Poser 9
Poser 9
- Get Started Fast – Drag and drop characters and props right onto Poser?s virtual stage to create 3D scenes, add lights and cameras, then render away!
- Customize Characters – Start with one of the many included ready-to-pose 3D characters and customize them using your photos or hundreds of face shaping morphs to produce unique characters in minutes.
- Rendering Styles – Poser?s powerful rendering engine will transform any 3D scene you?ve created into photorealistic, cartoon or sketch style images and animations.
- Animate Easily – Poser?s key-frame animation tools make it easy to transition between poses, or make a character walk or talk, throw a ball or even dance.
- 3D Characters for Any Project – Create art or animation for graphic design, web, fine art and illustration projects. From comic books and animated shorts to architectural and industrial design, Poser adds character.
Poser 9 provides the world s easiest way to create captivating art and animation with 3D characters. Simple-to-learn tools and included characters let artists focus on making art. Poser es with over 3GB of ready-to-pose humans and animals textures props and 3D scene elements. In the Face Room customize Poser characters from facial photographs; add dynamic hair and clothing; dress the Poser virtual stage with props lights and cameras to build 3D scenes. Animate and render scenes into photorealist
List Price: $ 199.99
Price: $ 129.95
A decade of attention deficit disorder
There are far more players today, which pushes the average to less hardcore, and there are far more games battling for our attention. Thus 90% of players don’t ever reach the end of the average video game. Thus I find the design decision that forces you to play through Diablo 3 several times to get to the difficulty level you want somewhat weird. There will be a number of people who will never reach the difficulty level at which the game would be most fun for them, because they simply can’t be bothered to grind through the lower difficulty levels to get there.
I am already not a huge fan of the classical MMORPG endgame in which players are offered new content at a higher difficulty level as reward of having grinded their way up to the level cap. But offering them OLD content at a higher difficulty level as reward for that same grind seems even more counterproductive to me. No doubt there will be people playing Diablo 3 at hell level soon, just because that is the ePeen thing to do. But wouldn’t they have been better off if hell difficulty had been something you could select already on your first game?
SWTOR Weekend Pass
Starting today players who are interested in trying out Star Wars: The Old Republic will be able to experience a free trial of the game.
From May 17th until Monday May 21st individuals who have not participated in previous trials for SWTOR will be able to download and play up to level 15, allowing you to explore the origin worlds, as well as get a little play time in on your faction’s Capital World.
You will also be able to participate in PvP Warzones, and group up with friends to take on a Flashpoint instance.
Any characters created during this trial will be saved to your account, and will be available to play if you decide to purchase the full game.
Head over to the official Weekend Pass web page to get signed up.
Release date for 38 Studios’ “Project Copernicus” MMO
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said during a press conference earlier today that the 38 Studios MMO codenamed “Project Copernicus” is supposed to release in June of next year.
What I understand is Copernicus is June of ’13,” Chafee said.
We have thus far heard very little about the MMO, other than the fact that it is based in the same setting as 38 Studios’ recent RPG, Kindoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
38 Studios has been the center of controversey over the past couple of days after they missed a $ 1.125 million payment on the $ 75 million taxpayer insured bond that was awarded to the development company as an incentive to move its headquarters to Rhode Island.
After an emergency meeting between the Governor and 38 Studios in which it was announced nothing productive was accomplished, a hand-delivered check for the $ 1.125 million payment was returned due to insufficient funds. It was later announced that a check had cleared to cover the overdue payment, but 38 Studios had released all temporary and contract employees.
38 Studios is seeking additional funds from private investors to help keep the company afloat, but the future is not certain for the company, or its in-development MMO.
Eden Eternal new update
Aeria Games has released a brand-new content update for its anime MMORPG Eden Eternal, including intense new battles, daily recommended events, and a suite of features for new players called the “Super Newbie Guide.” The Super Newbie Guide will help new players get acquainted with the game’s mechanics and features as they level up faster than ever before. The combination of features will help new players get into the game faster while giving veteran players new events and vanity items to earn.
The Super Newbie Guide includes the following benefits for beginning players:
· Level 1 to 50 Adjustments: EXP and fame obtained from quests are adjusted so players can level up more quickly, and players are less vulnerable to monsters, including Elites.
· Teleport: Players can save time by directly teleporting between the beginning village and Tranquil Hill when they reach a certain level or complete a particular quest.
· Alpaca Mount: An Alpaca Mount (1 day) will be awarded to players at Lv10/20/26 to increase their speed before they receive a full-time Alpaca at Level 30.
· Other Changes: The UI and map display make it easier to find NPCs, quest details, and other key information. Potion cooldowns are reduced, and pet attack power is increased.
The Crystal Cross Badge, which players can use to purchase vanity items for their characters, is among the changes for veteran players. Players can obtain badges by participating in territory battles, where badges are distributed based on a player’s fatigue level. Higher fatigue will result in fewer badges, but fatigue is reset to zero with each weekly update; players can start fresh every week.
Daily recommended events, a new addition to the in-game event interface, give players new adventures each day. Players can complete a range of daily events to earn additional EXP, gold, Crystal Badges, and much more—check back every day!
RuneScape combat evolves
Jagex, makers of RuneScape, the world’s most popular and multi-award winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online adventure game, today unveiled the first details of the upcoming RuneScape combat update: The Evolution of Combat.
The Evolution of Combat project will see the biggest change in any system in RuneScape’s history. By bringing this eagerly anticipated update to life, Jagex will be completely redesigning RuneScape’s combat system to offer players an even more immersive and involving experience. On release, the Evolution of Combat update will completely revolutionise the way players fight and interact in game.
