Author - Jerry Paxton

Mail.Ru Announces RiotZone

2012/01/14
Jerry Paxton
News

Mail.Ru has announced a new browser-based MMO called RiotZone. Please see the official press release below for all the details!

Hamburg, – January 12, 2012 – Mail.Ru Games, the publisher of internationally successful online games such as Legend: Legacy of the Dragon, Allods Online and Juggernaut announced today that their new browser-based MMO RiotZone will be released at the beginning of 2012. In a country disrupted by civil war, gamers engage in ferocious tactical combat in a tropical setting. With short game sessions, during which gamers single-mindedly adopt the special skills of their units, RiotZone is especially appealing to casual gamers. The comic style and exaggerated characters offer a pleasant distraction from conventional strategy games. RiotZone is free to play and does not require a client or installation.

Revolt in the Jungle

In Merania, civil war is raging. Two rival organizations have declared war on the Dictator: the fighters of the Scarlet Alliance are striving for the rule of the people, and are known for their fanaticism. The Crown Coalition prefers a cold-minded, business-like approach. As commanders of mercenary squads, players place themselves in the service of one of these organizations. Leading bold forays, planning ambushes, intercepting convoys or capturing military bases – a leader has a lot to do! There is also no time to rest between fights either. Commanders are in charge of setting up camp, gathering resources and training their units; they control the finances and provide new equipment. From level five on, players can use a multitude of enthralling PvP options such as team combat or invasions of enemy territory. Mass battles will decide who takes control of the game zone.

Riot Games Speaks Out Against SOPA

2012/01/13
Jerry Paxton
News

Riot Games CEO, Brandon Beck, has released an open letter to the gaming community speaking out against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act.

Letter from Brandon Beck of Riot Games

Forum Title: Speaking out against SOPA

Tagline: Legislation that threatens the League of Legends Community – and the Internet – is making its way through Congress. Learn how to stop it.

Summoners,

If you follow technology news, you may have heard about the controversy over legislation known as “SOPA” under consideration in the United States congress. While it doesn’t impact you directly if you live outside the U.S., it does have some potential negative effects on the League of Legends community worldwide, so we wanted to share with you our message to American summoners explaining our stance on the issue:

Brandon Beck:

We’re not usually inclined to comment on politics. We’re a game company, and making games is just a whole lot more fun.

But there is legislation under consideration today by the United States Congress that gives us serious concern.

Called the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the “PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA) in the Senate, these bills masquerade as a genuine attempt to curb the illegal piracy of copyrighted content (like movies, music and games).  Preventing piracy of copyrighted content is a laudable goal, and Riot supports legitimate efforts to combat these activities.

However, SOPA/PIPA goes far beyond simply addressing piracy. This proposed legislation actually threatens any website that features user-generated content. In effect, any copyright holder could file a claim that a streaming website is hosting unauthorized content (such as a song in the background of a League of Legends stream). Under the law, ad networks, payment providers and internet service providers are now potentially liable for their user’s infringement. These services could then be compelled to immediately remove support for a streaming website or face a costly legal battle – at a minimum cutting off financial means, and likely shutting off the site entirely.

How would SOPA/PIPA impact League of Legends players?

·         Kills streaming. If any single streamer plays copyrighted music (or alt tabs into a movie or other owned content) on their stream, there is a significant risk of the entire streaming service being taken down. In some cases, it could even result in criminal penalties for the streamer.
·         Threatens independent content creation.Services we all use to create and share League of Legends related content, such as YouTube, Reddit, DeviantArt, streaming websites such as Own3d and Twitch, and more would be at risk of shutting down or greatly restricting the scope of legitimate content allowed on their sites.
·         Attacks our community. Aspects of our service such as the official forums and potentially even in-game chat, could be taken down or have their features reduced based on user behavior.
·         Other harmful effects. SOPA/PIPA undermine established intellectual property legislation like the DMCA, raise serious constitutional free speech issues, and could even compromise the basic security infrastructure of the internet.

This all may sound implausible, but it’s a very real threat. Congress will reconvene at the end of January, and with a long roster of supporters on both sides of the aisle, SOPA/PIPA could actually pass. The likelihood is so great that technology giants including Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter have gone so far as to publicly consider a simultaneous blackout in protest.

