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The new World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor is fast approaching and many players are gearing up to play the new region and all it has to offer. Blizzard have been busy though with a little more than just the addition of the Draenor region though; they’re actually working with the coding underneath the entire game to make sure it stays up-to-date.
A new blog series, Engineer’s Workshop, aims to help players understand what changes Blizzard are making to the engine of the game. First is anti-aliasing; Blizzard’s replaced multisample anti-aliasing in favour of the newer CMAA, Conservative Morphological Anti-Aliasing. The aim of the upgrades is to bring WoW firmly into the modern-day era of technological advancements in gaming say Blizzard, “We’re thinking long-term with this change.”
The reason they are dropping MSAA is due to World of Warcraft’s changes meant that it had moved away from being CPU-bound, freeing up the GPU, allowing it to handle MSAA. But an increased demand on the GPU means that Blizzard have had to change strategies.
“We explored a number of options to reconcile this increased GPU demand with the game’s anti-aliasing needs, and ultimately decided to embrace CMAA as our anti-aliasing technology for Warlords of Draenor… It also integrates well with technologies we have planned for the future, and helps us bring those to the game sooner.”
CMAA means that performance cost has also been reduced which means that they’ve been able to add new graphical things such as a new shadowing technique and soft particles. It’s also just the start as Blizzard explore more ways to make the best of higher-end graphics cards.
Engineer’s Workshop “Engine Evolution in Warlords of Draenor”: [x]
Recently it seems that Electronic Arts has been fighting to overcome its ‘worst company ever’ reputation among gamers. They’ve recently been running two programs, Game Time and On the House, in which it’s just giving away games to players provided they want to download it over Origin.
Today its the turn of Bejeweled 3, a sequel game to the gem-matching classic. Match 3 (or was it 4?) of the same colour, get combos, power gems can clear areas, etc etc. It’s been a while since I played a Bejeweled game, but it is a decent way to consume an hour or less sometimes. When you’re in the mood. The third one comes with eight game modes so there’s a choice of ways to do it too.
Of course, it’s not forever, and this On the House deal ends on October 28th. So if you want it… you’ve got more than a month to go grab it. If you’re interested that is.
Hearthstone as a game has been a runaway success for Blizzard. The combination of simple-to-pick-up, difficult-to-master rules; cards using characters and concepts from their long-running World of Warcraft franchise and the free-to-play model that doesn’t force its real-money options onto the player has meant that the game has a far reach. So far in fact that recently the servers have notched up their 20 millionth player.
In a tweet Blizzard said “Thank you all for joining us in #Hearthstone! We’re going to need a bigger tavern!” The success of the game was helped a lot by the release of its first single–layer expansion Curse of Naxxramas, something I very much enjoyed playing and gave Heathstone its most played week ever during its first few weeks.
Here’s to all 20 million players and let’s hope 50 million isn’t too far off! 😛
The Waste Land by Fledermaus is a retro inspired Metroidvania style game. Of course, that phrase gets thrown around a lot these days, but in the case of The Waste Land I find it to be a bit more fitting. Fledermaus has managed to craft a loving tribute to the long ago days of 16 bit platformers, but one that isn’t without some problems of its own.
The Waste Land is inspired by the poem of the same name, written by T.S. Elliot in 1922. After a short tutorial teaching you the basics of movement and combat, you are placed into the shoes of a king who spends his days in luxury, or on long hunting trips. Its one such hunting trip that introduces you to the world of The Waste Land. Setting out, you encounter a mysterious beast in the woods. Slaying it causes the earth to shake. As you return to camp, you find it destroyed and see a strange man floating nearby. This sage tells you that you have destroyed the balance of the world and that you must restore it. Its here that you first get a taste of the King’s character. And he’s a jerk. Rarely have I come across a more unlikable character in fiction, but the King pretty much takes the cake. Shallow, petty and concerned only with his own gain its totally impossible to love him. The King does grow across the course of the game as you venture to the seven continents in the world battling twisted bosses and trying to put right your wrongs.
Fortuantely, the gameplay is another matter. To save the land from evil, you must venture to several temples, obtaining new and better weapons as you go. Combat feels fluid even on keyboard, thanks to some smart controls. Sword and bow and arrow will be your primary weapon, and each has distinct advantages and disadvantages. A bow allows you to stay at a safe distance, but can take longer to down foes while the sword dishes out the punishment but also puts you within arms reach of the monsters. Choosing how to fight is an important part of the game. As is learning to read it’s map. There is almost no direction in the game, save cryptic hints from the sage when you encounter him about the world. The Waste Land is truly a game that wants you to explore, and only walls you off from areas until you have the gear needed to access them. An early example is the double jump, which allowed me to reach ledges barring my way into the next area.Fire arrows allow you to kill enemies from afar with ease, explosive arrows let you demolish obstacles in your path and access new areas. The bosses in the game are twisted, huge and challenging, ranging from a whale….thing, to a gigantic hornet.
All in all, The Waste Land feels like a smart tribute to old school Metroid and Castlevania games. Fledermaus has done a great job placing you into a world that feels alive and in true peril. Even if the main character is a jerk. Aside from a few issues finding my way early on, I enjoyed my time playing through this game. If you’re a fan of old school adventure and hack and slash exploration, pick it up on Steam.
If you’ve ever hung out in the Twitch chat of even a moderately popular streamer, you’ll have realised what a madhouse it can sometimes be in the chats. Those without a good modbot, moderators or an engaged slowmode can quickly become unreadable. Now there’s a new hazard that’s going around, that Twitch Support have warned users about in their tweets.
Security PSA: Do not click the “csgoprize” link in chat. This is a phishing attempt to install malware and compromise your Steam account.^JM
The hazard, which is a chatbot that asks users to follow a link for the chance to win CS:GO items in-game. It leads to a site that asks for the user’s name, e-mail and permission to publish their name. Of course it does nothing of the sort, instead installing malicious software that compromises the user’s Steam account, taking screens, adding friends, placing items from the user’s account onto the market at reduced prices and being able to purchase other items and trade them. The point of the software is to use the victim’s common items to gain enough points to buy rarer items and then trade them over to another recently added ‘friend’ Steam account as well as empty the victim’s account of anything else of value.
The ruse uses the victim’s own machine to avoid getting caught by Steam’s own ‘new machine’ security features that prevents other such methods of accomplishing the same results and Twitch are currently working to block out the chatbots and protect against the malicious links.
