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Skyrim Update 1.4 is Live on Xbox, PS3 Later Today – Full List of Changes

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:39 +0000

FUS RO DAH! The Skyrim1.4 update is live on Xbox Live and expected to hit the PS3 later on today. This is an anticipated update which should fix a few annoying bugs, most importantly the PS3 bug that makes it unplayable after a certain level.

Below is the full list of changes courtesy of the Bethblog.

Bethesda also claims to be putting the final touches on the Creation Kit and Skyrim Workshop and will let everyone know as soon as they’re up.

NEW FEATURES

Skyrim launcher support for Skyrim Workshop (PC)

BUG FIXES

General optimizations for memory and performance
Fixed occasional issue with armor and clothing not displaying properly when placed on mannequins in player’s house (PS3)
Long term play optimizations for memory and performance (PS3)
Improved compiler optimization settings (PC)
Memory optimizations related to scripting
Fixed issue with dangling scripts not properly clearing from memory
Fixed crashes related to pathing and AI
Fixed crash in “Haemar’s Shame” if player had already completed “A Daedra’s Best Friend”
Fixed rare crash with loading saved games
Fixed issue with accented characters not displaying properly at the end of a line
Fixed issue where dragon priest masks would not render correctly
Fixed issue where quests would incorrectly progress after reloading a save
Fixed issues with placing and removing books from bookshelves in the player’s home
Optimized bookshelf script in player-owned houses that would occasionally block other scripts from properly firing off
Fixed issue where weapon racks and plaques would not work correctly in player’s house if player immediately visits their house before purchasing any upgrades
Fixed issue where the player house in Windhelm would not clean up properly
Fixed crash related to giant attacks and absorb spells
Fixed issue with ash piles not cleaning up properly
Fixed occasional issue where overwriting an existing save would fail
Fixed memory crash with container menu
Fixed infinite loop with bookshelves
Fixed issue where transforming back to human from werewolf would occasionally fail
Bows and daggers will display properly when placed on weapon racks
Fixed occasional audio issue that would play sound effects louder than intended
Fixed bug related to hitching between cell boundaries
Master Criminal achievement/trophy unlocks properly in French, German, Spanish and Italian
Fixed issue where traps in Shalidor’s Maze would not work properly in French, German, Spanish and Italian versions

QUEST FIXES

The Unusual Gem that was inside the Thalmor Embassy is now accessible after finishing “Diplomatic Immunity”
In “Breaching Security”, the quest token is no longer required to receive a fortune reading from Olava the Feeble
Fixed issue where Galmar would not complete Joining the Stormcloaks properly if “Season Unending” was an active quest
Fixed issue where starting “Season Unending” after finishing “Joining the Stormcloaks” would prevent “The Jagged Crown” from starting properly
Fixed issue where progressing through “Message to Whiterun” while “Season Unending” was still open would block progression for both quests
In “Arniel’s Endeavor”, fixed issue where a quest journal would trigger multiple times
In “Forbidden Legend”, the amulet fragment can no longer disappear after player leaves a dungeon without taking it
Fixed rare issue in “Forbidden Legend” where killing Mikrul Gauldurson while sneaking would make his corpse unaccessible
In “The White Phial”, the phial can no longer disappear if player leaves dungeon without taking it
“The White Phial” will now start properly if player already has a briar heart in their inventory
Player can no longer get stuck in Misty Grove after completing “A Night to Remember”
Fixed issue where leaving Riften during “A Chance Arrangement” would prevent quest from progressing
In “Darkness Returns”, a door in Twilight Sepulcher will properly open if the player leaves the dungeon for an extended period of time before completing the quest
In “Revealing the Unseen”, if the player leaves the Oculory for an extended period of time after placing the focusing crystal and returns, the quest will proceed correctly
“Onmund’s Request” will now start properly if player has already found Enthir’s staff before receiving this quest
Fixed instance where Tonilia would stop buying stolen items and also would not give Guild Leader Armor
“Repairing the Phial” will start properly if player already has unmelting snow or mammoth tusk in their inventory
Finding Pantea’s Flute before speaking with Pantea no longer prevents her quest from updating
In “The Break of Dawn”, fixed rare instance where a quest object would spawn incorrectly on the Katariah during Hail Sithis
Fixed rare issue in “The Mind of Madness” where player is unable to equip the Wabbajack
Fixed issue in “Pieces of the Past” where Mehrunes Dagon’s Razor will not trigger properly if player leaves the cell for extended period of time before activating it
“Blood’s Honor” will start properly if you visited and completed Driftshade and an extended period of time passes before starting the quest.
Fixed rare issue where “Dampened Spirits” would not start properly
Fixed issue where player would be unable to become Thane of Riften if they purchased a home first
Fixed issue where killing guards in Cidhna Mine would block progression for “No One Escapes Cidhna Mine”
Fixed numerous issues with “Blood on the Ice” not triggering properly
In “Blood on the Ice”, Calixto can now be killed if player owns a house in Windhelm
In “The Cure for Madness”, killing Cicero then resurrecting him no longer impedes quest progress
Fixed rare issue in “To Kill an Empire” where an NPC would fail to die properly
Clearing Knifepoint Ridge before starting “Boethiah’s Champion” no longer prevents quest from starting.

Gran Turismo 5 to Get Two DLC Packs and Update 2.03 Next Week – Screens and Details

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:52:56 +0000

Expect lots of new content for Gran Turismo 5 next week with two new DLC packs and update 2.03 announced by Sony today. The upcoming DLC includes the Car Pack 3 and the Speed Test Pack.

Car Pack 3 will feature six new cars: Lamborghini Aventador, Jaguar XJR9, Aston Martin V12 Vantage 2011, VW 1200 1966, Mini Countryman S 2011, and Nissan Leaf. The pack will be priced at $6.99 .

The Speed Test Pack features an all-new oval race track with a special performance measurement mode – perfect for trialing out your car collection and their stats. It should be priced at $5.99.

Update 2.03 will be released on January 18th and should feature the following changes:

New theme for my home in GT Mode.
An option to set up in the penumatici Pit Strategy (B-spec).
Simulated regenerative braking on electric cars.
Chaparral 2J Race Car ’70: Fan forced shutdown option.
Fixed an error unexpected pit stop on the last lap of a race B-spec.
12 new colors and 12 new wallpapers for the theme of Casa Mia.
Electric cars run slower without applying an acceleration.
A regenerative braking effect on the distance cruise.

Via Press Release and GT Planet

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Update v1.2 – What It Changed

Dave Oshry — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:42:51 +0000

Now that Skyrim has had an uber successful launch and is being played by gamers worldwide, and now that we’ve all filled up on Horker Meat and Mashed Nirnroot, it’s time to start updating Skyrim.

The latest update is now live on PS3 and is coming later this week to Xbox 360 and PC.

Here’s what it changed:

UPDATE 1.2 NOTES (all platforms unless specified)

Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)

Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)

Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)

Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away

Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player’s wedding dead

Dragon corpses now clean up properly

Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack

Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug

Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely

Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory

Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armor

Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death

ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)

Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)

General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

After releasing the 1.2 update, we will continue to monitor forums, blogs, etc. for issues you are reporting, and we will keep you updated on further updates to improve your gameplay experience.

Our current ETA for Xbox 360 and PC players is this Wednesday, November 30th.

Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage of upcoming Skyrim fixes and for more on Skyrim be sure to check out the RipTen Review!

Rift’s 1.6 Patch Deployed Today – Full Patch Notes and More

Jensen Walker — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:54:15 +0000

Continuing their wonderful breakneck pace of content updates, Trion has today released patch 1.6 for Rift, and it’s a big one.

‘From the Embers’ introduces an entirely new zone known as Ember Isle, which is twice the size of Stillmoor and caters to max level players. If that’s not enough, the 1.6 patch features Rift’s largest ever dungeon. Caduceus Rise hosts a whopping 11 bosses, non linear progression, a normal mode and two expert wings.

Still want more? How about a new 10man raid (Rise of the Phoenix), an altered version of an existing warfront, further choices in the alternate advancement system and the Fae Yule world event. Phew!

Check out the full patch notes below straight from the Rift Forums:

== FEATURES ==
* Welcome to EMBER ISLE, a new zone where the cults of Laethys and Maelforge work to restore their masters to power, and the history of both the Farclan Dwarves and Kelari is being re-discovered.
* Caduceus Rise, the largest dungeon to date, is now available on Ember Isle in both Normal and Expert modes. See CADUCEUS RISE for more info.
* In the newest Sliver, the Wanton have corrupted the Titan Gate into a portal for Maelforge’s entry to Telara. Prevent this fate in RISE OF THE PHOENIX! Details below.
* World Event: As winter descends on Telara, Grandfather Frost and the Yulemother arrive to celebrate the season. Keep an eye on the World Event UI for the start of THE FAE YULE event in the days following the arrival of 1.6!
* The second tier of Planar Attunement is now unlocked!
* We’ve made some additions and updates to the Ascend-a-Friend system, and friends can now be Ascended from the new in-game UI! See ASCEND-A-FRIEND UPDATES, below.
* A new alternate version of the Black Garden Warfront enters the weekend rotation; see details under STOCKPILE: BLACK GARDEN!
* The ‘start menu’ buttons on the UI have been reorganized and put into a new layout; look below under UPDATED ‘START MENU’ BUTTONS for more info.

= EMBER ISLE =
* An entirely new overworld zone, the volcanic island of Ember Isle plays a strong part in the history of both the Dwarves and the Kelari, as well as being the current seat of the Wanton and the Golden Maw’s plots to restore Laethys and Maelforge to power.
* The Sourcewells, direct connections to the core of Telara, are powerful energy sources and invaders from the Planes attempt to control and corrupt them for their own ends.
* The Guardians venture to Ember Isle to seek out the Dwarves who left to form the Farclan.
* The Defiants look to discover what happened to their Kelari brethren who remained after a civil war fractured their people.
* Ember Isle is a fully-featured level 50+ zone including all new characters and storyline, new defense-style gameplay, a large emphasis on Planar invasions, and all the good things you might expect – new gear and items, artifacts, vanity sets, pets, titles, factions, achievements… the list goes on!
* Two new Tier 2 raid Rifts have been introduced! Travel to Ember Isle to find the openers for Dragon’s Gold and Enkindled Flames!
* The Telaran effort to rebuild the Travel Stones has opened travel to Ember Isle once more; visit the NPCs at the Travel Stone locations outside of Meridian and Sanctum to journey to the island.

= CADUCEUS RISE [Dungeon] =
* The Golden Maw and some of their Wanton allies occupy the temple at Caduceus Rise, built by the Kelari to honor the powerful Telaran spirit, Caduceus.
* In their ongoing efforts to give Laethys a corporeal form, her cult followers have made an agreement with Caduceus to lend his powerful Earth magic to their cause.
* By negating Caduceus’ assistance, the Ascended buy more time against Laethys’ attempts to return to full strength on Telara.
* Normal mode Caduceus Rise is targeted for a group of level 48-50 Ascended. Two – yes, two – tier 2 Expert modes are also available!

= RISE OF THE PHOENIX [Sliver] =
* In an alternate Telara, the Eth priests attempting to open the Titan Gate in Stonefield are ambushed by General Silgen and the forces of Maelforge before they can complete their ritual – allowing Silgen to warp the gate into a portal for the forces of Maelforge. In an effort to stop the Wanton, High Priest Arakhurn pushes himself too far and is immolated, reborn as a phoenix.
* Enter the Rise of the Phoenix sliver to prevent the Eth’s tragedy from turning into Maelforge’s takeover of Telara!
* Rise of the Phoenix is intended for a group of 10 well equipped players who might otherwise be tackling the challenges of Hammerknell.
* New gear, new pets, and new achievements await!