Riot Games is opposed to SOPA/PIPA in their present form. While we do support efforts to prevent online piracy, the current form of this legislation comes at far too high a cost for us, our players, and online communities across the internet.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Soundtrack News

2012/01/13
Jerry Paxton
News

The soundtrack for Electronic Arts upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be released on February 7, 2012 on digital media sites like iTunes, Amazon, and SumthingDigital.com. The score was created by veteran composer Grant Kirkhope, who also created the music for games like Perfect Dark and Goldeneye.

“Reckoning was a huge undertaking, as I knew from the start the scale of the game was going to be BIIIIIIIG!,” said Kirkhope. “I wanted to make sure it was strong thematically so that the player could make real associations with characters and places; I’ve always tried to do this with all the games I’ve worked on. There’s a good two and a half hours’ worth of full orchestral score in Reckoning ranging from huge boss fights to smaller ensemble pieces for dungeons and cities. I wanted the score to have a dark fairytale kind of feel that was full of magic and danger at every turn just like the game. The team here at Big Huge Games created such a beautiful looking world that it was such a pleasure to score!”

New Mechwarrior Online Dev Interview

2012/01/12
Jerry Paxton
News

Over at the official site for the upcoming Mechwarrior Online, they have posted up a new interview with three of the game’s developers.

MWO: How is MechWarrior different from other things you’ve worked on?

[DAVID]  The biggest difference is that it’s a lot more complex than most games.  Usually there’s a single player character and a handful of weapons.  The BattleTech universe has hundreds of ’Mechs that could potentially make it into the game along with dozens of weapons.  And not only do we have to focus on what we’re launching with, but we have to constantly be thinking about the future as new ’Mechs, weapons, and other equipment are always just on the horizon.

New King Arthur II Dev Post Talks Magic

2012/01/11
Jerry Paxton
News

In this latest developer blog post, we learn just how magic and locations will play a part in battles and strategy. King Arthur II: The Role-playing Wargame is due out on January 27, 2012.

There are several Strategic Locations on the battlemaps that will help you with that. If you capture these spots, they’ll grant you different bonuses you can use on the entire battlemap as long as you control the location (unlike the first game where you took advantage of these bonuses only in a certain area around the location). They can increase your Magic Shield, grant you powerful spells, increase your spells’ penetration level and much more.

But let’s get to the point: MAGIC The heroes of Britannia are no ordinary warriors. Chroniclers praise their legendary deeds- how they fight with incredible vigour and smite down their enemies with terrible blows. Some heroes perform heavenly miracles or have learned the ways of ancient wizardry. They possess abilities that affect everyone in their vicinity or even the whole army.

LINK: Full Dev Blog Post

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Mass Effect 3 Demo Crossover Announcement

2012/01/11
Jerry Paxton
News

Electronic Arts, 38 Studios, and BioWare have announced that the demo for the upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be released on January 17, 2012. In addition, the dev houses have teamed up in the creation of a Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning / Mass Effect 3 crossover program. In this program, gamers who play both the Reckoning and Mass Effect 3 demos will be able to unlock special game content such as a Mass Effect inspired, Omni-blade daggers in Reckoning and special Reckoning-themed armor and assault rifle in Mass Effect 3 designed by award-winning artist Todd McFarlane.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to deliver this massive one-two punch with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Mass Effect 3. We wanted to provide fans of the Mass Effect franchise with a unique set of rewards for diving into the expansive universe of Reckoning,” said Curt Schilling, Chairman and Founder of 38 Studios.

“We are excited to be collaborating with 38 Studios to bring pieces inspired by the Mass Effect universe into the world of Reckoning and to have items designed by Todd McFarlane in Mass Effect 3,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label and Co-Founder of BioWare. “This is an awesome way to reward our fans with unique content that not only looks cool, but also delivers some great in-game benefits.”

New Images

BenQ Unveils Two New Gaming Displays

2012/01/10
Jerry Paxton
CES, News, Tech News

BenQ has lifted the curtain off of their latest gaming monitors, the XL2420T and XL2420TX. The monitors feature a ton of gaming-related features, including multiple presets for various game types, and more. Checkout the full press release below for all the details.

