Square Reveals Heroes Of Ruin

The 3DS lineup has been short on RPGs, but that'll change with the release of Square Enix's Heroes of Ruin. The game has been developed specifically for the platform, which means that it will take full advantage of what the 3DS can offer, beyond the obvious inclusion of 3D visuals.

“Using the Nintendo 3DS’ StreetPass and SpotPass functionality, Heroes of Ruin  will offer extensive multiplayer elements,” said Mona Hamilton, VP of marketing and public relations, Square Enix, Inc. “We hope to create a community of Heroes of Ruin fans who play well beyond the single-player campaign and experience the story in completely new ways.”

One of those ways is through a Traders' Network, which uses the StreetPass to let players buy and sell excess loot. On the SpotPass front, adventurers who access special Wi-Fi hotspots will be able to snag special items and unique challenges. Daily challenges will also be offered through the game's community website.

Square Enix says that Heroes of Ruin will support drop-in/drop-out co-op. It'll be playable at next week's E3, so check back then for our hands-on impressions.

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First Details And Trailer For Metro: Last Light

                               

Metro 2033 was a game with flaws. It was also a game that I love unapologetically despite those flaws. Luckily, Ukrainian developer 4A Games is getting a second shot at the license with the newly re-titled Metro: Last Light. I got my first look at the sequel in action last month, and it’s already shaping up to be a major improvement.

Picking up shortly after the end of 2033, Last Light steps away from the series of books that the original was based on to forge its own story, though author Dmitry Glukhovsky is still heavily involved with creating the plot. THQ isn’t saying much about the story yet, but I’ve been told that protagonist Artyom is now a full-fledged member of the Rangers and is still traveling with Khan, one of his companions from the first game. In the levels I saw, the duo was sneaking into some underground territory held by the Reich, the neo-Nazi regime terrorizing certain regions of the Metro in 2033.

This objective provided a great opportunity for THQ to show off the improved stealth mechanics, a major complaint from the first game. Enemy AI is being improved in many ways, although human opponents will also follow more recognizable patterns, making stealth approaches less frustrating. According to Metro global brand manager Mark Madsen, 4A Games is not dumbing the game down at all, just "[communicating] the ideal path to players."

Stealth will also be improved with the addition of several new abilities for Artyom. If a lightbulb, candle, or other light source is close enough, players will be able to interact with it, causing Artyom to reach out and silently extinguish the light. On the other side of the spectrum, he will now carry a lighter that he can use to set flammable objects on fire. In the demo, some wooden boxes quickly picked up the flame, which spread naturally through the environment, distracting the panicked guards and allowing Artyom to sneak up behind them for some stealth kills.

After working through this introductory sequence, Artyom and Khan found themselves in the midst of a giant crowd of Reich soldiers in a huge, banner-filled hallway. On the opposite end, a Reich leader is giving a rousing speech that the crowd responds to with terrifying shouts. The duo does their best to blend in with the crowd and slowly push their way through, but it’s no use. They’re spotted and the tense, world-building moment bursts into a fast-paced chase through the fascist settlement.

As with the best moments of Metro 2033, one set piece bled directly into the next, as Artyom and Khan ended up on a mine cart, speeding alongside a Reich train. With Khan at the controls of the cart, he screamed at Artyom that he must jump. The prisoner they’re looking to rescue was apparently on board the train. As the cart pulled closer, Artyom made a death-defying leap, barely making it onto the speeding locomotive.

As he worked through each car of the train, taking out a slow stream of enemies, Artyom showed off another important new feature of Last Light: detailed environmental destruction. If you choose to go the route of running and gunning, as I did in the original game, you’ll be aided by the ability to blow holes in walls, floors, ceilings, and any cover standing between you and your opponents. Likewise, the armor that is equipped by certain enemies will now have individually modeled panels that can be shot off, exposing weak points to help you take them down.

