ZeroAnd09

Earlier today, Paragon Studios' Community Manager, Andy Belford, made a post of the City of Heroes  site that Paragon Studios will be closing.  This decision comes from NC Soft "in a realignment of company focus and publishing support".  As such, all subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing have been discontinued.  He goes on to say "I implore you all, fovus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios.  Don't dwell on the "how" or the "why", but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between players and the development team." City of Heroes  was launched in North America on April 27, 2004.  Over the course of its eight year run, there have been 23 free updates and two major expansions released.  It was my first MMO and I met @Shaihulude because of it.  I spent plenty of hours bringing down the forces of evil and just hanging out during the many incredible holiday events. The servers will rema

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Army of Two .  The last entry in the series, The 40th Day , was less than stellar and fans' hope for a continuation of the series was understandably low.  Since then, Dead Space  developer, Visceral Games, have picked up the series. They promise a more mature and darker story-line revolving around new characters, Alpha and Bravo.  Visceral Games won me over long ago with the first Dead Space , so I'm confident in their ability to give Army of Two  the treatment it deserves. Official Site

Until August 28th, TERA  is on sale!  Pick up the standard edition for $14.99 or the collector's edition for $19.99!  Both come with the standard first month of gameplay included.  However, the collector's edition also comes with some account-bound accessories and the totally bitchin' Regal Frostlion Mount.  The mount alone is worth that! Get your copy HERE .

I'm wicked late to the party and they've already raised enough to buy the property, but you and I can still help by contributing even more money!  The money left over from the property purchase will go towards building the museum/science center itself. Go!   Donate Now !

This weekend (August 24th - August 26th) marks another bounty weekend for Mass Effect 3 .  This weekend's mission should be an easy one. While I'm not keen on starting all over on my N7 Shadow, it's for the greater good.  Plus, the increase to medi-gel capacity won't hurt. From BioWare's blog : "A training center will only take a recruit so far.  Our recruits need field experience, so it's time to integrate them with seasoned squads during our next series of sweeps. Individual Goal:   Promote 2 characters Allied Goal: Promote 50,000 characters Special Circumstance:  None Individual Goal Success: All players awarded a Commendation Pack Allied Goal Success:  All players awarded a victory Pack and an increase to medi-gel capacity"

Want to see just how closely a developer can make their game resemble another without getting in trouble?  Read my review of Hunter Blade  at GamingClimax.com !

My preview of upcoming of the fantastic browser MMO, Drakensang Online , is up at GamingClimax.com !

To clear up any confusion as to what Zombies, Run!  or this experiment is, I'll add basic information for the app at the end of each article. Day six was an excellent continuation of day five's run.  The app held steady and I was able to blast through missions five and most of six thanks to my playlist consisting of shorter songs.  The plot thickens and more questions about Runner Five's past surface.  Much like any other zombie survival scenario, I'm starting to feel safer around the zombies than other survivors.  The impeccably crafted story continues to pull me as it slowly unravels. I had taken two days off since my last run in an effort to rest my legs and allow my body to rebuild.  I was feeling good until a 1/4 of the way into my run.  My legs cramped up with tremendous pain.  Clearly I haven't been stretching enough and the sudden three mile runs have caught up with me.  As my legs locked up like a gorgon's victim, I hobbled and limped my way home

Another new feature has been revealed for upcoming title, Dead Space 3 .  Players will now be able to use Isaac's engineering know-how to do more than repair ships and disable security systems.  Using parts collected scattered about, Isaac can craft exciting and deadly new weapons. To help Isaac in his fight, two weapons can be combined into one, like a plasma cutter with a force cutter strapped to the bottom.  Players can also share the blueprints of their custom weapons so friends can build their own or tweak it to fit their own personal play style. To celebrate this exhilarating new feature, developer, Visceral  Games, is allowing players to build their own weapons on the Dead Space  site and submit it.  Visceral Games will then select one design and feature it in the game.  While all weapons should be craftable once the game comes out, it's still exciting to think that your weapon was the best of the best.  So get building!  The contest ends September 1st. Off

Zombies, Run!  has received an update for Windows Phone.  There appears to have been some major work done to the stability of the game as I was able to finish my 40 minute run without the app crashing or hanging up. The ZombieLink account has been added.  This allows players to create an account on the official site and sync their stats from each run.  It's a nifty way to keep track of all run logs, post stats to Facebook and Twitter, and that's about it.  There are tabs to check the codex for unlocked items, places, and people, but at this time it wasn't recognizing what I had unlocked.  There's also an option to manage Abel township and upgrade buildings, but it's currently not functional with Windows Phone. So close, and yet, so far... An additional tracking method has been added in the form of an accelerometer which recognizes placement in the hand, in a pocket, or in an armband.  I run with my phone in my hand and the counter had a mind of it

