MAG promises Playstation’s biggest firefights – 256 individual players

256 individual players is insane! I love the squad idea as their are a lot of people out there that love to do their own thing and end up costing the entire team the game…Having a squad and a squad leader will improve game play.  Also, I love how not just anyone can become a squad leader, everyone has to work their way towards and earn that title.  That is just awesome!!  Well, enough of me talking, read below to see what I am talking about!

Console action game fans are used to shooting it out with 16 or 18 other players, but upcoming Sony release MAG is about to kick it up a notch.

And by “a notch” we mean “about 240 notches.” Set in the year 2025, where private military forces are warring over lucrative contracts, MAG’s online matches will support up to 256 individual players — a first for console shooters.

A truly Massive Action Game.

A recipe for chaos? Maybe, but at least MAG has a chain of command. Players are organized into eight-man squads, each with its own commanding officer. Four squads make a platoon, four platoons forms a company, and players head up each level of organization.

If you’ve ever played an online game, you may be wondering exactly how that’s going to reduce confusion. So you’ll be relieved to hear the developers don’t just let any random fool take the reins of an entire faction. Instead, players with ambitions to command will have to prove themselves as a grunt, while those in higher levels of command will already have succeeded at squad-leader levels. More experience also grants access to higher levels of gear, much like in last year’s hit Modern Warfare 2 — and good leaders gain perks that give bonuses to all the soldiers under their command.

Sounds good, but will players actually be prepared to follow orders? Smartly, MAG builds in a reward system that doles out incentives for fulfilling objectives that your commander considers important. That extends way beyond just shooting opposing players: for example, destroying obstacles or taking out anti-aircraft guns. We’re betting there will still be headstrong types who prefer to go it alone — or those who don’t take direction well — but they’re not going to advance at the same rate as team players.

MAG’s scale plays into its map design, too. Expect to find MAG games playing out over landscapes more akin to Grand Theft Auto IV than what you’d expect from the smaller, more compact maps from the Halo or Call of Duty games. Fortunately, the game also packs drivable vehicles like APCs and tanks to help players navigate the terrain, and despite the mammoth scale, the visuals are every bit as good as any other top-tier shooter you care to name.

MAG comes to us from the team behind Sony’s long-running military action series SOCOM, so they’re no stranger to gunplay, and reports from the game’s just-concluded beta test are encouraging. During the test, over a million players downloaded the game, and an impressive number played the game enough to max out their characters. You’ll get your chance to enlist on Jan 26.

Source: Click Here!

=ADK= – A Different Kind of Multi-Gaming Community

=ADK= is a gaming community which my best bud Ray is apart of.  Their an awesome group and they even put a banner of RomesBlog up on their site…Isn’t that cool of them!?    Anyways, I want everyone to check out their site and see if you want to become a =ADK= member. I think you will, and remember, RomesBlog never steers you wrong!

www.ADKGamers.com

=ADK= – A Different Kind of Multi-Gaming Community. We are a gaming community where we enjoy playing multiple games. We don’t limit ourselves to one or 2 games, but rather multiple games.

Evony – Awesome Browser Game!!

Awesome game is all I can say! Information below can be found on the Evony website;

Evony is a massively multiplayer online real time strategy game (MMORTS). It is highly popular because it is a persistent world. The landscape does not change each game or each time you log in, but rather you control your fledgling kingdom and direct its affairs. Your subjects will continue building, gathering, researching and laboring even while you are away. You may complete quests, attack barbarians or rival players, form alliances, achieve rank and title and expand your kingdom. Raise your Prestige and vanquish your foes. Your destiny is in your hands.

Welcome to Evony. This article will help get you started in a new and exciting experience.

When you first begin, the Routine Quest will give you an idea of where your efforts are best directed. If you are new to Evony, the quest will help give you a boost in the beginning by rewarding your efforts with extra building materials, population and gold. New players should

stick to this quest and your time spent waiting on resources will be greatly lessened, but don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things if you have extra resources.

What follows is a list of important things every Evony player should know. Spend a few minutes here and learn the basics:

1. Every player enjoys a 7-day Beginner’s Protection when they first create their account. During this time, you will be free from attack by other players. Of course, you can’t attack them either. Any time during the period, you may end the Protection by upgrading your Town Hall to level 5. Don’t do this unless you are ready for war!

2. When you first enter Evony, you will see building sites in your town and resources fields around your city. To build on these fields, simply click on an empty site and select what you wish to build from the menu. If you’re not sure what to build, consult the Routine Quest.

3. To upgrade a building, simply click the building you wish to upgrade and hit the upgrade button. Clicking a building also allows you to use the building’s features, like creating troops, researching and recruiting heroes.

