Geek Papa

Firesheep: what, why, and how to protect yourself from it

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:14:00 +0000

Firesheep has been out for a while and it has totally opened my eyes to how vulnerable we can all be when we don't think of Internet security. I'll try to make it as simple as possible that even my teen kids can understand it.

What is Firesheep

If you're unfamiliar with Firesheep, you can read this article from the creator. If you find it too geeky then you should watch this vid instead:

Yes folks, ANYONE with this Addon can takeover your account without knowing your username nor password. This affects famous sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Why create Firesheep in the first place?

Firesheep was created to open the eyes of the users to possible hijacking of accounts. According to Butler and Gallagher:

"I wrote Firesheep because I was tired of having to deal with websites that were ignoring this problem of user privacy," Butler told me in his first interview since releasing Firesheep. "Hopefully sites like Facebook and Twitter will see this and decide protecting user privacy is a priority for them."

Watch the vid below for more on why they created it:

How do I protect myself from Firesheep and its ilk?

According to the Firesheep creator, here are the ways to protect yourself when you're in an open WiFi location:

While companies are implementing fixes (described below) you can do a few things to increase your level of security, but there’s no silver bullet (aside from stopping use of the services which you don’t want hijacked.)

HTTPS-Everywhere - This is a Firefox extension created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation which makes Firefox use only HTTPS connections for certain websites. Like Firesheep, it only works on a defined list of websites, so it won’t protect you if you use any websites that it doesn’t support. It does not appear to be immediately simple for users to add sites without some development experience. HTTPS-Everywhere is well respected for doing what it claims to do safely.

Force-TLS - As mentioned earlier, some websites support SSL but don’t implement it properly, leaving you at risk. This Firefox extension is similar to HTTPS-Everywhere but allows you to specify your own list of domain names to force encryption on.

VPN - In some situations a VPN (or something similar such as an SSH tunnel) can be great. All traffic sent through a VPN is likely secure from your computer to the VPN server. But be aware that this is not a silver bullet and there are potential problems. See below for our warnings on using a VPN.

Ironically, the authors have suggested Firefox addons over Google Chrome, which is the reason now why I've decided to go back to Firefox. Besides adding the addons above, I've also added most of the addons from The Paranoid Kit to make my browser even more secure than before. Although there are Chrome extensions like the KB SSL Enforcer, it seems to go HTTP before it goes HTTPS and is therefore not an option for me.

Another common sense way to secure yourself from such attacks is to log out of sites rather than just close them. As mentioned in the video above, not logging out of Facebook or Twitter will make you vulnerable when you go to sites with FB or Twitter buttons. Think about it, logging out takes only a few seconds.

Unfortunately there will be sites that go bonkers when it's forced to undergo HTTPS. One of the examples is Status.net. You won't be able to post anything there when you force the site to HTTPS. Although it's been discussed here, the message is clear: Using HTTPS is too expensive for them and would rather become a paid feature rather than a basic one. A total turnoff really. Another example is if you force-HTTPS Facebook, you'll be unable to use the chat feature--which is totally fine by me.

The future of the internet has been shaped because of this addon. I just hope that sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. think of making HTTPS default when anyone enters their site. Until then Firesheep (and its ilk) will keep on making their sites less secure.

Sources:
Announcement of Firesheep
Interview with Firesheep creators

Free Throw Arcade Monster!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:40:00 +0000

Watch this guy just own this free throw arcade game!

Troubled kid kills mother over a game

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:37:00 +0000

In-game: when you kill others, they respawn.
In-real life: when you kill others they don't get up.

The boy, from Busan in Korea's south-east, got into an argument on Monday night with his mother when she "scolded" him for playing video games.

As tensions escalated, the boy strangled his mother to death before hanging himself.

Although the news above emphasized that the killer was a gamer, it doesn't mean that all gamers are violent. All this shows was that the kid needed help; too bad he didn't get it soon enough and both he and the mother perished because of it.

via Kotaku

HOTK PH is coming soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:18:00 +0000

Just got an announcement coming from Perfect World Co., Ltd. that Heroes of Three Kingdoms (HOTK) also known as Chi Bi/Red Cliff and other PW Co. games like Legend of Martial Arts and Hot Dance Party will be coming to the Philippines via Cubinet.ph.

In November 2010, the two parties cooperated again to license "Legend of Martial Arts," "Chi Bi" and "Hot Dance Party" to the Philippines. "Legend of Martial Arts" is a 3D cartoon adventure MMORPG based on a popular TV drama series with the same Chinese name. It was launched in Mainland China in 2006. "Chi Bi" is a war epic 3D MMORPG based on the Three Kingdoms, a well-known period in the ancient Chinese history; while "Hot Dance Party" is the Company's first 3D online casual game.