If you’re like me and loved Metro 2033, Last Light looks like it will provide plenty more of that game’s style of memorable linear action. If you ignored 2033 or found yourself frustrated with its shortcomings, the sequel’s increased development time may help it live up to the franchise’s full potential. Check out the first teaser trailer below, and be sure to read the upcoming July issue of Game Informer for an expanded preview with new, exclusive details.

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PSN Fully Restored This Week

Sony says that all of PSN's services will be back up and running this week, including the PlayStation Store.

In a press release on Sony's official blog, the company says that PSN's functions will be fully operational in all territories – including Japan – "by the end of the week."

This includes previously down services like:

• Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
• In-game commerce
• Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
• Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs
• Full functionality on Media Go

Sony had previously stated that PSN would be fully operational by the end of May.

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Learn The Game : DotA part III Lane Control

Goals of The Laning Phase

Your goals in laning are not very deep: get money, get experience. Pretty simple ideas, right? That's why I do anything in real life and dota is no different. So lets get right to it.

Experience
In order to gain experience, you must be within a certain range when a creep or hero dies (1000 range). If another allied hero is also in range, you split the experience equally (which is why a solo lane will typically be a higher level than dual lanes). As you gain experience, you will level up and your abilities will get much more powerful.

Since your opponents are often trying to kill you (that is, deprive you of money and experience), it is often smarter to take charge and do that to them BEFORE they get the chance to do it to you, thus allowing you to gain experience and money without restriction.

Money
In order to get money (in addition to the gold accrued every second – a relatively slow source of income) you must get creep kills in lane. When you get the last hit on an enemy creep, you get an additional amount of gold that would otherwise have gone to another teammate (if they get the last hit) or to no one (if your allied creeps get the last hit or the enemy denies the creep).

Both of these ideas goals are very straightforward. Accomplishing these goals, however, with your opponent trying to maximize his money and experience becomes a little bit more difficult. There are a lot of things that must be considered in order to widen the gap between your income/experience gain and your opponent's income/experience gain. First of all, I will address the universal ideas that hold for (pretty much) every hero.


Golden Rule of Laning
- If you manage to stay in your lane longer than your opponent, you will widen the EXP gap between the two of you and likely the money gap will follow suit.

-- This is the central idea to all aspects of laning. If you maximize this gap during laning, you set yourself up for excellent chances of winning further along in the game. If you fall behind your opponent in these areas, prepare for an uphill climb. I will reference this point in most sections.

Harassing – weakening your opponent without the immediate intent to kill

How To
Harassing is a pretty important topic in lane control. Some heroes, however, won't be able to harass as effectively as others. Melee heroes have an obvious disadvantage when you consider “creep agro.” Creep agro is the aggression of creeps (to attack your hero) based on your actions or position. The creep has AI designed such that if you issue an attack command on an enemy hero (either by a + left-clicking or right-clicking by itself) the creeps will attack you. The serves as a form of anti-harassment, so to speak, and you can lose a lot of health if you are not careful. There are some ways to get around this.

If you position yourself far from the creeps before attacking the enemy hero, the creeps will have to walk further to get to you and you can retreat before they are able to damage you much. This is ranged heroes often have an easier time in lane. They do not have to be right next to the opponent (and creeps) in order to attack unlike their melee counterparts.

Another more unique form of harassing is using arrow skills, such as those on Drow, Viper or Clinkz. The creeps react to these skills like they do normal spells, that is they do not draw aggression (must be manually cast, however). This is a nice way to get in extra attacks without causing yourself to lose health from creep aggression.


When?
When should you harass? Not all the time. Some times you must play a bit more passively and simply stay for experience. If, however, you are laned with a melee hero that is relatively item dependent, it is often a good idea to harass so that person will be able to contend for last hits. If you don't make this effort, the other team will be able to harass your heroes and force you to lose some last hits and possibly experience.

What about in a solo lane against another solo? Harassing here is a bit safer since they will often lack the power to kill you by themselves (unlike dual stun lanes, for example). In this case, however, you are not contending with a teammate (or trying to support one) for last hits. This means that if there is a last hit available and you elect to harass the opponent, the money from that last hit does not go to your team. Wasted money is no good.

