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Diablo III is finally kinda getting an endgame This is

http://media.diablofans.com/images/news/2012/august/patch/pre.jpg

Diablo III is finally kinda getting an endgame

This is huge.

http://www.diablofans.com/news/1317-unofficial-patch-104-changes-class-changes-new-items-affixes-and-more/

This blog post is all datamined info from the 1.0.4 patch. Each new patch always shows up in an accessible location, and people always grab it and datamine it, the weekend before it goes live.

What you're seeing in that pic is an entirely new leveling mechanic that appears to be coming to Diablo 3 in the patch this Tuesday (and yes, it does seem more and more likely that the patch will arrive Tuesday).

It looks like Paragon levels will let you continue "leveling" after hitting level 60, and get a boost to... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/19/2012 at 12:06am

Wow. They are really addIng a lot to the game. More than I thought they would frankly. More levels beyond 60 does increase the end game but I hope it's more than just more grinding.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/19/2012 at 12:53am

Yeah, they aren't technically levels, no new skills or anything like that, no stat boosts, but the extra MF/GF will be a compelling reason to want them! I'm looking forward to it.

Tungsten wrote on 08/19/2012 at 05:13am

I was hoping that the Diablo "always on" connection would mean more post release support. In my wildest dreams, Diablo is like Minecraft, receiving updates and major improvements years after its release. As long as they don't call it DLC and slap a $10 price tag on it, I'm happy.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/19/2012 at 06:28am

Yeah, it seems that is happening with it. No problems with that here immediately. That said, they could patch it and change it so much that it doesnt resemble what it was. Kind of sad because in that case you cant roll back to play what it was.

Kind of a loss of the 1.0, which whereas 1.0 wasn't awesome it was 1.0 and to lose that if the game goes to something different would be unfortunate in a way.

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PC Gaming For Cheap! So theres a new Humble Bundle out.

PC Gaming For Cheap!

So there's a new Humble Bundle out. Although it's called the Humble Android Bundle 3, all the games are cross-platform, for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. You can get Steam keys and Ubuntu Software Center activations as well, same as with the last numbered bundle. Some good stuff here, but nothing to top what we've seen in the past.

Everyone who's participated in a Humble Bundle knows that it's a great opportunity to get great games for next to nothing. But there are also other bundles going on that fewer people are aware of.

IndieGala

http://www.indiegala.com/

This works similarly to the Humble Bundle. There's a similar profit distribution, with a... Read All

Everyone can now install the DoTA 2 spectator client to

Everyone can now install the DoTA 2 spectator client to watch existing DoTA 2 games and the upcoming DoTA 2 international. I just installed it and watched a game and it was pretty interesting. Couldn't figure out how to train on watch just one hero, but it was fun to see the game play out in real time.

If you want to nab DoTA 2 now, you can pay $30 for some DoTA items and beta access to play right now. I think ill just wait for the actual release, but its really tempting... I might pay to play it earlier.

Check out the DoTA 2 spectator client and let me know what you think. Is DoTA 2 something you are interested in?

Travis Admin wrote on 08/18/2012 at 04:56am

I watched a tournament game. I have no idea what the hell was going on.

I got into the beta a while back but haven't jumped in yet. I mean, I got the beta invite during the Steam sale, come on! What did they expect?

But being one of the last 5 people left who haven't played the original DOTA, I was kinda lost. It looks a bit like what would happen if a Diablo-style game got dropped into the Warcraft world, with a few mechanics of War3 coming in as well.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/18/2012 at 05:30am

Yep. It's essentially two teams trying to overwhelm the others base. It's super competitive and gets really quite hard. Hopefully when It drops they will have bits and private games do we don't get lambasted for being newbs. :)

Travis Admin wrote on 08/18/2012 at 05:51am

That's always been my problem with super competitive games. People are so serious about it you are practically helpless if you don't dedicate 16 hours a day to it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/18/2012 at 01:30pm

Hopefully they ship bots or have a easier mode. If not, yeah it might not be as much fun.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 08/20/2012 at 11:32pm

I've gotten into the beta for this game. It's... well. I dunno. I've played a similar game (see my previous post on Demigod) and I was really looking forward to this game and was really excited to get into the beta but it is really not beginner friendly. I don't mind losing in a game (especially a game I'm new at) but getting dominated so badly you feel like you never get a chance to really learn what you're doing sucks. I'm hoping there will be a option to play against bots until I can at least get use to the 30 or so different heroes so I at least know what my own abilities do before jumping into more matches against other people. :)