It seems that Cubinet PH is grabbing nearly all of PW's games. Now if they can only include Jade Dynasty and Forsaken World into the mix, then I'm REALLY sold!

Read the whole Press Release here.

Windows-free for 2 months

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 02:43:00 +0000

Yup! Thanks to my Windows XP OS crashing on me, I've gone Ubuntu Linux for the last two months. So far I'm enjoying it. I was able to download, install, and try out a bunch of free programs (note they're not pirated folks--free as in beer/freedom programs/softwares exist!) I was also able to play Windows-based MMOs using Wine. Below is the list of just a few I've been playing since:

My only problem is that not all games run well in Linux, like Allods Online. Too bad that Astrum Nival didn't think of Linux players in their thoughts when they created the game.

Nevertheless, I'll be on Linux for awhile until I get my DVD reader replaced. I may be focusing on Linux-friendly games/programs here until then.

BOI PH CBT is coming this November!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:35:00 +0000

Battle of Immortals will have a Philippine server coming this November 2010.

For those unfamiliar with the game, it was developed by the same company that brought you Perfect World and Jade Dynasty (ZXOnline PH): Perfect World. I tried it out in the international servers a couple of months back and enjoyed it.

Register here to play in BOI PH CBT.

I'll play this since this also plays well on Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

Allods: Possible Future Fashion Items?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Feel free to correct me here guys, but I think I may have found possible Fashion Items for Allods. See below:

Since I'm seeing wedding gowns, am I correct in guessing that there will be a marriage system in the future?

Aika Global: Two New Dungeons and Top 3 Legions Spotlight!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:06:00 +0000

While some Aika Global players maybe just trying the game out, here's more incentive for you to go hardcore on it:

Seoul, Korea - (October 12, 2010) — For players who have reached the level cap but are still hungry for more quests and excitement, this is for you. Thrill seekers will without a doubt be on their edge as AIKA Global opens the doors to these extreme locations. T3 Entertainment and Hanbitsoft Inc. together with Redbana Philippines continue to add special events in the world of AIKA not to mention this October’s new in-game events, “Dungeon Raiders” and “Happy Halpereen!”

The Dungeons
Deep within the L’enfer Mines, the crimson gate of one of the most difficult dungeons has now opened. Within L’enfer 2 Mines lie 7 incredibly powerful boss monsters. This dungeon can only be accessed once a week and players will need TWO parties in order to enter the mines. Survival will depend completely upon the skill and cooperation of their team. On the other hand Ursula’s Hell mode has now been unlocked. Only a party of level 50 Elters will be able to enter this dungeon, meaning this place is not for the faint of heart. Players can only enter this
dungeon a day, so better come prepared! Only the best and the bravest players should attempt these dungeons as the monsters within have several unique tricks up their sleeves to demolish entire raid parties.

10 Most Popular Legions
It’s time AIKA Philippine Legion Masters crown their legions for the work they’ve done. Tell the whole AIKA Global community about how big and strong your legions are and if you're impressive enough, you might just put your legion into celebrity status. AIKA global puts your legion under the spotlight this month. The first 10 Legion masters to submit their applications will be qualified to the elimination round. Once qualified, your legion emblems will be uploaded on Facebook on October 15, 2010. The top 3 legions with the most number of likes by
October 30, 2010 12:00 am EDT gets to be featured as the Legion for the month of November, December and January. Who says war stops in-game? It’s the kind of fame no blood spilling could get you.

Item Shop
The game updates also include new items in the TCoin Shop. The Potion of Speed, which is also available in bundles of 5, increases movement speed for 1 hour and Grimson’s Treasure Chest which can contain various precious items but will only be available for a week. The full list of possible items to get can be seen at http://aika.t3fun.com/News/Notice_View.aspx?post_key=12142

Allods PH CBT: Oct 11-25

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:57:00 +0000

Levelup Philippines has announced the Allods PH CBT dates.

We know that you’ve been waiting and everyone including us here at Level-Up! are all excited. So today, it’s an honor for us to announce that on October 11 to October 25, 2010 the Allods Online Closed Beta Realms will be available!

Yes, you read that right. Make sure that you already have an account (you can get one here) and the Allods Online Client (download the client here) and see you all inside the Closed Beta Realms on October 11 to October 25.

Get a CBT account and download the Allods PH CBT client NOW!