If you are in a solo lane vs two opponents, it is much more dangerous to harass (depending on the opposing lane, of course, as some are much more dangerous than others). Many times in this situation being content with some last hits and gaining EXP is best. Some heroes can “harass” in these more difficult lanes through use of certain spells and also get last hits. Some examples include Death Prophet's Carrion Swarm (timing the cast to hit heroes and get a last hit or two), Zeus's Arc lightning and Leshrac's Lightning storm.

Some ideas to keep in mind possibilities for offensive lanes

• At least one hero should have a targetable stun or slow. This serves two important purposes: 1) damages the enemy hero; and 2) inhibits movement. Unlike strictly AoE spells, these do not miss and allow for nice combos with other spells.

• At least 1 ranged hero. Two melee hero lanes does not allow for much last hitting (or any offensive tactics while the spells are on cooldown or you have insufficient mana) and are generally forced to be passive due to the harassing edge the enemy will have.

• Cooperative teammates. This is perhaps the most important one of all. If you and your lanemate are not on the same page regarding aggression, there is no way you can expect to dominate a lane. If he is passive, how well are you going to fare when you jump into the fray as he calmly last hits creeps? Probably not very well. "Why didn't you go on that guy?" Communicate beforehand to avoid any problems.

• Last Hitting/Denying
  
  Base damage and attack animation are the two biggest concerns here. If you have higher base damage than the opponent, you will be able to kill the creep at a slightly earlier time than your opponent. You can increase your base damage by purchasing stat items (which you should probably be doing anyways) of your hero's class. These are often the best choice for starting items as they help your last hitting and can be built into useful items later. No, boots do NOT boost your starting damage!
  
  Attack animation
  
  Again in this category not all heroes are created equal. Have you tried laning as Crystal Maiden against a competent Sniper? Getting last hits and denies is pretty difficult. This is due to the attack animations of the characters and each hero has a unique one. This is something that you simply must play with and get used to as some people have an easier time than others with certain heroes. Generally, faster projectiles (Sniper and Troll Warlord for examples) are easier to last hit with than slower ones (Crystal Maiden, Lina).
  
  To solo or not to solo - that is the question
  
  Advantages - The Golden Rule strikes again

  • No competition for gold amongst lane partners (not a problem with disciplined babysitters but those people probably won't be reading this!)

    
    If you have a lane to yourself, you do not have to compete with an ally for last hits. This is mostly a good thing as every creep can only be killed once yielding one bounty. It is for this same reason that putting two item dependent heroes in the same lane is a bad idea, as they compete for farm.

  
  
  • Jump in experience
    
    If you are laning by yourself, you do not share the experience with another hero leaving you with all of the experience to advance in levels. This can be useful for a carry hero or a ganker. With a ganker, it is a strong advantage to have high level nukes so that your ganks in other lanes are successful (for example, a level 8/9 Tinker does 561 or so damage with laser/rocket to one hero and 241 to another - if the lane you are ganking is level 5/6 the 561 is probably a LARGE chunk of their HP)

  • Pulling
    "Pulling" is when you tick off a neutral camp and get it to follow you to your creeps who then fight with you to kill the neutral camp. This is covered in more detail here but basically allows you to deprive the enemy of some experience (since your creeps are not near them) and also gives you a chance at farm that you otherwise would not have had.
    
    Importance of Ganks
    Ganking is one of the best means of hurting the enemy team and it is very important to organize ganks to kill the enemy carry. At this stage of the game (lanes have maybe broken down a bit, some towers have fallen, etc.) you need to find the enemy carry and kill him. The golden rule still applies but now there are other considerations - namely the farm/exp for a team's carry has a lot more value than the farm/exp of a support hero. If you must sacrifice some farm for your team's support heroes while limiting the enemy carry, this is a fine outcome. At the same time, your carry is of great importance (and target of enemy ganks).
    
    Importance of TP Scrolls
    Teleport scrolls are extremely important in saving teammates and towers (namely ganks/counterganks and teamfights at towers) since they allow you to be there almost instantly.

