Wotcha everyone,

I appreciate the fact that I’m not a newshound.  I also appreciate the fact that I’m the strangest sort of Early-Adopter; if something cool and techy manages to ping on my radar, then I’ll check it out (and most probably get it).  But I can be fabulously reactionary, especially when it comes to dealing with change.

There has been some comment through the Blogosphere on Blizzard’s requirement to change World of Warcraft accounts to Battlenet accounts.

Now, because I’m easily confused, I saw the artwork they’d used on their login pages and thought that I’d be forced to get one of those Security Fob doohickeys at the same time.  And whilst I appreciate that they can improve security no-end, I can also appreciate (from time served in IT helpdesks) that they can improve security to the extent that no-one can log on.  I have issues about service denial, and Security Fobs add an extra layer of complication that I just don’t like.  Security slacker that I am.

There’s also the issue of cost.  If your phone doesn’t support the Security Fob software, then you’re going to have to pay what amounts to a one-off tax to play the game you’ve been playing and paying for previously.

Unsurprisingly, that got my Reactionary gene going.  Commentators adding that this amounts to Blizzard forcing us to sign up to Social Networking just added to my reactionary zeal.

I was in serious danger of a Face-Nose-Cutting-Implement-Interface-Issue.  If Blizzard were going to force me to do something, then I just wouldn’t play their game!  Haha!  Sucks to be you, Blizzard!

Ahem.

Calmly working through the available information helped a lot.  No, I didn’t need to get a Security Fob.  I could just merge my current subscription account with the Battlenet account.

And…

I can choose to ignore the social networking side of things.  I already do my best to ignore the world of social networking that’s already out there.  I must admit to having a Twitter account, but that was purely for a work-related test.  I’ve also forgotten the password, and I’ve no real inclination to sort it out.  Other than that, I shall not boast about how much of a social networking luddite I am (because I also appreciate that blogging is social networking too, and my hypocrisy does have limits).

So I went ahead and merged my logon details with a Battlenet account.  And the world did not end.  Are there any social networking elements?  I have no idea.  I’ve no need of them, so I didn’t bother checking for them.  They can sit there unused, for all I care.

MMO gaming has been recognised to have a far longer lifespan than any other game type.  World of Warcraft has been around for 5 years and shows no signs of dying of old age.  In game years, that’s positively ancient.  So it’s not surprising that social networking sites are starting to appear for games.  Including single/multiplayer games like Dragon Age.  If they extend the lifespan of a game, then of course publishers and developers will want to use them.

We don’t have to.  I’m not talking about some insane mass boycott thing, just… I’ll not be using it.  I think it’s a sign of getting older.  Every time I encounter something like this, I have to wonder whether the object of my wrath is actually worth the effort of me hating it.

Oh, and I also got a penguin pet for signing up.  The joy.  I’d have preferred something useful, but at least the pet-collectors can joy-joy dance about it.  Unless they don’t get one, at which point I apologise.

All in all, it was painless.  Yet I have to admit, I did all of this secure in the knowledge that in just over a week my subscription runs out and I most probably won’t be playing World of Warcrft again until Cataclysm comes out, or friends beat me with sticks.  So it’s not like I’m losing much.

Cheers,
Hawley.

Lange ist es her, dass ich mir diesen rechteckigen, grauen Kasten namens Playstation gekauft habe. In meiner persönlichen Auswahl möchte ich Ihnen die Spiele vorstellen, die mir in besonderer Erinnerung geblieben sind.

Der König des Prügelspiels

Die durchschnittliche Bewertung von Tekken 3 liegt bei 96 % (Quelle: metacritic.com).

Tolle Spielbarkeit, hübsche Grafik und viele verschiedene Kämpfer, das sind die Erfolgszutaten für Tekken 3. Bei der großen Charakter-Auswahl ist für jeden Spieler ein(e) passende(r) Kämpfer(in) dabei. Nehme ich Eddy, der wie ein aufgekratzter Sportler nicht ruhig auf der Stelle stehen kann und die wildesten Verrenkungen vollführt? Oder lieber Hwoarang, der mit seinem langen Beinen Gegner zurück auf den Boden der Tatsachen holt? Oder, oder, oder… Die Grafik war damals sehr hübsch und bestach vor allem durch flüssige Animationen, bunte Effekte und aufwändige Rendersequenzen. Wer fleißig gespielt hat, schaltete zudem den sogenannten „Tekken Ball Mode“ frei. Darin stehen sich zwei Spieler gegenüber und schlagen oder treten auf einen Ball ein. Der fliegt dann zum anderen Spieler, der den Ball im richtigen Moment zurückschlagen muss. Der Clou: Je öfter der Ball einen Treffer kassiert, desto schneller wird er. Ist das Tempo am Anfang sehr moderat, geht es später um schnelle Reflexe. Wer dann zu spät oder zu früh auf die Tasten haut, wird vom Ball getroffen und hat die Runde verloren. Extrem simpel, extrem spaßig.