Source

Allods PH News: Higher patch than Allods NA, CBT Dates

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:18:00 +0000

Levelup Games PH's Allods PH Management Team had a meeting yesterday with a few of the guilds who will be actively participating in the game. One of the premier guild of which I'm a member of, The Holy Order of Light, has put up a blogpost in their fansite and summarized the meeting for all those who weren't able to attend. Here are just some snippets and my comments.

One of the more important information given to the guild leaders is that Allods Online CBT will be opened to the public, who have already obtained their CBT accounts through the registration page, with version 1.1.02.56. For those who are unaware, Allods Online NA will be patching their servers on 5 October 2010 with 1.1.02.52. This patch was describe by SamHok and Cydie to be one that had a lot of changes with regards to the archetypes' builds, talent trees and ruby grids. Basically, the major change was that the skills were modified or removed for certain archetypes.

This is an interesting development as not only are we going to get the Gorluxor patch as I mentioned last time, but we'll be getting a patch a notch more advanced than Allods NA! The patch notes for this one will be waited upon not only by the Allods PH players but also those in NA.

Regarding when the CBT and OBT will be...

Closed Beta is slated to open either this coming week (week starting Oct 4), or the week after that, which starts on 11 October 2010. Durin this phase, the experience and drop rates will be kept at a normal level so as to test the natural environment. The GM Team may increase the rates depending on testing needs.

After CBT, the servers may go down for a week or two, and that's when Open Beta will begin. November 2010 was the tentative start month for OBT according to the presentation. As usual, there will be a characer wipe after Closed Beta, but there will be none during Open Beta. Accounts used during CBT may be linked to MyLU accounts and be used for Open Beta and even up to commercial. Also, their current plan is to open OBT with 1 server and open up another when necessary, but this may change depending on the results during Closed Beta.

So there it is so far. Download the Allods PH CBT client here.

Read the complete post here

Aika Roars into October with Two Events

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:17:00 +0000

Aika roars into October with two in-game events that will require players to run around the map and probably get into a scuffle or two. Check them out below.

Seoul, Korea - (October 1, 2010)— T3 Entertainment and Hanbitsoft Inc. together with Redbana Philippines invite all Aikans to roll with the punches as two of AIKA Global’s newest events get ready to bang this October. The two events, “Dungeon Raiders” and “Happy Halpereen!” along with the mini event, “Hide and Seek” are all going to put the pedal to the metal and set all players hustling and bustling inside the game from October 1 until the end of the month.

This October will mark the start of the biggest action packed in-game events to stir up the AIKA community. “Dungeon Raiders”, a purely blood-spilling event, requires players to form a party of 2-6 members to bash off the boss of a particular dungeon. This event is set to roar on all Saturdays of October from 00:01 to 23:59 (in-game time) where 30 randomly chosen raiders will win the prizes. And if that’s not enough, AIKA Global players should get ready to clear their throats and get ready to shout “Happy Halpereen!” for the AIKA Global Halloween celebration on Oct 31 to November 1 . This Halloween event will challenge all players to summon monsters at Halperin Three-forked Road in commemoration for all Elters who have fought, died, and respawned in the place.

Players from other nations can interfere with the event by attacking the players while killing the bosses, injecting more action and thrill. It will be an exciting Halloween fete jammed with exciting prices for every boss monster kill. There wouldn’t be a dull day for the next month as the mini-event, “Hide n’ Seek,” will keep the ball rolling. What better way to rein the game than to play with the game masters? Those who will find the GM in this hide and seek game will win the big-time opportunity to be accompanied by the GMs in their dungeon battles. Aikans are definitely on for a frenzy ride this October! Watch out for more AIKA Global in-game event announcements.

For more information about AIKA Global October events, visit: http://AIKA.t3fun.com/Home/Home.aspx.

Allods Cursed Items

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:16:00 +0000

So we've all read in the Allods PH forums that the Gipat patch was the straw that broke the camel's back for most players in Allods NA. Actually it was the inclusion of the Cursed Items in the game that made a lot of people quit. In order for us to prepare for it, we might as well review how it happens, how to avoid it, and how to debuff it.

A closer look at: Cursed Equipment

The release of Allods Online Volume 1: Revelations of Gipat, will bring many changes to the world of Sarnaut. Some of these changes are to help improve the game, some are to provide new and exciting content to experience, and some of it is specifically to address the fantastic feedback from our vocal community.

The Fear of Death

Fear of Death was a controversial and unpopular "debuff," or negative spell, that acted as a death penalty in Allods Online. Upon dying, a character received a curse under which all of their statistics were reduced by 25% -- unless a character was under the influence of Incense, or was able to give an offering of Mirra to a Servant of Light. Players tested this mechanic extensively, and let the Game Master team know what they thought. That feedback was forwarded on to our developers, and we are pleased to announce that the Fear of Death will vanish in Volume 1: Revelations of Gipat.

