iTunes Picks the Best of 2009
See which artists, albums, movies, TV shows, iPhone apps, and more were selected as the best of the year.
Google: Never Mind the Nexus One, How About a Cheaper Cell Plan?
Google’s phone sounds like a fairly conventional consumer product–not unlike the Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid, and other high-end handsets. And that’s the problem.
Apple Tablet Expected January 26
Speculation continues to swirl that Apple has planned a launch event for the long-rumored tablet next month.
World of Warcraft Players Are Loving the New Dungeon Finder Feature
I haven’t played World of Warcraft in a long time, mainly because I could rarely find anyone to group and raid with and guild politics always rubbed me the wrong way (get a life people). Recently Blizzard tried to address folks such as myself who tend to solo but would still like to venture into a dungeon now and then without standing around for 4 hours looking for a group.
Enter “Dungeon Finder”, the overhauled Looking For Group feature that radically alters how players can tackle WoW.
What’s it do?
- This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
- Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
- Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
- Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
- The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
- The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
- Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
- Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the “Quests” section for details).
- Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
- Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
- Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.
- Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
- Pick-Up Groups
- Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
- As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
- Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
- A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
- Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.
- If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.
- A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.
- Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
- Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player’s current level.
Help Me Build My HT/Media Room
I am going to finish my ghetto and small basement. Therefore I’m asking for equipment recommendations - $15,000 budget (not including TV). This room will be the primary TV watching room. I’m a gamer and love movies (xbox360 and PS3). Not sure if this is the correct forum, so if there is another forum I should post on, let me know.
My current set-up
I currently have a basic living room home theater set-up. I am open to moving some equipment I have in the living room into the basement (and buying new equipment to replace living room equipment). If you think that is a good idea, let me know! The equipment:
4340HD Pioneer Plasma – I bought this over 6 years ago for a boatload of money, but it is worth every penny. The picture is still amazing and I have had no problems whatsoever with the TV.
B&K AVR507 Series 2 Receiver
Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blue-Ray Player
DirectTV HDDVR
Sunfire True Subwoofer MK2
Vienna Acoustic Webern Speakers (x3 – fronts and mid)
Vienna Acoustic Berg Speakers (x2 – surrounds)
Apple TV
Requirements
The basement area I plan to use is very small due to a bathroom and the location of the stairs. The room is only 12X16 (w/o drywalls up). My requirements:
55”-65” Plasma, LED or LCD – I’m thinking the Panasonic 65v10.
At least 5.1 sound system, but consider 7.1 (but probably not practical due to size of room)
I’d prefer separate audio components to try something new, but I can be convinced otherwise.
I am willing to move the Vienna speakers down to the basement, but I’ll need recommendations on replacing the equipment in my living room.
Need advice on blu-ray player, receiver, speakers, amp, and anything else you think I should get.
Thanks in advance, and if you need any additional information in order to give me feedback, let me know!
“In-game ads work” say in-game ad companies #2
Continued from yesterday. Catch the first part of Lara Crigger’s insight into in-game advertising here
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Maybe they think Nissan, Lego and Coke are ‘cool’ for shilling in Second Life. Maybe they do think a game is more realistic if, like Planetside, it includes film posters for the 2005 Rob Schneider flop, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo. (Who knows? Schneider could be huge in the future. Far in the future. On distant planets.) But is this group representative of all gamers? Not even close. According to BBC New Media Research, the average age of the UK gamer is now 28 and more than half of all gamers are over 25. Plus, the gaming gender gap is narrowing quickly: 45 per cent of all gamers now are women. So, that juicy 18- to 24-year-old male demographic that in-game advertisers have been salivating after? It’s only 2.9 million gamers strong – or just 11 per cent of the total gamer population. Even if young, college-aged men can’t get enough Intel or Nivea for Men ads in their videogames, why do in-game advertisers care what they think?
