Filed under: Betas, MMO

It’s just a few more days until Christmas but the folks at Frogster and their new subsidary Frogster America have now given MMO fans an early present; the launch of the open beta test for Runes of Magic, their new free-to-play fantasy MMO (the game’s web site even has a Christmas theme now).

As we reported last week, Frogster America was created in part to serve as the US base for Runes of Magic which is being developed by Taiwan-based Runewaker Entertainment. The game has a number of US based servers as well as its own forum for players to discuss the game. The game itself features six character classes to choose from and its dual-class system allows players to pick a seconard class when they reach level 10 in the game for a total of 36 possible combinations.

Runes of Magic begins open beta originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii

After years of chanting “Let us in, let us in!,” the doors to Club Nintendo have finally been opened to those living in North America. The service, which was announced this summer, takes the place of NOA’s previous My Nintendo site. Nice to join you, Japan and Europe.

Already have your Nintendo gear and games registered on My Nintendo? Not to worry. Logging into the Club Nintendo site automagically converts your old account and – most importantly – makes sure Club Nintendo knows about all the stuff you’ve bought. So you can, y’know, start saving up for exclusive merchandise and other rewards, including the (now official) US version of Game & Watch Collection.

There’s just one problem – after seeing the site with our very own eyes (!) it … disappeared, and was replaced with placeholder art assuring us that Club Nintendo was “Coming Soon!” Lucky for us then that one NeoGAF user thought to grab a screenshot (seen above). Don’t worry, you take the night off. We’ve got our clicking finger on the Reload button and we’ll let you know when everything’s back up. Now go have a drink, you look tired.

[Thanks, Fernando]

Club Nintendo briefly up, accepting NA members … now down originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Supercars, Lamborghini

The benefits of motorsports usually have a way of trickling down to road cars, although in this particular case the connection is fairly direct. Reiter Engineering, the factory-backed motorsports company that competes in the FIA GT1 and GT3, recently unveiled a street legal version of its Murcielago R-GT racecar at the Essen Motor Show. The supercar features race-oriented modifications including a carbon fiber front spoiler and rear wing, OZ Racing wheels, and upgraded brakes and suspension components. Reiter also added a new rear fascia, and moved the exhaust system up towards the rear deck lid. Apparently the show car is a one-off, although word has it that it can be had for the right amount of money, and the individual components on the car are also available for purchase.

[Source: Autoblog.nl]

Reiter Engineering offers street legal version of Murcielago R-GT racecar originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Podcasts

With Alexander gone for the second week in a row, we figured it was time to roll out the big guns. We’re talking, of course, about Ross Miller, Joystiq blogger and Gordon Freeman doppelganger extraordinaire (no, not Bob Ross). He joins us for the entire program and gives us his invaluable (?) input. As usual, we cover the week’s news and read some fabulous fanmail. As a special bonus this week, we even got an email from Alexander all the way from Germany. Listen to the latest episode and learn just how much Europe loves its SingStar.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune Marketplace (MP3).
[RSS MP3] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[AAC] Download the enhanced AAC directly.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM), Dustin Burg (SuperDunners), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander), Xav de Matos (Snypz)

Guest Host: Ross Miller (ohnorosco)

Produced by Richard Mitchell

Music: Intro/Outro: “Electromooq” by Uma Floresta, “Nothings Wrong” by Los Hories.

For fans: Xbox 360 Fancast Facebook group

Continue reading Xbox 360 Fancast 95 — The one with Ross (not Bob)

Xbox 360 Fancast 95 — The one with Ross (not Bob) originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Downloads, Action, Adventure, Survival horror, Trailers

EA Redwood Studios, the developers of Dead Space, is working on Dante’s Inferno – a new horror game based loosely on the medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The game will be a third-person action game where the main character, who happens to be named Dante, makes his way through the nine circles of hell in pursuit of his beloved Beatrice. We’re guessing that the game will include a lot more combat than the poem does.

Download HD Dante’s Inferno Teaser Trailer (21 MB)

Dante’s Inferno trailer goes to hell originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Subaru

Even more bad news (motor)sports fans. According to a report by Finnish sports site MT3.fi, Subaru will follow in the footsteps of Suzuki and pull out of the 2009 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. While Suzuki’s declaration was a surprise, Subaru’s exit from the world of rallying would be a serious blow to the sport as a whole and its fans in particular. A formal announcement will supposedly follow tomorrow, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the Finns got this one wrong. Thanks to Eralp for the tip!

[Source: MTV3.fi - Google Translated | Image: Ross Land/Getty]

Rumormill: Subaru pulling out of WRC tomorrow originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s certainly no shortage of devices out there that promise to alert you when you’re approaching a red light or speed camera, but if you’re looking to keep things as simple as possible, you may want to consider this new so-called GPS Angel device, which pares things down to a couple of buttons and blinking lights. As with similar devices, you’re also able to sync it up to your PC to ensure you have all the latest camera locations (Mac users are on their own, unfortunately), and you don’t have to worry about a monthly or yearly subscription fee for the service. Head on past the break to check it out in action, and get ready to fork over $129 if you think it’ll do the job for you.

Continue reading GPS Angel promises to keep watch on red light and speed cameras

Filed under: GPS

GPS Angel promises to keep watch on red light and speed cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Coupes, Sports/GTs, Supercars, Nissan

The Nissan GT-R V Spec will allegedly be packing 520 horses when it arrives some time next year. That still won’t be enough for a lot of people (especially folks who want to win seriously competitive drag races), so Hennessey is offering GT-R upgrades that beef Godzilla up to 600 hp. The seven mods in the kit don’t do anything crazy to the car — items like stainless steel turbo downpipes and a wastegate actuator upgrade — they simply combine to add 120 hp to the corral already on hand. As far as we’re concerned, we’d take that over a 520 hp V Spec any day… we can rip out the rear seats ourselves.

[Source: Hennessey]

Hennessey offers 600 hp tuning package for Nissan GT-R originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: MobileMe

Alongside the OS update to 10.5.6 released today, Mobile Me has also undergone a service update.

The Mobile Me improvements includes the following:

• Contacts, calendars and bookmarks sync automatically within a minute of the changes being made on a computer, another device or at www.me.com.
• Resolved issues causing contacts to temporarily disappear on the iPhone and iPod Touch, along with inconsistent data.
• Improved startup time and reliability

TUAWMobileMe updates alongside 10.5.6 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Biz

December sees new game releases slow to a crawl but actual sales of games are usually at their highest point of the year. The NPD Group has just released its latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US for the week ending Dec. 6. Not suprisingly, Blizzard‘s MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King takes the number one slot yet again.

EA’s alien evolution sim Spore continues to do well; it’s at number two on this week’s list. Other games like Fallout 3, Call of Duty World at War and Left 4 Dead also make repeat appearances. The one new entry is the PC port of Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar’s open world action game debuted at the number seven spot this week.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Blizzard
2. Spore – Electronic Arts
3. The Sims 2 Deluxe – Electronic Arts
4. Call Of Duty: World At War – Activision
5. Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
6. The Sims 2 Apartment Life – Electronic Arts
7. Grand Theft Auto IV – Rockstar Games
8. Left 4 Dead – Valve/EA
9. Far Cry 2 – Ubisoft
10. The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff – Electronic Arts

Lich King still on top of things in latest NPD PC game sales list originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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