Diablo III - Online Only & Cash Accepted!

News is spreading that Blizzard has made some very fundamental changes to Diablo III. I saw the news on both Slash Gear, as well as Daily Tech.

Online Only

The 1st impactful change will be that Diablo III can only be played online. This is a big departure from the previous Diablo games, where gamers could play their Diablo on a standalone, and the multi-player / online mode is optional. Thus Diablo III is the new 'World of Warcraft'? So is it going to be subscription based, or a one time payment much like Guild Wars? MMORPG wasn't how Diablo started but now Blizzard would make it so. Blizzard's Executive VP, Rob Pardo cited a number of reasons, including game piracy and character persist-ency benefits. 

I am not sure if this will appear to Diablo fans.  If I want to play MMORPG, I could stick with World of Warcraft, which I am already paying for, instead of a new Diablo III. The fun of tinkling with the characters, and different mods to see the super-duper items will no longer be possible. There will of course be the pressure of leveling up and competing for gears in a 'MMORPG' like environment for Diablo III.

A further search on Blizz Planet indicates that Diablo III is likely a one time off payment and no monthly subscription is needed. Of course, one will need to pay for further expansions, which were the case for previous Diablo games anyway.

Real-world Cash Accepted

The other impactful change is the introduction of real-money option to buy / sell loot in Diablo III's Auction House. If real money option is used, Blizzard will charge an actual listing fee, and a subsequent fixed transaction fee when item is sold.

Wow, that is like legalising 'gold farmers' in Diablo III. I am sure there will be plenty of gold farmers who hunt in areas where precious loot drops. Now the trade is actually legal when the loot is sold. Add a PVP element and I am sure the game play will not be as enjoyable. So I want to play Diablo III, I better play the game in group, where I have buddies who look after my back before I am being muscled out by gold farmers.

I understand the commercial reasons that persuaded Blizzard to adopt these changes, but as a gamer, I am not sure if I can appreciate the new Diablo III. O.k., I may have over-reacted to the news, and maybe Blizzard will introduce certain limitations and flexibility that continues to make Diablo III fun. We will see when we actually get to play the game - launch date remains unknown.

See related:
- The Weekend before Hell - Diablo III release

Expiring Playfish Cash - 31st July 2011

For those who have received the free Playfish cash last year, you would have receive a reminder email that the Playfish Cash is expiring by 31st July 2011. I received the email about 1 month ago, and the alert included this picture:

So if there are players who do not check the emails (or didn't give the emails to Playfish), these players might miss out the chance to use these Playfish Cash over the next few days. I wasn't very active in the various Playfish promotion and thus I only have 2 Playfish Cash. Folks who played the Hotel City and leveled up to 25 within the promotion period last year could have up to 10 Playfish Cash. I didn't have anything in particular to 'buy' and thus I just opted for a decorative item (Cup of Flames) for the Restaurant City.

Tiny Tower Update 1.2.1

Tiny Tower has released its new update yesterday. This new update has provided a few more perks for the Tiny Tower players. The most obvious one is to increase the probability that lift riders tip Bux for the players. Well by now the Tiny Tower players will have known the importance of Bux to the game play - increase coins, instant sock re-stock, find new Bitizens etc.

But there are also other useful perks from Tiny Tower 1.2.1. The ability to sort Bitizens will make it a lot easier for re-assignment of Bitizens to the correct shops. Often, when we get new Bitizens, we have to compare their usefulness before we decide to keep or evict them. Now these comparisons can be made wih a touch of the button, and the Bitizens will be sort according to their rank points in each of the category, or according to their 'happiness'.

Just in case this has not occur to the players of Tiny Tower, the ability to rename shops will actually take away some pain for players when they need to find a particular Bitizen. Often times, the similarity of looks between Bitizens consume much precious time to find them. Now, players can just rename the shops, e.g. use the initials of the 3 Bitizens manning the shops (or other short forms) and viola, the Bitizens can be found, even when they are 'hiding' by the right side of the shops.

I was sort of hoping that Nimblebits can improve the interactivity between players of Tiny Tower in its updates. Perhaps there could be some form of competition (other than achievements and rankings) or even collaboration (e.g. can I lend coins to other Tiny Tower players, in exchange for interest?) that will encourage me to add friends to the Tiny Tower game. Well next time I guess.

Related posts:

- Tiny Tower Achievements

- iPhone Tiny Tower - Shops & Stocks
- Tiny Tower - Diary of a Bitizen

Tiny Tower Achievements

One of the fun part of playing a 'farming' game like Tiny Tower is the list of 'Achievements' within the game. From the Game Centre, there is a list of about 47 Tiny Tower Achievements (see list below). I've only had 6 achievements in Tiny Tower so far.