Runden-Strategie-Schwergewicht

Front Mission 3

Es gibt da ein Spiel, mit dem man sich locker wochenlang beschäftigen kann: Front Mission 3. Das Spielprinzip erinnert an den Klassiker Battle Isle. Sie kommandieren rundenweise eine Handvoll Mechs (hier Wanzer genannt) auf kleinen oder großen Schlachtfeldern. Erst dürfen Sie ihre Einheiten in Stellung bringen und feindliche Truppen angreifen, danach ist die künstliche Intelligenz an der Reihe. Nun, was ist so besonders an diesem an sich bekannten Spielprinzip? Erstens: Ihre Einheiten verbessern sich im Kampf. Sie lernen neue Fähigkeiten, wie etwa höhere Treffsicherheit, die anschließend zufällig bei Angriffen eingesetzt werden. Außerdem dürfen sie von Zeit zu Zeit neue Ausrüstung für ihre Wanzer kaufen, was zum Weiterspielen motiviert. Zweitens: Die Geschichte dreht sich um einige zentrale Figuren, die sie während der strategischen Kämpfe befehligen. Die Charaktere sind dabei nicht austauschbar, sondern wachsen einem während der „über 150 Stunden Spielzeit“ (Zitat von der Packungsrückseite) ans Herz.

Rollenspiel mit innovativem Kampfsystem

Die durchschnittliche Bewertung von Vagrant Story liegt bei 92 % (Quelle: metacritic.com).

Denke ich zurück an Vagrant Story, kommen mir solche Dinge wie „packend-inszenierte Geschichte“ oder „tolles Kampfsystem“ in den Sinn. Das Rollenspiel ging in vielerlei Hinsicht neue Wege. Die Geschichte wurde in tollen Zwischen- sequenzen erzählt – und das, obwohl sie ohne Sprachausgabe auskommen. Mit dem Helden fieberte man bald mit, wurde doch seine unschuldige Familie umgebracht. Auch das Kampfsystem bot Neues: Traf man auf einen Gegner, fror die Zeit ein. Nun konnte man in aller Ruhe ein Körperteil anvisieren (ähnlich wie heutzutage in Fallout 3). Doch es ging auch um schnelle Reflexe. Im richtigen Moment galt es, die Angriffstaste zu drücken, um einen weiteren Schlag auszuführen. Nach dem ersten konnten Sie einen weiteren Treffer landen, haben Sie das passende Zeitfenster erwischt und so weiter und so fort. Doch viele Treffer in Folge hatten auch ihren Preis: Die „Risk“-Leiste füllte sich, sodass die Wahrscheinlichkeit sank, Gegner bei folgenden Attacken zu verletzten. Da hilft dann nur, einen Trank zu sich zu nehmen, der das „Risk“-Level wieder senkt. Neben diesen Alleinstellungsmerkmalen durften Sie obendrein noch eigene Waffen zusammenbauen.

Durchbruch der Stealth-Actionspiele

Die durchschnittliche Bewertung von Metal Gear Solid liegt bei 94 % (Quelle: metacritic.com).

Was hier 1999 in Deutschland erschien, sollte die Spiele-Landschaft nachhaltig beeinflussen. Metal Gear Solid machte nicht nur den Schöpfer Hideo Kojima zu einem der berühmtesten Spiele-Entwickler, es folgten auch viele weitere Spiele, die das Prinzip ums Schleichen und Austricksen der künstlichen Intelligenz aufgriffen. Als Solid Snake sollen Sie eine Terroristen-Basis infiltrieren, so viel zum Ausgangspunkt der Handlung. Dafür schleichen Sie sich an allerlei Wachen vorbei, lenken Sie ab und überwältigen Sie. Natürlich kommen auch Schusswaffen zum Einsatz, doch die Munition ist meist knapp und daher ist eher subtiles Vorgehen gefragt. Die spannende Handlung und das durchdachte Spielprinzip sorgten für so große Begeisterung, dass weitere Nachfolger und Erweiterungen erschienen.

Hervorragender Ego-Shooter

Die durchschnittliche Bewertung von Medal of Honor: Underground liegt bei 86 % (Quelle: metacritic.com).

Die bekannteste Ego-Shooter- Marke heutzutage ist wohl Call of Duty mit dem demnächst erscheinenden Modern Warfare 2. Im Jahr 2000 war eine andere Reihe bestens bekannt: Medal of Honor. Damals erschien der zweite (Playstation-)Teil: Medal of Honor: Underground. Als französische Widerstandskämpferin sabotierten Sie die Achsenmächte. Auch wenn Sie manchmal als Fotografin verkleidet feindliche Lager ausspionierten, waren Sie die meiste Zeit mit dem Gewehr im Anschlag unterwegs. Die abwechslungsreichen Levels führten sie durch Frankreich, Italien, Griechenland, Deutschland und Afrika. Der hervorragende Soundtrack sorgte für eine intensive Spielerfahrung, die Gefechte machten einfach eine Menge Spaß und die grafische Qualität war für Playstation-Verhältnisse sehr gut.

Hack and Slay

Die durchschnittliche Bewertung von Diablo (PC-Version) liegt bei 94 % (Quelle: metacritic.com).

