Proving Grounds: Guild Wars 2- Beta Weekend Experience

As many of the MMO community already know, Guild Wars 2 was made available for pre-order last month. Along with pre-order came an opportunity for a beta weekend playable from April 27-29. On what many would consider an impulse buy, I pre-ordered the game just hours before it sold out digitally, and gained access to the beta with fist raised in the air. As some of the the podcast listeners might now, Dustin and I also had the first Geek Retreat the same weekend. We both holed ourselves up in his man cave and began a mystical journey of Geekdom. Watching movies and playing Guild Wars 2. The following article will very briefly overview my experience with the beta, and discuss the pros and cons of the highly anticipated 2012 MMORPG. Continue after the jump for my GW2 dissertation.

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Chrome Beta browser comes to Android

Well it has been a long time in coming, but the good-hearted fellows over at Google have released an official Chrome browser for their Android operating system.  I can personally say that it is the best browser I have used on a mobile device. Since its inception Android has tried tirelessly to defeat iOS's Safari, and with the exception of Flash plugins, they have always fallen short.  The native browser that shipped with Samsung's Galaxy Nexus was the best browser for Android to date, but today even that has been dethroned.  

Besides a fresh UI, Google is touting a new, more natural tab management interface, bookmark and tab synchronization with the desktop, support for incognito windows (this is Chrome, after all), and something called Link Preview that makes it easier to select the right link in a densely-populated area of a page. More on that in a bit.

Don't believe me? Go download it on the Android Market and see for yourself.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier Launch and Beta Dates, PC Announcement

Ubisoft today has announced the release date for their new Ghost Recon title, 'Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier', which will be released for Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 22, 2012 in the United States and May 24, 2012 in Europe. Ubisoft also announced today the plan to release Future Soldier at a later date on PC.

To prepare people for the game a beta will be launched at some point in April for fans to test the squad based shooter's multiplayer.

Tribes Ascend Beta Code Giveaway!!!!

Well, just as promised from the podcast today, we are having our first beta code giveaway.  You would think that when we get our hands on a beta code, we would keep it for ourselves, but no, we are giving it away!  The best news of all is, anyone can win! In order to be eligible to win, all you have to do is one simple thing...hop on over to iTunes and give our podcast a five star review.  That's it.  It's that simple.  We will announce the winner on the next podcast, so get on over and give us that review.  If you are not sure what Tribes: Ascend is, we have provided the trailer below after the break!

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iPhone 5,1 also found in iOS 5.1 beta code

Apple isn't just preparing for new iPads and Apple TVs with iOS 5.1, there's a new iPhone on the block too. Code strings from within the new beta of Apple's mobile OS have revealed an iPhone 5,1 codename, which falls right in line with the company's internal numbering scheme and represents the first evidence of the inevitable iPhone 5's arrival. Of course, some basic software support in a beta isn't exactly the most reliable of predictors as to how far out a device launch may be, but at least you now know that Apple's laying the foundations.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Beta test weekend 11/25

Recently every single account that had signed up for a chance to test TOR before 11/11/11 was sent an email confirming their place in an upcoming test. What BioWare didn't do, was tell the millions of fans when they would be able to test their up-and-coming MMORPG set in the Star Wars Universe. Minutes ago a tweet revealed that the biggest beta weekend in SWTOR history will take place during the weekend of November 25, if you have yet to sign up for the beta, codes are still available! get your code if you didn't recieve a beta test email from BioWare. Will you play Sith or Republic? Let us know in the comments, as well as how you like the TOR beta experience.

Oh How Far You've Come; A Minecraft Story.

It seems like just yesterday that I first watched my friend play Minecraft. "You're such a hipster," I had said to him as I gazed at this obscure game; however, I saw the appeal. It was engrossing. Now, about 2 years after that fateful day, Minecraft has sold over 4 million copies of the Beta. So to Notch, and Mojang, for establishing a Niche in the gaming community, and becoming rich off a beta, we here at The Geek Domain congratulate you.

-Kyler, Over and Out.

StarCraft:Universe MMO - Limited Release!

The community Mod add-on for StarCraft II:Wings of Liberty, called StarCraft: Universe is a World of Warcraft based MMO set in the Starcraft universe....And with Blizzcon tomorrow, its open to the public, at least till October 30, 2011.

The game is available on Battle.net to try out, so hurry up and get a test run in before the 30th! More news to follow as Blizzcon kicks off this weekend. Take a look at the games website for more info

iTunes Match getting close to launch?