1. Triskaidekaphobia: Build 13 floors. (10 pts)  Done
2. First Quarter: Build 25 floors. (30 pts)  Done
3. Five Oh: Build 50 floors. (50 pts) Done 20 July
   
4. Cloud Topper: Build 100 floors. (100 pts)

1. Tiny Village: Have 15 residents. (10 pts)  Done
2. Tiny Town: Have 50 residents. (30 pts)  Done
3. Tiny City: Have 100 residents. (50 pts) Done
   

1. Pizza Roll: Fully stock a Pizza Place & Bakery. (10 pts)
2. Funny Money: Fully stock a Comedy Club & Bank. (10 pts)
3. Sub Par: Fully stock a Sub Shop & Mini Golf. (10 pts)
4. Say Cheese: Fully stock a Dentists Office & Photo Studio. (10 pts)
5. iGlass: Fully stock a Mapple Store & Glass Studio. (10 pts)
6. Dance Fever: Fully stock a Night Club & Doctors Office. (10 pts)
7. Book Worm: Fully stock a Book Store & Plant Nursery. (10 pts)
8. Field Trip: Fully stock a Tutoring Center & Museum. (10 pts)
9. Fish Tacos: Fully stock an Aquarium & Mexican Food. (10 pts)
10. Blockbuster: Fully stock a Cineplex & Video Rental. (10 pts)
11. Keep Rollin: Fully stock a Bike Shop & Bowling Alley. (10 pts)
12. Something's Brewin: Fully stock a Coffee House & Soda Brewery. (10 pts) Done (11 July)
    
13. Bar Fight: Fully stock a Pub & Martial Arts. (10 pts)
14. Fortune Cookie: Fully stock a Fortune Teller & Asian Cuisine. (10 pts)  Done
15. Decked Out: Fully stock a Mens Fashion & Hat Shop. (10 pts)
16. Fashionista: Fully stock a Fashion Studio & Womens Fashion. (10 pts)
17. Nerd Alert: Fully stock a Comic Store & Arcade. (10 pts)
18. Stellar Record: Fully stock a Planetarium & Record Shop. (10 pts)
19. Dirty Laundry: Fully stock a Laundromat & Private Eye. (10 pts)
20. Desserted: Fully stock a Cake Studio & Scoops. (10 pts)
21. Cold Medicine: Fully stock a Frozen Yogurt & Pharmacy. (10 pts)
22. Spike in Sales: Fully stock a Volleyball Club & Ad Agency. (10 pts)
23. Fat Quarter: Fully stock a Health Club & Fabric Shop. (10 pts)
24. Cut an Album: Fully stock a Barber Shop & Recording Studio. (10 pts)
25. Bet the Pot: Fully stock a Casino & Pottery Studio. (10 pts)
26. Printer Ink: Fully stock a Print & Ship & Tattoo Parlor. (10 pts)
27. Green Screen: Fully stock a Vegan Food & Film Studio. (10 pts)
28. Joystick Junkie: Fully stock a Game Studio & Game Store. (10 pts)
29. R&R: Fully stock a Day Spa & Travel Agency. (10 pts) Done (11 July)
    
30. Oakinawa: Fully stock a Wood Shop & Sushi Bar. (10 pts) Done (20 July)
    
31. Tea Square: Fully stock a Tea House & Architect Office. (10 pts)
32. Code Freeze: Fully stock a Software Studio & Smoothie Shop. (10 pts)
33. Please Be Seated: Fully stock a Theatre & Wedding Chapel. (10 pts)
34. An Eye for Art: Fully stock a Optometrist & Art Studio. (10 pts)
35. Burger Bytes: Fully stock a Sky Burger & Cyber Cafe. (10 pts)
36. Designer Shoes: Fully stock a Graphic Design & Shoe Store. (10 pts)  Done
37. Musical Chairs: Fully stock a Music Store & Furniture Store. (10 pts)
38. Nice Shot: Fully stock a Paintball Arena & Racquetball. (10 pts)
39. Rags to Riches: Fully stock a Diner & Fancy Cuisine. (10 pts)
40. Amusements: Fully stock a Toy Store & Tech Store. (10 pts)

Judging from the list, that means I can build about 80 different stores? That means I will need 80 x 3 Bitizens which translate to 48 (80 x 3 / 5) floors of Residential levels. So I guess it is Tiny Tower - Game Complete upon hitting a total of 1 Lobby + 48 Residentials + 80 Stores = 129 levels. Wow, 129 levels in Tiny Tower!

See also:

- iPhone Tiny Tower - Shops & Stocks
- Tiny Tower Update 1.2.1
- Tiny Tower - Diary of a Bitizen 

iPhone Tiny Tower - Shops & Stocks

Tiny Tower is a big hit on the iPhone apps store, and I am sure many gamers out there have already read reviews or even try the game out. Well, an addictive game is what one would expect from NimbleBit, who developed the Pocket Frogs.

