find all the craft guilders who are at the real-world gathering) within the common online game(s). The game provider can reward those players who accept the assignment (of finding online character types at the real-world gathering) by rewarding them, for example, with a power up buff in the online game. This will encourage the players at the real-world gathering to mingle and meet other players of the online game.

[0020] In another example, players playing games at home are encouraged to track gatherings on a map and to send/receive messages/tips to and from the players at the gatherings. Mobile devices with GPS and 3-G functionality can be used by the players at the gatherings to communicate with a server side service that tracks the locations and details of the gathering and provide the positional data of the gatherings and the players. The current game network system (e.g., PlayStation Network System) can be leveraged to allow communications between the players playing the game at home and the players at the real-world gathering.

[0021] In yet another example, a group of players attending a real-world gathering can be encouraged to play a game in the real-world at the gathering or event. The game to be played can be based on similar actions or occurrences as those in an online game. Thus, a player can play out the virtual game in the real-world by teaming up with other players who are in the same team in the online game. In a slight variation, the real-world interactions at a gathering can be tied back into the online game in which players at home can join.

[0022] FIG. 1 is a flowchart 100 illustrating a process for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community in accordance with one implementation of the present invention. The process for coordinating a real-world gathering involves encouraging online participants such as players of online game(s) to come to the real-world gathering by providing incentives, at box 110, for the online participants to participate. At box 120, familiarity is promoted among online participants by providing and introducing titles, characters, and/or guild memberships of other participants (e.g., players within common online game(s)) at the real-world gathering. For example, a promoter (e.g., a game service provider) can use the data collected within the online game(s) to introduce the participant/player by identifying an online character of the participant/player using communications with a mobile device carried by each participant/player.

[0023] At the real-world gathering, each participant checks in, at box 130, to obtain some online benefits or rewards, at box 140. The reward can be tied to a specific online game action, such as forming a clan with other players who were at the real-world gathering. Thus, the participant can organize and host event(s) and gain additional perks or points based on the number of people who participate in the event(s). This type of reward system promotes growth in size and interest of the online community and enables expansion of social networking to the real-world. That is, when the participants are able to network and meet other participants in person and actually become real-world friends, the game will be a common bond and the friendship will increase the loyalty of the participants to the online community as well.

[0024] At the real-world gathering, the participants are encouraged to join and play games or other social interactions with other participants physically participating at the gathering or online at home, at box 150. The games or social interactions can be created for mobile devices used by the participants at the real-world gathering. In one example, once the participants are in a same location of the real-world gathering, they are encouraged through the mobile device to find a certain number of different character types (e.g., find all the craft guilders who are at the real-world gathering within common online game(s)) of an online community. The game provider can reward those participants who accept the assignment (of finding online character types at the real-world gathering) by rewarding them, for example, with a power up buff in the online community. This will encourage the participants at the real-world gathering to mingle and meet other participants from the online community.

[0025] Further, at box 160, participants participating in an online community at home are enabled to track the real-world gatherings on a map and to send/receive messages/tips to and from the participants at the gatherings. Mobile devices with GPS and 3-G functionality can be used by the participants at the gatherings to communicate with a server side service that tracks the locations and details of the gathering and provide the positional data of the gatherings and the participants. The current game network system (e.g., PlayStation Network System) can be leveraged to allow communications between the participants playing the game at home and the participants at the real-world gathering.

[0026] FIG. 2A shows a detailed description of the benefit/reward for the participant who checks in at the real-world gathering. In one implementation, shown in box 200, the reward for participating by checking in at the real-world gathering is to allow the participants of the gathering to form a clan within the online community. FIG. 2B shows a detailed description of the reward for the participants who play a game at the real-world gathering. In one implementation, shown in box 210, the reward for the participants who play a game at the real-world gathering is power-up buffs in the online community.

[0027] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system 300 for coordinating real-world gatherings to promote an online community in accordance with one implementation of the present invention. The system 300 for coordinating a real-world gathering includes a game provider/promoter 310, an event server 320, a game server 330, and a plurality of mobile devices 340, 342, 344, 346 representing participants in the gathering. In the system 300, the game provider 310 encourages online participants such as players of online game(s) to come to the real-world gathering by providing incentives for the online participants to participate in the gathering. The event server 320 promotes familiarity among online participants by providing and introducing titles, characters, and/or guild memberships of other participants (e.g., players within common online game(s)) at the real-world gathering. For example, the data collected within online game(s) is used to introduce the participants/players by identifying online characters of the participants/players using communications with mobile devices 340, 342, 344, 346 carried by the participants/players.

[0028] At the real-world gathering, each participant checks in using the mobile device 340, 342, 344, 346 to verify the participant’s presence at the gathering by communicating with the event server 320 through a check-in device physically located at the gathering. In one implementation, the check-in device is configured as yet another mobile device similar to the mobile devices 340, 342, 344, 346. When the mobile device 340, 342, 344, 346 checks in at the gathering, it is allowed to obtain some online benefits or rewards. The reward can be tied to a specific online game action, such as forming a clan with other players who were at the real-world gathering. Thus, the participant can organize and host event(s) and gain additional perks or points based on the number of people who participate in the event(s).

[0029] At the real-world gathering, the participants are encouraged to join and play games or other social interactions with other participants physically participating at the gathering or online at home. The games or social interactions can be created for mobile devices 340, 342, 344, 346 used by the participants at the real-world gathering. In one example, once the participants are in a same location of the real-world gathering, they are encouraged through the mobile device 340, 342, 344, 346 to find a certain number of different character types (e.g., find all the craft guilders who are at the real-world gathering within common online game(s)) of an online community. The game provider 310 can reward those participants who accept the assignment (of finding online character types at the real-world gathering) by rewarding them, for example, with a power up buff in the online community. This will encourage the participants at the real-world gathering to mingle and meet other participants from the online community.

[0030] Further, participants participating in an online community such as an online game tied to the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) server 330 at home are enabled to track the real-world gatherings on a map and to send/receive messages/tips to and from the participants at the gatherings. Mobile devices 340, 342, 344, 346 with GPS and 3-G functionality can be used by the participants at the gatherings to communicate with a server side service 320 that tracks the locations and details of the gathering and provide the positional data of the gatherings and the participants. The current game network system (e.g., PlayStation Network System) can be leveraged to allow communications between the participants playing the game at home and the participants at the real-world gathering.

[0031] FIG. 4A illustrates a representation of a computer system 400 and a user 402. The user 402 uses the computer system 400 to coordinate real-world gatherings to promote an online community. The computer system 400 stores and executes an event coordinator 490.

[0032] FIG. 4B is a functional block diagram illustrating the computer system 400 hosting the event coordinator 490. The controller 410 is a programmable processor and controls the operation of the computer system 400 and its components. The controller 410 loads instructions (e.g., in the form of a computer program) from the memory 420 or an embedded controller memory (not shown) and executes these instructions to control the system. In its execution, the controller 410 provides the event coordinator 490 as a software system. Alternatively, this service can be implemented as separate hardware components in the controller 410 or the computer system 400.

[0033] Memory 420 stores data temporarily for use by the other components of the computer system 400. In one implementation, memory 420 is implemented as RAM. In one implementation, memory 420 also includes long-term or permanent memory, such as flash memory and/or ROM.

[0034] Storage 430 stores data temporarily or long term for use by other components of the computer system 400, such as for storing data used by the event coordinator 490. In one implementation, storage 430 is a hard disk drive.

[0035] The media device 440 receives removable media and reads and/or writes data to the inserted media. In one implementation, for example, the media device 440 is an optical disc drive.