While Apple launched iOS 5 and iCloud last week, the company pushed back the debut of its paid iTunes Match service in the United States until what they said would be the end of October. Apple appears to be moving closer to a launch of iTunes Match in the United States, as the Music section of the Settings app in iOS 5 has now gained a toggle for turning iTunes Match on and off. And with the end of October drawing near, a launch could be coming very soon.

   Settings before (left), and after (right). 

Battlefield 3: Beta stats

'Tribes: Ascend' Beta Date Announced

The stunning, OMFPS (Online Multiplayer First Person Shooter) Tribes: Ascend has been slated for a closed beta starting on November 4th 2011. Here is the trailer,

The game looks like Halo 3 on steroids. It is free-to-play, so sign up for the beta on Hi-rez studios website, keep your eyes on this one.

Battlefield 3 Beta: LAST DAY

Today marks the last day for the Battle Field 3 Beta.  Many people were excited, and disappointed with how the beta had turned out.  Even our very own Josh James complained the first day how the Xbox 360 servers were down.

The important thing to remember here though, is that the beta does not represent the final version of the game.  The good people of EA are still fine-tuning small features, which will surely make all the difference in the retail version of the game, to be released October 25, 2011

Follow the link to pre-order you very own copy of BF3,  and watch exciting clips of the beta.

Battlefield 3: Here's an Open Beta.......Not

Battlefield's open Beta launched for preorders earlier this week, and the open beta for the rest of us started today, well unless if you have an Xbox 360. The 360's servers have been down all day, and people are fuming! I was able to get in for a couple rounds before the servers went down and the bug's were reason enough for the servers to die. We had players flying through the air after vaulting an obstacle, or going prone and falling through the map. C'mon EA.

Bioware: Here's a Beta Key.......Not

Thursday night, 9/29/11 thousands of people received emails from BioWare regarding the Beta experience for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Two emails were sent, one thanking the participant for their testing and prompting them to take a survey comparing their testing to other beta tests in the past. The other prompting the user to pre-order the game to continue their experiences once the game goes live. It is important to realise that the emails were sent to addresses that WERE NOT invited to the beta. Those teases. It took BioWare 2 hours to respond, with the SWTOR website being down for most of those 2 hours. Nice PR, this might overshadow the release date announced last week!

Battlefield 3 Beta Opens Today!!

The Battlefield 3 beta opens today for those who pre-ordered the PC game through Origin, EA's digital distribution platform, and for those who purchased the Limited Edition of Medal of Honor.  Josh Will have a full review of this beta on our next podcast.

Keys, granting access to the beta, will be sent out by EA from early afternoon onwards. 

Gustav Halling, gameplay designer, had this to say:

Please don't ask about 'when do I get my email' etc.  We don't know, this is an automated system that sends a bunch out every hour starting around lunch today."

Keys will be sent out from "around 1pm-3pm CET on PC and Xbox 360," said Battlefield community manager Daniel Matros (12pm-2pm in the UK). 

If you don't have a code, you'll have to patiently wait for Thursday, 29 September, when the beta will go public. The beta will feature the map Operation Metro, and it will close on October 10. 

Battlefield 3 is out on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 25 in the US and October 28 in the UK. 

Diablo III Beta is now live!

Diablo III beta is now live as of 11:00am this morning and invites are being sent out to those of you who opted in via Battle.net. So keep checking your account for an invite to the world of Sanctuary.

Diablo 3 Press Event: B-Roll Video

Blizzard Entertainment provided the Diablo III Beta Press Event attendees a B-roll video showing all classes battling through Tristram and the Cathedral dungeon. The monsters targeted are slightly red-highlighted to identify which the player is attacking at a given time. Some of the changes made to certain spells and abilities modified by runes can be seen in this b-roll video.

Diablo 3 Press Event: Beta FAQ

Wondering how the beta for Diablo 3 will work? Read on to get all the frequently asked questions regarding the much anticipated beta!

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Say goodbye to Firefox 4, here comes 5

It seems that only a few weeks ago we were introduced to the stable release of Firefox 4 (although many of us were using it in beta for quite some time) and now Firefox 5 will be officially released this Tuesday, June 21.  However, if you are of the proactive type, you can get it now on Mozilla's ftp server.  Links to the latest build are below.  Enjoy!

Linux

Mac OSX

Windows