4. The administrative options for your city can be accessed at your Town Hall. You can rename your city, adjust the tax rate, offer comfort to the population or levy them for materials and gold as well as appoint a mayor. The Routine Quest – Administration will take you through many of these operations.

5. Once you accomplish the objectives of a quest, you will see a number appear next to the Quest icon at the bottom of your screen. Click it and find the checked off quest and select Get Award. Some main quests have multiple sub-quests, so to complete one of these select a checked main quest and then find the appropriate sub-quest in the list below and Get Award. If you need more help, check out the Quest Guide or head over to the forums for tips from other players.

6. Need gold? Raise your population by building and upgrading cottages and raise your tax rate a bit. Just remember that the higher your tax rate, the lower your population will be, possibly leaving you without enough workers for your resource fields or even causing grievances in the populace. Try to strike a balance between tax revenue and population.

7. There are 2 ways to earn additional resources. First, build and upgrade your farms, sawmills, mines and quarries. Each upgrade increases production, as long as you have enough population to man them. Second, send your armies into the field to conquer nearby valleys. Many valleys that are not Flats will have a resources bonus attached to them. For instance, conquering a Forest will increase your lumber production and conquering a Hill will increase your Iron production. Remember that the higher level the valley is, the bigger the bonus you will get, but the heavier it will be defended. Be sure to scout them out before sending troops in, so you know what you’re getting into.

Note: When troops are outside your cities, they require twice as much food to sustain them as when they are garrisoned in a city, so don’t leave them camped outside your town unless absolutely necessary.

8. To train troops, you need a Barracks. More advanced troops require technologies from your academies and take longer to train, as well as requiring more resources. They may also require an upgraded Barracks.

9. Need to leave the game? No worries. Your workers will continue harvesting resources while you are away and you will have that much more to spend when you return.

10. Heroes are an important part of city. Armies require a hero to lead them and will benefit from a heroes attributes, while appointing a hero as mayor of your city will increase production, based on the heroes attributes. Heroes are recruited from your city’s Inn and they reside in your Feasting Hall once recruited. Remember that heroes must be paid a salary in gold, and if your Feasting Hall is full you wont be able to recruit additional heroes or have heroes sent from other cities unless you upgrade your Feasting Hall.

11. Ready to expand your territory and build a new city? The higher your title, the more cities you can control. To build a second city, you must reach the title of Knight. To raise your title, you’ll need medals which you can earn in battle, like when you attack a valley. Once you are a Knight, you’ll need 250 workers (trained at the Barracks) along with 10,000 of every resource, including gold. Then send your army to conquer a Flat of your liking, and once it is yours, click the Flat and select Build City. Now grab a cup of coffee, and when you return, you’ll have a brand new city under your command!

If you ever feel confused or overwhelmed with what to do, return to the Routine Quest. It will help you in the initial phases of Evony. That’s why its there. Good luck!

Arcade is up!!!

The arcade has a user system so please register on it as I was not able to attach the user databases together.  The arcade has 500 free games and is free to sign up for…Once the arcade has some good traffic coming in I will add more games, but for now that is all I can do.

http://www.romesblog.net/arcade/

Gold PS3 is gold, costs five grand

Anyone who buys this is an idiot!  Why would you buy a gold PS3?  It doesn’t make any sense what so ever…I don’t know, I guess the rich have nothing else to spend their money on these days. What they should do is give me some money so I can advertise the blog! 

What do you get the gamer who has everything?

Answer: this 24-karat gold-plated Playstation 3, which comes complete with two matching controllers and a one-year warranty.

You might want to consider a second mortgage first, though: pricing starts at (yes, starts at) $4999. And we thought the PS3 was expensive when it launched at $500.

If that doesn’t quite do it for you, the same supplier also offers a mighty snazzy gold-and-black Blackberry Tour 9630, starting at a mere $899. There’s that worrying “starts at” again. The menu also includes platinum-plated iMacs — no home’s complete without one — and promises a jewel-encrusted limited-edition PS3 will be on sale in a few weeks.

Source: Click Here!

Evony – Awesome Browser Game!

Awesome game is all I can say!  Information below can be found on the Evony website;

Evony is a massively multiplayer online real time strategy game (MMORTS). It is highly popular because it is a persistent world. The landscape does not change each game or each time you log in, but rather you control your fledgling kingdom and direct its affairs. Your subjects will continue building, gathering, researching and laboring even while you are away. You may complete quests, attack barbarians or rival players, form alliances, achieve rank and title and expand your kingdom. Raise your Prestige and vanquish your foes. Your destiny is in your hands.

