Posted by from MMO Champion
Developer Thoughts - Plunderstorm Game Mode and Feedback
Lead Software Engineer
Orlando Salvatore has shared his thoughts on the Plunderstorm Battle Royale Game Mode and community feedback.
Originally Posted by Orlando Salvatore
Thank you for playing Plunderstorm. Feedback was heard, Plunderlords have risen, fire whirls were nerfed, tournaments were conducted, W’s were shared. We tried something new with this, and it’s been a hell of a ride.
Working on and releasing Plunderstorm has been a dream come true. Starting from an early prototype, to not knowing exactly how a BR would work, to changing how healing worked in the mode about a million times before it launched, a lot of challenges that we needed to overcome.
The energy that our peers brought to Plunderstorm while it was in development was next level. We got so many great ideas and things changed around because of our internal playtests. Every discipline brought in their passion, from QA, to the design, to the music, to the engineering, to the art, to marketing, to many more involved. There was no shortage of good ideas thrown around.
The team working on Plunderstorm day to day was relentless, driven, and clearly cared about delivering a fun, quality experience. We had many discussions about what else we could do to juice up the game mode.
Plunderstorm’s point of entry was an important one for us. Though some may have been disappointed they couldn’t use their main characters, the low amount of clicks needed, no previous content clearing required and Dragonflight not being required was an important goal of ours. We wanted anyone, no matter who you are or what experience you have, to be able to load into a Plunderstorm match. No leveling needed, nothing. Just jump straight in and start playing.
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the justice-served department: One of Europe's most wanted cyber criminals has been jailed for attempting to blackmail 33,000 people whose confidential therapy notes he stole. From a report: Julius Kivimaki obtained them after breaking into the databases of Finland's largest psychotherapy company, Vastaamo. After his attempt to extort the company failed, he emailed patients directly, threatening to reveal what they had told their therapists. At least one suicide has been linked to the case, which has shocked the country.
Kivimaki has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison. In terms of the number of victims, his trial was the biggest criminal case in Finnish history. One of them gave their reaction to the BBC. "The main thing is that this absolutely empathy-lacking, ruthless criminal gets a prison sentence," said Tiina Parrika. "After this there rise thoughts about how short the conviction is, when reflected against the number of victims," she added. "But, that's the Finnish law and I must accept that."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: theodp writes: Reports of the death of Bill Gates' influence at Microsoft have been greatly exaggerated: "Publicly, [Bill] Gates has been almost entirely out of the picture at Microsoft since 2021, following allegations that he had behaved inappropriately toward female employees. In fact, Business Insider has learned, Gates has been quietly orchestrating much of Microsoft's AI revolution from behind the scenes. Current and former executives say Gates remains intimately involved in the company's operations -- advising on strategy, reviewing products, recruiting high-level executives, and nurturing Microsoft's crucial relationship with Sam Altman, the cofounder and CEO of OpenAI.
In early 2023, when Microsoft debuted a version of its search engine Bing turbocharged by the same technology as ChatGPT, throwing down the gauntlet against competitors like Google, Gates, executives said, was pivotal in setting the plan in motion. While Nadella might be the public face of the company's AI success [...] Gates has been the man behind the curtain."[...] "Today, Gates remains close with Altman, who visits his home a few times a year, and OpenAI seeks his counsel on developments. There's a 'tight coupling' between Gates and OpenAI, a person familiar with the relationship said. 'Sam and Bill are good friends. OpenAI takes his opinion and consult overall seriously.' OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood confirmed OpenAI continues to meet with Gates."
Posted by Tony_Bacala from TFW2005
The Prime reissues continue with a new run of Transformers Masterpiece MPM-12 Optimus Prime. The MP version of the Bumblebee Movie design is now available again at select retailers. Retail is $120 USD with a ship date in August 2024. Read on for pics and details, hit our sponsors to snag yours! Transformers Movie Masterpiece Series MPM-12 Optimus Prime
TFSource,
Entertainment Earth,
Big Bad Toy Store,
Robot Kingdom,
The Chosen Prime,
Ages Three and Up Check the previous PRIME Reissues here:
» Continue Reading. The post
Hot Pre-Order Alert – Optimus Prime Masterpiece MPM-12 Bumblebee Movie appeared first on
Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Plunderstorm Event End Date for EU Servers
Blizzard has confirmed that Plunderstorm will end at 3:00 CEST in Europe, when the weekly scheduled maintenance begins.
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Do we know when Plunderstorm is ending exectly on EU servers? 02:00 BST/GMT
03:00 CEST
04:00 EEST
That’s a little over 9 hours from now. Good luck!
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the see-you-in-court department: Eight prominent U.S. newspapers owned by investment giant Alden Global Capital are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, in a complaint filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. From a report: Until now, the Times was the only major newspaper to take legal action against AI firms for copyright infringement. Many other news publishers, including the Financial Times, the Associated Press and Axel Springer, have instead opted to strike paid deals with AI companies for millions of dollars annually, undermining the Times' argument that it should be compensated billions of dollars in damages.
The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of some of the most prominent regional daily newspapers in the Alden portfolio, including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Denver Post, Orange County Register and St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005
Via Amazon Japan, we can share for you official stock images of the new Takara Tomy Transformers EarthSpark Deluxe Prowl & Slash (Thrash).
Earthspark ESD-10 DX Prowl – An interesting surprise since Takara Tomy used a redeco of the Cyberverse Deluxe Prowl, different from the Hasbro release which was
a redeco of the Cyberverse Deluxe Hot Rod mold.
Earthspark ESD-11 DX Terran Slash (Thrash) – This is the same Hasbro Earthspark mold but featuring a more cartoon-accurate deco. See the new images after the jump and then share your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
The post
Takara Tomy Transformers EarthSpark Deluxe Prowl & Slash (Thrash) Official Stock Images appeared first on
Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Looking at the original trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is like looking into a portal to a different timeline, one where the film itself likely doesn’t herald the arrival of a massively successful film franchise that eventually spawns a bad Paramount+ spin-off. At best, it results in a Morbius-leve… 
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Square Enix’s games have been hit or miss for years, and now the publisher behind Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and other blockbuster RPGs says it plans to be more careful about which projects it invests in. The company expects to “recognize extraordinary losses pertaining to abandonment losses associated with its content… 
Amazon Prime has revealed that its Fallout TV show is the second-most popular program it’s made, with a claimed total of 65 million people—or one United Kingdom—watching in its first two weeks. These are the kinds of numbers a network TV channel executive would sell his children’s souls to receive. 
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