For those gamers who are playing Tiny Tower, I've compiled a list of the shops (non exhaustive), and more importantly, the snapshots of the stocks in the shops. By now, those who are playing the game would know the importance of the stocks (stocking time and quantity) on coins and level  / VIP management. Using a Big Spender VIP on shops with a large quantity of stocks will help to earn coins much faster. .

Food - Asian Cuisine, Coffee House, Scoops, Sub Shop, Sushi Bar

Service - Barber Shop, Day Spa, Fortune Teller, Health Club, Laundromat,

Recreation - Arcade, Bowling Alley, Comedy Club, Night Club, Planetarium, Racquetball

Retail - Bike Shop, Furniture Store, Game Store, Hat Shop, Shoe Store, Toy Store

Creative - Graphic Design, Photo Studio, Soda Brewery

I'm not sure how many different stores there are in Tiny Tower, but gauging from the unsatisfied dream jobs of the Bitizens, I'm quite sure there are many other shops. Well, when I have more levels in Tiny Tower with more shops, perhaps I can update this blog post again.

See also:
- Tiny Tower Achievements
- Tiny Tower Update 1.2.1
- Tiny Tower - Diary of a Bitizen 

ICANN - Singapore & New Domain Names

The ICANN meeting had ended in Singapore last week, and the decisions made in this little island nation would have great impact on our global village.

The biggest impact is the introduction of new domain names, both the internationalised versions and more importantly the new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains). Currently there are about 22 gTLDs, which include .com, .net, .org, .gov etc. Internet users are well used to such gTLDs in additional to country specific TLDs, e.g. .sg, .uk and so on.

The introduction of new gTLDs will have great consequences for Internet users. Primarily the concerns will be:

Confusion & Security Issues

Internet users will need to be accustomed with the new gTLDs when websites offer their services under the new gTLDs. There will be confusion. For example, should Yahoo obtain their own .yahoo domain, should an Yahoo email user in Singapore give his email as xxx@yahoo.com.sg (which is the current situation) or xxx@yahoo or would there be new variants e.g. xxx@mail.yahoo? These different variants will create possibilities for phishing scams if the websites do not manage their consumer education properly.

Intellectual Property - Trademark & such

Beyond security, there will be trademark issues between websites with confusingly similar names. While this issue exists currently, the magnitude is amplified when companies in different countries have to 'fight' for their trademark in the new gTLDs arena. These companies may be contented with their current country specific domain names, but they will have issues when the gTLDs are introduced. Don't believe me? Try typing in flower.com, flower.com.sg, flower.com.my, flower.co.uk and you will go to websites of different companies. If they are all fighting for the .flower gTLDs, who should ICANN give this domain to? 

Thus, would ICANN be the WIPO equivalent for Internet domain names, i.e. setting trademark equivalent framework for domain names? Interesting...

Costs for the new gTLDs

Of course, the issues above will not be apparent for the next couple of years. The reason is simple - cost. ICANN has set very high entry barrier for anyone to apply for the new gTLDs. The first step for ICANN to evaluate the application of gTLDs will be a whopping USD$185,000. Anyone who want their own new gTLDs will of course have to spend more than that amount overall. Thus I believe only limited number of companies will embark on this new route within the next few years. By 'limited' on a global basis, perhaps we are looking at a few hundreds in year 1.

Well, what will the new domain names be? For a start I believe Google, Yahoo, Apple, Nokia, IBM and other companies in the technology space will clamour for the new bragging rights. We will all know by 2012, when ICANN opens the application period (Jan to Apr 2012) for the new gTLDs.

Trade Nations - Building a Citadel without using Magic Beans

The Citadel is the latest 'castle' building in the Trade Nations game. It is also the most resource consuming building to build in the game so far! The option to build the Citadel is made available once the player reaches level 30 in the Trade Nations. However, it took me a long period (about 3 game levels) to accumulate the resources sufficient to build this enormous building.

A player will need 500,000 gold, 50,000 lumber, 75000 cut stones and 30,000 cloth to build the citadel. Of course, there is much satisfaction (and also experience to level up in Trade Nations) once the Citadel is built. I leveled up to 34 immediately upon building the Citadel. It is fun to see the little red Citadel icon when I logged into the Trade Nations.

I built the citadel without using any magic beans, and the solution is quite simple actually. Just build a lot of 'Large Stockpile' to store all the necessary resources. Whenever there are any excesses, just sell them (when the price is right) in the market. Activate the magic tower to accelerate the resource accumulation in the mean time. 

So yupz, the Citadel is yours to have soon enough in Trade Nations. Hopefully they don't introduce yet another mega building - I need time to replenish my resources and complete the other interesting buildings.

See also:

- iPad - Trade Nations: Review & Guide Part 1

- iPad - Trade Nations: Review & Guide Part 2
- Trade Nations 3.3 - Far East Additions