Welcome to Evony. This article will help get you started in a new and exciting experience.

When you first begin, the Routine Quest will give you an idea of where your efforts are best directed. If you are new to Evony, the quest will help give you a boost in the beginning by rewarding your efforts with extra building materials, population and gold. New players should

stick to this quest and your time spent waiting on resources will be greatly lessened, but don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things if you have extra resources.

What follows is a list of important things every Evony player should know. Spend a few minutes here and learn the basics:

1. Every player enjoys a 7-day Beginner’s Protection when they first create their account. During this time, you will be free from attack by other players. Of course, you can’t attack them either. Any time during the period, you may end the Protection by upgrading your Town Hall to level 5. Don’t do this unless you are ready for war!

2. When you first enter Evony, you will see building sites in your town and resources fields around your city. To build on these fields, simply click on an empty site and select what you wish to build from the menu. If you’re not sure what to build, consult the Routine Quest.

3. To upgrade a building, simply click the building you wish to upgrade and hit the upgrade button. Clicking a building also allows you to use the building’s features, like creating troops, researching and recruiting heroes.

4. The administrative options for your city can be accessed at your Town Hall. You can rename your city, adjust the tax rate, offer comfort to the population or levy them for materials and gold as well as appoint a mayor. The Routine Quest – Administration will take you through many of these operations.

5. Once you accomplish the objectives of a quest, you will see a number appear next to the Quest icon at the bottom of your screen. Click it and find the checked off quest and select Get Award. Some main quests have multiple sub-quests, so to complete one of these select a checked main quest and then find the appropriate sub-quest in the list below and Get Award. If you need more help, check out the Quest Guide or head over to the forums for tips from other players.

6. Need gold? Raise your population by building and upgrading cottages and raise your tax rate a bit. Just remember that the higher your tax rate, the lower your population will be, possibly leaving you without enough workers for your resource fields or even causing grievances in the populace. Try to strike a balance between tax revenue and population.

7. There are 2 ways to earn additional resources. First, build and upgrade your farms, sawmills, mines and quarries. Each upgrade increases production, as long as you have enough population to man them. Second, send your armies into the field to conquer nearby valleys. Many valleys that are not Flats will have a resources bonus attached to them. For instance, conquering a Forest will increase your lumber production and conquering a Hill will increase your Iron production. Remember that the higher level the valley is, the bigger the bonus you will get, but the heavier it will be defended. Be sure to scout them out before sending troops in, so you know what you’re getting into.

Note: When troops are outside your cities, they require twice as much food to sustain them as when they are garrisoned in a city, so don’t leave them camped outside your town unless absolutely necessary.

8. To train troops, you need a Barracks. More advanced troops require technologies from your academies and take longer to train, as well as requiring more resources. They may also require an upgraded Barracks.

9. Need to leave the game? No worries. Your workers will continue harvesting resources while you are away and you will have that much more to spend when you return.

10. Heroes are an important part of city. Armies require a hero to lead them and will benefit from a heroes attributes, while appointing a hero as mayor of your city will increase production, based on the heroes attributes. Heroes are recruited from your city’s Inn and they reside in your Feasting Hall once recruited. Remember that heroes must be paid a salary in gold, and if your Feasting Hall is full you wont be able to recruit additional heroes or have heroes sent from other cities unless you upgrade your Feasting Hall.

11. Ready to expand your territory and build a new city? The higher your title, the more cities you can control. To build a second city, you must reach the title of Knight. To raise your title, you’ll need medals which you can earn in battle, like when you attack a valley. Once you are a Knight, you’ll need 250 workers (trained at the Barracks) along with 10,000 of every resource, including gold. Then send your army to conquer a Flat of your liking, and once it is yours, click the Flat and select Build City. Now grab a cup of coffee, and when you return, you’ll have a brand new city under your command!

If you ever feel confused or overwhelmed with what to do, return to the Routine Quest. It will help you in the initial phases of Evony. That’s why its there. Good luck!

Microsoft exits as sponsor of ‘Family Guy’ special

Wow, people these days…It is very sad that people care what other people think.  We all know Family Guy pokes fun at celebrities, shows, movies, etc. Microsoft is ruining their own reputation by backing out if you ask me.  It is showing everyone that their lame!  If you can’t have your company poked fun of by Family Guy then your a lame in my book.

NEW YORK – Fans of “Family Guy” are chortling about Microsoft’s belated discovery that a “Family Guy” special might not jibe with the software giant’s corporate image.

