DRAGONS!!! That’s what Guild Wars 2 is all about if this stunning new trailer is anything to go by. What’s stunning about it? Well, the first half is pretty much just artwork but don’t let that put you off because if you stick around you’ll see some absolutely gorgeous in-game footage. I always thought the first game looked amazing, even on my sub-standard PC, and hopefully it will again be optimised for those who can’t afford expensive rigs (I suppose MMO’s always have to have some degree of flexibility in the graphics department, or they couldn’t raise a large playerbase).

So what’s the sequel all about? Amidst all the drama of co-founder of NCsoft, Jeff Strain, and another staff member leaving just over a week ago (although ArenaNet says that the development of Guild Wars 2 will not be affected) there has actually been very little information on the game. The slate isn’t totally blank though, so let’s sum up what we know so far.

Apart from the attractive scenery there are a number of changes over the game’s predecessor. Firstly the whole game world is persistent, much like World of Warcraft, although instances will still play their part; including in the games main storyline which, to be fair, makes sense. Player choices will also impact on the world at large, although I doubt it’s going to be as complex as the player driven world of Eve Online. PvP will retain the guild versus guild battles of the first game (it wouldn’t be called Guild Wars otherwise!), but large-scale PvP will also be introduced. It’s a world battle that will take place in a place called The Mists, although I’m sure more places will be added over the games lifespan.

So, that’s pretty much all we know at this point. Details will probably continue to trickle out over the next few months, so keep an eye out for more info here as I loved the first game so I’m a keen follower of anything new about its sequel.

I stopped playing World of Warcraft a few years back - mainly because it was taking up way too much of my life - but if I had still been playing it and I owned an iPhone then the official ‘World of Warcraft Mobile Armory’ application would be a must have.

Since this new application has officially been designed by Blizzard you no longer need to rely on third-party applications, which are sometimes unreliable, to keep track of your WoW characters while on the move. The free application has all the functionality of the web-based armory, but with the added bonus that you can do it away from your computer.

A few of the features include the ability to check your current equipment set-up, those of other players, guild databases and information on every item in the game. There’s also a spec calculator to help you plan out your character, a calendar that keeps track of upcoming raid events and an achievement tracker. It’s also under 10mb, so you can easily download it away from your computer with 3G.

So, for you WoW obsessive’s this new application means you’ll never have to be all that far away from the ‘delights’ of Azeroth. I’m not actually sure if that’s a good thing or not…

(Image source: Kotaku)

Back at E3 2008 Microsoft announced that the ‘New Xbox Experience’ would be coming to the Xbox 360 the following November. Along with the dashboard re-design and a raft of other features Microsoft also announced a feature called ‘Xbox Live Primetime’. The idea of ‘Primetime’ was to bring the experience of a live gameshow to the console, with scheduled shows, live hosts and the ability to win prizes. The first of these shows was Endemol’s 1 Vs 100.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the concept of 1 Vs 100, given that there are many different versions of the show around the world (here in the UK it’s hosted by the National Lottery) but I’ll explain it for the benefit of those that don’t know. Basically there are 100 people in what is called the ‘mob’ (at least on this version anyway, as the UK TV version simply calls them the ‘100′) and one person is picked from here to face off against the 100. The ‘one’ and the ‘mob’ is then asked a question, with a choice of three answers, and if the ‘one’ gets this question correct they can then see how many people they have eliminated from the ‘mob’ (those that got the question wrong).  The more they eliminate, the bigger the prize gets.

In the Xbox 360 version the prizes are gamer points, arcade games and, every week, physical prizes including a camera and a car. If the ‘one’ gets a question wrong the mob get a small amount of gamer points or a free Arcade game and the ‘one’ is eliminated. The ‘one’ can also choose to walk away a certain points of the game, taking with them the points that they have earned so far. Unfortunately the prizes weren’t available from the first night of the beta, meaning that some people chose to walk away when they weren’t actually winning anything. It’s still not certain when the prizes will start being up for grabs, but popular opinion is next week.

Of course, with the vast amounts of people playing at the same time (80,000+ on the first night alone) not everyone will get the chance to be the ‘one’ or be in the ‘mob’. Everyone else is put into the ‘crowd’, where they can still answer questions and compete against each other in groups of four. These sessions, as well as the ‘extended play’ sessions (which I’ll get to in a moment), help to increase accuracy and speed at answering questions, which in turn gives you a better chance of getting into the ‘mob’. So, Microsoft says that the more ‘extended play’ sessions you take part in the better chance you have at winning a prize when it comes to the live shows. You won’t get any prizes in ‘extended play’, as there are only 30 minute rounds of 37 questions with no ‘one’. It is basically everyone sat in the ‘mob’ answering questions and competing against each other. If you get the question correct you also get a bonus of points based on how many people got it wrong, and as in the live game you also get a small bonus for how fast you answered the question (even if you get it wrong). The problem with the speed thing is that some people have an impossible response time of ‘0′ seconds simply because they are constantly bashing the ‘x’ button. I don’t know how this could possibly be fun for them , plus it drives their accuracy way down, but I suppose some people just have to flatter their incredibly large ego’s to appear at the top of the speed rankings. Thankfully the speed bonuses aren’t that big, so they can’t rack up a large score just by button bashing.

As for other problems I haven’t encountered many so far, but there has been talk of random disconnections and crashes which are always going to get with a beta. The biggest problem I’ve had is not being able to hear the live host (James McCourt does live commentary on the ‘ones’ performance and the stats during short breaks) on the first live show last Friday. Checking the Xbox forums shows that I’m not in the minority and, although it’s not a major problem,  the breaks can be a bit dull when there’s nothing but silence.

So far the game has been really fun; although the questions can be really hard at times (that’s part of the challenge!). The ‘extended play’ sessions are nowhere near as fun as the live shows, but if you ever want to get a chance at winning a prize (when they become available) you’re going to have to play them. The chances of that ever happening are pretty low, but at least you can enjoy the game for what it is - good old trivia fun!

1 Vs 100 is available for free to all gold members. You can set yourself reminders for upcoming live and ‘extended play’ shows through the Primetime channel which should now be available on your dashboard.

If you’re still on the fence about signing up to an Xbox Live Gold membership (it’s worth paying for in my opinion. It’s not exactly expensive and it is pretty damn good, if you can excuse the hordes of foul mouthed 14 year-olds that populate it) then Microsoft is giving all Silver members a chance to try out the Gold service for free this weekend.

Xtival ‘09 will run from the 1st to the 4th of May and promises competitions and tournaments throughout the weekend. There are also some ‘exclusive’ HD movies, music and game downloads available; but if it’s anything like the Prodigy videos offered last year then I wouldn’t be too excited about that.

As for the tournaments that Microsoft mentioned Capcom are holding a Street Fighter IV tournament of sorts. Read more about that here.