[0036] The user interface 450 includes components for accepting user input from the user of the computer system 400 and presenting information to the user. In one implementation, the user interface 450 includes a keyboard, a mouse, audio speakers, and a display. The controller 410 uses input from the user to adjust the operation of the computer system 400.

[0037] The I/O interface 460 includes one or more I/O ports to connect to corresponding I/O devices, such as external storage or supplemental devices (e.g., a printer or a PDA). In one implementation, the ports of the I/O interface 460 include ports such as: USB ports, PCMCIA ports, serial ports, and/or parallel ports. In another implementation, the I/O interface 460 includes a wireless interface for communication with external devices wirelessly.

[0038] The network interface 470 includes a wired and/or wireless network connection, such as an RJ-45 or “Wi-Fi” interface (including, but not limited to 802.11) supporting an Ethernet connection.

[0039] The computer system 400 includes additional hardware and software typical of computer systems (e.g., power, cooling, operating system), though these components are not specifically shown in FIG. 4B for simplicity. In other implementations, different configurations of the computer system can be used (e.g., different bus or storage configurations or a multi-processor configuration).

[0040] The above description of the disclosed implementations is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. Various modifications to these implementations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles described herein can be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Accordingly, additional implementations and variations are also within the scope of the invention. Further, it is to be understood that the description and drawings presented herein are representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present invention. It is further understood that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other implementations that may become obvious to those skilled in the art and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly limited by nothing other than the appended claims.

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- a diagram panda skeleton
- travian 1000x reporty
- game engine of leon head
- chief travian
Celebrate City of Heroes' 8th Anniversary with a Free Respec! April 20, 2012
City of Heroes is approaching its eighth anniversary, and to help its players celebrate, developer NCSoft is offering a free Respec token to all characters in City of Heroes Freedom on April 24th, 2012. The token doesn’t stack with previous free Respec tokens you might have piled up, so if you’re on the fence about using one, now’s your chance. You won’t get another one until you’ve used the one you have.

City of Heroes is widely regarded as the best superhero MMO, and NCSoft says they have a lot planned for the 8th Anniversary – and like so many MMO’s nowadays, it’s free to play if you want to try it out and get your feet wet before you pay for premium items to make your game play more enjoyable.

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Links
- City of Heroes account creation
- City of Heroes Official Web Site
- City of Heroes Facebook
- City of Heroes Twitter
- City of Heroes Google+ Page
- City of Heroes Forums
Incoming search terms:
- a diagram panda skeleton
- travian 1000x reporty
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Dark Legends, Vampire-Themed MMORPG, Declared A No-Sparkle Zone April 14, 2012
"You're just my type! O-negative, isn't it?"

Vampires are driving the entertainment economy faster than anything. Well, except superheroes. And zombies. But for those who simply can’t get enough of blood suckers, Spacetime Studios is releasing on Android for two weeks only a new MMO called Dark Legends. This is definitely a no-sparkle zone. The tone is definitely on the adult side. In the game, you assume the role of a vampire (you can select your gender and appearance) and then do battle against countless supernatural foes. Developers Spacetime Studios have promised that the Android version of Dark Legends will deliver the exact same gaming experience you’d expect if you played it on your Windows, Linux or OSX machine. Players not on an Android tablet or smart phone can play using the Google Chrome Web Store and play it right in the browser. Spacetime’s games are the only 3D MMOs in the world that allow people to play the same game together on desktop computers, smart phones and tablets.

“Google Play and the Chrome Web Store allow us to upload and update our online, multiplayer games instantly. Their immediate and unified environment fits perfectly with Spacetime’s ability to push global content to our suite of games on-the-fly across mobile and desktop,” said Gary Gattis, CEO of Spacetime Studios. “We’re both at the forefront of creating cross-platform gameplay that connects players in a much deeper online experience, anywhere and on any device.”

Dark Legends is the third title in the highly popular Legends franchise of mobile and desktop games. The first two titles, Pocket Legends and Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles, are the world’s largest mobile MMOs with more than seven million downloads.

Dark Legends is free to download and play. The game features optional microtransactions and virtual currency that enhance the play experience with vanity items, health packs and premium revives. After the exclusive period the game will also be available for iOS devices.

For more details visit http://www.darklegends.com .

About Spacetime Studios

Spacetime Studios is an independent game development studio located in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in late 2005 by online game veterans Cinco Barnes, Gary Gattis, Jake Rodgers and Anthony L. Sommers.

Spacetime has been recognized by Develop as one of the world’s 100 most successful game studios. The company continues to expand its content and technology lead in the mobile multiplayer market. To learn more about Spacetime Studios, please visit www.spacetimestudios.com .

SOURCE: Spacetime Studios

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Some of the Best Unintended Uses for the Xbox Kinect April 13, 2012

by Brittany Gamboa

The XBox Kinect from Microsoft, now being used in myriad ways nature - and Microsoft - never intended.

In 2011 the Xbox Kinect, formerly known as “Project Natal,” was released by Microsoft and has recently induced the “Kinect Effect” upon us all. If you haven’t watched the “Kinect Effect” video, it exhibits the powerful uses of the console and you realize yourself sitting in your chair astounded and in awe. Unlike this device’s predecessors, it shows no evidence of slowing down regarding improvement in technology.

Following the Kinect’s release, Microsoft launched a non-commercial software development kit designed for PC users, enabling them to meddle with its natural user interface. As well as allowing them to explore the hardware of the device, with the dual camera equipped with infrared capabilities.

As everyone becomes more familiar with the Kinect’s interface, they recognize its potential to be used other than making an Imperial Stormtrooper dance (albeit that is a guilty indulgence we all share).

With an SDK, modders from MIT and UC Berkeley have produced nothing short of pure ingenuity creating such things as: a flying machine, a very popular Minority Report inspired Hand Detection mode, navigating the web through JavaScript, shadow puppets, and a first-person gaming experience is in production.

The flying machine is powered by the OS Linux with an on-board computer, detecting predefined coordinates all the while avoiding unexpected obstacles. Technology has already seen robotics in aiding those with temporary or terminal medical incapabilities, for the elderly, in Japan assisting in the restaurant biz. But when you see a Kinect doing a similar job, then we begin to wonder the limits of this device that was previously meant for another purpose.

The Minority Report interface is most likely everybody’s favorite for one specific reason. We never perceived something that was depicted in a sci-fi film, was actually tangible in this day and age, moving images and operating it with the swift motion of your hand.

Navigating the web through JavaScript was developed by a team at MIT, which uses a classic browser to search the web, being able to zoom in and out of pages, as well as clicking on hyperlinks.

The very kid-friendly shadow puppet runs with open source framework, mapping the skeletal formation of your elbow, wrist, and hand and projecting it upon a surface. A very simple premise.

Now. We have seen games such as the Metroid series on the NES develop into a great story with amazing graphics to having the Atari 5200 as our only console to choosing from about 5 plus today. But when we take a gander at the first-person gaming sample, developers are expected to dazzle us in the future, completely submerging us in what will be a new gaming experience.

The possibilities with the Kinect are virtually endless, showing us that with the correct software and hardware, we can create progressive devices. The struggle there is that unless the word passes that technology is moving forward so swiftly, there is only a handful of people that know the influence of the Kinect. Undervalued products only stay as such for a short while until someone comes along and revamps it and fails, or reboots it and succeeds. Pioneers in technology arise and give appellation for it as something more than a gaming console, allowing it to go beyond the technological boundaries and excel into something else more worthwhile.

Thank goodness for modders.

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About the Author

Krypton Radio Writer Brittany Gamboa
Brittany Gamboa writes about tech, video games and all things geeky relating to past, current, and future influences on modern society.