Cursed Items

Replacing the Fear of Death mechanic is the implementation of Cursed Items. Rather than receiving a penalty for each and every character death, players now have a very small chance of receiving a curse on one slot of their equipment each time they die.

These curses are only effective on items which are of "rare" (or blue) quality of higher. This means that if the cursed slot is empty, or if an item of uncommon (or green) quality or lower is equipped in the cursed slot, the curse will be completely deflected.

It is important to note that this mechanic is completely different from the Fear of Death system. With Fear of Death, players received the penalty each and every time they died. However, under the new system, players will not be cursed each time they die. There is only a very small chance that one inventory slot will be cursed, and if there is no "rare" (or blue), "epic" (or purple), or "legendary" (or orange) item in that slot, the curse will be cancelled all together.

When an item is cursed, rather than adding a bonus to a character's statistics, it subtracts the bonus instead. For example, if a belt normally gives +8 Wisdom, when cursed, it would take away -8 Wisdom instead.

These curses can be prevented completely by wearing a protective charm called a Phylactery of Passage.

These handy beads will give you safe passage through purgatory, you will be immune from any item curses. One will be consumed for each death, and there can be up to 1000 in a single stack.

Once you have acquired a few Phylacteries of Passage, you can right click the icon in your bag, and they will be equipped on your character screen (I).

As an added bonus, the loot tables for instance and raid bosses has been expanded. Now, in addition to their normal loot, bosses can also drop additional cursed items. If you win one such item, or if one of your pieces of equipment falls victim to a curse, worry not! The curse can be removed by using a Parchment of Purification:

A Rare Parchment of Purification will remove curses from Rare (blue) quality items.

An Epic Parchment of Purification will remove curses from Epic (purple) quality items or lower.

A Legendary Parchment of Purification will remove curses from Legendary (orange) quality items or lower.

To use these items, right click on the icon in your back -- your cursor will turn into a cog wheel. Then, left click on the cursed item. The curse will be removed and the item will be restored to normal.

The only change in the latest patch for this would be that Cursed Items can no longer be disassembled.

*All of the info here is based on Allods EU, some things may change.
Source

Allods PH CBT Downloads!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:23:00 +0000

It's on baby! Download the Allods PH CBT client via torrent or FTP.

By the way that the files is named, it looks like we'll be getting the Gorluxor patch!

System Requirements:

Minimum
* Windows XP, Windows 2000
* Direct X 9.0
* 512 MB RAM
* NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 64MB / ATI Radeon 9600 64 MB
* Graphics card requires pixel shading of 2.0 o higher
* Direct X compatible audio card
* 4GB free disk space
* ADSL 56k

Recommended
* Windows Vista, Windows 7
* Direct X 11.0
* Intel Core 2 Dup 2GHz / AMD Athlon X2
* NVidia GeForce 7600 GS 256 MB / ATI Radeon X1600 256 MB
* Graphics card requires pixel shading of 2.0 higher
* Direct X compatible audio card
* 4GB free disk space
* ADSL 56k or faster

The New Goo.gl vs. Bit.ly

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 03:19:00 +0000

Google just made Bit.ly 's life a little harder with the inclusion of stats to their URL shortener.

There are many shorteners out there with great features, so some people may wonder whether the world really needs yet another. As we said late last year, we built goo.gl with a focus on quality. With goo.gl, every time you shorten a URL, you know it will work, it will work fast, and it will keep working. You also know that when you click a goo.gl shortened URL, you’re protected against malware, phishing and spam using the same industry-leading technology we use in search and other products. Since our initial release, we’ve continued to invest in the core quality of the service:

Stability: We’ve had near 100% uptime since our initial launch, and we’ve worked behind the scenes to make goo.gl even stabler and more robust.

Security: We’ve added automatic spam detection based on the same type of filtering technology we use in Gmail.

Speed: We’ve more than doubled our speed in just over nine months.

It's all good and all but it still lacks some things that Bit.ly and J.mp (yes, it's also Bit.ly powered) has:

Usability in any Browser: For example: in order to use J.mp you only need to type "j.mp/" in front of the "http://" of the url and you're all set to go! No need for extensions nor bookmarks, therefore you can use it in ANY browser (you need to type "j.mp/http://" in Google Chrome and Chromium though).
Ease in Sharing: You can share straight to any of the major social networking sites from Bit.ly.
Shorter Characters: J.mp beats the two as it only has 4 characters and therefore is better with the 140 character limit in Twitter.

