MOGS

Eve Online: Crucible

Eve Online has just released it’s 15th free Expansion, code named ‘Crucible’. This is one of the largest expansions released with a ton of new features. First and foremost four new Tier 3 Battlecruisers have been added to the game for those who don’t want to upgrade to battleship-class, but would like to try out the much more affordable new  battlecruiser models. Also new nebulae back-drops have been added to the game. These new nebulae have been created using new updated software are visible throughout the entire game, and I must say, they look stunning! With the new nebulae brings a new graphics update for our ships and vessels. New shading and detailing has been implemented to make the ships gleam and glow with detail. Also engine trails are finally back! Exhaust has never looked so good as your ship coasts through deep space.

Have you ever wanted to join in a large 500+ person battle but the lag is too overbearing for your pc set-up? Well with Crucible a new Time Dilation feature has been implemented into the server that will slow down the time of the region that is overwhelmed so everyone is at the same speed, reducing lag. As time goes on and people are destroyed time will begin to return to normal until the region is back up to speed. Check out the demo here:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHIhp_vpeIs&feature=player_embedded

Many other additions have been introduced including a full portrait viewer , new station-themed captain’s quarters, loot-all option, and ship balancing. You can find all of the updates here: http://www.eveonline.com/en/crucible/features/ .

So fire up your starship and take the universe in style with the new exhaust trails and check out the new nebulae in Eve Online: Crucible.

-Jon

Mogs.com

Gameception in Minecraft

Minecraft has been around for over 2 years and people are still finding new and amazing things to build in the game. It started with just large flat structures, then complex 3D structures, to crazy rides, to 3D megastructures, then complex machines. At the beginning of 2011, brought us clever people creating  computers within the game. And now towards the end of 2011 we are now seeing even more complex creations in the form of games inside minecraft. So watch in awe at the complex inner workings of Gem Collector:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Td7DT3d4VQ

-Jon

mogs.com

A Small EVE Online Announcement

Direct from CCP

The Eighth Party at the Top of the World… now in a new location!

It is time to start marking your calendars for the 2012 Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland, it’s being held for the first time in the brand new Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre; an amazing new home for their Fanfest that welcomes you all with open arms.

Fanfest brings together players in a massive celebration of EVE Online. Travelers from all around the world gather in one of the most beautiful and unique locations the planet has to offer. Allies and rivals alike set aside their in-game differences to share drinks with one another and forge new friendships. CCP developers mingle with the community, always up for  “talking shop” and getting to know the fans.

Iceland is one of  the world’s must-see vacation destinations, and if you haven’t been to one of our previous Fanfests, we encourage you to come.The many wonders of Iceland await your arrival. The Sisters of EVE Program will give your friend or partner a chance to visit Iceland along with you: Details regarding the program coming soon.

Get ready for another crazy weekend of:

• Pub Crawling and hanging out with the developers
• Round Tables
• Presentations with new EVE Video Premieres
• PVP tournaments
• The Party at the Top of the World!
• Poker Tournament
• Battle of the Bands
• Silent Auction
• Live Agents
• Chessboxing?…..I guess not, but you can just imagine what those crazy devs are planning this time.
• And much more!

Further details, including flights and accommodation and Fanfest 2012 Access Pass availability, will be announced later, as the event draws closer.

Raid Finder Coming in Patch 4.3

This is straight from Blizz. I’m sorry its posted a bit late but I know you all are looking for a tidbit of information. There’s a lot more info out there too.

Raid Finder Coming in Patch 4.3

SWG Has Atmospheric Flight

Hello again folks!! This time around I’m going to talk a little about something that we SWG ‘ers have been asking for since the game added space ships. Atmospheric flight.

With the addition of atmospheric flight you can call any of your spaceships from almost anywhere on the ground and it will launch you into the atmosphere. If you don’t have an ITV set to where you want to go you can just fly across the planet. It takes about 2 minutes to go from one side of a planet to the other now, it’s fast!!! If you are going to take advantage of flying in the atmosphere be careful. They have collision in the game for the ships too. What this means is that if you hit the side of a mountain, you’re gonna take damage. (LOTS OF IT)

Here’s a few pics of my B-Wing above our city, New Boonta Eve.

There are a lot more ships in the game other than the B-Wing. It’s too bad though, the game is still closing and now no one can play unless you had a paid subscription on September 15th. If you did then you get to play the last months of the game for free. I wish this game, that has so many unique things and play styles in it, didn’t have to go far far away……

Mark

Mogs.com

Anonymous Wants To Destroy Facebook

Anonymous, the shady-yet-principled hacktivist group that has previously hacked into Iran’s government emails, the Pentagon, possibly the IMF, News Corp, Anders Breivik’s Twitter account, and much more, has a new target in its crosshairs: Facebook. The hackers have set the date for Facebook’s demise as November 5, 2011. The reason? Ironically, they’re worried about privacy. Full text of their press release after the jump.

DATE: November 5, 2011.

TARGET: https://facebook.com

Press:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/OP_Facebook
http://piratepad.net/YCPcpwrl09
Irc.Anonops.Li #OpFaceBook
Message:

Attention citizens of the world,

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.

Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family. http://www.physorg.com/news170614271.html
http://itgrunts.com/2010/10/07/facebook-steals-numbers-and-data-from-your-iph….

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.

The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.

Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.

This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us

“Kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy” — doesn’t that sound strange, coming from people who routinely steal private information as they please? But this echoes the manifesto of a related group, LulzSec, whose nihilistic perspective on the state of the Internet kind of made sense. An excerpt:

Do you think every hacker announces everything they’ve hacked? We certainly haven’t, and we’re damn sure others are playing the silent game. Do you feel safe with your Facebook accounts, your Google Mail accounts, your Skype accounts? What makes you think a hacker isn’t silently sitting inside all of these right now, sniping out individual people, or perhaps selling them off? You are a peon to these people. A toy. A string of characters with a value.This is what you should be fearful of, not us releasing things publicly, but the fact that someone hasn’t released something publicly.

Will Anonymous be able to successfully lay waste to Mark Zuckerberg’s fortress? This is set to be the Internet showdown of the year.

I cant wait to see what happens. It’s going to be interesting.

EVE Online:Incarna

The newest update/upgrade  to EVE online is Incarna. It allows you to leave your ship while you are docked in a station. I haven’t been able to play yet but I hear it’s pretty cool. Here is some information I got from the Evelopedia.

Incarna (Also known as Ambulation or Walking in Stations) is an expansion for Eve Online which introduces the ability for pilots to step out of their pods and explore the Space Stations throughout the galaxy. Walking in stations was first announced in 2006 [1]. The title Incarna was given as the official patch name during the 2009 Fanfest, as part of an update revealing the release to be sometime in 2010. The expansion will be released in stages, the first of which was on 21st of June 2011.

Game Design

The expansion is initially going to be relatively bare-bones, due to the nature of the challenges of creating the technology and creating game play that does not encroach on the methods people play Eve Online today.

A Tactical Map is a major feature being planned for the expansion. [3]

On release, the primary content will be the ability to run shops inside of stations, ranging from Plastic Surgeons to Fashion Outlets. Players will also be able to set up corporate offices where they can hold meetings and introduce recruits. Player scripted NPCs will deliver dialogue to people looking for information.

Mini Games are an expected feature of the Walking in Stations expansion, with a thread on the Eve Online forums taking player suggestions for games to include. Gambling is one of the primary functions that is planned for inclusion, with the ability to place anything from ISK to Ships in a wager.

Custom, player made clothing is another major feature. It will be possible for anyone to have a custom made uniform or outfit, but to prevent “visual griefing,” the color palette is being kept subdued and realistic. CCP has also hired fashion designers to aid in the development of clothing and fabrics within the Walking in Stations expansion.

Locations

Players will be able to ambulate inside of Space Stations, the offices, and the ships located within them. In addition, the captain’s quarters of a ship will also be a visitable location where the player can decorate and furnish their quarters to some degree.

Art Direction

The design and art for the Walking in Stations expansion, much like the rest of Eve Online, pushes for grittiness, functionality, and a grim reality. The player visible areas of the space stations will be expansive, with a lot of space to visit. Since there will not be running in Ambulation, special accelerated walkways will be provided to allow faster transport from place to place.

Graphics Technology

Incarna will make use of a radiosity based lighting system licensed from Geometrics. This gives Incarna a softer, warmer look when compared with Eve. As described at the CCP Presents! panel at Fanfest 2009[4]:

SWG Closing December 15th 2011

SO SWG IS CLOSING!! I hate to say it and its really sad. I went to bed one night and woke up to the forums being offline, normal for SOE sometimes. After the forums came back up this is what I found. on 06/24/2011 12:46:08 this was posted on the official SWG forums.

Haunted Video Games!?

Recent forum browsing has had me stumble upon 2 haunted video game stories. One is of a haunted Pokemon Rom that gives you the option to pick a beginning Pokemon named Ghost that actually kills Pokemon when he fights them, but that all comes at a cost.  ¹

And recently a haunted copy of Majora’s Mask has been stumbled upon and is now tormenting a horrified blogger. ² The story is very descriptive and is quite a read but well worth it. And at the bottom he includes youtube videos that you can watch while you read. The story is captivating, and I’m waiting to see if he updates and continues forth with it.

Are these stories the beginning to a new horror genre? Or have ghosts began to infiltrate our games and glitch them to the point that it’ll scare the pants off even the most seasoned of horror gamers? Either way, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more accounts of these haunted games, in hopes of even stumbling upon one myself.

Jon@MOGS

1. Haunted Pokémon Game Reveals How Evil You Really Are  ↩
2. Creepy + Pasta: Mask of Majora  ↩

World of Warcraft IN Starcraft II?

Mod creator Glomby created World of Warcraft using Blizzard’s Starcraft II game creator and mods. There’s no gameplay to speak of but this looks awesome, and it’s impressive to think this is played through Starcraft II. It’s going to be amazing the custom games we’ll be seeing in SCII in the next upcoming months/years if this is what is coming out in the first month of the game being released.