BenQ Full Press Release

IRVINE, Calif. — Jan. 10, 2012 — BenQ America Corp. today announced the North American launch of the XL2420T and XL2420TX, the company’s latest gaming monitors for professional and competitive FPS (first-person shooter) games. Engineered in conjunction with ZOWIE GEAR — a manufacturer of high-end professional gaming gear and R&D partner to BenQ — the new XL Series models reflect BenQ’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge pro gaming monitors equipped with innovative features to help gamers take their performance to the next level.

“The new XL Series models prove that ‘gaming is in the details,’ building on the technology of our popular XL2410T monitors, which were featured at huge gaming events such as DreamHack Summer 2011, Global Starcraft II League, and GamesCon 2011, ESEA,” said Lars Yoder, President of BenQ America Corp. “Offering a 120-Hz refresh rate, 2-ms GTG response time, and 12M:1 dynamic contrast ratio, the XL2420T and XL2420TX not only provide the fundamentals essential to mastering FPS gaming, but also possess exclusive features meticulously constructed to provide FPS gamers with the ultimate sense of ease and control.”

The talent behind the design of the XL2420T and XL2420TX includes prominent Counter-Strike legends such as Emil “HeatoN” Christensen, Abdisamad “SpawN” Mohamed, Tommy “Potti” Ingemarsson, Christer “fisker” Eriksson, and Michael “ahl” Korduner, as well as Xanver from UMX-Gaming. This collaboration yielded specific technical refinements critical to FPS gamers: a super-fast response rate, razor-sharp clarity, and tailored control.

The XL2420T and XL2420TX’s unique color-engine technology allows gamers to brighten the image display without over-exposing white levels, while the monitors’ Black eQualizer reveals critical combat details with improved visibility in darkened areas. This enables gamers to screen critical combat details quickly and with added game play comfort, while BenQ’s S Switch remote control allows them to switch swiftly between customized display settings for gaming and entertainment. The stylish controller offers a scroll button that facilitates fast navigation and adjustment of the OSD setting.

To accommodate individual viewing preferences and requirements, the XL2420T and XL2420TX feature a Display Mode that allows gamers to switch among several monitor screen sizes — 17″(4:3), 19″(4:3), 19″ widescreen (16:10), 21.5″ widescreen (16:9), 22″ widescreen (16:10), 23″ widescreen(16:9), and 24″ widescreen (16:9). The monitors’ Smart Scaling feature gives the freedom to scale the screen manually to any custom size.

The XL2420T and XL2420TX offer two variations to the preset FPS Mode. Tailored by HeatoN and SpawN, the FPS1 mode configures and optimizes the display for Counter-Strike 1.6, and the FPS2 mode does likewise for Counter-Strike Source, as recommended by BenQ. With these specialized preset modes offering optimal brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color tint, gamers gain the advantage of being able to spot and track their opponents’ every move, even in indistinct situations.

The BenQ Game Mode Loader online platform complements the XL2420T and XL2420TX, storing the gaming presets used by pro gamers and gaming legends HeatoN and SpawN. Users can install these exclusive presets and save them onto the S Switch for quick access. More presets, fine-tuned by Potti, fisker, ahl, and the acclaimed StarTale StarCraft II pro team, will soon be released on Gaming.BenQ.com to keep users on top of their game.

The XL2420T is also a great choice for extreme entertainment. It is certified as NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ 2 ready, providing gamers with full HD 3D gaming and entertainment experiences like never before. For more vivid viewing, it also comes with the NVIDIA 3D LightBoost™ technology for up to twice the original screen brightness. The XL2420TX is embedded with a 3D IR emitter and comes with an NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ 2 Glasses Kit for a truly immersive 3D experience with no hassles.

The BenQ XL2420T and XL2420TX are available now at MSRPs of $549 and $649, respectively, and will be on display at the 2012 International CES at the BenQ Hilton Suite 28-105. More information about the XL Series is available at http://www.benq.com/product/monitor/xl2420t.

Information on the full line of BenQ products is available at http://www.BenQ.com.