Diablo ist eine der Spielmarken überhaupt. Inbegriff der Sammelwut. Wegbereiter für das BattleNet. Erfolgsmarke von Blizzard. Glücklicherweise haben die Entwickler auch an die Playstation-Besitzer gedacht und eine angepasste Version für die Konsolen-Spieler herausgebracht. Natürlich musste die Steuerung des Action-Rollenspiels für das Gamepad angepasst werden. Kurios: Während das Spiel auf dem PC nur in englischer Sprache erschien, wurde die Playstation-Portierung übersetzt. Das Spielprinzip blieb aber unberührt. Am Anfang entscheiden Sie sich für eine von drei Charakter-Klassen (Krieger, Jägerin oder Zauberer) und erforschen nach und nach jedes der 16 zufallsgenerierten Levels. Dabei treffen Sie auf Horden von Monstern, die sie bekämpfen. Sie erhalten Erfahrungspunkte, steigen im Level auf und dürfen die Attribute ihres Helden verbessern. Außerdem lassen manche Gegner wertvolle Items fallen, etwa Rüstungen, magische Ringe oder bessere Schwerter. Das Prinzip ist simpel, lässt Sie aber nicht so schnell wieder los. Auf dem PC dürfen Sie im BattleNet mit anderen Spielern die Dungeons erforschen, die Playstation-Version dürfen Sie immerhin zusammen mit einem Freund/einer Freundin spielen. Manche Spieler dürfen es doof finden, dass man stets zusammen auf einem Bildschirm die Gegend erkundet. Ich finde das gerade besonders gut, da man stets zusammen unterwegs ist und sich so ein starkes „Wir-Gefühl“ entwickelt. Diablo wurde von Blizzard vorbildlich auf die Playstation portiert, einzig die langen Ladezeiten nerven etwas.

Witziger Worms-Klon

Frontschweine

Frontschweine greift das Spielprinzip von Worms auf und reichert es mit einer netten Einzelspieler-Kampagne an. Rundenweise bewegen Sie ein Schwein aus ihrer Truppe über die dreidimensionalen Schlachtfelder, entscheiden sich für eine Waffe, zielen, legen Winkel und Feuerkraft fest und hoffen, dass sie möglichst großen Schaden beim gegnerischen Team anrichten. Sind alle feindlichen Truppen erledigt, ist die Mission gewonnen. Die Kampagne ist witzig präsentiert und motiviert, denn Sie dürfen ihre Truppen später auch aufwerten. Das Ganze macht zusammen mit Freund enbesonders Laune. Auch wenn der Schwierigkeitsgrad im Verlauf der Kampagne etwas zu stark ansteigt (Stichwort: Treffsicherheit der künstlichen Intelligenz), so wurde mit Frontshweine ein bekanntes Spielprinzip gelungen adaptiert.

Zusammen stark

Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles

Zugegeben, Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles gehört nicht unbedingt in eine Bestenliste. In dem Actionspiel schnetzeln Sie sich als Lichtschwert-schwingender Jedi durch Unmengen von Feinden. Eigentlich ist das nichts besonderes. Doch es gibt eine Sache, die das Spiel aufwertet: der kooperative Mehrspielermodus. In dem dürfen Sie zusammen mit einem Freund/einer Freundin durch die Levels rennen. Das macht noch einmal deutlich mehr Spaß, als das Spiel alleine zu bestreiten. Als nervig sind mir die Sprungpassagen in Erinnerung geblieben, bei denen man schnell wertvolle Credits verlor.

Ein schönes Wochenende und viel Spaß beim Spielen wünscht

Felix

Предполагам, че вече отдавна сте изчели всичко налично по темата “новият BattleNet”, но аз винаги съм предпочитал да гледам видеота

1. Интервю със “суха теория”:

2. Нагледни демонстрации:

Hari² ini sering maen DotA pake IM2 Broom Unlimited. Lumayan yang penting udah bisa maen di kos-kosan.

ini ada sedikit trik supaya maen-nya bisa lebih lancar dan gak patah²:

1. ping IP server terus menerus. Misal server NusaReborn

Run(tekan “win logo + R”) ketik “ping dota.nusa.net.id -t -l 1″

maksud perintah tersebut untuk ping dari host dota.nusa.net.id. -t →berkelanjutan. -l 1 → besarnya 1 byte(supaya irit bandwidth)

run

ping

2. Kalo Join game pilih yang host nya pake dr [w3dr]

misal nama room nya “55APNP Dota Ceria [dr]” ← itu maksudnya host/server cr8 nya pake w3dr. jadi kalo mau maen pilih yang host nya pake w3dr

Setelah kita lihat hasil ping di atas Latency (keterlambatan) kita sekitar 80 – 120 milisecond. Jadi pada saat maen kita request ke Host dr latency-nya minta set sekitar 110 udah cukup dan gak Lag lagi. Bilang aja “kk request dr 110″ ntar sama host biar di set “!dr 110″

Cukup!!

Selamat Ber-DotA Ceria tanpa lag

Ket:

• Posisi : Surabaya – Kota
• Modem : Sierra 881-u
• Koneksi : IM2 Broom Unlimited Extra
• Sinyal : HSDPA, -90 dBm
• percobaan server dota : NusaReborn

Hasil Speedtest-nya

But I can’t get any…

Well, sorry I haven’t updated much in a while. I’ve been pretty busy discussing some stuff about the business side of Entertainment on this fourm (Great place, by the way. It’s based on Sean Malstrom’s blog.) So…I’m unsure what to discuss, so here’s another list of the subjects in my brain:

1) We all know that customers are the most important part of business, right? That it is also good to have good, fresh ideas from time to time, full of passion to create new movements within an industry, right?  That respect must be given to people who pay for the product, right? Because I see that Bobby Kotick is being a real douchebag, and that Starcraft 2 won’t be all it’s cracked up to be as a result. *Sigh* The Gaming Industry is headed for a crash it won’t soon forget.