Although I've been a bit.ly/j.mp fan for the last few months, i'll give goog.gl a try.

How to build and pilot an Astral Ship in Allods

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:26:00 +0000

The ultimate goal of a serious guild in Allods Online Philippines (Allods PH) should be the Astral Ship. Compared to other MMORPGs this can be compared to a guild castle. An Astral Ship will allow you and your guild to fly into the Astral (space) and go to different islands, also known as Allods. However travelling through the Astral will be fraught with dangers both from Astral mobs and other guilds as well.

If you and your guild are interested to build and pilot an Astral Ship in Allods PH, then it would be best to read up on the guides linked below.

Astral Ship Contracts: quests required to start building a ship
Astral Ship Daily Quests: quests that will decrease construction time (Total of 90 days to complete a ship)
Astral Ship Detailed Crew Guide: what the crew members will be doing and are expected to do.
Complete Astral Guide: how to navigate through the Astral.
Supplemental Astral Ship Guide: how to map and navigate through the Astral.

Here are a couple of videos taken from Allods Russia:

Ship vs. Ship

Boarding enemy ships

Please note that this is all based on Allods NA and the local version may have some differences to it.

Fatigue in Allods Online

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Allods Online PH will definitely have the Fatigue system. At first, most in Allods NA thought that Astrum Nival, the game developer, was committing suicide by putting a rather large block infront of "adik" players. Eventually, players saw what it was, a way to earn extra EXP when they rested. Below is a comprehensive guide to Fatigue via the Allods NA forums.

INTRODUCTION
After doing a little bit of experimentation, asking a lot of questions trying to figure it out, and being put down for it, I was able to compile clear information on how fatigue really works. Everything about fatigue was so confusing. I found out that the reason was because there is so much misleading information out there. That is why I had a hard time understanding it. So here I will clear everything up.

According to Allods:

“Only a limited amount of fatigue can be earned in one day, and the amount of fatigue that can be earned in one day will vary depending on your character's level.”

This is not how fatigue works. There is no daily maximum that “resets” each day. It is not necessary to go run to convert your fatigue before daily server reset at 12:00am-est. There is only a maximum fatigue capacity period. And this maximum capacity increases when the player is logged in after the next time 12:00am-est arrives as well as whenever the player levels up. All is explained here in this Real Guide to Fatigue.

FATIGUE
Upon reaching level 5, a player will automatically begin accumulating fatigue points while gaining experience points. Whenever a player gains experience points, he gains an equal amount of fatigue points. To use fatigue points, a player must go to a Goblin Innkeeper, and click the rest button. The player will be charged 1S+55C, and all of the fatigue points that he has accumulated will instantly be converted into an equal amount of experience points.

For example, if a player goes out, and gains 1,000 experience points, then he will also receive 1,000 fatigue points. If he pays the fee at a Goblin Innkeeper, then his 1,000 fatigue points will be converted into 1,000 experience points. The player will now have an additional 1,000 experience points, and 0 fatigue points.

INTERFACE
As the player gains experience, his experience bar will fill showing experience gained in magenta and fatigue gained in cyan. When this bar fills with both magenta and cyan, the player will receive a notification informing him that he can level up by going to the Goblin Innkeeper, and converting his fatigue.

If the player continues to gain experience points without converting his fatigue, his experience bar will continue filling in magenta overlapping the cyan. If the bar fills up with all magenta, then the player will level up.

MAXIMUM FATIGUE CAPACITY
Unlike experience points, there is a maximum capacity of fatigue points that a player may accumulate. If the player accumulates enough fatigue points to reach his maximum capacity, he will no longer gain fatigue points while he is gaining his experience points. Even if he converts his fatigue points into experience points at the Goblin Innkeeper. He can only begin gaining fatigue points again by receiving additional fatigue capacity. There is no known ultimate limit to a player’s maximum fatigue capacity.

(Note: Please don’t mistake ‘accumulated fatigue points’ with ‘maximum fatigue capacity’.)

FATIGUE CAPACITY INCREASE
*At level 5, a player will receive a maximum capacity of 17,700 fatigue points.

*The player will receive an additionall 900 fatigue capacity everytime the player levels up.

*The player will receive additional fatigue capacity of 2,250 each time he is logged in after the next time 12:00am-est arrives, and an additional 150 per level.

Level 5: 2,250.
Level 6: 2,400. (2,250 + 150)
Level 7: 2,550. (2,400 +150)
ETC.

Formula: 150(LVL - 4) + 2100.
For example:
A level 36 player. 150(36-4) + 2100 = 150(32) + 2100 = 4800 + 2100 = 6900.