They’re not typical gamers, not by a long shot. The typical gamer has a job, a spouse, a mortgage and a family. If these ad companies keep wasting their time on the frat boy demographic, their whole in-game advertising model is doomed to fail.
And as a TiVo subscriber and an Adblocker junkie, that’s fine by me. Really guys, I wasn’t planning on buying that Ghost Rider DVD anyway.
The MMO Report: New Years ‘09 Special
Once in a great while there are huge advancements in the course of human history that stand out in the annals of time. Today is such a day. Here in the offices of G4 we found a wormhole in a storage closet that we were cleaning out before the holiday break. Before we could realize what was happening a tape flew out of the vortex and cracked one of our producers in the nose. He’s currently in recovery.
When we watched the tape we realized that it was a copy of the MMO Report’s New Years Special from NEXT year, 2010. How exciting! We get to find out what’s going to happen over the next 12 months before anyone else! So turn your time curcuits on, get your flux capacitor fluxing, and prepare to have your mind blown from the future! This is the MMO Report!
Subscribe to G4’s The MMO Report Podcast by clicking your preferred service:
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The Games of 2010: Our Most Anticipated Titles (Part III)
With 2010 about to kick off, the G4tv.com and X-Play teams took a look at the games set to release (or are likely to) in the next year. What follows is a list of the top 5 most anticipated games for each editor. How will it compare to your personal list? Which games will live up to the hype? Which games are you looking forward to? Leave your list in the comments section.
Andrew Pfister — Senior Games Editor
We haven’t had a sequel to a proper Mario game come out on the same system since the NES days, and when we did, we got the great Super Mario Bros. 2 and the life-altering Super Mario Bros. 3. That’s why I’m excited for Mario Galaxy 2: the core concept has already been proven, and now the developers are free to dream up more spherical worlds and twists on classic Mario elements. If you couldn’t tell, Mario games are my happy place.
I’ve long wanted an MMO set in the American frontier, but until that happens, I’ll happily play in Red Dead Redemption’s offline sandbox. Rockstar San Diego is injecting a healthy dose of GTA into RDR, which hopefully means plenty of interesting characters, creative side missions, and exploration. I’ll be rewatching Deadwood in anticipation of its release, cursing furiously.
Super Metroid is the greatest game ever made. This is an undisputable fact. And while the Metroid Prime series was very well done and kept the Metroid spirit alive over the past two generations, the combination of Team Ninja and original Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto working on Other M has me expecting an incredible mix of old and new Metroid. Do not disappoint me, people of Japan.
Team Ico’s games are equally simple and grand, quiet and epic. The Last Guardian seems to be no exception. As a dog person, the trailer strikes a personal chord…even though I have a bad feeling that something depressing is going to happen to the “Last” Guardian in the end. I also find myself with the sudden urge to watch The Iron Giant again.
I love me some backstory. Maybe even more than what comes next, I always want to know what came before…which is why I’m looking forward to Reach so much. All we have to work with at the moment is an epic battle for a planet, loads of Spartans running around doing their Spartan thing, and a guaranteed unfortunate outcome. That’s good enough for me. (For now.)
Jake Gaskill — Feed Writer
I’ve been saying Rockstar should make GTA: Old West since GTA III, and to finally see it come to fruition in such stunning fashion has me wishing I could make tomorrow April 27 already. (If I pull it off, you’re welcome!)
There’s a giant bird/hyena creature that helps a boy on an epic adventure in a vast and richly crafted world, and it’s developed by the team behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus; do I really need to justify this pick? …That’s what I thought.
For all its horrors and living nightmares, Andrew Ryan’s Rapture is a place I want to live in as much and for as long as possible. From what I’ve seen of the game so far, it’s shaping up to be everything the original was and perhaps a bit more. Plus, it has one of the smartest approaches to multiplayer in recent memory. Would you kindl…Let me just stop you right there, and say, yep; I will eagerly await your arrival.