2) What else, what else…oh yeah, Lady Gaga is a Hermaphrodite!

Her (Alleged) statement:

It’s not something that I’m ashamed of, just isn’t something that I go around telling everyone. Yes. I have both male and female genitalia, but I consider myself a female. It’s just a little bit of a penis and really doesn’t interfere much with my life. The reason I haven’t talked about it is that it’s not a big deal to me. Like come on. It’s not like we all go around talking about our vags. I think this is a great opportunity to make other multiple gendered people feel more comfortable with their bodies. I’m sexy, I’m hot. I have both a poon and a peener. Big f*cking deal.

A sample of the immature responses:

“No wonder shelookalikea man…this chick is ugly ugly ugly and I was like she looks like a man and now I know why…ohh wee..Hey would guys actually hit that..straight guys…top 5 BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“lol its funny how people will protect someone that probably doesnt give a rats ass about them,but if it makes you happy then be captain save a hoe…we have all rights to poke fun of the situation not her as a person..lol..idk gaga or lady gaga,but she knew better than to let something that personal slip out..not at home but a damn concert…if this was beyonce with no undies then everybody all happy joy joy…and for ciara…ciara all woman and if you havent come to your senses in believing she is then maybe you can do the world a favor and jump from a bridge since clearly your God given brain is going to waste…”

“this would explain why she has a B-B-Butter Face, B-B-Butter Face. she needs to fix her face and her nonworking penis. it jiggled…panties don’t. she’s gross and annoying. can’t just be like the gorillaz and be animated so we don’t have to see her?”

“I FUGGIN KNEW THERE WASNT SOMETHING RIGHT ABOUT HERE WHEN I WATCHED HER DISCO STICK VID, I THOUGHT SHE WAS A DIKE. BUT WTF WOULD SHE BE..”

Jesus christ, people, grow the fuck up! Hey, guess what? There are people that don’t exist in the “Boys are blue, Girls are pink” paradigm. There are other people out there who are either born with different bodies or decide to do something with them. Sure, I may not agree with them all of the time, but I know that their bodies are their own right, and that trying to repress what one wants to do their own bodies would yield results that would make this:

Look like this:

(On a personal note, I find her music mostly meh. I think it’s more watered down House/Trance with a crazy chick doing the voice. Some of her songs are catchy, though, and like I said she’s crazy. I’ll take that over most of the bland stuff playing on KISS FM)

Edit: Oh wait, this is the same website that reports a story like this without a credible source to back it up, so…I don’t know if I even want to cover this…I mean, shit, there’s more important things going on. Iran is in trouble, there are wars going on, the economy is shit, the Health care system of the United States (along with the rights of patients) is at stake, and yet out of all of that, some immature people are out there getting their undies bloody over a person’s biological trait.

I..ok. Ok.

3)…You know, the more I hang around some online art communities, the more I am convinced that there are people who will just exploit any oppurtunity to stir up drama over people who are popular or just bash them completely due to the pageviews/favorites/watches the artists recieve. Their arguments for hating the artists are very personal, amounting to, “YOU’RE A SELLOUT WHO IS ONLY POPULAR FOR DRAWING SEX/ANIME/SOME SUBJECT THAT I HATE FOR BEING POPULAR!!” or something to that effect. I know I touched on that on a sorta abstract level when discussing the Original vs. The Counter-Original argument, but as a developing artist/writer, it’s something that really grinds my gears, and I believe that silence isn’t a good answer in the face of that subject.

I want to go forward and give people a piece of my mind on the subject, but now, there is a problem. I am pretty sure that I will draw fire with this subject, especially when I, the blogger who praises Let the Right One In and Atlas Shrugged while dismissing Twilight and reactionary Film critcs, is the same blogger who will talk about two art communities, deviantART and FurAffinity, because he has made accounts (one mostly for art, the other mostly for writing) on each of those two websites.

…Yep. I just opened a can of bees. Character assasination, here I come.

But since I have spilled a bit of my guts in that third subject, I figure that it would be best for me to reveal the true purpose of this blog, along with my personal mission. I’ll do that in another blog post, perhaps after I tackle at least 2 of the subjects mentioned on this list.

Well, good…Evening? Night? Morning? The hell? God damn, I need to fix my sleep schedule.

To WoW or Not to WoW – TankSpot

I have a hardly used set of crimson trace laser grips for taurus revolvers. It comes with all the stuff (box,papers,cleaning swabs etc.) $125 shipped.

It&s no secret that Blizzard hates gold farmers. Selling gold seems to be on the same level as murdering your grand mother, or doing a Karatechop – it will get you banned faster than you can say &ni hao&.

We&ll this is my first Tankspot blog; I hope it&s not too boring! A little back ground is in order I think I&ve been tanking since vanilla in top 5.

We&ll this is my first Tankspot blog; I hope it&s not too boring! A little back ground is in order I think I&ve been tanking since vanilla in top 5.

I have a hardly used set of crimson trace laser grips for taurus revolvers. It comes with all the stuff (box,papers,cleaning swabs etc.) $125 shipped.