*Beyond what is described here, the player's race, class or any other characteristic has no effect on fatigue capacity increase.

(This maximum fatigue capacity is not a daily capacity as incorrectly described in the Official Guide. There is no standard fatigue capacity that resets each day according to a player's level. Any portion of fatigue capacity that is filled by gaining fatigue points will never return. Additional fatigue capacity may only be received according to the description above. Contrary to all the misinformation online, converting fatigue points into experience points at the Goblin Innkeeper will never affect fatigue capacity increases.)

Example 1:
It is Monday. A level 7 player currently has 5,000 fatigue capacity, and gains no more experience points or fatigue points for the rest of the day. If he is still logged on after 12:00am-est, he will receive an additional 2,550 fatigue capacity immediately. Thus, his fatigue capacity will now be 7,550. He will continue to receive 2,550 fatigue capacity everytime he is logged on after 12:00am-est provided he doesn't level up.

Example 2:
It is Monday. A level 7 player currently has 5,000 fatigue capacity, and gains no more experience points or fatigue points for the rest of the day. The player logs off before 12:00am-est arrives. He then logs back in sometime on Thursday. Thus, he will only receive an additional 2,550 fatigue points. His fatigue capacity will now be 7,550.

Example 3:
It is Monday. A level 7 player currently has 5,000 fatigue capacity. He continues to play, and gains 5,000 fatigue points. As he continues to play even more, he will continue to gain experience points without gaining fatigue points. Without leveling up, 12:00am-est arrives, and he receives an additional 2,550 fatigue capacity. Thus, he will now be able to gain fatigue points while gaining experience points up to the amount of 2,550.

Example 4:
It is Monday. A level 7 player currently has 5,000 fatigue capacity. He continues to play, and gains 5,000 fatigue points. As he continues to play even more, he will continue to gain experience points without gaining fatigue points. He goes to the Goblin Innkeeper, and converts his fatigue points into experience points, but doesn't level up. If he continues to play, he will still continue to gain experience points without gaining fatigue points. Thus, he will now be able to gain fatigue points while gaining experience points up to the amount of 2,550.

Source

Allods Build Making Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:27:00 +0000

While we wait for Allods PH CBT, most are looking for more info on the game--most of them are looking for the right builds. There are two sites that can tremendously help in making a character build for Allods Philippines.

Allods Talent Calculator

This site lists all the available talents and ruby skills to your specific job. However, it totally ignores the stats and weapon/armor/buffs that can you can gain. Which transitions to the next site....

Allods Stat Calculator

This site is extremely detailed and may be too much information for most. However, if you persevere enough, the reward is a possible end-game build with all the armor/weapons/buffs to the max.

Happy build-making!

Aika Global to show why it's better than Aika NA

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:48:00 +0000

With Aika NA closing its doors to new international accounts, Aika Global has received most of the players turned away. I think this is more of a plus for T3 Entertainment, the game publisher for Hanbitsoft's game. It's a bit late I know, but I think this game is worth trying, even just to experience the "1000 vs. 1000 player" sieges.

Seoul, Korea, Sept 02, 2010 – The Philippine MMO community has just become wilder as Hanbistoft Inc. and T3 Entertainment in cooperation with Redbana Philippines launched the Open Beta Test for its newest MMO, Aika Global. Fresh from its CBT success, Aika Global is set to take the MMO world by storm, opening its doors to challenge online gamers across different nations to participate in massive warfare. Various countries from Europe and Asia have already shown their fervent desire to join the epic online battle and so Filipinos are also called upon to answer the challenge.

AIKA Global, a free to play fantasy massive multiplayer online role playing game specifically optimized for massive nation warfare of 1000 players versus 1000 other players, offers an amazing piece of game play that is a first in the online gaming scene. With legions of awards bagged from Korea such as Best of Show: Prime Minister Award, Player's Choice: Best Online Game, and Best Game Design & Scenario at the 2009 Korean Game Awards, organized by the Korea Game Industry Agency (KoGIA) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, AIKA Global is truly on the lead of the MMORPG battle of online warfare. On top of that, AIKA Global also takes pride in its state-of-the-art customer service and tremendous quality as the AIKA Global Service is directly handled by its developers. Players could then expect nothing but serious fun gaming.

Filipinos along with other gamers can hammer away with the game’s impressive content and comprehensive game control with minimum computer requirements. Players will also have a firsthand experience of the Pran system, considered a key feature of AIKA Global. The game promises 1000 versus 1000 epic wars which distinguishes it from all other MMOs. There are different kinds of battle modes to choose from such as Castle Sieges, Relic Wars and the Nation Wars that await the battle savvy. These are regular battles which will leave gamers coming back for more.

