Microvolts brings back the popular capsules while opening up the new Rumpus Room map.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Microvolts Opens the Rumpus Room
Microvolts Opens the Rumpus Room
Rock Hippo Productions Ltd. announced today the launch of its latest update “Rumpus Room Ruckus” for the popular cartoon-style third-person shooter, MicroVolts. The toys are getting rowdy in the new map, Rumpus Room, as they dodge bullets amidst blocks and toy trucks proving this map is not for child’s play! Check out the trailer here!
This mid-month update is also bringing all the old Capsule favorites back! Players can take their spin on the Capsule Machine for a chance at winning classic Capsule weapons like a “Sea Wasp” Sniper Rifle or “Dazzler” Shotgun. Other past favorites up for grabs are the “Pink Kanzashi” outfit for Naomi and Pandora’s “Elegant Dress”!
MicroVolts also wants to remind players that the Maypole challenge is still going strong. It’s not too late to join in and help other MicroVolters complete Maypole challenges like racking up 45 million total kills and playing 1.68 million Elimination matches to unlock a Triple MP and EXP weekend and a never-before-seen Hippo-So-Cool Costume Set for the entire MicroVolts community!
Additionally, players can participate in the MicroVolts Montage Mania event to submit a video montage of their best, or worst, MicroVolts moments. Winning players will win up to 15,000 RT and have their video montage featured in the MicroVolts’ official YouTube page!
DayZ: A Day in the Life of a Zombie Hunter
DayZ: A Day in the Life of a Zombie Hunter
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist
Have you ever wondered what would happen if the world was caught in a zombie apocalypse and you were one of the remaining survivors? The last few years we have seen a lot of singleplayer games and tv shows for this genre, and it really became a big hit all over the world. Because of this everyone has been talking about what would happen in the apocalyptic world, and most importantly, what would happen with you. Luckily, since a few days ago, you can experience this for your own with a modification for ArmA 2 : Operation Arrowhead.
Normally we don’t review modifications for games at all but personally this modification really caught my attention. Recently a developer for Bohemia Interactive named Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall decided to open the doors to his own mod called DayZ. In this mod the player will spawn as a survivor and is free to go in any direction and create his own story. In this apocalyptic open-world there are a lot of things a player can do, and he has to try to survive while there are many zombies lurking around the world. Not only does the player have to worry about the zombies but watch their back as other players can be just as dangerous, and far more devious. When you see another player you have to ask yourself if he is friend or foe. Is he out to take my supplies or does he look like a player that I can work together with.
In the last few weeks since DayZ opened its doors for everyone, ArmA 2 rapidly became one of the bestselling games in the steam top 10 list and at one point the game was even at the number one spot. Around 50,000 unique players have swarmed the servers already and are out to gather all sorts of items to survive with. Dean Hall personally never expected that this game would suddenly explode into an online phenomenon so suddenly. Because DayZ is made for the game military simulator ArmA 2, the game had plenty of weapons and features to build off of for this mod. It also helps that it takes place on the world map Chernarus, a 225 km2 open world map with more than enough space to keep you feeling like one of the few survivors left alive. However you need to keep your wits about you if you want to explore the entire thing in one go, as there are plenty of zombies lurking around every corner and PKers more than happy to put an end to your tale.
Each player starts with a simple pistol called the Makarov with enough clips to survive with for at least a few hours. There are many spawning points all along the coast of Chernarus, and I spawned near a town called Kamenka. The main goal of this game is to survive, but with such a horrific sandbox to play with I’m sure there are many personal achievements that players will gun for to feel like they accomplished something more.
When I checked my inventory I was relieved to find some canned beans and Pepsi. With these rations I knew I was safe for the moment. The first thing I wanted to do is head into the little town of Kamenka. Because the map DayZ is played on is actually Russian, all the names are Cyrillic and it is quite hard for a player like me that doesn’t speak this language to find my way around the map. In the global chat you will see many people talking with each other and sharing their position on the map. I chose not to reveal my position as I had limited ammo and no real base to defend myself, so I wasn’t about to let me location be known by bandits. Bandits stay alive by killing players and taking their supplies. This doesn’t mean that they’re bad people but simply that they have different objectives for survival.
