There have been some ambitious Minecraft projects before, but this one may win for sheer sophistication. The modding team Floo Network is creating Minecraft School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a Harry Potter-themed role-playing experience inside a Mi...
Obsidian promised months ago that Pillars of Eternity 2 would come to Switch owners, but what good is that if you're a newcomer to the role-playing revival? Don't worry, you won't have to read a wiki to catch up. Obsidian has confirmed that the ori...
Realm Pictures created the 21st century equivalent of text-based games: a chat-based game. The film studio set up a live action zombie roleplaying game in their office and then had people on Chatroulette, Omegle and Skype control the hero in first-person.
Here’s how it went down (minus the random penis sightings I assume). Note that there’s some salty language in the video.
What’s amazing about this is that Realm Pictures went to great lengths make the livestream look and feel like a video game. Pretty much everything in the video happened live, including the sound effects and the HUD and other visual cues. Check out the behind-the-scenes for more:
A few weeks ago we learned about Classcraft, a software and system that adds role-playing elements to classrooms. If you thought that was cool, check out Østerskov Efterskole. It’s a boarding school in Denmark that’s built around the idea of teaching students through live-action role-playing (LARP).
In Østerskov, students are given a different role-playing theme every week. It doesn’t have to be based on fantasy or any fictional setting; for instance, in Cosmic Joke’s mini-documentary about the school, the students assumed roles based on Wall Street. Even their morning exercise was tailored to the theme.
Students are also given time to work on their live action role-playing skills, which sounds like the best grinding session ever. After the “classes” end, the kids are still allowed to role-play in the school grounds, up until bedtime.
Here’s Cosmic Joke’s video about the school:
I don’t know if this method of teaching will work in all cultures, but I would have loved going to a school like that. Head to Østerskov Efterskole’s website to learn more about the school. You should also keep an eye out for Cosmic Joke’s LARPing documentary Treasure Trapped, which is the basis for the mini-documentary.
Anyone who needs proof of the surging popularity of tabletop gaming need look no further than the recently concluded Indiegogo campaign for Geek and Sundry’s TableTop Season 3. Gamers around the...
It doesn’t seem like dungeon masters are going to get their hands on the Surfacescape anytime soon, but Brendon Duncan may have an affordable alternative. His 3D Virtual Tabletop app gives you access to digital maps and creature tokens on your mobile device or desktop computer through a browser.
Aside from helping you visualize your adventure, 3D Virtual Tabletop makes it easy to add maps and characters. If you can copy an image, you can import it to the app, although I’m not sure how well its automatic cropping function works. The app will be available on iOS, Android and Kindle devices, as well as through Mac and PC via a web app.
Some of the other neat features of the 3D Virtual Tabletop include saving the setup of the map, status indicators and fog of war. You can try out demo versions of these apps right now. You can use the final version of the app offline, but if you pay $0.99 (USD) a month you’ll have access to its cross-platform feature. That means you and your party members can see and interact on the same map across multiple devices and platforms. Brendan said the app can handle at least 20 simultaneous users on the same virtual tabletop.
Pledge at least $9(USD) on Kickstarter to get a 1 year (or more) subscription to 3D Virtual Tabletop’s online services. When it launches, Brendan will also setup an online market where you can buy more maps and character images. It seems like a convenient alternative to physical maps, especially since its compatible with different devices. But if all of your playmates have access to a PC, you might be better off with Roll20.
We had a fun time trying Sony's SOEmote expression capture tech at E3; now everyone can try it. As of today, most EverQuest II players with a webcam can map their facial behavior to their virtual personas while they play, whether it's to catch the nuances of conversation or drive home an exaggerated game face. Voice masking also lets RPG fans stay as much in (or out of) character as they'd like. About the only question left for those willing to brave the uncanny valley is when other games will get the SOEmote treatment. Catch our video look after the break if you need a refresher.
Amazon must have a lot of free time for gaming during its summer vacation: just a day after unveiling GameCircle as a cloud infrastructure, it's trotting out Game Connect to make buying game content that much easier. Once it's integrated into a title, the new platform will let customers buy content in free-to-play games, or subscribe to massively multiplayer online games, directly from their Amazon accounts -- no copy-and-paste juggling involved, even if the game account has to be made on the spot. A handful of game developers have already lined up, including Super Monday Night Combat creator Uber Entertainment and World of Tanks' Wargaming.net. If you're engrossed in gaming enough that you'll need 1-Click to buy virtual goods and MMO renewals that much faster, Amazon has you covered... although you may also want to slow down and relax.
If you thought that Logitech was just going to let Razer's Naga MMO mouse go unanswered, you've got another thing coming. The G600 MMO Gaming Mouse matches the Naga's 12 side-mounted buttons and one-ups the rival across the aisle with a toggle that gives each key a second function -- if you can't bind it to a mouse button, odds are that it doesn't belong there. Just in case the prospect of spending an evening programming a mouse isn't all that enticing, the G600 has three profiles right from the start, two for online role-playing and one for when you'd rather play a Call of Duty shooter instead. Of course, the laser tracking and USB response times are fast enough to keep up when you pull aggro from monsters. Gamers willing to wait until July can drop $80 for a G600 in black or white, although we'd also set aside the costs of stepping outside every now and then.
Chalk one up for an at least temporary resurgence in PC gaming. Blizzard can vouch that Diablo III has set a new record for the fastest-selling PC game to date: at 3.5 million copies trading hands through Battle.net downloads or retailers in the first 24 hours, and 6.3 million after a week, that's a whole lot of people battling the biggest of Prime Evils in a very short time. Naturally, a Blizzard-obsessed South Korea is accounting for even more activity, where over 39 percent of play at local gaming houses can be pinned on the action RPG, and the tally doesn't even include the 1.2 million bonus copies coming through a World of Warcraft annual pass promo. Before console gamers start packing up their PlayStations and Xboxes in symbolic resignation, D3 isn't the record-setter for the most copies of any game sold in one day -- that distinction goes to Modern Warfare 3's 6.5 million copies spread across multiple platforms. That's still enough to spur on some furious clicking and possibly a glut of dead mouse buttons, but you'll be glad to know there are suitably-themed replacement mice waiting in the wings.
There have been some ambitious Minecraft projects before, but this one may win for sheer sophistication. The modding team Floo Network is creating Minecraft School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a Harry Potter-themed role-playing experience inside a Mi...
Obsidian promised months ago that Pillars of Eternity 2 would come to Switch owners, but what good is that if you're a newcomer to the role-playing revival? Don't worry, you won't have to read a wiki to catch up. Obsidian has confirmed that the ori...
