KartRider DASH - CBT Impressions

Back in 2007, Nexon US released an online racing game called Kart Rider, which featured an addictive mix between the wackiness of Mario Kart and the drift mechanics of Ridge Racer. Despite a fair amount of support, Nexon US closed down Kart Rider before it had a chance to launch in 2008. Even with several cries by fans for a full release, Nexon wasn’t willing to give anyone a straight answer.

Finally, after four years of silence, Nexon US is bringing Kart Rider back in the form of a free-to-play Facebook game. While it sounds like a smart move to ensure a large and active community, many of the features and charm that made Kart Rider such an amazing game were stripped away in the process.

Play Log - TERA (NA) - CBT5 Weekend

So this is it... The last CBT for TERA before we go live. This weekend was also pretty enjoyable compared to the last one, especially near the end of the CBT where players all over had parties over just about every corner of the world. More on this later.

Weekend started off with me finishing up the Sinestial Manor. As it turns out: last time while I was trying to record footage during the run, my recorder crapped out on me and took the TERA client down with it. When logged back in, I was still inside the dungeon, but the story quest status got completely negated and I had to do the run all over again. Luckily I was able to find another group and we cleaned house pretty quickly.

Play Log - TERA (NA) - CBT4 Weekend

(For those that want to get into the CBT for TERA (NA) this weekend, take a peek into this post and grab one! Just do me a small favor and post a comment stating which key you've used. First come, first serve.) All keys used up!

It's time for another one of my oh-so-exciting play logs for TERA (Now with slightly less tl;dr and more ACTION!)

I recently downloaded Bandicam to record in-game footage since I wasn't too fond of using FRAPS and how it fills up my HDD when recording raw footage. I just loved how Bandicam cant take Hi-Res footage while keeping the file sizes down to a minimum, so I'm never going back to FRAPS again! Now with the inclusion of videos, I hope this will make my logs more enjoyable for you readers (yes, all five of you.)

I also got Sony Vegas from my college bookstore for cheap to do some video editing, but I'm currently having trouble rendering my current videos, although I have no problem rendering videos using Windows Live Movie Maker and it seems to work well enough for what I need, so I'm sticking with that for now until figure out how to use Sony Vegas properly.

Now then... This CBT weekend was my favorite one so far. En Masse hosted an event where players could find treasure chests spread across the game world, and inside those chests: Clothing Dyes!

Phantasy Star Online 2 - Character Creator

SEGA just released the character creator for their upcoming PSO2. I haven't jumped into creating any characters yet, but one interesting feature of the character creator is that it also doubles as a benchmark program. The benchmark shows off two environments, one each playable races, and a slew of enemies piling up on screen. The engine really isn't pushing any boundaries. A lot of textures look plain and low-res in manly places. The music that plays during the benchmark sounds terrific, so many sure you turn up your speakers.

For those that want to try out the character creator:

Official link: http://download.pso2.jp/PSO2_CC.zip
Mirror: http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012075/20120330045/link.html?http://file.4gamer.net/demo/PSO2_Chara_Create_Trial_V1_00.zip

Links and client are all in Japanese, so you may have to seek some guidance on how to install and use it properly.

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)Will post shots of my created characters later on.) 

War Inc. Battlzone - Interview

Currently in Open Beta and showing lots of promise, War Inc. Battle Zone is a free-to-play third person shooter. Set in a not so distant future, War Inc. Battle Zone promises to include a ton of features you would not find in any retail war shooter, but without the retail asking price.

I got a chance to chat with the fellas at Online Warmongers Group Inc. to find out more.