= STOCKPILE: BLACK GARDEN =
* A new weekend warfront joins the rotation! Stockpile: Black Garden is a 15 vs. 15 player Warfront available in all level brackets.
* Obtain, defend, and store the most orbs to gain victory for your team!

= ASCEND-A-FRIEND UPDATES =
* You can now invite a friend for Ascend-a-Friend from inside the game! See the status of your invitees from the new AAF In-Game UI, located under the ‘Social’ button on the new start menu.
* All NEW Ascend-a-Friend Rewards! You are now additionally granted an awesome chest of Ascended Treasure when someone that you referred subscribes to RIFT. Ascended Treasure includes things like Inscribed Sourcestone, Lucky Coins, Plaques, and Marks!
* FREE TIME! You get 30 days of free time for every friend that you refer to RIFT who continues to play for more than 30 days!
* Ascend-a-Friend awards are now granted at the time your invited friend subscribes to RIFT.

= UPDATED ‘START MENU’ BUTTONS =
* We updated and consolidated the on-screen menu butttons that appear by default in the lower left corner of the screen.
* PLAYER: The ‘Player’ subsection handles menus related to your character’s current status, abilities, and quests.
* ACTIVITIES: Manage your queues for Warfronts and Dungeons here!
* SOCIAL: Handles keeping track of your friends, guild, and raid members under this section.
* HELP: For when you need somebody! Contact CS or receive other in-game assistance or reports.
* SYSTEM: This is where all of the setting, layout, and keybinding type menus are hanging out.

GENERAL
* Added a checkbox to merchants who have items filtered from your view that will allow you to See All Items.
* ‘Nimble’ mounts – +90% speed – now require level 30 rather than level 40 to use.
* You may now remain mounted while inside Lantern Hook and the Chancel of Labors.
* The Inventory search feature can now search by the terms ‘Soulbound’ and ‘Bind-On-Equip’ to help find these items in your inventory.
* Characters who are /afk will be notified if they auto-fail any party or raid leader-issued ready checks.
* Added an ‘Already Purchased’ indicator (if applicable) to the tooltip of Ascended Power abilities on merchants.
* All Artifacts now stack to 99. Which is a lot.
* The minimap now shows tracked NPCs that are dead for as long as they remain lootable.

EXPERIENCE UPDATES
* Groups of 10 or more players will gain more experience when killing NPCs than they currently get.
* Instance boss NPCs in Expert and Master modes now award more experience when killed.
* Instance boss NPCs in Slivers and Raids now award significantly more experience when killed.

RIFTS AND INVASIONS
* Rift consumable items now stack to 50, increased from 20.
* The [Zone] Defender Achievements now have more general description text as the Rifts required now regularly show up in all zones.
* All Invasions now drop Artifacts based on the Invasion’s planar type, rather than based on zone, as the presence of zone-specific Invasions has changed due to world events and new Rift opening abilities.
* PvP Rifts: When you are carrying the Sourcestone, we now show a target arrow on the ground pointing you toward where you should go with it.
* Increased the frequency at which Invasions spawn during high level zone events.
* Added more daily quests to all zones for closing Rifts and defeating Rift creatures.

LOOKING FOR GROUP
* Players manually added to in-progress LFG groups can now use the ‘Enter Dungeon’ button on their LFG map icon.
* Some forms of NPC mind control effects that would remove you from the LFG queue no longer do so.
* You can now use the raid frame UI to initiate a LFG member votekick.

PLANAR ATTUNEMENT
* The second tier of Planar Attunement is now unlocked! The window now allows you to preview abilities in tiers you cannot access yet.
* Players will receive more Planar Attunement experience when killing NPCs in Sliver and Raid zones.
* Significantly increased the amount of experience granted for Raid and Sliver bosses.
* Significantly increased the amount of Planar Attunement experience awarded from random Tier 1 and Tier 2 Expert Dungeon completions via LFG.

SOULS
* Teleport abilities like Shadow Assault and Shadow Stalk that move the character behind the target will fail less often and will now teleport directly on top of the target if no good location is available behind it.

CLERIC

CABALIST
* Undertow: Now properly triggers on the correct target of Maelstrom (assuming it’s an enemy, of course).

DRUID
* Satyr: Now properly inherits the Cleric’s Focus, allowing Thorns of Asphodel to do proper damage in raids.
* Spirit of the Wood: Now properly works as described, and no longer affects the pet’s auto-attacks.

INQUISITOR
* Clinging Spirit: Can also be applied by Bolt of Depravity. Now properly lists its duration as 15 seconds.
* Nysyr’s Rebuke: No longer suffers from pushback.

JUSTICAR
* Increased threat generated by all damaging abilities.
* Bolt of Radiance: Now properly categorized as a Damage ability and not Threat in the ability binder.
* Precept of Refuge: This ability may now critically hit.
* Reparation: Now properly matches the ability description, no longer healing other Clerics with Reparation.
* Righteous Mandate, Doctrine of Righteousness: Properly flagged as a single-target spell, rather than an Area of Effect spell.
* Rebuke: No longer interrupts un-interruptible boss abilities.
* Mien of Leadership: Increased threat bonus to 500%. Now also causes overhealing to generate threat.
* Thorvin’s Law: Now causes Mien of Leadership to reduce damage from spells by 3-6%, and all non-Physical damage by 1% + 1% per point spent in Justicar above 26. No longer requires the purchase of Precept of Refuge to unlock.
* Shield of Faith: Now reduces all damage by 2-10%.
* Just Defense: Now absorbs 50% of the Cleric’s maximum health. Removed ranks 2 and 3.
* Resplendent Embrace: Now also increases the Cleric’s maximum health by 20%.
* Hammerknell Synergy Crystal 4-piece Bonus: Reduced the absorption triggered by Doctrine of Authority to 50% of the Justicar’s Spell Power.

SENTINEL
* Serendipity: Now properly applies to the next spell cast immediately after proccing.

SHAMAN
* Lightning Hammer: Lightning may now critically hit.
* Bitter Wind: Reduced cooldown to 10 seconds.

MAGE
* Fixed a bug where Charge consuming abilities which block Charge generation while active could also block Mana returned from drinks.

ARCHON
* Purification: Ability will no longer be available to cast, and will be greyed out, if the Mage’s target does not have a Curse debuff on them.
* Illuminate – New Ability: Illuminates the weak points on a target, causing each attacker to deal additional Physical damage on 1 attack every 3 seconds for 20 seconds. Obtained after spending 14 points in Archon.

CHLOROMANCER
* Raised in Nature: Now uses only the mage’s base Intelligence and the Intelligence added by equipment to determine the amount of Endurance bonus granted.
* Updated ability descriptions on Lifegiving Veil, Lifebound Veil, and Synthesis.
* Nature’s Cleansing: Ability will no longer be available to cast, and will be greyed out, if the Mage’s target does not have a Curse, Poison, or Disease debuff on them.
* Living Shell: Fixed an issue where this would not return Mana if used while Entropic Veil was active.
* Wid Growth: Fixed an issue where the Snare and debuff portions of wild Growth did not have the same radius as the heal effect.

DOMINATOR
* Quick Thinking: Fixed a bug where Quick Thinking would not be consumed by casting Icicle if both Quick Thinking and Storm Shard occurred at the same time.
* Haunting Pain: Increased damage. Now deals damage every 1 second, down from 2. Fixed an issue where the damage was not dealt as expected when used with less than 10 stacks. Updated mana cost. Fixed an issue where the damage or duration in the debuff tooltip would display as 0.
* Thunder Blast: Now interrupts the target when the ability is cast instead of at the time damage is dealt. Fixed an issue where switching targets just after the ability was cast would cause the new target to get knocked back rather than the spell’s target. Will now trigger Quick Thinking when cast.
* Deny: Ability will no longer be available to cast, and will be greyed out, if the Mage’s target does not have a Curse, Poison, or Disease debuff on them.
* Improved Charged Shield: Fixed an issue where this was not correctly affecting the damage of Charged Shield and Mass Charged Shield. Updated description to indicate that it affects Mass Charged Shield.
* Fixed an issue where Traitorous Influence and Mass Betrayal would not drain Mana or Energy if cast while a Charge-draining ability, such as Internalize Charge, was active.
* Fixed an issue where Ineptitude and Call of Spring were incorrectly affecting the ability and tooltip descriptions for Incompetence.

ELEMENTALIST
* Velocity: Now has a 100% chance to debuff enemies hit by Crystalline Missiles. The debuff increases the mage’s Elemental pet damage against that target by 15-75%. Updated the description to more clearly indicate it only affects ability damage.
* Crystalline Missiles: Increased damage.
* Air Elemental: Reduced damage of the Air Elemental’s Lightning Bolt and Ball Lightning abilities.
* Elemental Fury – New Passive Ability: Successful critical hits by the Mage’s Elemental pet will increase the Mage’s Spell Power by 20 for each point spent in Elementalist at 40 and above. This buff has a 15 second duration. Obtained after spending 40 points in Elementalist.
* Planar Expansion: The damage bonus now affects Earth Elemental pets in addition to the currently affected Air and Water Elementals. Now increases Elemental pet damage by an additional 3% for each point spent in the Elementalist soul above 31.
* Swarming Flames: Reduced cooldown to 2 minutes.

NECROMANCER
* Plague Bolt: Increased damage.
* The Shadow Revenant ability, Oblivion, now requires only the initial target to have Necrosis in order to trigger the Area of Effect damage and additional effects of Oblivion.
* Mass Grave: Reduced cooldown to 2 minutes.
* The Skeletal Knight’s Bone Shatter ability will now force enemies it successfully taunts to attack the pet for 3 seconds, in addition to its previous effects.
* Deadly Collusion – New Passive Ability: Successful Critical Hits by single target spells will increase your Undead pet’s Attack Power and Spell Power by 30 for each stack of Deathly Calling on the affected target. Attack and Spell Power boost lasts for 15 seconds. Ability is gained after spending 40 points in Necromancer.
* Epidemic – New Passive Ability: Successful Critical Hits by the Mage’s Undead pet will reduce the casting time of the Mage’s next Plague Bolt within 10 seconds to instant-cast. Obtained after spending 44 points in Necromancer.