Global gamers are already all out in the field, exchanging blows, flaring up for victory. Filipinos are expected to blast and show international gamers what they are made of. Will Pinoys reign? Let’s find out in the game!! See you there!

Download the game today at http://aika.t3fun.com/Download/Client.aspx

How to Follow Twitter Users in Statusnet or Identi.ca

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Statusnet is a great place to follow people from different social networks. I posted how to do it for Google Buzz, Posterous, and Tumblr. But for those who want to follow Twitter users, below is the easiest way I know how

Follow Twitter users in Statusnet via Cliqset:

Go to http://cliqset.com and log in.
Click on "Explore"
Enter the name of the person or company you'd like to follow either in Cliqset or Google Buzz.* Or you can choose among the "Popular Users" list. (Ex: http://cliqset.com/scobleizer)
Copy the link to their Cliqset profile.
Go and log in to your Statusnet or Identi.ca account.
Look for "Subscriptions" and click on "Remote".
Paste the Cliqset link.
Click on Approve

*only users who have a Cliqset account can be followed

If you have other ways of following Twitter users in Statusnet or Identi.ca, feel free to post them below in the Comment section.

Allods Online PH has been confirmed!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:56:00 +0000

My guess was as good as I thought it was. Allods is coming to the Philippines!

“We are very excited to bring Allods Online to the country, and are confident that this title will take Filipinos to a whole new level of MMO gaming. Gone are the days of just hacking and slashing. The time of Astral warfare is now at hand.” says Level Up! Marketing Director and noted gaming blogger, Mon Macutay.

Allods Online, the biggest game project in Russian history which took $12 million to produce, features breathtaking graphics designed by artists honored at the prestigious global art competition, Dominance War; and a cinematic soundtrack by Mark Morgan.

With stunning visuals and a magnificent orchestral soundtrack inspired by classical, electronica, new age and tribal music – Allods Online guarantees to be a delightful explosion to the eyes and ears.

They just opened their site but has yet to provide any CBT date nor download link for the client. Most likely they will put it up there in a couple of days. Until then feel free to check out my posts on Allods Online.

Free to Play IS Pay to Win

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:52:00 +0000

There's been quite a lot of discussion on which is better: Pay to Play (P2P) or Free to Play (F2P). The P2P side is saying that it's nothing but Pay to Win just renamed as Free to Play. I tend to agree with them as for one needs to buy necessary requirements from the Item Mall (IM) to get the best equipment/fastest mount/strongest pet/exp modifier/best hp or mp pots/highest stats modifier.

Me and the Cave Troll go on a staring contest: Allods Intl CBT

The F2P side can say all they want, but unless thousands have reached the end game without paying one cent (without cheating that is) then we can safely say that F2P can be truly played from beginning to end game content.

There's nothing wrong with paying for IM items but what's wrong maybe what the devs or publishers place in there. For example, if one of the IM items for sale is an uber weapon in the game, then it's considered as a gamebreaking item. Balance between what's gamebreaking and not is like crossing a tightrope--if you give too much or too little the game will fail. Another thing to consider is the price: example would be the first time that Allods Online opened their IM--the prices were waaay too much! Imagine a bag costing $20! Obviously gPotato got a lot of flak over this and adjusted accordingly.

Paying does not only mean paying with money but also with time. For those who don't want to pay with money, they tend to grind more in-game to get equipment or items equivalent to those in the IM. In the end they will also pay more--either thru electrical bills or internet cafe time pay. This is where P2P players lose--they pay money AND time. Yes the game has better quality, but you still pay double for it somehow, at least with F2P you can play whenever you want and pay for IM items anytime as well.

Me in Lineage 2 SEA reaching 50

The payment goes to the devs and publishers. Money is the lifeblood of the any MMO game! So don't be afraid of getting marked as a PHPboy (a derogatory name for those who usually buy IM) as long as you enjoy the game. Pay to Win isn't so bad, most will hardly get to the end anyway.

One game ends, another begins

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:10:00 +0000

Taken from Allods Online International CBT

It wasn't too long ago that Philippine game publishers were adding new games at a rapid clip. It seems that these days they've developed a plan of closing one game and adding a new one a few weeks after. A good example would be eGames closing Supreme Destiny and opening the (ALSO currently closed) ZXOnline. With the addition of Allods Online into the Levelup Philippines list of MMORPGs, it looks like the cycle has been broken (IF Hello Kitty Online opens on Oct 2010).