    • Ganks: teleport into an opposing lane (preferably when the enemy cannot see you TPing in) and gank the enemy team with a certain hero advantage.
    
    
    • Counterganks: come quickly to help your teammates when the enemy starts to get close to your tower. You will often be able to use the enemy's aggression against them and get a kill for your team instead.
    
    
    • Teamfights at towers: if you have something to contribute to a teamfight, you had better be there for your team if it will make a difference in the outcome of the fight.

    
    
    Knowing your opponents and their tendencies and abilities
    This develops over time and is not as useful if you are not playing against the same people all the time, but it helps to know how aggressive your opponent is. Are they content to sit back and farm or will they consistently tower dive if there is even a chance of killing you? These sort of traits about the opponent dictate how you should lane. Try to piece together everything you know about your opponent (the hero AND the player) so that you are prepared for whatever they decide to do.

Check Out The Gears Of War 3 Campaign Trailer

The newest look at Gears of War 3 hit the internet today in the form of a campaign trailer. Set to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," it shows our resilient protagonists Marcus and Dom (and some new faces) going to war against the locusts. Prepare to see a bunch of bugs, guns, and things 'splodin.


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Final Fantasy V Is Heading To PSN

RPG fans can look forward to an unspecified date in the future, as Final Fantasy V is heading to Playstation Network. The news was revealed thanks to an ESRB listing, and it'll be coming to both Playstation 3 and PSP.

FFV will be joining the previously-announced FFVI and Chrono Trigger.

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Google StreetView Comes To Liberty City

Google StreetView is a pretty sweet feature that lets you swoop down on a map for a street-level view, and it's come to GTA IV's Liberty City. Some big fans over at gta4.net have stitched together approximately 80,000 screenshots to make this possible, and it's close to covering every nook and cranny of the giant city.

"There's around 3,000 separate panoramas which were stitched together from almost 80,000 in-game screenshots (captured with a script) and the final set of tiles consist of over a million images," says Adam from the site. Impressive work from a dedicated group of fans. Even more impressive is the fact that the Google StreetView vehicle didn't get carjacked on those dangerous streets.

Playstation Network Service Restored In Japan

While we've been enjoying the restoration of PSN's service for a while now, Japan was left in the dark a little longer. However, the service is back up and running in Sony's home country, as announced by Kaz Hirai.

It's nice to see the online landscape returning to normal. Now get back to playing your Mortal Kombats and your Portals online, or whatever you kids do.

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Obama Receives The Witcher 2 From Polish Prime Minister

President Barack Obama is touring Europe this week, and he received a pretty awesome gift as he swung through Poland. Prime Minister Donald Tusk presented the Commander-in-Chief with the collector's edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, developed in the country.

With the birth certificate nonsense over and Osama bin Laden dead, I'd say the President has earned some quality gaming time.

Minecraft Patch 1.6.4

Yesterday Notch released the 1.6.4 patch for Minecraft wich includes LOTS of bug fixes and cool new stuff like trapdoors,maps and the long, looong, awaited nether that works in minecraft multiplayer... Oh and Notch also added tall grass in some biomes wich is now the ONLY way to get seeds hoeing a block of dirt will no longer give you seeds also now mushrooms spread (very slowly) in darkish areas like shadows from trees. And yet another good thing you dont have to worry of litting a tree with flint and steel and the fire spreading across the whole world now the fire will spread a certain amount of time/blocks. Notch also fixed a couple of single player and multiplayer bugs.

It is nice that he released this long awaited patch and I hope the next one comes faster.

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House Of The Dead Overkill Comes To PS3 With HD Graphics, Bonus Content

House Of The Dead: Overkill was an important title for the Wii. Not only did it feature the fast-paced, over-the-top action Sega’s arcade shooter franchise is known for, but it provided one of the few M-rated experiences the family-oriented console had. Today Sega announced that a new extended cut will be heading to the PS3 with plenty of added content.