PYROMANCER
* Due to the below changes, characters with Soul Points spent in Pyromancer will receive a free Soul respec.
* Burning Bonds: Now instant-cast.
* Improved Burning Bonds: Removed.
* Unbreakable Bonds: Now requires points spent in Burning Bonds.
* Backdraft: No longer has Fire Storm as a prerequisite to obtain.
* Fire Shield: Now a single-point branch ability.
* Improved Flame Jet: Now a two-point branch ability.
* Spark – New 5-point branch ability: Reduces the Mage’s global cooldown by 0.1-0.5 seconds. Unlocked after spending 20 points in Pyromancer.
* Ignition: Now reduces the casting time of non-Fire spells by 1-5%, in addition to its original effect.
* Philosophy of Flame – New branch ability: Increases the Mage’s maximum Charge by 5-10. Unlocked after spending 10 points in Pyromancer.
* Burning Fury – New branch ability: Each time the Mage fails to critically hit a target with a single-target spell, they gain a 15 second stacking buff. This buff increases their Spell Critical Hit chance by 3% per stack. A successful critical hit on a target will consume all stacks. Unlocked after spending 5 points in Pyromancer.
* Combust: Renamed to Improved Combustion.
* Glyphs of Power: Now increases all spell damage by 5%, at the expense of the Pyromancer taking 5% more damage.
* Improved Glyphs of Power: Decreases the additional damage you take while affected by Glyphs of Power by 1-5%. Increases the additional damage you deal under Glyphs of Power by 1-5%.
* Fireball: Now has a base 20% chance to proc a Combust damage-over-time effect on the target.
* The Combust damage-over-time effect now deals damage as soon as it is applied, and every second after. This is decreased from the previous 2-second interval.
* Improved Combustion: Now appears in the combat log as its own ability, no longer attributing the damage to Fireball and no longer deals damage based on how much damage Fireball does. Now increases the chance for Fireball to proc Combust again on the target by 10-30%.
* Countdown: Damage now increased by 5% for each stack of Combust on the target.
* Improved Flame Bolt: The buff effect now increases all spell damage by 10% instead of just Fire.
* Wildfire: Now gives Flame Bolt a 33-100% chance to proc Combust on the target, in addition to its previous effects.
* Pyromancer’s Armor: The chance for this ability to proc is now increased by 1% per point spent in Pyromancer above 40. Updated description to indicate that this cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds – the ability worked this way previously, but now the spell description matches.
* Withering Flames: Now deals Fire damage and applies a stack of Combust each second while channeling. Withering Flames damage is increased by 20% for each stack of Combust on the target.
* Heat Wave: No longer reduces the global cooldown. Also no longer resets the cooldown of Intensify Elements or Sacrifice Life: Damage.
* Fulminate: Now requires 110 Charge to cast.
* Improved Smoldering Power: Combined into the base Smoldering Power ability, removed the Improved Smoldering Power ability.
* Smoldering Power: Fixed an issue where this would not consume Charge if used while Internalize Charge was active.
* Fire Storm: Now deals damage every 1 seconds, down from 2 seconds previously. Damage per tick has been reduced so that the total damage of the full channel has not changed. It will no longer deal damage immediately upon casting. Duration of the total channel has not been changed.
* Fiery Concentration: Now reduces the amount of pushback suffered while casting single-target spells by 33-100%.

STORMCALLER
* Due to the below changes, characters with Soul Points spent in Stormcaller will receive a free soul respec.
* Hypothermia: Increased the duration of the Hypothermia debuff to 15 seconds. Duration of the Snare effect is unchanged. Multiple mages can now have the Hypothermia debuff on the same target at once. This applies only to the debuff and doesn’t impact the snare portion of the effect.
* Building Storm, Favorable Conditions: Abilities removed.
* Storm Shard – New Ability: Tier 3 branch ability with 3 ranks. Gives your damaging Air spells a 33-100% chance to make your next Icicle cast within 10 seconds an instant cast, and gives that Icicle a 100% chance to critically hit with increased critical hit damage bonus of 75%. Cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.
* Lightning Conductor: Now causes Electrocute, Thunderbolt, Raging Storm, and Forked Lightning to deal 10-30% more damage if the target is suffering from Hypothermia.
* Watertouched Soulstone: Fixed an issue where this was not correctly working with AoE abilities.
* Lightning Rod: Now reduces the pushback caused by damage attack by 50-100% while casting area effect spells.
* Eye of the Storm: Damage increased.
* Icicle: Damage increased.
* Permafrost: Ability removed.
* Severe Weather – New Ability: Increases damage done by area effect spells by 10-20%. Tier 5 branch ability unlocked after spending 20 points in Stormcaller.
* Forked Lightning: Reduced damage.
* The portrait icon for Electrified now shows the correct stack size and remaining time when switching targets.

WARLOCK
* Devouring Shadows: Now deals damage every second, down from 2 seconds previously. It will no longer deal damage immediately upon casting. The duration of the channel has not been changed, but the damage and charge generation per tick has been adjusted to maintain the same overall damage and charge from a full channel of the ability.
* Neddra’s Influence: Now increases both Death and Fire damage dealt by damage-over-time spells.
* Improved Warlock Armor: Renamed to Improved Mage Armor. Now increases the Mage’s damage by 2-10% when they have any Mage Armor buff active. Updated icon.
* Void Decimation – New Passive Ability: Increases the Mage’s Void Bolt damage by 0.75% for each of their Death damage-over-time spells affecting the target. This bonus increases by an additional 0.75% for each point spent in Warlock above 40. Obtained after spending 40 points in Warlock.
* Dark Armor: Fixed a bug where rank 1 was not dealing damage.

ROGUE

ASSASSIN
* Hammerknell Synergy Crystal 2-piece Bonus: Assassin Finishers apply Expose Weakness on the target.

BARD
* The requirement where players can only have 1 Fanfare per Bard has been removed – the Bard can now buff the entire group with all 3 Fanfares.
* Coda of Jeopardy – New Ability: Unlocked at 14 points in Bard. Plays a Coda that uses Combo Points to put the enemy in jeopardy, causing each attacker to deal additional Physical damage on 1 attack every 3 seconds for 30 seconds. Additional damage taken increases with Combo Points. This ability is similar to the Warlord’s Spotter’s Order.
* Extended Grief: Ability now also increases the duration of Coda of Jeopardy.

BLADEDANCER
* Weapon Barrage: No longer turns on auto attack which causes Incapacitate and Lost Hope to break.

INFILTRATOR [PvP]
* Ambush: Fixed a bug so that the remaining pets do not despawn when only one of the pets is killed.

MARKSMAN
* Electrified Munitions, Silver Tip Munitions, Vampiric Munitions: No longer have a 1 second internal cooldown when using AE attacks. The proc chance is reduced for AE attacks based on the number of targets affected. For example, Electrified Munitions has a proc chance of 100% on a single target. Using Fan Out that affects 2 targets will reduce the proc chance to 50%. On 5 targets, the proc chance is reduced to 20%.
* Hammerknell Synergy Crystal 4-piece Bonus: Increases the damage of Electrified Munitions by 30%, down from 50%.

NIGHTBLADE
* Blackout: Functionality changed. Now a passive ability that increases the number of times Scourge of Darkness triggers by 3, and the damage of Death-based attacks by 6%. For every point spent in Nightblade above 44, the number of Scourge of Darkness triggers increases by 1 and the Death-based attack damage increases by 2%.
* Twilight Transcendence: The amount of healing done is now computed from the Rogue’s base maximum health instead of their current maximum health.
* Twilight Shelter: Duration of the buff reduced from 8 seconds to 5 seconds. When combined with Twilight Transcendence, the outgoing damage reduction is recalculated before the second reduction is applied, from 100% to 60% with Twilight Shelter, and from 60% to 36% with both Twilight Shelter and Twilight Transcendence active.
* Fire and Death Attunement: Now increases damage dealt by 2-6%, up from 1-3%, and decreases damage taken from Fire and Death based attacks by 2-6%, down from 5-15%.
* Scourge of Darkness: Fixed a bug where additional triggers from Blackout and Synergy Crystal effects were not benefiting from the 30% damage bonus of Heat Retention.

RANGER
* Quick Shot: Fixed a bug with the first tick of Quick Shot’s damage-over-time effect so that it no longer triggers poisons, weapon enchantments, or Munitions effects.
* Hammerknell Synergy Crystal 2-piece bonus: Splinter Shot and Shadow Fire can now be cast instantly.

RIFTSTALKER
* Due to the below changes, characters with Soul Points spent in Riftstalker will receive a free Soul respec.
* Guardian Phase: Now unlocked at 16 points, down from 18. Increases all Resistances by 30, reduced from 50.
* Improved Guardian Phase: Now also reduces damage taken from non-Physical attacks by 5% when Guardian Phase is active.
* Stalker Phase: Now unlocked at 18 points, up from 16.
* Guarded Steel: Duration set at 30 seconds and does not increase with more Combo Points spent.
* Improved Guarded Steel: Functionality changed. Now increases your Deflect chance by 10-20% and increases threat generation by 20-40% while Guarded Steel is active.
* Rift Guard: Changed to a passive ability. All Plane Shift abilities and Guarded Steel trigger Rift Guard, absorbing 15% of all incoming damage for up to 50% of the Rogue’s current maximum health. Lasts for 30 seconds.
* Improved Rift Guard: The bonus applied to Rift Guard now only occurs when you are in Guardian Phase. If not in Guardian Phase, you will only get the benefit from the regular Rift Guard. Switching out of Guardian Phase after getting the Improved Rift Guard effect will cause the effect to be removed.
* Rift Barrier: Functionality changed. 20-60% of the damage Rift Guard absorbs is reflected back on the attacker.
* Shadow Guard: Functionality changed. Reduces Physical damage taken by 1-5% after using a Riftstalker damage attack that grants a Combo Point. For every 400 points of base Armor, you take 1% less Physical damage, up to a maximum of 20% reduction. Fixed a bug where the physical damage reduction was not working for several boss abilities in Hammerknell.
* Hammerknell Synergy Crystal 2-piece Bonus: Now reduces damage taken from a deflected non-Physical attack by 15%.

WARRIOR
* ‘Gift’ abilities now reduce incoming Physical damage by 0.3% and non-Physical damage by 0.38% per Soul Point spent in the associated Soul Tree. Ultimately this grants a 20% Physical mitigation and 25% non-Physical mitigation bonus to characters who have all of their points spent in tank souls.
* Several tank abilities have had their threat generation amounts increased.
* Rebalanced Power costs of non-Finisher abilities to resolve the issues caused by the Surging Energy fix. This change affects all Warrior Souls.
* Spell interrupt shared cooldown has been increased to 8 seconds to match interrupt ability cooldowns.
* Removed the damage reduction in PvP for the following abilities: Paired Strike, Punishing Blow, Frenzied Strike, Reaping Harvest, and Path of the Raptor.

CHAMPION
* Lingering Wounds: This and related abilities should now proc correctly in duels.
* Having both Overrun and Blitz for Bull Rush no longer double-dips on diminishing returns.

PALADIN
* Aggressive Block: Tooltip no longer references this ability being modified by Strength, which it isn’t.
* Aggressive Guardian: In addition to increasing the threat generated, now also increases the threat generated from Retaliation abilities, modified further by Endurance.
* Touch of Life: Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
* Preservation: Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
* Improved Reverent Protection: Now increases Reverent Protection by 10-20% plus an additional 0.02/0.04% per point of Endurance.
* Impassable Guard: Now also reduces non-Physical damage by 15%. Increased Magic damage mitigation to 25%. No longer blocks spells. No longer requires Attack Points.
* Scales of Justice: Threat generated has been increased significantly.
* Sweeping Strike: Shifted to more of a threat-generation role. Threat generated has been increased significantly, the number of targets it hits increased to 10 in a range of 10 meters, cooldown reduced to 5 seconds, and no longer requires a target to be used. Because of these changes, the damage has been reduced slightly.
* Rebalanced some abilities to work with the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements:
* Stalwart Shield: Now enhances Block by 1% per point, instead of 2%.
* Defender: Now enhances Armor by 1% per point instead of 2 points.
* Hardened Will: Now gives 2% non-Physical resistance instead of 3%.
* Shield of the Chosen: Now increases Block by 10%.
* Small Arms Specialization: No longer enhances the damage of Spotter’s Orders.
* Life’s Rapture: Now heals the Paladin instantly, and generates additional threat.