First, EA made the DRM far more draconian than it needed to be. Three activations and you’re out and one account per CD key (something that EA seems to have misled customers about initially) is really just squezing the buyer too much. These are limitations that even basic users can hit up against pretty quickly so it’s something that every buyer should care about.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2617

“We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that (developers) want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?” explained Hirai.

“So it’s a kind of–I wouldn’t say a double-edged sword–but it’s hard to program for,” Hirai continued, “and a lot of people see the negatives of it, but if you flip that around, it means the hardware has a lot more to offer.”

http://news.cnet.com/sony-ps3-is-hard-to-develop-for-on-purpose/

Yes, you’ll have to buy separate discs. According to Pardo, “It’s a separate product. Look at the next two as expansion packs, but will have the feel of stand alone products.” Meaning yes, we’ll be charging you more money.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/10/starcraft-2-to-be-released-as-a-trilogy/

“We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with ‘StarCraft II,’ as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with ‘StarCraft II’ and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with ‘StarCraft II’ and safeguard against piracy.”

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/06/30/no-lan-in-starcraft-2-blizzard-explains-why/

The four statements above are examples of news that rocked the Video Game Industry in the last 2 years.

The first one is with EA Games placing a very restrictive DRM on Spore causing the game to be one of the most downloaded torrent upon its release. The DRM will prevent you from installing the game for more than 3 times to a machine with different parts. So if you upgrade a major part on your computer and reinstall the game, that would count as your installation number 2. In any case, I heard that EA changed this system with a patch later on but I’m not sure. What I didn’t like is the fact that EA knows that their customers are pissed with their decision to include the DRM and yet still pushed through with the plan.

Next we have the PS3. As Hirai, CEO of SCEA, claimed that the PS3 is hard to develop for on purpose. This fact has caused some developers, more particularly Valve, to ignore the console when they develop games. I think I’ve read somewhere that PS2 also had this type of problem. I personally don’t believe that Hirai meant what he said. Why? Because 2-3 weeks later, Sony made an announcement that they are going to give better support to their developers, they also are cutting the price to their dev kit down to $2,000.

On the first 2 examples, both companies made moves that affects their customers’ satisfaction to their product. On both cases, the companies know that their customers/developers didn’t like how they do things and yet pushed their original plans. They have only rectified their mistake a few weeks or in PS3’s case, a few years after release of their respective products. On EA’s case, I admit that they are just concerned against piracy unfortunately they only hurt their legitimate users as crackers has already bypassed their DRMs. On PS3’s case, I could not understand why they did that. And no, being hard to develop for doesn’t equate to quality games.

Now we move to the 3rd and 4th example both are from the upcoming, much anticipated Starcraft 2. In the past, I have admired Blizzard as a game company as they are the type that only release quality games. They have put quality first before monetary concerns. One good example here is the Starcraft Ghost which was never released. It was said that Blizzard was not pleased with the product and decided not to release it even though a lot of money has been placed for its development. I stated before that Blizzard, in my opinion, is the only game development that is more committed in making great games than they in making money.

And then we had the dreaded merger between Activision and Blizzard.

Now Blizzard announced that they are going to release Starcraft 2 in separate releases, one for each race, that you would have to purchase individually. At first, we thought that this is Activision’s doing, that they want to milk the franchise for all its worth. But we later fooled ourselves that it is for the better as we would have epic campaigns as it necessitated 3 different release.

Six or so months later, another major disappointment of an announcement was made. LAN will not be supported in the upcoming Starcraft release. They have 2 reasons/justification for their move. One is that they want everyone to play on Battle.Net. Two, to prevent piracy.

Let’s tackle the second reason as this one is easier. You cannot stop pirates. They will crack your game to make LAN games possible. If they cannot, they will hack Battle.Net for them to gain access. And if they can’t they’ll go after your legitimate customers by hijacking their accounts.

On the first reason, I want to know why exactly do they want you to play on Battle.Net? Here is their response:

More people on Battle.net means more even more resources devoted to evolving this online platform to cater to further community building and new ways to enjoy the game online. World of Warcraft is a great example of a game that has evolved beyond anyone’s imagination since their Day 1 and will continue to do so to better the player experience for as long as players support the title. The original StarCraft is an even better example of how 11 years later, players still love and play this title, and we will continue to support and evolve it with patches.

http://www.gossipgamers.com/blizzards-response-to-no-lan-support-for-starcraft-2/

I am very much concerned in the reference to World of Warcraft. I have this bad feeling that, after everyone is hooked on Battle.Net, they’re going to charge you for the service in the future.

Enough about the rant. Let’s now talk about what we can do.

First, we can sign a petition. Hopefully, if we can garner 10 million signatures, Blizzard might decide that they’re making a huge mistake. Click here to sign an online petition.

Second, why not make a one month boycott for World of Warcraft? I know that they are 2 different product, but if we can just show how much we want Starcraft 2 to have LAN support and how serious we are they might change their mind.

Third, boycott the product itself. I know this is a very hard thing to do as I have been waiting for this sequel for over a decade but if we can just delay our purchase for a month so that we can show them that they can’t push us around.

Fourth, since Koreans are the nation that is most excited about SC2, have them unite and direct their ICBMs to Irvine, California.

Seriously though, us consumers need to unite and show this big gaming corporation that they shouldn’t mess with us.