If they had an option to play private games, I think this could be a lot of fun with the rest of the CheerfuGhosters though.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/20/2012 at 11:46pm

I much prefer games with friends than games with strangers who will just annihilate you or grief. For example, I played a little CoD4:MW online, and I just don't see the appeal. It's not that the game isn't well-made, or that the content isn't fun, it's the *people* who ruin it. Same with Halo 3. I just play solo unless I can play with friends.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/20/2012 at 11:47pm

Addendum to the above: The only exception is TF2. Maybe the "It's too cartoon bro, why would you ever play that junk?" mentality drove away all the assholes. I played TONS of TF2 online and loved every minute. A teammate I was on at one point said "Wow, I don't even care that we're getting our asses handed to us, I feel honored to see this. They are AMAZING."

How often would you hear that in CoD?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/21/2012 at 02:07am

I think we all agree. Fun is good, lamers are not. Private games help, bots help but a great community and game style helps more.

Hopefully DoTA 2 has bots and I am pretty sure they will have private games at least. But if no bots then how does one fill a game?

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And the last of the class previews, the Witch Doctor. I

http://us.media5.battle.net/cms/blog_header/NZ409F4WVROO1344643110268.jpg

And the last of the class previews, the Witch Doctor.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6923459/Patch_104_Preview_Witch_Doctor-8_16_2012

I have yet to play a Witch Doctor. When I first saw Jon's I started drooling over it, but it became pretty apparent from all the buzz on forums, reddit, etc, that this was not a very functional class.

Blizzard apparently agrees, and the Witch Doctor is getting tons of buffs and reworking. From what I'm reading from this post, the Witch Doctor will be an appealing class to play finally. I'm finally looking forward to trying it out.

So that's all for the class previews. Now we just have a post from the man himself, Jay Wilson, about magic... Read All

And now, the Demon Hunter. This is honestly the one I was

http://us.media5.battle.net/cms/blog_header/6GO8FQ44UNX51344643109954.jpg

And now, the Demon Hunter.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6986845/Patch_104_Preview_Demon_Hunter-8_16_2012

This is honestly the one I was looking forward to the most. I have a Demon Hunter at level 60 who's just sitting in Inferno and waiting because it got so frustrating to play. I was hoping for more details in this post, but it looks like things are going to be smoother sailing for him when I get back to him.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/17/2012 at 01:17am

Seems like very reasonable buffs. Is there anything in your play style/build that is getting an upgrade?

Chowda wrote on 08/17/2012 at 02:50am

It was nice to see them acknowledge some things, but I was hoping for more in the DH announcement. I just got my DH to 60 last night and am currently into act 2 inferno.

Hungering arrow is the only viable generator a DH has. It's damage is so far ahead of the others it would be a waste to use anything else. Another annoyance are the passives. Other classes have more viable options, but I've been using the same 3 forever and there's no reason to change. Perhaps a buff to the other generators will make some other passives viable.

I have 4 classes at 60, only my WD is back at 20. DH does the most damage by far. Without really upgrading my gear I was able to get to inferno and clear act1 inferno in about 2 hours. This has been impossible on my other classes. The DH is in a good place overall. It shall be interesting to see how the update really affects the class.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/17/2012 at 03:21am

One thing to keep in mind with all of these is that there are a LOT more changes coming to every class than what they report in these blog posts. We won't k ow everything until someone parses the massive data dump in the patch notes.

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And now, the preview for improvements in the upcoming patch

http://us.media4.battle.net/cms/blog_header/PA0YXVDN3VDL1344643109978.jpg

And now, the preview for improvements in the upcoming patch 1.04 for the Monk!

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6939559/Patch_104_Preview_Monk-8_16_2012

Looks like an across-the-board improvement. I can't wait to get in with my monk and cause some havoc. Again, like the Wizard, this wasn't as detailed as I would have liked, but it seems to be win-win.

Today Valve announced the Team Fortress 2 update: Mann VS

Today Valve announced the Team Fortress 2 update: Mann VS Machine in a Left 4 Dead blog post:

http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=8648

There is a link at the bottom you might find interesting. When you click it, it takes you to the Team Fortress 2 update page but if you typed in the ACTUAL url it took you to a special Steam profile of someone called "Chase."