REAVER
* Increased the threat generated from all Reaver damage over time abilities.
* Power from the Masses: Fixed a bug causing all points spent in this ability to cause the same percent chance to trigger. Reduced damage mitigation to 0.7% per application.
* Sinister Intent: Threat enhancement is now modified by Endurance.
* Crest Mastery: Now gives 2% non-Physical resistance instead of 3%.
* Wasting Away: Ability changed – now increases damage of Area of Effect and Damage Over Time abilities by 3-10%.
* Binding of Death: Ability changed – Soul Sickness, Necrotic Wounds, or Blood Fever on the target reduces all damage types dealt to the Reaver by 9%. Continues to reduce Power cost of Area of Effect abilities.
* Binding of Affliction: Fixed a bug causing Binding of Affliction to enhance the damage done by Spotter’s Order.
* Flesh Rot: No longer reduces chance to hit on the target. Now reduces the Physical damage the target deals to the Reaver by 2% when under the effect of Flesh Rot. Value is increased based on the number of Reaver damage over time abilities the target has on it, to a maximum of 5.
* Cyclone Strike: Shifted to more of a threat-generation role. The threat generated has been increased, the number of targets it can hit is now 10 in a range of 10 meters, cooldown increased to 5 seconds, Power cost has been increased, now generates an Attack Point, and no longer counts as a Finisher ability.
* Imbued Armor: Now affects all damage types. Damage mitigation percentage scales from 0.5-3%.
* Shroud of Entropy: No longer requires Attack Points.
* Blood Fever: Can now trigger Void Knight’s Blood from a Stone ability.

RIFTBLADE
* Surging Energy: Fixed a bug causing 1 point in this ability to reduce the Power cost of the next ability by 75% instead of 25%.

VOID KNIGHT
* Fixed a bug causing Efficient Conversion to not properly alter the Power cost of certain abilities.
* Fixed a bug where damage shields such as Warlock Armor would trigger the counter on Fusion of Flesh, but not trigger the heal.
* Fusion of Flesh: Fixed a bug causing this to stick around after death.
* Surge: Now generates threat to nearby enemies when using Pact generating abilities. Due to this change, the damage of Discharge, Tempest, and Unstable Reaction have been increased slightly to make up for the loss of the increase Surge previously gave them.
* Rift Summon: Now acts like a taunt. Due to its high point requirements and long cooldown, it does not share an internal cooldown with other single-target taunts. Once again teleports the target.
* Discharge: Significantly increased threat caused by this ability.
* Singularity: Damage reduction is reduced from 50% to 35% but now reduces all incoming damage, not just Magical. No longer requires Attack Points.
* Accord of Emptiness: Now grants a Pact every 3 seconds. Now also has a 50% chance to refresh the cooldown on Rift Summon when the Void Knight is struck by a damaging spell. No longer grants damage mitigation to support the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements.
* Ravenous Defense: No longer increases Armor. Reduces incoming damage, rebalanced to support the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements. Fixed a bug causing this to not stack with Ravenous Strength.
* Tempest: Shifted to more of a threat-generation role. Threat generated has been increased, range increased to 10 meters, cooldown reduced to 5 seconds, and no longer requires you to have a target to use it. Changed the way that the secondary damage effect on Tempest is generated; it now generates an amount of damage per Pact that the Void Knight has active. No longer drains Pacts.
* Void: Rebalanced to support the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements. Still reduces Physical and Magical damage.
* Devourer: Rebalanced to support the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements. Still reduces Physical and Magical damage.
* Ravenous Strength: Now increases Strength based on how many points you’ve spent in Void Knight. Now properly stacks with Ravenous Defense.
* Rift Shield: Now absorbs all non-Physical damage instead of just Magical damage.
* Catalyze, Power Sink: No longer proc ‘Instability’ on the target; the 5% damage reduction this gave the Void Knight is now part of the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancements.
* Power Sink: Should now properly give Pacts.

WARLORD
* Spotter’s Orders is no longer a Call and no longer generates threat from Battlefield Awareness.
* Locked Down: Cooldown reduced to 30 seconds.
* Dramatic Presence: Now increases the self-effects of all Calls and Commands.
* All Aspects have been increased to meet their previous numbers due to the change to Dramatic Presence.
* Killing Field: Threat generation has been significantly increased.
* Battlefield Awareness: Threat generation rebalanced to fit into an intended role as an ambient threat generator. New burst-threat generators have been added to other abilities. Increased Dodge amount.
* Promise of Steel: Shifted to more of a threat-generation role. Threat generated has been increased, number of affected targets increased to 10 in a 10 meter range, cooldown set to 5 seconds, damage slightly reduced, and no longer requires a target to be used.
* Fixed a bug allowing Promise of Steel to trigger Light’s Decree.
* Call to Entrench: Self-buff bonuses have been rebalanced to work with the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancement.
* Rallying Command: Rebalanced the resistances on the self-buff component to work with the new ‘Gift’ ability enhancement.
* Powerful Countenance: Increased Armor buff.
* Imposing: Threat generation is now enhanced by Endurance. Cooldown reduced to 30 seconds.

DUNGEONS, SLIVERS, AND RAIDS
* Knockback abilities used by NPCs in Dungeons and Raids no longer re-orient your camera.
* The following dungeons now allow the use of mounts in outdoor areas:
- Abyssal Precipice, Charmer’s Caldera, Foul Cascade, Realm of the Fae, Runic Descent.

DROWNED HALLS [Sliver]
* Fixed an issue making it impossible to complete the Wave Goodbye achievement.
* Slightly increased the radius of the Hydrostatic Shock protection bubble so players gain its buff a bit faster on entering the bubble.

HAMMERKNELL [Raid]
* Player pets are now potential targets for the Bloodplague Crawler stacking damage buff.
* Soulrender Zilas’ minions no longer award experience when killed.
* The ‘Death’s Hand’ debuff cast by Runeburst Umbrals is now removed from characters leaving the instance.
* Achievement: Wait, What: Fixed a bug with this achievement!

RIVER OF SOULS [Raid]
* Herald Gaurath: It should no longer be possible to force Gaurath’s Icon of the Herald to spawn outside of the raid zone.

PvP & WARFRONTS
* Players in Warfronts should be more frequently matched against similarly ranked opponents. As always, feedback on your queue experience is welcome!
* Library of the Runemasters now has associated Achievements!
* The Codex: Fixed a case where Defiant characters could sneak into the Guardian spawn area.
* Guardian’s Flare and Defiant’s Flare Planar Abilities can no longer be used on the core area-hub Wardstones. [Only affects PvP shards, as this has never been usable on hub Wardstones on PvE shards.]

CHRONICLES
* You can now enter a Chronicle in a group that has been converted to a Raid, as long as the total size of the raid meets the player cap for the Chronicle.

ZONES

DROUGHTLANDS
* Ant Farm: Entering a Warfront while you’ve been polymorphed into an ant will now remove the effect.
* Thwarting the Emberlord: Quest should be soloable once again!

GLOAMWOOD
* A new Butchering trainer has taken up residence in Gloamwood Pines. Dan Lewis can be found near Dursk Nightclaw.
* Declawed: The Razor Sharp Claw item is now a 100% drop from Goremouth.

IRON PINE PEAKS
* Frozen Gauntlet: Fixed a case where players in a group could fail the quest after completing the objectives.
* The quests ‘In Over His Head’ and ‘Dark Heart’ should no longer be blocked by nearby Rifts.
* Logging out in the Forge area of the Chancel of Labors should no longer cause you to be magically teleported to the Guardian or Defiant camps when you log back in.

SCARLET GORGE
* Moved the Deranged Cadaver out of some rocks that would occasionally hide it.

SCARWOOD REACH
* Rift: Neverending Labyrinth: Fixed an issue where the player who gains first aggro on the boss was unable to ever lose aggro from it.
* The achievement, Mushroom Soup, should now be granted MUCH more reliably.

SHIMMERSAND
* Cleansing of Firesand: Updated the quest objectives so this daily quest should make more sense now!
* Quests involving Rifts in the Dunes of Akala now provide the Rift Lure for the required Rift.

STILLMOOR
* Sir Isaac Kasimir will no longer single-handedly tank the hordes of Endless Invasions during some zone events in Stillmoor.
* The zone event, An Eye for an Eye, should conclude more reliably.

CULT SAGA
* The Heart of the Destroyer: The Shade of Regulos in Expert King’s Breach should be a bit less Regulos-enhanced and actually killable now!
* Enchanted Wood: This quest has been merged into the preceding quest, ‘A Token of the Fae’.

ITEMS
* Added a wider range of weapons to the Epic Planar Goods vendors.
* Manastones have been fixed so they correctly apply their bonus to your maximum mana.
* Improved the way we count how many items are currently equipped in an item set.
* Ancient Murdantix Spawn [Item]: The mount item is no longer Unique, meaning you can properly acquire and trade or sell additional ‘Murdantii’ after you’ve collected one yourself.
* Blighted Champion Crystal: The set bonuses on this crystal were accidentally set to the wrong order – the 2 piece bonus is now the 4 piece bonus, and vice versa.
* Dusty Treasure Hunter’s Satchel can no longer be sold on the Auction House.
* Hunter Shard: This lesser Essence now has Attack Power rather than Spell Power.
* Nyx’s Archon Crystal: Fixed a bug where the buff would not be removed when the Crystal was unequipped.
* Nyx’s Necromancer Crystal: Also fixed Elemental pets triggering the 2-piece bonus effect. Description has been updated to help clarify that only Undead pets trigger the effect.
* Nyx’s Pyromancer Crystal: The 2-piece set bonus now increases the chance for Fireball to leave a Combust DoT effect on the target by 10%, and increases the damage done by the Combust DoT by 40%. The 4-piece bonus causes Heat Wave to increase Fire damage by 20% while active, increases the duration of Heat Wave by 5 seconds, and reduces the cooldown by 15 seconds.
* Pulverizing Stonesource and Igneous Stonesource were giving an incorrect amount of Spell Critical Hit bonus and have been corrected.
* Sanctum’s Word: Now with Spell Power.
* Shadepiercer: Updated icon and equipped renderable.
* Voucher: Crystal Sourcestone will now give Inscribed Sourcestones rather than Crystal Sourcestones (which are no longer used).

CRAFTING
* Clarified the description of the Apprentice/Journeyman/Dedicated/Artisan/Supreme Harvester Achievements to specify that only Mining and Foraging count for ‘harvesting’.
* The recipe for Polished Shadethorn Lumber now properly uses Sagebrush Timber instead of Sagebrush Lumber.
* You can now mine Earth Elemental, Oreling, and Golem corpses.
* You can now forage Treant and Bogling corpses.
* Thwarting Runes will no longer display as ‘Thwarting Cipher’ when applied to an item.
* Recipe: Sacred Fetish now requires 280 skill to learn, which matches the skill required to craft it.
* Heroic Healing Tonics and Bright Surge Vials no longer share the same icon.
* Light Magenta Dye is now crafted at a level that gives skillups at the point you are able to learn the recipe.

ART AND AUDIO
* Improved and optimized some surfaces for players using the low-quality renderer mode for better visuals!
* Improved reflections added to many kinds of water in the game (for high-graphics settings), and improved the coloring when looking down into the water, especially in shallow areas.
* Sanctum outdoor music now plays more often.
* General area music should kick back in more reliably after exiting combat.
* Fixed the Spindrel mount’s footstep audio not playing correctly.
* More swimming camera work – can now swim up easier when the camera is at the sea floor level, smarter character-hiding logic when the camera gets very close to your character, and now treats the top of the water like ground and will pitch appropriately.