Silahkan kunjungi http://idbattlenet.jetforum.net untuk berdiskusi tentang DotA, Warcraft III dan khususnya mengenai Battle.net

Untuk mendownload silahkan kunjungi :

http://www.getdota.com

Perkenalan Hero

Hero diperingkatkan berdasarkan level. Sewaktu naik satu level, hero menerima atribut bonus dan satu skill point untuk dibelanjakan dalam mempelajari atau meng-upgrade skill yang sudah ada. Hero bisa naik level waktu permainan dengan mendapatkan experience. Experience bisa diperoleh dengan membunuh creeps, yang dikenal dengan istilah creeping atau farming dan dengan membunuh hero lawan yang dikenal dengan istilah pawning yang mengakibatkan hero mendapatkan lebih banyak experience points.

Creep netral dengan kesulitan bervariasi jadi ditaruh di seluruh peta/map, dan mereka juga bisa dibunuh untuk memperoleh experience dan emas/gold. Creep netral tidak diprogram untuk melakukan apa-apa kecuali bertempur dengan karakter yang terlalu dekat; karena dengan begitu, mereka ada untuk dibunuh untuk mendapatkan experience dan emas/gold. Creep netral ini bervariasi dalam kekuatan dari yang sangat lemah ( creep level satu), sampai yg sangat kuat dimana satu tim penuh hero dengan pangkat tinggi yang diperlukan untuk bertarung untuk menang (misalnya Roshan, di DotA Allstars).

Atribut Hero

Hero mempunyai tiga statistik utama, yang dikenal sebagai atribut (Kekuatan/ Strength, Kecerdasan/ Intelligence, Kelincahan/ Agility) dengan setiap hero memiliki satu Atribut Pokok. Atribut Pokok bisa ditentukan berdasarkan icon yang tampak di status panel, seperti yang digambarkan disini (Strength digambarkan dengan icon “kepalan tangan”/”fist”, Agility dengan “kaki” dan intelligence dengan pikiran/ mind). Menambah Atribut Pokok seorang hero bisa menambah damage. Sebagai tambahan, menambah atribut hero bisa mempertinggi statistik yang bersangkutan.
Strength mempertinggi hit points dan regenerasi hitpoint. 1 Strength point = 19 HP, 1 Strength Point = 0.03 HP/detik tambahan regenerasi.
Agility mempertinggi kecepatan serangan/attack speed dan rating armor. 7 Agility Points = 1 armor, 1 Agility Point = 1% IAS (Increased Attack Speed/ penambahan kecepatan serangan).
Intelligence mempertinggi mana points dan regenerasi mana. 1 Intelligence Point = 13 MP, 1 Intelligence Point = 0.04 MP/detik tambahan regenar

Statistic Hero

Hero juga memiliki sejumlah variasi statistik yg bs dirubah dgn mewarisi skill, pembelian item atau perubahan atribut:
Attack Damage – Mengindikasikan berapa serangan hero dikurangi dari hit point penerima. Menambah Atribut Pokok hero bisa menambah attack damage dia, dimana setiap penambahan satu poin di Atribut Pokok menambah attack damage dengan satu point.
Attack Speed – Menentukan seberapa cepat hero memakai serangan mereka. Hero yang mempunyai attack speed dua kali lipat dari hero lain akan menyerang dua kali lebih banyak dalam sejumlah waktu tertentu. Attack speed ditentukan oleh base speed utk masing- masing hero, dan ditambah oleh agility. 1 Agility point = 1% IAS.
Hit Points – Merepresentasikan berapa damage seorang hero bisa menyerap sebelum dia terbunuh. Hit points regenerasi seiring waktu sampai nomor maksimal. Nomor maksimal hit points seorang hero miliki dan kecepatan regenerasinya adalah fungsi dari atribut strength hero. Hero dengan strength lebih tinggi mempunyai nomor maksimal yang lebih tinggi untuk hit points dan regenerasinya lebih cepat. Hit points diindikasikan oleh angka current dan maximum.
Mana Points – Mana points seorang hero adalah jumlah energi hero memiliki untuk mempergunakan kemampuan/abilities atau cast spell. Kebanyakan (tapi tidak semua) kemampuan/abilities mempergunakan mana. Mana juga regenarasi seiring dengan waktu. Jumlah maksimal mana dan kecepatan regenerasi mana adalah fungsi dari kecerdasan/intelligence hero. Mana points diindikasikan oleh angka current dan maximum.
Armor Rating – Armor rating hero adalah berapa damage fisik ke hero dikurangi, dimana damage fisik tidak termasuk damage dari spell, namun demikian damage magic yang dilakukan ke seorang hero dikurangi 25% (yang bisa ditumpukkan yang berkurang dengan item dan skill tertentu). Jumlah damage fisik yang dikurangi oleh armor dilihat sebagai persentase dan akan mempunyai hitungan yang berkurang saat armor count naik.
Movement Speed – Menentukan berapa cepat hero berjalan untuk jarak tertentu, tidak termasuk efek dari spells. Movement speed adalah base value kira- kira 300, yang berbeda dari hero ke hero, tapi bisa dimodifikasi dengan kemampuan/abilities atau item. Akan tetapi ada batasan kira- kira 522 untuk movement speed yang tidak bisa dilewati, walaupun kebanyakan hero tidak akan mencapai batasan ini. (Beberapa hero bisa mencapai movement speed ini tanpa Rune haste, yakni Balanar the Night Stalker yang mempunyai tambahan pasif berlari waktu malam, Slardar the Slithereen Guard dengan kemampuan/ability Sprint-nya, Barathrum the Spirit Breaker dengan kemampuan/ability Charge of Darkness, Strygwyr the Blood Seeker yang dengan gampang mencapai 522 dengan kempampuan/ability Strygwyr’s Thirst, Anub’seran the Nerubian Weaver dengan kemampuan/ability Shukuchi, dan Banehallow the Lycanthrope waktu dalam Shapeshift-nya.