Due to the game-changing nature of the release, RuneScape members will have the opportunity to be among the first to trial the new system with a limited access closed beta; the first in the game’s history. Beta registration will open to all RuneScape members on 1st June in preparation for the first beta entry on 26th June. The beta will run from 26th June until September and will allow testers the exclusive chance to preview the expansion before the rest of the world.
Further details of The Evolution of Combat update will be unveiled in due course. Players wanting to take part in the exclusive access beta will need to be an existing member or sign up to RuneScape membership by the 1st June, and continue to be a member through the beta period.
Glory Desinty Online (TW) – New Hunter class announced
[English server] While the English server just went into Open Beta recently, the original Taiwan server announced major new content earlier today. Introducing the all new Hunter class for Spirit Tales (also known as Glory Destiny Online), which will be exclusive to the Gold Kirin Tribe. I am guessing new classes will be added subsequently to the other tribes as well.
Similar to the other classes, there are 2 advancements for the Hunter to choose from. Loosely translated, the Phoenix Sniper concentrates on pure damage, while the other focus on party buffs (sort of like a Bard). The Hunter class will offset the lack of ranged damage in the initial 2 classes of the Gold Kirin Tribe.
I played the Taiwan server a while back (link) and also the Media Preview client of Spirit Tales (link), and I must say the game really attracted me, despite the haters of cutesy designs condemning it without playing.
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CCP Announces Dust 514 Beta Registration
CCP has opened up beta registration for its upcoming free-to-play first person shooter, Dust 514, and though the game will be exclusive to the Playstation3, it will be integrated with CCP’s space-sandbox MMO, EVE Online.
Thousands of players have already been able to experience DUST 514 during its closed beta, and CCP is beginning to let limited numbers of players join the action.
Select players from EVE Online will gain entry into the DUST 514 beta this week, as well as all those who attended the EVE Fanfest convention in Iceland this past March. The beta will continue to expand throughout the summer, and CCP will discuss more details at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo.
If accepted, beta registrants will be notified with an email invitation and instructions on how to access the beta.
You can head over to the beta sign up page to register for the beta.
Free Diablo 3 and the World of Warcraft Annual Pass
How many of you out there got Diablo 3 for free?
If you ask me, it was a brilliant idea on Blizzard’s part. Think about it, even if the game costs $ 60 retail, we Annual Passers still must pay monthly for a full year of WoW whether we play or not. I don’t mind, I don’t plan on quitting WoW anytime soon, even if I do go on the occasional hiatus.
Now, downloading the digital client was a breeze, and I installed the game with ease. However, you can imagine my nerd-rage when I started up Diablo 3 and the game was barely playable. I blame my sucky integrated graphics card that was on the list of FAIL incompatibles. I tried the “hotfix” and turned down the graphics till it looked like I was playing with pixelated blocks. The result: it was like teleporting through invisible molasses mixed with glue.
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| Side effect of Diablo 3: Bad Hair and No Sleep! |
Finally, Lastknight gives me his graphics card, and with the help of Canyoufeelit (one of the helpful officers from Headz Up guild on Anetheron), we got it running. Computer savvy guys rule.
And in case you were wondering whether Lastknight’s gaming has gone downhill due to his “sacrifice”, we went to the computer store and got a new graphics card for him. Yes, I’m stuck with his old one, but it’s still better than what I had running. Isn’t it sad that this new graphics card will be obsolete and out of style faster than my new sandals for summer? And they say fashion is fickle!
If you are wondering about where to find information about technical difficulties in regards to Diablo 3, you can go to http://www.diablo3.com and click on Forums. There you can find threads for technical support, bug reports, and answers to other questions in the game.
The power of free trade
You can play Diablo III without trade, without ever setting a foot in the auction house. You will find some gear you can use, you can buy some gear from NPC vendors, or you can craft gear. But if you play Diablo III with trade, with the auction house, you will quickly see how much better that is for the power of your character. Today I browsed the auction house, and found plenty of “gold” items for my character listed for under 500 gold. Crafting a less good “blue” item of the same level costs over 600 gold crafting fee plus the cost of the materials. Buying a blue item from the NPC vendor costs over 1,500 gold. Through trade it is relatively easy to get yourself fully equipped with gold items, the kind of which only 1 or 2 drop from each major boss, and even that only on the first kill. Trade has quickly become the cheapest way to equip your character, and prices are still falling further.
Of course there is a downside to that: In the real world everybody getting everything for less money is a good thing. In a virtual game world not necessarily so. On the one side the challenges are designed assuming you are wearing the kind of gear you could find or craft on your own, so with trade Diablo III quickly becomes far too easy. And with trade being so powerful, the other ways to get gear end up being not very attractive. Learning crafting recipes costs thousands of gold, each craft costs hundreds of golds in fee plus the materials (although the materials can be had for very cheap by trade): Who is going to craft when he can get better items for less in the AH?
My main problem however is that the whole Diablo series always has been about collecting gear from random drops. If I trade you whatever random item I found and don’t need against the item I need that you found but don’t need, we are both better off. Economics 101. But that ends up taking the random out of the collecting of gear. If I buy gear for pocket change in the AH which is already excellent, I’ll never find a gear upgrade for myself in the game. And then half of the fun of playing Diablo is gone. If on the other side I resist buying gear on the AH, I constantly feel as if I’m handicapping myself. It is a no win situation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Diablo III will do considerably less well than previous Diablo games. Previous games did have trade, but in a much more limited way. The highly efficient and huge regional market in gear brings the full power of trade to bear on Diablo III, and to me it feels as if the game isn’t designed to withstand that sort of power.