MACROS AND COMMANDS
* Changed setting window text for “Show Only my Buffs” to refer to party members instead of “on the target”, as it was described incorrectly.

UI/SETTINGS
* Porticulum locations now appear on the world map once discovered.
* Fixed the scrolling reset to the top of the list in the Guild UI whenever the data is refreshed.
* Trying to link items in a Raid Warning no longer displays box characters.
* Fixed a case where the Healer role icon on a group member’s portrait would disappear after rearranging the group order.
* Quest tracker should be less likely to overlap other quests on your screen.
* The ‘Daily Limit’ number shown on the quest log should now properly update each time a repeatable quest is turned in.
* RiftConnect: Sending and receiving Twitter messages including the ‘=’ character works properly again!
* Fixed a rare case where an incorrect tooltip would show up on Role icons.
* Added a bunch of new loading screen tips to highlight new features!
* Fixed Party and Pet raid frame locations being labeled backwards in the Edit Layout mode.
* Characters level 6 and below who have not spent their Soul Points will have a reminder pop-up of the Soul Tree UI once per play session while out of combat. Those points are important, use ‘em!

Dead Island PS3, Xbox 360 Patch – Full Patch Notes and Fixes

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:56:45 +0000

Deep Silver will release a new Dead Island patch this week for the PS3 and Xbox 360. These patches will contain many new fixes and improvements including raising the level cap to 60 and fixing many weapon/item equipment glitches.

The PS3 should recieve the patch on November 9 with the Xbox 360 following on the 10th.

Check out the patch notes below:

Gameplay improvements

Level cap raised to 60
New blueprints for weapon mods added
Infected damage reduced
Infected no longer interrupt player attacks
A series of improvements to subsequent playthroughs implemented:
quest XP rewards adjusted
XP rewards for challenges adjusted – in subsequent playthroughs XP is awarded for all quests completed in co-op
Purna’s ammo carrying capacity increased by 50%
Character state from a save game can now be loaded when using the Start from Chapter option
New balancing option added: enemy levels can now be adjusted independently for each co-op player
Players respawn with more health
Picklock skill level required to open a lock is now clearly indicated
Improved rewards in weapon crates
All weapon crates now contain rewards
Kick ability balanced, now requires stamina
Items can now be picked up instantly; this is reflected in adjusted animations

Fixes and interface improvements

Fix: players are no longer left without a weapon after dropping the equipped item and healing with a medkit.
Fix: equipped items no longer swap mysteriously after drinking an energy drink
Tweak: healing with medkits from inventory works better, makes smarter choices of medkits
Fix: loot from dead enemies is now always identical for all co-op players
Fix: Purna no longer finishes her Fury with fists equipped
Fix: map tracking after death
Fix: zone info in the quarantine zone (City of Moresby)
Tweak: respawn point selection is now smarter

General

Improved stability and network performance in co-op
Quest and reward fixes implemented

PS Home ‘Social Games Plaform’ Update Launches Tomorrow – What Will Change

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:04:47 +0000

Sony has announced it will to launch its ‘Social Games Platform’ reboot of PlayStation Home tomorrow. The changes are designed to convert PlayStation Home into a viable social games platform.

The update will include four new theme-based districts :

Action
Sportswalk
Adventure
Pier Park – Nearby the Home Theatre and Home Mall.

Sony will also provide five new Free-to-play games for Home. They include:

Bootleggers ’29 – Set in the seedy underbelly of the Roaring Twenties, this PlayStation Home exclusive first-person shooter found in the Action District pits cops vs. criminals in a Prohibition-era game of Capture the Cask. Boasting real-time multiplayer action, a variety of vintage weapons and unlockable rewards, and the unique ability to play as your PlayStation Home avatar, Bootleggers ’29 is a 100% free-to-play game that introduces a classic narrative to the modern shooter genre.
PlayStation Home Hold ‘Em – A series of backroom poker tables hosted in the brand new Sportswalk district, PlayStation Home Hold ‘Em squares players off in a no-holds-barred, winner-take-all battle of the bluffs. Only the best of the best will progress to the high stakes tables and collect all the prizes in this free version of the wildly-popular Texas Hold ‘Em card game.
PlayStation Home Sports Trivia – Test your sports expertise against the PlayStation Home community and unlock a series of themed rewards in this massive sports trivia game, found in the Sportswalk. Packed with over 10,000 trivia questions, this game will challenge the memories of even the most die-hard sports fans.
RC Rally – Build and customize your own remote controlled car and race against friends over multiple courses, performing stunts and tricks and unlocking numerous upgrades along the way. This fast-paced PlayStation Home original game can be found in the new Pier Park.
Cogs – A 3D version of Lazy 8 Studios award-winning Steampunk puzzle game, Cogs can be found front-and-center in PlayStation Home’s new Hub. Build a variety of machines from sliding tiles and unlock exclusive PlayStation Home rewards in this highly-addictive puzzler.

Check out all of these exciting new changes in the video below:

BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria – List of Features and Changes

Jensen Walker — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:17:44 +0000

A slew of changes and features were announced for the next World of Warcraft expansion at BlizzCon today, although no launch date was given. Right now, a good guess would be ‘some time next year.’

Below is a summary of what you can expect in Mists of Pandaria.

Outdoor world raid bosses will be returning

Valor points will be available as quest rewards via dailies

5 new zones to level up in

One continent with an Asian influence

Banking, Auction House and quest hubs all available on the new continent

Flying will not be available until level 90 on the new continent

Pandaria rests on the back of a giant turtle

Pandaren are a neutral race. At level 10, the player pledged alliegance to the Alliance or the Horde

A new race known as the Mantid will be threatening Pandaria

Pandaren classes: Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

Monk Races – Draeni, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Pandaren, Blood Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead

Pandaren racials: Bouncy = Falling damage reduced by half. Inner Peace = Your reseted xp bonuses lasts twice as long. Gourmand = Cooking skill increased by 15. Epicurean racial = Increases the stats benefits from food by 100%

Monk Brewmaster = tank

Monk Misterweaver = healer (melee based)

Monk Windwalker = melee DPS

The Monk is not a hero class and begins at level 1

Monks will wear leather armor and primarily wield staves and fist weapons

New resource system for the Monk uses Chi (energy). The Monk’s primary attack of Jab generates light and dark force, which are the resource for other special abilities.

The Monk has no auto attack

Talent trees are being redesigned (again). No longer will there be talent points or ranks. There will be one talent tree per class. Talents will be learned every fifteen levels and each talent will be between a choice of three. The design goal is that there be no mandatory talents.

Talents will be changed in a similar manner to glyphs

A new UI has been designed

PVE scenarios: Short instances for a small number of players, similar to questing and without any class or role requirement. Essentially epic quests which reward valor or justice points

Challenge mode dungeons: Complete a dungeon in a set time to receive bronze, silver or gold medals. Also a source of valor points. Will include competitive rank and leader boards

Pet battle system: Essentially Pokemon – Use 3 pets to challenge another trainer (I mean player) to a turn based combat. Pets can hold items. You can travel around the world to defeat Pokemon Masters (I mean, plain old Masters). Defeating them earns you their ability

9 new dungeons will be available at launch, including 6 within Pandaria. The remaining 3 are Heroic Scholomance and Heroic Scarlet Monastery (wings 1 and 2)

3 new raids at launch, featuring Mantids as enemies amongst others

Raid finder will continue to be operational

More focus will be given to max level content. Blizzard acknowledges that Cataclysm had a dearth of activities to occupy players at max level

Incentives to complete dailies – complete 5 dailies, a special piece of loot may become available in a dungeon which can only be rolled upon by those who have completed said dailies

Less grinding to earn faction rep

New battlegrounds being considered – Diamond Mine (first to X resources wins),Valley of Power (hold and retain an object, object damages player over time, multiple point zones), Azshara Crater (DOTA)

New arena – Tol’vir Proving Grounds

Resilience is now a base stat. PvP gear will add to it

Hunter minimum range removed, along with melee weapon usage

Ranged and relic slots removed for all other characters. Wands are now main hand weapons. Warriors and rogues can throw their melee weapon

Warlocks: Each warlock spec will utilise a different resource. Soul shards for affliction. Demonology warlocks will morph into demons once their demonic fury maxes out. Destruction warlocks build up fire energy then release it devastatingly

Shamans: Buff totems have been removed. Earthgrab totem = big root. Repulsion totem = prevents mobs from closing. Bulward totem = absorbs damage

Druids: Have 4 specs. Feral = cat melee DPS. Guardian = bear tank. Restoration and Boomkin round out the remainder.

All class rotations have been improved, as have spellbooks. Spells are automatically learned. Trainers will exist for the purpose of respeccing

Xbox Live System Update Oct 11th – What it Changed

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:58:35 +0000

What did it change? Very little actually. Not that system updates are normally incredible, but you like to see something change.

According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, it is simply a routine maintenance update and no apparent new features are being added. His statement below:

Sometime during the early morning hours tomorrow (Pacific Time, Tuesday, October 11th) we are pushing out a mandatory system update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out. Once the update has been completed, you’ll be able to sign-in again and back online in a few moments. This is a general system maintenance update and there are no new features that will show up once your system has been updated.

Don’t get too down about it. There are no doubt new things in the works down the road.

Player Power: Eve Online to ‘Refocus and Reprioritize’ in the Wake of Criticism

Jensen Walker — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:15:31 +0000

CCP have taken a long, hard look at themselves...

CCP, publisher of space faring MMO EVE Online has been under fire recently for the allocation of development resources to areas the player base considers less vital, in addition to the decline of development for the EVE in general. EVE’s subscription fees have apparently been paying for the development of CCP’s forthcoming MMO World of Darkness and MMOFPS Dust 514, resulting in less attention being spent on their current flagship product. Understandably, this has led to more than a few players feeling rather miffed.

In a short blog post on the official website, Senior Producer CCP Zulu has indicated the times are a-changin’, with the company having undergone a period of ‘extensive and intense introspection and revitalization,’ resulting in a massive shift in priorities. The post ends with an assurance that CCP has heard players’ complaints and that plans are already in motion to respond to them. Exactly what will be changing remains under wraps, but perhaps this is the step in the right direction that EVE players have been clamoring for.

The full post can be read here.

Darkfall Gets a New Siege System – What Changed

Jensen Walker — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:30:08 +0000

Darkfall’s highly anticipated new Siege System has been deployed on live servers today, completely revamping siege mechanics. The plan was outlined a few months ago and today specifics were revealed, giving players something to pore over while necessary server maintenance is underway.

Siege mechanics are an integral part of what Darkfall has to offer, with these changes designed to further refine and improve the experience.

Here are the changes below:

Resource changes:

Clan-stone hamlet, health decreased.

Clan-stone city, health increased.

Small siege-stone, health decreased.

Small siege-stone, maximum binds increased.

Large siege-stone, health decreased.

Medium siege-stone now “useless”, can be sold back to NPC Vendors for full-refund.

New item – protection shard small, gives 3 hours protection from siege initiation.

New item – protection shard large, gives 6 hours protection from siege initiation.

