Video Games: PC, PSP, PS3, xBox, and Wii Gaming News

With a lot of new tweaks in place, including listed cooldown times for all the items and abilities, a couple more heroes, and some creep-blocking issues, DotA Allstars 6.39 (not AI) and DotA 6.39b (not AI) are available for download.  You can download the beta version here.  DotA 6.38b with AI version 1.93 is also now available for download here.  The changelog is as follows:

6.39b Changelog
===============
* Fixed a very serious Mac bug
* Shallow Grave cooldown from 300/150/75 to 300/200/100
* Fixed Lycan’s icon on scoreboard
* Fixed a bug with the last nerf to shadow word (it wasn’t actually nerfedas i said it was in the code, thx malle)
* Changed Infernal HP from 900/1400/1900 to 900/1200/1500
* Allowed swaphero to be used after the -rd draft
* If you don’t pick a hero in -rd, one will be randomed for you (for the same gold cost)

Please note: If you downloaded the 6.39b that was up for an hour the other day, please make sure to delete it.
Delete any 6.39b you may have, as duplicate copies may cause you issues. Download a fresh copy from getdota.com

 

6.39 Changelog
===============

* Listed all the cooldowns for items and abilities
* Added -rd (-randomdraft, similar to the style of play in a few inhouse leagues)
* Added two new Scourge heroes
* Added new functionality to replay files for leagues to more easily calculate and process game data
* Added -showdeny/-hidedeny
* Added new host commands “-weather snow”, “-weather rain” and for everyone “-weather off” (if it is turned off, it can’t be turned on again, to prevent spam and abuses)
* -ma now shows hero level next to the name
* Improved first middle Scourge tower area
* Added a new endgame scoreboard to replace the inaccurate one that Warcraft 3 generates
* Improved death text presentation
* Added floating text to show you all the gold you get (including bonuses, not just the 100) from hero kills as well as tower kills. Please note that there has been no change to the gold you get, it is just being displayed as an added effect now.
* Improved some ward vision areas for the Scourge team (thx Wedge[p])
* Sentinel and Scourge hero kills now share the gold with the team instead of it being lost
* Rewrote a lot of internals coding to allow for cleaner AI version implementation (in near future, the bot capability will be part of the regular map, useable in the every release)
* Added Snowman after Roshan (just a temp for the season)
* Added hero icons to the multiboard
* Fixed the creep blocking issues on the left Sent side
* Added an observer scoreboard display for better information when watching live games
* Improved AI on the siege units. They spawn every 7 waves now instead of every 6

* Reduced Overpower and Enrage cooldowns
* Reduced Time Lapse mana cost at higher levels
* Paralyzing Casks now does a little more damage to creeps
* Upgraded ghouls now have a bigger model like the treants do when upgraded
* Alchemist movement speed from 290 to 300
* Increased Spirit Bear’s Base Attack Time from 1.75/1.6/1.45/1.3 to 1.75/1.65/1.55/1.45
* Improved AOE on Aftershock by 30
* Chaos damage now does 40% damage to fortified (down from 50%)
* You now have more time to repick (120 from 60)
* Added -disablehelp support for sprout
* Unstable Concoction now deals damage
* Added Lucifer to Aghanim’s Scepter
* Increased Troll Warlord’s movement speed by 5
* Reduced mana cost and slightly increase AOE on Shadowraze
* Lowered Warlock’s movement speed by 10
* Gnoll Assassin creep is slightly stronger and give a little more bounty as well
* Improved Lightning Storm a bit
* Undid small part of the previous Dark Ritual nerf (was nerfed from 45 second cooldown to 60/55/50/45 before, and now to 55/50/45/40)
* Improved Kraken Shell leveling slightly
* Cannot use Aphotic Shield on Doomed hero anymore
* Nerfed Shadow Word casting range, increase cooldown and lowered damage per second
* Shukuchi deals more damage per level
* Geminate Attack level 4 cooldown down from 4 seconds to 3.5 seconds
* Fixed a graphical glitch with the spawn direction of Elune’s Arrow
* Reduced Strygwyr’s Thirst HP detection from 50% to 40%
* Improved the Liberated Souls with Ignis Fatuus Scepter Upgrade
* Increased Rain of Chaos cooldown
* Lowered Viper’s base damage a little
* Spin Web regeneration now improves with levels
* Lowered Neutral Taskmaster’s HP/Armor/Movespeed

