I’m not Juggynaut, or even Heartbourne. I just don’t care about achievement systems. Part of it is because I’m bitter. I’ve played World of Warcraft for most of its six years, but few of my glorious feats counted towards my abysmal score of <4,000. That’s because I spent my most dedicated years before Wrath of the Lich King brought Xbox features to Azeroth.

On the grander scheme, I play consoles and PC fairly evenly, even distributed across each console. That means I’d have to deal with multiple systems, from Steam to Xbox Live to Battle.net and so on. Furthermore, so many achievements are shrouded in secrecy that gamers don’t know about them until after they’ve finished a given task. I, for one, don’t have time to do multiple runs of games anymore. So I’ve largely shrugged and move on.

But that rant up there doesn’t stop me from going for some marks. My brain cannot resist the draw of all achievements. Alternatively, I’ve accomplished many acts after I stumbled upon most requirements that my brain demands to see the list finished. When I do chose something, it’s not what most people would think as gratifying. Rather than the glory of The Immortal or The Undying, I tend to go for less epeen challenges. Continue Reading

Blizzard proves that you can create sexy female video game heroines who actually wear a full suit of armor.

Just minutes after the announcements were made at the Opening Ceremony, Blizzard has already posted pages for both the new Demon Hunter class and PvP Arena mode. Undoubtedly, more specifics are being revealed at the various Diablo III panels throughout the convention, but there is plenty of information to be found on the official website, as well.

I’ve got to admit that the more I hear about the Demon Hunter, the more I’m convinced that it is the class I really want to play. Here are five very good reasons why:

• Fan Of Knives — As a fan of World of Warcraft‘s Rogue class, I am infinitely pleased to see this skill being adapated for use by the Demon Hunter, and it works even better here since you’ll constantly be facing hordes of enemies at once in true Diablo fashion.
• Molten Arrow — Not only does it pack an extra, flame-fueled punch to the targeted enemy, it leaves a Wall of Fire-style trail behind it to catch any other foes that may wander into you line of sight.
• Grenades — Toss a bundle of pineapples into a large crowd and watch stuff go ka-boom. What more could you ask for?
• Bola — Grenades not your style? Send a gun-powder-packed ensnaring device towards your enemies and turn them into living bombs. When they explode, they’ll do splash damage to any other bad guys near them.
• Entangling Shot — Tether multiple enemies together, temporarily stunning them and slowing them down. Chain gangs were never so much fun!

Short videos of each spell can be found at the website linked above, as well as the full trailer shown during the Opening Ceremony.

As for PvP? I’m not yet convinced it’ll be anything more than a fun distraction. The clicky nature of Diablo’s combat never really seemed to lend itself to high-level arena play, but it’s a nice gesture, nonetheless. Here are a few of the key features:

• Arenas are not Random — they will be carefully constructed with differing terrain and cover.
• Use the Character of Your Choice — These are not pre-mades, they are characters you have built up online or in single-player.
• Pure Rewards — You won’t really be earning new armor and equipment in PvP. Instead, you’ll get bragging rights in the form of rankings and points that will accumulate towards vanity rewards like titles and achievements.
• Future Game Types — Blizzard is still exploring the possibility of future game types outside of ranked matches, such as 1-on-1 duels.

Don’t forget to check out our Live Blog of the Diablo III Gameplay panel for more details!

Both World of Warcraft and PopCap Games are immensely popular, so why wouldn’t a mash-up between the two be even better? Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done a collaboration. It was clear that Blizzard employees played PopCap’s casual puzzle titles and PopCap employees played Blizzard’s casual MMO when they released both official Bejeweled and Peggle add-ons that could kill time while in-flight or for Rogues and Hunters to dick around with while the rest of their raid ran back between wipes on Thaddeus.

While we can’t confirm that PopCap had a hand in the following, it’s clear that Blizz intended for one of Catalcysm‘s most interesting quests to pay homage to the popular Lawn Defense game that’s been sweeping the nation. May I present to you: Peacebloom Vs. Ghouls.

Now, the cool thing about it, is that this isn’t just some fluff quest, it seems to be a full-on, repeatble mini-game with rewards. Or at least, that’s what is reflected in some of the new achievements discovered in the latest Beta build, which you can find after the break. Don’t forget to check out our guide. Continue Reading

What happened to basic multiplayer features from Battle.net v1.0?  How about innovative new features?

Up until recently, I was heavily focused on the campaign – Kerrigan portrait unlocked, thank you very much – for StarCraft 2.  Naturally, this caused my multiplayer game count to remain low.  After completing the game on Brutal, I set my sights on bringing my campaign skills – *cough* – into the multiplayer game.  It took me a few dozens games to notice, but StarCraft 2, and its incarnation of Battle.net, is actually less feature-rich than Battle.net for Warcraft III or the original StarCraft.

This struck me as incredibly odd.  After all, haven’t the multiplayer options for video games far surpassed that of 1998?  Look at Xbox Live, Steam and PlayStation Network.  Heck, even the “small” fish, like Stardock’s Impulse, have robust systems and blossoming communities.  Outside of Nintendo and its friend codes (sorry), gaming landscapes have exploded with features, taking humble home entertainment devices into the Internet age.

So it left me and the other MMOcast members scratching our heads when there were some glaring omissions from StarCraft 2’s “upgrade” to Battle.net v2.0.  Simple features that have been removed:

• tournament support
• guild support
• chat rooms, public and private (hello 1995)
• profile customization, mainly notes
• annoying custom game settings including searching, sorting and observation games

Battle.net v1.0 features be damned.  This is the 21st century.  We want new toys, new ways to antagonize our friends and new activities to waste time on. Continue Reading