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Transformers Universe MMO Coming 2012 April 13, 2012
KR Staffers Are Eager To Try This One Out

PRESS RELEASE: UK, Cambridge, 12^th April, 2012 — Jagex, one of the largest independent games developers and publishers in the world, today announced their plans to attend BotCon 2012, the official Hasbro sponsored TRANSFORMERS fan convention. Members of the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE development team will be attending the official fan convention at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas, to unveil further details of the game and offer attendees the exclusive chance to reserve their TRANSFORMERS character name for the upcoming game, due for release in late 2012.

This is the first time fans will be given the chance to reserve their names and will ensure that those attending the event will be able to choose their side, pledge their allegiance, and reserve their TRANSFORMERS character name ahead of everyone else.

In addition, attendees visiting the Jagex booth will have the opportunity to meet with members of the development team, attend a behind closed doors TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE panel discussion, and preview the latest game trailer ahead of its public release.

Representatives from the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE development, graphics and community management teams will be attending the event, including the following staff who will be taking part in the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE panel:

Kelly Vero: Principle Writer
As Principle Writer, Kelly provides the story structure and narrative design of the main over arching and multi-nodal stories within the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE MMO. Kelly is responsible for evolving the TRANSFORMERS storyline and ensuring the game fits into the existing TRANSFORMERS lore.

Steve Huckle: Art Director
As Art Director, Steve is responsible for all artistic direction for the game and manages the team of graphic artists, modellers and concept artists. Steve’s primary role is to ensure that the graphics accurately portray the TRANSFORMERS world and offer users an unbeatably immersive experience.

Eddy Dew: Community Manager
As Community Manager, Eddy oversees the community engagement team behind the game, acting as the bridge between the development team and the fan base, through social media, TRANSFORMERS forums, 3rd party fansites and events.

The TRANSFORMERS BotCon convention runs from the 26th – 29th April at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas. Those wishing to attend and meet the team can still purchase tickets from the official website: www.BotCon.com.

For more information about the game and to register your interest, simply visit: www.transformersuniverse.com

About TRANSFORMERS

The TRANSFORMERS brand from Hasbro, Inc. has delivered “MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE” action to legions of fans around the world for more than 25 years. As one of the hottest global entertainment properties, TRANSFORMERS captures excitement through action figure play, movies, television, digital gaming, comics, and more.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, digital gaming and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its global customers with well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Company’s Hasbro Studios develops and produces television programming for markets around the world. The Hub TV Network is part of a multi-platform joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), in the U.S. Through the company’s deep commitment to corporate social responsibility, including philanthropy, Hasbro is helping to build a safe and sustainable world for future generations and to positively impact the lives of millions of children and families every year. It has been recognized for its efforts by being named one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies.” Learn more at www.hasbro.com. © 2012 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About Jagex Games Studio

Jagex Games Studio is a multi-award winning games developer based in Cambridge, England. Jagex specialises in the development of high quality browser-based games and is the largest independent games developer and publisher in the UK.

Jagex has a long-standing reputation for creating the world’s best online games and for developing hugely popular, high quality, accessible, free-to-play games and for providing an unbeatable community experience for millions of players around the world. Jagex has developed and self-published over 40 online titles, including the world’s most popular free multiplayer online game, RuneScape.com.

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Aion:Ascension Launches Today (And It's Free) April 12, 2012
Aion:Ascension 3.0 opens today - play for free.

SEATTLE, April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – NCsoft®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today launches Aion: Ascension, a powerful combination of its Truly Free business model, pioneered by NCsoft’s Lineage II in 2011, and the highly anticipated 3.0 update. Aion: Ascension introduces new and existing players to refined starting areas and mid-level zones and advanced content for the more experienced Aion player base with no subscriptions, no account tiers and no purchase requirements. Aion: Ascension ultimately underscores the already award-winning content found within the game with yet additional layers of innovative content and business model philosophies.

“We started converting current players to the new business model late last week in preparation for today’s launch and we couldn’t be happier with the response, tripling concurrency in a matter of hours,” said Director of Product Management, Edward Chang, Game Publishing Studios, NCsoft. “We spent a considerable amount of time focused on optimizing Aion: Ascension for the Truly Free business model, and early feedback from the community indicates that we made the right decisions.”

Along with the C.U.B.E. (Customizable User Bundling Experience), an unparalleled system allowing players to customize their Aion marketplace item bundles based on their characters personal needs, Aion: Ascension brings players the Atreian Atlas, an advanced guidance system that acts as a personal pathfinder as players progress through the game. The information revealed within the Atreian Atlas provides insight allowing players to properly prepare for what lays ahead, giving the best MMO experience for new and experienced players alike.

Aion: Ascension also brings players several features as seen in the Aion Vision Trailer, including housing, mounts, new zones and multiplayer instances.

Housing
- Two new housing districts comprised of five types of housing: Palace, Estate, Mansion, House and Studio.
- Studios are quest-based and everyone will be able have access to one, whereas the houses and mansions are auction-based and will be obtained via a special in-game auction system just for housing.
Mounts
- Mounts are the latest way to get around Atreia in style, and with this update you can travel at ever increasing speed depending on the mount. Players will be able to summon one of four new mounts coming in the update – the Surfrider, the Pagati, the Sharptooth or the Flurry!
New level cap of 60
- More than 600 new quests, bringing a massive content update extending the game as players progress from 55-60.
New instances and zones
- Two new zones – Sarpan and Tiamaranta
- Six new instances consisting of two 12-player, two six-player, one solo, and one 24-person instance.
Additional information on Aion: Ascension, including images and video assets, can be found here –www.aiononline.com.Aion: Ascension, the free-to-play model of Aion, has officially launched today. NCSoft has spent the last week converting current players to the new model, and are now ready to open the game to all who wish to play.

With the update comes the Atreian Atlas, a tool that acts as a personal guide for players as they travel through the game. This allows players to truly see what lies ahead in their progression through the game.

Several new features have been added to the game with the update as well. Two new housing districts have been launched, comprised of five different house types: Palace, Estate, Mansion, House and Studio. Four new mounts are also available: Surfrider, the Pagati, the Sharptooth, and the Flurry. The level cap of the game has been raised from 55 to 60, and over 600 new quests await players.

The quests are offered in two new zones: Sarpan and Tiamaranta. One solo, two six-player, two 12 player, and 24 player instances have also been revealed.

NCSoft also publishes Guild Wars and Lineage II.

Links
- Aion:Ascension – Free to play
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Minecraft Creator Markus 'Notch' Perrson Goes To Space With 0x10c April 7, 2012
```
by Gene Turnbow
```
Minecraft has been one of the unexpected breakaway hits in the gaming world for the almost the past three years since the initial release in May of 2009. It breaks all the rules – it’s not based on predeveloped branding, it doesn’t have spectacular graphics or effects, boss battles or even a story line. It’s not a shooter, it’s not an RPG, it’s not a converted board game. And yet, this building game, originally written in platform-independent Java, has somehow escaped into the world and can be found on everything down to cell phones.

So what’s creator Markus Perrson of the Swedish game company Mojang working on now?

He’s recently unveiled a few details regarding his latest gaming effort set in space. It’s titled 0x10c, which has its origins in programmer’s parlance. Perrson tweeted an explanation for the title earlier this week “What happens if you try to read a 64 bit representation of 1 in a 16 bit system, but you get the endianness wrong? #Ox10c”.

Notch hasn’t worked out the pricing for the new game yet, but says on the 0x10c website that he’s planning on charging a monthly fee to join the multiverse. Since it’s going to be server based, time will pass in the game world even when players aren’t logged on to see it happen.