On Monday, Microsoft said it’s pulling out as sponsor of a “Family Guy” variety show, just two weeks after announcing its sole sponsorship of the special, “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show,” scheduled to air Nov. 8.

The Fox special apparently follows in the racy tradition of the animated “Family Guy” series — just as any fan would expect.

The special includes “typical ‘Family Guy‘-style jokes, including riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest,” said Variety, which first reported Microsoft’s exit.

The special stars “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, who voices many of the characters, and Alex Borstein, who furnishes the voice of Peter Griffin’s wife, Lois.

In the original announcement, the half-hour special was billed as a half-hour with no commercial breaks that blends “unique Windows 7-branded programming” seamlessly with “original animation, live-action performances of ‘Family Guy’s’ most memorable musical numbers, comedy sketches and surprise celebrity guests.”

Microsoft had originally touted the “subversive and unique humor” of the show’s co-hosts.

But apparently it was all too subversive and unique for Microsoft. Backing off with Monday’s statement, the company said that, after reviewing an early version of the special, it had decided the variety show’s content “was not a fit with the Windows brand.”

In its statement, Microsoft hastened to add there are no hard feelings. The company said it continues to have “a good partnership” with MacFarlane, Borstein and the network, and is “working with them in other areas.”

Fox plans to air the show, which was taped Oct. 16, as scheduled, with a new, as-yet-undisclosed integrated sponsoring partner. The network had no comment on Microsoft’s defection.

___

Fox network is owned by News Corp.

Source: Click Here!

PS3 Now $299!!

The PlayStation 3 is now $299!  Anyone waiting for the price to drop can not take advantage of this amazing price!  Check out the specs below to see why it is an awsome console to have…Now, I still think xBox 360 beats the PS3 hands down!!

Value Strategies

Pulled from HostingDiscussion; Steve posted this.

In the hosting industry, it’s very difficult to differentiate yourself from thousands of your online competitors, or so some would lead you to believe. Actually, while some providers post relevant content, most simply offer packages – a certain amount of space, bandwidth, RAM, CPU for a specific price. Of course, price sells but you generally get what you pay for. Lower prices generally relate closely to overselling, leading to reduced server performance, slower downloads, and increased customer churn via suspensions or terminations for excessive use of the provider’s resourses.

Value Sells

If a provider offers excessively low pricing, they have to oversell their servers to turn the same profit as providers that don’t. So math aside, why select provider A over provider B. It’s all about perceived value to the prospect. Value sells – it always has and always will. Every organization I’ve ever been in tells the same story, “We’re not the cheapest place in town, but we offer value and solutions.” In the hosting industry, I read of providers going belly up almost weekly. Hosting forums are flooded with threads from members asking which provider to trust. The providers that survive are invariably the one’s that provide value. So how does a prospect perceive value online? The answer is lots of content – relevant content that’s focused to specific needs, matching your core products and services to your online marketing and SEO strategies.

Source: Click Here!

How Do You Manage Conflict?

Grabbed from HostingDiscussion; Steve posted this.

You can earn a Doctorate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, but I think most of us have earned some credits for coping with conflict on the street level, and certainly in the hosting industry.

Managing Conflict

The key is learning how to manage conflict rather than have it manage you. I avoid disputes when possible, but realize they’re inevitable – so instead of reacting on an emotional level, my solution is to manage them proactively. Part of that is being solution focused versus problem focused. It’s all about communications – understanding what your personal triggers are, then mapping out the opposing positions, finding common ground, and then proposing win-win solutions.

Conflict Awareness

First, you have to understand your own conflict patterns, then develop and practice methods to listen more effectively, map out the conflicts, and learn to differentiate difficult people from difficult behavior. We all know the type. Some clients and prospects just instinctively know what hot buttons to press.

Moving Beyond Conflict

What we’re really talking about here is developing professional skill sets to increase the success of your business operations. Customer support is very much about resolving customer conflicts or problems. While the solution could be purely technical, the perception of value rests with your client. How well you communicate relates directly to customer churn. Bad communication skills = high customer churn. Great communication skills = raving fans and a loyal customer base. The key, I think, is to actively listen, showing genuine interest and concern. Clarify the problem; ask questions, then listen – separating emotions from issues. Sometimes, you just have to say NO, it won’t work. And after conflicts are managed, it’s important to solicit feedback.

How Important is Feedback

Feedback is so important that you should reach out to your clients randomly to ascertain their comfort level with your products or services. Perhaps your perception that they’re satisfied clients is completely off tract, and they’re actively searching for a new provider. How would you know until they sent in their cancellation request? At that point, you become reactive instead of proactive. Again, it’s all about effective communications and productive interactions.

Source: Click Here!