* Implemented hero descriptions by Deathknight6034(Bloodseeker,Ryali,DK), Aconite_Vyper(Sniper), KingReaper(Lancer), Volcove(Keeper of the Light), Bowstaff(Omniknight), SteveGarbage(Furion), theAlice(Panda,Vol’Jin), prawnstar(Antimage), skipperme(Chen), redrooster(Fletcher), Tikiboi(Raigor). Good job guys.
* Fixed Decrepify tooltip
* Reworked status buff placements on Shadow Word, Mjolnir and Fatal Bonds icon to display properly on Illusions
* Fixed a big exploit reported by UKI-TZAR
* Storm Seeker no longer draws Roshan out
* Fixed typo on Bristleback damage autospray (did not buff him, just a typo fix)
* Fixed Mjolnir tooltip
* New animation for Bottle (thx Ro-Coco)
* Fixed last 2 towers not giving gold to team
* Necromancer now properly grows in size
* Fixed the initial delay on Luna’s Eclipse
* Fixed Clinkz’s Windwalk buff tooltip
* Cannot repick if you don’t have full hp and mana (to prevent some abuses)
* Changed Elune’s Arrow animation
* Fixed a bug with spiderlings’ poison reducing attack speed instead of movement speed (thx ZerielDRK)
* Fixed a few bugs on level 4 abilities with Witchcraft
* Fixed POTM endgame icon
* Many other countless tooltip fixes and improvements
Big thanks to all the beta testers that stayed up late with me to get this out for New Years day

Worth Playing brings tears to my eyes with these beautiful screens from FF:XIII for the PS3.  “FF XIII provides tangible, intuitive controls while delivering seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and stunning in-game cinematics. The latest in cutting-edge technology has been utilized in development of Final Fantasy XIII, thus making this newest addition to the Final Fantasy series worthy of the title next generation.”

If we were in France this would be the Wii-cat forum. Just think how cute that would be:

I have to explain, of course, that CHAT means CAT in french

The first thing I noticed when I came across Wii-chat was how active it seemed to be. The forums are brand-new, but there are already 12,000 members making almost 170,000 posts. On my own blog, I only get that high if I count spam comments!

There’s some interesting stuff on there. Kunu has written an exclusive guide to the Nintendo Wii, hundreds of pages of friend codes for you lonely wii-ers, and threads like this Canadian one trying to help find stores actually carrying Wiis.

As you can see, the site itself is covered in ads, but with so much activity it probably has reasonably high server costs:

Oddly, there’s a tags page section of the site, which seems to mostly be a predefined set of keywords the site owner thinks are interesting that hook into the site search. Perhaps it’s useful, perhaps not–I don’t see any easy way for end-users to tag threads or posts:

This is supposed to be a sponsored review of Wii Chat, but I’m finding it quite hard to review … a forum. What can you say? It’s like every other forum I’ve seen–slightly customized with a template that suites its theme. It’s solid, and active, so it seems like a good forum. It’s also the leader right now in the Google SERPS. So, if you’ve got a Wii and are looking for a place to meet other Wii users, chat, or debate, Wii-chat is probably for you!

This post is just for fun! First up, we have Super Mario: The Beatbox Edition, which entails a muted run-through of the first level of the original NES game with the beatbox vocals over-dubbed.  Truly amazing, and yet just a tad annoying by the end of the video.  Nevertheless, it’s another fan-created tribute to Mario that deserves a watch.

Second up is a clash of Mario and the Matrix, for what is so properly called Super Mario: Reloaded.  In the original Matrix sequel, Neo is bombarded with a plethora of Agent Smiths. However, in this japery, it is not Neo, but rather Mario, who is besieged by Agent-like Luigis. Very funny. Very cute.

Thirdly, we have the highly esteemed trailer for Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii (codenamed Revolution). This is an incredible look at some in-game action of an awesome game for a next-gen console. This is by far the most successful franchise since the beginning of the gaming epoch. And with much pride, I present to you the official trailer:

Fourth is a cam recording of a guy doing 1up tricks on the New Super Mario Bros. The description is thus: “Remember how you can get inifinite 1ups in the classic Super Mario Bros.? Nintendo apparently kept this little trick in New Super Mario Bros.” It’s a neat little video, but the quality is a tad shabby.

Now get ready for an interesting spin-off of Night at the Roxbury. This film features the a lot of dancing by Mario, and some serious head-swinging!

Finally, what Mario compilation would be complete without the blind-folded pianist? This medley of well-played Mario tunes on the piano, in my humble opinion, completes this list!

A 22-man team has been working on a project to revamp the Nintendo 64 hit with Valve’s Source Engine, and has decided to spread the Holiday cheer by releasing a public Beta version that is a testimony to their progess.  To run this Beta, which has “already garnered much attention over the years for the level of detail in its stage design and weaponry,” you will need a source-based game.  “All information, including known bugs, can be found on the developer Wiki. Here are some suggestions, via the mod’s main website, on how to stabilize the game”:

• Check for and download latest video card drivers
• A server with 10 people seems to work better
• Have the Base SDK installed
• Download the mod again on another mirror and reinstall the mod.
• Turn HDR off
• Turn shadow detail on low

A patch is to be expected, but there is no word on when development will begin.