I loved the first Mafia, and sunk countless hours simply hanging out in Lost Heaven, because I’m a huge sucker for 1950’s-era gangster tales, and the world was so beautifully conceived that I just didn’t want to leave it. The sequel looks to take the series to impressive new heights, and I can’t wait to take the ride.
While the idea of Quantic Dream’s thriller being more of an actor simulator than a game concerns me, this will definitely be one of those experiences that will divide a lot of people, and generate quite a lot of interesting discussions about the medium and its artistic potential. Oh, and it will let me apply eyeliner to make myself sexier…virtually speaking, of course.
JP Shub — Supervising Producer, X-Play
Rock Band Network
What better way to discover new music than to jam it out on your plastic guitar? Seriously, I am really interested to see what impact this has on breaking new artists and can’t wait to upload my own band’s tracks on the network.
The first game blew me away and I expect nothing less than sci-fi satisfaction from this follow up.
Who isn’t excited for this?
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Metal Gear Solid 4 was one of my all time favorite gaming experiences and I am excited to hop back into Kojima’s latest off the wall warzone.
As a longtime fan of the franchise I am anxious to see how they have evolved it. Hopefully the power of the current consoles will go to more than just pretty cut-scenes!
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“In-game ads work” say in-game ad companies #2
Continued from yesterday. Catch the first part of Lara Crigger’s insight into in-game advertising here.
Maybe they think Nissan, Lego and Coke are ‘cool’ for shilling in Second Life. Maybe they do think a game is more realistic if, like Planetside, it includes film posters for the 2005 Rob Schneider flop, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo. (Who knows? Schneider could be huge in the future. Far in the future. On distant planets.) But is this group representative of all gamers? Not even close. According to BBC New Media Research, the average age of the UK gamer is now 28 and more than half of all gamers are over 25. Plus, the gaming gender gap is narrowing quickly: 45 per cent of all gamers now are women. So, that juicy 18- to 24-year-old male demographic that in-game advertisers have been salivating after? It’s only 2.9 million gamers strong – or just 11 per cent of the total gamer population. Even if young, college-aged men can’t get enough Intel or Nivea for Men ads in their videogames, why do in-game advertisers care what they think?
They’re not typical gamers, not by a long shot. The typical gamer has a job, a spouse, a mortgage and a family. If these ad companies keep wasting their time on the frat boy demographic, their whole in-game advertising model is doomed to fail.
And as a TiVo subscriber and an Adblocker junkie, that’s fine by me. Really guys, I wasn’t planning on buying that Ghost Rider DVD anyway.
“In-game ads work” say in-game ad companies #2
Continued from yesterday. Catch the first part of Lara Crigger’s insight into in-game advertising here.
Maybe they think Nissan, Lego and Coke are ‘cool’ for shilling in Second Life. Maybe they do think a game is more realistic if, like Planetside, it includes film posters for the 2005 Rob Schneider flop, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo. (Who knows? Schneider could be huge in the future. Far in the future. On distant planets.) But is this group representative of all gamers? Not even close. According to BBC New Media Research, the average age of the UK gamer is now 28 and more than half of all gamers are over 25. Plus, the gaming gender gap is narrowing quickly: 45 per cent of all gamers now are women. So, that juicy 18- to 24-year-old male demographic that in-game advertisers have been salivating after? It’s only 2.9 million gamers strong – or just 11 per cent of the total gamer population. Even if young, college-aged men can’t get enough Intel or Nivea for Men ads in their videogames, why do in-game advertisers care what they think?
They’re not typical gamers, not by a long shot. The typical gamer has a job, a spouse, a mortgage and a family. If these ad companies keep wasting their time on the frat boy demographic, their whole in-game advertising model is doomed to fail.
And as a TiVo subscriber and an Adblocker junkie, that’s fine by me. Really guys, I wasn’t planning on buying that Ghost Rider DVD anyway.