Both protection shard items can be purchased from Councillor NPC in racial capitals

Protection shards must be activated near the clan-stone of the holding to be protected, by a high-ranking clan member of the clan who owns the holding, and only that holding will be protected

Protection shard items share a clan-wide 24-hour cool-down (ie. only 1 can be used, per clan, per 24 hours)

Clan-city barrels prop, health decreased.

Activation timers added to dungeon portals and clan teleportation chambers -To activate a portal you will need to stand still for 10 seconds after using it.

These Are The Big Changes Being Made To Modern Warfare 3′s Multiplayer

Catherine Cai — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:30:46 +0000

Let’s be honest. Nobody buys and plays any Call of Duty game just for the single player, no matter how riveting the storyline may be and however many epic explosions light up the screen. Sure, gamers might have complained about how Modern Warfare 3 looks like a rehash of its predecessors, but that’s just the single player campaign. Multiplayer is where the money’s at, and it’s shaping up to be a completely different monster.

First off, Modern Warfare 3 will be using Activision’s new Elite service, which will allow players to check each other stats, compete, and connect with their friends. Oh, and having Elite means players will be able to identify each other through Facebook, so that the creepy guy from high school who thinks your his best friend can now CoD stalk you as well.

Killstreaks (now Pointstreaks) have been completely re-vamped to encourage different play styles through new strike packages:

- Assault Strike Package: For dealing direct damage through the predator, helicopters, etc. The strike resets on death.
- Support Strike Package: Obviously, for support more than assault. (UAVs n such) There’s no chaining the point streaks here, but it doesn’t reset on death.
- Specialist Strike Package: Apparently this strike package is geared towards “experts”. You gain additional perks by using this strike package. These perks reset upon death.

Death streaks are also back, and include (yes, there are more) the following:

Juiced – Not ‘roids, but you run faster
Revenge – Radar shows the guy who last killed you
Hollow points – Your bullets cause more damage for one kill
Dead Man’s Hand – Player falls into last stand with a C4

You can get pointstreaks by doing things other than just killing now. Assists and all that fun stuff count as well.

A new weapon ranking system has also been implemented, where weapon progression allows leveling towards certain weaponry and allows weapon proficiencies, or specializations in weapons that unlock certain attributes.

New perks include:

Recon – Explosive damage paints targets on map
Blind Eye – Air support and sentries can’t detect you
Assassin – UAV, portable radars, thermal, heartbeat scanners all can’t detect you
Quickdraw – Aim faster down sights
Stalker – You derp along much less when aiming
Marksman – Identify targets at a better range

There are also new game modes that have been introduced such as Kill Confirmed, in which players have to grab dog tags of fallen enemies and protect their own and Team Defender, which involves the taking of flags and protecting the flag carrier for more points.

The game also has new private match modes such as:

Infection – The infected kills enemies to recruit them for the infected team.
Drop Zone – Hold the Drop Zone for Team Points and Care Packages.
Team Juggernaut – With the support of a juggernaut, kill players on the opposing team. The first team to reach the score limit wins.
Juggernaut – Kill the Juggernaut to become the new Juggernaut
Gun Game – Be the first to dominate with every gun
One in the Chamber – Gain ammo by eliminating enemies. Be the last to survive.

Modern Warfare 3 will include 16 maps, dedicated servers from day one, and allows players to craft new game modes in private games with all sorts of unique options. Call of Duty Elite subscribers can vote on their favorite new modes that can eventually make their way to the public.

A new spec ops mode called ‘Survival Mode‘ will be included, bringing gameplay similar to that of the horde within Gears of War or the Zombie mode from Black Ops. Waves of dudes will try to kill you. Stop them. (We’ve played a bunch of spec ops and will tell you all about it soon) ‘Mission Mode‘ will still be the same old, as before, and a ranking/progression system will be included.

So what do you all think? Does MW3 have enough changes for you naysayers that think it’ll be the same old stuff re-hashed? Stay tuned for more news about CoD from Call of Duty XP as our editor Dave gives us his hands on impressions live from the show.

Gran Turismo 5 v1.10 Update – What it Fixed

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:58:13 +0000

Gran Turismo 5 version 1.10 is now Live. Want to know about everything it fixed? Read below.

Racing Gear Items

New racing gear items consisting of helmets and suits have been implemented. These can be used by players in A-Spec, or for any of the “My Drivers” in B-Spec.
There are plenty of variations to the racing gear items and, in addition to several sets being given out as presents when you start GT Mode, players will be able to win new ones when successful in online events. Players can also take a photo of their drivers wearing their favourite gear, and use that custom photo for a driver profile.
For more details, please refer to “Racing Gear” under Top Menu - [Manual] – [GT Mode].

Special Online Event Campaign

For a limited time, all event prizes will be tripled, and all cars appearing in the Online Collector’s Dealership will be brand new (0 mileage) and at half price.

Prizes for online events

GT5 will now offer online events in which players can win Racing Gear items and cars as prizes, according to performance. The content of the prizes and the conditions for winning them will vary per event.
Details of the various events are found in [GT Life] – [Online Events].

Parts purchases through the Settings screen

In the Settings screen, parts that players have not yet purchased will now have a shopping cart icon appearing next to them. These can now be purchase on the spot. Purchased parts will immediately be equipped on their car.
For details, refer to Top Menu – [Manual] – [GT Life] – [Settings]

Improved Opponent AI Algorithm

The search range of opponent AI has been expanded and their intelligence algorithm has been improved.

Interrupting and resuming Championship races

In the championship races of A-Spec and B-Spec modes within [GT Life], there is now an interrupt button in the quick menu which appears after completing individual races.
If the interrupt button is pressed, the event will be interrupted and a player’s record up to that point will be saved, and the game will end. The next time the player starts the game, they can continue the championship race from where they left off.

Additional music track

After playback of the ending movie (*short version), “Day To Live/daiki kasho” will be added as a bonus music track.

Other Changes

Check the physical endurance of drivers that are resting in the B-Spec endurance races.
Sort the garage by [Last Car Driven]
In [Weight Adjustment] of [Settings], players can now see changes in the front to rear weight balance when the ballast position is changed.
The A-Spec driver is now displayed in the profile screen.
In the pit menu of B-Spec, the time limit for being able to direct pit work has been changed from reaching “0″ in the count down, to “Until the car comes to a complete stop”.
The sorting order of the music album has been improved.
When selecting a track created in Course Maker from the course album of Arcade Mode or GT Mode, players can now run single races with up to 16 cars. (Excluding some tracks such as those made before the update, and dirt tracks.)
It is now possible to take 3D photographs even without connecting a 3D compatible TV.
It is now possible to export 3D photographs to [Photo] on the XMB™.

Correction of Known Issues

PDI has addressed the issue of the maximum speed set in the transmission settings of the settings menu differing from the actual top speed of the car. This will affect cars equipped with the relevant transmission tuning part, and almost all racing cars. Cars for which each gear ratio was adjusted manually with a full customised transmission in update versions 1.07 and earlier will not be affected.
An issue with the increase and decrease of the online logon bonus has been corrected.
An issue where the player’s car and opponents’ cars braked at the wrong timings in the pit lane during B-Spec has been corrected.
A problem where racing sound effects were turned off after changing settings in the quick menu has been corrected.
An issue of how dirty the oil is when players purchase a used car not being affected by the car’s mileage has been corrected.
An issue where some of the driver gear colours had changed after the 1.06 update has been corrected.
An issue in the championships of GT Life where opponent cars kept using the same tyres in the second race and onwards has been corrected.
An issue where the menu BGM was being played back during remote racing rather than the race BGM has been corrected.
An issue of the program freezing when opening a garage containing nearly the maximum number of cars has been corrected.

A new “Expert Challenge Race” Seasonal Event has also been made available with the following races:

Trial Mountain in a Fiat 500
Tsukuba in a Lotus Elise 111R
Laguna Seca in a Subaru Impreza Sedan

Killzone 3 Patch 1.09 Is Live – What It Fixed

Dave Oshry — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:39:26 +0000

PSN is back, and with it has come the latest patch for Killzone 3.

Want to know what it changed? What it fixed?

BEHOLD!!

Patch 1.09

Functionality

Added Colour blind support – When turned ‘On’ all enemy players and objects will be underlined. This is the case for the minimap and in-game, such as player names.
Frozen Dam – Operations – The first mission in is now 6 minutes again
Move – Fixed continuous rumble when the PlayStation Eye camera connected
Move – When interacting with a Search & Destroy objective the player will no longer also do a melee
Junkyard – Players can no longer get in an Exoskeleton while using a Jetpack
Blood Gracht – Fixed a hang when the Recon ability was used
Fixed a bug where the clan rating decreased after the clan had won a Warzone tournament game
Fixed a hang on the joining screen after the player was kicked (or quit) a game
Clans – Fixed an issue where all users received the error 2- (scores cannot be processed) when entering a Guerrilla Warfare match
Fixed a crash when connecting to a custom Warzone game
Fixed a hang when a player with DLC sets up a custom game to start on a DLC map, transfers the leadership to a non-DLC user and this new leader attempts to start the game
Fixed a 10006 network error when joining a Guerrilla Warfare game

Gameplay

Fixed various collision issues on DLC maps
Frozen Dam – Warzone – Fixed a spot where players could get stuck behind an ammo crate and an oil drum near the Dam tactical spawn point.
Accepting a squad invite from the opposing faction will no longer quit the game.
Corinth River – Botzone – Fixed an issue with Bots falling through the map
Corinth River – Botzone – Fixed a crash in Botzone

Exploit

Blood Gracht – Fixed a spot where players can get out of the map
MAWLR Graveyard – Operations – Fixed a spot where players can get out of the map during the second objective that should only be accessible once the objective is completed.
Salamun Market – Fixed a spot where, using an Exoskeleton, the player could escape the confines of the map
Bilgarsk Boulevard – Fixed a spot where players can get out of the map
Stahl Arms – Fixed ISA members accessing the Helghast base without being seen by turrets
Players now get the XP they earned after getting kicked from a game

User Interface

Expanded the information about the Multiplayer status of a friend in the XMB. It will now show the game mode and the map that the player is in.
In some cases players would still experience Scoreboard flickering. This has been fixed
Silent Footsteps icon is now properly visible in game
Fixed an issue with Clan Leaderboards after switching clans
Small Localization fixes
Updates to loading screens
Clan Tag now updates properly after disbanding a clan
Campaign – Elite emblem now updates properly
Fixed a network error when downloading DLC via the main menu ‘Downloadable Content’ option

Graphics

Fixed various graphical glitches on DLC maps
Fixed an issue with the Search and Retrieve object for the Marksman when cloaked
Retro Pack – Fixed an issue with the minimap
Stahl Arms – Fixed an animation problem for players standing on top of the mechanical welding arm. They moved unrealistically when observed by other players

Via: [PS3Ego]

Mortal Kombat Hotfix Notes Detailed – Nerfing All Around

Bryce Wilson — Sun, 22 May 2011 03:00:10 +0000

With the first major game patch currently in the works for Mortal Kombat due for release in the next couple of weeks, it comes as a surprise that a stealth hotfix has been made live, changing the damage powers of some characters whilst improving others.

Check out the changes made below, and keep in mind not all of them are permanent or final:

Reduced the damage on some special moves.

Increased the damage scaling after Kitana’s Enhanced ground fan toss.

Adjusted some juggle’s damage scaling.

Reduced the damage on some basic combos that were doing too much damage without using any meter.

Increased Sheeva’s damage output for several of her moves and attacks.