Story-wise, the game takes places in the year 281 474 976 712 AD. The characters of the game world have just woken from a suspended animation system where they have spent all this time since 1988. The universe dying, black holes are expanding and the survivors are taking to ships powered by a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU.

Ships will run on generators with a fixed power output, requiring players to manage their energy consumption. But this is where it gets interesting. You remember I mentioned the 16-bit computer? This is the first game ever that includes a fully programmable 16-bit emulated computer as part of the game, and players will actually program this thing as part of game play. That means viruses will be possible, and Perrson has said he doesn’t plan to do anything to stop their creation – that possibility is actually part of the gameplay. Users will be able to trade programs created with the in-game computer, and can be written to do all sorts of things, since the emulated computer is general purpose and can be used for anything.

The science in the game will be somewhat realistic, though the game will occasionally have to cut some corners for the sake of making the game experience actually manageable by its players. However, Perrson encourages experts in scientific fields to correct any errors that crop up, much as Star Trek fans do for Star Trek.

“The game is still extremely early in development, but like we did with Minecraft, we expect to release it early and let the players help me shape the game as it grows,” Persson said on the site.

Perrson’s plans for the game so far include:
- Space battles against AI or other players
- Abandoned ships floating around, chock-full of loot
- Advanced economy system
- Mining, trading, and looting.
- Random encounters.
- Single and multiplayer connected via the multiverse.
The angle of creating an emulated CPU in the game is an entirely new concept in gaming, though it is certainly the next logical step up from game features like Second Life’s robust LSL scripting language. It will tend to make programmers the heroes of the online community, and a great deal will be made of people with the skills to write code for this mythical CPU. I predict a whole pocket industry will spring up around 0x10c based on this. I’m personally really looking forward to this, being a former professional game programmer myself.

No release date yet, but it’s going to be huge when it finally does release.

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Links
- 0X10C Official Web Site
- Specifications for the DCPU-16 processor built into every spaceship
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Nexon America Wins Over $3.5 Million In Copyright Suit April 6, 2012
Court Reduces $45 Million Dollar Claim to $3.5 Million Against Couple Who Illegally Copied Online Game

Krypton Radio Newswire

Nexon America, owner of the online MMORPG service MapleStory, has won a court battle against Gurvinder Kumar and his associates who were alleged to have operated an exploited version of the MapleStory game, called UMaple. Kumar’s UMaple service allowed players to run the basic MapleStory game with his and his associates enhancements, and allowed players to play the game outside of Nexon’s servers, which deprived them of revenue from in-game sales of custom content. MapleStory is self-described As the world’s first and most successful side-scrolling 2D online game, MapleStory offers distinctive avatars, a huge variety of items, a slew of quests, ease of control, and an ever-expanding world for you to explore!

Court documents show that Nexon determined that over 17,900 players took advantage of the exploited MapleStory service through UMaple; and in its suit against Kumar it demanded damages and attorney’s fees that totaled up to just under $45 Million dollars USD. While the court did agree that Kumar had indeed violated Nexon’s legal copyrights, it found that Nexon was perhaps making claims of damages that were grossly excessive, and accused Nexon of intentionally attempting to mislead the court. Nexon made counter claims stating that under the law that they were entitled to sums as large as this, but the court disagreed, finding that such amounts would provide an excessive windfall for Nexon, instead of recovering actual lost revenue.

When examined, it was determined that despite player donations to Kumar to aide in operating the UMaple service; Nexon was only able to prove that $398.98 profit Kumar received was directly gained through advertising of UMaple on Google.

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Links:

Courthouse News Service

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So I herd U liek... pandas? March 30, 2012
```
by Corgi
```
One of the biggest burbling stories in the MMO-sphere right now is the opening of World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria beta. Open to Annual Pass Holders and select other applicants, this no-non-disclosure testrun of WoW’s fourth expansion centers on the new realm of Pandaria, the new Pandaren race (bipedal panda-oids… yes, like Jack Black, kinda) and the new Monk class.

For those who do not indulge in the comings and goings of Night Elves and Tauren, World of Warcraft started back in the 16-bit-colour days when Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was released by Blizzard Entertainment in 1994. Yes, it ran on MS-DOS, but the dinosaurs were already extinct by then. The success of the game prompted sequelae: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal; Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (which introduced Night Elves as a player race and apparently totally wiped out everybody’s prior visualisation of elves in general) and The Frozen Throne; and finally the massive multiplayer on-line World of Warcraft.

The on-line version itself started with ‘Vanilla’, starting in 2007, Blizzard began releasing almost annually-spaced expansions: The Burning Crusade, The Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm. Each one expanded the complex, rich story of the world of Azeroth and the fractious races living on it. More player options were introduced: the Draenei and the Blood Elves races; then the Death Knight ‘hero’ class, which can be any race; then the Worgen and Goblins of Cataclysm. Gameplay evolved from a vaguely D&D-like fantasy setting for battles and resources into action-packed multidimensional sociopolitically complex quests and interactions which, at highest levels, approaches the truly epic.

From this…

Warcraft Orcs V Humans

…to this:

Mists of Pandaria

Now, over a year since Blizzard let the massive dragon Deathwing nearly tear Azeroth in half, things will be changing all over again. Not only will there be new land, a new player race, a new player class, a new talent tree, new sub-games and other structural changes, there’s a fresh new look in Pandaria that will slowly propagate to other parts of the world. At Blizzard’s annual convention, one session revealed that the male Pandaren has 10 times the number of digital “bones” possessed by the game’s older races. The developers apparently did one of those ping-pong takes, and decided that they could not put off updating the older races to new models any longer. Although they will not be done in time to roll out with the expansion launch, they will be completed and introduced gradually. The Dwarves are apparently the lucky race going first – after Chuck Norris, that is.

The Pandaren players have an interesting choice to make at the end of their ten-level training period — they must choose whether their paths lie with the Alliance or the Horde; an irrevocable decision. Pandaren have a choice between not only their ‘native’ class of Monk (subdivided into Brewmaster, Windwalker or Mistweaver specialisations), but also Mage, Rogue, Warrior, Hunter, Priest or Shaman (sorry, no Panda Druids). Given their inherently jovial racial nature, Pandaren are not only famous brewers, but cooks – their Epicurean racial trait provides an increase to the stat benefits from food by 100%, and Gourmand provides a natural advantage to learning the Cooking profession. After reaching level 10, Pandaren player characters will wander all over Azeroth before heading home to their hidden continent for the high-level content waiting for them there. This follows the previous expansions’ pattern of making new realms the pinnacle of adventuring and exploration.

Pandaria and its Wandering Isle – actually, a giant turtle – will introduce a rich and wonderful new part of Azeroth’s story to thousands and thousands of players. With all the lush new art and game mechanics, what was introduced as a bit of a joke all the way back in 2002 has been fleshed out into a complex new chapter weaving into the amazing mythology of this shared universe.

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ECA Action Alert: Help Fight The 'Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2012' March 25, 2012

The Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) has issued an action alert, a call to arms for gamers everywhere to let their elected officials know that The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2012 wasn’t acceptable in 2009 and is not acceptable now. Rep. Joe Baca (D CA-43) has teamed up with Rep. Frank Wolf (R VA-10) to reintroduce a bill that is very familiar to gamers. If passed, the bill would require that ALL Video Games except those rated “Early Childhood” (EC) be labeled with a dramatic warning for parents:

“WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

While the congressmen cite “growing evidence” that shows causation, anyone that followed the Supreme Court case Brown v. EMA knows that not even the highest court in the land saw conclusive proof that video games cause violent or aggressive behavior. In fact, the scientific community seems to be completely divided on the good and ill that video games can cause.