I knew my paranoia would leave me vulnerable and alone so I started scavenging through town in search of a better weapon and more plentiful food supply. After scavenging around for a while and having found a lot of canned food and water I was ready to move on. I decided to stay on the road since I was still fairly new and had no what horrors lurked just out of sight. After walking for a few minutes I spotted another survivor. I hid in the bushes near the side of the road and watched to see if I could learn anything about them before making contact. He seemed to me like a friendly new player so I decided to walk up to him and ask him if he was friendly. I took my chances and luckily the guy talked back and told me he was new as well.
We decided to group up and watch each others’ backs while figuring out our bearings on the map. Luck was on my side yet again as my new friend was Russian and showed me a map he had come across. I learned a good deal about the local geography as a result. DayZ leans on the side of realism and doesn’t offer you automatic minimaps or a compass, so we had to use our knowledge of a nearby town combined with the ocean and sun to navigate our way. We believed an ammo depot was just ahead so we agreed to team up until we had found some better weapons.
Meanwhile on chat someone was asking for people to help him since he had lost a lot of blood. He claimed to be in a hospital in a nearby big city called Chernogorsk also known as Cherno. Since we were close to his position we told him that we were heading to his direction but it could take a while before we were there. Now we both saw that this could easily be a bandit trap and decided to play it safe. Instead of going straight to his location we first visited Balota, a small town close to the city of Cherno.
Next to Balota there is an airstrip with a military base so we were hoping to find some useful weapons. When we arrived at the airstrip we found a lot of dead bodies, most wearing military fatigues, which was proof enough to us that we were in the right location. After checking the hangars and all the little tents I found myself a better gun and my Russian friend found himself a sweet looking AK 47. However my new pistol had one serious problem; there were only two magazines worth of ammo left and we had a few kilometers walk ahead of us to get to Cherno. Anyone who has watched a recent zombie film probably knows how fast you go through ammo in a major city center so I didn’t like my chances.
Of course we barely got out of the military base when a swarm of zombies fell upon us. We managed to avoid any injuries but I was down to a few rounds and my partner’s AK was empty. This meant that he was down to only a secondary pistol with around 5 clips of ammo. Since the guy in trouble said he had a lot of guns and ammunition we decided to make a ballsy run for the hospital before our gunfire drew any more zombies to the airstrip.
When we finally arrived at the town we were immediately lost due to the size and complexity of the city. We were told the hospital was on the left side of town meaning we had to follow the road in the hope that we could locate the big building. While sneaking around Cherno we heard a lot of gunshots in the distance, and we were quite scared that there was a group of bandits picking off survivors seeking supplies in town. I wondered if the player we were rescuing had loss so much blood from a bandit attack or zombie attack.
Unfortunately while distracted and pondering this I walked straight into an alley to meet a group of 5 zombies face to face. I knew that our gunfire could attract bandits so we played it safe and ran into a nearby apartment complex to escape our pursuers. Once within the safety of the building we got our bearings again and realized the hospital was just across the street. The guy that required help was in the door opening of one of the complexes. We coordinated a plan and then charged across the street, renewing the interest of our zombie pursuers. For being immobile, our injured friend had no issue holding the door down while we searched the hospital for blood bags to patch him up. The guy we found was actually a player that had the bandit skin, but nonetheless he was thankful for our help and agreed to share his supplies as thanks for the rescue. Unfortunately for us though, there was another player following our conversation who had tracked us to the hospital. Out of nowhere a sudden gunshot rang out.
I fell to the floor, suffering a gunshot in the stomach. I was one room away from the others so they didn’t immediately notice me going down. Luckily the wound wasn’t instantly fatal. Not so lucky was that I had lost consciousness and would soon bleed to death at this rate. The immediate shock of the wound finally subsided and I gained control of my motor skills once more, though my wound was becoming serious. I patched myself up with some bandages but I needed some time to rest and recover, time the bandits likely weren’t going to give us. My Russian friend then decided to risk his life and head down to the emergency room to grab another blood bag for me. Unfortunately the bandit sniper caught him in his scope and shot him in the head while he ran between buildings.