Karena DotA (Defense of the Ancients) adalah peta/map custom, beberapa dari konsep- konsep game sangat berbeda dengan Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos atau The Frozen Throne yang asli. Namun demikian, game aslinya dan peta/map DotA custom punya beberapa kemiripan, misalnya pemakaian karakter Warcraft yg telah dimodifikasi, adaptasi dari mantra/spells Warcraft semacam Heal, dan benda/items semacam Boots of Speed (Sepatu Boot kecepatan).

Untuk peta/map DotA, dua markas/base di set di dua sudut berlawanan dari peta/map. Di masing- masing markas/base terdapat satu bangunan sentral yang dikenal sebagai Ancient, dari mana peta/map memperoleh namanya. Inti dari permainan adalah menghancurkan Ancient tim lawan dan mempertahankan Ancient sendiri. Ancient yang dipakai untuk masing- masing tim biasanya The Frozen Throne/World Tree (dalam variasi- variasi Classic, Allstars); dan Town Center normal untuk masing- masing tim (dalam variasi Outland). Tiga jalur/lanes menghubungkan kedua markas/base. Sebuah sungai berjalan diagonal di tengah peta/map, tegak lurus/ perpendicular ke tiga jalur/ lanes, masing- masing tim punya sejumlah menara/ tower pertahanan di masing- masing jalur/ lanes, yang diletakkan di sisi sungai bagian mereka.

Tim- tim terdiri atas maksimal 5 pemain, masing- masing mengkontrol satu hero, dan satu komputer yg mengkontrol creeps. Variasi standar tidak men-support kecerdasan artifisial (artificial intelligence/AI) untuk hero yang dikontrol komputer. Satu variasi yang dikenal sebagai DotA Mercenaries mengizinkan lebih banyak pemain yang dikontrol komputer, dan biasa dipakai untuk kegunaan latihan/practice atau waktu tidak ada pemain manusia lainnya yang bisa main. Beberapa developer memunculkan versi tes dari peta/map DotA dengan pemain AI yang mempunyai skill/ kemampuan bervariasi. Yang terbaru merupakan Cloud_str yang menciptakan dota allstars 6.27b AI.

Markas/base lawan memproduksi troops, yang dikenal sebagai creeps, setiap 30 detik, dimulai dari 1 menit 30 detik. Creeps diproduksi dalam set (yang juga dikenal dengan waves atau spawns) yang terdiri dari sejumlah unit tawuran dan satu unit terlatih, dan menjalur kebawah menuju tiga jalur/lanes yang tersedia di peta/map menuju markas/base lawan. Seiring dengan perjalanan permainan, jumlah creeps bertambah, demikian juga hit points dan damage mereka. Creeps untuk Scourge terdiri dari Ghouls dan Neuromancers, sedangkan creeps untuk Sentinel terdiri dari Treants dan satu Druid of the Talon. Saat creeps berjalan di jalur/lanes mereka akan bertempur dengan creeps, heroes atau menara/tower lawan yang mereka jumpai. Menara/tower memiliki daya tembak/firepower lebih baik dibanding creeps, jadi akan sangat sulit untuk creeps untuk melewati menara/tower tanpa bantuan dari seorang hero.

Variasi tertentu DotA (misalnya Allstars dan Mercenaries) memiliki Runes di sungai yang bisa diambil oleh hero untuk memperoleh bonus untuk waktu yang singkat (misalnya Double Damage, Regeneration, Haste, Illusion dan Invisibility), sedangkan variasi lainnya memiliki kegunaan Rune yg berbeda (misalnya aktivasi Challenge di Outland).

Tanpa pengaruh dari hero, permainan tidak akan bisa dimenangkan dengan cepat oleh kedua tim. Creeps akan bertempur masing- masing dan setelah itu mengorbankan diri mereka sendiri dengan serangan sia- sia ke menara/tower. Namun demikian, di latihan/practice, biasanya akan ada ketidakseimbangan kekuatan seiring waktu karena peletakan tertentu dari menara/tower, jalur/lane creeps, dan variable lain (karena perbedaan tipis dari sejumlah variasi, ke“untung”an akan bervariasi). Namun demikian, ketidakseimbangan ini begitu tipis sehingga kemunculan satu hero saja untuk jumlah waktu tertentu bisa meniadakan keuntungan itu

Apa itu DotA? DotA merupakan singkatan dari Defend of the Ancients, merupakan hasil modifikasi untuk game warcraft 3 : The Frozen Throne. Kemudian untuk kata “Allstars “ merupakan kumpulan dari semua hero – hero yang ada pada game Warcraft 3 : Reign of Chaos, expansion Warcraft 3 : The Frozen Throne dan juga terdapat penambahan hero – hero yang baru pada saat update versi terbaru DotA diluncurkan.