So what can you do about it as a gamer, consumer, and citizen? You can send your elected representative a strong statement expressing opposition to this bill. Here’s what the ECA’s action alert page says about it:

Rep. Joe Baca (D CA-43), along with Rep. Frank Wolf (R VA-10) as co-sponsor, thinks its 2009 again and have introduced H.R. 4204, “The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2012.” This bill, if passed, would require a warning label be affixed to all games rated E (for Everyone) or up by the ESRB, regardless of the content descriptors. The warning would read: `WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.’ The ECA needs your help to make sure this bill does not become law. Congress is simply misinformed on this issue. While Congressman Baca has cited “scientific studies,” the vast majority of studies show that there is no proven causal link between violent video games and negatively aggressive behavior. In fact, several studies suggest that playing video games can be helpful to young people, such as this study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Further, the bill requires the label on games that are not rated E or above for violence, which could confuse parents and undermine the ESRB, which according to the FTC is the most enforced media retail system. “The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2012” is an unconstitutional restraint on speech that would harm consumers and parents alike. Please join with the ECA. Let your Representatives know that you want them to let the industry and parents continue to use a system that works, and have Congress stay focused on the real problems facing our nation.

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Video Of The Day!: The Dragonborn Comes - Skyrim Bard Song and Main Theme Female Cover: By Malukah March 24, 2012
You may have heard some of Malukah’s songs on Krypton Radio, but did you know they’re fan covers? Malukah really blew us away with the power and purity of her voice, so we wanted to give her a shout out on our site and make sure you got a chance to hear her music if you hadn’t yet.

From Malukah’s Blog:

I love music, and I love video games. I started this blog last year ~~to deal with a tiny World of Warcraft addiction~~ because writing makes me happy. And I think that writing and talking to people about video games helps me understand them better and appreciate all the work that went into making them.

I graduated from Berklee College of Music with a dual major in Music Production & Engineering and Film Scoring.

For the past few years, I’ve had the chance to create music and sounds for iPhone/Android/Flash games, and I LOVE IT. I’ve also composed music for short films, feature films, and music libraries.

If you’d like to listen to some samples of the music I’ve done for games and other projects, please visit the Music page.

Recently, I started a YouTube channel where I will record game soundtrack covers as often as possible.

If you speak Spanish, you might enjoy The n00bs Unleashed, a gaming podcast that some friends and I record. We also host a radio show in Monterrey on Saturday mornings (11:30am, 94.9FM) about the latest video game news.

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Links:
- Blog
- Twitter
- Facebook
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Capcom and Cryptozoic Entertainment Partner for All-New Deck-Building Game March 22, 2012
Ready-to-Play Card Game Will Feature Major Capcom Properties
In Stores Fall 2012

Irvine, CA (March 20, 2012)—Following a hugely successfully appearance at WonderCon, one of the largest pop culture conventions in the country, Cryptozoic Entertainment ™, the premier developer of original and licensed games, and Capcom U.S.A., Inc. today announced a new partnership to create a boxed card game based on several major Capcom® properties, including Street Fighter®, Final Fight®, Rival Schools® and Darkstalkers®. Each brand will be featured in the upcoming deck-building game, combing the action of all four and, and as they put it, “offering nearly unlimited gaming excitement”.

“Capcom is such a powerhouse in the video game world, with great stories and exciting characters, that it just makes sense to expand the universe into a card game, giving fans another way to connect,” said Cory Jones, president and chief creative officer at Cryptozoic. “There’s more than enough material within each brand alone to create a great gaming experience, but Street Fighter, Final Fight, Rival Schools and Darkstalkers all in one game is really just mind-blowingly fun.”

Cryptozoic’s Capcom deck-building game will be complete right out of the box, letting fans play their favorite characters and experience all the action from each Capcom property. With all four of these mega-popular brands in one game, fans will be able to experience the Capcom universe in a way never before possible. The deck-building game will be easy to learn and quick to play, offering incredible fun for two to five players.

Please visit www.cryptozoic.com for more information, and keep up to date with exclusive contests, promotions and game information on Cryptozoic Entertainment’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

About Cryptozoic Entertainment
Founded in 2010, Cryptozoic Entertainment, Inc. is a premier developer and publisher of original and licensed board games, card games, comics and trading cards, including the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game, Food Fight and The Walking Dead™ Board Game. Following a philosophy and core principle of “Fans First,” the dedicated gamers and fans of the Cryptozoic Entertainment team are focused on producing fun and amazing products along with epic events that bring all gaming fans together as part of the Cryptozoic community. Visit www.cryptozoic.com for additional product and event information.

About CAPCOM
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Korea, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom and its products can be found at www.capcom.com or www.capcom-unity.com.

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Video of the Day: Mass Effect Rap "We Are One" By JTMachinema March 22, 2012

Mass Effect 3 just came out, so naturally in accordance with a corollary of Rule #34 (“if it exists in a game, there is machinema of it”), JTMachinema produced this very cool video. The music isn’t just generic rap, it’s actually about Mass Effect, and in terms of its musical excellence alone it just shines.

Here’s the web site of the creators, JT Machinema. Enjoy – oh, and yes, this cut can now be heard in our constant 24 hour broadcast day.

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Game-Maker Nexon America Claims Hackers Ruined "Combat Arms" Online Game March 16, 2012
Software-Maker “GameAnarchy” Sued For Giving Players Ability To Cheat In “Combat Arms”

Krypton Radio Newswire

Game-Maker Nexon America, creator and operator of the Online First Person Shooter game Combat Arms, has filed suit against David Allen Barker aka Drunken Cheetah and his Georgia based company GameAnarchy, LLC. Barker and his company are accused of selling and distributing software that gives Combat Arms players the ability to bypass the Nexon made software and cheat by disabling various game constraints, in gross violation of the Nexon’s Terms Of Service.

GameAnarchy lists Combat Arms among its list of games which it provides hacking software for, and allows players to become invincible, never miss, and crash the game at will in addition to other abilities. GameAnarchy lists in its terms of service, that is not liable to the game-makers for which it makes hacking software for its players. Nexon has stated in its suit, seeking damages for four counts of copyright violation, trafficking in circumvention devices, breach of contract and other charges related to interfering with Combat Arms’ online service.

Above is a user made video showing some of the abilities that the GameAnarchy hacking software gives the player.
Links:
- Nexon America
- Copy of Lawsuit via Courthouse News (pdf)
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Video of the Day: Project KARA March 14, 2012

What you’re about to see is machinema – computer animation created entirely within a game engine. We happened across this video of this short subject created by the same people who created the Playstation 3 game “Hard Rain” in 2010.

David Cage of video game developer Quantic Dream, wrote and directed the 2010 thriller PS3 game “Hard Rain”. At the Game Developer’s Conference last week in San Francisco he unveiled a new way to simultaneously capture and digitize an actor’s performance — including voice, face and body.

In the footage, which Cage said could be entirely run on a PlayStation 3, actress Valorie Curry portrays an android named Kara who gains self-awareness as she’s being assembled by a squad of robotic arms. The virtual Kara emotively speaks in English, French and German, as well as sings in Japanese, as she converses with an operator who is heard but never seen.

“Project Kara” is a demo, not Quantic Dream’s next project. He said the new technology from the French studio could be used for full performance capture, a technique where all aspects of a portrayal are recorded at once, rather than the common practice of separately capturing them. Unlike the methods used to capture actors’ performances in “Avatar,” the performance capture technology developed by Quantic Dream uses about 90 sensors placed on an actor’s face instead of a small camera mounted on a boom in front of the actor’s face. It’s also faster, less expensive and requires quiet because the audio and movement are captured together.