Temporarily Changed around some of Sonya’s fighting style properties to reduce her ability to lock someone down in block stun.

Changed Kano’s Towards Front Kick to a low block.

Reduced the recovery on Kano’s Upball to be closer to Johnny Cage’s Flip Kick recovery.

Increased the damage of some of Baraka’s special moves and attacks.

It is easier to juggle combo after hitting someone with Baraka’s chopchop on the ground.

Increased the damage scaling on a frozen opponent.

Baraka’s Away Front Kick, Front Punch combo is now a true popup.

Reduced some of Reptile’s combo damage.

Reduced some of Kung Lao’s combo and overall damage.

Are you a competitive Mortal Kombat player? Let us know in the comments below if you’ve found any other changes in the hotfix.

Source: [TSA]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Xbox 360 Update 1.06 is Live – What it fixed

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:34:11 +0000

Following the release of Patch 1.06 for the PlayStation 3 version of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops earlier this week, Activision and Treyarch release a version for the Xbox 360. What fixes/changes does it bring?

You’ll have to read below to find out:

New Features:

New contracts added to the rotation.
Added optional pre-match timer for LAN / System-Link games.

Issues Addressed:

Fixed freeze associated with larger games.
Improved reliability of players connections to one another.
Improved ability to bring parties to the game lobby. Late party joiners would try to connect to previous lobby host and be denied if new joiners trigger a lobby host migration.
Addressed an issue where the Host encounters and infinite spinning loading circle after a Host migration.
Fixed a timing specific, long/infinite loading screen when joining games (sometimes giving you “Error – Read error (0×80010713) on file
“).
Fixed a timing-specific freeze when host powered down during host migration.
Cleaned up the map search filter in the Community section (deleted unused entries).
Fixed Combat Training’s “USE FRIENDS” option for bots names.
Fixed issue with split-screen guest profile names being blank, resulting in matches never launching.
Instead of showing the generic “Player” for offline profiles in LAN, we now display the PS3 profile name.
Fixed Friends list appearing after viewing a Friends Playercard from the Leaderboards.
Fixed filter so players can now view Friends on Zombies leadboards.
Fix timing specific issue where the game can be put into slow motion.
Addressed “disconnected path” error when using the doors in Radiation after a host migration.
Fixed stability issues navigating lobbies after client on Split Screen Zombies quits out of a game.
Addressed issue/exploit when removing Counter Spy Plane effects with the Jammer.
Fixed a freeze when quickly loading maps one after another in private match.
Fixed issue where players get primary weapons in Second Chance.
Fixed “NEW” stamp not disappearing for Custom Slot 9 when highlighting the slot.
Removed water vision effect when respawning after dying in the acid pool in Radiation.
Several contract fixes.

Gameplay Tuning:

Second Chance – players that put an enemy into Second Chance are now credited for a full kill once that enemy dies. If another player kills the enemy while the enemy is in Second Chance, they will get assist credit.
Adjustments to the PSG1 with attachments.
AK74U adjustments.
RCXD adjustments.
Silenced sniper rifle adjustments.
Removed hit markers when shooting friendly equipment

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Patch 1.06 is Live – What It (Hopefully) Fixed

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:15:43 +0000

Here we go again, another CoD: Black Ops Patch for the PS3. Hopefully this is the patch that fixes the Patch thats fixed the patch…you get the idea. Please Leave your comments on whether this has fixed issues or Not.

PS3 owners, got my fingers crossed for you (again)!

New Features:

New contracts added to the rotation.
Added optional pre-match timer for LAN / System-Link games.

Issues Addressed:

Fixed freeze associated with larger games.
Improved reliability of players connections to one another.
Improved ability to bring parties to the game lobby. Late party joiners would try to connect to previous lobby host and be denied if new joiners trigger a lobby host migration.
Addressed an issue where the Host encounters and infinite spinning loading circle after a Host migration.
Fixed a timing specific, long/infinite loading screen when joining games (sometimes giving you “Error – Read error (0×80010713) on file ”).
Fixed a timing-specific freeze when host powered down during host migration.
Cleaned up the map search filter in the Community section (deleted unused entries).
Fixed Combat Training’s “USE FRIENDS” option for bots names.
Fixed issue with split-screen guest profile names being blank, resulting in matches never launching.
Instead of showing the generic “Player” for offline profiles in LAN, we now display the PS3 profile name.
Fixed Friends list appearing after viewing a Friends Playercard from the Leaderboards.
Fixed filter so players can now view Friends on Zombies leadboards.
Fix timing specific issue where the game can be put into slow motion.
Addressed “disconnected path” error when using the doors in Radiation after a host migration.
Fixed stability issues navigating lobbies after client on Split Screen Zombies quits out of a game.
Addressed issue/exploit when removing Counter Spy Plane effects with the Jammer.
Fixed a freeze when quickly loading maps one after another in private match.
Fixed issue where players get primary weapons in Second Chance.
Fixed “NEW” stamp not disappearing for Custom Slot 9 when highlighting the slot.
Removed water vision effect when respawning after dying in the acid pool in Radiation.
Several contract fixes.

Gameplay Tuning:

Second Chance – players that put an enemy into Second Chance are now credited for a full kill once that enemy dies. If another player kills the enemy while the enemy is in Second Chance, they will get assist credit.
Adjustments to the PSG1 with attachments.
AK74U adjustments.
RCXD adjustments.
Silenced sniper rifle adjustments.
Removed hit markers when shooting friendly equipment.

Gran Turismo 5 Update 1.05 – Changes Detailed

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:45:51 +0000

Sony and Polyphony Digital drop another HUGE Gran Turismo 5 update, this one sitting at a whopping 600MB. RipTen has all the changes fully detailed.

An important new feature is the option to switch off the HUD while racing. Many complained about it previously.

Other notable features include the option to have mechanical damage in offline practice mode and a ‘grip reduction’ setting for wet tracks, and you can also rewind your replays – great for photo mode.

Here is a list of changes the update brings:

“[Seasonal Events] have been added to the upper left side of the [GT Mode] – [GT Life] screen. From here you can participate in official online events from the Polyphony Digital team.
In these events, all participants race under the same regulations, and if you complete the event you will win rewards and experience. In Time Trials and Drift Trials, compete on the leader boards with players around the world.
An [Online Dealership] has been added to the left center of the [GT Mode]-[GT Life] screen. In here you will find popular and rare used cars. You might just come across that one car you’ve always been looking for, that you haven’t been able to find in the [Used Car Dealer]
Online Race Rewards and Experience
When you complete a race in the [Open Lobby] or [My Lounge], you will now gain rewards and experience points.
Therefore if you are focused more on playing online, you’ll still be able to gain rewards and levels that you need to progress in [GT Life].
Driving Distance and Number of Wins in Online Races
The driving distance and the number of wins you achieve when you complete a race in [Open Lobby] or [My Lounge] will now affect your stats in [Profile] and the [Garage].
Here again the results from your online play will c*mulate within [GT Life].
Improved Rewards
The rewards for winning races in both A-Spec and B-Spec in [GT Mode]-[GT Life] have been increased for a limited time only. (This applies until the end of January 2011)
This is a great chance for those who were previously having difficulties getting ahead in the game, due to a lack of funds for tuning and purchasing required cars.
Race Information Display
[Race Information Display] is now available in [Start]-[Quick Options]. (You can also see this in [Race Display] in [Options]).
Save Data Backup
You can now copy and restore your save data. For details, please refer to the in-game [Manual].
Personal BGM (Menu)
From [Options]-[Hardware]-[Audio], it is now possible to set the [Personal BGM] (Menu)]. (This can also be accessed from the [Music Library] within [GT Mode]).
Car Name Change
The official name of “Red Bull X1″ has been changed to “Red Bull X2010″.
Integration with the Website
The main features within [GT Mode]-[Community] can now also be accessed through the “gran-turismo.com” official website.
[Important Note:]
* We have made improvements to the [Log] within [GT Mode]- [Community] section, in order to make its operation more stable. Please note that the information that was here before the update has been reset.”

Xbox.com to Receive ‘Massive Facelift’

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:29:59 +0000

Straight from the mouth of Xbox 360′s Major Nelson in his personal blog. The changes to Xbox.com will take effect tomorrow 10/20. Here’s what the ‘Major’ had to say:

Tomorrow, Xbox.com will be getting a massive facelift and I want to give you a preview of what you can expect. In addition to support for the 9 new Xbox LIVE regions that will happen next month, Xbox.com will get a brand new look as well as some new features.

Here are some highlights:

Browser based Avatar editor: Edit your avatar and preview avatar items before purchase

Combined views for messages, friend and game requests

Improved notification of your account subscription

Leverage Family Reports to understand what your family is doing and how they are using LIVE

Play web games with your Xbox LIVE friends on the web or on Windows Phone 7

Marketplace: More powerful search and more intuitive ways to browse and filter

Those are just a few of the changes, starting tomorrow you’ll be able to explore the entire thing yourself. Until then, I’ve uploaded a few screen shots to get hold you over until then.

Note:In order to prepare for these changes, starting at 0500 ET/0200 PT/0900 GMT on October 20th (tomorrow) Xbox.com and the Xbox forums will be offline and unavailable for a short period of time. When it returns, you’ll see the new site.

The Xbox LIVE service is not affected by this upgrade and will remain available during this time.

WoW to Implement Level 30 Mounts, Nerf Twinks

Dan Landis — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:03:34 +0000

Among the many changes the upcoming World of WarCraft patch 2.4.3 will bring, the most significant is probably the ability to get a mount at level 30. Paladins and Warlocks will get their first summon at this level, while other classes can purchase Apprentice level riding for a mere 35 gold. This will make leveling up an alt slightly more bearable, and hopefully you all read this prior to dinging 40 and plunking down too much cash for your soon-to-be-overpriced level 40 mount.

Read on for the full Test Realm patch notes, including ridable dragonhawks and a huge nerf to twinks.

Be aware that none of the following changes are set it stone just yet. This is just what’s being considered for the next patch while Blizzard experiments in the Public Test Realm, though these notes are most likely not going to change.

General

* Dispel effects will no longer attempt to remove effects that have 100% dispel resistance.
* Parry Rating, Defense Rating, and Block Rating: Low-level players will now convert these ratings into their corresponding defensive stats at the same rate as level 34 players.
* Haris Pilton has launched a new line of bags and jewelry. Check her out in the World’s End Tavern!
* Mounts at 30?! Yes, it’s true: Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold.
* Blood Elf flightmasters outside of Silvermoon City and Tranquillien have traded in their bats for glorious fire-breathing dragonhawks.
* Alcohol cooldowns have been rolled into Drinks: All 10-second cooldowns have been removed and replaced with the 1-second Drink cooldown.
* Numerous flying non-combat pets have had their flight height modified to no longer skim along the ground: captured firefly, dragonhawk hatchlings, moths, owls, parrots, phoenix hatchling, spirit of summer, sprite darter, and tiny sporebat.
* Nether Ray Fry (a non-combat pet) is now available from the Skyguard Quartermaster. This requires an Exalted reputation with Sha’tari Skyguard.
* Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.
* Placing an item in your bank will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress if the spell was cast by that item.
* You can no longer move backwards to stop racing rams.
* When a stun wears off, the creature that was stunned will prefer the last target with the highest threat, versus the current target.

Druids

* Barkskin: The cost of this spell is now reduced by Tree of Life Form.