The most significant upgrade to the game will surely please fans of the original: remastered HD graphics. But crisper visuals aren’t the only thing that’s new; the extended cut will add two exclusive levels to Overkill’s original seven, along with new enemies and an explosive crossbow weapon. The game is designed for PlayStation Move and will support the Sharp Shooter peripheral.

Online leaderboards and Trophy support will also be provided, plus a new hardcore mode and modes that limit the player to one weapon. The host of new additions should give players who have yet to experience Agent G’s expletive-laden adventure plenty of reasons to try it out.

The House Of The Dead: Overkill Extended Cut will be available on October 25.


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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops Details Surface

You can't deny its popularity, but Call of Duty multiplayer is not for everyone. Many people buy the games for the short and sweet single-player campaigns, and would rather challenge their skills in Spec Ops challenges than suffer through the verbal lashings and ultra-quick trigger fingers that define the average COD multiplayer match. Activision recognizes the apprehension to jump online, and hopes to offer more replay value for these gamers with Modern Warfare 3's revamped Spec Ops mode.

"There's such hardcore players out there in the online community and you hear all the stories about (youngsters) swearing and ruining the experience," Michael Condrey of Sledgehammer Games told the USA Today. "With Spec Ops, you can really get in there and hone your skills in a more confined environment. I think it's a little more of an easy entry. I don't have as much time as I did when I was 20 to be honing my twitch skills, but this certainly gives me a venue to experiment."

According to the USA Today, co-developers Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games are beefing up the Spec Ops mode with online matchmaking, leaderboards, and a separate progression system from multiplayer. The centerpiece of the renovation, however, is a new Horde-like Survival mode that takes place on the multiplayer maps.

As you would expect, players face off against unlimited waves of increasingly difficult enemies. The map USA Today played, called Dome, featured a "Cold War-era desert radar command bunker" and some creative new enemies like suicide bomber dogs that explode a few seconds after you put them down. When the waves become too much to suppress with your assault rifle, you can use in-game currency to purchase defensive enhancements like turrets.


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Sony Still Unclear On Extent Of Security Breakdown In Latest Letter To Congress

If you're still trying to work out all the details of what happened with the PlayStation Network security breach over the last month or so, you're not alone: Apparently Sony is still piecing things together as well according to a recent update submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.

Giant Bomb has the full letter from Sony's Kaz Hirai, which apologizes for Sony's failure to appear before the committee in person and explains essentially that Sony has not made much progress in neither identifying the culprits responsible for the security breach nor figuring out for sure whether or not credit card data of users was compromised. Says Hirai:

"We have not yet identified the individual or individuals responsible for the actual intrusion and breach into our systems. We are continuing to work with the FBI to apprehend those responsible."

Elsewhere in the letter, Hirai says Sony has not recovered "forensic or circumstantial" evidence of credit card information being stolen from PlayStation Network.

Meanwhile, Gamasutra reports that Sony Network Entertainment president Tim Schaff will appear before the subcommittee next week to answer questions about the security breach. It's good that Sony is taking that step. Let's hope he has some more substantial answers by then.

DotA:Learn The Game Part 2 Jungling

Today i will tell you some secrets about Neutral creeping known as Jungling

Neutral creeping in general refers to fighting one of the neutral camps at any point in the

game, but for this article I will talk about neuting from level 1.

This strategy is quite powerful if you know what you are doing, so some practice is in order.

General Information

- The first wave of neutral creeps spawn at 0:30

- After this, neutrals will spawn at each camp on every minute (x:00)

- Creeps will not spawn if a unit is within a certain rectangular area of the given creep camp at the next minute mark
- This includes your hero, any creeps (neutral or otherwise), wards and DEAD creeps (that leave a corpse - a creep takes between 15 and 20 seconds to disappear, so if you kill a camp at x:55 leaving a corpse in the area, the next wave will not spawn)

- All neutral creeps have some AI (some are "smarter" than others)
- higher level creeps (level 5/6) will attack a low hp hero rather than creeps
- predictability of neutral creep AI will allow you to jungle effectively

- High level Centaurs/Furbolgs will use their stomps when 3 units are at melee range
- High level Satyrs will send out a shockwave when 2 units are in range of the wave (careful of chicken!)