It's all about the economy as I understand it. With the emergence of better internet speeds and connections, most Philippine MMO players are able to branch out into International gaming waters and are spending more time there than on local servers. This may mean that local game publishers are pretty much stuck with the number of game servers they have, cut out games that don't earn much anymore, and then look for games that will definitely have impact on local gaming (ex: Allods Online PH).

The community gets hurt if the transition from closed games to other games aren't done well. A great example of this would be what happened at ZXOnline where players who spent a lot there felt shafted when they were asked to transfer to Runes of Magic PH with a mediocre gift. This resulted in most players feeling betrayed and transferring to the International servers instead. Transferring characters to international servers would be detrimental to both Perfect World Entertainment and eGames and was not allowed--leaving the players to start from scratch either in Jade Dynasty or Runes of Magic PH. As far as I know ex-ZXO players didn't mind starting from scratch as long as the game publisher/developer is honest and stable.

Bye Alcarcalimo! Taken from Lineage 2 SEA

It's ok to be angry or sad that your fave MMO closes as there are other games (both locally and international) you can try out. Don't worry with what you spent as you already used most of it up when you played the game anyway (spent quite a lot with a P2P game that closed a few months ago as well).

Level Up Philippines new game is Allods Online?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:16:00 +0000

UPDATE: They just announced it. Go to Allods PH site now!

Just got news from a fellow guildmate regarding Level Up Philippine's newest MMORPG. Check out the vid below:

The ship at the end resembles the one seen on Allods Online!

Now the question is whether the game will have it's server in the Philippines or will it be part of Global Level-up. If it's the former, then it would be great news for PH MMORPG fans as this game had quite a following internationally. If it's the latter then it may have competition with Mobius as they too sell Gpotato Points. Personally, I'm hoping for the former.

Hoping to be part of the CBT soon!

ZXOnline Closes on August 13

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:00:00 +0000

eGames closes ZXOnline (Zhu Xian Online) on August 13 (Previously it was set to close July 31--giving notice of closing for only 5 days).

Reason for closing ZXOnline

Their reason? Their contract with Perfect World was terminated. It wasn't stated who wanted it terminated, whether it was Perfect World or eGames, but it doesn't matter now.

The announcement is stated below:

Due to this event, eGames has once again gone under the microscope. Based on the forums, a lot of players have been disheartened in playing in other eGames-published MMOs fearing that it may close as well. Although closing unsuccessful games are the norm in any business, the way they are closed means a lot to the players. It wasn't as bad as what happened to Lineage 2 SEA, but considering that ZXOnline hardly went over two years before it closed gives the gaming public suspect to the publisher's way of managing their games.

Massive exodus to Jade Dynasty

After reading the forums, the large consensus seems to be that instead of transferring to another eGames-powered MMO, they've decided to go to the international version: Jade Dynasty and play in the Billows server. No doubt this will be a boon to both the community and management over there as they will be receiving a lot of experienced players.

Perfect World PH: Tideborn Assassin Skills Translation

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Sanchez) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:13:00 +0000

So you've got your Perfect World PH Tideborn Assassin (Xi Shou) created and you're looking for a possible build in the Perfect World Intl Forums. Unfortunately, the skill names over there are different from the ones over here. Not to worry as I've done the work for you! All PWI skill names here are based on the ecatomb site.

PWI Skill	PW PH Skill
Twin Strike	Chain Strike
Slipstream Strike	Sinister Strike
Raving slash	Unpredictable Strikes
Deep Sting	Gouge
Rib Strike	Unbalancing Strike
Thoatcut	Strangling Strike
Earthen Rift	Land Mine
Shadow Walk	Stealth
Focused Mind	Diamond Warrior's Chant
Shadow Escape	Vanish
Bloodpaint	Thirst for Blood
Deaden Nerves	Cheat Death
Puncture Wound	Rupture
Wolf Emblem	Lethality
Knife Throw	Deadshot
Tacling Slash	Leglock
Chill of the Deep	Benthic Shards
Rising Dragon Strike	Focused Strikes
Tide Form	Aquatic Form
Windpush	Wind Rider
Shadow Jump	Shadowstep
Maze Steps	Chaotic Steps
Shadow Teleport	Hundred-pace Rush
Subsea Strike	Water-parting Strike
Headhunt	Execute
Power Dash	Remorseless Strike
Tidal Protection	Diamond Warrior's Chant
Inner Harmony	Adrenalin Rush
Dagger Devotion	Dagger Mastery
Sharp Observer	Sense Mastery
Cat-Like Tread	Stealth Mastery

I'll be making one for the Psychic (Wu Shih) in a few days.