Dead Space 3 has been confirmed for release February 5, 2013.  Players can pre-order the game on the official Dead Space site through the Origin service for PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.  Pre-Orders get the limited edition for $59.99.  The limited edition contains two bonus suits and weapons. From the official site: Witness Suit - An insulated suit to help you explore Tau Voltanis' harsh terrain First Contact Suit - Built for long term space exposure with thick armor Evangelizer Weapon - Heavy duty assault rifle and shotgun combination Negotiator Weapon = Tesla powered "instrument" for organic tissue dismemberment Official site

Disappointment seems to be the name of the game with Zombies, Run!   For an app that costs $7.99, the Windows Phone version seems riddled with bugs that quite nearly kill the experience.  From a pace tracker that doesn't work to settings not being retained to the app suddenly stopping during a run to the terrible volume management.  It's a proverbial mess.  What keeps it together is the story and the quality voice acting. Today's adventure found Runner Five working with Runner Eight leading a group of zombies away from Abel township.  The only gate to the town was stuck open and the motors controlling it have burnt out.  It's up to the team of runners and the armed guards to keep the zombie horde away from the town. With noise making devices strapped to their backs, Five and Eight lead a pack of zombies away from the town.  While Five has brought good fortune to the town with his arrival, there are some that think it is too convenient.  The last time the military

Day three begins and I'm finally on mission two.  Today's mission consists of the lead runner, Runner 7, taking me on a tour of Abel's perimeter.  Runner 7, Evan Deaubl, has become the head of runners simply because he has survived the longest.  When your job is to recover supplies from a zombie infested city and use yourself as live bait to protect other, the life span is understandably short. The run was going well.  The music still overpowered any in-game cues, so yet again, I had to visually check each vibration my phone made.  Halfway through the run, I picked up an item and the music cut out.  The timer was still running, but the pace wasn't functioning properly.  That's nothing new however.  Many folks have complained that it doesn't work and I personally haven't seen it work. I ran for some time, hoping that the issue would resolve itself.  I paused and started the mission, but it never kicked back over.  I finally had to stop the mission and

Due to the mishaps of day one , I approached day today's run a little differently.  I had my pre-made playlist from the night before, consisting of music from horror themed games.  My thinking was that without a playlist, the game defaulted to not playing anything during the running sections.  And based on my experience of the never ending run from yesterday, I did not want to repeat that.  So, with playlist in tow, I restarted mission one. Things started off well as I stepped back into the shoes of Runner Five.  I was being flown in with supplies for Abel township.  For whatever reason, I only had half the supplies that are normally dispatched.  As we approached Abel, a rocket erupted from the wilderness and knocked the chopper out of the sky.  I'm not sure how, but I managed to survive the crash.  Only, there were far worse things waiting for me in the woods surrounding the crash site... Zombies make everything better. Fortunately, the coms operator for Abel, Sa

I've begun an experiment today.  Over the course of the next 35-40 days, I will undertake a daily mission in Zombies, Run! for Windows Phone.  Kim and I had used the app on her iPod and had loads of fun.  Since then, it has finally made its way to Windows Phone.  I will chronicle my journey and that of the people of Abel as I work my way through the 35 missions. The first thing I notice is that the app doesn't like to retain some of the settings.  The game volume stays at one level, despite adjusting it several times.  Also, it will not play music on shuffle.  For music to play, a playlist must be created in the Zune software and then transferred to the phone.  I wasn't aware of this until I noticed 15 minutes into my run that it wasn't playing music. After crash landing in the forest outside of Abel, I began to make my way to the hospital to gather supplies. As I walked, I heard the guttural moans of the dead.  They were close, but I couldn't tell how

August 01: Deadlight  (360) The Book of Unwritten Tales  (PC) Maestia: Rise of Keledus  (PC) Hitman Sniper Challenge  (PC) August 03: Total Recall  (PC) August 07: Persona 4: Arena  (PS3) Deponia  (PC) August 14: Sleeping Dogs  (PC, 360, PS3) Darksiders 2  (360) August 19: New Super Mario Bros. 2  (3DS) August 21: Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2  (PC, 360) August 24: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Editio  (PC) August 28: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron  (360, PS3) Madden NFL 13  (Wii, PS3, 360) Guild Wars 2  (PC)

This weekend plays host to another Mass Effect 3 Bounty Weekend.  From BioWare's blog : "Operation OLYMPUS (August 10th-12th) Increased Reaper activity has been reported around London.  Operation OLYMPUS will focus large-scale strikes on the Reapers to buy the Resistance time to investigate. Squad Goal : Full extraction from Firebase London using any Kit on any difficulty Allied Goal : Using any Kit/Map combination against any enemy, complete wave 10 on a combined community total of 200,000 Bronze missions, 175,000 Silver missions and 70,000 Gold missions. Special Circumstance : None Squad Goal Success : All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack Allied Goal Success : All players awarded a Victory Pack Requirement: Mass Effect: Earth must be installed

My impressions on Continent of the Ninth Seal's witchblade class is up at GamingClimax.com !