We wanted to do what Avatar did by having one full performance where we capture everything at the same time. And we wanted to demonstrate these new performance capture techniques and the new engine before going into production, so we developed a short showcase that would allow us to test these ideas and technologies. This is how “Kara” was created.

“Kara” is not our next game. It’s not the character, it’s not the world, it’s not the story. …We do things in a very strange way here, things that have nothing to do with the games we make. But I think that’s a part of the DNA of the studio, and hopefully something that people like about us – they never know what they’re going to get!

Everything changes now. Game technology is blending with that of motion pictures, becoming something new. The results are nothing short of breathtaking. See if you agree.

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Relay For Life 2012 Kicks Off In Second Life March 12, 2012
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Krypton Radio Newswire
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JLU Caped Crusaders Relay for “Time for a Cure”

The American Cancer Society’s 2012 Relay for Life started in earnest last week with an opening rally in four special regions in Linden Lab’s MMO Second Life set aside specifically for the purpose. This year’s theme is “Time For A Cure” and again Second Life residents of all stripes are banding together across the grid in this massive campaign uniting to raise funds to fight cancer.

The JLU Caped Crusaders, the team of the Justice League Unlimited / League of Heroes public service organization operating within Second Life, will join in the fight for the fifth year in a row, along with dozens of like minded public service groups. Team captain and co-captain Kalel Venkman and Samantha Lowell will co-helm this year’s campaign. This year the team is dedicating their efforts to Second Life resident Spaciva Ivanova, a community leader and friend of many notable for her resilient spirit and unfailingly sunshiney disposition and inspirational courage in her own fight against cancer.

Relay for Life was the brainchild of Dr. Gordy Klatt, a Tacoma surgeon, who took to the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma in May, 1985, to raise awareness and funds for his local American Cancer Society chapter. In the course of 24 hours, Klatt walked and ran nonstop over 83 miles, raising $27,000 to fight cancer in the Tacoma area.

Inspired by this, Klatt enlisted Pat Flynn – now known as the “Mother of Relay” – the following year to expand on his success. Nineteen teams took part in Tacoma’s Stadium Bowl and raised $33,000 and Relay for Life was born.

In 2011, dozens of Second Life teams raised over $375,000 USD for the American Cancer Society. Funds go to research for a cure as well as support services providing assistance to those who need to travel for treatment, as well as counseling and assistance programs for patients, caregivers and families.

Krypton Radio will be providing weekly updates in this worthy cause, so stay tuned.

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City of Heroes Launches Issue 22 March 7, 2012

NCsoft and Paragon Studios has launched City of Heroes Issue 22: Death Incarnate. As the first major free update to City of Heroes Freedom, the update introduces new powers and costumes, exclusive VIP content, expanded endgame features and reintroduces Dark Astoria, a zone corrupted by evil magical forces.

Death Incarnate new features:

- Dark Astoria Incarnate Zone: Dark Astoria becomes a Co-op Incarnate Zone in Death Incarnate, allowing level +50 players to participate in the “danse macabre” co-op style gameplay as they traverse the dark, twisted, undead nightmare that has become Dark Astoria.
- Darkness Power Set: A horrifying new Power Set for Controllers and Dominators, Darkness Control allows players to command shadows and spectral minions to terrorise their foes.
- Dilemma Diabolique Incarnate Trial: Heroes and Villains must band together against the evil sorceress Diabolique as she wrests the power from the banished god Mot. If she succeeds in her plans, all of creation will be in jeopardy as she moves to take her “rightful” role as the master of all creation.
- More content for all levels: Fight off the Shivans as they attack Bloody Bay by grouping up in the new PvE Trial Drowning in Blood. Take your Hero or Villain through new Mission Arcs in Steel Canyon and Cap au Diable. Save Talos Island and Sharkhead Isle from Adamastor’s rage as he cuts a wave of destruction across the islands in the new Adamastor Zone Event.

City of Heroes Issue 23 is in its final stages of pre-production and Issue 24 is currently in the works, according to the MMO’s new producer Melissa Bianco.

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The Ebb And Flow of MMO March 3, 2012
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by Gene Turnbow
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MMO’s are part of our culture, and can achieve a kind of legendary status.
This video, by ‘AJWillSing’ is of a guitar cover he did of the theme to
Meridian 59, the first 3D graphical MMO. And yes, you can hear this cut
on Krypton Radio.

The first 3D MMO, the ground-breaking 'Meridian 59'.

In 1992, the computer game industry was in pretty serious trouble. Production costs had skyrocketed, thanks in part to motion picture companies that thought that game development was just like making movies because the creative development cycle was so similar. They all jumped in with piles of money to spend on games based on movie properties, and made a pile of really bad games. They learned the hard way that games are not a linear experience the way movies are, and they’re exponentially harder to make in terms of design and storyline – and then there was the problem that each game required its own unique engine that had to be developed from scratch.

They all lost their shirts and clambered out of the pool nearly as fast as they’d jumped in, but the damage was done. Hundreds of game studios went under, unable to complete their contracts either because the technical challenges were too great, or because all their projects were canceled at once. This was the great Thinning of the Herd, and few but the largest game companies survived. For us gamers, this was an unlucky thing indeed, because only the largest companies could muster the resources to solve the great problem the industry was facing: how to trade quality customers for quantity and keep enough money flowing into the business to keep it afloat. Expectations had been pushed so high because of the outrageous sums of money sunk into production values by the studios that the consumer public would never again accept anything less, forcing many game companies out of business entirely.

Enter the massively multiplayer online game. People were already playing them, but up to this point they hadn’t been commercial. They were called MUDs (multi-user dungeons), which were a cross between a classic text adventure game and a chat room. The advantage was that you didn’t need much of a computer to play them. In fact, if you had a 300 baud modem and a Hazeltine terminal, you could play without a computer at all (ask my how I know).

The first graphical MMO was Neverwinter Nights, which made its debut in 1991. It wasn’t 3D, but for the first time, players could actually see their environment and interact with it instead of merely reading about it in blocks of exposition.. Despite this, the developers (AOL, Stormfront Studio and TSR Hobbies, which would later become Wizards of the Coast) – had done something that set the gaming world on its ear. They had shown that massively multiplayer games were not only technically possible, but profitable. The first 3D MMO was Meridian 59 from 3DO which debuted in ’95. (You can still play Meridian 59, by the way, and like many MMO’s today, it’s free to play – more on this later.)

The first big MMO to really hit stride, though, had to have been Everquest. This game took three years to develop and bring to market, and went online on the 16th of March, 1999. Termed “Evercrack” by its adherents due to its addictive popularity, it and World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment, released in 2004, still dominate the MMO landscape.

Fast fowarrd to 2012.

Ironically, one of the most massive things about MMO’s is the development cost. Everquest, for example, cost $20M. The new Star Wars: The Old Republic cost an eye-popping $100M. These things are expensive to make, so much so that an entire industry has sprung up around them that makes what’s called middleware, or tools that make development in general easier by providing substantial portions of the software being written as off-the-shelf components. In the case of the game industry, this middleware is the part on the server that makes the whole thing work – leaving the developers with the job of writing the user interactions and the graphical engine for the clients that connect to the servers (which often use more middleware). As a result, many of these MMO’s are now stitched together from prebuilt component parts, dramatically reducing the development costs.