My new friend and I were scared and put all our focus into figuring out where the sniper was perched. In the process a second bullet smashed into my fatigued body, this time immobilizing my right leg. I was unable to get up and I could feel my life fading away from me. I could still hear my friend trying to talk to me but after a short moment everything faded away and I was unconscious again. The last thing I hear my friend saying is ‘hold on’ while I see him pass the street into the hospital. After I regained my senses once more I crawled my way to the door to see where my other friend was because he never returned. When I got to the doorstep I saw both of my friends laying dead on the street with the bandit standing next to them. I shouted asking who he was, and he turned around and fired a single bullet. The message ‘You are dead’ popped up into my screen and I knew everything was over for me.
DayZ is a genre that many of us have been waiting a long time for and it is finally here. This modification for ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead is without a doubt a big success and the game is still gaining new players every day. Currently the game is still in the Alpha phase but there are already a lot of things to do and I never found a moment that I was bored while playing. In the last week I have played this game more than I have played any game for the past few years. With many features like fixing and flying a helicopter or hotwiring a car, you really get sucked into the life and death setting. Personally the whole apocalyptic setting that places you all alone with no sense of who is friend or foe offers a sense of suspense badly lacking in most online titles. Like the developer Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall said, “why would we follow a story from books and movies when we can generate our own that are unique to the player.”hea
Blacklight Retribution NetWar Trailer
Blacklight Retribution introduces the Offshore map and NetWar mode in this trailer.
Arma II
In 2009 the fictional post-soviet country of Chernarus is ravaged by civil war. For two crippling years, conflict has raged…
Players explore this volatile world with Force Recon Razor Team, part of a US Marine Corps Expeditionary Unit. The 27th MEU are deployed to Northern Chernarus on a peacekeeping mission with a mandate to prevent further civilian casualties and promote political stability.
ARMA 2 is based on the latest generation technology. It offers a uniquely vast game world, authentic and extremely detailed modern units, weapons, vehicles and environments. The branching, player-driven campaign can be played solo, or cooperatively and is accompanied by a huge range of single and multiplayer game modes.
World of Warplanes Ground-Attack Trailer
Check out these warplanes dive to the ground and blow up everything in their path in WoWP‘s latest trailer.
Einherjar – The Viking’s Blood Launches Trading Week Event
Einherjar – The Viking’s Blood Launches Trading Week Event
In Einherjar – The Viking’s Blood, a new turn-based web game from KBMJ, players can defeat many enemies and earn a lot of trophies. But certainly looting cannot help them collect all items in the world; therefore, market is a useful place to come. And in order to bring players more comfort and ease in buying and selling goods, the producer has decided to make this week the best time for trading.
From 16 to 23 May (SGT or GMT+8), all of the following will be implemented for exchanging activities at the market.
Silver – gold exchanging rate increased
Food price reduced by 50%
Fee of a successful purchase decreased from 5% to 3%
Limit of items for exhibiting increased from 7 to 10
It is recommended that players make good use of this profitable chance to enrich their Viking realms’ wealth and prosperity.
The Viking’s Blood is a browser-based game combining smooth turn-based tactic and RPG elements that let you start as a Viking leader and strengthen your Viking clan. You must train your army through numerous battles and master tactics for each type of map to subjugate your opponents and forge a vast empire!
World of Warplanes Reveals Ground-Attack Specialists
World of Warplanes Reveals Ground-Attack Specialists
Wargaming.net, the award-winning videogame developer and publisher, introduced ground-attack planes today into its flight combat MMO World of Warplanes, currently in its alpha testing stage. These heavily armed warbirds are a massively threatening class designed to wipe out ground targets.
Several legendary names stand out in the class of ground-attack planes, including the classic Il-2, Il-10, and the highly progressive jet-powered Il-40 “sturmoviks”, which is presented in the Soviet tech tree, and will expand into models from other nations as World of Warplanes gets close to launch later this year.
Ground-attack aircraft are most famous for deadly strafing runs, dive bombing, and destructive missile attacks, while their armor provides high survivability and combat effectiveness.
“This is the best example of what a flying tank would be like,” said World of Warplanes Project Manager, Alex Zezulin. “Ground-attack planes are heavy, slow-paced, close to invulnerable machines that might have the most important objective in combat: to eliminate any ground-based resistance and ensure the safety of their lighter allies.”
To view these heavily armored bombers in action, check out the new trailer here!