- Neutrals can be "kited" by ranged heroes due to their predictable aggression patterns

- Since neutrals will not respawn at the designated time if units are in the area, you can pull the neutral creeps out of this area and make an additional camp (creep stacking) by engaging the creeps and then running out of the area

(video)

Advantages of Jungling

• Gives your team an additional solo lane (increased EXP, money for you AND the team as a whole)
• You do not have to compete for last hits against allies/enemies
• Easier time ganking (since you are always "mia" and can pop out at the best time)
• If pulling, you can decrease the enemy's experience/money gain
• Some heroes perform better in jungle (can farm better unhindered by enemy)
• An entertaining change of pace from conventional laning

Other notes

- lots of starting builds are acceptable but in general, HP/mana regen (depending on hero) is essential
- practice is required in pretty much EVERY case (except maybe Enigma ^.^) in order to get good experience/farm


So - Who makes a good jungler?

Summoners

Enchantress, Syllabear, Enigma, Furion, Chen, Lycanthrope, Broodmother

AoE spells/abilities

Juggernaut, Beastmaster, Bristleback, Pandaren Brewmaster, Leviathan (Anchor Smash), Axe, Dark Seer, Centaur Warchief (Return)

Other

Troll Warlord (Blind, kiting), Bloodseeker (Blood bath), Naix (Feast), Terrorblade (Images/meta/pulling), Ursa (Fury Swipes)

Note (Tree Destroyers)

Both BMs, Furion - expand upon this

In actuality, many heroes can jungle - even more than the ones I listed. In terms of difficulty, however, these ones are generally a bit easier than others, so try these to start. Also, just because you CAN jungle doesn't mean that you should given the hero lineups.

Summon Strategy

Summoners have a wonderful aspect to their neutralling - they have a built in tank! The most important thing to keep in mind here is to make the most out of that tank.

• Many summons cost significant mana: prioritize mana regen over HP regen in these cases (clarities or perhaps a RoB/Sobi)
• Have you and your summon(s) attack the same creep (fewer creeps = less damage)
• Once your summon is low in HP, move the summon back so that another summon or a hero can tank for a bit allowing the hurt summon to attack (particularly important with Enigma)
• If the summon is about to expire to time, it should tank as much as possible (even dying)
• you can also send the summon to scout (rune location, perhaps)
• Remember that your summons (as well as hero) will block the next spawn if they are within the designated area
• Do not forget about your other abilities and forgo ganking if there is a good opportunity (especially in the case of Enchantress/Chen who can use their neutral creeps)

AoE spells/abilities

• Take into account the nature of your jungler: if the hero is mana independent for jungling, spend more on HP regen items/HP boosting items or a stout shield
• Axe, Centaur, etc.
• Use creep stacking to maximize the value of your spells (Axe w/ Counter Helix; Dark Seer with Ion Shell; Leviathan with Anchor Smash)
• Use creep pulling have your creeps tank a bit of damage for you
• If mana dependent, consider a bottle (HP/Mana Regen + Rune capturing) or clarities
• If possible, try to kite the creep camps to minimize damage (though this takes more time)

• Small Camps (one of these sets of neutrals will spawn in the small locations)

  • 2 Fel Boars/1 Ghost
  • 3 Gnoll Assassins
  • 1 Kobold Taskmaster/2 Troll Beserkers
  • 1 Troll High Priest/2 Troll Beserkers
  • like 200 little Kobold dudes

  
  This is often the best camp to try to fight as it is very easy to take in the early levels (in fact, often it will be the only one you can take without requiring a full HP heal). This should be where you start your journey (unless you are Chen/Enchantress and can dominate a creep).
  