Hunters

* Growl: Pets will no longer generate additional threat from this ability based on attack power buffs cast on them. Attack power buffs on their master will still indirectly increase the threat generated by the pet’s Growl.
* Pet Aggro: Pets will no longer generate threat immediately from being summoned.
* Scare Beast: This spell will now be limited correctly to one target.

Paladins

* Greater Blessing of Light Rank 1: This spell will no longer overwrite Greater Blessing of Light Rank 2.
* Summon Warhorse is now available at level 30.

Priests

* Mind Vision: This effect will now be cancelled immediately on targets who use an Invisibility Potion or Gnomish Cloaking Device.
* Spiritual Healing: Ranks 2-5 of this talent will no longer prevent refreshing Prayer of Mending.

Rogues

* Cheat Death: This talent has been rebalanced significantly. Killing blows are no longer 100% absorbed. If the Rogue is below 10% health, the killing blow is still completely absorbed; if the Rogue is over 10% health, enough damage will be absorbed to reduce the Rogue’s health down to 10%. For the following 3 seconds, damage is not always reduced by 90%; it is now reduced by a maximum of 90%, depending on how much resilience the Rogue has. The damage reduction will be four times the damage reduction resilience causes against critical strikes.

Shaman

* Earth Elemental: This pet will now leash back to its totem when pulled beyond 50 yards away.
* Lightning Overload: This talent will no longer do excessive damage when used with Lightning Bolt Ranks 2-10.

Warlocks

* Curse of Shadows: This spell has been removed.
* Curse of Elements: This spell now applies to Arcane and Shadow damage, as well as Frost and Fire.
* Demonic Sacrifice: This ability will now interact correctly with the Spirit Guide resurrection system in battlegrounds. A sacrificed pet will not be resummoned on death, and will not prevent keeping a record of the most recently created pet.
* Health Funnel: This ability will now cancel channeling when the target pet is Banished.
* Ritual of Summoning: The mana cost of this spell will now be properly deducted when cast.
* Summon Felsteed is now available at level 30.

Warrior

* Revenge: Ranks 1-5 of this ability now have damage ranges instead of fixed damage values (like ranks 6-8.)

PvP

* The Warsong Gulch flag can no longer be picked up at the same time as a flag is capped.

Professions

* Alchemy
o Philosopher’s Stone now requires 200 Alchemy.
* Cooking
o Juicy Bear Burgers now correctly increase healing as well as spell damage.
* Jewelcrafting
o Activated beneficial effects from jewelcrafting trinkets can no longer be dispelled.
* Mining
o Green quality gems can be found in mining nodes again. The drop rate of blue gems from mining nodes remains unchanged.
* Tailoring
o Removed the cooldown from regular Mooncloth.
o Herb bags can now hold Un’goro Soil and Evergreen Pouches.
o Mycah of Sporeggar has discovered how to create 28 slot herb bags.
o New Tailoring patterns are available from Haughty Modiste in Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris: Haliscan Jacket and Haliscan Pantaloons.

Quests

* Bhag’thera now spawns at a normal quest spawn rate.
* For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, phased characters will not be able to see non-phased character AoE effects and vice-versa.
* For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, pets gaining/losing phase status will now properly break off combat from unphased/phased opponents.

Dungeons and Raids

* Players can now be summoned to raid instances from heroic dungeons.
* Magister’s Terrace
o The Stun component to the Sunblade Mage Guard Glaive Throw has been removed and the Bounce range reduced.
o Vexallus and Kael’thas are now tauntable in Heroic mode.
o Vexallus’ damage caused by Pure Energy has been decreased.
o Kael’thas’ Arcane Sphere has had its visual size increased. His Arcane Sphere attack has had its range decreased and the damage/second of Phase two on Normal mode has been decreased. (Heroic mode remains unchanged.)
o Sunblade Warlocks have had their damage reduced slightly.
o Fel Crystals in the Selin Fireheart encounter have had their health reduced slightly.
o Warlord Salaris and Kagani Nightstrike have had their damage output reduced slightly.
* Sunwell Plateau
o Creatures in the area around Grand Warlock Alythess and Lady Sacrolash will no longer spawn while the twins are in combat.
o Nether Protection will now correctly trigger from Kil’jaeden’s Shield Orb Shadow Bolts.
o Vanish now correctly wipes threat on Kil’jaeden.

Items

* Bow of the Verdant Keeper’s Aim: This item’s triggered effect no longer breaks the effect of Scatter Shot.
* Brutal Gladiator’s Pummeler has had its Stamina value increased to the appropriate value.
* Clockwork Robot Bots fight amongst themselves again…without attacking people in the arena. Well… they’ll blow up other Bots in the arena, but you know what we mean.
* The Eredar Twins will now award the same items regardless of which order they are killed in.
* Invisibility Potions: These potions now are on the same cooldown as other combat consumable potions (such as mana potions.)
* Pendant of the Violet Eye: This item will again work correctly with Holy Light and Flash of Light.
* Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen: The triggered effect from this Item can now occur on periodic damage ticks.
* Thori’dal, the Star’s Fury is now Unique as intended.
* Vengeful Gladiator’s Baton of Light: This item now appears in the correct position on the vendor list.

User Interface

* The help interface has been simplified dramatically. Players will no longer be required to select a category when opening a GM ticket. In addition, players can use the “Talk to a GM” button to fill out a ticket that requires a GM response or the “Report Issue” button to fill out a ticket that does not require a GM response.
* Target buff/debuff timers that appear when you cast a spell are now more visible.
* Time Management features have been implemented! These features include an alarm clock, stopwatch, and viewing your computer’s local time.
* The new stopwatch feature can be accessed via the /stopwatch, /sw, or /timer slash commands. Inputting a time into the slash command will make the stopwatch count down. For example, /stopwatch 1:0:0 will make the stopwatch count down from an hour, /stopwatch 1:30 will make it count down from 1 minute, 30 seconds, and /stopwatch 30 will make it count down from 30 seconds.
* Added the following macro commands: /targetenemyplayer, /targetfriendplayer.
* Added key bindings for tab targeting players.
* Ctrl-Tab and other target nearest friend functions will no longer target you.
* Targeting using /target will prefer live targets over dead ones.
* You can no longer click the minimap to cast ground targeted spells.
* Invisible players with Hunter’s Mark can see the hunter that put the mark on them.
* Vendor items now show their Duration in Inventory.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

World Environment

* Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs may now drop Thick Yeti Fur.
* Skinning any Winterspring Ice Thistle yetis may now result in Thick Yeti Fur.
* Increased the drop rate of Pristine Yeti Horns from Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs.
* Goblin Weather Machine- Prototype 01-B weather changes will no longer force the affected character to stand.
* Collector’s Edition Pet Redemption NPCs/items/quests have been relocated/modified to/for towns with mailboxes (Goldshire, Razor Hill, etc.).
* Young Sporebats and Greater Sporebats in Zangarmarsh now drop Sporebat Eyes for the quest Gathering the Reagents.
* Blacksmithing Supplies vendor and repairer, Blazzle, in Area 52 is now next to the forge and anvil outside the inn.
* Banker Meeda, in Area 52 is now in the…well…the bank, along with a guild vault and guards. The other three Area 52 bankers are still located in the auction-house-turned-bank.
* Wastewander Bandits and Rogues should be more plentiful in the northern parts of Tanaris.

Bug Fixes

* The mage spell, Counterspell now shows in the combat log.
* Gan’arg Analyzers will no longer occasionally become friendly to players.
* Talented abilities that cost a percentage of base mana will no longer display an incorrect mana cost when inspected by a player of a different class or level.
* Guild leaders should now be able to properly promote a new guild leader regardless of their range.
* Druids: Mangle will no longer incorrectly indicate a 100-yard range on the tooltip.
* Hunters: Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.
* Hunter Snake Trap will no longer break players out of stealth if the snakes pass near the stealthed character.
* Hunters: Concussive shot will now properly have a chance to proc Bow of Searing Arrows.
* Rogues: The talent Heightened Senses, Rank 1 and Rank 2 will now affect attacks from wands.
* Using Jewelcrafting figurines will no longer cause scrolling combat text to appear twice.
* Fixed an issue in which shadows were not appearing properly for users with GF4 video chipsets in Open GL mode.
* Corrected an issue in which users with Creative X-FI sound cards would sometimes hear a slight popping noise when running.
* Players will now correctly receive a Battleground Mark message for the marks that are received at the end of a battle.
* Corrected an issue where the initial trigger or activation sounds for Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap could not be heard by some players.
* Smelt Hardened Khorium will now properly require a forge instead of an anvil and hammer.
* Corrected a typo in the tooltip for the Druid spell Rip (Rank 4).
* Looting a Nightmare Vine will now properly no longer apply poison when the node is looted.
* The Figurine- Seaspray Albatross ability will now properly restore the correct amount of mana.
* First Aid bandages can no longer be applied to a player with the Recently Bandaged debuff. An error message of, “Could not activate more than one bandage” will be displayed.
* Corrected the tooltips to read properly for the flight paths from The Stormspire, Toshley’s Station, Blade’s Edge, and Area 52.
* Greater Elementals summoned by a shaman will now properly have a combat log entry.
* Players will no longer become stuck on the Nimboya’s Laden Pike when driving it into the ground.
* The quest, “Going Going, Guano!” will now have a more consistent level requirement for the dungeon.
* The quest, “Into The Scarlet Monastery” is now available to players of the appropriate level for the instance.
* Blueleaf Tubers can now be properly looted.
* The quest turn-ins for the Ahn’Qiraj war effort now give the appropriate amount of credit for each successful quest turn-in.
* Cloak of Shadows will now properly remove Shrink.
* Nightbane will no longer become unresponsive and unkillable during his air phase.
* Several items sold by the Consortium reputation vendor Paulsta’ats are now bind on pick-up: Formula: Enchant Weapon- Major Striking, Design: Delicate Blood Garnet, Design: Shifting Shadow Draenite, Design: Lustrous Azure Moonstone, Design:Thick Golden Draenite.
* It is no longer possible to delete a character that is an arena team captain without first promoting another player to captain.
* Taunts will now properly stick when a target is stunned while being taunted.

Level 29 and below twinks will likely find the changes to defense to make them slightly less twinky. The ability to twink out at level 10 with 100% dodge rating will most likely no longer be possible, and I laugh in the face of all those low-level jerks that have been ruining battlegrounds for the past 3 years.

The PTR patch notes, as always, can be found on the official WoW site.

Ripten Reveals New Site Design

Andrew Podolsky — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:19:12 +0000

As you can tell, we’ve made some changes to the look and feel of Ripten recently. Read on for a list of some changes and a chance to tell us what you think.

The most obvious change is to the aesthetic and color scheme. We think this new look is pretty eye-catching, and if you click around through the different consoles, you’ll see a different color background for each. We’ve also added a new retro section, where we’ll put stories about anything from previous console generations. This includes everything from the Atari age all the way to the PS1 and Xbox generations.

In addition, we’ve widened the viewable area for stories, to give our articles a little bit more breathing room. A handy A-Z game index will let you jump straight to the titles that you want to read about. But the best new feature for Ripten will be our forum — a place where you can go and shoot the shit with other readers about our breaking news, in-depth reviews, and first-look previews.

We hope you like the redesign, and we’d like to know your opinion. Leave us a comment below to let us know what you think of the new look! Thanks for reading and keep checking back for daily updates in the world of game reviews, interviews, previews, trailers, events, and news.