Now that there’s middleware, MMO’s are now within reach of smaller developers who previously would have had no chance in the marketplace at all. This is why the landscape is still dominated by the big game companies who were swimming in enough cash in the early-to-mid nineties to do the initial development on the first big games. There are now so many MMO’s out there that nobody really has an idea of how many there are.

It’s a dangerous business to be in. Company-ending catastrophes happen all the time. For example, the Korean server for Lime Odyssey Online will be shutting down on March 30, at the end of this month, and they hadn’t even made it out of open beta testing. They claimed that the stability and critical server bugs could not be solved without completely rewriting it from the ground up. Lime Odyssey, being Sirius Entertainment’s maiden title, was touted to be the real Ragnarok Online II back when it was first announced. They’ve passed the torch to Aria Games, who’ve gotten the thing back on track and back online – but it shows how dangerous the MMO development game can be. With these kinds of production costs, a developer has to gather a large player base quickly. How does a developer attract and keep a big enough player base to survive?

They make it free to play – instead of selling the razor, they’re selling the blades. In most cases today you can play the game as much as you like, but you won’t get the peak experience playing the game unless you open your wallet and purchases virtual goods usable only inside that game. With Worlds of Warcraft, Star Trek Online and other games, you buy things from vendors to enhance your experience – bigger swords, bigger ships, better armor, enchanted items which improve your chances of survival in combat. Even in the MMO Second Life, the birthplace of Krypton Radio, you’re leasing land from the Linden Lab, or buying user-made items in their virtual marketplace (and Linden Lab has made sure they’ve cut themselves in for a piece of every transaction).

The big news this month is that game publisher BigPoint is debuting its Game of Thrones MMO at the GDC this year in 2012 – and that Sony is shutting down four of them: The games being killed off are ‘Cosmic Rift,’ ‘Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga,’ ‘Infantry’ and the PlayStation 2 title ‘EverQuest Online Adventures.’ Each MMO has a limited lifespan – so there’s a constant supply of new ones to fill the void, but there’s obviously more content than the market will support.

This touches on a pivotal issue for MMO developers: how many MMO’s can a person play? MMO’s don’t just stand on their own – they’re surrounded by huge, loyal player communities that have to be cultivated and managed and sustained. This means that an MMO isn’t just a game, it’s also a social experience. And that means that there’s a limiting factor that has nothing to do with the game itself: players can only invest so much of themselves in online games and the communities that surround them. Most players play one, or two, and the hours they put into the social experience sometimes equal or surpass the amount of time they spend in the actual game. The pool of potential customers has a governor built into it. What MMO’s compete for isn’t only money, it’s social energy, and there’s only so much of it.

Where is this all going? I doubt anybody has a clear vision, though the big names and the big guns are clearly going to be dominating the market – and the industry is still churning on the MMO concept while ignoring the next problem looming on the horizon, and that is the question of what happens next. What’s going to happen to all these little developers who have these tiny little MMO’s that don’t even make it past their first year? The success of the games depends a lot on the advertising budget, and how much media attention a company might already have from its previous work. A new game company has a steep uphill climb, even if everything else is going perfectly.

Moreover, now that we’ve all seen 3D graphical MMO’s, what’s the next level of player interaction? Nobody seems to know or have a clear idea of where to go next, and there has to be a “next”.

Let’s examine this together: What’s your favorite MMO and why, and what do you think would make the interactive gaming experience even more immersive?

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Links
- Everquest 2 – free to play
- Meridian 59 – free to play
- whatmmorpg.com -Want to make an MMO? We wish you luck, but here are some free tools…
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Gotham by Gaslight Game Footage Leaked February 29, 2012
The Steampunk Batman Game That Never Was
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by Gene Turnbow
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We know we just published a Batman article, but believe me, you won’t be sorry you read this one.
If you’re a Krypton Radio regular, you would have read our article last month about the sad loss of the game Batman: Gotham By Gaslight when we told you about how artist and designer Julie A. Farrel had posted some sample artwork on her blog and announced that the project had died. The original comic Gotham by Gaslight was published in 1989 by DC Comics as the first in the Elseworlds stories. In this story, Bruce Wayne is framed and convicted for the murders associated with Jack the Ripper. Day 1 Studios of Chicago, Illinois, creators of the popular “MechAssault” game, and Warner Bros were to have been partners in the creation of this game, with Day 1 Studios doing the actual development.

The game never got out of the pitch stage, but this often means that at least some coding and content is created so that studio execs who sign checks and greenlight projects can have some idea of what they might be buying. Now the video of the in-game footage created for that executive presentation has been leaked, and we can get a peek at what the game might have looked like.

If it surprises you that this much was done on the game before it was even funded, don’t be. This is business as usual for game companies. The demo doesn’t do a lot. It shows some of how the Batman moves and that all important cape and how it moves, because if the game had been put into production, players would spend most of their experience looking at it. Each Batman game has a different visual appeal, and the cape is almost a character in and of itself. In a game that has to evince not only the Dark Knight but a period in history as well, the appearance and movement of the cape was critical, and from our perspective, the artists and animators had this nailed.

You’ll see a pedestrian turn to face Batman as he passes, about halfway through the video. There’s no animation applied to the non-player character – the model just pivots in place. Most of the environment is a flat gray, as there are no texture maps on the geometry. Art takes time and money. Good art takes a lot of time and money. At the pitch stage the project manager or producer is trying to get as much of the basics of what the game is going to be about on the screen as he or she can for as cheaply as they can possibly do it. Now in this case, they didn’t create the game engine from scratch. Few companies do this anymore. Most are creating using what are called Game Authoring Systems, giving game developers a “build once, release for every platform” capability. This is how the same game can be released simultaneously for XBox360, Playstation3, PC, Wii and other platforms on the same day. Otherwise they’d have to create the game by hand for each machine and operating system.

Each pitch is a roll of the dice. You’re spending nonreplaceable company resources on something that may fly – or may not. In this case, for whatever reason, the game was cancelled. Since Day 1 Studios is an independent game development studio, they were reliant on money from publisher THQ Studios to actually produce the game. This money never came; the pitch was unsuccessful, and THQ turned down the project. Warner Bros participation was likely little more than one of licensing, since Time Warner owns DC Comics outright.

Siliconera obtained this animation prototype video from a source at Day 1. The game demo was developed as a pitch for PS3 and Xbox 360 between 2009 and 2010.

The bones of Batman: Gotham By Gaslight are there, but sadly, the suits at THQ didn’t see the potential.

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Linden Lab Changes Second Life Third Party Viewer Policies February 27, 2012
New Policies Have Potential To Hamstring Third Party Developers
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by Samantha Lowell
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Linden Lab, creators and operators of the popular MMO 'Second Life', is based in San Francisco, California.

Second Life is in the news again, with a recently announced policy change by Linden Labs regarding Third Party Viewers (TPVs). This new policy may have stifling effects on not only the third party “after market” viewers, but may also drastically impact merchants and content creators grid wide, creating unforeseen threats to personal privacy in the popular online service as well as the platform’s already faltering virtual economy.

Acting in response to concerns about in world tracking of avatars, Linden Lab, creators of the popular Second Life platform, has announced sweeping changes to its formerly live-and-let-live policy regarding TPVs, which were formerly allowed to innovate as they wished, offering features not supported by the standard Second Life viewer so long as they adhered to the Second Life Terms of Service and did not violate core functionality for the viewers used by players to connect to the service.

The new terms forbid TPVs to have any function that tracks another player avatar. Changes will will be rolled out with the next rolling restart of Second life which nerf many of the features upon which much of the online population has come to rely. In a separate but related move, the scripting language may be limited as well. This could spell disaster for content creators and merchants who use these features honestly, as hundreds of legitimate devices involving avatar tracking and related features are suddenly non functional, a serious blow to creators who have invested considerable time and real-world money into their work.