Jadi gameplay dari game ini adalah pemain diharuskan untuk mempertahankan wilayahnya dan menyerang wilayah milik pemain lain. Dan akan ada sekitar 70 hero yang dapat dipilih oleh pemain. Setiap hero akan memiliki kelebihan dan kekurangannya masing – masing. Dalam permainan, anda dapat bertempur secara One by One ataupun secara Team. Taktik dan strategi sangat diperlukan dalam permainan ini, pemilihan kombinasi item dan hero yang salah juga bisa menyebabkan kegagalan pada team anda.

Blizzard has been selling Authenticator keys for a while now.  Each key cost about $6.50.  What this is meant to do is to add another level of security to the persons account.  They are actually called tokens insecurity.  The reason for this is that the 10 digit number add to your account is used to figure out the number the key will give you, after 30 seconds the number changes.  So that’s what token really is.  With this it makes it harder for a person to steal your account.  The reason why is when you play World of Warcraft you put in your username and password.  Then it will ask you for the number from the key.  Blizzard did a good job with the Authenticator key.  Below is some quick instructions for battle.net users on how to add a authenticator to your account.

 To add a blizzard authenticator to your account, if you are using battle.net account management you will go to http://www.battle.net .  Then log in to your account.  Once you are logged in you have to click on change security options.  Then click on Add Blizzard Authenticator.

 At this point it will ask you for the 10-Digit Serial Number on the back of the blizzard authenticator.  Then you will have to press the button on the authenticator to get the authenticator code, which you will enter in the next text box.  Once you enter in the entire information click on Add Authenticator.

 Please leave comments even if they are questions are anything I may have missed.

[Chris]: Should be up
[Tea]: Informing Dave!
[Tyler]: same error
[Chris]: One moment
[Josh]:  :’(
[Josh]: same error
[Tyler]: chris the baseball bat won’t solve anything
[Josh]: Why oh why does battle.net hate us so?
[Tyler]: just put the bat down!

Untuk bermain DOTA di server ini, pastikan warcraft versi 1.22 dan masukkan Gateway di bnetgateway editor dengan :
Nama
: Game Tunnel
IP
: 125.160.17.181
Time Zone
: +7

Defense of the Ancients (atau disingkat DotA) adalah sebuah peta buatan (custom map) untuk permainan komputer buatan Blizzard berjudul Warcraft III:Frozen Throne, yang dibuat berdasarkan peta “Aeon of Strife” dari game Blizzard lainnya, Starcraft. DotA merupakan permainan strategi tim yang berpusat pada pertempuran antar-pahlawan tokoh yang setiap pahlawan memiliki kemampuan yang berbeda-beda. Tujuan utama permainan ini adalah untuk menghancurkan markas musuh bersama-sama dengan tim dan anak buah—petarung yang dikontrol oleh komputer. Mirip dengan game permainan peran (RPG), pemain dapat meningkatkan level tokoh pahlawan mereka dan membeli peralatan untuk memperkuat serangan dan pertahanannya. Map buatan ini bahkan telah jauh melampaui popularitas dari Warcraft itu sendiri. DotA dikembangkan menggunakan World Editor dari game Warcraft III:Reign of Chaos.

Sejarah
Pembuat asli permainan ini adalah seorang yang menggunakan nama “Eul”. Namun, setelah dirilisnya Warcraft III The Frozen Throne, Eul tidak melanjutkan pembuatan versi yang lebih baru. Versi asli permainan DOTA terhalang, tetapi kemudian diambil alih oleh orang yang menggunakan nama samaran IceFrog. IceFrog melanjutkan versi Dota dengan membuat Dota All-stars yang menggabungkan Dota-dota lainnya untuk menjadi standard umum permainan dota sampai saat sekarang ini. Versi DotA all-stars yang pertama kali dibuat adalah versi 0.95. Sekarang sudah mencapai versi 6.49b.

Penjelasan permainan
Permainan ini berfokus pada strategi dan kerjasama kelompok, dan bisa dimainkan sampai 10 orang bersama, dan dibagi menjadi 2 kelompok yaitu; Sentinel, dan Scourge. DotA telah memiliki beberapa versi, dan yang paling terkenal adalah DotA Allstars. Setiap pemain akan mendapat pilihan seorang hero dari jumlah total lebih dari 85 tokoh pahlawan.

Popularitas
Blizzard sendiri mengakui akan popularitas DotA yang melebihi permainan Warcraft mereka sendiri, sehingga telah memasuk hall of fame battlenet Blizzard. DotA sendiri telah sering menjadi salah satu jenis permainan yang dipertandingkan di Turnamen dunia, seperti Blizzard’s BlizzCon convention pada tahun 2005, World Cyber Games 2005, 2006 di Malaysia & Singapore, dan World Cyber Games Asian Championships 2006. Di Filipina dan beberapa negara DotA telah mengambil alih popularitas Counter-Strike sebagai permainan yang paling sering dimainkan

Taken from id.wikipedia.org

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Blizzard ha ufficialmente aperto le iscrizioni alla beta chiusa di StarCraft 2, alla quale è possibile tentare di partecipare lasciando i propri dati sul rinnovato Battle.net, in attesa che gli sviluppatori estraggano a sorte i fortunati che potranno provare per primi l’atteso strategico.

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