Here is the clickable secret URL in question:

www.teamf6rtress.com/mvm/

The interesting part about Chase? He is playing Half-life 3: Indev. Is this the start of a new ARG or Valve having a bit of fun with players?

-
http://www.dorkly.com/comic/39783/releasing-the-valve?yes-its-a-repost

hardeyez wrote on 08/16/2012 at 02:55pm

Nice! I love it when the devs mess around like this. But it could just be a joke...

Travis Admin wrote on 08/16/2012 at 04:05pm

Looks like that url is now broken. People have flooded it!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/16/2012 at 04:08pm

I was able to click it and got this now:

http://sybolt.com/mvm//mvm

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/16/2012 at 04:08pm

Same Steam page.

Chowda wrote on 08/16/2012 at 04:11pm

Ha! That's great. I bet sometimes he really wishes he could do this.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 08/16/2012 at 06:03pm

Did anyone notice that the top comment on the profile for "Chase" says "Thank's for that hat you traded! Gordon looks good with a beret."

Seems like Steam trading coming to Half life 3, not that that's very surprising. Does this also mean there will be an item shop for HL3?

Travis Admin wrote on 08/16/2012 at 06:46pm

I don't know how much of that is a joke and how much of it is real. I just found that on the profile page for Chase, if you click on the HL3 dev, all the screen elements fall apart. So it's obviously not a real page, but Valve loves mixing hints with jokes.

Tungsten wrote on 08/16/2012 at 09:43pm

Hey, speaking of which, anybody else up for some Left 4 TF2? Kill some zom... robots or whatever. Sure would be a change of pace from terraria.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/17/2012 at 01:20am

Yes. I want to try my hand at it tonight I hope. Heard threre are lines for servers though :)

geoffreyk wrote on 08/21/2012 at 03:16pm

They appear to have "fixed" the L4D post. 2 possibilities: A. Valve really meant for this to be a thing. B. Someone made a typo, and an opportunist took advantage of it to register the broken URL and send it somewhere fun.

On the "URL Not Found" error page that I see now for that link above, it mentions "black-aperture.com" in the Apache server/port 80 reference. This is a site that has been previously identified (not via this particular page), and which people have been claiming is a fake/hoax for months. For some reason, my cynic brain is telling me to go with Option B, even though the rest of me so-very-much wishes it was Option A.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/21/2012 at 03:20pm

Hmmmm, yeah that makes sense. I am still holding out for option A but... Yeah I guess we will see.

I want HL3 but I'm not crazy about it. If I had to wager, I'd say they are working on it now. Especially since Valve employees can work on whatever they want. Unless there is a 100% company wide "no HL3 policy."

Travis Admin wrote on 08/21/2012 at 04:21pm

Dammit Geoffrey, you ruined my fun. But you're probably right, this does seem to be hoaxy.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2012 at 01:03am

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

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Okay, well this isnt a game... yet. From the people that

Okay, well this isn't a game... yet.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts

From the people that made Monday Night Combat comes an RTS, the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation.

I actually picked up Total Annihilation the other day and have been playing the heck out of it, when all of a sudden I watch this video. This may be what finally gets me into kickstarter.

Oh, and if you think this video is cool BUY TOTAL ANNIHILATION (GoG.com, $5.99) AN LET"S BLOW EACHOTHER UP!!!

Sorry, I'm just sick of the AI... but not the explosions.

Next up, the Wizard. This one is getting a slight nerf to

http://us.media3.battle.net/cms/blog_header/YQMJ0JY8PSMN1344643110267.jpg

Next up, the Wizard.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6939564/Patch_104_Preview_Wizard-8_15_2012

This one is getting a slight nerf to one skill, although the comments would have you believe it's the worst thing that's ever happened since the Holocaust. Honestly, it doesn't *seem* like that big a deal to me, but I have yet to play a Wizard, so I'm not sure.

It seems that every other rune that isn't the most widely used for each skill is getting major buffs though. This post seems less informative than the last, so I guess we'll have to wait for the patch notes.

A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from

A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from QuakeCon "The Game of Making Games" with Todd Howard (Bethesda Game Studios), Jens Matthies (MachineGames), Raphael Colantonio (Arkane Studios), and Ted Price (Insomniac Games).

Fun to hear about how different studios approach game development and design. A few awesome moments when the audience asked questions you should check out. At one point someone in the audience asked how it feels to have your games go to the bargain bin faster than others. I have a new sense of respect for these leads and what they do.