CCP Now Accepting Beta Registrations for Dust 514
CCP Now Accepting Beta Registrations for DUST 514
Today CCP Games is proud to announce that players can register for beta access to its upcoming free-to-play first person shooter, DUST 514, set to launch later this year exclusively on PlayStation®3. The registration page is now live and players can register here.
DUST 514 is one of the most anticipated titles of 2012, and CCP is ready to accept sign ups from fans and gamers eagerly awaiting their chance to try out the revolutionary shooter. If accepted, beta registrants will be notified with an email invitation and instructions on how to access the beta. 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 CCP’s MMO 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 (E3).
DUST 514 brings intense infantry combat, large scale warfare and rich character advancement to the PlayStation®3 in a system-exclusive free-to-play persistent shooter set in, and integrated with, the massive universe of EVE Online. Wage war in the next generation of first person shooters, where your next victory could prove the crushing blow to a galactic empire of thousands of online gamers.
Meta’s Verse: The Cape
Meta’s Verse: The Cape
By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter
City of Heroes is what it is because of its amazing community. It expands beyond the war walls of Paragon City, bleeding into the real world. And sometimes those lines are blurred. There has been one group on Virtue that has been around since beta, or somewhere around there (They aren’t sure!) who has been offering tunes to fight crime to twenty four hours a day. I’m talking about The Cape, a player run online radio station. Much like a local radio station you can find music of all sorts being played, you just have to know which DJ to tune into.
The Cape is known for broadcasting all over Paragon City, though they’re most often found with a large dancing crowd in Pocket D. They are present at almost all the major in game events either just DJing or more often as a co-organizer of the event. But by no means do they limit themselves to the big events. DJ Angel has been at several events through the years that I’ve hosted or attended. The most memorable being the in game wedding reception of Breyla and Peoples Paladin.
Currently they’re hosting a celebrations of eight in honor of the eighth anniversary of not only City of Heroes but also themselves. Tonight will bit 8 Points of the Compass hosted by DJ Valor who will be giving a musical tour of the world with this program. The festivities of eight will end on June 2nd with a very special 8 hour show. I couldn’t get any other details other than it will be awesome. Well, I could have been told more, but then they would have had to kill me.
In addition this weekend DJ Angel is celebrating five years of being with The Cape in the Rikti War Zone with an event open to all. There will be music, haikus and kicking in the faces of nasty old Rikti in a good old fashioned Lady Grey task force. I can only hope that the LGTF is her favourite; if it is we have something in common!
The largest event they’ve ever been a part of though was the 3rd annual winter gala which was hosted by Angry Angels, White Knights and The Kaotix. They had more than 300 listeners who were tuned in at the same time. That may seem like a small number but when you consider that all those people and many more were all attending the same event it is amazing.
I wanted to find out a bit more about what it was like being a DJ for The Cape, a bit more about the station and what it takes to become a DJ so I had a chat with DJ Pheonyx. He is described on The Cape’s website as a world class hacker who was once called “Lord of Cyberspace”. He didn’t have any previous experience DJing before he started at The Cape and is currently studying IT Network Administration. He told me the process of becoming a DJ for The Cape isn’t an easy one, but by no means are you expected to give up your first born either. It starts with the application and if that is accepted you get interviewed over Skype or some other similar service. If they like what they hear you get advanced to the next phase. During the next phase you put on a mini show which only the other DJs have access to. During that time they discuss with each other and most importantly the station manager, DJ Angel, to see what the group consensus is. And that’s it! So if you think you have a face for radio and want to give it a try there you go.
The Cape is always playing music though not always live, DJs need sleep sometimes too. That is unless it is a double XP weekend. Then they have someone on live, often taking requests.
This radio station has been a part of nearly all of my favorite memories from City of Heroes. And even though I’m not one to usually listen to the station, I know that it has had an impact on my heroing career and the same can be said by many other players on Virtue. If there is a party going on and The Cape isn’t there it doesn’t feel like a real party. I would like to thank DJ Pheonyx for taking time out of what is no doubt a very busy schedule to answer a few questions I had about the inner workings of The Cape. DJ Pheonyx said that The Cape wouldn’t be anything without its community; well DJs, the community wouldn’t be anything without you. Thank you for providing eight wonderful years of music and making Virtue a home away from home.