  Medium Camps

  • 2 Normal Wolves/1 Alpha Wolf (command aura)
  • 1 Centaur Khan (stomp)/1 Centaur Runner
  • 2 lvl4 Satyrs (mana burn)/2 Satyr Tricksters (purge)
  • 1 Ogre Magi (frost armor)/2 Ogres
  • 2 Mud golems (magic immune)

  
  The medium camps are important ones since the topmost (scourge) and lowermost (sentinel) are the ones that you use for creep pulling. The mud golems are generally the worst to fight as they deal a lot of damage and are immune to many spells (enchant/persuasion, conversion, ion shell, etc.).
  
  - High level Centaur Khans will use their stomps when 3 units are at melee range: keep this in mind when pulling or using summons. Try to bait the Centaur into using his stomp by getting in range and then quickly leaving range.
  
  Large Camps

  • 1 Centaur Khan (stomp)/1 Centaur Runner (same as medium level)
  • 2 Furbolgs (white one has a stomp, red one doesn't)
  • 1 Satyr Hellcaller (shockwave), 1 lvl4 satyr (mana burn), 1 Satyr trickster (purge)
  • 2 Little Blue Trolls/1 Dark Troll Warlord (with net/summon skeletons)
  • 1 Enraged Wildkin (tornado)/2 Baby Wildkins

  
  These camps are the most difficult to kill. It is not a good idea to take these early but with summons and good micro, this can be done (better to take other camps first, however, to level up until these are easy).
  
  I will not mention the ancients much since that takes a lot of gear in most cases as well as a lot of time. Lycan, however, (as one example) can take ancient camps at hero lvl7 (lvl4 wolves) with a vladmirs offering.
  
  Creep Pulling
  
  This term refers to pulling a neutral creep wave out of their camp's location for some other purpose. Most of the time, the purpose is to have allied creeps aid you in fighting the neutral camp, an EXTREMELY useful tactic to employ.

  • Allows you to avoid taking damage since your creeps fight for you
  • Denies some enemy experience since your creeps may die to neutrals
  • Useful while your summons are on CD or you do not have sufficient mana
  • Greatly disturbs the creep wave line (first, brings the "wave" way back under your tower and after the creeps have finished engaging, there will be a push back in the other direction towards the enemy tower as your wave will contain more creeps)
  • Can be done by any hero, not just those with good jungling abilities
  • Pulls on the two primary camps should be done at approximately x:15/x:45 but can be a bit varied (easy to do with a few times of practice)
  • Makes it difficult for enemy team to lane as they will have to proceed far past tower to stay in exp range (or go to the neutral area where you have creeps and they do not)

  
  *Since these spawns are blockable by use of wards, teams in higher level play will often place a ward in the spawning rectangle in order to prevent the neutrals from spawning. This makes the lane easier for them.
  
  The two primary camps that are used for pulling are the topmost medium camp on scourge (near top 1st tower) and the bottommost medium camp on sentinel (near bottom 1st tower.
  
  - If the camp you are pulling contains a Centaur Khan (lvl5 with stomp), he will stomp you/allied creeps if 3 units are in range of the stomp. Your creeps will lose their agro towards the camp if this happens and they are out of acquisition range (make sure to keep vision of these creeps when pulling on sentinel side so allied creeps will know where to go).

  reep Stacking
  
  This term refers to a special technique of pulling the neutral creeps away from the rectangular area just as the next minute occurs (thus allowing another set of creeps to spawn as no units are in the rectangle).
  
  Here is a video of me doing this with sniper:
  
  This is particularly valuable for heroes with AoE abilities or anyone that can take the extra damage. I would advise this with Axe as often as you can, Centaur, Dark Seer, plenty of summoners and maybe Leviathan (but not early).
  
  Using this technique allows you more experience and gold than you would have gained by killing the creep camp in the x:40 - x:59 window in the rectangular area. The exact time varies from camp to camp but it is generally x:52 - x:55. Note that if you are trying to stack a camp with a satyr trickster in it as a melee hero, he will purge you slowing your movement (and the neutral's movement) so you may need to start earlier in this case.