Going one step further, the new terms forbid TPVs from having any feature the base Linden Lab Second Life viewer does not already have. This directly conflicts with the stated purpose of TPV creators, which is to offer innovations and options not featured in the base Second Life Viewer. On occasion, LL has chosen to incorporate these features,like avatar physics. Though LL has stated it encourages innovation and will work with TPV developers, the era of versatility and innovation by TPV developers will be effectively at an end as numerous special features offerd by TPVs, such as Singularity’s role play mode, will suddenly be ended.

The current round of changes traces its roots back to the flap over the now-defunct Emerald viewer, when an item on the Second Life JIRA ticketing system expressed concern over in world tracking of avatars, asking for an opt out on an individual basis. Some say this new policy goes too far, punishing legitimate content creators and merchants. An example of the over-reaching effects of the new policy would be to severely limit the ability of merchants to contact their customers. Second Life users can elect to receive in-world personal messages as emails if they’re offline – but the system caps quickly, meaning many such messages never make it to their intended recipients. Merchants use detectors to sense when customers are online so that the messages are sent only when the customer is certain to receive them, and the workaround for the semi-broken in-world messaging system is vital to the success of Second Life commerce.

One security concern is that these changes might not effect black market viewers used by griefers, which slip under the radar. Unregistered third party viewers would be unregulated by Linden Lab by simply not telling the serrvice’s admins that they’re being used. Linden Lab is already unaware of most of the illicit third party viewers in use today and have no adequate means of differentiating them from legitimate viewers in most cases. This blind spot could allow griefers to be the only ones with the ability to track avatars, putting the legitimate population at risk.

The ramifications of this can be severe and elaborate: one such group calling itself the “Wrong Hands” has spent much of its career breaking into other people’s servers (including ours). One of their big projects was the creation of a massively invasive alt detection database, which they had hoped to pass off as one created by the Justice League Unlimited public service organization within SL. The damage this kind of activity can cause is not limited to the privacy invasion itself, but can have far reaching secondary effects on the community if such information falls into the hands of people who would use it to hurt others.

Still, such restrictions only affect the legitimate users, and would do little to curtail the activities of people with malevolent intent.

The official statement from Linden Lab:

02-24-2012 02:06 PM – last edited on 02-24-2012 02:16 PM
Protecting Second Life users’ privacy and security is a priority, and today, we’ve made some changes to our Policy on Third Party Viewers to strengthen those protections for all users (Section 2.a.iii, 2.i, 2.j).

We’ve also updated the policy to be clearer about the sorts of innovations that developers should work on for their particular Viewers (Section 2.k), and which they should work on in partnership with Linden Lab for all of Second Life. This is so that we can avoid the problems that result when a Viewer changes the way elements of Second Life are defined or how they behave, in such a way that users on other Viewers don’t experience the same virtual reality.

Here are the new sections of the policy:

2.a.iii : You must not provide any feature that circumvents any privacy protection option made available through a Linden Lab viewer or any Second Life service.

2.i : You must not display any information regarding the computer system, software, or network connection of any other Second Life user.

2.j : You must not include any information regarding the computer system, software, or network connection of the user in any messages sent to other viewers, except when explicitly elected by the user of your viewer.

2.k : You must not provide any feature that alters the shared experience of the virtual world in any way not provided by or accessible to users of the latest released Linden Lab viewer.

We encourage Third Party Developers to continue innovating with unique user interfaces, niche features, and ways of interacting with the virtual world, and we look forward to working in partnership with developers on ideas they have for new or improved shared experiences for all of Second Life. We want to incorporate more innovative new features into Second Life to improve the experience for all users, and we encourage TPV developers to submit proposals through our standard process.

Links
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Linden Lab Acquires 'Little Text People'... Who? February 25, 2012
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Editorial by Vagabond 'Tony' Carter
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Linden Lab, creators and operators of the popular MMO 'Second Life', is based in San Francisco, California.

The bloggers are abuzz about Linden Labs recent acquisition of Little Text People Game studio. Often the same short article is repeated over and over about this with whisperings of AI conversation in NPCs and relations to Rodviks hinted ideas about path-finding. But… Who are Little Text People?

Google returns nothing but the news that Linden Lab purchased them, though there are mentions of GDC 12 and socially engaging AI. The company seems to be owned and run by duo Richard Evans and Emily Short. However, it is what is missing that leaves me puzzled. LittleTextPeople appears to have no web presence, no credits in any well known games or projects and I’ve certainly never heard them mentioned on G4 TV. Perhaps I’m simply out of the loop, lacking a smartphone, but you’d think that even if this were a case of some iPhone/android app there would be more.

Little Text People appear, for now, to have rezzed naked, ruthed and alone with this announcement of their purchase by Linden Lab. We the residents await eagerly news of what this means for Second Life, if anything. So far it is unclear if LittleTextPeople will be added to the Second Life platform or remain a separate project or product for Linden Lab.

The company appears to have made a single interactive fiction game, almost entirely text based, and revealed at last year’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Jose, California. – and Linden Lab wants what they built for their game for use in a project supposedly unrelated to Second Life which they’re quixotically calling “Project 3″. Which implies that there was, or is, a “Project 2″. It also implies that they’re interested in the artificial intelligence routines used in the game. But for what purpose? Even the pundits, who usually know everything, don’t know.

Know something more about Little Text People? Please share it, either in comments here or with me via email me at ironinbox(at)kryptonradio.com. Second Life users – and there are millions of them – are curious. And so am I.

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SteelWar Online Enters First Alpha Test February 16, 2012
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Krypton Radio Newswire
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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
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by Gene Turnbow
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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.

Links
- Wizard of the Coast – Charting the Course for D&D
- Paizo’s “Pathfinder” RP rule set
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Star Trek Online Now Free to Play January 19, 2012
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 by Gene Turnbow
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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.

Links:
- Gotham by Gaslight
- Day 1 Studios
- Julie A. Farrell
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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:
- Scarborough Museum
- Scarborough Museum on Facebook
- Toronto Metro
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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
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by Gene Turnbow
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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.

- 30 -

Links
- MultiverseMMO web site
- The Multiverse page on SourceForce
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Game Reviews: "Doctor Who: Worlds in Time - Beta" December 29, 2011
It stinks! Or does it?

A Game ~~Review~~ Rant, 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
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Krypton Radio Newswire
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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.

- 30 -

Links
- Star Wars: The Old Republic official site
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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!
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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.

-30-
- 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
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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:
1. Violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Cal. Civil Code §1759 et seq.);
2. Violation of Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Business & Professions Code §§17299 et seq.);
3. Violation of False Advertising Law (Cal. Business & Professions Code §§17500 et seq.)
4. Breach of Express Contact;
5. Breach of Implied Warranty (Song Beverly Consumer Warrant Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1792 and 1791.1, et seq.); and
6. 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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Links
- Starfleet Dental
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
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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.

- 30 -

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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!

- 30 -

Links
- Travian.com
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Portal Fan Film "No Escape" Amazes August 28, 2011
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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.

- 30 -

Links
- http://www.comingsoon.net/news/gamenews.php?id=81419
- http://www.thinkingwithportals.com
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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!

Links
- Play Lord of the Rings Online for free!
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Online Gamers Seize Freedom! July 2, 2011
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Krypton Radio Newswire
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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
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Jeremiah C. reviews "Knight Online", a fantasy MMORPG offering from GamersFirst.
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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
- http://www.gamersfirst.com/knightonlineworld/
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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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