Registration Begins For Free PlayStation Identity Protection Service

As part of its attempt to woo back gamers to the PlayStation Network, Sony had announced that it would be offering a year's free membership in the AllClear ID Identity Theft Protection service for all PSN and Qriocity customers.

Registration for this free service is now open, all you have to do is go to the registration website and enter the email address you used to create your PlayStation Network or Qriocity account.

Here's a description of the service provided by Sony:

AllClear ID PLUS is a premium identity protection service that uses advanced technology to deliver alerts to help keep you safe. The service also provides identity theft insurance coverage and hands-on help from expert fraud investigators. Sony has arranged, at no charge to eligible PlayStation Network and Qriocity account holders, for twelve months of this service to be provided by Debix to those who choose to enroll.

Gamers Unable To Redeem Dirt 3 Online Passes On PS3

The continued outage of the PlayStation Store has left Dirt 3 owners unable to access the game's online features. Unlock Mortal Kombat, which temporarily waived its online Kombat Pass until the PlayStation Store is back online, Codemasters told Eurogamer ""We've looked into doing something similar for DiRT 3 but it's not technically possible. It's hard-coded into the game."

Online passes -- which can only be redeemed from new copies of a game -- are increasingly common, in an effort to discourage used sales. However, outages like this raise the question of just what consumers are buying when they pay $60 for a game.

At present, Sony has put no firm date on a restoration of the PlayStation Store, promising only that it will be up around the end of May.


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Report: New Shinobi Game, Sonic Generations Headed To 3DS

The Shinobi franchise has a lot of great gaming potential -- you play a freakin' bada*s ninja, after all -- but Sega has ignored it since 2002's PS2 reboot. That's all about to change, though, as a new report suggests that the classic action game will be revived on the 3DS alongside a port of the upcoming Sonic title, Sonic Generations.

Joystiq reports these new games as appearing on the cover of the latest issue of Nintendo Power. While the cover does not mention Shinobi as coming to 3DS specifically, the legitimate-seeming trailer below was leaked onto YouTube yesterday.

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Codemasters' Website Hacked

The website of Codemasters – U.K. publisher/developer of Dirt 3 – got hacked, but the company says that the problem was fixed and the site was back up in short order.

"On Friday 20th, there was an attempt to gain administrative access to the Codemasters.com website," a Codemasters representative told GamesIndustry.biz. "This admin access may have allowed alterations to our company website."

The company says it took down the site for a few hours, fixed the issue that allowed the hacker to get some staff admin names (although the passwords were encrypted), and then put the site back up.

In this case, it's good that no real damage was done, but obviously with Sony and Square Enix having suffered recent cyberattacks, it looks like everyone needs to be on their guard. In fact, Codemasters itself has suffered collateral damage from the Sony attack after it was discovered that not being able to access the Sony store has meant that PlayStation 3 owners of Dirt 3 weren't able to redeem the game's online pass.

Age of Conan Now Free-To-Play And Unrated

Funcom's barbaric MMO Age of Conan will be relaunching this summer. This relaunch will bring a couple of big changes for the franchise. Specifically, the game will allow for both free and paid premium subscriber play in the game. Also, the game will shed its former Mature rating and head out for the wilds of unrated, brutal content. So says developer Funcom: "Age of Conan has always been a Mature gaming experience, but going Unrated gives the development team freedom to stay even more true to the original works of Conan author Robert E. Howard, and use even more of the barbaric, brutal, and sexy setting that is Howard's Hyboria. Funcom is already in the process of developing new locations, monsters, equipment, and storylines for Age of Conan: Unrated.

The game's new free-to-play model will allow players to experience most of the games content free of charge, but will allow premium subscribers access to more classes, a larger personal bank, and other bonuses. For a complete breakdown of the differences between a free account and a paid account, check out the games Free-to-Play FAQ.

Of course, there will also be an in-game store where players can buy items and other content. Paid subscribers receive a five percent discount on items in the store.

The game also plans to do tie-in content to the upcoming Conan movie, for more read our story from yesterday.


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